Happy Birthday, Ad'....and a blog award!

It's my youngest's 8th birthday today, and boy have we had fun!

The birthday girl and her favorite "friend who's a boy"!

We started the day with pancakes in our pj's at my friend Ann's house. Her son is my daughter's best "friend who's a boy" (NOT to be confused with a "boyfriend"!). It was a gorgeous summer day filled with fun and pals, AND this:

"Towering Sand Castle Cake"

I always say I'd never fit in with the Daring Bakers, and ain't it the truth. I was up to my elbows in icing and cursing a blue streak over this cake, but I have to say, I was quite pleased with how it turned out! Thank goodness her birthday only comes once a year, and lucky for me, my other two love Dairy Queen cakes! One of these fancy schmancy deals every 12 months is about enough for me. The recipe came from an issue of Family Fun Magazine. Click underneath the picture for the link!

Birthday Girl requested barbecued ribs and cheesy potatoes for her special dinner. I make this rib recipe all the time (including in the middle of winter when my son also requests the same dinner). It calls for "good quality barbecue sauce", but I'm partial to plain ol' Open Pit, so that's what I always use.

The cheesy potato recipe dates back to the mid-70's, when my mother-in-law didn't turn up to a potluck without a big batch of them. Read the recipe......it's a total throwback! It's not gourmet in the slightest but everyone loves them. I think I've given this recipe to about a dozen people in the past five years!

Chili-Rubbed Ribs

Cheesy Potatoes

Super Cheesy Potatoes
Serves: 6-8
Source: My Mother-in-Law, who probably got it out of a magazine sometime in the late '70's!

1 large bag of frozen diced hashbrown potatoes
1 medium white onion, diced
4 T. flour
1/2 stick butter, diced
1 jar (don't gag.....) Cheez Whiz (I know, I know!)
2 c. milk

Preheat oven to 375. Coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Put half of the potatoes in the pan. Top with half of the diced onion, 2 T. flour, half of the diced butter, and half of the Cheez Whiz (just plop it on, don't worry about spreading it around). Repeat the layers. Pour the milk around the potatoes. Cover tightly with foil and bake for one hour. Remove the foil, stir the potatoes until well combined, and continue to bake for an additional half hour, or until potatoes are thickened, browned, and bubbly. Serve them to small children and watch them disappear!!
I'm stuffed. Ribs, cheesy potatoes, and sand castle cake.....ugh! I'm done. But before I go, I need to thank my cyberfriend Lisa from Jersey Girl Cooks for the fun YumYum Blog Award! Thank you Lisa! I'm going to pass it on tomorrow, but now I have to get my Birthday Girl and her siblings in to the bathtub and off to bed. ;-)

Fabulous Summer Berry Fruit Tart

Would you believe that this not-so-daring baker pulled off such a pretty fruit tart?! Any of you 'regulars' know that I do not usually do baked goods, but when my high school girlfriends were visiting last week, I decided we needed a summery dessert. And berries were on special for a really good price, so how could I resist?

The beauty of this tart is that the crust is made in the food processor, and then simply patted into the tart pan. No rolling needed, which of course is right up my alley! It couldn't be any easier.

I've done this before with bananas, kiwi, mangoes...anything you have on hand would work. There's also a glaze, but I've never bothered with it -- it would have added a pretty shine I guess; maybe next time I'll give the glaze a shot.

FRUIT TART
Serves: 10-12
Source: An Occasion to Gather, Milwaukee Entertains by the Junior League of Milwaukee

3/4 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 c. flour

10 oz. white chocolate chips or vanilla chips
1/4 c. heavy cream
8 oz. cream cheese, softened

sliced bananas, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, sliced kiwifruit, sliced peaches, blackberries

1/4 c. sugar
1 T. cornstarch
1/2 c. pineapple juice
1/2 t. lemon juice

For the pastry, beat the butter and confectioners' sugar in a bowl until blended. Add the flour and beat until smooth, scraping the bowl occasionally. Press the pastry over the bottom and up the side of a 12-inch tart pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until light brown. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

For the filling, combine the white chocolate chips and heavy cream in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes and stir. Add the cream cheese and beat until blended. Spoon the filling over the baked layer.

For the topping, arrange the desired fruit in a decorative pattern over the top of the filling.

For the glaze, combine the sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan and mix well. Stir in the pineapple juice and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Drizzle the glaze all over the fruit to prevent browning. Chill, covered, in the refrigerator.

Panzanella & an Amazing Cheesecake

We've had kind of a revolving door of parties and social functions going on around here for the past week and a half. I looked forward to this time for about two months, and it's been great, great fun -- out of town company, a huge 4th of July celebration, my big Four-Oh, dinner with friends in and out of the neighborhood, and a ladies tennis social. This weekend four of my favorite friends from high school came for a visit (an annual event for our little group), and that was a blast too! The partying with everyone was so, soooo much fun. I haven't laughed so hard in the longest time!

However, this morning I woke up and my voice was completely gone....this girl is partied out. I'm having a peaceful and quiet evening tonight at home, and have just enough energy to update the ol' blog. I've got a back log of photos and recipes that I'm going to try to get to this week.

I made these two recipes when my brother and his wife were here a couple of weeks ago. One is for my favorite Panzanella Salad (yep, that's from Ina), and the other is for my mom's cheesecake. People RAVE over this cheesecake, I'm not lyin'! I think the recipe is from 1968 (Mom, you can correct me if I'm wrong); it's tried and true, and you'll love it too.

One of the beautiful things about this recipe is that is has a sour cream topping that can cover a multitude of baking sins (your cracks, namely -- tee hee). I'm not a careful baker and inevitably, my cheesecakes always end up with massive fault lines. This topping disguises those beautifully, and you'll look like a total pro.

Panzanella

Serves: 12

Source: Barefoot Contessa Parties! pp. 102-103

3 T. olive oil

1 small French bread, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 t. kosher salt

2 large, ripe tomatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 English cucumber, seeded and sliced 1/2 inch thick

1 each red and yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes

1/2 red onion, cut in half and thinly sliced

20 large basil leaves, coarsely chopped

3 T. capers, drained

1 t. finely minced garlic

1/2 t. Dijon mustard

3 T. champagne vinegar (which I could not find, so I used Sherry vinegar instead)

1/2 c. good quality olive oil

1/2 t. kosher salt

1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Add the bread and salt; cook over medium heat, tossing frequently, for 10 minutes, or until nicely browned. Add more oil if needed.

For the vinaigrette, whisk the ingredients together. I used my stick blender to get it perfectly emulsified!

In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, cucumber, red and yellow pepper, red onion, basil, and capers. Add the bread cubes and toss with the vinaigrette. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Serve, or allow the salad to sit for about half an hour for the flavors to blend.

My Mom's Cheesecake

Serves: MANY!

Source: A long since gone newspaper clipping circa 1968!

1/2 lb. graham cracker crumbs

1/4 c. sugar

1/2 c. melted butter

1/4 lb. butter, room temperature

3 - 8 oz. packages cream cheese, room temperature

5 eggs

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 1/2 t. vanilla

2 pints sour cream

12 T. sugar

2 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 325. Mix the crust ingredients together in a medium bowl. Press into and up the sides of a 9x13" pan; bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat the butter and cream cheese together until blended. Add in the eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Add the sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until well combined. Pour mixture into prepared crust. Bake for 1 hour, or until center of cheesecake is very slightly jiggly. Cool for 10 minutes but maintain oven temperature.

For the topping, combine remaining ingredients in a medium bowl and spread over the top of the cheesecake. Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely before covering and chilling overnight.

**Note: I ALWAYS cut this recipe in half and make it in my 10" springform pan. When cutting it in half, I use three eggs.

Oatmeal Caramelitas....or, Pass the Slimfast!

While blog-cruising one day last week, I came across the inspiration for these yummy, addictive bars on Pioneer Woman's site. She made a version of these with apricot preserves in the middle. Now, my kids can sniff out a fruited dessert blindfolded at 50 paces, so we're not even goin' there with them. Apricot preserves passed off as dessert is just a waste of good butter around here!

Someone in PW's comments section suggested "Oatmeal Caramelitas", which is essentially the same oatmeal struesel type base and topping, but with chocolate chips and caramel topping in the middle instead of the offensive apricots. I went on a google quest and found this recipe.

Would you believe my youngest said (and this is a direct quote), "Mom, I don't want to hurt your feelings but these taste too sweet." Well, I appreciate her honesty and I do have to agree somewhat; they are ridiculously sweet to the point that my teeth hurt, which (you'd think) would have stopped me, but I kept right on munching.

Now, I'm hitting the streets for a four mile run with my crazy dog. Trying to keep up with her might burn half off half of one of these bars!

Oatmeal Caramelitas

Makes 15-18 bars

Source: cooksrecipes.com

2 c. plus 6 T. flour, divided use

2 c. quick cooking oats

1 1/2 c. brown sugar, packed

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

1 1/2 c. butter, melted

1 1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

1 c. walnuts (I omitted)

1 12 oz. jar caramel topping

Preheat oven to 350. Grease bottom and sides of a 9x13 pan.

Combine 2 c. flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and butter in a large bowl. Firmly press half the mixture into the bottom of the baking dish; reserve remaining half for the topping. Bake for 10 minutes.

Sprinkle chocolate chips and walnuts over the crust. Combine the caramel topping with the remaining 6 T. flour, mixing well (I had to microwave mine for 20 seconds to get mine stir-able). Drizzle the caramel mixture over the chocolate chips and nuts. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture evenly over the caramel. Bake for an additional 20 - 22 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Indian Night....

Friday afternoon I had worked on this post for a long time, only to find that somehow or another, it didn't get saved and landed somewhere in computer heaven. So, I've cooled off and gotten over my blogger rage, and I'm ready to make another attempt at telling you about the delicious dinner we had this past Thursday.

I'm a big fan of curries and all things Indian, and this meal did not disappoint. For a main course we had Tandoori-Spiced Chicken Thighs. The marinade is TO DIE FOR! And really, it's pretty healthy too - the only fat in the whole dish is from the plain yogurt and the chicken itself. The recipe calls for marinating the chicken for a good eight hours, but I only had three. Honestly, the recipe did not suffer from missing those five extra hours -- the flavor was amazing! I think it would be fun to play around with this next time; maybe skewer chunks of chicken along with peppers, onions, etc. for a great summertime grill menu.

Alongside the chicken we had a delicious Indian-inspired Curried Rice Pilaf with Peanuts & Cilantro. I've never made a pilaf-style dish in my rice cooker before, but that worked like a charm! Of course I did the saute steps on my cooktop, but then slid the whole she-bang in the cooker and 25 minutes later, I had a perfect pilaf. I'll be using this method again, it's foolproof! I only tinkered with the recipe slightly, by using roasted peanuts instead of the cashews that were called for. Here's the link: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/238405

Our veggie course was a gorgeous yet simple saute of carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, red onion, broccoli, and asparagus - no recipe, just a few simple steps. First I parcook the harder veggies in the microwave for three minutes or so. Then I heat up my biggest saute pan and add equal parts butter and olive oil. When the foaming subsides, I throw in the squash, zucchini, and red onion and let those work for a few, then add the parcooked veggies and give them a good toss. Season up with some sea salt, ground pepper, and a pinch of garlic powder and voila...a perfect and pretty saute!

Dessert cooled things off with Key Lime Parfaits, which were embarrassingly simple, but so pretty that I would serve them to company! Since I didn't futz with the recipe at all, I'll just give you the link to it. Here it is: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/102201

This dinner went over well with the whole Dam'Fam (well, with the exception of my oldest, and we all know by now that he doesn't like anything!). I kept everything pretty mild for the kiddos, but of course the marinade and the pilaf's seasonings could be easily adjusted depending on your tolerance for heat and spice. I'll definitely kick those up next time!

TANDOORI-STYLE CHICKEN THIGHS

Serves: 6

Source: The Gourmet Cookbook, p.

1 small onion, quartered

2 cloved garlic, smashed

1 (2") piece of ginger, peeled and grated

1/2 c. plain yogurt

1 T. fresh lemon juice

2 t. salt

1/2 t. tumeric

1/2 t. cumin

1/2 t. freshly ground pepper

1/4 t. cayenne

1/4 t. nutmeg

1/4 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. ground coriander

8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (3 1/2 lbs. total), rinsed and patted dry

Garnishes: lime wedges and cilantro leaves

Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a blender. Pour over the chicken; cover and refrigerate for eight hours. Preheat broiler. Broil chicken 5-6 inches from heat source for 4 minutes per side. Place on serving platter; garnish with lime wedges and cilantro sprigs.