Today is National Raisin Day.

1. Combine all the ingredients and chill in the refrigerator for several hours before serving.

Today is National Shrimp Scampi Day.

Serve this over rice or along side chicken or steak.

1. Heat butter in large skillet over medium heat. Cook garlic 1 or 2 minutes or until softened but not browned.
2. Add shrimp, green onions, wine and lemon juice and cook until shrimp are pink and firm, about 1 to 2 minutes on each side.
3. Sprinkle the parsley and salt and pepper before serving.

Today is National Blueberry Pie Day.

Okay so the following recipe isn’t for blueberry pie.  I already have one of those.  But I love blueberries.  Sometimes for breakfast I’ll heat up a bowl and mix them with vanilla yogurt. 

This recipe is similar to a coffee cake, only better. 

You need:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, add the sugar, butter and eggs.

Cream together well.  Look can you see me in the spoon?

In another bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add half of the butter mixture to the flour and combine well.

Add half of the milk and mix.

Add the remaining butter and milk and mix until all combined.  The dough will be thick and sticky.

Add the blueberries.  Yes it is a lot.  But we are making a blueberry dessert.

Stir in the blueberries until just combined.  You don’t want to mash them up with over mixing.

Spread the dough out into a greased baking dish.

In a small bowl add the melted butter, flour, sugar and cinnamon.

Mix together well.

Spread this evenly on top of dough.

Try to get into the corners.

Bake in your preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until tester comes out clean when inserted in centre of cake.

I advise letting it cool before cutting into pieces so it will stay together better.  I never take my own advice. Enjoy!

Blueberry Buckle

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Grease a 9 inch baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl cream together the egg, butter and sugar. In another bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Add half the butter to the flour, then half the milk. Mix well. Repeat until everything is mixed together.
4. Fold in the blueberries.
5. Spread dough into the pan.
6. In another bowl combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon and melted butter. Spread over the top of the dough.
7. Bake in oven for 30-35 minutes or until tester inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Today is National Prime Rib Day.

Here are some rubs that you could easily use on a prime rib or any other meat you might be roasting.

Garlic Infusion Rub

1. Sprinkle beef all over with salt and pepper.
2. Combine garlic, mustard and oil and spread over meat before roasting.

Lemon Pepper Rub

1. Season meat all over with salt and pepper.
2. Combine the rest of the ingredients and rub over meat before roasting.

Horseradish Rub

1. Combine all and spread on meat before cooking.

Barbeque Rub

1. Combine all the ingredients and rub over meat before cooking.

Jerk Rub

1. Combine all ingredients and rub over meat before cooking.

Today is National Pretzel Day.

It was in 610 AD when European monks began forming scraps of dough into the shape of a child’s arm folded in prayer with the three gaps or holes representing the Christian trinity.  This “reward” was given to the children who memorized their verses and prayers was named Pretiola.

As the tradition travelled across Europe it became more commonly known as the Bretzel or Pretzel.  It was the late 17th century in Pennsylvania when by accident the pretzels were left in the oven and baked too long that the dry crunchy pretzel we know today was created.  Pretzels are the second most popular snack purchased after potato chips. 

Yummy Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Today is National Zucchini Bread Day.

Serve these to those picky children who don’t like vegetables. They won’t be able to tell that there is zucchini in them at all. They may taste the onion so if your little ones hates those as well just omit it from the recipe.

You need:

Prep work: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. and grease a 12 cup muffin tin.
Cut the butter into cubes.  They are easier to incorporate into the flour when in smaller pieces.

Mince the onion.  I tend to use mostly red onion in all my dishes however you can use whatever you have on hand.

Grate the cheese.  The sharper the cheddar you use the cheesier the taste.

Grate the zucchini.  Zucchini is packed full of water to you need to squeeze out any excess moisture.  Just grab a handful of the grated stuff and squeeze.

Now let’s put it together. In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

Add the butter and with a pastry blender cut it up into the flour. Make sure you don’t leave any large pieces of butter.

Add the cheese and mix well. Make sure you don’t have large clumps of cheese. It would be good if you could guarantee that you got the biscuit with that clump however it’s not likely to happen unless you eat the whole pan yourself.

In another bowl beat together the egg and the milk.

Add the onion, zucchini and Dijon mustard. Dijon mustard has a very pungent taste but don’t be concerned if you don’t like it, the taste isn’t recognizable in the finished product.

Mix everything together well.

Add the milk mixture to your bowl of flour.

Stir just enough to make sure everything is combined, but don’t over mix.

Drop evenly into your muffin tins.

Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until tester comes out clean.

These are really good right out of the oven but you can let them cool, wrap them in foil and reheat as needed or eat them cold.

Zucchini and Cheddar Biscuits

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and grease 12 muffin tins.
2. Mix together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in large bowl.
3. Using a pastry blender cut in the butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Mix in the cheese.
5. In another bowl mix together the eggs and milk. Stir in the onion, zucchini and mustard.
6. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture until dough forms, do not over mix.
7. Spoon dough into muffin tins and bake for 40-45 minutes until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.

Today is National Pigs-in-a-blanket Day.

While we refer to Pigs-in-a-blanket as being a type of sausage wrapped into bread or pastry, this native German invention actually began as cabbage leaves stuffed with rice.  But as this speciality evolved it became more meat based and today hot dogs and corn dogs along with the more common cocktail sausages in pastry are all considered variations of Pigs-in-a-blanket.

Today is National Cherry Cheesecake Day.

Here’s a special recipe for all you non bakers out there. Take this to your next family function.

1. In a large mixing bowl beat together the cream cheese, milk, lemon juice and vanilla.
2. Pour into prepared pie crust and chill for 5 hours.
3. Spread the cherries on top and serve.

Today is National Jelly Bean Day.

The invention of the jelly bean is believed to have begun in stages.  The soft jelly centre is a possible descendant of Turkish Delights, a middle Eastern treat dating back it biblical times while the hard shell coating is a result from a process known as panning that was developed in 17th century France.

It wasn’t until 1861 that the two were brought together.  An advertisement for William Schrafft of Boston is the first know mention of the treats as he promoted sending them to the Union Army during the Civil War.

Jelly beans became most popular during Easter in the 30’s and today if you lined up all the jelly beans sold each year end to end they would circle the planet more than 3 times.

Today is National Chocolate-covered Cashew Truffle Day.

Here’s a chocolate and cashew recipe.

Chocolate and Cashew Toffee

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add sugar, corn syrup, and water. Cook over medium heat, stirring now and then, to hard-crack stage (300 F on your candy thermometer).
2. Quickly stir in coarsely chopped cashews and then spread on well-greased 13×9 inch pan. Cool thoroughly.
3. Spread top with the melted chocolate then sprinkle with the finely chopped cashews.
4. Chill to firm up then break into pieces.