Panzanella Salad--Barefoot Bloggers

There is no better reason to go to the farmer's market this time of year than to get the ingredients for a Panzanella Salad.  (or if you are lucky your own back yard)
The second recipe of the month for Barefoot Bloggers
Ina's Panzanella Salad.  I made this one italian style w/o the feta and olives.

I have made this on many occasions using the dressing but mixing up the veggies slightly.  I have even made a mini version and put it on top of romaine lettuce.
Add some chopped chicken and you have a great lunch or light supper.

The best part is you don't have to turn on your oven to toast the bread.  If your kitchen is not already hot from the weather, just toast them in the oven for 10 minutes.

Blueberry Muffins-My turn to pick on Barefoot Bloggers

This was my turn to pick one of this month's Ina Garten Recipes for Barefoot Bloggers.  Unfortuntely when I received the email we were out of town, but more importantly away from my cookbooks.  I could only think about the wonderful blueberry murffins I had made once and had never posted about.  Plus it is blueberry season in most parts of the country so I was thrilled to make them again w/o frozen berries.  As I am typing this post I keep going to the fridge to grab a handful of the berries we picked today.  For local readers, Swift Creek Berry Farm is still open for business and full of berries.

The recipe I chose was Streusel topped Muffins.
The first time I made them My husband kept asking me if I bought them!!

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• 2 cups buttermilk, shaken
• 1/4 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 2 cups fresh blueberries (2 half-pints)

For the Streusel Topping

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
• 4 tbsp (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Line muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in to a large bowl and blend with your hands.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, butter, lemon zest, and eggs.  Stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture with a fork, mixing  just until blended.  Fold the blueberries into the batter.  Don’t overmix!  With a standard (2 1/4″) ice cream scoop or large spoon, scoop the batter into the prepared cups, filling them almost full.
3. For the topping, place all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse until the butter is in very small pieces.  Pour into a bowl and rub with your fingers until crumbly.  Spoon about 1 tbsp of the streusel on top of each muffin.  Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown.

The other Barefoot Blogger recipe was Greek Panzanella Salad which I will post about tomorrow.

Christmas in July or Beach Keepsakes

Whenever we travel somewhere new I like to pick up a christmas ornament as a memory of the trip.  It is so fun to put the ornaments on the tree which brings up such great memories.

This year, I did not get an ornament from our beach trip so I decided to make them ourselves.  Anyone with children probably has a stash of shells or rocks picked up from various beaches.  I decided to line the kids up on the counter with some paint, ribbon and a glue gun.
Here is what we came up with:

Angel   

                           "snowman "                                              

TIP:
Be sure to write the child's initials and the location of the shells if you remember.

I read online that you can harden sand dollars  by painting on them with a mixture of 1 part elmers glue and 1 part water.  

They are also a great canvas for water colors....

*No animals were harmed in the acquisition of these shells, my kids are told to only get empty or dead shells:)

Not ready for christmas, in the past we have purchased inexpensive frames and glued shells on them with a glue gun for gifts.  Or simply make creatures out of them.

Jewelry would also be a fun project, how about shark teeth necklaces.... we made these at the hotel we were staying at.  All you need is thin gauge wire and some elastic.
I was more nervous we were finding such big teeth on the beach.
Let your imagination and fond memories of the beach come alive in this project.

Not your traditional Rice Krispies Treat

My daughter was going through my  Everyday Food magazine and was salivating over the picture of Puffed Rice Bars with Peanut Butter and Chocolate.  She will be making the dentist very wealthy in the future, she does not fall far from the tree though:)

I told her if she wanted to have them that she could make them.  We actually had all the ingredients in the house so it was an easy request.   We did have to use toffee chips for the peanuts as we did not have any in the house.  You could have probably used pecans or walnuts instead.

She did everything except stir the mixture over the stove, which she easily could of if she was not busy measuring the 6 cups of rice cereal.  We also used 32 large marshmallows for the 4 cups of minature ones.

I don't know if I will be excited with regular rice krisipies any more.  These were very flavorful and just sweet enough.

For those with peanut allergies I am wondering if you could use Sunbutter instead of the peanut butter.  If you try it let me know how it comes out.

3 tbs unsalted butter.
4 cups miniature marshmallows
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter, preferably natural
1/2 tsp coarse salt
6 cups puffed rice cereal
nonstick cooking spray
1 pkg, 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, melted
1/4 cup chopped roasted salted peanuts

Butter and 8 inch square baking dish.  In a large pot, combine marshmallows, peanut butter, butter and salt.  Cook over medium, stirring until melted, about 4 minutes.  Add cereal and stir to combine.  with a wooden spoon greased with cooking spray or oil, press half of the cereal mixture into the dish.  spread half the melted chocolate on top  repeat with remaining cereal mixture and chocolate: sprinkle with peanuts.  Store in airtight container once chocolate solidifies, up to 3 days.

Flip Flop Gift Bag

Need a last minute gift bag idea this summer or maybe you just don't want to spend $5.00 on a gift bag.  I usually keep a stack of plain white paper gift bags.  You can get them at any craft store, usually in sets of 10 for 5.00.  If you use a michael's coupon it is even cheaper.

I was putting a gift together last minute this week and realized I did not have an appropriate gift bag to package it.  I remembered a bulletin board at my son's preschool full of flip flops and thought I would recreate it on a bag.

I was pretty pleased and my daughter suggested I put two on the next one!!
All you need is colored paper, ribbon scraps and glue and in about 10 minutes you have an adorable gift bag.

If you need a visual just grab your own flip flop for reference!.

Simply cut out a flip flop shape out of the paper, the size will depend on if you are using two flip flops or just one large one.  Mine was about 6 inches.
Punch out 3 holes, one on the left side, middle top and right side.

Measure the distance between the top and side hole and cut a piece a ribbon 2 1/2 times that.

Fold the ribbon in half, if printed right sides together.  Place the folded end into the top hole slightly and then unfold the ribbon into the other wholes.

Trim the excess ribbon and tape to secure the ribbon.
Just glue onto your bag, I used school glue but you can use a glue gun too.

Add the gift and some matching tissue paper and the gift bag is a gift in itself.

Capture Summer Memories with these great deals

Just thought I would share this great and cheap way to save some of those great Summer memories, plus all you pay is shipping and handling.  I just placed an order for one with a beach picture, Will post it once it comes...very excited.

Canvas People:

The Canvas People offer gives your visitors up to a $55 credit toward a photo canvas. The way it works is like this: 

1) Choose and upload the photo you would like printed
2) Choose what size. (8x10 is free + shipping/handling after $49.99 credit)
3) Chose any "extras" (framing, etc.) 
5) Enter shipping information
6) Pay the $14.95 shipping/handling (this is still a GREAT deal for one of these) 

These photo canvases make great birthday, anniversary, and graduation gifts


Get a Free Canvas on us!

National Ice Cream Day--Recipe Week #2

According to an email I received from Cold Stone, today is national ice cream day.  Isn't everyday a good ice cream day!!  So I thought I post this week's recipe.
A few weeks ago in the paper there was an article about no cook ice creams and titled "Skinny Dipping"  Well I so excited about it and thought I would give one a try that would use up some blueberries we recently picked and save my waist a little!!

These recipe were considered Frozen Yogurts which I have not made yet which was also intriguing.  The pictures looked better than mine.  They suggest you can serve this right away but mine was soo runny.   It also was very sweet.  Next timeI think I will forgo the extra sugar, the french vanilla yogurt was sweet enough.
It was a good alternative to the whole cream dessert but really isn't that was ice cream is all about.

For my friends with milk allergies in their families I bet you could try it will soy yogurt!!

Happy Ice Cream Day!!

SUMMER BERRY FROZEN YOGURT

3 cups fresh berries (blueberries,strawberries, raspberries, blackberries), mashed
1 cup granulated sugar
4 cups of low-fat vanilla yogurt  ( I used non fat wonder if that made a difference)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl
Freeze in an ice cream freezer following manufacturer's instructions
Serve immediately or transfer to a freezer container and freeze

Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki Sauce

This recipe came into my inbox a few weeks ago through my subscription to www.myrecipes.com.  I have only had this meal at a Greek restaurant or our local Greek Fest.  The picture looked so wonderful and I did not feel like putting the oven on so I jumped right into it.

Here is another recipe you can use up any plain Greek yogurt you may have in the fridge.  I made a Greek Salad  and grilled some pita bread as side dishes.  This was a hit with the kids as well.  The best part is that I put this together earlier in the day when I had time and let it marinate for several hours.  I don't see why you could not make this a few days ahead for a larger party and freeze the cubed chicken in the marinade and defrost over night.


Don't forget to soak your bamboo skewers for at least 30 minutes before adding meats or veggies to prevent burning.


RECIPE LINK

Yield: 2 servings (serving size: 2 skewers and about 1/4 cup tzatziki sauce)

Ingredients

• SOUVLAKI:
• 3  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  chopped fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2  teaspoons  olive oil
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 4  garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2  pound  skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1  medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into (1/2-inch-thick) slices
• Cooking spray
• 
  TZATZIKI SAUCE:
• 1/2  cup  cucumber, peeled, seeded, and shredded
• 1/2  cup  plain low-fat yogurt or non fat Greek yogurt
• 1  tablespoon  lemon juice
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1  garlic clove, minced

Preparation

To prepare souvlaki, combine the first 5 ingredients in a zip-top plastic bag; seal and shake to combine. Add chicken to bag; seal and shake to coat. Marinate chicken in refrigerator for 30 minutes, turning once.

Remove chicken from bag; discard marinade. Thread the chicken and zucchini, alternately onto each of 4 (8-inch) skewers.

Heat a grill pan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add skewers; cook 8 minutes or until chicken is done, turning once.

To prepare tzatziki sauce, combine cucumber, yogurt, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1 garlic clove, stirring well. Serve the tzatziki sauce with souvlaki.

July Ice Cream Week 1-Mint Oreo Ice Cream

Well I thought I would challenge myself to making an ice cream a week this month and utilize my ice cream maker and get a break from these unusually high temperatures we are experiencing.  For as long as I can remember, Mint Chocolate chip has been my favorite ice cream flavor.  I still remember trying a few different flavors when browsing 31 flavors when I was little but usually going back to my tried and true.
I found a great website with great step by steps pictures to make this ice cream which starts with fresh mint.  I had some chocolate mint available as well so I had to give it a go.  Don't get discouraged already, Simplyrecipes.com tells you how to make it with mint extract!!

I also had some Trader Joe's jo jos so instead of adding chocolate at the end I added up chopped up oreos....

My kids gave it double thumbs up as their favorite flavor yet.  It was a two day process, I did not realize I did not have enough eggs when I started this so I made the  recipe to that point and just kept it in the fridge.

I am really liking my Cuisinart ice cream maker. Any one else have a ice cream maker they adore or any recipes I can try?

Easy Homemade BBQ sauce

You may be going off to a BBQ this holiday weekend or just entertaining your family at home.   Instead of buying the bottled stuff at the super market why not try this vinegar based sauce.  The recipe makes a ton 2 qts so  you can easily halve it.

 My daughter (8 yrs old)  made a batch of this sauce for a father's day gift.  We made a label on the computer and just glued it onto the jar.  Add a topper and you have yourself a great hostess gift.  Make sure you tell them it lasts in the fridge for 1 month.

I simply tried it over chicken but I am sure it would be great with a pork tenderloin in the crock pot for pulled pork sandwiches.  Very tasty and you can add any other ingredients to make it your own.  Most of these ingredients you will already have in your pantry.

Ingredients

1 quart apple cider vinegar

1 (20 ounce) bottle ketchup

1/4 cup paprika

1 pound dark brown sugar

1/4 cup salt

1 tablespoon black pepper

2 tablespoons red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup lemon juice

Directions

In a large container, mix together the apple cider vinegar, ketchup, paprika, brown sugar, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice. Pour into an empty vinegar bottle, ketchup bottle or other container and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Dave's Savory BBQ Sauce