Summer's Bounty Menu

Tomorrow night our menu is:
STARTER: Jalapeno Poppers  - think fresh jalapenos filled with creamy cheesy goodness, wrapped in bacon and slathered in BBQ sauce! So very yummy!!!
MAIN DISHES:  Crockpot roasted chicken - it is amazing, trust me & Grilled Summer Veg Salad - squash, corn, baby bells, red onion all grilled to perfection then drizzled with fresh basil vinaigrette.
DESSERT: GF Lemon Blender Pie with fresh strawberries for dessert.  


My mouth is watering as I type.... time to go sop up the laptop keyboard! Yay for summer eats!!!


~Megan~

Pizza, Brownies, & Raspberry Frozen Yogurt! Yummers!

The whole meal on Thursday was D-LISH! Here is the run down:

Ingredients:
pizza dough
olive oil
bacon, cooked and crumbled
gorgonzola
cherry tomatoes, sliced in 1/2 from top to bottom with seeds squeezed out
avocados
salt & pepper to taste 

We used a pizza stone, so I preheated the oven with the stone in it for 20 minutes at 450*. I rolled out the dough on a piece of parchment paper. Next we rubbed down the dough with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.  Then topped it with the mozzarella, bacon crumbles, gorgonzola, and cherry tomatoes.  We let that get nice and bubbly for 10 minutes, then removed the pizza from the paper and returned it to the hot baking stone for another 3 minutes to crisp up the crust a little.  Pulled it from the oven, and topped it with avocado sliced and munched! Paired it with a glass of Three Wishes Merlot, and YUM!!


Dessert was Truffle Brownies from Trader Joe's made in a 9 inch cake pan instead of the called for 8 in square, which gave us lovely little wedges of chocolate chip studded brownie cake.  We served it with a scoop of raspberry frozen yogurt that I had made earlier in the day. Super simple. Super easy. Super tasty.

Ingredients:
1  12 oz. package frozen raspberries, thawed
3 cups strained yogurt (or greek yogurt)
1 can sweetened condensed milk


Whiz the raspberries and sweetened condensed milk in a blender until a uniformed paste consistency is reached. Stir mixture into the 3 cups of yogurt.  Add the lovely pink concoction to your ice cream machine and process according to directions. I had to do mine in two batches. I then added both batches to a plastic container with a tight fitting lid (I used the old yogurt container,)  taped it to get the air bubbles out, then smoothed a piece of wax paper on top before placing on the lid.  Tamping it on the counter helps get rid of air bubbles and give the frozen dessert a smoother, more velvety texture.  The wax paper keeps the top from getting iced over.
 

Pizza Pie!

Since I was a kid, I've LOVED pizza.  What's not to love??? Carbs, dairy, veggies and meat... a complete meal!  This pizza promises to be a good'un!  Bacon, blue cheese, avocado, tomatoes.... doesn't that sound tasty?!?!!


We're also going to make chocolate chunk brownies and raspberry frozen yogurt for dessert. Can't wait for Thursday night!!

Summer Panini Sammies!!!

Sarah G. joined me in the kitchen last night since Aymie was unavailable (something about a multi-leg international flight to Malawi with many many teeenagers). We made some might fine Panini sammies: Pioneer Woman's Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Apricot Sauce  and from Southern Living, Strawberry-Turkey-Brie Panini.

Grilled Chicken with Apricot Sauce Panini fixins.

We started with homemade baguette for both.  And I used chicken tenders instead of the chicken breast called for in PW's recipe.  I flattened the tenders in a freezer bag with a meat tenderizer, then slathered them with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Using my grill pan they not only cooked up in seconds, but had attractive restaurant-ish grill marks.  Everything for the Strawberry Turkey Brie panini was purchased fresh and it was simply a matter of assembly.  I happen to have a waffle iron with a grill plate accessory that we used to make the tell tale grill marks of a pressed panini sandwich.   We did have to hold the lid down to really press the sammie, but hey, it worked!

Strawberry Turkey Brie Panini fixins (turkey was shy & hid off camera)

And while the Chicken sammie was tasty, the Strawberry Turkey was D-LUSCIOUS!! Sarah and I agreed that you could easily sub in the grilled chicken from the first recipe for the turkey in the second recipe, or leave it out all together for an excellent vegetarian sammie.  The combo of the warm juicy strawberries, creamy brie, pungent basil, sweet yet spicy red pepper jelly, and crunchy homemade baguette is crazy addictive! I will definitely be making that one again!  Thanks Sarah for sharing the link! And to Aymie we wish traveling mercies and lots of Excedrin!  

~Megan~

Next Tuesday... June 7 th