Monday, May 30, 2011

Strawberry Shortcake

This is my current favorite strawberry shortcake recipe. It is far superior to my previous shortcake endeavors and will probably be sticking around for quite a while. I adapted it from a Martha Stewart recipe for Strawberry Cake (which is also delicious as is, but I like it in shortcake form a lot better!)

Strawberry Shortcake
Adapted from Martha Stewart
Serves 6-8

Shortcake
6 Tbsp butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Topping
2 lbs. strawberries, hulled and quartered
2 Tbsp sugar
Whipped Cream/Ice Cream

  1. Preheat the oven to 350.
  2. In a bowl toss the strawberries together with 2 Tbsp of sugar, cover, and place in the fridge.
  3. Mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl.
  4. Beat the butter and 1 cup of sugar together using a stand mixer.
  5. Add in the egg, milk, and vanilla beating until combined.
  6. Slowly add in the dry ingredients.
  7. Pour batter into a greased 9 inch glass pie pan. (Optional - Sprinkle with Sugar in the Raw or turbinado sugar if desired.)
  8. Bake for 10 minutes then reduce the temperature to 300 degrees and bake for an additional 45 minutes (you may have to cover the cake with foil to avoid the top getting too browned...I usually do this when there's 20 minutes left on my timer.)
  9. Once cooled, slice and top with strawberries, whipped cream, ice cream, etc. and enjoy!

Friday, May 27, 2011

This Friday over at Kelly's Korner the "Show Us Your LIFE" topic is Desserts!!

I decided that the Apple Cake recipe I made several times this winter was a winner so it's up on the blog (#215 Warm and Gooey Apple Cake --> that's me!)

...and now I sort of want some cake...which is pretty much a daily "want" in my life ;-)

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Baked Onion Rings

I ask you, who doesn't love onion rings?! When I saw this recipe pop up via a mom-blogger I follow on Twitter I knew I had to give it a try. Tonight's dinner was steaks on the grill a la Hubby and I figured what more perfect meal to test out these beauties! While you can't really pick these bad boys up, they most definitely hit the old onion rings spot for sure.

Baked Onion Rings
Adapted from SkinnyTaste.com
Serves 2

1 medium onion
2 cups skim milk
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper, to taste
Olive oil spray

  1. Mix 2 cups of milk with 2 Tbsp of lemon juice and set aside.
  2. Slice onion and separate into rings. Lay out in a shallow dish.
  3. Pour milk over the onions.
  4. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours (I did mine for 3 hours).
  5. Preheat oven to 450.
  6. In another shallow dish, mix together the remaining dry ingredients.
  7. Using tongs, remove the onion rings from the milk and coat with the breadcrumb mixture. Place onto baking sheets lined with foil in a single layer.
  8. Spray the onion rings with olive oil spray and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

If there is one thing My People love it's a Jell-O salad...there is rarely a family gathering that does not involve some sort of Jell-O concoction and even the non-Jell-O lovers in the crowd seem to enjoy this particular recipe. Strawberry Pretzel Salad is a favorite of my husband and cousins for sure (they usually get their own pan)!

Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Makes one 13 x 9 inch pan

2 cups crushed pretzels*
3/4 cup melted margarine
3 Tbsp sugar
6 oz box Strawberry Jell-O
20 oz frozen strawberries
2 cups water
8 oz cream cheese
4.5 oz Cool Whip
1 cup sugar

Pretzel Crust Layer
  • Preheat oven to 400.
  • Mix together melted butter, pretzels, and 3 Tbsp of sugar and pour into 13 x 9 inch pan.
  • Bake for 8 minutes (be careful not to over-bake).
  • Allow to cool.
Strawberry Layer (Part 1)
  • While pretzels are cooling, bring water to a boil in a medium sauce pan, then dissolve in the Jell-O.
  • Continue stirring and mix in frozen strawberries.
  • Set in the fridge while you prepare the cream cheese layer. (You don't want this to fully set-up, but you want it to not be a liquid when it goes on top of the cream cheese layer.)
Cream Cheese Layer
  • Using a stand or hand mixer, combine Cool Whip, cream cheese, and 1 cup of sugar.
  • Spread in an even layer over cooled pretzel crust.
  • Place in the fridge for a few minutes to cool.
Strawberry Layer (Part 2)
  • Stir the Jell-O and strawberry mixture and then spread on top of the cream cheese layer.
  • Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
This is best made the day before you want to serve.

* I use Synder's of Hanover Thins...anything but the small rods works well

Friday, May 20, 2011

Show Us Your LIFE - Main Dish Recipes

Today over at Kelly's Korner her Friday "Show Us Your LIFE" topic is Main Dish Recipes. I decided to throw my name into the ring and submitted my Shrimp Pasta with Old Bay recipe from a few weeks back into the mix thinking it might be something a little different.

A big ol' "Howdy" to anyone who has meandered over to the blog from Kelly's website!

PS - Stay tuned as this weekend I have BIG plans to test out a new baked onion ring recipe. I mean really, who doesn't need onion rings in their life ;-)

Monday, May 2, 2011

Chicken and Green Bean Bundles

It's not very often my mother passes along recipes, but when she finds a good one that my dad even approves of it definitely gets passed along for me to try out. I'm not sure where the recipe came from originally, but it was "Chicken and Asparagus Bundles". I decided to give it a go to see if it would be a good dish to add to my recipes that have been deemed "worthy of company" since I've been meaning to add a few "nicer" dishes to my repertoire lately. This looked really cool and even semi-fancy. I decided to kick it up a notch by adding in some prosciutto and swapping out the asparagus for green beans and this is what I came up with:

Chicken and Green Bean Bundles
Serves 4

1 lb chicken breast cutlets or chicken breasts cut in half
4-6 slices prosciutto
30ish fresh green beans (trimmed, but kept long)
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
Juice and zest from 1 lemon
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp salt
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp flour
1 c. chicken stock
  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Lay out the chicken breasts on a plate (cut side up) and put one piece of prosciutto on top.
  3. Wrap each chicken breast around 6-8 green beans (prosciutto side towards the green beans) and secure with a toothpick. (Note: use plain wooden toothpicks...I made the mistake of using colored wooden toothpicks and this turned out weird as the color bled onto the chicken...ew.)
  4. Place chicken bundles in a greased 13x9 baking dish.
  5. Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, herbs/spices together in a small bowl and then pour over the chicken bundles.
  6. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
  7. Uncover and bake for 20-30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
  8. Once chicken is cooked, remove from baking dish and place on serving platter.
  9. In a small skillet, melt butter and cook flour out a bit to create a roux.
  10. Stir in the chicken stock and any drippings left from the baking dish.
  11. Bring sauce to a boil and cook for a few minutes until thickened.
  12. Remove toothpicks from the bundles and pour sauce over chicken bundles just before serving.
While this was quite tasty, I do not think the green beans were an appropriate substitute for asparagus. Asparagus is a no-no in this house (so says The Husband) so while this technique may not be used again (the effort to roll the bundles did not pay off -- granted I am a bit OCD and have lots of kitchen/cooking germ issues so it has to be quite the pay off for me to man-handle poultry as much was called for by this recipe), the flavor combination and the lemony sauce will DEFINITELY make a reappearance in some form once I figure out what exactly that is...