Sparkling Lemonade

As summer draws to a close, it is time to enjoy a few more glasses of homemade lemonade. This recipe calls for a quart/liter of "fizzy" water... a very nice touch! If you don't like pulp, strain before serving.

Sparkling Lemonade

4 lemons

1 ½ cup sugar

1 Quart sparkling/ seltzer water

ice

Grate 2 teaspoons of lemon zest and put into 1-quart pitcher. Cut each lemon in half and squeeze out juice (I use a citrus reamer... you could also use any citrus press or juicer). Pour into pitcher. Stir the sugar into the juice until dissolved. Add seltzer water. Serve over ice with a slice of lemon and a cherry.

Molten Chocolate Cakes

The trick to these cakes is to NOT bake them until they are dry... you want them to still be soft on the inside.

Molten Chocolate Cakes

4 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

½ cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

4 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

½ cup sugar

4 large egg yolks

2 large eggs

1 Tablespoon all purpose flour

Powdered sugar

Mint leaves

Preheat oven to 350. Butter four 6oz ramekins (or you could make six 4oz size). Stir chocolate and butter in small saucepan over low heat until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat; whisk in cocoa and sugar. Whisk in egg yolks, then whole egg and flour. Divide batter between prepared ramekins. Bake cakes uncovered until edges are set but center is still shiny, about 22 minutes. To serve, cut around cakes to loosen; turn out onto plates. Sift powdered sugar over and garnish with mint. (Batter can be made day ahead and refrigerated)

Best Brownies

This recipe is from the Hershey's cookbook... it is my go-to easy brownie recipe that is made of pantry staples.

Best Brownies

1 stick butter or margarine, melted

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

½ cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup Hershey’s cocoa

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup chopped nuts, if desired

Heat oven to 350. Grease 9” square baking pan. Stir together butter, sugar and vanilla in large bowl. Add eggs; beat well. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in nuts. Spread into prepared pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool and cut into 16 squares.

vegetarian pizza combos

We tried two combinations last night on pizza and both were delicious! We were hesitant since there was no sauce on the pizza, but it turned out really well!

Combo #1= tomato, ricotta, basil, Parmesan
Combo #2= potato, rosemary, Parmesan

ingredients:
extra virgin olive oil
prepared pizza dough (store bought or homemade)
3 small-medium sized tomatoes, cut into small wedges
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 shaved Parmesan (we used fresh grated)
coarse salt and ground pepper
3 or 4 small red new potatoes, very thinly sliced
leaves of several sprigs fresh rosemary
leaves of several sprigs of fresh basil
kosher salt and pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place tomatoes on a foil-lined cookie sheet, drizzle with a little olive oil and roast until soft and beginning to brown (about 10 minutes).
Meanwhile, work pizza dough and spread onto cookie sheet. When tomatoes are finished, increase temperature to 450. On one half of the crust, place tomatoes, dollop with ricotta, top with basil. On the other side of the crust, place potato slices in an even layer, drizzle with olive oil, and top with rosemary. Sprinkle Parmesan on entire pizza and season entire pizza with salt and pepper.

Bake at 450 for about 12- 15 minutes or until crust begins to brown. Yum!

Or, if you really like the potatoes, you could do all potatoes like I did here (aren't the little potatoes cute?!):

see more of Doug's pics here

Apple Cobbler

Is fall really almost here? Here's a good fall dessert from Salud:

Apple Cobbler

2 cups diced apples (use a combo of types of apples... different colors makes it pretty so I don't peel them)

1 cup brown sugar

pinch cinnamon

pinch nutmeg

pinch cloves

¾ cup flour

pinch salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

¾ cup milk

1 cup sugar

½ cup butter

Mix apples with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, set aside. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, milk, and sugar in a medium bowl to form a batter; set aside. Melt butter in 9x13 baking dish. Add batter and then add apple mixture on top of batter. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes or until browned and bubbly.