Once you crack open a watermelon and grab a few slices, then what? How are you going to break it all down to store it in your fridge? Or, if you’re like Ellen, give it away to your siblings for the kids? Here are some great ways. I used a few of these when working in catering, and they are very solid storage methods.
This is right up my alley. I love eggroll fillings, but I haven’t been a fan of deep fried wantons for a few decades now. I need to make this at some point this week.
Another throwback to that time I made up a tasty little smoothie on the fly. I was trying to use up some of the flavoured oatmeal packs I had a lot of at the time before they started to turn rancid.
A throwback picture to when I worked in catering and we’d have to make these huge anti-pasto platters for 100+ guests from time to time. To make it easier for us to make these on the fly, and for the times when only one of us would work on it because the other was too busy with another order, the catering manager standardized the look of the platters.
These boards really only changed minimally depending on what and how much of an ingredient we had on hand that day. I still like making these, but my husband isn’t into charcuterie boards. At all. Despite it being mostly meat. It’s baffling to me. 🙂
I really need to make these strawberry cream cheese muffins again very soon. So good. *drooling*
How I did it: I made a basic oatmeal muffin using a bag mix, mixed up a cream cheese filling, and sliced up some strawberries.
I added 75% of the sliced strawberries to the batter and used the other 25% to the tops after dropping a big dollop of the cream cheese filling into the top middle spot of each muffin.
I used a skewer to swirl the cream cheese down into the filling a big before covering it up with one or two slices.
Bake as normal according to the muffin mix instructions.
We love pub grub, but we don’t really like going to pubs around here. They all tend to be sports themed, and we’re not into that scene. We do like patio dining, but we’re not there yet weather wise. Until then, I make us some of our faves at home. First up, Jalapeno Boats. Love these so much.
Jalapeno Boats:
6 Jalapenos
8 oz Cream Cheese, room temp
1/4 C Cheddar Cheese, grated
3 Bacon Strips, cooked, crumbled
S&P
1 tea ea: Onion Powder / Paprika
1/2 tea Garlic Powder
2 tea Butter
1 C Panko (or any other breadcrumbs) *
Trim the tails off the jalapenos barely, leaving a wall of white flesh in tact to create the look of a row boat’s blunt end. Set aside.
In a bowl, mix cream cheese with bacon bits, seasons and cheese grate. When combined completely, scoop this creamy filling into each boat. Don’t overfill the boats. The mixture should be level and flush to the sides of the boats.
* Optional Topping: I tend to make these boats with a panko topping, but I’ve also made them without it. Sometimes, like in these pix, I top the boats with half a bacon strip. Both methods are delicious.
If you want to use the panko method, simply melt the butter in a shallow fry pan. When it bubbles, throw in the panko and move it around in the pan until the butter is all soaked up. Kill the heat. Shake the pan so the panko sits evenly across the pan’s surface.
Place a boat at a time in the pan cream cheese side down. Flip it over and add a bit more panko on the top. Place these finished boats on a foil lined sheet tray or baking dish.
Bake at 400 degrees for 20 mins.
I may not like flour-based birthday cakes, but I do love the old timey cake flavours and the artwork on the boxes back when I was a kid. Let’s take a trip down memory lane. 🙂
I think, over my lifetime, I have eaten a slice of every one of these cakes at some point. A few of them are classics home bakers still scuttle back to a few times a year, but the decadent ones are huge throwbacks. They only get made when someone is feeling hardcore nostalgic, or bought from a good bakery when basic cakes won’t cut it.
I remember this Raspberry cake mix like it was yesterday. My aunt bought it to make at our house for one of her daughter’s birthday the year it came out, and she loved pink so it got paired with pink frosting. I can’t remember if I liked it or not, but I remember the standout look of her final cake most of all. And how tickled pink (yes, I went there) my aunt was with her creation.
My mother bought these two often. Every birthday cake was one of these mixes, and decorated by my mother to her tastes. I ate way too many slices of birthday cake in my lifetime given how many siblings I have, so I would never make one of these today.
I’m surprised so many cake flavours endure. They really do. I see the Butter Pecan and the Chocolate Fudge boxes in the grocery store all the time. They wouldn’t be on the shelves if they didn’t consistently sell. Shelf space is like a hairdresser’s chair – it’s there for paying clients only.
My favourite coffee order when I grab coffee at home or out and about has to be, hands down, the delicious Americano Nuevo. It’s simple, straight forward, and tasty. It won me over in one sip.
I ask for it at every coffee shop. Not by name because this is a Starbucks creation that, funny enough, a few Starbucks locations didn’t know anything about. So I l started showing everyone taking my order this above screencap from my phone so they understood what I was after.
Americano Nuevo:
1 shot Espresso
1/2 C Hot Water
1/2 C Steamed Milk
1-2 pumps Hazelnut Syrup
Highly recommend.
This will be something I want to drink this summer for sure to go hand-in-hand with my beloved blended coffee drinks.
The measures I think I will be dropping into the blender jar are:
1 C Lemonade
8-10 Ice Cubes
1/4 C Coconut Milk
1 tbsp Vanilla Syrup (optional)
This is my take on the new Starbuck’s Strawberry drink that’s going to be hot this summer.
Strawberry Milk Drink:
1/2 C Milk, frothed
4 Ice Cubes
1/4 C Milk
1/4 C Strawberries, frozen
1/4 Strawberry Jam
6 Ice Cubes
1/2 C Cold Water
Start by fluffing up a 1/4 C of milk in a tall mug with a frothing wand. Set aside.
Into a blender, place the 4 ice cubes, 1/4 C milk, frozen strawberries and the jam. Blend that up quickly and pour it into a tall glass or drink jar with a lid and straw.
Top that blend with the 6 ice cubes and the 1/2 C water. Top with the frothed milk.
Enjoy!