Cooking With Honey

One of the perks of being a beekeeper is having fresh honey from your hives. If I don't end up selling it all or giving it away as gifts I am always finding new recipes to try that include honey. So I thought I would share 3 of my favorite go to honey recipes! But first I want to talk a little bit about the process it takes to make and harvest the honey.

A hive of honey bees begins collecting nectar in the spring time. Some of the first flowers to bloom include many trees, dandelions, and white clover. Spring, summer, and early fall are the peak flow season in which the honey bees work to store up honey they need for winter. It takes around 2,000,000 flowers to produce 1 pound of honey. This is why bee keepers are advocating for pollinator plots and the preservation of fields that produce flowers because it takes a lot of flowers to produce honey. One colony can produce around 100 pounds of honey but only 1 bee can will produce 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime. This is why we are constantly monitoring our hives during the summer to insure they have adequate numbers to produce a good crop. Around August or September we begin to collect the honey and start the process of harvesting it. We will leave a substantial amount of honey for the bees so that they will survive the winter and only take the excess for our personal use.

Dad and I checking frames and pulling supers 

After we collect the frames of honey off the hives we uncap (remove wax sealing honey into the cells) the frames and then put them into an extractor. An extractor is basically a washing machine type of contraption that you place the frames in and spin with either a motor or a hand crank until all the honey  is pulled out of the cells. It then collects at the bottom of the extractor. Next we use a screen to strain the honey and remove the wax, wings, and legs as we say! We don't heat the honey or micro filter it like some big name companies do which takes out all the pollen and healthy properties out of the honey. Then we bottle it and sell it or use it in cooking. So now to the good part the recipes!!

Peanut Butter Honey Bars

This recipe is very simple and has only 3 ingredients. I shared this with my Great Aunt and she makes them all the time now for her family!

1 cup peanut butter 

1/2 cup Pure Honey

2 1/2 -3 cups oatmeal (I add it gradually not wanting to make it to dry)

Heat up the peanut butter and honey in sauce pan just until it softens and is easy to mix. Then add oatmeal. Line a 9x9 baking dish with foil and spray with cooking spray. Pour peanut butter honey mixture into pan. Refrigerate. Cut into squares or form into balls. Keep in refrigerator so that they maintain a solid state. 

Honey Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are great because they use only honey as the source of sweetener. I entered them in a cooking contest and have won prizes with them! 

1 cup Honey

1/2 cup veg. Shortening

1/2 cup butter (softening)

2 eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

2 Cups flour

1 cup quick oats

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped pecans 

Cream honey, shortening, and butter until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and beat. In a separate bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well. Add dry ingredients to honey mixture; mix. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Drop by big tablespoon not greased baking sheet. Bake 12-16 min at 350 degrees. Let stand 1 minute, then remove to wire rack to cool. 

Honey Snack Mix

This stuff is amazing!! It's sweet and savory and probably one of my favorite snacks now. Plus you can change up the ingredients to make it to your liking. I will give the recipe I received so you know the amounts of stuff to use then you can change it how you like. No matter what I use I keep the measurements the same. 

3 Tablespoons Sesame oil (I used vegetable oil because that's what I had on hand) 

3 Tablespoons Honey 

1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce

1/2 tsp Garlic salt

1/2 tsp Onion Powder

Whisk the above ingredients together in a small bowl 

4 cups Chex cereal

6 cups mini pretzels

1 cup soy nuts

1 cup dry roasted peanuts

Toss together in a large bowl

Pour sauce over cereal mixture. Toss it gently to coat cereal. Scatter on foil lined jelly roll pan. Bake at 205 degrees for 25 minutes stirring frequently. Turn oven Off and let the pan stay in the oven 1 hour to continue crimping. When cool store in zip lock bag or box. 

Stuff I used in mine: 

5 cups Chex cereal

5 cups oyster crackers

1 cup peanuts

1 cup cheese it's 

If you are looking for more recipes using honey check out www.honey.com

Pumpkin Roll

A while ago I posted a picture on Facebook of a pumpkin roll that I had made. I got a few comments about the recipe and how to make it so here it is!! Yesterday the college church group I'm involved with had thing called  a Progressive Thanksgiving Meal. What we did was had a 4 course meal but traveled to different locations to eat the different courses. We started at our building for appetizers, we then walked a few minutes to one of the dorm buildings and had salads. We then hopped in several cars and had a convoy and headed out to one of the board members houses where we feasted on the traditional Thanksgiving meal. After that we headed to our ministers house for desserts. I decided to make a pumpkin roll for that. I brought home an empty plate so I think everyone liked it!!
This recipe I got from a great friend of mine. I actually went to her house a couple weeks ago to learn how to make it!! I am so blessed to have so many great cooks in my life! So here is the recipe!!

Pumpkin Roll

In a small bowl combine:

3/4 cup flour
1/2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn baking soda
1 tspn pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tspn salt
1 cup sugar
3 Large eggs
2/3 cups pumpkin (or half the can then you can make 2 it works the same)

 

Take a cookie sheet with sides (not sure the size but probably one that's 9x13x1 or if you have  a jelly roll pan use it) cover it with a sheet of waxed paper/parchment paper and spray it with cooking spray and then dust with flour.

Then pour your batter on to the pan and spread it evenly all over the pan.

Then you bake it for 13-15 minutes in a 375 degree oven.

 

 

Once you take it out of the oven let it cool a few min and then very carefully turn it over on to a powdered sugar covered tea towel. Make sure you put it on one of the edges so that it's easy to roll. 

 

Now you roll the pumpkin roll up tea towel and all and then stick it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes so it can cool.

While it's cooling in the fridge mix up your cream cheese mixture.The recipe for it is...

1 package of cream cheese softened
6 tablespoons softened butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

This is where I'm a bad person because I stopped taking pictures :( But now all you do is roll your pumpkin roll back out VERY CAREFULLY!!! If it starts to crack just go very slow. Then you spread the cream cheese mixture and then VERY CAREFULLY roll it back up and place it seam down on a plate and serve!! Keep refrigerated. Top with powdered sugar when you are ready to serve.

 

Oh and a fun tip.... While I was making my pumpkin roll I decided to measure out everything that I would need to make one for our family Thanksgiving. I was going to put it in a zip lock bag all mixed up. Well sitting on the counter was a 32 oz plastic cup from HyVee. It was the perfect size to hold the Ziploc bag open. So while I was measuring the ingredients out for the one I just stuck some in the other and now I have everything ready for Thursday.

 

 

 

Applesauce Muffins

 

This is another recipe my mom has made for years. I mostly remember her making them and taking them to school if it was our turn to bring a snack. They are one of my favorite muffins. Recently another blogger had posted on Facebook that her daughter, who is in 4H, was looking for muffin recipes to make for her project. So we dug up the recipe and I shared it with her. I then decided to make a batch and thought I would share it with all of you as well! I hope you enjoy!

 

Ingredients:
1 c. Butter/margarine softened
2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. applesauce
4 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
1 c. powdered sugar

 

 Cream butter

 

Gradually add sugar and beat well

 

Add eggs, 1 at a time and beat

 

 

Add applesauce and mix well

 

 

 

Combine the dry ingredients

 

 

 Add to the creamed mixture and mix well

 

 

 Fill greased muffin pans or cupcake liner lined muffin pans 3/4 full.

 

I used this scoop to scoop out my batter. It is just a 1/2 cup (I'm guessing) Ice Cream scoop. It works so well and the batter comes out of it so easy and it's less messy!

 

 

 

 

Bake at 350 degrees for 14 minutes or until done.

 

 

 

 

Transfer to wire racks and sprinkle with powdered sugar which I forgot to do and didn't realize until the next day!!!! So that's why the ones in the pictures don't have powdered sugar on them.

NOTE: Batter will keep in refrigerator for 1 week.

Yield: 7 dozen mini muffin 3 dozen regular sized muffins

Crepes With Fresh Strawberries

This is a recipe I have made several time and love! Usually I make it with peach pie filling instead of strawberries but that's what makes this recipe great you can make it with what ever type of fruit you want. Now don't be scared or think it's going to be hard to make because it really isn't. You just have to be patient and accept that there will be one that rips or gets over done but it won't be the end of the world. When I made these last week I was doing so good and didn't mess up until the very last one! I went to flip it and it just ripped in half. I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Ingredients for Crepes:

1 1/2 cups milk
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
5 tablespoons melted butter

Ingredients for Filling: This recipe isn't exact I just took a package of cream cheese and added stuff to it and tasted and added more stuff but here are all the ingredients and an idea of how much I used.

-1 8oz package of cream cheese
-1/2-3/4 cup powdered sugar
-1 tsp. almond extract
-1 tsp. vanilla extract
-3 tablespoons milk
-1 can of pie filling or about 3-4 cups fresh fruit (use your judgment on how much you'll use)

The First step is to mix together your milk, egg yolks, and vanilla until well blended.

 

Next you stir in the flour, sugar, salt, and melted butter and mix well.

 

It will then be smooth and lump free. You want your batter to be on the thin side so that you can easily coat your pan when you cook them.

 

 

Now comes the hardest part. You take a non stick skillet and heat it up over medium to low heat (use your own judgment. If your crepes are burning or turning brown turn it down if they take forever to cook turn the heat up.) Add a very little amount of oil to the bottom of the pan. What I did was take a paper towel and just lightly coat the entire pan with the oil. You then take about 3/4 of a cup of the batter and coat the bottom of the pan. I pick the skillet up and rotate it covering the entire bottom. Let cook for about 2 min or until golden brown on bottom and then flip to other side and let cook for another min-2 min or until golden brown.

Sorry this is such a blurry pic but you get the idea.

 

 

Finished product. This recipe makes about 8 crepes.

 

Now it's time to make the filling.

 

What I did first was cut up my strawberries and added some sugar to them so they are sweet and have a little bit of syrup on them. Cut them up, add the sugar, and let them set for about 10 min stirring every once and a while.

 

Combine the cream cheese, milk,  and almond and vanilla extracts

 

Next add the powdered sugar. After combined if it seems to dry add more milk. If it seems to wet add some more powdered sugar.

 

The finished product should be smooth and creamy.

 

Assembly:

 

Take one crepe

 

Add some of your cream cheese mixture to the center of the crepe.

 

Next add some of your fruit

 

You can fold it like a burrito like I did above or you can just roll it up in a log.

 

Now to make them pretty you can add some cool whip, extra strawberries and a dash of powdered sugar.

 

Enjoy!!

Easy Chicken Stuffing Bake

This recipe is really good if you are in need of a rather quick meal, something that is kid friendly, or an easy dish to take to a pot luck. It does take 30 minutes to bake but only a few minutes to throw together. We have been making it for years and it's always a big hit. Last week I took it to a dinner that our church does for some local college students and they ate every last bite of it. I hope you enjoy.

Ingredients:

• One (6oz) package of Chicken flavored stuffing mix
• 1-1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces ***Make sure chicken is completely thawed out so that it cooks completely through***
• One can of cream of chicken soup
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 package (16oz) of frozen mixed vegetables (thawed out)
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar or Colby Jack cheese- Optional

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Prepare Stuffing mix as directed, set aside.

3. Mix remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl. (Chicken, soup, sour cream, vegetables)

4. Pour mixture into a greased 9x13 baking dish and spread evenly

5. Spread stuffing mix evenly over top of chicken and vegetable mixture

6. Put in oven and bake for 30 minutes.
7. After it is done baking for 30 minutes if you would like to add some grated Cheddar or Colby Jack cheese over the top of the dish and bake for 5 more minutes to melt the cheese.

8. Eat Up!!