Lip Smacking Sweets

Meringue with a hint of cardamom and strawberry-apricot (inspired by my cousin Rachel's jam) compote with freshly squeezed orange juice and basil.

Compote:
1 pint of strawberries, quatered
5 and a half apricots, sliced
1 orange, juiced
3-4 small leaves of basil, chopped
A pinch of salt
1/2 cup of sugar

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and set aside until the strawberries release their water syrupy (about an hour or two). Heat about a slice of butter in a medium saucepan on medium high heat and pour the bowl and bring to a boil. After about 15 minutes, use your potato masher and mash the fruit together. Let cook for another 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes. Take the saucepan off the stove until cool for use. You can also store it in mason jars.

Also great for smoothies with yogurt or vanilla ice cream

Here's my cousin's own food blog for more recipes Blonde Bitchin' West Texas Kitchen

Sausage & Gravy

KFC-bought biscuits topped with sausage, onion, and country-style sauce with paprika

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Ingredients:
-6 red peppers, cut in half, seeded and ribs out
-1 yellow onion, sliced
-a small palm full of paprika
-EVOO
-S&P
-1 small can of chicken broth (about a cup and a half)
-8 oz. of cream cheese
-2 cloves of garlic
-a handful of parsley, chopped

Method:
Preheat oven to 500°
Salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil the red peppers and arrange them on a foiled-lined sheet pan and roast for 20-30 minutes. Halfway into roasting, flip the peppers and continue to roast. Immediately put in a bowl cover in plastic wrap to cool before taking the skin (however, you can leave the skin on as I did).
Saute onion and garlic with EVOO with paprika until soft and lightly browned and add in Cuisinart with the roasted red peppers. Pulse until chunky to add in half of the chicken broth until puree, add in parsley to pulse one or two times, and put back in the same saute pan used for the onions/garlic. Add the rest of the chicken broth and the cream cheese, stirring until melted and blended in the sauce. Add in about small slice of butter before serving with pasta

My Pistachio & Mint Pesto

I was munching on pistachios one day (breaking into the shells for the nut) and an idea hit me: I can make this into a pesto! But with what and for what I had to think about it. Sure enough, I thought mint would be good and it would go great with lamb. However, a member in my household doesn't like lamb but loves seafood (yet I'm not a seafood fan myself) and so I decided on shrimp- it's one of the only 2 types of seafood I can tolerate.

My Pistachio-Mint Pesto
-about a cup of un-shelled pistachios, toasted
-about 2 cups of mint
-1 or 2 cloves of garlic
-about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of EVOO
-salt and pepper*
*go easy on the salt, especially if you have salted pistachios. Taste it to be sure if it's right for you
I marinated my lamb (and shrimp) in the pesto for a couple of hours- mainly in the refrigerator- before grilling it.
mix it in the Cuisinart or blender

I like to serve this dish along with cous-cous