This weekends recipe: Basil lemonade

I was on vacation for the last 2 weeks so that is my excuse for not posting my weekend recipe's. I have made some really good stuff lately so I'm glad that I'm finally home and able to post some of these delicious recipe's.

This recipe comes from Giada (the Italian cook on the Food Network) and I was excited to try it because we are growing basil in our garden for the first time this summer and I've been excited to use it. We planted two plants which ends up producing quite a bit of basil that I have to now find something to do with. The only thing I knew how to make that had basil as the main ingredient was pesto and honestly, how much pesto does one family need? So now the question will be, how much basil lemonade does one family need? Quite a bit actually, this stuff is fabulous!! I personally never would have thought to add basil to my lemonade, but thank goodness for the adventurous person who did. The flavors go together perfectly (in my opinion) and it is the perfect drink for summer. We have already been through several pitcher fulls in this house and I brought some to a BBQ we went to while we were on vacation and it got rave reviews there as well. So go try this out. You'll love it.

Basil lemonade

2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 12-15 lemons)

2 cups basil syrup (recipe for basil syrup below)

3 qts sparkling water (I thought this was too much since I like my lemonade a bit tarter, so I only used 1.5 qts. I would just keep tasting the lemonade while adding the water until it gets to where you want it)

Mix everything together in a pitcher and put in the fridge until cool (or just add ice so you can drink it right away :)

Basil syrup

1 large bunch of basil (I wasn't sure how much a bunch of basil consisted of so I added about 15 leaves which I thought was perfect)

1 cup water

2 cups sugar

bring all the ingredients to a boil and let boil until sugar is completely dissolved. Spoon out basil leaves before adding to lemon juice.

Tracy

Marshmallow fondant recipe

My husband, my 9 month old and I went to visit my family in Indiana for my little sisters graduation so that is why I wasn't able to post a recipe last week. Did any of you even notice? Anyone? Anyone? Bueler? Ok, moving on.

(Me and my son)

While we were there, I made a cake to celebrate my sister's graduation. I saw the idea for the cake in Family Fun Magazine (which is a magazine I highly recommend) and couldn't wait to try it out. I decided to use fondant on the cake instead of frosting because I thought it would give it a cleaner look underneath the M&M's. I have made this fondant recipe before and it is so tasty. Usually fondant tastes disgusting (that might just be my personal opinion) but this one is really good because it is made with marshmallows. I found the recipe here awhile ago and loved it (this link will show you a good picture of what the fondant ball should look like after kneading it). I had only used it to frost sugar cookies before this so I wasn't sure how it would hold up on a cake. It ended up working out pretty well. I rolled it out a little too thin so there were some parts where you could kind of see the cake underneath it, but the M&M's ended up covering those parts up.

Here is a picture of the new graduate holding the cake:

In case anyone is remotely interested in how to decorate the cake, you just alternate with peanut, medium and mini M&M's to make whatever pattern you want.

Marshmallow Fondant recipe

16 oz mini-marshmallows
2-5 T water
2 lbs powdered sugar
½ c shortening

Add the water and the marshmallow's and microwave in 30 second intervals until the marshmallow's are melted. Add powdered sugar and knead until smooth. This is really easy if you have a kitchen aid, but if you are like me and have to do everything by hand, this part could take awhile and be REALLY sticky. Just keep kneading and don't give up and eventually it will become smooth. The 1/2 cup of shortening is to cover your hands and counter space with so it helps with the stickiness, but be careful not to use too much because I made that mistake the first time I made this recipe and it made the fondant start to seperate. Try adding more powdered sugar to help with the stickiness. Once you have the fondant ready, roll it into a ball, cover it with crisco, wrap in saran wrap and put it in the fridge for a few hours before you use it.

Tracy

Black bean dip

In our house, we LOVE mexican food and this dip was an instant winner. I found it in a weight watchers recipe book back when I was on that diet (about 5 diets ago. I am always looking for the bigger better diet. As long as it doesn't involve any form of exercise, I am willing to try it.). In case anyone out there wants to know, this recipe is 1 point for 1/4 of a cup (53 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, 2.7 grams of fiber).

This is the easiest dip. All you do is throw all the ingredients in a food processor, or a blender and chop them up.

Then put it in a bowl and serve. So delicious.
Recipe:

1 15 oz. can of black beans

1/4 c salsa

1/2 c cilantro

2 tsp olive oil

2 drops of hot sauce

Tracy

Strawberry deliciousness

Hi everybody! I am really excited to have a place to tell people about some of the wonderful recipe's I have tried out and found to be amazing. I am by no means a wonderful cook and have never invented a recipe of my own, but I have recently discovered that cooking isn't as hard as I always thought it was, and that there are so many things that I never thought I could make that aren't actually all that difficult to whip up. Any recipe I post on here will most certainly be something that is low expertise as well as low cost (gotta love that). Enjoy!

This week I went to a u-pick strawberry farm and came home with a gallon of incredibly delicious strawberry's (side note: don't ever buy strawberry's in the grocery store again. Seriously, it is so much better being able to pick them yourself so you know what you are getting, and no one is sneaking in the moldy or overripe ones in the middle of the other strawberry's where you can't see them until you are already home. Gah! I hate that. Plus, I think it ends up being cheaper to pick them yourself too. I paid $10 for a gallon. Is that cheaper? I don't dabble in math that much, but it seemed like it was a better deal). After using less then half the gallon on homemade jam, I decided to make a dessert using some of the remaining strawberry's.

I got this recipe from a friend and it is one of my all time favorite desserts, and there is almost nothing to it. I made a box yellow cake. I think a white one would have tasted a little better but I already had a yellow one at home so I went with that.

I forgot to take a picture but after the cake had cooled, I took the bottom side of a wooden spoon and poked holes all over the cake. There is no certain number, just make it so there are plenty of holes throughout the entire cake. At least one hole for every slice of cake you would serve someone.
Then make a box of jello according to the directions.

I didn't get a picture of this part either, but as soon as the jello is mixed up in the pot and you have added the cold water, pour it over the entire cake. It will seem like you are going to make the cake really soggy, but it ends up soaking most of the juice up and not being soggy at all. Put it in the fridge for a few hours to cool off and then frost it with a container of cool whip.
Then add the strawberry's on top. After we ate this, I decided I didn't like the strawberry slices being so big on top. Next time I make this, I think I will dice them up and let them sit in some sugar for a little while so they get soft and juicy, and then put them on top. I think it would taste better that way. It was still pretty good with the big slices though. The entire cake was gone within 24 hours which is always a good sign.
One of the added perks to this recipe is that if you are looking to make it low sugar or low fat, it is a piece of cake (pun intended) to alter all the ingredients to make it either way. Every ingredient that is used to make this also comes in low sugar and/or low fat form.