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Ham & Veggie Skillet Dinner

I am forever throwing stuff together into a skillet and seeing how it cooks up.  Seriously.  Do you do this, too?  I had some produce I needed to use up and some Thrive Ham Dices that I needed to use, so I just kind of cut it all up and came up with today's post.  It was really good!  And filling!  And healthy!  The meal trifecta.

Ingredients:

Fresh Zucchini, cut up 

Fresh Red Bell Pepper, cut up

Fresh Cherry Tomatoes, halved

Thrive Ham Dices or any diced ham

Olive Oil

All Purpose Seasoning

Sea Salt

Feta Cheese

Heat up olive oil in a medium to large skillet.  Add all ingredients except cheese.  Saute until veggies are cooked, but not mushy.  Add in Feta Cheese and stir to combine.  Serve.

Chocolate Raspberry Shortcakes

If you like a light, not too sweet dessert, this one is for you.  Be forewarned: this is not a sweet, fudgy cookie.  Super easy to put together, this recipe uses Thrive Foods right from your home store.  I made the whipped topping earlier in the day and put the rest of it together after work, along with making the rest of the meal, and in time for supper with friends.

Ingredients:

For the shortcakes:

  1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

  1 cup Thrive White Flour *

  1 cup Thrive White Sugar * ( Next time I will add a little more)

  1 1/2 t. baking powder 

  1/2 t. Thrive Baking Soda *

  1/4 t.Thrive Salt *

  4 T. cold butter, cubed (original recipe calls for unsalted.  I will do that next time.)

  1/2 cup heavy cream

For the raspberry filling:

  3 cups Thrive Raspberries (freeze dried)

  2 T. Thrive White Sugar, or to taste

  2 t. vanilla extract

      Vanilla Whipped Topping (future post) or whipped topping of choice

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2.  To make the shortcakes:  In a large mixing bowl, sift together the  cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Cut in the cold butter with a fork or pastry cutter.  Blend the mixture until it resembles a coarse meal.  Add the heavy cream and stir the mixture with a fork until it forms a dough.

3.  Roll out the dough on a floured surface (should be 1/4 inch thick).  Using a biscuit cutter, cut out 4 shortcakes (depending on the size of biscuit cutter you use, you will end up with more shortcakes than what you need for this recipe).  Place shortcakes on a lightly greased baking sheet (I used a reusable parchment sheet), and bake for 12 minutes (a toothpick placed in center should come out clean).  Put the shortcakes on a wire rack to cool.

4.  In a small bowl, cover the raspberries with warm water.  Let sit for about 5-10 minutes until softened and rehydrated.  Drain.  In another bowl mash 3/4 cup of the raspberries with a fork, stirring in the white sugar and vanilla.  Blend in the remaining raspberries.

5.  Carefully cut the shortcakes in half horizontally with a serrated knife--this was surprisingly easy to do.  Transfer the bottom half of each cake to an individual plate.  Place a spoonful of the raspberry sauce and a spoonful of vanilla topping on each bottom piece.  Place the top parts on each dessert and dust with powdered sugar, if desired.  Or maybe use clear sugar sprinkles!  Yes, next time I am trying that idea.

*  I am finding ways to "Thrive-alize" recipes in order to use Thrive items from my home store.  You can still use your regular store-bought items for this recipe.

SOURCE:  Thrive Cookbook. 

Mom's Potato Salad

This recipe originally posted on May 8, 2014.  In memory of our Mom who passed away on June 5 of this year, and because today is our parents' anniversary, I am reposting this family favorite recipe.  Enjoy!

Hey, you know Julie posted a potato salad recipe back here and explained that we grew up in a different potato salad culture.  I, too, am a potato salad snob.  Mom's recipe trumps all others in my world.  I realize your world may include eggs, or you might like to smash up the spuds.  Whatever floats your boat.  I was feeling nostalgic this Easter and decided to pull out Mom's recipe, much to the delight of my family.  I had no idea they liked it so much!  Guess I will have to make it more often.  So, Moms' recipe in Grandma's retro Pyrex bowl.  Sweet memories.

Ingredients:

5 lbs. potatoes, boiled in salted water & peeled & cubed (love the cubes--it's a texture thing)

1 lg. green bell pepper, chopped

1 small onion chopped

1 tsp. celery seed

3 small jars diced pimiento, drained

1 1/4 cup Miracle Whip (no, not mayo, please.  not for this.)

4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 T. apple cider vinegar

1 tsp. prepared mustard

1.  Peel the potatoes, place in large pot and cover with water.  Bring water to boiling and cook until just tender.  No mushy spuds here!  Let cool, then cut into bite-size cubes.  Place in a large serving bowl.

2.  Add the green pepper and pimientos to the cooled spuds (I say spuds a lot.  My first two years in college were spent in Idaho.)

3.  Combine the rest of the ingredients.  Mix well.  This is your dressing.  Add to the...wait for it....spuds and friends.  Toss together gently with rubber spatula to make sure the dressing is evenly distributed.

Source: Pat Brew Recipes.

Quick Po' Boy Sandwich

Have you ever eaten a Po' Boy sandwich?  I have had one in my entire life.  This past week we spent a few days at the beach and of course had to hit a local seafood joint to get me some shrimp!  I brought the leftovers back to the beach house.  Mostly I just ate the cold shrimp right out of the take-out carton, but one day I was thinking I should be a little more creative.  And here you have another tasty concoction from leftovers...

Ingredients:

Hamburger Bun (or a baguette or other kind of roll of choice)

Leftover shrimp

Lettuce, shredded

Mayo or mustard

Assemble your sandwich and enjoy.  Po' Boys can be made of different kinds of items, so be creative!

Tomato & Corn Salad

Isn't it fun to be creative with your leftovers?  Recently I served Slow Cooker Roast Beef, garden peas, sweet corn, and mashed potatoes for dinner when two of our missionaries from church joined us for supper.  Comfort food.  Real food.  Surprisingly, there were some leftovers of the vegetables so I used them for sides with my next meal which was a Thrive Express Meal of Fettuccine Alfredo.  (future post, so stay tuned).  I put the peas in with the Fettuccine.  That was yummy.  For the corn, I decided to combine that with some grape tomatoes that I needed to use up and added a few more things to dress it up.  So that is how we get this recipe.

Ingredients:

grape tomatoes, as many as you want

Thrive Sweet Corn

Thrive Green Peas

Mozarella cheese, shredded

Red Wine Vinegar

Thrive Chef's Choice All-Purpose Seasoning

Salt to taste

Combine all ingredients except the salt, and toss.  Taste and then add salt as needed and toss again.

Serve cold.

Removing Burnt-on Food from Ceramic Cook Top

You will have to trust me on this one.  I had a yucky, stubborn black, burnt blob--well, in the shape of a blob but by now it just looked like a stain-- on my ceramic cook top.  I have been trying everything to remove that.  Needless to say, the "Ceramic Cook Top Cleaner" didn't do the trick.  Where do you turn to find everything you need to know about everything?  I mean besides Pinterest.  GOOGLE!!  I found a list of possibilities so clicked on one and watched the YouTube video. Yeah, not too crazy about that one.  Clicked on the next one and BINGO. Tried it out. NAILED IT!!!  For real, with stuff I already had at home.  Sure wish I could have thought to take a BEFORE shot, but who knew this would work so well that I would want to share it with the world?

You will need:
Small Dish
Baking soda
Lemon juice

Microfiber cloth

Directions:
1.  Mix a paste of baking soda and water in a small dish.  It should be the consistency of toothpaste.
2.  Spread the paste over the burnt area and allow it to set for about 12 minutes.  Do not allow to sit too long or it will dry out.  Really it will.
3.  Pour a little lemon juice (bottled worked for me!) over the paste and let it fizz to help release tougher stains.
4.  After 12 minutes, gently scrub the area with a soft cloth or plastic scrubber.  Do not use anything abrasive or it will scratch the surface.  Found that out the hard way one time.
5.  Repeat as necessary until food is gone.  GONE I tell you!  So happy right now.

6.  Clean off surface with a wet cloth or paper towel.



Source:  How to Clean Stuff