8.31.2009

Brownies from scratch

One day last week, my 5-year old wanted to make brownies. I have never found a good recipe for brownies from scratch that I really like, so every time we make them, we try a new recipe. I found this one in the church cookbook that a friend of mine submitted. They were great! Thanks, Amanda, for this great brownie recipe!

Brownies

4 eggs
2 c. sugar
6 T. cocoa
1 1/2 c. flour
1 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
12 T. melted butter
1 t. vanilla

Mix together eggs, sugar and cocoa. Add flour, salt and baking powder. Stir in butter and vanilla. Bake in a 9x13 pan at 350 for 20 minutes, or until they are set in the center.
I made these even more decadent by adding Chocolate-Sour-Cream Frosting. I'll share that recipe with you tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!

8.28.2009

Chinese Cole Slaw

I was at a picnic a few weeks ago where someone brought Chinese Cole Slaw. I sort of forgot that I even had a recipe to make this dish that I really enjoy. So I pulled out my recipe and made some over the weekend. I can't remember who gave me this recipe, but I haven't had it very long. I think there are many recipes out there for different versions of this dish. Mine is a little heavy on the soy sauce, so if you have a similar recipe you'd like to share with me, I'd love to try a different version to see if we like it better! Thanks for stopping by!

Chinese Cole Slaw

1-16 oz. pkg. shredded cabbage (cole slaw mix)
2 pkg. chicken flavor ramen noodles, crushed
1/2 c. slivered almonds
4 T. butter

Melt butter in skillet. Brown noodles and almonds in butter then set aside to cool.

Dressing:

2 T. soy sauce
2/3 c. vegetable oil
2 T. rice vinegar
4 T. sugar
1 tsp. pepper
6 green onions, chopped (tops and bottoms)
Seasoning packets from ramen noodles

Combine ingredients of dressing and then toss with cabbage and cooled noodles. Cool and serve.

8.27.2009

Feta-Stuffed Turkey Burgers


I don't know why I was on a Greek kick last week when I made up my menu for this week, but it sounded so appetizing to me. Greek food is usually so light, and it just sounded tasty to me.

After having Pitas on Saturday, we had these Feta-Stuffed Turkey Burgers for lunch on Sunday. They were great--especially with some of the Tzatziki I told you about yesterday on them! (I skipped the sauce in this recipe since I had already made the Tzatziki.) Thanks for stopping by!

8.26.2009

Tzatziki


The recipe I shared with you on Monday for Greek Steak Pitas was great, but I added a sauce that wasn't called for which made them even better. The August issue of Cooking Light has a recipe for Tzatziki, which is a Greek condiment. I made a batch of this for us to have with our pitas. Then, we used it again on some Feta-Stuffed Turkey Burgers that I'll tell you about tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!

8.25.2009

Greek Seasoning

Yesterday I told you about a recipe I tried over the weekend for Greek Steak Pitas. One of the ingredients in the steak marinade was Greek seasoning. I didn't have that on hand, but I found a recipe to make your own online. Fortunately, I had everything on hand to make up my own batch. I even got to use some of my fresh spearmint growing out back! I dried it in my microwave before adding it to the mix. Thanks for stopping by!

8.24.2009

Greek Steak Pitas


Now that school has started, we're getting back into a normal routine. I pulled out some summer issues of Cooking Light that I hadn't had a chance to really look through over the summer. So this weekend while we were home without a lot on our schedule, I tried some new recipes.

This Greek Steak Pita recipe was a nice light meal on a warm summer evening. Well, it wasn't exactly warm here this weekend, but it was a nice light meal for the summertime! Instead of pitas, I tried a new product I found at the grocery store, Aunt Millie's Slimwiches. They were really good, and we all really enjoyed them. I also omitted the onion, because none of us are big fans of raw onion.

The recipe also calls for Greek seasoning, which I didn't have, but I found a recipe online for making your own. I'll share that with you tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!

8.14.2009

Watermelon Pops... ...sort of


A few weeks ago, I was looking for watermelon recipes. I wanted something watermelon-themed for a stamping workshop snack. I came across this recipe for Watermelon Pops on the Kraft Foods website. I didn't make them for the workshop, but I saved the recipe for the boys and I to try someday.


We made them this week--sort of. We didn't add the mini chocolate chips, and we didn't use lime jello for the top layer, so ours don't look like watermelons at all, but they're still tasty. We used orange on the top layer instead, so they're a strawberry/orange fruity frozen snack. They're not bad, but I don't know that we'll make them again. The boys just don't have a sweet tooth or big appetite for ice cream and/or frozen novelties, so it's hard to tell how long these will remain in my freezer. Thanks for stopping by!

8.06.2009

Grandma Kuck's Rice Pudding

A few months ago, I posted about a rice pudding recipe I had found that you made with already cooked rice. It was pretty good, but I became less impressed with it the second and third times I made it. Have you ever had that happen with a recipe you thought you really liked the first time you had it?
Losing excitement about my former recipe made me want to try some others that I had stashed in my "recipes to try someday" collection. Today, I tried this Grandma Kuck's Rice Pudding recipe from Family Fun. It is fantastic! It is exactly what I was looking for--creamy and wonderful! There's no grainy rice texture in it at all, and it's super easy! Now I guess the real test is whether I will like it the second and third times I make it, but I'm sure I will! Thanks for stopping by!

8.05.2009

Grape Salad

Earlier this week at a stamping workshop, I made this Grape Salad recipe for our snack. At an earlier workshop, Kristie was telling me about this great dessert she had made with grapes. Then at another workshop we got to talking about the recipe again, and Sally mentioned that she had a recipe for it, and she makes it all the time. So I asked Sally for her recipe, and I made it for all the gals to try. Sally said it's not her recipe, she got it from someone else, so apparently it's a recipe that has made the rounds. It's a great fruity dessert! You should give it a try!

Grape Salad

8 oz. cream cheese
8 oz. sour cream
1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
6 c. seedless grapes (You may use any mixture of green, red or purple grapes, just one variety, or two, or all three.)

Mix cream cheese, sour cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Fold in grapes. Refrigerate.

Topping

1/2 c. brown sugar
1 c. chopped pecans

Mix together and sprinkle on top of the salad. (It's best to add the topping not too long before serving.) Refrigerate.
Thanks for stopping by!