Strawberry Muffin and BLT Salad

A little lazy this week and we just threw together one of the BLT salads we have seen floating around the net and it was ok but not really great we just as soon have the real thing. We did use up some of the strawberries we had in a Jiffy corn muffin mix. Just spoon some sliced strawberries in the muffin and they weren't to bad.

Watermelon bird cage

This isn't something I cooked but it did turn out kinda cute. My nephew and his wife had their wedding shower a couple weeks ago and my wife was asked to do the center piece. This is what she did and it was a big hit. Plus we got to eat the middle of the watermelon.

Strawberry Salad

My wifes mother always had a strawberry salad every thanksgiving and she kinda got a craving for one but she could not remember how it was made. We have since got the recipe but that will be fixed at another time. We did use the frozen strawberries but added in some fresh ones also. Since we had a few fresh strawberries left that needed to be used and not enough to do anything with we thought this would be a good one to make. This one come from a falling and I do mean falling apart old Bell south cook book called Calling All Cook . It has just about everything.
1 10 oz pkg frozen strawberries
1 60z pkg strawberry Jello
1 small can crushed pineapple do not drain
1 cup boiling water
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese (room temp)
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 80z pkg cool whip
1 cup pecan pieces
2 bananas, mashed.
Mix strawberry Jello with boiling water reserving ¼ cup Jello. Pour into 13 x 9 Pyrex dish.
Add frozen strawberries, and fresh strawberries (we had about 3), pineapple, and bananas. Stir until strawberries melt. (We had ours out and thawed.) Put in refrigerator to jell.
Meanwhile soften cream cheese at room temp. Cream with confection sugar 1 cup at a time. Add ¼ reserve Jello and stir. Add cool whip and stir well. Fold in nuts, pour over Jello mixture and garnish with pecans and or fresh strawberries.

Coconut Chicken

I can not remember where I got this recipe but we had some left over yogurt we need to use and was looking for something different to fix. This smelled out of this world when it was cooking but we were a little let down when it came to taste. In fact we added a bit more of most everything in the spice department. Our taste buds want things to zing.

1 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic
¼ teaspoon turmeric1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional .. but we like)
¼ teaspoon garam masala (this was the first time to use this and it smells divine)
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon salt
juice and zest of one lime
1.5to 2 lbs chicken drumsticks (we used some chicken thighs.)
1 onion sliced
1 can (13.5 oz.) can unsweetened coconut milk
1 teaspoon dried cilantro or 1 Tablespoon fresh cilantro

In a large bowl combine yogurt, olive oil, garlic. Turmeric, cayenne pepper, garam masala, salt cumin, lime and lime zest. Place chicken in marinade and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.
Remove chicken from marinade and reserve marinade.
In a large skillet, cook chicken over medium heat until it browns slightly, about 4 minutes each side.
Add onions and cook 2 minutes. Pour coconut milk and marinade over the top, stir. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium low heat. Simmer for 30 to 35 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
Stir in cilantro just before serving.
Can serve as is but we put over rice.

Side dish of steamed broccoli and cauliflower

Lamb chops

We love lamb and wish we could get it more often, so when we see some chops at Sam's we grab them. We used the same marinade that we used on the chicken Slovakia and grilled them. Melt in your mouth goodness.

Again we had roasted potatoes and grilled some asparagus wrapped in bacon. We also had some mushrooms cooked in butter and then cream cheese placed in top of cap and placed under the broiler to melt the cheese. This was a simple way to do the mushrooms and if you have never made them its so simple to taste so good.

4th dinner crock pot pork

Well better late than never. We cooked something new for us this 4th. It was so hot here the thought of getting out to grill just makes me cringe. I cooked out for the chicken we had a week or so ago and I thought I would melt.105 heat index is not my idea of fun in the sun. One of the local grocery stores had a sale on a pork shoulder or a Boston but so I got one to try. I had come across a recipe for one cooked in the crock pot and wife has been wanting some pulled pork barbecue. I put this in the crock pot Friday night before we went to bed with a package of Lipton onion soup mix and depending on how big your piece of meat is let it cook low and slow over night. Ours was not ready at 10 the next morning so we kicked it up to high and by 1 we were in business. Sine we had potato salad last week we had roasted potatoes with it and baked beans.

Roasted potatoes were cut and sprinkled with the Lipton onion soup mix and baked beans had a little bell pepper,bacon and onion added. Some brown sugar and dash of dry mustard. We did cheat and buy a bottled barbecue sauce but we did doctor on it some.