Blueberry Lemon Cobbler

I had a bunch of frozen blueberries and was starting to make cobbler with them when I decided to throw some lemon in there.  Delish!

Basic Cobbler recipe:

1/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cup flour
1 cup white sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place butter in a 9x13 pan and place in preheating oven to melt.  Remove from oven when melted.  Meanwhile mix together dry ingredients, and then add wet.  Pour/spread over melted butter.  Drop fruit on top.  Bake for 45-55 minutes until edges are browned.  Serve warm with icecream or whipped cream.

Fruits that are delish...cherries, peaches, peaches and raspberries, blueberries, mixed frozen berries, strawberries.

To make the cobbler crust lemon....

Zest one large lemon into flour mixture.  Use the juice from the large lemon and our into 1 cup (should be about 1/4 cup juice).  Fill the rest of cup with milk to equal 1 cup liquid.  Mix as per instructions above.

Pioneer Strawberry Shortcake

For Pioneer Day I decided to make some simple strawberry shortcake.  It is an easy summer dessert.

Shortcake:

2 cups flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 Tbsp sugar

1 stick butter, chilled

3/4 cup milk

 

Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a bowl.  Cut in the butter by cutting it into Tbsp sized pieces, and use a fork, pastry cutter, a food processer, or your fingers to mix butter with flour until it is a coarse meal.  Add milk and stir until just mixed in, don't over mix.  Form into 6-8 patties and bake on a greased cookie sheet for 10 minutes (until lightly browned) at 425 degrees.  When cooled slice in half.

 

Strawberries and cream:

 

1 pint strawberries, sliced

3-4 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

 

Sprinkle sugar over strawberries, and stir with vanilla.  Allow to sit for awhile before eating.  Strawberries will get nice and juicy.

 

Heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

 

Whip cream and powdered sugar until it is at whipped cream consistency.

 

 

Apple Pie Burritos

We mixed up some recipes and ideas we had heard of and went for it with this dessert. Our main inspiration was the cheesecake burrito by Dishing with Leslie. We were making fajitas so we wanted a dessert along the same lines...

Tortillas, warmed up
melted butter for skillet
cinnamon-sugar to roll burritos in

Apple filling:
5 apples, peeled and sliced
1/2 stick butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp sugar

Cheesecake Filling:
16 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix up Apple filling in a small pot on the stove over low-medium heat for 10+ minutes.

Stir up Cheesecake filling.
Heat up tortillas to make them easier to roll.
Spread a layer of cheesecake filling on tortilla, and then spread apples on top.  Roll into a burrito with ends tucked in.

Heat up skillet and grease with melted butter.  Place 2-3 burritos and "grill" on each side. Coat in cinnamon-sugar mix after toasted.

Lemon and Dill Fish.

This is probably the healthiest and most delicious fish I have ever eaten.  My friend Toni made it for me when I was visiting her in Seattle and I re-created it tonight.

Ingredients:
Fish fillets
Lemons sliced into thin slices
Lemon juice
Dill
Pepper as desired

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Pour a small layer of lemon juice* on the bottom of a glass pan (size of pan depends on how much fish you desire to make), to prevent the fish from sticking.  You can use fresh or frozen fish and really use any kind you want.  We had Cod fillets in Seattle and I used Tilapia tonight.  I think I will try Halibut and Salmon as well.

Fresh dill is the best, found in the sprigs, but dry will work.  Sprinkle dill over fish and cover all of fish with thin lemon slices.  Pepper if desired. 

Cook for 25 minutes at 425 degrees.  Fish will flake and taste delicious.

*if this seems like too much lemon to you, you can use a small bit of low sodium chicken broth instead.  Had it both ways and it's good both way, but obviously has more lemon flavor with the lemon juice.

May the 4th be with you.

Today is Star Wars Day and to celebrate I made a treat out of my new Intergalactic Ice cream treats book:

I made Tatooine Terrine.  It is smooth, and rich, a chocolate-peanut butter delight.  I used what I had on hand so it is a little different from the recipe in the book, but very close.

2 cup chocolate chips (I used 1 cup milk chocolate and 1 cup semi-sweet
1 cup creamy peanut butter (although I think next time I will use chunky for the added texture)
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup white sugar
chopped nuts (The actual recipe calls for peanuts but I only had cashews on hand)

You can melt the chocolate over a double boiler but I used the simple microwave method where you melt in a microwave safe bowl for 1 minute, stir, and then 30 seconds, stir, 30 seconds, stir...until smooth.  Stir in peanut butter and vanilla.  Allow to cool as you whip the heavy cream until it starts to peak as whipping cream.  Add in the sugar as you whip, until stiff peaks form.  Stir into chocolate mixture.  Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap for easy removal.  Layer chopped nuts on the bottom of pan.  Pour chocolate mixture over nuts and smooth out.  Sprinkle with more nuts on top.  Over top with plastic wrap and freeze for at least an hour.  Slice and serve.

 

 

For Chewbacca Chicken Fingers or Death Star Chocolate Cake, check out this post.

 

For other Star Wars party ideas check out my Star Wars label.

Poppy Baby Shower

I recently helped out with a baby shower and it was all things Poppy, here are some ideas....

Poppy paper flower centerpiece (made with a Silouhette America poppy and pregnant lady)

Paper poppy and onesie garland (also made with Silouhette America designs)

"Thanks for Popping by", popcorn in a poppy bag, thank you treats

Plus some Poppy themed food such as a fruit and nut filled garden salad with poppy seed dressing.

Other ideas are that the soon-to be-mother is "ready to pop".

 

 

Other food we had:  Sloppy Joe sliders (rolls and sloppy joe filling in a crockpot), Strawberries and poundcake (pound cake, sliced strawberries that had been mixed with a Tbsp white sugar to make juicy, and some whipped cream), a regular garden salad, and Rice Krispie Treats with red and pink M&M's to match the poppy colors--these were a major hit!!

Fajita seasoning mix

I like Fajitas because they are quick and easy.  See how I mix them up here.

I mixed up this seasoning today instead of a premade seasoning packet because I didn't have one but I did have everything to make my own.

1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
2 tsp chili powder
1 Tbsp corn starch
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp Cayenne



Stir all together and then use 1-2 tsp of mix for your fajitas, or really I just toss it in to taste.