What to do with all those cherry tomatoes!

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• Tomato Feta Salad
• (from allrecipes.com)
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• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh basil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped sweet onion
• 1 pound grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions

1. In a bowl, combine the vinegar, basil and salt. Add onion; toss to coat. Let stand for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, oil and feta cheese; toss to coat. Serve with a slotted spoon.

This was really tasty!  We have so many cherry tomatoes coming out of our garden right now.  I wish they'd come out at a more relaxed pace throughout the whole year...

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes

(from allrecipes.com)

cookie dough:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 cup butter, softened 1/4 cup white sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips  Cupcake: 1 (18.25 ounce) box yellow cake mix 1 1/3 cups water 1/3 cup canola oil 3 eggs

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt; set aside. Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Add 1 egg and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips; mixing just enough to evenly combine. Form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls; place onto a baking sheet, and freeze until solid, about 2 hours.
2.	Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
3.	Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer to break up. Add the cake mix, water, and canola oil; continue beating for 2 minutes on medium speed. Spoon into the prepared cupcake liners, filling each 2/3 full. Place a frozen cookie dough ball on the top center of each cupcake.
4.	Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake portion of the cupcake (not the cookie dough ball) comes clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack. These were good!  I wasn't addicted to them, but my kids liked them really well and they are great for a change of pace from plain cupcakes.  The cake mix makes it easy, you can switch up the flavor from vanilla to chocolate if you'd prefer.

Buffalo Chicken Wraps in the Slow Cooker- easy and YUMMY

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Wraps
(from bettycrocker.com)

• 2 lbs chicken thighs (I used breasts)
• 1/2 t. salt
• 3/4 c. buffalo wing sauce (I made my own using 1/3 c. hot pepper sauce, 1/3 c. ketchup, and 2 T honey and blended it together, throwing it in the crockpot with the chicken)
• 3/4 c. ranch dressing
• 8 tortillas
• shredded lettuce or spinach

1. Place chicken in the crockpot, cover with salt and wing sauce, cook on low for 6-7 hours.
2. Drain as much of the liquid from the crockpot after finishing cooking, and shred chicken.  Add ranch dressing, mix and serve in tortillas.  

These were so good!  Luckily they weren't too spicy for the kids.  You can make them more spicy by adding more hot sauce.  Ranch, of course, tames the spicy flavor.  The kids like dipping these in ranch and the flavor is awesome.  Of course you can make these even quicker using rotisserie chicken, canned chicken and heating it up on the stove or microwave.  

Ice Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ice Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

(from pickypalate.com)

• 2 sticks softened butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons pure vanilla
• Heaping 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream (frozen from container)
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 bag chocolate chips

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a stand or electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars until fluffy.  Add in eggs and vanilla until well combined.  Add in ice cream until combined.

2.  Place flour, baking soda and salt into a large bowl; mix.  Add to wet ingredients along with the chocolate chips; mix until just combined.  With a medium cookie scoop, scoop dough onto a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake for 9-11 minutes or until cookies are cooked through.  Let cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.  

3-4 dozen cookies

I felt like trying these because I was curious about the ice cream addition.  Well, I really didn't taste that much of a change, because there was already a lot of vanilla extract in these, which helped with the more enhanced vanilla flavor.  But I did use vanilla ice cream, next time why not some crazy chocolate brownie or cookies and cream and chopped oreos?  I did like the softness of these cookies, and they tasted real and clean.  That sounds weird, but they had a nice homemade taste.  Try these if you are feeling fun and have some ice cream hanging around you want to use!

Granola, second recipe

Granola take 2


4 cups rolled oats (mine were quick-that's ok)
1 1/2 cups sliced almonds (skipped)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 c. canola oil
1/4 c. honey
1 t. vanilla
1/4 c. chopped pecans
raisins, coconut, whatever


In a large bowl mix the oats, almonds, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon.  In a small saucepan or microwave safe bowl, warm the oil and honey.  Carefully stir in vanilla (it bubbles up).  Pour liquid over oat mixture and stir with a spoon.  Stir with spoon or by hand until it is all evenly incorporated.


Place mixture on greased cookie sheet and place in oven at 200 degrees, stirring every 10  minutes until crunchy, not browned.  It takes about an hour.  Makes 6 cups.  140 cal per 1/3 cup.


I wanted to make this recipe because it was lower in sugar and fat than my really yummy granola posted here.    I honestly didn't taste that much difference!  This recipe is still sweet, still addicting, still snack-worthy.  Of course you can add anything you want in after cooking: craisins, raisins..nuts...I like it plain.  Try it!

Summer Corn Salad- something different from normal steamed corn!

Summer Corn Salad

from melskitchencafe.com

*Serves 4

6 ears of corn, shucked (I used frozen sweet corn I cooked as usual and drained)

1/2 cup finely diced red onion

1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half (I used cut regular tomatoes)

3 tablespoons cider or red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup julienned fresh basil leaves (I skipped)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. When boiling, add one tablespoon sugar and one tablespoon vinegar. Add the cobs of corn to the pot of water and bring to a rolling boil. Cover the pot, remove from the heat and let the corn sit for 10 minutes. Remove the corn from the pot. When the corn is cool, cut the kernels off the cob, cutting close to the cob.

Toss the kernels in a medium bowl with the red onions, tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Just before serving, toss in the fresh basil. Add additional salt and pepper to taste, if desired. Serve cold or at room temperature.

I have never thought outside the box when it comes to corn.  I cook the bagged or canned corn in the microwave, add a little salt and butter, and call it good.  Well, this recipe is such a NICE change!  Great for summer, great for anytime.  I loved the tanginess.  I imagine it would taste even better with fresh corn but we just didn't have that available (waiting for it to be 4 for $1.)

Sticky Coconut Chicken- grill on bbq!

Sticky Coconut Chicken

from melskitchencafe.com

6-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I used breasts)

1 cup canned coconut milk

1 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger

1 tsp. fresh ground pepper

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

Marinade chicken in coconut milk, ginger, pepper and red pepper flakes at least one hour (I let mine marinade four about four to five hours). Grill on barbecue.

Glaze:

3/4 cup rice vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

3 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

While the chicken is grilling, bring above ingredients to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until mixture is reduced and thickened, about 8-10 minutes. Be patient because it takes a little while. But once it starts getting really thick, immediately take it off the heat! Glaze both sides of chicken the last few minutes of grilling and serve chicken over rice.

Sidenote: You can use the extra coconut milk left in the can as part of the liquid in my rice.  It ends up mildly sweet and tasty.  

This was really delicious.  It is grill season after all!