A Recipe for a Great Summer

The mercury is rising as summer approaches, and fresh veggies will soon be readily accessible and cheap.  A great compliment to a fantastic spread of vegetables is a good, hearty dip.  Below is a favorite recipe of mine for a dip that I make all summer for BBQ's, carry-in's, and just to keep at home for my own personal indulgences:

Veggie Dip

• 8 ounces sour cream
• 8 ounces Hellman's (needs to be mayonnaise, not Miracle Whip or the like)
• 1 package Knorr's Vegetable Soup Mix
• 1/2 to 1 can of water chestnuts, drained and chopped (optional)
• 1 tsp parmesan cheese (optional)

Mix all ingredients together, being sure not to over stir as this can cause the mixture to separate as it sits. Allow to sit overnight in the refrigerator, or until dried soup mix is rehydrated and soft (at least 4 hours). Stir before serving with your favorite vegetables.  Note: water chestnuts are not on much flavor, but add a great crunch to the dip.

For a great spinach dip, use the above recipe and add a well-drained package of frozen spinach (that has been thawed).  I have found that making a double batch of the dip and one package of spinach will make the perfect dip and enough left over to save for myself.  When using a single batch and a full package of spinach, the dip can become too "spinach-y" and thick to be used as a dip.

Got a favorite recipe?

I am always interested in great summertime recipes and would love any that you're willing to share. Bring on the BBQs, picnics, and bonfires!

 

Save Money by Packing Your Lunch!

You can really save a lot of money and eat a lot healthier by bringing our lunch to work.   In fact, a few of us in the office formed a "Skinny & Rich Club" on Tuesdays last year in order to align on a date where we would all bring our lunches and eat together, at least one day a week. it was quite a gathering as people came upstairs from our medical division, and some guys came over across the parking lot from our IRWIN tools division. 

While the club disbanded due to hectic travel schedules, I try to make it a habit to still bring my lunch 2-3 days a week.

My favorites are:

1) Frozen Soup - see previous post on how I like to portion & freeze my soups

2) Leftover Dinner - I bring it in a Divided Premier to work and heat everything on foil in our toaster oven.

3) Salads - I put the ingredients (packed in little containers) in a large Premier and then dump & shake it all up when i get to work.  Our large containers are excellent for shaking and mixing dressing.

Here are 2 examples:

Left = Salad w/ Cranberries, Mandarin Oranges, Goat Cheese, Walnuts, Balsamic Vinaigrette

Right = Salad w/ Carrots, Ginger, Sliced Almonds, Asian Vinaigrette

What are your favorite lunches and how do you bring them to work ?

Banana Cake Recipe - A family tradition

On Twitter yesterday there were a couple tweets about recipes for bananas. I spoke up so I could mention my most favorite recipe for bananas, Banana Cake. Which, just so happened, was being made for my sons birthday, March 17th.

This is no ordinary banana cake.  I've had this banana cake every year for my birthday since I was a young kid (so did my brothers). When I lived in Colorado, and my mom lived in Pittsburgh, she would bake the cake and FedEx it to me.  One year while in Charlotte, NC she flew down from Pittsburgh with cake in hand.

In addition to having this cake every year for my birthday my mom and her brothers and sister also had this same cake.  My wife is now in charge of carrying on the tradition.  Both my son and I get this banana cake every year and I'm sure it will carry on far into the future.

Anyway, here's the recipe along with some photos. Oh... just so it fits into the Rubbermaid blog, we do store it in a Rubbermaid cake keeper :)

===================================================
BANANA CAKE with BAKERS ICING
===================================================

Things You'll Need

• Three tiered cake tins: 13", 10" and 8"
• Good mixer
• Cake keeper (although the cake will be gone quickly

Banana Cake Instructions

• STEP 1
• Preheat Oven to 375°
• Butter cake pans and dust with flour

• STEP 2
• Cream and set aside
• Cut up 5 bananas (ripe or over ripe) and place in a small mixer bowl

• STEP 3
• Sift together – set aside
• 3 cup flour
• ¾ t baking powder
• 1 ¼ t baking soda
• ½ t salt

• STEP 4a
• In large mixing bowl cream together
• ¾ c shortening
• 2 ¼ c white sugar
• STEP 4b
• Then add
• 3 eggs
• ½ t vanilla

•  STEP 5
• Then alternate creamed bananas, flour mixture and ½ c sour milk (sour milk can be made by adding 1T vinegar to whole milk)
• Pour in pans and cook for 35 minutes at 375 (do toothpick test)

Bakers Icing Instructions
(Hint: Doubling this guarantees enough to cover the tower of cake!)

• STEP 1
• Heat on stove top on lowest setting – add ingredients together slowly, heat until thickened.
• Do not heat too fast!
• 4 T flour
• 1c milk
• 1 t vanilla
• Set aside to cool COMPLETELY.

• STEP 2
• While above is cooling, mix on cream setting until doubled
• ¼ lb (1 stick) margarine
• ½ c shortening
• ¾ cup of white sugar
• Once doubled, slowly add cooled mixture into sugar mixture and ice the cake

===================================================

Notice all the icing. This was a double batch. It's sooooo good!