Watermelon Basket and Macaroni Salad

Hope you all had a nice 4th of July. The weather here in Virginia was perfect on the 4th. Normally it is very humid and I can even remember rain on and off on the 4th for the past few years. But not this year! We went to a BBQ at a friends house which we do every year. Needless to say lots of good food was eaten all day long....too much in fact! We brought a watermelon basket, macaroni salad and an upside down peach cake that was fabulous (I'll be postiing that later this week). If you think I carved out the watermelon basket, you're wrong! My husband did that. I am not that talented! He has worked in the catering field for over 20 years and could probably carve one in his sleep. I made the macaroni salad which is pretty simple. I son really loves the macaroni salad probably because it is very simple and only has a few ingredients. These measurements are not exact but I've tried to come as close as possible!

3/4 16 oz box of elbow macaroni
1/2 cup (or more to taste) of light mayo
2 tomatoes
1 large cucumber
celery salt to taste

Cook elbow macaroni according to package directions and rinse with cold water and drain well. Add 1/2 cup light mayo or more to taste and celery salt and mix well. Add chopped vegetables and mix well.

Banana Bread with Cream Cheese and Cherries

I know, it's another banana bread. It's hard for me to not make banana bread when I have a husband that constantly snacks and diets on bananas. There is usually a supply of bananas coming in here daily! I kid you not! So, at some point, there will always be a bunch that are overripe. I like bananas that still have a little green to them. I also thought I ate a lot of bananas. Ha! Nothing compared to my husband. My son kids him and says he will soon have a banana stem growing out the top of his head!

I found this recipe in an older Philadelphia Cream Cheese cookbook that I bought from a thrift store. I LOVE thrift stores. They are so much fun to rummage through and you just never know what you will find. Anyhow, I've never made a banana bread before that uses cream cheese. I added cherries on top really just for the hell of it. The cherries really held up well and didn't sink like I thought they might. This banana bread is very, very flavorful. A bit drier than others I have made but still a good one. I also added 1 teaspoon of vanilla....

1 8 oz package Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup margarine (I used butter)
1 cup mashed ripe banana
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup chopped nuts

Combine cream cheese, sugar and margarine (butter), mixing until well blended. Blend in banana and eggs. Add combined remaining ingredients, mixing just until moistened. Pour into greased and floured 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan. Serve with additional cream cheese, if desired.

Indian Chicken Curry

This recipe is another one from the Woodlawn Plantation Cookbook. An old one but really good one. I'm finding more and more interesting recipes in this old book. The picture does not do this dish justice. It doesn't look all that appetizing but it was delicious. My husband had asked where I found this recipe and I immediately thought he didn't care for it. Turns out he thought the seasonings and spices were perfect. I'd never cooked anything before with coconut milk so that was something new. I tasted the coconut milk before I added it to the dish and it was so so. But it adds a lot to this dish. Of course my son was not at all interested in this dish. So I just made him some fried rice with the white rice I used in this recipe and also added chicken to it. This keeps everyone happy!

6 Tbs butter
1 small onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp ginger
1 1/2 tsp salt (I used 1 tsp)
2 to 3 Tbs curry powder
2 cups coconut milk
1 cup chicken broth
6 Tbs cornstarch
3 cups diced chicken

Melt butter in large frying pan; add onion and garlic and cook over low heat five minutes. Add ginger, salt and curry powder. Combine coconut milk and chicken broth; blend in cornstarch and add to cooked onion. Stir over low heat until thickened. Add cooked chicken pieces. Heat well. Better if made a day or so ahead and reheated. Can be frozen. Serve with rice.

Berry Ripple Tea Cake

This is another cake that I saw while checking out the food blogs that I follow that I just had to make ASAP!!! I saw this on Coleen's food site and Ingrid's food site. It's a great cake. I remember Coleen saying that it lasted barely a day in her house. I can relate to that. It didn't last long here either. I will definitely be making this cake again. I used only strawberries for the filling but I would imagine you could use any berry or a mixture of them. I'm not posting the recipe myself since it was pretty recent that both Coleen and Ingrid posted it and they also have great pics with theirs. So just click on their site for the recipe....it's a great one!

Hope you are all enjoying your summer so far. The past week has been really nice down her in Virginia. The only bad thing about summer is that I tend to cook less because I spend more time outdoors and when I am inside most of the time it's too hot to heat up the kitchen! But I am going to try to get in more cooking and baking this week.....we'll see!!!

Apple Pecan Cream Pie

When I saw this recipe over at Katherine's Smoky Mountain Cafe it was just screaming out for me to make it. My "to try" recipe folder is already bulging but I just could not wait to make this one. It was perfect to make with the weather we are having here lately. Very warm and it's great to have a good pie without having to turn on the oven. I would highly recommend this recipe to everyone. It it fantastic! This is a recipe you can also vary. In fact, I already bought a can of peach pie filling to try next. And I'm thinking also of turning this into a chocolate pie too! Just a great summer dessert. Katherine also has on her site some great step by step pictures of making this pie. Yours truly over here STILL cannot figure out how to post pictures in between paragraphs. I keep saying someday I will figure this out!!! Thanks for a great recipe Katherine!

1 graham cracker pie shell

1 21 oz can of applie pie filling
2 tbs brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Mix all the above ingredients together in large bowl. Add half of mixture to pie shell and refrigerate the other half.

1 cup half & half
4 oz room temperature cream cheese
1 small box of instant vanilla pudding
1 1/2 cups whipped cream (I used Cool Whip)

In another bowl mix half & half and cream cheese together and whisk until well blended. Add vanilla pudding and whisk again till blended. Fold in whipped cream (or Cool Whip). Pour mixture into pie shell on top of apple mixture. Cover and freeze at least 2 hours. Top with apple mixture, thaw and serve. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Tropical Coconut Bread

Hope everyone has had a nice weekend and enjoyed Father's Day. I treated my husband to a boat ride over to Georgetown and a delicious lunch. We ate outside by the water in Georgetown and the weather was finally perfect! Warm but not humid! Afterwards we went to some nice stores in the area and took the boat back to Alexandria and had delicious desserts at a local bakery. Needless to say I am still stuffed...so much for dinner tonight!

I found this bread, which is really more like a cake over at Keeper Worthy Recipes. This is one bread that I know I will be making over and over again. Delicious! My husband and I both really liked it. My son didn't even try it....claims he doesn't like coconut. Well that's good, then there's more for me! Please check out Denise's blog for more great recipes....Thanks Denise!

(This will make 2 loaves, I used 8 x 4 in loaf pans)

3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, slightly beaten
2 tsp. coconut extract
1 cup buttermilk (I used 1 cup milk mixed with 1 tbs lemon juice)
1 cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Do not use hand mixer for this recipe- use either a spoon or spatula, stir by hand.
In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well.
In large bowl, combine sugar, oil, eggs and coconut extract. Mix well.
Alternately add flour and buttermilk to sugar mixture and stir only until moist.
Stir in shredded coconut.
Pour into 2 prepared loaf pans, place on middle rack in oven and bake for 1 hour.

My One Year Blogging Anniversary and Birthday!!

I started my food blog exactly one year ago today and cannot believe how much I enjoy this and look forward to baking (and cooking) new recipes. I discovered that I have a real of love of baking, probably because I love cake and cookies more than any other food. I still have many more (countless) recipes to try and definitely need to challenge myself more. Still have my fear of yeast and of making a 7 minute frosting (Katy I chickened out at the last minute!). But I know that if I push myself I can do it! I want to thank everyone for leaving all your positive and encouraging comments. I love when you all stop by and have a blast reading the comments. Thank you all so much. I want to also give a special thanks to my husband, Danny. He is my biggest supporter and gives me tons of encouragement, especially when I think I can't cook or bake!!! He always tells me how good a cook and baker I am. That means a lot to me.

Today is also my birthday and let's just say I am older than dirt. They say that age is a state of mind....well if that is the case I am 18 but when I look in the mirror....I am old!!!! Because it's my birthday, I have made my favorite cake....a chocolate layer cake with white frosting. I tasted a small sliver of the cake last night before I frosted it and it is good. This will be the chocolate cake I will make from now on. It's a rich devil's food cake. The frosting tastes like a marshmallow frosting which I love!!! It's cooked first mixing milk and flour. I think this is the way frostings were made years back but I'm not sure. I love cooked frostings like this. They are soooo good. Next time I want to make the popular 7 minute frosting. It just has me a bit nervous since you beat it on top of a double boiler. I don't know why I worry about that....maybe it's my nature. Anyhow I found this on Recipezaar and it is out of this world good!!!!!

THE ONLY CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE YOU'LL EVER NEED! (DEVIL'S FOOD) recipe #26370

CAKE
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup hot coffee
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

FROSTING
1 cup milk
5 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar (I used powdered sugar)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 F
In a large mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Add oil, coffee and milk and mix at medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat 2 more minutes. Expect batter to be thin.
Pour into a 9 x 13 greased and floured pan or 2 9" round pans. Bake 9 x 13 pan for about 45 minutes or 9" pans for about 30 minutes. Cool in pans for about 15 minutes and then cool completely on racks.

While cake is cooling make the icing: Combine the milk and flour in a saucepan and cook over low heat until thick, whisking constantly. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.
In a medium bowl, beat butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add chilled milk and flour mixture and beat for 10 minutes. Frost cooled cake and enjoy!!!!