SPINACH ARTICHOKE DIP

1 bag fresh spinach
1 can broth
1 small sour cream (u can use a large to make it more fluffy & 86 the mayo))
3 tbs mayo (optional)
1 bag Italian Cheese Mix (can use 2 to make it extra cheesy!)
1 wheel Queso Fresco (Mexican cheese; by the quesadilla cheese)
2 jars artichokes in oil, drained (u can use any; these are my favorite!)
1 tbs minced garlic (u can use powdered)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper



Reserve approx 1/4- 1 cup Italian cheese mix.

Boil Spinach & broth until reduced to approx 1/2 cup or broth. Chop artichokes while u wait! Crumble wheel of cheese into boiling hot mixture (cubing seems to not melt very well). Reduce heat & add garlic, salt & pepper. Remove from heat & add remaining ingredients.

Top with reserved cheese.


*Bake at 350-375 for 20-30 minutes. You can crank up the heat if you're in a hurry or just extend boiling time on the stove & just brown in the oven! I usually finish up with the broiler for a few minutes so the top gets nice & brown!

Serve with sturdy tortilla chips or a baguette is really good!

ENJOY!

24 Creative Birthday Cakes and Cupcakes for Kids

Searching for a theme for Jacob's 2nd birthday and stumbled upon this link:

24 Creative Birthday Cakes and Cupcakes for Kids

I love the block cake!

Award Winning Carrott Cake

Emily made this cake for the Williamson County Youth Fair and won Reserve Grand Champion with it. There was some tough competition but it was mighty tasty!


Carrot Cake

Ingredients:
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon coarse salt
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
½ cup water
1 pound carrots (8 to 10 medium carrots), peeled and shredded on a box grater or in a food processor (about 2 ¾ cups)
2 cups pecans (1 cup finely chopped for batter, 1 cup coarsely chopped for decorating sides of cake)
White butter icing (recipe follows)

Cake directions:
1. Preheat over to 350°. Butter 3 9-inch cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper and butter parchment. Dust with flour, tapping out excess. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg.
2. Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat 3 minutes. Add vanilla, water and carrots. Beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and add flour mixture, then finely chopped pecans.
3. Scrape batter into prepared pans, dividing evenly. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool in pans on wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around edges of cake to loosen, and turn out cakes onto rack. Turn right side up and let cool completely.
4. Using a serrated knife, trim rounded top of 2 cakes. Place one trimmed cake, cut side up, on a serving platter. Spread 1 cup frosting over cake. Top with second trimmed cake, cut side down. Spread 1 cup frosting over cake. Top with remaining cake. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides. Gently press coarsely chopped pecans onto sides of cake. Refrigerate 1 hour (or up to 1 day, covered) before serving.

White Butter Icing:

Ingredients:
1/3 cup soft butter
3 cups sifted confectioners sugar.
About 3 tablespoon water
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla

Icing directions:
Blend butter and sugar thoroughly. Stir in water and vanilla until smooth.

Easy Pulled Pork

3 lbs Boneless Pork Roast (I used Boston Butt)

1/2 C Firmly Packed Brown Sugar

1/4 C Apple Cider Vinegar

1 T Pepper Sauce (I used Frank's Red Hot)

1 Envelope Lipton Onion Mushroom Soup Mix

1 C Ketchup

8 Kaiser Rolls or Hamburger Buns

In crock pot, place pork. Combine remaining ingredients except rolls and pour over pork; turn to coat.

Cook covered on LOW 8-10 hours or HIGH 4-6 hours until pork is tender.

Remove pork; reserve juices. With two forks shred pork and return to juices. Serve on rolls or buns.

I served on toasted buns with potato salad as the side. Easy and tasty!

Cheesy Volcano Meatballs

I know it's been forever since I posted here, but I wanted to share this recipe I tried from Kraft. Even Logan liked it and he NEVER likes meatballs or meatloaf or anything like that. He ate the whole sandwich with no complaint!

Cheesy Volcano Meatballs

1 lb. lean ground beef
6 RITZ Crackers, finely crushed
1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese
3/4 cup spaghetti sauce, divided
12 KRAFT Cheddar Cheese Cubes
4 hot dog buns

HEAT oven to 400ºF

MIX meat, cracker crumbs, Parmesan and 1/4 cup spaghetti sauce. Shape into 12 meatballs, using about 2 Tbsp. meat mixture for each.

PLACE, 2 inches apart, in shallow baking pan sprayed with cooking spray. Press 1 cheese cube deeply into center of each meatball.

BAKE 14 min. or until meatballs are done (160ºF). Meanwhile, microwave remaining sauce in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 30 sec. or until heated through; spoon into buns. Fill with meatballs.

Banamana Bread

I found this yummy recipe for banana bread on http://www.graceviolet.com/ and have made it several times.  I add chocolate chips to mine to make it even more heavenly.  Even Ethan eats it!  Enjoy!

camping omelets

When we go camping with friends, we take turns making breakfast.  Instead of dirtying up the electric skillet making pancakes, we have a new favorite thing to fix.  Omelets in a baggie!  It's quick, fun and oh so yummy!

Ingredients:

- quart size ziplock FREEZER baggies

- 2 eggs per person

- omelet fixings like bacon, ham, sausage, cheese, potatoes, peppers or jalepenos

Have everyone get their own baggie and fill with 2 eggs and desired fixings.  Squish together with your fingers through the baggie to mix it all up.  Label the baggies with a Sharpie so you know which one is which.  Make sure all the air is out of the baggie and seal up.  Put in a pot of boiling water for 13 minutes. When it's done, it slides out of the baggie as a perfect omelet.  Yum!

crockpot shredded chicken

For yummy shredded chicken, all you have to do is dump the following in a crockpot for 6 to 8 hours:

3 to 6 chicken breasts
1/2 to 1 packet taco seasoning
1/2 to 1 cup of salsa (like my precise measurements?)

That's it! The chicken literally falls apart and becomes perfectly seasoned.  You can put it in tacos, enchiladas, nachos, quesadillas or whatever you can think of.  It's a great go to meal when you can't think of anything else to make! Enjoy!

Plantainwhich!

Recently I was experimenting with plantains and discovered a delicious lunch dish or snack.

1 Plantain(if it's black then it's going to be sweet, if it is yellow then it is going to taste starchy. I like them yellow with some black.

2 triangles of laughing cow spreadable swiss cheese

Thinly sliced turkey meat(to taste)

1 tablespoon of Olive Oil


Prepare:

Heat pan add oil

Slice Plantain in half and place in pan until golden brown

Add Swiss and Turkey

Enjoy!

Artichoke chicken

Ingredients:

15 ounce can artichokes - drained and chopped

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3/4 cup mayo

garlic salt to taste

4 chicken breasts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix together artichokes, cheese, garlic salt and mayo. Place chicken in a greased baking dish and cover with artichoke mixture. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear.

I found this recipe at http://www.kellyskornerrecipes.blogspot.com/. She has lots of good recipes on her blog and I'm planning on making more of them. I have made the artichoke chicken several times and it's a hit with my family. That says a lot! I used shakeable grated Parmesan cheese and it was great. It would be even better with fresh shredded Parmesan cheese. Yum!

lazy momma's toffee

Ingredients: Saltines, one stick butter, one cup brown sugar, one bag chocolate chips.

Line cookie sheet with saltines

Melt butter in pan, add brown sugar, stir until slightly caramelized.

Pour over saltines and spread evenly. Cook at 350 for 5 minutes.

Take out of oven, pour chocolate chips on top. As they melt, spread over toffee. Stick in fridge to set. Break into pieces and enjoy!

Zucchini Bread

1 c flour

1 Tb. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking powder

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. vanilla

1 large zucchini (enough to make 1 cup coarsely grated) Wash, dry, trim and DO NOT PEEL

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour bottom and sides of loaf pan.

Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and baking powder in mixing bowl and set aside. In another bowl, beat eggs, sugar, and oil with electric beater until thick and pale yellow in color. Beat in vanilla and flour mix. Stir grated zucchini into batter. Pour batter into pan and bake for 55-60 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on rack. Enjoy!

This is one of my all time favorites, and a real crowd pleaser! Tye even loves it!

Sopapilla Cheesecake

I know it's been forever, but my sister, Susan made these at Christmas and they were amazing. So delicious, yet so simple. I found a picture online since I didn't take one.

2 cans Pillsbury Crescent rolls

2-8oz Cream Cheese (room temperature)

1 1/2 cups Sugar, separated

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

1 tsp Cinnamon (I like a little more)

1 stick butter (1/2 cup real butter not margarine)

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. Unroll and press 1 can crescent rolls into the bottom of your baking dish press the seams together.

In a separate bowl blend the cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and 1 tsp vanilla spread over top of dough.

Unroll the second can of crescent rolls and place on top of the cream cheese mixture pressing seams together again. Melt butter and pour over top layer of crescents.

Mix the reaming 1/2 cup of sugar & cinnamon together. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture generously over the top. If you don't think that's enough cinnamon sugar on top add more it’s really up to you there's no rules on this part of the recipe.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until bubbly and bottom crust is slightly brown. Cool, slice and enjoy!

Yummy!!!!!!!

Chocolate Éclairs

These take a little practice and some patience too, but they are well worth the effort!

Pastries:
1 Cup water
2 ½ oz butter
1 Cup plain flour (sifted)
Pinch salt
4 eggs (3 if you use Jumbo)
1 teaspoon grated orange rind (optional)
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind (optional)

Filling & Chocolate sauce
Heavy Whipping Cram
¼ C Sugar
1 C Powdered sugar
Hot water
Cocoa
Butter (melted)

Pastries:
Place water and butter in sauce pan over low/medium heat until butter is melted. Bring to boil, quickly add sifted flour and salt, stir quickly until mixture forms a ball and leaves side of pan. Remove from heat immediately, let mixture cool slightly. 3-5 minutes.

Place mixture into metal or glass mixing bowl. Beat on low/med speed with electric mixer – add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each egg. Mixture will be thick, smooth and glossy. If using Jumbo eggs, you may only need to add two and one white (total of three) the key is to have the mixture smooth, glossy and thick.

Drop rounded teaspoon full of mixture onto greased oven trays. I use baking paper instead. Bake 10 minutes at 400*. Reduce heat to 370* (without opening oven) and cook for another 35 minutes, until golden brown.

Allow to cool completely on wire racks before filling. Fill with cream and frost top with chocolate.

Filling:
Whip heavy cram with electric mixer. Add sugar a spoonful at a time until cream start to stiffen. Use piping bag to fill each pastry with cream.

Chocolate Sauce:
Pour powder sugar into mixing bowl. Add melted butter and hot water. Mix well. Sauce will be think. “frost” the top of each filled pastry.

Chill for one hour. Serve cold. ENJOY!