One thing I look forward to every summer is the watermelon! There are so many fun and tasty ways to enjoy it..... here's one that involves cookie cutters!
Materials:
Large Slice of Watermelon
Heart Shaped Cookie Cutter
Cutting Board
Step 1: Place a large slice of watermelon on a cutting board and gently press a cookie cutter into the watermelon. Step 2: Take the cookie cutter out of the watermelon slice and remove the watermelon inside the cookie cutter. Place the heart shaped watermelon on a plate and enjoy!
My son and I have been experimenting with homemade popsicles again and we discovered another yummy combination........ pureed strawberries and fresh orange juice!
Here's the recipe:
Fresh Orange Strawberry Popsicles
Ingredients:
4 oranges
8-10 strawberries
2 Tbsp sugar
Directions:
Juice the oranges and strain the juice. Add 1 Tbsp sugar and mix well. Set aside in a refrigerator.
Wash strawberries and pick off stems. Puree them in a blender or food processor. Blend in 1 Tbsp sugar.
Pour strawberry puree into popsicle molds to fill the bottom half of the molds. Place in freezer for about 1 hour. Take out popsicle molds and pour orange juice mixture to fill the molds. Place popsicle sticks or popsicle mold handles into the molds and freeze for an additional 2 hours.
Run the molds under hot water for about 30 seconds to get the popsicles out of the molds. Then all that's left to do is to sit outside on the back porch and enjoy them!
My son LOVES popsicles and smoothies, so we've been experimenting! I wanted to make something really tasty yet also healthy. Here's what we came up with......
Strawberry Smoothie Pops
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup milk
Approximately 8 strawberries
Directions:
Thoroughly blend all of the ingredients in a blender. Pour the blended mixture into popsicle molds with handles or popsicle sticks and place them in the freezer for about two hours or until frozen.
Note: If you want creamier popsicles, try adding 1/2 cup more of yogurt to the mixture.
Like I've said before..... my husband is a much better cook than I am. I'm ok with that, especially when he makes us yummy food :) I'm pretty sure he's better at it because he enjoys cooking more than I do. If you enjoy something, you tend to be better at it. I mostly cook out of necessity, not for fun. So there ya go.
So here's the tasty treat my husband made for us last weekend.... a Zesty Lemon Pound Cake. The recipe comes from Nestle Toll House: you can find it HERE.
I didn't get any pictures of us eating it, but it was soooooo good with fresh strawberries and cream!
Do you remember those kool-aid ice shavers? I remember making some pretty tasty snow cones with one when I was kid. My son and I wanted to try some home-made snow cones, but we didn't have a handy kool-aid shaver. Do they even make those anymore?
We tried out two different methods and both turned alright, although one was better than the other. But I'll show you both methods, just in case.
1: Make up a pitcher of kool-aid. The snow cones turn out better if the juice is more concentrated than normal. So we just added a bit less water.
2: Pour the juice in ice cube trays and let it freeze solid.
3: Remove the kool-aid cubes and use either of the two methods below to crush them up.
Blender Method:
This one didn't work as well for us. Maybe if we had a different blender it would have worked. But as it is, we ended up with large chunks of ice. I couldn't get it all chopped up finely.
Hammer Method:
Sounds kinda crazy, but this one actually worked better for us. Just stick the kool-aid cubes in a plastic bag and whack em' with a hammer. You can smash the cubes as much as you want and it's fun for kids!
I made this for the first time ever and it was so delicious! Thanks to my in-laws for their fresh mint! This limeade would not be the same without it.
You can find the recipe HERE at allrecipes.com. It's actually a Pepper-Mint Limeade that calls for slices of jalapeno peppers, but you really don't need them. I left out the peppers and the drink was pretty much perfect :)
This delicious treat is brought to you by my husband, since I have failed to make anything of consequence this week. I have some more gourds to paint for Christmas gifts, but I am seriously lacking motivation.
I have to use this post to brag about my husband who is turning out to be an amazing cook! These are the pies he made for our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday: Mexican Chocolate Pie and Coconut Cream- yum! I think he could give Marie Calendar's a run for her money!
I realized that up until now, all of my recipes have been for sweets. Probably because that is what I like to cook best. However, with the weather changing I got in the mood for some warm soup. Oh, comfort food! Sooooo good. This recipe comes from my Mom who made this for me right after I had my baby. Good memories!
Austrian Potato Soup
¼ c. bacon drippings 4 large potatoes
1 c. chopped onion 1 c. celery chopped
1/3 c. flour 1 can mushrooms
3 c. hot water + 3 chicken bouillon cubes 2 c. grated Monterey Jack Cheese
I'm trying out some new cinnamon roll recipes in preparation for the Holidays. For some reason my cinnamon rolls always get really crusty and dry. Maybe all cinnamon rolls get crusty after the first day. Who knows? I found a good recipe at The Speckled Dog . These rolls turned out a little softer than usual and the cream cheese frosting is yummy. So give it a try if you are in the mood!
My all time favorite pie is... apple pie! Yep, it even beats pumpkin. So here's a recipe I found on pbs.org along with my own personal tips and pictures to help you through. This pie is awesome!
Ingredients: Basic Pie Dough (enough for two crusts) 4 lbs of apples, such as Granny Smith or Gala (I used Pink Lady and it was great) 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice 3/4 c. sugar 1/4 c. flour 1 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp. salt 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1. Make your pie dough for the crusts. I used my Mom's recipe. Roll out your dough and put the first crust down in the bottom of your pie pan. I use this trick my mom taught me for rolling out the dough. You put the dough in between pieces of wax paper and roll it with a rolling pin. Then you take off the top layer of paper, lay the dough side down in the pan, and peel the wax paper off.
2. Trim off the edges of the crust and set aside the bottom and top pie crusts for later. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
3. Peel and core the apples. I only used 4 large apples for my pie and it was plenty. I learned a cool way of coring the apples when I watched a real chef make this on TV. You use a small metal ice cream scoop to take out the center of the apple. If you happen to have one of those ice cream scoops laying around, like I did, then you should try this. Its kinda fun!
4. Slice the apples into 1/4 inch thick slices and place them in a bowl. Mix them with the lemon juice to keep them from turning brown.
5. Add sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Toss to combine.
6. Get your pie pan with your bottom crust in and fill it with the apple mixture. Gently pack the apples and mold them to the center. Then dot with butter.
7. Place your top crust onto the pie and crimp around the edges. Then cut slits in the top. Now your pie is ready to bake!
8. Place your pie on a low rack in the oven and bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes. Then turn the oven down to 375 and bake for another 50 to 60 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the juices are bubbling.
9. Let it cool and eat it! With vanilla ice cream of course!
Welcome to my blog! For my very first post I'm sharing my all-time favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe! With all of the recipes out there, it has taken me a while to find this one and perfect it. It is similar to most chocolate cookie recipes, but I am sharing my secrets to getting a nice chewy, non-flat cookie. It must be the elevation or something, but for years my cookies always turned out flat and then got hard and crunchy really fast. So check out my edited Nestle Tollhouse recipe and tips below.
The Original Chocolate Chip Cookie (Elise's Edition)
3 c. flour ¾ c. brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda 2 eggs
1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. butter, softened 2 c. chocolate chips
¾ c. sugar
Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar and brown sugar until light. Beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Chill in the refrigerator for 20 minutes and roll dough into small, loose balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 min. at 375°F on ungreased cookie sheets.
tips:
*Never melt the butter completely. Take it out of the fridge earlier and let it soften at room temp.
*Chilling the dough before baking and not greasing the pan are great ways to keep the cookies from going flat because they don't spread out as quickly while baking.
*Make sure to not over bake the cookies- they loose their chewiness if you do. For me, 9 minutes is just about perfect.
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