Weekend Grilling

I was watching the Ask Aida show in Food Network this morning as I was running on the treadmill at the gym, and the recipe looked so good, I thought I'd try it for dinner. Let me tell you, I actually got an applause from my husband when he finished eating! It was that good! I love sauces and I love dipping things into sauce. This recipe called for a limed sour cream sauce that was perfect to dip the grilled veggies and the steak in. Yum!

Grilled Flank Steak with Ginger Marinade

courtesy of Aida Mollenkamp

Ingredients:
1 (5-inch) piece ginger, sliced thinly
1/4 cup sesame oil
8 medium garlic cloves, smashed
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds flank steak, trimmed of fat and sinew

Directions:
In a nonreactive dish or large resealable plastic bag, combine all ingredients except steak and mix thoroughly. Add steak and turn to thoroughly coat. Cover dish or close bag and allow to marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes. (If you are making ahead, cover, and place in refrigerator. Can be marinated up to 24 hours in refrigerator.)

Once steak has marinated, remove from refrigerator and bring to room temperature for at least 15 minutes. Heat a lightly oiled grill pan to medium-high heat. When pan is heated, remove steak from marinade, shake off excess, add to pan and cook for about 6 to 8 minutes per side for medium rare.

Transfer to a cutting board, season with additional salt and freshly ground black pepper and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Slice thinly across the grain and serve.

Grilled Onions and Mushrooms with Limed Sour Cream

courtesy of Aida Mollenkamp

Ingredients:
1 cup plain sour cream
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon lime zest
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
1 medium red onion, cut into 8 wedges
3 large portobello mushrooms, cut into 1-inch slices
Vegetable oil, for brushing the vegetables

Directions:
Combine sour cream, juice, zest, salt and pepper in a medium nonreactive bowl. Store, covered in refrigerator until ready to use.

Heat a lightly oiled grill pan over medium heat. Meanwhile, brush onions and mushrooms with oil and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

When grill pan is heated, add onions cut side down and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Add mushrooms and grill until charred and soft, about 10 minutes. Serve immediately with sour cream sauce.

Posted By: Julia

Pasta Primavera

My husband recently gave me some fabulous new cookbooks for Mother's Day. One of them is The Family Kitchen by Debra Ponzek. It is full of recipes that parents and kids can enjoy and make together. At the bottom of each recipe it has ideas for jobs that kids can help with to make the dish. I have so many memories of helping my Mom in the kitchen and hope that I can do the same with my children. My kids were awesome helpers, cutting the tomatoes, breaking the asparagus, grating the cheese. Even my three year old helped with the measuring. Tonight it was Pasta Primavera. Lots of fresh, healthy veggies in a light,creamy sauce. If you're worried about the cream in this recipe, don't be. It was really light tasting because there was so much pasta and veggies mixed in. The only change I made was to add a few tablespoons of cornstarch in the end because the sauce didn't seem thick enough to me. If you don't have angel hair pasta you could easily use another type of pasta.

Pasta Primavera
Debra Ponzek

1 Tbsp. Canola Oil
3 garlic cloves, sliced
3 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced (I used baby carrots and sliced them)
24 grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock or low sodium broth
1 lb. angel hair pasta
Olive Oil
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3 cups broccoli florets
2 cups sugar snap peas
8 asparagus spears, stalks trimmed and peeled, cut into thirds
3 tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and Ground Pepper

IN a large saute pan, heat the canola oil over medium-high heat until almost shimmering. Add the garlic and saute for about 1 minute, or until lightly golden brown. Add the carrots and half of the tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes until the carrots begin to soften.
Add the stock, bring to a boil, immeadiately reduce the heat, and simmer for 10-12 minutes to reduce slightly.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling salted water according to the package directions so that the pasta is al dente. Drain, drizzle with olive oil (I used about 1 tbsp.) and set aside until needed.
Add the heavy cream to the reduced stock in teh saute pan and bring the liquid to a boil over medium high heat. Add the broccoli, sugar snap peas, and asparagus and the remaining tomatoes.
Reduce the heat and simmer the sauce for about 5 minutes, or until slightly thickened and the vegetables are tender. (If the veggies are tender and the sauce still seems to thin, remove the veggies from the dish with a slotted spoon and add a tablespoon or two of cornstarch until thick then add veggies back in). Add the grated cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Transfer the pasta to a large serving bowl and toss with the primavera sauce. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Serve Immeadiately. Serves 6-8

Posted by: Sallie

Banana Bars

This is another recipe I've been making for as long as I can remember. It seems like I always have over ripe bananas I am trying to use up. I love baked goods that use sour cream. It just gives them a delicious little tang that I can't resist. I've always topped them with cream cheese frosting until I found this AMAZING Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting on Melanie's Blog. It takes them to a whole new level. A perfect dessert for summer when you might be on chocolate overload or just want something a little lighter. They're also great if you're feeding a crowd.

Banana Bars

All Recipes

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
1 (16 ounce) container cream cheese frosting, or homemade cream cheese frosting or Whipped Cream Cheese frosting.

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the sour cream and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the batter. Finally, mix in the mashed banana. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow bars to cool completely before frosting with the cream cheese frosting. Makes approx 35 bars.

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

My Kitchen Cafe

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 ½ cups powdered sugar (you can also substitute 1 cup granulated sugar if you don't have powdered sugar around)

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream

In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. Set aside. In another medium bowl, beat whipped cream until stiff peaks form (it helps to use a chilled bowl and chilled beaters - and make sure the peaks are stiff not soft). Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture and mix carefully (so as not to deflate cream) but well. Frost to your heart's delight! (Be careful if adding coloring - the liquid food coloring found in the baking aisle can quickly thin your icing so you may need to add a bit more powdered sugar to compensate.

French Breakfast Puffs

I've been making variations of these yummy muffins for years. This recipe is especially good. Don't ask me why these are called French Breakfast Puffs. All I know is that they are so good. Perfect for breakfast, brunch or anytime. They are sweet muffins with hints of nutmeg and dipped in butter and rolled in cinnamon and sugar. Also great for kids (or adults) who don't like fruit in their muffins. You can sprinkle them with sugar, a cinnamon/sugar mixture, or if you want to go all out, roll the entire muffin around in the butter for 20-30 seconds and then roll in cinnamon sugar mixture. These don't even last a day in my house.

French Breakfast Puffs

Pioneer Woman

3 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup shortening (Crisco)

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 teaspoons cinnamon

2 sticks butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 12 muffin cups. Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside. In a different bowl, cream together 1 cup sugar and shortening, then add eggs and mix. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beating well after each addition. Fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until golden. In a bowl, melt 2 sticks butter. In a separate bowl combine remaining sugar and cinnamon. Dip baked muffins in butter, coating thoroughly on all sides , then coat with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Makes 12 muffins.

*You can either dip just the tops in butter and sugar or you can roll the whole muffin in the cinnamon sugar mixture. If you do this, let them get really coatedwith butter.Leave them in there for a good 20-30 seconds before you roll in the sugar mixture.

Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars

We went to a bbq for Memorial Day and I brought these for dessert. For casual get togethers I like to do something people can just pick up and eat and not worry about plates, silverware, etc. I love the combination of chocolate and toffee. These were really dense and rich and had a similar taste to the Magic Cookie Bars. I even goofed and put the toffee chips on before I baked them and they still were great.

Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars
Sister's Cafe

2 1/3 c. flour
2/3 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. butter
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 (12 oz.) pkg. chocolate chips
1 c. chopped nuts - I used pecans, but walnuts or macadamias would be great, too.
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
10 oz. Skor toffee bits

Stir together flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add egg and mix well. Stir in 1 1/2 c. chocolate chips and all of nuts. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of this mixture and press remaining into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Bake for 10 minutes at 350. Pour milk over hot crust and top with 1 1/2 cups toffee bits. Sprinkle remaining crumbs over top plus remaining chips. Bake 25-30 more minutes. Top with remaining toffee bits.

Salami Cream Cheese Roll-Ups

My sister-in-law, Anisa, makes these appetizers for almost every family gathering we have. They are so good, I have to force myself to stop eating them!

Salami Cream Cheese Roll-Ups

Ingredients:
1 jar peppercini
1 pkg sliced salami
1 pkg cream cheese

Directions:
Slice the peppercini length wise - cut in half and half again to make 4 long pieces. Spread a slice of salami with cream cheese. Place a slice of peppercini in the middle and roll up. Stick toothpick through the middle to close.

Enjoy!

Posted By: Julia

Key Lime Cheesecake Bars

We had a Memorial Day BBQ yesterday at my sister-in-law's house, so I brought these for dessert. They were very easy to make and tasted to good. Nice and light, perfect for hot weather!

Key Lime Cheesecake Bars
adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients:
24 squares honey graham crackers, finely crushed
8 Tbsp. butter, melted
4 tsp. sugar
1 4-serving-size pkg. lime-flavored gelatin
3/4 cup boiling water
1 16-oz. container cottage cheese (1-3/4 cups)
1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 8-oz. container whipped dessert topping, thawed
Key Limes or limes, cut in wedges (optional)

Directions:
1. In small bowl combine graham crackers, butter, and sugar. Press crumb mixture in the bottom of a 2-quart square baking dish. Refrigerate while preparing filling.
2. In large bowl combine gelatin and water. Stir until gelatin is dissolved. Set aside.
3. In blender or food processor combine cottage cheese and cream cheese. Cover and blend or process until smooth, stopping several times to scrape down sides. Whisk 1/2 cup of the cottage cheese mixture into the gelatin mixture. Whisk in remaining cottage cheese mixture until smooth. Place mixture back into blender or food processor and process until smooth. Fold in whipped dessert topping. Spoon filling over chilled crumb mixture.
4. Cover and refrigerate 8 to 24 hours or until filling is firm. To serve, cut in squares. Top with lime wedges. Makes 9 servings.

Posted By: Julia