Avocado, corn and tomato salad

Simple and summery is what this is. This is a quick and easy side dish to any meal that tastes amazing freshly prepared.

INGREDIENTS:
3 corn cobbs, raw
1 heaping handful of cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 avocados
3-4 scallions or green onions, diced
1 TBSP lime juice or 1 lime juiced
salt and pepper to taste
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 TBSP butter

1. In a medium bowl add quartered tomatoes, season with salt and let sit for 4-5 minutes. Meanwhile in a large skillet place butter. Stand the corn on end and cut the kernels off of the corn and into the pan. Over medium heat saute corn for 2 minutes. Add garlic, lime juice, and season with salt and pepper. Saute for another 2 minutes, but do not let the garlic brown. Take the pan off the burner and set aside.
2. Add scallions and corn to tomatoes and stir to mix well. Set aside. Just before serving add avocado and stir well. Waiting to add the avocado ensures it won't brown. This tastes great at room temperature.

Serves about 4 people.
Also feel free to add other things like cilantro and/or black beans to make it more hearty.

Tres Leches Cake

This cake will literally knock your socks off. It is SOOO good! Sometimes I read ingredients to recipes and think, ugh, just reading this is grossing me out. You may think that with this cake, but get past that and make it! It is worth making and eating at special occasions. You will begin to come with more and more special occasions in which you need to make this; I promise. I straight up stole my recipe off of Martha Stewart from Pinterest. I am claiming nothing amazing of my own. Here it goes...

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted and cooled butter
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
5 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12oz) can evaporated milk
1 cup whole milk

WHIPPED TOPPING (you will not regret making this from scratch)
2 cups (1 pint) heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Cut up seasonal fruit (1 peach and 1/2 a pint of blueberries was plenty)

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9x13 pan. In a small pot melt butter on the stove top, allow to cool. Meanwhile in a small bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In a large bowl use electric mixers to beat eggs and sugar. Beat on high for 4 minutes, until pale and thick. (Mine never got thick, but it was fine.) Add vanilla and beat. With mixers on low, gradually add flour mixture and beat to combine.

Alex helping to poke holes

3. With a rubber spatula fold in cooled butter until incorporated. Transfer to baking dish and bake 30-35 min until toothpick comes out clean. Rotate half way through (this has got to be a Martha thing, but I did it too.)
4. In a medium bowl whisk three milks (tres leches) until combined. Once cake is finished, immediately poke holes throughout with a wooden skewer. Pour the milk mixture over the cake and let cool for 1 hour.
5. To make the whipped topping, combine heavy cream, sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Beat with electric mixers until thick, about 3-4 minutes. Spread on cooled cake and garnish with fresh fruit. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Graham Whipped Delight

This is the perfect summer dessert. It is so simple, doesn't have many ingredients and only takes minutes to whip up. It comes from my friend Kory, so thank her! Here's what you need.

INGREDIENTS:
1 box honey graham crackers
2 oz cream cheese, soft
1 pint heavy cream
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla
sliced fruit such as strawberries, blueberries and bananas

1. Line a 9x13 plan with a single layer of graham crackers. Set 1 cracker aside for the topping.

2. In a large mixing bowl whip the heavy cream with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Mix well until creamy.

3. Plop the cream cheese mixture onto the graham crackers and smooth over. Top with sliced fruit. Crumble the last graham cracker and sprinkle over top. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Open-faced Eggplant Sandwiches

INGREDIENTS:
1 eggplant
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 cup breadcrumbs (or more)
extra virgin olive oil
1 fresh loaf ciabatta bread
1 jar of pasta sauce or homemade sauce
mozzarella cheese for sprinkling on top

 1. Slice the eggplant. Scramble the egg in a medium bowl, add the milk. In a separate bowl place breadcrumbs. Sprinkle a bit of salt and mix it into the breadcrumbs. Heat a large skillet with oil. Add the eggplant and cook on one side until brown. Turn over, add more oil and brown the other side.

 2. Meanwhile slice the ciabatta bread in half and then into what ever size portions you would want to eat. (I did one large size and a small size. We never got to the smaller size.) Place on a cookie sheet.
3. You can either put sauce on the bread first if you like to taste a lot of sauce, or just put the eggplant straight on the bread once both sides are browned. So it goes bread, eggplant, sauce then top with cheese.

4. Set your broiler to low. Place in the oven on the top rack for 4-7 minutes or until cheese has melted. Keep checking it so it doesn't burn. Serve immediately.

Asian soup with pork

This is probably the only recipe on this blog (so far) that came straight out of my head. I was really craving a soup like this so I bought some ingredients. I checked out some website for recipes, but I didn't like most of the ingredients listed. It turned out so good I immediately went back and thought through everything I did so I could replicate it. Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
1 bottle Kikkoman, Teriyaki garlic & green onion marinade (found at most grocery stores)
1 boneless pork roast (I bought this pre-packaged in the meat section)
1 TBSP canola or vegetable oil (instead of olive oil)
1/2 tsp celery salt
3 -4 carrots peeled and cut julian style
3 celery stalks, trimmed and diced
2 garlic cloves minced
1 or 2 TBSP soy sauce
2, 32 oz boxes of chicken broth
1 bag bean thread noodles (a Chinese clear noodle, but you can use any noodle you wish. Try the international isle at the food store.)
4-5 scallions or green onions, diced

1. Preheat oven to 400. Heat a skillet and pour a little bit of the Teriyaki sauce in the pan. Add the pork roast. Cook for 5 minutes on each side, you only want to brown it in the sauce. Place the pork in an oven-safe dish and pour about 1/2-3/4 cup Teriyaki sauce over the roast. Cook for 45 minutes in the oven or until no longer pink in the middle.

2. Meanwhile, heat a stock pot with canola oil. Add celery, carrots and celery salt. Cook about 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Add garlic and cook an additional 2 minutes. Add soy sauce and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Once boiled add noodles and cook for about 10 minutes or until tender.

Bean thread noodles

3. Once the meat is cooked let it sit for at least 5 minutes to let the juices collect. I promise this is worth it. Slice the meat into thin strips. Ladle the soup into bowls. Place the pork on top of the soup and garnish with green onions.

NOTE: Cilantro would be a great addition to this soup if you like the flavor. You can add it to the broth in the last few minutes of cooking the noodles of just place it as a garnish on top of the soup.

Sausage, potatoes and vegetable casserole

Here's to another Pinterest find! I really love Pinterest for so many of my cooking, decorating and gardening tips. So this recipe comes from a woman's blog called, Kayotic Kitchen. I've made this twice in the past month and it's delicious! Here's what you need.

INGREDIENTS:
4 Italian sausages (1 package will do)
8 small yucon gold potatoes
1 red pepper sliced
4-5 carrots, peeled and sliced lengthwise
1 small onion sliced thick
1 garlic clove
2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP lemon juice
1/2 cup chicken broth
cracked black pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 450. Peel and quarter potatoes. Peel and slice the carrots. Slice the red pepper and cut slices in half. Cut the onion into large slices. Place all of these in a 9x13 pan. Combine garlic clove (pressed), olive oil, lemon juice, chicken broth in a small bowl. Mix well and drizzle over vegetables. Crack black pepper over vegetables. Cover with foil and place in the oven for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile fill a large skillet 1/3 full of water. Place sausages in water and bring to a boil. Keep the water at a slow boil for 8-10 minutes, then turn sausages over. Cook an additional 8 minutes. Remove from pan and slice into 1in pieces.
3. After the potatoes and vegetables have cooked for 30 minutes add sausages, stir well and cook for an additional 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender and sausages are fully cooked (no longer pink in the middle.)

Iced Tea

I grew up on iced tea - home made that is. It was a summer staple in our house. I love a tall glass on iced tea on a hot summer day. My favorite is to toss a sprig of peppermint into my glass and pour the iced tea over. That way the mint isn't too strong, but just right for my taste.

INGREDIENTS:
8 tea bags (I use 4 black and 4 green tea)
1 gallon cold tap water
1/2 - 3/4 cups sugar
1 or 2 TBSP lemon juice

1. In a large stock pot bring water to a rolling boil, turn off heat. Add tea bags and let steep for 12 minutes. Pull out tea bags and toss them in the trash. Add sugar while still hot and stir well. Add lemon juice and stir well. Pour tea into a large pitcher and store in the fridge. Serve as needed.

NOTE: There is no need to buy those tea bags that say they are for iced tea. That seems like such a gimic to me. I buy Lipton or Harris brand tea bags. You can buy decaffinated if you like, most times I do. Buy the really big box of tea to save money. At our house I make iced tea about once a week, sometimes more in the summer.