Betty's Meringue

While Preston was home this weekend he made a delicious dessert.  The recipe was shared by one of his great friends. It is a twist on Strawberry Shortcake.  Instead of a cake on the bottom it is a meringue.  At first I was skeptial but it turned out to be a wonderful dessert.  One I didn't want to stop eating!

Ingredients:

1 cup Sugar
10 single Saltine Crackers rolled into very fine crumbles
½ cup finely chopped Pecans
3 Egg Whites
½ tea Baking Powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Butter a 9 inch pie pan.  Beat egg whites and baking powder until stiff.  Gradually beat in sugar.  Fold in cracker crumbs and pecans.  Spread onto cookie sheet (or pie plate)  Bake for 30 minutes.  Pull out and let cool.  Serve with sliced strawberries (sweetened if needed) and whipped cream.  This should serve 6.

Bruschetta

I love basil.  I also love bruschetta.  Maybe because it has basil in it!  Here is a wonderful recipe.  Try it you'll like it!

Ingredients:

6 Roma Tomatoes, diced
1/3 cup Fresh Basil, chopped
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
2 cloves Garlic
1 T Balsamic Vinegar
1 tea Olive Oil
1/4 tea Salt
1/4 tea Black Pepper
1 Baguette, sliced and toasted

Directions:

In a bowl, toss together the tomatoes, basil, Parmesan cheese, and garlic.  Mix in the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Serve on toasted bread slices.

Pizza Toppings

Grilled pizza is a fun Sunday dinner with the family.  I get the toppings ready and let everyone make their own pizza.  We grill them on the barbecue.  It is fun to see the combinations.  Here is a list of toppings.  I am sure there are many more items you can use but this is a good start. 

Sauce
Spaghetti Sauce
Barbecue Sauce
Alfredo Sauce
Pesto
Roasted Red Pepper Pesto
Garlic Sauce

Meat
Sausage
Ham
Pepperoni
Chicken
Canadian Bacon

Vegetables/Fruit
Green Pepper
Onion
Mushrooms
Pineapple
Olives
Basil

Cheeses
Mozzarella
Parmesan
Gouda
Gorgonzola
Asiago
Romano

Nappa Salad

A great friend of mine made this salad for my family many years ago.  While watching her make it I thought that this had to be the worst salad ever.  But when I tasted it, WOW, it was good.  Thanks Lisa for always introducing me to new and amazing things. 

Recipe:

1 head Chinese Cabbage

1 pkg Top Ramen noodles uncooked

1 Onion chopped

1 cup Sunflower Seeds

1 cup Almonds sliced

½ cup Canola Oil

¼  cup Vinegar

1 tsp Soy Sauce

2 T Sugar

Directions:

Chop cabbage.  Break up noodles into cabbage.  Add onions, seeds, and nuts to cabbage.  For dressing mix oil, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and flavor packet.  Pour over cabbage just before serving.  Best eaten the same day as you make it.

Cowboy Beans

Cowboy Beans or Baked Beans, it just depends on what generation is talking.  My grandsons call them Cowboy Beans, I called them Baked Beans.  Whatever you call them they are still delicious.

Here are some of the ingredients.  Bacon is missing!  I never measure the ingredients.  You can just add the amounts you like.

Recipe:

1 large can Baked Beans
1 Onion chopped
Bacon cut into bite size pieces
Worcestershire Sauce
Yellow Mustard
Brown Sugar
Molasses
Ketchup
Directions:

Saute the onions until they are translucent.  Take the onions out of pan.  Fry the the bacon, discard some of the grease. A little bit of the grease flavors the beans. Mix all the ingredients together.  Bake at 350 degrees for about one hour.

Barbecue Sauce

Here is a great Barbecue Sauce recipe.  Some want to drink it!  It is good on ribs, pulled pork or just anything that you wound put Barbecue Sauce on.

Recipe

1½ cups Ketchup
1 cup Brown Sugar
½ cup Cider Vinegar
¼ cup Worcestershire Sauce
1 tea Chili Powder

Instructions

Whisk together all ingredients.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat to medium-low and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Ribs

My rib recipe evolves over time but I think this recipe is the best recipe I have tried.  I swiped it from Jared then changed it a bit.  I am sure he doesn't mind.

First I made a dry rub.  Then I took off that thin membrane on the backside of the ribs so the dry rub would be able to penetrate the meat while sitting over night.  I rubbed the dry rub all over the ribs. Then wrapped them up in plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge over night. 



In the morning I put some aromatics in the bottom of a heavy cast iron pan.  Things like onion, apple, celery, fresh herbs, pineapple, garlic, or anything that sounds like it would add some flavor to the ribs, then added some apple juice to the bottom of the pan.  I cut the ribs to fit in the pan.  Cook in the oven for about 5 hours at 350 degrees or until the meat falls of the bone.  Check once in awhile to make sure the liquid doesn't cook off.  Serve with barbecue sauce.

If you want to cook them in a dutch oven with briquettes, put 4 more briquettes than the size the dutch oven on top and 4 less than the size of the dutch oven on the bottom.  For example if the dutch oven is a 12 inch dutch oven put 12 briquettes on top and 8 briquettes on the bottom.  Let it cook for at least 3 hours.  Cook until the meat falls off the bone. 

Dry Rub

1 T Cumin

1 T Paprika

1 T Garlic Powder

1 T Onion Powder

1 T Chili Powder

1 T Brown Sugar

2 T Kosher Salt

1 tea Cayenne Pepper

1 tea Black Pepper

1 tea White Pepper