Friends and New Recipes

Friday was a beautiful day to have a few friends over from school. I love having friends over to try new recipes on!!! Everything I made for lunch was a new recipe. The Internet opens things up to anything you want. I started by thinking what do I have on hand that I can fix for lunch? I had just gone to the farmers market and purchased a large head of cabbage so that was my starting point...
So I started at the Food Network and found a wonderful recipe from the show Barefoot Contessa.
Stuffed Cabbage (click on this link for recipe) I love cabbage rolls!
The only things I changed were I had no raisins and instead of ground beef I used 2 lbs of ground turkey and 1/2 lb. hot turkey sausage. They turned out wonderful.
The one tip I give everyone when making cabbage rolls is from a friends mother who taught me probably 20 years ago. Core your cabbage and wrap it tightly with Saran Wrap. Place it on a plate in the microwave and cook 15 minutes on high. Carefully take out and unwrap it. The leaves are ready to use just cut out the large vain in the center of each leaf. If you get closer to the center of the cabbage and it needs cooked a little more just put back in and cook 5 more minutes... This is so easy and mess free... Next on the menu was Roasted Tomatoes from the show Giada at Home (Click on link for recipe)

It called for Gorgonzola or grated Parmesan and I used Parmesan because that is what I had.. They were simple and great hot right out of the oven... The fresh parsley right out of the herb garden was wonderful... I love summer and fresh vegies!!! Next were the green beans. I just added one diced onion and 2 cloves of garlic, salt and pepper and let them cook down for about an hour....

I made a large salad and we called it lunch!!!

Of course you have to have desert and it was a Blueberry picking week here and I had way more than I could possible eat alone. So it was time to bake... This one is Blueberry Zucchini Bread (click on link for recipe)
When I greased the pan I dusted it with 2 T Sugar and 1t cinnamon... Yummy...

This one is:

Lemon-Blueberry Bundt

Adapted from Cooking Light

2 Tbs. sugar

3 Cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 3/4 c granulated sugar

1/4 c butter softened

grated zest & juice of one lemon, divided

4 large eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 (160z) container reduced -fat sour cream

2 Tbs buttermilk

2 c fresh blueberries

1 Tbs. powdered sugar

Preheat oven 350

To prepare cake, grease a 12 cup bundt pan and dust it with 2 Tbs. sugar. Set aside.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. combine flour,baking powder,baking soda,and salt,stirring with a whisk.

Place 1 3/4 cups sugar,butter and rind in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 2 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time,beating well after each addition (about 4 minutes total). Beat in vanilla, lemon juice sour cream and buttermilk. Add all but 1 Tbs. of the four mixture; beat at medium speed just until combined. Toss blueberries in reserved dry ingredients; gently flour into the batter. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake 350 for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

I think my favorite was the Blueberry Zucinni Bread. I love the Cinnamon.... But those Scones from the last post were to die for right out of the oven!!!

Ok I am going to start on a post with lots of flowers I have things blooming and growing like crazy....

Have a Great Week,

Lynn