Happy Birthday Jacki!

A special request from the birthday girl... Lemon Meringue Pie

There is always a first time for everything! My first time making this pie, and it turned out great (from the words of my taste testers)! Of course, when I cook, it doesn't always turn out great... just ask David, he has plenty of disaster stories. But let's not get into those now...

Just glad I could fulfill the birthday wishes of David's mom! Yay!

Here is the recipe...

Grandma's Lemon Meringue Pie

(http://www.allrecipes.com/)

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2 lemons, juiced and zested
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 egg yolks, beaten
• 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
• 4 egg whites
• 6 tablespoons white sugar 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).  
2. To Make Lemon Filling: In a medium saucepan, whisk together 1 cup sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture comes to a boil. Stir in butter. Place egg yolks in a small bowl and gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of hot sugar mixture. Whisk egg yolk mixture back into remaining sugar mixture. Bring to a boil and continue to cook while stirring constantly until thick. Remove from heat. Pour filling into baked pastry shell.
3. To Make Meringue: In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add sugar gradually, and continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie, sealing the edges at the crust.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, or until meringue is golden brown.

Note: I did end up making my own pie crust. I use the classic pie recipe from the Crisco container! It's a nice flaky crust that went perfect with this pie!

  

A new appetizer to test out... a success!! Bruschetta!

This bruschetta recipe is amazing!! It was a perfect appetizer for company! What a hit!

Here's the recipe:

Double Tomato Bruschetta

(http://www.allrecipes.com/)

  

Yield: 12 servings

 

Ingredients

• 6 roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup fresh basil, stems removed
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 French baguette
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Preheat the oven on broiler setting.  
2. In a large bowl, combine the roma tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes.
3. Cut the baguette into 3/4-inch slices. On a baking sheet, arrange the baguette slices in a single layer. Broil for 1 to 2 minutes, until slightly brown.  
4. Divide the tomato mixture evenly over the baguette slices. Top the slices with mozzarella cheese.  
5. Broil for 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

Bringing back old memories!

Yum! Ever have these for breakfast when you were younger?? Egg with a hole in the middle! My mom used to make this for Michelle and I ALL the time! Our favorite way to make eggs!

David wanted eggs for breakfast one day, so I started asking what kind of eggs he wanted… sunny side up, over easy, omelet, etc (you get my drift)…. As soon as I got to egg with a hole in the middle, he responded, “You can make that?” So here they are! Yum!

Hey guys, I'm back! Finally!

Time to play catch up! Sorry to keep everyone hanging! I could give you excuses, but it's not worth the time! I'm ready to get back in action though! Love you guys!

Sweet Georgia Peaches!

So I’m driving home from visiting Crystal and ready to be off of the road. Roughly four and a half hours have gone by and I’m tired, hungry, in need of a bathroom break, and low on gas! At this point I have been through South Carolina, most of Georgia, and decided my next stop would have to be in Florida, but I was too impatient and decided to stop in Georgia, three miles before reaching Florida. So here I am at Exit 3 trying to find a decent gas station. I get to this gas station, and set up right next door is a little hut with a man selling sweet Georgia peaches! Yum! So of course I had to buy some, and the man even let me try a piece before I bought them… boy oh boy were they amazing!

I get started again on the final leg of my road trip and I call my mom… I’m telling her how I just bought these wonderful peaches. My mom knew that David and I would be doing dinner with his family in a couple of days, so she suggested I make some kind of dessert with the peaches I just purchased, something like a peach cobbler. Of course, the first thing I think of when my mom says peach cobbler is the scene from the movie Deuce Bigalow, when Deuce is on one of his “dates” and they are playing a trivia game… the question is “Which pie has the most sugar”? PEACH COBBLER.

Of course my health radar kicks in and I am now on a mission to find a lower calorie dessert that involves peaches. Here you have it! Cinnamon peach crisp! As I was browsing recipes, I noticed a lot of them contained WAY too much butter, but this cinnamon peach crisp was different... not too much sugar and only a small amount of butter. Perfect!

Wow this was delicious and a big hit! My only modifications to the recipe were: A) margarine instead of butter, B) demerara cane sugar (raw sugar crystals) instead of granulated sugar, and C) lots and lots of cinnamon instead of the ½ teaspoon the recipe called for. I would recommend all of these changes too! I served the dessert with light vanilla ice cream (it was actually delicious ice cream for being light, publix makes it…).

I was also thinking that this recipe would be wonderful with other fruits as well. I would like to try cinnamon apple crisp next time with granny smith apples!

Here is the recipe, in case any of you are interested. I found this recipe, once again, on Allrecipes.com:

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups sliced peeled fresh peaches (about 7 medium-sized peaches)

1/2 cup orange juice

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons butter, melted

CINNAMON-SUGAR:

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a bowl, combine the peaches, orange juice, brown sugar and cinnamon. Transfer to an 8-in. square baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Combine the flour, sugar and baking powder. Add egg and butter; mix until crumbly. Sprinkle over peaches.

2. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over crumb mixture. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes or until filling is bubbly and topping is golden brown. Serve warm.

Mom's Tofu Soup

Crystal made a special request for Tofu Soup while I was here visiting her. Now seriously, if you cringe at the word tofu, think again, because this soup is delicious!! This is seriously the tofu recipe to try if you really have never cared for tofu. My mom gave me this recipe… it’s very healthy, light, and yummy! Not to mention, the soup is a chicken broth base. You can change up the vegetables to meet your needs too. For example, the recipe originally calls for mushrooms, but because I don’t exactly care for those little fungus ones, I substitute it with zucchini. I even decided to add eggplant and carrots into the soup this time too!

P.S. I need suggestions! Should I start posting the recipes on each blog too?

Skinny Mojitos!

All though I’m on vacation, it doesn’t mean I’m taking a break from my blog! So I’m here in Fort Mill, South Carolina visiting Crystal! We decided to come up with a healthy version of a mojito… and here we have it… Skinny Mojitos! A combination of Parrot Bay Key Lime Rum, Sprite Zero, and fresh mint leaves! Yum! We even bought a mortar and pestle to crush up the mint leaves a little bit in order to incorporate more of a minty flavor into our concoction! This is a wonderful drink, especially when you have a few guests over! Cheers!