Lemon Berry Trifle

Source: Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients-

Berries (can be cooked up to a day in advance and refrigerated): 
4 cups berries (a combination of blueberries, strawberries and raspberries), you can use fresh or frozen - if using frozen, they need to be thawed and drained
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Lemon Cream (the lemon curd can be made up to 3 days in advance):
3 cups whipping cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 recipe lemon curd (see below) or an 11-ounce jar lemon curd

Pound Cake (can be made a day in advance or longer, if it is frozen):
1 9-inch round or loaf lemon (or plain) pound cake, homemade or store-bought, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices

Directions

Combine the berries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer and cook just until the berries begin to break down, about 3-4 minutes. Take the berries off the heat and let the mixture cool. This can be done a day in advance. Cover and refrigerate the berry syrup until ready to use.

In a clean bowl, whip the cream with the powdered sugar and the vanilla until soft peaks form. Put the lemon curd into a second bowl and whisk in about 1/4 cup of the whipped cream to loosen it up a bit. Then gently fold in the rest of the cream. Cover and refrigerate if not using immediately.

To assemble the trifle, spoon a layer of the cream into a large glass or trifle bowl. Add a layer of pound cake. You may need to break the pound cake slices into smaller pieces and jigsaw them together to fit. Then drizzle on about 1/3 of the berry syrup. Don't worry if it doesn't completely coat the pound cake - just drizzle it across and let the berries fall where they may. Spoon a layer of lemon cream over the top, smoothing to the sides. Repeat all the layers, 2 or 3 more times, depending on the size of the bowl, finishing with a layer of lemon cream. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. It is best to make this several hours before serving and refrigerate it.

*Note: the trifle should be assembled about 5-8 hours before serving so all the flavors can blend together. All of the components can be made from 1-3 days ahead. Look through the recipe for more specific details.

Mango and Corn Salad with Curry Vinagrette

Source: BHG.com

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 4  medium  fresh ears of sweet corn, cleaned
• 2  to 3 large  mangos
• 1  medium  red onion
• 1  tsp.  olive oil
• 4  Tbsp.  olive oil
• 2  Tbsp.  fresh lemon juice
• 1  tsp.  sugar
• 1/2  tsp.  curry powder
• 1/2  tsp.  salt
• 1/8  tsp.  black pepper
• 3  cups  fresh arugula

Directions

1. Carefully cut kernels from corn cobs. You should have about 2 cups. Seed and peel mangoes. Cut each mango into 12 slices. Peel the outer layer off the onion. Cut onion into 6 wedges, leaving the root end intact so wedges stay together.

2. For a charcoal grill, place a 9- to 10-inch cast iron skillet on the grill rack directly over medium-hot coals. Heat skillet for 2 to 3 minutes. Add corn kernels and the 1 teaspoon oil. Cook and stir constantly for 6 to 8 minutes or until corn kernels are golden brown. Remove skillet from the grill; transfer corn kernels to six individual serving bowls. Set aside. (For a gas grill, preheat grill. Reduce heat to medium-hot. Place cast iron skillet on the grill rack directly over the heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Add corn. Cook and stir as directed above.)

3. In a medium bowl combine mango slices and onion wedges; drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the remaining oil. Toss gently to coat. For a charcoal grill, place mango slices and onion wedges on the grill rack directly over medium-hot coals. Grill mango for 3 to 5 minutes or until lightly browned, turning to brown evenly. Grill onion wedges for 5 to 6 minutes or until golden brown and crisp-tender, turning to brown evenly. Transfer mango slices and onion wedges to the medium bowl. (For a gas grill, reduce heat to medium. Place mango slices and onion wedges on grill rack directly over heat. Cover and grill as above.)

4. For dressing, in a small bowl combine lemon juice, sugar, curry powder, salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in the remaining 3 tablespoons oil until well combined. Add 1 tablespoon of the dressing to the mango mixture; toss gently to coat. Drizzle arugula with about half of the remaining dressing; toss to coat. Add arugula to corn; add mango and onion wedges. Drizzle with any remaining dressing.

Bruschetta Chicken Bake

Source: back of the Stove Top box
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 pkg. (6 oz) stuffing mix
1/2 cup water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Heat oven to 400F.  Stir tomatoes, stuffing mix, water and garlic just until stuffing mix is moistened.  Place chicken in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish; sprinkle with basil.  Top with cheese and stuffing mixture.  Bake 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Notes:
Another recipe from the back of the Stove Top box really came through for us.  Man, this was tasty and so dang easy!  We didn't have diced tomatoes, but a can of stewed tomatoes and the ol' Blanchard method of dicing right in the can solved that problem in a flash.  We also didn't have mozzarella, but cheddar worked great.  Yum.  I'll be making this one again, for sure.

Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Butter Sauce

Source: The Sisters Cafe

Ingredients:
1 bunch fresh asparagus
cooking spray
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon Balsamic vinegar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Snap ends off of washed asparagus and place on baking sheet. Coat with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 12 minutes or until tender. Melt the butter in a sauce pan or in the microwave. Stir in soy sauce and Balsamic vinegar. Pour over roasted asparagus and serve.

Notes:
I love asparagus, usually just steamed with some butter and salt, but when I stumbled across this recipe while blog-stalking, I decided it would be fun to try something new.  A little different, but different, in this case, is quite tasty.

Sauce for Salmon

Source: Ryan and Camilla Webb

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1 Tablespoon butter, melted
1 Tablespoon mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:
Mix together and serve with salmon, baked or grilled to your heart's content.  (We sprinkled ours with some special lemon pepper seasoning and spread a few thin slices of onion and lemon on top of the fish and baked it in a 375F oven till done.)

Notes:
Once upon a time, my neighbors Ryan and Camilla brought my family some amazingly delicious salmon with some amazingly delicious sauce to go with it.  When Gregg and I found ourselves as the owners of a couple hunks of salmon courtesy of another old neighbor of mine, I tracked the Webbs down for their secret.  Pretty dang easy and oh-so-tasty.

Lemon Poppyseed Cake

Source: My aunt, Nikie Elwood

Ingredients:
1 pkg. lemon or yellow cake mix
1 pkg. (3 oz.) lemon or vanilla pudding mix
1 cup water
4 eggs
½ cup oil
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds (or up to 2 Tbsp. if you really like them)
1 Tbsp. lemon extract (or you can use lemon juice if you’re out of extract)

Directions:
Mix together for 3 to 5 minutes.  Grease then sugar bundt pan.  Pour batter in and bake at 350° for 40 to 50 minutes.  Drizzle lemon glaze (recipe below) over cooled cake.  Makes great cupcakes, too; cook for 17-20 minutes and instead of frosting, brush tops of cooked cupcakes with melted butter and dip in sugar.  (Mini cupcakes were fun, too - I greased the mini muffin tin and sprinkled with sugar, then filled them with batter and cooked them for 10 minutes.)

Lemon Glaze
Mix a little bit of orange juice with some powdered sugar and almond extract and make it the consistency of a glaze.

Notes:
I was craving something lemony and springy and this is what I decided on.  I went the cupcake route so we could take some to our home teachees (and not be left with a huge cake all for ourselves ... not that we wouldn't love to eat the whole thing between the two of us, but, you know, it's not the healthiest idea ever thought up.)  I did some with the sugar topping and some with a lemon glaze topping (I used the glaze recipe for the apple lemon oat muffins I love instead of Nikie's because I didn't have orange juice or almond extract, but I know hers is delightful, too.)

Cowboy Casserole

Source: A good friend, Ashlee

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef (I substituted with ground turkey)
1 med-lg onion, diced
1 can of beans (I doubled this and used 1 can of black and 1 can of dark red kidney)
1-2 cups corn
1-2 jars of salsa (I used almost 2 24 oz jars)
Your favorite corn bread recipe (I used 2 boxes of Jiffy mix)

Directions

1. Saute meat and onion in large frying pan
2. In a 9x13" baking dish, combine meat, beans, corn, and salsa.
3. Pour cornbread dough over top
4. Bake according to your cornbread recipe (note: mine took a little longer than usual, probably because of the moisture underneath)

Notes: This is the ultimate food storage meal. It easily comes together in less than 10 minutes and is so delicious! The recipe is very forgiving, so feel free to adjust amounts or toss in whatever you have in the cupboard.

Cracker Barrel's Brown Rice

Source

Ingredients

1 lb onion
1 lb butter
1 lb canned mushrooms, drained
2 qts beef consomme
2 oz Warcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 28 oz bag of rice

Directions

Peel and chop onion by hand with hand chopper or French knife (1/4" x 1/4"). Into a large kettle or pot, place chopped onions, butter and mushrooms. Cook at a low simmer for 5 minutes or until the onion begins to turn clear. Add beef consomme, worcestershire sauce, and black pepper to a simmering mixture. Bring up to a rapid boil. Add rice to the boiling mixture and cover. Turn down to medium heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes. Check to see that rice is tender, turn off the heat and fluff rice well with spoon.

Notes: We were heading straight into a 3-4 hour traffic delay this evening, so we stopped at Cracker Barrel to wait it out and grab some dinner. This rice was one of my side dishes and I immediately fell in love. So much that the first thing that I did after getting home was to google the recipe. I was able to find the real deal from the CB kitchen's back-up cookbook. I haven't made it yet, but I expect that I'll replace the canned mushrooms with fresh (sauteed) and substitute the consomme with reduced beef broth. 

Tuna Gravy aka Creamed Tuna

Source: mi madre

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Tablespoons butter
1 heaping soup spoon flour
1 can evaporated milk (can also use regular milk for a lower-cal option)
1 can tuna
a sprinkling of peas
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
Melt butter in a sauce pan.  Add flour and mix to form a nice yellowy paste - a roux I think it's called technically.  If it's too buttery, add more flour.  If it's too floury, add more butter.  Add the canned milk and heat slowly till the butter/flour mixture is melted completely into the milk and it begins to thicken.  If it's too thick, add some water.  Add the tuna and some peas.  Season with salt and pepper.  Continue heating on the stove over medium heat till it's thick and creamy and/or your biscuits are done - whichever comes last.  Serve over warm biscuits.

Notes:
This is just one of those homey comfort foods of mine.  I had the craving for it today on my way home from school and had to call my mom for the "recipe".  She's a good teacher 'cause it turned out just the way I remember it growing up.  Definitely not the most glamorous (or photogenic - I didn't even try!) of meals, but it sure hits the spot on a rainy Tuesday.  Gregg made the whole wheat biscuits from his mom's Stir and Roll Biscuit recipe.  Delish.

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake

Source: Tasty Kitchen

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 5

Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
4 cups cooked brown rice (I used white because that's what I had, but I'm sure brown would be delicious ... and healthy)
3/4 cup frozen corn (I just used a can of corn)
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 4 oz can diced green chiles
1/2 cup salsa
1 cup plain Greek yogurt (I used sour cream ... yeah, I'm apparently not the most healthy eater ever ;)
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
2 Tablespoons fresh, chopped cilantro, for garnish

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except for cilantro and mix thoroughly to combine. Make sure the yogurt (or sour cream, if you don't care about fat) and cheese are stirred in throughout the entire bowl. Season with salt and pepper if desired. Transfer to an oven-safe dish and top with extra cheese if you would like. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until heated through. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Notes:
This was a yummy, easy dish to put together.  And while it wasn't super saucy (actually it wasn't really saucy at all) Gregg said he liked it.

Amish Banana Nut Bread

Source: A combination of something I found here and here

Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp ground flaxseed meal
1 cup Amish Friendship Bread starter (I still had some left in my freezer from Heather's start that I never gave away, and I just thawed it and threw it in the bowl)
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease 2 8x5 loaf pans (or 4 mini pans).  Sift together dry ingredients.  In large mixing bowl combine starter, eggs, oil, banana, and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients gradually and stir until just blended.  Stir in nuts.  Divide batter evenly between pans.  Bake 50 min (50 minutes would have been WAY too long ... as it was, when I checked at 40, the bread was nearly too brown) or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.  Place pans on rack to cool completely before removing.  Stores well in fridge or freezer wrapped well in plastic wrap.

Notes:
We had bananas and we had Amish Friendship Bread starter so I decided to try combining the two.  I had previously found this website with a whole host of ideas for adding some variety to the bread, so I knew it could be done.  But then I realized I didn't have a box of vanilla pudding.  What to do?  Thanks to google, I found this that had a recipe for puddingless bread.  (I really want to try the apple-cinnamon-nut version that is on here.)  Turns out it's not only puddingless, it's got other healthy things like whole wheat flour and flaxmeal, too.  Score!  Taste test: Darn delicious!