A twist on a classic picnic salad. Made with a slightly lemony vinaigrette and garnished with feta cheese, this salad is great with grilled meats on hot summer days. And there is no cooking to heat up the kitchen.
I like to keep ingredients for this salad on hand for an easy to make last-minute side dish. Most of the ingredients are shelf-stable, and feta cheese stores really well in the freezer.
RECIPE:
Filed under Salads, Side Dishes
Happy Canada Day!
Today’s recipe is a classic sour cherry pie filling that makes wonderful pie, or a delicious topping for vanilla ice cream or yogurt.
When we were in Pittsburgh, there was an awesome farm close by that sold buckets of pre-pitted sour cherries for a couple of weeks every summer. I am not a fan of pitting cherries, so I LOVED this! These cherries were perfect for making lots of jars of canned cherry pie filling that could be used throughout the year.
We have now moved and are too far to get these cherries anymore. As I’m still not a fan of pitting my own cherries, I rarely make multiple jars of canned cherry pie filling anymore. Okay, never. But I did scale down the recipe to make a single cherry pie (from either fresh or canned sour cherries).
For those who LOVE pitting cherries, or have access to places that will pit them for you, I have also included the large batch canning recipe.
And for those looking for a visual on making a lattice pie crust, here are a few photos:
To avoid burned edges when baking your pie, use a pie crust shield after the first 10 minutes of baking. If you don’t have a commercial pie crust shield, it is easy to make your own. See the easy tutorial in the following link. This method does NOT use foil strips! That just leads to frustration and burnt fingers.
Make-Your-Own Pie Crust Shield
RECIPES:
Filed under Canning/Freezing, Desserts
Strawberries and lemons are a perfect pairing for a sweet summer dessert. This cake has three layers of lemon cake filled with a strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream and garnished with candied lemon peels and whole strawberries.
Candied lemons are easy to make; just be sure to slice the lemons very thinly and remove any seeds. The leftover syrup can be used to sweeten a pitcher of fresh lemonade!
Swiss Meringue Buttercream is a light and airy frosting that is not too sweet. The addition of strawberry puree makes it extra delicious!
RECIPES:
This shredded pork wrap filling can be made in an Instant Pot or slow cooker. The pork is seasoned with a soy peanut marinade and makes a flavorful meal everyone will love. Top with chopped peanuts and julienned cucumbers for a great crunch.
Serve in tortillas for wraps. For a low-carb meal, use Bibb or Butter lettuce leaves for lettuce wraps, or serve on a bed of chopped lettuce.
RECIPES:
Filed under Instant Pot, Low Carb/Keto, Main Dishes
With colder weather this week, we have broken out a few comfort food dishes. Beef stroganoff is a great way to make 2 meals out of one roast. I like to do a traditional Roast Beef one day, and then use the leftovers to make this Beef Stroganoff. If you won’t be using the leftover roast beef right away, cut it into strips and freeze it for a quick start to a meal later.
RECIPE:
Filed under Main Dishes
As the weather warms, these fresh spring rolls make a perfect appetizer or light main dish.
Fresh spring rolls are made with a thin rice paper wrapper and a combination of thinly sliced vegetables, proteins, noodles, and herbs. The hardest part about making them is seeing the wrapper once you wet it. They are very thin and almost transparent when wet. And chopping-these do involve a lot of vegetable chopping.
To make the rolls:
Fill a large shallow bowl (or plate with a rimmed edge) with warm water. Dip one piece of rice paper into the water, just until the wrapper begins to soften (about 15 seconds); make sure to wet entire piece. Lay the wrapper on a separate plate, textured side up, with a small edge hanging off of the plate (this will make it easier to start rolling). Don’t wet more than one wrapper at a time; they will quickly stick together.
Place a combination of desired vegetables, protein/noodles, and herbs on the bottom part of the rice paper. Fold the bottom edge of the rice paper over the filling and roll tightly once or twice. Fold in the two sides and then continue rolling completely.
Fresh spring rolls should be served the same day as making then. If you do need to store leftovers, store rolls (not touching) in a single layer; the rice paper gets sticky as it starts to dry and they will stick together if stored in layers.
Below are ideas for vegetable, protein, noodle, and herb fillings that can be used, and recipes for various dipping sauces. Pictured above are Spicy Sesame, Creamy Peanut, and Sweet Chili Hoisin Dipping Sauces.
RECIPES:
Filed under Appetizers, Main Dishes
Ninja-bread Men
Snow Capped Christmas Trees
Russian Teacakes
Cranberry Orange Pinwheels
Baklava Thumbprints
Chocolate Orange Shortbread Sticks
Raspberry Almond Thumbprints
Boston Cream Cookie Cups
Coconut Macaroons
White Chocolate Cherry Pistachio Cookies
No Empty Chairs 