Quick Pasta Salad

I love making pasta salads in the warm weather months. It's quick to throw together, and you just add what ever ingredients you have on hand, or you can really dress it up for company. I love the versatility of this dish. For many years, I used a really zesty Italian dressing for the salad. Then, I found a Pesto dressing that we really enjoyed, but now I can't get it in my town at our stores! Does that happen to you- you find a product that you love, and then the store stops stocking it? Maybe it's just the fact that we live in a smaller town. Anyway, today's Pasta Salad was an experiment, and it turned out pretty good, thanks to a jar of purchased Pesto.

Quick Pasta Salad

8 ounces of Rotini pasta, or pasta of choice ( tricolor is great- I used whole wheat, this time)

1 small cucumber, peeled and diced

1/2 of a red onion, diced

1/2 green bell pepper, diced

grape tomatoes, cur in half (as many as you want!)

sliced black olives, optional (thought I had some- but didn't)

1 tbs. or more of grated Parmesan cheese

3 tbs. Pesto - purchased or homemade

3 tbs. red wine vinegar

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain. Into a large bowl, add the cucumber, red onion, bell pepper, tomatoes and any other veggies you're using . Mix pesto and vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste, and pour over veggies and stir in pasta. Add in the Parmesan cheese, stir and cover bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve. This is my "in a hurry" Pasta Salad. You can add whatever veggies that you prefer, or even pepperoni. This turned out very tasty, although, I think that a homemade pesto would be more flavorful. But, my basil plants are too small to use right now, but later in the summer, I hope to make my own pesto! What do like in your Pasta Salad?

Hamburger Pie

Do you have picky eaters in your family? When my 3 children were young, my 2 boys were quite picky, but my daughter would eat most things. I thought my boys would turn into PBJ's or Mac and Cheese before they ever grew up! Well, Hamburger Pie is a dish that all 3 of my kids would eat, so it was a standard dish in our family during those growing up years. I made it the other night because I had everything on hand and I hope that some of your kids will enjoy it too!

First, you peel 3 or 4 potatoes, cut them up and put into water to boil. Mash them when done. Then, brown some ground beef and onion in a skillet, drain it, and add some tomato sauce, water and some green beans. Let it simmer a few minutes and pour into a 8x8 casserole dish. Mound mashed potatoes on top; top potatoes with cheese and bake for about 20 minutes until the cheese is melted and casserole is bubbly. This was one of my oldest son's favorite meals!

HAMBURGER PIE

3-4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut up

1 egg, beaten

milk, for the mashed potatoes

1 ground chuck or other lean ground beef

1 can green beans, or about 2 cups of cooked fresh or frozen green beans

1 1/4 cups tomato sauce, or you can use 1 can of tomato soup, if desired

1/4 cup water

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup shredded American or Cheddar cheese, for topping

In a pot of boiling water add cut up potatoes and a pinch of salt and boil until tender.
Drain potatoes and mash while hot; blend in egg . Add enough milk to make the potatoes fluffy, but still able to hold their shape. Sometimes, I skip using the egg as it's only purpose that I can see is to help the potatoes hold their shape. In a skillet, brown the ground chuck and the onion together and drain off any grease that accumulates. Add tomato sauce, or tomato soup, water, green beans and salt and pepper, if using. If using tomato sauce, I add 2 teaspoons of sugar at this time (optional). Pour mixture into a 8x8 inch casserole dish and mound the mashed potatoes on top. Top the potatoes with the grated cheese and bake, uncovered, in a preheated 350 degree oven til heated through, about 20 minutes. Serves 4-6. Hope your kids enjoy!

It isn't an elegant meal, but back in the growing up years, I was just happy to find a dish that everyone liked! I haven't ever been picky; guess I love to eat too much! How about you? Are you a picky eater?

Blueberry Scones with Orange Glaze- Slightly Adapted from Tyler Florence

My daughter has been wanting me to make blueberry scones for awhile, so I found a great sounding recipe from Tyler Florence at Food Network. The reviews were basically good; some thought the dough too crumbly. Some thought it too wet. Some thought it was perfect, so I chose to believe them! These scones are very light, with a tender crumb, and they melt in your mouth! The butter and cream ensure a wonderful flavor along with the blueberries. The glaze is supposed to be lemon, but my daughter doesn't care for lemon and blueberry, so thus the change to orange! The flavor of the orange with the blueberry was amazing! On some of the scones, I had sprinkled coarse sugar before baking, so they had a bit of a crunch, which we like. On the other half, I used the glaze, which has a wonderful flavor! I had made only half of the glaze and it was waaay too much! I drizzled on the glaze after the scones had cooled for a few minutes. The glaze is wet, which left the scones wet, in my opinion. If you can eat all of the scones in one sitting, it's no problem, but if you're going to have to save some for the next day, I'd advise serving the glaze in a small pitcher for individual use. This glaze is runny and even in the fridge it didn't thicken much. You can see the glazed scones in the picture below. The next morning they were softer than I like, but we ate them anyway. I'm not one to waste food, unless it's just gross, that is! My daughter much preferred the scones with the dusting of the coarse sugar. After saying all that, I will definitely make these again! They have great texture and flavor and I'll serve the glaze on the side.

BLUEBERRY SCONES with ORANGE GLAZE

Scone ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 Tbs. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 Tbs. sugar

5 Tbs. unsalted cold butter, cut into chunks

1 cup heavy cream

1cup fresh blueberries

GLAZE ingredients: (I only made half of this and it was more than enough)

1/2 cup fresh orange juice

2 cups powdered sugar

zest of orange, I didn't use the zest

1 Tbs. butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. With a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Make a well in center of flour and add the cream. Fold everything together gently and add the blueberries and fold in. Do not overwork the dough. I found it hard to fold in the berries, so I used my hands to fold them in gently and just pushed the dough into a ball. On a floured surface, place the ball of dough and press into a circle that is about 1 inch thick and about 6-8 inches in diameter. Cut into 8 wedges and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Brush tops with a little cream. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until golden. If using the glaze, let scones cool a bit before applying glaze.

To make the glaze, you can make it in a double boiler, or a microwave for 30 seconds on high. Mix juice and sugar together; add zest and butter and stir until smooth. Let it set a minute before serving. Enjoy!

In the above pic, the scones with the coarse sugar are on the left, the glazed on the right. Both tasted delicious and I've added this recipe to my list of keepers! It's hard to eat just one!

Have a great day, my friends.

Grilled Spice Rubbed Pork Chops

I love pork chops; you can do quite a lot with them. I wanted to grill yesterday, but I got started sort of late, so I just applied a spice rub to the chops and added some veggies to the grill so that I wouldn't heat up the house. I love meals without too many dishes, don't you? Rather than look up a recipe in a cook book for the rub, I decided to "wing it", which can be a bad thing sometimes

and result in some disappointing disasters! Thankfully, this time was a success as the chops were very flavorful and spicy, but not too spicy! And as you can see, I bought corn, not local corn as it is way too early, but I'm just so impatient for the fresh stuff that I couldn't wait! It will satisfy me for now, but I am really looking forward to some home grown corn!

GRILLED SPICE RUBBED PORK CHOPS

1 Tbs. black pepper

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. cumin

1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

2 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. sugar

I used 6, 1 inch thick, boneless, pork loin chops ( bone in chops may be juicier)

Mix spices together and sprinkle on both sides of chops. Lay chops on a wax paper lined baking sheet and let set for 20 minutes or so, or you may do this step early in the day so that the pork can marinate, in the fridge, of course. I use a charcoal grill, so when the coals were covered in a light ash and, I placed the chops on the grill over the coals to sear the sides. These chops were grilled about 10 minutes each side, moving only if there was a flare up. The grilling time will depend on the thickness of the meat and the temperature of the grill, so cooking times will vary.

These chops can also be done indoors in a heavy skillet or grill pan and they turn out great! These are moist and very flavorful and I'll make these often. Enjoy!

Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler

First off, I need to explain my unplanned absence the last few days. My mother-in-law was rushed to the hospital several days ago, so that's where I have been. Thankfully, she was able to leave the hospital yesterday afternoon and go back to the assisted living facility where she now lives. Whew, that always scares us, as she is 89, but I guess she is tough! I am blessed to have a wonderful MIL and I have enjoyed our relationship so much!
I hope you all are having an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend! We are getting ready to visit some family graves, hopefully before the rain gets heavy! Both my Father and my FIL were World War 2 vets, so we take not only flowers, but flags to their grave sites.
Yesterday after noon, I finally got to do a little cooking; I've been wanting to make a strawberry and rhubarb pie for quite awhile, but with all the busyness, I decided a cobbler would be so much quicker. Besides that, my husband is a proclaimed rhubarb hater, so I didn't want to go to a lot of trouble, if he really doesn't like it! I told him he had to try it, to be a good example to his picky son! Well, he did have some last night with a couple of huge scoops of vanilla ice cream and he stated that it was OK. That's better than hating it! Besides, I loved this so much, that I wouldn't mind at all if I had to eat the whole thing! Hehe, all to myself! That would be fine by me! But I'm sure he'll have some more, as long as there's ice cream to have with it.

I had forgotten that rhubarb is considered a vegetable, but it is very tart so it really needs the addition of sugar to make it tasty. And paring it with strawberries is a delicious match. The leaves of the rhubarb plant are considered poisonous, so be sure to remove them before cooking! I didn't have a recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler, but I thought I remembered seeing one at Elsie's site, Simply Recipes, so I used hers, with wonderful results! I did adapt the recipe some, as I didn't have the amout of rhubarb the recipe called for, so I used more strawberries.
STRAWBERRY RHUBARB COBBLER
For the fruit mixture you need;
3 cups rhubarb pieces, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3 cups strawberries, stemmed and sliced or quartered
1/2 cup sugar, (I could have used a little more, 3/4 cup total)
2 T quick cooking tapioca
1 tsp. grated orange peel, (I didn't use this)

Cobbler crust;
1 cup flour
2T. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
In a bowl, mix the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and orange zest, if using and let set, or macerate for about 30 minutes.
In a another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the milk and egg together until just blended.
Pour fruit into a 8x8x2 inch baking dish. Drop the batter on top of fruit and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 35 minutes, until golden. Serves about 6. Top with ice cream or whipped cream, if desired! Delicious! If you like your fruit really sweet, you may need to increase the sugar.
Do you like rhubarb?

Low Fat Chicken Marinara

One time, when I was wanting a quick, week night meal that was also healthy, I came up with this dish, which is easy to make and can be on the table in 30 minutes! I guess it's a slimmed down version of Chicken Parmesan, as the chicken is baked, rather than breaded and browned in oil. Sometimes, instead of baking the chicken, I'll cut it up in 1 inch pieces, brown it in a little olive oil, and then pour in the sauce ingredients. It's good either way. I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts for this, but you could use boneless thighs if desired. The sauce only takes about 10 minutes to cook, so if you have starving kids begging for food, it will be ready soon, plus, it's hearty enough for adult appetites too! This makes enough for about 4 servings.LOW FAT CHICKEN MARINARA

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or boneless thighs(I used 3 large breasts to serve 4)

1 large can crushed tomatoes, 28 ounces( you can use diced tomatoes, if you prefer)

1 cup diced onion

1&1/2 tsp. dried oregano, or about 1 1/2 Tbs. fresh chopped oregano

1 tsp. dried basil, or 1 Tbs. fresh basil

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper, optional

2 tsp. sugar, if desired

salt and pepper to taste

8 ounces of spaghetti, or other pasta of choice

Parmesan cheese, for topping

Brush chicken with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on baking sheet in a 4oo degree oven and bake for about 20 minutes until juices run clear. When done, let chicken rest on pan and tent with foil to keep it warm. As soon as chicken is in the oven, heat a large pot of water for the pasta. When water comes to a boil, add about 1 tsp. salt and 8 ounces pasta and cook until done. Drain. In a large sauce pan in 1 Tbs. olive oil cook onions and garlic till tender, about 5 minutes. Pour in the crushed tomatoes, oregano, basil, cayenne, sugar and 1/2 tsp. sea salt and black pepper, if desired. Simmer for about 10 minutes. To serve, I place a portion of pasta on the plates, top with a spoon full of sauce; top that with some thinly sliced chicken and more sauce, if you want. Sprinkle on some cheese and dinner is served! A fast, healthy week night meal that will leave you time to do other important things in the evening. What's one of your favorite quick meals that you serve on busy night?

My Mother's Oatmeal Cake

When I reminisce about growing up, one of my favorite things to ponder is my Mother's cooking, and the aromas that filled our home when she was in the kitchen! There are some dishes that if I close my eyes for a moment, I think I can really catch a whiff of what she made so many years ago! This cake is one of my fondest baking memories, because the aroma of Cinnamon permeates the house, and I can't even begin to tell you how the frosting smells as it goes under the broiler for a minute! The fragrance of pecans and coconut in the oven is just out of this world! This was my favorite cake growing up, and I'll admit, it remains one of my top favorites today!

The cake is so moist and tends to get moister the longer you have it. The frosting is so addictive that I'd love to just take a spoon and eat it as is, but then that would mean none for the cake! I'm sure that many of you have had this yummy, cinnamony cake as I've seen it on other food blogs before. It's just so good that it will never "go out of style"! So, let's make it!

OATMEAL CAKE

1 1/2 cup boiling water

1 cup Minute Oats

1/2 cup shortening ( or I have used butter)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

In a bowl, pour boiling water over oatmeal and let stand 20 minutes. In another bowl, cream together shortening(or butter), brown sugar and white sugar; add eggs and oatmeal mixture and mix well. Then add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and mix thoroughly. Pour into a greased and floured 9x13 inch pan and bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes, until done.

While cake is baking, stir together frosting;

BOILED ICING; Mix 1/3 cup butter, 1 cup brown sugar and1/2 milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add in 1 cup shredded coconut and 1/2 cup chopped pecans and boil till thick, about 1 minute. Spread on cake while hot and place back in oven under broiler for a minute or two. Don't leave it long or the frosting will cook too long and be hard when the cake cools down. You're just wanting the tips of the coconut and nuts to toast, but they will burn if left too long. Try not to tear into the cake too soon, but if you do, who could blame you! It's just that good!

I am submitting this cake recipe to HoneyB, at The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch, for this month's Family Recipes; Memories of Family, Food and Fun! Be sure to stop by her blog and check out all the yummy recipes! What was your favorite dessert while growing up?