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A Few Cookbooks Perfect for Summer

Lynn — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:10:18 +0000

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Need some summer cooking ideas?

Sometimes I struggle with cooking during the summer. Not because I don’t like to cook, I love to cook, but because I want quick, easy, and healthy type recipes. I also like lighter food during the summer months. I am not a big eater when it is 100+ degrees out.

So, today I thought I would share a few of my favorite cookbooks for summer.

I recently bought the Cooking Light Pick Fresh Cookbook and love it. The recipes use a few ingredients that I have not cooked much with, but I think this cookbook will help me experiment with new flavors and new produce items this summer. The beef and broccoli bowls are going to be the first on my list to make. They look delicious!

I have several of the Everyday Foods cookbooks and love them. Most of the recipes use simple seasonal ingredients. I have not made any of the recipes in the Power Foods cookbook, but it looks like it has some great and healthy ideas perfect for summer.

I do have the Everyday Food: Fresh Flavor Fast and love it.

If you want to learn more about canning and food preservation I highly recommend the Ball cookbooks. Canning is becoming a lost skill, but it is a good thing to know how to do. If you want to learn check out Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. You will learn a lot from the Ball Cookbooks.

And I can’t make a summer cookbook list without including Weber Cookbooks.

My sister got me started on the Weber Cookbooks a few years ago and I now own several of them. If you need some summer grilling inspiration and ideas, the Weber Cookbooks are full of them. I love their recipes for marinades and rubs. Actually I love their recipes and I have to try one I did not like.

Now I would love to hear your favorite summer cookbooks. Do you have cookbooks you find yourself using more this time of year?

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Homemade Frozen Pizza

Lynn — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:09:57 +0000

It has been awhile since I shared a recipe for my homemade favorites series, so when I recently stocked my freezer with homemade frozen pizza I knew exactly what homemade favorite I needed to share with you next.

I don’t remember the last time we had a store bought frozen pizza. Yes, we have had them, but pizza is so easy to make at home that we rarely buy it frozen or otherwise.

What I love about homemade pizza is that I can control the ingredients. I can make it how we like and as healthy or unhealthy as I want to.

We have pizza for dinner about once a week at our house, usually on Friday night, but I also find it to be a fun lunch on the weekends or a quick dinner for a busy night.

I know a lot of people like to freeze their pizza dough and then bake it when they are ready to make pizza. I have never really been one of those people. I just think the dough is different when frozen raw and then cooked, but I love the convenience of having the meal made ahead, so I have come up with something that works better for us.

Homemade Frozen Pizza. You pre-bake the crust, then top it, then freeze it.

It is really easy and better than anything you can buy in the store. And the kids love to help make it.

I find the pizzas are easier to deal with when I make smaller frozen pizzas, so we make them about the size perfect for one person. We make an assembly line for the toppings and we can have a lot of homemade frozen pizzas done in no time.

We made up a bunch of these when we were doing our kitchen remodel and we reheated them in a toaster oven and it worked great. I also love these for nights that I am gone, or out of town, because it makes it easy for the kids to fix dinner.

Really, if your family loves pizza as much as my family does, this homemade version of frozen pizza is a must try. It is easy and delicious!

Do you like to freeze pizza? If so do you freeze the dough or do you make frozen pizzas like I do?

Homemade Frozen Pizza

pizza dough
pizza sauce
mozzarella or other cheese, shredded
pepperoni, canadian bacon, etc.

Note: the amounts will depend on how many pizzas you want to make

Preheat oven to 425.
Press pizza dough onto pizza pan or baking sheets.
Bake for 7-8 minutes. You are prebaking the pizza crust. Let pizza crust cool completely on wire racks.
Top pizza crust with pizza sauce, cheese, and meat.
Place on cookie sheets and place in the freezer for several hours or until frozen.
Wrap with plastic wrap and place in a ziptop freezer bag. I fit about 4 individually wrapped pizzas into each bag.
Freeze.
Remove from freezer and place on cookie sheet and bake at 425 for 9-12 minutes or until done. You bake these frozen and do not have to defrost them.

Need some pizza crust recipes:

My favorite pizza crusts.

Gluten Free Pizza Dough

Easy Gluten Free Pizza Dough

Basic Homemade Pizza Dough

Add this recipe to ZipList

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Slow Cooker Strawberry Cobbler

Lynn — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:05:58 +0000

Last week I shared the link for my strawberry cobbler on Facebook and one of you asked if I had ever made it in the crock pot. I have made other cobblers in the crock pot and it works great, but I had never tried it with my strawberry cobbler.

I loved the idea and knew I wanted to try it. I had some strawberries in the fridge so one day last week I gave it a try.

It was delicious! We loved it, so I knew I had to share it for Slow Cooker Mondays.

The texture was a little different than the oven version, but it was still very delicious. The thing I liked best about this was that I did not have to heat up my oven, which was great because it was 90+ degrees the day I made this. Not a day for turning on the oven, but a perfect day for using my crock pot.

A scoop of ice cream or whipped cream on top of warm strawberry cobbler. Delicious!

Slow Cooker Strawberry Cobbler

2 1/2 – 3 lbs strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup flour ( I used a gf blend and it worked great)
1/2 cup butter

In a saucepan combine strawberries and regular sugar. Let sit for 30 minutes.
After sitting 30 minutes, cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.
In a bowl combine cornstarch and water. Stir into berry mixture and bring to a boil.
Boil 1 minute or until mixture is thickened.
Spoon mixture into slow cooker
In a bowl combine brown sugar, oats, and flour.
Cut in butter to form a crumbly mixture.
Spread evenly over strawberry mixture.
Cook on low for 2-3 hours.
Best served warm with ice cream.

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Menu Plan {June 16th-22nd}

Lynn — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 15:15:06 +0000

The weather here in Oklahoma quickly went from a cool and wet spring to a very hot summer, so it is time to break out the grilling recipes and the meals that do not require the oven. Yes, I will have to use my oven some, but I try to restrict the use of it as much as possible this time of year.

The weather has been good for our garden though and I am already picking zucchini, peppers, and blueberries. I love all the fresh produce that this time of year brings.

How is the weather where you are?

Breakfast

Pancakes with Buttermilk Syrup

Granola Sundaes

Raspberry Lemonade Smoothies and Toast

Dinner

Grilled Nachos

Steak and Oven Fried Potatoes for Father’s Day

BBQ Sloppy Joes

Pizza Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Tacos

Bacon Pizza

BBQ Pork

Dessert of the Week

No Bake Cookie Bars

For more menu planning ideas see Menu Planning Mondays.

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Coconut Cream Pie with Meringue Topping

Lynn — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:22:29 +0000

Who doesn’t love a good pie?!

This Coconut Cream Pie with Meringue Topping is so good! And it is really pretty easy to make.

Coconut Cream Pie with Meringue Topping

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks, save the whites for the meringue- Eggs at room temperature work best for this and for meringue
1/2 cup coconut
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1- 9 inch pie crust baked- homemade pie crust, store bought, or gluten free pie crust

Meringue:

3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
5 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup coconut

For filling:

Place eggs in a small bowl and beat. Set aside.
In a pan combine sugar, cornstarch, salt, and milk. Whisk over medium high heat for about 3- 4 minutes or until thickened.
Turn heat to low and add 1 cup of hot mixture to the eggs. Stir well. You are tempering the eggs here.
Add egg mixture to the pan and whisk over medium heat for 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and add vanilla and butter.
I like to then put mine through a strainer to remove any lumps.
Pour into baked pie crust.

For Meringue:

Preheat oven to 350.
In a bowl beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and vanilla until soft peaks form.
Gradually add sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
Spread over filling and sprinkle coconut on top. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until meringue is lightly brown. ( I over cooked the one in the picture a little bit, so watch yours)
Let cool and refrigerate for 3-4 hours before serving. This is best served the day it is made.

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Adapted from Taste of Home

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Favorite Family Recipes Printed On Canvas {An Inexpensive and Fun Way To Decorate My Kitchen}

Lynn — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 10:14:50 +0000

I had planned on sharing a new pie recipe today, but yesterday I showed a picture on Facebook of an item in my new kitchen that I love and many of you asked if I could share what I did to make them.

So, I will be sharing the new pie recipe tomorrow. Today, you are getting a little look at my new kitchen and one of the things I love about it.

I am going to share about my new kitchen and what we did soon. There are a few things left to do, just cosmetic things, but things that I want to fix before I share photos on my site, so today I am just sharing one area of my kitchen.

One of the things we choose not to change in the kitchen was the windows. The window I am showing today is in a bit of an odd spot, but it lets in so much light and moving windows is not cheap, so we kept the window and I am making it work.

The colors are kind of off in the photos today due to the bright light coming in when I took pictures. I love the amount of natural light I have in the kitchen. It makes working in the kitchen so nice. It is not so nice for taking photos of the kitchen, but it functions great when we are in the kitchen, so I cannot complain.

This is a large window and we have tall ceilings, so there is a large space above the window that I knew I wanted to decorate. My goal with the new kitchen was to keep the design and decor simple, so I did not want to put a lot above the window.When it comes to decorating my house I like things that mean something and I wanted to keep that in mind with the kitchen area also.

One day when I was looking around Etsy, I noticed a few shops that were selling recipes printed on canvas and I instantly loved the idea. However, they were a bit expensive and they were just basic recipes for apple pie and other recipes that I had no idea where they came from. I wanted to find a way to get the same look with my favorite recipes.

I did some research and found a few companies that will take recipes you choose and print them on canvas, but again it was a bit expensive. The rest of my kitchen was quite a project and I needed to keep the cost on the decor down, so if I wanted recipes printed on canvas I was going to have to find a way to do it myself.

And really it was not hard at all to figure out. If I can do this, anyone can do this.

Ok, well I will say it is easy if you have basic computer skills and have used a program like photoshop. If you can’t do that, maybe you can find a friend or relative that can help you.

The first thing I had to do was choose the recipes. I wanted recipes that meant something to me, so I decided to use family recipes that had been passed on to me.

I choose my husband’s grandmother’s butter rum cake, my grandmother’s rock cookies, my mom’s coconut bars, my mother in-laws custard, my peanut butter baked oatmeal, and a no bake cheesecake recipe that my mom made all the time and that came from my best friend’s mom.

I did the design work in Photoshop. Now, I know a little bit about Photoshop, but I have a lot to learn, this though was pretty easy. I am sure you could use a similar program also.

All I did was pick a colored background and added the recipe by typing it in how I wanted.

I wanted some of the pictures to be neutral type colors so I went with different shades of brown for three of them. For the other colors I decided to match them to some of my Fiestaware dishes. It is hard to tell in the pictures, but the colors are pretty close to the red, cobalt blue, and green of Fiestaware. That one below is blue, not sure why it looks gray. And the walls are an off-white and not at all like the picture looks.

I wanted to make them a little fun, so I used several different fonts on each print, but you could easily do just one if you want more of a classic look. I saved the image as a jpeg, making sure to allow enough room on the sides of the print to wrap around the canvas.

Now, this took some time for me to get it just right, but it was worth the time I spent to get the look I wanted for a price I was willing to spend.

Once I had them just how I wanted, I uploaded the jpeg image to the Sam’s Club website just like you would a photo. When you choose a canvas for the printing, you can preview the image to be sure your margins are right. I choose to print them on 8×10 canvas, but you could easily do these larger or smaller.

I think if I had looked around I could have found a better price than Sam’s Club, but Sam’s Club only cost me $12.96 for an 8×10 print and I thought that was a good deal. Prices may vary on that depending on your Sam’s Club, but you should easily be able to do it for $20 or less.

I noticed with these pictures, that the canvas prints don’t photograph well, but in person they are very clear and look great.

I now have some fun and unique wall art that means something to me. Every time I see these I think of my family. And since they are recipes, they are perfect for a kitchen.

One of my readers asked on Facebook if you could also do this with hand written recipes and I think you could. In fact, I think that is a great idea. You should be able to scan the recipes in and do the same basic thing in Photoshop or another program to give it a background and turn it into a jpeg. For a hand written recipe you might just need to do a smaller size to keep it clear.

Have any of you seen this done before? I would love to hear your thoughts.

And if any of you computer graphic design type people have suggestions of better ways to do this, I would love to hear. I totally just figured out how to do this as I went along. There may have been an easier way.

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Easy Chocolate Caramel Milkshake

Lynn — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 12:32:34 +0000

One of the things I love about summer is making milkshakes. Yes, you can make homemade milkshakes anytime of year, but there is something so delicious about a homemade milkshake on a hot summer day.

I love to change up my milkshakes and make all kinds of different flavors. We love fruit milkshakes and we of course we love simple chocolate or vanilla milkshakes. Recently I changed up a basic homemade milkshake by using International Delight coffee creamer as the liquid part of the milkshake.

Yes, I used coffee creamer in a milkshake and it was so good! This only has two ingredients in it. Ice cream and ID Chocolate Caramel coffee creamer, that is it. So easy and perfect for dessert on a hot summer day.

What I love about this is how easy it is to change it up with different flavors of ID coffee creamers. I used the chocolate caramel, but this would also be delicious with the Southern Pecan, the York Peppermint, or just about any other flavor of International Delight coffee creamer.

Easy Chocolate Caramel Milkshake

Makes 4 milkshakes

4 cups ice cream- vanilla or chocolate

3/4 cup International Delight Chocolate Caramel Coffee Creamer

Chocolate sauce and whipping cream- optional for serving

Blend ice cream and coffee creamer in blender until desired consistency. You can add more cream if you like a thinner shake.

Serve with chocolate sauce and whipping cream.

Enjoy!

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What’s Your ID? International Delight is looking for their most passionate flavor fans. Put your ID on the map to enter to win a Magical Trip, play games and discover more unexpected delight. Share your ID flavor at http://whatsyourid.com.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of International Delight. The opinions and text are all mine.

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Caesar Style Chicken Salad Sandwiches

Lynn — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 12:00:57 +0000

I mentioned yesterday that I have been in a chicken mood lately. I think this is not only because I found a really good deal on chicken, but also because we are headed into the heat of the summer.

Yesterday it was in the 90′s here in Oklahoma and there is something about the heat that makes me want to eat lighter meals like grilled chicken or a simple sandwich. So, today I have another chicken recipe for you.

Today’s recipe was inspired by a recipe I saw in Cooking Light. I had to change it up with what I had on hand, but I loved the idea of chicken salad mixed with the flavors of a Caesar salad.

Some in my family like their chicken salad mixed together and not chunky. Do any of your kids have texture issues with their food? Yeah, mine do too. So, I made mine in the food processor to chop it finely, but you can just mix this all together by hand as well.

The flavors in this blend together so well and I think you could easily change this up and add other things to it. This is a simple meal perfect for summer lunches or a quick dinner.

And a quick note. You all know I love menu planning. It has saved me so much time and money over the years. This Thursday, June 13, at 3 pm CST, I will be joining Life as Mom(@fishmama) and Laura from I’m an Organizing Junkie (@orgjunkie) for a twitter chat all about menu planning and why we love it. If you are on twitter you can follow me @lynnskitchenadv. We would love to have you join us.

Caesar Style Chicken Salad Sandwiches

3-4 cups cooked chicken
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon soy sauce ( I used gf soy sauce)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1-2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste

Combine ingredients in a food processor and pulse a few times to blend. ( You can also chop chicken finely and stir in remaining ingredients)
Serve on bread as sandwiches or with crackers.

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Adapted from Cooking Light

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Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas

Lynn — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 11:58:39 +0000

I have been in the chicken mood lately. I found it on sale and have been creating all kinds of new recipes with it. My family might just get tired of chicken by the end of the week, but I am enjoying it and am coming up with all kinds of new recipes to share.

Today’s recipe is a simple crock pot recipe that I came up with last week. I had a really busy day and was not sure what time we would be able to eat dinner. I had some corn tortillas in the fridge and some avocados that needed used up, so mexican type food seemed like the perfect meal to make.

I put everything in the crock pot and let it cook all afternoon. It was perfect by dinner time and made getting dinner on the table easy. And the leftovers worked great for lunch the next day.

I knew that I would not have a lot of time at dinner time, so I put the onions and peppers in the crock pot with the meat and other ingredients. If you like your onions and peppers more crisp and have a little more time, just leave them out of the slow cooker and cook them on the stove top right before serving.

Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas

2 pounds (or so) boneless skinless chicken breasts
1- 16 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies ( I used Rotel)
1 green pepper, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 onion, sliced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
tortillas
lettuce, avocados, cheese, sour cream, etc., for serving

Place chicken, beans, tomatoes, peppers, onion, cumin, chili powder, and salt in a slow cooker.
Cook on low for 4-5 hours or until chicken is tender.
Using two forks shred chicken.
Serve on tortillas.

Note: If you like your peppers and onions more on the crisp side, do not put them in the slow cooker and cook them on the stove top right before serving.

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Menu Plan {June 9th-15th}

Lynn — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 14:50:11 +0000

This week may end up being chicken week on the menu plan. I have it planned twice and last week I totally changed up the plan and we ate it several times as well.

Last week I got a good deal on some really good chicken. I don’t buy chicken often. Not because we don’t like it, but because I have a freezer full of beef, pork, and deer meat.

We raise hogs, buy a half of beef every year, and my husband and kids hunt. Yes, I know that is a good problem to have, but it also means that meat like chicken and fish are a real treat at our house.

It also means my family is picky about our meat. We are used to high quality meat and we know the difference, so when I do buy chicken and fish I try to buy the good stuff.

We have a new grocery store in our area. Well, ok it is not in our area exactly, it is actually a bit of a drive for me, but it is an area near a doctor’s office that I go to often. So, whenever I am in that area, I am try to shop the stores in that area.

The new store is Sprouts. Now, I know that many of you already know about Sprouts, but it is new here in Oklahoma or at least our area. And I love it! The sales are good, especially on produce, and they have a good selection. Now, the everyday prices, I don’t think are the best, but the selection is much better than what I can find other places on specialty and allergy friendly options.

And the meat. I am loving the chicken they often run on sale. The first time I bought it and grilled it my husband asked what I did different. I said nothing. I just coated it in bbq sauce and grilled it, but we could taste the difference. Good quality meat really is worth it.

Do you have Sprouts in your area? What are your thoughts on it?

Now for this week’s plan.

Breakfast

Baked Oatmeal

Homemade Granola- I need to make another large batch. My kids love this for breakfast and we go through a ton of it.

Yogurt and Blueberry Muffins

Smoothies and Toast

Dinner

Eggs, Rice, and Sausage

Maple Sausage Burgers

Slow Cooked Chipotle Beef Tacos

Beef and Bean Bake

Slow Cooked Sticky Chicken

Crock Pot Lemon Chicken

Breakfast Pizza

Dessert

No Bake Butterscotch Cookie Bars

For more menu planning ideas see Menu Planning Mondays.

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