Last Day of School Lemonade

Summer is almost here!  Make this tasty fresh-squeezed lemonade to celebrate the last day of school.  It's made with seltzer instead of water, so it's refreshing and fizzy.  The lemon slices that float in the pitcher are optional of course, but they make it festive.  For those of us who are out of school, or at least 21 or older, this also tastes good with vodka or gin added in.  Serves 4.

Ingredients:
3 small lemons
1/2 cup sugar
1-liter bottle unflavored seltzer water, chilled
Ice cubes

Slice one of the lemons crosswise to make circular slices.  Squeeze the juice from the other two and place in a small mixing bowl.  Add sugar, and mix until thoroughly dissolved and not grainy.  Pour into pitcher, add seltzer water and stir to combine.  Add ice and lemon slices.

Pasta with Garlic Browned Butter

I discovered this dish by accident, when I let the pan get too hot and accidentally browned the butter.  My husband loved it.  It's a regular on our dinner menu, but is definitely meant for garlic lovers.  This is a good complement to a plain chicken dish.  Makes 4 side-dish servings

Ingredients:

4 oz. angel-hair pasta, cooked and drained

4-6 cloves garlic, chopped

4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) butter, cut into 8 slices

Salt to taste

Directions:

Take a small metal pan, and place it, dry, over medium-high heat, for 5 minutes.  Then put butter in pan, one slice at a time, and let each slice sizzle and completely melt before adding the next.  Swirl the pan slightly while doing this.  When all the butter has been added, remove pan from heat and add chopped garlic to pan all at once.  The pan will sizzle and foam. 

Pour warm garlic-butter mixture over pasta and stir to combine.  Serve immediately.



Milk Chocolate Lovers Cookies with Hazelnuts

I have long felt that milk chocolate lovers are discriminated against in the chocolate chip cookie world.  Sure, you can make chocolate chip cookies with milk chocolate chips, but there is no chocolate chip cookie recipe I know of that is tailored milk chocolate.  So, I decided to make one.  I took a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe, added more vanilla, traded in some of the brown sugar for white sugar to make it crisper, and used hazelnuts, the perfect nut complement to milk chocolate (think Nutella).  Check it out!  Makes 4 dozen

Ingredients:
2.5 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups milk chocolate chips (I prefer Ghirardelli)
1 cup chopped hazelnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.   Mix flour and baking soda together in a small mixing bowl; set aside.  Beat butter, sugars, and vanilla together until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time.  Add dry ingredients, about 1/4 cup at a time, beating to combine.  Add nuts and chocolate chips and stir to incorporate.  Using a cookie scoop, drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake each sheet for about 10 minutes, or until cookies are browned around the edges.  Cool on the sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack.

Homemade slice and bake sugar cookies

Sugar cookies!  Who doesn't love them?  The simple sweet-buttery-vanilla taste will delight almost anyone.  Chances are, you have picked up some store- bought slice and bake dough at some point.  However, with a few simple ingredients, you can make your own slice and bake dough, which has no preservatives and tastes much better.  This dough can also be used to roll out and cut with cookie cutters, if desired.  Makes about 18 large cookies. 

Ingredients:
1 and 3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
Sparkling sugar sprinkles (optional)

Directions:

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.  Set aside.

Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla together in a larger mixing bowl, until mixture becomes fluffy.

Add egg, and mix until the mixture is almost glossy in texture.  Add dry mixture, and mix in, 1/4 cup at a time, until thoroughly combined.  Shape dough into a roll, about two inches in diameter, and refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes.

When ready to bake, preheat over to 375.  Lightly grease a cookie sheet.  cut dough into slices, abut 1/4 inch thick.  If using sprinkles, take a pinch of sprinkles and press them lightly into each dough slice with your fingers.  Bake for about 10 minutes, or until cookies are lightly browned around the edges.  Remove from pan, and cool for about 10 minutes before eating.  Cookies will be crisp around the edges, but chewy in the middle. 

MJ's Shortcut Guacamole

God is great, God is good, let us thank him for avocados!  Having spent my formative years in San Antonio, Texas, I am a huge fan of guacamole.  When people are coming over and I need something fresh and simple to serve before the main event in the warm-weather months, there is never a question in my mind what to serve.  This recipe is for a mild guacamole.   Feel free to add some chopped seeded tomato, jalapeno pepper, or cilantro if it suits you.  Just in time for Cinco de Mayo! Makes about 2 cups. 

Ingredients:

4 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup chopped red onion
1 lime, cut into quarters
3 ripe Haas avocodos
Salt to taste

Directions:

Put the minced garlic in a small bowl or ramekin.  Microwave on High for 30 seconds.  This roasts the garlic slightly.

Put the chopped onion on top of the garlic.  Squeeze two of the lime quarters on top of the onion.  Microwave on high for another 30 seconds.  This does two things - it takes the bite out of the onion, while the lime juice extracts some of the garlic and onion flavor to spread into the avocado later.

Peel and halve or slice the avocados, and place them in a medium bowl.  Add onion mixture.

Mash avocodos with a fork.  Add as much salt as you would like, and squeeze the remaining two lime quarters into the guacamole.  Serve with chips and/or vegetable sticks.