Recipe Round Up – July 7

5 Things to do with Grapes

1. Eat them just how they are
2. Freeze them and then eat them (but don’t choke any toddlers or babies with them!)
3. Include in fruit salad
4. Put them on tooth picks with cherries as mini fruit kabobs
5. Make raisins (slit the skin, single layer on parchment in the dehydrator.  Stop while they are still plump & juicy!)

7 Things to do with Cherries

1.  Eat them just how they are
2.  Use the Peach Crisp Recipe below with cherries!
3.  Be lazy and can them in simple syrup without pitting.  They are gorgeous and the kids (or you) can just spit the seeds out later when you eat them!  Go with super light syrup so it’s not a sugar fest later.
4.  Pit and Freeze for smoothies
5.  Dehydrate (see raisins above!)
6.  Blend with apple sauce and dehydrate into heavenly fruit rolls
7.  Cherry Pie

Not your Grandmas Fruit Salad

Ingredients

  • Strawberries
  • Peaches
  • Bananas
  • Mango
  • Lime
  • Sprinkle of chili powder (optional)
  • Drizzle of Honey

Instructions

  1. Slice up some strawberries, peaches, mangoes and bananas.
  2. Squeeze a few limes.
  3. Add a drizzle of honey and mix.
  4. Dust with a light sprinkle of chili powder to make it more interesting!

Sicilian Fried Cauliflower

Ingredients

  • 1 head Cauliflower
  • 2 - 3 eggs
  • "green can" parmesan cheese
  • pepper
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Instructions

  1. beat eggs
  2. add about 1/4 of can of cheese
  3. add pepper
  4. Trim Cauliflower into florets
  5. Put about 1/2 inch of oil in pan on medium heat.
  6. Allow oil to get hot.
  7. Bread Cauliflower in the egg mixture
  8. Put in the frying pan in small batches and turn until all areas and gently browned and cauliflower is fork tender
  9. Set on paper towel on a plate to drain after removing from the pan
  10. DO NOT LET ANYONE TRY them off of the plate or none will be left for dinner!

Lime Mango Smoothie

Ingredients

  • Ice
  • Lime
  • Mango
  • 1/4 cup or so of water

Instructions

  1. remove fruit from 2 mangoes put in blender
  2. peel 1 lime and remove seeds put in blender
  3. A few cubes of ice
  4. Add 1/4 cup of water so it isn't too thick
  5. Blend until smooth (preferably with a high powered blender like a Blendtec or Vitamix)

Grilled Vegetables Italian Style

Ingredients

  • Zucchini
  • Eggplant
  • Peppers
  • Tomatoes
  • Olive Oil
  • Rosemary
  • Thyme
  • Basil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Garlic
  • Balsamic Vinegar

Instructions

  1. Prepare enough Marinade to Generously cover your veggies.
  2. Put your EVOO in a sauce pan.
  3. Add salt to taste.
  4. Chop 4 cloves garlic in large chunks.
  5. Mince Thyme and Rosemary very finely and add only a small amount of rosemary and a bit more thyme.
  6. Simmer until the garlic gets a bit of color.
  7. Remove from heat
  8. You may strain out garlic and herbs or leave them.
  9. Add chopped basil and wilt it.
  10. Slice Zucchini, Eggplant, Peppers into large enough chunks that they don't fall into the grill (think lengthwise!)
  11. Half the tomatoes and seed them.
  12. Coat everything in the Marinade.
  13. Reserve the rest of the marinade.
  14. Grill until tender. Keep it flipping to avoid too much char.
  15. Spoon all the "goodies" (garlic and herbs) out of the marinade onto the finished platter of veggies.
  16. Drizzle a bit of balsamic over.
  17. Grind some fresh pepper on top.
  18. Serve over Pasta, or alongside meat. (The Marinade will do great on steaks but don't use it for anything after the meat so maybe just make a bit more! Soak it then rub a bit of ground thyme on the meat then grill!)

Chicken and Green Beans with Bacon

Ingredients

  • 1/2 - 1 Onion
  • 2 - 6 cloves Garlic
  • Green Beans
  • 2 - 4 strips bacon
  • Chicken breasts for your family
  • Broth (Optional)

Instructions

  1. I am in love with one pan meals.
  2. Cook the bacon.
  3. Set aside bacon.
  4. Dump most of the grease out
  5. Saute onion and garlic in the rest and brown the outside of the chicken breast.
  6. Add water or broth to cover and poach chicken breast. Allow the broth to reduce. Flip the chicken breast as needed
  7. Snap beans
  8. Add beans about 15 minutes after chicken comes to a boil.
  9. Boil for about 4 or 5 minutes until the beans change to the other shade of green. They will be cooked but crisp still. Once you see the color shift pull them off and drain!
  10. Crumble the bacon on top.
  11. Serve!

Plain Green Beans (boiled or steamed)

Ingredients

  • Green Beans
  • 1/2 an onion
  • Water or broth
  • Salt & Pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. I'm going basic with this because I know there are people who have never cooked green beans from scratch! If you are a little scared of the fresh green beans this is for you!
  2. snap your beans (take off the ends and throw away, then break into bite size chunks)
  3. Chop in large pieces an onion (cut off the ends, cut in half, put half away for later, strip off a couple outside layers until it is fresh, then cut in wedges, then cut the other direction to make about 1/2 in pieces.)
  4. Put green beans in a frying pan
  5. Put onion in too
  6. Barely cover with water
  7. Add a generous bit of salt (1/2 tsp)
  8. bring to a fast boil
  9. Take off stove and drain when the onions and green beans have changed color and drain.
  10. If you want to steam them put the green beans in the steamer basket with the onions
  11. add a bit of water under
  12. add salt
  13. steam until the change of color.
  14. put pepper to taste right before serving.

Peach Crisp

Ingredients

  • Enough peaches to fill your pan nearly to the top when cut up
  • Enough flour to fully coat your peaches
  • Enough Bountiful baskets Granola to make a 1/4 - 1/2 in layer over the whole thing
  • Sprinkle of cinnamon
  • Pats of Butter (about a 1/2 stick) for the top

Instructions

  1. Cut up peaches (Don't peel. The peel has vitamins. Your family will adjust!)
  2. Coat the peaches with a handful of flour while in the mixing bowl
  3. Sprinkle with cinnamon
  4. Put non-stick spray or butter and flour the pan
  5. Add the peaches to the pan. Pack them down! Give it a jiggle back and forth to help and gently press them.
  6. Put the granola on top with pats of butter.
  7. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 35 - 40 minutes or until bubbly yummy
  8. Uncover bake for 5 more minutes
  9. At the end turn the oven to broil (low) crack the oven door and watch for a bit of browning. Take it out when you see a bit! Don't wait for smoke.

Strawberry Lime-aide

Ingredients

  • 5 limes
  • 6 cups water
  • Honey to taste start with 3 - 4 TBSP
  • 5 or 6 strawberries blended

Instructions

  1. heat 3 to 4 TBSP honey in 1/2 cup water until thin to spread evenly throughout the mix
  2. put 6 cups water in the pitcher
  3. Add juice of 5 limes (no seeds please!)
  4. Add blended strawberries.
  5. Put 1/2 your honey mixture.
  6. Test
  7. Add more to taste.
  8. Store the rest of the honey mixture to sweeten other things!

Favorite Pineapple Smoothie

Ingredients

  • 3/4 pineapple
  • 1 - 2 pieces citrus
  • handfull of frozen cranberries if you still have some
  • ice
  • water

Instructions

  1. This smoothie comes out super creamy almost like it has some dairy in it even though it doesn't! It's a hit with the kids especially with the handful of cranberries as it is a delightful color.
  2. Put in pineapple
  3. Add citrus peeled Tangerines are the absolute favorite, but others work well too!. For limes or tangerines use 2, lemon use 1/2, orange use 1.
  4. handful of cranberries
  5. ice and a bit of water
  6. Blend!

6 Comments

  1. We tried the Sicilian Fried Cauliflower today. Oh my goodness, these are so good. We will make these again for sure. Thanks for the great recipes.

  2. Karen Fioretti

    I made a salad of halved grapes, halved cherries and shaved celery. That was drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar I buzzed in a blender with chopped shallots and a little Spanish olive oil. It was a very refreshing sweet-and-sour lunch salad.

  3. These are great! Thank you!

  4. Thank you! This really helps out!

  5. Love the new site

  6. Great ideas! Keep them coming! I love this!

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