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