Secret Recipe Club: Crumbs and Chaos Butterfinger grape salad

 

This month I had the honor of stalking the wonderful blog of Crumbs and Chaos for my Secret Recipe Club assignment. SRC pairs us up with another blog which we must then challenge ourselves to make one of their recipes.

Crumbs and Chaos is a blog created by four sisters.I loved that they had an index for their recipes (look under Crumbs) and spent many an hour browsing through the recipes. I couldn't decide on one recipe, so I actually made two of them for our Fourth of July celebration: Cream Cheese Corn and her Candy Bar and Grape Salad

While we all enjoyed the creamy deliciousness of the corn, it was the grape salad that stole the show. The response went from "What?" To "Oh my gosh this is fabulous!"

I made a few changes: cutting the grapes to make it appropriate for my grand daughter and using vanilla and honey Greek yogurt, leaving out the sugar from the original recipe.



Butterfinger Grape Salad
adapted from Crumbs and Chaos
1 1/2 cups Red Grapes, cut into fourths (I did this because our grapes were HUGE and I had little ones eating)
1 1/2 cups Green Grapes, cut into fourths
4 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
3 ounces Vanilla and Honey Greek Yogurt
2 reg. sized Butterfinger Candy Bars

Directions:
Rinse grapes and cut into fourths; Place into a large bowl and set aside. In a small bowl, beat together the cream cheese and yogurt until smooth and creamy. Pour mixture over grapes and stir, gently, to combine. Coarsely chop the Butterfingers candy bars and divide in half. Combine half to the salad and stir to mix in. Top with the remaining half prior to serving.
As an added note, this recipe did not really keep well since I cut the grapes into fourths. I added the cream cheese/yogurt mixture prior to serving to keep it from having to much liquid..

Cream Cheese Corn

from Crumbs and Chaos

1 pound frozen corn, thawed
3 ounces cream cheese
1 tablespoon butter
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste ( I used scant half teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper)
paprika, optional for topping

Directions:
Cook corn according to package directions ( I like to steam mine in the microwave to retain all the nutrients!). If boiling the corn, drain off excess liquid after cooking. Add cream cheese and butter to cooked corn and stir in to combine. I had to microwave mine for an additional thirty seconds to get everything to cream up nicely. Add cayenne, salt and pepper and mix well. Top with Paprika, if desired. Best served warm.

roasted cauliflower

      I am not a huge vegetable fan.  I can eat them when they are covered in sauces and some of them I'll eat raw, but to be honest with you, vegetables have not been my highest priority.  In fact, the only reason vegetables get served every day is because my mother lives with us and she loves her vegies!  

     One reason I decided to take on food challenges is to enrich my palate and try things I might not have ever tried.  Traveling to other countries has also helped increase my digestive adventures!  Slowly my toleration of vegetables is expanding and one recipe I have recently tried was a huge hit; roasted cauliflower.  Cauliflower just is icky not very tasty.... well, that has always been my opinion anyway!

      I researched several recipes and combined what I thought would be most appealing to my family. Most recipes just called for either olive oil only or butter.  I combined a bit of both, since I knew the butter would help crisp up the cauliflower, as well as adding a bit of finely grated Parmesan cheese.  This recipe will definitely be served again!

Roasted Cauliflower

1 head cauliflower

2 tablespoons butter, melted

olive oil ( I mixed the butter with about 3 tablespoons and had plenty of the mixture left over)

Salt and pepper 

finely ground Parmesan cheese ( I used 1/4 cup)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  

Cut the Cauliflower into florets, I cut them into half so that I had a flat side to lay flat against the baking sheet. I gently rinsed off the florets in a colander so that the cauliflower didn't get soggy.  I went with the method of lining the baking sheet with tinfoil then I lightly coated the tinfoil with the olive oil and butter mixture. Next, in a single layer, place the florets flat side down.  Using a pastry brush, coat the florets with the remaining butter/oil mixture using as little or much as you desire.  Sprinkle the florets with some salt and freshly ground pepper (again, to taste).

Place baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven and cook for 15 minutes.  Transfer baking sheet to the top rack of the oven and bake for another 5 minutes (or until the tops get the carmelization that you desire.  Remove from oven and Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Best if served warm.