Joy in the Kitchen!

Our Memorial Weekend family reunion was a blast!  Rained enough one day to bring on that feeling of sailin' the high seas and everything!  My brother Kim and his family were in charge this year and did a Pirate theme.  We crafted boats out of styrofoam, made pirate hats out of newspaper, and flags for our camps.  For one potluck meal, several of my older children (you too Taylor) crafted this sailin' vessel to hold our fruit salad.   Quite a good job, don't you think!   (If you use your imagination, the "merman" on the front is quite effective.... thanks Grandma for letting us raid your toy box!)

We have a family reunion this weekend!  LOVE all the visiting, fun activities and FOOD!  We spend the weekend in my parents orchard.  We stay in trailers or tents.  Friday through Monday.  We only have to travel a mile to get there!  This year we have a Pirate theme.  Saturday evening our meal is potluck.  Bring plenty of grub to share.   Sunday roast beef is provided and we provide the side dishes and dessert.   The kids have requested Cookies Salad for one of the dishes we take.  It's easy and they love it.  (so do I but I'm making it "for the kids", right?!)   I won't even consider trying to remember to take a picture of it... too many other things on my mind this week.  BUT  I wanted to share the recipe with you in case YOU need a terrific side dish to take. I always double this for my family. Cookie Salad 1 C. buttermilk 1 8 oz container cool whip 1 small box instant vanilla pudding 2 small cans...

While my daughter Keeley and I were planning the Mothers Day menu, she came across this recipe online.  I wasn't too sure about the pineapple salsa, but we decided to try it.  It is AWESOME!  The chicken was tender and flavorful, the salsa was sweet, but not too sweet, and is a terrific accompaniment for the chicken.  YUM! You can find the recipe for the Yogurt Grilled Chicken with Pineapple Roasted Red Pepper Salsa right here at the Food Network. We added less hot sauce, but next time we'll add more.  I marinated the chicken for 5 hours just because that's how it worked out. :o) We will definitely be adding this to our menu in the future.  It is nutritious, tasty, and FUN!   Give it a try & let me know what YOU think! Here's the rest of our Mothers Day Dinner.... Shrimp Cocktail Garlic Roasted Potatoes                    ...

The posts are few & far between lately.  Hopefully that changes soon.  I've been having fun finding ways to use up the food co-op produce we get every other week.  I'm also working on eating healthier and exercising more.  I've been creating in the kitchen the past week to cater to my changes.  I'm limiting my calories to 1200-1500 each day.  Makes it a bit harder to get all the nutrition I need if I eat sweets or breads.  That's the only downside though.  So far I'm down 5 lbs in the past week.  I know the weight loss will slow down now & that's ok.  Once my weight is where I'd like it I'll raise my calorie limits but I'm determined to keep eating healthier food.... and in the meantime...  I'll just keep having fun with the menu! Foods we've enjoyed the past week: Lentil Burrito's Grilled Chicken Salad Homemade, fat free yogurt sweetened with diced mango Vegetable Soup Baked Chicken w/ Garlic Parsley Red Potatoes ...

For dinner we had Turkey Vegetable Soup.  From our Co-op basket I used:  squash, potatoes, celery and a little tomato.  Turned out yummy!  It's one of those dump and stir recipes.  Never turns out the same way twice. We are also using up the last of our strawberries.  They taste so good fresh I hate to make them all into jam or freeze them!  So as a side for dinner we had strawberries with fresh yogurt dip.  I used about 1 C. of plain yogurt, 3 T. brown sugar & a dash of vanilla.  Mix it up a few minutes early so the sugar has a chance to dissolve.   We used homemade yogurt that I made from dry milk - no fat at all.... tasted terrific and healthy to boot!  Can't beat that!

This post is in keeping with my challenge to myself of using my Bountiful Baskets produce.  You can see the list of items (loot) received, HERE . Sunday, from our basket we used: Strawberries - both as fresh fruit with dinner AND as Strawberry Shortcake for dinner Mango - cut two for the fruit platter with dinner Celery and tomato - topped our Hawaiian Haystacks Those cute little mandarin oranges just keep getting eaten as snacks.  Boy are they good! Monday we had: Steamed Artichokes ....   following directions alot like THIS ... only I skip the lemon. Sliced Mexican Squash stir-fried with a little onion and olive oil Oven Fries using the potatoes We are eating good!  So much of that produce is wonderful prepared simply. You can find the recipe for Strawberry Shortcake HERE .

I grew up with a different version of Strawberry Shortcake that any I've seen.  I much prefer it - I'm sure partly because that's what I grew up with.  I've noticed that other people just slice and sweeten the berries, some use a glaze, such as Danish Dessert , to slice the berries into. If my berries aren't very juicy, I might add a package of prepared Danish Dessert to the mixture.   Mom made a wonderful One Egg Cake to use as the shortcake - it is coarser than regular cake.  My recipe for that is written on a 2x2 inch, faded pink, grease stained, Post it Note. LOL!  Tiny writing, probably the closest thing to write on when I called Mom on the phone for the recipe.  The recipe itself must be old.  It calls for the cake to be baked in a "moderate oven".  Mom told me that would be about 350 degrees.  :o)   Anyway - the cake is terrific for Strawberry Shortcake .  I've never tried using it for anything else.  We alw...