Sunday August 15th

This Sunday I made Beer Brats with Caramelized Onions, a Sweet Corn Bake, Bacon, Lettuce, and Cherry Tomato Salad With Aioli Dressing and Chocolate Chip cookies! Apparently it was good!! : )

Beer Brats with Caramelized Onions

Caramelized Onions

1 sweet onion, sliced thin
1/4 cup of butter

Melt butter on medium heat, then add onions. Stir onions and butter until nice and soft and brown. This takes a long time....if you turn the heat up, just make sure they do not burn...butter burns easily! : )

In large sauce pan bring 1 or 2 bottles of cheap beer to a boil. Add as many bratwurst as you are making (that fit in the pan.) Boil them in the beer until they are cooked all the way through.

Cut brats into four pieces each and mix well with the caramelized onion!



Corn Bake

1 (15 ounce) can creamed corn
1 (15.25 ounce) can whole kernel corn
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 (8.5 ounce) package corn muffin mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Mix together corn, sour cream, eggs, melted butter and sugar. Mix in muffin mix. Pour into prepared baking dish. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted midway into pan comes out clean.



Bacon, Lettuce, And Cherry Tomato Salad With Aioli Dressing

5 ounces applewood-smoked bacon (about 6 slices)
12 cups torn romaine lettuce (from 1 large head; about 13 ounces)
8 ounces cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, and/or pear tomatoes, halved
1 garlic clove, minced
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
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Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until crisp; transfer to paper towels. Crumble bacon coarsely. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon drippings from skillet; reserve skillet.
Place lettuce and tomatoes in large serving bowl. Heat bacon drippings in skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, then mayonnaise and vinegar; whisk until blended, 30 to 40 seconds. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper. Pour over lettuce and tomatoes and toss to coat. Sprinkle bacon over. Serve immediately.

Sunday August 8th

Today for staff lunch I made Lemon-Tarragon Chicken Salad Sandwiches (with raspberry jam), Watermelon and Cantaloupe Wedges with Lime-Mint Syrup and Sinckerdoodles. It is really hard to make something new every time, especially when you are trying to stick to true "lunch" food and not dinner/lunch substitutes....I gave up on the cookies a long time ago....I often make the ones I already know are good!! The one thing I wanted to do a second time around was chicken salad sandwiches. So this time I found a new recipe! I used a lemon-tarragon one and added a raspberry jam to it, to serve with it I wanted to do a fruit salad, but neither Scott or I are fans of traditional fruit salad....there is something about all the fruit slimming all over each other that grosses us out! So I made a lime syrup and drizzled it over wedges of summer fruit and topped with fresh mint! We decided they tasted like fruit wedge mojitos without the rum!! Next time I might just try it with rum!! We'll see! Enjoy!


Lemon-Tarragon Chicken Salad Sandwiches

1 1/4 pounds skinless boneless chicken breast halves (about 3)

3/4 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup plus mayonnaise
1/8 cup finely chopped red onion
2 (or more) tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
6 croissants
Raspberry Jam

Bring large saucepan of salted water to boil. Add chicken breasts; reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until chicken is just cooked through, about 12 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate; cool. Mix celery, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, onion, tarragon, lemon juice, and lemon peel in large bowl to blend. Shred chicken with 2 forks; stir into mayonnaise mixture. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover; chill.) I like to add garlic powder, extra tarragon, extra lemon peel, more mayo etc....until it tastes how you want it to taste! Go easy on the garlic powder though! Cut croissants in halve and spread jam on bottom of each! This brings a nice sweet balance to the tarragon and lemon!! So so so good!! Cut sandwiches in half and serve.



Watermelon and Cantaloupe Wedges with Lime-Mint Syrup

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (from 1 1/2 limes)
2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest (from 1 1/2 limes)
1 medium ripe cantaloupe (about 3 1/2 pounds), cut into 24 thin wedges
1 (4-pound) piece watermelon, preferably seedless, cut into 24 thin wedges
2 tablespoons fresh mint, preferably spearmint, finely chopped

In small bowl, whisk together sugar and 1/4 cup hot water until sugar is dissolved. Stir in lime juice and zest. Cover and refrigerate until cool, about 1 1/2 hours. (Syrup can be made ahead and chilled, covered, up to 3 days. Make sure your fruit wedges are nice and cold too!! As close to serving time as possible, stir mint into syrup and drizzle over melon wedges. Serve chilled.



Snickerdoodles

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls. Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.