This is an easy recipe, and especially tasty with the fresh corn in season right now.  When you’re serving corn on the cob, just make extra for this recipe and use it within a few days.

The black beans give it a great flavor and also make it a little more filling.  I use dried beans {they’re not as hard as you think!} but you can also use 2 15 ounce cans.

Picture and recipe from AllRecipes

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1/4 teaspoon seasoned pepper

• 1 teaspoon cilantro, chopped

• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

• 4 cups black beans, cooked

• 1 dozen ears of corn cooked and kernels removed from cob

• 1/2 cup chopped onion

• 1/2 cup chopped green onions

• 1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped

In a small bowl, mix together vinegar and oil, seasoned pepper, cilantro, cayenne pepper, and cumin. Set dressing aside.

In a large bowl, stir together beans, corn, onion, green onions, and red bell pepper. Toss with dressing. Cover, and refrigerate overnight. Toss again before serving.

Recipe Roundtable is a weekly feature is co-hosted by Big Binder and Sarah’s Deals. Each blog will host it’s own recipe, but share a common linky. The co-hostesses links will appear at the top of the list and you are welcome to join in. Please link to your ACTUAL POST and not just your home page so people can find it easier. Also please put the recipe title in parentheses to help out the other readers. Old recipe posts are fine. While we appreciate a link back or the addition of the button above, it is NOT required. Be sure to leave a comment after linking. Thank you for participating!

My brother is a fishing guide in Alaska.  That means he is the guy who takes rich people out on his boat and uses his sixth sense to find salmon in the Kenai River.  It’s a pretty sweet gig.

So is being his sister.  Our Dad is going to visit him this week, and it is with great and joyful hope that I await some freshly caught salmon so I can make this recipe.

Grilled Salmon with Lemon Caper Sauce

from Epicurious

3-4 salmon filets (remove skin)
2 lemons, juiced
1/4 lb butter
2 cloves garlic minced
4 T capers, rinsed
salt and pepper
flour

I haven’t turned on my oven a week! And no; we haven’t gone out to eat every night.  I would love to, but I am afraid I won’t be able to pay off the debt to out new overlord, Consumer’s Energy.   I am seriously scared of our electric bill after weeks of constant air conditioning, so I am quickly putting together a list of “no oven” meals.  This global warming thing is apparently here to stay and Michigan is the new Tropics.  

Later this week I’ll share the rest of my meals with you, but the one for today is Taco Salad.  It’s easy and fresh.  Vegetables make an appearance, therefore it totally counts as a complete meal. 

You’ll need:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 packet taco seasoning {I actually buy it in a larger package at Penzy’s.  We like our taco seasoning around here.}
• 1/2 head iceberg lettuce {One of two acceptable times to serve iceberg, according to my husband.  The other is a Bleu Cheese Wedge salad.  Whatever.}
• 2 tomatoes
• 1/4 cup black olives
• shredded cheese
• other taco toppings, such as jalapeños, sour cream, cilantro
• Salsa {We used to use Western Dressing, but it has  food dye in it and that is… totally another story}
• Taco chips

Brown the ground beef and add the taco seasoning according to package directions.  Meanwhile, chop the lettuce, olives, tomatoes, and other toppings.

Set all toppings out on the table and let everyone make a salad to their liking.

Taco Salad Fixin's

Recipe Roundtable is a weekly feature is co-hosted by Big Binder and Sarah’s Deals. Each blog will host it’s own recipe, but share a common linky. The co-hostesses links will appear at the top of the list and you are welcome to join in. Please link to your ACTUAL POST and not just your home page so people can find it easier. Also please put the recipe title in parentheses to help out the other readers. Old recipe posts are fine. While we appreciate a link back , it is NOT required. Be sure to leave a comment after linking. Thank you for participating!

It’s almost time to pick blueberries! I can’t believe it’s been a year since we went!  In fact, we still have some blueberries in our freezer, so a few weeks ago I made a Peach Blueberry Cobbler to use them up.

Since my crashy hard drive ate my pictures, I have no proof.  You’ll just have to trust me that my husband, kids, father in law, mother in law, neighbor, and neighbor’s kid all loved it.  That’s a lot of love.  I served it with a little ice cream, just a couple of spoon-fulls, and it was wonderful.

Michigan Blueberry & Peach Cobbler (from Michigan Wines)

Streusel

• 6 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling

• 1 pound blueberries
• 1 pound fresh peaches, pitted and sliced into thin wedges
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly grease or spray an 8×8 baking dish.  In a small bowl, combine streusel ingredients and work into crumb-like consistency.  Set aside.

Combine fruits in large bowl.  Mix in sugar and cornstarch and toss with fruit.  Place fruit mixture into prepared dish and evenly crumble streusel over top of fruit.  Bake for about 45 minutes or until bubbly and browned.

Recipe Roundtable is a weekly feature is co-hosted by Big Binder and Sarah’s Deals. Each blog will host it’s own recipe, but share a common linky. The co-hostesses links will appear at the top of the list and you are welcome to join in. Please link to your ACTUAL POST and not just your home page so people can find it easier. Also please put the recipe title in parentheses to help out the other readers. Old recipe posts are fine. While we appreciate a link back or the addition of the button above, it is NOT required. Be sure to leave a comment after linking. Thank you for participating!

Once again, Pinterest has inspired me. Once again, my ability to do anything craft-related has failed me.

I saw this:

So the instructions? I have none, other than to hack at the thing until it looks like a turtle and then, stick it together with toothpicks. What I do have is photo documentation of the steps I took to get there. Welcome to my experimental side.

I took it to our Father’s Day celebration and every one was very nice to me about it.  My family is good at appreciating effort

Have a great Fourth of July! Let me know if you are taking any tasty dishes you’d like to share! Recipe Roundtable is a weekly feature is co-hosted by Big Binder and Sarah’s Deals. Each blog will host it’s own recipe, but share a common linky. The co-hostesses links will appear at the top of the list and you are welcome to join in. Please link to your ACTUAL POST and not just your home page so people can find it easier. Also please put the recipe title in parentheses to help out the other readers. Old recipe posts are fine. While we appreciate a link back or the addition of the button above, it is NOT required. Be sure to leave a comment after linking. Thank you for participating!

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Well, this is a bummer.  We stopped at an Ikea store this past week and my kids saw a recipe card for Swedish Pancakes or “Pannkakor” and asked if we could make them soon. I promised we would.

Michigan strawberries are at their prime right now, and we are having strawberry everything.  Unfortunately, my special breakfast pictures are nowhere to be found.  Maybe they were so delicious, my camera ate them.

Here is the recipe card that inspired my creation; however I didn’t realize that 1) there was strawberry jam in the recipe and 2) it is probably not really a breakfast food.  On account of it’s a cake.

Mine pretty much looked like that, except it was sloppier.  The Strawberry Jelly may have been the glue that held the layers together, but I liked it just how I made it; which is:

• 2 cups of Bisquick
• 2 cups of milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. lemon emulsion (I would have used lemon juice, but I didn’t have any but because I am ridiculous, I do happen to have lemon emulsion).

Mix together and make thin pancakes with the batter.  I used butter instead of oil to fry them.  This made about 12 pancakes. Set aside.

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 quart fresh strawberries, halved or quartered if they are large but if they are large, they are probably not Michigan strawberries and you should really see about getting yourself some…
• powdered sugar, for dusting

Whisk whipping cream in mixer or by hand.  After it ‘fluffs up’; add the sugar.

Layer pancakes, strawberries, and whipped cream until you run out.  Sprinkle powdered sugar on top.

Do you have a great recipe to share? Link it up! Recipe Roundtable is a weekly feature is co-hosted by Big Binder and Sarah’s Deals. Each blog will host it’s own recipe, but share a common linky. The co-hostesses links will appear at the top of the list and you are welcome to join in. Please link to your ACTUAL POST and not just your home page so people can find it easier. Also please put the recipe title in parentheses to help out the other readers. Old recipe posts are fine. While we appreciate a link back or the addition of the button above, it is NOT required. Be sure to leave a comment after linking. Thank you for participating!

Madelines are a nice, refreshing, light cookie.  They’re kinda spongy; like Twinkies but with much less scary ingredients and no Kreem Filling.

I pulled together a couple of different recipes to make one especially for my family.  We like a nice lemony flavor, but if that’s not for you just leave out the lemon zest and replace the lemon extract with almond extract, or just use all vanilla.

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon emulsion
5 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
powdered sugar, for dusting

Sift together the flour and baking powder. Whisk eggs and sugar together until the mixture is thick, light, and fluffy (about 3 minutes).

Whisk in the the lemon zest, vanilla, and lemon emulsion.

Using a rubber spatula, dry ingredients. Mix in the melted and cooled butter. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 3 hours (batter can be kept tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously butter and flour the pan. You do need a Madeline pan to make get nice ‘shell’ look. Fill each little hold almost to the top. Don’t over fill, they will puff up and smooth out when they cook.

If you have small molds, bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Mine are big, and I baked for 11 minutes. The Madelines will be puffy and golden brown and sort of crusty on the edges.

Remove from the oven and let them sit for just a minute, then gently pop the cookies out using a butter knife to pry and loosen. Put them ‘shell side’ up on a cooling rack. When cool (or just less warm, really), dust with powdered sugar.

Do you have a great recipe to share? Link it up! Recipe Roundtable is a weekly feature is co-hosted by Big Binder and Sarah’s Deals. Each blog will host it’s own recipe, but share a common linky. The co-hostesses links will appear at the top of the list and you are welcome to join in. Please link to your ACTUAL POST and not just your home page so people can find it easier. Also please put the recipe title in parentheses to help out the other readers. Old recipe posts are fine. While we appreciate a link back or the addition of the button above, it is NOT required. Be sure to leave a comment after linking. Thank you for participating!