Seafood Pea-Ista Salad

Since we have afternoon church this year, every fourth Sunday is a linger longer. I love it! I don't have to actually plan a meal, but just have to make some food. For some reason that is just so much easier for me. I have decided that making cupboard project recipes is a great way to try some out because we don't have to it forever. Like this one. I've had it waiting since the very first time I got recipes and have never made it because of the ingredients. The next recipe also was for the linger- longer.

*Kathy Lewis from Murchison, Texas was the second place winner at the Black-Eyed Pea Jamboree (who knew?) in Athens, Texas.

Makes 4-6 servings

1/2 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
1/4 cup zesty Italian salad dressing
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
2 cups canned green or yellow black-eyed peas, rinsed
8 ounces corkscrew (rotini) pasta, cooked, rinsed, and drained
1 1/2 cups chopped imitation crabmeat (about 8 ounces)
1 cup broccoli flowerets, partially cooked
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped tomato
1/4 cup sliced green onions

Combine mayonnaise, Italian salad dressing add cheese in large bowl; blend well. Add peas, pasta, imitation crabmeat, broccoli, pepper, tomato and onions; toss gently to mix. Cover; refrigerate at least two hours.

There is a little note that states, "When pasta is served with legumes all the essential amino acids are present, making it a good choice for a vegetarian meal."

I was skeptical about the crab and the black-eyed peas. It got rave reviews from people one of which said it was a great use of beans. Big Chubb LOVED it because of the crab. It was okay, but i will probably never make it again. I stared at the bean aisle in Wal-Mart for about 5 minutes trying to find those dang black-eyed peas.

Not related to food at all, here is a picture of the front of our house.

I'm hoping to eventually get shutters for the two smaller windows in the same plum color. Someday when we have extra money it might happen. And, a house down the street sold for $130,000. When we eventually move I'm hoping we can get the same type of deal :)

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

I always make sure to take a dessert to our linger-longers just to make sure there is something really good for dessert instead of just a bunch of cookies. I decided chocolate cake would be good.

Sorry, no picture. I didn't get one, and I can't get any from the internet. But, it's a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Skill Level: Beginner

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water
• "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

Directions

• 1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
• 2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
• 3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. Makes 12 servings.
• VARIATIONS:
• ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.
• THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.
• BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.
• CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.
• "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
• 2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
• Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

I opted for the one pan variation since I wanted to exert as little effort as possible. It really is beginner level. You mix everything in one bowl. It baked up beautifully, The frosting was the only really thing I had issues with. It was lumpy.

So to disguise my bad frosting, I added some of my cow sprinkles on top.

It was a huge success! Someone came up to me and said, "Ben caught me sneaking a second piece. It's very good." We only came home with a piece and a half.

Plum Streusel Coffeecake

I usually save my plums for making Martha's Plum Raspberry Upside-down cake, but they have been cheapish at Aldi the last couple weeks, so I bought some more for this recipe.


For Streusel
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 c. walnuts
3/4 stick (6 tbsp.) unslated butter, cut into pieces and softened
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg


For Cake Batter
1 stick (1/2 cup) unslated butter, softened
3/4 c. granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 lb. plums (4 to 5 medium), sliced


Preaheat oven to 350 degrees F. and butter and flour a 9-inch round or square baking pan at least 2 inches deep.

Make Streusel: In a food processor pulse together flour, brown sugar, walnuts, butter, cinnamon and nutmeg until combined well and crumbly.

Make cake batter: In a bowl with an electric mixer beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy and add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, and vanilla. Sift flour with baking powder and salt and beat until just combined.

Spread cake batter in pan, smoothing top, and arrange plum slices over it in slightly overlapping concentric circles. Sprinkle streusel over plum slices and bake cake in middle of an oven 1 hour, or until a taser comes out clean Coffeecake, can be made 1 week ahead: Cool cake completely in pan on rack and freeze, wrapped well in plastic wrap and foil. Reheat cake, unwrapped but not thawed, in a preheated 350 degree F. oven until heated through, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool cake slightly on a rack and sift confectioner's sugar over it, if desired. Serve coffeecake warm or at room temperature.


It was good. Baby Chubb keeps reaching for the pan whenever she sees it. Little Chubb ate about half his piece, but probably would eat more of it now since it is now room temperature.

My only problem with it was that it takes so long to cook. I am not a fan of waiting SO LONG for food in the morning. I probably should have just made it the night before and reheated it up for us in the morning. The streusel was still pretty dry and crumbly, but works okay on top kind of soaking up some the the plum juice that cooks out. And, I would probably just put the plums on top, since you can't see the plums at all once the streusel is put on.

Fancy Cantaloupe Soup

I have a page from the Farmers' Advance (September 9, 1998) that has several fruit soup recipes on one side and some fast family dinners on the other. I've been wanting to try the fruit soups for awhile. I did the safest one first.

FANCY CANTALOUPE SOUP

2 medium cantaloupes, well ripened, halved and seeded

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup fresh orange juice

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1/3 cup apple juice

1/4 cup dry sherry

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Thin lime slices

Yields 6 servings

Scoop pulp from 3 ripe cantaloupe halves. Cut remaining cantaloupe 1/2 into melon balls and reserve.

Thoroughly combine cantaloupe pulp, sugar, orange juice, lime juice, apple juice, lemon juice, vanilla extract and ginger. Process mixture in 2-cup batches, 30 seconds per batch or until smooth.

Pour into large non-metal bowl, cover, and chill several hours or overnight.

Serve in shallow bowls garnished with melon balls, macadamia nuts and lime slices.

I admittedly made several changes. I omitted the sherry, substituted pineapple juice for the orange juice, put in a spoonful of applesauce in place of the apple juice, and omitted the macadamia nuts. I thought my substitutions were pretty good, and I did like the soup overall. It was canteloupe-y with a bright flavor. Brian didn't like it. He said the taste was fine, but he thought it was weird to  drink canteloupe. C had one bite of it, but I don't think she commented on whether or not she liked it. I didn't even try to give O any. Maybe for breakfast tomorrow. I halved it and It made more than 3 servings. 

The cherry soup might make on appearance on the blog, but don't hold your breathe for the grapefruit soup (with tomato juice and onion!) or the plum soup.

Sausage Stuffed Garlic Bread Delight

I've made this before- a few times actually. I know it's a Jacob type dinner, so I've had it on my dinner radar for when I found good deals on sausage and peppers. It came from a big online list of pork recipes, but I can't find the website.

Sausage Stuffed Garlic Bread Delight

Ingredients

1 12 oz package reduced fat pork sausage, either Italian or hot

1 loaf French or Italian bread

2 T EVOO

1/2 c parmesan

2 T minced garlic

1 T parsley

1/4 T salt

1 T oil

1 c thinly sliced yellow onion

1/2 thinly sliced green pepper

Pinch crushed red pepper

1 T chopped garlic

Cooking Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 and line baking sheet with aluminum foil.

Cut the bread in half lengthwise. Lay the two halves cut side up on lined baking sheet.

In a small mixing bowl combine the butter, EVOO, parmesan, garlic, parsley, and salt and mix well.  Spread butter mixture evenly onto the two halves of the bread. Bake until just starting to get bubbly, but not brown, about ten minutes. Remove from oven.

Meanwhile, cook pork sausage in large skillet, stirring and breaking up with a wooden spoon until cooked through, about five minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain in paper towels.

Add onions, peppers, and red pepper and cook, stirring, until soft, about three minutes. Remove from heat and add sausage back to the pan, and stir well.  Spread the sausage mixture evenly over the bottom half of the bread and cover with the top half. Wrap in aluminum foil and return to the oven to warm through and for the flavors to blend, 5-6 minutes. Remove from oven and slice and serve immediately. 

We really liked this. I didn't add that much salt and we didn't miss it. It isn't healthy, but it sure is tasty!

Delicious Drink

We had a little cook out with our friends to celebrate the last day of school for Big Chubb. I had been explaining to Little Chubb that on Monday Daddy won't be going to work and will be home all summer with us. A couple minutes later he asked me if his friends' dad had to go to school on Monday. He is going to have a skewed view of what it is like to have a real job.

I made this drink to have with our cook out.

Delicious Drink

1 pkg. kool-aid
1/4 c. oj concentrate

Make kool-aid as directed. Stir in oj concentrate.

Well, it was fine. Pretty much kool-aid with a slight hint of orange in it. The kids all loved it.

Jackee's Quick Vegetarian Delight

Another good vegetable meal.

Jackee's Quick Vegetarian Delight

1 cup margarine
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 ears of corn or 2 cups frozen
3 zucchini squash, sliced into round pieces
1 green pepper, sliced
1 large tomato, wedged
1 tablespoon garlic salt
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt margarine with oil in skillet. Saute husked corn off the cob for 10 to 15 minutes.
Add zucchini and green pepper. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add tomato. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes more.
Season with garlic salt and salt and pepper.
Serve over rice.

I did not use 1 cup of margarine! I couldn't decide whether or not that was a typo on the recipe card. I replaced it with a cup of chicken broth, which gave it some good flavor without the heart attack waiting to happen. I also didn't use a tablespoon of garlic salt. I just seasoned to taste with garlic powder, salt, pepper.

It was pretty fast, pretty cheap, pretty healthy, and pretty good. It made a lot, enough for two meals for us. Take note for upcoming zucchini season.