Cherry Limeade

Look out Sonic - I've made my own Cherry Limeade!

Since we are officially in the "hot" season, I thought I'd share my new fave -  Cherry Limeade!
The ingredients are oh, so simple...

6 oz jar of Maraschino cherries

6 oz. can frozen limeade, thawed and undiluted

1 cup water

2 cups lime flavored drink or sparkling water (I used diet Sierra Mist)

Use 1/3 cup of the juice from the Maraschino cherries; set aside 8 cherries (reserve the remaining cherries for another use - or drink! 

Combine the 1/3 cup cherry juice with the limeade concentrate in a pitcher. 
Add the 1 cup water.  Chill thoroughly

Add the lime, lemon-lime, or sparkling water just before serving.

Garnish with cherries. 

You can also garnish with lime slices too.

Enjoy!

 

Sunday Post-It

We have a Winner !

We have a winner!

Once again, I wish I had a Cath Kidston book for all of you who commented but it must go to only one so...

Congrats to Cyndi of Bluebird Swing.   This is extra special too, because Cyndi has relatives here in Florida!  I love reading her blog, she is so talented.  I keep trying to get her to sell her purses/totes on line (I'd be a good customer! LOL).  Her work is so beautiful.   I look forward to getting her goodies to her. 

And keep checking back for more giveaways here.  I have a "crafter's giveaway"  in the works.  Does that appeal to anyone?  Well check back in June!

Congrats Cyndi!

Crustless Quiche Muffins

 It's Freezer Foods Friday!!!

This Freezer Foods Friday recipe is for crustless Quiche Muffins.  You don't have to make them as muffins, and they don't have to be crustless.  It's just a good "portion controlled" and "lighter" side.

You're going to need:

16 ounce container cottage cheese

4 eggs

1/4 cup milk (you'll notice I used evaporated milk, you can use regular "jug" milk but this makes it richer)

1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded (I used mild but you could use sharp too)

cooked and crumbled bacon (equal 10 slices)  I cheated, see pic?!

1/4 cup chopped onions

Process cottage cheese in a food processor until smooth.

What you say?  That's not a food processor?  You're right!  So while I'm at it, I need to brag on this blender! No, I'm not getting any kick backs on this, I just totally love this blender!  This comes with TWO blades and makes the best smoothies, and I've put frozen berries, a little milk and some Splenda in that bad boy and made "purt near" ice cream!!!   It's fantastic.  They now have one out that has SIX blades.  Wow!  Like I said, I'm not getting anything for telling you about this, but hey!  Ninja, if you're listening..... I'd like a six blade for Christmas!  LOL

ok back to the recipe...

(see what I mean?!?)

transfer to a large bowl

In a medium bowl beat eggs.

Add milk, flour, baking powder and salt to eggs and mix until smooth.

Add egg mixture to cottage cheese and mix.

Stir in shredded cheese, bacon and onions.

Now here's where you choose... Do you want to bake and freeze, or just freeze?

If you want to bake 'em now and freeze, then pour into muffin tins (mini or regular - doesn't matter)

 bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. 

Cool and freeze in freezer bags.

I chose to pour the mixture into freezer bags  to bake later.  

When I'm ready to bake 'em, I'll just thaw in frige and follow the above instructions.

I haven't decided if I'm going to make them individual or one big one...

Then...

Clean up!

So, now, it's your turn.  Do you have a freezer friendly, make-ahead, bulk cooking recipe, tip, or hint you'd like to share?  I'd love it if you'd link up and join in the party!   Please, link back to this post, and I'd love it if you'd take the button below to link back, so we can all enjoy everyone's recipes/ideas!

(I'm linking up to

Nashville

Tres Leches Cake

On my sister blog, Real Women Eat, we did our monthly "Cook-N-Critique"© this past Thursday. 
For May, the choice was Mexican Foods. Now as some of you might know, I'm not the biggest fan of "Mexican Cuisine", and it's probably because I've never had authentic Mexican food so I wasn't the one who voted on this category. Obviously the other Real Women are fans because I was out voted. So I caved. We knew we wouldn't be able to do our Cook-N-Critique on May 5th in celebration of Cinco de Mayo so someone came up with the idea of "Fiesta de Mayo". LOL.


The dish I drew was Dessert.  Dessert would normally be a breeze for me, but it had to be two things: A) Authentic Mexican and, B) from an actual cookbook you could find somewhere. Now, I can throw down a dessert with the best of 'em, but...Mexican? I didn't have a clue! (Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a authentic Mexican dessert when you haven't a clue what authentic Mexican is? )

They all said "flan" but I had always understood that to be a Cuban dish.  A friend came through for me. I went to the source. The only authentic source I knew. texted Imelda and she responded with "Tres Leches Cake" (three milks).  I had a dessert, now to find it in an actual cookbook you could find somewhere. Luckily I had just gotten my new Taste of Home cookbook "Cooking through the Seasons". So now I was set!  You can read my review (and the recipe) on Real Women Eat but here's the recipe here also...

Tres Leches Cake

4 eggs - separated

2/3 cup sugar, divided

2/3 cup cake flour

Dash salt

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

3/4 cup evaporated milk

3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp rum extract

TOPPING

1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream

3 TBSP sugar

let eggs stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

line a 9 inch spring-for pan with wax paper,

Grease and flour the paper. Set aside

in a large bowl, beat the egg yolks for 2 minutes. Add 1/3 cup sugar; beat for 3 minutes or until mixture is thick and lemon colored. Fold in flour, a third at a time.

In another bowl, and with clean beaters, beat egg whites and salt on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating on high and until stiff peaks form. Stir a third of the whites into the yholk mixture. Fold in remaining whites.

Spread the batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to wire rack to cool completely.

In a small bowl, combine cream evaporated milk, condensed milk and extracts. Transfer cake to a serving plate. Poke holes in top of cake ith a skewer. Slowly spoon the milk mixture over top. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours.

For topping, in a small bowl, beat cream until it begins to thicken. Add sugar, beat until stiff peaks form. Spread over cake.

Confession:   I've never made home-made whipped cream before!  I kinda got hung up on the whole "stiff peaks" thing, turned my back, and almost made butter!   ROFL!!!

Cath Kidston Book Give-Away!

Follower's GiveAway is now closed... Come back tonight and see who won!

As a thank you to my wonderful followers, I'm giving away Cath Kidston's book "Make!" to one lucky person!   You are so sweet to visit and follow my blog so I want to reward you for being there.   The only requirement for this giveaway is that you are a follower.  (If you're not a follower, its not too late to do so!  LOL).

Leave a comment to enter and I will be picking a winner on Friday, May 28th so be sure to check back and see if it's YOU!   Good luck, and thank you again!

 

Balsamic Glazed Pork Chops

Tonight's Meal:  Balsamic Glazed Pork Chops

Ok, remember Monday, my post of my Menu Plan (click on Menu Plan to see)?  Yeah, I don't always go by that exclusively.   I've never really been one to like to color within the lines...even when I did the outline. So I switched it up a bit and did the pork chops tonight.   It was a new recipe (if you saw the Menu Plan I noted it was from  Mr. Food)  The best of Mr. Food Cookin' Quickies to be exact.

I'm going to share with you!

Balsamic Pork Chops

4 boneless  center cut loin pork chops

2 Tsp lemon pepper   ( didn't limit myself on this, so I did more than 2 tsp!)

1 TBSP olive oil

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup canned chicken broth

Sprinkle chops evenly with lemon pepper.

Heat oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat until hot.

Add the chops.  Cook 3-4 minutes on each side, or until browned.

Remove chops from the skillet and keep warm.

Combing the vinegar and broth to the skillet,stirring to loosen any browned bits from pan.

Cook over medium-high heat until mixture is reduced to a thin sauce.  Spoon over the chops.

(The book said to cook this 4 minutes, but I found it took longer for me)

Spoon over chops

I served this with summer squash  and brussels sprouts.   I know...hubby doesn't like the sprouts either but he's a good sport.

Now, my evaluation? I thought it could have used a little more flavor.  I tend to want to put garlic on everything and maybe it's just my bias.   The balsamic vinegar reduces quite a bit and it was good (balsamic vinegar when cooked actually gets sweet) but I was just wishing for some more ooomph!

That, and I need a good meat thermometer!  I don't even own one.   (any recommendations?)  I tend to get really weird about pork, so I did cook it longer than what the cookbook said to and it was a tad bit dry but I was worried.  It wasn't the recipe's fault, just my insecurity about undercooked pork!  LOL

So, there you have it.  It is really easy with a minimum of ingredients and I'll let you try at your own risk.  Admittedly, I don't have a lot of experience with pork...except for BBQ!  LOL

Oh, and seriously, can anyone recommend a good meat thermometer?  Do you use one?

I really think I need a meat thermometer and I wouldn't dry out my meats, ya know?

Post-It Tuesday

Menu Monday

Ok, "Clean Sheet Monday"  is still on Monday so don't worry, the bed is made and sheets are clean, but I've been seeing a lot of blogs posting their "Menu Plan Monday", (and all sorts of variations of the title) and I thought "hey! I do that!" so I thought I'd share with my friends too. 

Honestly, I do my menu more like on the weekends or just before so I'm prepared for the weekend sales (ah-hmmm...Albertsons three-day sales when they're good). 

I  must warn you, it ain't pretty!  This is my "work sheet", and I found it on the internet, but I can't remember where.  I've had it for quite a while now and usually keep copies in my Household Notebook, that I keep my cleaning schedules, "to-do" lists, menu plans, calendar pages, and other "planning" things.

The reason I like this one is for the lines to the side of the actual menu for a shopping list.   I may "doctor it up" (i.e., make a pretty one) to share future plans if anybody is interested in peeking in to the Henderson household to see what we're going to be eating.  Maybe to place your reservations for dinner???  LOL
I do like to see other people's menus though.  It gives me ideas/inspiration for mine!  

Notice it's not a 14 day plan?  Invariably we have left overs so some of the items get moved to another week or frozen for freezer meals later. 

Hey! what about this for a "pretty-fied" list?  LOL

Oh!  and a tip:  Don't throw your menu plans away.  There will come a day when you lack the "inspiration" or the energy to come up with some ideas for meals - just refer back to those plans!

Note:  For more inspiration you might want to check out this site: Organizing Junkie