Dinner in 20: Smoked Turkey and Spinach Pizza

My kids absolutely LOVE this one. It is a tasty change from standard tomato sauce pizza.

Smoked Turkey and Spinach Pizza

2 pre-baked pizza shells
Pam spray
Onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper
1/2 bag (5 oz) fresh spinach leaves
8 oz sliced smoked turkey
8 oz sliced provolone cheese

Spray pizza shells with non-stick spray or brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste.

Layer 1/2 spinach leaves on each shell. Top with sliced turkey then provalone slices.

Bake 450F, 10 minutes.

Dinner is 20: Pasta Toss

This is a stand-by recipe for us. It's easy to throw together and filling enough for the boys. Only a little more effort that Spaghetti and Sauce, but really worth it.

Pasta Toss
1 lb spaghetti, linguini or fettuccini

1 lb ground beef
1 pt sliced mushrooms-can use canned
4-5 roma tomatoes
shrededd paresean cheese
garlic to taste
salt and pepper


Start water for pasta boiling. While waiting for the water to boil, brown the meat and msuhrooms in a skillet. Add garlic to taste and simmer to reduce liquid.

By now the water should be boiling. Add pasta. Dice tomatoes and set aside.

When pasta is cooked, drain. Top with meat, tomatoes and cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss well and serve.

Little Leagues: Aqua Fresca de Fruta

My kids have been having a ball with this recipe this week. I found it the other night and we've done it three times in the last four days. This is a Mexican fruit cooler-type drink often served in Taquerias but not in typical Mexican resturants.

Aqua Fresca

2 cups diced fruit
2 cups water
1 cup ice
1/4 cup sugar or to taste
a couple of tablespoons lemon or lime juice, as needed

Put in blender and blend until well mixed. Pour through strainer before serving.

Fruit suggestions:

seedless grapes, cantelope, honeydew, watermelon, strawberry, mango (use only 1 cup fruit).

We're experimenting with other flavors, though. Enjoy!

Happy happy happy!

Many eons and two children ago we had a macintosh computer. And back in those days I got it into my craw to put ALL my recipies into the computer. I did it an dprinted out pretty recipe cards and laminated them.

Then the computer died. And the makers of the recipe program I used flaked and there was NO way to port the recipies to ANY other program, much less a PC.

I was not a happy camper.

My husband, our resident alpha geek managed to get the dying computer/program to print all the recipes to a text file. Then the computer was toast.

Well,I just found the text file! Somewhere along the line, my husband managed to convert the text file into something our PC could read. AND MasterCook, where I keep all my recipes now will let me import text into the files! It will take a little fiddling, but now I don't have to retype all my recipe cards into the computer! And I can quit worrying about whether I can find another copy of some of those recipes if the card gets lost!

I never expected to be able to recover all that work so I'm just tickled!

Dinner in 20: Salmon Ranch Wraps

With the summer heat already on us, I like to have a few no-heat summer recipes on hand. I came up with this on the fly one day while I was making it up as I went. It turned out well enough that the kids asked for it again.

Salmon Ranch Spread

2 8 oz packages of cream cheese (I use 1 fat free and 1 reduced fat)
1 can salmon, drained
1 envelope ranch salad dressing mix

Blend everything together using mixer or food processor.

To assemble wraps, spread flat bread or tortilla with spread, top with some fresh spinach leaves and roll.

Have some chips and black bean salsa on the side and it is a pretty filling dinner.

Snack Attack: Black Bean Salsa

We had my best friend and her family over for dinner before things got too crazy in May. To take the edge off the appetites while the food grilled, I had a big bowl of Black Bean Salsa and (fat-free Tostito) tortill chips on hand.

This is quick and easy and easy to control the heat level according to your tastes.

Black Bean Salsa

1 Can black beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 can Rotel tomatoes (diced, seasoned tomatoes, choose the level of heat you like)
1/2 cup Italian Salad dressing

Mix everything together and chill until serving time.

If you like it really hot you can add jalapenos, ect to your taste. I tend to like it pretty tame myself and stick to the mild rotels.

Ironically, this stuff is really really healthy too!

Ice Cream

Back in my husband's home town there is an ice cream place that serves the best and the BIGGEST ice cream cones you've ever seen. Believe it or not, in the pictures below, we all have SMALL cones!

It is probably a good thing we don't have one of these in the part of the country where we live!.

Back from Vacation!

Boy, May was a whirlwind, to say the least. It was like we neer had a change to breath the entire month. It seemed like the kids has osmething happening for the end of the year nearly every day. Then at the end of the month, we left the day after school for a family reunion and vacation.

We just got back and I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. But I've got a bunch of stuff to post, including a few pics of our vacation.

Glad to be back! Happy summer!