Salad with Orange Vinaigrette

This easy and delicious salad recipe is great for everyday meal planning. It can be easily doubled for larger families, or for those times when you have invited friends or extended family in for a meal. The vinaigrette is easily put together with ingredients that are usually in the kitchen, and the salad makings can be changed to fit the taste of your family and friends. The vinaigrette is slightly sweet, and with fruit and nuts added, children will love it. Enjoy!

Vinaigrette:

3 tbsps. olive oil
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 tsps. orange juice concentrate
1/8 tsp. salt
Pinch of freshly ground pepper

Combine these ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid; shake well.

Salad:

4 cups salad greens of your choice. (We love a combination of fresh spinach and romaine)
Honey Roasted or Butter Toffee Glazed slivered almonds
Dried cranberries or well-drained mandarin orange segments
2 or 3 green onions, thinly sliced, or thinly sliced red onion to taste

Tear salad greens into bit-sized pieces into a salad bowl. Sprinkle almonds, cranberries and/or oranges, and onion to your liking over greens. Add some of the vinaigrette and toss. Taste to see if the salad has enough dressing for your taste. Adjust as needed.

Easy Orange Juice Muffins

These muffins are so easy to make that children could help get breakfast on thetable on the weekend. The plus to the ease of this recipe is using a biscuit/baking mix. I've been making this recipe for years when time is short and I want to do something simple. A real help on busy days.

The orange flavor is very mild and nicely enhanced by the sugar and spice mixture that is sprinkled on the tops of the muffins before baking. Another real benefit is that they are low in calories and fat. We love them served with orange marmalade. Blessings...

Recipe:

2 cups biscuit/baking mix
2 tbsps. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. grated orange zest
2/3 cup orange juice

Topping:
2 tbsps. sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin tin.
2. Mix first 5 ingredients; beat vigorously 30 seconds. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.
3. Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle each muffin with about 1/2 tsp sugar mixture.
4. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until muffins test done with a toothpick. Remove to wire rack to cool or serve warm with honey butter or marmalade.

Yield: 12
97 calories each

Sparkling Lemonade Punch

This recipe is for those who want something easy to prepare, kid- and adult-friendly, and very refreshing. Our granddaughters loved this drink and asked me to prepare it regularly when they were visiting. With summer heat still with us, this easy drink is great for those who might want something other than soda. It's as easy as two ingredients; now that is simple and inexpensive. Blessings...

Recipe:

1 2-Liter bottle of 7-up
1 12-oz. can of pink lemonade, thawed

Pour lemonade into large bowl. Slowly add 7-up; stir to combine.
Ladle lemonade over ice in tall glasses.

Yield: about 8 servings

Berry Pie

The dessert I served for our dinner Saturday evening is a variation on a pie recipe I got out of my 2000 "Taste of Home Annual Recipes" cookbook. The original recipe comes from The Elsah Landing Restaurant in Illinois and is called "Ozark Mountain Berry Pie". It is wonderful! My variation is simply to cut down some on the lemon juice and use thawed, frozen berries, rather than fresh. I also had some leftover pie crust in the freezer, but didn't have enough for a two-crust pie, so I made it a deep-dish pie this time. It worked out just fine and saved me precious time.

Some of the thawed, frozen berries cook down and get soupy, but the flavor is wonderful and in these leaner times a bit more practical. We ate the pie warmed up a bit in the microwave with French vanilla ice cream on the side. This is comfort food at it's best. Blessings...

Ozark Mountain Berry Pie:

1-1/2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons plus 1-1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
3/4 cup cold water (include juice from the drained thawed berries)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1- 16 oz. pkg. frozen mixed berries, thawed
2 cups frozen blueberries, thawed
pastry for double-crust 9" pie

1. In a saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch.
2. Drain juice from berries and combine with water to make 3/4 cup. Stir liquid and lemon juice into sugar until smooth.
3. Add berries; stir gently. Bring to a boil over medium heat; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Remove from the heat; cool.
4. For deep-dish pie, I used an 8" x 8" Pyrex baking dish. Pour the berry filling into the pan and cover with crust. I brush my crusts with milk and sprinkle with sugar crystals. It looks pretty when done. Be sure to cut through the crust with a knife to make slits for venting the hot steam. If you are making a double-crust pie, line the pie pan with the bottom pastry. Add filling. Roll out remaining pastry; make a lattice crust. Seal and flute edges.
5. Cover edges loosely with foil. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees. Remove foil; bake 40 - 50 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool completely. You may need to re-cover the pie with foil if it starts to brown too much.

Serves: 6 - 8

Cuernavaca Casserole

This past Saturday my husband and I spent a very nice evening with a young couple that we do not know well, but wanted to, so we invited them to dinner. We had such a good time getting better acquainted over some easy, but very good food. This recipe has been in my recipe file for years, but I don't make it much anymore because it makes way too much for the two of us. It is perfect when serving four or more, which is why I use to make it often when our boys were young. Kids love this dish with the layers of tortilla chips, chicken and cheese.

I made the casserole the day before our dinner and found that this worked very well. This was the first time that I had done this, and the mistake I made was in overheating the casserole. The tortilla chips on the bottom got rather tough. I loved it this way, but others may not, so don't let time get away from you as I did! If I were to do it all over again, I would heat the casserole in a 325 degree oven for about 30 minutes, remove it from the oven and use a spoon to go down through the layers so it might heat more quickly. Return the casserole to the oven and give it another 15 minutes. Check it again to see how hot the center is. If you don't make the recipe in advance, follow my directions as written below.

I served refried beans topped with jack cheese along side and my friend brought a salad. Dessert was a berry pie, which I will share tomorrow. Blessings...

Recipe:

1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons butter
2 cans (8 oz. each) tomato sauce
1 can (4 oz.) diced green chilies  ( I use mild)
2 teaspoons leaf oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1 pkg. (8 oz.) tortilla chips
8 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, cut into 1/2" cubes
3 cups chunked, skinned and boned, cooked chicken
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup grated medium cheddar cheese

1. Butter a large round casserole, 1-1/2 to 3 quarts in size.
2. Saute' onion in 2 tablespoons butter until transparent. Add tomato sauce, chilies, oregano and salt. Stir to combine. Simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes; remove from heat.
3. Layer in casserole in order, half the following: tortilla chips, lightly crushed, Jack cheese, chicken and sauce. Repeat with remaining half of the ingredients.
4. Bake in a 325 degree oven for 20 minutes.
5. Spread sour cream on top, wreath with the grated cheddar cheese. Return to oven for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the sour cream is heated through.
Serve immediately.

Yield: 6 - 8 servings

Our Granddaughters Visit

My husband and I had the wonderful gift of two of our granddaughters coming for a visit this summer. These two little girls live in Tenn. and were so brave to fly across the country on their own. We will forever be thankful for this time with them.

While they were here, we wanted them to meet some of our friends. We had our neighbors over for dinner so the girls could get acquainted with some of the people in our lives. The girls and I then invited the mother and daughter over for lunch that week. We made two pots of soup and some brownies, yum! We had such a good time.

During this time we went to the Lavender Festival, something I had never done before. We cut lots of lavender and had our house smelling very fragrant, then the girls took the dried flowers and made sachets to take home. We also tried some lavender ice cream while at the festival. This isn't a treat I would ever spend $2.50 for a 1/4 cup on again. But, it was nice to try something very different.

Much more to every one's liking was our two trips to Miss Ellie's Cakes for cupcakes. Oh, my goodness, what a treat these things are! These beautiful cupcakes were also $2.50 each, and what a special deal they were. Well worth every cent. Miss Ellie's is a very welcoming place and the gentleman who waited on us is the daddy to Miss Ellie. This is a lovely family owned business that serves families well. Our granddaughters loved going.

We did so much more over the almost three weeks they were here, but mostly we cooked and baked together. We spent wonderful time together in the kitchen relating with one another and building our relationships. I love them dearly and can't wait until we get to do it all over again.

Good Manners

My husband and I returned from a trip to California last week. We were gone ten days and connecting with friends and family presented itself in many forms. I do not think that most of us even think of how much we can impact the lives of those around us, for good or bad, we just do because we are in relationships.

How we respond to the people we invite into our homes is very important, but how we respond to people in public places is also a form of connecting and relationship building. Do we offer a kind word or a smile? Do we act interested in the people who are sitting at the table with us even if they aren't our best friend or closest family member? There were times when I felt very uncomfortable and left out, and I had to make the effort to be kind and keep going. Good manners, being kind, and showing an interest in other people are very important social graces that must not be forgotten. Reach out to others with a kind word and a smile. Be a blessing in the life of another.

"Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use." Emily Post