Summer YUM!

Last summer, while traveling with Thomas, we made a dish I fell in love with while we were in Southern California visiting his sister.

We made it again this past Monday... enjoy!

Fruit Pizza

"Pizza Crust":
1/2 c butter
3/4 c sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 3/4 c flour

1) soften butter. Cream together with sugar and egg.
2) add other ingredients. Mix well.
3) roll out to desired shape and place on baking dish of your choice
4) bake for 10 minutes at 350* F. (We used our pizza stone and the crust stuck to it pretty badly; you might try greasing your baking dish!)

"Pizza Sauce":
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c sugar
2 Tbsp pineapple juice (from can used in topping below) and/or 1 Tbsp vanilla (optional)

1) whisk all ingredients together. This will work best if the cream cheese is allowed to sit out for a while on the counter till soft
2) spread onto "Pizza Crust" after it has cooled down (otherwise it will drip off...!)

Fruit Pizza Toppings:
sliced bananas (one for one pizza)
sliced kiwi (we used 2)
sliced strawberries
pineapple (most of a can)
Other ideas: berries, mandarin orange slices, grapes, peaches, ....

1) slice into bite-sized pieces
2) arrange on your fruit pizza

Fruit Pizza Glaze:
Juice from 20-oz can of pineapple
1 Tbsp cornstarch

1) cook on stovetop until clear; stir often
2) cool slightly and drizzle over fruit on fruit pizza

oxox

Ready for another heart-stopper?!

So, as you may or may not have realized, we like bacon around here! (Quiche, bacon-wrapped eggs, bacon pizza...)

This time, we may have gone over the top. Just keep in mind that the Bacon Explosion was somebody else's creation! :o) And don't worry... we kept it a balanced meal. Scroll down for the Strawberry & Spinach Salad.

Bacon Explosion

2 lbs bacon strips
2 lbs Italian sausage
barbecue sauce

See the Bacon Explosion website for more detailed directions.

1. Weave about half of the bacon together on a baking dish.
2. Add any spices you want to add.
3. Spread sausage over bacon mat.
4. Cook the rest of the bacon to your liking. Crumble it up and put it on top of the sausage.
5. Add barbecue sauce.
6. Roll up the sausage with the bacon pieces inside.
7. Conclude assembly by rolling up bacon weave around sausage creation.
8. Now, you can either barbecue this as suggested in their website, or you can bake it like we did. We set the oven at around 250 degrees (F) and let it cook for about 2 hours.

Please dispose of the grease safely. You will end up with... A LOT! Let it cool before you pour it into a container to throw away. Please don't pour it down your sink... this will cause problems for you!

Strawberry & Spinach Salad

1 bunch of spinach
1 pound of strawberries
about 1/2 cup walnuts
about 2-3 Tablespoons sugar
salad dressing of your choice - we used Brianna's poppyseed dressing but this would be great with a vinaigrette.

1. Rinse spinach and take stems off. Keep the leaves; dry them and place them in your salad bowl.
2. Rinse strawberries. Remove leaves and slice.
3. Chop/crush walnuts. You'll want them to be in small pieces. They garnish this salad.
4. Heat sugar in small sauce pan. Once it is liquid, QUICKLY add walnuts, stirring, and remove from heat. Now you have caramelized walnuts.
5. Add strawberry slices and caramelized walnuts to spinach. Dress with dressing of your choice. Enjoy!

We devoured our Bacon Explosion with the Strawberry & Spinach salad and some mashed potatoes to make it a balanced meal.

Our nieces, Lydia and Ruby, really loved this dinner!

 oxox