A Good Dinner

I picked up some Salmon today. I don't remember where I got these two recipes. I'm pretty sure as always, they are from Taste of Home. I have made the sauce with the rice vinegar but I didn't have any rice vinegar today so we omitted it and didn't miss it. I have a favorite rice pilaf recipe I put in the family cookbook. I have since come across this Mushroom Bake and it is a hard pick which recipe I prefer. (This Salmon recipe is in the H family cookbook.)

ASIAN GLAZED SALMON

1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
1 lb. fresh or frozen salmon fillet, 1 inch thick
3 tablespoons rice vinegar

For glaze, in a small bowl, combine brown sugar, soy sauce, and mustard. Set aside 2 tablespoons brown sugar mixture for sauce.

Thaw salmon, if frozen. Remove skin from salmon, if present. Rinse salmon: pat dry. If necessary, cut salmon into four serving-size pieces. Place fish on the greased unheated rack of a broiler pan. Broil 4 inches from the heat for 8 to 12 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork, carefully turning once halfway through broiling time and brushing with glaze during the last 2 to 3 minutes of broiling time.

For sauce, stir together rice vinegar and reserved brown sugar mixture until sugar is dissolved. Serve with salmon. Makes 4 main dish servings.


Mushroom Oven Bake

1 cup uncooked long grain rice
¼ cup butter
½ cup finely chopped celery
½ cup finely chopped onion
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) chicken broth
1/3 cup water
1 to 2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes

In a skillet, sauté the rice in butter for 2 minutes or until golden brown. Add celery and onion; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Add mushrooms; cook and stir until celery is tender.

Transfer to greased 1-1/2-qt. baking dish. Stir in the broth, water, soy sauce and parsley. Cover and bake at 350° for 45-50 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

Danny "Practices" Lightening Safety

The kid's a nut! He is so freaked out about thunder storms. He constantly watches the weather on the computer and in the newspaper. He worries big time about any storms on their way. He recently saw a video on Lightening Safety. Today we had a loud thunder storm run quickly through. It was POURING and thundering and lightening. Danny wanted to run in the rain. We told him it wasn't safe because of the lightening. He said he knows how to be safe. That he will run and lay in the ditch. "I need to practice lightening safety." The goof did exactly that!!

Salsa Chicken

For lack of anything else to post (pictures) I will post another recipe. I got this recipe from my sister Tricia. It is VERY good and low WW points.

SALSA CHICKEN

4 Chicken breasts
1 jar salsa
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon mustard

Mix salsa, brown sugar and mustard. Place on chicken breasts and cook at 400° for 30-35 minutes

Danny has been gone for the last two nights. In fact, only Jeanie and Molly have been home. The twins and Brett went up for St. Johns. Lisa was here Wednesday and took Danny to Robert's baseball game. He called from there to see if he could spend the night. This is the first time he has EVER spent the night somewhere and he was charged! (They had to swing by to pick up "Ben". He wasn't sure if he could sleep without his ragged old dog.) I called yesterday to let Lisa know I was on my way to pick up Danny but she said Danny had been trying to get a hold of me as he wanted to go to Paul's baseball game. Well......at about 5:30 he called and asked if he could spend another night. I told him No but Lisa got on the phone and said she didn't mind that she has hardly seen the boys as they were playing so well. I'm afraid we are creating a "monster". Now that he has got a taste of staying somewhere he'll never want to stay home!!

Strawberry Dessert

This is one of my favorite strawberry recipes. It's actually in the family cookbook but I thought I'd post it anyway. This came from Country Woman magazine many years ago. It was in the Editor in the Country feature where Ann Kaiser visits someone's country business. This article was a strawberry farm. I have never found this recipe in any of the Taste of Home's cookbooks. It wasn't in their recipe section but printed in the article. It was called Strawberry Pizza and made in a pizza pan but I make it in a 9 x 13 pan.

STRAWBERRY DESSERT

Crust:
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup butter/margarine
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Combine all ingredients to form dough. Spread in 9 x 13 Baker. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Set aside. Cool completely.

Filling:
1 (8 oz.) cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 (8 oz.) Cool Whip

Mix cheese and sugar until smooth. Fold in Cool Whip. Spread over cooled crust.

Topping:
1 (3 oz.) pkg. strawberry Jello
1/2 cup sugar
Dash salt
1 cup water or strawberry juice, divided
4 tablespoons cornstarch
4 cups strawberries, sliced

In saucepan, combine Jello, sugar and 1/2 cup water. Dissolve cornstarch in remaining water. Stir in Jello mixture. Cook over medium heat until thickened. Fold in strawberries. Cool and spread over filling.

Dad Took Out the Chainsaw

We came home from the last night of Monday Night Baseball to find Dad trimming trees. He had pruned the pear trees and then decided to pull out the chainsaw and attack the Maple tree on the west side of the house. This tree came from Mary and Pete's Farmington house as a seedling. Surprisingly, Danny asked Dad if he should help. He actually hauled quite a few branches before he disappeared. I found him in the house "taking a break" which never ended as he was done for the night!

Father's Day

It was a beautiful day yesterday for Father's Day. We just hung out outside and enjoyed strawberry shortcakes. We then had grilled chicken sandwiches for supper. The kids spent the afternoon in the pool. We have a few cooler days coming this week. We actually turned off the air yesterday. Some summers it's on from the first hot day until fall but maybe this year we'll save a little electricity.

CONGRATULATIONS TRICIA!!

Tricia has reached her Weight Watchers goal! (My brother Brian took this picture.) What a HUGE achievement for her! She has lost over 100 pounds (I think about 127) in a year and a half! I can't even begin to imagine what a life change it is for you. I also, can't even begin to tell you how PROUD of you I am! Congratulations Tricia!!

Strawberries are Ready

I love when Jeanie writes me notes for the morning. The kids know I always check the wipe-off board when I get up. Sometimes it's "put my clothes in the dryer" (as they threw a load going before they went to bed) but usually it's with a "wake up" time. I plan on going strawberry picking at 8:00. Jeanie is the only one interested in joining me. She is in fact very excited about it. I don't plan on picking more than two boxes so she will do in the help department! I'll make a desert or two. Probably Strawberry Pizza and then freeze some for jam. Lately I've found it easier to just buy frozen berries for jam and think it's about as good. Now once I make it with fresh berries maybe I'll find I've been fooling myself.

Ria's Apron

Auntie Ria bought fabric and picked out this pattern for me to make her an apron. (Sunday Dinner Apron by Vanilla House designs.) It was fun to do but I had a little trouble with the pattern. I wrote down some of the problems and will email the company. Since I have been sewing for many years, I was able to figure out what to do but if a novice sewer tried to make this, they would have had a difficult time. I just received an email to pre-order the Lola apron. I ordered it and it is suppose to be sent out next week. Once I get it, I will be able to make your birthday apron Jen!

Graduation

It was a scorcher of a day for Brett's graduation. They held it outside on the football field. For the first time ever, Dad and I wore shorts to the commencement. Even Brett wore shorts and sandals. At the rehearsal Friday, they told the guys that they could wear shorts and sandals as it was such a hot and humid forecast.
These pictures below are from the graduation party Saturday. We had it at the middle school. It was another hot, humid day. Unfortunately the school had turned the air off on Friday afternoon for the summer! The school worked out real well for the party. (It's just too bad we didn't have it the week before so we could have had air.) We had the doors and windows opened but it was quite warm. There were 12 graduates at this party. Nine from our town and two girls from two other districts and one girl homeschooled.

Back row from left: Tahnee R., Kent D., Brett, Tommy K., Shannon P. Front Row from left: Brianne N., Julianna D., Janine P., Lorinna P., Stephanie K., Emma K., and Amanda G.
Pretty smart bunch. Most had honor cords and two (Stephanie and Julianna) were in the top 20. (Tahnee forgot to bring her cords to the party Saturday.)

Flowers

I got a few flowers planted last weekend. I still need some for one of the barrels on the back deck. It has become so much more shaded in the last few years that I'm trying to figure out what to plant in it. It's still too much sun for Impatients but some of the "full sun" flowers I had last year didn't do so well. I'll have to find something that takes "part/full sun". I'm not sure when I'll get out to find some. Today I am doing pasties for the last time until fall. Saturday night is Brett's Graduation Open House. (I tried to remember to mention it to the nieces and nephews I saw at the picnic on Sunday but if I didn't remember or see you, you are all welcome to come! It's from 6:30-9:30 at the local middle school.)

Bluebirds Are Back and The Pool is Open

About two weeks ago Dad happened to see a male bluebird near this birdhouse. He quickly emptied the nest that some other bird had left from last year. He was pumped when the bluebird returned and started building his nest. We use to have bluebirds around here many years ago but haven't seen them for years. So it is exciting to see them come back. There is a female around too, so hopefully they will successfully start a family.Dad opened the pool last weekend. Danny and Jeanie couldn't WAIT to get in. As you can see from the top middle picture, it was quite cold as the hose had been running all night to fill it up. Crazy kids didn't care. How they can ignore the cold is beyond me. The top right is Danny doing his breaststroke. He has gotten quite fast. It was funny, the last time at Special Olympic's swimming, he swam the whole length of the Hartland Pool without taking a breath!

Jake's Explosive Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake

JAKE’S EXPLOSIVE CHOCOLATE TURTLE CHEESCAKE

1 ¼ cups Oreo cookie crumbs
1 ¼ cups sugar, divided
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 ½ pounds cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup chocolate chips, whole
1 cup chocolate chips, melted
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
TOPPING:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup Mrs. Richardson’s Butterscotch Caramel Ice Cream Topping
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease the bottom and side of 9-inch springform pan.

In medium size mixing bowl, combine the cookie crumbs, ¼ cup sugar and 4 tablespoons of melted butter and mix well. Pour the crumbs into the bottom of the pan and press them out evenly. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, the remaining 1 cup sugar and vanilla. Beat together until light and creamy. Add the flour and beat until smooth. Pour in the cup of melted chocolate chips and sour cream and mix well. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing each at low speed. Fold in the cup of whole chocolate chips. Pour the filling into the pre-pared pan; bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the center is almost set. Let the cake stand for 10 minutes. Then run a knife around the side and allow it to come to room temperature. Refrigerate it for 8 hours or overnight. Remove the rim of the pan.

For the topping: In a small saucepan, melt the butter and pour in the chocolate chips. Mix together over medium-low heat. Pour the warm mixture onto the chilled cake. Refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes.

For final topping, drizzle caramel topping over cheesecake. Sprinkle with pecans. Serve. Keep refrigerated.

Small Party

There weren't too many home for Dad's Birthday Party. In fact, Danny was the only one that slept at home Saturday night! That was kind of strange. I had a little catastrophy with this cheesecake. I melted caramel candies for the top. I let them cool too long so I melted them again and then spread it on the cake. Well..............I COULD not get a knife in the caramel. I mean it was rock hard! So I had to peel it off and we ate it without caramel. I picked up some caramel ice cream topping and we had some yesterday with that. The cheesecake is almost better the second day anyway.