Simple Summer Salad (since my kitchen's kinda outta commission)

This would be a great salad to prepare for July 4th celebrations because it's fresh & light and super easy to put together.

This week I spent several nights out of town for some work meetings I had and when I checked in with my husband one night he casually mentioned that he had removed all the cabinet doors as well as everything stored in the kitchen cabinets. "Huh??!!!" was all I could say...at first, but like most women, I'm rarely speechless when it comes to words for my other half. Once I visualized my kitchen with empty cabinets it led me to picture how all of the stuff that was in there might look sprawled out all over the guest room where it had been relocated. And that's where I started to get concerned. Thankfully, Jimmy was very thoughtful in keeping all items moved out of the cabinets well organized in boxes, so right now the situation is about as good as it can be given the circumstances. We had talked about remodeling the kitchen, but I guess I hadn't fully thought through the inconvenience of it. So, as you can imagine, I haven't been too eager to work on really anything in the kitchen this weekend unfortunately. Since I have been limited in the use of the kitchen, I wanted to share a simple idea for a fresh summer salad that's pretty easy to throw together. You could tailor this salad to include any combination of fruit & nuts (blueberries and walnuts sounds good too!) that you enjoy, so use this concept and get creative to serve up a fresh and healthy dish for you and your loved ones this summer.

Strawberries in salads was a pairing that I didn't used to find appealing, but it didn't take long for me to appreciate the somewhat unlikely combination. This particular recipe brings together the sweet and fleshy texture of the strawberries with the crispy, salty bacon and pungent, creamy bleu cheese. Yumm!

Strawberry Bacon Spinach Salad Recipe
Serves about 4-6 people as a pre-dinner or side salad
About 8-10 slices bacon
1 bag Baby Spinach
1 1/2 cup sliced strawberries
1 cup bleu cheese crumbles
1 cup pecan halves (chopped pecans work too, but I prefer larger pieces)
Honey mustard salad dressing (I like Newman's Own Light Honey Mustard)

I like to start most of my salad recipes by putting my glass salad plates in the freezer. It's something many restaurants do to help keep your salad cold and taste fresh. Even if you don't remember until you're almost ready to serve, just a few minutes in the freezer is enough to create the same effect.


If bacon is precooked, move onto the next step, but if not, cook the bacon in the oven. It is easier and cooks the bacon to the perfect crispiness. Spread the slices out on a foil-lined cookie sheet (to make clean up easier) then place in the oven at 375 degrees for about 12-15 min or until brown and crisp. Once the bacon is done remove from pan, place on paper towels to absorb excess grease and let cool. Chop up bacon once it has cooled.


Make sure baby spinach is well rinsed and place in a large salad bowl. Toss in sliced strawberries, bleu cheese crumbles and pecans. Top with chopped bacon and serve on chilled plates with honey mustard dressing on the side.

As you can see I only have a few super important items left in my cabinets like a bottle of wine with glasses and my cheap little coffee maker on the bottom shelf next to the oven. This is the before picture, but hopefully the after picture will include granite counter tops, a new stainless over-the-range microwave and freshly painted cabinets. It's not exactly a gourmet kitchen, but it's all I need to produce some tasty treats.

Cute Little Watermelon Jello Shots

The jello shot has become even more fun recently with all of the creative ideas circulating the web. I saw this one on a dessert blog I have been enjoying lately called Erica Sweet Tooth. They were a bit labor intense due to the gutting of the limes, but I think they turned out pretty adorable.

A helpful tip is using a mini muffin pan to hold the lime halves in place like this while they set in the fridge. This also works well when using strawberries instead of lime rinds because if the jello seeps out it stays contained in the pan and you can scoop it back into the strawberry when it becomes solid. (You can see a little of the strawberries on the very top of the picture above.)

Watermelon Shaped Strawberry Limeade Jello Shots
Idea adapted from That's So Michelle
Recipe yields about 40 wedges

10 limes, pulp removed
1 box Strawberry Jello (or use any other red flavor)
1 cup boiling water
1 cup cold Strawberry vodka (or whatever flavor you like)
Black colored food gel

-Halve limes and use a melon baller to juice limes and pull the pulp from the rind. My approach in doing this was to juice them, pull out the pulp and then gently turn them inside out to scrape out as much of the white skin as possible. That white skin is what tastes bitter, so the more you can remove the less bitter flavor your jello shots will have. Place lime halves in mini muffin pan empty side up.
- In a separate bowl, add 1 cup of boiling water to the Jello powder and stir for 2 minutes until fully dissolved.
- Stir in a cup of cold strawberry (or regular) vodka.
- Pour mixture into lime halves, filling all the way to the top.
- Chill Jello-limes in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
- Using a sharp knife, carefully cut each lime half in half again, making wedges.
- Paint on watermelon seeds with colored food gel.


As I mentioned above, I also tried some strawberry filled jello shots which were more tasty to eat, but a little tricky to make. You have to trim the tips to get them to stand upright & if you take too much off the bottom, the liquid jello will spill out before it sets. They basically looked like the picture below, but filled with the jello shot recipe above. (Using the mini muffin pans will really help.) My sister (in-law) Judy had a simple recipe for Strawberry Cheesecake Bites that were another delicious way to use strawberries as a fun little edible vessel. Try these for a guaranteed home run at your next summer gathering.

Strawberry Cheesecake Bites
from Nutmeg Nanny

Ingredients:
1 lb large strawberries
8 oz. cream cheese, softened (can use 1/3 less fat)
3-4 tbsp powdered sugar (4 tbsp for a sweeter filling)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Graham cracker crumbs

Directions:
-Rinse strawberries and cut the tops off. Carefully scoop out insides with a melon baller and trim the bottoms to create a flat surface so the berries stand upright. Prep all strawberries and set aside.
-In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla until creamy
-Add cream cheese mix to a piping bag or ziploc with the corner snipped off.
-Fill strawberries with cheesecake mixture. Once strawberries are filled, sprinkle tops with graham cracker crumbs. You can also drizzle a little melted white or milk chocolate over the tops to dress them up some more.
-If not serving immediately, refrigerate until serving.

A Sweet Memorial Day Treat

My brother is an EMT and recently he had to go on a pretty scary unofficial call when my grandma got sick and passed out in his arms. Since he's very good at what he does, he just got to work and took care of the matter at hand, so she got proper care in time and is doing well today. But, this gave me a whole new respect for how brave some people really have to be in their everyday jobs when it comes to the responsibility of protecting & serving people of our country. I know for sure that I am not capable of contributing to society in this way, so thankfully I have a few other gifts to share. Thank God for our men and women of the military, public servants and their strong families. This fresh and easy dessert would be a great way to show appreciation for the heroes in your lives this holiday weekend.

My version of the Red, White and Blueberry Cheesecake Yogurt Cupcakes I saw on Pinterest from wwww.Skinnytaste.com.

This fresh little dessert is perfect for summer celebrations.

See the little Nilla cookie as the crust.

Happy Memorial Day! Thank God for all the people who serve our country at home & abroad.

Red, White and Blueberry Cheesecake Cupcakes
 Recipe adapted from: Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 12 • Serving Size: 1 cupcake • Old Points: 2 pts • Points+: 3 pts
Calories: 98 • Fat: 4.3 g • Protein: 3.6 g • Carb: 10.5 g • Fiber: 0.3 g • Sugar: 7.6 g
Sodium: 29.5 mg
(Not including whipped cream topping.)

Cheesecakes:

• 12 reduced fat vanilla wafers or graham crackers trimmed down to fit in baking cups
• 8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 6 oz fat-free vanilla Greek yogurt (I used Oikos)
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 tbsp all purpose flour
• 8 oz strawberries, hulled and sliced thin
• 8 oz blueberries

Whipped Cream Topping:

• 8 oz heavy whipping cream
• 2/3 cup confection sugar
• 2 tsp. Vanilla Extract 

Directions:

Heat oven to 350°.

Line cupcake tin with liners. Place a vanilla wafer or small graham cracker  at the bottom of each liner.

Gently beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth using an electric mixer. Gradually beat in fat free yogurt, egg whites, and flour. Do not over beat. Pour into cupcake liners filling half way.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool to room temperature then chill at least 1 hour in the refrigerator.

For topping, place stainless steel bowl & mixer attachments in the freezer for about 10 minutes while you clean and cut fruit. Take the heavy cream and use the cold bowl to whip the cream with a whisk in standing or handheld mixer. Just as it starts to get thick, slowly add the sugar and vanilla extract until cream gets stiff. Take care not to over-beat the cream as it quickly goes from smooth to curdy. Like mine, even if it doesn't turn out smooth it should still taste pretty good. Place whipped cream in a plastic piping bag and pipe onto cupcakes. Arrange berries on freshly applied whipped cream using the design I used or get creative with your own. You could also use any other fruit to top these cheesecakes like peaches, cherries or bananas. They would actually be pretty good anytime of the year.