Strawberry Cucumber Spinach Salad

This salad is relatively easy to make, even on the truck (though preferably not while the truck is moving, since bumpy roads and sharp knives don't play well together). The easiest thing about this salad is that it basically makes its own dressing. Cool, right? Look how bright and springy this salad looks!

Ingredients:
1 small cucumber
8-10 strawberries
Fresh parsley or basil
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp lime juice
1/2 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
Fresh spinach

Peel and dice cucumber and dice strawberries. Place in a plastic zipper baggie and add a few torn leaves of parsley or basil. Add the 4 liquid ingredients, seal the baggie, and gently move the ingredients around to combine them. Prepare two plates of fresh spinach, de-stemmed and torn into bite size pieces, and divide and pour the strawberry mixture over the spinach. Enjoy!

Chocolate Strawberry Cupcakes

My hubby's birthday is coming up and we were having lunch with his parents, so I made these little beauties for dessert. They take some work, but they're actually easier than they look once you get the hang of it. I even got fancy and used a baggie to pipe the frosting on. They were a big success!

Chocolate strawberry cupcakes! 

Ingredients:
1 chocolate cake mix, plus additional ingredients as directed on the box
1 can of strawberry pie filling
1 can chocolate frosting

Prepare the chocolate cake mix according to the box directions and bake as cupcakes. It should make 20-24 cupcakes. Let cupcakes cool completely.

With a butter knife, cut a small circle on top of a cupcake, about an inch deep, and lift it out. Pull off about half of what is attached and set it aside. Open the can of strawberry pie filling, scoop out of spoonful, and carefully pour it into the hole in the cupcake. Replace the top and repeat for the remainder of the cupcakes, trying to make sure every cupcake gets at least one strawberry. See picture below for a visual step by step of the process.

Once all the cupcakes have been filled, scoop about 3/4 of the can of frosting into a small mixing bowl. Add the gel from the leftover strawberry filling, and whip thoroughly with an electric mixer. If you have a frosting pipe, use it to pipe frosting onto cupcakes; if not, scoop the frosting into a plastic zipper baggie, cut off the tip, and squeeze out the frosting in swirls on the cupcakes. Serve and enjoy!

Filling the cupcakes

Blueberry Dump Cobbler

Folks, this one is husband approved. I mean, this is coming from the hubby who hardly EVER eats fruit! He eats bananas, sometimes strawberries, and maybe a sliced apple once in awhile. He told me that he can tolerate blueberries if they're mixed into something, so when I made this cobbler, I was hoping for at least an "it's okay". The verdict? Not only did he tolerate it, he declared it to be "really good" and proceeded to eat second and third helpings and finish off the leftovers the next day! I call that a smashing success!

This recipe is for a 9x13 pan, but I modified the recipe for a 9x9 pan pretty easily. I used about the same amount of blueberries but only 1 stick of butter and not quite all the cake mix. I served it warm after dinner, along with my Homemade Ice Cream, and we thoroughly enjoyed it!

Warm blueberry cobbler and homemade ice cream!

Ingredients:
2 large cans of blueberry pie filling
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
1 boxed yellow cake mix
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick cooking spray or lightly grease pan. Dump blueberry filling in pan and spread to even thickness. Sprinkle fresh or frozen blueberries evenly, then layer the cake mix, making sure to cover all the blueberries. Drizzle the melted butter on top, as fairly as possible. Bake for about an hour, till top crust is firm and golden and blueberries are bubbly below. Serve warm and enjoy!

Banana Orange Muffins

In the chaos of moving and getting ready for the new chapter of our lives that is about to begin... I needed a quick break, a spot of creativity, a glimpse of stability. I also needed to use some of what is still in my cupboards! Thus was born... Banana Orange Muffins.

You already know it's going to be quick and easy and tasty...and it's even husband-approved! For the guy who eats all things chocolate and rarely ventures into the world of fruit and healthy-looking snacks, that's a win.

If you want to make it healthier, you could always substitute egg whites for the egg, and applesauce for the oil, and a gluten-free cake mix if you're into that. For fall flavoring, add cinnamon or use a spice cake mix. Or use a chocolate cake mix, or a strawberry cake mix...seriously the options are almost endless! Feel free to modify!

Ingredients:
2-3 very, very ripe bananas
1 egg
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp each of vanilla extract and orange extract
1 vanilla cake mix

Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare muffin tins (or a bread pan, if you prefer). Peel the bananas and place in a medium mixing bowl. Mash with a fork, then mix in the egg, oil, and extracts. Add the dry cake mix and stir or beat until thoroughly mixed. Pour into prepared tins and bake for about 18-22 minutes, testing with a toothpick when done. Makes 12 muffins or one loaf of bread.