Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Dip

This recipe put me in my place. It taught me, again, to never judge a book by its cover.  I've seen dessert dip recipes all over Pinterest and blogs lately.  I've always thought that they sounded completely gross. I'm not even sure why.  Maybe I didn't think I liked raw cookie dough enough.  Whatever the reason, I was so wrong.

My Husband made this one day and I was very skeptical.  I told him before even trying any, "you're going to end up eating that all yourself."  He kept reassuring me I'd like it.  "Nope, I don't like peanut butter cups" I'd say. "Just try it" he said. "I probably won't like it." I'd say.

Well, guess who ate most of it? This girl.

Much to my surprise, it was good! I honestly don't like peanut butter cups so I would scoop around them just getting the cookie dough & some chocolate chips.  Yum!

Next up, I'd like to try a brownie batter dip or cake batter dip.  I'm still skeptical of a sugar cookie dip only because I imagine it to be too sweet and sugary.  But, I need to remind myself not to judge a book by its cover, or a dip by its peanut butter cups!

Here's a great dip idea, pumpkin dip, for any of you Fall lovers like me!

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Dip
Recipe from: Shugary Sweets

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar (all we had was dark)
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
8oz cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
8 oz package Reese's peanut butter cup minis OR 1 1/2 cups chopped Reeses cups

Directions:
In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Whisk in the sugar, heating until all of the sugar dissolves.  Remove from the heat immediately and add the vanilla.  Allow this to cool to room temperature. If it isn't completely cooled, it will affect the end result of the dip.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar and peanut butter until creamy, about 3-4 minutes.  With the mixer on low, add in the brown sugar mixture that has now been cooled to room temperature. Mix until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips and Reese's.  Serve immediately or store in refrigerator until ready to serve.  We enjoyed this with graham crackers.  Animal crackers would also be good! I wasn't a fan of eating it with pretzels. But, give that a try if you think it sounds good!

Blueberry Stuffed French Toast

My Husband's hours changed at the beginning of this Summer and he's now home on the weekends more often.  He usually had to work every other weekend.  Now, he works about every fifth weekend and only has to go IN the office for a few hours and is able to work from home on Sundays.

I know I've talked about having Saturday breakfasts before (here and here) but I really do enjoy having a more involved breakfast on weekends. Whenever we visit my Parents, we usually have a more involved breakfast, too.  More involved doesn't always have to mean time consuming or hard.  To me, a more involved recipe just means that it's something more than you'd make on the weekday mornings when you're rushing off to work, getting kids ready for school, heading to your next class, etc.  It's something more than a breakfast bar or bowl of cereal.  It's something that you have to sit down and enjoy, not something you can eat while waiting for your bus or carpool. 

This recipe was very good! I didn't actually find the recipe, my Husband was looking up the recipe while I was in the kitchen. So, I can't give proper credit.  Please let me know if this sounds like your recipe and I will give you credit! 

I've never made stuffed french toast before, but now that I've been looking at recipes I don't think I did it correctly.  However, I don't really care because these were so yummy.  I really should make them again this weekend. I'm sure my little one would love some blueberries!

Blueberry Stuffed French Toast

Recipe from: Internet search, specific recipe unknown

Ingredients:

Slices of bread

2 eggs, lightly whisked in a bowl

pinch of cinnamon

pinch of sugar

1 tsp vanilla 

Softened cream cheese

1 cup of blueberries

a couple tablespoons of powdered sugar

Directions:

Add the pinch of sugar and the pinch of cinnamon to the egg in a small bowl. With a hand mixer, mix the powdered sugar with the cream cheese, gently add the vanilla and mix well.  Mix in as much or as little powdered sugar as you'd like, depending on how sweet you'd like it. You might want more than a couple tablespoons, you might want less, it's completely up to you. 

Just as if you were making regular, un-stuffed french toast, dip your bread in your lightly beaten egg mixture. I cooked all of my pieces of bread and then set them aside. 

Take a spoonful of the cream cheese mixture and spread on top of one piece of bread.  Top with a few blueberries (again, you can choose more or less depending on your preferences).  Top that with another slice of bread. Gently press down.  

Place the sandwich on your griddle and cook until warmed through and the cream cheese mixture softens even more. 

Serve warm with some additional powdered sugar sprinkled on the top. 

Some of the other recipes I found said to make the complete sandwich first and then grill it.  Not to grill the bread and then grill it again with the filling. 

Kitchen Tip: Cooking plain Chicken Breasts

In my opinion, there is nothing worse than a dry chicken breast. This is my favorite way to cook a plain chicken breast.  It's easy, hands-off and always produces great results! I really think the key here is that the chicken needs to be completely thawed.  It might work just as well with frozen chicken breasts, I'm just not sure, I haven't tried it yet.

The other night I threw the chicken breasts into the oven to cook up quick so that I could add them to the pasta.  In 30 minutes, I had juicy, thoroughly cooked chicken breasts.

You could even cook up your chicken ahead of time if you're needing chicken for a cold pasta or cold salad.  Cook the chicken, let it cool and cut/dice as needed.  You'll still have flavorful, moist chicken! This would work great on a busy weeknight, too.  While your chicken is cooking, prepare some veggies or a salad for a quick and delicious dinner.

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400*.  Cover a rimmed baking sheet with two sheets of foil.  Place your chicken breasts on the foil lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle with whatever seasonings you desire on your chicken.  Place a piece of foil over the top of the breasts, crimping around the edges of the pan so that you have created a completely covered baking sheet.  Put the baking sheet in the oven for 30 minutes.

After the 30 minutes, check to make sure your chicken is done.  If needed, cover with the foil again and cook an additional 15-20 minutes or however long you need until it's done.

Crockpot Freezer Meals!

With Baby coming in less than two weeks, my mind has been on freezer meals!  I want to be sure that we have quick, easy meals & foods on hand because I have NO idea what our life will be like with a newborn. The only thing that I DO know is that we still need to eat! :-)

So far in the freezer we have:
Waffles
Banana Crumb Muffins
Chicken Taquitos
Chicken Burritos
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Frozen pizzas
Steaks

I wanted to add a couple crock pot freezer meals and when I found this post on Six Sister's Stuff I thought it would be perfect.  We purchased the ingredients from Aldi since they're pretty cheap and we were running errands near one.

I've now added Hearty Beef Stew, Taco Soup & Chicken Cacciatore to our freezer stash and to be honest, we're really excited to cook them up! I'll be sure to update this blog post or create a new post with our feedback on each dish.

The beef stew was good, but I think I would have much preferred fresh beef stew.  I'm not complaining though, it was a warm meal. :)

Ranch Mushrooms

This is a recipe from my Husband's coworker.  It's not a recipe that I absolutely love, but they are good.  I'm not a lover of mushrooms in plain form.  I'd much rather have my mushrooms sliced and cooked IN a dish than eat them plain.

This is a nice crockpot recipe that you can quick throw together before needing to head out to a party or event, or let cook while you get other dishes prepared for a dinner party or gathering.

Ranch Mushrooms
Recipe from: friend/coworker
2 pkgs whole mushrooms
1/2 stick of butter, cut into tablespoon chunks
1 pkt dry ranch mix

Place the mushrooms, butter pieces and then the ranch dressing into your crockpot.  You can definitely use more mushrooms if you're needing to feed a crowd, just adjust the ingredients accordingly. Cook on low until the mushrooms are fully cooked and butter is melted, approximately 1-2 hrs.

Serve & enjoy!

Baked Oven Fries

 Baked Oven Fries
Recipe from: Annie's Eats
3 russet potatoes, cut into wedges
5 tblsp vegetable oil
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Preheat your oven to 475*. Place wedges in large mixing bowl.  Cover with hot water, soaking the wedges for 10-30 minutes.  Put 4 tblsp oil onto heavy, rimmed baking sheet.  Tilt the sheet side to side to evenly coat the pan with oil.  Sprinkle the pan evenly with the salt and pepper.  You could even add some additional seasonings if you'd like. (cajun, herbs etc...)

Drain the potatoes onto paper towels.  Wipe out the now empty bowl so that it is dry. Return to the bowl and toss with the remaining 1 tblsp oil.

Arrange the wedges onto the baking sheet in a single layer.  Cover with foil and bake for 5 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake until the wedges are spotty brown in color, about 15-20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet after 10 minutes. Take the pan out of the oven, flip each wedge using a tongs.  Bake for another 5-15 minutes until the wedges are golden brown and crisp.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

This is a recipe that I've made over and over again.  However, I've just never blogged it.  This is great for tailgating, potlucks, or to just munch on while you're hanging around the house on a Saturday afternoon. 

It's great with celery on the side, chicken in a biscuit crackers or as pictured, with tostito chips! 

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Recipe from: a friend (this recipe is everywhere on the internet and has various ways to prepare it)

1lb shredded, cooked chicken breast

1 (8oz) cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup ranch dressing

1 cup Franks Hot sauce

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

This recipe is really flexible because you can make as much or as little as you want.  The measurements can vary depending on how many people you'd like to feed, how spicy you want it or how mild you want it. 

Sometimes I combine everything into a large saucepan and prepare it on the stove.  For this particular day, I softened the cream cheese so that it was really easy to stir, combined it with the chicken, cheese, ranch and hot sauce and put it in a baking dish. I baked it in a 350 oven for about 20-25 minutes until the cheese was melted, and everything was warmed thoroughly.  I took it out of the oven, stirred it and put it back in for another 15 minutes or so.  Also, this particular time I put crushed ritz crackers on top.  That's not necessary and actually next time I would leave them out. 

I've also heard of adding some chopped celery when you combine all of the ingredients.  It's really good and adds a nice little crunch.  Plus, who doesn't love celery with buffalo chicken/chicken wings! :-) 

Coconut Chicken with Orange Marmalade Sauce

Chicken is such an easy and fairly cheap protein.  It makes for a great, quick weeknight meal but can be so boring at times. 

I was happy to find this recipe on a blog that I love reading, Good Thymes and Good Food.  I love that her recipes are always easy and I usually have the ingredients on hand.  I also love that she's expecting her second child around the same time that I'm due so I know that her recipes aren't too labor intensive and she likely plans her meals and preps her food while doing a million other 'Mom things' during the day/evening. 

This recipe was really good.  I don't love coconut but will eat it if its baked (desserts or used in a breading such as this). The one thing that really bummed me out was how soggy the bottom of the chicken got while baking.  I don't know if it was because I used milk instead of egg for my egg coating.  We were out of eggs and I figured milk would be a fine substitute. 

I also did not have the apricot preserves that it called for and only had orange marmalade available.  It worked, but I would definitely try this recipe again using apricot preserves to see if it's better or different. 

Coconut Chicken with Orange Marmalade Sauce
Recipe from: Good Thymes and Good Food 

Ingredients
1 egg
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup apricot preserves (or an apricot blend such as peach-apricot)
2 tblsp dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 400 and line a baking sheet with foil.

In a medium, shallow dish, lightly beat the egg.  In another medium, shallow dish stir together the coconut, flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Taking one piece of chicken at a time, dip into the egg and then into the coconut mixture. Pat the coconut mixture onto the chicken to make sure that it sticks. Place dipped chicken breast onto the baking sheet.  Continue with the remaining pieces of chicken.

Drizzle the melted butter over the chicken pieces.  Bake in your preheated oven 30-40 minutes until chicken is cooked through. If the chicken does not brown, place under the broil for a couple of minutes but be sure to watch it carefully!  I did not put mine under the broiler and you can see that some bits of coconut got a little dark!

For the sauce mixture, combine the preserves and the dijon mustard. Serve the sauce at room temperature.

Venison Stroganoff

This year, my Husband got his first deer while out hunting with my Dad.  He was pretty excited since it was his first deer ever.  We shared the meat with my Parents and have a supply of venison in our freezer.  He's made some jerky with it already which was so good. 

This was a really good meal and it came together rather quickly.  My Husband put it in the crockpot today while he was home from work, we took a quick nap after I came home and then ate dinner.  

Venison Stroganoff
1-2lbs of venison roast, cubed into bite size pieces
2 onions, chopped
1/4 cup chicken stock
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
Prepared egg noodles


Line bottom of crockpot with chopped onions.  Add the chopped venison roast.  Add 1/4 cup chicken stock. Cook on low for 6 hours.

Remove from crockpot.  Add meat to a medium sized saucepan.  Turn to medium-high heat and add two cans of cream of mushroom soup. Stir to combine the soup and venison meat.  Let cook at medium-high heat until well combined and no lumps are present, about 10 minutes.

Serve over prepared egg noodles.

Sausage Biscuit Sandwiches

I participated in another Recipe Swap on the online cooking forum that I frequent.  This time the theme was Breakfast.  I was assigned Sarah's blog again, A Taste of Home Cooking.

Both Matt and I are breakfast people.  We can't skip breakfast.  Most of the time, I wake up starving each morning.  Especially now that I'm pregnant, there is no way I can skip breakfast.  When I do eat breakfast, it has to be something somewhat hearty.  I can't just eat yogurt or fruit.  I need some protein in there too.

These breakfast sandwiches were perfect.  They could easily be a weekday morning breakfast or a made from scratch, weekend breakfast. I was really skeptical of the cream cheese and raspberry jam aspect of this recipe. The salty, sweet, creamy components of this sandwich really make it one of a kind.  Better than any fast food breakfast sandwich!  I tried it both with an over easy egg and a fried egg.  I much prefer the over easy egg sandwich.  It adds an additional flavor!

You could definitely prepare these for a large crowd as well.  People could top their sandwiches with our without the cream cheese and raspberry jam, you could offer bacon in addition to or instead of sausage ... the possibilities are endless!

Since it makes 8 breakfast sandwiches, I plan on preparing them and keeping them in the refrigerator so we can grab, heat and go during the week.  I'm hoping microwaving it doesn't ruin the cream cheese/raspberry layer.  We'll see!  I'll be sure to report back.

Sausage Biscuit Sandwiches

From: A Taste of Home Cooking

1 can refrigerated biscuits
1 package breakfast sausage patties
8 eggs
Cream Cheese
Raspberry Jam or Jelly

Prepare the biscuits per the package instructions.

Fry your sausage so that it's cooked through.  Wipe out your skillet and use it to make your eggs.  You could do a scrambled egg, fried egg, over-easy egg, whichever you prefer.

When your biscuits are done, sausage is cooked and eggs are cooked, you're ready to assemble!

Cut each biscuit in half.  Spread cream cheese (however much you prefer) onto each biscuit half. Spread some raspberry jelly on top of the cream cheese.  Again, use however much you like.  I used a small amount of each. Then, place your sausage patty on one half of the biscuit. I cut my sausage patties in half, lengthwise so that they covered more of the biscuit.  Then, place your egg on top and lastly, the other half of the biscuit.

Enjoy!

Raisin & Almond Granola

My Husband and I both really enjoy yogurt for breakfasts.  We usually just buy the individual servings of Yoplait but recently I just bought a large tub of Dannon yogurt and are going to make our own individual servings.  It's about the same cost, if not a little cheaper.

I decided that I wanted to make some granola to go with our yogurt.  I've made this recipe in the past so I looked it up again and now I'm finally blogging it!  I bought some grapes when I did some grocery shopping so I'll make my own yogurt, granola and grape parfait for breakfasts!  I made two batches of this recipe and it almost filled this cookie jar.

Raisin & Almond Granola
Recipe from: Ellie Krieger

3 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup chopped, unsalted almonds
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins


Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients.  Mix well so that the syrup has coated everything.  Spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.  Be sure to stir occasionally.

The original recipe says that this should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  I plan on going through this pretty frequently so I'm not worried about it going bad.  I'm going to store it in the jar shown in the picture, on my counter.

Greek Chicken Burgers with Tzatziki

This was my first time participating in the Recipe Swap on the cooking message board that I'm a part of.  This specific one was a Blogger's Choice theme.  This meant that you could choose any recipe from your assigned blog.  I was given Sarah's blog.  I've browsed her blog before but never saw this recipe.  My Husband loves Gyros and Tzatziki sauce so I was pretty sure that he'd love this.

I was right!  He loved it as did I.  All I was wondering after I ate dinner was, "what else can I put Tzatziki sauce on?"

The pitas that we bought were a bit difficult to work with so excuse the poor "shove-all-the-ingredients-in-the-pita" picture.  I made a few modifications just due to the time of the evening that we started dinner.  You can view the original recipe on her blog, the recipe and instructions below are what I used. 

I think we'll definitely make these again.  It was a quick, weeknight meal and it was something that we've never made at home.  My Husband and I made this meal together.  It was a good time cooking a meal together.  We have a tiny kitchen, but we made it work!

Greek Chicken Burgers with Tzatziki
Recipe from: A Taste of Home Cooking

For the Burgers:
1 lb ground turkey
2 tablespoons onion, finely grated
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
salt & pepper, to taste

For the Tzatziki Sauce:
1 english cucumber
12 ounces plain Greek yofurt
2 cloves of garlic (I used jarred, minced garlic)
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
Splash of olive oil
Salt & pepper, to taste
Squirt of fresh lemon juice

For serving:
Pita bread
Tomato, sliced
Red Onion, sliced

Combine the turkey, onion, oregano, salt & pepper in a bowl until well mixed.  Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and spread the mixture into the pan.  Bake at 350* for about 30 minutes.  The mixture isn't very thick so it doesn't take long.  Beware, when you take it out of the oven, it will have shrunk quite a bit.  There is also quite a bit of liquid in the pan, so be careful.

To make the tzatziki sauce, peel the cucumber.  Shred the cucumber and then squeeze the shreds in a paper towel to get rid of as much excess moisture as possible.  Mix together the yogurt, shredded cucumber, garlic, vinegar and lemon juice.  Salt to taste.  Refrigerate at least 30 minutes for the flavors to meld.  You could refrigerate this overnight too.

Slice up your meat and serve in your pita bread with slices of tomato and red onion with a dollop of tzatziki.

Banana Crumb Muffins

Recently, I had about two dozen bananas in the freezer that I wanted to use up.  I made a couple loaves of my regular banana bread, but I wanted to make some muffins to have for Breakfasts during the week.  I found this recipe and it seemed perfect.

I really loved the crumble of this muffin.  It just added that something extra that I felt it needed. They were a very moist muffin and made for the perfect snack to eat on the way to work, or at night for a dessert!

I doubled the recipe because the original recipe says its yields only 10 muffins.

Banana Crumb Muffins
From: All Recipes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted

For the crumble:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 375* degrees.  Lightly grease muffin cups or line with muffin papers.

In a large bowl, mix together the 1 1/2 cups of flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg  & melted butter.  Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened.  Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups.

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and the cinnamon.  Cut in 1 tablespoon of cold butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.  Sprinkle the topping over the muffins.

Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.

Dr. Pepper Chicken Wings

My Husband and I both really enjoy chicken wings. I've never really made them at home before.  I came across Carrie's recipe and knew that we'd both enjoy it.  The most tedious part of this, for us, was the frying of the wings only because we used our small deep fryer so we could only fry a few at a time.

Dr. Pepper Chicken Wings

From: Carrie's Sweet Life



One large bag of chicken wings

3/4 cup flor

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspon garlic powder

1 can of Dr. Pepper

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1/4 cup Ketchup

1/2 teaspoon chipotle Tabasco sauce

2 tablespoons butter

oil for frying

Combine the flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Toss the chicken in the flour mixture, coating completely.

Put the coated chicken in the fridge for at least 1 hour. This will help the coating adhere to the chicken during frying.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, bring the can of Dr. Pepper to a boil, reduce heat and simmer briskly until reduced to about 1/8th the amount.

Add the brown sugar, ketchup, Tabasco and butter and simmer until a nice thick sauce. Set aside.

Heat the oil to 350 degrees. Remove the chicken from the fridge and fry in the oil until golden brown and the chicken is cooked through. When all chicken is cooked, toss in the sauce until completely coated.

Serve & enjoy!

Strawberries & Cream Pie

I first made this pie about two years ago.  My Husband has been begging for one ever since.  I am not sure why I haven't made it for him since then, it's super easy and very delicious.

The first time that I made this I think I used a graham cracker crust. However, this time I used the pie crust that it calls for and I thikn it definitely needs the pie crust. 

Also, the recipe that I followed says to leave the strawberries whole but I don't think that it looks very attractive that way so I sliced up my strawberries.  As I was slicing the strawberries, I thought about layering the cream mixture on top of the pie crust, then some sliced strawberries and then more cream, repeat.  But by the time I assembled the pie, I forgot about that.

I made this pie and gave my Husband a Father-To-Be Father's Day card as his Father's Day presents. He was a happy man!  Since it makes two pies, we brought one up to my Father-In-Law as well.  I was going to bring it to my Parents house for Father's Day but I had some leftover cupcakes from something else that I brought down there.

I definitely plan on making this again, perhaps I'll make it annually for Father's Day for him.

Strawberries & Cream Pie

From: The Way the Cookie Crumbles

Originally from: Pillsbury's Complete Cookbook



Serves 8-10

1 cup cold heavy cream, divided
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup (2.33 ounces) sugar
¼ to ½ teaspoon almond extract
1 pie crust for a 1-crust pie, completely baked and cooled
2 pints fresh whole strawberries, hulled
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
I melted some chocolate almond bark that I had leftover and drizzled that on the pie

1. In a medium bowl (or the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment), beat 1 cup minus 1 tablespoon of the cream on medium speed. When the cream is frothy, increase the speed to high and whip until the cream holds firm peaks.

2. In a separate large bowl (or the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), beat the cream cheese on medium speed until it’s soft and creamy. Add the sugar and extract and continue beating until combined.

3. Fold about 1/3 of the whipped cream into the cream cheese to lighten the mixture, then add the remaining cream and continue folding until it’s incorporated. Evenly spread the cream mixture in the pie crust. Arrange the strawberries over the filling.

4. Melt the chocolate with the remaining 1 tablespoon cream over very low heat, stirring constantly, or in the microwave on medium power, or in a double boiler. Drizzle the chocolate over the strawberries. Refrigerate the pie until set, about 1 hour.

My version of a Green Monster Smoothie!!

This afternoon I was going to have some fruit as a snack.  I had mangoes, bananas & apples available.  I didn't feel like eating them seperate (aka: cut up in a bowl) so I decided to make a smoothie out of it.

There is no real recipe to this, smoothies are very versatile and you can make them as you wish with whatever ingredients you want.

I cut up a mango, added a banana and a couple splashes of orange juice.  Mixed it all up in my Magic Bullet and then added the last of the spinach we had in the refrigerator to get a dose of veggies! :)

Matt came home from work and said "What the heck is that!" I made him try it and he actually liked it. I've purchased those frozen smoothie packs from the grocery store before, but I like this because I know exactly what is in it.  No added sugars, preservatives or anything.  Just fruit & a little juice.

I definitely want to make more smoothies for breakfasts, snacks or even as desserts!

Eggs for breakfast sandwiches

Thank you Pinterest! (Click that link to follow my boards)

I saw this floating around on Pinterest awhile back and finally decided that I needed to make some eggs for quick and easy breakfast sandwiches.  I definitely need to eat breakfast in the mornings and I need something substantial.  I can't just have a yogurt or apple or something, I'd be hungry a half hour after eating it!

This is the perfect solution.  The eggs are ready to go each morning and I just need to grab an english muffin, a slice of cheese and I'm out the door.  I usually eat at work so I bring all of my supplies to work and am able to make a hearty, tasty breakfast at work!

As you can see, I put some spinach in a few of the egg wells. It was a little tricky getting the spinach to stay under the egg, so that it would cook IN the egg and not float to the top.  It took a little maneuvering with a fork but it all worked!

Spray your muffin pan with some non-stick cooking spray. Crack one egg into each well.  Sprinkle the eggs with a little salt & pepper or whatever seasonings that you'd like.  Bake in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes.  You could cook them for a bit less if you wanted a runny yolk.  However, I wanted to be sure that the eggs were fully cooked.

Store your cooked eggs in a tupperware container in the refrigerator for about a week.  Use your judgement though.  If they look/smell bad, I wouldn't eat them. I made a dozen of these, so that lasted my Husband and I only 6 days, which was perfect for our work week.

Taco Salads with Rice

Here's a great recipe for the upcoming Cinco de Mayo weekend or any large gathering!  You can make this to feed two people, five people or 25 people!  Make a big batch for your next tailgate party, Birthday or even those "Quick! Company is coming!" situations.

The idea is super simple and the preparation is even easier.  You can tailor this to your personal taste as well.  Don't like white rice?  Skip it.  Want spicy salsa? Use it.  Want to use Doritos instead of Fritos? Go for it.

The recipe below is what we used for the ones I made.  We made enough so that we had leftovers for the next day.

Taco Salads with Rice
AKC original recipe
Ingredients:
1 lb cooked, drained ground beef
4 servings of cooked instant white rice
Fritos chips

Your favorite toppings such as:
Shredded Lettuce
Shredded Cheese
Salsa
Sour Cream
Guacamole

Cook your ground beef and drain when cooked.  While the ground beef is browning, cook your rice. When both your ground beef and rice are cooked, assemble your plate (or bowl if you choose!)  I started with rice, added some fritos, ground beef and then my lettuce, cheese and sour cream.

Mix it all up, add some salsa and enjoy!!

It's really silly to have a recipe for this since it's SO easy.  It's really all about what you want on your taco salad and how you want to prepare it.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

This recipe is pretty self explanatory.  I don't have real measurements for things but I based it off of Carrie's recipe.  It turned out really great.  I know some people might completely turn their nose up at this but it was a delicious, warm, meal and tasted great after long work days and commutes.

Tuna Noodle Casserole
Recipe from: Carrie's Sweet Life

2 cups egg noodles
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can of tuna
1/2 cup shredded cheese, divided into two 1/4 cup servings
Plain potato chips, crushed up
Peas and/or corn (I used canned)

Cook the noodles to your preference. Prepare an 8x8 baking dish. (I always spray my baking dish with a little non-stick cooking spray.)

While the noodles are cooking, mix together the soup, tuna, peas and 1/4 cup of shredded cheese. 


Mix the soup mixture with the noodles.  Put into a baking dish.  Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and crushed potato chips. 

Bake about 30 min at 350 or until done.

Note: I doubled this recipe and put it in a 9x13 pan so that we'd have plenty for leftovers the following couple of days. 

Grandpa Dallan's Favorite Dessert

Dallan is Matt's Grandpa. Matt and his Grandpa were very close and when his Grandpa passed away it was a tough, tough time for Matt. I love hearing about all of his memories with his Grandpa. The fishing trips they'd take up on Gull Lake, the practical jokes Grandpa would play, the quality time Grandpra would spend with each of his Grandchildren. It's so heartwarming.

I first had this dessert at Christmas last year. His Grandma made it and when she called out that dessert was served, you should have seen the family flock to the kitchen. By the time I went to get my piece, this was all that was left! I definitely want to make it myself someday.

This recipe was in the 1980 newspaper and Matt's Grandma still has the original clipped article. It was shared as part of Fairview Southdale's favorite desserts, submitted by employees.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Dessert
Recipe from: 1980 Newspaper Article

1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tblsp melted butter
16oz cream cheese, softened
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
2 cans blueberry pie filling

Place graham cracker crumbs into the bowl and add the sugar and melted butter. Mix together.

Press into a 9x13 pan. Mix eggs and sugar together and add to the softened cream cheese and blend well.  Spread over the graham cracker crumb mixture. Bake at 375* for 20 minutes and let cool.

When completely cool, spread the blueberry filling on top of the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate and serve with ice cream or top with whipped topping.

Serves 12-15