Muddled Mint Passion Tea Lemonade

I've made a little resolution this summer to find healthier alternatives to sodas, sweet teas, and powdered flavored waters.  I don't like the idea of so much sugars, artificial sweeteners and otherwise non-nutritious calories filling me up all day.  In order to not get bored, I've had to come up with new ideas on what to drink.  No doubt, it has been harder than reaching in the fridge for a can and popping the top, but overall worth it.

Muddled Mint Passion Tea Lemonade has been a favorite so far.  Here's what  you'll need:

*Fresh Mint
*2 Passion Tea Bags
*2 cups filtered drinking water
*1 tablespoon pure honey
*juice of 1 lemon
*1 lemon wedge and 1 spring of mint for garnish

The Tazo brand of passion tea has been my personal fave

Take a few leaves (3-5 based on your preference) of fresh mint and 1 tablespoon of honey and place it in the bottom of a large glass.  Muddle the leaves and honey together and set aside.  Note: "muddle" is a fancy word for mash & mix.

Meanwhile, heat 2 cups of water in a microwave safe dish for 3 minutes.  Then steep 2 tea bags in the water.  Note: Steep is a fancy word for dip, dunk, then leave it to sit.  After leaving the tea bags to sit for 3-5 minutes, remove & trash them.  Pour the warm tea mixture over the muddled mint and honey.  Stir to dissolve honey.  Add juice of one lemon, then ice to the top of the glass, then the remainder of tea.

Garnish & enjoy!  Feel free to add additional honey if you like yours a little sweeter!

Best Potato Salad Ever!

Photo Via Wegman's Website

I have not personally made this recipe yet, but it is on my to-do list for this weekend.  I recently enjoyed this yummy tater salad at a bbq picnic my sis-in-law hosted this past 4th.  Her friend brought it along and was nice enough to share the recipe.  And I'm passing it along to you, 'cause it's good stuff.  Seriously, good...like one of those recipes that makes you say, "screw the diet and give me the good stuff".  Click the word 'recipe' below and it should take you directly to the Wegman's site for printing!  Enjoy!

RECIPE

Bleached out Tee's!

I recently stumbled on a new magazine in Barnes & Noble and fell in love.  I was inspried by the custom bleached shirts I saw and decided to give it a go myself.  Here's what I did.  Using my computer, I printed numbers and anchors from clip art images I have on a print shop program.  You could also use clip art from Word or Google images.  With my copier, I enlarged and/or reduced the images as needed to fit on the tees.  I used card stock so that once I cut the images out, I had a template ready to go.

 Using my templates, I then traced the shapes onto freezer paper.  I cut the shape from freezer paper and ironed them onto my shirts, following the instructions listed directly on the freezer paper box.  Be sure to iron the edges down really well.  I didn't do that on a few shirts and the bleached leaked under the stencil.

 
Make sure you have an area outside prepped for business.  We put black plastic sheeting down to protect the landscape and everyone wore gloves, aprons and art smocks.  The kids also wore protective googles (aka swim goggles).  We inserted cardboard squares inside the shirts.  We filled squirt guns and spray bottles with bleach, undiluted.  We liked the spray bottles best, and liked changing the nozzle for a streamlined or full spray.  The squirt guns were harder to fill and leaked a bit too much.

Once the kiddos had sprayed down the shirt with their preferred spray pattern, I took a hose and washed down the shirt.  The water also released the freezer paper pattern.  We then took the shirts inside to machine launder and dry.

Instant Custom Tees!!

Tips:  Some colors worked great.  We had great luck with red, navy, and teal.  Grey and pink did not turn out as well.  Don't be afraid to let the clorox sit long enough to see the color start to change.  I was nervous about burning holes into the shirts and didn't leave the bleach on long enough for some of the tees.

To find out more about the magazine that inspired this project, check out this post.

This project is linked up here:

Design Dazzle's Summer Camp

Tip Junkie Tip Me Tuesday
Creation Corner's Friday Link Party 

Freckled Laundry's Air Your Laundry Friday

Just Beachy!

Need a fun, cute & quick idea for picnics this weekend?  I thought these would inspire you. I made them a couple of years ago for the fourth.  Just any old box recipe muffin or cupcake mix will do.  Cover 2/3 of the top of the cupcake with white icing (again, store bought for convenience) and top with "sand" (aka brown sugar).  Fill in the remaining top of the cupcake with blue icing in wavy patterns.  Top with an umbrella (a little hard to find, so buy them when you see them and keep them on hand).  And top with a "lifesaver" candy.  Instant cute cupcake!

Now, ain't that just BEACHY!?

For other beach and fourth inspired fun, check last year's post here.

This post linked up here:

Fire Roasted Relish

Relish? Salsa? Salad?  Whatever you call it, that's the kind of mood I've been in lately.  I've been making all kinds of veggie/beans mixtures and topping everything with it.  I've made omelets (shown above), topped salad greens with it, as well as topped grilled pork chops with it. It's a very versatile side dish and it's good hot or cold.  It's a perfect summertime addition to your menus, so I'm sharing the recipe! 

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup white vinegar

1 tsp mustard

1 tsp sugar*

celery seed, salt* and pepper, to taste

2 celery stalks, chopped

3 green onions, chopped

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 small cucumbers, seeded and chopped

cilantro

2 cups frozen fire roasted corn, cooked (I like Trader Joe's)

2 cups black eyed peas*, cooked

Directions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, mustard, celery seed, salt & pepper and cilantro.  Add the chopped vegetables, corn and black eyed peas.  Toss gently to coat and mix well.  Serve at room temperature or refrigerate a couple of hours. 

Notes:

*Sugar & *salt, I omitted.  We're reducing sodium and sugar intakes around here, and the dish was just fine without them.  Also, my *black eyed peas were dried in the bag, so I first had to rapid boil, soak overnight, and cook.  It's a little bit of work and takes quite a bit of prep, but worth it as a healthier option.

Linked this one up here: 

 

Coffee Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 box (18oz) white cake mix

1 pint coffee ice cream, melted

3 eggs

1 (12oz) container whipped vanilla frosting

1 teaspoon instant coffee or espresso, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

cinnamon sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a mixer, beat cake mix and melted ice cream.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for about 2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides and beat 1 more minute on medium speed. 

Pour batter into muffin pans lined with cupcake papers, 2/3 full.  Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until cooked throughout.  (Use a cake tester to determine when they are done).  

Cool in the muffin pans 10 minutes, then on wire racks until completely cool.  Meanwhile, make the icing by adding the instant coffee mixture to the whipped frosting.  Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, spread the frosting on top of the cupcakes.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Makes about 18 cupcakes.

Avacado Pasta & Calico Salad

'Tis the season of meatless Fridays (if you're Catholic or other-wise fasting during Lent).  Here are two "vegetarian" dishes to get you started.

Ingredients:

• 1 ripened Avacado
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons dried basil
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 8 ounce pasta of your choice
• fresh ground black pepper

Cook the pasta according to package directions.  Rinse and drain.  Meanwhile, saute onions and shallots in olive oil until lightly caramelized.  Remove from heat. Slice the avacado, remove the pit and scoop into a bowl.  Immediately add lemon juice.  (Doing so quickly helps prevent the avacado from turning dark).  Add basil and fresh black pepper to taste.  Mash and mix with a fork.  (A food processor or blender may also be used). 

Add drained pasta to onion and shallot mixture.  Add the avacado mixture to the noodles and mix well.  Serve hot (although it's  pretty tasty at room temperature too). 

I saw a version of this recipe on the California Callahans blog.   Her name is Leah too, so I had to give it a shot, right?  I slightly tweaked it a bit by changing the garlic to shallots.  I also deleted the salt, added the red onion and substituted dried basil since that's what I had around.  It was an extra yummy change of pace thanks to the inspirational recipe!

It's still cold here, but I'm dreaming of sunnier days already.  Last week, I pulled out a trusted "tried and true" summer-time salad in the hopes that the weather would warm up a bit.  It didn't work.  It's still cold....and currently a bit rainy.  But! We enjoyed eating it anyway. 

I got this recipe for Calico Salad from my cousin.  She is actually my mom's cousin, but we count cousins pretty far back in the south.  This salad was served at a family birthday party we were attending at the lake, and it reminded me of the marinated cukes at Jestine's in Charleston SC.  I HAD to have the recipe.  She handed it right over, along with the entire "More Cooking with Harmony, Harmony United Methodist Church Cookbook" from Johnston, SC.  She even signed it, "My love to my little cousin from the best cooks in SC - Susie". 

No one has ever accused a southerner of not having a healthy dose of self-esteem, but she's not boasting one bit!  This sucker is like GOLD in my hands....so many yum yum yummies in this cookbook.  Lucky for you, I'm sharing too!  Even though you've probably never heard of a little town in SC called Harmony, you can start planning your summer garden to include lots of cucumbers and tomatoes...and you'll know just what to do with them!

Ingredients:

• 3 cucumbers, chopped
• 3 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 onion, sliced, then chopped
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup water

Place the chopped vegetables in a large bowl.  Add the white vinegar and water to the sugar, whisking well.  Pour the liquid and sugar mixture over the vegetables.  Mix well.  Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours, up to 8 hours. 

Here's the GOOD stuff!

Ever have those times when you swear you can see the hands on the clock literally spinning out of control!? That's how quickly this past week has been flying by! I have so many fun things to share with you, but I am barely getting everything done in a day. I'm off to shop for four birthday gifts and pull together party details for Hubby's birthday celebration on Sunday. He turned 35 yesterday, but we have the family party planned for the weekend! Next week is a teacher birthday too which I must plan. And of course, St. Patty's is right around the corner. I'll try and post some fun St. Patrick's thoughts tomorrow...still making my final decisions of what I'm going to do for that. But first, Last Sunday, we had an impromptu family dinner and I needed to whip up dessert fast.

Here's what I came up with.....



Yeah, yeah...I know. Big deal, she's got some brownies made in muffin pans. No big deal, right?

But inside was this....



And suddenly, they are "ooooohhhhhh yyeeeeeaaaahhhh" brownies with golden oreo goodness inside.

Lucky for me, I had seen these over at a blog called Hello Good Gravy. You can check out how she made them here. Great pics and tutorial over there, but I wasn't crazy about using my fingers to dip them in the brownie batter. Kinda gross.

But of course, when the time came to make them, I couldn't remember where I had seen them, so I got online, started googling "oreo covered" brownies, and I also found them over at another blog called Picky Palate here.

But then, I also saw them at Happy Little Bento, click here to check that out. Reindeer cups!? Oh good grief!

Turns out, this idea is nothing new...found them all over the place on several different blogs. Oh well...new to me! I liked Bento's use of chopsticks. I didn't have any, so I used tongs.

I overcooked mine. They didn't look "done", so my mother-in-law and I kept added 2-3 minutes to the cooking time. Bad idea...some turned out hard. If you decide to make them, err on the side of caution and pull them out when it says too. They do taste super yummy, and I like the idea of using all different types of oreos. Just imagine the possibilities of mint creme, yellow filled spring time oreos, peanut butter (though not in my house) and good ole chocolate oreos...which I think would be super yummy inside a blondie.

So go grab a box of brownies and a package of oreos and get baking!

Hungry?

Try this tonight for dinner!

Ranch Doodles

• 1 (8oz) package noodles, any kind

• 2 tablespoons margarine

• 1 small onion, chopped

• 1/2 cup lite or fat free sour cream

• 1/4 cup milk

• 1 packet Hidden Vallen Ranch dressing mix

• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

• 4 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

• 2 cups broccoli, steamed (microwavable packs are fast & easy)

• freshly ground black pepper, to taste

• dash of paprika and parsley, to taste

Cook noodles al dente; drain and return to pot. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, saute onions in butter. Reduce heat to a low simmer and stir in the sour cream, milk and the ranch packet. Add the cheese, bacon, broccoli and seasonings. Pour over the noodles and mix well. Serve hot.

*My kiddos used to call noodles "doodles", hence the name.

Tastes Like Fried, But It's Baked, Chicken

• 8oz. FRENCH'S® Original French Fried Onions

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 6-8 boneless skinless chicken breasts

• 3 eggs, beaten

• freshly ground cracked black pepper

• 1 teaspoon each, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika

• 2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning

• Pam spray

Place French Fried Onions into a heavy duty, large Ziploc bag, and crush with a rolling pin. Add flour and all seasonings. Shake the bag and mix ingredients well. Transfer to a shallow dish and break up any large pieces left with a fork. (This can also be done in a food processor).

In a medium size, shallow bowl, whisk the eggs. Dip the chicken into the egg, then into the flour and onions mixture. Press the mixture firmly only the chicken

Place the chicken onto a broiler or grill pan and spray the top with the Pam spray.

Bake at 400°F for 12 min. Flip the chicken over, spray with Pam, then bake an additional 12 minutes, until cooked and juices are no longer pink.

*This one was adapted from the French's recipe (on the can). I just added my own little twist! This is our new "fried" chicken recipe...tastes similar, but not nearly as messy!

Super Bowl Highlights

No, I don't mean the actual game...I mean the food, of course! Here's two yummies from this year that will be repeats for sure!


BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP

• 2 (10 ounce) cans, chunk chicken

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

• 1 cup Ranch dressing

• 3/4 cup Texas Pete

• 1 1/2 cups sharp shredded Cheddar cheese
  

Heat chicken and hot sauce in a skillet over medium heat, until heated through. Stir in cream cheese and ranch dressing. Cook, stirring until well blended and warm. Mix in half of the shredded cheese, and transfer the mixture to a slow cooker. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, cover, and cook on Low setting until hot and bubbly. Serve hot with toast, crackers or tortilla chips.

AND.....

FOOTBALL CUPCAKES



Super easy...boxed cupcakes. Homemade buttercream icing, dyed green. Reserve some white for the "threads". I used the "grass" tip, wilton tip 233. You can read up more on how to make buttercream icing and how to use the grass tip here... http://www.wilton.com/technique/Grass
The grass tip is great, imagine all the possibilities. Sports grass, outdoor fun, Spring, Easter...you get the idea. To be honest, it's not "super easy" to use, you'll have to practice a bit to get the hang of it. But for the most part, just go with it. It won't be perfect, but in the end, it will look like "grass", so it's all good.
For the footballs, yep...tootsie rolls. Unwrap, warm in the microwave about 10 seconds. Roll them into a ball, then an oval. Flatten the oval and shape into a football. Top the cupcake and add the white "threads". Easy, right!?



Tip: I made these for my son's birthday 2 years ago and sent them into school. I made them the day ahead and after 24 hours, the tootsie rolls started to get "soggy" on top of the cupcake. If you make it all ahead of time, store the tootsie rolls on wax paper inside a ziploc or plastic container. Top the cupcake right before the party.

Yes, I know it's January....

Ok - yes, I know it's January and my last post was in regards to Halloween. But so things go. I'm playing catch up in every sense of the word.
Here's the recipe for the "Mexican Chili" we had Halloween. A big thanks to sis-in-law Amy for sharing. It's absolutely delicious and I'm making it tonight!

WHITE TURKEY CHILI

1 lb ground turkey
1 can white beans or hominy, rinsed
1 Tblsp olive oil
1 med onion, chopped
4oz can of green chilis, chopped
1 can fire roasted tomatoes, drained
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 8 or 16 oz jar of green salsa, depending on taste
1 cup chicken broth
Salt & pepper to taste

Heat oil in large chili pot, sauté onions, garlic and chili's for 3 minutes.
Add oregano, cumin and turkey. Cook until no longer pink. Stir in salsa, fire
roasted tomatoes, broth, and hominy beans. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add salt and
pepper, to taste.

Serve with tortilla chips, over rice and/or with cheese and sour cream.

Birthday Brunch

Disclosure: The above photos contain images that some viewers may find offensive. I apologize in advance for the morning hair, wrinkles and blemishes not covered by make-up.

I told you, we partied all weekend! Labor Day morning (aka, my birthday) we kicked off the day with a brunch. The kids were so cute hiding out that morning making me cards. My daughter helped mix the waffles, my husband made the sausage, Grammy made the eggs, and I tried out a new muffin recipe. After breakfast, I opened my gifts. I was so blessed this year to receive clothes, a new purse, new books, gift cards, money to put towards some new crafty stuff...fun fun fun!

The next time you have an easy, carefree morning with nowhere to go and no place to be...try out these recipes - No birthday necessary.

Banana - Chocolate Chip Waffles

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
2 1/2 cups milk (I used skim, but buttermilk is the best)
3/4 cups vegetable oil
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips

Combine all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, sugar) in a bowl, "sift" with a wire whisk.
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, then add the milk and oil, whisk again. Make a well in the dry ingredients, and pour the egg mixture into the well. Stir well with a wooden spoon. Add the mashed bananas and stir again. Fold in the chocolate chips. Cook in a preheated waffle iron until golden. Makes about 20 waffles.

My waffle iron only makes 2 at a time (a total pain in the butt, so if anyone needs a Christmas idea...hint hint), and nobody wants to eat a cold waffle. So, to keep everything warm while I make 20 something waffles, we kept them in an oven, heated at 200, until we were ready to serve.

French Breakfast Puffs
*a Pioneer Woman recipe

Puffs:
3 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 cup milk

Coating:
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the muffin pans. In a large bowl (I used my mixer), stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Set aside. Add the eggs and mix again. Alternately adding 1/3 of the flour mixture and 1/3 of the milk to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition. (I messed up here and dumped in all the milk, then added the flour). Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full (I use an ice cream scoop). Bake for the 20-25 minutes, until golden. Remove the muffins from a pan and set aside.

To make the coating, melt the butter in a bowl or glass pan. In a separate container, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Dip the warm muffins in the butter, coating thoroughly (I did tops only). Then roll the muffin in the sugar mixture.

*My review: these are good, no doubt...but not what I was expecting. From the pictures and ingredients, I guess I was expecting something very "doughnut-like". These are much drier and just very very sugary.

You can find her recipe on Pioneerwoman.com, a website I highly recommend anyone take a look at...love love love it! And it's in her book, "The Pioneer Woman Cooks Recipes From An Accidental Country Girl", which I received for my birthday from my sis-in-law, Amy. Thanks Amy!!!

Spoiler alert: I will be giving these gorgeous books as Christmas gifts this year, so if you're female and in my family...don't go buying these for yourselves!!

Also: Quick question for you bloggers out there. I do not know why my text size keeps doing funky things. For example, I have "banana chocolate chip" waffles on the same font as everything else, but set to "smallest". I have "french puffs" set to normal size...but obviously "banana" is still HUGE! What is up!?!? And how I fix it....help, please???

Shrimp & Black-Eye Pea Salad

For the Shrimp:
1 pound frozen shrimp thawed, peeled & deveined
Old Bay Seasoning
1 lemon
1 tsp minced garlic
2 T. butter or margarine

Heat butter in a skillet on medium high heat. Add minced garlic and the juice of one lemon. Add shrimp to pan & sprinkle generously with Old Bay. Cook 2 minutes, then stir & flip shrimp. Sprinkle again with Old Bay. Cook an additional 2-3 minutes, or until shrimp is pink throughout. Be careful not to overcook the shrimp - it can become rubbery.

The Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 T water
1 T herbs de provence
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Combine the above ingredients in a small food processor/chopper and mix until well blended. (A blender also works)

The Salad:
3 heads romaine lettuce, washed and chopped
1 bag mixed lettuces *spinach, red, spring mix, something really green & good for you, etc.
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 stalks green onions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced
1 (150z) can black-eye peas, rinsed and drained

In a large bowl (like the ones from restaurant supply companies work well) combine all the salad ingredients. Add the cooked shrimp and toss well. Just before serving, drizzle with dressing.

Serve with a crusty bread and viola!

Thanks to http://www.allyou.com/ for the photo and for the recipe inspiration. I saw it in their July 2009 publication. I was inspired to try it and give it a twist! Also check out http://www.oldbay.com/ for info about the seasoning and more recipes. I swear by the stuff! I am also a huge believer in farmer's markets, farmers, buying locally and buying fresh. Since I've just moved to VA, I'm using this site http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/vagrown/index.shtml to find out all about my local markets. I'm sure you can find resources close to you as well! Also Williams Sonoma has the best herbs de provence blend. Check out http://www.williams-sonoma.com/ for a store near you...they may still have a catalog as well?

Bruschetta-Topped Garlic Bread


Loaf of bakery-style bread, pre-sliced
**I go for pre-sliced and purchase directly from the supermarket bakery section. Experiment with french, sourdough, ciabiatta, etc.

For Garlic Butter:
1 tsp minced garlic, 1/4 cup smart balance butter softened to spreadable consistency, 2 T. grated parmesan cheese, 1 T. Italian seasoning blend, 1 T. chopped parsley, 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

In a bowl, mix all ingredients for the garlic butter until well blended. Spread a thin layer of garlic butter onto each slice of bread.

For Bruschetta:
4 roma tomatoes seeded & diced, 1 T. olive oil, 1 T. basil, 4 oz sun-dried tomatoes chopped, 3 T. freshly shredded parmesan cheese, sea salt & cracked black pepper.

In a bowl, mix all salsa ingredients together. Spoon onto slices of bread.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes, or until heated throughout. Sprinkle with in additional shredded parmesan before serving.

I saw a more complicated version of this in the Family Circle magazine (www.familycircle.com)
from July 2009. It was called Jimmy's Favorite Garlic Bread (*I'm still wondering who "Jimmy" is???)I think the recipe was actually by Guy Fieri, a Food Network star? I'm not sure...don't watch it, but I did find these links http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jimmys-favorite-garlic-bread-recipe/index.html or http://www.foodnetwork.com/guys-big-bite/index.html
Anyway, the picture looked good, but his recipe seemed extremely complicated and time consuming. So, as usual, I adapted! I guess if some of you are inclined to slave over a stove for 1 hour just to roast garlic, give it a shot and try his version as well. Then, someone out there, let me know how much worse mine is....??? In my life, time is everything, so most days I'll be sticking with fast & easy!