citrus cilantro butter

Put it on corn. Fresh, grilled corn. That's what we did. I'm going to keep this short. Matt grilled for us yesterday. My parents came over and it was such a great time! I've said a bazillion times but, I'll say it again. Matt= Grill Extraordinaire.
I wanted to pretend like I had anything to do with the meal, so I made this butter for the corn. Boy oh boy did it taste good!!!

What you'll need:
4 Lg. ears fresh corn, shucked
4 Tbs. SmartBalance
1/2 Tsp. black pepper
1/2 Tsp. salt
1 Tbs. cilantro leaves, chopped
Juice of 1 small lemon or lime (we only had lemons, but I think lime would be tastier)

What to do:
~In a small, 6 oz. ramekin or small bowl, melt the SmartBalance
~Add the rest of ingredients to melted SmartBalance and stir
~Using a pastry or basting brush, cover each pice of corn before OR after the corn is grilled.
*We did it before. It was delightful. However, I think if you really want the citrus and cilantro flavors, it may be better to add to the corn after it's grilled. I think we'll do that next time!

Short. Simple. Fresh. Yum.

The End.

way back when. boston turned ten.

It rhymes.It kinda sounds like a Dr. Suess book. You know you laughed a little when you read the title. Or maybe you didn't, in which case I'd say you're not having the BEST day. In which case this recipe is for you! Who doesn't like ice cream? If you don't, now is not the time, nor is this blog the place to say so. I won't have any of that. If you're allergic, I understand...but you still probably like it. ANYWAY. Casey & Mandi were in town back in February for a little visit. Since B's birthday, the BIG 1-0 was in March, we figured we'd throw him a little Morgan Family Birthday Bonanza. Yep, I said "Bonanza". He specifically requested an ice cream cake. Specifically chocolate cake. Specifically chocolate ice cream. Specifically chocolate syrup. Very specific indeed! Not unlike myself, I heard the request and said "I'll make it!". Hmmm...What was I thinking? I'd never made an ice cream cake before. Ever. There's a first time for everything. And as most of you know, one of the biggest joys in our lives is our seven (7) nieces and nephews! I was not about to let some ice cream joint and their ridiculously overpriced (and honestly ridiculously good) cake steal the birthday show. No sir, or ma'am. Whatever. I was on a mission. As usual. I found, what I thought seemed to be a good recipe online and tweaked it to be more healthy. I didn't tell the birthday boy, though! Look below for the how-to!

Mookie's Ice Cream Dig-Out Cake

What you'll need:
~Boxed cake mix of your choice, prepared according to directions (I substituted the butter/oil with unsweetened apple sauce and used all egg white in place of whole eggs, and also used a lower-sugar mix)
~1/4 Gallon ice cream of your choice (I used Kroger brand no added sugar 1/2 fat chocolate)
~Reduced-sugar chocolate syrup
~Powdered sugar for dusting
~Birthday candles, of course. Or if it's no one's birthday, throw some sprinkles or pecans or something on top.

What to do:
~Preheat oven according to cake mix directions & place batter in a greased bundt pan
~Once cake is finished, remove from oven and let cool on a plate
~Once cooled, take a bread knife and cut the top 1/4 - 1/3 of the cake off all the way around, in one piece
~With a large spoon, dig out a ditch, if you will, all the way aruond the remainder of the cake (you don't need the stuff you dug out for the cake, so eat it!)
~Fill the ditch with softened ice cream and place the top back on and keep in the freezer until about 10 minutes before serving.
~Top with chocolate syrup and powdered sugar and serve (and enjoy, of course!!!)

The verdict? Well, all I can tell you is, the cake got eaten. All of it. And, there was one extremely happy, chocolate-loving ten-year-old! All that matters to us!

*NOTE: I personally think it would be tasty with a combo like spice cake with butter pecan ice cream. Just a thought!

you only think it's guacamole.

Uh huh. You read that right. It's not guacamole. It's pea puree'!!! Crazy to think that a pea can replace an avocado, isn't it? And don't get me wrong, I love avocados. A lot. However, if you're wishing for a lighter option of that green deliciousness that you somehow eat the ENTIRE bowl of, every time, this is the recipe for you (and you, and you, too). OK, OK, and you, too. :-)
We were at Matt's aunt and uncle's for dinner one night. His cousin, Kara made dinner for us. So, so good. The appetizer, the pea puree', was for sure one of the highlights! It's basically the Italian version of guac, but some people, namely Matt's uncle, didn't know the difference! Yep, it's THAT good. Super duper easy, too. In fact, If you happen to be the proud owner of a GiaDa De Laurentiis cookbook, you might just have this recipe at home. I, however, do not have any of her cookbooks (SIGH & sad face) so Kara rambled off the ingredients to me and I kinda-sorta remembered them. So, a few days later, I was craving, craving craving a snack and wanted to make sure it was healthy. After all, I was about half an hour from heading out to the gym. Something light indeed it would be. Ah ha! I recalled buying a random bag of frozen green peas a week or so back. Matt & I, while grocery shopping sans a list (UGH) thought "you know, frozen peas just seems like something a family should have in their freezer at all times", so we grabbed a bag and tossed them into the cart. Probably the best decision of that day. OK, at least of that shopping trip. OK, at least of the frozen food aisle. PHEW! Enough of that.
Anyway, long story even longer, the frozen peas were like a beacon in the night, er, uh, day for me and so I semi-recalled the ingredients that I thought Kara had said and that I most definitely remembered tasting and I blended away! You're probably thinking "why didn't she just Google it, like she does every other friggin' thing?!?" Well, strangely enough, I think our laptop was in the shop that day. Sad day. But I made it happy with pea puree'!!! Alright. Look below for the how-to!

What you'll need:
1 small bag frozen peas, thawed
4 Tbs. olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, or about 1 Tsp garlic powder
1/2 Tsp. each salt & pepper (or more if you'd like)
2 Tbs. fresh shaved Parmesan cheese

What to do:
In a food processor or blender, blend all ingredients until smooth.
Serve in crusty bread or, my personal favorite, with baby carrots, tomato wedges, celery & cucumber.

Oh-la-la

yum-diddly-yumcious.

Yep. I made up a word, or phrase, what have you. That's basically the only thing that aptly describes these cookies. I'm serious. Here's how these came to be. Matt & I are over at Jess' watching a movie with her. It's been about an hour since we ate the insanely yummy veggie soup she made us for dinner. Man oh man, I can't wait to get that recipe! Anyway...so, we're sitting down and Jess says "You know what I'm craving? Warm, yummy chocolate chip cookies." That's all it took for me. I was on it! "I'll make them!" I said. Obviously Jess nor Matt had any objections. So, I literally jumped off the loveseat and ran to the computer to...you guessed it, Google "easy chocolate chip cookie recipe". Hey, don't judge. That's what that site it there for! Works every time. Might I also add that I am so thankful for cooking sites like allrecipes.com. Often times a literal life, er, uh, dinner saver! So, I took the laptop into the kitchen and went to work. I was running back and forth between the movie and baking. I wish I could say I was burning off the soon-to-be-eaten calories from the warm delights, but, I wasn't I know I wasn't. And guess what, I didn't care. We never, I repeat, N-E-V-E-R eat chocolate chip cookies. I swear when Jess said that she wanted some, I was like a kid in a candy store, or a teenage girl at a Justin Bieber (sp?) concert, minus the crying and obscene amounts of makeup. Anyway, I'm rambling again, aren't I? YIKES.
I'll stop while I'm ahead.

Here's the low-down on the how-to! Enjoy!!!

NOTE: In place of using butter, you can use margarine or SmartBalance. Also, in place of sugar you can use Splenda, as well was using the Splenda Brown Sugar Baking Blend for brown sugar!

What you'll need:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans, but walnuts, macadamia and hazelnuts would be good, too)

What to do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Cream the butter,sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add it to the dough along with salt. Mix in the flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans. (I greased ours, just to be safe! Never hurts)
Bake for about 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until bottoms/edges are brown.

EAT 'EM UP!
Jess' take: These are so good. No, these are like really, really good.
Matt's take: MMMMMMMMMm...
My take: I had three for breakfast this morning. I think that speaks for itself.