SUMMER BROCCOLI SALAD

3 bunches of broccoli

1 pound of bacon, cooked crisp

3/4 cup of Sunflower Kernels (dry roasted)

3-5 green onions, chopped

2 cups red grapes cut in half

3/4 cup yellow(golden) raisins

1-jar coleslaw dressing (Lighthouse Brand)

about 11-13 ounce jar

Cut the broccoli into bite size pieces. Add bacon chopped up, sunflower kernels, green onions chopped, grapes cut in half and golden raisins. Pour coleslaw dressing over all and let sit for 15 minutes. Serve. 

If used as a main dinner or lunch item it will serve 6 (large portions) or 10-12 small portions. I like making this at the end of summer around August through September when the grapes are really sweet and crisp. I also cook my bacon in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes to make it nice and crisp. A good smoky bacon works best for this salad.   

COTTAGE STYLE TACO SALAD

We start with 1 pound good quality ground beef browned in a cast iron frying pan, add one package of Taco seasoning and mix well. Put meat mixture into 4 salad bowls(one-fourth each) Add 1/4 cup grated Tillamook cheese,1/4 cup halved olives, 1/4 cup chopped Viddalla Sweet onion and 1/4 cup chopped tomato to each bowl. Top with good Salad greens. We use Multi-Grain Tortilla Chips placed around the bowl, Add a little tomato,olive,onion garnish and creamy salad dressing. (we used Lighthouse Homestyle Ranch) It is nice to add a basket of chips with the salad for those who would like a little more. WE also seve this with guacamole and extra chips .

RASPBERRY-CHOCOLATE COFFEE CAKE

I made this for the first time and it was really good. I have had this recipe for a long time and just never got around to making it ..boy am I glad I finally did. It would be great with white chocolate as well.

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 cup fresh raspberries

heat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x9x2 inch square pan (I used a 10x7 oblong and it worked well) Beat the sugar and butter till light and fluffy add egg and vanilla then beat till well mixed. Mix dry ingredients together and add alternately with the milk mix about 2 minutes

 Now prepare the Streusel

1/3 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter (room temperature)

1/3 cup slivered almonds roasted

Mix flour and sugar together , cut in the butter and stir in the almonds.

Put half the cake batter in well greased pan top with half of the streusel,sprinkle half the berries ,chocolate and almonds, add the rest of the batter and  then the streusel and then the rest of the berries, chocolate and almonds. You can add a few more berries, chocolate chips or almonds to the top to make it look pretty if you like...just not to many.Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

It would also be great to substiute white chocolate and maybe add a little drizzle to the top when done baking. I will be playing around with this recipe to see what other berries and combinations I might use.

~~~~~ENJOY~~~~~

NOTE: I only had sliced almonds and they were great on the top but didn't like the texture throughout the cake so the slivered would be better

BAR-B-Q RIBS (low and slow)

This will take between 3 and 4 hours and has a couple of steps. I am not a big hot spicy fan but this was just enough heat for me and well worth the time and effort.

Heat your oven to 250 degrees

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

2 slabs of baby back ribs , membrane from back removed(my butcher did this for me)

DRY RUB

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons garlic powder

4 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon celery seed

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

In a small bowl , combine the dry rub ingredients and mix well. Keep one Tablespoon for liquid seasoning. Apply the rub over all the ribs, front and back. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place ribs meat-side up on pan. Cook for two hours

LIQUID SEASONING

1/2 cup apple juice

1/4 cup apple jelly

1/4 cup honey (good quality)

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 Tablespoon saved dry rub

Mix all together and pour over ribs

I removed ribs from baking sheet and placed them meat-side down in a baking pan 13x9 inch. I poured the liquid seasoning over them and covered them with foil. Placed them back in the 250 degree oven for 1 hour.

1 cup Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce

Remove ribs from oven and liquid which will be thrown away, place them back on the baking sheet lined with new foil if you like. Cover both sides with barbecue sauce, place the ribs meat-side up on the baking sheet and put back in the oven for 15-20 minutes.ENJOY!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You may do this on a grill but you would use indirect heat( should still be at 250) and aluminum foil pans or doubled sheets of foil wraped tightly for the second step. Still wrap the pan with foil for the second step. You should have a covered grill for this.

STRAWBERRY-RHUBARB PIE

2 cups sliced Rhubarb

2 cups halved Strawberries

1-1/4 cups Sugar

1/4 cup Minute Tapioca

1 Tablespoon Butter cut in pieces

2 crusts of your favorite pie crust recipe

This is for an 8-9 inch pie if your going to make a bigger pie you will want to increase the fruit mixture by at least 1 cup each (2 cups total) You may also mix the amount of fruit to what ever your family likes such as more berries for a sweeeter pie or more rhubarb for a more tart pie. Mix the fruit together in a large bowl, add the sugar and tapioca. Let this stand for 15 minutes. This is when I make the pie crust for a 9 inch pie. I then fill it with the fruit, after the standing time, dot with butter. Cover with the second crust, flute edges and cut a few slits in the top for the steam to escape. Bake for about 45 minutes or until nice and golden brown and the fruit is bubbling. Cool for a couple of hours before eating

~~~~~ENJOY~~~~~

BROWINIE CHEESECAKE

Have you ever been in need of a quick dessert and not had anytime to prepare one? This is when I try some ready-made desserts from the grocery store or bakery. We were having a belated Mother's Day dinner and I don't do the cooking (hubby does) so we needed a quick dessert he could manage. This is a really moist, dense browine with a cheesecake layer on top. We added some fresh cut strawberries cut and left to sit for a few minutes with a little bit of sugar and then added a little bit of whipped cream and chocolate drizzle.

The dinner was delicious (Ribeye Steak) but I really enjoyed the dessert.

EASY HOLIDAY CREAM PIES

Let's face it sometimes we just don't have time to bake from scratch and it is nice to have a few back ups in our recipe file so I thought I would share a couple of mine. I have been in Minnesota for about 10 years now and usually get the job of hosting all the Holiday's. This puts a strain on my energy level and sometimes I just have to pull out those quick and easy recipes I have hidden away in my recipe file.

The first one is BANANA CREAM PIE

I use a JELLO brand of vanila pudding mix(instant) I have tried cheaper brands and don't feel they taste as good so it is not worth the litlle bit of savings. I have made a vanilla wafer cookie crust for this one which is

1 1/2 cups crushed cookie crumbs

6 Tablespoons melted butter

3-4 Tablespoons granulated white sugar

Mix together place in a 9 inch pie plate and bake at 350 for 7 minutes Cool

Meanwhile

Take 2 cups of whole milk

pudding and pie mix
whip together for two minutes. Let cool in refrigerator 5 minutes

Slice 3 bananas (at least) put into cooled crust, layer pie filling on top of bananas refrigerate a couple of hours. Whip cream put on top of pie and decorate as you like. Sometimes I save a little of the crust mix and sprinkle on top or maybe add a few bananas.

The next will be CHOCOLATE CREAM pie

Everything is the same as above except I used graham cracker crumbs and chocolate pudding mix. ( no bananas) I usually used shaved chocolate but I was in a hurry and had some chocolate sprinkles on hand so I used those. If you want to turn this into a mousse' pie you only use 1 1/2 cups milk for the pudding mix and after letting it set for 5 minutes you fold in one cup of whipped cream.

Note: if I can find chocolate wafers or chocolate graham crackers I would use those. They have been difficult to find where I live. Oreo cookie crust is also good.

For the COCONUT CREAM pie

You may use either crust( the reason for all the cookie crusts are they're quick and easy)
I use the Jello brand vanilla pudding mix but add toasted coconut. I use a cast iron skillet on the stove top around medium heat, throw the coconut in, (around 3/4 cup), toss it around until toasted(you have to stay right there and keep stirring it or it will burn) I save a little to sprinkle on top. The directions are basically the same for all crusts and pudding mixes the only change is folding in the coconut for the coconut cream pie and the whipped cream for the mousse pie.

I usually make all three pies for Easter as well as many other desserts for the Dessert Buffet so I have learned a few tricks to make it easier on myself ... like when I have to host the whole dinner, cleanup and keeping the grandbabies happy. I do prefer these pies from scratch but I feel these are good enough when your stretched for time. If you add a few homemade touches like lots of bananas in the banana pie of real shaved chocolate and real coconut it helps to taste more homemade.
Thank you for visiting today and hope you might try these sometime

NOTE: I use the different toppings so you know what each pie is before cutting into it