Pilgrim Pies

Recipe Source Family Fun and my friend, Lauren.

Ingredients:

PUMPKIN COOKIES
2 eggs
2 cups light brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

FILLING/CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 to 5 cups confectioners' sugar

Instructions
1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat the eggs, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl until smooth. Stir in the pumpkin. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, pumpkin spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture a half cup at a time, blending each time until smooth.

2. Drop a heaping tablespoon of batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet, using a moist finger or the back of a spoon to slightly flatten each mound. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

3. Meanwhile, make the frosting. Beat together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract in a bowl until light and fluffy. Mix in the confectioners' sugar a half cup at a time, until the frosting is spreadable.

4. To assemble the pies, turn half of the cookies bottom side up and spread a generous amount of cream cheese frosting on each one. Top them with the remaining cookies (turned right side up).

Makes 10 to 14 Pilgrim Pies.

Libby's Strawberry Salad & Poppy Seed Dressing

Oh man. This salad is amazing. I already have a different strawberry salad recipe on the blog (which is also good), but here is the difference:
I'm pretty sure I just heard angels singing. This dressing is super duper good. It could be used for a variety of salads, not just strawberry salad. Trust me. This dressing recipe is a keeper. :) I give my husband's cousin Callie (The On Call Cook) full credit here. Go check out her blog for the most amazing recipes. Seriously. Her blog is way better than mine :)

www.oncallcook.blogspot.com (I can't figure out how to make this a link because I'm cool like that so........just copy and paste).

Libby's Strawberry Salad
Source: Libby Coombs, a sweet old lady Callie knew from church

1 head of Romaine lettuce, torn into pieces (I used spinach)
1/2 red onion, diced (I didn't have red onion on hand when I made it)
1 1/2 c sliced strawberries (use more if you'd like)
1/2 c slivered honey roasted almonds

dressing:
3/4 c mayonnaise
1/3 c sugar
2 T milk
1 T cider vinegar
Optional: (I added 1/2 TBS Poppy Seeds, but you could add less or leave them out completely as Libby did.)

Combine all the salad ingredients in a bowl.

Whisk all the dressing ingredients together in a bowl. I let mine sit in the fridge for about 15 minutes in the hopes that the sugar would dissolve to avoid the graininess, and it wasn't grainy at all. Score!

Pour about 1/4 c dressing on the salad at a time and toss to combine. Add more dressing until you've reached a dressingy-ness that you like.

Serve immediately.

Tuna Salad Sandwich

My grandparents were coming for lunch. What do you make for them? Tuna Tuna Tuna. Old people love it. I found this recipe and it looked different from the usual "mayo, pickle, tuna" recipe. For a tuna sandwich, this one is pretty good :)

Source:

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/tuna_salad_sandwich/

Tuna Salad Sandwich Recipe

INGREDIENTS
1 (6 ounce) can of tuna fish (if packed in water, drain it, and add a teaspoon of good quality olive oil)
1/3 cup of cottage cheese
2 Tablespoons of mayonaise
1/4 purple onion, chopped finely
1 celery stalk, chopped finely
1 Tablespoon of capers
Juice of half of a lemon
Pinch or two of dill
2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard

(optional - lettuce and sliced tomatoes)

Slices of French bread, lightly toasted

METHOD
Mix all of the ingredients. Serve on toast, either open faced, or in a regular sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes. For a low carb option, serve on sliced lettuce.

Chunky Carmel Brownies

Amazing, right? Right. I'm a fan of brownies with stuff in it. Doesn't really matter what the "stuff" is.....nuts, marshmallows, frosting on top, etc. Its all good in my opinion. This delicious treat has chocolate chunks AND carmel. The combination for ultimate goodness. These brownies are best after they have been cooked and then chilled in the fridge for at least thirty minutes, but I recommend 60 minutes. The chocolate chunks harden so you can tell its a chunk, rather athan a gooey chocolate fudgey thing. Chunks are good-you want chunks. Which is another reason I renamed these brownies and added the "Chunky" to it. It just sounds better, right? :) Enjoy!

Chunky Carmel Brownies

Natalie J.

Melt in Microwave:

1 cup square caramels, unwrapped (See picture below)

1/3 C evaporated milk

(You can buy the caramels in a bag in the baking isle by chocolate chips. One bag of caramels equals 2 cups caramels.)

Stir with electric mixer until dough holds together:

1 pkg Devils Food Chocolate Cake Mix (original recipe called for German, but Devils is better)

1/2 C butter, softened (do not melt in microwave)

1/3 C evaporated milk

6 oz pkg chocolate chips (half a bag)

Grease and flour (or just spray with Pam) a 9x13 pan. Press half of dough into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 6 minutes. Take out and place chocolate chips on hot dough. Drizzle melted caramel mixture over the top.

Add remaining dough on top by pressing into little circles in your hand and them placing them on top of the carmel.

Bake 15-18 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool slightly. Refridgerate 30-60 minutes or until set.

Hints: To make the caramel mixture, put it in a glass dish with high sides, such as a measuring cup. It takes a few minutes to melt the caramel completely, so stir every thirty seconds or so. When its done, it should resemble this:

The dough can be very sticky, so place the bowl with dough in the freezer for a few minutes to get it to harden. It makes it MUCH easier to work with. I did this several times while working with the dough. When putting the dough on the top, it is difficult to make it cover the entire pan. Do your best, but when it cooks, it will fill in the holes and come out looking like this:

Need another gooey, delicious shot? Here goes.

Tropical Salsa

Tropical Salsa

1 C chunky salsa (I like Pace's)

1 can (8 oz) pineapple tidbits, drained

1 medium firm ripe mango, peeled, pitted and chopped

Mix salsa, pineapple and mango. Serve with tortilla chips. Enjoy!

Baked Snapper with Tropical Salsa

I found this recipe about 5 years ago and made it for the first time the other night. Ya know how you have a huge stack of recipes you've never made? Well, I'm trying to go through what I have and hoping to find some hidden jewels. I was pleasantly surprised! Even the husband really liked it...and thats sayin somethin! Its very healthy and the flavor was great. The only substitution I made was I used tilapia instead of snapper. I'm usually a lazy cook and I don't want ANYTHING to do with the prep work of fish. Instead I bought a bag of frozen tilapia. To make matters more convienent, the fish was individually packaged so all I had to do was thaw it in the bags, then cut the bags open. The tropical salsa on top was great too! It made it so the fish didn't need any other seasonings added. Resist the urge to salt! Oh, how tempted I was but I'm glad I resisted. Oh, and it was FAST! Loved that part too!

Baked Snapper & Tropical Salsa

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 C chunky salsa (I used Pace)

1 can (8 oz) pineapple tidbits, drained

1 medium ripe mango, peeled, pitted and chopped

6 C torn spinach leaves, washed, well dried

4 red snapper fillets (4 oz each)

1. Mix salsa, pineapple and mango.

2. Place spinach evenly in 13x9-inch baking dish; top with fillets. Spoon 2-4 TBS of the salsa mixture over each fillet; cover with foil. Set remaining salsa mixture aside for serving with fish.

3. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork. Serve with reserved salsa mixture.

I served this with seasoned rice. Delish!

Greek Salad & Dressing

This lovely salad and dressing was served with our Greek meal a family reunion this year. The dressing was A-MA-ZING!

Greek Salad:
greens, chopped and washed
olives
red onions
cucumbers, thinly sliced
tomatoes
feta cheese, sprinkled on top


Dressing:
1 c. olive oil
1/2 c. lemon juice
2 cloves garlic (or more :))
2 tsp. salt (or to taste)
2 tsp. oregano fresh (1 tsp. dried)
ground pepper to taste

Finely mince garlic. Combine all ingredients in jar and shake well.

Photo Source: Life Tastes Like Food

Angel Hair Stir Fry Pasta with a Thai Peanut Sauce

When I first got married, I had never tried Thai food. It seems like a lot of Thai food is too hot for me, so I usually steered clear.....until I realized how easy it can be to make a delish immitation Thai sauce. This recipe is good because it 1-super simple. I'm kind of a lazy cook and simple recipes are good :) AND 2-it still tastes pretty Thai-ish.


Thai Peanut Sauce
Source:  The Ultimate Peanut Butter Book

Makes 4 servings:

1 small onion, minced (about 1/3 C)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 ½ TBS minced peeled fresh ginger
2 tsp chili paste or chili sauce (can increase, but beware!)
2 tsp packed dark brown sugar
¾ C evaporated milk or lite coconut milk (coconut milk is better)
½ C chunky standard peanut butter (can use chunky too)
juice of 1 lime (about 2 TBS)
*Chicken, cooked and chopped (optional)
8 oz dried angel hair pasta or other thin pasta or brown rice, cooked to package directions
1 package frozen stir fry vegetable mix, cooked to package directions


DIRECTIONS:

1. Spray a large nonstick skillet with nonstick spray and set the pan over medium heat.

2. Add onion, garlic and ginger. Sautee until fragrant and soft about 1 minute.

3. Stir in chili paste or chili sauce and brown sugar; cook, stirring constantly until very aromatic, about 15 seconds.

*Note* I only put a few drops of the chili sauce in if my son is going to be eating. It can be too hot for a toddler. If you aren't feeding little ones, then be brave and add the chili sauce. It does make it a little spicy, but it gives it a wonderful flavor.

4. Stir in the evaporated or coconut milk, peanut butter and lime juice. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly until the peanut butter dissolves into the sauce. Simmer for 10 seconds. (If wanting to add chicken, now is the time to add the cooked, chopped chicken to the sauce.)

5. Pour the warm sauce over the noodles or rice and stir fry vegetables in a large bowl. Toss well and serve at once.

Photo Source: Closet Cooking

Marci's Spinach Artichoke Dip

For those of you who know who Marci is, we all know this dip is incredible! We have it at a lot of gatherings with friends and its always pretty much gone. So good! Marci always made it in a medium-sized crock pot. It was perfect because she would just plug the crock pot in and it would stay warm.


1 package of cream cheese
1 can artichoke hearts
1/2 cup frozen spinach- thawed and drained of water
1/4 cup mayo
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
a few cloves of minced garlic
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 Tbsp dried basil
mozzarella cheese



Marci's instructions:
Mix everything together except mozzarella. I usually chop artichokes kinda chunky, but when in a hurry I mix it all in my food processor which makes it kind of pureed. The original recipe was to bake in the oven and put mozzarella on top near the end, but I don't know the temperature or time because I always cook it in my mini crockpot. In my crockpot it usually takes an hour, but it is at a low temperature. I add the mozzarella on top at the end(although I have made it without the mozzarella and it is still good). Yum Yum.

Photo Source: The Food Network

Grilled Basil-Marinated Chicken

Its summer time and time for grilling! Lets face it-its just too hot to turn on the oven and heat up the house so grilling is the perfect solution. I found this great new marinade recipe and had some friends over to experiment on :) hehehe. I'm glad it worked out though. Its from the Foodnetwork, so you know it has to be good :) I altered the amounts slightly, but put the original amounts in parenthesis. I served this dish with cheesy potatoes in the crockpot, spinach salad and fresh fruit.

Grilled Basil-Marinated Chicken
Serves 4

Source:
The Food Network

*Original amounts listed in parenthesis*

Ingredients
· 4 tablespoon olive oil (original recipe said 1 TBS)
· 4 tablespoon red wine vinegar (1)
· 4 tablespoon chopped basil leaves, plus 4 sprigs for garnish (1)
· 2-3 tablespoon finely chopped red onion (1)
· 1 teaspoons kosher salt (2)
· 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
· 4 clove garlic, chopped (1)
· 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 3 pounds)


Directions

Whisk together the oil, vinegar, basil, onion, salt, peppercorns, and garlic in a bowl. Transfer the marinade to a gallon-sized sealable plastic bag with the chicken and shake to combine. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours and up to 12 hours.

When ready to cook, build a charcoal fire or preheat gas grill.
Remove chicken from the marinade. Grill the chicken, turning once, until browned and just cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a platter and garnish with the basil sprigs.

Helpful Hints: In the reviews section of the Foodnetwork website, many people offered suggestions to making this recipe better. Among them were the following:
-Watch how much salt you use. Some said it was too salty so I halved the salt and it was perfect.
-Some said to add more fresh basil to make it more "basil-ly".
-Can substitute onion flakes.
-I wasn't a big fan of biting into the peppercorns. I liked the flavor it gave to the chicken, but next time I would maybe pick them off the chicken before I grilled them. One reviewer said she cracked the peppercorns before marinading by crushing them into smaller pieces with a metal measuring cup, which would probably be a good option too, just possibly a little time intensive.
-We let it marinade about 20 hours before we grilled the chicken and it was fine.

Photo Source: Taste Book, For the Love of Cooking

Very Berry Spinach Salad

I'm in the process of trying to lose the baby weight I gained from my last pregnancy, so its always great to beef up on the greens and fruits. I love good salads and this recipe definetely doesn't disappoint! I also love a good home-made dressing and this one is so easy and good. Thanks to my friend Rachele L. for the recipe.



Very Berry Spinach Salad


Ingredients:
Spinach
Strawberries
Kiwis



Directions:
To make the dressing, mix ¼ cup vegetable oil, 2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar, and 2 tablespoons raspberry jam. Add to spinach, strawberries, and kiwis. Toss.

Photo Source: Hy Vee

Cream Fruit Dip

Not sure what is going on, but I crave fruit dip all the time these days. Nope, not pregnant-I just had a baby :)


Mix together until smooth:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 c sour cream
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c sugar
2 TBSP maple syrup


*I used 1/2 c brown sugar instead of 1/4 c brown sugar and 1/4 c granulated sugar, just because I felt like it :)

Cream Cheese Lemon Bars

This recipe is sort of a family secret. I hope my mom doesn't get mad at me for posting this, but I had to. Its just too good to not share it. Cream cheese + Lemon = amazingness :)

By My Mama :) I don't know where she got the recipe from.

1 Duncan Hines pudding recipe yellow cake mix

8 oz package cream cheese, softened

1/3 C sugar

1 tsp lemon juice (I up it to 1 TBS real lemon juice)

2 eggs, divided

1/3 C oil

1. Mix dry cake mix, 1 egg and oil until crumbly. Reserve 1 cup. Pat remaining mixture lightly in an ungreased 13"x 9" x 2" pan. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

2. Beat cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and 1 egg until light and smooth. Spread over baked layer.

3. Sprinkly cream cheese layer with reserved crumb mixture. Bake 15 minutes longer. Cool. Cut into bars. Good served warm or cool.

Photo Source: Fav Family Recipes

Breakfast Strudel

Breakfast for our family is the same old things-pancakes, waffles, french toast, eggs, oatmeal and the occasional cereal. Well, here is a new item to add to your breakfast file. It would also be great for a brunch or other get together. Thanks Erica for the recipe!

Breakfast Strudel
(1 recipe makes 2 strudels)

*1 box Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry

2 TBS butter

1 C hash browns

1 C red or green bell pepper, diced

1/2 C onion, diced

1 C diced/chopped ham or bacon

12 eggs + 1 for egg wash

2 TBS chives

4 oz cream cheese

2 TBS orange juice

Salt and pepper to taste
any other veggies you want

Thaw pastry for 30 minutes at room temperature or overnight in the fridge. Melt butter and saute hash browns. Add in pepper, onions and ham. In a bowl, whisk eggs and chives. Add eggs to saute pan, salt and pepper to taste, and cook until just set. Stir in cream cheese and orange juice. Put in fridge to cool. Roll out pastry sheet to 12" x 10" on parchment paper. Cut sides of pastry to braid and add 1/2 of the egg filling. Braid pastry over filling. Brush top with egg wash and sprinkle with either parmesan or cheddar cheese. Repeat with second pastry sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

Tips: Erica said she had never done the egg wash on top and it still turned out just fine. I also didn't do the egg wash when I made it and thought it was fine. You can also add whatever vegetables to the eggs that you like. I added mushrooms and fresh basil and it was delish. Using precooked bacon thats already crumbled makes it really easy. After you get the strudels put together, transfer them to the pan on the parchment paper and bake. *The Puff Pastry is located in the freezer section of Super Walmart by the frozen pie crusts.



Photo Source: Cuisine At Home

Easiest Fruit Dip

This isn't my favorite fruit dip, but its super easy, fast AND it still tastes good :)

Easiest Fruit Dip

Blend together:

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 jar marshmallow cream

Serve with fresh fruit.

Creamy Spinach & Tomato Tortellini

I made this recipe last night and it was super yummy. The garlic, onion, fresh basil and parmesan cheese just make this dish full of flavor. The basil came right from our herb garden. Score!! I also used REAL cream....something I've never done before. I usually don't have it onhand so I generally substitute whole milk. Using real cream was really good....I just won't think about the calorie content ;) I also loved that it was meatless. Even my two year old ate it so thats really saying something too. I also used fresh tortellini from the refidgerated section in the store (usually on the aisle by the pasta sauce). The fresh stuff is about twice as much as frozen and I honestly couldn't tell much of a difference between fresh and frozen.



Creamy Spinach & Tomato Tortellini


Serves 4

1 16 oz package tortellini (fresh or frozen)

2 TBS olive oil
1/2 C chopped onion
6 cloves minced garlic

1 9 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 C chopped fresh tomatoes or canned, drained
handful of fresh basil chopped
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper

1 C heavy whipping cream (Next time I'd consider adding a little more cream.)
¼ C parmesan cheese (REAL parmesan cheese is best)


DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook tortellini according to desired doneness according to package directions. Drain; keep warm.


2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat until hot. Add onion and garlic; cook until tender and lightly browned, about 4 minutes.


3. Add basil, cooking for a minute to bring out the flavor.

4. Add spinach, tomatoes, salt and pepper; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.


4. Stir in whipped cream and parmesan cheese; cook until mixture just comes to a boil.


5. Reduce heat to low and stir in tortellini. Cook an additional 4-5 minutes or until heated through. Serve with additional cheese if desired.

Photo Source: Butter With a Side of Bread

Cake Mix Cookies

German Chocolate Cake mix with chocolate chips

Red Velvet Cake mix with white chocolate chips


Cake Mix Cookies

Any cake mix you want
1/2 C oil
2 eggs


Mix and bake by rounded spoonful at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Magleby's Rolls

My friend Rachele had a baby shower recently. Another friend Emily made these yummy rolls for it. The picture isn't the greatest of the rolls, but trust me, they are good. I think its good to have random recipes on hand that are good to serve at parties or showers, and this one def is!

The recipe comes from this website:

http://seasonsatmytable.blogspot.com/2009/01/maglebys-rolls.html

Homemade Roll recipe for 12 or 12 Rhodes Texas size frozen rolls
1/2 cup melted butter. (the original recipe calls to add 1/2 cup mayo to the butter, but I skip this step)
1/2-1 cup grated parmesan cheese
dried parsley flakes, garlic salt


Shape dough into balls or thaw Rhodes rolls just until soft, you don't want them to start rising. Dip entire ball into melted butter and or mayo mixture. Roll entire ball in cheese. Lay on baking sheet sprayed with Pam, several inches apart. Sprinkle with garlic salt and parsley flakes. Let rise and bake according to roll recipe or directions. These are amazing served warm, but great at room temp too.

Indonesian Chicken

I just had a new baby girl a few days ago. I tell you what, everyone needs to have a baby girl. :) She is so precious and sweet. Anyhoo.....A day or two before I had her, I was looking for quick and easy recipes because lets face it-I'm pretty sure I'm not going to have a lot of spare time anymore. I found this recipe on my family's cooking blog at http://www.reddhotrecipes.blogspot.com/

I don't post on there much, as I felt like I had so many recipes I wanted to create my own blog. This recipe is total yummers AND easy AND fast to prepare. Score! The only change I made to this version is I doubled the sauce. We like lots of sauce where I'm from so even tripling it might be something your family wants to do if you are feeding big eaters. I'm also listing this as a "30 mintue meal" because the prep work is so fast. It would take longer than 30 minutes if baking it in the oven.

1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used chunky and it worked great too)
4 tsp curry, or to taste
4 chicken breasts

Mix and marinade the chicken for at least an hour. Grill, or put it all in a pan and cook it on the stove top. (I'm thinking you could even put the it all in a 9X13 pan and bake it at 350 degrees till the chicken is cooked. This would make the prep work fast and all it would need to do is bake....although stovetop cooked chicken is super delish.)

1/2 cup toasted coconut (I doubled this as well.)
1/4 cup currants (We used craisins since this is what we had in our pantry.)

Top chicken with coconut and currants. Serve over regular rice or coconut rice. Soooo easy and Sooooo good!

Rice Crispie Treats Varieties

Regular Rice Crispie Treats

3 TBS butter

1 10.5 oz bag mini marshmellows

6 C rice crispie cereal

1. Melt butter and marshmellows in a large pan over low/medium heat.

2. When above mixture is all melted, add rice crispies and stir carefully with a wooden spoon.

3. When thoroughly mixed, press mixture into a greased 9X13 inch pan with greased fingers.

4. Cut and serve.

One of my mom's classics!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Crispie Treats (see top pictures)

1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 package butterscotch chips

1 C smooth peanut butter

6 C rice crispie cereal

1. Melt butterscotch chips and peanut butter in a large pan over low/medium heat.

2. When above mixture is all melted, add rice crispies and stir carefully with a wooden spoon or spatula.

3. When thoroughly mixed, press mixture into a greased 9X13 inch pan.

4. Place pan in the fridge until it is firm, about 10 minutes.

5. Melt chocolate chips in the microwave and spread over firm treats. Place back in fridge until chocolate layer is firm.

6. Cut and serve.

Goolash

So, this is one of those recipes I grew up LOVING. I think we all have those food items when we are a kid. My other favs as a wee munchkin included the marshmallow peeps and all kinds of foods that now remind me of nothing that resembles actual food. Well, call it a pregnancy craving if you will, but this recipe is super simple and good-but again, I grew up with it so I love it. My husband thinks its alright, but he doesn't rave over it. I don't blame him-I don't rave over his favorite kid meal-tuna on toast.

Goolosh
My Mama Joyce

INGREDIENTS:
Makes enough for a 9x13 pan.

1 lb ground beef (use real ground beef, not ground turkey)
1 onion, diced
1 can Cambell’s Tomato Soup (not generic brand)
1 small bag frozen corn
1 8 oz block cheddar cheese
12 oz package elbow macaroni (can use whole wheat)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook elbow macaroni according to package directions. Set aside.

2. Fry ground beef and onion together.

3. Combine all ingredients together adding the elbow macaroni last.

4. Cover and heat in 350 degree oven until cheese is melted and hot.

Fruit Salsa w/ Cinnamon Chips

 This yummy side dish has been served at Cinco de Mayo, Superbowl and Book Club parties. It is delicious. Trust me :)



Fruit Salsa

1 apple peeled and diced
1 banana peeled and diced
4-5 large strawberries diced
1 can mandarin oranges drained and crushed
3 Tbsp crushed pineapple
3 Tbsp jam (I used raspberry)
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp white sugar

Cinnamon Chips
Brush one side of tortilla with melted butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture. Cut into slices with pizza cutter. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes.

Photo Source: Things That Make You Say Mmmmm

'She's About To Pop' Baby Shower

The past few posts (except the coconut pecan bars), I've listed some recipes from a baby shower a few of my friends and I threw another friend. She is having her first boy. Anyway, since this is a food blog, I thought I'd post some of the food pics from the shower.


The shower idea came from this website:
http://blog.amyatlas.com/2010/12/shes-about-to-pop-bubbles-guest-dessert-feature/

The dessert table

Bubble cupcake pops made with diet coke. I didn't make these, but I wanted to add how awesome I thought they turned out. They have mini suckers on top. You can also see the carmel corn I made (see "Candy" section for recipe).

My "mini whoppie pies!" How cute, right??!! See the "Cookie" section for recipe.
Jello custard pop shots. They were made by tilting the shot glasses in mini muffin tins so the jello could set up. So creative!

Bubble Oreos. Basically, white chocolate covered oreos. SO good :)

The main food table. In the back is the strawberry spinach salad (see my "green salad" section for recipe. To the left is the ham and cheese slider sandwiches. The recipe for that is listed under "Main Dishes: American, and Sandwiches." We also served spinach artichoke dip, a relish tray and fruit salad.

My friend homemade these suckers and they were really good too.

Happy Baby Shower throwing!!

Coconut-Pecan Bars

We have a ward luau every year and I usually volunteer to bring a dessert. Last year they asked us to bring pineapple upside down cake. This year they said it was potluck, but to try and bring something with coconut or pineapple....ya know....to keep with the luau theme and all. Well, I had no clue what to make, but I knew bars are always a good idea because you can make a whole pan of something and usually pretty fast. So I found this recipe in a trusty old book I got from the DI like 5 years ago for $1.00. Its titled "Cookies" by Natalie Hartanov Haughton-published 1983. That book is older than I am ha! My mom said to never experiment with recipes when you are serving it to someone else, but I figure if I'm experimenting on my ward, I can do whatever I want. Those people will eat anything ;)


Anyway, these bars turned out way different than I thought they would. They have a crust, but I was expecting a more solid, compact bar. Nope, it rose like crazy and turned out pretty thick and sort of fluffy like-not exactly like cake, but not really like a bar either. It was a cake/bar. Weird. It was different than what I expected, but in a good way. :) So, if you like pecan pie and coconut, you will like these bars. They have that pecan-pie taste with the brown sugar/pecans but its not gooey at all. Anyway, happy experimenting! Oh, and apologies for the lame picture. I waited till there was 3 bars left to take a picture. Of course. Sigh.


COCONUT-PECAN BARS
Crust:
1/2 C butter or margarine, room temperature
1/2 C packed brown sugar
1 C all-purpose flour

Nutty Coconut Topping:
4 eggs
1 3/4 cups packed brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 c flaked or shredded coconut
2 c coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts



Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, beat together butter or margarine and brown sugar until creamy. Beat in flour, blending thoroughly. Press mixture evenly in bottom of an ungreased 13" X 9" baking pan. Bake 10 minutes.


Meanwhile, prepare Nutty Coconut Topping. Carefully spread Nutty Coconut Topping evenly over hot crust. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan. While warm, cut into bars. Makes 36 (2-1/8" x 1-1/2") cookies.


Nutty Coconut Topping:
In a medium bowl, combine eggs, brown sugar and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder and salt, blending well. Stir in coconut and nuts.

Homemade Oreos/Whoopie Pies

I have heard about homemade oreos my entire life-why did it take me so long to try them???!!! I even grew up in Utah, the capitol for homemade stuff. At any rate, these were the beauties I made for a baby shower recently. I just used food coloring to dye the frosting the colors we were using. Pure genius. These cookies were so good and I got lots of compliments on them. So, here is the recipe. Enjoy!



I'll add I got this recipe and the pictures from this website. Its not too classy for me to keep "borrowing" other people's food pictures, but my camera is so lame. Plus, I figure if I give the source and credit where its due, hopefully I won't get hit with a law suit :)




These turned out to be the size of regular oreos.
These "mini oreos" were what I attempted. We tried to have all of the food be mini sized. Mine didn't turn out quite as small as these, but they were still small and yummy so it didn't matter.

Cookie Ingredients
1 package of devil's food cake mix*
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
*I prefer to not use Duncan Hines Cake Mix. There is some ingredient in the mix that doesn't blend up well when making the cookies. It doesn't affect taste, but you can see 'little white specks' in the dough and cookies after they bake, which just bugs me :) Betty Crocker is now the brand I use every time for this recipe.

Cream Cheese Filling Ingredients
1/2 cup butter (softened)
8 oz. cream cheese (softened)
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

CHOCOLATE Cream Cheese Filling

Same ingredients as above, but add 1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder.

Hint-If the frosting is too thick, add a few tsp of milk to thin it out. I prefer to have the frosting less sweet, so I only add the sugar to taste. Also, this makes a lot of frosting, so your cookies will be VERY thick on the frosting side. Halve the above recipe for a smaller (and more reasonable) amount of frosting. :)

Cookie Instructions
Heat oven to 350°.
Add oil and eggs to cake mix and blend together.
Roll dough into 1/2" balls for mini oreos. (1" for oreo-sized cookies up to 2 1/2" for jumbo size).
Place on cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool for 1 min.
Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. They will be soft and appear not done, but they are.

Cream Cheese Filling Instructions
Cream butter.
Add cream cheese and mix well.
Add vanilla, stirring until well blended.
Slowly add confectioner's sugar until desired consistency is reached. (I used 3 1/2 cups)


Assembling the cookies:
Fill pastry bag or gallon size ziploc bag with filling.
Sandwich two cookies together by squeezing 1 tsp. (or so) of the filling onto the center of one cookie.
Add the 2nd cookie on top.
Lightly press the two cookies together to help the filling spread evenly to the sides of the cookie without spilling over the edges. (unless you prefer it).

You can either serve them as-is or freeze them for a frozen treat.
You can also make-ahead, freeze and bring to room temperature on the day of your event/party.

HELPFUL HINTS:
• Using a mixer, I use my paddle attachment and blend until the dough comes clean from the side of the bowl.
• Although it's recommended to use a greased cookie sheet for baking, I skip that part and mine are fine.
• If the dough seems too sticky to work with, I have found by letting the dough sit while you make the filling, works like a charm.
• Instead of piping the filling, you can also just use a butter knife and spread it on.
• If you are going to eat these as a frozen treat, I found that by reducing the baking time by a minute or so will allow for a less crunchy frozen treat experience. Basically, you want a softer cookie before freezing so that you can easily bite into the frozen treat and enjoy a less "crumbly" experience.
-If you are making these cookies for a special event (like a baby shower), assemble them a few hours a head of time so the frosting has time to set.

Recipe and Photo Source: Pen and Paper Flowers

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Here is another recipe we had at the baby shower. My friend Jamie made it and it turned out awesome. Strawberry Spinach Salad. Its incredible. Just trust me on this one :) Its sweet, but so good. The strawberries go perfect with the dressing. Its a perfect summer salad or something to have at a party/babyshower.



I got the recipe from my friend Cooking With Mandy. Her blog is really good so check it out. Since Mandy has used my pot pie recipe on her blog, I'm really hoping she is cool with me putting her recipe on my blog. :)


Strawberry Spinach Salad
1 (10 oz) bag of spinach
1 package of strawberries, sliced
2/3 cup sliced almonds
4 tsp. sugar


Dressing:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. finely chopped onion
1/4 tsp. worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp. poppy seeds


Mix all ingredients for the dressing. Place the almonds in a non-stick skillet. Sprinkle with sugar. Cook and stir over medium heat until the almonds are caramelized. Set aside and cool. Toss the spinach, strawberries, and almonds together. When ready to serve toss the salad with the dressing.

Recipe Source: Cooking With Mandy

Ham & Cheese Sliders

A few friends and I threw a fun baby shower for my friend last weekend. For the next few posts, I'll be adding the food dishes we had at the shower.


The theme for the baby shower was "about to pop" so we used this recipe because it went with the whole "pop" theme from the poppy seeds. I'll say that originally I didn't think these sandwiches looked super delicious or anything special. I was happy at how wrong I was! They were really good and we had a lot of compliments on them. So, make these little sandwiches for your next birthday party or baby shower. Trust me. Everyone will love them :)


I'll add that the picture above is not the sandwiches I made. Sadly, I forgot to get a picture. :( The ones we made were on buns that were a little bit larger and they looked awesome.



Go to this link for the original recipe.
http://www.justcookalready.com/2010/01/ham-cheese-sliders.html


Recipe:
24 good white rolls
24 pieces good honey ham (we used 2 slices of thinly sliced ham per roll)
24 small slices swiss cheese or 12 slices, cut in half. (we used the pre-sliced kind)
1/3 mayo
1/3 cup miracle whip




{poppy seed sauce}


1 1/2 TBSP poppy seeds
1 1/2 TBSP yellow mustard
1 stick butter, melted
1 TBSP minced onion
1/2 tsp. worschestershire sauce


In a small bowl, mix together mayo & miracle whip. Spread into both sides of the center of each roll. Place a slice of ham & a slice of swiss inside of each roll. Close rolls & place into a large baking dish or heavy cookie sheet. Place very close together.


In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the poppy seed sauce ingredients. Pour evenly over all of the sandwiches. Let sit 10 minutes, or until butter sets slightly. Cover with foil & bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is melted. Uncover & cook for 2 additional minutes. serve warm.