Favorite Summer Recipes

I love this cake at any time, but it is one that I always have to make at least once a summer.  Last year Mom and I tried it with orange jello and orange juice.  It was pretty dang good.  This year I used a strawberry cake mix instead of yellow.  Strawberry Lemonade cake - yum!! But the original is still the best. (The picture is my Strawberry Lemonade cake that I made last weekend).  Mom's recipe actually calls it Lemon Gelatin Cake, but I always refer to it as:

Lemonade Cake
1 pkg. yellow or white cake
1 3 oz. pkg of lemon jello
1 /2 c. oil
4 eggs
1 c. water

Combine cake mix, jello, oil and water.  Beat for 4 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Pour into a greased oblong  (9x13) pan, Bake at 350 for 45 minutes (give or take). Cool and poke holes in the tope with a fork.  Then pour glaze over the top.

Glaze
2 c. powdered sugar
2 T lemonade concentrate, thawed (I usually end up using more - closer to 4 T)

Whisk together and pour over the top.

This picture came out a little blurry...but it shows the glaze on top well :)

Figured I should put a dinner recipe as well.  One that we like - hot or cold - Joshua will take a wedge to school in his lunch the next day!  When I had Nathaniel, some friends from church brought us dinner and this is what they brought.  Jeannie Martinez was like a second mom (or an aunt she told me once because she really wasn't old enough to be my mom) to me in Winters and I often ate Sunday dinner with them before I got married.  She told me she got this recipe from Pampered Chef.

Taco Ring

Ingredients:

3/4 lb. ground beef or turkey

2 tbsp. Southwestern seasoning mix (taco seasoning spices)*

4 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2 tbsp. water

2 pkg. refrigerated crescent rolls

1 md. green bell pepper  (optional)

1 cup salsa

3 cups shredded lettuce

1 md. tomato

Sour cream

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 375°F. In frying pan, cook and stir beef over med/high heat until meat is no longer pink. Remove from heat and drain. In bowl, combine meat and taco seasoning. Add cheese into meat mixture. Add water and mix well. On a baking stone, or pizza pan, arrange crescent triangles in a circle with bases overlapping in center and point to the outside. There should be a circle of about 5" in diameter in center. Scoop meat mixture evenly onto the widest end of each triangle. Bring outside point of triangles down over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough at center. (Filling will not be completely covered) Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cut off top of pepper and discard membranes and seeds. Fill with salsa. Place pepper in center of ring (optional).  Arrange lettuce and tomato around pepper. Garnish with sour cream. 

Of course, as Brian always says, I can't follow a recipe exactly.  I add sliced olives and a can of yellow corn (drained of course) to the meat mixture.  You could add a (drained) can of black beans as well.  Since my kids aren't thrilled with putting salsa on their food, we never do that step.  But I like it best with sour cream on top.  And in addtion to chopped lettuce and tomato, if avocados are reasonably priced when I make it, those go nicely with it too :)

Now, better go get the last pan of cookies (banana chocolate chip) out of the oven so we can go have a picnic at the park.