Blueberry Lemon Tea Bread

I made this recipe a few years ago when I had some blueberries on hand and to this day my grandma still talks about it. So, when I got some fresh blueberries I knew that I wanted to try this recipe again... It was so moist and delicious and just as yummy as I remembered it!! I made up two batches and shared one with a good friend of mine as a housewarming gift for her and her fiance. I hope she enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed mine! :) The middle caved a bit on both of my batches, but what it lacks in "prettiness" it made up for in taste!

Blueberry Lemon Tea Bread

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups blueberries
1/4 cup lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 9x5 loaf pan. In a large bowl, with mixer at low speed, beat butter and 1 cup sugar just until blended. Increase speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder. Reduce speed to low, add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until well blended. Alternately add flour mixture and milk, mixing just until blended. Pour into pan, add berries to top. Bake about 1 hour. Cool 10 minutes on wire rack and then remove from pan. With skewer, prick top and sides of warm cake in many places. In a small bowl, mix lemon juice and 1/3 cup sugar and brush on tops and sides of bread.

Easy Garlic Chicken

This was a quick and easy chicken recipe that used mostly ingredients that I always have on hand. I love that!! Usually I plan out my meals for the week, so there is no guess work as to what I am going to make and I have everything that I need to make it but things come up! :) This chicken was yummy and the kids enjoyed it as well.

Easy Garlic Chicken
(Recipe found on food.com)

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 450. Line a baking dish or cookie sheet with aluminum foil and lightly coat with cooking spray or lightly brush with oil. In small sauté pan, sauté garlic with the oil until tender. Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar. Place chicken breasts in a prepared baking dish and cover with the garlic and brown sugar mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bake uncovered for 15-30 minutes, or until juices run clear.

Sirloin Casserole

Cutting up a big roast into little pieces is not something that I usually do. To me, a roast is an easy crockpot meal that I can just throw together and walk away from. Well, when we buy a half a cow, we end up with a lot of roasts in our oven and I thought that this was something that sounded pretty tasty to try! So, I mixed everything up and popped it into the pan. While it takes a bit of prep work and it cooks for a long time - the end results are super yummy and worth the effort. I will definitely be making this again!

Sirloin Casserole
(recipe found on justapinch.com)

2 1/2 pound top sirloin roast chunks, bone in
1 1/2 cups kentucky seasoned flour - if you can't find the kentucky brand flour, just mix 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and onion powder together.
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon lawry's seasoning
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 potatoes, peeled and sliced into large hunks
6 carrots, peeled and sliced into large hunks
1/2 cup red wine
1 package onion soup mix
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups water

Combine flour, garlic powder and Lawry's seasoning in a zip lock bag and shake it to combine. Add sirloin chunks and shake to cover them. Add olive oil to your hot cast iron skillet. Brown sirloin chunks in olive oil. Be sure all sides of sirloin are brown. Take sirloin chunks out of the cast iron skillet and place in a large casserole that has a cover (or cover later with aluminum foil). Add 2 cups of water to the hot pan and mix up the drippings. Add potatoes, carrots, wine, onion mix, and drippings into the casserole dish and cover. Roast at 280 degrees for 3 hours; then 1 hour at 350 degrees. You can play around with the degrees and time.

BBQ Country Style Ribs

These were amazing and amazingly easy!! I just threw them into the crockpot and let them go. They were super tender and had a fabulous taste. I will definitely be making these again.

BBQ Country Style Ribs
(recipe found on pinterest via shockinglydelicious.com)

1 small onion, peeled, cut in half, and sliced into rings
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 pounds country style boneless pork ribs
9 ounces barbecue sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch dried ground chipotle powder (or squirt of hot pepper sauce)

Spray inside of slow cooker crock with nonstick spray. Place sliced onion in bottom, and sprinkle garlic on top. Rinse and pat ribs dry, and place them on onion. Pour barbecue sauce over top, sprinkle with oregano, cumin and chipotle, put lid on and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours. Remove ribs from sauce and set aside. Place sauce in small saucepan and boil until sauce thickens. Serve ribs in wide bowl and pass sauce in a gravy boat for diners to serve themselves.

Cornbread Topped BBQ Chicken

Reminder to self - make a double batch the next time that I make this! The kids were going nuts over this and asking for seconds and thirds as I was trying to just get a little bit of my first helping down. That is definitely the sign of a good meal. The kids each get to pick a meal and they rotate through once a week for the month. My oldest son picked this as the meal that he wanted the very next week!! So, we have had this meal a few times already and it is definitely worth a redo.

Cornbread Topped BBQ Chicken
(recipe found on pinterest via recipe.com)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 red or green bell pepper, diced
1 small jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
3 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 cup prepared barbecue sauce
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 (8 1/2 ounces) box cornbread mix
1 egg, beaten
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup shredded white cheddar

Heat oven to 375. In a saucepan, combine olive oil and onion over medium-high heat. Cook until onion is soft, about 4 minutes. Add bell pepper and jalapeno and cook another 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in chicken, barbecue sauce and broth; heat through. Transfer mixture to a 1 1/2 to 2 quart baking dish and set aside. In a bowl, combine cornbread mix, egg, milk and cheese; stir just until combined. Spoon batter in mounds over chicken. Bake until cornbread is cooked through and juices are bubbling, about 25 minutes.

BLT Pasta Salad

Again, on the 4th of July I was looking for a gluten free recipe to bring along for the potluck that we were heading to. I have been wanting to try this recipe for forever but it was making me a little nervous with the thought of pasta and lettuce together. It seemed like kind of a weird combo to me but the thought of a BLT salad was too much to resist. I should have tried it sooner!! I got so many comments on how good the salad was and asking about the recipe. I guess that means that I need to make it again sometime...

BLT Pasta Salad
(recipe found on pinterest via kitchme.com)

3 2⁄3 cup large macaroni shells pasta, cooked
4 cup tomatoes, diced
4 slice bacon, cooked and crumbled
3 cup lettuce, thinly sliced
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp cider vinegar
1⁄2 cup fat free mayonnaise
1⁄3 cup light sour cream
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 salt
1 pepper

In a large bowl, mix pasta, bacon, tomatoes, and lettuce. In a small bowl, mix sugar, vinegar, mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste. Pour dressing over pasta mixture, stir to combine, and chill until ready to serve.

Pineapple, Raspberry and Peach Sangria

One of my friends LOVES sangria so when I saw this recipe I knew that I needed to try it on a day when we were going to be together. So, I mixed it up for the 4th of July and it was a huge hit for both of us... Since I prefer white wine, this was a great one for me! Plus I love raspberries so it is a huge win for me. I will definitely be making this again!

Pineapple, Raspberry and Peach Sangria
(recipe found on cookswithcocktails.com)

1 bottle of white wine
13 oz of peach schnapps
2 cups of pineapple juice
2 cups of raspberry juice, I used cran-raspberry
1–2 cans of club soda
1/2 a pineapple, peeled and chopped
1 cup of fresh raspberries

In a large pitcher or bowl, combine all the ingredients on the list starting with the top and working your way down. Once you have added all the ingredients, stir gently to combine. Serve in wine glasses or in short martini glasses and make sure to get a little fruit in each glass.
If you like ice in your sangria, put it in the glass first, don't put it in the big pitcher or your sangria will get watered down.