Blog Surfing

This recipe from My Kitchen in Half Cups has great recipe for Cauliflower Baked: Spicy and Easy.

Anne Strawberry has suggestions on How to use all that zucchini.

How about some s'mores with out the campfire? Tablespoon has s'mores ice cream sandwiches for a summer treat. There is also a healthier version of an Italian chopped salad that you can find here. If you are looking for appetizers and snacks for your 4th of July party, you can find some here. After all the burgers and hot dogs, how about some grilled fish recipes!

Chez Pim has individual cheesecakes baked in little jars with roasted nectarines here. You could use any fresh fruit. It is a great idea. You should at least take a peek!

Kittencal's Kitchen has a recipe for making ice cream with out an ice cream maker. She uses jello as the base and flavor. If you are interested, you should check it out here. She also has a recipe for Mexi-chicken salad sandwiches.

Spiced chicken with melon salsa sounds interesting. Taste of Home has the recipe here. You will also find the top ten July 4th desserts here. This Tomato Avocado Salad looks really good. If it sounds good to you, click here. And surprise, a few more Patriotic Dessert recipes.

Angel in the Kitchen has a recipe for Grilled Corn with Garlic Butter and Parmesan that sounds really good. Check it out here. Her Grilled Flank Steak sounds really good too. You can find that here.

The Kitchen has a recipe for Quick Coconut Ice Cream that uses coconut milk, condensed milk and cream. There are also instructions on how to make roasted cherries that you can add to the ice cream.

When I saw 'One Minute Fruit Cobbler' I had to check it out! The recipe uses a cake mix and mixed fruit of your choice. It that sounds interesting check it out here on Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

Cookin' Canuck has a recipe for Chicken Kebabs with pomegranate spice that would be great for the BBQ.

This recipe for Roasted Mediterranean Cauliflower looks and sounds really good. Thanks to Eating, Etc.

Shrimp in a Fiery Coconut Sauce sounds good to me! You can find the recipe here on eCurry. If you are looking for lots of curry recipes, you will find them here.

I thought this recipe from Sweet Pea's Recipes for Honey Butter is very unique. If you are interested, you can check it out here.

Recipezaar has two great groups of recipes for your 4th of July BBQ, and you can find them here and here.

I forgot how easy it is to make a meal on the BBQ. Check out Mennonite Girls Can Cook and their BBQ Casserole in a foil packet.

I couldn't resist posting these recipes for Ice Cream Sandwiches from Love and  Homemade. Tillamook Ice Cream also has a recipe for Sugar Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches here.

Who could resist Red, White and Blueberry Salad? Watermelon, Jicama and blueberries! You can find the recipe here. From Tablespoon.

Peaches and Cream Kuchen

The peaches that we have been buying at Costco the past few weeks have been amazing! They have had two varieties; fuzzy skin and fuzz-less. We have been getting the fuzz-less and they have been outstanding! They are so good, their aroma draws you to them. If a peach doesn't smell like a peach, I pass on by and let someone else buy them. If a peach is hard as a rock, I also leave it for someone else. In my experience, if it feels like a rock and smells like a rock, you just bought a box or rocks labeled "peaches," and they will most likely rot before they ripen. The best way to tell if a peach is going to taste good is if it smells good. There are always exceptions, but that hasn't been my experience.

This is a great breakfast/brunch treat that I have made often during peach season. Actually, I have served it for dessert, so you can eat it any time, day or night! It is quite easy to put together and it really doesn't have that many ingredients. The recipe says to make it with fresh, canned or frozen peaches. I have only made this with fresh peaches and I can't believe that I haven't made this in the off-season with frozen or canned. 

If you have a few extra peaches, you should try this recipe. The recipe below makes 2 pie plates. This recipe is easy to cut in half. It takes three peaches to make one pie plate. It is good served warm or cold.

Dear Hubby said I needed to show the "After" picture!

Enjoy!

Pork Verde

What do you do when you are very busy working on a large project and need to make something that you can make once and eat at least twice? I went to the freezer and pulled a boneless pork shoulder roast and covered it with a bottle of this:

I put it in a 300 degree oven and after about two hours I had this:

After some pulling it looked like this:

 There is not one speck of fat on this piece of pork

I made some Funky Refried Beans and we sat down and ate this:

It's not fillet mignon, but it was low fat, nutritious and most of all, easy! Not too bad when you don't have time to cook! The pork roast is from Costco and it comes in a two-pack in the fresh meat area. They always turn out very tender and flavorful.
 
I love it when a meal comes together without much of a plan!

King's Hawaiian Bread

Happy 60th Anniversary to King's Hawaiian Bread/Bakery! Last week our local paper ran an article with pictures and recipes in celebration of their anniversary. Their breads and rolls have a very distinct sweet flavor and yellowish color. They use all natural products, including real eggs and butter in all of their baked goods. 

Between their two plants, they are producing over a million pounds of bread products a week, and their sales have doubled in the last 5 years, so someone is eating their bread! In case you didn't have the opportunity to see their recipes, I decided I would share a couple of them with you here.












They also have two King's Hawaiian Restaurants/Bakeries in our area. They have a large menu that features Portuguese and Hawaiian dishes. We have eaten there several times in the past few years and have enjoyed taking out of town guests there for a meal. My parents especially enjoyed going there because of the years they spent living in Hawaii. My dad was in the Navy, stationed in Honolulu and I was actually born at the Tripler Army Hospital in Honolulu. They love the island food and are always looking for a great restaurant that features that style of food. If you are ever in the area you should check them out. I will warn you, when you enter the restaurant, you go through and wait for a table in the bakery!

Have you had a Kringle lately?

The first time I made a Kringle was over 25 years ago. I baked it for a friend's baby shower that I helped host, and now that baby is a full grown adult! Through the years, I moved on to other recipes and somehow forgot about this great little treat. It is not difficult to make, and it has a WoW factor. It looks like you bought it at a bakery! Well, usually, if everything goes right.

As you will see from the recipe, the steps are very easy. You do need a strong stirring arm at the point in the recipe that you are adding the three eggs one at a time. Each egg needs to be added to the flour/butter mixture and stirred completely before you add the next egg. It definitely helps to have some arm muscles or have someone around that can help you with the stirring. Don't let that discourage you from making this. It is well worth the effort.

Recently, my daughter invited her "moms' group" and their kids over for a little pre-birthday brunch party for Wiley. I offered to bake something for the moms and chose to make a Kringle (Danish puff). The night before, as I looked at the recipe, I realized that I would have to be up a lot earlier than usual to have this ready in time for the party. It bakes for 60 minutes, and that's not including the preparation time. I don't mind getting up early when I have something fun to do, so it wasn't a problem!

I hopped out of bed the next morning at the crack of dawn, ready to get started. Thankfully, it was one of those good baking days when everything seems to go right! I had it made and delivered before the moms and kids arrived, and the Kringle was still warm!

The birthday boy with pre-birthday party jitters was sharing some of his concerns with me!
His first words to me when I walked in, Kringle on plate were, "We don't need that, gramma, we have enough already. You can take that back home."

Out of the mouths of babes!

Ivan, the little brother, was there for the fun and food!

Good thing mommy had left a spot for the Kringle!

...now about the cupcakes,
Wiley and I made the cupcakes the day before in his kitchen.

 

 He worked really hard...

...and then he licked a little, (a lot actually!)

Yummy!

Gramma wasn't hungry for a lick

Stirring is a very hard job!

...and now back to the Kringle

You should try it. You won't believe how good it is! Yes, I had a bite!

Key Ingredient has not fixed their picture problem yet! 

Enjoy!

Dear Wiley B,

What an amazing day it was the day you were born, June 28, 2007!

Your mommy and daddy were so happy!

 

Your papas were so happy!

Your grammas were so happy!

Your mommy was especially happy! She had been carrying you around for months and she finally got to meet you in person!

 

 

You have been everything that we even hoped for or could have dreamed of!

 

We hardly blinked and we were celebrating your 1st birthday!

And then your 2nd birthday!

 

 And now you are such a big boy at 3 years old that you helped make your birthday party cupcakes!

We all love you, Wiley!

 

Your mommy and daddy,

Your brother,

Your grammas and grandpas,

Your uncles and aunties,

and everyone that has ever met you!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Wiley!

An Evening on Main Street

This is a warning! 

This blog is for Gramma's, Aunties, maybe some Grandpa's, and people that like 

small children and puppies!

I'm sure that doesn't sound like much fun to spend a summer evening on Main Street, but wait, it was Main Street at Disneyland! With a one-year old and a two-year old!! 

 First we got them safely in their car seats,

and then we had to make sure everyone stayed happy until we got there!

 Time for the first "posed" pictures! Wiley had it down!

Hurry, gramma, we're waiting for the fun part to start!

At least there was a gate to climb on...

 ...while waiting for the train at Main Street Station.

Yes, that is my hand bag around Papa's neck. Yes, we are officially Old!

Wiley's self-portrait

Wiley's second attempt at taking a picture

Finally, aboard the train

We rode the train around the park and ended up right back where we started, Main Street!

How cute is he!!

Such a big boy!

Watching and listening to the Disneyland National Collegiate All-Star Band

Ivan was really feeling the music and the audience really loved his moves!

He got as close as he could get to the band

 

They were amazing, but Ivan stole the show with his moves!

Our fun for the night was watching them perform!

We walked up Main Street, ate some dinner, walked back down Main Street and headed for the car, with a brief stop to watch the fireworks from Downtown Disney. Forty-five minutes later, we arrived at the car. We got both of the boys in their jammies and headed home. It took four hours to accomplish all of the above!

I'm sure that isn't everyone's idea of the perfect evening, but we sure had a great time with the boys!