Summer Strawberry Tart!

What you need:
1 pie crust
1 pint of whipping cream, whipped and sweetened
1 punnit of strawberries
1 tub of strawberry glaze

Whip the cream and put it in the crust.
Half the strawberries and put on top of the cream.
Smother with strawberry glaze.
Chill.


(If you have the will power to chill it rather than just digging in don't forget to cover it. Cream sucks up the smell of anything in the fridge and makes it taste like it.)

What are your favourite summer recipes?

Chicken Pie & Garlic Mashed Potatoes

This is a variation on a pie that my brother's girlfriend made for us over Christmas. The ingredients in brackets are my variation. You can make it either way and feel free to add your own extra's.

Ingredients:
Roast chicken, stripped (2 cooked chicken breasts cubed)
1 chopped onion
4 rashers of bacon, raw (10 rashers of streaky/American bacon, raw)
2-3 cans of Campbell's cream of mushroom soup (3 cans of Campbell's cream of mushroom soup)
puff pastry

(I added: a good shake of paprika and a few handfuls of baby carrots cut into thirds.)

Method:

Put chicken, onion, bacon (chopped and raw), soup and anything else you fancy into a bowl and mix.
Put mixture into a 9x13 pyrex dish.
Cover with pastry. I use one package of Pepperidge Farm puff pastry. Fold under the extra dough around the edges to lift it off of the soupy mixture a little.
Score the top of the pastry but don't cut all the way through it - this helps it puff up better.

Bake at 375'f for 45 minutes.

Garlic Parmesan Mashed potatoes
Ingredients:
Potatoes with skins still on - I make enough for leftovers to go with the leftover pie.
Butter
Milk/sour cream
Garlic powder
Salt and Pepper
Parmesan cheese

Boil the potatoes until soft and strain
Put potatoes, a good nob of butter, good shake of garlic powder and a splash of milk in a big bowl.
Use a handheld whisk or food mixer to whisk the potatoes.
Once chunks are all out add more milk, salt and pepper, mix again.
Taste. Add more of what you think it needs. You can also add some cream cheese to it.

Once it's the consistency you like - I like them light and fluffy so I whisk them on high for a bit and add a touch more milk to fluff them up.
Once it tastes good put it in an over safe dish, don't squish it down.
Put a few pats of butter on top and sprinkle parmesan cheese over.
Put in the oven with the pie for the last 20 minutes or so of baking.

Cheesy Chicken Chowder:

From page 33 of Taste of Home's Prize Winning Recipes cookbook.

3 cups chicken broth
2 cups diced, peeled potatoes
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced onion
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
2 cups milk
2 cups grated cheese
2 cups diced, cooked chicken

In a 4 quart saucepan bring chicken broth to a boil.
Reduce heat; add potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, salt and pepper.
Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium saucepan; add flour and mix well.
Gradually stir in milk; cook over low heat until slightly thickened.
Stir in cheese and cook until melted.

Add cheese mixture to broth and add chicken.
Cook and stir over low heat until heated through.

Yield: 6-8 servings.

*I didn't add celery but did add a lot more onion. Broccoli would be a good add to this as would bacon. It's so good!

Rocky Road Fudge

1 package (12oz) semisweet chocolate chips 
1 cup butterscotch chips 
1 cup crunchy peanut butter 
1 tbsp margarine or butter 
1 package (10.5oz) mini marshmallows 

Grease 8x8 or 9x9 metal baking pan; line with plastic wrap. Get the wrinkles out.
In a 4 quart saucepan combine chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter and margarine. 
Cook over medium heat 2-3 minutes or until ingredients are melted, stir constantly. 
Remove from the heat. 
Stir marshmallows into fudge mixture. 
Pour evenly into lined pan - if you have any left over marshmallows you can sprinkle them on top.
Cover with plastic wrap and squish it all down so it's all level and the corners are filled.
Refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours. 
Turn fudge onto cutting board. 
Remove plastic wrap and cut.


Try and share it. I dare you.

Tortellini Caeser Salad

Ingredients:
Romaine hearts
Crutons
Grated parmesan cheese
Caesar dressing
Tortellini's

Method:
Cook the tortellini's.
Toss them in a bowl with some butter and salt.
Assemble salad in a big bowl.
Add tortellini's and toss with salad.
Serve with dressing.


It's so simple and hearty. I could eat it every day. Yum! You can also substitute tortellini's for ravioli.

Super basic Sweet and Sour sauce

Ingredients:
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 (13 1/4 oz.) can pineapple chunks
1/3 c. white vinegar
1 tbsp. soy sauce

Method: 
Mix brown sugar and cornstarch in skillet.
Stir in pineapple with juice, vinegar and soy sauce.
Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; reduce heat.
Simmer a while.

I poured the sauce over frozen meatballs in the crockpot and cooked for a few hours then served it over rice.

This sauce is really easy and pretty basic. Feel free to add more things for flavour. Next time I might add some hot chilli paste to give it more flavour and zing.

Skillet Potatoes and Onions!