Paelo Beef jerky

Low-carb Paleo beef jerky

1-2lb. lean beef (round steak)

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

2 cloves garlic-chopped

½ tsp. onion powder

½ tsp. pepper flakes

½ tsp. fresh ground pepper

1 tsp honey

1.       Freeze meat for 30 minutes to make slicing into ¼” pieces easier.

2.       Take meat and combine with all ingredients and place into a gallon plastic or silicone bag and remove as much air as possible.

3.       Place in your fridge overnight.

4.       Add marinated meat to your food dehydrator at the lowest heat setting or your units instructions. (No dehydrator?? Lay on baking racks in your oven at its lowest setting with the oven door cracked open with some wadded up aluminum foil)

5.       Let dry for 4-6 hours (depending on the heat) It is done when it cracks on the edges when you bend a piece.

6.       Eat any fatty pieces you have first since it could go rancid. Put the rest in your fridge where it will be good for a couple of months.

Russian Honey cake with our twist on it

30 min or less to bake but better planned a day in advance, and what a treat

1/2 cup honey or our Cinnamon Creamed Honey

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 large farm fresh eggs

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (divided)

32 ounces sour cream (for the frosting)

14 ounces sweetened condensed milk (for the frosting)

The day before, get ready: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Get 2 baking sheets (or even better, round pizza pans) down, more if you have them. Tear off 6 sheets of parchment paper large enough to have a 9-inch circle on it.

• Make cookie/cake dough: In a medium-sized saucepan, combine the sugar, honey and butter over medium heat. Once simmering, cook for 3 to 4 minutes (no specific temperature needed), it should get a faint shade darker and smell wonderful. Whisk in baking soda.

  Remove from heat and set aside for 2 to 3 minutes. It’s not going to significantly cool off, just settle a little. Lightly beat your eggs in a spouted measuring cup (for easiest pouring) or small bowl. Take a deep breath. Whisking the honey mixture vigorously in the pot the whole time, drizzle the thinnest stream (think: 1/2 teaspoon at a time, that slowly) of the eggs into the honey mixture. Do not stop mixing. Continue until all of the eggs are thoroughly whisked in.

  Stir in the salt and vanilla and 3 cups (390 grams) of the flour with a spoon. The dough is going to be thick like a bread but you’ve got this. Stir in the last 1/2 cup of flour 1/4 cup at a time; you’ll get a bonus arm workout.

  Shape and bake the cookies/cakes: [Plus, a bunch more layer tips at the end.] Lightly flour your counter and divide the still-warm dough into 8 even pieces. Roll the first one between two sheets of parchment paper (no flouring needed) to a slightly-bigger-than-9-inch round. Remove top sheet of parchment paper. Very lightly dust the top with flour if you’re going to put something on it (such as the bottom of a 9-inch cake pan or the rim of a 9-inch bowl) to trim the shape to an even 9-inch circle. Save the trimmings — put them aside on one of the sheets of parchment paper, it’s fine if they overlap a little. Dock the circle all over with a fork. Slide your 9-inch (or 8 inch if dough is being stubborn) round onto a baking sheet and bake for 6 to 7 minutes; it should feel firmish and get slightly darker at the edges. Slide the cookie onto a cooling rack. Go ahead and reuse the parchment for another layer.

  Meanwhile, while the first layer is baking, roll out your second piece so it’s ready to go into the oven as soon as the first comes out. If you’re making good time, get the third ready too and continue to bake them two at a time. Keep adding the unbaked cookie trimmings onto one piece of parchment paper. Repeat this process as you bake each round and you’ll have all 8 baked before you know it.

  Finally, take that last sheet of parchment with all of the cookie scraps on it and slide it onto a baking sheet and bake it, checking in at 4 minutes, because the thinnest scraps will want to burn quickly. By 5 minutes, all should be baked until pale golden. Let cool completely and save until you’re ready to decorate the cake tomorrow.

  Fill and frost the cake: Whisk sour cream and sweetened condensed milk together in a large bowl. Once cookies are cool, place a dab of the sour cream mixture on your cake plate and place the first cookie on top of it to help adhere it.

  Cut or tear one of your used pieces of parchment paper into strips and tuck them all around the underside of the cake to protect your cake plate. Trust me, if you do not do this, you will regret it.

  Scoop 3/4 cup sour cream mixture onto the center of your first cookie layer. Spread it only a little from the center, leaving a good 1- to 2-inch margin of unfrosted cookie. Stack the second cookie on top and repeat until you have 8 layers.

  This will quickly become a huge mess. The sour cream is going to spill out and down the sides anyway (hear hear for those paper strips) and you’re going to start yelling at me/drafting an angry comment in your head. It’s also going to want to slide around and not stay neatly stacked. It’s totally okay because the filling will thicken as it absorbs into the cookies. Put the cake in the fridge for a couple hours (1 to 3) and when you come back to it, nudge the stack gently back into place and use a spoon and icing spatula to scoop the spilled-out filling back up the sides and onto the top of the cake. Don’t worry about it looking neat. Let it chill overnight.

  The next day, finish the cake: Grind your baked, reserved cookie scraps in a blender or food processor, or bash them into crumbs in a bag with a rolling pin.

  Take your cake out and do one final frosting clean-up. Spread any newly puddled sour cream back up the sides and across the top. If you’d like to make a decoration on top of your cake, take one of those used pieces of parchment paper and cut a stencil with it. Place it gently on top of the cake.

  Use a small spoon to sprinkle the top and sides of the cake with the crumbs. In the coolest trick I saw on a cooking video, use a pastry brush (or extremely clean paintbrush, I won’t tell) to gently brush the crumbs off the stencil and across the cake in a thin layer. It sounds crazy but it works — on the sides too. Remove the stencil and parchment paper strips and look at that clean serving plate! (Bravo, you.)

  You can serve the cake right away, or keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days. When slicing, I found that a knife dipped in hot water made picture-perfect cuts.

Honey roasted pecans

1 pound pecan halves

1/3 cup honey

2 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

3. In a microwave-safe dish, heat honey in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds to melt it slightly.

4. Place pecans in a medium mixing bowl and pour warmed honey over pecans.

5. Toss the pecans and honey together until the pecans are all coated.

6. Transfer the pecans to the prepared baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 6 minutes.

7. Give the pecans a stir, make sure it is a single layer again, and bake for an additional 6 minutes.

8. Let cool on pan for 5 minutes, separating the pecans with a fork if any are clumped up.

9. Sprinkle with sugar and salt and let cool for about 30 to 45 minutes more.

10. Transfer to an airtight container to store.

Strawberry Fruit smoothie

A kid favorite!

¼ cup Greek yogurt

¼ cup orange juice

1 tbsp. honey

1 cup fresh strawberries, stems removed and halved

1 banana, peeled and quartered

½ cup ice

1.        Add all ingredients, in the order listed, to the blender.

2.       Replace the lid and lock.  Turn to smoothie setting and start.

Adapted from Pampered Chef