Coconut Lemonade

This drink definitely hits the spot on a hot summer day, heck it hit the spot on a cold day in March. It is a very sweet drink but I love sweet stuff so it was perfect for me. Keep in mind that there is fruit in this drink so it will need to be consumed rather quickly; I would give it two days max before the fruit starts to look gross.

Recipe:

6 cups water
1⅓ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 8 lemons)
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons coconut beverage flavoring syrup or cream of coconut
1 cup frozen unsweetened blueberries
1 cup frozen red raspberries
1 small fresh carambola (star fruit), thinly sliced crosswise

1) In a large bowl combine the water, lemon juice, sugar, and coconut syrup. Stir until sugar dissolves. Transfer to a serving bowl or pitcher, cover and chill for 4 to 24 hours.

2) Add blueberries, raspberries, and carambola. If desired, serve over ice in glasses.

Note: If using cream of coconut - mix well before using.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes

Source: BHG

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

This was one of the best vegetarian lasagna dishes that I have ever had. The roasted vegetables are what make this dish amazing; I was eating them right out of the oven before I even put them in the lasagna. The only problem I had with this dish is that I decided to make my own marinara sauce instead of using store bought and it made my lasagna a little runny. My marinara sauce was really good but I didn't care for all of the juices, so either use your own recipe for marinara sauce or just buy it from the store.

Recipe:

15 dried lasagna noodles
4 cups zucchini cut into bite-sized pieces
2½ cups thinly sliced carrots
2 cups cremini or button mushrooms, sliced
1½ cups coarsely chopped red or green sweet peppers
¼ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning, crushed
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (12 ounce) carton cottage cheese
1 egg, beaten
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 cups marinara sauce
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1) Cook noodles according to package directions; drain. Place on waxed paper.

2) Meanwhile, preheat broiler. In a very large bowl combine zucchini, carrot, mushrooms, and sweet pepper. Drizzle vegetables with olive oil; sprinkle with Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper. Toss well to combine. Place vegetable mixture in a shallow roasting pan.

3) Broil vegetables 5 to 6 inches from the heat for 6 minutes. Stir vegetables and broil 6 to 8 minutes more or until light brown and tender. Set vegetables aside.

4) Preheat oven to 375°F. In a medium bowl combine cottage cheese, egg, and ¼ cup of the Parmesan cheese; set aside.

5) Grease a 3-quart rectangular baking dish. Place one-third of the marinara sauce in the bottom of the prepared dish. Add a layer noodles on top of sauce. Top with half of the roasted vegetables, one-third of the sauce, and one-third of the mozzarella cheese. Add another layer of noodles, all of the cottage cheese mixture, and one-third of the mozzarella cheese. Add another layer of noodles, the remaining vegetables, sauce, and mozzarella. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese.

6) Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake about 20 minutes more or until heated through. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Cook Time: 1 hour and 5 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes | Other Time: 10 minutes | Yields: 9 servings

Source: BHG

Spiced Fruit Tea

Awesome Summer drink!!  This fruit tea reminded me of a Bay Breeze minus the alcohol. I absolutely love fruit tea's and fruity drinks so this was right up my alley. I will definitely try this with Malibu Coconut Rum the next time I make it.

Recipe:

5 cups boiling water
5 bags orange-flavored spiced herb tea
⅓ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (46 ounce) can unsweetened pineapple juice
2 cups cranberry juice
⅓ cup lime juice
Assorted fresh fruit, such as pineapple chunks, orange slices, kumquat slices, and/or lime slices (optional)
Fresh mint leaves (optional)

1) Pour the boiling water into a very large bowl. Add tea bags; let steep for 5 minutes. Remove and discard tea bags. Stir in sugar and cinnamon until sugar dissolves. Stir in pineapple juice, cranberry juice, and lime juice. Cover and chill for 4 hours or up to 3 days.

2) If desired, garnish with fresh fruit and/or mint.

Notes: Fruit ice cubes: Pour 3 cups of the tea mixture into two clean ice cube trays, adding fruit. Cover and freeze for 4 hours or until firm.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 4 hours 15 minutes | Other Time: Chill 4 hours | Yields: 8 to 10 servings

Source: BHG

Peanut Butter Pancakes

These pancakes were delicious - they weren't too sweet or overpowering with peanut butter flavor. Definitely a kids friendly recipe and even though the recipe didn't call for sliced bananas they tasted great on top of these pancakes.

Recipe:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
¾ cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups milk
⅓ cup peanuts, chopped (optional)

1) In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a medium bowl whisk together eggs and peanut butter until combined. Gradually stir in milk (mixture will be stiff at first but will thin when all the milk is added). Add peanut butter mixture to flour mixture. Stir just until combined but still slightly lumpy. Gently stir in peanuts.

2) Heat a lightly greased griddle or heavy skillet over medium heat. For each pancake pour about ¼ cup batter onto griddle. Cook until golden; turn when tops are bubbly and edges are slightly dry (1 to 2 minutes per side).

Notes: Batter will be thin but will thicken slightly after standing a few minutes. Tip: Over-mixing makes pancakes tough; stop stirring while a few lumps remain - they will disappear once the pancakes are on the heat.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 2 minutes per batch | Yields: 16 pancakes

Source: BHG

Almond Pound Cake

This was such a hit at our house and trust me it did not last long. My husband loved eating this for breakfast with his coffee every morning and I just loved eating it, lol. I will make this again not only because it is good but I would also like to master drizzling the glaze on; it came out a little sloppy for my photo.

Recipe:

1 cup butter
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
6 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2¼ cups sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract

Almond Glaze

1½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 to 2 tablespoons milk

1) Allow butter, cream cheese, and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, grease and lightly flour a 10-inch fluted tube pan; set aside. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Preheat oven to 325°F.

2) In a large mixing bowl beat butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium to high speed about 30 seconds or until softened. Gradually add sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating on medium speed about 5 minutes or until very light and fluffy. Add almond extract.

3) Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating on low to medium speed for 1 minute after each addition and scraping bowl frequently. Gradually add flour mixture, beating on low speed just until combined. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

4) Bake about 1¼ hours or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool thoroughly on wire rack about 2 hours. Top cake with Almond Glaze. Let stand 30 minutes to allow glaze to set.

Almond Glaze

In a small mixing bowl beat together powdered sugar, cream cheese, almond extract, and enough milk for mixture to reach glazing consistency.

Prep Time: 40 minutes | Cook Time: 1¼ hours | Total Time: 4 hours 30 minutes | Other Time: 2 hours and 30 minutes | Yields: 16 servings

Source: BHG

Failures or Just so-so Recipes

Ok, I am trying to post at least 2 recipes a day on here (not including weekends), since I am still very behind on my blog and I realized the other day that I am starting to forget the recipes that did not make it into my cookbook. Some of these recipes were either disgusting or just so-so, but feel free to make them yourself since everyone has different taste buds.

Moroccan Chicken Stew - This was a slow cooker meal that I had high hopes for since it had ingredients (apricots, raisins, cinnamon, etc) that I normally do not cook together. This recipe seemed to lack flavor for us and it just didn't jump out as one of the best meals we've ever had - so it didn't make the cut.

Chicken with Apricots - This meal was very disappointing. The chicken lacked so much flavor and the only good thing going for this were the apricots. I was very embarrassed by this meal because I made it for my husband and his friend and it was nothing to rave about. Good thing I made up for it with a really good dessert.

Mushrooms in Ginger Sauce - I served this over steamed green beans and my husband hated it. I thought that it was just so-so and definitely not good enough to make it to my cookbook. I made this with the meat loaf and yogurt dessert which you will see listed below. It was one bad night of food at our house. Yuk!

Ginger-Sesame Meat Loaf - This recipe was listed as an award winning recipe in my BHG cookbook and I can honestly say this was the WORST meal we have ever had to date. It took everything in us to swallow each bite. We had the leftovers in our fridge for about a week and dreaded the days we took it into work for lunch. I did however bring it in to work for a guy to try and he liked it, so maybe you will too - It could have just been something we didn't care for.

Peanut-Butter-Banana Trifles - Our Meat Loaf and Green Bean Mushroom night was topped off with this horrible treat. I really didn't see how anything with banana's and peanut butter could be disgusting but wow was I surprised with my first bite of this. I honestly think that we didn't care for the plain yogurt taste and I'm sure this would have been so much better if we used vanilla yogurt, but I wanted to follow the recipe as written. GROSS! My husband only ate one bite of his before throwing it away, where I managed to eat all of mine but threw the leftovers away a few days later. If I would try this recipe again I would definitely try it with vanilla yogurt.

Peruvian-Style Chicken Tacos - I thought the ingredients sounded interesting and in my BHG cookbook it was listed as an award winning recipe but given that the meat loaf (listed above) was also an award winning recipe I can't assume that means it is going to taste good to us. The flavors were different and ok but my husband thinks he didn't care for this recipe because of the ground chicken. Bottom line is even though we thought it was just so-so that isn't good enough to make it into my cookbook.

Chicken Fajita Pasta - This recipe was just ok. It tasted good and was very easy to make but it just didn't wow us. I thought it was going to be a little more spicier than it was, given that it had a chile pepper, chili powder and red pepper flakes but I hardly noticed any spiciness. It just seemed to lack the flavor I was hoping for.

Mango-Ginger Smoothie - I love mangos and thought this drink was going to be so refreshing and tasty. Wrong! Again, I think I just don't care for the taste of plain yogurt - it has a bite to it and I could taste it with every sip of this smoothie. I might try it with a flavored yogurt and see how that goes.

Beef and Cabbage Wraps - I liked this meal but my husband did not. He really isn't a fan of barbecue sauce so that is the reason it is in this list. If you like barbecue sauce I would definitely recommend you give this recipe a try.

Upside-Down Berry Cornmeal Cake - My husband really hated this cake and even though I did not share my husbands dislike for it I still didn't want to make it again for myself. It tasted more like a corn bread with some fruit in it rather than a cake. It does make a nice breakfast treat though.

Apple Pecan Salad - This salad wasn't terrible but nothing that special either. My husband hated the salad dressing, but loved eating just the apples.

Butterscotch Brownies - These brownies were AWFUL. In my BHG cookbook these were another award winning recipe so I thought I would give it a try. Who the heck is giving out these awards? These brownies never cooked all the way through and I had them in the oven for an extra 25 minutes. They are gooey and the bottom of the pan formed a weird sugary syrup - GROSS!

These last 2 recipes I cannot seem to find on the BHG website. Refreshing Green Mango Sipper - It was a very good recipe and my husband loved it but I didn't care for it as much only because I HATE pulp and this is loaded with it. If I do find the recipe on their website I will update this post. The other recipe was a slow cooker meal, Italian Round Steak Dinner; It was ok but not great. After eating it both my husband and I said even though it tasted good it isn't something we would want to make again. I will also post this recipe for you if I find it on their website.

Parsley Green Beans

This recipe is simple to make and tastes great. Again I am a big garlic fan, so if you aren't you might want to stay away from this recipe. Another great thing about this recipe is that you can prepare the beans a day ahead of time; which is always nice when you are strapped for time.

Recipe:

1½ pounds fresh green beans, washed and trimmed
1 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons fresh garlic, finely chopped with pinch of salt
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley

1) Fill a large pot with water; bring to a rolling boil. Add beans and salt. Cook, uncovered, for 5 to 8 minutes or until tender but still vibrant green and slightly resistant to the bite. Drain beans; immediately submerge in a bowl of lightly salted ice water to stop cooking and set color. When thoroughly chilled, drain well. (Beans can be prepared to this point 1 day ahead and refrigerated).

2) In a wide skillet heat butter over medium-high heat until hot and foaming. Add beans. Cook, tossing often, until heated through. Sprinkle with garlic, chopped parsley, a generous amount of salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Cook 1 minute longer; tossing frequently to distribute flavorings and avoid burning the garlic. If desired, sprinkle with additional parsley. Serve immediately.

Prep Time: 25 minutes | Cook Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Yields: 6 to 8 servings

Source: BHG