Berry Cherry On A Cloud

 
    The name of this dessert describes it perfectly. Smooth berry sauce on a cloud of meringue and cream cheesiness. My Mother-In-Law is the source for this (and many more) of my recipes. It is a crowd-pleaser and it feels rich and highbrow. Of course, if you have someone who doesn't like meringue, cheesecake, or berries, they may not go for it, but that is probably not the type of person you would be inviting over for dessert in the first place, is it?

Berry Cherry On A Cloud

Meringue:
6 egg whites
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbs. cream of tartar
pinch salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Filling:
2 C. heavy cream
6 oz. cream cheese
1 C. sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 C. miniature marshmallows (for extra cloudiness!)

Topping:
1 Large Can Wilderness pie cherries
1 pkg frozen strawberries or raspberries, thawed (I prefer raspberries, or mixed berries)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Meringue: Beat egg whites until fluffy. Very slowly add sugar, cream of tartar, and salt. Fold in vanilla and spread on the bottom and sides of a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 275 degrees for 60 minutes.
Filling: Beat together cream cheese, cream, sugar and vanilla. Fold in marshmallows. Spread on cooled meringue and chill at least 12 hours.
Mix all topping ingredients together and serve over slices of dessert.

Source: LuAnne Brown

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

Ingredients:

16 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 c. creamy natural peanut butter
2 T. butter, softened
1.75 oz confectioner's sugar (1/4 c. plus 2 T.), sifted

Directions:

1. Line a standard 12 cup muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.
2. Melt half the chocolate either in a double boiler (the safer method) or in the microwave (the more dangerous, but easier/lazier method). I opt for the latter.
   
3. Distribute the melted chocolate into the 12 muffin tins (I use a cookie scoop to portion the chocolate), only barely filling the bottom of each cup. If the chocolate does not lie flat, drop the pan repeatedly on the counter, and it will flatten and smooth itself out. Place the pan in the freezer for 15 minutes.
4. In the meantime, whip the peanut butter, butter, and confectioner's sugar together with a hand mixer until mixed and light. Taste it and make sure the sweetness is to your liking. Place small tablespoons of peanut butter into each cup, then drop the pan repeatedly on the counter again, so the peanut butter layer is flattened out. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes.
5. Melt the last 1/2lb of chocolate, and portion small spoonfuls of chocolate into the cups, one cup at a time, immediately dropping the pan repeatedly on the counter to flatten each cup. In my experience of making these, the chill from the peanut butter (because it was just in the freezer) will harden up that top layer of chocolate very quickly, so you must flatten out the tops immediately after you pour the chocolate into each cup. Place the peanut butter cups in the freezer for 15 minutes to set the top layer of chocolate.
6. You can either refrigerate them for a peanut butter cup with more bite, or leave them at room temperature for a softer, creamier bite. Just peel the wrapper off, and enjoy!

Source:  fifteenspatulas.ziplist.com

Black Bean Lime Salad

This is a DELICIOUS black bean salad that I had to share with you! It's light, and fresh, and perfect for summer parties or barbecues. The lime juice makes it extra tasty. You can serve this with chips, as a topping for a taco/burrito bar, or as a side for hamburgers or grilled chicken. Great recipe!!

Black Bean Lime Salad

Ingredients:
3 cans black beans, rinsed
2 colored peppers, diced (or a mixture of red, yellow, orange, green - whatever you like!)
1/3 cup red onions, diced small
A large handful of chopped cilantro
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of 2 limes
1/4 cup of olive oil
A little salt to taste
Optional - diced avocado - add right before serving

Instructions:
Add all ingredients together in a bowl, gently toss until mixed, cover and put in fridge for at least an hour to let flavors blend. If you are adding avocado, add right before serving. Enjoy!

Notes:  
To add a different kick, you can add 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar instead of the lime juice. Or you can add both if you would like.

Source: My amazing sweet friend, Liz Zimmerman.

Mormon Morsels: What's On Your Plate?

Quite the catchy title for a food blog post, wouldn't you say?  I placed this sign above my kitchen window.  I used to have a clock up there, but 6 months out of the year it was always an hour off!  Yeah, that's right.  To change the time I would have to get up on a step stool and then stand on the sides of my kitchen sink.  Way too much trouble and probably a little dangerous.  Anyway, to make a long story just that much longer, my daughter brought this plaque home from babysitting at a friend's house. She was de-junking before a move.  It had a metal plate on the front that had a quote on it but I thought it needed to be redesigned for my house.  My friend, Stacie, has a vinyl lettering business and I knew that would be the perfect way to give this thing new life.  I gave it to her and told her I would be trying to figure out what to put on it and since it would be in the kitchen I wanted something, well, kitchen-y.  She gave me some suggestions and offered "The Gathering Place,"  which I thought was really cool. 

One day Stacie and I were discussing the sign.  Thankfully, she had not started on it yet but was ready to get going on it since she had a baby boy joining the family any week and just wanted to get it done.  I told her I understood that because she had a lot on her PLATE.  Ka-ching!!  Stacie, let's do "What's On Your Plate?"  It totally fit in a kitchen setting, but also gave "food for thought."  She loved that idea and has probably added it to her repertoire of quotes for her business.  I gave her permission to use it.  Haha...

So, what's on your plate?  As women, we've "got it goin' on" all the time.  Busy at home, busy at work, busy at church, busy in our communities, busy with our blogs, busy with our dogs.  BUSY! BUSY! BUSY!  (have you ever written a word so many times in a row that it looks wrong?  Yeah, that just happened.) 

We should all be "anxiously engaged" in the things that matter most in our lives, but we need to remember to balance our plate as we would balance food groups for a meal.  A little bit of this, a little bit of that, maybe just a little more of one thing, and then something sweet to top it off (chocolate has to go somewhere).  I won't go into the details of what you or I have to manage or outline a plan to get it all together because today I have a full plate to take care of and I don't have time.  However, if you will click on the Power of Moms button on this site or right here you will find out about a great way to get organized and get things off of your brain (plate) and into action.  It is called Mind Organization for Moms.  I am slowly building my M.O.M. system as we speak.  I need it.

Two Minute Smores

Everyone has that one snack that you can't get enough of. Mine, smores. LOVE them. Every time I turn on the grill you better believe that make up a few. I've also made them in the microwave, but the marshmallows tend to get rubbery. Not good. The other day it hit me, the broiler! Great discovery. Now you can get tasty browned smores in under two minutes. 

You know the drill, gather up your graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate.

Place the marshmallows on top, stick them in the broiler until they start to brown. Pull them out and top with chocolate. 

 Two Minute Smores

Ingredients:
Graham Crackers
Hershey Bars
Marshmallows

Directions:
1. Place graham crackers and marshmallows on a baking sheet.
2. Place in a preheated broiler for one to two minutes, until they are browned to your liking.
3. Pull them out and top with chocolate.

Yum!

Chicken Salad with Grapes

This recipe comes from my sister-in-law who got it from an old roommate's dad or something like that. I have tweaked it a bit over the years, as is usual for most recipes I use. It uses sour cream as well as mayonnaise to lighten it up a bit. The other secret ingredient is fresh lime juice. It adds some brightness to the salad.

Please feel free to add or omit ingredients. And a lot of the measurements are approximations. I do not measure when I make this. I just add as I go. 

4 Chicken breasts cooked and cut into small cubes

3-5 Cups seedless red grapes cut in half

3-4 Green onions, chopped

1/2-1 Cup sliced almonds

1/2 Cup mayonnaise

1/2 Cup sour cream

Juice of 1 or 2 limes

1/2-1 tsp. dried thyme

Sprinkle of seasoned salt

S&P to taste

Combine chicken, grapes, green onion and almonds in a large bowl. 

In a separate bowl, combine the mayo, sour cream, lime juice, thyme, seasoned salt and S&P. 

Pour dressing over the chicken mixture and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning and lime juice as desired. 

Serve with your choice of bread, rolls or crackers.

Buttermilk Cornbread

Cornbread just reminds me of my childhood, of old-fashioned eating, and of my own grandmother.  To me, a chili meal is not complete with out it.

(the url is from an old blog I used to run)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup yellow cornmeal

1/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 1/3 cups buttermilk

2 large eggs

1.  Preheat oven to 375°F.  Grease or spray an 8 1/2 × 4 1/2-inch loaf pan; set aside.
2.  In a large bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda and stir to combine. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender until it resembles coarse crumbs or small peas.  Don't overwork it.
3.  In a small bowl whisk the eggs and buttermilk together. Add the buttermilk-egg mixture to dry ingredients and stir to form a stiff, lumpy batter. Spread evenly in the greased loaf pan.
4.  Bake until a toothpick or knife inserted in center comes out nearly clean, with just a few crumbs on it, 50 to 55 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then remove the cornbread from the loaf pan and cool for another 10 minutes before slicing.

Notes:

If you don't have buttermilk, just put 4 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar into the bottom of your measuring cup; then add enough milk to measure 1 1/3 cups (I use a Pyrex 2-cup glass measure for this).
If you are old school you can use some bacon grease for some of the shortening.  I happened to have some so I used about half bacon grease, half shortening.  It really adds to the flavor!

Source:  Grandma's Kitchen