Tis the season for Caprese Salad...my favorite salad of the summer!! A few simple ingredients make this outstandingly delicious dish. My only advice is to use home grown or market tomatoes ...do NOT ruin the flavors of this salad with store bought tomatoes!!!
okay, super simple ...tomato, FRESH mozzarella, basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar (or balsamic vinegar glaze), salt & pepper. slice the tomatoes and mozzarella and arrange on a plate. drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sprinkle with salt, pepper & chopped basil. enjoy!
June 21st was the first official day of summer. Let's celebrate with some sangria! This is a refreshing summer cocktail and very easy to make. Perfect for summer parties! Box wine works just as well as bottled.
Peel & slice mango & peaches. Slice orange. Fill a gallon container (large pitcher or beverage dispenser) with white wine, peach schnapps and add fruit slices. Refrigerate overnight or up to two days. Serve over ice with a splash of lemon-lime flavored soda (sprite, diet sprite, 7-up, seltzer, etc). Makes about 1 gallon. Enjoy!
Father's Day is this weekend. Are you doing anything special to celebrate??
Father-Daughter Dance
I don't want to kick things off on a sad note but I can't help thinking that Father's Day just hasn't been the same for me since my dad passed away 5 1/2 years ago. This holiday reminds me of how much I miss him and wish so badly he could see my little girl. I try my hardest to pick out a nice card from my daughter to my husband but I don't last very long in the section of cards "from daughter to father" before the tears start flowing from my eyes. If I could just bring him back for one day I would love to give him one more hug, feel the warmth of his hand in mine, have one more chance to pour him a cold glass of iced tea and fix him some cheese & crackers at my dining room table, see him meet my daughter and tell him once more how much I love him. I miss him so much it hurts on days like this.
My husband lost his father this past year and I'm sure he'll be thinking about his dad on Sunday as well (I know from experience that the first year is the hardest). They used to golf together on Father's Day and I'd make this lemon cheesecake which they both loved to have for dessert. Sometimes Bob (Chris' dad) even sneaked a second piece when Joan (Chris' mom) wasn't looking.
Moving forward I really need to flip the switch to thinking positively and making father's day be about my husband. I need to put grief aside and show my little girl how to make HER daddy "king for the day" because, just like me, she loves her daddy so much. Whether sharing a breakfast sandwich, getting a piggy back ride to bath time or playing helicopter in the living room, at 3 years old he's not just her daddy he's her hero and he deserves a very nice day on Sunday.
I'm making the lemon cheesecake recipe on Sunday that I've made the past several years on Father's Day. Its one of my husband's favorite desserts. Its also one of my favorite summer-time desserts because I don't have to turn on my oven, lemon flavored desserts are never overly sweet and just about always refreshing ... oh, and bonus ... it always turns out to be beautiful.
Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there! I hope you all have a very special day.
1. Lightly spray springform pan with nonstick cooking spray. For crust, finely chop cookies using a food chopper. Combine cookie crumbs and melted butter in a small bowl. Press crumb mixture into bottom of pan. Cut 6 think slices from lemon; cut each slice in half. Place lemon halves against inside collar of pan with cut side touching the crust. Refrigerate while preparing filling.
2. For filling, zest lemons to measure 1 1/2 teaspoons zest. Juice lemons to measure 1/4 cup juice. Combine pudding mix, sugar, 1/4 cup of water and egg yolks in a small saucepan; stir until blended. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a full boil; remove from heat. Set aside 1/2 cup of the budding; cool slightly. Whisk butter and lemon juice into remaining pudding in saucepan; cool 15 minutes, stirring twice.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and powdered sugar; mix well. Whisk in reserved 1/2 cup lemon pudding and 1 teaspoon lemon zest. Fold in 2 cups whipped topping; spread over crust.
4. Stir remaining lemon pudding mixture and spoon evenly over cream cheese filling, spreading gently. Refrigerate at least 6 hours.
5. Run a knife around the sides of dessert; release collar from pan. Garnish with remaining whipped topping and lemon zest. Cut into wedges.
This is a great "guest-worthy" appetizer. My mother-in-law was visiting over the weekend and I felt like I sort of failed on being a great hostess. It's usually my thing ... having guests ...hosting, making people feel comfortable, etc. This weekend though, not so much. First of all I didn't think she'd be arriving until noon on Sunday so first thing that morning I headed to the grocery store for lunch & dinner supplies only to return home at 10:30 and find her waiting on the hot patio outside of my locked house (oops). I made lunch, we went to the pool and afterwards my husband grilled steaks for dinner. Then after dinner, knowing mother-in-law and daughter were safe in bed, we headed to a neighborhood party where we had a few cocktails ... well, not a few, so many that I don't remember walking back to my house (another oops). And the next morning when I was supposed to wake up and make breakfast for my weekend guest I was so hungover I stayed in bed until after 10, ugh (oops yet again!). I did manage to make it downstairs for a bit holding back the night before's meal until my mother-in-law headed home. I was so happy to be sick (truly, truly, alcohol-induced sick) in peace. My only redeeming grace from the entire weekend was the appetizer I prepared Sunday evening ... the Endive with Blue Cheese & Caramelized Pears. It's a crowd pleaser and my hope/wish is that's the only thing my husband's mom remembers, lol. It's delicious!!!! Reminds me of something from a fine-dining restaurant.
Here's the recipe:
INGREDIENTS:
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sugar
2 pears, peeled & diced
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
25 endive spears (about two heads)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped & toasted
DIRECTIONS:
In a large saute pan over medium heat add butter & sugar. Add the diced pears and cook until well caramelized, about 8 minutes. (keep stirring and make sure this does not burn).
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the garlic, vinegar, salt, pepper and olive oil. Add this mixture to the blue cheese. Spread each endive spear with the cheese mixture and then top with the caramelized pears and finally top with the pecans. Arrange on a plate in a floral pattern. Enjoy! Makes about 25 servings. (My picture shows 1/2 of the recipe since I was only serving 3 people.)
I'm proud of myself for sticking with this for a year and hope to keep it going. I think this will be a nice collection of recipes for my daughter to read someday. Thanks to everyone who has been reading my blog! I appreciate the views & feedback!
I find it fitting that my blog is celebrating a birthday at the very same time I happen to be volunteering to bake for a local farm's birthday ...their 200th birthday to be exact. 199 years older than my silly blog. Blue Hound Farm is celebrating their 200th birthday this weekend with a party and the proceeds benefit PAWoundedWarriors.org. If you don't have anything planned for Saturday you should check it out and make sure to stop by the bake sale to sample some of my goodies! More information/details can be found here: Blue Hound Farm Barn Bash.
I baked a lot of stuff for the bake sale ... cookies, whoopie pies, brownies, rice krispie treats, chocolate covered pretzels, and Salted Caramel Corn. 189 individually wrapped items so far with more baking to do tomorrow. I truly enjoyed making everything and it felt good to volunteer my time. One of my favorite items I made was the chocolate covered pretzels I think because they turned out so pretty. If you ever need to volunteer for a bake sale these will look great on the table! Enjoy!!
Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods
1 package of pretzel rods
1 package of chocolate chips (milk chocolate, semi-sweet, or white)
Sprinkles (optional)
Melt 1 cup of chocolate chips in the microwave at 50% power for 30 seconds (one cup at a time seems to work really well). Stir the chips with a rubber scraper until completely melted. Use the rubber scraper to "paint" the chocolate onto the pretzel rods coating all sides and leaving an inch or two at the bottom empty. You can top with sprinkles if you'd like. Place coated pretzels on wax paper-lined cookie sheet and refrigerate for 20 minutes or until chocolate is set. Place pretzel rods in pretzel bags (sold at craft stores). One package of chocolate chips coats about 25 pretzel rods. You can also melt additional chocolate chips and make a drizzle over top of the pretzels instead of using sprinkles. I melted about 1/4 cup of white chocolate for about 20 seconds at 50% power and scooped it into a plastic bag, cut one corner of the bag and drizzled over the milk chocolate coated pretzels.
The term "wedding soup" is a mistranslation of the Italian language phrase "minestra maritata ("married soup")," which is a reference to the fact that green vegetables and meats go well together. And all these years I thought it was a soup served at Italian weddings! Regardless, I never would have guessed I would be blogging a soup recipe the last week of April, but it's 47'F here and rainy so a soup recipe just feels right for today.
I tried a few different Italian Wedding Soup recipes before I found this one which is far better than the others (in my opinion). Directions in some recipes tell you to add the meatballs to the soup raw and cook them in the broth ...this recipe the meatballs are baked in the oven. The taste is similar but I find the browned coloring more appetizing vs the ones cooked in the broth which look sort of gray. Also, this recipe uses a small amount of white wine and it gives the broth a rich flavor that sets it apart from the other recipes. Plus the bonus of getting to finish the rest of the bottle of wine!
Get your BIG pot out, this makes a lot of soup!! I used an 8 quart pot and it was almost filled. I like to divide the leftovers into several containers and freeze it for another day. Makes about 20 servings.
INGREDIENTS
MEATBALLS
1 pound ground turkey
3/4 pound turkey sausage, casings removed
3/4 cup white bread crumbs
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
SOUP
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup yellow onion, finely chopped
1 cup diced carrots (about 3 medium)
1 cup diced celery (about 2 large stalks)
4 boxes chicken broth (32 oz each)
1 1/2 - 2 cups dry white wine
1 cup small pasta (acini de pepe or ditalini)
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 bag baby spinach (8-9 oz), remove stems
Salt & Pepper to taste
extra freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350'F
2. Prepare the meatballs: Place ground meats, bread crumbs, garlic, Parmesan, milk, eggs, salt & pepper in a bowl and combine gently with a fork. With a teaspoon, drop 1-inch meatballs (or smaller depending on your preference) onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake for 30 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. Set aside.
meatballs ready for the oven
3. Prepare soup: Heat olive oil over medium-low heat in a large stock pot. Add onion, carrots, and celery and saute until softened, 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken broth and wine and bring to a boil. Add pasta to the simmering broth and cook an additional 6-8 minutes, until the pasta is tender. Add the fresh parsley and then the meatballs to the soup and simmer for 1 minute. Add salt & pepper to taste. Stir in spinach and cook for 1 minute, until spinach is just wilted. Serve soup with extra freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
LOTS of leftovers ready for the freezer
Recipe adapted from: RecipeGirl.com (check out her site, she has some great photos paired with the recipe)
Sometimes when I am out shopping I like to treat myself to an ice coffee or frozen frappucino. I say "treat" because I don't do this often and secondly I think they're over-priced for coffee & ice.
I'm home today preparing a peanut butter cup cheesecake for Easter, cleaning the house, doing laundry, watching my daughter and exercising. It was time for a little break and I started thinking about "treating" myself to a frozen frappucino but I didn't feel like driving anywhere and I remembered I haven't blogged anything this week. Ugh, its too late now to blog an Easter recipe!
I start by looking up recipes for frozen frappucinos on Google (there's a ton). Most of these recipes begin with brewing double strength coffee...well, there's two problems with this 1) I have a Keurig coffee maker and if double strength K-cups even exist I don't have any on hand and 2) I want this frozen drink NOW vs brewing a cup of coffee and waiting for it to chill. So I find a recipe that uses instant coffee which I just so happen to have in my pantry leftover from a cappuccino brownie recipe (lucky me).
I read the recipe and I'm thinking to myself this might be a possible disaster because it calls for powdered creamer which I'm thinking might not dissolve completely in a cold beverage but its worth a try. Concerns like this is where I rely on recipe reviews but the reviews of this particular recipe were filled with a bunch of weirdos arguing over the use of splenda...seriously??? If someone wants to use a sugar substitute so be it, they don't need to be harassed by health freaks and ruin the review section for people like me who actually want to know if the recipe turns out good or not.
Moving on, I dig out my smoothie pro which hasn't seen the light of day in years. My husband and I use to make frozen mango & rum smoothies in the summer when we were dating and calorie consumption was of no concern, lol. If you don't have a smoothie machine you could use a blender. I was pleasantly surprised by the results. It tasted pretty darn close to Starbucks so give it a try! And if you really want to treat yourself try topping it off with some whipped cream and caramel or chocolate syrup. Enjoy!!!!
INGREDIENTS:
This makes one frozen frappucino...
2 tablespoons instant coffee (regular or decaf)
2 tablespoons vanilla flavored powdered creamer (I used vanilla caramel flavor)
1/2 cup milk
8-10 ice cubes
1-2 teaspoons of your preferred* sweetener (optional) I used 2 packets of Stevia.
DIRECTIONS:
Blend the first three ingredients until smooth. Add ice and blend until smooth. Stir in sweetener (optional). Takes about 2 minutes total to make.
*I'm saying "preferred"so I don't end up with any of those crazy reviews.
