It’s still muggy and hot here. There’s nothing like something sweet, tangy and cold to refresh you on days like this. I like to treat myself to this Pink Pomegranate Lemonade in the summer. It’s a nice way to change up your lemonade, or replace your iced tea and coffee. The pomegranate juice is full of healthy benefits, and kids like this too.
Pink Pomegranate Lemonade Recipe
1 cup of sugar
6 cups of water
1 cup of Lemon Juice (5 to 7 lemons if using fresh squeezed.)
1 cup of Pomegranate Juice
In a pitcher, stir sugar into water until dissolved. Stir in lemon and pomegranate juice. Chill one hour in the fridge or add ice cubes.
It’s worth the extra-fresh flavor to take the time to squeeze lemons instead of using bottled lemon juice. You can substitute cranberry juice for the pomegranate if you prefer. Use Splenda instead of sugar to save calories.
Taco Salad is a wonderful dish to have for dinner on a hot summer night, and it’s been hotter than blazes here. We’re on our fifth day in a row of 90 degree weather. It’s not just hot, it’s also humid.
If you live someplace like Florida or Georgia please don’t leave one of those, “If you think it’s hot there, you should be here, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,” comments. I know it’s ridiculously hot there, which why I’m here. I’m not one of those people who plans on retiring to where the air is as thick as the kudzu grows. You’ll find me in Hawaii when I’m 70 enjoying the cool island breezes, and refreshing mountain top views, thank you very much.
Look, 88 degrees at 8:30 at night is very warm for us Michigan folks who spend most of the year shivering in cable knit sweaters, OK?
So, we’ve mostly been staying inside enjoying the air conditioning. But the stove competes with the air conditioning when it’s this hot, and I’ve been keeping cooking to a minimum.
Tonight we dined on Taco Salad, which not only requires a minuscule amount of cooking, it’s also easy, easy, easy.
There are probably a million different ways to make Taco Salad. Here’s mine.
Taco Salad Recipe
Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
Iceberg lettuce head
3 large tomatos
Nacho cheese flavored chips
2 cups shredded cheddar/taco/Mexican blend cheese
1 bottle French or Catalina dressing
Instructions:
Brown the ground beef. Add your favorite taco seasoning mixture.
While the ground beef cools, prepare the rest of the salad.
Chop up 1/2 to 2/3 of the head of lettuce. Chop up the tomatoes. Crush half the bag of nacho cheese flavored chips into bite size pieces.
In a large bowl mix together the lettuce, tomato and chips. Add the shredded cheese. Stir in cooled ground beef mixture. Finally, add 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the dressing. Stir well. Serve immediately.
If you make the Taco Salad ahead of time, add everything but the chips. Stir those in just before serving so they don’t get soggy.
You can of course add more of or subtract some of any of the above ingredients to your own taste.
Other additions:
Jazz up the salad by adding onion and red beans.
Make it leaner by using ground turkey or shredded chicken. You can also save calories by using light dressing, and baked chips.
I made this Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cornmeal Cake for dessert Christmas Eve.
It’s a little labor intensive, but so worth it. The cake is delicious warm, out of the oven.
The recipe calls for dried cranberries. I substituted raisins, because no one around here is a big cranberry fan.
I found the recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens magazine. It’s also online on the BH&G website.
Here’s a kid-friendly recipe from Martha Stewart.
Baked Corn Dog Recipe
1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup yellow corn meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
coarse salt and pepper
2/3 cup of milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
4 precooked smoked chicken sausages
ketchup and mustard for serving
Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of coarse salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Make a well in the center. Add milk, eggs and oil. Mix just until combined. Insert a popsicle stick into one end of each sausage. Dust with flour. Tap off excess. Using handle rotate each sausage over bowl while spooning on batter. Coat evenly. Place on sheet, bake five minutes. Using a spatula reapply any batter that may have slipped off. Bake until, golden, another 20 minutes.
I just used jumbo hot dogs for these rather than smoked chicken sausages.
The batter was pretty thick, and I couldn’t really spoon it on like the recipe said. I had to press it on. I think I will add more milk next time. On the up side I didn’t have any batter slip off in the oven that had to be spooned back on after the first five minutes.
The Baked Corn Dogs came out golden and crunchy with a sweet cornbread taste. The crust was a little dry, something the additional milk should fix. They were a hit with my three year old son, and my husband and I liked them as well. They are certainly more difficult to make than the frozen store-bought variety, but worth the effort.
Chicken Teriyaki
Garlic Mashed Potatoes (Instant)
Broccoli w/ Cheese
Two crock-pot meals in two days. I love the idea of something simmering slowly all day when it’s cold and snowy outside. It makes the house feel so cozy, and it smells really good too.
This Chicken Teriyaki recipe is easy and tasty. It would have been better to serve it with rice, but I realized too late that I forgot to buy some.
I’m not usually a fan of instant mashed potatoes. My Irish roots don’t allow it. But these Garlic Mashed from Betty Crocker are yummy, and much faster than all that peeling and boiling to make your own.
I love broccoli, but my husband won’t eat it unless it’s been unrecognizably disguised in some way. Velveeta does the job pretty well.
Slow Cooker Chicken Teriyaki
Cut-up Fryer Chicken (Up to 4 lbs.)
2 TBS of Vegetable Oil
1/3 Cup of Soy Sauce
2 TBS of Brown Sugar
2 TBS of Water
1 Garlic Clove, minced
1 tsp Ground Ginger
In a skillet over medium heat brown chicken in oil on both sides. Transfer to crock-pot. In a separate bowl combine soy sauce, brown sugar, water, garlic and ginger. Pour over chicken. Cover and cook on high one hour. Reduce heat and cook another 4 to 5 hours. Remove to platter, spoon juices over chicken. Juice can also be thickened as a gravy and served over rice.
For just the three of us, I used two split chicken breasts. Pressed for time in the morning, I skipped the browning, and just put the chicken right in the crock-pot. It didn’t seem to affect the taste. When the chicken finished cooking there was a lot of juice in the pot. Since I forgot the rice, I pulled the chicken off the bone and put it back in the pot for a few minutes to soak up all the juice. It was moist, sweet and yummy. My 3 year old even ate it.
Check back tomorrow to see What’s for Dinner.
