Cookie Carnival: Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

One of the recipes for this July's Cookie Carnival is Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. The recipe is from Pillsbury. I made these this afternoon. I added some chocolate chips to part of the batter. the cookies were so delicious! Hard to stay out of them!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 egg

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups quick cooking rolled oats

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray. In large bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar and margarine; beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs; blend well. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Stir in oats, raisins and nuts.

2. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets.

3. Bake at 375 degrees for 7-10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute, remove from cookie sheets.

My Girl, Paula: Blueberry Cream Pie

This week's, My Girl, Paula theme is Anything Goes. After looking through The Lady & Sons, Too! cookbook, I found this recipe. Had to make it! It is for tomorrow night's dinner at my parents'. I've been meaning to make it for a couple weeks now. It was really easy. THIS PIE IS AWESOME!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

one 9-inch deep-dish pie crust (thawed if frozen)

Two 3-oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup granulated sugar

One 21-oz can blueberry pie filling

Directions:

Press the chopped nuts into the bottom of the pie crust. Bake as directed on the package and let cool.

Beat the cream cheese with the confectioners' sugar. Beat the heavy cream with the granulated sugar until it forms into soft peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.

Spoon the mixture into the cooled pie shell and top with blueberry pie filling.

Refrigerate until well chilled.

Fajitas

My daughter, Kelly, wanted to make this recipe by Tyler Florence while she was visiting. All of us chipped in...Kelly doing most, Jimmy making the guacamole, Steve helping with the grilling, and I did clean up and found stuff.

This was one of the best fajitas I have ever had! Thanks, Kelly!

Ingredients:

1 orange, juiced

2 limes, juiced

4 T, olive oil

2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

3 chipolte chiles, in adobo sauce

3 T roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp salt

2 1/4 lb shirt or flank steak, trimmed of fat, cut into thirds or 8 inch pieces

salt and pepper

2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced

1 large onion, thinly sliced

Lime juice, olive oil, optional

12 flour tortillas, warm

guacamole, recipe follows

good quality store bought salsa

Directions:

In a small 2 cup measuring cup, or something similar size and shape, combine all the marinade ingredients. Using an immersion blender, puree the marinade until smooth. Transfer to a re-sealable plastic bag and add the steak, seal and shake to coat. Refrigerate the beef for 2-4 hours to tenderize and flavor the beef.

Preheat a ridged grill pan on high heat. Drain the marinade from the beef. Lightly oil the grill or grill pan. Season liberally with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Grill the steak over medium-high heat and cook for 4 minutes on each side and then transfer to a cutting board and let rest. Depending on the size of your grill pan, you may need to cook in batches.

Once the beef is off the grill pan and resting, add the bell peppers and onions tossed with lime juice and olive oil, if using. Grill the mixture for 7-8 minutes until the vegetables are just barely limp.

While the peppers and onions are cooking, heat up the tortillas. Turn any free burners on a medium low flame; place a tortilla on each flame and let it char about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Flip the tortilla and repeat on the second side. Once heated and charred, remove the tortilla to a clean tea towel and wrap to keep warm. Repeat until you have warmed all the tortillas. Or, you can heat the tortillas in the microwave.

Thinly slice the steak against the grain on the diagonal.

To serve: Spread guacamole on a tortilla, top with a few slices of steak, peppers and onions, and salsa. Roll up tortilla to enclose the filling.

May also be served with sour cream and shredded cheese.

Guacamole:

5 ripe Hass avocados

3-4 limes, juiced

1/2 small onion, chopped

1 small garlic clove, minced

1 serrano chile, chipped

1 big handful fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Drizzle olive oil

Halve and pit the avocados. With a tablespoon, scoop out the flesh into a mixing bowl. mash the avocados with a fork, leaving them still a bit chunky. Add all the rest of the ingredients, and fold everything together. Lay a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the guacamole so it does not brown and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Fourth of July Cupcakes

Happy Fourth of July! I hope everyone had as nice a day as I did. It was great having my daughter and her family here to visit for the holiday. They aren't leaving for a week. Looking forward to the upcoming week off to visit with them. We had a barbecue and went and watched the city's fireworks.

I decided to make the the Fourth of July Cupcakes from A Recipe a Day by Nancy. I thought my two grandkids would get a kick out of them...I think the adults did too!

This recipe should make like 18 cupcakes but I had my grandkids helping so I made 13!

Ingredients:

White cake mix and the ingredients to make it

blue food coloring

red food coloring

white frosting

sprinkles

Directions:

Mix the cake mix and the ingredients to make it. Divide the batter evenly into three bowls. In one bowl add blue food coloring to desired shade. Repeat with the red food color. Leave one bowl as it.

Line 18 muffin tins with liners. Put about 2T of red batter on bottom; next 2 T of white on top of red; third 2T on top. Do not swirl.

Bake as directed on cake mix box. Let cupcakes cool. Frost with the white frosting and add red, white and blue sprinkles.

My Girl, Paula: Mustard and Peppercorn Crusted Ribeye

This recipe is actually for next weeks theme: Grilling. This was such an easy recipe and so delicious! We ate until we were stuffed! My son-in-law grilled these for me while I did the inside stuff.

Ingredients:

4 large ribeye steaks (about 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick, at least 6 ounces each)

4 T brown mustard

4 T fresh ground black peppercorns

1-2 T finely ground black pepper (if desired) - I omitted

Kosher salt

Directions:

Brush ribeyes with mustard on both sides. In a shallow bowl, or a plate with deep center, combine the pepper and salt. Pat pepper mixture onto steaks and crust thoroughly on all sides.

Prepare your grill by lightly spraying your grate to prevent sticking. When the grill is hot, place the ribeyes on your grate and cook until desired doneness. About 3-4 minutes a side for rare. Add one or two minutes for medium rare and so on.

Weekend Brunch Casserole

My daughter is visiting with her family from Kansas. When I was at my cousin's a couple weekends ago, she made this casserole. It can be found on the Bob Evans website. But, don't tell Bob that I prefer Jimmy Dean better...Shhh...

My cousin made it with onions and peppers; I left them out. It was so yummy! We ate the whole thing!

Ingredients:

1 lb Bob Evans Original Recipe Sausage Roll (I used Jimmy Dean Regular)

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 (8 oz) can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

4 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup milk

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Crumble and cook sausage in medium skillet over medium heat until browned. Drain.

Line bottom of greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish with crescent roll dough, firmly pressing perforations to seal. Sprinkle with sausage and cheese. Combine remaining ingredients in medium bowl until blended; pour over sausage.

Bake 15 minutes or until set. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting into squares. Refrigerate leftovers.

Have the Cake: Strawberry Shortcakes

This month's theme for Have the Cake was Strawberry Shortcakes. Strawberries are my absolute favorite fruit. I LOVE, LOVE strawberry season. I went thru a period recently where I did not want to try anything new. I seem to be out of that rut. I love the theme. I made the Strawberry Shortcakes from "The Sweet Melissa Baking Book."

The recipe whipped up in no time. I did not make the home made whipped Cream. I opted for Cool Whip!

I have to say these were the best shortcakes I have ever made or had. They were so delicious. Sweet by not too sweet.

Ingredients:

Shortcakes:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 T sugar, plus 1 T for glazing

1 tsp freshly grated lemon zest

4 T cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1 cup cold heavy cream

2 T whole milk or heavy cream for glazing

Strawberries:

1 dry quart fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled and sliced

3 T sugar (or ore to your taste)

Whipped Cream:

1 cup cold heavy cream

3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 T plus 1 1/2 tsp sugar

Directions:

Before you start:

Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or foil.

To Make the Strawberries:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the floor, baking powder, salt, 2 T of the sugar, and the zest. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until it resembles a coarse meal. Little by little, stir in heavy cream until the dough starts to hold together (you may use a bit more cream if need be).

2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Pat together to form a rectangle 5 inches wide by 7 1/2 inches long that is about 1 inch thick. cut the long side of the dough into thirds, and the width in half to form six 2 1/2 inch squares. Place the shortcakes 3 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet.

3. Brush the tops of the shortcakes with the milk or heavy cream and sprinkle with the remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until light golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.

While the shortcakes are cooling, prepare the strawberries. In a medium bowl, combine the sliced strawberries with the sugar. Set aside for 20-30 minutes to macerate.

To Make the Whipped Cream:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment, beat the heavy cream and vanilla on medium speed. In a slow steady stream, add the sugar and beat until the mixture forms medium-stiff peaks.

The whipped cream is best used when just made, but can be refrigerated in an airtight container overnight and beaten again before serving.

To Complete the Shortcakes:

Fork split each shortcake in half horizontally. Place one half on each of six plates. Spoon 2 tablespoons of berries on each. Top each with a large dollop of whipped cream. Spoon more berries on top Place each of the remaining halves on top of the berries. Garnish with more cream and berries, if desired.