Blueberry Breakfast Cake (or dessert)...

This is so yummy! My kids love it so much that it never makes it out of the oven and until breakfast the next morning- so usually it's dessert or afterschool snack and leftovers for breakfast.

1/2 cup butter/margarine
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour
1-1 1/2 cups blueberries (you can use fresh or frozen)

Struesel Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup cold butter/margarine

Combine butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Beat well. Add milk, flour, salt, BP- mix well. Fold in blueberries. Put in a square baking pan (9"). I like to line it with foil and spray it with cooking spray. Then I can easily remove it and cut it nicely.
Combine struesel topping ingredients and mix with a pastry cutter. Sprinkle on top and cook at 375 for 35-40 min. Remove and cool for 10 min and the lift foil from pan and fold down edges so it can cool completely. Good warm or cold.

Sausage Breakfast Casserole

This is a great breakfast casserole (we had it for dinner the other night though). It would be a great Christmas morning recipe. I just made it up but it turned out really yummy.

1 pkg frozen Hash browns (shredded kind), thawed out
1 pkg frozen peppers/onions combo (some brands have a few other things in it- like a few red pepper and/or a little bit of celery), thawed out
12 eggs
2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 lb sage sausage (the kind in the roll- like ground beef) cook and crumble up
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp Dry mustard
1 cup half n half (or you can use milk)

Dump hash browns in a greased 9x13 pan. Dump peppers/onions combo, and cooked sausage over potatoes and 1 1/2 cups cheese. Stir around with a fork to incorporate all of it together.
Mix eggs, half n half, salt, pepper, and dry mustard. Wisk until combined. Pour over veggies/sausage mixture. Top with the rest of the cheese (1 cup).
Cook at 350 for about an hour.
I covered it for 45 min. and uncovered it for the rest. Use your best judgment- however crusty you want your cheese to determine doneness.

Summer Fruit Salad

Sorry for the lack of recipes this summer, but there has been a lack of cooking anything worth sharing this summer. It's hot, I'm uncomfortable, and cooking is the last thing I've wanted to do. Something I do love eating every summer (and anytime in between) is fruit- especially when I'm pregnant. I have passed on my fruit hog genes to my children as well. So this is a salad that I "made up" this summer and my family will down the whole salad in one sitting. Needless to say "WE LOVE IT"

1 pint blueberries

1 container strawberries

~20 grapes cut in half

1 or 2 bananas (if you put in bananas, make sure you don't add them until right before you serve it so they don't get all brown and squishy)

1 0r 2 mangos

1 or 2 peaches

The good thing about this recipe is that you can add whatever fruit you have or what is on sale at the store. These are just the basics. I wouldn't add melons though- wounldn't go with the sauce.

Sauce:

1/3 pkg Instant Vanilla or French Vanilla pudding

Enough orange juice to make it a slightly thickened sauce ~1/4- 1/2 cup

Stir together with a fork until smooth and slightly thickened and pour over fruit. Chill for ~10-20 minutes. I make it- put it in the fridge- get it out after we've eaten dinner- and it's gone in 10 minutes.

ENJOY!!

Creamy Mushroom Chicken

This is a great recipe!! The kids eat this one good. You can use the leftover mushroom top from the Turkey Burger or use a regular 8 oz pkgs. I found this recipe on the back of the chicken bag once and have altered it some (my hobbie). My version is better than the bags.

4 chicken breasts (1 lb). If they are monster breasts -like size DD- I cut them in half so they cook better.
1/2 lb mushrooms (or the leftover Portobello mushroom top from the Turkey Burger recipe below)
6 TBSP butter
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 3/4 cups chicken broth ( I use 1 3/4 cup water and 2 tsp chicken boullioun granules)
2 TBSP half n half
Spinkle of nutmeg

Brown chicken in 3 TBSP butter in a large skillet. Remove. Add mushrooms and rest of butter to drippings. Cook until tender. Remove. Stir in flour to the melted butter and drippings (this is a roux). It will be a thick paste. Add broth, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Wisk until it blends together and becomes a thickened sauce. Add half n half. Return Chicken and mushrooms to the pan. Spinkle with a little nutmeg. Cover and cook on low for 20-30 minutes. Meat should be 165 degrees. Stir a few times to make sure it isn't sticking. Serve sauce over rice or mashed potatoes.

Frozen Strawberry Pie

Who doesn't like fresh strawberries in the summer? Who doesn't love a frozen treat in the heat of the summer?

This is a fun easy pie that we like in the summer. You could probably use frozen strawberries instead, but we usually use fresh ones. This recipe makes two pies- you can make one for yourselves and take one to the neighbor.

1 pkg 8 oz cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups fresh strawberries chopped and mashed a little
1 12 oz carton of cool whip
2 chocolate crumb crusts

Mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add vanilla and strawberries. Fold in cool whip. Put in crusts and freeze 2-4 hours. Remove from freezer 20 minutes from serving so you can cut it.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies... An all time fav!

I found this recipe in a magazine and I really like it because it always turns out well (I seem to alway screw up cookies) and it only make a small batch (I can get about 2 dozen and a few ). That way the fam can eat them all in a few days before they get dried out and stale. And... because I have little will power when it comes to homemade chocolate chip cookies. As Kayla would say, I have a sweet tooth!

1/2 cup butter flavor shortening
1 cup sugar
1 TBSP molasses
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup quick cooking oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips (semi sweet or milk- whichever you like)

Mix shortening and sugar until creamy. Add molasses , egg and vanilla- mix.
Add dry ingredients except oatmeal and mix- then add oatmeal- mix- add chips- mix. You know the rest of cooking making so I won't bore you with those directions. Cook at 350 for 8-10 min depending on your oven. Mine work best at 9 min. Remover from oven and let cook on pan for 5 min.

Turkey Burger Extrodinaire!!

I'm not a burger person. But I'll have to say I am for this recipe. It's made with ground turkey so it's much leaner and the flavor it superb!! Even my kids LOVE this one (with the exception of Alyssa- I think it's a texture thing with ground meat). Kayla will eat a whole burger- bun and all!! They fight over the leftovers the next day. Top it with light mayo, mustard, tomato and spinach instead of lettuce and this will be the HEALTHIEST burger you ever had. I toast the bun in the toaster a second to give it a little crunch. One more note before I get on to the recipe- I know you're on pins and needles waiting- I've tried the super lean (~93%) and the next leanest (~85%) to see if either make a difference in moistness and flavor. They both tasted the same and turned out equally good so you're probably better off to go with the leanest ground turkey you can buy.

1 lb lean ground turkey
1 portobello mushroom top (I buy the ones that are sliced (2 tops in a pkg and sliced lengthwise))- You just use one, but I have a great recipe that I will post that you can use the leftover mushroom top.
1/2 red pepper chopped fine
1/2 onion chopped fine
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cloves garlic- minced
1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
3 TBSP tomato paste
3 TBSP Italian parsley, chopped fine (in the fresh veggie section by the regular parsley and cilantro- use fresh and not dried parsley- you can definately tast a difference)
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Mix all ingredients together and shape into burgers. I can usually get 5 or 6 burgers. I sized them according to whose eating them (i.e.- I make Savannah a much smaller one than Dad). Remember though- burgers really shrink up when cooked. Place on a cooking sheet and place under broiler- 4 in. from heat. (I haven't yet tried on the grill- I'm always afraid I'll loose some of the burger through the slats) Turn. Cook until meat thermometer is 165. If you don't have a meat thermometer- WHAT KIND OF COOK ARE YOU!! J/K. Really, if you don't have one you really need one. This burger can seem pink from the tomato paste and red pepper. It may seem pink even though it's done and you don't want to keep cooking thinking it isn't done and end up serving a hockey puck for dinner. For the last few seconds- place a slice of cheese on top- we like the round provolone cheese that comes sliced already. Place on your toasted bun with your favorite fixings (mayo, mustard, spinach & tomato are our favs for this burger). ENJOY a great summer cookout with this recipe!!

Easy To Freeze Recipe:
You can double this recipe and freeze the 2nd half. It thaws easy and you have a super quick dinner!