Big Red Barn Blog

Most of my posts are recipes. This is because so many of my favorite memories are tied to recipes and time spent in the kitchen. This brownie recipe is my grandmas. She would always make these when we would go on trips for softball or basketball games. Everyone would always enjoy these on our way out of town and it created such great memories for me.

These days I use this recipe for treats to take to work for our staff, desserts for a party or for bake sales. This time I made these for a treat for team members who took a quiz over our monthly features. This recipe typically calls for chocolate chips but I chose to put M&M’s in this batch. You can pick many different candies to put in these to make it something special for you!

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Now for the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 2/3 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup butter
• 2 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup M&M’s

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees
• Melt the butter
• Mix flour,salt and baking powder together.
• Mix butter and brown sugar together then add eggs one at a time.
• Add flour mixture and beat until smooth.
• Pour into a parchment paper lined baking pan
• Sprinkle with M&M’s
• Bake for 20-25 minutes

There you have it! These are sure to be a hit at home or your next event!

-Cristie

The one thing we grow the most of in our garden is tomatoes. We spend the summer months canning marinara and salsa which takes a ton of tomatoes. My absolute favorite marinara sauce is this homemade recipe. We use it on pasta, pizza and as dipping sauce. Here we use the same canning process we used when we made the strawberry jam but the whole process takes a little bit longer but is so worth it!

We are ready to make a batch of marinara when we have at least 10 pounds of tomatoes. The full batch calls for 20 pounds but we made a half batch this time. We pick them, weigh and then wash them. The first step is cutting the tomatoes in half and placing them on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

We put them into a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. This will soften them up enough to put through the tomato strainer. The strainer became a game changer for us when canning as it removes the skins and leaves us with just the tomato and its juices. Before we would have to remove the skins by hand which was not ideal as they were very hot.

While the tomatoes are cooking we chop up the onions, bell peppers and basil. Next we place olive oil in the bottom of a thick bottom pot and heat it over medium heat. Next you add the onions and bell peppers and cook for 10 minutes. Then you add in the garlic and cook for 5 minutes. Now it is time to add in all of the tomato juices, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, sugar and tomato paste. All of the spices are to taste. I will add a good amount in the beginning and then slowly add some throughout the cooking process.

Once all of your ingredients are added bring your pot to a boil. When you have reached a boil turn the heat down to get a good simmer going. Let this simmer for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. In the last 30 minutes add the basil. Once I have added the basil I break out my emersion blender. I prefer a smooth sauce to a chunky sauce so I like to blend the mixture. Now it’s time to place the sauce in the jars.

Similar to canning the jam we will boil the lids and place them on the full jars. Then hand tighten the rings on the jars and you are ready to place them in their water bath. You will leave them in their bath for 25 minutes before removing them.

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There you have it! Here is the ingredient list:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 10 pounds of tomatoes
• 1 large onion
• 1 green bell pepper
• 4-6 cloves of minced garlic
• 2 cans of tomato paste
• Salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and sugar to taste
• Handful of fresh basil diced

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!