Seriously Tempting No-Bake Desserts to Try This Summer

August 18, 2016 by greystar

If you can’t even imagine turning on the oven during the summer heat, no-bake desserts are the perfect alternatives to your usual fresh baked cookies. These oven-free desserts are just as delicious as more traditional options, and they’re often much easier to prepare, which leaves you with more time for lounging by the pool! Here are three no-bake dessert recipes to try at your next potluck dinner.

7-Layer Ice Cream Cake [marthastewart.com]
Cool off after a summer dinner with this colorful ice cream cake. Pound cake creates a sweet, dense base stacked between layers of tasty vanilla ice cream, while thick meringue is a wonderfully fluffy replacement for the usual heavy icing.

Creamy Layered Lemon Squares [snackworks.com]
Swap out your usual lemon square recipe for something much quicker — and cooler. Basic graham crackers create a crunchy crust, and the addition of ripe strawberries makes this dessert perfect for the summertime.

Hawaiian Cookie Balls [kraftrecipes.com]
The kids will adore these fun and tasty cookie balls made with sweet, crushed pineapple and flaky coconut. You can also decorate them with colorful gel icings and sprinkles to turn them into fun ducks or chickens for a child’s birthday party.

CC-BY-SA-2.0/Flickr Infomastern

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Dessert, Recipes, Seasonal, Summer

Sample These Acorn Squash Recipes This Fall

September 17, 2015 by greystar

Acorn squash is a type of winter squash with a unique dark green rind, longitudinal ridges and a yellowish-orange inside that tastes sweet and mild. This squash is so versatile that even the most novice home chef can easily prepare it in a variety of different ways. Here are just three ways to try your hand at serving acorn squash this fall.

Baked Acorn Squash [allrecipes.com]
To really get a good idea of how acorn squash tastes, you should first prepare it all by itself. This simple recipe involves baking a halved acorn squash with just a bit of butter and brown sugar to create a healthy side dish or even a unique dessert.

Acorn Squash Soup with Kale [marthastewart.com]
With a hearty texture and autumnal flavors, this soup is perfect for those chilly fall evenings. Pureeing the acorn squash is one of the best ways to prepare it for use in a soup, while adding crispy bacon and finely chopped kale adds a darker, smokier flavor that contrasts the sweetness of the squash.

Spinach and Acorn Squash Ravioli [myrecipes.com]
Acorn squash makes a wonderful filling for pasta, and in this creative recipe it’s blended with creamy ricotta cheese and chopped spinach for added flavor. Plus, using wonton wrappers instead of the usual pasta dough saves on calories, and it’s much easier than rolling out that dough by hand.

CC-BY-2.0/Flickr/Kenny Louie

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: Cooking, Fall, Recipes, Seasonal

Greet Your Morning With These 4 French Toast Recipes

December 18, 2014 by greystar

Fluffier than a waffle but more flavorful than a pancake, French toast just may be the perfect breakfast food. If you love French toast but you’re bored with the usual recipe, these unique dishes will help you to mix things up but still maintain the same sweet taste that you adore.

Fluffy French Toast [Allrecipes]
By adding a bit of flour, this French toast recipe creates a fluffier version that your friends and family will love. It’s hard to believe that such a simple ingredient makes such a big difference, but once you taste this decadent breakfast dish, you’ll never make it the old way again.

Upside-Down Apple French Toast with Cranberries and Pecans [Food Network]
The name of this recipe really says it all. This French toast looks more like a pie than a breakfast, and the cranberries, apples, and pecans add hearty flavor to the usual sweet bread.

Apple-Maple French Toast [Martha Stewart]
Create a taste of fall all year round with this smoky, sweet French toast recipe. Thicker slices of bread create a sturdy base for this dish, and the caramelized apples give it a gourmet feel without a lot of effort.

French Toast with Berry Butter [Pioneer Woman]
Three different types of berry-infused butters add something truly special to this crispy, custard-style French toast.

CC-BY-SA-2.0/Flickr/laurenbosak

Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged With: Breakfast, Cooking, French Toast, Recipes

Baking Tutorials From These Websites Have Delicious Results

November 20, 2014 by greystar

If you’re the type of person whose idea of baking includes placing store-bought cookie dough on a cookie sheet, read on: Though it may seem intimidating, learning to bake is much easier than it seems. Learn the basics of baking with these helpful websites!

Baker’s Corner
This accessible website provides just about every resource a beginning baker will need to make something warm and fluffy or gooey and sweet. The Learn to Bake page includes detailed descriptions of the necessary utensils, lists of staple ingredients, and a toolkit of weights and mass that will help you get the proportions straight. Once you become familiar with the ins and outs of baking, you can even browse the recipes to test out your new skills.

Become a Better Baker
Designed for bakers of all skill levels, Become a Better Baker aims to improve everyone’s baking skills and understanding. It offers tutorials for techniques like kneading with a dough hook, properly rolling cinnamon rolls, and even greasing a pan to perfection. If you prefer to learn from example, this is the site for you.

CC-BY-2.0/Flickr/Dinner Series

Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged With: Baking, Cooking, food, Recipes

Delicious Greens Recipes from Top Food Websites

February 6, 2014 by greystar

We should all eat more greens than we currently do, but it can be hard to squeeze in those extra veggies. These delightful sites from around the web will help you add a bit more green to your diet without sacrificing taste.

All Recipes
The Greens Recipes section of the All Recipes site is full of creative, healthy recipes that use leafy greens as the main ingredient. From cheese dips to spinach rolls to quiches and casseroles, these dishes are so decadent, you might even forget that they’re healthy. All Recipes also offers a number of recipes for preparing traditional Southern greens, which make a perfect side dish for your next fried chicken dinner.

Food.com
Visit Food.com to find an endless assortment of greens recipes that are both healthy and delicious. A Spinach Strawberry Salad makes a great summer lunch, and its seasonal fruits add a bit of color to the variety of greens. The site also features warm, hearty soups full of green veggies, from Tuscan White Bean & Spinach to Italian Sausage with Kale. With main courses, side dishes and even appetizers, Food.com is a great resource for cooking with greens.

Public Domain/Public Domain

Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged With: Cooking, food, Greens, Recipes

Find Recipes Online with These Websites

November 20, 2013 by greystar

These days, finding and sharing recipes has become an online activity, with dozens of websites full of user submitted meals for lunch, dinner and even dessert. These helpful websites will help you with your own family’s meal planning, as well as connect you to other home chefs to trade tips and tricks.

All Recipes
All Recipes is one of the most popular online cooking resources, with an expansive recipe database for just about any meal or occasion. Search the archives by ingredient, watch video tutorials, view sample menus for the entire week, or even plan your holiday spread all on this simple, friendly website.

Epicurious
The ideal site for the passionate food lover, Epicurious is jam packed with creative, inspiring recipes in the form of traditional text, videos, and slideshows of mouth-watering photos. Epicurious also features a great online community where visitors can follow other members, post their favorite recipes, and discuss topics such as family meal solutions and home brewing techniques.

FoodNetwork.com
The beloved television cooking channel has a corresponding website, and fans of shows like The Barefoot Contessa are sure to love it. FoodNetwork.com features cooking tips from top chefs and hosts, 30-minute meal recipes, a quick recipe finder with filters for ingredients and prep time, and even a blog full of articles that foodies will find fascinating.