Cooking 101

Yesterday's post made me hungry for strawberries and blueberries, so today I thought I would include some recipes that had them as ingredients...I know eating them right off the plant is delicious, but just in case you want a change, here are some recipes...some simple salad recipes...Enjoy!

Strawberry Pineapple Salad

Ingredients

- 1 large box strawberry Jell-O
- 10 oz fresh or frozen strawberries
- 1 small can crushed pineapple (you can also use a fresh one)
- 1 pkg. Dream whip
- 3 oz. Cream cheese
- Nuts (optional)

Directions:

Mix the dream whip and cream cheese together. Then add the strawberries and pineapple. Mix well. Spoon into individual serving bowls. Mix Jell-O and 1 cup boiling water. Pour Jell-O on top of the mixture in the bowls. Chill until firm.

Serve with one strawberry on top of each serving and sprinkle with chopped nuts, if desired.

Blueberry Breakfast Salad

Ingredients

Mixed salad greens

4 cups fresh blueberries

4 cups mandarin oranges, drained

2 cups Granola

Blueberry Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

Directions:

Gently toss the salad greens with 1-1/2 cups of the Blueberry Vinaigrette. Divide greens among eight plates. Place 1/2 cup each of the mandarin oranges and the blueberries on top of each salad greens. Divide the granola into 1/4 cup portions and sprinkle each salad. Drizzle remaining Vinaigrette over each plate. Serve immediately.

YIELD: 8 portions

Blueberry Vinaigrette: 1 cup olive oil, 1 cup frozen blueberries (thawed), 1 TBL Dijon mustard, 2 TBLS brown sugar, 2 tsp minced shallot, 3/4 tsp Kosher salt, 1/2 tsp ground white pepper, 1/2 tsp paprika

Mix everything in a food processor and process until smooth. Chill for 30 minutes before mixing with salad greens.

Cooking 101

Brownies! I love them! So I thought I would share a neat little recipe that is great for a young person's birthday party.

Brownie Cones

1 package brownie mix
24 ice cream cups
1 (16 oz) tub frosting, any flavor
Colored sprinkles or candies, optional

Prepare brownies per package directions. Spoon the batter into each ice cream cup. Fill them half full. Place the cups in in muffin tins and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Make sure the Brownie Cones cool completely. Decorate each brownie cone with frosting and sprinkles. Enjoy!

Cooking 101

Cooking with kids can be a lot of fun, entertaining and quite a learning experience (for parent and child...grin)

Finding easy recipes that your child can do with you can be difficult, but here is an easy and tasty meal that I think you both will love:

Pepperoni Pasta

2 1/2 cups dry pasta, of your choice (Penne is a good pasta for this recipe)
1 TBL oil
6 oz pepperoni slices
1 small (or half a large) red onion, sliced
3 TBL green pesto
2/3 cup heavy cream
8 oz cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 oz fresh chives
salt

Mix the pesto sauce and cream together in a small bowl, and set aside. Cook pasta per package directions. While pasta is cooking, gently fry the pepperoni slices and onion slices together until the onion is soft in the oil. Pour pesto sauce into frying pan and stir. Add the cherry tomato halves to frying pan and using kitchen scissors snip the chives over the tomato/pepperoni mixture. Stir. Drain pasta and put pasta into a large serving bowl. Pour frying pan mixture over pasta and mix well to make sure pasta is covered. Serve with bread sticks and enjoy!

Cooking 101

This kid friendly meal is a winner for the parents also...this makes for an easy meal for sleepovers and parties...Enjoy!

Cheeseburger Fries Casserole

1 pound frozen french fries (or one small bag)
1 pound hamburger meat (ground beef)
1 can Manwich
cheddar cheese, shredded

Bake fries in oven per directions on bag. Brown your hamburger meat in skillet, drain grease.When fries are cooked put into a 9 x 13" casserole dish. Spoon the browned hamburger meat on top of fries. Add Manwich (acts as your ketchup)to desired amount on top. Add cheese as the final topping.

Bake in oven at 350F degrees for 30 minutes or until piping hot and ready to eat.

This simple meal deserves a simple dessert, so why not make Spoon Cake and your family will love you for it.

Cooking 101

I know you might be thinking, "Why does she make everything 101?" For this blog, I am going to do this to keep track of everything. I have another blog and I have more labels then I can remember, so for this blog, I'm going to try and be a little more organized...That is something else I could add to my list of things I want to do/be this year...more organized...nah...I'll save something for 2010...grin...

Okay, so Cooking 101...I hate this question: "what's for dinner?"..so I am planning on posting some very simple, throw together recipes that you can make in now time at all with very little effort.

Ranch-Mashed Potatoes

• 4 cups prepared, unsalted mashed potatoes (I've started using Ore-Ida Steam n' Mash potatoes...microwave and your done)
• 1 (1 oz) package of ranch-style dressing mix
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
• 1/2 cup half-and-half cream

Combine all ingredients in saucepan and heat on low until potatoes heat thoroughly.

*If you use the Ore-Ida Steam n' Mash potatoes, all you need to do is microwave the potatoes per package directions, pour into a bowl once cooked, add the rest of the ingredients and mix with an electric mixer...serve

Dijon Pork Chops

• 6 loin pork chops
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard

Place the pork chops in a greased Pyrex baking dish. Mix sugar and mustard well. Spoon over chops and bake, covered at 350' for 45 minutes. Remove cover and bake about 10 minutes longer or until brown.

*I do this up the night before and have my husband put it in the oven when he gets home because he gets home about an hour before me. So when I get home, dinner is ready...

Lemon Cheesecake

• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (3.4 oz) package instant lemon pudding mix
• 1 graham cracker pie crust

Beat cream cheese until creamy. Mix the pudding per directions, add to the cream cheese mixture and mix. Pour into pie crust and chill 2-4 hours (overnight)

Okay, there you have it...the very first Cooking 101...enjoy!

Lilfix