Stoplight Salad!

This is a recipe that I got from Simply in Season.  Its a great cookbook that is really helpful when meal planning because you can think about what fruits and veggies are in season, getting you fresher ingredients (not being shipped from Tim-buk-tu) at a hopefully lower price.

Stoplight Salad:
2 cups diced tomatoes
1 diced green pepper
1 diced yellow pepper
1 diced red pepper
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained (or you can soak and boil your own)
1 15 oz. can whole kernel corn
1/4 cup diced green onion

Mix all of that together in a large bowl, then move onto the dressing.

1 clove garlic minced
3 tbsps balsamic vinegar
3 tbsps olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Whisk everything together and pour over veggies. Mix everything together well. Then for my little addition, add cayenne pepper to spice it up to the level you want. I really like spicy food, but this was best with a small kick.

Salsa and Steaks!

I had to redeem myself after the unfortunate red pepper flakes incident at my sister's house. We made grilled corn, tomato, and avocado salsa to serve on grilled steaks. Twas delicious.

Use cayenne pepper, salt, roasted red pepper flakes, garlic salt, and pepper to season the steaks.

For the salsa:

4 ears of grilled sweet corn
6 roma tomatos
2 avocados
1/3 cup green onions
1/8 cup cilantro
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste.

Banana, Lemon, Raspberry muffins

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 large ripe or overripe bananas, mashed
• 1/4 cup skim milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp cinnamon
  
• 1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

Mix all the ingredients together, folding in the raspberries at the end. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Kyle and Noelle's wedding cake!

Cheesecake!

Pretzel crust, chocolate ganache, and white chocolate cheesecake. So freakin' good.

Pretzel crust:

2 cups crushed pretzels
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup melted butter

Mix everything together and press into the bottom of the pan. I think the cheesecake would taste better with a graham cracker crust, but we were trying something new.

Chocolate ganache:

1 cup chocolate chips
3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Melt the chocolate chips, slowly mix in the whipping cream. Spread across the crust.

White chocolate filling:

8 oz. white bakers chocolate
4 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
4 whole large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt chocolate and set aside. Beat cream cheese until fluffy, then beat in sugar. Add eggs and yolks, one at a time. Beat in flour and vanilla. Slowly add the white chocolate, beating until the filling is well combined. Pour over chocolate and crust.

Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes. Let cool, serve at room temperature or chilled.

Kale Chips!

Anna introduced me to kale chips. They are delicious and so much better for you than potato chips.

They are really simple to make. Tear the kale into pieces and put into a large bowl. Drizzle olive oil, a little salt and your spice of choice. I like cayenne pepper, Anna likes garlic salt. Spread them out on a baking sheet and bake at 350 until they are nice and crispy. When we make them, they usually never make it off the baking sheet, so delicious.

Cooking Blogs!

Here are a few of my favorite cooking/baking blogs.

Cupcakes Take the Cake
This is just fun pictures of cupcakes and such

Coconut and Lime

Love and Olive Oil



Sassy Radish

Food Snobbery is my Hobbery
This is a new one, but I like it.

Healthy Refuge
Rachel Tiemeyer's blog, it's fantastic!

Pink Cake Box
Amazing Cakes! Just fun to look at the pictures.






cupcake d'lights
My love for cake and South Africa combined!