BLT and Avocado Salad with Homemade Buttermilk Dressing

I almost always have buttermilk on hand as I love to use it in pancakes, waffles, biscuits and baked goods. So, when I decided to make a BLT Salad and discovered that I was out of Ranch dressing, I decided it was time to try my hand at homemade Buttermilk dressing. I have to say that it is really good! The cool, creamy and tangy dressing was a perfect topping to complement this wonderful salad! I used Romaine lettuce and some homegrown cherry tomatoes along with some thick, smokey bacon and buttery avocado. This BLT Salad was quite a treat!

BLT and AVOCADO SALAD with HOMEMADE BUTTERMILK DRESSING

Dressing ingredients:

1/2 cup buttermilk (be sure to shake it first)

1/4 cup sour cream, reg. or low fat

1/4 cup real mayonnaise, reg. or low fat

1/4 tsp. dry mustard

1/4 tsp. pepper, or to taste

1/4 tsp. salt, I used Kosher

2 tsp. sugar, optional

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. cider vinegar

2 T. finely chopped fresh chives
Add all ingredients into a small bowl and stir well with a whisk. Make a couple of hours before serving to the flavors can come together well. Makes 1 cup.

Salad ingredients for 2 main dish sized salads: 6-8 cups torn romaine lettuce, divided among 2 plates

4-6 strips of crisp bacon, crumbled

cherry tomatoes, halved, or other diced tomato

avocado- I used 1/2 of an avocado for each salad

diced red onion
Arrange romaine lettuce on plates. Top with the bacon, tomatoes, onion and sliced avocado. Serve with the Homemade Buttermilk Dressing. Enjoy!

This was a wonderful salad! I love romaine because of it's sweet, crunchy taste, which was perfect with the sweet cherry tomatoes and the salty bacon. The avocado is perfect with this salad! The amount of chives in the dressing was about right. I think I may try a small amount of dill next time too. And maybe some parsley. My first attempt at making dressing turned out very well! Do you make homemade salad dressings?

Green Beans and New Potatoes

We've had some slightly cooler weather here this past week and my thoughts have turned to comfort food! I have some new potatoes that my daughter's boyfriend brought me, and some green beans from my garden waiting to cooked into one of my favorite meals. My husband and I love this old fashioned dish. Both our mothers made this, our grandmothers made this. In fact, most people I know around here cook Green Beans and New Potatoes sometime during the summer. You can use bacon or ham hocks for the flavoring, or even some cooked ham from a bone-in ham. This time I used some ham hocks which give great flavor, but don't yield much meat unless you're lucky enough to find some meaty ones from a butcher. While I normally like green beans steamed or roasted the best, I still have to have this old time favorite several times through the year. It brings back lots of good memories from my childhood as I think of my Mother cooking a large pot of this for supper and my Father coming in at dark after working a long day on the ranch we lived on. Since Mom always had a large garden back then, she also canned, so we had green beans like this all year long. Yes, this is comfort food at it's best!

Green Beans and New Potatoes

About 3 pounds green beans, washed and stemmed and snapped in two, if desired

3 ham hocks, or 4-5 slices bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces, or some cooked ham pieces

small new potatoes( cut larger ones in half)

1 onion, cut into wedges

salt and pepper, to taste

In a soup pot or dutch oven, place the ham hocks and just barely cover with water. Cover and simmer for about 1 hour. Add green beans and onions and cook for another 30 minutes. Next add the potatoes and simmer with pan covered for another 30-45 minutes until beans are tender. Many people cook green beans for a longer period of time, but the beans tend to fall apart more. I prefer that they only cook for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes total, but cook them longer if you prefer. Remove ham hock from pan and let cool. Remove any meat from the bones and add to the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste at this time.

If you are using bacon, just add it into the pot with the beans in the beginning. I love the fresh green beans with the creamy new potatoes. Normally, I use just the red skinned potatoes for this dish, but I had both red and white new potatoes, so I mixed them. Such a comforting dish for any time of year! If you can or freeze green beans in the summer, then this is a great dish to fix any time of the year. You may also cook this dish in a slow cooker! Place all the ingredients in the crock pot and just let it simmer all day and you won't have to watch the pot.

I am submitting this recipe to HoneyB at the Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch , and Laura at The Spiced Life , for the Family Recipes, Memories of Family, Food and Fun event.

What is your favorite way to cook green beans?

Chicken and Penne with Pesto Cream Sauce

A couple of weeks ago I tried to recreate a pasta dish that I had recently at a restaurant in a nearby city. The dish was full of flavor, the type where you want to savor every bite, and when you are done you desire to have it the next day too! Well, I came close and this pasta dish got two thumbs up from everyone at dinner! This is fairly quick to put together, only taking about 3o minutes, which is perfect for weeknights, but it is delicious enough to serve to company. I used a purchased pesto, but if you make homemade of course it will be great. I've also used fresh herbs in place of the pesto and this also works well. First, you will slice some chicken breasts and saute

them in olive oil. Remove chicken from skillet and add more oil, or butter, and some garlic and saute a minute. Pour in the cream. Add pesto and some sun-dried tomatoes, sea salt and pepper. Stir well. Bring to a simmer.

Add the chicken back to skillet and simmer just until the sauce starts to thicken. This is not supposed to be a thick sauce, and it will thicken some when you add it to the pasta.

Taste sauce before you add the pasta and add more salt and pepper if needed. Mix pasta and pesto sauce together. Pile on plates and top with lots of grated Parmesan cheese. Chow down! It will make enough for 6 adult servings.

CHICKEN and PENNE with PESTO CREAM SAUCE

16 ounces penne pasta, cooked to package directions and drained

4-6 boneless chicken breast halves, sliced crosswise into strips

4-5 cloves garlic, minced

4 T. olive oil or butter

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup chicken broth or pasta cooking water

3 T. purchased pesto ( you may want to taste sauce as you add this to find the strength you like)
3 T. or more of diced sun-dried tomatoes

sea salt and pepper to taste.

In a large skillet, add 2 T. of olive oil and saute sliced chicken breasts that have been salted and peppered, til barely done. Remove from pan to a plate. Add 2 more T. olive oil to skillet and the minced garlic. Stir until garlic is very fragrant, but do not brown. Add the cream, chicken broth or water, pesto, and sun dried tomatoes. Bring to a low simmer and add chicken back to pan. Simmer only until sauce is slightly thickened, as it will thicken more after the pasta is added in. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if needed. I wanted the sauce to be slightly thickened, but thin enough to run into those delicious tubes of penne and coat them thoroughly! If your sauce gets too thick, add more chicken broth to thin it a little. I did not add cheese to the sauce, but instead added lots as a topping on the pasta. I actually added more after the picture was taken! I made a fresh salad and garlic bread to accompany this meal. Enjoy!

Blueberry Crumb Bars

I'm sorry that I didn't get this delicious recipe posted yesterday. I tried, really I did, but every time I uploaded pictures they came out streaked and shaded. Same thing happened this morning, so I don't know what's going on! They seem to be fine now though.
I usually don't post back-to-back dessert type dishes, but these bars are so good that I just had to let you know! And besides, I call them breakfast bars, after all, they have oatmeal and blueberries in them! And I did eat them for breakfast, but my husband likes them with ice cream piled on top, (of course). This recipe came from Epicurious and was featured in the July 2009 issue of Bon Appetit. The crust is wonderful and holds up well so that you can eat this as a bar with you fingers. I changed the filling a bit. The recipe calls for the addition of 1 cup of blueberry preserves, but I had a lot of blueberries in the fridge, so I added an extra cup of blueberries and omitted the preserves. I also increased the flour so that the blueberries would thicken up. These Blueberry Crumb Bars turned out perfect! A crisp bottom crust, a perfect blueberry center and crumb topping on top with almonds! I'll be making these again and again!

BLUEBERRY CRUMB BARS (adapted slightly from Epicurious)

Crust:

2 cups flour

1 cup old fashioned oatmeal

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup(2 sticks) chilled, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 in. cubes

1/2 cup sliced almonds

Filling:

4 cups fresh or frozen, (do not thaw) blueberries

3 Tbs. flour

2/3 cup sugar (next time I may drop that to 1/2 cup)

1 tsp. finely grated lemon peel

Preparation

For Crust:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter bottom of a 9x13 in. pan. I used a glass baking dish. In a large bowl, mix flour, oats, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon together. Add butter and use a pastry blender or fingers to mix butter into flour mixture until it sticks together in small clumps.

Transfer 2 cups of flour mixture to another bowl; mix in the almonds, and reserve for topping.

Press remaining crumb mixture evenly onto the bottom of prepared pan. Bake crust until golden and firm to touch, about 20 minutes.. Cool 10 minutes.

For filling:

Mix blueberries, 3 T. flour, sugar and lemon peel together in a bowl. Spread evenly over the baked crust. Now, sprinkle with the reserved topping.

Bake bars, at 375, until filling bubbles at edges and topping is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. Try to restrain yourself from cutting and eating them before they are cool!

They are best on the day they are made, of course. The crust can be stirred together up to 2 days ahead and stored in the refrigerator, covered.

This is the second day for ours and they are still nice and firm, but I will store them in the fridge tonight, if there's any left! Hehe! Really, these are good, try them!

Baby and Garden Pictures

Yesterday our wonderful, adorable and beautiful granddaughter was 1 month old! She is adored by all in our family, as you may expect. Seems like every time she and her parents come over, we grab the camera! Note to all young families with babies: when your children grow up and have babies of their own, when they are fussy, you get to send them home with their parents! : )
But kidding aside, I have been able to help out some and it has been a real blessing not only to my DIL and son, but to me- I'm loving it!
And, here are some garden pictures, closeups again. If you look closely at this next picture you'll see what looks like small balls or balloons on stems. These are Balloon Flowers and after the "Balloon" forms then they burst open in pretty blue flowers! The flower isn't upright so next time I'll have to get on the ground to get a good picture!

The color on this Purple Coneflower isn't quite right, but I had to show it to you anyway, as I was able to catch a bee busy pollinating! If you look closely, you can see what looks like dust right below the bee. It's actually pollen! I normally don't hang around bees, but I'm glad I did here!

Have you ever smelled the intoxicating fragrance of Phlox! It's heavenly and butterflies love it. I tried to get a good picture of a couple of butterflies on the Phlox a few days ago, but the winged wonders were too skittish. We've had lots of rain last night and today, so a lot of the petals have fallen to the ground. The Phlox are about 3 feet high and easy to photograph.

And I do have some tomatoes! I planted these by our back door this year and they have really grown tall. However, the actual tomatoes are taking forever to ripen, so we have had only 1 large tomato and a small bowl of cherry tomatoes. At least there were enough cherry tomatoes to make my Avocado, Cucumber and Tomato Salad!

It seems the tomatoes around here are ripening rather slowly. I went to the farmers market last week to buy some, and the locally grown ones were green! I guess I'll have to be patient! Hope you enjoyed my pictures. I'll have another recipe tomorrow!

Triple Chocolate Brownie Cookies! (from Family, Friends and Food)

I made these decadent, brownie-like, chocolate cookies over this past week end and they were an instant hit! Actually, they were a hit before they even made it to the oven. You see, I have a couple of grown kids that like to steal bites of cookie dough when it is first mixed in the bowl. Well, these kids just happened to be here, and the stealing continued even after the dough was put into the refrigerator to firm up! And I must confess, that even I gave into their wayward temptations! Yes, this dough is to die for! The cookies are to die for! This recipe is supposed to make about 60 cookies, but believe me, it didn't in this house. This addictive cookie recipe came from Patsy at Family, Friends and Food, who is my mentor in the Adopt a Blogger program. This program, started by Kristen, from Dine and Dish, is to help the novice blogger (me), by pairing them with an experienced blogger (Patsy). Patsy has been wonderfully patient as I've asked a lot of questions and she has been able to answer them all, or find an answer for me through some blogging friends. Thanks, Patsy! Thanks for putting up with me! Anyway, I found this recipe on Patsy's blog and knew I'd have to make them as most of my family are chocoholics! These Triple Chocolate Brownie Cookies are rich, chewy and deliver big time on the chocolate flavor. These are going on my list for the holidays and will be made throughout the year as well. Let's get to the recipe-I'm eating one as I type!

Triple Chocolate Brownie Cookies- from Family, Friends and Food

3/4 cup butter

4 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

2 cups(12 ounces) Semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

2 tsp. shortening

DIRECTIONS:

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and unsweetened chocolate together.Cool. Transfer melted chocolate to a large bowl; add sugar and eggs and beat until smooth. In another bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture and stir well. Add 1 1/2 cups chocolate chops to the dough and combine well. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight until dough is easy to handle. Drop dough by the tablespoon full onto greased cookies sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 7-9 minutes, until edges are set and the tops are slightly cracked. Cool cookies on the pans for about 2 minutes and then remove to wire racks. After all cookies are cool, heat 2 tsp. of shortening with the remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips until melted. Stir well and drizzle over the cookies. Let cookies stand 30 minutes until the chocolate has is set. Store in a covered container.

Patsy's cookies were actually prettier than mine, as she used white chocolate to drizzle over the tops of the cookies. But I had plenty of the semi-sweet on hand, so that is what I used. Check out Patsy's blog; she has lots of great recipes to please the palate! Make these cookies and take a plateful to your neighbor; they'll love you for it!

Avocado, Cucumber and Tomato Salad

My mother-in-law was a great cook. This is my version of a salad that she used to make that I absolutely loved, but I've not been able to make the dressing like she did. So, I changed it a bit and it worked great! My MIL was a very frugal shopper and cook, but she always made well balanced meals. This salad was a favorite in the summer when the tomatoes and cucumbers were ready in her garden. She cut all the veggies very thin and used more dressing, but I have cut these in a large dice and used minimal dressing. The result is a very delicious salad with crisp vegetables, creamy avocado and a simple, tangy dressing. This salad dresses up any summer meal. I've made a small salad here, as the avocados won't keep well, so you will need to double it for a larger group. However, I kept eating this after I made it and now there's not much left! I'll have to make more of this delicious and healthy salad!

AVOCADO, CUCUMBER and TOMATO SALAD

1 avocado, skin and seed removed, cut in a large dice

1/2 cup diced red onion

1/2 of a green bell pepper, diced

1 cup of cherry tomatoes, cut in half, (or, 1 cup of diced tomatoes)

1 cucumber, peeled and seeded, if desired and cut into chunks, I had a little over 1 cup

Put all veggies and avocado in a bowl. Make dressing.

Dressing ingredients:

2 T. olive oil

4 tsp. red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp. sugar, if desired (I always use it; sorry, I omitted this when first posted!)

pinch of sea salt

dash of pepper

Mix well and pour over salad. Stir lightly with a wooden spoon so you won't tear up the avocado.

Best served the day it's made. The dressing may seem too tangy if you taste it before adding it to the salad, but it mellows out after it is stirred into the veggies. Enjoy!

Basic Barbecue Sauce ( from Steven Raichlen)

I actually made homemade barbecue sauce for the Grilled Baby Back Ribs that I made over the weekend! I've not tried that before, which is too bad because it is sooo easy and sooo delicious! The only extra advice I can give is to be sure to make it in a deep pot as the sauce is thick and as it simmers it pops out of the pan! This recipe is from Steven Raichlen's book, "How To Grill", and it is tangy, spicy, sweet and delicious! I loved it! However, a couple of family members requested that next time I leave out the Tabasco sauce, so you may want to taste the sauce before you add the Tabasco!
BASIC BARBECUE SAUCE
2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 T. molasses
2 T. prepared mustard
1 T. Tabasco sauce-optional  (I don't use the Tabasco anymore when I make this sauce)
1 T. of your favorite barbecue rub (I used this Basic Barbecue Rub)
2 tsp. liquid smoke
1/2 tsp. black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a non reactive sauce pan and bring slowly to a simmer. Reduce heat to slow-simmer for about 20minutes until thick and rich.Transfer to a clean jar and store in the fridge. It's good for several months according to the book. Enjoy!

I'm going to share a few pics from my flower bed a couple of weeks ago when these flowers first burst forth. I am in no way a professional gardener, I just like to grow things and hopefully they will cooperate! The whole flower bed was not that great looking, rather patchy actually, but separately these beauties look great!
This is the second year for these pretty, pink lilies! They should multiply every year and be quite
plentiful in a couple more years. They certainly had lots of blooms. I just wish they would last all summer, but they are perennials, so they only bloom for a time. I also had a pretty pink Astilbe

blooming by the house. It's soft pink fronds are next to some Columbine which had just a few blooms left. I think I must have planted last years Easter Lily too deep, as here it is blooming next to the Shasta Daisies! Very strange indeed, but they were pretty together!

Next week I hope to show you some more and maybe some veggies too. My tomatoes, green beans and peppers are at least still alive! I did pick my first cherry tomatoes this week and they taste so good! How about you, do you plant flowers or vegetables?

Grilled Baby Back Ribs

My family loves ribs and I have made them in the oven and on the grill and both taste great! Our sons love grilled ribs so I have been experimenting the last couple of years. For one thing, I love to watch Steven Raichlen, author of the "Barbecue Bible", and other books, on PBS when ever he is on. If you have ever watched his show, you know how good his food looks! It's very drool worthy! Last summer, I made his Baby Back ribs and followed the directions perfectly and had very smokey, spicy, delicious ribs. They could have been a little more tender, so, I am experimenting to find the most flavorful and tender way to do them. Our oldest sons birthday is tomorrow, so this past weekend we did a birthday dinner with ribs. I wrapped them in foil which produced the most tender and moist ribs ever! They didn't pick up as much smoke flavoring as I wanted, but they were really good and received high praises from everyone at the table. They are easy to do, you just need to plan ahead. Steven Raichlen suggests putting the rub on the ribs the day before and letting them marinate for a day, but I have done it just a few hours ahead and they are still delicious. So, lets start these mouth watering ribs!

The ribs have a membrane on the back and it really needs to come off as it is rather tough and the spices can't penetrate it. Take a small knife or screwdriver and loosen the corner and pull up and back to pull it off. You may need to use a paper towel or kitchen towel to hold onto it. Pull it completely off. Mix up your rub recipe or use a prepared on. I used one of Raichlen's, adapted.

I rinsed the ribs with water and dried well with paper towels. Spread the rub over both sides of the ribs and gently rub so that it will adhere to the meat. Wrap the ribs in heavy duty aluminum foil and refrigerate until ready to grill. We have a charcoal grill, so I set it up for indirect grilling, with a grill pan in the middle and coals on either side, so that the meat will not burn over the coals. Place foil wrapped ribs on hot grill and close grill lid and grill for two hours. Pull the foil back, brush with BBQ sauce if desired, and grill for about 20 more minutes. Remove ribs from grill. Oh, the aroma of these tender and moist pork ribs! Just sink your teeth into one of these ribs and your taste buds will thank you, and family and friends will love you! No kidding!

BASIC BARBECUE RUB ( slightly adapted from Steven Raichlen

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup sweet paprika

2 T.black pepper

3 T. kosher salt

2 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. onion powder

2 tsp. celery seed

1 tsp.cayenne pepper

Mix spices. I used about 3 T. of rub on each rack of ribs, but you can use less, or more. Keep what you don't use in an air tight container. Remove the membrane from the ribs and apply spice rub to both sides. Wrap each slab of ribs in heavy duty foil. Lay on grill over indirect heat. Cover grill with lid and cook for two hours. Peel back the foil and check ribs; they should be tender when poked with a fork. Apply BBQ sauce, if desired and grill for another 20 minutes will grill lid closed. I cooked 2 racks of ribs and only used BBQ sauce on 1 rack. Some people prefer just the dry rub. Remove ribs to a pan cool slightly, and cut into serving pieces.

Arrange on a serving platter and get ready for some lip smackin and finger lickin compliments!

These were so tender and moist! These can also be done in your oven- just prepare the same way and wrap in foil and bake for 2 hours at about 350. But, grilled is my favorite. Enjoy!

Barbecue Beef Sandwiches - Slow Cooker Recipe

It has been 98-100 degrees this week here in my small part of the USA! Of course, I was doing my jury duty thing, so I wasn't outside much, but I didn't want to heat up the kitchen when I got home either. I would have been fine with salads in the evening, but my husband and grown son think they still need filling food! So, I pulled out my slow-cooker, bought about 4 pounds of beef round roast, put the meat in the cooker and let it cook for hours until it was tender. It didn't heat up the kitchen at all. This time, I somewhat based this recipe from one in Southern Living's "Secrets of the South's Best Barbecue" cookbook. I browned the roast, added spices and a tangy sauce and let the cooker do the rest! It resulted in tender and very tasty BQ sandwiches, which lasted several days! A perfect meal for busy days.

BARBECUE BEEF SANDWICHES

1 (31/2- 4 Lb.) round roast or chuck roast

spices of choice- I used salt, pepper, garlic powder and chili powder

1 onion, small diced

1- 1 1/2 cups beef broth

1 cup ketchup

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 T lemon juice- recipe calls for 1/2 cup

3 T steak sauce- I used Country Bob's sauce

1 tsp. black pepper

1 T Worcestershire sauce

sandwich rolls

In a dutch oven in hot oil, brown roast on all sides. Season well with spices of choice and place meat in slow-cooker. Add in the minced onion. Mix the sauce ingredients together and taste. Pour beef broth and sauce over the meat and cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours until the meat is tender and shreds easily with a fork. You may not need all of the liquid in the slow-cooker, so I removed the meat to a cutting board to shred and I also skimmed any fat from the sauce. Add desired amount of sauce to beef and serve on some nice sandwich rolls. Enjoy!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Brown Rice, Tomatoes, and Basil (adapted from Ina Garten)

Well, I've been missing for about a week now and I hope everyone hasn't given up on me cuz, I'm back! I didn't go on vacation, but have had a lot going on, plus I had jury duty! I had never served on a jury before, so I found it interesting, very interesting. It was all this week and I was released last evening. I haven't cooked much this week, but I have this yummy recipe that I tried today. I've been looking for more brown rice recipes,and found this Brown Rice, Tomatoes and Basil recipe from Ina Garten on Food Network. It's a delicious and refreshing dish that is supposed to be served room temperature, but it's yummy cold too. Made with fresh, home grown tomatoes gives it amazing flavor! I used half of the basil called for as I thought it would be too strong. I also added some fresh chopped chives, and next time I'm going to add some green onions, as I like a bit of crunch in my food! This is a delicious and healthy dish, so try it!

Brown Rice, Tomatoes and Basil (adapted from Ina Garten)

1 cup brown rice

2 tsp. kosher salt, divided

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar or champagne vinegar

2 tsp. sugar.

1 T. olive oil

black pepper

1 pound of ripe diced tomatoes, large dice

1/2 cup packed fresh basil, chopped (recipe calls for 1 cup)

2 T. chopped fresh chives, or use sliced green onions, if desired

Bring 2 1/4 cups water to a boil. Add 1 tsp. kosher salt and brown rice and bring to a boil again. Cover pan and simmer rice on low heat for about 30-40 minutes until rice is tender and water is absorbed. Mix together vinegar, sugar, olive oil, 1 tsp. kosher salt and a pinch of black pepper. Pour dressing over rice; add chopped basil and chives and mix well. taste to check seasonings. Serve at room temperature. Serves 6. Enjoy!

Cocoa Fudge Sauce

Do you ever make your own chocolate fudge sauce for ice cream? I've made this yummy sauce for years, since my kids were young. My whole family loves this with ice cream and many times I make brownies so we can have brownie sundaes! Or, instead of brownies, make Toll House Pan Cookies. Yum! Cocoa Fudge Sauce is not hard to make-it takes less than 10 minutes and it's made with ingredients you probably have on hand.

Put all the ingredients in a sauce pan, and bring to a boil. Cook for 5-7 minutes. Let cool then use for sundaes with your choice of toppings! It's so rich and decadent and perfect for for summer get-togethers as everyone can build their own sundae! How easy is that!

COCOA FUDGE SAUCE ( from the revised Hershey's 1934 Cookbook)

1/4 cup of cocoa

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 T. cornstarch

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup milk

2 T. butter

2 tsp.. vanilla

Combine dry ingredients in a large sauce pan. . Add corn syrup and milk and blend well. Bring to a boil and boil for 5-7 minutes and then remove from the heat. Stir in the butter and vanilla. Cool completely and serve over ice cream. Boil for 5 minutes and this sauce will be similar to Hershey's Syrup, so if you would like it a little thicker, boil for about 7 minutes,(I boiled it for 7 min.). Let cool completely and refrigerate, where it will thicken up. In the top photo, I used the sauce straight from the fridge, which made it thick and fudgy! Enjoy!

If you need some ideas to round out your 4th of July celebrations, I may be able to help! Sundaes with the fudge sauce above would be great for dessert, as would my Sour Cream Pound Cake, especially if it's topped with fresh fruit or berries! Or how about my Pineapple Sheet Cake? It feeds quite a few people. Or Red Velvet Cupcakes with some red, white and blue sprinkles on top. For the grill, we have Grilled Ginger Peach Glazed Chicken, California Kabobs or Grilled Spice Rubbed Pork Chops. Need some ideas for side dishes? How about Lynda's Baked Beans, my Red Skinned Potato Salad, or my Quick Pasta Salad. Spring Macaroni Salad with Peas is a real favorite too. Don't forget the Black Bean, Corn and Tomato Salsa, or my Guacamole dip. These are both crowd pleasers! Hope that gives you some ideas! Happy 4th of July everyone!