Fruity Puff Pancake Dessert Cake

This puff pancake family favorite recipe comes from my mother in law. She is an excellent cook and this dessert can be enhanced any number of ways. It is a family tradition to eat this dessert during family get togethers. It's a perfect summer time dessert. Keep in mind, the recipe is temperamental based upon altitude and humidity, so some experimentation may be needed. If you prefer something baking and hassle free, try my graham cracker with fruit and icing treat.

(click on picture to zoom for recipe)

You bake your dessert base, which is a mix between a pan cake and a custard. The sides will brown, expand and curl over the pan edge and the cake will rise all puffy like while baking. When you pull it out of the oven, the cake will fall, so serve immediately while still warm. Cut the cake into slices and place on individual plates.

This is the part where each person experiments. Top the cake with a dollop of sour cream, then any freshly washed, cut up fruit you like. Here, we used strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and bananas. Then, sprinkle the fruit with brown sugar. If you like whipped cream or chopped fresh mint, those are good as well. Kiwi, blackberries, peaches and even chopped apple are good too. It seems the one fruit we always use is strawberries though, then whatever else we have, we chop up and add it on top.

Graham Cracker, Chocolate Icing and Strawberry Summer Dessert

This is a simple treat that requires no baking. I simply break the graham crackers along the perforated lines, smear on some chocolate icing (store bought or you can make your own), top with chopped strawberries and a shot of whip cream. If you have fresh mint, that is yummy on top, but my mint plant didn't move with us when we moved.

Easy, fast, no baking involved, simple ingredients and you make the amount you need in one sitting. Oh, and kids love it. Sometimes, I like to spread just a bit of frosting on the graham cracker and eat it without anything else.

Homemade Salad Dressing

1 cup of canola or olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 cup onion

Put it in the blender and mix.

This salad dressing is amazing with Spinach, chopped bacon, boiled egg, red onion, avocado, feta cheese, and a little bit of shredded cheese.

Salsa and Freezing Herbs and Vegetables

We used to make our own salsa and guacamole all the time, and we eventually just stopped as life got busier. I had a really good food chopper, but gave it to Goodwill (brand new) b/c we never used it. As we've begun cooking more, we have re-realized how fun it is to prepare dinners (and snacks) together.

We love standing at our tiny kitchen counter together, chopping our own herbs and veggies. That 15 minutes or so that would other wise be "saved" by using a food chopper, is one of our favorite parts of these moments. We get busy in our own worlds, with the kids, work... but making a little snack and spending that time talking, laughing, chopping... it's good for us. Almost therapeutic. Of course, snacking on the delicious treat is most excellent as well! Do you have something like that for you or your relationship? It may even be something you do not even realize. Once you figure out what that activity might be, try and cultivate it and make it part of your weekly routine.

Salsa Recipe:

1/2 can well rinsed black beans

1 tomato, chopped

1/4 red onion, chopped

1 poblano pepper, chopped (or jalepeno if you like spicy)

handful fresh cilantro, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 T lemon juice

2 T olive oil

2 T vinegar (though we usually skip this)

salt to taste

Sliced avacodo, shredded cheese and chips for serving. Or serve over rice and cooked cubed seasoned chicken with corn for a "Chipotle" like meal.

Combine all, seal in airtight container and let stand for approx 30 mins for the flavors to blend together. I like to put a slice of avocado on my chip, dip in the salsa and then sprinkle on a little cheese. Delicious.

*tips... I freeze onion and herbs, and some other veggies I chop!! I only use a handful in my meals, but I put it in almost everything I make.  So, when I chop a fresh onion (or bell peper or whatever), I use what I need, then cut up the rest and put it in an airtight freezer bag and freeze. (Some veggies need to be blanched first for the best freezing, and some veggies don't freeze well at all, this link has good advice).  Of course, they are best when going to be cooked in the next meal, as they lose their crispness when they thaw, but still excellent if you are going to be using them soon.

 

gourmet traveler 88 has a great directions for freezing herbs

Freezing makes it easy when cooking, just throw in a little frozen onion and it cooks just fine. For herbs, chop them up, and fill an ice cube tray with them. Cover with a bit of water and freeze. When cooking, just plop in your herbed ice cube, here's an easy tutorial with pictures at bananablender. You can do the same thing with pesto herb mixes (directions here) as well .

Happy chopping!

Lisa ~ of Little Lovables

Vegetable Pork Chop Skillet Dinner

 

This is one of the tastiest and easiest dinners I have made in a while. I just went grocery shopping the night before, but wanted to use up the older veggies before they went bad to make room for the new ones. 

So, I typed into google, 'pork chops' and 'red bell pepper', found  this recipe and thought, wow, that's really easy! I added  mushrooms and altered the sauce a bit and it was perfection. The onions were easy, because I just pulled prechopped ones I had in a freezer bag already to go. We served the meal over steamed rice and had (store bought) strawberry shortcakes with fresh chopped strawberries and whipped cream for dessert.

You could substitute green beans or asparagus for the bell peppers in this easy and delicious recipe.

 

♥ Ingredients ♥

• 4 (3/4 inch) thick pork loin chops
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips
• 6 mushrooms, sliced thick
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup water or chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons Girard's Caesar Dressing (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves (I used Emeril's table blend instead)
• 1/2 tsp flour or cornstarch to thicken sauce

♥ Preparation ♥

Sprinkle chops on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in heavy skillet over medium high heat and add chops, onion, and garlic. Cook 5 minutes on one side, shaking pan frequently so garlic doesn't burn, then turn chops and add pepper strips and mushrooms. Cover and cook 5-8 minutes longer until pork registers 160 degrees F. Remove chops and peppers from skillet and set aside, covered to keep warm. 

Add Worcestershire sauce, water, dressing, seasonings and flour, scraping bottom of skillet with rubber spatula to loosen pan drippings. Cook until sauce thickens slightly, then return pork and vegetables to skillet. Cook for 1 minute longer to coat pork with sauce, then serve. 4 servings.

 

Lisa~ of Little Lovables

Herb Crusted Salmon and Asparagus

So, using this recipe as inspiration, I came up with my own ingrediants list since I didn't have half of what was called for. I found this site on substituting for teriyaki sauce and the A1, oj and worchestershire turned out even better than teriyaki. And, even though we have gourmet parmesean cheese given to us by a cheese scientist, I forgot to add it!

♥ Herb Crusted Salmon Steak ♥

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 egg

1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

1 teaspoon basil
1/4 c water
1/2 cup pulp free orange juice
1/2 cup A-1 steak sauce
1 tablespon worchestershire sauce
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2  salmon steaks

1. In a shallow, medium bowl mix Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoned bread crumbs, spices.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, blend A1, orange juice, butter, red onion and garlic. Cook and stir until onions are tender.
3. Press one side of each salmon steak egg and dredge into the Parmesan cheese mixture. Place steaks crust side up in saucepan with sauce mixture. Cook over medium high heat until most of the liquid is reduced, 10 to 15 minutes, then flip with a spatula. Continue cooking until crust is golden brown and fish is easily flaked with a fork.

♥ Asparagus ♥

I usually blanch* asparagus first, to maintain the nutrients and green color, and to stop it from turning mushy during cooking, but I didn't this time, though I would usually suggest it.

1 lb fresh asparagus spears
1 tb oilve oil
1-2 cloves crushed garlic
1tb butter (we use smart balance)
salt/pepper to taste
1 tb seseame seeds

1. Cut off woody ends
2. Cut asparagus into 1 1/2 inch pieces
3. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add asparagus, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook on med heat, stirring frequently about 5 mins. Add butter and seseame seeds, cook until done.

*to blanch first:

1. Have a large bowl of ice water ready to go.
2. Boil a large pot of water. Now, place your asparagus into the boiling water. Cook until the asparagus turns a bright green. The time this will take will depend on how thick your asparagus stalks are. Usually takes about 2-5 minutes.
3. Remove asparagus from the pot with a slotted spoon or tongs and place into ice-water bath to stop the cooking process. This will tenderize the stalks a bit more, but they'll remain deliciously crunchy.

We rounded out the meal with steamed rice with a touch of salt and pepper and butter and naan bread (we love our starches around here) and it was delicious... even for people who don't always like fish, like me, I even ate more than 1 serving!

~Lisa, Little Lovables

Herb Crusted Pork Chops, Potatoes & Garlic Bread

My new favorite recipe. I combined a few ideas until I came up with my perfect combination. It's great for picky eaters and quick and easy. You can also use chicken instead of pork, and it will be awesome, but the crust is a little more juicy from cooking. Amazingly, it isn't as dry and burnt up looking as my photo suggests! Serve with potatoes*, greens beans, garlic bread*, salad or fresh fruit for a well rounded meal.

♥ Ingredients ♥

4 boneless porkchops
2 cups Progresso Italian Style bread crumbs

1 packet Lipton Onion Soup/Dip mix
1 c Girard's Light Caesar Salad dressing (this dressing works best)
1/3 c French's Spicy Brown Mustard (any Dijon will do)

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Mix caesar dressing and brown mustard in a bowl.
3. In a seperate bowl, mix bread cups and dry onion soup mix. 
4. Coat pork chops in dressing mix, put in ziplock bag and marinate in fridge for up to 2 hours. Or don't marinate, (I never do) either way, it will be good.
5. Coat the dressing covered pork chops in the bread crumb mix. Place pork chops in baking sish, cover with foil and bake for approx 25 mins or until done.

image via life ambrosia

♥ Garlic Rosemary Roasted Potatoes ♥

Our favorite side potatoes, made famous by my mother in law. They are great unpeeled, or peeled.

Cut into 2 chunks. Put in roasting pan and toss in olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, lots of garlic and basil. Cover with foil and bake at 375 for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

image via j&d's

♥ Garlic Bread ♥

Soften about 2 cups butter (I use Smart Choice). Add basil and garlic to butter mix. Cut a store bought french bread loaf and butter insides with garlic butter. Place on pan and bake for about 6 minutes.

Cut into slices and fight over the last piece. ~ Lisa of Little Lovables