Tag Archives: summer

S’mores pops

dessert, kids 1 Comment

 

It’s summer! I don’t know about the rest of y’all but we’re already kind of sweltering in Nashville. Baby Peanut is rocking a heat rash on her neck and thinks that cold bananas are the best thing ever right now. Kiddo is all about “cold water with LOTS of ice cubes!” I may or may not be sneaking my feet into the wading pool in the back yard.

In the midst of all this heat, the folks at Aldi sent me a summer care package: graham crackers, marshmallows, cute sprinkles and a chocolate bar. S’mores! I love s’mores. However, since it’s hot outside (have I mentioned it’s hot?), by the time the package hit my front porch the chocolate was rather melty, so traditional s’mores would be hard.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

I thought about what else I could do that would be yummy, and I came up with these: s’mores pops. I’m pretty sure I’m not the first person to invent these, but since I totally thought of them one night I’m not going to google them and see how many other people came up with them before I did. 😉

You need these in your life!

S’mores pops

Ingredients

  • 4 graham crackers
  • 1 large chocolate bar
  • 1 bag large marshmallows
  • Sprinkles, optional but totally fun
  • Popsicle sticks, skewers or craft sticks
  • Wax paper lined cookie sheets or trays

Instructions

  1. Melt or temper the chocolate. I used this method for tempering. I’m honestly not sure if the chocolate really needed to be tempered or just melted in the microwave; tempering seemed like a good idea and not hard so I went with it
  2. Crush the graham crackers in a food processor or in a zip top bag with a rolling pin, then put the crumbs in a bowl
  3. Skewer the marshmallows, then dip in the chocolate. Let it drip a little bit, then dip in graham crackers and sprinkles in whatever method and order you like — go crazy, have fun! — then set them on the wax paper to let them cool

 

See how easy this is? If grown-ups do the melting part, kids can absolutely step in and make their own creations with different sprinkles and combinations. Make some and show me what you’ve come up with!

Snow cones

drinks, kids Leave a comment

Somehow the stores are gearing up for back to school. Apparently fall is coming? (Someday?) But it’s still 110 degrees in the shade right now and I’m HOT. And so are the kids. Enter: snow cones!

There are a bunch of recipes floating around the interwebs for snow cone syrups so I just picked out the bits that sounded good and came up with this one.

Snow cones

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1 packet Kool Aid (or whatever brand; Kool Aid does not know I exist)

Instructions

  1. Stir the sugar and water together in a saucepan and heat till boiling; boil for one minute and remove from heat, then stir in drink mix
  2. Let it cool completely then funnel into a bottle (a Wilton-type squeeze bottle or a water bottle with a sports top work brilliantly)

Sadly, I do not own a groovy Snoopy snow cone maker, but I do have one of these spiffy blenders that I used to grind ice into little snow cone cups I picked up at Target — mission accomplished! The kids had a great time getting to pour on the syrup themselves, and eating them on the back patio meant minimal cleanup. Go make some!

Caesar dressing

lunch, sides, soup 1 Comment

We had one glorious almost-70-degree day here in Nashville and it made me SO READY for spring rightnowthisinstant. This, of course, made me want a good salad! I found this dressing recipe in Rick & Lanie’s Excellent Kitchen Adventures, which I love. The recipe is insanely quick, easy and good, which I also love.

Caesar dressing

Ingredients

  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
  • 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • Pinch salt
  • 1 Tbsp. water

Instructions

  1. Crush peeled garlic (putting it in the microwave for about 5 seconds first will make this easier) into a 2-cup glass jar with a lid
  2. Add all remaining ingredients into the jar, cover tightly and shake
  3. Store in jar in the refrigerator for up to two weeks

Enjoy, y’all. Spring is coming!

Fresh limeade

drinks 4 Comments

Summer’s not quite over yet (as evidenced by the 90+ degree September we’re currently having in Nashville), so I thought I’d pass this one along while there’s still some heat in the air.

You can make this with lemon, lime, key lime or any combination thereof; today I had a bunch of limes so limeade it is.

Fresh limeade

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups water
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups lime juice (or lemon or key lime)
  • Additional 4 cups water

Instructions

  1. Heat the water and sugar together until the sugar is dissolved; you can do this in a saucepan on the stove or in a glass Pyrex in the microwave
  2. Let the sugar mixture cool and stir in juice and additional water
  3. Serve over ice, ideally on a veranda.

This may or may not be great with a splash of vodka. I haven’t heard either way. Ahem.

Guacamole

lunch, sides, snacks 5 Comments

On a trip to Hilton Head Island the Yankee and I discovered this dish: guacamole topped with crab meat. This is a win. I set out to recreate it as soon as we got home, and I’m pretty pleased with the result! This is a huge party hit, too; I highly recommend.

Guacamole

Ingredients

  • Two ripe avocados
  • Two Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
  • 1 jalapeno pepper, minced
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 cayenne pepper
  • Kosher salt to taste, but about 1/2 tsp.
  • Juice from one lime
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/2 medium onion, diced (or some onion powder if you hate the crunch of raw onion)
  • Eight ounces lump crab meat, drained
  • Chips (obviously)

Instructions

  1. Scoop out the avocado into a bowl and mash with a fork
  2. Stir in tomatoes, pepper, cumin, pepper, salt and lime juice, plus onion if you’re using it
  3. Top with crab meat and serve with chips