Cake Batter Fudge & Apple Crisp

Sunday's weather was miserable... nasty rain and cold. I've run in the rain but nasty rain + cold? I decided to skip and avoid getting sick. The gym wasn't open yet so I decided to make some sweet treats (yeah replacing running with sweets makes no sense, I know!).

I had some apples so I made Healthified Apple Crisp (so good!). I put some frozen yogurt vanilla ice cream with this.

I also had been dying to try out Cake Batter Fudge. This is the easiest recipe ever! Warning: very, very sweet!

The apple crisp was gobbled up by Andy & I. I took the Cake Batter Fudge to work where it was definitely a hit!

Banana “Ice Cream”

I love sweets, ice cream included. So when I saw this “recipe” on Pinterest for banana "ice cream", I knew I had to try it.

First, peel your bananas, put them in a freezer baggie & toss them in the freezer overnight (or longer). I usually have bananas that I can’t finish up before they go bad, so I take them all and put them in freezer bags to save them (for banana “ice cream” or banana bread).

Take frozen bananas and place them in the food processor. Put on the lid, hold on tight and click it on. Let the food processor do its thing. First, it’ll look the consistency of gravel, just keep waiting. Keep waiting until you see it turn to a creamy, smooth texture – it will!

At this point, you can be done and scoop it out and add any toppings you want. OR you can flavor your banana “ice cream” – peanut butter, nutella, cocoa powder, etc.

I like to top mine with strawberries and rainbow colored sprinkles. Because c’mon, everything’s better with rainbow colored sprinkles!

I Gain 5lbs Just MAKING This...

I told you before I don't make a lot of the traditional dishes people love because I don't want mine to be compared to {insert name of mom, grandmother, aunt, etc.)'s version. But on Thanksgiving I decided to give a new Banana Pudding recipe a try... and I curse and praise that I did. This banana pudding rocks my world... my mouth loves it and my newly adapted healthy lifestyle hates it.

I will not make this dish unless I'm taking it to a party or having a group over... I force feed it to Andy if we have leftovers because I have NO willpower around this stuff. When I make it I lick the beaters, the bowl, the spoon, the counter... So there, I gave you fair warning before giving you this recipe that will give you love handles just looking at the dish.

AND I can't even take credit for the recipe. I'll just send you straight to the blog it came from.... but first let me give you my edits/tweaks/advice:

• I LOVE bananas, so I use 5-6 bananas. 
• USE a mixer when beating the cream cheese --- it doesn't show it or say it on the recipe, but do it. 
•  And go ahead, lick the bowl, you only live once.

Without further delay, here's the recipe: http://pearls-handcuffs-happyhour.blogspot.com/2010/06/momma-didnt-make-it-like-this.html

I've been wanting to try it with sour cream instead of cream cheese, but I just always happen to have extra cream cheese on hand and not sour cream {most likely due to the fact that Andy loves sour cream on everything...}.

Jalapeno Corn Muffins... and my dirty little secret.

I love cooking/baking/making things in the kitchen. But I hate complicated, million ingredient recipes. I like things that are do-able. Although for the right dish (dessert) I'll step it up if necessary.

I actually cancelled my Martha Stewart magazine because her recipes were ridiculous. 15+ ingredients and only 5 would be things I'd ever have on hand. No thank you!

So the other day when I was whipping up dinner for Andy's squad, I decided I wanted to make some corn muffins to go with the Taco Soup. Here's the dirty little secret... I grabbed two boxes of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix.

Yep. That's right. And these are insanely inexpensive. Since a box of corn muffins seemed a little too simple after I mixed them up per the directions on the box I added canned corn & diced jalapenos to the batter. Then I baked them in my mini muffin pan. The corn kernels mixed with the kick of jalapeno really stepped this box mix up! There are so many varieties you could try...

Cauliflower Mash - New Recipe!

People who have known me forever (like my mom, my BFF Lindsay, Andy, etc.) sometimes still get a good laugh out of: a) seeing me in the kitchen working away b) me telling them about a new recipe c) me making them try a new recipe. This is due to the fact that I hated cooking/baking/making anything (despite being President of FCCLA - aka politically correct version of Future Homemakers of America). I often told people how I would only marry a man that could (and would) cook (all of our meals). When I lived on my own in college I made a whole lot of cheese fries, frozen pizzas and spaghetti (without meat in the sauce, as Andy likes to point out).

I refused to touch raw meat. I had no real desire to make anything in the kitchen. And honestly, I have no idea when it all changed.

I remember when I first started handling raw meat (wearing rubber gloves! haha) and adding hamburger to my jar spaghetti sauce (I was 22). I'm not sure how I became such a housewife considering I didn't even know how to do laundry until I was 22 (ignorance is bliss people).

Now, I can not tell you how many days I spend hours straight in the kitchen. During the month of December I'm pretty sure I racked up some amazing numbers in my kitchen!

Yesterday I spent a good portion of the day making 7 Layer Salad, Jalapeno Corn Muffins, Taco Soup & Banana Pudding for Andy's squad for dinner. Today I tried out Cauliflower Mash and Potato Soup. I realized today, I had never boiled potatoes before (thank goodness for Google). I often find myself Googling how to do seemingly easy tasks in the kitchen (how to cut up a butternut squash...).

My mom gave me a head of cauliflower to use because she knew she wouldn't get around to it. She also told me (knowing my "healthified living kick") about being able to use Cauliflower to make something similar to mashed potatoes. Of course, I set out on Google looking for the easiest recipe.

Warning: I'm not much for complicated recipes that take 20+ ingredients. Especially, when I'm trying something completely different. If this recipe had been awful and I had thrown it away, I wouldn't have cost myself $20 on the ingredients too.

Garlic Cauliflower Mash

• 1 head cauliflower , separated into florets
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• salt and pepper , to taste

1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
2. Steam cauliflower for 10 minutes, until soft enough to easily pierce with a fork. 
   Remove from heat & transfer to a food processor or blender. Process until smooth. Add milk, garlic, salt and pepper. Process until mixed.
3. Pour into 1-1/2 quart baking dish. Bake for 10 min., until top is slightly browned.

 

I adapted this recipe from others on the internet - since I had the ingredients on hand. I also baked mine for 10 minutes but didn't wait for it to brown, just to "set" to a better consistency. 

 

I was impressed and will definitely give cauliflower mash another try -- next time I'll add a few more ingredients and try a little twist on the recipes I saw online... now that I know it's worth the extra money!

Baked Southwest Eggrolls Cups

I love trying new recipes. But I have a few requirements for trying a new recipe: it cannot take too much prep time/hands on time AND it cannot require too many ingredients. And if there are more than say 6 ingredients, they all have to be pretty basic things. I cannot stand recipes that call for 20 ingredients, 10 of which I've never heard of.

Here is a new recipe I tried & messed up before starting... I accidentally bought won-ton wrappers instead of egg rolls so I made "cups" instead. Which I loved! I sprayed a mini-muffin pan with non-stick spray & then I placed one won-ton wrapper in each, added filling and baked (watch them closely, my oven gets very hot and it only took them about 5-6 minutes baking).  I also made regular size muffin cups by putting two won-ton wrappers in each normal size cup. Both turned out great. 

Let me know if you try it!

Baked Southwestern Egg Rolls

Ingredients:
2 cups frozen corn, thawed (I used one can of corn)
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (10 oz.) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chiles, drained (had to ask my mom where to find these in the grocery store -- thank God for her!)
4 green onions, chopped
1 tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
1 package egg roll wrappers (about 24 total) (found the won-ton wrappers in produce)

Optional Toppings: 
Salsa
Sour Cream

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine everything but the egg roll wrappers.  Mix well to blend.  Lay an egg roll wrapper out on a work surface so that one of the corners is pointing toward you and place ¼ cup of the filling in the center.  Fold the tip closest to you up over the filling, roll a bit, then take the points pointing outward and fold them in toward the center.  Continue rolling into an egg roll shape until a small part of the remaining point is still free.  Dip a finger in water or beaten egg and lightly brush on the edges of the free corner.  Finish rolling and press to seal closed.  Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling. {Or do what I did and make cups with wonton wrappers!}

Preheat the oven to 425˚ F.  Lightly oil a baking sheet with cooking spray.  Place the sealed egg rolls on the baking sheet seam side down and spray the tops of the egg rolls with cooking spray.  Bake for about 15 minutes, or until lightly brown, turning halfway through baking.

Serve warm with salsa/sour cream/etc.

Yummy Taco Soup

Today, as I sat at my nephews basketball game I asked my mom and sister what I could make for supper tonight with a pound of browned hamburger. We bought half a cow with my family this year and the hamburger was packaged in two pound sections. Andy and I do not need two pounds of hamburger for any recipe we make so we always brown two pounds when we need a pound and then save the other to use in another recipe. I really wanted to try something new so when my sister suggested Taco Soup it sounded perfect! It was definitely a winner tonight for supper. And it's one of those "recipes" that you just throw whatever you like in and leave out whatever you don't.

Here are the suggested ingredients plus what I added {my sister doubles this recipe her family}:
- 1 pound browned hamburger
- 1 can of Busch's beans in Chili Sauce
- 1 can of diced tomatoes with chilies
- 1 can of corn {drained if you want a thicker soup}
- 1 can of tomato soup {no water added}
- 1 can of black beans {drained & rinsed}
- 1 onion chopped
- 1-2 envelopes of Taco seasoning {depending on how spicy you want it}

Garnish:
- mexican cheese blend
- sour cream
- corn chips
- diced jalapenos {or cook in with soup}

Brown hamburger {with the onions if you prefer or when you mix the other ingredients}. Mix everything together in a large pot and cook. I let it cook/simmer for about 30 mins. You can let it continue to simmer longer {some recipes say an hour}. Or you can mix it all together in a crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours.

To serve, crush up corn chips in each bowl, ladle in soup & garnish with cheese, sour cream, jalapenos, etc. Some recipes call for olives, chili powder, etc.

*Note: add or delete any of the ingredients... I added hunt's tomato sauce because I wanted it a little less thick, my sister leaves out the black beans, etc.

Red Pepper Pesto Dip

Back in '08 a girl at work brought this awesome dip to one of our food days ~ and we instantly fell in love with it! I started making it and my family fell in love with it. Last night I took it to a family get-together with Andy's family and they loved it too! It is a go-to appetizer & is sure to please!


Let's start with the ingredients:

- 1 tub 8 oz. Light Cream Cheese 

     *I usually buy the tub kind, although Andy bought me the box of cream cheese last night & it works too. Often I forget about the "Light" version and buy the regular.*
- 1 lg red pepper..chopped (about 1 & 1/4 cups) 

     *I've substituted orange and green with the red peppers at the store looked awful*
- 1/2 cup athenos crumbled reduced fat feta cheese
- 2 tbsp. Di Giorno basil pesto sauce 

- Wheat thins reduced fat baked snack crackers

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Then you just dump it all together & mix until well blended.

 It looks something like below at first, attractive, I know. 

Spread in 9 inch pie plate or 2 cup ovenproof serving dish.

Bake 15 mins or until hot & bubbly 

Let stand for 5 mins. Serve with crackers.

It looks something like this (note: this was before I baked it):

Incase you want to know:

Nutrional Info Per Serving: 

180 calories, 8g total fat, 2.5g sat fat,
10mg cholesterol, 400mg sodium, 23g carbs,
1g dietary fiber, 5g sugars, 5g protein