a Thingy to Remember

I am making these for Stewy's graduation party in two years! :O)

http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2009/05/candy-cup-caps.html

Fruit Pizza

I made this one up the other day and we really liked it. Ever other time I have made this I have used cookie dough to make the crust but as we are trying to be healthy and I wanted this it be our dinner I did this instead.

*PS the pic is not mine I stole it of some other gals blog. :)

2 cups reduced fat Bisquick
1/3 cup Splenda
1 tsp. Vanilla
1/2 small carton of raspberry or strawberry cream cheese spread
1 tub low fat whipped cream
your favorite fruits( we used blueberries, strawberries, black berries, and banana)

Mix Bisquick, Splenda, vanilla together will enough water to make the consistency of a thick pancake batter. Pour and spread on a prepared cookies sheet and bake at 350 degrees until cooked through. About 10 minutes

When the pancake like "pizza crust" is done let cool on the counter. In a medium bowl whip together half the whipped cream and the cream cheese until well incorporated and set in fridge until the "crust" is completely cooled.

In the mean time chop up your desired fruit.

When the "crust" in cooled spread the cream cheese mixture evenly on top of the "crust" then place the fruit on it in a repeating pattern across the top.

You can serve with remaining whipped cream. My kids loved helping me make this and each had like three servings. Super yummy fun spring time dinner, treat, or breakfast!

Easy Chicken Satay

1 envelope Onion Soup Mix
1/4 cup oil or vegetable oil
2 TB firmly packed brown sugar
2 TB peanut butter
1 pound chicken breasts cut into thin strips or thin chunks
* I added a little super hot garlic pepper sauce.

In a large glass bowl combine soup mix, oil, brown sugar, peanut butter. Then add the cut chicken breasts and toss to coat well. Marinate for 30 minutes.

You can either thread the chicken onto water soaked wooden skewers or spread out on a large cookie sheet. Then Broil or grill chicken. Cook until no longer pink. About 4 minutes each side in the broiler.

Serve with any favorite Thai dipping sauce or by its self. This is Stew's favorite these days.

White Chicken Chile

Seriously so Good! My changes are in red.

1 lb chicken diced (1 use 2 large chicken breasts) *half a pound
1 med onion
1 ½ tsp garlic powder or 3 cloves fresh garlic
1 Tbsp oil
Cook together

Add:
2 c. chicken broth *three cups
1 tsp salt *1 1/2 tsp. chicken bullion
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp oregano
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
2 cans white beans, drained
1 4oz can diced green chilies

Bring to a boil and cook uncovered for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Turn off heat and add:
1 c. sour cream *1/2 cup
½ c whipping cream *I used 2% milk

Serve with grated cheese, olives, tortilla chips, avocado, and whatever else.

Sugar Cookies

I haven't tried this recipe myself but my friend made them for me and I asked for the recipe because she said they turned out better then any other recipe she has tried and my sugar cookies never turn out as good as these were.

8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar

1.) Cream the cream cheese and butter until light and smooth. add sugar and vanilla and mix very well. add flour and mix until completely Incorporated.

2.) Refrigerate a couple of hours.

r3.) Roll out using flour to help it getting too sticky to work with. Cut shapes and bake until mostly done. Let sit on cookie sheet for five minutes and then transfer to cooling rack. When completely cooled ice and decorate to your liking.

Split Pea Soup

I had a ton of left over ham after our Christmas dinner and so I made some split pea soup with it. Mainly to prove to my husband that split pea soup is really yummy despite its not so appealing appearance. Stewart dubbed it "Shrek Soup" so they kids would try it and it worked. My kids then thought it was cool and tried it and liked it.

1 pound green split peas

2 smoked ham hocks or left over ham works too :)

2 ribs celery--finely chopped

1 medium onion--finely chopped

1 medium carrot -- finely chopped

2 cubes chicken boullion

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt ( I didn't add this and it tasted great)

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon pepper

8-10 cups water

1 bay leaf ( I didn't add this because I didn't have it on hand)

In a large saucepan combine all the ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and leaving mostly covered simmer for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove and discard bay leaf. Remove that ham hocks; when cool enough to handle, cut meat into bite-sized pieces. Return meat to the soup and heat through. If you want a smoother texture put half of it in the blender and blend till smooth. Return blended soup to the saucepan and mix well.

Yield:6-8 servings

Mints

1 8oz. cream cheese
1 cube butter
1 1/2 tsp. mint flavoring
3 lbs. powdered sugar
green food coloring
2 cups chocolate chips melted

Mix cheese and butter until fluffy. Add extract and coloring. Add sugar-knead until mixed. Make ropes and cut diagonally. Refrigerate until firm and then dip in chocolate. Let stand firm. You can also rolls in powdered sugar and skip the chocolate.

Caramels

1 cup butter
1 lb. brown sugar
dash salt
1 cup light corn syrup
1 15 oz. can condensed milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Melt butter in 3 qt. pan. Add sugar and salt.
Stir. Add corn syrup. Mix well. Gradually add milk. Stir constantly to prevent scorching. Cook over med. heat until 245 degrees (be patient it takes at least 15-20 min.). Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour into a buttered 9x9 in. pan. Cool and cut. Makes 2 1/2 lbs.

Chocolate Covered Coconut Balls

Mom Rasmussen said these were really good and seeing how I love Mounds I am going to put these up for all to try along with me.

1 1/2 lbs. of powdered sugar
1 can condensed milk
1 pkg. flake coconut (14 oz)
1 cup chopped nuts (almonds would be good)
1 cube butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup parowax
2 pkgs chocolate chips (12 oz.)

Mix above ingredients and chill a few minutes. shape into balls (3/4 to 1 in. balls). Chill a few hours or over night.

Melt parowax with chocolate chips over hot (not boiling) water. Dip balls and drain. Let set and enjoy.

Home Made Stuffing

I got this recipe from Stewart's Aunt Sue when we eat there for Thanksgiving. I totally fell in love with it! It is so dang good.

3 cups boiling water
3 sticks butter melted
1 minced onion
1 1/2 to 2 loaves bread (white bread)
1/2 tsp. pepper
3 tsp. salt *if your butter is salted add less then given here
2 tsp. poultry seasoning or sage
3 Tbsp. parsley flakes
4 stalks celery diced

Mix all together. If too dry just add more water. You can then stuff turkey with it or you can bake in a baking pan. Bake until turkey is cooked through and if in its own pan cook at 350 degrees until tops of bread are golden brown.

Creamed Corn

I got this recipe from Stewart's Aunt Sue. It is so good you know its not a real vegetable side dish. My kids loved it!

2 packages (10 oz.) frozen corn, thawed
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp. Salt
5 Tbsp. sugar
4 Tbsp. butter
4 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I would probably omit this when I make it)

1.) Combine all ingredients except the butter, flour, and cheese in a large pan. Bring to a gentle boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer 5 minutes. Watch it carefully so it dosen't scorch on the bottom of the pan.

2.) In a separate pan melt butter and add flour to make thickening. Slowly pour butter mixture into the corn mixture. Stir constantly and bring to a gentle boil.

3.)Pour into serving dish and enjoy.

*If you are adding the cheese then sprinkle on top and broil to brown the cheese and serve.

Do Ahead Strawberry Danish Bake

Okay so this was supposed to be an easy meal and it once was but I ended up creating my own thing and totally changing the recipe I started out with it. It was originally called "Blueberry Breakfast Bake". So bear with me I seem to complicate recipes as I make them my own. But honestly so dang good!!! An instant family favorite.

Casserole

8 slices white bread, cut into 1-inch pieces (I think I used 10 slices)
1 package cream cheese, chilled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/2 cups diced fresh strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
8 eggs
1/2 cup water
1 small container of vanilla yogurt (6 oz.)

1.) Dice strawberries and put in a bowl and add the sugar and stir to coat. Set aside. Grease a 9 x 13 pan. Spread half of the bread pieces evenly in baking dish. Top with cream cheese and then sprinkle with strawberries. Top with the remaining bread. Beat eggs, water, and yogurt together. Pour over bread.

2.) Covered with aluminum foil and refrigerate at least 8 hours but no longer then 24 hours.

3.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake in covered pan for 30 minutes. Then uncover it and bake for another 30 minutes. Serves slices drizzled with the special syrup.

Syrup

1 cube butter
1/2 buttermilk (if you don't have any on hand use milk with a few drops of vinegar instead)
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

Melt butter add sugar, baking soda, buttermilk and heat to a boil stirring regularly. It becomes pretty foamy. Let it boil for one minute. Then remove from heat and add vanilla.

Do Ahead Chicken Manicotti

In my search for easy meals that would be good to use post baby I tried this one out. I thought this would be gross but we actually liked it; the kids more then Stew and I but for an easy do ahead meal this was pretty darn good. Of course I have changed it like I seem to always do to recipes, so feel free to do the same when you try it out. My kids thought it was great. They kept calling it pizza. Yeah, it was just that good. :)

1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 and 1/2 pound chicken tenders - I chopped my chicken in small pieces so my kids wouldn't be as scared off by it; they have meat aversions. And I am pretty sure I used less thena pound
14 uncooked manicotti shells
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese ( I used Italian blend pre-shreeded cheese)
*I added parmesean cheese

1.) Spread about one-third of sauce in ungreased 9 x 13 pan

2.) Sprinkle garlic salt and parmesean cheese on chicken. Insert chiken into uncooked manicotti shells. ( I didn't worry about putting a lot of chiken in mine and I used a knife to help me push the chicken in wihtout gettign my figners all gross with chicken juice and garlic salt) Palce shells in pan.

3.) Pour remaining sauce evenlt over shells, covering completely. Sprinkle with cheese.

4.) You can then either put it in the freezer for up to a month or put it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. Cover with aluminum foil with both oppsions.

5.) If frozzen heat oven to 350 degrees and bake covered for about 1 1/2 hours until shells are tender. If refrigerated heat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 1 hour covered.

Easy Meatball Subs

I made this one up today and we really enjoyed it. I am trying to increase my collection of easy meals to make post baby. I hope some of you try this and like it as much us. Seriously so good and about as easy as any meal can be.

1 pound frozen Italian Style Meatballs
1 or 1/2 finely diced bell pepper
1 jar marinara sauce (I really like Ragu's "Traditional" sauce)
fresh baked rolls or sub length bread
Shredded Cheddar Cheeses (or whatever you prefer)

Add meatballs, sauce, and bell pepper to a large pot. Cook on low heat letting it simmer for an hour or until meatballs are warmed through and flavors totally melded- putting a lid on will save you some serious stove top clean up. You can also cook it in a crock pot - cook on low until ready to eat at least two hours I would guess. Spoon meatballs and sauce on bread and top with cheese and then bite into a little bit of heaven! So easy and so yummy!!!

Spicy Peanut Chicken

This was a easy and yummy way to cook up a little Asian heaven on a weeknight.

1/4 cup chicken broth
1 TB. cornstarch
1 TB. sugar
2 TB. soy sauce
1 TB. white vinegar
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper *we thought it could use a little more but I would stick to the recipe if you or your family is sensitive to spice
1 TB. peanut oil
1 lb. chicken cut into small pieces
1 clove garlic
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
1 red pepper, cut into strips
1/3 cup peanuts
2 green onions thinly sliced

mix broth, cornstarch, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, and cayenne pepper. Set it aside. Heat frying pan with oil. Add chicken, garlic, and ginger --stir fry for about 3 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Add bell pepper and stir fry for 1 minute. Add sauce. Cook and stir until the sauce thickens. Remove form heat and sprinkle with peanuts and green onions. Serve with stir fry veggies and rice.