Grandpa's Buttery Corn

• 3 c water
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 stick of butter
• 10 cups corn kernels, blanched

Combine all ingredients in a large pot and boil for 3 minutes. Cool and divide into ziplocs before freezing.

Strawberry-Peach Slush (boozy or otherwise)

2 small peaches (or one large)
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 oz lemon juice (the yummy Costco stuff is preferable)
Sugar or simple syrup to taste (about 1/2 c.)
7 ice cubes
Blend all ingredients, adding a bit of water or club soda if necessary to keep things loose in the blender. Pour into tumblers or margarita glasses. Add alcohol or top off with club soda if desired.

Mom's Birthday Cocktail

As per usual, quantities are approximate and to taste (with the lemon juice especially).  Instead of ice cubes, I used frozen berries (a blackberry, raspberry, blueberry blend).

Frozen berries
1.5 oz Orange Curacao (or your orange liqueur of choice)
.5-.75 oz lemon juice
3 oz Coconut mineral water
A few mint leaves, mottled (We used chocolate mint)

Source: Kinda, sorta inspired by this drink.

Popovers

I can't believe I've never made these before.  They were so easy and good!

1 1/4 cups milk
1 tbls. butter, melted and cooled
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs

• Beat the milk, butter, flour and salt until blended.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  
• Grease pans with butter and put in the preheated oven for two minutes (time it or your butter will over brown)
• Fill buttered popover pan between 1/2 and 3/4 full.  Bake at 450 for 15 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350 and bake for 20 minutes longer or until very firm.
• Remove from oven; prick each with a sharp knife to allow steam to escape.  Serve warm.

NOTES:

• Do not open the oven to peek at them while baking!
• There was enough batter for 8, but my (borrowed) pan holds 6.  I'll probably want to reconcile that somehow before I try this recipe again.
• UPDATE - for my new mini pan I baked for 10-12 minutes at 450 and then 10-12 at 350.

Creamy Dilled Cucumber Salad

1 large cucumber (sliced)
1/4 cup red onion (sliced)
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1 handful dill (chopped)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything and chill.

NOTES:

• This is 4-5 servings.
• Very mild flavor (You could add a little garlic, salt and pepper to make it a little more like tzatziki, or even change out the sour cream/lemon juice for some Greek yogurt.)
• I used about a teaspoon or so of dill weed instead of fresh, but fresh would be better.
• Red onion is not essential ( I used a yellow.)
• Good, easy, super fast to throw together.

Zucchini Bread

'Tis the season ...

NOTES:

• This is obviously a well-used recipe but I never noticed until today that it says "ground" zucchini (or that I misspelled it for that matter).  Anyway, I always shred it.
• Freezes well.

Rose's Lime Substitute

Only without the high fructose corn syrup.

2 cups lime juice
¾ cup sugar
½ cup water

Heat water in the microwave or on the stove until almost boiling. Remove from heat. Add sugar and stir until dissolved. (You just made simple syrup.) Let cool. Mix with lime juice. Your sweetened lime juice will keep a couple of weeks in the fridge.

For future reference, or if you want to make a smaller amount, the ratio of sugar to water in simple syrup is 3:2. In sweetened lime juice, the ratio of lime juice to simple syrup is 2:1.

Same goes for making your own sour mix. Substitute lemon juice for lime juice and you’ve got homemade sour mix. It’s that easy.

NOTES:

• I'm drinking a gin gimlet as I type this.
• I recommend Hendrick's Gin for this purpose.  1:1 ratio.
• Couldn't be easier.
• I made a half batch and stored it in an 8 ounce lime juice bottle saved for this purpose.  (Plus I had enough left over for a couple drinks.)
• Source