Summer Berry Cobbler

When I was little, one of my favorite summer tasks was helping my grandparents pick berries.  At the upper end of their huge garden were several fruit and nut trees, and between the vegetables and trees was one long row of berry bushes.  We would walk up and down the sides of the bushes and collect all of the ripe berries for Grandma to use in jams and pies.

Generally a day or two later, I'd walk in Grandma's front door to the sweet aroma of freshly baked pies or cobbler.  I'd walk across the kitchen and peak on top of the counter to see what had just come out of the oven.  It didn't matter what she was making; there would always be two dishes cooling on the counter top.  One was "regular", and the other was Grandpa's, meaning it was sugar-free. 

Even though I was always pretty excited to inspect her latest creations, rarely did I eat them.  I was fairly picky, and refused to eat the berry dishes because I didn't like the seeds in the berries.  I felt that way about everything--blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, even strawberries! It actually wasn't until I was about 20 that I moved past that.  Crazy, right?  These days I regret not taking advantage of tasting all of the delicious concoctions that came out of that kitchen, but at least I can remember how incredible they smelled.

Our neighbors have berry bushes around most of the perimeter of their yard.  I'm not sure if they ever use the berries that grow every summer, but much to my excitement, the bushes have begun to grow across the fence into our yard.  Normally I wouldn't be happy about something growing over, but these are berries! They are my childhood all over again. Because there aren't very many, I have been going out every few days to collect the ripe berries and keeping them until I have enough to make something. 

I finally decided to go ahead and use what I had (along with some store-bought berries) to make a cobbler.  I love the peach cobbler recipe I stumbled upon a few years ago (you can view it here), and I thought I'd just try to modify it a bit for the berries.  It's delicious! You should go ahead and give it a try! :)

Summer Berry Cobbler
Ingredients:
1 Cup Flour
1/2 Cups Sugar
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons Cold Butter
1/4 Cup Boiling Water

2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
1/4 Cup Cold Water
1 Cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
4 Cups Fresh Berries (I used a mixture of Blackberries, Raspberries, & Blueberries), rinsed and drained

Cinnamon, to taste (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Grease a 2-quart baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir in 1/4 cup boiling water until the mixture is evenly moist.

3. In a separate bowl, dissolve cornstarch in cold water.  Mix in remaining 1 cup sugar, lemon juice, and berries.

4. Pour the berry mixture into the greased baking dish and in preheated oven for 10 minutes.

5. Remove the berries from the oven, and drop the dough on top of the berries by spoonfuls.  Sprinkle the top of the dough with cinnamon.  Return the baking dish to the oven.

6. Bake 25-30 minutes, until the dough is golden brown.
 Enjoy!

Just look at that bubbly, gooey berry goodness!

Thai Chicken Peanut Noodles

If you're anything like me, you have a style and preference of the kinds of foods you generally cook.  I tend to make American/Southern-style food with a little Italian thrown in, but I don't really venture outside of that realm much.  For example, I love Chinese food, but I never cook it.  Why is that? 

A few months ago when I was menu planning, I stumbled upon a recipe in one of my Taste of Home magazines.  (I strongly recommend looking into Taste of Home.  The magazines are fantastic!)  This recipe was called Thai Chicken Peanut Noodles, and it sounded easy enough to make.  I asked Derek if he'd like to try it, and I threw it on the calendar.

A few weeks later when we began cooking, Derek was in charge of making the sauce while I cut vegetables.  He had just finished the sauce and placed it on the counter when I turned and somehow hit it which sent the bowl flying across the room like a spinning saucer.  We were both so shocked that we just stood and watched it fling sauce across the entire kitchen before it landed in the middle of the kitchen rug.  We were frozen.  There was sauce on the counters, across the cabinets, all over the floor, on top of the refrigerator, on the walls, and all over our clothes.  Everywhere.  We were speechless, and then we laughed. We probably laughed harder than ever before as we began trying to clean up the mess and continued laughing till it hurt.

After getting the kitchen cleaned up and cautiously making the sauce for a second time, we were able to continue with dinner.  Everything else went rather smoothly, and when we finished, it was delicious!  I was a little weary of the peanut sauce (I'd never tried a peanut sauce before), but it all ties together really well.  We've made it several times since that first messy experiment, and it's been tasty every time since.  

The last time I made this recipe, I didn't have a red pepper or green onions, so I tweaked it a little bit to fit what I had at home.  Feel free to do this with what you have around the house too!  I added 1/2 cup chopped onions, 2 chopped banana peppers, and 2 small chopped green peppers to the vegetable/ground chicken mixture.  Also, if you don't have or can't find ground chicken, you can grind your own with chicken breasts and a meat grinder.  We've tried this recipe both ways, and it tastes the same either way.

Find the original recipe below:


Thai Chicken Peanut Noodles
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter 
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
4 teaspoons Sriracha Asian hot chili sauce
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (add more or less for your heat preference)
12 ounces uncooked multigrain spaghetti
1 pound lean ground chicken
1-1/2 cups julienned carrots
1 medium sweet red pepper, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup finely chopped unsalted peanuts
4 green onions, chopped

1. In a small bowl, whisk the first six ingredients until blended. Cook spaghetti according to package directions; drain.

  2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook chicken, carrots, pepper and garlic over medium heat 5-6 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink, breaking up chicken into crumbles; drain.

3. Stir in peanut butter mixture; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 3-5 minutes or until sauce is slightly thickened. Serve with spaghetti. Top with peanuts and green onions. Yield: 6 servings.

 

According to the website, this should take 30 minutes to make, but it takes me about 45 minutes instead.  If you make the sauce ahead of time, or if you're a fast vegetable chopper, it'll probably take less time. 

Give it a try for dinner tonight! 

This is what a happy husband looks like after eating this meal. :)

Easy Southwestern Nacho Bake

I stumbled upon this recipe while planning our menu a few months ago. (If you missed that post, you can find it here!)  When I found it and suggested putting it on our menu, Derek initially said no; he didn't want to try it.  I was pretty surprised by this since it's a hamburger casserole, but I agreed and didn't put it on the menu.  The month rolled by, and again I was working on the menu.  I had nearly forgotten about the recipe until I saw a star beside it in my cookbook.  I asked Derek if he would like to try it, and again, he said no.  At this point I pulled the wife card and decided to put it on the menu anyway.

We tried it one evening when my in-laws were here for dinner, and it was delicious!  Derek ended up eating his words because he really liked it too!  This casserole is very creamy and tangy with a little crunch from the tortilla chips.  We had plenty of leftovers even after the four of us had eaten on it, and it tastes just as good reheated the next day as it did the first day!

We've been eating leftovers from the 4th for several days, and after our fourth day of leftovers, Derek boldly announced, "We are having the hamburger nacho bake thing tomorrow for supper."  So that's what we had.  It was a really slow, lazy, and stormy evening, so this was the perfect meal to make.  It's quick, easy, and brightens up any dark and dreary day.

The garden appreciates the rain!

Disclaimer: The pictures of this dish do not do it justice. The flavor is delicious! :)

Give it a try for dinner tonight!

Easy Southwestern Nacho Bake
1 lb Ground Beef
16 oz Salsa
1 Can of Corn
3/4 cup Miracle Whip, Mayo, or Sour Cream (whatever you have on hand!)
1 Tbsp Sriracha Chili Sauce
2 cups Monterey-Jack Cheese
2 cups Crushed Tortilla Chips

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Brown hamburger in skillet and drain grease.

3. Combine browned hamburger with salsa, corn, miracle whip, and sriracha.

4. Layer half of the hamburger mixture, chips, and cheese in a greased 2 quart baking dish.  Continue layers until all ingredients are used.

5. Place dish into oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until bubbly.

Enjoy!

Taco Salad

Derek loves Taco Salad day at our house.  I'm constantly trying out new recipes, but he pretty much insists that we have taco salad once a month when I'm working on filling out our monthly menu calendar.

I'm not really sure where this recipe originated.  It's a dish that always seemed to appear when we attended his family reunions, and he would rave about it for a few days before and after the reunion.  One day my mother-in-law managed to acquire the recipe, and it's been all over since then.  Derek is the type of person that once he finds a recipe that he really enjoys, he doesn't want to try anything else.  I occasionally find a new taco salad recipe that I think would be nice to try, but I know that he won't go for it.

This recipe is SUPER easy and fast which is really nice on those evenings when you come home from work and feel like you just can't do anything else the rest of the day.  It's almost guaranteed to leave you with leftovers (unless you have quite a large family!) and is pretty tasty on top of it all.

Check it out!

Taco Salad
Ingredients
1 lb ground hamburger 
2 packets of Taco seasoning
1 head of iceburg lettuce
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 bag of Doritos, crushed
1 bottle Catalina salad dressing
1 bottle mild Taco sauce (medium or hot, if you like it spicier)

Procedure
1. Brown the ground hamburger in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Drain grease.

 2. Add taco seasoning and two Tablespoons of water to hamburger.  Mix well.

3. Shred lettuce and place in large bowl.  Add cheese, tomatoes, Doritos, Catalina dressing, Taco sauce, and hamburger to the bowl.  Mix well.

It's that simple!

Do you have a favorite taco salad recipe?  Share it below!