Caesar Salad Dip

 

Caesar Salad Dip

1 pkg. Cream Cheese, softened

1 cup Parmesan Cheese

1/2 cup Caesar Dressing

1 cup Romaine Lettuce

1/2 cup Croutons

Place cream cheese, parmesan cheese, and caesar dressing in mixing bowl.

Beat with electric mixer on medium speed, until well blended.

Spread on bottom of 9-inch pie plate.

Top with romaine lettuce and croutons.

Sprinkle with additional parmesan cheese, if desired.

Serve with crackers or vegetable spears, 

such as celery sticks, baby carrots, or strips of bell peppers.

Lemon Blueberry Sweet Tea

Lemon Blueberry Sweet Tea

12 oz. pkg. frozen blueberries

1/2 cup lemon juice

3/4 cup sugar

1 gallon Sun Tea

for garnish:

Lemon Slices

Fresh Blueberries

I like to make my iced tea using the energy of the sun.

But, you can make the tea using your favorite method.

Place frozen blueberries and lemon juice in a medium saucepan.

Bring to a boil over medium heat.

Cook, Stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.

Pour through a wire-mesh strainer into a bowl.

Use the back of a spoon to squeeze out as much juice as possible.

Discard the solids.

Pour tea, lemon blueberry juice, and sugar into a serving pitcher.

Stir until sugar is dissolved.

Serve over ice.

Garnish with fresh blueberries 

and a lemon slice.

Million Dollar Pie & Tuesday's Tip of the Day

Million Dollar Pie

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can crushed pineapple, well drained

1 pkg. coconut

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1 tsp. vanilla

8 oz. whipped topping

Graham Cracker Crust

Chopped pecans or Toasted Coconut for Garnish

Place crushed pineapple in strainer to drain.

Press out all juice by squeezing with the back of a spoon.

Mix with condensed milk and lemon juice.

Gently stir in chopped pecans and coconut.

Fold in whipped topping.

Pour into baked and cooled graham cracker crust.

Refrigerate for several hours.

Tuesday's Tip of the Day

A quick and easy way to create a crust for individual desserts 

is to place a cookie in the bottom of a paper lined muffin cup.

For this dessert, I used a vanilla sandwich cookie.

And the pie filling just goes on top.

Garnish with chopped pecans or toasted coconut, if you wish.

Honey Lime Chicken

Honey Lime Chicken Skewers

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1" pieces

1/4 cup soy sauce

3 TBS honey

1 TBS vegetable oil

Juice of 1 lime

2 tsp hot chili sauce, such as Sriracha sauce

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 TBS cilantro (or parsley), chopped

3-4 skewers (metal or wooden)

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, honey, oil, lime juice, hot chili sauce, garlic and cilantro. Stir to combine.

In a large gallon sized plastic zipper bag, add the chicken pieces to the bag along with the marinade. Zip the bag closed, removing the air from the bag as you close it. Gently knead the marinade and chicken together until chicken is coated completely.

Place the marinating chicken in the refrigerator for 1-3 hours.

Remove the chicken from the bag, discard any marinade left in the bag. Thread 8 to 9 pieces of chicken onto each skewer. (If using wooden skewers, soak them in water for at least 15 minutes prior to skewering the chicken.)

Grill over medium heat, 7 to 8 minutes on each side, or until fully cooked.

Serve with a fresh garden salad and wedges of lime.

Serves 3-4

Summer Berry Tart

Summer Berry Tart

1 box vanilla instant pudding mix

1 orange, zested

1/2 pint raspberries

1/2 pint blueberries

6 large strawberries, sliced

1 graham cracker crust

Prepare homemade graham cracker crust using your favorite recipe.

I like to use my tart pan for this dessert, 

but you can also use a pie pan.

Bake for 8 minutes.  Allow to cool thoroughly.

Scroll down a post to find Lucy's tips on zesting.

(or click here)

Prepare the pudding mix according to the pie filling directions.

Let stand 5 minutes.  Stir orange zest into the pudding.

Spread a layer over the graham cracker crust.

Arrange fruit on the pudding.

Tuesday Tip of the Day - Zesting

Loads of recipes call for the juice of lemons, limes and oranges, but what about the zest? Whenever a recipe call for just the juice of the fruit, I always zest the peel first. 

Using your microplaner or other zesting tool, zest the peel of the fruit over a clean paper towel. Be careful not to zest the white pithy part which can be quite bitter.

Allow the zest to dry completely on the paper towel. Once dry, place in a marked container in a cool, dry place. You are now ready to add zest to your favorite recipes without having to purchase the zest in the store, which can be very costly.

Watermelon, Orange and Feta Salad Platter

1/4 of a small seedless watermelon

1 large orange

1/2 small red onion

2 ounces feta cheese

1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves

4 tsp. olive oil

Course salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Slice watermelon. Remove the rind and cut into wedges.

Cut the peel and pith from the orange.

With a sharp knife, cut into segments, slicing between the membranes.

Arrange watermelon wedges, orange segments, and onion slices on a serving platter or on individual salad plates.

Sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese and chopped parsley.

Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Summer Sangria Punch

 

Summer Sangria Punch

4 cups cranberry juice cocktail

1 cup orange juice

1 tbsp. fresh lime juice

3/4 cup pink lemonade flavor drink mix

3 cups club soda

1 orange

1 lemon

1 lime

Be sure all of your ingredients are chilled.

You can see I used apple cranberry juice this time (because it was on sale),

and I substituted sparking water for the club soda (to reduce the calorie count).

Prepare the orange juice according 

to the directions on the can.

Slice the citrus fruit.

Stir the first 4 ingredients in a glass pitcher until the drink mix is dissolved.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Add club soda and fruit.  Stir.

Serve in ice filled glasses.

Garnish with lemon and lime slices.