Dessert Island

Here is a cute snack that the kids can help make. It would be cute for a beach themed or pirate themed party, but we couldn't wait that long.

You'll need:

Pudding cups
graham crackers
Pirouette wafers (I used Pepperidge Farm)
green Laffy Taffy candies
Whoppers
Icing

Put the graham crackers into a sealed plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Remove the lid from a pudding cup and pour the crushed graham crackers on top of the pudding. Place the cookie stick in the cup. With clean scissors, carefully cut four leaves out of the green Laffy Taffy candy. Pinch the leaves together at one end. Use a small amount of icing to attach the leaves to the top of the cookie stick. Place two Whoppers in the "sand" for coconuts.

Blueberry and Peach Pie

Look at all the blueberry juice that just bubbled over the side! It looks so good! When Roger came downstairs this morning he said I was just being mean. Why would I make a pie with blueberries when he doesn't like blueberries? Well, my philosophy about cooking is to try all kinds of things and decide afterwards if I don't like it. I'll ease my husband and children into different foods by introducing them over and over again. This pie had a happy ending (well, not if you are the pie). Roger took one taste from my fork and asked me to dish him up a slice, too.

Ingredients for the crust:
2c flour
1/2c sugar
1t salt
2/3c butter, softened to room temp
6T cold water

Ingredients for the Filling:
1 1/2c sugar
5T quick cooking Tapioca
1/2t salt
3lbs peaches, peeled and sliced
12 oz blueberries (about 2 cups)
3T lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
2T cold butter, cut into small pieces
Preheat oven at 425˚F.

Pie Crust:
Mix the dry ingredients. Cut butter into dry ingredients using a pantry cutter. Add water and mix lightly. Don't kneed it too much. Divide into top and bottom, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Filling:
Mix together the sugar, tapioca, and salt. Add peaches, blueberries,and lemon juice. Mix together.

Lightly flour a rolling pin and roll out your bottom crust to a 12 inch round. Spray pie pan with Pam. Add bottom crust. Pour in filling and dot filling with cold butter.

Roll out the remaining crust, also into a 12 inch round. Put over the pie. Trim the excess around the edges and crimp edges. Cut little vents into the top crust. Brush top crust with water and sprinkle with a little sugar.

Set the pie pan on a rimmed cookie sheet to protect your stove from the overflow. Bake at 425˚F for 20 minutes, then lower temperature to 350 F and bake for another 25-30 minutes.

Cucumber Salad

This cucumber salad is my favorite to bring to a summer gathering. It's so light and crunchy. It's sweet and a little tangy. You can eat it as a side at the BBQ, put it on a burger, or eat it as a snack. It's not going to be in your refrigerator very long.

1 medium cucumber, sliced thinly
1/4-1/2 medium onion, sliced thinly
2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp vinegar
1 cup cold water
1/4 tsp pepper
tomato for garnish

Thinly slice the cucumber and onion. Combine all the ingredients and chill before serving. I like to dice up a tomato to garnish the salad, but it doesn't affect the flavor. This recipe serves about four so I always double it so there is a little something for me to snack on later. Like many great recipes, this salad is even better the next day.

Pulled Beef Brisket Sandwich

This was a very humbling recipe for me. I'll be honest, I've never cooked (or even bought) a brisket before. I looked in the meat section of my grocery store, but couldn't find it. I asked the butcher if he had any brisket.

He sneered at me, and waved his arm toward the right side of the meat fridge, "It's down there."

I did the only polite thing to do. I looked him straight in the eye and said, "I don't have any idea what it looks like and I couldn't find it overthere (waving my arm in that direction) could you point it out for me?"

Win/win situation. The butcher got to feel superior. I got the cut of meat I needed for this recipe. It was worth it. Saying this, I should probably tell you that I'm not usually a BBQ fan, in fact, I avoid it as much as possible. This recipe, however, is the exception. It was really good without tasting like it came out of the bottle. The pickles were a nice touch to finish off the sandwich. I'll be adding it to the menu more often.

Ingredients
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 3-4 pound beef brisket
1 18-ounce bottle of barbecue sauce
2 onions, chopped
1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
12 Dinner rolls

Mix the minced garlic, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and pepper. Rub over the brisket. In a small bowl mix the barbecue sauce, onions, Worchestershire sauce and liquid smoke. Place the brisket in a slow-cooker and pour over the sauce. Cook on low for 10 hours. Remove the beef and shred with two forks. Ladle the cooking liquid into a glass bowl and skim off the fat. Mix the sauce back into the pulled beef. Serve on rolls with pickles.


This recipe can be made ahead, stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat before serving

Easter Cupcakes

We made these this weekend just for fun. I had cut the recipe off a cupcake box a few weeks ago. The kids really enjoyed decorating the cupcakes.

Ingredients:
1 Box yellow cake mix
water, vegetable oil, and eggs called for on the cake box mix

Decorations:
2 1/2c shredded coconut
1 container of vanilla frosting
m&m's
orange gumdrops
whopper robin eggs (next time I'm going to try jelly beans)
yellow and green food coloring

Mix up the cupcake batter following the instructions on the box. Bake as directed and allow to cool. Divide the coconut in half and place in ziploc bags. Add 4 drops of food coloring to the bag. Shake to mix. Frost the cupcakes with white frosting. Top with yellow or green coconut. For eyes, add brown m&m'. Cut orange gum drops to resemble a beak. Place on cupcake. Add Robin Eggs to the green cupcakes. If I had thought about it, I would have bought some red licorice strips to turn the green cupcake into a basket.

Ants on a Log

I am not nearly as patient with my kids as I should be. They like to "help" me cook, but that usually translates into more dishes, a bigger mess, and a mommy who has lost all her patience. I realize that this is a short-coming on my part so I've been letting them into the kitchen to help more often. This is a recipe that I let Kaitlyn help me make.

Ingredients:
Celery Sticks
Peanut Butter
Raisins

It's pretty self explanatory. Kaitlyn uses a butter knife to put peanut butter on the celery sticks and puts the "ants" on the peanut butter. Of course, then she decided she didn't like raisins and picked them all off before eating the celery stick, but it was still a fun activity to do at snack time.

*You can also substitute cream cheese for the peanut butter.

Cilantro Lime Rice

My girlfriend Lisa told me about this recipe so I begged for the recipe. I've been meaning to try it for awhile and I'm sure glad that I did. I left out the cilantro in the portion I gave my husband. He really doesn't like cilantro. When I tasted his batch, the lime was a little over powering, but when you mix in the cilantro you get just the right mix. The kids gave it mix reviews. Maura loved it, but Kaitlyn was happy to eat it after she'd picked out all the "leaves". I really liked this and will be sneaking it onto the menu from time to time.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1c basmati rice
1 1/2c chicken broth
2-3 cloves garlic, pressed and chopped
2 Tbsp lime juice
zest of one lime
1/2c cilantro, chopped
1 tsp salt

Add the oil to a sauce pan and heat on medium. Add the garlic and rice to the oil and saute for about 2 minutes on medium heat. Add the chicken broth, salt, and lime juice. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Turn heat down, cover the pan, and simmer the rice for about 15 minutes. If the rice is too moist. Simmer a little longer. The texture of the rice in this dish is the same as if you cooked your rice in a rice cooker. I live at a higher elevation so I had to simmer my rice longer. When the rice is finished, mix in the lime zest and cilantro. Serve immediately.

Note: If you use long grained rice, follow the cooking directions on the package substituting the ingredients in this recipe for the water.