Blueberry Cheesecake Pie

This recipe is so, so, so yummy.  It's light and fruity, and really good.  And I almost always have all the ingredients in my kitchen, so it's easy to make without planning ahead, which I'm notorious for!  The recipe comes from here.

Blueberry Cheesecake Pie

Crumb Crust:
9 large rectangular graham crackers (about 1 1/2 cups) crushed (My food processor makes crushing crackers so easy!)
2 TBSP sugar
6 TBSP melter butter

For the cheese custard:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
Freshly grated zest from 1 lemon

For the berries:
2 cups blueberries, rinsed (you could also use frozen ones, a staple in my freezer)
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 TBSP corn starch, mixed with 2 TBSP cold water

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  In a small bowl, combine the crushed graham crackers, sugar and butter.  Pat the crumb mixture into a 9 inch pie pan and bake for 8 minutes, until very lightly browned and set.  Let the crust cool completely before filling.  Leave the oven on.

Meanwhile, make the cheese custard:  in a medium bow,, combine the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla and beat until thoroughly mixed and smooth.  Add the eggs and beat well.  Stir in the lemon zest.  Pour into the cooled shell and bake until just set, 25-30 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

While the custard is cooking, combine the berries, water, and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and add the cornstarch mixture.  Return to a boil and cook for one minute, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened.  Remove from the heat and cool until tepid.

Spoon the berries over the cooled custard.  Chill for at least one hour before serving.

Naan

This is the best recipe for Naan I've tried.  And it's really easy.  You just need to plan enough time for the two risings.  I found the recipe here.  I do halve the recipe, because it makes a lot of naan, and it's best fresh.

You can either grill this Naan, as the recipe says, or you can cook it in a cast iron frying pan, with just a light coating of oil.  This is called dry frying, and it's how I cook my Naan.  I love my cast iron frying pan, nothing ever sticks to it!

Naan

1 package dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup white sugar (I do less, just a sprinkle of sugar to help the yeast grow.  1/4 cup makes it too sweet)
3 TBSP milk
1 egg
2 tsp salt
4 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp minced garlic (optional)
1/4 cup butter, melter

In a large bowl, dissolve years in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy.  Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt and enough flour to make a soft dough  (I've found it takes less than the 4 cups).  Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth.  Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise.  Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.

Punch dough down, and knead in garlic (if making garlic naan.  If making plain naan, skip this step.)  Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball (you should get about 14).  Roll into balls and place on a tray.  Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat (or frying pan).

At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle.  Lightly oil grill.  Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and slightly browned.  Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over.  Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes.  Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

Grilled Island Chicken

This recipe comes from here.  This is the very best chicken I've made!  It was so good.  Yesterday's chicken was good, but this one was way better.  It was good by itself, or it would have been good with flat bread and tzatziki sauce, or with French fries.  It was juicy and flavorful.  I wasn't expecting it to be so good, because the marinade is so simple, but it's really, really good.

Grilled Island Chicken

1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 TBSP freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used 2)
1 1/2 TBSP soy sauce
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2-4 chicken breasts (If I was using more than 2, I would double the recipe)

Combine all the ingredients except chicken in a bowl or Ziploc bag.  Mix well.  Add the chicken breasts, and marinate all day.  Cook on the grill until done.  I cubed my chicken and did it on skewers, that's our favorite way to eat grilled chicken, and it cooks the fastest, but you can cook the breasts whole too.

Pineapple Apricot Chicken Skewers

Once again, this recipe comes from here.  She has a lot of great grilling recipes.  I've been using the grill more this year, and I've really liked it.  The downside is, we're going through chicken faster than ever!  My stash in the freezer is almost gone.  I need a chicken sale!  I did halve this recipe, it makes a TON of marinade.  You could easily do 2 chicken breasts, or 3 smaller ones with half the recipe, and that's plenty of chicken for us.

Pineapple Apricot Chicken Skewers

32 ounce jar of pineapple apricot preserves
1 TBSP yellow mustard
3 TBSP balsamic vinegar
2 TBSP honey
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper
4-6 chicken breasts, cubed
8-10 bamboo skewers

Combine the ingredients in a gallon ziploc bag except chicken.  Mix well.  Add chicken, mix in and marinate from 2 hours to all day.  The longer the better.  (I only did a couple hours, next time I would plan better and do all day.)  Put chicken on skewers and grill until cooked through.

I halved the amount of preserves, but I did the full amount of the other seasonings.  I hope that makes sense.  So if I made the whole recipe, I would do 32 ounces of the preserves, but double the rest of the spices.

Banana Sour Cream Bread

I never liked banana bread as a kid, because I didn't like the texture.  It was rubbery, and it seemed like the edges had to burn to get the middle to cook.  I discovered this recipe one day, years ago, and my banana bread has been perfect ever since!

Banana Sour Cream Bread

3/4 cup butter
3 cups white sugar
3 eggs
6 very rip bananas, mashed
16 ounces sour cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 4 7x3 inch loaf pans (I used muffin tins, it made 2 dozen, and 1 mini loaf).  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Mix in eggs, mashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla and cinnamon.  Mix together salt, baking soda and flour, then add to sugar and banana mixture.  Mix well.  Stir in nuts.  Divide into prepared pans.  Bake for 1 hour, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Glazed Poppyseed Cake

I got this recipe here, but I changed it a far amount, so I'm just going to post the way I made it.  It's a really, really good cake, but quite rich.

Glazed Poppyseed Cake

1 lemon cake mix
1 box of instant lemon pudding
1/8-1/4 cup poppy seeds (I add more if I think it needs it)
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup oil
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs

Mix cake mix, pudding mix, and poppy seeds.  Add juice, oil and sour cream and mix well.
Add eggs one at a time, mix well.  Grease and flour a bundt pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.  When the cake is done, start the glaze.  Allow cake to cool for 10 minutes.

Glaze

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup butter

Bring ingredients to a boil and keep bubbling until ready to brush on cake.  Once cake has cooled for 10 minutes, brush the bottom of the cake with some glaze.  Then invert cake to a plate.  Brush the remaining glaze all over the cake.  Allow cake to cool about 50 minutes, then serve.

Sweet Lentil Stew

This was another really, really good dish.  It's from the Saving Dinner Cookbook.  Every recipe I've had from this cookbook has been excellent, and relatively easy.  I really need to go buy it for myself!

Sweet Lentil Stew

1 3/4 cups dried lentils, washed
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut in 1-inch chunks
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 small red pepper, diced
1 large potato, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
3 cups water
1 TBSP olive oil

Mix all ingredients in crock pot, except for olive oil.

Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours, or until the vegetables and lentils are tender.  Stir in the olive oil just before serving.  Serves 6.

Since my crock pot met an untimely death, and I can't bear to replace her yet, I cooked mine on the stove top.  It took about an hour to cook, but I had to add at least 3 more cups of water.  Even in the crockpot, I would check it about halfway through the cooking to make sure it wasn't getting too dry.  Lentils take a fair amount of water to cook, as do the potatoes.

I eliminated the regular potato, and used 2 sweet potatoes instead.  Instead of the jar of spaghetti sauce, I used a can of diced tomatoes (I avoid using canned spaghetti sauce at all costs).  It came out delightful and oh so healthy.  There are 26 grams of fiber per serving!

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

These were so different from the enchiladas that I usually make, but they were very good.  You do have to marinate the chicken, but because you're usually precooked chicken, you can either use the leftover chicken from the Chicken Posole, or you can use some precooked chicken you already have in the freezer.  I got the recipe here.

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

6 TBSP honey
5 TBSP lime juice (2-3 limes)
1 TBSP chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded

Combine above ingredients, and marinate at least 30 minutes.

8-10 tortillas
1 pound monterrey jack cheese, shredded, reserve 1 cup
16 ounces green enchilada sauce
1 cup cream (I used sour cream, and it was perfect, I don't think I would like it with cream, too heavy)

Spread 1/2 cup enchilada sauce in the bottom of 9x13 pan.  Fill tortillas with the shredded meat and cheese, roll like burritos, and place in the pan.  (I used a fork to get the meat out, so that I could use the rest of the marinade in the next step.)

Mix the rest of the marinade, green enchilada sauce, and sour cream.  Pour on top of the enchiladas, and top with the shredded cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly and brown on top.

I cut this recipe in half, but I did not cut the marinade in half, if that makes sense.  I used an 8x8 pan.  I would use a little less sour cream, so that you could taste the enchilada sauce better, and they were a little too saucy and soupy.  But the flavor was absolutely wonderful.  I was very pleased with this recipe, and it will definitely go into my list of recipes to make again.

Chicken Posole

This was a fabulous recipe.  Very, very simple, but oh so tasty.  I could eat it every day until it was gone, and then I want to make it again!  I originally got the recipe here, but I changed it up a bit.

Chicken Posole

1 TBSP olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
32 ounces chicken broth (I make mine with bouillon cubes and 4 cups water)
1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes, with the juice
chili oil
2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken meat
1 can great northern beans

Heat the oil in a pan, and cook the onion until soft.  Add the rest of the ingredients, and heat through.  Add chili oil to desired heat.  I only put a couple drops into our soup, just enough to give it a little flavor, because the kids don't like spicy food.

This is so very simple, but oh so delightful.   I did use a rotisserie chicken (the first time I've ever bought one!) It was so easy and very delicious.  Tomorrow I'll post a recipe for what you can do with the rest of the chicken from the rotisserie chicken.  Another yummy recipe.

German Pancake

I had never made a German pancake until a couple weeks ago when I didn't want to make dinner, and I had some fresh farm eggs sitting around, so I decided to make this for dinner!  The kids loved it and so did I.  I have never made this before, so I don't know if the fresh eggs made it puffier than it would have been with store eggs, but it was GINORMOUS.  We've made the switch to farm fresh eggs, and they are so much better than eggs from the store, and I know exactly where they came from (my friend!)  This was yummy, and I'll have to make it again.  We served it with fresh strawberries, and it was very yummy.  And oh so simple.  I got the recipe here.

German Pancake

6 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBSP butter, melted

Put all ingredients except butter in the blender, and mix until smooth.  Pout the butter into a 9x13 pan, then pour the batter in to the pan.  Bake, at 400 degrees, for 20 minutes, until puffy, golden on top, and set in the middle.

Dust with powdered sugar, and serve immediately.  It is best hot.

Baked Oatmeal

This is a great winter breakfast recipe I had forgotten about.  It's summer now, but I figured I should post it before I forgot again.  The recipe originally came from here, but I made it quite differently.

Baked Oatmeal

6 cups quick cooking oatmeal
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups milk
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, slightly beaten

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together.  Pour into a 9x13 pan.  Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until set.  Serve with milk, berries, honey, whatever oatmeal toppings you like.

I cut the recipe in half, and made it in an 8x8 pan, because 6 cups is WAY too much oatmeal for us.  I also cut down on the sugar, and put only a splash of oil in.  I wanted it to be more oatmealish, and this recipe is more like a giant oatmeal cookie.  I also put raisins in, and it was very good.

Crockpot Refried Beans

This is a very simple recipe, but oh so good.  You won't be able to go back to the canned stuff after making these, I promise!  And if you don't like refried beans, give these a whirl, you'll change your mind after trying them.  I got the recipe here, although I've seen it lots of other places.

Crockpot Refried Beans

3 cups of dry pinto beans (rinsed)
1 onion, diced
9 cups of water
5 tsp salt
1 3/4 tsp pepper
2 TBSP minced garlic
1/8 tsp ground cumin
2 TBSP butter

Put all the ingredients except the salt and the butter in a crock pot and cook on high for about 8 hours.

After they are done, drain all of the liquid out and save the liquid.

Mash beans with a potato masher as much or as little as you want.  Add liquid, a bit at a time, to desired consistency, but remember you want them a little runny because they thicken over time.  Add salt and butter, and more cumin to taste, if needed.  Makes about 6 cups.

You can double this recipe and freeze them, they freeze just fine.

Blueberry Muffins

This recipe also comes from my Maine's Jubilee Cookbook.  I've been making this recipe for about 16 years, and it's my favorite recipe.  It's a good texture, it's fairly low fat, and it's just good.  I also use this recipe as the base for other muffins.  Instead of blueberries, I have put chopped pears, peaches, and cherries to name a few.

Blueberry Muffins

2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 cup milk
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup blueberries

Mix together sugar, oil, eggs and milk.  Add the flour, sifted with baking powder and salt.  Fold in blueberries last.  Bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

Makes 1 dozen muffins.  I always double it and freeze half of them.  We will polish off an entire dozen in one day.  My kids love these muffins, as does Rusty.

Apple Brownies

My mom used to make these, and I think we used to call them "Disappearing Brownies" because we'd eat the whole pan in one sitting (it only makes a 9x9 pan, but still, they're seriously good!)  This recipe comes from "Maine's Jubilee Cookbook."  When we got married 10 years ago, I wanted this cookbook because my mom has it, and it has THE.BEST blueberry muffin recipe in it.  It's been out of print for years, so my Grandmother got on Ebay and got it for me.  That still cracks me up, to think of my Grammie getting on EBAY and buying me a cookbook.  But I'm grateful for it, and I love it.

Apple Brownies

1 cup sugar
1/4 pound butter (1 stick)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 apples, chopped fine
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Cream sugar and butter.  Add the slightly beaten egg and vanilla.  Sift flour with salt, baking powder and soda.  Add to the creamed mixture with the chopped apple and the nuts.  Bake in an 8x8 pan at 350 degrees until done, about 25 minutes.

White Pizza

My sister and I made pizza on Sunday night, and we NAILED the white pizza!  White pizza is a favorite with my sisters and our mom, and I think we set a personal record for the best white pizza on Sunday.  It's simple, but oh so good, and very cheesy.

White Pizza

Dough for a 12 inch pizza
6-8 ounces Chevre
3 ounces Feta cheese
4 ounces Gorgonzola cheese (a kind of blue cheese, but a little more mellow)
1/2 cup FRESH grated Parmesan cheese
Mozzarella cheese
Garlic butter (I didn't have any, and I'm not a huge garlic fan, but my mom uses this and it's good.)

Spread dough on greased pizza pan.  Lightly spread garlic butter on pizza dough.  Spread Chevre on the dough, then evenly distribute the Feta, Gorgonzola and Parmesan.  Cover with Mozzarella cheese and bake until crust is cooked and lightly brown on the bottom, and cheese is melted.

Serve, and try not to eat the whole pizza in one sitting!

I would love Greek olives on this pizza, but I'm the only one who likes olives, so we usually leave them off.  Liz loves this pizza, it's the only one she'll eat.  You can vary the amounts of cheese depending on your taste.  I adore Chevre, so I might add a little more to it.

Lentils and Rice

This is a very simple dish, but really yummy.  I used to hate it when I was a kid, but I love it now.  This is a great dish for a cold night.  I love it plain, but I also love it with a little Italian dressing on it.  That's the only way I can get Liz to eat it.  I think some fresh lemon juice would be good too.

Lentils and Rice

1/2 cup lentils
1/2 cup brown rice
1 onion minced (or 4 TBSP dehydrated onion)
1/2 tsp curry powder
2 1/2 cups water
1 tsp olive oil

Put all ingredients in pot and cook on medium low heat until lentils and rice are both tender and all water is absorbed, about 40 minutes.  If water is gone but rice is still crunchy, add a little more water, cook until absorbed, then check again.  Makes about 3 servings (I usually double it for the 5 of us).

If you use white rice, cook the lentils by themselves for about 15 minutes, then add the white rice, since white rice takes less time to cook than the lentils do.  Adjust the amount of curry to your taste preference.  This is either a good main dish or a side dish.

I made this Monday night, and Liz gobbled hers up and then said, "I love this!  I forgot how good it is, but I love it."  Miraculous I tell you, nothing short of miraculous!

I put some caramelized red onions and wheat sprouts on top of mine, and it was super yummy.  I doubled the recipe, and we ate it all.

Classic Italian Lasagna

Here is the Classic Italian Lasagna.  It's so good, I want to make it again, and we just ate the last of it last Thursday.  Once again I got the recipe here.  All I can say is, go make it, just go, NOW!  And then come back and thank me.


Classic Italian Lasagna


*Makes one 9x13 inch pan of lasagna.


Red Sauce:
2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP butter
4 cloves fresh garlic, finely minced
1/2 large onion, diced (about 1/2 cup.  I used 1 small onion)
8 ounces mushrooms, chopped
2 8-ounce cans tomato sauce
1 6-ounce cane tomato paste
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper


White Sauce:
3 cups milk (not skim, I used 1%)
5 TBSP flour
4 TBSP butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper


9 lasagna noodles, boiled for half the time on the box (I would boil them for about 8 minutes or use 12 of the no-boil noodles)
1 pound ground turkey
1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
8 ounces Parmesan cheese, shredded


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.


In a large skillet, brown the ground turkey over medium high heat, breaking the meat apart into pieces with a wooden spoon.  When turkey is cooked through, drain the grease and set aside.  


In a medium size saucepan over medium high heat, add 2 TBSP olive oil and one tablespoon butter.  Add a pinch of salt and pepper.  When oil/butter is hot, add the garlic, stirring constantly.  When the garlic is lightly browned, but NOT burned, add the onion and mushrooms.  Continue cooking on medium high heat until the vegetables are soft and browned and the fluid has mostly cooked out.  Remove from heat and blend to a paste like mixture in a blender.  Return the pot to the heat (pout the pureed vegetables back in), and add the tomato sauce and tomato paste.  Stir to combine.  Then add the diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.  Stir.  Cover and let the sauce simmer for 30 minutes over medium low heat, stirring occasionally.  Right before using the red sauce in the lasagna, stir in the reserved ground turkey.


While the red sauce simmers, if using lasagna noodles that need to be boiled, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and boil the noodle for half the time suggested on the box.  Once the noodles are cooked, drain, but do not rinse.  Add a dab of olive oil to keep the from sticking together.  If you are using no-boil noodles, you can skip this step.


Also while the red sauce is cooking, melt the four tablespoons butter and when melted, add the flour, stirring constantly to combine and letting the mixture cook, while stirring, for a minute or two.  Gradually add in the milk, whisking constantly.  Add the salt and pepper.  Slowly whisk the white sauce, ensuring it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan, while cooking it over medium heat.  Continue slowly stirring or whisking while the white sauce cooks and thickens quite a bit, about 5-7 minutes.  


To begin layering the lasagna, keep in mind that you'll have three layers of noodles as well as three layers of the sauces and cheese, so plan on splitting all the sauce and cheese piles into thirds so you don't run out at the end. On the bottom of your lightly greased baking pan, layers three pre-boiled noodles or four no-boil noodles, slightly overlapping the no-boil noodles.  Layer the red sauce, white sauce, Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, spreading all to the edges and top with another layer of noodles.  Again, layer the red sauce, white sauce, Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses and top with the final layer of noodles.  Layer the sauces and cheeses again.


Cover the lasagna with a greased layer of aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove the foil and let the lasagna sit for 15 minutes before cutting and serving.




The lasagna was almost too salty, so I would omit the salt from one of the sauces next time I made it.  I would also bake it for 40 minutes, and let it sit for 15 minutes after baking.  Letting it sit helps it to set up and not be too soupy.  This was so worth the work, and I don't think I'll ever be able to use canned sauce again.  

Basic Lasagna

I love lasagna. And I think I make a pretty good lasagna. It's cheesy and melty and full of carbs (I love me some pasta). But the other day I made a very delicious lasagna. It was so good. The sauce was home made, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to go back to the canned stuff. And it had a creamy white sauce. It was so very delicious that I had it for breakfast the next morning (and I think it was even better the next morning!) I'll post that recipe tomorrow, but for today, here's a basic lasagna recipe that's very similar to mine (except I don't usually put meat in it, and when I do, I use sausage, because I just really don't like hamburger at all. And mine is all out of my head, so there's no measurements, so you can thank me later for giving you a user friendly recipe!)

Once again, this recipe comes from here, my favorite cooking site.

Basic Lasagna

1 package oven ready lasagna noodles (or the traditional ones that need to be boiled)

1 to 1 1/2 pounds ground beef (or sausage)

1 cup chopped onion

1 28-ounce can tomatoes, undrained

2 6-ounce cans tomato paste

2 tsp sugar

2 1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp pepper

1 container (15 ounce) ricotta cheese

1 egg, beaten

1 TBSP parsley flakes

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup grated Parmesan (fresh, NOT the nasty stuff from the green bottle!)

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (I use half mozzarella, half sharp cheddar)

Boil noodles if you went with the traditional ones. Cook ground beef and onion, drain. Stir in tomatoes (undrained), tomato paste, sugar, 2 tsp of the basil and the pepper. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20-30 minutes. In a small bowl blend ricotta, egg, parsley, Parmesan cheese and 1/2 tsp salt. Put a layer of noodle in a 9x13 pan, a layer of meat sauce, layer of ricotta mixture, and a layer of the cheese, then repeat all the layers twice more. Cover with foil. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Uncover, bake 20 minutes more. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting (this will help it set up and it won't be so soupy).

Lucky Green Velvet Cupcakes

These are green cupcakes, but I'm going to divide the batch in half, and make half of them green, and half light purple. I'll freeze the purple ones and we can decorate them for Easter. I found the recipe here.

Lucky Green Velvet Cupcakes

1 box yellow cake mix

4 eggs

1/2 cup water

1 small box instant vanilla pudding mix

1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream

Green decorating paste (or whatever color you want)

Frosting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a stand or electric mixer, add cake mix, eggs, water, oil, pudding, and yogurt (or sour cream). Beat on medium for 1 1/2 minutes. Slowly beat in 5-8 drops of decorating paster until you get desired color.

Scoop batter into greased cupcake tins. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until cooked through. Let cool completely.

Frost cupcakes and decorate as desired.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8oz) package cream cheese at room temperature

1/4 cup butter at room temperature

4 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy (I think it works best to use hand held beaters). Mix in vanilla. Mix in powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Frost cupcakes.

Stewed Zucchini

This is a really simple recipe, with few ingredients, but very healthy, and very tasty. I love it. It's a great dish to make when you're overwhelmed with fresh tomatoes at the peak of tomato season.

A handy little tip for those extra tomatoes in the summer: Wash them, core them, and then freeze them in a Ziploc bag. When you want some tomatoes in soup, or for this sauce, take out the amount of tomatoes you need and let them sit on the counter for at least 6 hours. When they've softened up some, the skins will slip right off, and you can add them to a soup, or make a fresh tasting sauce off season. You can also throw them straight from the freezer into the soup, and in about 3 minutes you'll be able to slip the skins off.

Stewed Zucchini

About 7 little zucchinis (you can adjust this by how much zucchini you want, I like a lot)

6-8 large tomatoes

1 small onion

garlic

salt to taste

1/8 cup chopped fresh basil*

Slice the zucchinis in half the long way, then chop into pieces about 1/4 inch thick. Saute the onion in a little olive oil until translucent, then add the tomatoes. Cook until they start to soften and get a little saucy, then add the zucchini. Cook until the zucchini is tender. If desired, you can cook the tomatoes until they start to thicken, then add the zucchini and cook until tender. I cheated the other day added half a can of tomato paste to help it thicken, because I didn't give myself enough time to let it thicken on its own. If you're going to cook it until it gets thick, it will take about 2 hours to boil off enough liquid. Season to taste, and serve over noodles and top with fresh grated parmesan. I used dried homemade style noodles that I just got at Wal-Mart (oh the shame! ) and they were actually really good noodles. Tomorrow I'll post a homemade noodle recipe that I made with my sister a couple months ago and they were really good (but a lot of work).

*Another fresh tip. To have fresh basil all year, harvest several cups of leaves and wash them. Put them in food processor and grind to desired fineness. Scoop into clean ice cube tray, and pack firmly. Place in freezer. Once the cubes are solid, remove them from the tray and put them in a Ziploc bag. Voila! Fresh basil all year! Just take a cube out and throw it into whatever you're making. It melts in a matter of minutes, and you get the fresh taste of basil all year long.