I love throwing themed parties! Fourth of July is coming up and I found this great Fourth of July inspired desert on Kaboose!

Ingredients

• Two packages (4 serving size) or one package (8 serving size) any flavor red gelatin (e.g., JELL-O)
• Two packages (4 serving size) or one package (8 serving size) blue gelatin (e.g., JELL-O)
• Whipped topping (e.g., Cool Whip) 
• 2-1/2 cups boiling water
• Mixing bowls
• Measuring cups
• Rubber scraper or large spoon
• Table knife
• Two 9×9-inch pans (or you can do it in one pan, one flavor at a time)
• Clear plastic cups (4 to 6 ounce size)
• Star-shaped cookie cutters
• Large tray
• Cherries (optional)

Cooking Instructions

1. Pour one flavor of gelatin into the mixing bowl. Add 1 1/4 cups of the boiling water and use the rubber scraper to stir until all of the gelatin has dissolved (about two minutes). Pour the mixture into one of the pans. Repeat with the other gelatin flavor.
2. Put the pans into the refrigerator and let the gelatin chill for about three hours.
3. Put about an inch of warm water into the sink. Dip just the bottom of the pan (don’t let the water come up over the sides) into the water for just a few seconds. (Note: Be careful to not let it sit too long or the gelatin will start to liquify.)
4. Wash your hands thoroughly. Use the star-shaped cookie cutters or the table knife to cut shapes. Use your hands to lift out the shapes onto another tray. Repeat with both flavors.
5. Place a thin layer of  jigglers (blue or red) onto the tray, then add a layer of whipped cream. Alternate the jigglers and the whipped cream until you have a stack of jigglers. Top with a cherry if you would like and enjoy!

It’s a great dessert to serve, along with your other 4^th of July themed food!

Click here to view the full recipe.

You will need:
• 1 (46 fluid ounce) can pineapple juice
• 1 (6 ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 2 liters lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage
Instructions:
1. In an empty gallon milk jug or pitcher, pour pineapple juice and orange juice concentrate. Shake to mix and pour in the lemon-lime soda. You may need to let the fizz settle and then return to pouring. This will fill up the gallon. Freeze overnight.
2. Let the punch start to thaw 2 hours before serving. Serve slushy.
Click on this link for more recipes!

-Nina

This sandwich, with its yummy meaty filling and tangy sweet, thick tomato sauce is an excellent source of fiber, manganese, molybdenum, niacin, protein, selenium, vitamin B12, vitamin C, and zinc. It’s also a good source of copper, folate, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, thiamin, vitamin A, and vitamin B6.

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean or extra-lean (90 percent lean or higher) ground beef
• 1 medium onion, diced (about 1-1⁄2 cups)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (about 4 teaspoons)
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
• 1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and diced (about 1 cup)
• 1 (15.5-ounce) can small red or pinto beans, preferably low-sodium,
  drained and rinsed
• 1-1⁄2 cups no-salt-added tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon unsulfured molasses
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 3⁄4 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 8 whole-wheat burger buns

Cooking Instructions

1. Brown the meat and onion in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, breaking up the meat into crumbles as it cooks. Pour the drippings out of the pan and discard. Add the garlic, jalapeño, and red pepper and cook 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Stir in the rest of the ingredients, except the buns, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for another 5 minutes.
2. Place a 1⁄2-cup scoop of the mixture onto each bun and serve.

Perfect for a summer backyard party! Be sure to take out the forks and napkins for this messy-but-oh-so-yummy meal!

For the full recipe, head on over to Kaboose.

-Nina

…and I think I found the winner:

This one is from Dakota Kelly, a contributor on AllRecipes.com.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup vanilla low-fat yogurt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons mango chutney
• 1 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon ground paprika
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – cut into strips
• 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 1/2 cups peeled, seeded and chopped mango
• 1 cup sliced red bell pepper
• 1/3 cup chopped green onion
• 8 cups torn romaine lettuce

Directions

1. In a small bowl, blend vanilla yogurt, lime juice, mango chutney, rice vinegar, honey, cumin, coriander, and paprika.
2. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Place chicken, ginger, and garlic in the skillet. Cook 7 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.
3. Mix mango, red bell pepper, and green onions into the skillet. Cook about 5 minutes, until pepper is tender and mangoes are heated through. Stir in the vanilla yogurt mixture. Spoon over romaine lettuce to serve.

Sounds YUMMY!!! I can’t wait to try it. What could be better than a mango salad? Mango salad with Chicken!!! My two favorites all in one dish!

Visit AllRecipes for the full article.

I am a huge fan of chocolate cake! I am always on the lookout for different chocolate cake recipes – chocolate cake with strawberry ganache, chocolate cake with buttercream frosting, chocolate cake with caramel icing – but it’s the first time I ever encountered chocolate cake with MINT!

The people over at Taste Of Home posted this wonderful mint chocolate cake recipe. It looks very yummy, refreshing and easy to do!

I can’t wait to make this for the family (shame it’s not gluten free!)

The title of this post translates to “Submarine”. Who knew that something so simple could cure ills, relieve travel fatigue and cheer disappointments. At our first stop in Buenos Aires Emily asked in very good Spanish for a “Chocolata Caliente” (I may have spelled that wrong), or a “hot chocolate”. She was very disappointed when the waitress informed her that she did not have hot chocolate but she did have “Submarinos”. We didn’t know what it was but we were feeling adventurous so we agreed to try it. Well guess what? It is a hot chocolate… but a FUN one. The waitress delivered a glass of hot steamed milk, a plate of little chocolate cookies and a bar of dark semi-sweet chocolate. You stir the chocolate in to the milk and “voila”… hot chocolate! That is if you can keep from eating all of the chocolate before you stir it in! We spent a significant portion of the remaining trip visiting all of the tiny kiosk sweet shops looking for the exact bar of chocolate to bring home. We were successful in finding exactly 17 of them (they were only a few cents each) so Emily is going to have to ration her submarino intake over the next few months.

But guess what? As soon as we got home we tried it with a regular bar of semi-sweet chocolate and it works! We don’t have a cappuccino maker or any product with a steamer (if you do that’s the best way to serve the milk) so we microwaved instead. Emily has also included a quick recipe on Emily Rose TV. Enjoy!

Being a gluten-free individual (not by choice believe me ) I am always interested in recipes that contain corn (my go to starch).  I love this recipe for Spicy Corn Fritters from The Kitchenist.  Not only is it delicious (and deliciously easy) but she weaves in a lovely back story about her childhood memories of her American Girl Doll.  Stories are what makes life fun.  Thinking of Ele’s 11 year-old self as she discovered the joys of cooking and the relation of food to our history as I was experimenting with this recipe, made it that much more enjoyable to eat.

I believe that this recipe is simple enough to be a team effort – let’s get all of our American Girl’s cooking (don’t forget the boys!)

You would think that since I work from home that I would be fabulously organized when it comes to domestic matters. After all – I am sitting right next to my kitchen all day. How hard can it be to think ahead; evaluate the contents of the fridge, take something out to defrost, plan the evening meal. Ummmm – very hard. I must admit that I am often neglectful in my wifely duties and you can often find me with my head in the fridge at 6:00pm desperately willing a healthy meal to manifest itself magically in front of me. It’s never happened.

Look what I found!! I love this website. All you need to do is pick your ingredients and theme and a dinner that takes 15 minutes to create really does magically appear in front of you. It’s Real Simple.

Now when I am staring at the pork tenderloin that I defrosted two days ago with the intention of creating some fantastic, enviable dish… and I never did – I know it won’t go to waste. Just plug pork in to the 15 minute dinner finder and I have a bevy of choices in front of me – all perfect for my last minute dinner habit.

Mason Jar Cupcakes

I have never seen any cupcakes like these before – but now that I have, it’s all I can think about!!! Emily and I are going to try the recipe together.  If only tey were gluten-free!  They look so unbelievably yummy and are just screaming for my spoon. I found this cupcake recipe on a great blog with tons of craft ideas called Joy’s Hope. I want these cupcakes – and I want them now!