Coconut Cream Salad

Fruit Salad...Yummy, Yummy.... ahhh, the days of listening to the Wiggles' song over and over and over... (Camden was a Wiggles groupie as a three-year-old). Riley was more of a Barney fan, and Sidney's my Backyardigans girl, but those Wiggles...they came up with some real classics, didn't they? :)
Don't know what I'm talking about? That's fine. I'm really talking about fruit salad--Coconut Cream Salad, to be exact. It's my new obsession. I picked up a new recipe book titled "52 weeks of Proven Recipes for Picky Eaters" because, well...have you met my child #3? And #2? And even #1 (only when it comes to peppers, which happen to find their way into every meal)?
Most of the recipes involve cheese, crescent rolls, butter, cream of so-and-so, and more cheese, so duh! of course picky eaters will love it--where are the peppers? But it also has lots of fun dessert recipes and I was excited to try this one. I did a little variation (see ***note) since I didn't have any Cool Whip and didn't have 24 hours to wait--but it was still Yummy, Yummy.
Coconut Cream Salad
2 cups buttermilk
2 3-oz. packages instant coconut cream pudding
1 16-oz. tub Cool Whip, thawed
2 20-oz. cans tropical fruit cocktail, drained
2 8-oz. cans mandarin oranges, drained
2 20-oz. cans pineapple tidbits, drained

In a large bowl, stir buttermilk and dry pudding mixes together. Fold in Cool Whip, followed by the well-drained fruit. Chill 24 hours before serving.

***My quick and easy varation--
I whisked together 1 cup buttermilk and 1 package of coconut cream pudding.
I then added 1 can each of fruit cocktail, mandarin oranges and pineapple tidbits.
I also added a sliced banana and cut-up apple pieces.
I served immediately w/o chilling because...we were hungry :)

Homemade Banana Berry Pudding

It's official--my favorite dessert is indeed Homemade Banana Berry Pudding. No other desserts need apply. I posted about this banana pudding recipe a few months ago when I used it to make the most delicious pies. But my new adaptation is even easier, and maybe even yummier. Today as it was snowing outside, and I was feeling achy from what is soon to be a cold or flu passed on to me from my children, I needed a little comfort food. Comfort banana berry pudding food. And it did just the trick--I'm still achy, but my mouth, tummy and soul are happy.
Someone couldn't quite wait 3-5 hours before taking a spoonful:

Homemade Banana Berry Pudding
1 heaping Tbsp flour…and I mean heaping!
1/2 cup sugar or a little more
2 cups milk
2 eggs
1 Tbsp butter
1/4 tsp vanilla
dash salt
Mini Vanilla Wafers (save some to crumble for the top)
1 banana, sliced
1 cup frozen mixed berries, thawed and drained

In a saucepan, mix flour & sugar then add eggs and mix well. Start your burner and slowly add milk; a little at a time stirring constantly--I use a whisk. Continue stirring until it has thickened (once it starts to boil it immediately thickens, I let it boil while stirring for another minute or so). After thick, add butter, vanilla and salt to taste.

Line the bottom of a 9x9 dish with vanilla wafers (I like the mini ones). Top with sliced bananas and then berries. Pour slightly cooled pudding over top. Cover and refrigerate until totally cooled and set (3-5 hours--if you can wait that long:)). Serve with crumbled vanilla wafers on top.

Summer Send-off Dinner

We're not ready to be done with Summer, but we were having one last dinner with Sarah, Joel and Eliza before they went back to South Carolina :( We've loved having them here during the Summer and have had lots of fun adventures together.
For our farewell feast I combined all of my summer favorites plus a couple of new recipes into one yummy-licious meal:

Let's start with the drink. I made this punch and it definitely lived up to the hype.

Then I thought I would try my two favorite salmon recipes to see which one came out on top. I made Nate's favorite Asian Glazed Salmon, of course, and then I also made my Potato Chip Crusted Salmon w/ Lime. It was a toss-up, but I think the potato chip salmon came out on top--everyone liked the crunchy top and the citrus flavor. Both are keepers though.

Potato Chip Crusted Salmon w/ Lime:
1 side of salmon (about 3 lbs)
salt
pepper
kettle-cooked potato chips (I LOVE the Hawaiian Luau BBQ chips, they add the perfect spicy and sweet flavor)
zest of 2 limes
1 Tbs olive oil
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil. Season salmon with salt and pepper. Crush the potato chips into coarse crumbs and mix with zest and olive oil. Coat salmon with thin even layer. Bake 20-25 minutes. Serve with lime wedges.

For the veggies, I made my Spinach & Mushroom Salad (it compliments anything you put with it).
I sauteed fresh corn in a little butter and olive oil with salt and pepper. So good and so summery. Here's the best tip for cutting corn off the cob (I learned it from that Easy Entertaining show on the Food Network--it did indeed make my entertaining easy):
Place one cob end in the middle of a bundt pan. This provides stability when cutting and the pan catches all the flying corn. It really worked! You will thank me when you try it.
I also made these Marinated Cucumbers minus the tomatoes (only because I didn't have any ripe ones) and they were delish--not too overpowering.

And finally my all time favorite summer recipe--Zucchini Cheese Squares from my beloved Garden-Fresh Vegetable Cookbook. They're a little time intensive because you have get the excess moisture out of the shredded zucchini, but sooooo worth it.
Zucchini Cheese Squares
3 cups grated zucchini
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 small onion, diced
2 cups grated Cheddar
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup canola oil
3 large eggs, beaten

Combine zucchini and salt in colander and toss to mix. Set aside to drain for 30 minutes. Squeeze out the excess water.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 7x11-inch baking dish with butter.
Stir together flour and baking powder. Add the onion, zucchini, cheese, thyme and pepper. Mix well with a fork, breaking up any clumps of zucchini. Whisk together oil and eggs. Pour into zucchini mixture and mix well. Spread evenly in baking dish.
Bake for about 35 minutes, until golden.
Let cool on wire rack for 5 minutes. Cut into squares and serve warm or at room temperature.

For dessert I drew inspiration from my newest obsession, Banana Pudding. I found this recipe and loved it--but then I thought to myself, "This would be excellent in a pie. A pie with a Vanilla Wafer crust. Yes a pie. Maybe add some berries. Let's go wild and see what happens." I did go wild and the result was heaven on earth.
Vanilla Wafer Pie Crust:
1 1/2 cups Vanilla Wafer crumbs (I'm old-school and crush them in a ziploc bag with a rolling pin. Who needs fancy-smancy electrical equipment to make crumbs?)
1 Tbsp sugar
4-5 Tbsp melted butter
Mix crumbs, sugar and butter. Pat into 9 inch pie tin. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.
Banana Pudding Pie
I then lined the bottom of the pie crust with banana slices and topped with half of the pudding. I did one more layer of bananas and then topped with the rest of the pudding. Done. Heaven.
Banana Berry Pudding Pie
For the berry pie, I lined the bottom with bananas and pudding. Then I added a layer of berries (I used frozen that I had thawed and drained) and then top layer of pudding. Done. HEAVEN.
Refrigerate overnight or at least 5 hours to get nice and chilled.
Lesson of the day--make your own pudding. It's worth it :)

We're sad Sarah, Joel and Eliza are leaving, but we sure had a fun, tastey time saying goodbye.