Friday Foodie Summer RoundUp (And a New Recipe!)

Tomorrow is the first day of Summer.  I don't know about you, but I definitely eat different foods in the summer.  A big bowl of chili or stew has no appeal when it's 90 degrees outside.  I also avoid turning my oven on when possible.  So here is a full roundup of recipes that I've posted here on the blog that are perfect for Summer.  We also eat more burgers on the grill, corn on the cob, and baked beans!  Of course, you can see all my recipes on the Friday Foodie page.

Main Dishes

Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes and Basil

Sausage and Pepper Sauce
Sausage Filled Ravioli

Slow Cooker Ham Scalloped Potato Casserole 

Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti

Chicken Tikka Masala

Acai Bowl

Fish Tacos

Kalua Pork

Side Dishes

Rainbow Fruit Salad

Apple and Carrot Salad
Salsa

Pasta Salad

Layered Salad

Broccoli and Cranberry Salad 

Chilled Soups

Blueberry Orange Soup
Chilled Berry Soup
Chilled Peach Soup

Sandwiches
Turkey Salad
Turkey-Apple-Apple Butter Sandwich
Sunshine Chicken Salad 

Breakfast
French Toast
Smoothies
Crunchy French Toast with Corn Flakes

Lemon-Blueberry Pancakes with Lemon-Blueberry Syrup

Desserts

Orange Creamsicle Pie

Lemonade Pie
Peach Cobbler
Berry Cobbler

Fruit Torte
Chocolate Eclair Dessert

Orange Creamsicle Muddie Buddies
Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream
Orange Creamsicle Cookies
Coffee Ice Cream

This week I used the Chocolate Eclair Dessert recipe and made a Lemon Eclair dessert.  It was so easy and SO very good!

Lemon Eclair Dessert

18-20 Graham Crackers
3 cups milk
2 pkg (3 oz) lemon instant pudding
8 oz. cool whip
1 tub lemon icing

Mix pudding, milk and cool whip together. 
Line bottom of 9" x 13" pan with graham crackers (my pan is slightly sloped so it took exactly 6 for the bottom)
Put 1/2 pudding mixture over crackers and top with another layer of crackers (this took 7 crackers for my pan.)
Put remaining pudding mixture over crackers and top with another layer of crackers (another 7)
Spread lemon icing over top of cracker layer and refrigerate for several hours.  You might be tempted to cut right into it, but let it sit for several hours so the graham crackers become soft.

Summer Delights

I mentioned getting some recipes from my sister-in-law Monica - I have now tried three of the four and they are all perfect summer dishes!  If you're planning a get together for tomorrow and need just one more dish, give one of these a try!

Layered Salad

1 head lettuce, break in bite size pieces
1 head cauliflower, break in bite size pieces
1 bunch green onion, chopped
1 bag frozen peas
2 cups mayonnaise
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 lb. bacon, fried and chopped

Layer first four items in that order.  Mix mayonnaise, cheese and sugar, spread on top of salad.  Refrigerate overnight or several hours.  Add bacon.  Toss before serving.

I cut this recipe in half knowing that it would probably be soggy before we finished eating it - that did not happen!  We chowed down on this and it was gone in 24 hours.  I'm planning to make another one today - that's how good it is!  We had this with lunch and dinner on Tuesday and finished it off at lunch on Wednesday.  It was best the first time, after just a few hours the peas were still partially frozen and crunchy.  It is one of those dishes that each bite tastes a little different.  Very refreshing!

 Fruit Torte

1 stick butter, melted
1 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla

Add flour to melted butter, mix in brown sugar and press into 9 x 13 pan.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla.  Spread evenly over crust.

Top with fruit and chill.

I also cut this recipe in half and used an 8 x 8 pan - we still have some of it but it seems to keep well for a few days.  I opted for a red, while and blue mix in honor of Independence Day!  I think if you were in a hurry (or didn't want to turn your oven on for 10 minutes), you could buy a pre-made graham cracker crust.

Sunshine Chicken Salad

1 pkg. ranch salad dressing mix
1/2 cup mayonnaise
4 oz. cream cheese softened
1/4 cup honey
2 cups chicken, cooked and cubed
1 cup celery, sliced
1 8 oz. can pineapple tidbits in juice, drained
1 1/2 cups seedless grapes
1/2 cup slivered almonds or pecans, toasted

Combine dressing mix, mayo, cream cheese, and honey thoroughly in a small bowl.  Chill 30 minutes or overnight.
Place remaining ingredients, except almonds, in a large bowl.  Toss with chilled dressing.  Sprinkle almonds or pecans to serve.

This makes a great sandwich alternative!  I was out of grapes when I made this, so I added dried cranberries and of course cut the recipe in half.

Friday Foodie

Les called me one night this week while he was in Des Moines. (Edit: Les called me every night that he was in Des Moines. This post is about one of those nights.) He told me about a wonderful sandwich he had for lunch that day. "We've got to have this at home," he said. So we did! Are you tired of the same old turkey sandwich? Well here's a new twist for you:


Turkey-Apple-Apple Butter Sandwich

Bread of your choice
Sliced Turkey breast
Thinly sliced apple
Apple butter
Cheese (optional)

1. Spread apple butter on bread.
2. Add turkey, apple slices and cheese.
3. Put together and enjoy!


This is SO good! As you can see, we had ours on croissants today, but any bread will do. I used Cracker Pepper Turkey so it had a little extra flavor, but the apples and apple butter make an old standby taste new. Les had cheese on his, I did not ~ I just enjoyed the apples and apple butter!

Friday Foodie

Turkey - Turkey - Turkey! What do with all that leftover turkey??? Here's one quick and easy idea that I invented last week.

1 1/2 to 2 cups diced turkey
1/2 diced apple
1/4 cup dried cranberries
mayonnaise and cranberry relish to taste

Serves 4

This made the best sandwiches! I'm not sure how much mayo or relish I used, I made it like I make tuna salad - put some in, stir, add some more, stir until you get the texture you like.

I have no idea what the nutritional value is, but I know it's pretty low, especially with fat free mayo!

P.S. I ran 7 miles yesterday morning, burned 453 calories which equals one piece of pie!