Cool Summer Recipe: Grape Summer Salad

Submissions are coming in!! Have you gotten yours in? A no-oven recipe and a picture of it e-mailed to us at: shesaidblog@yahoo.com is all you need to do - be sure to get it in by August 31st. Voting is on September 5th. For more information follow the link for our Cool Summer Recipe Challenge

Our friend Jana Wilde shares:
Best salad . . . . ever!

Grape Summer Salad

Two bricks cream cheese (can use lower fat if desired)

One 16 oz sour cream

1 1/2 Cups Sugar

1 1/2 bags (give or take) of red seedless grapes

2 Butterfinger bars

This is double the original recipe so half it if you must! Let the cream cheese soften and cream together with sour cream and sugar, you"ll want it as smooth as you can get it. Wash grapes and fold into mixture (use desired amount, more or less to taste). Grab a fresh bowl and put half of grape mixture in. Crush 1 butterfinger and sprinkle on top of layer ( if you want to be really sinful, you can add some extra layers with a bit of brown sugar). Put rest of grape mixture on top and crush one more butterfinger to top. There you have it! Great for picnics and barbeques!

Cool Summer Recipe: Frito Salad

Hey! Long time and no post! Sorry. While Nan is spending a splendid vacation in Las Vegas and I'm busy packing boxes (the big move is this week!) we have been very lazy at posting. Can you believe how fast the summer has gone by?!?

We are excited to recieve our FIRST Cool Summer Recipe Contest entry!! ( and here we thought that we would have to declare ourselves the winner and keep the prize ourselves) Our good reader Hope shares her recipe for Frito Salad.

Hope says: Hey Girls!

Sorry I'm just getting this to you, but it's a AWESOME recipe. I'm sure people have had it, but it's always a hit at family parties, and it's SO easy.

Frito Salad
6 cups drained corn (or 3 cans)
1 can olives (chopped)
1-2 cans black beans (rinsed and drained)
2 peppers (cut into small pieces)
1 purple onion (thinly diced)
1/4 bunch cilantro
1 container grape tomatoes
1 C mayo

Chill for a few hours, add 1 bag chili cheese fritos.

This recipe is nice because you can basically add more or less of whatever. Make it how you like it. :)

Thanks for sharing Hope!
Want to give Hope some friendly recipe competition? Our contest is still open to any of you who have a Cool Summer Recipe - get 'em in and enjoy some cool cooking!

House Guests 1-2-3

This is a post I ment to write a lot earlier - but it's better late than never right?Summer - vacations - staying in exotic places...well depending on where you go! Summer seems to be the season for house guests. Nan hosted us for an entire week and it was wonderful!! Ya know when you stay at someone elses house and you feel a little "wierd"...well that wasn't the case with this trip. Nan was an excellent hostess and I documented a few ways that she helped me feel right at home.

Weather they are staying for a day or a week try here are 3 steps to help your guests enjoy their stay:

1.Give them all the info they need. Providing a map (with helpful points: i.e. your house, the grocery store, the shuttle pick up) is a SAVING grace!! I carried my map with me everywhere, Logan isn't the largest city in the world, but it was great to know where I was and/or how to get where I was going. A House key. A list of phone numbers: Your cell, work phone, neighbors that can help, etc. Since Nan couldn't take an entire week off of work me & baby S were by ourselves for awhile during the day. It was awesome to have a list of numbers of close by gals that I could call (and knew that I was there too!!) if I needed someone to hang out with or to borrow a stroller.

2. Providing them with the comforts of home. During our grand tour of the house Nan also included a tour of her freezer that contained - My Favorite - Toaster Strudels (I had one every morning) and some very indepth reading of the royal wedding...it was so sweet, it was so nice, I felt so at home! We normally don't travel with a port-a-crib because there is always one at grandma's, Nan graciously provided us one that was set up and ready to go when we arrived. Find out what your guests need (or like!!)- never assume - that way they can settle in quicker and be ready to socialize.

3. Going the extra mile. One of the reasons it's so nice to stay at a hotel is the little extras that you get. Mr. S. chukled when he saw these on our pillows and asked, "Do you think she'll charge us $4 for drinking it?" Are there little extras that you can offer your guests that will make their stay more comfortable? Water, extra blankets or pillows, a manicurist, toiletries or even some good night time reading placed in their room (so they don't have to ask for it) puts the stay above and beyond more comfy.....unless the manicurist has a tendancy to snore :)

Do you have any house guest tips or tricks? Be sure to share!
Also we are still on the hunt for those No-Oven recipes be sure to turn those in!!!

Cool Summer Recipe -- Microwaved Corn on the Cob

Thanks for all of the birthday love, everybody!!  I had a great day.

Back when Michelle came to visit, I fixed corn on the cob using my microwave.  Although Michelle had never seen corn cooked that way, it's the only way I do it!  It's fast and keeps your kitchen blessedly cool.  Start out by shucking and cleaning your corn.  Don't worry about drying them off; you want a little bit of moisture left on the ears. 

Hello, cuties.

 You will need one piece of wax paper for each ear of corn.  The paper needs to be a little bit longer than your corn.  Place your corn on one corner of the wax paper...

...and roll it up!  Twist the ends of the paper like a Tootsie Roll.

I put my corn on the side of the paper that feels more papery, with the waxy side on the outside.

Put your corn in the microwave.  I like to use a plate, but you don't have to.  If you are cooking more than two ears of corn, arrange them like the spokes of a wagon wheel.

Microwave on high.  Start with one minute per ear of corn and then check; I like to gently squeeze each ear to find out if it's still really hard and needs more time.  I think two ears for Mr. W and me usually takes about four minutes total.

Carefully unwrap and then season with butter, salt, pepper, whatever you like!

Yum...that's summer goodness right there!

I am linking this post up to

*Remodelaholic*

Cool Summer Recipe Challenge!

It's Summer. It's Hot. You still have to make dinner....but what to make on an extremely hot day?Join us in our First Recipe Contest!!

We've shared some of our favorite No-Oven recipes & we want you to share YOURS!!!

Each week we will share our readers best No-Oven recipes & YOU get to decide who is

"The Queen of Cool".

The winner will recieve bragging rights & her own set of  popscile molds (they are the favorites of Kate & Sara from Our Best Bites)

Contest Rules:
E-mail us at: shesaidblog@yahoo.com with your No-Oven recipe.Your recipe can cover any course from drinks & appetizers to dessert and anything in between and a picture of the finished dish (up to 2 photos). Be specific with measurements, directions and the size of cans, packages and pans so others can successfully make your recipe. Include a few words about the origin of your recipe. Share any compliments it's received, plus any variations you recommend. You may only enter one recipe. We will be accepting recipes from July 14th -August 31st.

We will post all of our readers fabulous recipes and you will have a treasure trove of cool, easy, yummy no-oven recipes to try.  You will will try them out and come back and leave feedback on the recipe (or recipes...who says you have to cook just one?)

On September 5th we will ask all of our readers to come back and vote on their all-time favorite No-Oven recipe. In the event of a tie Michelle & Nan will make the final decision.

Grab a button and let all of your blogging friends know that you are a part of this challenge (and to come vote for your recipe!!) The more the merrier and the more recipes...the Better!!
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Any questions? E-mail us at shesaidblog@yahoo.com

Happy Birthday Nan!!

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Stuffed Artichokes

Behold  the Beauty, the Majesty, the Yumminess of the Artichoke!

This is one of my All-Time favorite veggies to eat and while they may look complicated...they aren't.

Picking your artichoke is very important. You want to look for a nice green color without too much brown edges or scarring (signs that it's old). Also you want to see some purple at the base of the leaves. Finally when you are holding it, and it's feeling heavy, give it a sqeeze. Do the leaves cave in? (another sign of an old artichoke) or do you hear a sqeeky sound and it feels firm? (the sign of a good one!)

Washing. If you wish to cut the tips (the pointy ends) of the leaves I would do it at this now (use kitchen sissors). Now put the choke under the water and make sure to open some of the leaves so the water can get in & around (if you didn't cut the tips off be careful, you might get poked). Then hold it upside down to drain out.

Then cut the stem off and put it on a microwave safe plate (be sure that it's sitting evenly)

Take a spoon and Stuff breadcrumbs down into the leaves (ya know right where there is a pocket). Keep pushing back leaves and stuffing them until you reach the top and you can't pry any more leaves open.

Melt some butter (2 TBS), lemon juice (1 TBS) and pour over the top. Add a bit of water to the bottom (2-3 TBS) of the plate and cover in plastic wrap

Yummmy do you see all that stuffing? Do you have to stuff the artichokes? No - you don't, but it makes it more filling and exciting!!

You want to Cook your artichoke in the  microwave (in your really clean microwave I might add) on high for

3 minutes for a small artichoke

6 minutes for a large artichoke (the artichoke pictured is a large one)

Aaaaah ....so yummy....I'm drooling. But how can we tell that it's really done?

 Pull a leaf out (watch out it is literally steaming hot. I usually use a pot holder to handle it)

Can you pull the leaf out easily?  (If yes move onto the next question. If  No, cover it up and put it back to cook for 1 minute. Repeat until you can pull out a leaf. Do not exceed a total cooking time of 15 minutes)

Bite the base of the leaf  is it soft or crunchy? (well to be technical you scrape the end of the leaf off, as you can see)

Soft = Go and eat

Crunchy = cook one more minute

Eat! Pull leaves off  one by one dipping them in your preffered dipping sauce and eating each leaf at the base.

You have a few choices of dipping sauces out there. I've heard of melted butter or Mayo mixed with a bit of balsamic vinegar or even Ranch dressing.

My preffered dipping sauce is a simple Vinegarette of: Olive Oil, Vinegar, salt & pepper and basil

Once you get to the very thin leaves that are tipped wth purple and slightly translucent stop and pull them off (sorry I don't have pictures of it) You want to scrape off the Fuzz with a small knife. This Fuzz is the "choke" of the artichoke. Once scraped off you will be left with a grayish base of the artichoke - the Heart - this is the main event!! Cut up the heart and savor it, dipping it in the sauce.

How did you do? How was it? Let me know!! I want some feed back.

We are still looking for recipes that don't use your oven. It's summer FiNallY!! So turn off your ovens and show us what you can do!! E-mail us your no-oven recipe to shesaidblog@yahoo.com (include recipe & picture of the dish)

I Linked Up to these parties

*Remodelaholic*

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