Do you love strawberry shortcake? I have just the recipe for you, but less trouble and less calories. This is a fabulous muffin recipe and I know because I have made my share of muffins with high school students. Since I just received my first strawberries of the season in my CSA box I was searching for a great recipe. I did not have to go far. The new issue of Southern Living coincidentally featured strawberry recipes ranging from strawberry pie to strawberry curd this month. There many great looking recipes using strawberries. I didn’t have to make a choice because my friend Syble mentioned to me that she tried these strawberry lemonade muffins which were divine. I was sold . Her word is gold and I love it when I don’t have to make decisions.
Strawberry Lemonade Muffins
Filed under Muffins, Quick Breads
Pinto Beans in the Slow Cooker
I love recipes that require little effort, that you can pull the ingredients out of your pantry at a moment’s notice, and taste heavenly! This is the recipe. Easy, easy, easy and good, good, good! I cannot tell you one time that I have had pinto beans other than a Mexican restaurant. My mother always made black eyed peas, but no pintos or black beans. Well, now I have broadened my horizons or rather my tastebuds. I love this recipe and have made it several times now and each time there is not one spoonful left and there are just two of us eating these beans. I made homemade cornbread, but also being the nutrition teacher that I am I sauteed spinach with a little olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes and topped it with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Oh, my gosh!
Filed under Main dish, Slow Cooker
Salad with Grilled Chicken, Apples, and Glazed Walnuts
Salad has been my lunch life for about twenty years. That’s a long time! Why salad? It has been the easiest way for me to pack fresh vegetables into my diet every day. For as long as I have been teaching I have always packed my lunch. My routine has been and still is even though I am finished at noon everyday is to make three salads on Sunday night which includes whatever protein is available, baked ham, roasted turkey, grilled chicken, or canned tuna. Then on Wednesday night I make two more for the end of the week. Making them ahead of time keeps me out of the bag of chips or from the easy to make grilled sandwich. So by lunch I have usually had five servings of fruits and vegetables. So why don’t you try salad for lunch at least a month? Take the challenge. You’ll be healthier and a few pounds lighter!
Blueberry Bran Muffins
For the past three weeks I have received these beautiful frozen blueberries in my CSA box. They have been sitting in my freezer calling out to be included in some recipe. Now these are not blueberries that you will find in the frozen section of the grocery now or fresh ones that you might find shipped to us from across the sea. These are gargantuan blueberries from this past summer right here in my area of Georgia. We are talking beautiful blueberries, so these muffins were just perfect for them. They will be great to take to work or eat on the way to the gym before working out. And they are fabulous because I just have eaten one. WOW! Continue reading
Beef Stew Using the Pressure Cooker
I have found that people either love a pressure cooker or they are scared to death of one. I love mine, but don’t use it as often as I should. Now I am still using the first generation pressure cooker. I have this one made by Mirro. I have had it since the beginning of time and have never even had to replace the gasket. I have been investigating getting a newer one, but do I really want to spend $80 on a new one when there is nothing wrong with the old one? There is even a Third Generation pressure cooker out there now. It is electric and has lots of bells and whistles on it, but it is cumbersome. I really prize my cabinet space. I don’t want to clutter it up with an object that is way too expensive, takes up too much space, maybe won’t even get used that much, and since it’s operation system is a computer chip it could go out at any time. And you know what that means, throw out the appliance because it will cost more to repair than it would to by a new one. So I’m sticking with my First Generation pressure cooker.
Filed under Main dish
Milk Chocolate Pudding
Filed under Desserts
Oven Fried Chicken
Why don’t we bring the pulley bone back? I had such fun with this little piece of fried chicken when I was growing up. Many of my dreams went in and out of the window with the pull of this bone at the dinner table. Today my students have never heard of the pulley bone. It’s too bad they’re missing out on making wishes come true and some quality family time at the dinner table.
My mother could make really good fried chicken. I loved her fried chicken! It was perfectly seasoned, had a crispy crust ,and it was tender and juicy inside. I don’t fry chicken and not many people I know do either. It makes a huge mess and I don’t want to deal with the grease, so this is my way of having my chicken fried. I use the oven. You have some prep on the backside, but it will really pay off when you taste this wonderfully tender and juicy chicken.
If you are looking for a really crispy crust this is not the recipe for you, but it is more of a Maryland fried chicken with a great flavor. And if you are lucky enough to have leftovers, they are easily reheated by placing in foil. Don’t completely cover the chicken. Warm in a 325 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes depending of the thickness of the breasts.
Filed under Main dish
Sock-It-To-Me-Cake
This recipe is a blast from the past! It is the Duncan Hines Sock It to Me Cake. What a name for a cake! If you are into music or not you probably know this line from Aretha Franklin’s song RESPECT. It was released in 1967. Then in the 70’s Laugh In used it as a catch phrase in their show. No matter how the cake got its name it’s really good. I’m not a big fan of cake mixes, but this one is worth the time. It is super easy and really good.
Upside Down Pizza
I am right in the middle of my winter vacation sitting here thinking I’m dwindling my precious free time away. Why is it when I have free time at home I must get a hundred things crossed off my list? Why can’t I just pretend that I am at the beach? I never make out a “To Do List” at the beach. So if you have some precious time that you don’t want to spend in the kitchen this is just the recipe for something quick and easy that will satisfy every hearty appetite.
Filed under Main dish
Double Chocolate Brownies with Caramel Frosting
These could be the best brownies that you have ever had. They are chewy, chocolaty, nutty, and absolutely out of this world! With the added caramel frosting it puts them way over the top. I will confess that at first I did not have such good results with this recipe. In fact, it was rather dismal. I get crazy when a recipe does not go like I think it should. You might say to the point of being obsessive. Perfection sometimes is my downfall. I don’t want to settle for mediocre.
In looking for something a new and exciting recipe to share with my tennis team the photo of these brownies in my 2006 Southern Living Cookbook would not stop dancing in my head. I made them, but not with the results that I had anticipated. I did take the less than perfect brownies to my tennis match and one of our opponents walked over to GI Joe and me blubbering , ” I just want to tell you that after eating these brownies, I would like to marry you.” So then I was on a mission to make them perfectly! By the way I could have been this guy’s mother.
Filed under Bar Cookies
The Teacher Cooks 