Lemon Pudding Frosting

 A real nice change of pace for cakes

1 packet Dream Whip

1 box (3.4 oz) lemon instant pudding

1 ⅓ cups half and half or whole milk

Combine the ingredients and beat on low speed, increasing the speed as needed, until it's thick and fluffy, and stiff peaks form. This will take several minutes.

If you prefer not to use Dream Whip, you can use 2 cups of heavy cream instead, adding some powdered sugar to sweeten in up.

Frost the cake on top only, right before serving. Store any leftovers in refrigerator.

Easy Cucumber Salad

This salad keeps amazingly well. We love it!

2 English cucumbers, thinly sliced

1 tsp salt

1 med red onion, thinly sliced

1 cup white vinegar

½ cup water

½ cup sugar

2 Tbs minced fresh dill

Season cukes with salt in a large bowl, and let sweat for one hour. Drain liquids, but do not rinse. Toss cukes with onions.

In a small saucepan over high heat, combine vinegar, water, and sugar. Stir just until sugar melts and liquid turns clear, 3-5 min. Pour over cakes and onions. Stir in minced fresh dill. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour. Serve cold or at room temp.

Greek Salad with Really Good Dressing

This dressing is crazy good. It was a secret recipe from a pizzeria, but it's no secret anymore! The original recipe made almost a gallon of dressing, so I had to do a lot of math to scale it down for home use. It keeps well at room temperature if tightly covered, so you may want to make the larger amount. I use it in place of Italian dressing on some salads. Larger recipe makes almost a quart of dressing. Smaller size is in parenthesis ( ).

1 ½ cups olive oil  (¾ cup)

1 ¼ Tbs garlic powder  (2 scant tsp)

1 ¼ Tbs dried oregano  (2 scant tsp)

1 ¼ Tbs dried basil  (2 scant tsp)

1 Tbs ground black pepper  (1 ½ tsp)

1 Tbs salt  (1 ½ tsp)

1 Tbs onion powder  (1 ½ tsp)

1 Tbs Dijon mustard  (1 ½ tsp)

2 cups red wine vinegar  (1 cup)

Mix olive oil, garlic powder. oregano, basil, pepper, salt, onion powder, and Dijon mustard together in a bowl. Pour in the vinegar slowly, mixing vigorously until well blended.

Make this earlier in the day so it has time to meld the flavors.

Greek Salad 

1 English cucumber, cut lengthwise, seeded and sliced ¼" thick

1 green bell pepper, chopped into 1" pieces

2 cups halved cherry tomatoes

5 oz feta cheese, cut into ½" cubes

⅓ cup thinly sliced red onion*

⅓ cup pitted kalmata olives

⅓ cup fresh mint leaves, optional

On a large platter arrange the cucumber, green pepper, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, red onions, and olives. Drizzle with the dressing and toss very gently. Sprinkle with a few generous pinches of oregano, and top with mint leaves, if using.

*To reduce the bite in red onions, soak the slices in a generous amount of cold water for 15 minutes. Drain and repeat this process two or three more times. So obviously you need to do this well before you make the salad.

Marinated Bean Salad With Corn

This is a really good bean salad, using five different beans and corn. It's my favorite.

1 can cut green beans

1 can white or cannelini beans

1 can dark red kidney beans

1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas)

1 can yellow wax beans

1 can white shoepeg corn

2 or 3 stalks celery, chopped

1 med red onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

For The Marinade:

1¾ cups sugar

1¼ cup white vinegar

¼ cup oil (recipe called for canola, but I recently found out it is the absolute worst oil)

2 Tbs water

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

Drain all canned items. Rinse white beans, kidney beans, and garbanzo beans, and put them in a large bowl.

Combine the marinade ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Immediately pour hot marinade over bean mixture. Stir to coat all beans. Add drained corn, chopped onion and green pepper, and chopped celery. Add salt and pepper; stir to combine all ingredients.

Refrigerate several hours or overnight (best) before serving. This salad keeps well for most of the week, but it won't last that long!