Sunday dinner

Do you ever have one of those days where everything just comes together and your dinner is just amazing? This is what happened to us Sunday evening. We knew we were going to have grilled burgers but I needed to come up with a side dish. Ryan was looking for something and found a watermelon salad. We decided that sounded good but I would need a couple of things from the grocery store. We had also watched Food Network in the morning and saw an ice cream sandwich cake that we wanted to make and I needed everything to make that. Maddie and I headed to the grocery and while we were there she saw Okra. We all love fried okra when we go out to eat but I had never made it. She asked if she could make it for dinner as well and I decided that if she's offering, I'll buy! We got what we needed and headed home. It all turned out AMAZING! So for dinner we had: burgers, fried okra, watermelon salad, and ice cream sandwich cake for dessert. Here's how you can make it as well!

For the burgers: 

We use 1 3/4 lbs. of ground beef and make 5 patties (we have a hungry growing teen boy so he gets 2 burgers usually). Then season them with a burger seasoning that you like. We have a Big Green Egg that we grill them on. We like to add cheddar cheese. Ryan and the kids eat their burgers on buns but I like to just put some mayo, mustard, and avocado on mine without a bun. 

What you'll need for the okra:
1 carton okra
3 eggs
1 c. flour
3/4 c. corn meal
1 Tbs. Old Bay seasoning
1/2 Tbs. Lowry's seasoning salt
1/2 Tbs. garlic powder
1/2 Tbs. onion powder
sea salt and pepper to taste
Vegetable oil

Cut off the ends of the okra then cut into bite size pieces. Put about 1 inch of veg. oil into a dutch oven (enough to cover the okra when you put in to fry), turn on the heat and get hot. 

In one shallow bowl: whisk 3 eggs with about 1/4 c. water. 
In another shallow bowl: mix flour, corn meal, Old Bay, Lowry's, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. 

In batches: dredge about 1/3 of the okra in the egg wash then transfer to the flour mixture. Carefully put into the hot oil and fry about 4-5 min. or until golden brown. Remove with slotted metal spoon and place onto a paper towel lined plate. Repeat with remaining okra. Maddie dipped hers into Ranch while the rest of us dipped into a Sriracha Ranch. 


For the Watermelon, Cucumber, Feta Salad: from Dinner at the Zoo
What you'll need: 
3 c. watermelon cubed or balled
1 1/2 c. sliced cucumber, seeds removed
2 Tbs. thinly sliced mint
1/3 c. crumbled feta
3 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. lime juice
salt and pepper to taste

What you'll do:
Place the watermelon, cucumber, and mint into a large bowl. Squeeze lime juice over mixture, then drizzle olive oil and salt and pepper over. Toss to coat. When ready to serve, sprinkle with feta. 


For the Ice Cream Sandwich Cake: from The Pioneer Woman

What you'll need: 
12 ice cream sandwiches
1 pint strawberry ice cream, softened
1 pint Cookies over Texas ice cream, softened (or cookies and cream if you don't live in Texas and get HEB ice cream...to which I am so sorry!)
8 oz. Cool Whip, softened
1 c. sprinkles (if you want...we did not...I don't like them)

What you'll do: 
Line an 8 in. square pan with foil making sure to go both directions and have enough to overhang on each side. Place a layer of ice cream sandwiches in the bottom of the pan. Spread the strawberry ice cream over the sandwiches evenly using an off-set spatula. Layer another layer of ice cream sandwiches over the strawberry ice cream. Spread the Cookies over Texas ice cream evenly. Spread the Cool Whip evenly over the top like a frosting. Sprinkle with sprinkles if you'd like. Freeze for 1 hour or more. 

Remove the cake from the freezer and carefully remove the cake from the pan. Peel off the foil making sure to get all of it, it does stick to the sides and bottom. Slice and serve. 

Personal Fruit Pizzas

Since we've been home so much lately, thank you COVID-19, we've been having fun with food, especially desserts lately. I decided that we needed to try to be healthy so of course personal fruit pizzas came to mind. I also had butter milk on hand that I wanted to use. This is so easy, fun, yummy, and it fit the bill perfectly! The cookies are the perfect size and sweetness, plus you don't have to make the dough ahead of time and refrigerate it. I halved the recipe and we still had enough cookies for the week. 

What you'll need for the personal buttermilk cookies: 

1 1/2 c. sugar
1 c. salted butter, room temp. 
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
4 1/2 -5 1/2 c. flour
Powdered sugar


What you'll do: 

-Preheat oven to 400º
-Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. 
-Cream sugar and butter in a stand mixer for 3 min. or until fluffy. Mix in the eggs. Add salt and baking powder and mix well. Add 1/4c. buttermilk, vanilla, almond extract and blend. Add 2 1/2 c. flour 1/2 c. at a time. Add the remaining 1/4 c. buttermilk. Then blend in the reaming flour. The batter should be smooth and elastic like. If the batter is too sticky add more flour. 
-Sprinkle your rolling surface with powder sugar and roll the dough out until it is a 1/4 inch thick. 
- Using a large mouth mason jar, cut out the cookies and transfer onto baking sheet. 
-Bake for 10 min. Allow to cool then frost. 


Frosting for personal fruit pizzas:

8 oz. cream cheese
13 oz. marshmallow cream fluff

-Mix ingredients together and frost cookies when ready to eat. 


Making the fruit pizzas:
Top with cut up fruit like:
Apples
Blueberries
Strawberries
Raspberries
Blackberries
Bananas
Peaches
Can also drizzle with a bit of honey

Wednesday Aug. 10

It was a busy day in the kitchen today. I made some really great muffins. No suprise as they were a Paula recipe. But great nonetheless. I'm also taking dinner to a friend who recently had a baby. I decided that I'd make, big suprise, another Paula recipe...Lemon blossoms for dessert. I also made lasagna with homemade spaghetti sauce and brought with it, a bag of salad and a box of frozen garlic bread. Somethings are just better store bought and I believe salad and garlic are great store bought items. Not only saves me time but tasts great and are easy. Not that I don't value my friends, but I'm sure they were greatful just the same :) All-in-all it was a yummy kind of day. OH, AND I also tried a pioneer woman iced coffee that was out of this world! Lot's to share today! EnJoY!

Apple Raisin Muffins
Paula Deen's cookbook for the lunch-box set pg. 20

2 cups apples, peeled, cored, and finely diced (I used Fuji as they are our favs)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Put the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 12 muffin cups with cooking spray.

Place the apples and sugar in a medium bowl and toss together. In a large measuring up (2 cup measuing cup works just fine), measure the oil, then add the eggs and vanilla. Mix well with a whisk or fork. Pour the oil-egg mixture into the apple mixture and stir well with a fork.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir well with a fork. Add the raisins and pecans (if using), and stir well with fork. Make a  well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the apple mixture over the flour mixture and stirl with a fork until all of the dry ingredients are mixed in. Don't over mix. Batter will be very thick!

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. I used an ice cream scoop for this.

Bake the muffins for 18 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned and the sides pull away from the muffin cups. Cool 5 minutes. EnJoY!

*These were great because they have a wonderul cinnamon flavor. Also, I cut my apples into larger chunks. When the cooked they were still a bit firm to bite into but were cooked through. I also love the raisins in them. It's not a lot of raisins, but enough that you get one every couple of bites.

Lasagna
This is one of my recipies that I have put together over time.

1 prepared recipe of Paula's spaghetti sauce, warmed
1 box of Oven ready lasagna noodles
2 cups motzerella cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese
1 carton of cottage cheese
1 Tbs. oregano
1 Tbs. parsley
2 tsp. garlic salt
mushrooms (if you like)

Make your spaghetti sauce. If you don't want to make time to do this, brown 1 lb hamburger meat and add 2 cans of Huntz traditional spaghetti sauce and mushrooms, stir, and you have a very quick sauce that's pretty good (but not as good as Paula's!).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, mix the motz cheese, parm cheese, cottage cheese, oregano, parsley, and garlic salt with a fork.

Ladel a bit of sauce into the bottom of the dish and spread over the bottom (just enough so the noodles won't stick). Add a layer of the noodles (you really don't need to precook these and I promise they taste almost the same as cooked noodles but are a LOT less work), some cheese mixture, and sauce. Repeat the noodles, cheese, and sauce. Finally a layer of noodles and sauce. Top with some motzerella cheese, oregano, and parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes for the dish to thicken up a bit. EnJoY!

*I ended up not having enough noodles for me to make this for my family as well. Which turned out great. I had some large manicotti noodles to make stuffed manicotti with. I cooked them until they were al dente. Then I spread some sauce in the bottom of my pan, stuffed the shells with the cheese mixture, lined them up in the pan, spread the rest of the sauce over the top, then added the motzerella and parm cheese. Then baked for 30 minutes and had a wonderful dinner. Also, you remember I made spaghetti sauce last week using venison sausage. I had some leftover that I put into a large ziplock baggie and froze. Tonight, I thawed it out and used it in my family casserole. For the lasagna, I used hamburger, but the family requested no onions, so I made the sauce minus the onions. This recipe is so easly adaptable. You could also add mushrooms to the sauce if you'd like. I've done this before but my kids don't really like them, so I usually leave them out.

Lemon Blossoms
Paula Deen and Friends Livin' it up Southern Style Pg. 110

For the Muffins:
18.5 ounce yellow cake mix
3/5 ounce instant lemon pudding mix
4 large eggs
3/4 cup canola oil

For the glaze:
4 cups powder sugar
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (bottled works just fine too)
1 lemon, zested (I don't use just because I don't like lemon zest)
3 Tbs. canola oil
3 Tbs. water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray mini muffin cups with cooking spray with flour (you will use these over and over since this makes 5 dozen. I have 2 trays with 12 muffins each and have to refill each at least 2 times, so make sure you have a friend to share these with or else you'll eat them all yourself since they are THAT good!).

Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs and oil and blend well with an electric mixer (I use my kitchen aid with the paddle attachment) until smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour batter into muffin tins (I use my ice cream scoop again), about half full (you want these small, so DON'T over fill....ONLY GO HALF WAY!). Bake 12 minutes. Cool 2 minutes then turn out onto a tea towel (a kitchen towel). While the first batch is cooking make the glaze.

To make the glaze, sift powder sugar into a large mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, zest, oil and water. Mix with a spoon until smooth.

Using your fingers (yes this is messy, but hey, you get to lick the yummyness off of your fingers), dip the cupcakes into the glaze while they are still warm (but not hot or they'll fall apart). Cover them as much as possible (just give 'em a good dunking!). Place on a wire rack, with wax paper under it to catch the drips, to let cool and set up. Store in an air-tight container. EnJoY!

*Oh great! Now I need to get up and walk to the kitchen to have a few of these bad boys! They are soooooo yummy and refreshing in the summer, or anytime really. Make these just once and you'll be craving them weekly. Just like an Oreo, I bet you can't eat just one!

Pioneer Woman's Cold Coffee

From the Pioneer Woman's web site

Which she adapted from the Imbibe magazine, and I adapted a bit for myself....are you confused yet?!

1 pound Ground Coffee (good, Rich Roast) (I used 1.5 cups)

8 quarts Cold Water (I used 4 cups)

Half-and-half (healthy Splash Per Serving)

Sweetened Condensed Milk (2-3 Tablespoons Per Serving)

Note: Can Use Skim Milk, 2% Milk, Whole Milk, Sugar, Artificial Sweeteners, Syrups...adapt To Your Liking

In a large container, mix the ground coffee and water. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature for 8 hours or overnight.

Line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set over a pitcher or other container. Pour coffee/water mixture through strainer and allow the liquid to run through. Discard the grounds.

Place coffee in the fridge and allow to cool.

To make iced coffee, pack a glass full of ice. Fill 2/3 full with coffee liquid, add half and half (I used my morning creamer) and 2 - 3 Tbs. of sweetened condensed milk (can use plain sugar instead), and stir to combine. Taste and adjust cream and milk as needed. EnJoY!

*I didn't make as much as she was telling me to do because I wanted to make sure I'd like it before I made a big 'ol honkin batch of it. She didn't let me down, I loved it. My only concern now is drinking too much coffee throughout the day. I have to put a limit on myself!

Tuesday Aug. 2nd

I have a breakfast and lunch recipe to share today, but no dinner recipe. We had a funeral visitation to attend this evening, so we went out for dinner. In leu of our no dinner to share, I have some that we've made and never made it onto the blog. So I'll pick one and share it tonight. You're welcome!

Breakfast: Zucchini bread (I actually made this a while ago. I made a couple of loaves and froze one. I just thawed this in the fridge the day before)
Lunch: Chicken ceasar wraps with fruit (I had leftover pasta salad from Monday night)
Snack: from the gas station on the road
Dinner: out, but I'll feature Tasty Marinated Chicken with scalloped potatoes
Dessert: Lime Chiffon Pie, Oh My!

Zucchini Bread
I got this from a mom in my MOPS group in Houston, not sure where she got it from

3 eggs
1 c. veg. oil
2 c. sugar
2 c. grated zucchini
3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. cinnamon (or 2 tsp. cinnamon and 1/2 tsp. cloves from a spicer bread)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. nuts, chopped (I didn't use these, we don't like nuts in our bread)

Beat eggs; add oil, sugar, and vanilla. Mix well. Add zucchini and remaining ingredients. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 60 to 75 minutes. Start testing doneness at 60 min, then every 5 min. after. EnJoY!

This freezes well. Just let cool, wrap in Saran wrap then foil. Freeze. Thaw in fridge 1 day before eating.
This bread supprised me when I made it. You can NOT taste the zucchini (great for kids and getting them to eat more veggies) and it was red when I cut into it because of all of the cinnamon. It tastes GREAT!

Chicken Ceasar Wrap
Paula Deen's Cookbook for the Lunch Box Set (kids cookbook) Page 88
Sorry, no pic of this today

1 c. chopped romaine lettuce (I used iceburg lettuce since that's what I had)
1 c. chopped cooked chicken breast
1 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
1 c. Ceasar salad dressing
3 tomato or spinach wraps (or as many as you'll need) (I actually used tortilla wraps, it's what I had!)

In a small bowl, combine the lettuce, chicken breast, Parm cheese, and dressing. Place the chicken salad mixture in the center of the wrap. Fold up each of the wrap, then roll up tightly. EnJoY!

This was a good wrap. My kids ate it very quickly and really enjoyed it.

Tasty Marinated Chicken
I got this recipe from a Freezer Group member that I was in, in Houston. Not sure where she got it from.
This is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good! Great flavor!
The ingredients for this is NOT in the grocery list for this week since it wasn't on the menu. Sorry!

Moving on, Ingredients:
2/3 c. olive oil
2/3 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. lemon juice
2 Tbs. liquid smoke
2 Tbs. spicy brown mustard
2 tsp. ground black pepper
2 tsp. garlic powder
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

In a gallon size baggie, combine olive oil, soy sauce, lemon juice, liquid smoke, mustard, pepper, and garlic powder. Whisk. Place chicken in the baggie and coat. Zip the baggie and place in a bowl and refridgerate for at least 24 hours. Preheat grill. Discard the marinate and place chicken on grate. Cook 6 to 8 minutes on each side. Goes great with brown rice or acorn squash. I made a box of scalloped potatoes. I just followed the directions on the box. EnJoY!


Lime Chiffon Pie
this is on a recipe card and all I know is that I got it out of a Kraft magazine 3 years ago.
Also, if you know me during the summer, then you've probably had this. It is my FAVORITE summer dessert. Light, fluffy and refreshing! TRY THIS!!!!!

2/3 c. boiling water
1 pkg. (4 servings) lime Jell-O
ice cubes
1/2 c. cold water
1 1/2 tsp. grated lime peel (I don't usually use this since I don't always have limes)
2 Tbs. lime juice
small carton thawed Cool Whip
1 grahm cracker crumb crust (just buy one, it's so much easier!)

Stir boiling water into Jell-O in a large bowl at least 2 minutes (make sure you do this!) until completely dissolved. Add enough ice to the cold water to measure 1 cup. Add to Jell-O, stir until ice is completely melted. Stir in lime peel and juice. Add Cool Whip, stir with a whisk until well blended (I use the whisk the entire time I'm making this). Refridgerate 15 to 20 minutes or until mixture is very think and will mound. Spoon into crust.  Refridgerate at least 4 hours or overnight. EnJoY!

Cake Balls

It's Friday and my wonderful husband suprised us today by taking the day off of work and taking us out for a family fun day. We ate breakfast at McDonald's, and a late lunch/earlyier than old people eat dinner at TGI Friday's. I did not cook one bit of food today, so I can not share any recipies with you.

BUT the other day I did make cake balls. OH MY GOODNESS! I don't like sweets. I love to make all kids of bad food, but I don't like to eat it. But cake balls. WOW! Sooooo goooooood. And super easy to make. Not to mention, you can mix and match until your hearts' content. I had a lot of chocolate cake leftover from a cake that I had made the weekend before, so I made chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting in milk chocolate.

Cake Balls:
Cake
Frosting
Melting chocolate

Bake the cake and let it cool. Once it's cool, put it in the mixer and mix it up until it's all broken apart. Then mix in a container of frosting (or make a batch of it and mix it in). Mix the whole mess together and put it in the fridge overnight. Take it out and line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Using a melon baller, make a bunch of balls with the cake mixture. Freeze for 1 hour (the more frozen the better). Melt 2 cups of chocolate in the microwave, in 30 second increments, stirring after 30 seconds each time, until it's all melted. Pull the cake balls out of the freezer and using a toothpick, dip each ball into the chocolate. Use another toothpick to help get the ball off of the other toothpick & back onto the wax paper to cool. If the balls start sticking to the toothpicks, put them back into the freezer for a bit to harden back up. Drizzle some chocolate over top to make them look pretty. Keep them in the fridge...or I freeze mine. They keep longer this way and I think they taste better frozen.

(This picture does not do justice to how yummy these are!)

EnJoY!

St. Patty's Day dishes

It's Friday and I didn't post yesterday and I'm late posting today. Sorry! It's been a busy couple of days.
Thursday was St. Patty's day. We started off the day with green eggs, toast, and green milk. They tried the green milk and decided that since it still tasted the same, it was ok to drink. The green eggs on the other had did not go over at all. It did not matter what color the eggs were, they were not going to be eaten...with out a fight. They eventually got eaten, but I think next year, we'll just have cereal with green milk. To make the green eggs, I just cracked 5 eggs into a bowl and added a few squirts of green food coloring, added some shredded cheddar cheese and scrambled them up in the skillet. Same with the green milk, I put 2 drops of green food coloring into the cups and added the milk. Easy peasey.

(I have tried and tried to get my pic here, but I can't get it to work, sorry you can't see our lovely green eggs and green milk)

After breakfast, we decided to head over to have lunch with daddy. I wanted to make a special St. Patty's Day treat to take with me. I had found some mint Hershey's kisses at Target that had a recipe on it that I wanted to try. So I whipped up a batch of cookie brownie cupcakes. They were super easy and quick. Once they are cool, you put the kiss on top. I learned the hard way that you have to wait until they cool or else the kiss melts. So even if you want to hury them along, WAIT!

We were going to do Pistachio pudding for snack, but didn't get back in time. So, we'll have to do it another time and just enjoy the green.

For dinner we had Beef and Noodels in thai peanut sauce. It was good and we'd had it before (but I'd forgotten that we had). It's not full of flavor, but it's good.

Beef and Noodles in Thai Peanut sauce
(Robin Miller Quick Fix Meals pg. 88)

8 oz. somen or soba noodles or whole wheat spaghetti (I used rice noodles b/c I had some that I wanted to use up)

Thai Peanut Sauce:
3 cups reduced-sodium beef broth
2 Tbs. reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 Tbs. creamy peanut butter (I used Jiff...because I'm a choosy mom)
2 tea. toasted seasme oil
1 tea. hot sauce (I did not put this in and whished I had for a little extra flavor)

Pad Thai:
1 Tbs. peanut oil (I didn't have this, so I just used olive oil and it was just fine)
1 tea. peeled & minced fresh ginger (I used a tube of refridgerated ginger)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded & diced
1 1/4 lbs lean beef steak (such as sirloin or flank), cut crosswise in 1/4 inch strips
1/4 cup chopped dry-roasted peanuts
1/4 cup chopped scallions (white and green parts)

Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Drain, transfer to a large bowl, and cover with aluminum foil or plastic wrap to keep warm.
Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, whisk together the sauce ingredients until well blende and set the pan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and let simmer for 10 minutes.
Heat the peanut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ginger and garlic and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the beef and cook, stirring, for 2 mintues. Add 1 cup of the peanut sauce and simmer until the beef is cooked through, about 5 minutes.
Transfer the beef mixture to the noodles and toss to combine, then serve on individual plates topped with the peanuts and scallions.

EnJoY!

Like I said this was good, just not FULL of flavor. It makes a lot of peanut sauce so you can either make this a couple of times, make less sauce, or make something else like stirfry with the extra.