Our Menu for July 17 - 23

Better late than never with a menu plan, right?

Sunday - stacked tortilla pie with a side of rice

Monday - ravioli and garlic bread

Tuesday - crockpot chicken tetrazinni and green beans

Wednesday - grilled turkey burgers, pierogies and corn

Thursday - my MIL's goulash (making in the crockpot)

Friday - margarita chicken, rice and spinach/carrots for those who don't like spinach

Saturday- manicotti, salad and garlic bread


** For a wonderful dessert at the end of the day, try these**

Orange Berry Cake

Blueberry Bliss Pudding

No Bake Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls

Chocolate Chess Pie


Linking up to:

Menu Plan Monday

Secret Recipe Club: Orange Berry Cake

I can't believe that another month has flown by so quickly. It's time for another round up for the Secret Recipe Club. I'm baking from Alessio's blog, Recipe Taster. His blog features beautiful pictures and recipes. Many of his recipes stem from his Sicilian background. Delizioso!

When I saw his recipe for Orange Cake, I knew right away that I wanted to try it because I love the fresh taste of oranges in cakes and pastries. I will admit that some worry and nervousness set in when it came time to convert the recipe from grams to the American equivalents. I don't own a kitchen scale so I knew that I was going to have to rely on any Internet findings to get me through this time. You can imagine my surprise when I realized that there were no exact conversions for this measurements in this recipe. I decided to wing it anyway and I must say, I'm so happy that I did. This was a truly delicious cake. It was very light and moist, showered with a wonderful orange flavoring. The orange zest hits it out of the park. Do not even be tempted to leave it out.

Alessio shows several different ways to decorate the cake on his blog but I choose to use a low sugar real berry jam as a glaze for the top of the cake, along with a sprinkling of orange zest on top.

So simple and pretty! It pairs perfectly with a cup of herbal tea. The recipe will definitely go into my "favorites" pile.

Orange Berry Cake
adapted from the blog: Recipe Taster

7 tbsp. butter, softened
1/2 c. granulated sugar
zest of 3 lg. oranges
1 lg. egg yolk
2 lg. eggs
1 3/4 tbsp. canola oil
1/2 c. 100% real orange juice
1 c. all purpose flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
4 heaping tbsp. low sugar real berry jam
zest of 1 orange for decoration

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease and flour a 9 inch or 10 inch spring form pan and set aside.

I would recommend using a stand mixer for this recipe, although it could be mixed with a hand mixer.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the butter and beat until light and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar to the butter and beat until no longer grainy and the mixture is light and fluffy.

Mix in the orange zest from 3 oranges.

Add egg yolk to the mixture and beat until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until everything is mixed together and looks smooth and creamy.

With the beaters still running, stream in the canola oil. Mix well.

Alternate pouring the flour and the orange juice into the wet mixture in the bowl. Mix well after each addition.

Spoon the batter into the spring form pan. Tap the pan on the counter top to release the air bubbles in the batter.

Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. My cake was perfectly baked at 22 minutes.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting it onto a cake platter.

Melt 4 heaping tbsp. low sugar real berry jam in the microwave or on the stove top. Using a pastry brush, gently brush the melted jam over the top of the cake.

Sprinkle the zest of 1 orange over top of the jam.

My husband and kids, as well as I, really enjoyed this cake so I can't tell you what to do with any leftovers. I would imagine that the cake tastes the best if eaten the same day it was baked.

Time to gear up for next month's Secret Recipe Club event! Click here from more info. on how you can join in on the fun!

You just can't help but to drool over all of these beauties below. We love comments! Let us know what you think!!

Blueberry Bliss Pudding

I found this recipe while searching through some old issues of CBS WATCH magazine. It's a family recipe handed down in Sara Canning's (The Vampire Diaries) family. In her interview, she mentions that it's a family tradition to make the blueberry pudding during the holidays in Newfoundland.

It reminds me a lot of my MIL's recipe for apple pudding. Don't get it confused with bread pudding, it's not. It's more of a cake with fruit baked in it. One major difference between the apple pudding and the blueberry pudding is that the apple pudding doesn't have a sauce that gets poured over it. In the original recipe, the sauce calls for brandy and lemon extract. I made some changes adding more vanilla for the lemon extract and fresh squeezed orange juice for the brandy. I liked the sauce on the blueberry pudding but it would also be really delicious omitting the syrup and serving it with warmed, sweetened cream or topped with ice cream.

Blueberry Bliss Pudding
adapted from CBS Watch! Magazine
 
1/2 c. butter. softened
1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. fresh blueberries
1/2 c. water

Heat oven to 325*.

Cream butter and sugar.

Add eggs one at a time, beating until fluffy.

Add flour, baking powder, vanilla and salt.

Stir in enough water (up to 1/2 c.) to make the batter fluffy. (I only used 1/4 c. water).

Fold in blueberries. Pour the batter into a greased 9 x 9 baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick stuck into the middle of the pudding comes out clean. While baking, prepare the sauce.

Sauce for Blueberry Bliss Pudding

3 tbsp. butter
2 c. hot water
1/8 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. fresh squeezed orange juice
2 tbsp. cornstarch mixed with a little cold water
1/8 tsp. vinegar
1/2 fresh blueberries

Stir all ingredients together in a pot. Bring to a boil. Using a potato masher or a fork, smash the blueberries into the sauce and continue cooking until it starts to thicken.

Using a the handle of a wooden spoon, poke holes into the pudding.

Pour the sauce over the pudding. Serve warm.

No Bake Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls & Our Weekly Menu Plan

This summer seems to be flying by! We are in the middle of an incredible heat wave. I've been holed up in the house with the AC for a few days, finally dragging myself and the kids out to go grocery shopping.

My kids and husband have grown accustomed to eating some sort of dessert in the later evening, right before my husband leaves for work. While I love providing homemade desserts, I hate the thought of turning on the oven to heat it up in here. Thus, this batch of no bake peanut butter balls. Takes just 4 ingredients and a kid or two willing to get their hands messy and you're ready to go!

  
No Bake Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls

1-18 oz. jar of smooth or chunky peanut buter - I prefer smooth
1 - 16 oz. bag of confectioners sugar
1/4 c. butter, melted
chocolate almond bark
or
chocolate candy melts
or
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips & 2 tsp. shortening

In a large bowl, stir together the peanut butter, confectioners sugar and melted butter until the mixture is crumbly. For the next step, the best way that I've found to make a smooth filling is to use your hands to mix everything together.

Line a baking sheet with foil. Roll the peanut butter filling into 1 inch balls and line the baking sheet with rows of the balls. Set the baking sheet in the freezer for 5-7 minutes to chill the peanut butter balls for easier dipping.

While the peanut butter balls are chilling, melt the chocolate in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl that is deep enough for dipping. I melted 6 blocks of chocolate almond bark at a time, stirring at 45 second intervals until smooth.

Remove the baking sheet from the freezer. Insert a toothpick or wooden skewer into a peanut butter ball and then dip it into the chocolate, turning quickly to cover the entire candy. Place onto a second baking tray that has also been lined with foil. Swirl the chocolate on the top of each candy for a pretty design. Refrigerate until the chocolate had completely dried.

Store the candies in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

**Warning** These little candies are very addictive!!


Weekly Menu Plan for July 10 - 16

Sunday - country chicken and vegetables in the crock pot

Monday - crock pot Jack Daniel's bbq pulled pork sandwiches - homemade Jack Daniel's bbq sauce!

Tuesday - bacon, lettuce and tomato jam sandwiches, cottage cheese and cucumber salad

Wednesday - breakfast for dinner: pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage and biscuits

Thursday - Brunswick stew using leftover pulled pork and corn bread

Friday - grilled chicken and pasta with lemon basil sauce

Saturday - burrito pie and rice

Stay cool!


I'm linking up to:

Menu Plan Mondays
A Bowl Full of Lemons 
The Goose Berry Patch Blog

Garlic Asiago Chicken and Noodle Casserole

I've been doing some sorting and organizing of my huge stack of magazines that is taking up a lot of space in our little apartment. I'm sorting into 3 boxes - one for recipes that I want to keep, one for magazines that are full of too many recipes, tips and crafts to get rip apart the whole thing, and one box that holds that magazines that are going to be donated to our local thrift store. (Hopefully I will remember them and not buy them back!)

I'm going to be trying out some of these recipes for the next few weeks so that I can weed through the pages even more, keeping the ones that we like and ditching the rest.

The first recipe to be tested was the Chocolate Coconut Bars that I baked a couple of days ago. I will be keeping this one. It's moist and delicious with a great pairing of chocolate and coconut.

Next up is tonight's dinner, Garlic Asiago Chicken and Noodle Casserole. It's my take on Garlic Parmesan Chicken and Noodles from an April 2010 Better Homes and Garden magazine. Of course I made more of the recipe that what it said. The original recipe makes 4 servings but that's not enough for my hollow-legged son and the rest of us plus enough for leftovers for my husband's lunch.

I made some substitutions and changes to the recipes, the most obvious being the cheeses that I used. My version of this recipe is below.

Garlic Asiago Chicken and Noodle Casserole
adapted from an April 2010 Better Homes & Garden
magazine recipe

18 oz cooked egg noodles - keep warm after cooking
2 lb chicken, cut up into pieces - I cooked extra chicken
thighs and legs on July 4 so that I would have extra for
this meal
4 tbsp minced garlic
1 small can of diced mushrooms, drained
5 1/4 c. whole milk
2 c. shredded Asiago cheese
2 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese + 1 c. shredded mozzarella
1 tbsp sage
1 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp poultry seasoning

Preheat oven to 450*

To a large pot, add chicken, mushrooms and milk. Cook on medium heat until heated through.

Stir in Asiago cheese and 2 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese. Stir until smooth. Add noodles and stir to coat - the sauce will be thin, not a cheese sauce consistancy.

Pour the chicken and noodles into a large baking dish. Sprinkle the reserved cup of mozzarella cheese on top of the noodles.

Bake for 20 - 30 minutes or until the chicken and noodles start to lightly brown.

*****

My thoughts on this dish: Both of my kids liked this dish. They had no complaints about it. My husband and I thought that it was just ok. Just another noodle casserole and sort of bland at that. If you tend to like casseroles that contain a mild cheese flavor and don't contain a lot of spices, you would probably like this one. Would I make this again, probably not...at least not without add more flavor to it. At that point, it would be probably be another casserole completely. There's nothing wrong with this casserole. It just didn't excite my taste buds.