A Week of Wednesdays: Day 4

Here's a deliciously light recipe that is on my menu for next week. I'm thinking next Sunday's lunch. And maybe the price of blueberries will have gone down by then! It's a Cooking Light recipe...and you can also find it on the website I shared yesterday.Hope you are having a great Saturday! Enjoy!

1 (10-ounce) package Italian-blend salad greens (about 6 cups)
2 cups grilled chicken breast strips (such as Louis Rich; about 6 ounces)
1 cup blueberries
1 cup quartered strawberries
1 cup sliced banana
1 cup sliced peeled kiwifruit (about 3 kiwifruit)
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
2 tablespoons herbed goat cheese
Raspberry Dressing (recipe follows)

1. Arrange 1 1/2 cups salad greens on each of 4 plates. Divide the remaining ingredients except Raspberry Dressing equally among 4 plates. Drizzle each serving with 3 tablespoons Raspberry Dressing.

Yield: 4 servings

Raspberry Dressing

1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup raspberry or red wine vinegar
1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1. Combine all the ingredients; stir with a whisk.

Yields: 3/4 cup

A Week of Wednesdays: Day 3

Two things to share today:
First, my favorite recipe for chicken salad (shared with me by my dear friend Shannon) and second, a website that my friend Emily shared with (where I got this yummy picture of the chicken salad sandwich that I am now craving!)

I'll start with the website though: My Recipes.com is a great new site that has compiled recipes, entertaining tips, menus, etc. on one site from some of my favorite magazines, including Southern Living, Cooking Light, and Cottage Living. The picture above is actually a Rosemary Chicken Salad recipe. Anyway, check this new site out...there is lots and lots to see and taste!

Chicken Salad sandwiches are one of my favorite things for lunch...I am pretty lucky to have a fabulous grocery store nearby that sells three different types of fresh chicken salad for when I don't have time to make my own...but this recipe beats all three of them! I hope you enjoy it too...thanks again Shannon...it's one of our family favorites!

Shannon's Chicken Salad

2.5 cups cooked chicken*, diced and cold
1 cup celery, finely chopped
1 .5-2 cups sliced red grapes*
1/2 cup sliced almonds*
2 tablespoons minced parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup whipping cream, whipped

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and stir to mix well. Serve on croissants (my favorite).

*Shannon boils her chicken with salt and a bay leaf for flavor. You can substitute other fruits (I also like dried apricots in the salad) and nuts to suit your taste.

Serves a lot!

A Week of Wednesdays: Day 2

I have not made this recipe YET...but it is on my list for this year's grilling season! It sounds really yummy...if you make it soon, let me know what you think! And I think circle-shaped skewers (pictured above) are such a great idea...much easier to fit on a plate than the traditional type, don't you think? You can find some here and here and I'm sure in so many other places!

Fruit Skewers with Vin Santo Glaze

Glaze:
1 cup vin santo (marsala wine)
1 4-inch long orange rind strip
1/4 cup sugar
1 2-inch cinnamon stick

1 tablespoon butter

Skewers:
1 cup peaches, cubed and peeled (about 2 medium peaches)
1 cup plums, cubed (about 4 plums)
3/4 cup green grapes
3/4 cup sweet cherries, pitted

Cheese:
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
2 Tablespoons orange blossom honey
1 teaspoon grated orange rind

1. Prepare grill.

2. Glaze: Combine first four ingredients in saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook 15 minutes or until reduced to 1/3 cup. Remove and discard rind and cinnamon stick. Add butter, stirring with a whisk. Remove from heat; keep warm.

3. Skewers: Thread fruit alternately onto each of 8 8-inch skewers; brush with 2 tablespoons of glaze, reserving remaining glaze. Place on grill rack coated with cooking spray. Grill 4 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Remove from grill.

4. Cheese: Combine ricotta, honey, and orange rind and stir well. Spoon 3/4 Tablespoon glaze onto each of four plates and top with two skewers per plate. Spoon 1/4 cup cheese on each plate.

Serves 4.

My favorite breakfasts

I think some of my most favorite breakfasts were at the Stone Hill Inn, located in Stowe, Vermont. We spent our honeymoon there...and seriously, we ate like kings! In addition to fruit, baked goods, and traditional sides each morning, they offered a choice of three different "breakfast entrees", with all new choices each morning! (You can peek here for a sample menu!) Brent almost always chose the "savory" option and I always went for the "sweet" option...and we always shared! Each night, we would talk excitedly about what was for breakfast the next morning (it was THAT good)...and it was always a treat.

I was thrilled last year to discover on their website that they had published a cookbook...I ordered it right away, planning to make Brent some of our favorites on our anniversary! The recipes have not disappointed us yet, so I'm going to share two with you today...a savory and a sweet, of course! (And if you really enjoy these and want more, you can find our more about the cookbook right here!)

Sausage, Apple, and Cheddar Omelet

1.5 teaspoons butter
1/2 large Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
1/2 cup sliced or cubed precooked pork breakfast sausage
1.5 teaspoons butter
3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup shredded sharp Cheddar Cheese

1. Preheat broiler.
2. Melt 1.5 tsp. butter in a small skillet. Add the apple, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Saute until the apple is tender but firm. Stir in the sausage. Set aside.
3. Heat 1.5 tsp. butter in a 6-inch ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the eggs. Cook until the eggs are 3/4 cooked through, lifting the edges occasionally with an ovenproof spatula and allowing the uncooked eggs to flow under.
4. Spoon the cooked apple mixture on top of the eggs and sprinkle with the cheese. Place the skillet under the broiler until the cheese melts and the eggs are fully cooked. Fold the omelet in half and slide onto a serving plate.

Yields: 1 omelet, but plenty to split between two, if you're serving other food as well.

Blueberry Raspberry French Toast Bake

12 slices French bread, cubed
16 oz. cream cheese, cut into small cubes and softened
1 cup each fresh blueberries and red raspberries
12 eggs
1/3 cup pure Vermont maple syrup
2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon butter
powdered sugar for dusting

1. Arrange half the bread cubes in a 9x13-inch baking dish, coated with cooking spray. Scatter the cubes of cream cheese on top and sprinkle with 1/2 cup each of the blueberries and raspberries. Top with the remaining bread cubes.
2. Beat the eggs, maple syrup, and milk in a large bowl. Pour evenly over the layers in the baking dish. Cover with foil and chill overnight in refrigerator.
3. Let dish stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 30 minutes longer or until puffed and lightly browned.
4. While baking, combine the sugar, water, and cornstarch in a saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until thickened, stirring often. Add the remaining fruit. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce the heat to medium and add the butter. Cook until the butter melts, stirring constantly.
5. Cut the French toast bake into 8 squares and place on serving plates. Top with the sauce and dust with powdered sugar.

Yields: 8 (very large) servings

(Pssssst...today begins "A Week of Wednesdays" so check back in each of the next 6 days for more favorite recipes!)

Discovery

Brent managed to capture this picture of Nathanael a few weeks ago and I just love it! I wonder if he even knew Daddy's camera was focused on him because he is SO focused on his shadow!

That's one of my favorite things about watching my children grow...seeing the delight/surprise/amazement on their faces as they learn and discover the world around them is so precious to me.

Speaking of discovery and children growing, I had a doctor's appt. this morning and learned that I will have another ultrasound in 4 weeks (I wasn't expecting another until the end of July). So, hooray for hopefully being able to soon discover this little one's gender!!!

And I have to discover more computer skills....because I'm hoping to start doing some "remodeling" to my blog this week...so bear with me if things look a little crazy. Hopefully they'll look better than ever soon!

Just Plain Yummy

I was going to share something different today, but after our dinner last night, I have to share this recipe I stumbled upon by reading Jody's blog. This is her recipe for Spaghetti Pie, and my whole family already LOVES it! I am not a fan of traditional spaghetti...I don't think I've ever made it before, to be honest...So it was fun to finally hear Hadleigh's pronounciation of the word: Pisketti.
The recipe below is how I made the Spaghetti Pie, but you can find Jody's original version here. I made this in my Pampered Chef deep dish pie dish, which I love! I served this with a Greek salad...and garlic bread would make a great accompaniment! I hope you enjoy this as much as we did (Brent and I both admitted that we had a desire to devour the whole pie...thankfully, our self-control was stronger than our desire!) And thank you, Jody, for sharing such a great and easy recipe!

Spaghetti Pie

1 box spaghetti (I used half of a 1 pound box)
2 Tbsp. butter
1 pound ground beef
1/3 cup parmesan cheese (I used a little extra)
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup cottage cheese (I used about 1.5 cups)
1 1/4 cup spaghetti sauce
1/2 to 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook spaghetti according to package directions.
2. Cook ground beef until browned; drain off fat. Add spaghetti sauce to meat and mix well.
3. Drain spaghetti and return to saucepan. Toss spaghetti with butter until melted. Stir in parmesan cheese and eggs until well-combined.
4. Lightly spray deep pie dish with cooking spray; press spaghetti into and up sides of pie dish to form a crust. Spread cottage cheese over spaghetti. Spread beef over cheese and noodles. Sprinkle with mozzarella.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes until bubbly.

Ba Ba Boom!

This is my little guy...our not-so-chubby "chubby buddy"...Hadleigh's "Naniel". I don't blog about him nearly enough...maybe because Hadleigh in her "3-ness" does and says plenty to keep the blog (and me) busy...but Nathanael's personality bubbles over and is infectious.

In the picture above, he is showing us his "happy smile"...which can make any yucky day all-of-a-sudden a happy one.

His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. Some of our favorites of his include:

Bible (he says it ALL the time),

Ba-ba-boom! (we're really not sure where this came from, but he loves it and we love it.)

eb-bow (elbow, as he points to his, or Hadleigh's, or mine)

peas (please)

ang-goo (thank you...exactly how Hadleigh pronounced it when she FINALLY decided to use it...he picked it up on his own and uses it sporadically after receiving something.)

Elm-mo (with an almost silent "l"...he uses Elmo to describe any cartoon/video/picture of a video/the t.v.)

Mimi (this is his name for the phone, which was also Hadleigh's first name for the phone, which also happens to be my mom's "grandmother name"...hmmm...I wonder who I talk to a lot!)
Bankee (whenever he needs a little comfort from his blankie)

Bowl (which means he either wants the food on the table in front of him or he is through with the bowl on his tray.)

He loves to give high-five's, every now and then he will give Mommy a kiss (mmm-uh), he lives to wrestle Daddy and do anything and everything with Hadleigh. But one of my favorite things about him is that he doesn't mind being covered in kisses...I kiss him constantly if I am holding him...he has the most wonderful soft skin...I describe him as gooey, which my sister thinks is preposterous, but you other mothers will understand and identify, I am sure. (And yes, Hilary, I could just eat him up!)

So I'll leave you with this picture of the little boy who constantly makes me thankful. He is pointing out all his body parts (eyes, ears, teeth, cheeks, nose, elbows) after dinner at the table...and of course, his hands are so dirty and greasy (he's a boy after all) but nevertheless, he has to point out his head!

For the record...

this post was going to have a pretty little picture to tempt you to make this delicious dessert tonight. But somehow, between opening presents and singing happy birthday and blowing out candles, I forgot to take a picture of the Grasshopper Torte. So you'll have to trust me when I say that it has a dark oreo crust with the loveliest shade of light mint green filling. And it's SO tasty!

By the way, the recipe calls for a springform pan...in the past I've always used a deep-dish pie dish with great results (one of which includes too much filling, so that you can make little individual pies using ramekins and have your own taste test!). This time I used the springform, which was great, especially if you're serving a large group and plan to eat it all in one evening. But in my opinion, springforms are messy when things have to go back in the freezer, so I think in the future, I will again use the pie dish when only making this for my immediate family.

Grasshopper Torte

15-18 Oreo cookies, finely chopped/crushed
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 7-oz. jar marshmallow creme
1 Tablespoon milk
3 cups frozen vanilla yogurt, softened
1 8-oz. container Cool Whip
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
8 drops green food coloring

1. Combine cookies and butter in bowl. Press crumb mixture onto bottom of springform pan (or bottom and sides of pie dish). Place in fridge to chill.

2. Combine marshmallow creme and milk; whisk. Whisk in yogurt until well-blended. Fold in whipped topping, extract, and food coloring. Pour over prepared crust. Cover and freeze until firm, 8 hours or overnight.

Garnish with additional chopped cookies.

Serves 12.

Thirty-one

Happy Birthday to my sweet husband! I love getting to celebrate his birthday...figuring out the perfect gift...making a special birthday dessert (Brent's not a big cake fan!)...planning special things to do together and as a family! We have a special dinner at home (with presents) planned for tonight...and then a fun-filled weekend! (We are firm believers in "Birthday Weekends"!)

One of my favorite birthday traditions for Brent is a decorated spiral notebook that is a collection of birthday messages/pictures from the children each year! It is special to see him flip through from Hadleigh's first birthday picture for him to the current year! (And it's a great way to keep them all together...instead of a box filled with cards!)

He works so diligently for our family (and our country) so it is truly a privilege to get to celebrate him! Happy Birthday sweetheart, I love you!

(And tomorrow, I will share the recipe for this year's birthday dessert...so stay tuned! It's yummy!)

Baby Kate

I had a wonderful weekend...I was able to go to Dallas for my dear friend Shawna's baby shower. She and her husband David were "home" from New York, and it is always such a blessing to be with them. Shawna and I can literally talk into the wee hours of the morning...even when we're both pregnant! The shower for Baby Kate was beautiful and yummy (delicious brunch foods and strawberry cupcakes!)...and she was certainly showered with some beautiful things! I think her closet will be stuffed! I just can't wait until she arrives in July...
And the shower was also special because I finally got to meet sweet little Judah, the son of my other dear friend Courtney (aka Dot). She has some adorable pictures of him posted on her blog...silly me, I forgot my camera, so I am depending on Shawna and Dot to email me copies of theirs!
Shawna, Dot, and I were roommates in college...so I treasure every moment that we have together...especially when our other roomies are with us! We missed you Shannon and Steph! It was hard to drive away (as it always is). It is tough to live so far from your best friends...and yet, it always reminds me of how much I cherish their friendships. We are truly blessed!