Blackberry Cobbler

If you know me well, you know that for the majority of my life, I have had an aversion to fruit. I know, I'm not a real person. Who doesn't like fruit?! I probably ate it as a very young child when I didn't have a choice, but at some point I decided I did not like fruit. I distinctly remember one summer sitting on our back porch and my mom saying, "Try this melon! It tastes like candy!!!" I reluctantly tried it, because if it tastes like candy, AWESOME! You can imagine my disappointment when it did not taste like actual candy.

BUT y'all, there's hope! I'm happy to say that I'm slowly conquering my fruit fear at age 27. I think it's been a texture thing and now I think it's a mental thing I just need to get over. Because I love smoothies and slowly starting to enjoy pie. Last summer, I willingly chose to eat blueberry pancakes over chocolate chip! So this weekend, I decided to make this blackberry cobbler because blackberry cobbler just sounded summery and delicious. And it WAS. And I ate a ton of it. See what I mean? Progress! There's hope for me after all :)

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Blackberry Cobbler (from Southern Living)

3 containers of blackberries (about 4 cups)

Lemon juice (about half a lemon)

1 egg

1 c sugar

1 c all-purpose flour

6 tbsp melted butter

vanilla ice cream

Preheat oven to 375. In a lightly greased 8x8 square baking dish, place blackberries. Squeeze lemon juice over blackberries. In a separate bowl, beat the egg and add flour and sugar. Mix until it resembles cornmeal and evenly pour over the blackberries. Drizzle melted butter over the topping. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until the top is light brown and blackberries are bubbling. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy! 

Summer Salad

Before we left for vacation, I really wanted to have a week of healthy eating, knowing that we would be eating out for every meal. I whipped up this salad at the beginning of the week and oh man, was I happy to eat it every single day after for lunch. It was so fresh, delicious, and fulfilling. That's my biggest thing with salads - I'll eat them but afterwards, be craving something else. This one did not do that. You can't see it in the picture, but there's also barbecue grilled chicken that goes along with it. I think the chicken was possibly still cooking at the time of the picture :)

Possibly my favorite part about this salad is that it's easily adaptable for any of you! If you want to use cherry tomatoes instead of regular, do it! If you want to add black beans, go for it! Dried cranberries? Yum! You can really make it yours.

Summer Salad

1 lb boneless chicken breasts

Barbecue sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray's)

2 avocados

2 ears of corn, grilled

1 diced bell pepper

1 large chopped tomato

Red leaf lettuce

Goat cheese

Marinade chicken in barbecue sauce, and grill for about 15 minutes, depending on size of the chicken. Prep all remaining ingredients by cutting and dicing, and throw together in a bowl. Top with sliced chicken and goat cheese. Drizzle with a light salad dressing - I use a sweet vidalia onion dressing from Kroger that I love, but any light dressing would work! 

Serves 3 people, depending on how hungry you are!

Strawberry Shortcake

Ohhhh how I love strawberry shortcake!!! Growing up, this was a summer dessert staple in my family. Along with whipping up chocolate chip cookies and pancakes in record time, my mom would quickly make these shortcakes if we were craving something sweet after dinner. Being honest though - I have had a slight fruit phobia (it's a texture thing, I think) since a young age and for all of my life I've eaten just the shortcake with whipped cream. I know, I'm crazy. 

 And with the Fourth of July coming up, what feels more American than a good ole shortcake with strawberries?! Okay, maybe apple pie or blueberry pie. But strawberry shortcake too. It's a great and super easy dessert to make for holiday celebrations - you can even add blackberries or blueberries for a pop of blue! Last night I hosted Bible study and decided strawberry shortcake would be the perfect treat to make for everyone. And wouldn't you know, last night I actually ate strawberries with mine and liked it!!! Progress, I'm telling you!

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Strawberry Shortcake
2 1/3 c Bisquick
1/2 c sugar
3 tbsp butter
2/3 c milk
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1 c heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp sugar
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sliced strawberries
1 tbsp sugar


Preheat oven to 425. In a mixing bowl, melt butter and add Bisquick, sugar, and milk. Mix together. Spoon onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.

Mix whipping cream and sugar together in a smaller bowl. Use an electric mixer and mix until stiff peaks form. Refrigerate whipped cream until time to serve.

roasted corn and tomato pasta salad

I'm actually not lying when I say that some of my happiest moments and greatest joy revolves around food. I mean, it's just so tasty! And a great meal usually involves great drinks and company, hence happy moments. This weekend I was at Burger Up with friends and having a happy moment, because naturally we were discussing food! My friend Cobb had a recent birthday dinner at Mangia in Nashville and was describing this one pasta they had and literally, my mouth was watering. Because, foods! So that night when I got back into Lex, the first thing I did was go to the grocery and attempt to recreate it. And while I might have varied a few things and Mangia's version is probs way better than mine, I think this is an excellent weekday lunch or summertime side. Easy to make for big groups, or just for yourself. 

Roasted Corn & Tomato Pasta Salad

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Ingredients

2 c noodle of choice

2 ears of corn off the cob, roasted

2 chopped tomatoes

Chopped basil

Fresh mozzarella

Olive oil

Boil noodles, assemble other ingredients, and toss with olive oil and salt and pepper. Serve warm or cold.

sundried tomato pasta with grilled flank steak

Do you all ever get in a rut with cooking? I feel like I so often make the same go-to's time and time again. But like I do with workouts, I get bored with the same thing over and over! Last night, Simon and I made this super easy and absolutely delicious sundried tomato pasta and I highly recommend to you all! Simon actually found the recipe in Men's Health, something I'm obviously not reading. It looked quick and simple so I thought, why not, let's give it a try! So glad we did, this will definitely be entering the rotation! 

Ingredients

1/2 c sundried tomatoes (you can buy these prepackaged)

1 garlic clove

1/4 c chopped parsley

2 tbsp chopped basil

2 tsp red wine

1/4 c olive oil

cavatappi pasta (or whatever short noodle you prefer!)

8 oz grilled flank steak

Parmesan cheese & basil for garnish

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In a food processor or blender, pulse the tomatoes and garlic. Ad the herbs, vinegar, and olive oil. Pulse till combined, and add water to thin if needed. Toss the cooked pasta with 3/4 of the sauce and set aside. Season the steak with kosher salt and black pepper. Grill to medium, about 3 minutes a side, depending on how hot the grill is (I prefer my steak more rare). Let rest 5 minutes when done cooking, then slice and toss with remaining sauce. Add to pasta, garnish with additional chopped basil and Parmesan cheese. Enjoy! 

BLACK BEAN & CORN SALSA

This week my office had a Cinco de Mayo party and my department was in charge of hosting. Anytime Mexican food and margaritas are involved, I obviously want to be involved! 

I knew that I would be coming home exhausted from a weekend at the Derby, so I wanted to make something really easy and quick, but delicious at the same time. Enter this black bean & corn salsa. I'm not kidding when I say this is probably one of the easiest things to make. As I said to a friend who doesn't cook, "Megs, even you could make this!" Literally dumping cans of beans and corn into a bowl. And a little chopping. But so good.

At the party I served it with chips, but last night I used leftovers to make a vegetarian burrito bowl, which was also amazing. I made a Chipotle lime rice and then added the salsa and a little bit of cheese and lettuce. If I had chicken on hand, I would have done that too with a little rub.

As a note - I doubled the recipe for a party, but I am giving you the non-doubled recipe. It makes a lot!

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Black Bean & Corn Salsa

1 can (15 oz) black beans (drain)

1 can (15 oz) yellow or white canned corn (drain)

1 can (15 oz) petite diced tomatoes (drain)

1 bunch of green onion, chopped

1/2 red onion, chopped

2 T vegetable oil

1 T ground cumin

salt & pepper

Mix in a large bowl, add fresh lime juice and cilantro for extra flavor.

BAKED OATMEAL

(Is it just me or do my fingers look kind of scary?!)

I was totally a camp kid growing up. From about 4th or 5th grade through high school I went to some sort of week long camp (hey hey Camp Tecumseh and Castaway!) and I loved it. Camp crafts and activities, sleeping outside on the tennis courts, playing Gold Rush, cheers at lunch, getting treats every day at the Trading Post... so much fun and happy memories! One thing I didn't love, however, was camp food. Sloppy Joes - not my thing. Eggs that weren't really eggs... ick. The only camp food I liked was Baked Oatmeal. It was a tradition to have it the last morning of camp and it was probably the one meal I looked forward to all week.

One year, Camp Tecumseh posted the recipe online and you can bet we snatched that up super quick. Since then, it has been kind of a staple breakfast for me. I had it almost every morning for early swim practice in high school. I made it for my roommates in college. I ate it for breakfast and snacks. It is so. good. It's probably not the healthiest, but it's worth it.

Since I'm always running late in the mornings, I decided to whip some up last night. Instead of putting it in one pan like the recipe calls for, I choose a muffin tin for individual little baked oatmeals. This is ideal for anyone on the go. It's hearty enough that you won't be starving by 10:00 and just the kind of sweet treat you need with your coffee. If you have more time, you can get a little bit more fancy as you'll find in the recipe below.

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Baked Oatmeal - A Camp Tecumseh Tradition

1 Egg

3 Cups Oatmeal

1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil

3/4 Cup Sugar

3/4 Tablespoon Baking Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1 Cup Milk

Beat oil and sugar together, then add egg, beat together. Add remaining ingredients and mix together, slowly adding the milk. Pour batter into a greased 9x9 cake pan, or muffin tin. If using a muffin tin, be sure to heavily grease so that muffins do not stick to the bottom of the pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until firm and golden brown. Serve plain, or with brown sugar, raisins, and/or blueberries and milk.

LOVE TO COOK

Something you all may not know about me is that I really, really enjoy cooking. I think much of it comes from my mom and watching and help her cook dinner for our family every night. Now, I am by no means an expert chef and if you looked at my pinterest board, you might be concerned that I only eat pasta (a lot of mac and cheese), mexican, and chicken.... which wouldn't be far from the truth. But I'm getting to a point where I can just whip something together without a recipe and it turns out completely delicious. Like this pasta I made the other night - so simple and SO good. I was inspired by one of my favorite dishes at Biaggi's, an Italian restaurant at home. Biaggi's recipe uses chicken and red pepper, but I forgot about the red pepper and ham seemed easier than cooking chicken. I highly suggest this for a weeknight meal - it's so easy to make for one and is really good for leftovers!

Alfredo Pasta with Bacon, Ham, and Peas (super fancy name, I know)
1 box your choice of noodles, I decided on shells
1 can Clasico Alfredo sauce
1 thick slice of ham from the deli
2 slices of turkey bacon
1 package of frozen peas, I like the individual Steamers bags.

Cook noodles - don't need to use the whole box, just a cup or so depending on your choice for leftovers. While noodles cook, dice the ham and cut the bacon into little pieces and saute with butter in a pan (Probably cook for about 5ish minutes). Cook peas according to directions. Drain noodles, add ham, bacon, and peas and top with alfredo sauce! Voila!

Enjoy!