Meat Marinade

Marinade

½ cup soy sauce
¼ cup water
1/3 cup salad oil (Italian dressing)
2 Tbs. Dried Minced Onion
2 Tbs. sesame seed
1 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/8 tsp. dried red pepper
¾ tsp. garlic powder

Mix all together and add your chicken or steak.
For best flavor, marinade over night.

Basil Tomato Toast

For those of you who have seen the movie "Julie and Julia" there is a scene where she makes a garlic toast with tomato salsa dinner. Every time I watch the movie I want to eat it. I did a little digging online and I came up with this. Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks.

Bruschetta alla Julie and Julia – Recipe


4 slices of french bread

16 oz. assorted heirloom type tomatoes; Cherry tomatoes work best. Chop and seed them.

Extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, peeled and halved

Sea salt

Chopped fresh basil


1. Toss tomatoes with 1 T. olive oil and about 1 tsp. sea salt.
2. Fry bread in 2-3 T. butter or olive oil in skillet, browning on each side.

3. Rub cut half of garlic over 1 side of fried bread.

4. Spoon tomatoes (with oil and accumulated juices) over bread. Top with chopped basil and more sea salt to taste.

5. Eat with plenty of napkins on hand.

Serves 2.

Gandolfo's Chocolate Cake

Recipe:
1 Devil’s Food box cake mix
2 chocolate instant pudding packages, the smaller packages: 3.9 oz (1 for the cake, 1 for the topping)
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
3/4 cup water
1 cup sour cream (I used Daisy brand light)
Cool Whip, 8 oz container
2 cups cold chocolate milk (use vitamin D)

Mix the cake mix, 1 pudding package, eggs, oil, water, and sour cream in a medium bowl with a hand mixer. Mix at high speed for 2 minutes until it is smooth and combined. Pour batter into a 9x13 inch baking pan. I like to use one of these, so I can cover and refrigerate the finished product with ease. Smooth batter evenly. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. When toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done. Cool completely on a wire rack.
Preparation for topping: With the wire whip attachment of your hand mixer, mix 1 pudding package, 2 cups cold chocolate milk. Whip for 2 minutes. Now whip in Cool-Whip. Whip until Cool-Whip is all combined and there are no traces of it.
When cake is cooled, pour your moussey pudding over the cake. Smooth evenly with a rubber scraper. You could serve the cake right now, but I like to refrigerate mine for at least a 1/2 hour before serving. Any leftovers must be refrigerated. Enjoy!

Orange Julius

1 - oz. can frozen orange juice concentrate
1 cup cold water
1 cup cold milk
1/3 c. sugar (opt.)
One tray of ice cubes
1 tsp. vanilla

Blend all together.

Slow Cooker Italian Chicken

This is not my recipe, its one I got from the cookbook "101 Things to do with a Slow Cooker" which I love.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 envelope of italian salad dressing mix

1/4 cup water

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can of mushroom pieces

Grease slow cooker and place chicken inside. Combine salad dressing mix and water, pour over chicken. Cover and cook on high 3 hours. In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and soup until blended. Stir in mushrooms. Pour over chicken. Cook 2 hours longer on high, or until chicken juices run clear.

Server over hot noodles or rice.

*I make this for just Steve and I. I only use 2 chicken breasts. (Now I realize why it was extra Italian-y, I need to cut that back too, duh.) I omit the mushrooms, because we don't like them. After I've added the cream cheese mixture it really doesn't need 2 more hours, because the chicken is already cooked from the first 3 hours, just let it heat through. I also shred the chicken before I take it out of the slow cooker. I think it goes further.

Laurel's favorite No-Bake Cookies

2 c sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa
1 cube butter
1/2 c milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 Tbsp peanut butter
Oatmeal ( approx. 3 cups)

Boil first 5 ingredients for 2 minutes.
Add vanilla, peanut butter and enough oatmeal to make mixture thick.

Homemade Lemonade

I tried making some homemade Lemonade today. It turned out So yummy, so I thought I would share.

Freshly Squeezed Lemonade


5 lemons
5 limes
5 oranges
5-6 cups cold water
1 1/2 -3 cups sugar, to taste

Once you have juiced all the fruit, add the water and sugar to taste. It really depends on how sweet/tart the citrus are and how much juice you get out of them. Also it depends on how sweet you like your lemonade! Serve ice cold and enjoy!