Sugar Cookie Crust Fruit Pizza

Siena's birthday cake...she only ate the fruit.

Ingredients

Crust
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened 
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp.vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt 

Spread
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest 

Fresh Fruit
1 cup raspberries
1 cup blueberries
1 cup kiwi, sliced (omitted this time)
1 cup peaches, sliced
1 cup strawberries, sliced 


Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and sugars until smooth. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract and mix until just incorporated. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the creamed butter and mix until blended. Remove dough from bowl and press into a greased 10 inch tart pan or pizza pan. 

2. Bake at 325  for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges just start to brown. Remove from oven and let cool on a cooling rack.

3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest until smooth. Spread evenly on the cooled crust. 

Arrange fresh fruit in desired pattern on top of filling and chill until ready to slice and serve.

slightly adapted from Kelsey's Kitchen

Cherry Crumble

At the end of July, my sister-in-law came for a visit from Washington and brought us fresh blueberries and cherries from her rural farming community. We enjoyed eating them everyday, but despite our best efforts we couldn't quite put the dent in the cherries that we did in the blueberries. It was really just a good excuse to make a quick treat. I mean, I had to, right? We loved this so much we made it again two days after the first go.

Ingredients

6 Tbsp. butter

1 1/8 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

6 Tbsp. packed brown sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

2 heaping cups fresh pitted cherries

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. almond extract

1/4 cup raw almonds

1/4 cup old-fashioned oats

2 Tbsp. butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

2. In a large saucepan, melt butter. Remove pan from heat; stir in oats, flour, brown sugar, and salt until a dry, crumbly mixture forms. Press 3/4 of the mixture into the bottom of a greased 9" square pan, making a firm, even layer. 

3. In a bowl, combine cherries with sugar, flour, and almond extract. Layer cherry mixture on top of crumb crust. 

4. In a food processor, plus almonds, oats, and butter. Add to remaining crumb mixture in the saucepan. Sprinkle on top of cherry mixture. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until top is lightly browned. Serve warm or at room temperature...possibly with ice cream on the side!

adapted from All Recipes

Massaged Kale Salad

While this salad may sound kinda high maintenance, it is really pretty simple. It has a lot of the usual suspects, but this time they are paired with kale, which was a nice change.


Ingredients

1 bunch kale
3/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt or sea salt
1/4 cup finely diced red onion
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup small-diced apple
1/3 cup toasted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup crumbled Feta cheese

Directions

1. Wash the kale and pat it dry. Slice off the stiff stems below the leaves and continue slicing the stem away from the leaf until you have cut a thin v-shape into the kale leaf and removed the tough stem all the way up. Stack the kale leaves two or three at a time, roll them up, and slice the leaves into thin ribbons.
2. Place the kale ribbons in a large mixing bowl. Add the salt and massage it into the kale with your hands for two minutes. You’ll notice the kale start to turn a darker green and the texture of the kale will begin to soften a bit.
3. Toss in the red onions, dried cranberries, apples, and sunflower seeds. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar and sugar. Pour over the salad and toss. Sprinkle feta cheese over the top and serve. The salad can be refrigerated for up to a day before serving, in fact, I think it's better after it's had time for all the flavors to really combine.


from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Chicken Salad with Peaches and Blue Cheese (Feta)

This recipe has been up since I first starting typing up our favorite recipes. A great summer meal that is on frequent rotation in our kitchen. And, since I'm extra lazy these days- I often skip the recommended vinaigrette and use a little bit (because those peaches are so juicy) of my favorite poppy seed dressing.

Ingredients:

Salad
2 heads romaine lettuce, cut crosswise into 1-inch strips.
1 rotisserie chicken, meat sliced into bite-size pieces
2 peaches, roughly chopped (with or without peel)
3/4 cups (3 oz.) crumbled blue cheese
1/2 cup (2 oz.) almonds, roughly chopped

Vinaigrette
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp. kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Arrange lettuce, chicken, peaches, cheese, and almonds on a platter or on individual plates.

2. Whisk together the vinegar, oil, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad.

This can be customized to what you prefer, or what you happen to have in the refrigerator.
Instead of peaches... sliced pears, halved red grapes
Instead of romaine...spinach, arugula, spring mix
Instead of blue cheese... goat cheese, feta
Instead of almonds... walnuts, pecans

Serves 4-6.

from Real Simple: Meals Made Easy

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Since part of our wedding cake was carrot cake we thought it would be a fun tradition to make some around our anniversary. We spent a lazy Sunday afternoon watching our wedding DVD with Siena and eating too many cupcakes. (They were made with the intention of freezing some...I think we all know that did not happen.)

Yes, this is the exact recipe I have posted for carrot cake...with one key difference. We decided cupcakes are the way to go when it comes to a frosted dessert. We left the cupcakes themselves at room temperature and pulled the frosting out of the fridge as needed to frost (smother?) each individual cupcake. The cake stayed so moist this way and the cooking time was drastically cut down-who wants to wait 50 minutes when a cute cupcake is ready in 18?




Ingredients

Cupcakes
3 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
3 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2-3 cups grated carrots (use larger side of grater)
8 oz. can crushed pineapples
1/2 cup coconut
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Frosting
1/3 cup butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2-3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan, or two 9-inch round pans.
In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, applesauce, sugars, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Gradually add dry mixture to wet mixture. Stir in carrots, pineapple, coconut, and fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.

2. Bake standard cupcakes for 18 minutes, extra large cupcakes 24-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

3. To make the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese together until completely blended. Add vanilla and blend. Gradually beat in sugar to desired consistency.

Lemon Quinoa Cilantro Chickpea Salad

I'm not sure that I'll really get used to how hot it is here. Last summer was hot, no doubt, but something about this summer is just killing me. It could be the extra weight I'm sporting...also known as a baby... but part of it is probably that it got super hot much earlier than usual. We rarely turn on our oven and often even the grill is unappealing. This light salad was the perfect compliment to fresh cherries and a rotisserie chicken-something we'd probably eat a lot more of if I had the stomach to get the meat off the bones. Thanks goodness for Nick. (And that is not just a pregnancy thing, we'll see if I ever conquer that fear. He is more afraid I'll turn vegetarian.)

Ingredients

1/2 cup dry quinoa

2 cups vegetable broth

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed (about 2 cups)

1 c. cherry tomatoes cut in half (I used Roma)

2 avocados diced

2 cups spinach

1 bunch cilantro, about 1 1/2 cups

1/4 cup onion

2 small cloves garlic

For the dressing

1 lemon, zested
juice of 2 lemons

2 tsp. dijon mustard

2 tsp. olive oil

1 tsp. honey

1/2 tsp. cumin

dash of salt and pepper

Directions
 

1. Prepare quinoa by soaking a pot in the veggie broth for about 15 minutes. Over medium high heat, bring the quinoa to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium/low and let simmer. Stir every so often, and cook quinoa for about 20-25 minutes just until the liquid absorbs. You don’t want it completely dried out, so when there is just a TINY amount of liquid left in the pot, remove it from heat and put a lid on it. Set it aside, and prepare the rest of the salad.

2. In a food processor, add spinach and cilantro. Process the greens until they are finely diced.

3. Add the greens to a bowl, and set aside. Next, take onion and garlic and finely dice those (easy to do in the food processor), and add to the greens mixture. Add chickpeas and stir until everything is combined and coated. When quinoa is cooled, add it to the chickpea mixture.

4. Prepare the dressing by whisking ingredients together. Pour over salad, and mix until combined. Add in tomatoes and avocado and mix. Set in fridge for about 10-15 minutes before serving so the flavors set.

from The Diva Dish : Adapted from: Ohsheglows

Fontina, Caramelized Onion, and Pancetta Pizza

Is it weird that I requested pizza for Mother's Day? Because I did. Jessie is the pizza queen and has so many great pizza recipes that we love trying. The only thing we changed was cutting down the onion a bit, more of a personal preference than anything. We only did 1 large onion last time, but I think 1-2 would be just right if you're wanting to scale it back a bit. If not, go for the full 3 onions!

Ingredients

1 recipe pizza dough
1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 oz. pancetta, diced (Italian-style bacon)
3-4 cups onion, sliced (about 1 1/2  large onions)
1 Tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. white pepper
extra virgin olive oil, to brush pizza
1 1/2 cups fontina cheese, shredded
fresh thyme and freshly cracked black pepper, to garnish

Directions

1. Prepare pizza dough according to recipe directions.

2. While dough is rising, heat 1 tsp. olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add pancetta and saute for 2 minutes. Add onions, thyme, salt, and white pepper. Cook 25 minutes until onions are soft and golden brown, stirring frequently.

3. Preheat oven and pizza stone to 450 F.

4. Lightly brush the prepared pizza crust with olive oil. Top with the onion mixture. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 8-10 minutes in the preheated oven until the cheese is melted and the crust is puffy and golden brown. Remove from the oven and garnish with thyme and cracked black pepper. Let sit for 5 minutes before slicing.

Makes 1 large pizza.

from A Hint of Honey : Adapted from Cooking Light