Thursday, July 24, 2008

BB Smoked Salmon Spread

This week's Barefoot Bloggers recipe was Ina's Smoked Salmon Spread chosen by Ashley of the Spicy Skillet. Now, I'm not one for smoked salmon, or any salmon for that matter, but decided to make the recipe as is as my husband said he'd eat it and we served it to our friends H&M on Sunday. The feedback I received was that the spread was good, however it make a lot for three people, we have quite a bit left over. We served it with crackers. Because I'm not a salmon person I can't say as if we'd make this again, but it gave me some ideas for salmon substitute...really anything blended into cream cheese would be good! I am looking forward to the August round of recipes and am hoping for some delicious summer time treats...as it's quickly approaching it's end.


Smoked Salmon Recipe:
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill
1 teaspoon prepared horseradish, drained
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 pound (4 ounces) smoked salmon, minced

Cream the cheese in an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until just smooth. Add the sour cream, lemon juice, dill, horseradish, salt, and pepper, and mix. Add the smoked salmon and mix well. Chill and serve with crudites or crackers.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

My Son Can Bake...

I thought I would share this as it's just too darn cute. My 18 month old son is taking cooking classes at his wonderful daycare center. Last week they made chocolate/frosting covered pretzel rods. We originally took this picture to share with his Grandma, but though you all might enjoy seeing what an 18 month old can bake. He walked around the kitchen with a big smile on his face holding the bag containing his homemade treats. He could not have been more proud of himself.

Blueberry Peach Crisp

Okay, so here's another picture of a partially eaten dessert, can you tell I can't wait to dive in when it comes to dessert?? This is an adapted recipe from the Barefoot Contessa. Her recipe is a Peach and Raspberry Crisp but I used blueberries instead of raspberries. I made this for a dinner party Sunday night. The peaches at the store were slightly on the under-ripe side, but we left them in a brown paper bag overnight with a few bananas to hopefully improve the ripening process...although not much changed. Oh well, the crisp turned out great (looks a little soupy in the picture but that might be because it was hot out of the oven). I served it with a little vanilla ice cream. It was a hit! If you're looking for a quick summer time dessert recipe give this one a try. Thanks Ina!

Monday, July 21, 2008

BB Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread

Better late than never! We made the Barefoot Contessa Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread this weekend for the Barefoot Bloggers challenge. This recipe was chosen by Sabrina and Alexander of Cooking with the Kids. The recipe was overall quite tasty but it turned out a bit dry. It was about 95 degrees and very humid so don't know if that attributed to the dryness. It would have gone nicely with a big bowl of chili but couldn't bring ourselves to be making chili in the middle of the summer. We ate ours with the Barefoot Contessa's Parker's Fish and Chips (forgot to photograph that!). You can find the Cornbread recipe HERE.