Well, my internet went down until about 2 hours ago, so I've had to resort to cleaning my house. Ick!!! At least it's working now, and here I am.
Dinner tonight will be the Velvet Shrimp, only I'm using chicken instead of shrimp. While I would like the shrimp, and I'm relatively positive that DH would enjoy it as well, I don't think many of my kids would eat it. I'm just not in the mood for turned up noses tonight, so I'm using chicken. Please tell me it will work out just as well.
The trifle was really yummy! I'm still kind of bummed, as the lemon lime pound cake would have been really yummy with the glaze I had planned, but at least I didn't have to be embarrassed at the trifle. I'll post the recipes for the crostata and pound cake. By the way, I guess crostata is a fancy way of saying "rustic tart." I was worried that it would be difficult to do, but in reality, it was so easy it made me want to experiment with different fillings. I see lots of fruit tarts in my summer dessert menu.....
Cranapple Caramel Crostata
1 piecrust (I use Pillsbury)
1/4 C. plus 1 Tbsp. sugar divided
3 Tbs. flour
4 apples (4 cups) apples, peeled and sliced (I used Granny Smith)
1 C. dried cranberries (this would also be yummy with raisins)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbs. apple pie spice
Caramel ice cream topping
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unroll pie crust; set on parchment lined cookie sheet. In a large bowl, mix 1/4 cup sugar and flour. Stir in the apples, cranberries and vanilla. Spread mixture on piecrust to within 2 inches from edges. (This made so much filling, I was able to make 2 instead of one). Fold edges of dough over filling, only about 2 inches. Sprinkle apple pie spice and 1 tablespoon sugar over the filling and dough edge (if you don't have apple pie spice, you could definitely use cinnamon instead). Bake 27-33 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven; drizzle caramel topping over entire top of filling.
Lemon Lime Pound Cake
Cake:
3 C. flour
1 tsp. salt
3 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
2 1/2 C. sugar
2 tsp. grated lime zest
2 tsp. grated lemon zest
5 lg. eggs at room temperature
3/4 C. lemon-lime soda
Glaze:
2 C. confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1-2 Tbsp. lime juice
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Liberally grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan. Make cake: In a medium bowl, sift together flour and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, with electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, sugar, and lemon and lime zest until pale and light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Gradually add flour mixture, just until blended. Stir in soda. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool completely in pan on a rack before inverting onto a plate. Make glaze: Stir together confectioners' sugar, butter and juices; add more juice or sugar if needed. Spoon glaze over cake, distributing evenly. Garnish with lemon and lime zest, if desired.
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Nice change from pizza.
On the velvet "chicken", it absolutely will work. I think velvet anything in that recipe would be good!
