Strawberry Chocolate No Bake "Cake"

Too hot to bake?  Make this a day ahead of time and you've got yourself a light cool dessert.

All you need is:

8 oz softened Philadelphia cream cheese
12 oz (the large container) Cool Whip
1/3 cup sugar
16 oz (2 cups) sliced strawberries, plus extra to garnish
graham crackers
chocolate wafer cookies

Start by mixing cream cheese and sugar together, then fold in Cool Whip by hand.  Set aside.

Layer the bottom of a 13 X 9 inch pan with graham crackers. 

Take a 1/3 of the Cool Whip/cream cheese mixture and carefully spread it over the graham crackers.  It'll be a little tricky to spread, just hold the crackers down as you go.

Next put a 1/3 of the sliced strawberries on, then cover with a layer of chocolate wafer cookies.

Continue layering, ending with cream mixture and then strawberries.

For the garnish, top with some whole strawberries then melt 1/4 cup chocolate chips and 1 tbsp 10% cream together. Drizzle over strawberries.

Decorate some chocolate wafer cookies with icing if it's a special occasion.

Chill 24-48 hours.

Sweet Chili Broccoli

Here's a quick Asian-inspired side dish.

1 head of broccoli, cut in flowerets
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 - 1/2 cup sweet chili sauce (depending on how big your broccoli is)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsps water
a handful of sliced almonds

In a wok or frying pan, heat the vegetable oil.  Then add the sliced onions and cook just until translucent, about 3-4 minutes. 

Add broccoli, sauce, water, salt and pepper to your pan and toss together.  

Cover and cook on medium 5-6 minutes, adding the almonds in the last minute or two.

Stuffed Onions and Peppers on the BBQ

These little bundles can be made a day ahead of time or even frozen and taken on a camping trip. Just make sure you use them by the time they are thawed. You don't want to take any chances with ground meat.

Ingredients:

6-8 sweet peppers and/or onions
1  lb.  ground pork/beef and veal mix (or just beef)
3 hot Italian sausages (remove meat from casing)
2 tbsps chopped sweet pepper
2 tbsps chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp Herbes Salées (or pesto and salt)
2 tbsps prepared BBQ sauce (I used spicy southwest chipotle)

Cut the centers out of the sweet peppers as you would any stuffed pepper either to stand up or halved.  
For the onions you could cut the center out with a cross mark and spoon out some of the onion.  Or simply cut it in half and take the middle out leaving 2-3 layers of onion.  
Chop a couple of tbsps of both pepper and onion.  Save the rest for another use.
Mix all ingredients together.

If you can't find Herbes Salées you can use pesto and some salt. 

Roughly divide the mixture in the bowl to the number of veggies you are stuffing.

Fill your vegetables.

Wrap individually in a piece of foil and bake in a 400F BBQ or oven for 55-60 minutes for large peppers and 40-45 minutes for onions.

You could probably do them in a campfire in some nice hot coals too.

Eggplant Stuffed with Pistachios

While waiting in my dentist's office his dental assistant, Grace, was talking to me about her garden.  That led to talking about cooking.  She shared this recipe with me that she came up with on her own.  It sounded so good that I picked up the ingredients I needed on the way home and tried it right away so that I didn't forget what she had told me.

This is what I picked up:

2 small Italian eggplants
2 large garlic cloves (or more)
olive oil
1/4 cup pistachios, chopped
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/8 cup sunflower seeds

Wash the eggplant and poke with a knife a few times so that it doesn't rupture when cooking.

Grace hadn't told me how she cooked the whole eggplant so I tried two ways.  One baked on a baking sheet and the other wrapped in foil and baked.

If baking on the sheet spray that with cooking spray.  Or take a sheet of foil and spray that before wrapping the eggplant in it. You could also coat the eggplant with olive oil.

Bake at 400F for 30 minutes, about 10 minutes longer if you use larger eggplants. While they bake, lightly brown the chopped garlic in a pan with olive oil and set aside.
Chop the nuts too.  I used the smash-in-a-wax-cereal-bag method : ) so there were still lots of big pieces.

You should be able to easily poke through the cooked eggplant with a fork when done.

So here they are after baking.  I personally like the look of the wrapped one better. Plus the cleanup is a lot easier when wrapped in foil.

Cool so that you can handle them.  Butterfly the eggplant, cutting in half but not all the way through.  Make several hash marks in the flesh.

Mix the chopped nuts and seeds together with the browned garlic and press into the eggplant.  Drizzle generously with olive oil and sprinkle a little salt over all. Close and squeeze lightly.  

Wrap in plastic wrap or foil and chill overnight.
Slice into the goodness.

I was told to serve it cold and it's good like that but I found the flavours came out more when warmed in foil.

And here is my attempt using Chinese eggplant.

They are thinner than the Italian eggplant as you can see, but I still baked them for 30 minutes.  Once baked in foil they didn't look as pretty. Kind of look like weiners!

As I had never cooked a Chinese eggplant before I was surprised to see it's texture when I sliced it opened.

I chopped the nuts a little more than the last time, mixed in the olive oil and salt, and filled the eggplant.

And wrapped them up in foil.
I plan on heating these ones up.

S'more Kisses

 S'mores = Summer

Take a Hershey kiss and push it into a marshmallow, pointy end in.  

Put your roasting fork in the opposite end and roast your marshmallow until golden brown then slide it out onto a graham cracker. Now sandwich it with another cracker.

The chocolate will be all melty inside the marshmallow.

No fuss, no muss.

Creamy Pasta Salad

Make a batch of this to bring along to a party or picnic.

It serves 10-12  

You'll need:

5 cups pasta (I used penne)

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

4 tbsps chopped red pepper

2 chopped celery stalks

1 finely chopped carrot

1   1/2 cups mayo

1/2 cup sour cream

5 oz. evaporated milk

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 tsp dry mustard

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp pepper

Cook the pasta to al dente.  I cooked my penne for 6 or 7 minutes.  Rinse in cold water, then toss with the vegetables.

Mix the dressing up and stir it into the salad if serving right away.  If you plan on serving it later on or even the next day, reserve about 1 cup of dressing to be added when you are ready to serve as the pasta will absorb some of it.

And enjoy your picnic!

You might also like:

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2014/07/broccoli-cranberry-salad.html

Broccoli Cranberry Salad

This salad only takes a few minutes to prepare and is a nice change from salads made with lettuce.  Makes a tasty lunch for school or work.

Ingredients:

5 cups broccoli flowerets
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 cup shredded old cheddar cheese
1 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 tsp sesame seeds
1/4 cup real bacon bits

Dressing:

1 cup light mayo (or mayo-style dressing)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsps red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Put large flowerets of broccoli in pot and bring to a boil. Cook about 6 minutes.  You want your broccoli crisp.  Rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process.  Cut into bite-size flowerets.

While broccoli is cooking, combine the ingredients for the dressing. 

About 1 hour before serving combine salad and dressing, refrigerate.

When ready to serve toss in pine nuts, sesame seeds and bacon bits.  Even good the next day....the cranberries get softer, but the pine nuts don't.

Serves 6-8 

You might also like:

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2014/07/creamy-pasta-salad.html