Fancy Grilled Cheese

Trying to diet is killing me.  I justified indulging in some buttery carbs by watching my portions and adding in a healthy sized meat and veggie serving... don't you judge me. ;)

2 slices 98 calorie bread
Butter --I still won't go margarine
Cheddar
Sliced Avacado, tomato, and lettuce
provalone

Arrange so you have one kind of cheese on each slice of lightly buttered bread and the meat and veggies in between.  Cook on medium heat in a skillet until both sides are golden brown.

I had something similar at Cubby's.  They have cranberries on theirs. SO GOOD.

Alternative to fried dough

I LOVE fried dough/western scones. I don't love the added oil, grease, splatters, calories, and using an entire bottle of oil I have to dispose of later.

My daughter and I, while preparing a favorite snack of fresh tortillas, decided to experiment a bit.

We liked it so much it was our breakfast this morning and was SO STINKING GOOD!
All you do is heat the uncooked tortillas on a clean dry skillet per directions on the package, butter them, and add your favorite scone toppings.

Jazzed up Deviled Eggs

I personally love deviled eggs year round, I think they are great to bring to BBQ's, family get together's, church socials etc. With these you can almost always guaranty you'll head home from the event with an empty plate. 

I like to make a statement when I bring these delicious little morsels with me...for Easter or any function really...adding a splash of color to your deviled eggs makes a fun statement.

Start by filling a few cups with plain vinegar. Add regular food coloring to each cup and insert peeled hard boiled eggs one at a time. Leave in the vinegar until you have reached your desired color (this won't take long so don't worry...you're not pickling the eggs)

Next...slice eggs in two, remove yokes and create standard deviled eggs filling (use your favorite recipe). Fill each half with the creamy mixture and a dash of paprika for color. Enjoy!

I've also colored the eggs after they were sliced in half to color the whole visible surface area. It's entirely up to you :-)

Carrot Cake Pops and a Lollipop Garden

 With a 3 year old b-day, I decided to go the Cake-pop route.  It seemed (and was) SO much less messy!  That "frosting" isn't gooey, it is firm chocolate.  YUM!  The recipe looked so easy, I couldn't pass it up.

I decided on Carrot cake, since we were going with an Easter/Spring theme. 

1 box cake made per directions on the box and cooled.

Take 1/2 of the cake and 1/2 container of Cream Cheese Frosting and mix together making a dough.

Roll into balls (or carrot shapes) and stick in the fridge 2 hours or the freezer 30 min. (Make them small... like donut hole small, or to your horror, your beautiful creation will slowly make its way down the stick and die a sad death.  With the carrot shapes, you can get a way with more weight because it it distributed differently... still, there was much bellowing and perhaps a few off color words dierected at the demise of some of my best cake pops.)

Melt white chocolate pieces and add desired food coloring.

While chocolate is melting, prepare candy sticks or dowels.  Candy sticks are a lot more pricy. (I used dowels 3/4 covered with floral tape and on the one pictured, I used floral wire covered with floral  tape to make the stem of the carrot.)

Dip the tip of the stick into the chocolate and place the firm, cold dough onto the stick. Hopefully you will have more luck dipping your dough in the chocolate.  Not only did I have to thin my chocolate out with milk a bit, but I spread it with a spatula, as the chocolate kept pulling the dough off of the stick for me.

Place in styrofoam or a candy stick holder, like the one I got at Walmart and I would suggest keeping them cool until use.  As you can see, some turned out MUCH better than others.  But the kids loved them and their faces were CLEAN!

I had seen the idea for a lollipop garden on Pinterest using Tootsie pops.

It looked so cute and all it was, was the candy stuck in a patch of grass.  Cute and easy, right?

Well, not for me.  i couldn't find Tootsie pops anywhere.  So I used dum-dums.  Well, dum-dums are significantly shorter and got lost in the grass.  So I added a mini muffin liner and tied the bottom with emroidery floss, then placed them in the actual flower garden.  Even the boys att he party liked picking these flowers.  :)

Complete with egg hunt, gift bags, coloring printable crowns and

rounds of duck-duck goose, simon says, and a bubble machine, I only spent

$30 on the entire party.

Traditional Irish Soda Bread Farls



Place a large flat skillet, lightly floured on the stove over medium low heat.

2 C Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Soda (Sifted)

fluff together in a large bowl and make a large hole in the center

1 Cup Buttermilk

fill the hole with the buttermilk and quickly mix into a dough.

Place dough on a floured surface and gently knead into a ball, then press into a disk about 1/2 in thick.

cut disk into 1/4 pieces (Farls)



Place your fourths/Farls on the floured, heated skillet and cook until golden brown (about 5 min) flipping once to brown the other side (another 5-ish minutes)

Think really dense KFC biscuit with butter and jam....but better.  Also, the dough can be fried like a scone or baked into a bread.

Wandering Gypsy Girl Fried Red Potatoes

Red potatoes are small, tender and easily cooked in a variety of ways. One of the great things about them is that you can leave the skins on as they cook up beautifully.

Fried Red Potatoes:

Diced red potatoes

1-2 cloves garlic grated or mashed

olive oil (I like extra virgin)

1-2 pads butter

1/4 cup water

S&P to taste

Add olive oil and butter to a medium sized saute pan over medium heat. Add potatoes, S&P and saute for 3-4 min or until potatoes begin to crisp. Add water and cover with a lid. Steam potatoes until just tender. Remove lid and allow remaining of water to cook off. Add garlic paste to pan and toss thoroughly. Saute potatoes with garlic until fragrant and remove from heat before garlic burns.

Serve warm as a side.

Loaded Cheesy Rice

2 Cups of Uncooked Rice

Make according to directions with Chicken broth instead of water and adding some minced onion

Melt in about 2 Cups of Cheddar Cheese.  (Enough to coat all of the rice)

Place in bowls topped with sour cream and bacon bits

This was not an all around hit in our house.  Exactly half and half, actually.  It tastes like the rice version of a loaded baked potato.  I dug it, personally, but the potato purists felt it would be better to stick with the good stuff.  LOL

If I ever make this rice again, I think I might add broccoli.



Baked apples

 

This is the dessert that would tell me cool weather had arrived, when I was a kid.  There are a few ways to do the apples: The whole apple, cored;  Peeled and cut up; or in a sauce, though that's my least favorite.  Either way, it is a great way to use up apples!

This recipe is easily adapted to amounts, so you can have it for two or for twelve.

-Any kind of apple in the desired quantity chopped up.

-Coat in brown sugar and cinnamon generously (if using whole apples, stuff with brown sugar)

-Top with butter

-Bake at 350 for 30 min or until apples are softened.

Serve with Vanilla Ice Cream

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

I first discovered these lovelies over a year ago. So completely and delightfully delicious! It is a Paula Deen Recipe, the Queen of Butter. These cookies are so super easy and cheap to make. Thus making them perfect for this blog. I made them for my nephew's mission farewell luncheon/open house thing this past weekend. They didn't last long. Hope you love them as much as I do!

Ingredients

• 1 (8-ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 stick butter, at room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (18-ounce) box moist chocolate cake mix
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey." Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired.

South Western Wedges

Cut up potatoes
Olive Oil
Season Salt
Cayenne Pepper

Brush potatoes with oil, place in Ziplock, shake in season salt enough to lightly coat the potatoes, do a few shakes of the cayenne, zip the ziplock and shake and bake!

Bake at 400 for about 20-30 minutes
For crispier taters, cut finer wedges or do Fry style!

5 minute(ish) Taquito "Enchiladas"

For this recipe you'll need:
20-30 frozen taquitos
enchilada sauce*
cheese

Spray your baking dish to prevent it from sticking. Add a little bit of your sauce to the bottom of the pan. Layer your frozen taquitos next. Pour the rest of the sauce over the top. sprinkle cheese on top of the whole thing. Garnish with olives if you like. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until heated through.

I served mine with a side of green salad and some black beans.

*You can use any enchilada sauce you like. I used a sour cream enchilada mixture which consists of a small container of sour cream, a can of cream of chicken and a can of mild green enchilada sauce.  You could also skip the sour cream and go for a plain green sauce or even use a can of red sauce or for that matter "doctored up" salsa.

Artichoke Dip

1 (8 oz) can artichoke hearts
1 C mayo
1 (4 oz) can chopped green chiles
1/2 C grated parmesan cheese
dash of tobasco (opt)

Combine ingredients and bake at 4oo degrees in 8x8 baking dish for 20 min

Serve with a crusty bread or tortilla chips

Pumpkin Spice cookies

EASY EASY EASY!

1 15oz. can pumpkin
1 box spice cake mix

Dump dry cake mix into a bowl. Add canned pumpkin. Mix ingredients until cake mix is fully incorporated into the pumpkin. Drop by spoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. Cookies will be light and cake-like.
If you are feeling extra nice, throw in a cup of chocolate chips, too!



(The absolute best part of this recipe is the amazing smell that comes form your kitchen! Enjoy!)

I have also seen similar recipes that add an egg into the mixture, but I never bother. I have tried it with the egg, and I really don't think it adds all that much to the overall finished product...

Honey Butter

3/4 C butter
2 egg yolks
beat together and add 1 tsp vanilla and
2 cups honey

Teriyaki Chicken

Marinade: 1 bottle teriyaki sauce   1 bottle italian dressing

marinade 8 large chicken breasts overnight.

Grill/broil

easy peasy

Chicken Breast with Salsa

6 boneless skinless chickien breasts
3 lemons squeezed (just use the juice)
3/4 C olive oil
2 Tbsp crushed Garlic
Salt and Pepper
Salsa

Mix lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and salt and pepper in a dish large enought to marinate your chicken in.  Marinate for 15 minutes on each side, then grill.  Top with Salsa.

Tonight I got lazy and actually baked the chicken IN the marinade on 350 till the juices ran clear and it was SUPER moist.  I also cut up the chicken breasts into halves or fourths.  They aren't as pretty, but they cook faster.

We served it with Cous cous and green beans.

Fudge Stripe Ice Cream Sandwiches

2 cookies
Large spoonful of ice cream
Squirt of canned coolwhip
Half a strawberry sliced and fanned.

Stack and eat!

FYI--it is a bit messy.  Have napkins on hand.

Stuffed Butterfly Porkchops with Zuccini Squash

Thanks to my mom for the recipe!

Slice Thick pork chops about 3/4 way through and open making a "butterfly" shape.

Brown in shortening on both the inside and out adding salt and pepper if desired.

Stuff with prepared stuffing (I used stove top) with added mushrooms and close pork chops.

Place in baking dish with any remaining stuffing and cover with foil.

Bake at 375 for about 30 min. or until chops are cooked through completely.

Rinse and slice green zuccini squash and boil until desired texture.  (I like mine a little firm still.)  Drain water and stir in softened butter (I go a bit over board with the butter.  I'm a glutton).  Salt and pepper to taste.

I served this with a side of prepared candied apples.

Lemon Pepper Chicken Breast with Garlic Asparagus

Being inside so much this month, I decided to make things a bit 

"Fancier" But honestly this meal is so EASY!

The Chicken breast is simply sprinkled with Lemon Pepper, in a baking dish with a small amount of water to keep from drying out.  Then bake, covered at 350 until juices run clear when poked.

The asparagus is rinsed, snapped, placed in a pot with water just even with the spears and brought just to a boil with about a tsp of fresh minced garlic.  When just to a boil, place in a dish and top with butter allowing it to melt.

We also had Chicken Rice-a-roni, peas and carrots, and fresh fruit.

My breadstick secret is out.... :)

Carrie asked me to share my bread-stick recipe that was pictured in a previous photo. Well here it is- my secret is out- I CHEAT! 

I have found these awesome crescent roll "rounds" at my grocery store- and I love them! I have unrolled and stuffed them, cinnamon roll style. (see older posts of mine)   I have seasoned them with garlic salt or spread a light layer of pesto on them for extra flavor. I have even unrolled them, let the kids twist them, and bake them like bread-sticks instead of rounds. (Have I mentioned yet that I love them?) Then I follow the cooking times on the package. I hope you enjoy my secret!