Orange Jello Salad

It is hot hot outside. What can we add to our tables that is cool and quick:

Orange Salad

1 6 ounce package orange flavored gelatin
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup boiling water
1 i oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup nuts, chopped, optional
1 8 ounce can mandarin oranges
1 cup dairy sour cream

Add the gelatin and sugar to the boiling water and stir until dissolved (off the heat). Add the pineapple, nuts, oranges, and sour cream. Pour into a lightly greased 6 cup mold, and chill until firm.

Enjoy!

Recipe for June

A couple of recipe requests - but no pictures! Sorry about that but here we go:

Lemon and Olive Chicken

8 bone-in chicken breast halves
Salt and pepper
3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 lemons
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup green olives, pitted and halved*
2 cups chicken stock or reduced sodium chicken broth
2 cups water
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Sprinkle chicken with 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. In two batches, sear the chicken, skin side first, until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

Cut lemons in half lengthwise and then into thin slices crosswise. If the skillet is dry, add the remaining tablespoon oil. Add the onions and garlic, and cook over medium heat until soft but not brown, about 3 minutes. Stir in lemon slices, olives, stock and water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Place the chicken on top of the vegetables, pour in any accumulated juices from the plate, and sprinkle with thyme and crushed red pepper. Cover, simmer until chicken is just cooked through, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately. Alternately, you can store the chicken frozen for up to 6 weeks; when you are ready to serve, thaw the chicken, place in a pan with water to coat the bottom, cover, and simmer until hot.

*I could not find unstuffed green olives, so I bought the ones stuffed with garlic, took the garlic out and used that garlic where called for the in recipe.

Week of April 22

There was an article in the local paper this week about the farmer's markets around the area. I can hardly wait - this will be fun to visit and plan meals around local produce.

Lots of strawberries on sale this week. 2 pounds of fresh strawberries will make the most wonderful pie you have every tasted - recipe tomorrow.

There were several different stores with specials on pork. It is turning into fabulous grilling weather - Stubbs Marinade for pork is always easy. I need to find something new - that will be my project this week!

With Earth Day this week, lots of store have wonderful specials on Organic products. Sprouts has the best price on organic milk. They also have a decent price on organic ice cream.

If you have never been to the Dallas Farmer's Market, it is quite an experience and well worth the trip to downtown Dallas. Go early on Saturday or Sunday morning.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Our days are still cool enough for soup, so here is one of my favorites courtesy of friend Kelly:

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 bone-in chicken breasts
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 4 oz. can chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups water
1 14.5 oz. can chicken broth
1 teaspoon cumin 1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf 10 oz. pkg. frozen corn
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Add all ingredients, except chicken, to slow cooker, stirring to combine. Then add Chicken breasts. Cook on low for 6 – 8 hours or on high for 3 – 4 hours. Remove chicken and cool enough to handle. Remove meat from bones, break into bite-sized pieces and return to soup. Stir and serve with tortilla chips and sour cream.

Week of April 15

It has been a while since I posted - mainly because of the new grandbaby and wanting to spend as much time with him as possible. Looking over the ads today, a couple of things caught my eye, so here is recipe #1 for this week. Even though the title implies that it is for the fall season, this is good anytime and it is still cool enough outside to enjoy. Here is what you will need:

14 to 16 ounce package Hillshire Farm Smoked Sausage - $2.50 at Kroger
1 can corn, 1 can green beans, 1 can carrots - 50 cents each at Market Street
1 can Diced tomatoes - Hunts are 75 cents at Market Street
1 chopped onion - 33 cents a pound at Market Street
1 yellow squash or zuchinni squash, 88 cents a pound at Sprouts

Saute the onion in a little olive oil in a skillet. Cut the sausage into 1 inch lengths and add that, together with the other vegetables to the pan. Cook on low for about 30 minutes, until the vegetables are soft. Serve with cornbread. This is very very good! I'll try and add a picture after I cook this week.

Other ideas to come this week:

Is it too late in the season for soup? I don't think so. Bone in chicken breasts are on sale at Albertson's for 88 cents a pound (family pack). For the recipe you will also need onion, canned tomatoes, canned or frozen corn, diced green chilies, chicken broth (maybe we will make our own) and the seasonings like chili powder and cumin that you already have on hand. That recipe will be up tomorrow (Thursday). Have a great evening.

Banana Cupcakes

The bananas purchased on sale last week were still on the counter this morning looking a little poorly. Now, they are in fantastic shape in the form of Banana Cupcakes with Honey Cinnamon Frosting:

Banana Cupcakes with Honey Cinnamon Frosting

1 ½ cups flour
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
1 ½ cups mashed bananas, about 4
2 large eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon honey
⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
For the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 Degrees. Line a standard 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl. whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. In the well, mix together the melted butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix). Spoon batther into the muffin cups.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Remove cupcakes from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Top with:

Honey Cinnamon Frosting:

In a medium bowl, using a electric mixer, beat powdered sugar unsalted butter, honey and ground cinnamon until smooth, 4 to 5 minutes.

Green Beans

I am not ignoring my blog. We had a grandbaby arrive last week and the new grandmother, that is me, has been a little busy. I am at my DD's house trying to feed her and help her get her strength and energy back. Today I ran to Sprouts (near her house) and picked up some fresh green beans for a side for supper. I snapped them and set them to simmer until tender with garlic powder sprinkled on top. Then I drained them, added a little unsalted butter and a tablespoon of brown sugar and let them sit off the heat. They were great. We are not using a lot of salt right now trying to help her get unswollen from all that baby stuff. More later. . .don't give up on me!