Orange Julius:

Have you every tried an Orange Julius at the mall or Dairy Queen or someplace? Well, they are pretty expensive, so the only one I've ever tried is a free sample!!! When I saw this recipe, I was so excited to try it out and even more excited when I realized that I had all the ingredients for it!!! It was SO yummy! We'll definitely be making this again! I hope you give it a try and enjoy it too!



1 (12 oz.) frozen orange juice concentrate
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar

Place everything in the blender and blend until smooth. Pour into serving glasses and serve!

Note:
-You want the orange juice to be frozen. If it's not, then you'll want to add ice cubes to the blender after you blend everything else together. Otherwise, it will be watery and not have the frosty goodness!
-Get a little creative and try it with grape juice concentrate instead of orange.

Menu:

-Chicken a la King
-Strawberry Mousse

Strawberry Mousse:

My Aunt was here last weekend from the south and she brought us some AMAZING strawberries! They were so good! But there was also A LOT them, so by today, I cut up all that we hadn't eaten over the weekend and was searching the Internet for creative, yummy ways to use strawberries. This recipe was one that really stood out and it looked so good! Plus, it was super fast AND I had all of the ingredients on hand! So we gave it a try. WOW! Talk about good! This is so great for the summer and it's one I will definitely be making again! I hope you give it a try and love it as much as we did!



4 cups sliced, strawberries, fresh or frozen (if using frozen, they need to be thawed)
1/2 cup sugar
1 pkg. Instant Vanilla pudding mix
1 (8 oz.) container whipped topping, thawed

In a food processor, process the strawberries and sugar until smooth. Add pudding mix and process until well combined. Place whipped topping in a large bowl. Add strawberry mixture and fold into whipped cream. Place in serving dish or individual serving dishes. Refrigerate until ready to serve! Garnish with additional strawberry slices and a dollop of whipped cream, if desired.

Note:
-Although it wasn't TOO bad, I thought this dish was pretty sweet. If you are cutting back on sugar, I would recommend cutting the sugar in half. With the sugar in the pudding mix, it's plenty sweet. If you don't mind a slight tartness from the strawberries, you could probably leave the sugar completely out. It's up to you!
-The original recipe said to process the strawberries and sugar and then strain it and discard the seeds. I don't have a mesh strainer like that, plus we don't mind the seeds at all, but if you prefer no seeds, just strain it!

Fruit Pudding:

I love this stuff!!! It's so quick and easy, but so great for a cool, summer salad! Feel free to add any fruit you want, leave out what you don't - experiment!!! Let me know if you give it a try and what changes you made! I love to hear other variations to simple recipes like this!!



1 box instant vanilla pudding mix
2 small cans Fruit Cocktail, drained with juices reserved
1 small can mandarin oranges, optional, drain and discard juice
1 banana, optional, sliced
1 cup mini marshmallows

Drain the fruit cocktail and reserve the juices. In a small bowl, whisk together the juice from the fruit with the pudding mix, until smooth. Chill for at least 5 minutes, or until slightly set. Stir in fruit cocktail and mandarin oranges, if desired. Chill until ready to serve. Just before serving, stir in banana, if desired, and marshmallows. Serve!

Note:
-Other variations: Add chopped nuts, maraschino cherries, pineapple tidbits, chopped apples.

Menu:

-Speedy Chicken Marinade
-Ranch Roasted Potatoes
-Steamed Carrot Coins
-Fruit Pudding

Roasted Ranch Potatoes:

Great side dish that my whole family loved! I hope you give it a try!



2 quarts potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/4 cup olive oil
1 pkg. dry ranch powder (check the label, please!)

Rinse potatoes thoroughly with very cold water and pat dry with paper towels or a dish towel. The drier they are, the better. Place in a large bowl. Add oil and mix until potatoes are well coated. Add ranch powder and mix well. Place in a greased 9x13-inch baking pan. Bake at 450 degrees for at least 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes at first, and then every 10 minutes when they start to get golden brown. Bake until medium golden brown and slightly crisp. You can bake longer, if you want a darker golden brown and more crisp potato. Serve!!

Note:
-I used Hidden Valley brand of Ranch powder, and it was gluten-free, but be sure to check it anyways, as things change all the time.

Blueberry Cobbler

This is my mom's #1 favorite dessert. She chooses it for every birthday, Mother's Day and any other time that she can possibly think of!!! I hope you will try it!

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1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tblsp. baking powder
3 cups flour
2 tsp. xanthan gum
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
Brown sugar and cinnamon

In a large mixing bowl, cream together shortening and sugar. Add egg and milk. Combine salt, baking powder, flour, and xanthan gum. Add to shortening mixture. Mix until well combined. Add blueberries and mix just until evenly distributed. Spread evenly across the bottom of a greased 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm or cooled!

Note:
-Some members of my family like to eat this in a bowl with milk, but you can do whatever you want.
-This is the same texture and ingredients as a coffee cake, so technically you could eat this for breakfast (my mom's pretty happy about that)!!!!!!

Mother's Day Menu:

If there's any mother's out there reading this, I hope you have a great day...with great food!!!
This year, my sister's 17th birthday fell on mother's day, so we are having a double celebration! Mom and Kaitlyn picked different desserts that they wanted, but they went together on the dinner! They both decided on:

-Taco Baked Potatoes
-Fresh fruit salad: watermelon, cantalope, strawberries and blueberries

Dessert:
-Blueberry Cobbler (mom's choice)
-Boston Cream Cake (Kaitlyn choice)

Menu:

-Sloppy Joes
-Potato Salad
-Green Beans

Menu:

-Cincinnati Chili
-Cornbread muffins

Becky's Potato Salad:

I love potato salad! This one is a little more time consuming to make, but it's really not hard and it's definitely worth it. I hope you will give it a try! Thank you for the recipe, Becky!

 

2 quarts cubed white or red potatoes (you can peel them if you want)
1 small onion, chopped
4 hard cooked eggs, chopped

1 egg
1 tblsp. cornstarch
Milk

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp. yellow mustard

1-1/2 tsp. celery seed
salt and pepper to taste

Place potatoes in a large pan - cover with cold water. Cook just until fork tender. Right before the potatoes are done, add the onion. Drain potatoes and onions in a strainer; let stand.

In a 2 cup measuring cup, beat egg and cornstarch. Add enough milk to equal 1 cup; mix well and set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine water, vinegar and sugar. Bring to a boil and boil 90 seconds. Add egg mixture stirring constantly (mixture usually will curdle...this is fine). Bring to a boil and boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and add mayonnaise and mustard. Stir until smooth and well combined. Chill for 10 minutes.

Place potatoes, onions and hard cooked eggs in a large bowl. Add celery seed, salt and pepper. Pour sauce over potatoes and mix until everything is well coated. Chill until ready to serve!

Shrimp Pizza:

My dad absolutely loves seafood and my mom absolutely hates it! I happen to love it as well, so when my dad and I saw a similar recipe to this in a cookbook, we knew we had to try it!!! It was Christmas Day when we found the recipe while visiting my grandma. Lucky for us, our grocery store was open on Christmas Day, so we found all the ingredients and went straight home to try it! It was instant success and we've made it numerous times since then! I hope you will give it a try!

2 (4 oz.) packages ready-to-eat frozen Salad Shrimp
1 can crabmeat (found with the canned tuna)
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tblsp. Old Bay Seasoning
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 large pizza crust, pre-baked (click here for recipe)

Mix together mayonnaise and seasoning. Spread over pizza crust (crust can be warm or cool).
Place shrimp in a strainer. Rinse with cool water until thawed. Place on paper towels and pat dry. Sprinkle the shrimp evenly over the entire crust. Place crabmeat in a strainer. Using a fork, stir and break up the crabmeat, getting rid of as much of the water as you possibly can. Sprinkle over the shrimp. Top with cheese. Bake at  425 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until crust and toppings are warm and cheese is melted. Sprinkle with additional Old bay seasoning, if desired. Serve!!!!!