Garlic Grilled Shrimp Kebabs

These are shrimp kebabs from heaven. You should try them! This picture makes it look like these were all on a plate for one person, but that wasn't the case. Just to clear up any misconceptions... :)

Garlic Grilled Shrimp Kebabs

1 cup olive oil
1 ½ tablespoons hot pepper sauce
½ tsp garlic powder
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined with tails attached
bacon, cut into ½ inch squares
2 16 oz pkg mushrooms, quartered or halved
12 skewers

1. In a mixing bowl, mix together olive oil, hot sauce, garlic, ketchup, oregano, salt, and black pepper. Reserve a small amount for basting later. Pour remaining marinade into a large resealable plastic bag with shrimp and bacon. Seal, and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

2. Preheat grill for medium-low heat. Thread shrimp, bacon and mushrooms onto skewers. Discard marinade.

3. Lightly oil grill grate. Cook shrimp for 5 minutes per side, or until opaque, basting at beginning with reserved marinade.

The Best Fruit Dip I've Ever Had

This fruit dip is sooo yummy and it really compliments lots of different fruits very well. It calls for "freshly ground" peanut butter, which is easy enough to do with a small blender or food processer. I've never tried it with peanut butter from the jar, but I don't really think it would be quite as good.

Peanut Butter Fruit Dip
1 part vanilla yogurt, regular or Greek
2 parts freshly ground peanut butter
sugar, to taste

I've tried this with apples, grapes and bananas and all are wonderful. It doesn't taste as good on it's own, so when you test it for appropriate sweetness make sure you dip a piece of fruit in it rather than your finger. It really needs hardly any sugar at all if you use regular yogurt. It's so good.

Quinoa Pilaf with Lemon and Thyme

Amelia and I really liked this. Jeff wasn't home, so he hasn't had any yet. The boys miraculously tried a teeny tiny bite - maybe one bite of one grain of quinoa - and decided they hated it. Sigh..... This recipe was in the newspaper, but was originally from "America's Test Kitchen's Healthy Family" cookbook. (I used dried parsley, about 1 teaspoon, instead of fresh.)

Quinoa Pilaf with Lemon and Thyme
1 onion, minced
1 tsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 C. quinoa, rinsed and dried on a towel
1 1/3 C. low-sodium chicken broth
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp minced fresh thyme or 1/4 tsp dried
 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
 1 Tbsp minced fresh parsley, basil, cilantro or scallions

Combine the onion, oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large saucepan. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in the quinoa, increase the heat to medium, and cook, stirring often, until the quinoa is lightly toasted and aromatic, about 5 minutes. Stir in the broth, lemon zest and thyme and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the quinoa is transparent and tender, 16-18 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat, lay a clean folded kitchen towel across the top of the pot and replace the lid. Let sit for 10 minutes, then fluff the quinoa with a fork. Stir in the lemon juice and fresh parsley or herbs. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Triple Chocolate Banana Bread Muffins

These are made with whole wheat flour and flax but they're not dense at all. They are quite tasty, in fact!

Triple Chocolate Banana Bread Muffins

2 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons cold milled flax
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cup mashed or pureed banana
2/3 cup plain or vanilla yogurt, Greek preferably
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1/2 - 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips or chunks
1/2 - 3/4 cup white chocolate chips or chunks

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, sugar, cocoa, flax, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined.

In another medium bowl, combine the banana puree, yogurt, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk until combined. Stir in the butter.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the banana mixture into the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Then, stir in the chocolate chips, reserving about 1/4 cup or so for sprinkling on top of the muffins.

Grease 24 standard sized muffins cups. Using a large cookie scoop, fill your muffin tins. Each muffin cup should hold about 3 tablespoons of batter. Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips on top.

Bake at 375 for 17-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove and cool on a wire rack (or eat).

Recipe from goodlifeeats.com

Nalgene, Wonderful Nalgene

This is for those of you who make your own syrup. Over the years I've stored my syrup in bowls and find that it's always very messy to heat and the bowls get warped from the microwave plus when you reheat syrup in a bowl you have to have a spoon or small ladle to serve it. A few years ago I tried using a Rubbermaid water bottle so we could just pour it onto whatever and hopefully avoid some of the mess. That was fine until after about 3 uses the bottom of the water bottle warped and was no longer flat and we were back to bowls. Last year it occurred to me that there was a better answer - the Nalgene bottle! Nalgene bottles are made to withstand high heat and they can be boiled and dishwashered with no worries. They don't get warped and they can handle the heat of hot, hot syrup.

I bought this lovely 32oz Nalgene at Target and have been so happy with it! It fits a double batch of syrup perfectly.

(Excuse the bad picture.)

It works like a wonder. The J heats syrup up nearly every day and it has held up through it all. Just unscrew the cap and pop in the microwave to warm. The lid can get a little sticky if too much syrup dries on it but that's easy enough to remedy, just do a quick wipe with a wet washcloth before you close it up again. The only thing you really need to check is the height of your microwave. This bottle barely fits in our but it does fit. If you have a smaller microwave just get a smaller Nalgene.

Nalgene - what a wonder! :)

Cran-Apple Lemonade Punch

Does that just make you pucker or what? Is sounds so tart but it's not. It's quite tasty really! This is a variation of Summer Slush in the fam cookbook - that's more of a slush this is a punch. I used our beverage jar (with the cute little spout that's already starting to leak) and decided it would be best in a punch bowl because it needs to be stirred now and again or the slushy ice separates to the top and it's not as fabulous.

Cran-Apple Lemonade Punch

1 12oz can frozen pink lemonade concentrate

1 12oz can apple juice concentrate

1 12oz can cranberry juice concentrate

1 C water

8 C crushed ice*

Lemon slices, optional

Combine all ingredients, except the ice and lemon slices, in a blender (you'll most likely have to do two batches) and blend until combined. Add the ice in small batches and blend until slushy.

Stir everything together in a big punch bowl. Garnish with lemon slices and serve immediately.

*If you have a blender that actually works and will blend more than just the bottom 1/4" of what's in the jar then you can crunch up the ice nice and small to make it slushy. If not start with crushed ice and just blend some of it up with the rest of the ingredients.

Grilled Asparagus with Caper Vinaigrette

We had this the other night and it was quite tasty. Although, since the grill was almost out of propane, we just grilled the chicken and I cooked the asparagus on high heat in a skillet and it was still good. Amelia loved the capers in it....she kept picking them off of her plate and mine and eating them all. :) I didn't have any fresh basil, so I just left that out.

Grilled Asparagus with Caper Vinaigrette

1 1/2 pounds asparagus spears, trimmed
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1/2 tsp kosher salt, divided
Cooking spray
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp honey mustard
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tsp capers, coarsely chopped
1/4 C. small basil leaves (optional)

Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
Place asparagus in a shallow dish. Add 1 tablespoon oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt, tossing well to coat. Place asparagus on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 4 minutes or until crisp-tender, turning after 2 minutes. Combine remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, vinegar, mustard, pepper and garlic; stir with a whisk. Slowly pour remaining 2 tablespoons oil into vinegar mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Stir in capers. Arrange asparagus on a serving platter; drizzle with vinaigrette, and sprinkle with basil, if using.
Yield: 6 servings

Recipe (and picture) slightly adapted from Cooking Light magazine.

Lemon-Lime Mini Pound Cakes

Apparently I was in a lemon-lime kinda mood because I made these delightful little cakes for my friend's baby shower and the Lemon-Lime Possets all in the same week. The original recipe said to bake them at 325 degrees, but I had to increase the temp to 350. I also baked these in a little mini bite-size Bundt cakes pan, so you'll have to watch the time if you use a bigger pan. And last, the glaze recipe is much nicer looking than the one pictured. I forgot to take a picture of the cakes at the shower so I just whipped up this glaze with what I had left over and it's not nearly as nice and creamy as the original recipe, but I had to have something for the pictures! :)

Lemon-Lime Mini Pound Cakes

For the Cakes:

2 1/2 C. cake flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 C. (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

2 1/2 C. sugar

6 large eggs

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 C. heavy whipping cream

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 Tbsp fresh lime juice

1 Tbsp grated lemon peel

1 Tbsp grated lime peel

For the Lemon-Lime Glaze:

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 Tbsp fresh lime juice

2 Tbsp heavy whipping cream

2 tsp grated lemon peel

2 tsp grated lime peel

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 325 degrees. Generously butter and flour 10 miniature Bundt cake pans (about 1 cup capacity each). Sift flour and salt into medium bowl. using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add sugar and beat until well blended, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add 3 eggs one at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Beat in flour mixture alternately with whipping cream in 3 additions each until blended.

Combine lemon and lime juices with lemon and lime peels. Stir into cake batter. Divide mixture among prepared Bundt pans (about scant 3/4 cup batter for each). Bake until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean, about 38 to 40 minutes. Cool on rack in pans 10-15 minutes. Cut around sides of pan to loosen cakes. Turn out onto rack and cool completely.

For Glaze:

Place powdered sugar in small bowl. Add juices, cream and peel and stir until mixture is smooth. Let stand until icing falls in heavy ribbons from spoon, about 10 minutes.

Drizzle over Bundt cakes. Let stand until icing sets. Store in airtight container at room temperature up to 1 day.

Lemon-Lime Possets

From the original recipe: "Posset" refers to an old English drink made in a way that's similar to this simple pudding.
A friend of mine made these and when I tried them I just knew Carrie would love them so I decided to make them for her birthday instead of a cake. They're similar to sweet cream, but with a delightful lemon-lime flavor. Soooo good!

Lemon-Lime Possets

2 1/4 C. whipping cream

3/4 C. plus 1 tsp sugar

3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

2 Tbsp fresh lime juice

1 tsp grated lemon peel

1 tsp grated lime peel

Bring cream and 3/4 cup sugar to boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil 3 minutes, stirring constantly, adjusting heat as needed to prevent mixture from boiling over. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon juice and lime juice and cool 10 minutes. Stir mixture again and divide among six 1/2-cup ramekins or custard cups. Cover and chill possets until set, at least 4 hours or overnight.

Mix remaining 1 teaspoon sugar, lemon peel, and lime peel in small bowl. Sprinkle atop possets and serve immediately.

Yield: 6 1/2-cup servings

*I doubled the recipe when I made these, and when we ate them, they were watery on the bottom. I'm assuming this is because I doubled it (custard recipes are so picky!!) so if you're going to double this, I recommend doing 2 separate batches. :)

Yummy Frosting

I'm not exactly sure how to post this recipe.  I'm not exactly sure what to call it - Dangerously Good Frosting?  Flour Frosting?  Chad suggests, "Perfectly Legal Addictive Substance." If you have any good ideas, let me know and we can vote on it.  Normally I'm not a huge frosting fan, but this stuff can stand on it's own.  In fact, I think I like it better by itself than on the cake.  I made a really moist, rich chocolate cake to go with it, not realizing that this frosting is also really rich and I think it would do better with a more simple cake (from a mix?).
I got the recipe from the Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen Blog.  The lady who submitted it does a great job of describing it and I really don't think I'd do it any justice by trying to rewrite it so I'm just going to give you the link to it and let you check it out there.  One note I'll mention though is that on the step where you're beating the butter and sugar, you don't have to beat it until there isn't any graininess from the sugar.  Believe me, I tried and it doesn't work.  Just beat until it's really light and fluffy and the rest of the mixing takes care of the graininess.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/thate28099s-the-best-frosting-ie28099ve-ever-had/
Becky, I'm giving you the assignment to try this because Avery tells me that she is going to have this kind of frosting on her wedding cake.  So you have 15 years to practice (I was going to say 20...).  However, it's really light and fluffy, not decorator's icing!
We made the cake to celebrate the start of the Iditarod, so here's our final product: