Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #102

Welcome to the

Linky Party!!

Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #101

Welcome to the

Linky Party!!

Berries and Cream Croustade

Our strawberries are in season and I had some fresh blueberries so I set forth to make a dessert using those fruits. Who doesn't love a nice flaky pie crust bursting with berries?  How about a pie crust with cream cheese and berries?  Yes, please!! 

Berries and Cream Croustade

Croustade:
1-1/3 cup all purpose flour (I used Jovial Einkorn flour)
1 stick cold butter (salted)
1/4 cup ice cold water
(or use your favorite pie crust recipe or store bought)

1 egg white

Filling:
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
8 ounces low fat cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar 
1 egg yolk
2 Tablespoons flour (I used Jovial Einkorn flour)

Topping:
2-3 cups fresh berries
additional powdered sugar (for dusting.)

Using a food processor, add butter to flour, pulsing until butter is pea sized. 

With the machine pulsing, add ice water just until the dough holds together without being wet or sticky.  It should "ball up." If you need more water add it 1/2 tablespoon at a time. 

Place dough onto piece of plastic wrap.  Flatten dough a little bit into the shape you are going to use.  I used a rectangle shape so I shaped it into a rectangle but you can also make it round. Place in refrigerator for one hour. 

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Place a piece of parchment paper onto a flat cookie sheet.  Be sure it is large enough for your dough piece. Flour the surface you are going to roll the dough out onto. Place dough side down leaving the plastic wrap on top to roll onto.  Roll out dough into shape you need. Your dough should be 1" wider on all sides than the final size you need and be 1/8" thick. If you are using a rectangle shape you can cut off the odd shaped edges to even it out.  

Using your rolling pin dusted with flour roll the dough onto the rolling pin and then unroll it onto your parchment paper. Fold 1" of edges in toward center, forming even border.  If you like, pinch edges to form fluted edges. 

Using a fork, prick holes in the bottom of the crust.  

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack while you make the filling.

For filling, beat together lemon juice, cream cheese, powdered sugar, egg yolk and flour until smooth.  Spread onto middle of your croustade.  

Brush outside edge with egg white.  Return to oven for 14-16 minutes or until crust is golden and cream cheese is set. (The flatter you make your cream cheese the less you need to cook it to be sure egg is done.)

Slide parchment and crust onto a cooling rack.  Cool completely.  Slide crust off of parchment onto serving plate. Sprinkle berries on top.  

Dust with powdered sugar and serve.  Refrigerate leftovers

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic Vinegar

I have partnered with the Iowa Pork Producers Association for their first ever Iowa Food Blogger Pork Partnership.  I will be sharing a tasty tenderloin recipe and share a little bit about my connection with pork.

I grew up in a rural setting but not as farmers.  We rented our house from a farmer.  So, we grew up near animals but not raising whole herds ourselves.  That farmer raised pigs and so once in a while we'd get runts.  They were ones that weren't going to make it without a little help. 

We'd bottle feed them with baby bottles and we kept them in the house, yes IN the house!  Usually in the linoleum floored laundry room but sometimes we'd take them out to play.  People always look at me like I am crazy and ask "don't pigs stink?"  No, pigs don't stink when they aren't running round in their own poo!  

This is a photo of "Josie" and my sister.  My mom tells me my sister fell asleep and Josie cuddled up for a nap with her too.  When they were past bottle fed stage Josie went outside until market weight. Mom would go out in the pen and sit down on the side cement slab and Josie would come up and put her front hooves on mom's lap wanting a scratch. She did this all the way to market weight.  That's a big pig!

To learn more about modern pork farming and the values in which Iowa Pork Producers operates, visit www.porkcares.org. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now on to the recipe and this recipe couldn't get any simpler unless it cooked itself!  My family really enjoyed it!!
Below is the recipe as I had made it, you can see the original recipe HERE.  They have over 2,000 recipes so look around.

Stick around to the bottom for a fantastic grilling giveaway!!

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic Vinegar                             Printable Recipe

2 pork tenderloins
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons fresh sage (or 1 Tablespoon dried)
salt and pepper, to taste

Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #100

Welcome to the

Linky Party!!

Spring Pasta Salad

A local grocery store makes this colorful pasta salad.  My mom found the recipe online but it didn't taste quite like what you can buy from her store so she changed it up to make the flavor right and served it this past weekend.  It's sweet, tangy and gets some crunch from the veggies.  Try this for your next potluck! 

Spring Pasta Salad                                                                         Printable Recipe

10 ounces dry shell shaped pasta*  (GF works too)

1-1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 plus 1/3 cup sugar

3-1/2 Tablespoons white vinegar (may need more to taste)

2 cups peeled and thinly sliced cucumber**

1 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/4 cup diced sweet yellow onion

1 cup peeled and thinly sliced carrots
1 cup chopped celery***

Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #99

Welcome to the

Linky Party!!

Foodie Friends Friday will now have a Guest Host each week! 

(If you are interested in being a Guest Host for future parties, please contact me or any of our regular weekly hosts.)

This week Tina from Cheftini joins us!

Please visit her pages...

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Cheftini
Blog: http://cheftini.com/

Baked Parmesan Sweet Potato Fries

First time we had these at a restaurant my child called them "orange fries" and they were fried.  We enjoy having the orange fries at home but I didn't want the mess or calories of frying them so I bake them.  Then we wanted more flavor and we love Parmesan so a little salty sprinkle of cheese and some fun spices and voila, one of our favorite side dishes!

Baked Parmesan Sweet Potato Fries 

1-1/2 to 1-3/4 pounds sweet potatoes (yellow and/or orange)

1 Tablespoon olive oil

Sprinkle of paprika

2 dashes cayenne pepper

1/3 cup grated Parmesan

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

Add olive oil to a medium bowl, mix in paprika and cayenne pepper. Peel sweet potatoes and cut into approximately 3/8" sticks. You want to keep your pieces the same size so they cook the same. Toss to coat.

Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #98

Welcome to the

Linky Party!!

Foodie Friends Friday will now have a Guest Host each week! 

(If you are interested in being a Guest Host for future parties, please contact me or any of our regular weekly hosts.)

This week fellow IOWAN Mackenzie from Life in Kenzie's Kitchen joins us!

Please visit her pages...

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/lifeinkenzieskitchen
Blog: http://lifeinkenzieskitchen.blogspot.com/

Strawberry Pie

The best way to eat fresh strawberries?  In a pie!  This one is easy to make. Make your own pie crust or buy one (I won't tell!)

Strawberry Pie

1-1/2 cups cool water

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 (3 oz) pkg strawberry Jell-O (or you can use sugar free)

1 pound (or as much as you can fit in your pie crust) strawberries, hulled and halved

1 pie shell

Pre-bake pie shell as recipe calls or as instructed from box or package.  Cool.

"30 Minutes or Less" Main Dish Party

In a hurry?  Need lunch or supper fast?  Here are 50+ recipes to help you out.  These recipes are from my blog and other foodie blogger friends.

An InLinkz Link-up

Homemade Feta Style Cheese

This tangy, salty cheese originated in Greece.  They usually make it with a combination of sheep and goat's milk.  I use our goat milk but you can use cow's milk too.  This cheese can be sliced and frozen to crumble later or crumbled now, frozen on a sheet and then bagged to keep. Its one of the easier cheeses to make and is a bit more forgiving that others. 

Homemade Feta Style Cheese

1 gallon milk (preferably raw and can use cow or goat) 
1/16 teaspoon Mesophilic starter culture powder
1/8 teaspoon liquid rennet 

1 cup (approx) canning salt (non-iodized)
1 teaspoon white vinegar

Heat the milk in a double boiler until it is 86 degrees. 

Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #97

Welcome to the

Linky Party!!

Foodie Friends Friday will now have a Guest Host each week! 

(If you are interested in being a Guest Host for future parties, please contact me or any of our regular weekly hosts.)

This week Melissa from Served Up With Love joins us! 

Please visit her pages...

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Served-Up-With-Love/222501791109901
Blog: http://www.servedupwithlove.com/

Glazed Ham on the Grill

This ham starts off with a simple glaze and the cooking method is easy.  You can use an oven but you will get so much more flavor on the grill and I highly recommend charcoal over gas here. 

Glazed Ham on the Grill                                                                             Printable Recipe

1 ham, spiral cut or not (any size will do - mine was 9 lbs)
1 cup honey
1 Tablespoons A-1 sauce

Start charcoal grill and allow to pre-heat.  Each ham comes with it's own directions.  Mine was 300 degrees and 15 minutes per pound to heat.  

Mix together honey and A-1.

"Backyard Grillin'" Linky Party

If you need ideas for an outdoor summer party here are some great recipes to get you started!

An InLinkz Link-up

Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #96

Welcome to the

Linky Party!!

Foodie Friends Friday will now have a Guest Host each week! 

(If you are interested in being a Guest Host for future parties, please contact me or any of our regular weekly hosts.)

This week Kelly from A Lovely Life, Indeed joins us! 

Please visit her pages...

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/yunbesote?ref=br_tf
Blog: http://www.alovelylifeindeed.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last week's recipes that received the MOST CLICKS!!  

Please take a moment to read through the rules before getting started, Thank You!

*By linking up you agree that you read these rules and all photos/recipes are original and belong to you. You agree to allow Foodie Friends Friday and any of it's affiliated websites or publications (Social Girls Media, LLC) to use photos, links, and recipes for reprint and/or republishing and distribution without monetary compensation to you. If photos & recipes are used, proper link backs to you will be included.

FOODIE FRIENDS FRIDAY LINKY PARTY RULES TO FOLLOW!!

1. LINK UP ONLY RECIPES MADE BY YOU.
2.  LIMIT OF 3 LINKS PER WEEK (LINKS MUST NOT BE PART OF A REVIEW, GIVEAWAY, OR ANOTHER LINKY PARTY.
3. WE'D LOVE A LINK BACK TO FOODIE FRIENDS FRIDAY TO YOUR POST OR A BUTTON ON YOUR WEBSITE.  YOU WILL NOT BE CHOSEN TO BE FEATURED IF THE LINK AND/OR BUTTON CANNOT BE FOUND. 
4.  THANK THE CO-HOSTS BY "LIKING" THEIR PAGE. 

Adding Links back to Foodie Friends Friday and our Button is our only form of advertising to bring in more people to see YOUR recipes.

Please remember to do this. It benefits you! To thank you, we will continue to feature those with links throughout the year on various outlets.

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.foodiefriendsfridaydailydish.com/" title="Foodie Friends Friday" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1271.photobucket.com/albums/jj628/busyvegetarianmom/FFFDDButtonNEW150Darker_zpse238f637.jpg" alt="Foodie Friends Friday" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

An InLinkz Link-up

Thank you to everyone for making last week's Foodie Friends Friday Party a huge success. Did you see all the recipes that caught OUR attention last week? Check out the Host Favorites on the Daily Dish for links to all the recipes.

An InLinkz Link-up

Gma's Featherlight Pancakes

Gma? What does that mean?  It is short for GRANDMA!  Some time ago we got lazy in our typing messages back and forth we that shortened grandma and grandpa to gma and gpa....it stuck.  Even the grandkids call them that!

These are the pancakes my mom has been making since I was little kid.  She always made shaped pancakes for my sister and I. This is a thinner batter so it was easy to do.  At the end of cooking she always made the 50 cent size pancakes and even if we had already had enough pancakes we always had room for those.  Now she makes these pancakes with my daughter and my niece.  The fun part now is that she lets them add coloring.  So grandpa has eaten purple, pink, green, and sometimes blue pancakes!

Gma's Featherlight Pancakes

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons baking powder
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 Tablespoons oil

"Desserts" Linky Party

Thanks for celebrating my 10,000+ likes on Facebook and big 4-0 birthday!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party #95

Welcome to the

Linky Party!!

Foodie Friends Friday will now have a Guest Host each week! 

(If you are interested in being a Guest Host for future parties, please contact me or any of our regular weekly hosts.)

This week Debi from Life Currents joins us! 

Please visit her pages...

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/LifeCurrents
Blog: http://lifecurrents.dw2.net/

Sauerbraten

Another favorite German dish of our family is sauerbraten. Translated it means "sour roast" and that is exactly what it is.  A big 'ol hunk of beef soured in a marinade for up to three days.  The "gravy" is fantastic (no gingersnaps in this recipe.)  This meal takes some forethought for prep time and a few more steps to make but certainly worth the effort!

Sauerbraten

Marinade:

2 cups water
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 med onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 Tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 bay leaves
6 whole cloves
1 teaspoon mustard seeds*

3 ½ - 4 pounds boneless chuck roast
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

Cooking Ingredients:

Oil
4-5 carrots – sliced or quartered
Medium onion, chopped
A small tomato or 1/4 cup ketchup
1/3 cup sugar
Packet brown gravy mix
cornstarch