Squash Slaw

Continuing with my quest to add more vegetable servings to my day, I ran across this recipe that had been scribbled on a scrap of a paper towel.  I suspect I found this in a magazine while sitting in a waiting room somewhere waiting, patiently, or maybe not too patiently, for an appointment of some kind or another.

There is a good bit of grating involved but other than that, it goes together fairly quickly.  The result is not only colorful but quite refreshing and delicious.

Squash Slaw

The green onions were camera-shy

2 large or 3 medium yellow squash

2 large or 3 medium zucchini

3 medium carrots

1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper

2 green onions, finely chopped

Peel and grate the squash and zucchini. Squeeze out excess water using paper towels or a clean cloth and place in a medium bowl.  Peel and grate carrots and add to squash mixture.  Stir in the diced red bell pepper and green onions. 

Dressing

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup Stevia (it called for sugar)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Whisk all ingredients together until well blended.  Pour over vegetable mixture.

Cover and chill at least one hour before serving.

Linked up at Weekend Potlluck #19 ...

  

Butter Bean Salad

I am so looking forward to fresh summer vegetables and as a result seem to be drawn to salad recipes.  That's a good thing ... for the waistline at least.

This Butter Bean Salad was an instant hit and it's super easy.  The recipe was clipped from a magazine ad, not sure what magazine though.  I've been instructed to add it to the "keeper" list.

Butter Bean Salad

2 15-ounce cans butter beans, drained

1 12-ounce bag frozen whole kernel corn, thawed and drained

onion powder

garlic powder

1 cucumber, peeled and diced

1 cup diced onion

2 cups grape tomatoes, halved

1 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 teaspoons black pepper

salt to taste

1/2 cup olive oil

Place butter beans in a colander to drain; add thawed corn.  Give each a light sprinkle with onion powder and garlic powder.  Transfer to a medium bowl and stir in remaining ingredients.

A couple of notes ... 

Since I don't believe food should be painful to eat, I used only a scant 1/4 teaspoon of the ground red pepper and it had kick a-plenty, also

I drizzled the olive oil until it looked moistened enough to suit me, probably did not use a full 1/2 cup as the recipe said.


I didn't count these beans, but I did link up at Weekend Potluck #18 and at BruCrew's Trick or Treat Tuesday and at Strut Your Stuff Saturday!  Click below and check out all the great posts!

Chocolate Lush

... or as Mother called it, "Layered Chocolate Delight."

It will answer to either name.  It is both lush and a delight, so take your pick.

Since this is Mother's Day weekend I chose a recipe from her "Favorites" collection.

This was one she made often, I loved it, and it reminds me of her.

Layered Chocolate Delight
(Chocolate Lush)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 sticks margarine, melted

1 cup chopped pecans

Mix together and press in bottom of a 9- x 13-inch pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until set and lightly browned.  Let cool for a few minutes.

8-ounce cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

16-ounce tub whipped topping, thawed

5 Heath candy bars, crushed

(I used about 1/2 bag of English toffee chips)

Place cream cheese in a mixing bowl and beat at low speed until creamy.  Add powdered sugar and mix until well blended.  Fold in 1 cup of the whipped topping.  Spread evenly over cooled crust.

2 small boxes instant chocolate pudding

3 cups milk

Whisk together pudding and milk until smooth.

Let set until thickened then spread over cream cheese layer.

Spread the remainder of the whipped topping over the chocolate layer and sprinkle generously with the crushed candy bars.  

Chill several hours or overnight before serving.  For this one, I used the chocolate fudge flavor of instant pudding.  Every now and then, Mother would change it up and use butterscotch pudding.  Trust me, it is equally as lush.

I found this picture of Mother in the kitchen.  The folding metal table was set up in the middle because the stove top and counter top were full of other dishes. We ate buffet style, with the little ones going through the line first.

Based on the menu laid out in front of her this is most likely a Christmas family dinner because I spy the Cranberry salad, one of my favorites, and she always made this at Christmas!  A lot of good cooking took place here.

I loved this kitchen ... and don't you just love that wallpaper!!

Linked to Weekend Potluck #17, 

and at BruCrew's Trick or Treat Tuesdays,

and at Strut Your Stuff Saturday ...

Not-So-Velvet Chocolate Trifle

It seemed like a good idea - Chocolate Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Butter Pecan Frosting - a clipping from Southern Living 2003.  I needed a baked item for a school function, but sometimes things don't go as planned.

And so we began ...

Chocolate Velvet Cake

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 (16-ounce) package light brown sugar

3 large eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 (8-ounce) container sour cream

1 cup hot water

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave at 30-second intervals until melted, about 1 1/2 minutes.  Stir until smooth.

In a large mixer bowl, beat softened butter and brown sugar at medium speed for about 5 minutes or until well blended.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each.  Add melted chocolate, beating until blended.

At this point, I just wanted to grab a spoon and pull up a chair.

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt.  Add to chocolate mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mix.  Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition.

Gradually add hot water in a slow, steady stream, continuing on low speed until blended.  Stir in vanilla.  Spoon batter evenly into 2 greased and floured 9-inch cake pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes until it tests done.

Now, if by chance you forget to add the last two ingredients, a.k.a., hot water and vanilla, and the batter is already in the oven happily baking away, then this comes out of your cake pans ...

As it turned out, the crumbled heap of cake had the consistency of a brownie and actually tasted pretty good.  So, plan B kicked in ...

2 small packages white chocolate instant pudding

8 ounces frozen whipped topping, thawed

1/2 cup Heath English Toffee Bits

Mix instant pudding with milk according to package directions.  Let sit for a few minutes then fold in whipped topping.  In a large bowl layer crumbled "brownies" alternately with pudding mix, two layers of each.  Sprinkle toffee bits on top.

And there you have it ... a Not-So-Velvet Chocolate Trifle.

Although not what I intended to finish with, it turned out to be a decent finish after all.  The school function got another dish and this one stayed at home where it was enjoyed by all.

I'm still going to make that Chocolate Velvet Cake.


Linked at Trick or Treat Tuesdays ...   

Rich Little Tea Cookies

Can you fix a little something sweet?  I got that question one Sunday afternoon and I completely agreed.  Sometimes you just need a little something sweet.

A quick shuffle through my clippings turned up this one for "Rich Little Tea Cookies".  Based on the yellow-ness of the clipping I would guess it came from an early 1980's edition of some unknown magazine and it says under the title they were "pictured on page 160".

But it seemed to fit the bill ... it was sweet, it was quick and more importantly, I had all the ingredients.

Rich Little Tea Cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

Put all ingredients in a large mixer bowl and mix on low speed until well blended.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and using floured hands, shape dough into 1-inch balls.

Place cookies on a large, ungreased cookie sheet (I opted for parchment paper).  Using a fork, mark the top of each crosswise, flattening as you go.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden.

Cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet then remove to wire racks to complete cooling.  The recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies and it says "30 calories per cookie" ... they're small, but quite good.

I actually halved the ingredients giving us about 2 dozen because as I said we only wanted a "little" something sweet.

Layered Taco Salad

I didn't intend to be gone for almost a month but that's life, and life has been busy.

Layered Taco Salad is a one dish meal that's about as quick as quick can get, perfect for those times when life gets ahead of you.

In a large serving bowl layer the following, in order:

1 bag of your favorite shredded lettuce mix

1 pound ground turkey, cooked and crumbled, seasoned to taste with salt and pepper

1 can dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

a sprinkling of grated carrots

1 large tomato, seeded and diced

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar-jack cheese blend



1 package of dry taco seasoning mix, sprinkled over the top.

Cover with several handfuls of crushed, flavored tortilla chips (I use Doritos nacho or taco flavored).

Set aside 10-15 minutes.  If making ahead, cover and refrigerate at this point.

When ready to serve, drizzle half of a 16-ounce bottle of fat-free Catalina dressing over your salad.

Toss layers together, blending well.

Serve on a bed of tortilla chips.  Add sour cream, salsa, sliced jalapenos, whatever else your taste desires.  

You can easily change the ground turkey to ground beef, the kidney beans to black beans, add diced onions, etc., etc.  

A spritz of fresh lime juice can add a zesty touch.

Just have fun with it!  

Mini Cadbury Egg Cookies

Easter is a dangerous holiday for those of us with a persistent sweet tooth.  Everywhere I turn is candy, especially chocolate candy ... lurking, tempting, coaxing me into another bite ... well okay, so it doesn't take a lot of coaxing.  I'm pretty much a goner around an Easter basket full of chocolates, and the Easter Bunny always brings chocolate.  I've trained him well.

I love the mini Cadbury chocolate-filled eggs and as soon as I saw them filling up the grocery shelf I knew they needed to find a cookie home. 

Half of this lot went to the college girl while the other half disappeared quick as a wink.


Mini Cadbury Egg Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 10-ounce bag Mini Cadbury Eggs, chopped or crushed

Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter with both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add sour cream, beaten egg and vanilla, mixing until well blended.  Reduce speed and add flour mixture gradually.  Fold in chopped candy eggs.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto parchment-lined cookie sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned. 

Cool on cookie sheet 2-3 minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.  Makes about 3 dozen cookies. 

  

With this recipe you could easily replace the candy eggs with other candies or chocolate chunks.  Either way, just add a cup of cold milk ...

Linked to BruCrew's "Trick or Treat Tuesdays" and at Weekend Potluck #10

stop by and check out all the other posts! 

Corned Beef Casserole

I grew up on this casserole.  It was one of Mother's go to comfort dishes.

For St. Patrick's Day weekend it just seemed right.

So, I prowled through my stash of recipes and found the original copy that Mother used, written in pencil on notebook paper and now quite faded.  I also found where I had rewritten the recipe on a small index card and looking at the handwriting I'd guess it was my teenage handwriting ... just a few years ago, you know.

A funny story about this one  ... I gave the recipe to a co-worker ages ago and as you'll see below it calls for "sweet milk."  That's what we called milk when I was little, didn't everyone?  Apparently, she was raised different than I was and so she interpreted it to mean sweetened condensed milk.  Needless to say, it didn't work very well.

But I'm still calling it sweet milk.

Corned Beef Casserole

1 cup (rounded) elbow macaroni, uncooked

1 cup green peas (I used the whole can)

1 can cream of celery soup

1 can corned beef

1/2 cup sweet milk (don't forget!)

1 teaspoon mustard

1 tablespoon butter, melted

black pepper to taste

1 cup shredded American cheese (or your favorite blend)

Cook macaroni according to package directions, drain and place in a large mixing bowl.  Add remaining ingredients, except cheese, and stir until well blended.  Pour into a large baking dish and bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes until bubbly.  Sprinkle shredded cheese on top and bake another 5 minutes until melted.

Now I can't get that sweetened condensed milk out of my mind ... 

    

Linked to Weekend Potluck #9 ... check it out!