Liz's Jello Salad

1 (6 oz.) box lemon Jello
1/2 c. hot water
1 (8 oz.) carton whipped topping
3/4 c. grated Cheddar cheese
1 (8 oz.) can crushed pineapple, not drained
3/4 c. Miracle Whip salad dressing

 

Dissolve Jello in hot water. Mix in in all other ingredients. Pour into a baking dish or salad bowl. Chill until firm.

Desert Parfait

Desert Parfait

Ingredients: 

Pinot Noir

Sugar

Fresh seasonal fruit

Granola (your favorite kind)

Yogurt (I used greek goddess, honey flavor) 

 I used almond and raisin granola I bought at Sunflower Market, & strawberries and grapes because they were in season and on sale.

 Add 1cup pinot noir wine and 1/2 cup sugar to a sauce pan and boil down rapidly to create a rich and flavorful simple syrup. (optional -you can also add cinnamon sticks, 3 whole cloves and 1 whole star anise here and simply take them out after simmering and before adding the fruit.)

 Dice up fruit and add to simple syrup. Toss in liquid to coat. (At this point you can either boil the fruit down to make a compote or you can leave the fruit al dente)

 Remove fruit and liquid from heat and cool rapidly (you can also through it in the freezer for a minute)

Once fruit is cooled you are ready to assemble your lovely desert parfait alternating between the yogurt, granola and fruit.

These are a sure crowd pleaser at family meals or parties. Caution if you are making these in advance don't layer the granola into the parfait...hold it to the side and add right before serving to prevent a soggy oatmeal like texture in your parfait.

Apple Pie

Richard's Grandma said she loved apple pie as dessert for her traditional Irish dinners.  She's no longer with us, but the tradition continues.
I have some odd inability to make a decent pie crust, so I buy mine.

You can be lazy and buy canned pie filling, (this way often lacks flavor) but the best way to make the pie filling is finding tart apples, and following on of the many recipes such as this one by Paula Dean.  I find apple pie filling to be like a bread recipe.  Everyone has a recipe they love, but few of them are truly bad.

The bottom layer needs to be poked with a fork to keep its shape and keep from bubbling.  Trim the outside of the bottom crust so it doesn't go over the sides.

dump pie filling into bottom crust and even out as best as possible.

Place the top layer, centered, on top of the fruit.  Use your fingers to "close the lid" and pinch the crust all the way around.  Sprinkle with sugar.

Use a small, sharp knife, like a paring knife to make air holes.  you can be creative or just make large slits.

Cover crust edges with foil. You do this because the crust will brown well before the middle of the pie is done with out it.  By the time the pie is done, with out foil, the crust will burn on the edges.

Bake at 400 for 20-30 min and remove foil.  Continue to bake until crust is browned.

Voila!

Baked apples

 

This is the dessert that would tell me cool weather had arrived, when I was a kid.  There are a few ways to do the apples: The whole apple, cored;  Peeled and cut up; or in a sauce, though that's my least favorite.  Either way, it is a great way to use up apples!

This recipe is easily adapted to amounts, so you can have it for two or for twelve.

-Any kind of apple in the desired quantity chopped up.

-Coat in brown sugar and cinnamon generously (if using whole apples, stuff with brown sugar)

-Top with butter

-Bake at 350 for 30 min or until apples are softened.

Serve with Vanilla Ice Cream

Easy peasy applesauce crisp

2 c. applesauce
1 c. coarse graham cracker crumbs
1/2 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 c. butter, softened
2/3 c. chopped nuts or rolled oats

Place applesauce in bottom of a buttered nine-inch square baking dish or other shallow wide dish. Mix cracker crumbs, brown sugar, butter and nuts together until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over applesauce. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Serve warm with sweetened whipped cream or Ice Cream. Makes about 6 servings.

Raspberry Dessert

1 angel food cake broken in pieces  --put in glass baking dish set aside

1 large pkg or 2 small Raspberry Jello
1 1/3 C boiling water


Mix Jello and water
Add 2 pkg. Frozen Raspberries
Let Jello set
Mix in 2 pkg Dream whip, whipped not quite stiff
blend together and pour over broken cake

Mix slightly and refrigerate 3 hours.

Rapture Food!

This past Saturday, in honor of the Rapture, I hosted a Rapture party at our home.  It was a pot luck.  The challenge was to bring some sort of punny food to share. 

The main coarse was build-it-yourself Shish Kabobs (Because during the rapture and the end of the world, how much of a shish kabob you end up is really of your own making.):

I cut up strips of Chicken breast and rubbed then with lemon pepper ahead of time and let them stew in their own juices in the fridge.

Then we had bowls of red and green peppers, fresh mushrooms, pineapple, cucumbers, zuccini, mandarine oranges, and baby red potatoes (pre-boiled.)

Everyone took their pre soaked scewer and built their Kabob the way they liked it.  It saved time and the kids all enjoyed their kabobs.


The other foods brought were:

"Judgement Bars"  AKA Eagle Brand Magic Cookie Bars

Rotisserie Chicken

Angel Food Cake with Straw berry shortcake toppings

Living Watermelon

Pistaccio NUTS

Kool-aid --But we didn't ALL drink it.  LOL

Party games prizes: large bags of Life Savers hard candy to better help survive the Zombie Apocolypse.

Other options I considered were: Chicken Rapture-tore, Roast, Divinity, devil's food cake, etc.

It was so funny to see people's reactions... and unfortunately none of us were raptured. 

Mango Lassi

So I'm thinking mangoes are my new favorite fruit. We are getting them a lot in our Bountiful Baskets. So yes, this is another BBasket recipe post :) But this one is a smoothie. And OMG! It is so yummy! I first had a Mango Lassi when I lived in California. It is an Indian drink (and no, not Native Americans, but people actually from India). So I looked up a recipe for one and came across this one. I altered it a little bit though.

Here is my version of the recipe.

2 mangoes (from BBasket) peeled, flesh removed from the seed thingie in the middle and roughly chopped

1/2 a carton of vanilla yogurt (from the 2lb carton)

about 3/4 cup of milk (I eyeballed it)

a large handful of ice

1/2 cup of sugar (you can add more, but my mangoes were really ripe and very sweet)

Place all ingriedients above in a blender (I just bought the Ninja Master Prep this weekend and it is awesome!) and combine until very smooth and thick. Pour into glasses and enjoy!

Yummy Fruit Dip

1 Pkg (8 ounces) Cream cheese, softened
1 Jar (7 ounces) Marshmallow Cream

Stir together and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Serve with fruit for dipping--i prefer strawberries with this one but apples and bananas are great too!

Kim's Cranberry Salad

A Colorful addition to the holiday table.


2 PACKAGES CANBERRIES CHOPPED
2 RED APPLES CHOPPED REAL FINE
¼ C PECANS CHOPPED
Sugar into taste
ADD   Mini Marshmallows

Directions:
Chop, mix, taste, and eat!

Butterscotch fruit dip

2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
2 (12-ounce) bags butterscotch morsels
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla flavoring

Directions:
Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, transfer to a bowl and serve with fresh fruit.

I don't know what to call it.... Trail mix?

Sunflower seeds, slivered almonds, craisins, and raisins. The kids love it and no salt added. I bought the big bags of the stuff and now when the kids get "snacky" this week, I just pull out the bag or put a handful in a baggie to go.

Amuse Bouche-Kiddo style

I thought these were common in every house, but I have met some confused faces when I refer to apples and peanut butter.

Its about the same as "Ants on a Log" (Celery filled with PB and raisins or chocolate chips on top.) But with apples instead of celery.

The fruit kabobs are just small portions of fresh fruit you have around on a toothpick.

These are GREAT for snacks at kid parties... or any parties really. Particularly if you add a fruit dip.

Chicken Apple Burgers!

This heart healthy meal is really tasty (in my opinion) and went over well with half of our family. Richard, myself and Katie all really liked it. Emma and Grandpa were not big fans.
If you leave off the apples, it tastes a lot like thanksgiving leftovers on a bun--with out the fat and calories. SO GOOD! FYI, Grandpa and Emma don't like "sweet meat."

The recipe was from Good Housekeeping's Website. Next to the recipe are the nutrition facts. They used a regular buns, I used light, whole wheat buns with half the sodium.

I spent about $10 probably less. It would have been more, but Macey's didn't have ground chicken. Instead I took frozen chicken breasts to the cheese grater. Saved a bundle and it worked just fine.

In the future, I'll use thinner apple slices and maybe just the patties and cranberry sauce.

Crepes!

The crepes themselves were store bought.

The inside: yogurt (I used peach), bananas, kiwi, and grapes

The kids' favorite. instead of yogurt I used chocolate syrup
and on the inside was only bananas.

Wednesday Night Pitas

I cut up and cooked chicken breast in some olive oil and green onion and garlic powder.

When the chicken was cooked through, I added Parmesan cheese.

The veggies in the pita are: dark Romaine lettuce, cilantro, and tomato. I added a tiny sprinkle of finely shredded cheddar for color.



For Dessert we had these awesome pre-made crepes. I put yogurt, bananas, grapes and kiwi in them they were a big hit!

Peach Cobbler: Low sodium and Low cholesterol

1 package white cake mix
1 large can cut or diced peaches
3 tbs smart balance buttery spread
Ground cinnamon

Blend cake mix with undrained can of peaches. You can do it right there in your cake pan. If its still dry you can add a bit of water. Cut up Smart Balance and spread around on top and sprinkle cinnamon over top.

Cook at 375 till bubbly and golden brown



My Mom used to make this with real butter and it was SOOOOO good! I had no idea how diet friendly this was until tonight when I was frantically searching for something tasty for family night that my dieting hubby could enjoy.

Also, this was one of the first things my mom taught me to make that makes your home smell like you've been working a lot harder than you have.

Microwave Blueberry-Apple Cobbler

1 21 oz can Blueberry Pie filling
1 21 oz. can Apple Pie filling
9 coconut bar cookies (1 Cup)
1 T. Lemon juice
1/4 C Butter, melted
1/2 Tsp Vanilla
1/4 C chopped nuts

Mix pie fillings, lemon juice, and Vanilla together in a square baking dish. Cook in the microwave oven for 6 min. turning often. Mix cookies and nuts together and add melted butter. Spread over the filling mixture. Cook for about 1 min. Serve with ice cream or light cream.

Serves 6

BEST Fruit Dip EVER

(Note... I don't always measure for this recipe- so just make sure you 'eye-ball' it to your desired consistency...)

1-2 packages cream cheese
1 jar marshmallow fluff
cinnamon to taste (optional)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Blend well until ingredients are incorporated together, and cream cheese is smooth. Mixture should be thick and sticky, yet spreadable.

My kids sometimes like to add a drop or two of food coloring, just to be festive.

This is great for potluck- just take a tray of whatever fruit is in season and bring your dip! My kids especially love to dip grapes or strawberries in it. YUM.