One of my husbands favorite salads is this creamy pasta salad. I found this recipe on Food.com a couple years ago and it’s been one of those recipes I find myself making again and again. We like this alongside grilled chicken with a garden salad but it will accompany most any meal. It’s tastier than anything you can make from a box and you can add different veggies to change it up and make it a bit healthier.
This is the pie of my dreams, a rich creamy chocolate pie topped with whipped cream. This is the kind of pie that melts in your mouth good and puts a goofy smile on your face. I’ve been searching for the perfect pie recipe and came across this one originally from Sunset Magazine, August 2007 that caught my eye. Originally I had been looking for a meringue pie and even had my Mom send me her recipe but in the end this is what I went with. It took me 2 days but it was worth it. We ate part of it cold out of the fridge and I froze half to see what that would taste like. It was equally delicious!
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For a fast and tasty supper try this smoked sausage dish with roasted red potatoes and grilled sweet onions. This is an easy go to meal when you’re in a hurry. Smoked Sausage is so good sliced and pan fried with a little dijon mustard on the side. But I thought maybe a little sweeter sauce might add to this skillet dish and looked to see what I had on hand. When I found the jar of fig preserves I knew I had something to work with. So I started with that and built around it with some dijon mustard, vinegar, soy sauce and a little honey.
One of my favorite fellow bloggers Justa recently made a Ham Fried Rice with Pineapple (which looked terrific by the way) and it got me to thinking how good that would be. Everyone in my family loves fried rice and although I didn’t have any ham or pineapple on hand I was able to make do with a few other veggies to make a wonderful side dish. We’ve been under stormy clouds the last couple days so I knew I wouldn’t be able to cook out on the grill anytime soon. So on this rainy day I’m escaping to the kitchen to put together a meal of fried rice along with a sausage stir fry that I’ll be sharing later in the week.
One of my favorite snacks is a cracker topped with cream cheese and Candied Jalapenos. I make enough to fill a mason jar to tuck away in the fridge because I always want more. These tasty little rings also known as “Cowboy Candy” are great as toppers for your favorite burger, brat or sandwich. And the syrup has a unique taste that I sometimes add to a vinaigrette for a salad when I want a hint of sweet heat in the background. No matter the occasion these candied jalapenos will be a big hit!
Are you a fan of pretzel rolls? They have become the big craze lately and remind me of the soft pretzels that you dip into cheese sauce or slather with mustard. Josh wanted a cheese dip for the pretzel rolls and out of that came the idea of sliders with a cheddar cheese sauce. These are fun to make and even more fun to eat. I’m thinking these would be a big hit at open house grad parties. These were originally supposed to be green chile cheese sliders but then Josh piped up again and said “Why not top it with jalapenos too”! He was quite the inspiration!
I’ve discovered a potato salad that I absolutely love. It comes from Rick Bayless and combines new red potatoes with roasted poblano’s and a homemade mayonnaise that is out of this world. The flavors of the southwest really stand out in this potato salad. This would be a perfect side dish for your Memorial Day weekend and pair up perfectly with any grilled burger or brat. I can tell you it was fantastic alongside our Raspberry Chipotle Steak Salad.
It was a perfect weekend for firing up the grill and being outdoors. I think everyone in the neighborhood was feeling it. You could smell the grillin in the air and we were no exception. At the farmer’s market I found fresh lettuce and had to have a bunch of the spring mix. I also picked up some red potatoes for a roasted potato salad that served as my side dish that I plan to share soon. I put up a skirt steak in the freezer a couple weeks ago and thought it would be perfect to layer over top of my salad mix. A chipotle glaze would taste good but how to flavor it? I was on the fence between raspberries and mangoes but the raspberries won out when I found a large pack of fresh berries on sale. This sauce turned out to be versatile in that I could set some aside to make a salad dressing with plenty left over to glaze the steak.
Every time I go through the “Wilton” isle at the craft store I see all these pretty baking cups for muffins or cupcakes. There are so many choices of shapes and colors and I want one of each. I went to the grocery store in search of an idea for muffins and found the blackberries on sale so I picked up a couple cartons and headed to the craft store to find the perfect muffin cups. I thought these bright pinkish cups looked like an open flower and thought they would be perfect for my muffins. When I started filling them with batter I found out they were too large to fit into my muffin pan. So, I placed some in ramekin cups and the others on a cookie sheet. The baking cups were stiff enough to hold up without a mold, however they did spread out a bit more than the ones baked in the ramekins. I had hoped they would look like a flower in bloom but I what I had in my head and what actually baked up were two different things. In the end I couldn’t be happier with how they tasted, they were so moist and berry delicious.
As the weather turns warmer we find ourselves craving something cold to drink. Joe and I enjoy a cold smoothie after a long walk or after working in the yard. These smoothies are very low in calories but they will satisfy your taste buds and replenish your energy. I found this recipe in an old Cooking Light magazine and it’s so simple with only four ingredients yet it’s packed with flavor. If you’re a fan of lemon and berries you’ll definitely love this.
An Inspired Cook 