I have a little story for you all. A young girl graduated college and moved in with one of her friends. Moved to a new state, and in the evenings when they didn’t feel like cooking some nights….they would eat baked potato rounds! Really it’s just a means to get cheese and bacon to our mouths. We were having a snowed-in game night last night with some friends that live within walking distance of our place (to trudge through the snow), and I whipped out this ol’ recipe to relive the past. And it’s always amazing. Though because of the snow, I…
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Continue ReadingHere’s a great party recipe! The best part is that the veggies can be swapped out with whatever you have lying in the fridge. I ended up using celery and carrots, though I’m sure you could add in peppers, jalapenos, broccoli, spinach…anything you want! And the other ingredients take a number at 4. Amazing isn’t it? You of course can chop all of these vegetables by hand, but I highly recommend and food processor or chopper. I love this 1.5 c food chopper and it makes short work of vegetables! It’s cheap, safe, and reliable, and easy to clean and pack up. Especially…
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So I was supposed to have volleyball tonight. But lucky for you all, instead you get another recipe because it’s snowing and surprisingly dangerous for the less than 2″ of snow on the ground. But it’s that wet, slippery kind. I turned around before even going a mile to one of the major roads, and I passed at least 6 cars pulled over on the side of the road, and two in an accident right outside the complex. Jeez. And I don’t have an all-wheel drive vehicle, I have a sedan, but I also grew up in the Northeast and feel…
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Here’s the twin to my previously posted recipe, jalapeno cheddar stuffed burgers, though they’d go great with honey mustard pretzel chicken tenders, or a chicken pesto burger. So many possibilities! But I will say these fries are a wonderful side. They’re not particularly work-intensive, but give you some fries in your own home. I will be the first to admit that these are not a replacement for those triple-fried grease bombs that are your normal delicious french fries, but they’re a nice alternative with a tasty spice rub that you can make in your own home. You of course could mix up the spice…
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This recipe worked out great because I had pretty much everything in my fridge. It actually worked out great, one of those clean-out-the-fridge recipes! In general, though, I wouldn’t really call it that. This recipe is adapted from Holly’s Jalapeno Cheddar Burgers recipe on Spend with Pennies. Definitely tasty, though I had a few twists to the original. Firstly, I ended up using vegetable cream cheese. Now you only need regular cream cheese, but I think you could spruce this recipe up, or change out the center for something different! A chive cream cheese with some roasted garlic would make a great stuffer, or you could…
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Here’s a perfect family-pleaser recipe! I call it that because it’s a familiar and tasty option, spiced up with a little gourmet twist, but not with ridiculous ingredients. Chicken tenders, done the normal way, except instead of breadcrumbs, crushed pretzels for extra crunch, and throw in some honey mustard in the eggwash. That’s really all there is! I like this recipe because you get a little extra crunch for a touch of extra work. I don’t know if anyone else has this problem but I hate “crushing” things. Everyone makes it sound so easy–just crush the pretzels, like it’s that…
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So I’m feeling under the weather right now, and after a crazy New Year’s Eve, I’m ready for some easy-peasy slow cooker recipes. So I turned to this slowcooker french dip sandwich recipe from the magical slow cooker! I adapted ever so slightly, using what I had on hand–lipton french onion soup mix. Now you’ll notice that even while I mention salt and pepper in the ingredient list, I don’t actually mention in the instructions to use salt. This is just a personal preference. I like how easy the french onion soup mix makes this recipe, but I do think it’s got…
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So for this tart, because it was New Year’s Eve, I cracked out the cute confetti sprinkles! I think it ended up pretty cute. One of the best things about this recipe is that you can top it with anything. The original recipe, adapted from Ella’s Home Cooking Adventure No-bake Strawberry Chocolate Tart recipe, uses strawberries and chopped nuts. I’ve used caramel pieces as topping before, but you could use sprinkles, or any kind of fruit, candied orange peels, chocolate, maraschino cherries, cookie crumbles, crushed nuts…all sorts of goodness. I used raspberries on this one because I wanted something a little different…
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The mimosa bar for our New Year’s Eve Countdown Bash came out super cute! I decided that four was the perfect number: four fruits, four juices, four champagnes! Champagne Now we decided to use Andre as the champagne. It’s not classy, but if you’re going to mix with super sweet juices and mix the champagne, no need for the good stuff. We did reserve a bottle of “good stuff” for the actual midnight toast though! For champagne varietals, we had: (1) Brut, (2) Extra Dry, (3) Spumante, and (4) Blush. We also had some sparkling cider which is a perfect non-alcoholic varietal!…
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So today was a flurry of shopping, baking, and cooking! I’m exhausted but excited. It was lucky that I took the day off from work so I had enough time to do everything that needed to be done for our kick-ass New Year’s Eve Party! We pulled out all the stops. I’ve got a whole trivia game about 2015 ready, set with prizes; I made some props for us to use in a makeshift “photobooth” (more like a golden photo corner); and of course, the drinks — a mimosa bar! I’m super excited about it all but especially the mimosa…
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If you’ve clicked this link you’ve got good taste. I’m just putting that up front! This recipe was born from a grocery store sale! I love those. Browsing ads for some great deals helps me to narrow down what I might want to make. If chicken’s on sale, then it’s chicken for dinner; if there’s a good price on salmon, then we’re having salmon for dinner! And in this case … crab meat was on sale and I was craving some comfort food, so crab mac ‘n cheese it is! T and I are trying eat healthier now that the…
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So you might have noticed something: I like using egg roll and wonton wrappers for things other than Asian foods. My mom did teach me how to make wontons growing up so you’ll have to look out for when I actually post that recipe! But in the meantime … the recent crazy weeks I’ve had have forced me to get creative as I attempt to use up as many of the random ingredients I have lying around in my fridge. So, voila, philly cheesesteak egg rolls! These goodies are exactly what they sound like — thinly sliced steak with onions…
