How is your garden doing this year? I picked our first zucchini today. 😊
Garden Update
Breakfast on the Blackstone
Confetti pancakes, MorningStar Maple Sausage Patties, eggs, and Sausage Breakfast Strips cook up fast on the Blackstone.
Quick and Easy Zucchini Veggie Chili
This Zucchini Veggie Chili cooks up SUPER fast and is a delicious healthy lunch or dinner. I served it over some yummy butter garlic rice. It’s so savory and delicious!
Ingredients:
- 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
- One small onion, diced
- 1 Tablespoon of Garlic Paste
- 1 Tablespoon of Tomato Paste
- 1 medium zucchini, sliced into coins, then quartered
- 1 can of Bush’s Chili Magic Chili Starter, I used Texas Medium
- 1 can of Rotel, Mild flavor
- Add water, if too thick
- Salt, to taste
- Lime wedges, for serving
- Rice, seasoned with butter, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, for serving
Instructions:
- Add olive oil to the sauce or stock pot and heat on medium high heat. Add in onions and garlic paste and sauté until onion is translucent. Add in tomato paste and zucchini and sauté until slightly cooked.
- Add in the chili starter and the Rotel and heat. Cook until hot and until zucchini is tender. Add salt to taste. If too thick, add some water.
- Serve on top of the garlic butter rice, sprinkle fresh lime juice on top before eating. Feel free to add other toppings, such as cheese, fresh chopped tomatoes, sour cream, fresh crema, avocado, whatever sounds good to you. I enjoyed as is!
Enjoy!
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Low Sugar Fresh Seedless Red Raspberry Jam
This jam is so delicious! We hand picked the red raspberries at our local orchard and this jam reminds me of what you’d find inside a delicious raspberry jelly donut. So yummy!
Ingredients:
- 5 cups of crushed red raspberries, run through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds
- 4 cups of sugar, I used golden sugar (1/4 cup sugar to mix with Sure Jell, then an additional 3 3/4 cups of sugar)
- 1 packet of Sure Jell for no or low sugar jams and jellies
- 1/2 teaspoon of butter
Instructions:
- Prepare your jars, lids, and rings for canning. Boil for 10 minutes to sterilize while preparing the jam.
- Crush the red raspberries with a potato masher. I started with 2 quarts of fresh picked red raspberries from a local orchard, they make the best jam.
- Filter the raspberries through a sieve to remove most of the seeds. It ok if it has some seeds.
- Once you have your purée, add it to a stock pot.
- Mix together 1/4 cup of the sugar with the Sure Jell in a bowl. Then add it to the fruit purée.
- When the mixture comes to a rolling boil (stir mixture frequently), add in the remaining 3 3/4 cups of sugar and the butter. Bring to another rolling boil, constantly stiring. Allow to boil for one minute. Then remove from heat. Using a wide mouth funnel, add jam to your sterilized jars leaving a 1/4 inch room for expansion at the top. Wipe edges clean, and place new mason jar lids and rings securely on top.
- Place a rack on the bottom of your canning pot for easy jar removal. I use a silicone rack. Place jars on top of the rack and make sure water is a inch above the jars. Boil the jam jars for 10 minutes. Remove jars of jam and let them cool on a towel on the counter. Let cool on your counter for 24 hours. Check your lids by pressing on the top of the lids to see if they properly sealed. If they did not seal properly, you can still enjoy the jam, just make sure you refrigerate it and use it up sooner rather than later. 😊
Enjoy!
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Super Easy Homemade White Bread
This homemade white bread is so easy to make. It is so delicious hot out of the oven with some butter and homemade jam!
Ingredients:
- 4.5 cups of bread flour, I used King Arthur Organic Bread Flour
- 1 packet of dry Instant Yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
- 3 tablespoons of sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup milk
- 2 Tablespoons of butter
Instructions:
- Using a dough whisk. combine flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a bowl.
- In a microwave safe Pyrex, slowly heat the water, milk, and butter in 30 second intervals until warm to the touch (not hot). Approximately 120° to 130°F.
- Add the warm water, milk, and butter mixture to the dry ingredients. Whisk until well combined.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 10 to 15 minutes in a warm, draft free place.
- Pat dough down and knead on a lightly floured surface until shaped like the shape of your 9 x 5 bread pan.
- Spray the bread pan with cooking spray. Place the dough into the pan and spray the top with a light layer of spray before covering with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in the pan until doubled in size, approximately 40 minutes. If you prefer to use parchment paper to line your pan, it will make it easy to remove the bread loaf after baking. I use a stoneware pan and found it released easy with cooking spray.
- Bake the bread in a preheated 375° oven for 35 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.
Enjoy warm with butter and jam, it’s so good! Or use to make your favorite sandwich. It would be awesome toasted too.
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Pasta Salad with Roasted Grape Tomatoes, Feta, and Fresh Lemon Herb Tahini Dressing
This pasta salad is packed with flavor from fresh herbs, lemon juice, tahini, feta cheese, and roasted tomatoes. No mayo makes it perfect to pack for your next outdoor adventure.
Ingredients:
For the Lemon Herb Tahini Dressing:
- The juice of one and a half lemons
- 4 heaping tablespoons of Tahini
- 2 Tablespoons of red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons of honey
- 1 used some of the jarred grilled artichoke juice, this is optional
- 1/4 cup of Olive oil
- 1 small sweet onion, diced small
- 1 garlic clove, grated
- Fresh soft herbs. I used fresh flat leaf parsley, chives, basil, and oregano, chopped small, stems removed. Approximately one Tablespoon of chopped fresh oregano, because it’s a stronger flavor. The other herbs you can add as much as you like. I add a lot of the parsley.
- Salt and pepper, to taste
For the pasta salad:
- 1 box of Fusilli pasta
- 2 pints of grape tomatoes, red and yellow
- Olive oil, to roast tomatoes
- Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to roast tomatoes
- 1/2 of a jar of grilled artichoke hearts, I used Delallo Brand, cut artichokes in half
- Pitted Kalamata Olives, sliced in half lengthwise
- One can of chick peas, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 of a large English cucumber, sliced, then quarter the slices
- 1 – 8 ounce block of feta cheese, cubed
Instructions:
- Wash the grape tomatoes, pat dry. Place on a parchment lined pan that fits in the air fryer. Coat grape tomatoes in olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Air fry for 10 minutes at 400°. Remove from air fryer and set aside to cool.
- Cook the Fusilli pasta according to the package directions. Make sure to salt the water. Cook the pasta until it is Al dente.
- While the pasta is cooking, make the dressing. Mix together the lemon juice, tahini, honey, red wine vinegar, onion, garlic, fresh chopped herbs, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Add a splash or two of the artichoke marinade, it’s optional, but that’s what I did.
- Next, cut up the veggies: the cucumber, artichoke hearts, Kalamata olives, and rinse and drain the chick peas. Cube the feta cheese.
- Drain the Al dente pasta. Toss the hot fusilli in the Lemon Herb Tahini dressing right away so it can absorb the flavors. Put in all of the veggies, the roasted tomatoes, the cucumber, artichokes, olives, chick peas, and feta cheese.
- Add additional herbs for garnish, if you’d like.
This is a perfect pasta salad for a BBQ, picnic, the beach, any outdoor event, because it is very flavorful, and there is no mayo in this recipe.
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Apple Cinnamon Waffles
Apple Cinnamon Waffles 🧇🧇🧇 served with bacon 🥓 and eggs 🍳 are what we had for Sunday brunch today.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of Stonewall Kitchen’s Apple Cinnamon Pancake and Waffle Mix
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/3 cups of water
- 4 Tablespoons of butter, melted
- Cooking Spray
- Powdered sugar, for serving
- Toppings of your choice (see below for fun topping ideas!)
Instructions:
- Preheat your waffle iron. Tip: Place a heat resistant tray underneath the waffle iron to catch any waffle batter drips for easy clean up.
- In a bowl, mix up 2 cups of Stonewall Kitchen’s Apple Cinnamon Pancake and Waffle Mix, 2 eggs, water, and melted butter until combined.
- Let batter sit while waffle iron is preheating.
- When the waffle iron is ready, spray the waffle iron with cooking spray.
- Use a ladle to scoop out the waffle batter onto each waffle plate. Close the waffle maker and cook until waffles are brown and done.
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with your favorite waffle toppings. Some topping ideas:
- Butter, Flavored butters, such as cinnamon or maple butter, various flavored syrups, apple compote, fresh fruit, apple pie filling, chopped nuts, or candied nuts, toffee bits, candies, and fresh whipped cream are all wonderful topping options.
We served these for Sunday Brunch with bacon and eggs. My kids really enjoyed them.
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Ice Cream Bar End of School Year Celebration
We are celebrating the end of the school year with everyone’s favorite treat… ice cream! All my kids love ice cream and I rarely include various sweet ice cream toppings. I kept telling them I bought some toppings for an ice cream bar, and today was the day, an ice cream bar end of the school year celebration!
We had various ice cream flavors:
- Strawberry
- Mint Chocolate Chip
- Cookie Collision
- Cold Brew Chocolate Chip
Then a bunch of fun ice cream toppings. This time around we had:
- Whipped Cream
- Red, White, & Blue Star Sprinkles
- Rainbow Sprinkles
- Butterfinger Pieces
- Maraschino Cherries
- Chocolate Syrup
- Cookies and Cream Syrup
- Dark Chocolate Syrup
- Caramel Syrup
- Vanilla Syrup
Next time I plan to include peanut butter as a topping, maybe some marshmallow topping. And some fresh fruit, bananas, strawberries, and raspberries. I would also like to add some crushed Oreo Cookies, some crushed pretzels, and some M&M’s as a topping. A banana split night would be really fun too!
What is your favorite ice cream topping? Please let me know in the comments.
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Cheesy Grilled Potato and Onion Packets
These are one of my favorite summer sides to grill up, thinly sliced potatoes and onions, layered with some American cheese, sprinkled with salt, pepper, and olive oil, these are so delicious!
Ingredients:
- Nonstick foil
- Cooking spray
- Potatoes, I used russet potatoes, scrubbed well and sliced then, 1/4 of an inch
- Onions, sliced thin
- American Cheese, deli sliced, I love Land O’ Lakes Yellow American
- Olive Oil
- Sea Salt and pepper, to taste, garlic powder, if preferred
Instructions:
- Spray a sheet of nonstick foil with cooking spray. Sprinkle some salt on the foil, then add some potatoes, some onions, then layer some American cheese slices. Season the mixture with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
- Then repeat the ingredients. More potatoes, onions, and American cheese. Sprinkle with some olive oil, and season the mixture again. Seal up the non stick foil, making a packet.
- Place on the upper level of the grill, or smoker, or you can cook them in the oven at 375°, or until the potatoes and onions are tender, and the cheese is melted. Approximately 45 minutes.
Enjoy!
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Smoked BBQ Extra Meaty Ribs
These extra meaty ribs are dry rubbed and smoked low and slow for 4 hours. Then they are sauced and the heat is turned up for the most delectable BBQ ribs.
Ingredients:
- 1 rack of extra meaty ribs
- Dry rub seasoning of your choice, I used Smokin’ Guns BBQ’s Sweet Heat
- BBQ sauce of your choice, I used KC Masterpiece’s The Classic 816 sauce Sweet Maple Flavor
Instructions:
- Preheat the Traeger Wood Pellet grill, or whatever brand smoker you use to 180°.
- Coat the ribs with dry rub seasoning. Once the smoker is up to temperature, place the ribs on the smoker meaty side down.
- Let the ribs cook for four hours at 180°.
- After four hours, Use a basting brush to baste the ribs with your choice of barbecue sauce. Next, wrap the ribs in nonstick foil and place back on the smoker; meaty side down; with the temperature probe inserted into the meat.
- Crank the heat up to 350°. Cook the ribs until the internal temperature reaches 204°. It took my smoker approximately 30 minutes to reach that internal temperature.
- Let the ribs rest for 20 minutes before cutting. Serve with additional sauce, if desired.
Enjoy!
How do you cook your ribs? Please let me know in the comments.
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DIY Happy Home 