But, I happened to be home last Monday night, and I was able to try a new recipe that I have been wanting to try for a long time! It was so amazing that I immediately knew I had to share it with you all. I can’t take any credit for it though; all the credit has to go to Karly over at Bun’s in My Oven. I have found several recipes over there that are spectacular. You should definitely check her blog out!

My favorite thing about this recipe is the summer bonanza it uses! Fresh corn, tomatoes, cilantro, onions, garlic, avocado’s – yum!!!!!

Ingredients

• 3 large ears of corn, shucked
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup cornmeal
• ¼ cup red onion, finely diced, optional
• ¼ cup chopped cilantro
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• Canola or vegetable oil, for frying

• 6-10 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 scallion, minced
• 2 tablespoons minced cilantro
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Juice of half a lime
• 1½ teaspoons olive oil
• 1½ teaspoons white wine vinegar
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 ripe avocado, pitted and diced

Instructions

1. Cut the corn from the cob into a large bowl. Place 2 cups of the corn into the food processor and pulse until slightly pureed, but still somewhat chunky. Return to the bowl with the remaining corn.
2. Add the flour, corn meal, onion, cilantro, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
3. Add the eggs, buttermilk, and butter and stir until just combined.
4. To make the relish, combine all of the ingredients into a small bowl, except for the avocado. Stir to combine everything. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Add the avocado just before serving, to prevent browning.
5. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan and heat until it’s sizzling hot.
6. Scoop tablespoons of batter into the hot pan, about 4 or 5 per batch. Do not over crowd the pan. Fry 1-2 minutes per side, until golden brown. Transfer to a paper towel lined dish.
7. Serve immediately with the relish. Ranch dressing is also yummy on these guys.

For the past few weeks we have been getting a CSA farm share from Mountain View Farm in Easthampton, MA. Since I don’t live close enough to Kilpatrick Family Farm (KFF) to get their fresh, organic produce every week, I’ll be content with locally grown. Besides, that’s what it’s all about! Community Supported Agriculture! Just think, if everyone supported their local farms, it would remedy a lot of food concerns…. Aaaanyway, that’s a-whole-nother issue.

Mountain View Farm is just awesome. I’m consistently impressed by everything from their exquisite fields and structures, to their excellent, naturally grown produce.

This is what I made with some items from this week’s share. It was SO yummy! Everyone was raving….

Fried Rice

Ingredients

• 1 C. carrots, chopped
• 3 large radishes, chopped
• 1/2 medium onion, or 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4-5 leaves kale, chopped
• 3 eggs
• 3 T. soy sauce
• 3 T. olive oil or as needed
• 1 T. sesame oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 C. cold, cooked rice
• 2 scallions, sliced

directions

1. In a large skillet or wok, heat 1 T. of olive oil and 1 T. sesame oil over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, radishes, onion, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until tender. Add the kale and cook until it is wilted and tender. Remove from the pan.
2. Beat the eggs with salt and pepper. Add to the pan 1 T. olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the eggs. Cook, stirring, until they are lightly scrambled but not too dry. Remove the eggs and clean out the pan.
3. Add remaining oil to the pan. Add the rice. Stir-fry for a few minutes, using a wooden spoon to break it apart. Stir in the soy sauce.
4. When the rice is heated through, add the veggies and eggs back into the pan. Mix thoroughly. Stir in the scallions. Serve hot, with steak or just on it’s own!

Here is the Teriyaki Marinade recipe if you want to serve steak with the fried rice. It is delicious!

Spicy Tuna Salad

Ingredients

• 1 (6 oz.) can water-packed tuna, drained and flaked
• 1/4 C. mayonaise
• 2 T. dry roasted sliced almonds
• 1/4 tsp. cumin
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1/4 tsp. lime juice
• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions

1. Mix all the ingredients together and serve it between two slices of crusty, fresh bread, or on a bed of baby greens!

1. Brush 3 whole chicken breasts with  3 Tablespoons of oil and sprinkle with some salt and pepper. Bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

2. Melt 3/4 cups butter in the bottom of a large pot, and saute 2 cups chopped onion. Add the following ingredients:

3/4 cups flour

5 cups chicken broth

1/4 cups heavy cream

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

The baked chicken, cut in small pieces

2 diced carrots (blanched for 2 minutes)

1 (10 oz) bag frozen peas

1 1/2 cups pearl onions

3. Place all of the ingredients in the pot into a 10x13x2 pan (we used a 3-quart casserole dish). Cover and bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

4. To make the biscuits combine the following ingredients in a large mixing bowl:

2 cups flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 stick butter, softened

5. Mix with a pastry blender. Add 3/4 cups half and half. Roll and cut into biscuits. Brush with 1 egg and 1 Tablespoon water.

6. Put biscuits over stew, and bake an additional 20-30 minutes at 375 degrees  until brown and bubbly.

Note: If you have a favorite biscuit recipe like we do, you can make those and just serve them with the stew. Different recipes may not work as well baked on top of the stew, because we have tried that and they did not get cooked all the way through.

I snagged this recipe from COOKS.com. I have used that website now several times for recipe’s. They have oodles of them!!!

But, I will be around for a while now and on top of that, it’s summertime! Which means time to get out the grill and use it!

It has been ridiculously hot the past week so we used the grill one night for dinner. This chicken marinade recipe came from friends of ours. It is probably one of the best marinades that I have ever had. Absolutely fabulous flavor!!

Chicken Marinade ~ The Shaw Family 

Chicken (however much you need!)

Oil

Apple Cider Vinegar

Parsley

Rosemary

Dill

Tarragon

Marjoram

Garlic

First coat the chicken pieces in oil. Then, in a separate bowl, combine herbs. Use your own judgement on amounts, but make sure you use equal amounts of each herb. Add the herbs to the chicken and mix well. Add garlic (use four-five cloves per number of chickens you cut up). Pour apple cider vinegar into your bowl of chicken until it has covered the chicken. The longer you allow the chicken to marinate, the better. Twenty-four to forty-eight hours is ideal. Enjoy!!!

Today I baked Banana Cream and Coconut Cream Pies, Buttery Black Raspberry Bars (for a family that does not eat white sugar), and our best-selling chocolate chip cookies. Well, I’m not going to share the cookie recipe, because if you look hard enough, you can find the recipe for yourself. But… I’ve been wanting to share the recipe for our most popular pie since I started writing for this blog. And part of me asked “Is it okay to share the recipe for our best-selling pie with the public?” Okay, so I finally decided it can’t hurt. There are a thousand recipes like it out there. But even though picking out the ingredients isn’t so very hard, making it is a bit more complicated. (Well, not too complicated once you make one or two.)

Oh, and by the way, for all of you coconut-haters out there ( ) you can easily turn this into a banana cream pie, strawberry cream pie, chocolate cream pie, or whatever else you want to throw in on your own… (just saying…)

Coconut Cream Pie ~

1 – 10″ pie crust baked and cooled. (If you prefer to make your own, you might consider using these recipes that I posted last week.)

1. Scald 3 cups milk in a pot, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Then remove the pot from the heat.(Choose a pot that will fit all the ingredients that go in this pie )

2. In a bowl combine the following ingredients: 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup cornstarch, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Blend 3 egg yolks with a fork and add to the bowl. Whisk in 1 cup cold milk. Then pour the scalded milk from the pot into the bowl, while stirring/whisking. Make sure there are no lumps, and the mixture is well combined. Pour back into the pot where you first scalded the milk.

3. Cook the milk mixture over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon (Constantly!!!). It will thicken very fast in the end, all of the sudden. Stir quickly and be sure to get around the edges so you don’t burn it! When it begins to get very thick and bubbles up, remove from the heat.

4. Stir in 4 Tablespoons butter, 1 Tablespoon vanilla, and some coconut (about 1 1/2/ – 2 cups). Let the pudding mixture cool completely before spooning it into the already-baked-and-cooled pie shell.

5. Refrigerate until slightly chilled and set.

6. Beat 2 cups heavy whipping cream until peaks form (you want to be able to spread the whipped cream on top of the pie, but it should not be runny so that it slides off or looks flat). I usually add about 2-3 heaping spoonfuls of powdered sugar (you can also use an alternative sugar like coconut sugar) and some vanilla for flavoring. Spread over the pudding in the pie shell.

7. Toast about 1/2 – 1 cup of coconut flakes in the oven (Bake it at a lower temperature, and check it often, stirring it around so it toasts slowly and evenly without burning). Let it cool completely, before sprinkling it over the whipped cream. (I usually pre-toast the coconut so that I can put it right on after I spread the whipped cream on).

8. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

9. Don’t eat too much. It is very rich, very filling, and very bad for you. That is the secret to why it tastes so delicious .

I sure hope you like coconut! This is one awesome coconut dessert .

Note: To make the banana cream pie, I left out the coconut that I usually stir into the pudding after I take it off the stove. Instead, I let it cool completely, and then stirred in 2 fresh mashed bananas.  Instead of dumping the pudding into the shell, I layer a little pudding, then a layer of sliced bananas, more pudding, more bananas, and a final layer of pudding. Then the whipped cream. No coconut on top, just plain! Yummy.

Quiche

1 – 10″ Pie Crust (There are two recipes below you can use to make your own!)

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1/4 tsp pepper

1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

1 Tablespoon flour

About 5 oz cooked broccoli (if using frozen, thaw it completely), cut into very small pieces

5 slices turkey bacon, cooked and broken into small pieces (but not crumbled)

Prepare the pie crust in the pie pan, and bake it at about 400 degrees, until it is almost done (10 minutes or so depending on your oven). Spread the broccoli and bacon pieces in the bottom of the pie shell. In a bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, and pepper. Toss the cheese and flour together in another bowl, and combine the two mixtures. Pour over the broccoli and bacon in the pie shell.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes. (Note: you may have to use a pie shield or foil at some point if the crust starts to get too dark.) The top will puff up, and become golden brown.

Now for all you wonderful people who like to make everything fresh, healthier, and from scratch/by hand… Grab an apron, roll up your sleeves, and pull out the rolling pin!

Amish Pat-in-the-pan Pie Crust

Makes 1 – 8 or 9″ pie crust.

Mix the following ingredients in a pie plate:

1-1/2 cups + 3 Tablespoons flour

1-1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Whisk together the following ingredients and add to the pie plate:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 Tablespoons cold milk

Mix everything together evenly, and press into the pie pan.

There you have it! Super easy, and fun to make .

Betty Crocker’s Pie Crust:

Makes 1 – 10″ pie crust.

1/2 cup shortening, or 1/4 cup plus 3 Tablespoons lard

1 1/3 cups flour

1/2 Teaspoon salt

3-4 Tablespoons cold water

Cut shortening into flour and salt until particles are the size of small peas. Sprinkle in water, 1 Tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork (or just mixing with your hands!) until the flour is moist and the pastry almost cleans the side of bowl (add a little more if necessary).

Gather pastry into a ball; shape into flattened round on lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out with a floured rolling-pin, until it is about 2 inches wider than the dish. Press firmly into the bottom and sides.

Note: We always prick the bottom and sides of our pie crust with a fork, once it is in the pan. That way, when we pre-bake the shell, it does not puff up or get bubbles in it.

In my search for recipes that incorporated coconut oil, I came across this one for coconut chicken nuggets. I used the suggested ingredients but switched up the preparation a little bit to accommodate my fondness for ease and simplicity. It turned out incredibly good! The flavors, the textures – everything about these chicken nuggets is delicious. They are wonderfully different, and surprisingly addicting! It’s almost impossible to stop eating them. And as peculiar as this may sound being said about fried chicken nuggets, they are almost refreshing. You will understand what I mean once you’ve tried them. Oh, and in the highly unlikely event that there are any leftovers, I should tell you that they are also amazing cold, and sliced on a salad.

Here is my revised version of the recipe.

Coconut Chicken Nugets

Ingredients

• 1 pound chicken breasts, cut into small nugget size pieces
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• 3/4 cup flour
• ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• ½ cup coconut oil
• salt & pepper

Directions

1.  In a bowl combine flour, shredded coconut, salt & pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Mix to combine. In a seperate bowl beat the egg.
2. In a sauté pan, melt coconut oil on medium heat. Take each piece of chicken, dip it in the egg, and then coat with the coconut and flour mixture.
3. In small batches place nuggets into heated coconut oil and cook on each side for about 3 to 4 minutes.  Transfer chicken pieces to a parchment lined bake pan and place in a preheated oven for 4 to 5 minutes at 375 degrees to allow the chicken to cook through.

The other night I was experimenting with  new chicken recipe. I wanted to roast a chicken, but not just your traditional roasted chicken recipe. I wanted to try a brine, but at 3:30 in the afternoon, it was to late for that. So, I turned to the next best solution. A rub. Or at least that’s what I called it.

So here is what I did.

Get your chicken and put it in a roasting pan. Start with some Kosher salt, and rub it into the outside of the chicken. Take care to get in the leg creases, around the wings and both sides of the chicken. (Note: We alway’s take the wings off to save for chicken wing night, and beside’s it’s not worth roasting them cause there isn’t anything on them!) Use as much salt as you need. After you finish that, take about a cup of butter and melt it. Chop up some green garlic or regular garlic and slice some onion. About 1/2 to 1 cup of each. Add to the melted butter and stir. Then pour it over the chicken. Try to rub the butter over most of the chicken. As much as you are able. Take most of the garlic and onions and stuff them inside the cavity of the chicken. Sprinkle the remaining few on top. Then bake at 325 degrees until done. I baked it for the first 2 hours with the lid on. Then I took the lid of for the last 30-45 minutes. This gave the top of the chicken a kind of crust.

Cut and serve! Instead of gravy, we just dipped up some of the drippings from the bottom of the roasting pan and poured that over the chicken! Insanely good!!!