Are you ready for asparagus season? This has to be one of the easiest ways to cook asparagus. Just trim the ends, lay out on a foil lined baking sheet, toss with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and Parm, and then bake until done. I eat them like French fries. Addictive? Yes.
They’re a perfect side to salmon, scallops, shrimp, or ham and delicious with eggs of any kind—poached, fried, or hard boiled.
A baby spinach salad with hard-boiled eggs, red onion and croutons tossed in a warm honey-mustard bacon dressing.
One of the most delicious salads to ever grace my plate. Completely unforgettable.
A baby spinach salad with hard-boiled eggs, red onion and croutons tossed in a warm honey-mustard bacon dressing.
5 slices bacon
3 cups cubed Italian bread (1/2-inch cubes)
coarse salt and fresh black pepper
⅓ cup olive oil
¼ cup Dijon honey mustard
1 clove garlic, chopped
4 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
6 cups baby spinach, stems removed
scant ¼ cup thinly sliced red onion
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet or roasting pan with parchment or aluminum foil. Lay the bacon down so it's not touching and bake about 15 minutes or until crispy. Remove to a paper-towel-lined plate and once cool enough to handle chop or crumble into small pieces.
Add the bread to the baking sheet and toss well with the grease. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until lightly golden and crispy about 8 - 10 minutes.
In the bowl of a food processor pulse the oil, mustard, and garlic together until smooth. Pour it into a small saucepan set over low heat and cook until warm. Stir in the bacon and remove from heat. Cool to lukewarm.
To a large bowl add the eggs, spinach, onion and croutons. Pour half the dressing over top and lightly toss, add more dressing as needed until lightly coated. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve at room temperature or cold.
The sweet and tangy dressing is made easily with olive oil, honey mustard and crumbled bacon. It gets heated up before being tossed with the salad ingredients where it gently wilts the spinach.
An easy shortcut for cooking bacon is to roast it on a parchment or aluminum foil lined cookie sheet or roasting pan. It cooks up in the same amount of time as pan-frying without making a greasy mess.
Once it’s cooked just allow the grease to cool then fold up the parchment and throw away. The pan underneath will be perfectly clean. It’s the only way we cook bacon in my house being it’s every bit as good if not better than the stove-top method.
To make the croutons for the salad I roast the bacon then toss the bread cubes in the rendered grease and slide the pan back in the hot oven.
The bacon grease adds a ton of flavor and makes boring old croutons a lot more interesting. If you want to use a healthier oil instead just drizzle the bread cubes with it on a baking sheet and toss before baking.
A salad built around bacon and eggs has naturally delicious consequences. The two belong together in every way, shape and form. A perfect marriage.
Even Especially in this salad where they are elevated to the starring role.
This recipe right here is why Twitter is so magical. One night I was messing around on it and I noticed that one of my twitter buddies Joe posted a photo of some smoked bacon wrapped onion rings. I have never even considered such a marvelous idea. I went to his blog MmmGoBluBBQ.com and I saw his version of these amazing treats. This immediately went to the top of my to-do list. Today I’m going to show you my take on this amazing appetizer. I added spicy sriracha hot sauce and make a spicy mayo dipping sauce. I could only imagine how amazing these would be at a tailgate and it for sure rivals one of the best smoked appetizers ever – the smoked stuffed jalapeno pepper. Yeah, these are that good!
One of the most beautiful things about this recipe is that it only has a few ingredients. I decided to be crazy and make a dipping sauce for it but to be honest these are so good you can easily eat them by themselves. Bacon, sweet onions, pepper and sriracha hot sauce (or any other hot sauce you like) is really all you need.
Sweet onions are a must for this recipe. They are such tasty and mild onions. The first thing you do is cut the onion in half until you get roughly 1/2 inch tall rings. Be careful doing this as you want to keep the onion completely together or else it will fall apart on the grill or smoker. Cut up a bunch of them and then pop the middles out of the onion ring. You’ll want to leave about 2 “rings” of onion on each one. This provides some stability but at the same time isn’t too hard to bite through.
I was thinking of ways to flavor the onion prior to wrapping it in bacon and I wanted to do something with hot sauce. The problem is that most hot sauces are rather runny and I assumed these sauces would drip right off the onion and barely be noticeable. Sriracha hot sauce, on the other hand, is thick so I knew it would stay on the onion the whole time. Brush that hot sauce on thick.
See how the sauce sticks right to the onion?
The next step is to take full slices of bacon and wrap them around the onion ring. I found that for most onion rings I needed 3, yes THREE, slices of bacon to make it all the way around. Once you are done use a long skewer or toothpick to keep things nice and tight. This also lets you grab them off the smoker with tongs without messing up the onion ring.
If you are using a charcoal grill you can do this via indirect heat and some smoke wood on top of the coals. Aim for 250-350 degrees F and grill the onions rings for about 90 minutes. Today, I was using my Ugly Drum Smoker so I loaded the grate with bacon wrapped onion rings and let it go for about 90 minutes at about 280 degrees F. You’ll know they are done when the bacon looks nicely cooked. We all know what cooked bacon looks like! The only catch here is that the longer these onion rings cook, the softer the internal onion will be. So gauge your temperature and time accordingly and don’t worry if they are taking longer than 90 minutes, just keep an eye on the bacon from overcooking. In other words, don’t think that a quicker high heat will produce just as good of an onion ring. The inside onion won’t be nearly as tender. I bet these onion rings can also work in a normal home oven, you just wouldn’t have the smoky flavor.
Right at the 90 minute mark I opened up the smoker to check these guys out and they were perfectly done. It smelled amazing. As I ran inside to get a plate I thought that I might be able to pull of a quick off-the-cuff sriracha mayo that could be a perfect dipping sauce. I eye balled 2 tablespoons of mayo into a small bowl, 1 tablespoon of sriracha hot sauce and about 1 teaspoon of lime juice. Mix it all up and there you go. It’s that easy!
These were absolutely phenomenal and I will certainly make these over and over again. This just might be my new go to appetizer recipe. Fantastic!!
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Hey, the original recipe actually calls itself a salad, so I’m just going with the flow. I turned Strawberry Pretzel Salad into an easy, fast, and delicious DIP recipe!
Somehow we entered a time warp back in January and when we stepped out it was mid-May. I’m not quite sure how that happened but Memorial Day is right around the corner. After that, summer and with it pool parties, BBQs, the 4th of July…all times when you need lots of potluck ready appetizers and desserts that are no-bake, easy, and fast.
This Strawberry Pretzel Salad Dip fits all of those requirements. Especially the one where it’s good for a party. It’s perfect for a backyard BBQ, a potluck…or a baby shower. It’s even good for a virtual baby shower.
Today I am so happy to be throwing a virtual baby shower for my blogging BFF Ashton from Something Swanky. You guys all know how much I love that girl. She was my first blogging friend who quickly transitioned to real-life friend.
I’d call her my work lobster, but that might be weird. Anyway…
Ashton is having a baby boy next month. And I (and some of my friends) are so excited for her that we’re throwing her a virtual baby shower!
SURPRISE Ashton! 🙂
{I know that she’s having a boy and that this dip is all pink but whatever. No one ever made a BLUEBERRY Pretzel Salad. Although that would be amazing.}
As soon as I started planning this shower I knew I had to make a sweet dip recipe. Ashton is the one that got me started on those, with her recipes like Brownie Batter Dip, Cannoli Dip, and various cake batter dips. She also loves fluff recipes, so when I was brainstorming easy, fun, and fast dip recipes made out of summer flavors I immediately thought of the Strawberry Pretzel Salad recipe that’s been begging me to make it for years.
YEARS. That’s how long this dip has been waiting for me.
I daresay, the actual salad recipe is pretty easy but this dip? Is even easier. Just a few simple ingredients get mixed together and it’s ready to serve.
The classic Strawberry Pretzel Salad recipe includes cream cheese, whipped topping, and sugar. Then it’s topped with strawberries and jell-o and it’s all on top of a pretzel crust.
This recipe is very similar. The base of the dip is the same as the middle of that layered dessert. Cream cheese, sugar, and whipped topping are mixed together (you could substitute whipped cream). Then, instead of using jell-o, I used strawberry pie filling. Just swirl some in and add some to the top for garnish.
Instead of making crust, you just serve this with pretzels. Or a spoon. I won’t judge.
It’s perfect for any gathering because it’s no-bake, easy, and fast. And it’s pretty, so it’s perfect for a baby shower!
Update: Congratulations to Amanda of Something Savory on winning the giveaway! Please contact me with your information so I can send the book.
There are a lot of great cookbooks coming out this fall. And I mean a lot. Like, so many that Eater had to split up their fall cookbook preview into two parts due to post size restrictions. As an avid cookbook devourer, blogger, and all around food dork, this is pretty exciting to me. Even more exciting? The fact that I have a stack of these cookbooks on my bedside table to review – and a few to giveaway to you. I hope you don’t mind a bit of a cookbook and recipe frenzy here for the next few weeks!
First up is Home Made Winter, released as a follow-up to Yvette Van Boven’s wildly popular cookbook, Home Made. Full of warming Irish, French, and Dutch recipes, this book has arrived just in time for what seems like it may be a long, cold winter – at least here in New England. It’s a whimsical, playful tribute to the sorts of hearty, made-with-love foods that get those of us that live in colder, darker, Northern climes through the winter. This playful spirit is set as early as possible – on the copyright page, which is covered with doodles and a “welcome cocktail” to draw you into the book. Throughout the book various recipes are drawn out and illustrated rather than typed and photographed, which I think is cute – and a good way to remember to not take cooking too seriously.
Recipe-wise, I like this book. There is a pretty broad range of time commitments, levels of difficulty, healthiness, and flavors represented here. Some examples: homemade apple cider made in your food processor (time consuming), quinoa apple cake (healthy), rarebits with pear and blue cheese (easy, bad for you). But even the time-consuming recipes are un-fussy, which appeals to me – home cooking never needs to be pretentious (even if sometimes it’s fun to be a little pretentious about it). I’m also a fan of the comforting Irish classics Yvette included – dishes I’ve read about but never had the opportunity to try, like steak and kidney pie, bannock bread with devonshire cream, and colcannon. Yvette’s French and Dutch roots are represented too (tartiflette, gevulde speculaas), but the Irish recipes stuck out to me the most.
Design-wise, I both like and dislike this book. The thing I love about it is the fun – the sketches, notes, paper cut-outs, and overall friendliness of the design. What I’m not so crazy about is the photographic style, which is not really my speed. The photographs are a bit too, well, wintry and realistic for me – many are shot indoors with that characteristic yellow overhead light glow, some are fuzzy and blurred, others are of dark, gray, wintry landscapes – no pristine snowscapes here. On the one hand, it’s appropriate – it truly brings to life the feeling of winter, being stuck inside, wishing it wasn’t so grey for so long, and finding comfort around the warm light of the kitchen table. I’m sure this was deliberate, and it’s done well. But I find that whole aesthetic kind of depressing – I typically want opening a cookbook to be an escape to somewhere beautiful and inspiring and filled with light, not a reminder of where I already am. Now, this is not a comment on the skill of the photographer (who is also Yvette’s husband) – there are many photographs in the book that are beautifully shot and lit – it’s just a stylistic choice that doesn’t draw me in.
The first recipe I tested from this book was the Daube Provençale – a French beef stew simmered long and slow in red wine, citrus, and olives. I served it over super-creamy garlic mashed potatoes, and it was as scrumptious as it sounds. The beef was fall-apart tender and packed with flavor, and the wine-y notes and salty olives made it stand out from other traditional beef stew recipes. It was also easy (although it takes some planning ahead), so I’ll for sure be making it again!
The bottom line:Home Made Winter is a fun, accessible cookbook packed with comforting, cold-weather recipes. The recipes are a mix of traditional and innovative – I think there’s probably a little something for everyone in here.
Giveaway: Thanks to the folks over at Abrams Books, I’m giving away one copy of Home Made Winter. To enter, leave a comment below, answering the question: What is your very favorite winter weather recipe?For one additional entry, you can subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door via email or RSS, and leave a separate comment letting me know you have (you can also do this if you’re already a subscriber). One winner will be picked at random on Wednesday, October 24th. Be sure to include your email in the comment form so I can get in touch with you! If the winner doesn’t respond to me within 48 hours, they forfeit their winnings and I will pick a second winner. US only, apologies to my international readers! Giveaway is now closed!
A final note – lucky for us, (spoiler alert!), we haven’t seen the last of Yvette – she tells us in the introduction to Winter that Home Made Summer will be released sometime in the not too distant future. In the meantime, enjoy this delicious French beef stew, enter the giveaway, and look out for two more recipes from the book to be posted here over the next week!
Disclaimer: A review copy of Home Made Winter was provided to me free of charge by Abrams Books. I was not compensated for writing this review, and all thoughts and opinions are honest and my own!
A note on the orange/grapefruit: Several people have been disappointed in the orange flavor that leaving the rind in the stew gives – if you are concerned, consider omitting it. I found that, when using a grapefruit, leaving the entire grapefruit in the stew gave it a slightly bitter aftertaste (a reader using grapefruit as well found the same thing). Although not mentioned in Yvette’s original recipe, I’d recommend separately adding the zest of the grapefruit and the fruit of the grapefruit to the stew, avoiding the bitter pith.
3 lb stew beef, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 (750-ml) bottle Cote du Rhone [I used Bordeaux and it was fine, but Yvette recommends Cote du Rhone, Vacqueyras, Gigondas, or Minervois]
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 orange, washed well and cut into 8 wedges [I substituted grapefruit]
1 large onion, peeled and cut into rings
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
olive oil
1 6-oz can tomato paste
3 1/2 oz. pitted black olives
Season meat with salt and pepper on all sides. Place meat in a big bowl with wine, thyme, bay leaves, carrots, orange, onion, and garlic. Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 12 hours, and preferably 24 hours.
Heat some olive oil over medium heat in a large stockpot. Remove the meat from the marinade and brown the pieces in the oil on all sides. Pour the marinade (including the oranges, bay leaves, etc.) over the meat and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, skimming any foam from the surface. Lower the heat to a simmer, stir in the tomato paste, and add 4 1/2 c. water. Cover, and let stew on low heat for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.
15 minutes before the stew is ready, add the pitted olives. Let cook for 15 minutes on medium heat without the lid to thicken the stew.
Serve over mashed potatoes, rice, or pasta.
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Serves 6-8.
6 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
salt
8 cloves garlic, cut in quarters
1/2 c. heavy cream
Place cubed potatoes in a large saucepan. Cover with cold water, salt liberally, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 10-15 minutes until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork, skimming starch foam from top occasionally and checking to keep from boiling over – lower heat if necessary. Drain potatoes and place in a blender.
Return saucepan to heat, lower heat to low, and add garlic and heavy cream. Heat until garlic is fragrant and cream begins to simmer, then add to blender. Blend until potatoes are a totally smooth puree. Add water or skim milk as necessary to even out texture.
After our Super Bowl party this year, I was left with about a pound of leftover shrimp from a platter that a friend so graciously brought over to share. We left to go out of town for a couple of days yesterday, so I wanted to use up all the leftovers we had in the refrigerator before we left. What better to do with it than make shrimp salad? It’s a perfect lunch over a bed of baby spinach.
While chicken salad can be dense and heavy, shrimp salad is light and airy. I like to season it lightly; a little bit of salt and pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice, and some fresh dill – to really let the flavor of the shrimp shine through. Next time you have some leftover shrimp hanging around (or take the shortcut, and buy them pre-cooked) do yourself a favor and whip up a batch of this salad. You just may have a new favorite for your lunchbox!
Shrimp Salad
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp kosher salt
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 pound large shrimp in the shell (16 to 20 shrimp per pound)
1/2 cup good mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill
1/3 cup minced red onion
1/2 cups minced celery (1 stalk)
Bring 3 quarts of water and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil. Add the shrimp. Cook until the water returns back to a boil. Remove the shrimp with a slotted spoon to a bowl of cold water. Let cool; then peel, devein, and roughly chop the shrimp.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, 1 teaspoon salt, lemon juice, Old Bay, pepper, and dill. Add the shrimp, red onion and celery. Stir to combine. Check the seasonings. Serve or cover and refrigerate for a few hours to let flavors meld.
Whatever you do, DON’T MAKE THESE! They are so addictive! It’d probably be healthier to eat an entire dinosaur leg than a handful of these. They are so good!
Personally, I do not like to use toothpicks to keep the bacon attached to the smokies. If you prefer to use toothpicks, as many other similar recipes do, by all means do so.
Empty the smokies onto some paper towels and blot them dry. Dry smokies will allow the bacon to adhere better. Place the dried smokies in a single layer (keeping them separated) onto a small cookie sheet. Place in the freezer for 45 minutes.
While the smokies are in the freezer, cut the bacon into thirds. Separate each piece of bacon and place on a large cookie sheet in a single layer. Put the bacon in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. The well-chilled smokies and bacon will help to keep everything from getting too slippery when you wrap the smokies later.
When it is nearly time to take the smokies out of the freezer, preheat the oven to 350F. Line a rimmed sheet pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Make the glaze by whisking together the brown sugar, maple syrup, mustard, and cayenne (if using). Whisk the mixture well to ensure that the larger pieces of brown sugar have broken up.
Wrap a piece of bacon around each smokie, pressing firmly on the final edge of the bacon to better ensure it does not spring open during baking. Try not to stretch the bacon when wrapping the sausages. Place the bacon-wrapped smokies onto the foil-lined sheet pan, seam side down. Continue with the rest of the bacon and smokies. Using a spoon, put a little bit of the thick glaze on top of each bacon-wrapped smokie, trying to coat each one evenly. You should have just enough glaze to do the entire batch.
Bake the smokies for about 35 minutes or until they are lightly brown on top. Immediately transfer the smokies to a serving plate or a slow cooker set on low to keep warm. These a very addictive. I apologize in advance.
Recipe courtesy of Cooking Ventures at http://cookingventures.blogspot.com
Delicious snickers cheesecake bars recipe that is swirled with chopped up snickers on top of an Oreo crust. Will definitely be your new favorite dessert!
About a week or so ago I had a taste for cheesecake. Of course, I didn’t want just a slice of a simple cheesecake! It had to contain something special and I mean really special – like snickers!
These awesome cheesecake bars can be made with any fun-sized candy bars that you have laying around; however, I think they rock with snickers!
After making these, I have so many more different ideas of fun cheesecake bar recipes. You guys are so lucky!
Even though you can use any type of fun-sized candy bars, I think the snickers bring a lot to the table because of all of the chocolate, caramel, and nuts. These bars have a just over-the-top on flavor – you’ll love them.
They are actually very easy to make, but they do require at least 3 hours of chilling time – same kind of chilling time as regular cheesecake would need. Making these the night or even the morning you need them are great – the longer they chill, the better they are.
For the crust you will need unsalted butter and 20 regular Oreos processed in a food processor. That process does not take too long.
For the cheesecake layer, you will need an egg, white granulated sugar 14 fun-sized Snickers, and vanilla extract. Not too many ingredients!
16 ounces (2 packages) cream cheese, softened
¼ cup white granulated sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
14 fun-sized Snickers, chopped tiny pieces
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8x8 baking dish with parchment paper or aluminum foil, light grease. Set aside.
Crust - Pulse the Oreo cookies in a food processor into fine crumbs. Add into a medium mixing bowl.
Pour the melted butter into the mixing bowl with the crushed Oreos. Mix together.
Pour the crust into the baking dish, using a large spatula spread out the crust. Make sure it is even all around.
Filling - In a large mixing bowl, cream the cream cheese and egg and mix for 3-5 minutes until it is creamy.
Add in the white granulated sugar and vanilla extract.
Spoon the cheesecake mixture on top of the crust.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cheesecake has set-up and the edges are lightly browned.
Allow for the bars to cool for 30 minutes at room temperature and then chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. Overnight is best.
Lift the foil of out the pan and cut into squares.
Store bars in a covered container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator - if they last that long!
Puppy chow snack mix gets a festive twist with pumpkin spices and candy pumpkins.
You know how much I love puppy chow, right? The addicting sugary snack makes me weak at the knees. I can never say no when it’s in front of me!
Surely you knew that a pumpkin version was bound to happen.
Puppy chow – aka Muddy Buddies – is not dog food. You would be surprised how many folks contact me about that. “You feed that to your dog?” No, no! Puppy chow is a snack mix – for humans.
I have seen many recipes for pumpkin flavored puppy chow. Ali, Megan, Alyssa, and even Land O’ Lakes. The more of this pumpkin chow, the merrier! (I’m sure there are other recipes out there. Sorry if I am missing you!)
I made this spiced pumpkin snack earlier in the week and let me tell you… it is dangerous to keep around. Especially if you work from home and are knee deep in food props, laundry, and a million other things on your to-do list. Puppy chow is a quick little treat to grab; it’s simultaneously dangerous and amazing.
Making my pumpkin puppy chow could not be easier. It’s really just a few ingredients mixed together. No baking involved, no chilling involved. Less work, more eating.
With pumpkin puppy chow on my to-do list, I got a little excited when I spotted orange candy melts in the store last week. What are candy melts? They are a sugary little coating – wonderful for making cake pops and other dipped candies. Candy melts are not chocolate. Just sugars. And I knew they would make a lovely addition to my pumpkin spiced snack mix!
Here are a few of the ingredients I used to make my pumpkin spice puppy chow. I list substitutes below this photo if you cannot find these products.
Cinnamon Chex cereal.
The cinnamon flavored Chex cereal gives the puppy chow a stronger cinnamon-sugar flavor. It is the perfect base for this puppy chow. You may use Rice Chex, Crispex, or any plain rice cereal squares you can find.
Wilton orange candy melts.
Again, this isn’t chocolate. It’s a sugary, melting coating. It’s sold online, in baking shops, Walmart, and craft stores like Michael’s and AC Moore. It’s very inexpensive. You will need one 12-ounce bag. If you cannot find orange candy melts, use pure white chocolate instead like Baker’s or Ghirardelli – both sold in all major grocery stores.
Mallowcreme pumpkins.
I love adding to this pumpkin spice puppy chow. You could use candy corn, Hershey’s Pumpkin Spice Kisses, Pumpkin Spice M&Ms or Candy Corn M&Ms, or some festive orange sprinkles.
This cinnamon-spiced pumpkin snack mix is wonderful to hand out to your little trick or treaters, bring along to fall parties, get togethers, girl’s nights, etc. Or just do what I did this week – snuggle up with a huge bowl on the couch while watching Chopped.
It’s worth every step on the treadmill, I swear.
If you love pumpkin spiced goodies, you’re going to flip for this puppy chow.
Follow me on Instagram and tag #sallysbakingaddiction so I can see all the SBA recipes you make. ♥
Pumpkin Spice Puppy Chow
This sugary snack mix gets a festive twist with pumpkin spices and mallowcreme pumpkins. Be warned - this stuff is addicting! This recipe may easily be halved or doubled.
Ingredients:
13.5 oz box (about 7-8 cups) Cinnamon Chex cereal, or Rice Chex
12 ounces orange candy melts or pure white chocolate
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
Directions:
Pour the cereal into a large bowl. Set aside.
In 20 second increments, melt the candy melts or white chocolate in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Stir after each increment until melted and completely smooth. Stir in 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, the nutmeg, cloves, and allspice until combined. Pour mixture over cereal and toss gently to coat each square. Be gentle, the squares break easily.
Pour the confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon into a large zipped-top bag. Add the coated cereal and shake until each piece is coated. Pour back into a large bowl and discard excess confectioners' sugar. Toss in the mallowcreme pumpkins. Use 1 - 2 cups, whatever amount you prefer.
Cover and store puppy chow for up to 2 weeks.
Instead of nutmeg, cloves, and allspice - you can use 1.5 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice.
Instead of mallowcreme pumpkins, try adding 1 cup of Pumpkin Spice M&Ms or Candy Corn M&Ms, 1 cup of Pumpkin Spice Hersheys Kisses, 1 cup of cinnamon chips, 1/2 cup of orange sprinkles, or even 1 cup of salty pumpkin seeds (which will cut the sweetness of the snack mix).
Here are a few festive treats to enjoy this season!
Have a great weekend! I am in Cleveland for a girls weekend until Monday. Talk to you in a few days!
I have a simple dinner recipe for you today. Simple and easy and tasty and smile provoking…an all around treasure.
I love it when smiles are provoked. Heck. I’ll take a smile from my kids even without provoking it! It’s just so much nicer when people smile instead of whine.
Do you like whining?
Not a fan, myself.
Speaking of my children…the other day we were watching a cooking show on The Food Network and one of my kids said…
“Hey Mom, you like to cook.
Why don’t you be the cooker on that show?”
My response?
“I’m pretty sure The Food Network frowns upon cookers who use cream of chicken soup. I think I’m out.”
Especially since just last week three of the trial recipes I made for this little ol blog
crashed and burned in failure. I used real cream in all of them!
Cross your fingers that real cream and I can become friends soon.
I hear from the good folks on The Food Network that it’s a mighty fine ingredient.
Now. Do I feel embarrassed about cooking with cream of chicken soup? Heavens no! I just bought three cases of it last month.
Should you feel embarrassed about cooking with
cream of chicken soup?
Of course not!
Are you the cooking she-rah for your family or what?
Do make food that provokes a smile?
Do your family members occasionally say things like…
“You are The Bomb, Mom. What ever you made with that trusty old cream of chicken soup is rocking my world.”
I thought so.
I knew you were great!
We cream of chicken soup lovin’ ladies have to stick together.
Now, let me show you how to make this crispy chicken happen!
1. Cut each chicken breast into 3 large chunks.2. In a small food processor grind up the ritz crackers.
3. Pour the milk, cheese and cracker crumbs into 3 separate small pans. Toss the 1/4 t salt and 1/8 t pepper into the cracker crumbs and stir the mixture around to combine.
4. Dip each piece of chicken into the milk…
then the cheese. Press the cheese into the chicken with your fingers. Some of it will fall off when you add it to the cracker crumbs, don’t worry about it.
Press the cheesy chicken into the cracker crumbs and press it in. By the time you are coating the last piece of chicken, the dish you are using for the crumbs will be full of cheese. Don’t let it get you down. Once the cheese melts in the oven it will adhere nicely to the crumbs and the crackers.
5. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray and lay the chicken inside the pan.
6. Sprinkle the dried parsley over the chicken.
7. Cover the pan with tin foil and bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. Remove the tin foil, bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the edges of the chicken are golden brown and crispy.
8. Into a medium sized sauce pan combine the cream of chicken soup, sour cream and butter with a whisk. Stir it over medium high heat until the sauce is nice and hot. Serve over the chicken.
***Note: This recipe makes a great freezer meal. Assemble the chicken according to recipe instructions, but don't bake it. Cover your pan tightly with foil and freeze. When you are ready to use it let it thaw completely and then bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. It's best to make the sauce fresh, when you are ready to eat.
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St. Louis-style pizza has a super thin crust topped with pizza sauce, provel cheese and Italian seasoning. It’s one of the quickest homemade pizzas you can make being the crust doesn’t have yeast in it and it takes all of 12 minutes to bake.
If you have a pizza craving at six you can be eating a fresh, hot square of pizza by six-thirty. Craving abated. Faster than take-out.
2 cups unbleached self-rising flour*
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons water
*Substitute 2 cups all-purpose flour + 1 teaspoon baking powder + ½ teaspoon salt and increase the water to ½ cup
⅔ cup pizza sauce
1 cup shredded sharp white cheddar cheese
½ cup shredded smoked provolone or mozzarella cheese
½ cup shredded Swiss cheese
dried Italian or pizza seasoning
Preheat oven to 425°F and lightly grease two 12" round pizza pans, or a couple of large baking sheets.
Mix the flour, oil, and water together - the mixture will be shaggy. Use your hands to gather it together and form into a ball. Divide it in two and form each half into a disk the rounder the better.
Cover with saran wrap and allow to rest 10 minutes to make for easier rolling - skip this step if you're in a hurry.
Grease a piece of parchment or wax paper about 12" square and set a circle of dough in the middle. Cover with another lightly greased piece. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough very thin - ⅛ inch or less.
Place the dough on the prepared pans. Top each pizza with ⅓ cup of the sauce.
Mix the cheeses together and sprinkle ½ over top of each then season with Italian herbs or pizza seasoning.
Bake the pizzas for 9 to 12 minutes or until the cheese is melted with a few golden brown spots and the edges/bottom of the crust are golden brown.
Remove the pizzas from the oven and let set 5 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board, cut into squares and serve immediately.
If you can’t find Provel cheese, a processed white cheese I’ve never even heard of before, you can combine sharp white cheddar with smoked provolone (or mozzarella, if like me, you’re a traditionalist) and Swiss cheese.
The crust is made of self-rising flour, olive oil, and water. It comes together fast and is easy to roll out.
If you bake your pizza on a pizza stone it will be crispier than if you bake it on a baking sheet. The baking sheet gives the crust a little bit of chewiness which, surprisingly, I really liked.
I wasn’t expecting to like this pizza as much as I did. I’m a thick-crust-extra-mozzarella-cheese kind of girl. . .
But me and this pizza? I think we’re going to be good friends.
My Mom makes the best cinnamon buns. I don't make cinnamon buns...I've been craving Mom's cinnamon buns, but they've been away. So I had to improvise. Enter Cinnamon Bun Cake, or as our two year old calls it, Cinabun Cake.
Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a 9 x 13 baking pan (buttered).
Mix all of the base ingredients together, with the exception of the butter. Add the melted butter last, and then pour into your prepared pan,
Mix all of the topping ingredients together in a separate bowl. Mix well. Drop by teaspoonful over the base, as evenly as you can over the entire base. Take a butter knife and swirl the topping into the base. Pop into the oven and bake for 28-30 minutes.
While the cake is baking, prepare the glaze and set aside.
Remove from oven and glaze the cake while still warm.
VERDICT
Well, as I posted on my Facebook page just after I pulled this cake out of the oven at 9:05 pm..."Oh dear...the Cinnamon Bun Cake that I just pulled out of the oven might not make it to morning...if it tastes half as good as it looks, it might be gone by midnight!" Needless to say, I ate two pieces before bed that night. And two more the next day. It's that good. Warm or room temperature. So stinking good. Quite the sweet treat, and a perfect pairing with a cup of coffee or a big ole glass of milk. And all of the ingredients are staples in most kitchens. Wow...this could be dangerous!
The only thing that gets our hearts beating faster than the thought of a shirtless Bradley Cooper is desserts...and lots of 'em. And because there's no better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than with a cupcake in hand, we found 14 red velvet recipes that are too good to pass up. From sweet macarons to rich fudge pies, don't be surprised if you suddenly forget your sharing skills.
Red Velvet Fudge Pie
Photo by Photo: Pizzazzerie
Red Velvet Cheesecake
Photo by Photo: Jelly Toast Blog The best part about this mini-dessert? It's no-bake, meaning you'll save time; leaving you to do more important things (like drink wine).
