A Great Summer Dinner

I so enjoyed my dinner tonight, I thought I'd share it with you - the recipes, not the actual meal!

Silly.

I made it early in the day, so it could chill properly.

It was great just pulling it out of the fridge and enjoying it at suppertime. I'd forgotten all the work involved!

Chicken Salad on Honey Oat Bread

(not putting the recipe on for the bread - I will another time.

Pasta Salad

Strawberry Pie

I hope you will enjoy these recipes!

They are sure to be added to your favorites.

Chicken Salad

4 cups cooked, chopped chicken

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

2 green onions, chopped

1 cup pecans, chopped

1 1/2 cups dried cranberries

1 cup mayonnaise (I only use Hellmans)

1 t paprika

1 t seasoning salt

pepper to taste

In a large bowl, mix the mayo, paprika and salt. Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well, and chill thoroughly.

Pasta Salad

16 oz shell pasta (or bowtie, or gemelli - what ever you'd like), cooked and drained.

8 oz of italian dressing

1/2 bottle of McCormick Salad Supreme

2 medium cucumbers, chopped (I seed mine)

a bunch of grape tomatoes, quartered - I just put enough to where it looks right

1 large red onion, chopped

2 medium green peppers, chopped

Combine all, and refrigerate overnight.

Strawberry Pie

Baked pie shell.

8 cups of medium strawberries (the in season berries will taste the best!)

2/3 cup of sugar

2 T cornstarch

Whipped cream

Clean and hull strawberries, if any are larger than bite size, cut in half. Set aside.

For the glaze - mash one cup of the strawberries and 2/3 cup of water. Add more water if needed to equal 1 and a 1/2 cups of strawberry mash. In a small saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch and strawberry mixture. Cook, stirring constantly until mixture begins to thicken and bubble. Cook two minutes more. Cool mixture for ten minutes, without stirring.

Spread about 1/4 cup of the glaze over the bottom of the pie crust. Arrange half of the plain strawberries over the glaze. Carefully spoon half the remaining glaze over the berries. Repeat with the other half of the berries and glaze.

Keep in fridge for two hours.

Best if eaten the same day - as filling may weep.

What I Had for Supper Tonight ....

Gemelli Pasta with Yellow Squash, Peas and Basil

Just finished eating this, and cleaning up the dishes.

Very satisfying!

I think this would make a great summer dish.

It was quick, easy, and only used one pot.

Would be extra tasty with a grilled chicken breast on the side and a glass of white wine.

Bring it, summer!

Here's the link to the recipe so you can print it easily.

I only used two yellow squashes, and I thought it was more than enough.

Honey Cookies

Honey Cookies

My goodness, these cookies are good.

Perfect when you need something sweet, but not over the top.

I've made three batches of these in the last two weeks, and that says a lot.

I hardly ever make the same thing twice.

You can mix them all up in a bowl and not have to drag the mixer out - another bonus!

Give 'em a try!

Honey Cookies

1 cup of sugar, plus extra for rolling

1 egg

1/4 cup of honey

1 cup of oil, plus 2 T

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups of flour

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Mix the one cup of sugar, and the one egg until well blended and light yellow (about one minute)

Mix in the honey, oil, and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mix all of the dry ingredients together.

Plop - yes - plop all of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

I use a small cookie scoop to make uniform balls.

Roll in sugar.

Place on a greased or parchment paper covered baking sheet, about 2 " apart.

Bake for about 10 minutes until lightly golden brown.

Cool.

Eat.

Be happy.

Cooking Club! A Southern BBQ

The day before I left to go to Missouri, it was my turn to host the Cooking Club.

I was sore pressed for time, so I kept things VERY simple in the area of table decor.

My dear friend Renee lent me her vintage BBQ tablecloth, and some fun pig things.

Did you know that March 1st is called 'Pig Day'?

She collects pigs to celebrate it.

Funny.

I searched high and low for red bandanas, to no avail.

Mason jars to serve the iced tea in.

Here we are getting ready to partake.

Missing from this photo is Teri.

Coconut Cream Pie - ala Terry S.

All the recipes came from the Cooking Light website, except for the beans.

Deviled Eggs ala Barbara V.

Steve Raichlin's BBQ Bean recipe.

These are my favorite beans in the world.

Recipe to follow.

Corn Pudding - ala Mari D.

Debbie O's pork roast didn't get photographed.

Oy.

I gotta get better at taking photos!

I like to consider myself a BBQ aficionado, and I especially like to critique baked beans.

This recipe is hands down my all time favorite.

I don't cook them out on the grill according to the recipe, I just bake them in the oven, and use the liquid smoke.

I often time halve the recipe, and I don't put as many jalapenos in it.

I make it with the bacon, and use Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce.

Again, I'm sharing the link, so that it will be easy for you to print.

It's just about BBQ season ya'll!

Best BBQ Beans on the Planet

Welcome!

Welcome to my new cooking blog! I've been toying with the idea of having a separate blog for recipes for some time now. I have so many to share with you, that I hesitate to put them on the other blog, because that is all it would be! I'll be working on moving over all the cooking posts from Tales From the Coop Keeper here, and organizing them so you'll be able to find them easily.

Let the cooking begin!

I thought it fitting to start this blog out with the

Lemon Cornmeal Cake

that got me blogging in the first place. It was last Easter actually, when I made this cake. I felt all the world should see it, so I started blogging. It's a recipe from Woman's Day, and I'm just adding the link here for you so you can print it out from their website.

Make sure you bake this cake until it is done, testing with a toothpick, and not relying on time alone.

This would be a wonderful Easter dessert. Let me know if you try it!

Lemon Cornmeal Cake