Lemonade Ice Cream Cake

This is one of my favorite summer-time desserts and it's super easy!!!

1 pkg. pecan sandies cookies, crushed (might not need whole pkg)
1 frozen concentrate pink lemonade
1/2 gallon vanilla icecream

Allow icecream and lemonade to thaw until softened (but not totally liquid).  Crush cookies and press them into the bottom of a cake pan (as thick as you desire).  Use mixer or hand mixer to blend icecream and lemonade together until well blended.  Scoop and spread icecream mixture over cookies.  Sprinkle a few of the cookie crumbles on the top for decoration.  Cover and freeze for a few hours until frozen (a minimum of 4 hours).  Serve frozen.

Note:   you can use the same concept with oreos and mint chocolate chip icecream.  When serving it this way drizzle with chocolate and carmel sauce and cool whip.

Lemon Bars

From the 2001 Christmas Cookie Exchange organized by Camille C.
Recipe From Kathleen D.
Recipe taken from Lion House Cookbook

Crust
1/2 C. softened butter or margarine
1/2 C. powdered sugar
1 C. flour

Cream butter and sugar.  Add flour.  Spread in an 8X8" pan  Bake at 325 for 15-20 min.

While the crust is baking, prepare the next layer
2 eggs
1 C. sugar
2 T. flour
2 T. lemon juice
grated rind of 1/2 lemon

Beat eggs slightly.  Add sugar, flour, lemon juice and rind.  Mix well and pour over hot crust after it comes out of the oven.  Now bake at 325 for 15-20 min.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with sifted powdered sugar.  Cool slightly before cutting into finger cookies.  This recipe when doubled, fits just right into a jelly roll pan (10X15").  Good served with vanilla ice cream.

Note from Mikael:  I haven't cooked these, but I love lemon bars and really can you go wrong if it's from the Lion House?  So it is on my to do list!!!!

Cooking your clothes?!?!?!

So this is really more of a laundry tip than a cooking tip...but you do have to boil water...so here goes.

You know you see old pictures of black ladies with their hair tied up in a bandana stirring a big black kettle with their clothes in it.  Well this is basically the same thing.

To get stains out...

Boil two big pans full of water.  Pour them into a sink or into a bucket (placed in the tub).  Add stained clothes and 1 scoop of oxyclean powder.  Let sit for several hours (or overnight).  Stir occasionally (if you remember to).  Do not just add the oxyclean into your pan of hot water sitting on the stove (it will bubble over).

This truly works wonders.  It works really well on clothes that you missed and they went through the dryer with the stain.  And also on baby stains and hand-me-downs that you know you put in the box 3 years ago clean and now they are terribly stained.  It has worked for me on everything except crayon, rust and blood.

Make sure you do like colors because it will pull some of the color out.  ie:  I did a red shirt with a white shirt and the white shirt came out pink.

Souvlaki

I am super excited to try this recipe given to me by a friend. It looks way easy.

SOUVLAKI

SOAK 6 WOODEN SKEWERS IN WATER (SO THEY WON'T BURN WHEN YOU GRILL)
3 lbs. Turkey Breast (cubed)


MARINATE IN:
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/4 cup oregano
1 cup olive oil
Cook on grill or broil, then dip in Lemon Juice

LEMON RICE
2 cups un-cooked long grain rice
4 Tbls. butter
1 tsp. salt
4 Tbls. lemon juice
1/2 medium onion chopped
4 cups chicken broth


In large skillet, saute rice and onions in
butter until glossy. Add salt, lemon juice,
and broth. Reduce heat, cover and cook
for 35 minutes or until done.
May add more lemon juice and salt to
taste.

CUCUMBER DIP
1 cup sour cream
1 cup greek yogurt
1 cucumber (grated) wrap in paper towel
to soak up remaining juices
2 tsp. fresh dill
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. salt
1 clove garlic (minced)
May add more garlic to taste.
Blend all together, Chill.


Serve with souvlaki, pita bread, chips, or
whatever.


ENJOY!

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork

Pork Roast (Mine was a Pork Sirloin Roast Boneless--but it doesn't have to be this kind)
1 jar salsa (I used about 2 cups of mild Pace Picante---but can use any kind)
1-1 1/2 C. Packed Brown Sugar
1 can rootbeer (I've also hear you can use coke or other pops)

Cook about 4 hours on high in crock pot until roast falls apart and you can shred it.  Pull roast out, shred it, place meat back in sauce.

Note:  My meat didn't fall apart quite like a thought it should.  It was good, just not quite as tender as I would have liked.  Maybe next time I would cook it for 6-8 hours.  Or buy a different kind of roast.

For salad:
start with a fresh cooked tortilla (buy raw ones at the store by cheese)
top with lettuce
beans (Black or pinto) (rinse first)
Mexican rice (from a box)
meat (from above)
buy a small container of cafe rio's tomatillo dressing (there are also recipes on the web, but I haven't tried any...let me know if you have a good one!!!!!!)  It is a little spicy, so if your kids (or you) don't like spicy I wouldn't try it.

Note:  I took some shortcuts tonight...I did not cook any tortillas (we just had it without), I did not do mexican rice (I just used white rice from the night before)

For a smothered burrito
Fresh cooked tortilla
beans (Black or kidney)

Mexican rice (from a box)

meat (from above)

Wrap up in tortilla

Place on oven safe plate (or on a cookie sheet or cake pan).  Smother with store bought green chile enchilada sauce.  Top with mozarella cheese.  Broil in oven for a minute or two until cheese is melted.

Tiffany's Green Chile Chicken Enchilada's

From Tiffany G. (in the ward about 10 years ago). This recipe was in the 2003 ward cookbook.

I love these chicken enchiladas. They are my favorite recipe for chicken enchiladas. If you have had the chicken enchiladas at____________________(can't remember the name right now). They are very similar, but I think these are a little better.

1 pkg flour tortillas
Grated mozarella cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
28 oz can green chile enchilada sauce (I usually do mild)
4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1-2 c. sour cream (the more sour cream the less spicy) (2 c. is a 16 oz carton)

Mix chicken, soup, sour cream. Spoon into as many tortillas as you want. Put cheese on top of mixture (inside tortilla). Spread small amount of enchilada sauce in bottom of 9X13 pan. Roll tortillas and place seam down in pan. Put remaining enchilada sauce on tortillas. Use spoon to separate enchiladas so sauce goes in between each tortilla and around edges of the pan. Sprinkle with more cheese. Cover. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Serving suggestion: Serve with corn and salad.

Hawaiian Haystacks (Chinese Sundaes)

Well yesterday for our MEATLESS MONDAY we had hawaiian haystacks.

On your plate first you place chinese crunchy noodles.  Then cooked rice.  Then whatever toppings you want such as...olives, pineapple, green onions, celery, raisins, coconut, grated yellow or colby jack cheese, tomatoes, slivered or sliced almonds, etc...

I left the chicken out for my meatless monday.  But normally I add boiled chicken.  You can either cube it and have it in a little bowl for people to add on or you can mix the cooked cubes into the gravy.  You will use less chicken if you mix it into the gravy, otherwise people pile it on. But it depends...If you think you might have left over chicken then you might want to leave it on the side so you could add it in a casserole or something.  It's harder to reuse it once it's in the gravy and I have a harder time throwing out chicken than I do 33 Cent gravy.  It's up to you!!!

Top with gravy.  Either packaged chicken gravy (you know the ones that are 3 for $1) or cream of chicken soup mixed with 1 C. of milk.  For my family of 6 I need 3 of the packages for 1 meal or 2 cans of soup.

Don't worry about having all of the ingredients...just go with whatever you have.  My kids like to microwave theirs once it is on the plate to melt the cheese.  Of course then they have to put it in the freezer to cool it down...SILLY KIDS!!!

I always make double the rice so I can make ham fried rice later in the week....YUM!!!

Joyce's Banana Cream Pie

From Joyce S.  She has taught classes twice that I can remember to the ward of how to make her Famous Banana Cream Pie.  Here is the recipe...

One Crust Pie
8 or 9 inch

1 C. Gold Medal Flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 C. plus 1 T shortening or 1/3 C. lard
2 to 3 T. cold water

blend dry ingredients.  Cut in shortening.  Add Cold water.  Roll out.  Place in pie tin.  Cook for 12-15 minutes at 475 degrees.

Banana Cream Pie filling
3/4 C. sugar
3 T. corn starch
1/4 tsp salt
2 C. half and half
3 slightly beaten egg yolks
2 T. butter
1 tsp. vanilla

In saucepan combine sugar, cornstarch and salt.  Gradually stir in half and half.  Cook and stir 2 minutes on medium high heat.  Remove from heat.  Stir moderate amount of hot mixture into egg yolks to warm them up. Immediately return egg yolks (with the hot mixture you added to them) to the hot mixture still in the pan.  Cook for 2 more minutes stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Add butter and vanilla.  Allow to cool (before placing filling in pie shell).

Slice 2 bananas into pie shell.  Add cool filling on top.  Slice 1 banana on top of filling.

Top with 1/2 pint whipped cream (beaten in whipped cream).  Refrigerate until ready to serve.

While visiting Utah recently, I sampled a yummy crockpot lasagna from my favorite Grocery store of all times.... MACEYS. (I sure miss Western Family products!!)

Check out my RECIPE BLOG to find the recipe that

captured my heart and what I'm making right now for dinner tonight!

Carmel Syrup

This is a really yummy carmel syrup recipe from Jacque.

1 cube butter
1/2 C. buttermilk (from store, or make by mixing 1 T. lemon juice into milk and let sit for a few minutes until it curdles)
2T. Karo Syrup
1C. Sugar

Bring to a boil and stir constantly for 3-4 minutes.  Remove from heat and add...

1 tsp. baking soda
1 T. vanilla

Homemade Syrup

Twice as much white sugar as water.  (For example 2 C. sugar and 1 C. water...but you can do less or more)
Boil until the sugar dissolves and liquid becomes clear.  Add a splash of mapeline (maybe 1 tsp-1 T.).

I store my syrup in the fridge, but don't know if you have to or not.  This syrup is runny unlike store-bought.  I like it better that way because then it absorbs into the pancakes better!

Pancake Mix

These are fluffy and absorb a lot of syrup!  I will do a separate post for my homemade syrup recipe.

Here is the mix (obviously this makes a lot)
12 C. flour
1/2 C. baking powder
4 tsp. salt
3/4 C. sugar
4 C. powdered milk

To make the pancakes...
1 C. mix (from above)
1 T. oil
1 egg
1/2 - 3/4 C. water
This made 4-5 medium sized pancakes (I measured each pancake batter out with a 1/4 measuring cup and it made 4-5 pancakes)

Here is a smaller version of the mix if you want to try it first (this is a fourth of the total mix)
3 C. flour
1/8 C. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3 T. sugar
1 C. powdered milk

Cheesy potato soup

I was looking through the blog posts and realized that Mikael is having way too much fun and decided to get in on the action.  ;)

Since it's been rainy the last couple of days, it puts me in the mood for soup.  My husband loves this one because, unlike other soups, this one is filling. 

Cheesy Potato Soup

5-6 chopped potatoes (you won't mash them, so make them bite size)

6 chicken bouillon cubes

1/2 onion (optional)

3 cups milk

1/2 cup flour

1 stick margarine/butter

2-3 cups grated cheese

Put in enough water to just cover the chopped potatoes (you don't drain it, so don't overdo the water).  Cook until soft.  In a bowl, melt the margarine, whisk with 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup milk.  Stir into softened potatoes and water, stirring constantly.  Add 2 1/2 cups milk, & then salt, pepper, and garlic salt to taste.  Add 2-3 cups grated cheese.  Enjoy!

 I also serve with a green salad and homemade rolls or bread.  I'll post some easy recipes for those later.  :D 

-Loretta