Lisa's Kitchen Blog

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Last weekend was my 20-year high school reunion, and I had a blast! We had a wine-tasting at a local winery, a lunch at the high school with some of our old teachers, and a dinner and dance. One of the highlights of the weekend, though, came after the official festivities ended. My friend, Stacie, invited our group of girlfriends over to her house for Sunday brunch.  

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This was the first time we had all been together in a few years, with friends now living in Denver, Lincoln, Chicago, and points in between. Our husbands chatted, our kids ran and played together, and we six girls sat around the dining room table, eating together, talking about old times, and making plans for a weekend get-away. We took this photo, and made it a point to stand in the same order as our senior prom picture. Goofy, but fun! From left, that’s Jessica, Anne, Liz, Stacie, Suzie, and me.

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Brunch was fantastic. Stacie and her husband Brian made breakfast burritos, and everyone brought a dish to share. Everything was so good, but when I tried Stacie’s danish bars, I knew I had to have the recipe!  I made it today, and couldn’t believe how easy it was. Something this delicious should be much more complicated, but it wasn’t. This has officially become my go-to recipe for church breakfasts and potlucks everywhere. Served warm, it’s perfect for a breakfast buffet. It’s just as good cold, though, as dessert or an afternoon snack. You just can’t go wrong with this recipe!

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2 tubes (8 oz. each) refrigerated crescent roll dough

2 boxes (8 oz. each) cream cheese, room temperature

1-1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 egg white

1 tsp. vanilla

1 can (20 oz.) cherry pie filling

3 Tbsp. milk

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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Unroll one tube of crescent rolls and line the bottom of a greased 13×9″ baking pan with them. Pinch together as needed to seal the dough into one solid sheet. I used reduced-fat crescents, which worked just fine.

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Beat together the cream cheese, 3/4 cup of the powdered sugar, the egg white, and the vanilla. Pour over the crust. Spread the pie filling over the cream cheese layer. Of course, you could use any kind of pie filling, or homemade preserves, fresh fruit, lemon curd, or even chocolate chips. Add nuts if you like them. I’m thinking chocolate chips and pecans would be very tasty. I used 1/3 fat cream cheese, and didn’t miss the extra fat at all. The bars were rich and creamy, and tasted full-fat. You could also lighten the recipe up a bit by using sugar-free pie filling or no-sugar preserves, or just going with fresh fruit.

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Unroll the second tube of crescents over the top. I took the entire roll of dough out of the tube without separating it, placed it at one end, and just unrolled it across the top of the pie filling. That seemed much easier than rolling out the dough and then moving it. Again, pinch together where needed to make a solid crust. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.

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Meanwhile, whisk together the milk and remaining powdered sugar to make a glaze. After the danish has cooled a bit, but is still warm, drizzle the glaze over the top and smooth with a spatula. Cut into bars and serve warm. Refrigerate any leftovers and serve cold. Enjoy!

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Stacie, thank you for hosting us for a lovely brunch, and for sharing this delicious recipe! You are an amazing friend!

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I love pancakes. Without a doubt, they are my all-time favorite breakfast food. This morning I tried a new pancake recipe, and it was definitely worth blogging about! I was going to make lasagne a few nights ago, but decided it was too hot to have the oven on for so long, so I had an unopened container of ricotta cheese in the refrigerator. I remembered something about ricotta pancakes, so I searched through my recipe file, and found just what I was looking for.

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1 cup ricotta cheese
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 -1/2 Tbsp. sugar
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup milk
3 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla

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Drain the liquid from your ricotta. If it’s really moist, you might want to place it in a mesh strainer or some cheesecloth to drain it. Put the ricotta in a large bowl, and add milk, egg yolks, and vanilla. Beat until well combined.

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In a separate bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together. Add them to the ricotta mixture, stirring until combined.

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Beat the egg whites until stiff, then fold into the batter.

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I used a 1/3 cup scoop to ladle the batter into a greased skillet over medium-high heat (I really need to get a griddle!). This made pancakes about 4″ in diameter. Once they start to bubble, flip the cakes over and cook a few more minutes. This recipe made about 15 pancakes.

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I thought these were amazing pancakes. You can really taste the ricotta, and to me they had kind of a crepe-quality flavor and texture. They were very moist, yet light and fluffy. The extra protein from the ricotta is a bonus, too. My boys scarfed their pancakes down with a little maple syrup, but I had mine with just a dusting of powdered sugar. They didn’t even need any butter. They would also be good rolled up crepe-style with some preserves.

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This was the first time I made this recipe, but it won’t be the last. Give it a try, and see for yourself!

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When my husband went grocery shopping for our Fourth of July feast, he came home with three bags of peaches, and asked if I’d make him a pie. He asked me this on the 15th anniversary of our first date, so how could I tell him no? Besides, I love peach pie, and he buttered me up with talk like, “You make the best pie ever.”

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We spent the holiday at my parents’ house, so I whipped up a double pie crust, threw the dough into a plastic bag, and transported it to their place in our cooler. Unfortunately, since he didn’t talk to me about the pie while he was still at the grocery store, I didn’t have the chance to ask him to pick up more regular white flour. All I had on hand was white whole wheat flour. I use this for just about everything, but when it comes to pie crust, I just want regular unbleached flour. Next time!

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My mom has a handy-dandy pastry mat for rolling out perfectly circular pie crusts to the exact diameter needed for your particular pan. I need one of those. Seriously. I put the bottom crust in the pan, brushed it with a beaten egg, and set to work on the filling.

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First, my mom and I peeled and sliced about 5 cups of peaches. They were a tad green, which actually made them easier to peel and slice. And we had a nice time chatting while we sat in her kitchen slicing peaches (and later shucking corn). We put the slices in a big bowl and sprinkled them with lemon juice.

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In a separate bowl, I combined 1/2 cup flour (white flour this time, since I was at my mom’s), 1 cup sugar, 1 Tablespoon cinnamon (I like LOTS of cinnamon in my peach pie!), and 1/2 teaspoon salt. This mixture was poured over the peaches, and I gave everything a quick stir. I dumped it into the pan, and dotted the top with a few Tablespoons of butter.

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For the top crust, since it was the Fourth of July, I cut out some star shapes to make it pretty and let the steam vent. After it was placed on top of the pie and sealed to the bottom crust, using my mom’s “fold the top layer of crust under the bottom layer” method, I brushed it with beaten egg and sprinkled sugar over everything. The pie was baked for 10 minutes at 450 degrees F., then for another 45 at 350 degrees, until the crust was golden (a little browner than usual in this case because of the flour), and the filling bubbly.

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Meanwhile, I overheard my dad tell one of my sons that when he was a little boy, his mom (my Grandma Helen, who passed away a few years ago), always made pinwheels for him and his sisters with her leftover pie crust dough. So of course, I made pinwheels for my dad and my boys to share, and even though there’s no way they were as good as his mom’s, he said they were great. Dads are nice like that.

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The Fourth of July peach pie, served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, was the perfect dessert to follow our grilling feast. The crust was not my best, thanks to the flour snafu, but the filling was so good it made up for the less-than-perfect crust.

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I went to the store today and picked up more white flour. Good timing, because my mother-in-law sent over several plastic bags full of fresh cherries, and they’re just screaming to be put into a pie.

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We went to my parents’ house for dinner the other night, and my mom made a delicious blue cheese dip I had to share. So I guess this entry should be titled, “LaVerta’s Kitchen: Blue cheese dip.” My mom’s a great cook, and knows how to make a yummy snack. 

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For this super easy yet tasty dip, she just combined a container of French onion dip, a container of ranch party dip, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 1/2 cup of bacon pieces, and 1 cup of blue cheese crumbles. Mix it all together and top with a few extra blue cheese crumbles. That’s it! She served the dip with pretzel thins and some really tasty whole-grain crackers, and we dug in. 

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Blue cheese is one of those things that people either love or hate. When I was a little girl, we spent a lot of time at my Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Cleo’s house. He always ate Roquefort dressing on his salads, and I loved it too, even as a child. My kids … no so much. But they did love this dip! Of course, I didn’t tell them it had blue cheese in it, ha ha!