Creamy Broccoli Casserole

Source: Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 1 (16 oz) package frozen broccoli, thawed (I’m sure you can use fresh)
• 2 Tbs butter
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 Tbs all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, cubed
• 1 cup crushed butter round crackers

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place broccoli in a steamer over 1″ of boiling water and cover. Cook until tender but still firm, about 4-6 minutes. Drain.
3. Melt butter in a large suacepan over medium heat. Stir in salt, flour and milk. Cook, stirring constantly, until thick and bubbly (*forewarned, this takes awhile*). Stir in cream cheese until melted. Remove from heat and stir in broccoli.
4. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of crushed crackers over the bottom of a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Slowly pour the broccoli mixture into the dish and top with remianing crackers.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Top view

Cheesy!

Conclusion: I thought it was so close to being a great side dish. The only thing missing was some taste. It was a bit bland for my husband and I. I think some garlic and seasoning would make this recipe 10 times better. Reading the reviews from AllRecipes.com, many folks say they added garlic salt or some type of seasoning. Even though the taste wasn’t perfect, I still liked this recipe. I loved the crunch the crackers provided and the different type of cheese. I think I’ll make this again but I’ll be adding more seasoning.

Yogurt Cumin Chicken

Source: The Four Ingredient Cookbook

Ingredients:

• 4 Chicken Breasts (bonless, skinless)
• 1/3 cup Nonfat Yogurt
• 1/4 cup Apricot Jam
• 1 tsp Cumin

Directions:

1. Place chicken in baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
2. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
3. Mix yogurt, apricot jam and cumin. Spoon over chicken. Bake for 15 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and sauce is heated.

Conclusion: According to the cookbook, each serving (1 breast) is only 209.6 calories. I guess this is pretty healthy for you but the sauce didn’t hold up well. It just seemed like the sauce wasn’t thick enough. When I spooned it over the chicken, it melted right off into the pan. The taste wasn’t horrible but this isn’t a keeper. While I was happy it was an easy recipe, I won’t be making it again.

Answer: 13″! The United States Geological Survey recorded rainfall amounts of 9.28 inches near Postville and 13.96 inches near Luana. Flash floods caused catastropic damage to road and washed out bridges.

Answer: Washington. It was celebrate in Spokane in 1910 but didn’t become an official national holiday until 1966. Happy Father’s Day to all wonderful fathers in the world. Here are the leading men in my life:

Happy Father’s Day to my husband celebrating his first Father’s Day!

And Happy Father’s Day to my dad! It’s his first one being a grandpa.

Rhubarb Cupcakes

Source: Somewhere in the Middle

Rhubarb Puree:

• 4 cups of fresh or frozen rhubarb (thawed if frozen)

Directions

1. Blend rhubarb in blender. You should have about 2 cups of puree
2. Simmer the rhubarb puree over low heat until it is reduced by half. It should make about 1 cup.
3. Use half in the cupcake batter and half in the frosting.

Cupcakes:

• 1/2 cup rhubarb puree
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Prepare cupcake pan with liners.
2. Mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl combine the butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs, milk, vanilla, and rhubarb puree and mix.
5. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
6. Pour into cupcake liners and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Frost when completely cool.

Rhubarb Frosting: 

• 1/2 cup butter softened
• 1/2 cup cooked rhubarb puree, cooled (directions follow)
• 5-6 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Beat together butter, rhubarb puree, and vanilla.
2. Gradually add the powdered sugar until it reaches your desired consistency.

Conclusion: I don’t think I’d die for this “cupcakes”. While they weren’t terrible, they weren’t what I was expecting. First off, the cupcake didn’t turn out to really be a “cupcake” to me. It was very dense and tasted more like a muffin or even bread. I could barely taste the rhubarb in it. Which was fine, I wasn’t expected a bold flavor with pureed rhubarb. However, the dense structure just didn’t work for me. Next, the frosting would NOT stiffen up. It remained pretty runny for me. I used about 7 cups of powered sugar before I gave up. So I frosted the cakes the best I could and immediately put them in the fridge. This step did stiffen up the frosting and kept it from running down the sides. Unfortunately, I had enough frosting lift over to frost a cake! Oh and the simmering of the rhubarb took FOREVER. I’d say about one hour. So needless to say, I will not be making this “cupcakes” again. I’ll have to stick with my crisps and pies for now.

Rhubarb Strawberry Crunch

Source: AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mix white sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, strawberries, and rhubarb. Place the mixture in a 9×13 inch baking dish.
3. Mix 1 1/2 cups flour, brown sugar, butter, and oats until crumbly. You may want to use a pastry blender for this. Crumble on top of the rhubarb and strawberry mixture.
4. Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until crisp and lightly browned.

Peach+Rhubarb

Conclusion: I know why this is called Crunch and not Crisp. There’s a LOT of crunch to this recipe. If you enjoy a lot of crunch, this is the recipe for you! If you prefer more rhubarb/fruit, skip this one. We really enjoyed it though. I highly suggest putting a few more cups of fruit in though. I honestly didn’t measure but I probably put closer to 10 cups of fruit in the second time around (yes, I made this twice so far). Besides extra fruit, I kept the rest of the recipe the same. Oh and I guess I also used peaches the second time around. Still great, tasting results. This one is a keeper and I’m sure I’ll be making it many, many times this summer.

Answer: 93°F. Many locations have only hit 90 or greater once so far this year. Waterloo: 96°F, Cedar Rapids: 94°F & Dubuque: 90°F all reached on May 14. Parts of Western Iowa hit highs in the triple digits on May 14:

June 6 was Heat Awareness Day and even though it doesn’t seem like summer will be here anytime soon, here’s a link to a few reminders about heat index and heat stroke: Heat Info.

Apricot-Balsamic Chicken

Ingredients:

Directions:

Conclusion: So I went to make this and realized I forgot the balsamic vinegar which is a MAJOR part of this recipe. I found a ‘replacement’ recipe for balsamic which was 1 tablespoon of red wine/apple cide vinegar + 1/2 tsp. sugar for 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. I thought it would work…it didn’t. My “sauce” turned out to be a tar, sticky mess. It even had a crunch to it. When it cooled, it just sort of slid off the chicken. Not good at all. I loved the taste of apricot with the vinegar but I wish it would have turned out. I doubt I’ll make this again just because I ruined it so much the first time around…

Answer: 38°F. 

Answer: 12.12″. So far this year, Waterloo is 11.46″ above normal for precipitation. Below are more details on the year and the month of May precipitation amounts:

*2nd wettest May for Waterloo

May 2013 vs May 2008

Note: On the above maps, two different rain keys are used.

Alabama Pulled Pork Sandwiches with White BBQ Sauce

Source: 50 Amazing Weight Watchers Recipes (All Recipes)

Ingredients:

Directions:

1. Prepare sauce: Combine sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and chill.

2. Prepare pork: Cut pork in half lengthwise; cut crosswise into 2 1/2-inch chunks. Combine apple cider vinegar and remaining pork ingredients in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Add pork to pan. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour or until tender. Remove pork from cooking liquid; shred with 2 forks. Place pork in a serving dish; pour cooking liquid over pork.

3. Prepare biscuits: Preheat oven to 425°F. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Combine potato, sugar, butter and milk; stir well. Pour over dry ingredients; stir until a soft dough forms (dough will feel sticky). Turn dough out onto a floured surface; knead lightly 5 to 6 times. Roll dough into a 10-inch circle; cut 24 biscuits with a floured 2-inch biscuit cutter. You’ll need to cut and then re-roll scraps and cut again. Place biscuits on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove biscuits from pan; cool on a wire rack.

4. To assemble sandwiches, place pork and a dollop of the white barbecue sauce in between two biscuits.

Pulled Pork

Smothered in Sauce

Conclusion: This pretty good. I didn’t have regular mayo so I used Miracle Whip (my husband will only eat Miracle Whip). The Whip definitely gave it more of a tang than regular mayo would have. My husband liked the sauce but I think I would have preferred just regular mayo. The pork was delicious and was just a bit spicy. Nothing I couldn’t handle. I did not have time to make the biscuits and was very disappointed I didn’t get to them. I hope to make this again and next time I’ll try it with the biscuits. It was a pretty simple meal and I was able to make most of it while watching Claire get into everything. (She’s crawling now and boy, it is fun keeping her away from things she shouldn’t be in. Whew!) I also had enough leftover for my husband’s lunch the next day.