Fruit Salad with Sweet Dressing

April is an important month for me and my family, because April is Autism Awareness Month! For anyone who knows me, you know that I love my family tons! My little brother is very special to me. He's my buddy. And he's autistic.

Throughout the month of April, I hope to share, a little about my brother and about autism, along with many of my posts. As I'm sure many people know, the Autism Awareness ribbon is characterized by puzzle pieces and primary colors. Also, the color "blue" has become a symbol a Autism Awareness through the Autism Speaks insignia. I will be blogging about autism along with my usual recipes for this month. Thank you to everyone in their support of Autism Awareness and spreading the word!

This is a very simple fruit salad which I chose to feature today, because its colors are similar to that in the Autism Awareness Ribbon. I hope to feature some foods that highlight the color themes for Autism Awareness, as well as, some of my brother's favorite foods in the up coming weeks.

6 strawberries, sliced
4 oz blueberries
1/2 cantaloupe, diced
1/2 pineapple, cubed
1 bunch of green grapes
1 bunch of red grapes
4 tbsp honey
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lime juice
2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp cinnamon

1. Rinse all of the fruit and pat dry with paper towels. Place all the fruit in a large bowl.

2. In a small bowl, add honey. Slowly, add in lemon and lime juice while stirring.

3. Stir in vanilla and cinnamon.

4. Drizzle the dressing over the fruit and lightly toss until well coated. Serve chilled.

What's Baking Round-up ~ Bake From Your Heritage

I had the honor of hosting this month's What's Baking Challenge. While trying to choose a theme for the month of March, I thought about what I most frequently blog. I mostly cook and bake dishes that my mother and grandmothers did. So very much of my kitchen experience stems from my family. Environment and genetics both help shape a person to be who they are, and family, as well as heritage, are part of both. All the memories and fun in the kitchen, for me, are almost always shared with my mom. My family is a great part of who I am so I thought, what better challenge than to bake a dish that represents your family and your heritage. So for March, everyone was asked to Bake from their own Heritage. I hope everyone enjoyed sharing little bits of their own history through their recipes here!

Sicilian Cassata Cake

Melissa, from I Was Born To Cook, shared her Sicilian cake, spongy layers filled with cannoli cream

Ostaka

Ammie, from Adventures in my Kitchen, showed off her traditional Swedish cheesecake topped with lingonberry berry preserves

Joe Frogger Cookies

Catherine, from Pursuing Domestic Goddessness, shared crispy cookies from her New England heritage

Reuben Sandwiches

Jade, from The Mess Pot, boasted her Irish fare of glazed corned beef brisket

Sandbakkels

Carrie, from Carrie's Sweet Life, flaunts her Scandinavian confections, filled shortbread cookies

Streuselkuchen

Lindsey, from Our Share of the Harvest, shared a moist, German cake with a nut and sugar crumble topping

Traditional Tourtière

Jill, from JBean Cuisine, exhibts her love for French-Canadian foods with these cute and savory meat pies

Babovka

Heather, from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks, baked her chocolate and vanilla Slovak pound cake sprinkled with powdered sugar

Buttermilk Oatmeal Muffins

Yudith, from Blissfully Delicious, made her Indonesian-style muffins with chocolate chips

Irish Brown Bread

Cara, from The Boys Made Me Do It, shared a traditional and hearty Irish bread.

Anginettes

I made these cookies to celebrate my Italian heritage, a dense cookie with a lemon glaze

Be sure to check April's What's Baking Challenge-Spring Baking hosted by Leanne, from The Martin Family. You can use some light, fruity desserts or tap into the colors of sping! Thanks to everyone who participated! All of your entries look fantastic!

Anginettes

To really know oneself, I feel it's important to know where you came from. Being Italian is as much a part of my past heritage as it is a part of my current lifestyle. Many of the foods I make are Italian because that's the food I grew up learning to cook. I'm proud of my heritage and hope to pass on our family traditions and recipes, along with our love of food, family, and values. It's crucial for younger generations to carry on these traditions and appreciate for culture. So for this month's What's Baking challenge, I choose to Bake from Your Heritage.

There are certain foods that are very always made by my family, because they are recipes passed own through generations. This is one of them. These cookies, anginettes, were made by my Great Aunt Matt long before I was born. They're present at every family party and get-together I can remember. Some relatives in our family have a particular dish that is "their' thing". This was Aunt Matt's cookie. My grandmother has a particular cookie that is hers too, however it's not baked so we'll save that for some other time. Enjoy this favorite Italian cookie, from my home to yours!

Anginettes (Italian Cookies with Lemon Glaze)

2 1/2 pounds flour
1 tbsp baking soda
5 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cup sugar, plus 1 tsp
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
6 eggs, beaten
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup crisco



1. In a large bow, mix together the dry ingredients; flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugar, vanilla, eggs, and Crisco.

3. Alternately add dry ingredients and milk a little bit each time until batter is smooth and not sticky.

4. Roll dough into 1" balls and drop on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper about an inch apart.

5. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. Place tray on bottom rack of oven then halfway through baking rotate to top rack and replace with a new filled cookie sheet.

6. Cookies are done when slightly golden brown. Set aside to cool while making lemon glaze.

*Yields about 7-8 dozen one inch round cookies*



Lemon Glaze

3 1/2 -4 lbs confectionery sugar
juice of 5-6 lemons
a few tbsp cold water
sprinkles/nonpareils

1. Mix together the sugar and lemon juice.

2. Add a few drops of cold water, little bits at a time, until the icing is thick an has no lumps.

3. Dip cookies upside down in glaze to coat the cookie tops and place on wax paper to dry.

4. Add sprinkles before the glaze hardens. Enjoy!!

Stay tuned for the full What's Baking Round-up in the next few days!

Bailey's Irish Cream

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I wanted to make something Irish, especially since hubby is Irish and loves, well, all things edible. These two ideas collided and out came, Bailey's Irish Cream. Irish cream is great as a drink, but also a great addition to baking and cooking. Plus, it contains two of the best flavors, chocolate and coffee. Who doesn't love that? It almost tricks you into thinking it's a dessert in itself!

1 tsp instant espresso granules
1 1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp powdered sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream, divided
3/4 cup milk
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 Tbsp honey
1 1/2 cups Irish whiskey
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a small bowl, mix together the espresso, cocoa powder, cinnamon, powdered sugar, and 3 tbsp of heavy cream. Stir until dissolved and set aside.

2. Pour all the remaining ingredients into a large bowl including the cocoa espresso mixture.

3. Use an immersion blender to incorporate all ingredients together for 20-30 seconds until your mixture is smooth. If you do not have an immersion blender a traditional blender on pulse or puree will work as well.

4. Pour it into your favorite sealable containers. Let the drink sit overnight for all the flavors to blend together.

5. Be sure to give it a good shake before using and enjoy your homemade Irish cream for up to 2 months. Store in refrigerator.


Source: 6 Bittersweets


Also Featured: Tasty Tuesdays and Tempt my Tummy Tuesday

Make Your Own Edible Arrangements (Fruit and Veggie)

Welcome Spring! We missed you! This past Sunday, first day of spring has finally arrived after much anticipation! It's been a cold and snowy winter and the idea of warmer weather, flowers, being outdoors without a fuzzy coat, all sound very appealing. However, just a few days into spring and I wake up to see this....


So apparently winter is trying to give us one last hurrah before spring can come and take over! This time last week, there was beautiful 70 degree weather and today schools are closed. Either way, I'm getting ready for spring! It's coming soon, right?

Fruit Edible Arrangement

1 whole pineapple, cut into 1"inch thick slices
10 blueberries
1 container strawberries
1 cantaloupe
1 pound green grapes
1 pound red grapes

Also some necessary items for construction:
bowl or vase with wide mouth (approx 5-6 in diameter)
foam or loosely balled foil with a cover, such as lettuce leaves or melon rind
skewers
toothpicks

1. Prep your base first by placing the loosely balled foil into the bottom of your vase or bowl until its 3/4 full. Then place the covering over it. I used the rind from the cantaloupe and it looked so cute! Or if you happen to have florist foam you can just place it in the bottom with or without a cover. Just be sure it fits snug.

2. Now here is the beauty of making your own edible arrangements. You can choose exactly how many of each items, how tall they are,and how to arrange them; it's all up to you! So if you love strawberries, use more of those. If you are making this for friend who loves pineapple, go crazy. Also I found it easier, to choose one skewers to make all the holes in the base before you begin. I also choose to push the skewers in the base before adding the fruit. It seemed to work better.

3. Cut the cantaloupe into wedges after removing the rind. I tried to keep mine welly intact to use it as the cover. I also used a fancy vegetable slicer to add crinkled edge cuts on the cantaloupe. Set aside prepped cantaloupe.

4. The strawberries are very simple. Just remove the greenery on their tops with a knife and place on skewers. You certainly could dip them in chocolate. I wanted to dip the, but happened to be out of chocolate when I made these, which barely ever happens because I love chocolate!

5. The grapes were fun and easy. Slide the grapes on the skewers vertically and just keep filling your skewer until the grapes reach the top.

6. Now for the trickiest of all, the pineapple flower. I used a star-shaped cookie cutter for this flower. Cut out one flower in the middle of the slice. Then, using a paring knife, carefully cut through the middle horizontally to make two 1/2" thick stars. Use a small piece of toothpick to securely attach the two stars in the middle and put one blueberry on the end and skewer up the center of the flower. Viola!

7. Be sure to keep your arrangements covered in saran or cellophane and in the refrigerator. And try to make it near to the time you will be serving or delivering the arrangements, so the fruit is fresh as possible!


Veggie Edible Arrangement

10 radishes
10 asparagus stalks
1 small bunch of fresh dill stalks
1 container of cherry tomatoes
1 cup of dressing (Ranch, blue cheese, Caesars, etc)

Also some necessary items for construction:
bowl, vase, or Ball jars
toothpicks


1. Start by washing and preparing a large bowl of cold water to let the radishes soak in.

2. Using a small paring knife, cut off the tops of radishes and level the bottoms.

3. Begin to make small cuts on the sides of the radishes, but don't go all the way down. Leave the bottom connected as a flap for petals. Let soak in cold water for about an hour to open the "flowers".

4. Remove the tops of the asparagus and put half a toothpick into the bottom of the stalk.

5. Push one radish flower onto the toothpick and repeat with the rest of the asparagus and radishes.

6. You can either use a dressing in the bottom to appear as "water" in your vase or what I did which was fill the bottom inch of the vase with cherry tomatoes.

7. Stand up the "flowers" and dill, which acts as your greenery, in the vase and that's it! Also, keep this arrangement in the refrigerator and serve/deliver as soon as possible for fresh veggies!


Source: The Dapper Darling

Also featured on: Works for Me Wednesday