Seasonal Recipes

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Cooking Times May Vary - by Dorinda Hughes -

The Fourth of July is one of the best holiday celebrations for family cookouts, fun and sun! Here are a few favorites of mine. Enjoy good food, your family and friends. Happy 4th of July and have a great summer!

Ambrosia Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chopped mango, peaches and mandarin oranges (mix)
• 2 cups green grapes
• 1 cup strawberries
• 1-1/2 cups shredded coconut
• 1-1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
• 1 cup maraschino cherries
• 2 cups chopped pecans or walnuts
• Frozen whipped topping

Directions:

Mix everything but the frozen whipped toppings together in large bowl. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. When serving, you can top or mix whipped topping in fruit mixture.

Lemon Chicken

Ingredients:

• 4 skinned and boned chicken breasts
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 Tablespoons butter, divided
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 8 lemon slices
• 1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley Lemon slices, to garnish

Directions:

Cut each chicken breasts in half, lengthwise. Place chicken between two sheets of heavy duty plastic wrap, flatten to a 1/4-inch thickness, using a rolling pin. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Lightly dredge chicken in flour. Shake off excess flour. Melt 1 tablespoon butter with 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Cook half of the chicken for 2-3 minutes on each side until browned. Transfer to platter and keep warm. To skillet, add broth and lemon juice and cook for 2-3 minutes. Sauce should slightly thicken. Add 8 lemon slices. Remove skillet from heat, add parsley and 2 tablespoons butter; stir until butter melts. Pour sauce over chicken. Serve immediately.

Green Beans with Goat Cheese, Tomatoes & Almonds

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 2 lbs. haricots green beans (tiny green beans), trimmed
• 3 Tablespoons sherry vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 pt. cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 oz. goat cheese log, crumbled

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350?F. Bake almonds in a single layer sheet pan until toasted, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir halfway through. Cook green beans in boiling salted water for 8 minutes until tender, drain. Plunge green beans into ice water to stop cooking process, drain. Whisk together sherry vinegar and next 3 ingredients in a large bowl, add olive oil, cherry tomatoes, shallots, garlic and green beans. Toss to coat. Top with goat cheese and toasted almonds.

"Awesome An'Tonyoh Coconut Layer Cake"

We just love this coconut cake. Delicate and moist. I have traveled all over to try, taste and duplicate the best Coconut Cake recipes. Try it, and let me know what you think.

Ingredients:

• 2-3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1-3/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup canned sweetened cream of coconut (Such as Coco Lepez)
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk
• Pinch of salt Cream

Cheese Frosting:

• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 2 (8 oz.) boxes cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• In a large bowl, blend together until well blended. At room temperature spread onto cake layers. Delicious.
• 4 cups sweetened shredded coconut

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour two 9-inch diameter cake pans with two-inch high sides. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat sugar, butter and sweetened cream of coconut in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla extract. On low speed, beat in dry ingredients and then buttermilk, each just until blended. Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites with pinch of salt in another bowl until stiff. Fold beaten egg whites into batter. Divide cake batter between prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on rack for 15 minutes. Run sharp knife around pan sides to loosen cakes. Turn cakes out onto racks and cool completely. Place one cake on cake plate. Spread 1 cup cream cheese frosting over cake layers. Sprinkle 1 cup sweetended shredded coconut over. Top with second cake layer. Repeat. Press coconut in. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature before serving.

Beet Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. medium beets 1
• /3 cup bottled balsamic vinaigrette
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• Fresh parsley, for garnish
• Goat cheese, for garnish

Directions: Preheat oven to 400?Fs. Divide beets between two large pieces of heavy duty foil. Drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Seal foil, making two loose packets. Bake for 45 minutes until fork tender. Let cool one hour in packets, reserving liquids. Bake walnuts at 400?F in a single layer baking sheet for 8-10 minutes until toasted. Peel beets and cut into slices. Arrange beets on a platter. Drizzle with reserved liquid and sprinkle with toasted walnuts. Garnish with parsley flakes and goat cheese.

Picnic Potato Salad

Ingredients:

• 4 lbs. Yukon gold potatoes
• 3 hard cooked eggs, peeled and grated
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup finely chopped sweet onion
• 1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
• 1 Tablespoon spicy brown mustard
• Salt and pepper
• Parsley flakes
• Paprika, for garnish

Directions: Cook potatoes in boiling water to cover until tender, about 40 minutes. Peel potatoes and cut into one-inch cubes. Combine potatoes and eggs. Stir together mayonnaise and brown spicy mustard and rest of ingredients. Gently stir in potato mixture. Cover and chill up to 12 hours. Serve.

Classic Pound Cake

Ingredients:

• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 cups butter, softened
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 6 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions: Preheat oven to 325?F. Place flour, sugar, butter, milk, eggs and vanilla (in that order) in a four-quart bowl of stand mixer. Beat at low speed one minute. Beat at medium speed two minutes. Pour into a greased and floured 10-inch (16-cup) tube pan. Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until toothpick poked in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Remove from pan and cool for another hour. Slice and top with fresh fruit, ice cream or whipped cream.

Spring and nice weather is here. Here are a few spring favorites. Enjoy!

Gourmet Cream of Mushroom Soup

You will never go back to canned soup again!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. fresh mushrooms (I get the trio mixture from Food Lion)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup light cream
• Salt and white pepper, to taste
• 1 sprig fresh thyme 1
• Tablespoon chopped chives

Directions: Thinly slice mushroom caps; discard stalks. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan and cook the spring onion, garlic and thyme, stirring for one minute, or until garlic is golden. Add the mushrooms, salt and white pepper. Cook for 4 - 5 minutes, or until mushrooms soften. Add flour and cook, stirring for one minute. Remove from heat and add the stock. Return to heat and bring to boil, stirring.Reduce the heat and simmer gently for two minutes. Whisk the cream into the soup, then reheat gently, stirring. DO NOT allow the soup to boil. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Garnish with chopped chives and thyme.

Simple & Easy Crab Quiche

I was walking through downtown Salisbury and came across a great Pottery Shop and Eatery called "Yummi." I could not help but buy a piece of quiche. It brought back a lot of old time memories. I couldn't even find my quiche pan when I got back home. How many years it had been since I baked a quiche! So come Sunday morning, out came the old recipes and I found heaven again. Toss a salad, add some fresh strawberries and fruit as a side dish, you got it. Great Sunday Brunch. The beauty of this dish is you can mix it up. Add shrimp, spinach, whatever you've got. It all tastes good.

Ingredients:

• 1 9-inch pastry shell, partially baked
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 2 Tablespoons shallots, minced
• 1-1/2 cups lump crab meat (go through and pick out shells)
• Dash of Worchestershire sauce
• 1 Tablespoon flour
• 2 cups Swiss cheese, shredded and divided
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup half and half
• Dash of Hot pepper
• Few dashes of Old Bay Seasoning,
• optional Dash of nutmeg Minced parsley flakes, to garnish

Directions: Bake a 9-inch pastry shell, partially. Saute shallots in butter until tender, about 2 minutes. Mix with crab meat, Worchestershire sauce and flour; set aside. Sprinkle one cup of the Swiss cheese in the pie shell, then spread with crab mixture. Sprinkle with remaining cup of cheese. Beat eggs, cream, salt and pepper, nutmeg, Old Bay seasoning and parsley. Pour into shell. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Grilled Vegetables Ingredients:

• 1 eggplant, sliced into circles
• 4 portabello mushroom caps
• 1 red pepper, seeded
• 1 zucchini, sliced
• 1 yellow squash,
• sliced Grape tomatoes, whole
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• Balsamic drizzle and herbs, for garnish

Directions: Toss the vegetables in the oil, season with salt and pepper and grill on high until the vegetables are cooked half through. Pull them off and spread them out, letting them cool to room temperature. They will continue to cook through and will be perfectly set for use. Adjust seasoning, if needed. Platter up and garnish with the drizzle, fresh herbs and more olive oil, as needed.