Beat the Heat...Get out of the Kitchen!

When we were young and hip, okay~we may still be young, but the kids may not think we are hip, (prime example...I was driving Riley and her friend to gymnastics today and I told them I would put the radio on, and I was trying to sing along....they looked at me and got their MP3 player out....), we used to eat out ALOT!

One of the things I really liked was the grilled Caesar salad from The Belvedere Inn, in downtown Lancaster. Well, because kids take a small fortune to raise, we tried to re-create their recipe....I think it was Nicole (thanks, again) who helped this recipe along....we used to lunch together all the time when the kids were little.....feeding the kids whatever kid friendly meal we had, and then creating special things for us to enjoy.

Anyway, it was way to nice (and hot) to be inside cooking at the stove tonight so I took it outside. What are some ways that you guys beat the heat with cooking? Please post your comments and ideas!!

Start with romaine lettuce ($3.99 at Costco for this whole pack)!!

Lay lettuce on the cutting board...

Cut in 1/2...brush lightly (maybe 1 tsp. per lettuce 1/2) with olive oil:

Lay lettuce, cut side down, on preheated grill; grill for 3-4 minutes per side....

also grill shrimp or chicken.

Remove from grill to platter:

Serve with bread (this was a potato scallion from Costco);

Assemble salad and enjoy.

Grilled Caesar Salad - Serves 4

3 Heads of Romaine (Cut in 1/2)

1 lb. Shrimp, raw-deveined-shelled

Salt and Pepper

Croutons of choice

Caesar Dressing of choice (I used Culinary Treasures, Fresh Garlic Caesar from Costco)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat grill. Cut romaine in 1/2 and lightly brush with olive oil. Toss shrimp with salt and pepper (I used Tastefully Simples Garlic Pepper and some fresh ground sea salt).

Add shrimp to grill pan and begin grilling. When shrimp is about 1/2 way cooked, add romaine lettuce and grill approx. 3-4 minutes per side. Remove from grill to a serving platter. To assemble your grilled caesar salad, place a grilled romaine on your plate and drizzle with salad dressing. Top with shrimp and croutons. Serve with slice bread. Enjoy!

HAPPY EATING!

Around the house...

Hi everyone,
Sorry, no recipe post today, busy work weekend and last night we had the kids year-end carnival/picnic at school!!
Hope everyone is having a great start to their week!

Spring House...

HAPPY EATING!!

Peanut Butter Filled Cookies!

Right now I am trying to put off doing the folding of laundry! I can handle putting the laundry in the washing machine, even switching it to the dryer..but getting it out of the dryer and folding it, please won't the laundry fairy come my way do this little task for me! Don't get me wrong, my hubby does laundry (that's right, his momma trained him right), but sometimes I feel guilty for letting it get backed up, I mean really, I only work part-time there is no excuse.......okay, enough venting about laundry.

On to the good stuff....you see those little peanut butter filled gems up there? I retrieved the idea from the blog Our Best Bites (link to the side of the screen), but I used my tried and true Peanut Butter Cookie recipe from The Mennonite Cookbook. All I can say is OH. MY. WORD. These are going with Jimmy to work tomorrow (maybe that will make up for how behind on the laundry I am).

Peanut Butter Filled Cookies
1 Cup Butter, softened
1 Cup Peanut Butter
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
3 Cups Flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla

Peanut Butter Filling
1 C. Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2 C. Butter, softened
4 Cups confectioners sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
3-4 Tbsp Milk
DIRECTIONS: For cookies~cream together butter and peanut butter. Add sugars and continue to beat. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Gradually add flour, baking soda and baking powder. Chill dough for several hours. Once chilled, shape dough into 1" balls. Place on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 375. Remove to cooling rack. For filling~Beat peanut butter, butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth. If needed, add milk a little at a time until desired consistency. Once the cookies are completely cool, spread frosting on cookie and sandwich with another.

HAPPY EATING!

Spaghetti Pie.....Mangia!!!!

This recipe came to me a few years back, when the kiddos were born! The recipe has become a staple in this house and is the way my husband prefers to eat spaghetti! (Thanks Nicole!!!!!).
It is also an easy recipe to cut in half or adapt to your taste....if you don't want meat, just add veggies, etc.

Spaghetti Pie
1 lb. spaghetti noodles, cooked
2 Eggs
1 can (5 oz.) EVAPORATED milk
28 oz. jar spaghetti sauce (you can add more if you like your spaghetti saucier)
1 lb. ground beef, browned
3 Cups Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
DIRECTIONS: Brown ground beef, when cooked combine w/ spaghetti sauce. Set aside. Cook spaghetti noodles, according to package directions. Drain. Place in a 9x13 baking dish. Whisk together milk and eggs. Pour over spaghetti. Next, sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the noodles. Top with sauce/meat mixture. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese (optional). Bake at 350 degrees approx. 45 minutes...or until hot and bubbly.

HAPPY EATING!

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad!

Has anyone used these salad kits yet? Well, let me tell you....quick, easy, convenient and tasty! They were on sale at SKH this week so I thought, why not....we were supposed to have baseball last night, but the rain got in the way, as I am sure that it will keep doing off and on this week and I was planning on these salads for a quick dinner. When baseball got cancelled, dinner did not....still quick and easy was my motto for the night!

We grilled some tasty chicken to slice up and eat along with the salad which everyone enjoyed. Well, almost everyone! Riley enjoyed the chicken, carrots and some bread.....she said, "No thank you to the salad mom...."

Here is to another busy week! I am hoping to get some baking done this week, if my evenings keep freeing up due to rain!

HAPPY EATING!

Dinner!

Since I started this blog, many of you have asked me, "Doesn't your family ever eat tuna sandwiches for dinner or peanut butter and jelly for dinner?" The answer to that question is, "Yes, yes and yes!!" Right now with spring sports and running here and there and everywhere, I find myself packing the kids a sandwich dinner in the lunch bags and they eat on the way to or from whatever activity we are going/coming from. On occasion, I will even cheat and run through the drive-thru but that is a rare occasion.

Last night was baseball, soccer and a Tastefully Simple Party. Jimmy had to do the running.....the Robinsons' had frozen pizza for dinner. The youngest Robinsons' were happy about this....


Here's to frozen dinners!!

HAPPY EATING!!

Kinder Cwk....

No, I didn't spell "cook" wrong....apparently in 1978 we spelled things as they sounded or the "schwa" learning is what it was called I believed.

Since my parents have downsized, I seem to be "inheriting" stuff.....stuff that I really don't need because I have enough stuff of my own...however, this is one of the things that came my way, and I cherish it. It is a cookbook that I made for my mom back in Kindergarten......Mrs. Humphries, the teacher collected recipes from our mom's and put them on one side of a copy and then she asked us, the all knowing "kinder cwks" for our recipes......I rolled laughing at some of these, but for the sake of boring you all to death, I only posted mine....

That is my handprint......

Fish....really, Chrissy??

Who wants to come for dinner....for fish?

HAPPY EATING!!

Baseball Treats!

Baseball season is in full swing and tonight I made a little treat for JD's ball team.....rice krispie treat baseballs! How about that? There isn's a whole lot to say about rice krispie treats, they are pretty straight forward~butter, marshmallows and rice krispies. Here is what they looked like....

These come together pretty quickly, the thing that takes the most time is letting the chocolate set up.....but I made the pan of krispies around 1:30~let them cool and then around 4:00 I cut them and decorated them and was done by 5:00.

Rice KrispieTreats
3 Tbsp. Butter
1 Pkg. (10 oz) of regular marshmallos
6 Cups Rice Krispies
DIRECTIONS: Melt butter in large saucepan; add marshmallows and stir until melted. Remove from heat and stir in rice krispies. Cool. Cut into desired shapes and decorate.

What can you do with rice krispies? HAPPY EATING!

Derby Day Fun!!

So, Saturday was the Kentucky Derby and no, I don't watch the Derby~but I like the idea of Derby Day Parties....I mean really...fun hats, good food, mint juleps (okay, maybe not mint juleps, but they sound so refreshing...except I don't really like liquor so maybe some mint tea or meadow tea would be more suitable to my taste), it is just a good combination for a good reason to host a party. It was actually a work weekend for me so we just had a Derby Day potluck~southern style pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, veggies, empanadas, chips and salsa, cookies and Derby Pie! Yep, that's right, Derby Pie....if only I had a picture of the gooey, chocolatey, pecany insides! It is so easy to make~I can't even begin to tell you how easy it was to make~so here is the recipe:


Derby Pie:

1 Frozen, deep dish pie crust
2 Eggs
1/2 C. Flour
1/2 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Brown Sugar
3/4 C. Butter, softened
1 C. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 C. Chopped Pecans
DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Beat 2 eggs until frothy. Add flour and sugars. Add softened butter. Next stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Spread into pie crust. Place in oven and bake for 55-60 minutes. Remove from oven to cooling rack, allow to cool before serving. (If pie is to hot, it will fall apart when trying to serve). Serve with vanilla ice cream or Cool Whip. Enjoy!

Here's to stomping divots and wearing fun hats.....HAPPY EATING!

To Market, To Market...

Okay, so after a temporary hiatus from blogging because of baseball, soccer, Awana, gymnastics, work, and a weekend away....I am back!

I ventured to Lancaster's Central Market on Tuesday and I just love the atmosphere, the standholders, the freshness of everything!! Because Jimmy was heading to Lion's Club on Tuesday, I was able to grill veggies for dinner...(I did have to grill some chicken tenders for the kids) but I enjoyed a vegetarian dinner....here is what you will need to make the grilled asparagus:

It is really simple to just throw it on the grill and grill until bright green in color (or until desired tenderness....I like mine crunchy!)...



Mix up a salad to put the grilled veggies on (I also grilled portobello mushrooms, onions and zucchini).

Grilled Asparagus

1 lb. asparagus

3 Tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar

2 Tbsp. Fresh Lemon Juice

1 Tbsp. Olive Oil

1 Tbsp. Low Sodium Soy Sauce

Sesame Seeds

DIRECTIONS: Cut tough ends off of the aspargus and place in a large ziploc bag. Add all ingredients into bag and marinate for 2-4 hours. Remove from marinade and place on preheated grill and grill until desired doneness. Enjoy!!

Happy Eating!!