Ice Cream, Ice Cream, We All Sing for Ice Cream

My neighbor made this dessert last night for our YW's activity -- "singing at the botanical gardens" and shared the recipe with us.  The girls had specifically requested it from her.  

I believe it's the same dessert she brought us when we moved into the neighborhood.  It's yummy, so give it a try, because she also said, "It takes about 5 minutes to make!"

Ice Cream Sandwich Dessert

10 ice cream sandwiches
1 jar chocolate fudge sauce
caramel syrup
1 (20 0z.) Cool Whip (real whipping cream gets watery)
1 Heath or Skor bar, crushed

Layer ice cream sandwiches in the bottom of a 9X13 inch pan (you might have to cut one to make it fit.) Pour entire jar of fudge sauce over sandwiches and spread evenly. Drizzle thin layer of caramel syrup over the chocolate. Spread Cool Whip. Sprinkle candy bar over top (the candy bar is easier to crush if frozen first). Freeze.

Why isn't it called "salmonfish"?

Our daughter was making tuna fish sandwiches for our lunch yesterday and asked why other canned fish isn't called _____ fish?  Good question, because we just call it tuna in the ocean, but once it's canned it's called tuna fish, but canned salmon isn't called salmon fish, it's still salmon and so are all the other types of canned fish.   

I found a recipe for Salmon Loaf that my Mother asked my Husband's paternal Great Aunt Beth for.  I made it (see recipe below) for lunch today with some steamed squash our neighbor brought over yesterday.  My picky eater said, "This is my new favorite way to have salmon!"  Those words made it worth trying.  

Talking about canned salmon brings to mind my paternal Grandmother who ate a lot of pink salmon, because she wasn't much of a meat eater. It was always on her shopping list for Grandpa to pick up in town.  (He always did the shopping.)  I too find myself buying canned salmon to have on hand.  In fact, Monday I bought more at Sam's Club -- along with canned tuna fish, canned chicken, canned turkey, etc. -- in preparation for cold lunches for school -- which started Wednesday.  

I know Grandma used to make Salmon Patties at least, because we also ate them growing up and occasionally I make them for my kids.  It's something you can make quickly from what you have on hand.  It's something I should have made last night when my son asked for homemade hamburgers for the 3rd time in a row.  

Salmon Patties  -- Grandma Rhoda

1 lb. can salmon fish:)

1/2 c. dry bread crumbs or soda crackers

1 beaten egg

a little cream or liquid form salmon (they always had eggs and cream on hand on the ranch)

seasoned salt to taste

some onion powder

Drain salmon.  Clean off skin.  In a bowl, break up fish with a fork.  Mix in other ingredients. Form into patties.  Fry on both sides in butter.    

Serve with tartar sauce and fresh, sliced tomatoes.  (Our tomatoes are coming on right now!)

Salmon Loaf -- Aunt Beth 

1 16 oz. can salmon, drained and flaked

2 eggs

1/2 c. milk

1/4 c. chopped, cubed, dill pickles

2 Tbsp. grated onion

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 tsp. dried parsley flakes

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

Mix together salmon and eggs in mixing bowl; mix well with fork.  Add milk and bread crumbs.  Stir in the rest of the ingredients and mix well.  Turn into greased 8 1/2 in. x 4 1/2 in. loaf pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.  Serve warm with sauce.  Makes 4-6 servings.  

Finnish Cucumber Salad

My Aunt and Uncle brought my folks some fresh cucumbers from their garden, so I made two of the cucumbers into this traditional Finnish version of cucumber salad. My brother and some of his family came for a visit today, so we served it then. His granddaughters ate pickles over this which is vinegar with salt, vs. vinegar with sugar and dill in this recipe.  This is a recipe we enjoy though because our Mother included it at most of her Finnish dinners. 

Finnish Cucumber Salad

Kurkku Tilli Salaati

2 cucumbers or 1 long european cucumber

Rinse the cucumbers. 

Do not peel, but score the skin 

by peeling the tines of a fork 

lengthwise through the peel. 

Slice cucumbers into very thin slices. 

Put into bowl with a lid. 

In a separate bowl, mix the following well;

1/3 c. cider vinegar

5 Tbs. water

5 Tbs. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. dill weed

dash of white pepper, optional

Pour over the cucumber slices and toss lightly. 

Cover with a lid and shake to coat evenly. 

Chill several hours to allow flavors to blend. 

It keeps well for days!

Huckleberrying

It's huckleberry picking time here. We went "Huckleberrying" in the woods with some friends.   We had bear spray with us, but didn't see any bears thankfully.  It's probably because we made enough noise to keep them away. We did buy some Huckleberry Gummy Bears at the local grocery store however to taste. As for real huckleberries, the rule was you could eat one for every 10 you picked. She was caught eating them! This guy was determined to fill his bucket with huckleberries before he left, but after 4 hours of picking, each family had just a gallon. Don't tell any huckleberry purists, but we broke off a limb full of huckleberries to take to Mummo, so could see, smell pick and taste them fresh from the woods:) And you can see , we had a nice break to eat our sandwiches in the woods too. It was so beautiful there.

My husband has been carefully sorting washing, drying and freezing our huckleberries.  He's been reminiscing about picking blueberries in Labrador Canada and I remember picking them in Finland this time of year as well.

Picking raspberries is a whole lot easier than picking  huckleberries is.   One neighbor's raspberries have grown under our fence and they've also given us permission to reach over the fence and pick some as well. Another neighbor has also invited to pick at their house.  After picking huckleberries all afternoon our kids picked raspberries at the neighbors house.  We've enjoyed huckleberries and raspberries alone, on waffles, in syrup and so forth today.  We could substitute them for the blueberries in the Cardamom Cake I posted earlier or in anything else which uses blueberries, but huckleberries are used sparingly, since they are so hard to get.  Maybe we'll make a cheesecake to sprinkle some on.  We'll freeze almost all of our huckleberries and bring them out on special occasions, like the first day of winter to remind us of our enjoyable outdoor summer adventure.  

Here is a link to some huckleberry recipes I found online. http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/uma/hucklebe.htm

As for the raspberries, I think I'll try what our neighbor served the recipe exchange the other night.  It's much like the strawberry rhubarb soup (kisseli) I've posted the recipe for before, but it made with berries, this time of the year, raspberries.  Yummy!

Maria's Swedish Berry Cream Dessert Soup

1 quart berries (straw, rasp, goose, blackberries or currants)
3 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
2 TBSP potato flour or corn starch

Clean berries. Bring water to a boil, add berries and sugar and boil several
minutes. Mix potato flour with small amount cold water, stir in and bring
again to boiling point. Cool covered and serve with cream or milk.

Olympic Size Salad and Salmon

Tonight we returned to our monthly Recipe Exchange dinner and invited our husbands. It's been extremely hectic, so little time to prepare, I made a quick salad.  My husband added the Olympic decorations pictured here. 

We also grilled salmon and the recipe for the marinade is below. Thanks to Jessica for sharing both recipes with me.  

You may also see other pictures and read about our husband's night out at the RS recipe exchange at http://rollinghillsrs.blogspot.com/2008/08/hubbies-night-out-relief-society-recipe.html

Craisins Salad

Head of red leaf lettuce
Head of green leaf lettuce
Head of iceburg lettuce
8 oz. pkg. shredded mozzarella
8 oz. pkg. shredded parmesean
1 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
8 oz. craisins (dried cranberries)
1 c. sliced toasted almonds

Toss together.

Dressing:
1/2 c. red wine vinegar
1 c. sugar
1/2 onion chopped
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp mustard
1 c. vegetable oil

Mix everything in a blender except for oil. Add oil, blend again.

Makes an Olympic sized salad!  Tonight I just used a huckleberry vinaigrette I'd purchased since it's also huckleberry season.  

Grilled Marinated Salmon

1 1/2 pounds salmon fillets
lemon pepper to tast
garlic powder to taste
salt to taste
1/3 C. soy sauce
1/3 C. brown sugar
1/3 C. water
1/4 C. oil

Season fillets with lemon pepper, garlic powder, and salt. In a small bowl, stir together soy sauce, brown sugar, water and oil until sugar is dissolved. Place fish in a large resealable plastic bag with the soy sauce mixture, seal and turn to coat. Marinate each side for 2 hours. Put in 9x13 pan lined with foil and bake at 425 for 20-25 min.

More of the recipes others brought can be found at http://recipeparty.blogspot.com

Fresh raspberry topped white cupcakes

Our son is the baker now and I asked him to make a quick dessert for Sunday dinner.  Although he has his own cookie recipe, it needed to be quick, so he choose a white cake mix and wanted to make frosting so I googled "butter powdered sugar frosting" 

and left him to make 
Creamy butter frosting recipe

http://southernfood.about.com/od/icingrecipes/r/bl30108o.htm

Ingredients:
1/3 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound (3 1/2 cups) sifted confectioners sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons milk

Preparation:
Cream butter, salt, and vanilla, beating until light and fluffy. Add sugar gradually, beating after each addition. Add 3 tablespoons milk, beating until smooth. Beat in more milk until desired spreading consistency is reached. Makes about 2 1/3 cups of frosting, enough to frost tops and sides of of an 8-inch 2-layer cake or a 10-inch tube or bundt cake, or about 1 dozen cupcakes.

He made it with very little assistance before church.  His 2nd cousin who was visiting helped him while I made lunch.  He then frosted the cupcakes after church. He just came running  in from the back yard where he picked fresh raspberries to decorate them with. Here's a picture!