Wow I’ve gotten way behind in my posting and cooking. I appreciate you loyal readers, and I promise that there will be tons of yummy recipes coming soon! I have my family reunion this weekend, so be ready for some good home cooking and desserts!
In the meantime, meet our newest addition, Squeakers!
I’ve made this dessert several times, and have never had any complaints. The catch- I make it as sugar free as possible. Having family members with diabetes has made me very aware of sugar contents, and luckily with cheesecake it’s fairly easy to make it more diabetic friendly.
The first time I served this dessert, I didn’t have a chance to tell my guests that it was sugar free before everyone dug in. And guess what- they loved it! So give it a try!
Cheesecake (Source: Adapted from Pioneer Woman)
** I put my changes to make it more diabetic friendly in parentheses
Ingredients
Filling
Topping
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place graham crackers and pecans into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until mixture becomes crumbs. Add melted butter and vanilla and pulse again until combined. Pour into a 10-inch springform pan and press crumbs into the bottom of the pan.
For the filling, beat cream cheese and splenda until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add sour cream and mix again. Pour mixture into crust, smooth the top, and bake for 1 hour, 10 minutes. Turn off oven and open door and allow to sit in the oven with the door opened for 15 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.
For the topping, add strawberries, splenda, and water to a saucepan or skillet. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly.
Pour strawberries over the cheesecake and place pan into the fridge to cool and set for at least 2 hours—several hours is better.
Another option is to place several drops of the fruit juice and swirl around with a knife. Then serve the berry mixture individully with each slice.
When ready to serve, remove rim around pan and slice into 16 pieces with a long serrated knife.
I’ve never been much of a fan of just plain lemonade. However, when it’s paired with strawberry I just can’t resist!This is such a nice refreshing drink for spring/summer, and such a crowd pleaser as well. I like the addition of the sparkling water, it seems to take it to a whole new level. Enjoy!
Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade (Source: The Sweet Melissa Baking Book as seen on Annie’s Eats)
Yield: 6-7 cups
Ingredients:
For the strawberry syrup:
1 heaping cup chopped strawberries
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. cold water
Pinch of salt
For the lemonade:
1 cup very hot water
2/3 cup sugar
1¼ cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
4½ cups cold sparkling water or seltzer
Directions:
To make the strawberry syrup, combine the strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, water and salt in the bowl of a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth. Pour the mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds, pressing down to extract as much liquid as possible.
To make the lemonade, combine the hot water and sugar in a pitcher. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Mix in the lemon juice and water. Stir in the strawberry puree.
To serve, rub a wedge of lemon or one of the spent lemon halves around the rim of a glass and then dip in sugar. Fill with ice if desired and then lemonade. Garnish with sliced lemon or strawberries. Serve immediately.
To make into a refreshing cocktail, you can replace about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the water with vodka, to taste.
Source: The Sweet Melissa Baking Book via Pink Parsley Catering
NFR # 93
I was actually the submitter of this recipe to our family cookbook. While it is a good recipe, and a great crowd pleasing side dish,it is quite simple. At the time of the ‘publishing’ of the Nall Family cookbook, I was just out of college and not very daring or adventurous in my baking adventures. This recipe actually comes of the back of the package of hashbrowns.
Hashbrown Casserole (Source: Simply Potatoes)
Ingredients
Directions
I don’t know how many times I’m going to say it, but we sure do love Mexican food. And with that- of course we love salsa. I love the traditional tomato salsa and chips, but I always have my eyes open for a new type of salsa. When I saw this recipe in one of my new favorite cookbooks, I was so excited to try it. The toasted corn was a new trick for me, and definitely added a nice flavor as well as crunch. We enjoyed this recipe, and actually it was much better a few hours after all of the ingredients melded together.
And- this is a pretty healthy recipe, which makes it just that much better! Nutritional info at the bottom. Next time I think I will add some black beans to the mix.
Toasted Corn Salsa (Source: America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook, 2010)
Ingredients:
Directions:
Nutritional Info (per 1/4 cup)
Cal 50; Fat 3.5g; Sat Fat 0g; Chol 0g; Carb 6g; Protein 1g; Fiber 1g; Sodium 75mg
Need I say more? 
I had a birthday last week, and my coworkers decided to have a pot lunch for me- which was incredibly sweet! I offered to make a cake, because, well, when you have a recipe like this you just don’t want to wait too long to make it! However, my wonderful coworkers took me by surprise and planned a surprise celebration a day early! It was such a great surprise, and they also provided ice cream cake (my absolute favorite)!
But since I had already prepared the layers of this cake, I figured I might as well finish it and bring it in for yet another celebration! I adapted this recipe from these cupcakes, but I did make 2 batches of the icing. I really only needed about 1 1/2 batches of it though.
One helpful tip, for the filling, it is easiest to line a cake pan with a layer of saran wrap, the press all of the filling into the pan. When you have pressed it in completely, simply pull up the lining, and flip over onto the bottom layer of cake. Then top with the second layer. I add this note, because for some reason I opted not to do this, and just shaped the filling myself. While this is doable, it is more time intensive and less efficient.
Get your glass of milk ready for this cake!
Mexican is a staple in our house. Well, in and out of our house. When in doubt, if my kitchen adventures result in a failure or we just want to go out, 9 times out of 10 we go to our local mexican restaurant. We pretty much always order the same thing, and rarely, if ever, get chicken dishes. However, I got the inkling to try making chicken tacos, to mix up our usual beef choices.
The problem I run into with tacos is that my taste tester doesn’t really care for any of the store bought shells. So, this was my first attempt to make my own shells, which basically consists of corn tortilla shells fried in oil. These definitely taste better than the store bought variety!
Chicken Tacos
Ingredients
Directions
It’s summer time and that means the grill is being put to good use. I’ve been on a bit of a kabob kick lately- especially after finding out how much my husband likes grilled pineapple! The only difficulty I had with this recipe was finding flank steak. My local grocery store has been out, but after speaking with the butcher (we’re getting to be old friends now) he recommended skirt steak for this recipe. It worked out just fine- no complaints on our end. I served this with grilled pineapple and cilantro lime rice.
Marinated Beef Skewers (Source: Confections of a Foodie Bride, inspired by Matt Armendariz)
Ingredients
Directions
Chicken Parmesan used to be a staple in our house, and then it just disappeared. I think we got a bit burned out since we used to eat it at least once a week. I ran across a new recipe in America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Cookbook, and thought it was time to resurrect this dish. And I’m so glad I did, because this was delicious! There was so much flavor in the chicken, it really didn’t even have to be topped with the sauce and cheese (though of course we did!) I really like the toasted panko crumbs, I think that’s what pushed this recipe over the top! I’ve already made this recipe twice, I think I need to slow it down so we don’t get sick of this recipe!
I served this over spaghetti noodles topped with easy spaghetti sauce!
Chicken Parmesan (Source: America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook, 2010)
Ingredients
Directions
Nutrition info
Per serving: Cal 330, Fat 10g, Sat Fat 3g, Chol 80mg, Carb 20g, Protein 38g, Fiber 2g, Sodium 750mg
We’ve been on a kabob kick lately (recipes to come soon!) Many times when I get excited about main dish recipes, I tend to forget about side dishes. Which means either no side, or something quickly thrown together that really doesn’t complement the dish. So when I stumbled across this recipe, I got very excited. Typically I don’t care for just plain rice, and this recipe, while simple, added a nice flavor that complemented the marinated beef kabobs that we had with it.
Cilantro Lime Rice (Source: Skinny Taste)
Ingredients
Directions
In a small pot, add rice, water, 1 tsp oil and salt. Boil on high until most of the water evaporates. When the water just skims the top of the rice, reduce to low and cover about 15 minutes. Shut off flame and keep covered an additional 5 minutes.
In a medium bowl, combine chopped cilantro, lime juice, rice and remaining oil and toss until completely mixed.
Servings: 4 • Size: 3/4 cup • Old Points: 4 pts • Points+: 5 pts
Calories: 201.0 • Fat: 3.4 • Carbs: 37.4 • Fiber: 0 • Protein: 4.0 g
