Summer has been busy for us. It seems like every Saturday for the last several weeks has had something added to it that’s made it a busy weekend and has kept me from having guests for Sunday dinner. Last week we had a missionary family of ten here, so we took them out for dinner. 🙂

This weekend we had the privilege of going to a special birthday celebration for a dear friend in South Carolina. We made the trip there and back in about twelve hours time. It was a blessing to be able to attend. Getting home in the evening kept me from preparing a meal for Sunday. I was so very glad that I had a frozen dish of Tomatoes, Sausage and Pasta in the freezer. I learned a long time ago that it’s just as easy to double a recipe when you’re cooking and put one in the freezer for a busy day. Many recipes double very easily. I know I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating. You’ll be so glad to have something you can just pop into the oven when you’re busy or when you just don’t feel like cooking!

I added salad and toasted bread and dinner was done when we got home from church! I also served Blueberry Crisp for dessert. We were hungry for blueberry or blackberry cobbler, using some of the fresh fruit we’d gotten, but this light version of a crisp satisfied our hunger just as well (and with lots fewer calories and fat grams!).

Hot out of the oven… Can you smell it?

Wrapped and ready to deliver…

Do you have something you do for others that have shared with you from their garden? What is it? What’s been cooking in your kitchen this week?

With love,

Saturdays often allow for a more relaxed breakfast time. This weekend I made a special treat for my husband and me. We had Eggs Benedict while on our anniversary trip and it was so good, so I decided to try my hand at making them. It wasn’t hard at all!

The Hollandaise Sauce recipe that I use is super easy – it’s done in the blender.

Place 3 egg yolks, 2 tbl lemon juice and dash of cayenne pepper into blender. Cover; quickly turn blender on and off. Heat 1/2 cup butter or margarine till melted and almost boiling. Turn blender on high speed; slowly pour in butter, blending till thick and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Heat over warm, not hot, water till ready to serve.

For each serving of Eggs Benedict, split and toast English muffin; top with thin slice of broiled ham. Place a poached egg on ham. Pour Hollandaise over all. Serve immediately.

To go along with the eggs I made a yogurt parfait – Strawberry yogurt, fresh strawberries and peaches and topped with granola.
Add a cup of Chocolate-Raspberry Coffee and enjoy!

For supper Friday night we enjoyed this Herbed Cheese Pizza from my Cooking Light Cookbook. The homemade crust is so good and you don’t feel guilty eating it!

The recipe made two pizzas this size. One is in the freezer for another day! I replace the Kasseri cheese with either Provolone or Mozzarella. You have to think ahead if you’re going to have this for supper. The dough has to be started a couple hours before supper time, but it’s really worth it!

So, what was cooking in your kitchen this past week?

With love,

This was a busy weekend, complete with a wedding to coordinate and then a visit from both our daughters. One was in the wedding, the other popped in from her camp work at The Wilds. This is her first time home since camp began. It was great to have them both here at the same time – that doesn’t happen often these days.

Our older daughter had to head home shortly after the wedding, so she wasn’t here for Sunday. Since Allison doesn’t get to be here for Sunday dinner very much, I asked her what she’d like to eat and set my planned menu aside. “Steak, that salad and potatoes!” was her enthusiastic reply. So I made:

The shish kabobs were marinated in Teriyaki sauce, a favorite of ours. The recipe is simple and it gives great flavor to any steak. (Recipe to follow)

These potatoes might not look very pretty, but they’re so good! When you make these everyone will be scrambling to get those cheesy bits on the bottom of the dish!Melt about three tablespoons of butter in the bottom of a glass dish; sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. Place scrubbed potatoes, cut in half on top of cheese and butter, cut side down. Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. (I put mine in the oven on time bake. If you don’t have that feature, you can bake these for about 10 minutes in the microwave, then place them in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes to crisp them up).