Posts filed under 'Recipes'
Spinach Pasta Salad
Ifound this recipe in one of my gazillion cookbooks ~ Settings Sunrise to Sunset ~ it’s just a little bit different from most pasta salads, it’s easy to make, and delicious to boot. I would think that you could use any type of pasta that you liked. The original recipe called for spinach fusilli but I used the three color rotini instead and it worked great. I adapted the recipe to make it easier to put together.
Spinach Pasta Salad
1 pound pasta of your choice ~ I used three color rotini
1/4cup chopped red onion
3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
1 cup ripe olives
3 cups spinach, sliced into ribbons
12 ozs. feta cheese
Dressing:
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsps red wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper to taste
Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box and drain well. Add the onion, sun-dried tomatoes, olives and spinach and toss to mix the ingredients. Combine the dressing ingredients and whisk to blend well. Pour over the pasta mixture and toss to coat. Sprinkle the feta cheese over the top and mix lightly.
Makes 10 to 12 servings.
Happy Cooking!
3 comments May 23, 2009
Strawberry Cheesecake Tart
We have a strawberry farm stand a few miles from our house that I go to frequently. I usually buy two buckets at a time and freeze one bucket and cook/bake with the other. This recipe is really delicious and easy to make. I found the recipe on the Land O’Lakes website and adapted it to my liking.
Strawberry Cheesecake Tart
Crust:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Filling:
1 cup whipping cream
1 (3.4-ounce) package cheesecake-flavored instant pudding mix
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
Topping:
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled, sliced
1/4 cup strawberry jam, melted
Heat oven to 400°. Combine butter and sugar in small bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add flour, milk and almond extract. Beat, scraping bowl often, until mixture leaves sides of bowl and forms a ball.
Press dough onto bottom and up sides of greased 10-inch tart pan or 12-inch pizza pan; prick with fork. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely.
Combine all filling ingredients in medium bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Spread over cooled crust. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.
Just before serving, arrange strawberries over filling; brush or drizzle strawberries with melted jam.
Makes 10 servings.
Happy Cooking!
4 comments May 22, 2009
Pesto Stuffed Mushrooms
I found this recipe on the internet (cdkitchen, I think) quite awhile ago and it’s been sitting in my “to-try” pile. I had some pesto in the fridge that I needed to use up so I finally tried the recipe. It’s delicious! It’s easy to make and would be perfect for a party or to have as a side dish like we did. I cut the recipe in half.
Pesto Stuffed Mushrooms
24 large mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed and saved for the stuffing
melted butter (a couple of tbsps should be enough)
additional 3 tbsps butter
2 tbsps minced onions
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup pesto
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
melted butter (a couple of tbsps should be enough)
Parmesan cheese, optional
After removing stems from caps, brush mushrooms with the melted butter and place in a lightly greased pie plates or baking dish.
Mince the stems.
In a skillet, melt the butter and saute the stems, onions, and garlic until softened. Combine this mixture with the pesto and breadcrumbs, mixing well. Spoon the mixture into the caps, mounding it. Sprinkle with grated cheese if desired.
Bake at 400º for 10 to 15 minutes until tender and lightly browned. Serve immediately.
Makes 12 servings of 2 caps per serving.
Happy Cooking!
6 comments May 20, 2009
Grilled Shrimp
Continuing from yesterday’s post, we also grilled some shrimp that I had in the freezer. Personally, I like to grill jumbo shrimp but I wanted to use these up even though they were only the large size. The lobster recipe and today’s shrimp recipe both were adapted from allrecipes. Both were delicious!
Grilled Shrimp
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tbsps chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp minced garlic
black pepper to taste
red pepper flakes to taste
1 pound shrimp ~ at least the large size but ideally the jumbo size
In a ziplock bag, smoosh (technical term there) all the ingredients together and add the shrimp. Make sure all the shrimp gets coated with the marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
If you are using wooden skewers, soak them in water while the shrimp is marinating. Thread the shrimp onto the skewers, piercing through the tail and the head so each shrimp is pierced twice by the skewer. Discard leftover marinade.
On a lightly greased grate, grill 2 to 3 minutes per side or until shrimp is pink (or opaque).
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
Happy Grilling!
3 comments May 19, 2009
Grilled Lobster Tails and Grilled Asparagus
For Mother’s Day, we grilled lobster tails, shrimp and asparagus ~ three of my favorite things! All three are super easy to grill and if you haven’t tried it, you should! I used the same basting sauce on the lobster and the asparagus.
Grilled Lobster Tails
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp white pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder
2 lobster tails (about 10 ounces eac)
Squeeze lemon juice into a small bowl and slowly whisk in olive oil. Whisk in salt, paprika, white pepper, and garlic powder. Split the tails lengthwise on the flesh side and brush the flesh with the marinade.
Lightly oil grate of the grill and preheat the grill to high. Place the tails, flesh side down and grill for 10 to 12 minutes, turning once and basting frequently with the marinade. Discard any extra marinade.
Lobster is done when opaque and firm to the touch.
Makes 2 servings.
Grilled Asparagus
1 bunch asparagus
Marinade from the above recipe (it makes plenty for the lobster and veggies, so don’t double)
Clean the asparagus and snap off woody ends. Place asparagus on the grill crosswise (so it won’t fall through) in a single layer. Brush with the lobster marinade from above and grill for 10 to 12 minutes, rolling it up and back to make sure to grill all sides.
Serving size depends on how much asparagus you have. In the picture there is about 4-6 servings.
Happy Grilling!
5 comments May 18, 2009
Grilling Season!
Next weekend marks the beginning of grilling season but if you are like me, you grill all year long. Here are a few recipes that I’ve already posted for the grill:
Cheese-Stuffed Chipotle Burgers
Beer Burgers with Beer Braised Onions
Grilled Lemon Chicken (one of our favorites!)
Grilled Cheesey Mushroom Bread
Rotisserie Chicken on the Grill
More grilling recipes can be found under the Barbecue category and the Grilling category . This Memorial Day weekend we’ll be smoking a brisket, grilling chicken, ribs, and burgers.
What will you be grilling?
Happy Grilling!
Add comment May 17, 2009
Tortellini Caesar Salad
Friday nights are burger nights at our house during the spring, summer and fall and I like to try out new salads at the same time. I found this recipe on the Taste of Home website and decided to give it a try ~ adapting the original recipe to make it easier (always!). It’s a really delicious salad that would be great for your next summer get-together and I’ll be bringing it to a party Memorial Day weekend.
Tortellini Caesar Salad
1 pkg. dried tortellini
1 cup creamy Caesar salad dressing
8 cups torn romaine lettuce
1 cup Caesar flavored croutons
halved cherry tomatoes
Parmesan cheese
Cook tortellini according to the package directions. Drain and run under cold water to cool, drain well again.
Put tortellini, romaine and cherry tomatoes into a large bowl and mix gently and store in the refrigerator. Just before serving mix in the salad dressing and croutons. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if desired.
Makes 10 servings (at least).
Happy Cooking!
2 comments May 14, 2009
Easy Cheesey Coffee Cake
This cheese cake is so easy to make ~ even for me who really is not thrilled with idea of baking first thing in the morning. I used the less fat store brand cream cheese and it worked perfectly.
Easy Cheesey Coffee Cake
1 (8 ounce) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 egg
1 (10 ounce) can refrigerated flaky biscuits
1 1/2 tsps sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Heat oven to 350º.
In a bowl, beat cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, flour and egg together until smooth.
Separate dough into 10 biscuits. Place in ungreased 8 or 9 inch round cake pan; press over the bottom and up the sides to form a crust. Pour cream cheese mixture over the biscuit crust.
In a small bowl, combine the 1 1/2 tsps sugar and the cinnamon and sprinkle over the cream cheese mixture in the pan.
Bake at 350º for 24 to 30 minutes or until filling is set and crust is deep golden brown. Cool 20 minutes. Serve warm or cool. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Happy Cooking!
3 comments May 12, 2009
An Interesting Way to Bake Potatoes on the Grill
Lately, I seem to be hooked on grilling and while going through some of my recipes, I came across this one for grilled baked potatoes. Well, I’ve grilled potatoes on the grill before but not quite like this. The end result was a perfectly baked potato. You’d think it would taste salty but it doesn’t.
Here’s all you have to do to have perfectly baked potatoes:
2 large baking potatoes
1 large box Kosher salt
Aluminum foil loaf pan
Spread some of the salt on the bottom of the pan to make a bed for the potatoes. Clean and prick potatoes in a few places with a fork to let the steam escape. Place on the bed of salt. Pour the rest of the box of salt around and covering the potatoes. Cover aluminum pan tightly with foil. Heat up your grill to about 375º or so and using indirect heat, place the pan on the grill, close grill. Let the potatoes cook for about an hour or until tender. Knock all the salt off the outside of the potatoes before eating.
The leftover salt can be thrown in the freezer in a Ziploc bag and kept for the next time you want grilled baked potatoes.
I didn’t have enough salt to cover the potatoes and they still baked up perfectly. I have no idea what the salt does but it makes for some very good potatoes.
Happy Cooking!
3 comments May 11, 2009
Happy Mother’s Day!
My DH’s brother is in the process of cleaning out their Mom’s house and he shipped us 100 pounds of photographs ~ DH’s Mom was a prolific picture-taker even if most of them are blurry or have heads cut-off or we have NO idea who is in the picture. Last night, DH and I started to go through them and weed them out and found some pictures that are apropos for Mother’s Day.
Coming home from the hospital with my oldest:
The kids at about ages 2 and 4:
The kids at 5 and 7 when we lived in Hawaii:
A few years ago at Busch Gardens:
Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms, soon-to-be Moms, Furbaby Moms, and Moms of the heart ~ I hope your day is special!
Happy Cooking!
2 comments May 10, 2009
