Fruit Salad

I am officially ready for spring! I'm ready for the snow to melt, the temperatures to warm and I want to play in the dirt! I decided to bring some spring into our menu today by making a simple fruit salad. You can use your favorite fruit, I'm using what's available for now. In the summer, I add watermelon, honey dew melon and fresh papaya. Many thanks to Angie for taking the picture, I ended up getting distracted and forgot until my salad was gone!
Ingredients:
1 cup fresh pineapple, cut into bite-size cubes
1 banana, sliced
1 cup strawberries, sliced
1 cup blueberries
1 cup peaches, sliced
Dressing:
1/4 cup coconut milk (I use organic coconut milk in the can)
1 T lime juice (freshly squeezed is the best)
2 T brown sugar
Directions:
Mix the dressing first so that the sugar dissolves. Cut the fresh fruit and place in a medium bowl. Pour the dressing over the fruit and mix well. Enjoy - think spring!
Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Coconut Milk Rice Pudding

  

With our blast of cold and snowy weather again here in the Midwest, even though it's supposed to be Spring, I think my body must think I need to keep eating to hibernate! I've been so hungry for things I don't usually make..like rice pudding for instance.  I'm normally not a big fan of rice in pudding but this recipe was pretty creamy and yummy...and I just kept going back for more! This recipe was adapted from several different rice pudding recipes. It makes about 5, 1/2 cup servings.

Here's what you need:

• 2 c. coconut milk or 14 oz can coconut milk
• 2 c milk
• 2 vanilla beans scraped and the pods, or vanilla extract
• 2 cinnamon sticks, or 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 c. uncooked rice, I used Basmati because I like the texture, Tammi made hers with brown rice
• 1/4 c. brown or white sugar, or your sweetener of choice
• raisins, or whatever mix-ins you like, optional

Pour coconut milk, milk, scrape vanilla beans and add both the seeds and pods, cinnamon sticks and rice and sugar or sweetener into a medium saucepan and bring to boil, turn heat down and simmer 15-20 minutes, if you are using vanilla extract instead of beans add that now, then cook until rice is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove vanilla pods and cinnamon sticks, enjoy warm or put in refrigerator if you like it cold. Leftover pudding can be kept in an airtight container in fridge about a week.

~Simply Angie

 

Easy Pizza Hotdish

Here's what you need:

• 1 16 oz. box of pasta, sometimes I use egg noodles, for this recipe I used Ziti
• 16 oz jar of your favorite Pizza Sauce, (I use Trader Joe's)
• 1-2 c. of Mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1/2 c. (or as much as you like)of Pepperoni slices, I used Turkey Pepperoni
• OPTIONAL: you can add other ingredients you like such as black olives, peppers, onions, etc.

Boil water and cook noodles for about half of the cook time on the package(you will finish baking in the oven). Drain pasta but save a little pasta water to add to your hot dish, this helps the sauce stick to the noodles. Stir in sauce, cheese and pepperoni. Bake, covered in 350 degree oven about 30 minutes, or until noodles are tender and cheese is melted. I always add a little more cheese on top and bake uncovered the last 10 minutes or so. I made mine in my Food Network 7-Qt. Enamel Cast-Iron Dutch Oven (Google Affiliate Ad)  I use my enamel cast-iron pot for just about everything. I boiled the noodles in it then added all the other ingredients into it after I drained the water. Easy one pot clean-up!



~Simply Angie

Semi-Homemade Peanut Butter Pie

I got this recipe from Sandra's Money Saving Meals on Food Network. I just had to share, it was super yummy,  quick, and of course, cheap to make. So here it is in case you missed it on her show.

Here's what you need:

• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• One 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• One 9-inch graham cracker crust
• 1/4 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped (I didn't have nuts so I crushed up a little graham cracker for the topping)

Heat the milk in a small pot over low heat until warm. Don't overheat the milk or you will have chocolate syrup instead of ganache! Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate chips until melted and smooth.  Cool slightly, it should be thick but have a pourable consistency.

In a large bowl using an electric mixer on high, beat together the cream cheese, peanut butter and powdered sugar. In a separate bowl, (I used my whisk attachment on my KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer KSM150PS - Metallic Chrome - KitchenAid (Google Affiliate Ad) beat together the heavy cream with the vanilla until doubled in volume and soft peaks form. I accidentally forgot the vanilla until I was writing down the recipe! I didn't even notice, it still tasted delicious.

Stir one-third of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture to lighten it. Fold in the remaining whipped cream until combined.

Spread into the graham cracker crust. Pour the melted chocolate over the top of the pie and sprinkle with the chopped peanuts, or graham cracker crumbs. Place the pie in the freezer to set up, about 1 hour. Enjoy!

~Simply Angie