Frozen Berry Meringue Squares

I first tried this recipe last summer at my baby shower for Liam. One of the ladies at our church made it as the dessert, and I immediately fell in love with it. This dessert is wonderful for the summer, and best of all? It can be made ahead of time and stored in a freezer, so you can make several pans of this and have a delicious dessert ready at a moment's notice. The original recipe makes one 13x9 inch pan, but for this recipe I have doubled the crust portion of the recipe, and found that I could divide it into 3- 8x8 square pans, which is a more manageable sized dessert for our family, even if we include a few guests. If you don't plan to eat this dessert right away, I suggest using foil bakeware so you don't tie up the use of your normal bakeware!!! Another word to the wise- for the berry portion of the recipe, make sure not to get any egg yolk or whipping cream in the meringue mixture or else it will not form stiff peaks! I learned that the hard way the first time I made this recipe!!!

Frozen Berry Meringue Squares
2 cups sifted all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped nuts (I like pecans!)
1 cup butter, melted

2 egg whites
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups fresh sliced strawberries or raspberries*
1 cup whipping cream, whipped

Stir together flour, brown sugar, nuts and butter, spread evenly in a shallow baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle 3/4ths of the crumbs into 3- 8x8 pans (or 1-13x9 and 1 8x8!). Allow to cool. Combine egg whites, sugar, berries and lemon juice in large bowl and beat at high speed for about 10 minutes until stiff peaks form. Fold in whipped cream. Spoon over cooled crumbs and top with remaining crumbs. Freeze for 6 hours or overnight. Before serving, allow to slightly thaw and trim with whole berries.

*You can also use one 10 oz package of frozen berries partially thawed if fresh berries are not available. Make sure to reduce the sugar added to 2/3 cup.

Salsa Chicken

I got this recipe yesterday on a friend's facebook page. Someone from my college gave it as a quick and easy crockpot recipe. I dug through my pantry and discovered that I had all the ingredients in my house, so I threw it together really fast. 6 hours later we had a meal, which was nice because my eldest son had T-Ball practice in the late afternoon and I had no time to cook. It took me less than 10 minutes to prepare and the whole family loved it.

Salsa Chicken
1 cup salsa
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 packet taco seasoning
Frozen chicken breasts
Cooked white rice

Combine salsa, soup and taco seasoning in a crock pot. Add frozen chicken breasts. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. After chicken is finished cooking, mix some of the extra sauce with cooked white rice for a nice side dish.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

This is a newer recipe to our family. I started making it a couple years ago when I was pregnant with my third son and doing Once a Month Cooking. I have made a bunch of adjustments to the original recipe to meet the needs of our family. The biggest change has been to double the recipe. I like to make a huge batch of this, bake part of it for dinner, and divide and freeze the rest of it. Originally I was able to get 4 meals out of the doubled recipe but as the family has grown I typically divide it into thirds. The original recipe also called for canned mushrooms, which I have omitted, and I have added bamboo shoots instead. Feel free to play around with the vegetables- this recipe is very flexible. It would probably taste really good with some roasted peanuts or cashews mixed in, but I never seem to have any nuts when I make it!

Sweet and Sour Chicken
1 cup sugar
6 Tbs. cornstartch
3/4 cup white vinegar
2- 20 oz cans pineapple chunks (reserve juice)
1 cup soy sauce
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. crushed garlic
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. ground ginger
4 large celery stalks, chopped coarsely
1 large onion, chopped coarsely
8 chicken breasts
4 green bell peppers, chopped coarsely
2 8-oz cans sliced water chestnuts, drained
2 8-oz cans bamboo shoots, drained

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake chicken breasts for 1 hour, or until no pink remains. Remove from oven and chop into 1 inch pieces. If serving dish immediately, keep oven on.

In a large pot, combine sugar and cornstarch; stir in white vinegar, juice from pineapple chunks, soy sauce, salt, garlic, paprika, ginger, celery and onion. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in pineapple chunks, chicken, bell peppers, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots. Divide into smaller portions and freeze any portions that you will not be serving immediately.

To prepare for serving, thaw meal (if frozen) and put in a baking dish treated with nonstick spray. Bake uncovered in preheated 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Serve over rice.

Rheinlander Lentil Soup

I have always loved lentil soup, and my mom made it for us quite often when I was a kid. I have always loved how hearty and flavorful it is. About 5 years ago my husband and I had the great pleasure of being able to eat at the Rhinelander restaurant in Portland. The Rhinelander serves German food and is one of my dad's old favorites. One of the things that I remember the most about that experience was their lentil soup. I later found the recipe for that soup online, which I was very excited about! I still make my original lentil soup recipe from time to time (and will promise to post that recipe at a later date), but I like to make this version when we're having guests over for lunch. The plus about this soup (and other soups in general) is that it's easy to freeze the leftovers for later!

Rhinelander Lentil Soup
1 cup dry lentils [I use the whole bag]
5 bacon slices, chopped into small pieces
1 cup potatoes, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup onions, chopped
3 1/2 qts water [I only use 3 quarts]
4 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 beef bouillon cubes
2 bay leaves
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 pinch ground white pepper [I use black pepper]
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp salt

1. Combine the oil, bacon, celery, carrots, and onions. Place them in a large pot, over a medium high heat then saute for 5 minutes, or until bacon becomes crisp. Mix in the flour until it's dissolved and creates a paste-like consistency.

2. Gradually add the water, stirring frequently. Now, add the lentils, potatoes, beef base, bay leaves, nutmeg, white pepper, thyme, and salt. Combine well, and allow the mixture to come just to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 3 hours [or until lentils and potatoes are soft].

Rainbow Cupcakes

Here's another fun dessert for spring. I promise I do make more than dessert in this house- the reason behind all the dessert posts is simply that my mom asked me to be in charge of Jello and dessert for Easter this year, so I thought it would be a fun way to start out this blog.

For Easter this year I decided to make pastel rainbow cupcakes instead of the bright colored ones I made for St. Patrick's Day. I simply did this by decreasing the amount of food coloring I added to the batter. I don't have the exact amount of drops I used- I pretty much eye balled it, and slowly put in a few drops at a time until I was happy with the hue of the batter. I will, however, be giving the exact drop measurements for the bright rainbow cupcakes in this recipe!

Rainbow Cupcakes
1 white cake mix
Food Coloring
Frosting or whipped cream topping

1) Prepare white cake mix according to directions, then divide batter equally among 6 small bowls. Following this chart, dye each bowl of batter a rainbow color.

Purple: 9 Red and 6 Blue Drops
Blue: 12 Drops
Green: 12 Drops
Yellow: 12 Drops
Orange 12 Yellow and 4 Red Drops
Red: 18 Drops

2) Line 16 muffin pan wells with baking cups. Evenly distribute purple batter among the cups, then the blue, and so on, following rainbow order. As you go, gently spread each layer of batter with the back of the spoon to cover the color underneath (though, if the batter seems unwilling to completely cover the previous layer, plopping it in the middle and continuing with the next color can make some interesting results, too!)

3) Bake cupcakes according to cake recipe's directions. Before serving remove the paper wrapping, and if you like, top each cupcake with frosting or whipped cream topping.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

We love Jell-O in this house. I tend to make it, in some form or another, for pretty much every holiday or big event throughout the year. So, you will find a lot of jello recipes from me!

When I first heard about this recipe, my initial thought was that it sounded really gross. I love pretzels, but the idea of mixing them into a jello salad sounded rather unappetizing. However, one bite and I quickly fell in love. My children also really love this recipe, and we often make it for Sunday dinner, which is the biggest meal of our week. It is good enough to be a dessert, but we tend to serve it as a side dish during the meal!

Strawberry Pretzel Salad
2 cups crushed thin pretzels (I use a food processor , but you do not want them too fine- small pieces is great!)
4 Tbs. sugar
3/4 c. butter, melted
8 oz. package cream cheese
8 oz. carton Cool Whip
1/2 c. sugar
1 lg. box Strawberry Jello
2 c. boiling water
2 (10 oz) packages frozen strawberries, thawed and drained
1 small can crushed pineapple (I sometimes omit this)

Mix pretzels, 4 Tbs. sugar, and melted butter. Pour into greased 13x7 baking dish, cover bottom and pack down with a spoon or the bottom of a measuring cup. Bake at 400 degrees for 6 minutes. Allow to completely cool, about 1 hour.

Beat cream cheese, cool whip and sugar until creamy. Spread over the top of cooled pretzel crust.

Combine strawberry jello and boiling water, mix until Jello is dissolved. Add frozen strawberries and pineapple, if desired, and allow to slightly congeal before pouring on top of cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until firm.

Cake Balls

So, yesterday I showed you how to make Mint Oreo Balls. Today I am going to share my recipe for cake balls. The beauty of this recipe is that you can make whatever flavor you like! The first time I made it, I used a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. The second time I used a German chocolate cake with caramel pecan frosting (which was too delicious for words!), and for our Easter celebration this year I used a confetti cake with rainbow chip frosting for one batch, and a strawberry cake with strawberry frosting for the other batch. I haven't tried them yet (saving it all for Easter!), but my favorite taste tester, my husband, said they were pretty good! So, I encourage you to be creative with this recipe, and then share what you did! I'd love to hear your suggestions!!!

Cake Balls
1 box cake mix, any flavor
1 15 oz. can frosting, any flavor
Chocolate bark or Wilton Candy Melts

1. Bake cake in 13x7 inch pan, according to directions. Allow cake to completely cool.
2. When cake is completely cool, break entire cake up into crumbs in a bowl and then mix with can of frosting. I use my hands for this because it's easier than using a spoon!
3. Roll mixture into 1 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet.
4. Place balls in the freezer for an hour, until firm.
5. Heat chocolate bark or candy melts according to directions.
6. Roll balls in chocolate until completely covered, then place on sheet of wax paper. Allow to harden before storing in the refrigerator.