Monday Meringues

I've been making meringues for a few years and they never seem to fail...except for that one time, but that doesn't really count. :)

The critical part in this recipe is to make sure you whip the whites long enough or you'll end up with floppy meringues, remember that one time meringues failed me, ahem, I mean, I failed them?

What you want after adding the sugar.

This guy looks like an elephant, doesn't he???

Meringues are easy to make and even easier to eat!

Ingredients:

3 egg whites

1/8 tsp. cream of tartar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2/3 cup white sugar

1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/3 cup chocolate chips (I like the semisweet chips for this recipe)

Go:

1. Preheat oven 300˚ F.

2. Combine egg whites, cream of tartar, and vanilla. Beat until the whites form soft peaks. If you don't beat them good enough here then there is no saving them later on.

3. Slowly add the sugar, about a tablespoon at a time; beat until you have some beautiful stiff peaks and the mixture becomes glossy.

4. Gently fold in the cocoa and chocolate chips til nicely combined. It is best done with a rubber spatula.

5. Drop the mixture onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. You can make them all uniform and everything but I prefer freestyle. :)

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Store in an airtight container, they're even better the next day. Enjoy!

~Maryah

Chicken and Vegetable Skewers!

  So for dinner tonight I made skewers and all you need it chicken, and any kind of vegetable that you want!

             Just chop the veggies into a size that you would think would fit on a skewer nicely.......

                              And then you take a raw chicken breast and cut it into cubes

           Then one by one, in whatever order you want, poke the veggies and chicken on the skewer......

                   Next you want to place them on a grill and every few minutes turn them so they don't burn

                                                 They will slowly start to crisp.................

Then Wala! You have wonderfully made Chicken and vegetable skewers! :)

Enjoy!!

~brookie

Grilled Veggies

So here is my first recipe....

Grilled veggies- Beats, Zucchini, and Sweet potatoes

I pretty much peeled and chopped all of them into chips. Then got a bowl of olive oil and brushed each side of the veggies. Flip them over about every 2 min. until they are tender.

And that is pretty much it...hope you enjoy!

~Mariah~

Blackberry Crisp

Something amazing happened when I mixed fresh picked blackberries with sugar, flour, and cinnamon, then covered it with a crumbly topping-I'm sure of it. How else would a crisp receive titles such as "The Most Incredible Crisp of the Summer" and "The Best"?

I'm not sure if it was luck or pure genius, but I prefer the latter. I wrote down the recipe with measurements that I was pretty sure about, however, feel free to adjust as needed.

Fresh from the oven.

Filling:

7 cups blackberries (preferably fresh picked from the pine forest)

1 cup white sugar

A sprinkling of cinnamon (I just eyeballed it but I think it was near 1/4 tsp.)

1/3 cup flour

Topping:

1/2 cup flour

Half a stick or so of room temp. butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup oats

Not-so-Optional:

Vanilla ice cream

The Plan:

Preheat oven to 375º F. Butter and flour an 8" x 8" pan. In a medium mixing bowl, gently stir blackberries and sugar together with a wooden spoon. Add flour and cinnamon and stir till combined. Pour into baking dish and set aside.

In a small mixing bowl stir together flour, oats, sugar and butter with fork. The consistency should be moist to the touch but not formed in a big ball of dough. If it is like dough then add more flour or oats. Sprinkle evenly over top of the berries. Bake for 30-35 minutes-should be nicely browned and bubbly.

Let sit for a few hours to come together or you'll end up with soup. I like mine still slightly warm over ice cream. Mmmm. I'm sure that it is even better the next day after being refrigerated but something like this crisp will never last that long here. Trust me.

If you do have leftovers though, be sure to store in fridge. :)

-Maryah