Call for Recipes: Jello Salad

I have been asked very specifically to bring a jello salad to a potluck this weekend. Never made one before, though I've eaten many, both good and bad. Got a winner? PLEEEEEEASE post it in comments, I will be grateful for the time I don't have to go searching the internet, and to avoid the gamble of an untried recipe.

Grated carrots need not apply.

Blackberry and Peach Recipes

You will die. Everything here is wonderful.

Blackberry-Lemon Pudding Cake
"As the dessert bakes, a light, spongy cake forms over a delicate bottom layer of custard."
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup lowfat buttermilk
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 large egg yolks
3 large egg whites
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups blackberries (or blueberries or raspberries)
Cooking spray
3/4 teaspoon powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine flour, 2/3 cup sugar, salt and nutmeg in a large bowl; add buttermilk, lemon rind, lemon juice butter and egg yolks, stirring with a whisk until mixture is smooth.
3. Beat egg whites with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Gently stir one-fourth of egg white mixture into buttermilk mixture. Gently fold in remaining egg white mixture. Fold in blackberries.
4. Pour batter into an 8-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Place in a large baking pan filled with water to a depth of 1 inch. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm. Makes about 5 servings

Light Peach Ice Cream
3 cups chopped peeled peaches (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a food process or blender puree peaches until smooth. Combine with the other ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Pour mixture into freezer bowl of ice cream machine and process according to machine directions. Pour soft ice cream into an airtight container and freeze in freezer for at least 2 hours.

Wild Berry Bread
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons soft butter, in ½-inch pieces
1 egg
1 tablespoon orange peel
½ cup orange juice
½ cup raspberries*
½ cup blackberries*
1 cup blueberries*
(*You can do any combination of berries as long as you have 2 cups total)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients.
3. Add the soft butter in with your fingertips until it is like flakes of coarse meal.
4. Add the egg, juice, peel and berries; combine but do not over mix.
5. Bake for 1 hour or until done.
Peach-Glazed Barbecue Pork Chops and Peaches
3 cups chopped peeled peaches (about 1½ pounds)
1 cup dry white wine
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt, divided
¼ teaspoon black pepper, divided
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon ground red pepper
6 (6-ounce) bone-in center cut pork chops (about ½- inch thick), trimmed
6 peaches, halved and pitted

1. Combine first 3 ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 25 min. Uncover and simmer 5 min. Place peach mixture in food processor, process until smooth. Add ¾ tsp salt, ⅛ tsp pepper, vinegar, and next 4 ingredients; pulse to combine. Let stand 5 min. Place half of peach mixture in a large heavy duty ziploc bag; reserve other half for basting. Add chops to bag; seal and refrigerate 30 minutes to 4 hours.
2. Preheat grill. Remove pork from bag; discard marinade. Sprinkle pork with ¼ tsp salt and ⅛ tsp pepper. Place pork and peach halves on grill rack coated with cooking spray, and grill 10 min or until the pork is done and the peaches are tender, turning once. Baste pork and peach halves with reserved mixture every 2 minutes during the first 6 minutes of cooking.
Makes 6 servings

Morning Glory Muffins

For Christmas my brother gave me an amazing cookbook - The Best of America's Test Kitchen: the year's best recipes, equipment reviews and tastings 2007. I'm an idiot and didn't know what America's Test Kitchen is but now I do. These are the guys who do Cooks Illustrated and Cooks Country magazines, and the PBS show "America's Test Kitchen." They have a 2,500 sq foot test kitchen near Boston where two dozen test chefs work full time year round testing and perfecting recipes. Some have been tested 20, 30 or 40 times to get them absolutely perfect. Nice to have someone else do it since I hate nothing more than working hard to chop, puree, fold, and dice, and dirtying every bowl I have only to have a recipe fail.

So every time I flip through the book my mouth waters and I finally got around to trying a recipe tonight: Morning Glory Muffins. I was looking for something to use shredded carrots in, since I have half a bag leftover from making Rachael Ray's "Curry-in-a-Hurry Chicken Salad" (which by the way is really good, especially the mango chutney salad dressing...) a few weeks ago. Sometimes Ed is in a hurry out the door in the morning; it's nice to have muffins around that he can grab and go, so I'm always looking for good recipes to try. And so far the book has lived up to its name. These muffins came out perfect - great texture, not too dry nor too moist, fabulous flavor and extremely aromatic.

Before I give you the recipe let me just mention a few little changes I made to make them my own:

• left out the coconut because I don't like it
• 2 tsp instead of 1 tsp of vanilla - Dave taught me the great trick of always doubling vanilla in recipes
• salted instead of unsalted butter just because that's what I had; didn't notice the difference in taste
• added a dash of freshly grated nutmeg - I add it to anything I can
• my oven runs hot so they were done in only 22 minutes
  
• instead of raisins I used Trader Joe's "Golden Blend", which has dried golden raisins, cherries, blueberries and cranberries - YUM!

Morning Glory Muffins
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 carrots, peeled & grated (2 cups)
1 (8-0unce) can of crushed pineapple, drained and pressed dry with paper towels
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup raisins

1. Adjust an oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375. Coat 12-cup muffin tin with spray or line with paper cups.
2. Spread the nuts on a rimmed baking sheet and toast them in the oven until fragrant, about 5 minutes. When cool enough to handle, coarsely chop.
3. Whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together in a large bowl.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla until smooth. Gently fold the egg mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined. Fold the carrots, pineapple, coconut, raisins, and toasted nuts into the batter.
5. Use a large ladle or measuring cup to divide the batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out with just a few crumbs attached, 25-30 minutes.
6. Let muffins cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then flip out onto wire rack. Cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Let me know if anyone tries them!