Blog Surfing

A Feast For the Eyes is sharing her Grilling Season Family Favorites.

Making Memories has a recipe for Homemade Puffy Paint and lots of other fun projects to do with kids. It sounds kind of messy but fun!! Maybe an outdoors project.

Tablespoon has a recipe for Five Herb Bread. Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, Basil and Oregano. You might want to check out their Rocky Road Brownies too!

This BBQ Chicken Cobb Salad is beautifully placed and would make a good summer dinner on a warm evening. Thanks to Our Best Bites.

Land O' Lakes has some ideas to help keep you cool and fed with strawberry and summer salad recipes.

About.com has summer recipes for Grilling Fruit including pineapple, nectarines, apricots and pears. You can also find Summer Baking Tips.

Epicurious has menus, recipes and gift ideas to help plan a special Father's Day.

Taste of Home has a recipe for Pork Medallions with Garlic and Strawberry Sauce. The recipe sounds really interesting.

The Food Network has a great looking grill recipe for Flank Steak with Salsa Verde.

Cookstr has a recipe for Crispy Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. That sounds like the perfect Oatmeal cookie. They also have the perfect recipes for a light Greek meal.

Cooking with Christine has the best looking picture and recipe for Blueberry Cheesecake Icecream using fresh blueberries, cream cheese and graham crackers. There are more ingredients too, but it is an eggless recipe. She has several more ice cream recipes too.

Culinary in the Desert has a delicious looking Pear and Prosciutto Pizza that is topped with fresh Arugula and a tangy vinaigrette.

Tasty Kitchen is featuring several great looking recipes. Sauteed Fish Fillets with Mango Lime Slaw looks easy and quick and the  Pad Thai would make a great meal on a hot day.

We eat a lot of almonds around our house and these Roasted Almonds with Lemon and Salt from My Recipes look like a great change from our regular routine.

Living in the Kitchen with Puppies has a recipe for Vanilla Cardamom Ice Cream served in Candied Pecan Meringue Shells and several other other unusually spiced ice creams for summer.


Meet Me In The Kitchen has a great varied of Mini Scones. Her flavors include Cherry Chocolate and Rhubarb.

Taste of Home has a recipes for Grilled Portobello Burgers with Pear Walnut Mayonaise. It looks and sounds great!

Lemon Bars

In spite of many years living in SoCal, I am still amazed at being able to pick an orange or several lemons off the tree in our yard. I get happy just watching the whole process. Right now we have little baby oranges and lemons that will ripen in the fall and turn into the most amazing fruit. Our daughter has a lemon tree in her yard that produces the most amazing lemons year round.  We don't know for sure what variety they are but it's a good one! They aren't super sour or tart but just right! Today I got a half of a cup of lemon juice from just one lemon!

Another thing that amazes me is how you can start with lemons...

...and turn them into...

Lemon Bars!

The other night we dropped by our daughter and son-in-law's house to get a couple lemons. Our daughter gave us a bag of lemons that Wiley had picked. Our son-in-law tossed in a few more lemons that he had just picked, so we had a huge bag of lemons! My dear hubby said, "That's a lot of lemons for the two of us to use!" Our daughter said, "You can make some lemonade!" And her husband said "Or lemon bars!" So, I made lemon bars!

Enjoy!

Aunt Elaine

 

In Memory of my Dear Auntie

Elaine

She always had a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face. She loved God and her family and she was my mom's oldest sister. She was a wonderful cook and I loved looking through all of the recipes that she had collected for many years.

She was always so much fun and she had so many funny stories. When I was learning to drive, I was not looking forward to taking the driving test. She convinced me that it wouldn't be any problem at all. She started telling me all the little details about her experience getting her license. The one thing I couldn't figure out is how she got to the DMV (or whatever it was called back then). So I asked her how she got there to take the test. She said very matter of factly, "Oh, I knew how to drive, I drove myself!" I laughed and laughed. She was so funny!

When I was 19 or 20 years old, we were talking one day about funerals. Go figure! I had never been to one and told her I was afraid of what when on during funerals and what might happen. She told me that she afraid when she was younger too and she began to explain to me everything that went on during funerals. Then she told me that I really needed to go to a funeral soon because a day would come when I would really need to go to a funeral of a family member. She convinced me that I needed to go to one and said that it would be better to go to the funeral of someone that I didn't know very well and that she would take me. 

Before too long, she suggested that we go to the funeral of an elderly lady that I knew of, but didn't know her well. Just the thought of going gave me the worst stomach ache, I will never forget it! As we got close to the chapel, with that twinkle in her eye, she put her arm through mine and never let go. We sat on the very last row and she walked me through the whole thing, like we were co-conspirators on a covert mission. When it was over, it was such a relief and I was so glad that she had helped me through that whole experience. It took away the fear of the unknown and for that I will always be grateful to her. Not too long after that, my grandfather passed away and I thanked her many times after that for helping face that fear.

Today she will be laid to rest, but my memories of her will live on. I loved her very much and I will miss her.

Roasted Chicken and Spicy Peanut Soba Noodles

Gail Simmons, one of the judges on Top Chef, had a short video promoting this recipe for KitchenDaily.com that I happened to watch on AOL. It sounded good and looked easy, of course; she made it in about 3.2 minutes through the magic of technology. I found their website and printed out the recipe.

It is an easy recipe to make, but it is one of those recipes where everything comes together at the last minute, which can make it a little challenging for one person.

The next time that I make this, I will start by making the salad first and holding it in the refrigerator. You want the sauce to stay hot. I would suggest after you add the hot mixture to the sauce ingredients in the blender, and blend it together, you pour it into a sauce pan to keep it warm on low heat. You want the roasted chicken to stay warm, so I would pull the meat off and shred it while the soba noodles are cooking. They boil for 5 minutes and then it is time to put everything together to serve, and you want everything to stay as warm as possible while you are combining everything. 

We really enjoyed this a lot and look forward to making it again. 

Enjoy!

Healthier Strawberry Scones

I have a quick recipe for Strawberry Scones. I have been trying to re-work some recipes that I like using healthier ingredients. I was very happy with how these scones turned out so I am going to save this recipe and also pass it along.

The main issue with scones is the fat. The best scone recipes use cream, heavy cream or butter to make them tender, and frankly, good! In the following recipe I used low fat vanilla yogurt, almond milk in place of regular milk, and coconut oil for half of the butter, and white whole wheat pastry flour in place of all purpose flour.

The coconut oil can be kept in the cupboard depending on how you use it. If it is warm in your house, it will turn to liquid. I was planning on using all coconut oil, but only 4 tablespoons were firm enough and the rest was to soft due to our warmer weather. It is now in the refrigerator and can be used as you would butter or shortening. Allow time for it to warm up a little before trying to get it out of the jar.

This is the coconut oil that I used

The scones turned out light and crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. If you are interested in a healthier scone, you should give this a try. 

Enjoy!

Blog Surfing

I have never considered eating eggs poached in tomato sauce, but Hangover Eggs look good and I know my dear hubby would love them. It looks so easy and I'm thinking that I will really enjoy them too. Stacey Snacks also has a recipe for Tarte Provencal, a Ratatouille baked on puff pastry topped with goat cheese and  fresh basil. Yum!


Summer Suppers has a great looking  recipe for Beet Carpaccio with Goat Cheese and Mint looks like it would make a wonderful summer salad. We love summer salads, beets and anything with goat cheese.

Life's a Feast has a way with words and beautiful pictures. I also loved the way this Strawberry Rhubarb Compote with Genoise  looked so pretty in the clear cups. The compote on the bottom and the small cake on top.

It's that time when school is almost out and you might be looking for graduation gifts that won't break the bank for that special graduate. Life as Mom has some ideas for this and Frugal Friday with tips for frugal living too!

Do you like buckwheat? These Buttermilk Buckwheat Pancakes are healthy and easy to make. Thanks to Taste of Home.

Our Best Bites has a recipe for Easy White Cake that does look very easy. It uses a white cake mix as the base. They all but guarantee you will have perfectly round and smooth cupcakes or cake. There is also a recipe for vanilla or chocolate frosting.

These Souffled Cheddar Egg Nests would make a very special breakfast for two. They are a little bit like Eggs Benedict without the english muffin. Found on eating/sf.

These Spicy Grilled Fish Tacos are one our menu for Memorial Day weekend. I will make these Funky Refried Beans and a side salad and dinner is served. Thanks to Tasty Kitchen.

A Feast for the Eyes just won the grand prize with her recipe for Eggs in Baskets with Candied Bacon in a contest that Eggland's Best held.

I found this interesting article on The Kitchen blog about Freezing Cheese. I always wonder if it's a good idea or not, so I found this article full of information and guidelines on freezing cheese. There was also a beautiful summer recipe for
No-Bake Strawberry Ice Box Cake. It is a perfect dessert to make ahead. It make a beautiful presentation with graham crackers, whipped cream and strawberries with a drizzle of chocolate. It is beautiful!

Cookie Baker Lynn has a brownie recipe that caught my eye. Chocolate Cherry Brownies with Chocolate Cherry Ganache. All I can say is Oh my! 

Memorial Day weekend is a great time to start barbecuing, if you have started yet. We have a smoker that we haven't used and I'm glad I found these recipies for Barbeque and Smoking. Thanks to About.com.

With summer kicked off Epicurious has some ideas for Summer Entertaining.

This summer I plan to grill as much as possible. This info on how to cook grilled pizza on the barbecue is going to come in handy. Serious Eats has helpful tips to make it successful.

Blog Surfing

Making omelets for a crowd can be very time consuming. Here is a great way to prepare omelets. Mennonite Girls Can Cook show us how to make Ziploc Omelets . My son has used this method when entertaining guests for brunch.

If you are interested in a new way to cook pasta, you should read this. The Food Lab dispels some long held myths. Thanks to Serious Eats for this passing on this information. 

Taste of Home has  a recipe for Raspberry Iced Tea plus many other iced tea recipes. It sounds really good for a hot summer day.

Tired of your same old Mac and Cheese recipe? Tillamook has 54 of their favorite Mac and Cheese recipes for you to choose from, plus many other recipes using all of their great products! How about Macaroni and Cheese Pie? Orangesicles? Green Chile Enchiladas?

Cooking with Cristine has a recipe for Monkey Bread that isn't the sweet and gooey breakfast rolls that come to mind. This is a very interesting way to bake and serve bread. You should check this out!

Tasty Kitchen featured this recipe for Southwest Slaw.  Chipotle Chile gives it that extra kick of flavor. It is good served on Fish Tacos.

How about some Roasted Almonds with Lemon and Salt ? I eat almonds everyday and this sounds like an interesting healthy variation. Thanks to My Recipes.

Yum Sugar has a great tip on how to keep your cut avocado from turning brown.

You won't believe how easy it is. Why didn't we think of that!

Are you a fan of Trader Joes? If you are a fan and like to use their products, you will love their Trader Joes Fan website. They feature their new products and recipes. Through the end of way they have a May 2010 Recipe Challenge, looking for your freshest recipes.

The Sister's Cafe has a low fat recipe for Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp. It looks simple and good. This is a Weight Watcher's Recipe.

I love this! The Barefoot Kitchen Witch has the recipe for making The Healthiest Cupcakes Ever! Really! This is perfect with summer right around the corner.

Technicolor Kitchen has a recipe for Pear-Almond Pies in Cups. This would make a great presentation for dessert!

I'm always looking for recipes with Oatmeal. These Cocoa Oatmeal Muffins caught my eye. Taste and Tell has the recipe for this muffins. There is also a recipe for Meat and Potato Pasties taken from the May issue of Real Simple.

Every thing at Tartelette looks beautiful, even these Provencal Filled Zucchini .

She has lots of beautiful pictures and recipes.

Are you planning on grilling on Memorial Day Weekend or any time this summer? Here is a link from The Food Network for Grilling Central, recipes and instructions on how to have a great grilling experience.

One Perfect Bite has a recipe for Mediterranean Chocolate Cake with Lemon and Olive Oil. I love these healthier versions of sweet treats. Chocolate with lemon is also a taste combination that I would like to try. Also, the Strawberry Panna Cotta looks so pretty (and good) I might try to make it this weekend.