Strawberry Balsamic Jam

My parents and a couple of their friends had a huge garden back when I was a kid.  They all canned, froze, or pickled what they could from the garden, and even though then I didn't enjoy some of my jobs related to preserving the food, I miss them now.

One thing my mother didn't make was jam or jelly, though.  She did try a small batch of grape jelly once.  It took her all day, and she was displeased with how it came out in the end.  I think the term "wallpaper paste" was used more than once.

No Bake Mini Key Lime Cheesecakes

We go through a lot of cream cheese in our house.  Seriously, a lot.  If I can't get the 9 year old to eat anything else, he will at least eat a whole wheat tortilla with cream cheese or refried beans on it.  Plus I also cook with cream cheese.  So every week I pick up a brick of it.  If cream cheese is on sale, I pick up two or three.

Gluten Free Orange and Cream Cheese Scones

Two of my closest girlfriends from college are both big tea drinkers.  One of them even throws beautiful tea parties for her friends.  I was honored enough to be invited to one back in November for our other friend's birthday.  The table was set with heirloom china, crystal, and silver.  She had a savory course and a sweet course, four different blends of tea, and was even kind enough to make sure I had some apple cinnamon gluten free scones perfect for fall so I could enjoy my tea to the fullest.

Birthday Sleep-over Snack Food

On Saturday the 8 year old will be having his 9th birthday party at the local skating rink and afterward his 3 closest friends will spend the night with us for an "after party."  The party package includes pizza and sodas, but we'll be eating around 4:30.  So I thought our overnight guests will probably want more to eat later in the evening.  I can't see corralling them to sit down for a meal, though.  That's where heavy "finger food" snacks come in.  I'll be setting things out buffet style and letting the boys eat what and when they want.

Meal Plan Camping Style

Things have been a little stressful in good ways and in not so good ways around the Now Things Are Cookin' household the last few weeks, which is why the blog has been quiet lately.  My husband and his best friend have known each other literally all their lives.  They lived across the street from each other from the time they were babies until they graduated from high school and even roomed together in college.  Two weeks ago my husband's best friend's father passed away.  Both the family and my husband have been taking it hard.

Two days after the funeral, we took our annual  four day/three night (car) camping trip with three other families. We've taken this trip ever since the 8 year old was the 3 year old,  It's always a trip we look forward to every year, even after the disaster of a trip four years ago when it was 100 degrees every day and none of our campsites had any shade!

Cherry Coconut Cream Smootie

Picture it: The day before vacation.  You're home alone with an anxious and frustrated 8 year old.  You've eaten down most of the food in your fridge.  And the 8 year decides that for his after lunch "treat" he wants a smoothie.  There is no milk or ice cream in the house and you're not about to go out to the store for some only to have it sit around untouched for a week.

Peach Blueberry Garden Salad with Honey Balsamic Vinegrette

Okay, I have a small confession.  While I do love vegetables (I was that crazy kid who at age 5 would gobble up a plate of steamed broccoli and ask for more), I sometimes prefer fruit even more.  So if I can find a way to combine them into one meal, that's just about the closest thing to perfection I can get.

Strawberry Butter

Do you all remember the cranberry butter I made back around Thanksgiving?  Oh my was it good!  I made that several times during cranberry season to enjoy on toast, bagels, and english muffins for breakfast.  But alas, cranberry season ended.  Enter strawberry season and a new fruit to add to my butter.

Peach Cobbler

Aside from ice cream, desserts weren't very common in my house growing up.  But in the summer my mother would often make us cobbler.  Even though we often went out in our area to pick wild blackberries and raspberries, the cobbler was always peach.

Mock Chicken Salad

Many years ago I was very active in an online community for women and had a tight-knit group of online friends that I spent time with in chats and on message boards.  On one of those boards, we often shared recipes.  Many of the members of that community were also vegetarian.  Probably the most well known of those recipes, and certainly the one that was most requested, was one of our member's recipe for mock chicken salad.  The recipe changed each time it was written down and each time another member made it so that there are probably more variations of this recipe than anyone can imagine.

Fruit or Berry Syrup

This recipe is so simple, it's more method than recipe.  In the picture above, I've used a mix of frozen blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.  You can also do this with one berry or cherries.  Whatever floats your boat. 

Recipe Review - Fruit Pizza

Over the Christmas holiday, we had a big get-together with my husband's large family.  It's usually a covered dish affair, with one of his cousins, who is a professional chef, doing the main dish and the rest of us bringing sides.  The cousin who hosted the get together this year made a fruit pizza that was such a big hit my husband insisted she print off the recipe for me before we left.  She found the recipe on My Darling Days.

Key Lime Pie

My dad's family is from Florida.  He was one of the first generations that was not born in or near the Florida Keys.  He and I were born in Palm Beach, Florida.  The family has such a history in the Keys, there are rumors that my great-great uncle took Ernest Hemingway on his first deep sea fishing expedition.  I've never been able to prove that, but seeing as how I'm a big Hemingway fan, I like to think it's true.

Fruit Salad with Honey Lime Dressing

Big family gatherings and "breakfast for supper" nights call for fruit salad.  Everyone likes it and it's super easy to make.  My 8 year old loves that my fruit salad has just a bit of lime juice and honey for the dressing.  He told his Nana one day "Do you know why Mom puts lime juice in this?  It's to give it a little 'spark'," just like I told him when he asked.

Wednesday Recipe Reivew - Cranberry Butter

Because I don't cook Thanksgiving dinner, I don't really do a lot of holiday foods.  However, I saw this recipe for cranberry butter at The Chic Geek that looked so good I really had to give it a shot.  I'll be taking this to my parents' house on Friday to see what they think of it too.

Cranberry Relish

When I was growing up my mom would make this awesome cranberry relish.  There really was no recipe.  She'd just chop up some apples and oranges and push them through her meat grinder with cranberries until her taste testers (my brother and me) said it was perfect.  There may have been some lemon juice and sugar involved, but 30-some years later, I don't really remember.  Every Thanksgiving for years I've wanted that cranberry relish again.

Weekend Recipe Review - Spiced Pear Cake with Brown Butter Glaze

As I'm writing this, I should be sewing patches on a Cub Scout uniform in preparation of a big district wide Cub Scout camping trip tomorrow night.  You see, when the 8 year old earned his Tiger badge last year, his shirt seemed a little small.  I figured I'd wait the summer to see if he needed to go up a size before I sewed his patch on.  I never managed to get his Bobcat patch sewn on either.Well, it's fall, his shirt still fits, and the patches are still floating around in my sewing table drawer.  He's been begging me to sew the patches on.  I suppose it's time.  I am the Den Leader, after all.

Cucumber Apple Salad with Fennel

When I made the Bacon Wrapped Chicken Tenders, I wanted a light, refreshing salad using a similar flavor profile as the marinade for the dressing.  We had lots of cucumbers from a friend's garden and a granny smith apple that needed to be eaten soon.  Thinking about what else might go nicely with a lemon juice based dressing, I immediately thought about fennel.  Fennel and lemon juice just seem to fit perfectly together.

Tomato Peach Salad

I found this recipe in a magazine years ago.  I've have fiddled with the original, which I do remember called for diced red onion, so much, the only thing similar any more are the tomatoes, peaches and olive oil.