Club Sandwich Dip

 One thing we have been doing over the holidays

(from before Thanksgiving until now)

is, we have been trying different dips and cheese balls.

We have tried some really good ones, 

and also ones that aren't very good.

But we have been having fun trying the different combinations.

This one struck my attention because of the name.

Who doesn't like a good club sandwich?

And to have it on a cracker.....even better.

This one didn't last long in our house.

Actually, we wiped it out in one day.

I skipped the crock pot method and did mine on the stove.

I didn't want to wait for this goodness. 

I found this recipe in a Family Circle Magazine.

Hometown Favorites, Volume 6

Club Sandwich Dip

1 lb. smoked turkey, chopped

8 oz. cooked ham, chopped

8 oz. process cheese spread (Velveeta)

1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, cut up

1 c. light mayonnaise

2 tsp. Dijon mustard

6 slices bacon, crisp-cooked, drained, and crumbled

1/2 c. cherry tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1 TBS sliced green onion

Whole wheat toast points (I served mine with Wheat Thins)

In a 3 1/2 or 4 qrt slow cooker combine turkey, ham, process cheese, cream cheese, mayonnaise, and mustard.

Cover and cook on high-heat setting for 1-2 hours or until cheeses are melted, stirring after 1 hour.

Serve immediately or keep warm, covered, on warm setting or low-heat setting for up to 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Before serving, stir in half of the bacon. Top with the remaining bacon, tomatoes, and green onion. Serve with whole wheat toast points.

See Ya'all Soon!

Rice Krispies Reese's Fudge

 No-bake Reese's Fudge?

I think a slice of heaven just came through my Facebook feed.

The inspiration for this recipe came from Six Sisters' Stuff.

Give them a visit.

They have lots of great recipes.

 As I was studying this recipe,

and I like to put my own personal spin on things,

I thought,

what would happen if I brought the best of both worlds together?

 The best of both worlds is,

Rice Krispies Treats

&

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

In my world anyway.

 So this is what I did:

I prepared the Rice Krispies Treats as box directed.

I split the finished treats in half.

Half went into the bottom of my foil lined, and greased 8X8 pan.

The other half went into a small glass, and greased pan.

We wiped them out just minutes after they were set.

But let's get back to the fudge.....

Next I placed 16 15 Reese's Cups on top of the Rice Krispies Treats in the 8X8 pan.

Why did I have 15 instead of 16?

Because my grandson swiped one while I was busy with my back turned.

He knows what he's doing, right?

I took 5 Reese's cups and broke them into pieces to be placed on top of the fudge.

Place 3 c. milk chocolate chips in a sauce pan.

Add 1 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk and melt on low heat.

When everything is melted together pour on top of the Reese's Cups in the 8X8 pan.

Spread until evenly distributed. 

Take the pieces of broken Reese's cups and sprinkle on top.

Kind of press them down in the fudge so they stick.

I left the whole thing set to room temperature, and then placed in fridge 

for a couple hours.

When I was ready to cut it into squares I lifted the foil out of the pan.

Makes for a no mess cutting surface.

This is probably one of the best fudge recipes I have ever had.

And I am not a huge fudge fan.

But I know our kiddos' and grand kids will love it.

See ya'all soon!

Beer Cheese Dip

 This recipe came from Culinary Hill.

And when they say "addictive" they are telling the truth.

We wiped this out in one sitting.

 I served this with Ritz crackers and the new Tostito Rolls.

This is a very good dip.

Great for parties and family gatherings.

It is so good that I'm thinking about serving this for our Thanksgiving.

It will put a little life into the original veggie and cheese trays.

Beer Cheese Dip

3 (8 oz.) pkgs cream cheese, softened
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese, I shredded my own
1 pkg dry ranch salad dressing mix
6 oz. beer
1/2 tsp. onion powder
garlic powder to taste

Combine cream cheese, cheddar cheese (save a little for garnish), ranch mix, beer, and spices. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes. If you can wait that long.....Sprinkle with a little shredded cheddar cheese.

Bacon Bombs!

 Have you ever tried something that you just have to have more of?

These little babes are one of those "something".

We call these Bacon Bombs.

Oh, Bite It calls them Bang Bang Bacon Balls.

The original recipe can be found here.

While you are there, take a look around and 

see what else you can find.

After making these meatballs I will be visiting

Oh, Bite It! more often.

 And everyone loves bacon!

I bet Benjamin Buford Blue (My friends call me Bubba)   

could go on and on with bacon dishes,

just like he did with shrimp dishes.

But anyway,

These little things are the bomb!

I made a few changes of my own.

This is what I did:

Bacon Bombs!

Fully cooked frozen meatballs (I used Schwan's)

1 lb. thick sliced bacon

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 TBS honey

1/4 c. GFS (Gordon's Food Service) BBQ sauce

2 TBS hot sauce of your choice

1 dash cayenne pepper

1 dash red pepper flakes

Toothpicks

Wrap a slice of bacon around each meatball until bacon is all used up. Secure bacon with toothpick.

In a small saucepan add sauce ingredients. Just heat until everything is mixed together. It doesn't have to be super hot. Dip each bacon wrapped meatball in the sauce and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Bake in a 400 degree F. oven for 40 to 45 minutes. Mine took 45 minutes, and I turned them every 15 minutes.

Since these little beauties were very rich tasting, I served them with mashed potatoes and a veggie.

Dressed-Up Tomato Basil Soup

Everyone loves a good hearty soup, right?

We do in our house.

 This soup is almost as good as the Chorizo Rice Bean Soup

we made last September. 

Not quite, but almost.

This one is a dressed-up Tomato Basil Soup.

I need to get this on into print for you before I forget 

how I threw it together.

This is what I did:

Dressed-Up Tomato Basil Soup

1 container Schwan's Tomato Basil Soup

3 c. leftover beef broth from a roast

1 lb. fresh ground sausage (browned), seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper

2 frozen basil cubes, cooked with the sausage (the basil cubes I get at Trader Joe's)

1 can diced tomatoes with basil/oregano flavors

1 1/2 c. frozen corn (Schwan's)

2 c. bow tie pasta (cooked al'dente)

In a medium size soup pot I added my liquids (Schwan's soup, beef broth, and tomatoes).

In a skillet I browned the sausage and spices. There wasn't much grease so I didn't drain. I added the sausage to the liquids. Added the corn and simmered for about 30 minutes. I cooked the pasta separately in boiling water, drained and added to the soup. We ate this with Ritz crackers smeared with peanut butter. 

Beer Glazed Chicken

 This is another recipe that came through my Facebook feed.

When I saw the word "beer" I couldn't move 

fast enough to get the recipe pinned in my Pinterest.

I was NOT about to lose this one.

 The temperatures are still warm enough too for beer season......

And just think,

you can make this in your kitchen all year long.

This will for sure be made over and over in our house.

This recipe was posted in So, How's it Taste?

Give Leah a visit,

get connected on Facebook,

and enjoy so many more recipes from Leah.

I will be visiting her often.

Beer Glazed Chicken

2 TBS Canola oil

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

salt and pepper

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 c. beer

2 TBS soy sauce

1 TBS Sweet Hot Stone Ground Mustard

1 TBS honey

2 TBS parsley leaves (opt.)

Add oil to large skillet heated over medium heat. Generously salt and pepper the chicken pieces. Add chicken to skillet and brown (about 6 minutes each side). I cooked mine longer. I got it nice and brown. 

Add beer, onion powder, soy sauce, mustard, and honey in mixing bowl and stir with a whisk.

Remove your browned chicken from pan and keep warm.

Add the liquid to skillet and bring to a low boil. Scrape pan to loosen browned bits. Boil until liquid reduces to 1/2 c. (about 3 minutes). Return chicken to pan and turn pieces to coat with sauce. Sprinkle with parsley leaves if you like. 

Apple Galette

 Dear Facebook,

Why do I love thee?

Let me count the ways.....

Facebook is a great way to link up to 

awesome creative cooks, chefs, and just ordinary 

kitchen snobs.

(Like US)

 The recipe for this Apple Galette came through my Facebook feed.

If you click here

the link will take you to their Facebook page. 

Make sure you like their page so you can get great recipes 

in your own Facebook feed. 

 This was very easy to make 

and made for a great quick fall treat.

As you can see,

we destroyed it!

Apple Galette

2 large apples, I used 1 large 2 small, sliced thin

1/3 c. brown sugar

1/3 c. sugar

1 TBS lemon juice

1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Mix all together in bowl

1 refrigerated pie crust (Pillsbury)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

Lay parchment paper on a cookie sheet, I didn't have parchment paper so I used foil. Parchment paper will work better. The Galette stuck a little to my foil.

Lay out the pie crust on the cookie sheet.

Place your sliced apple mixture in the center of the pie crust and fold up the edges around the apples. 

Brush French Vanilla coffee creamer on the edges after they are folded. Sprinkle wet edges with sugar. Dot apples with butter. I used like 2 TBS.

Bake for 35-40 minutes.

Johnie's Goulash & Homemade Pasta Sauce

 We haven't been here for a while.

Since the weather is getting cooler

we promise we will be here more.

We decided to take the summer off.

Not really, but it sounds good.

That's our story and we're sticking to it.

During the summer we do a lot of riding the Harley.

One thing that we did not get done was,

a poker run.

This last summer we made it to:

Pittsburgh, PA

Indian Lake

Lake Erie

and Findlay a few times.

More than a few times really.

We were there so much this last summer 

that we discussed moving there.

Johnie talked about being hungry for goulash.

 So this last weekend he set sail in the kitchen and threw it all together.

When he cooks he doesn't like to use recipes.

And he certainly doesn't like to use canned pasta sauce.

I'm going to try and put this recipe into print for you.

The ingredients will not be perfectly measured, 

so you will have to make your own judgement when making it.  

2 28 oz. cans diced tomatoes (one petite diced, one seasoned with basil)
To taste:
Italian seasoning
Crushed garlic cloves (2 frozen cubes)
Salt & Pepper
1 TBS sugar
1 med. onion chopped
1 cube basil (The frozen cubes are from Trader Joe's. They come in tiny looking ice cube trays.)
But you can use fresh if you like. One cube equals 1 tsp.
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
A splash of red wine
1 can tomato paste
1 lb. ground beef (browned)
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1 ladle pasta water

Johnie started out with a little oil in a skillet and cooked the onion on medium heat until it was translucent. He added the garlic, basil, and seasonings with the onion. Mixed them together and then added the tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, red wine vinegar, and red wine. He left this all simmer for an hour and a half. He then used a potato masher to crush some of the tomato pieces. He browned his hamburger in a separate skillet. When the hamburger was cooked through, he drained the grease and added the hamburger to the simmering sauce. He also added 1/2 c. of Parmesan cheese along with the hamburger.

And for the pasta:
He used San Giorgio Trio Italiano

 Johnie seasons his water before cooking the pasta.

He shakes in: 

Italian seasoning,

garlic powder,

salt,

pepper,

onion powder.

He then boils the pasta al dente.

Before he drains the pasta he adds a ladle full of the pasta water to his sauce.

After he drained the pasta he added it to his pasta sauce.

And there you have it folks,

Johnie's Goulash

And it was some of the best goulash I have ever had.

We served it with garlic toast.

But a simple salad would also go nicely.

Strawberry Pizza

Well,

now that strawberry season is pretty much over with,

I thought I would share this recipe that I threw together one day.

I had to go to Johnie's Facebook page to steal the picture. 

When I threw this together I didn't think I would need to post it

to the blog.

Strawberry pizza is a popular item, right?

But then I thought (after I made it, and ate it), I put my own

personal twist in this recipe.

I will do my best to put this together for you.

Strawberry Pizza

1 pkg. sugar cookie mix, prepared as instructed on package

Spread on a pizza pan. Keep it away from the edges because it will spread as it bakes.

I baked it in a 350 F. degree oven until it turned light brown.

I left it cool completely.

For the cream cheese mixture I did this:

1-8 oz. pkg cream cheese, softened

2 left over packages of cream cheese frosting I had leftover from pumpkin whoopie pie kits.

1/4 c. Domino light sugar & stevia blend

1 tsp. vanilla

Mixed this all in a Kitchen Aid mixer, spread on the cooled cookie crust.

Sliced cleaned strawberries. Blended half of them in a blender. Poured the blended strawberries in with the sliced ones and spread them on the cream cheese mixture.

1 c. chopped cocoa almonds.

Sprinkled on top of the strawberries.

And there you have it. Strawberry pizza!

You can make your cream cheese mixture any way you want to. I just used what I had in my kitchen. This was dearly loved by everyone in the house.

See Ya'all Soon!

Banana Cupcakes

 A couple weeks ago I made an awesome fruit dip.

You can find it HERE.

So of course, I had to find a low calorie banana cupcake

recipe to balance out this awesome high calorie topper.

The banana cupcakes turned out perfect.

And they were toddler approved.

I made the cupcakes low calorie by making my own adjustments.

This is what I did:

Banana Cupcakes

Cooking spray

1 c. flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 c. granulated sugar, 1/4 c. Domino Light sugar and stevia blend 

1/2 c. mashed bananas (I used two medium)

1/4 c. butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

2 large eggs

1/4 c. cottage cheese

Place cupcake liners in a muffin pan and spray lightly with cooking spray.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Whisk together and set aside.

Combine 1/4 c. sugar and mashed bananas in a bowl. Set aside.

Place 1/4 c. sugar blend, butter, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Mix on high speed until everything is well blended. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each.

Add banana mixture and mix well. 

Add flour mixture and cottage cheese alternately. Beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Spoon batter evenly into paper liners. I divided mine until I had exactly 12 cupcakes.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until wooded pick comes out clean.

Cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Remove cupcakes and cool completely on wire rack.

Top with the awesome Cookie Butter Reese's Dip.

See Ya'all Soon!

Cookie Butter Reese's Dip

 Look where we went a couple weeks ago.

Trader Joe's!

I love Trader Joe's!

When I enter a Trader Joe's I skip.

Seriously!

I actually skip through the store because I am so happy.

Then people look at me like I'm strange.

But I don't care.

Sometimes it's good to skip through life because of happiness.

We all skipped as children. 

Why not continue that happy feeling when you're middle age?

 The inspiration for this recipe came from ShugarySweets.

I substituted the peanut butter with Trader Joe's Cookie Cocoa Swirl.

Everyone went nuts over this stuff.

As you can see we used it with apple slices.

It would be great on bananas too.

 I a little of this to work with me, along with two apples.

I will just say, "I was dearly loved that day."

Make some of this for yourself.

I have already proven it is awesome.

Cookie Butter Reese's Dip

1/2 c. unsalted butter
1/2 c. light brown sugar
1/4 c. Trader Joe's Cocoa Swirl Cookie Butter
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. semi sweet mini chocolate chips
1 1/2 c. chopped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

In a small sauce pan melt butter and brown sugar over medium heat until sugar dissolves (about 1 minute). Remove from heat and immediately add vanilla. Allow to cool to room temperature (very important).
In a large mixing bowl beat cream cheese, cookie butter, and powdered sugar until creamy (about 3-4 minutes. Don't skimp on beating time). Using low speed beat in butter/sugar mixture slowly. Mix until combined.
Fold in mini chocolate chips and Reese's Cup pieces. Serve immediately or store in refrigerator until serving. I found it best, if removing from refrigerator, let it set to room temp before eating. Serve with fruit pieces, or grahams.

See Ya'all Soon!

Italian Ranch Fried Chicken

 I ran across this recipe posted on Facebook.

It looked and sounded so good.

I just had to try it.

But mine didn't look anything like the picture on Facebook.

Maybe it's because I used boneless skinless chicken thighs 

instead of the boneless skinless chicken breast.

All you need is four ingredients:

Chicken (8 chicken thighs)

Ranch dressing (1/2 bottle)

Italian bread crumbs (enough to coat all the chicken)

3 more TBS of Italian seasoning (mix with bread crumbs)

Oh and,

Oil for frying

 I decided to prep all the chicken so I could just drop it in the hot oil.

 And I ended up with Frankenstein fingers.

I wasn't to happy with the way the chicken fried up.

As you can see the breading fell off in spots.

And it made my oil crumby.

I used about 3/4 to 1 inch of oil in a small skillet.

I heated it up over med heat. 

When the oil was hot enough I started dropping in my chicken.

I browned the chicken about 4 minutes on each side.

Be careful when you flip it. 

Do it slowly or all the breading will fall off.

This was good.

But I don't think it will be a go-to recipe for the future.

Johnie liked it.

And we made sandwiches with it.

A little mayo and broccoli sprouts on a bun.

See Ya'all Soon!

Bologna Salad

What does a couple in love do with a 2 pound chunk of deli bologna?

They make bologna salad, of course.

Ha!

Johnie and I both had a craving for bologna salad. 

He told me how his mom used to make it,

and I told him how MY mom used to make it.

It's always good to instill competition in a healthy relationship.

So as we approached the grocery store deli together

we were after one thing:

1 pound of chunk bologna.

The clerk dug out her chunk of bologna,

weighed it,

and told us that it weighed 2 pounds.

At the same time....

"We will take it!"

We took it home,

cut it in half

(sliced bologna for sandwiches is good),

and created our bologna salad with the 1 pound chunk.

 We used our Kitchen Aid meat grinder attachment.

I wish I would have gotten a picture of it for you.

We had a lot of fun grinding that bologna.

I don't really have a recipe for you.

But I can give you ideas on what we threw in.

After we ground the bologna was sent through the grinder

(while the grinder was still running)

we sent through

(approximately)

3 TBS. dill relish

2 TBS sliced green olives.

With everything in the mixer bowl we added:

(no measurements, just to taste)

a little mustard

a little ranch dressing

and mayo.

Stirred until all was combined and creamy to our liking.

Yes!

We ate bologna salad for a week.

It's probably best if you make this for a picnic or party.

It makes a lot!

See Ya'all Soon!

Banana Bread Snack Cake

 Ask anyone who knows me well.....

I'm not a big fan of banana bread.

But this snack cake is the bomb.

 There are so many different things you can do with this cake.

In the past I have topped it with a caramel glaze.

But this time I decided to drizzle it with cream cheese frosting.

Johnie is a sweets freak.

And he loves cake.

So I threw this together for our Easter dessert.

The recipe came from a good friend of mine.

She said it is one of her family's favorites.

And has quickly become one of ours.

Banana Bread
1/2 c. Crisco
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
3/4 c. mashed bananas (I used 2 and 1/2 bananas)
1 1/4 c. flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

My additions: 1/2 c. chopped walnuts (stirred in at the end), 1 tsp. vanilla extract (mixed with wet ingredients), cream cheese frosting, more walnuts to sprinkle on top.

There were no preparation directions with this recipe, so I just combined as I thought it should be. Mix dry ingredients together. Blend Crisco, sugar, eggs, and banana, and mix in dry ingredients. Pour batter into a 9x9x2 greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 to 35 minutes. Mine was closer to 35.

See Ya'all Soon!

Our Easter with Herb Encrusted Roast Leg of Lamb

 An extended weekend!

One extra day off work!

The weekend is going to last forever with just us two.

Yeah, RIGHT!

Another extended weekend cut way too short.

I guess the saying is true, "Time flies when you're having fun."

GGRRRR!!

So upsetting when you want time to STOP for a while.

I'll do a run-down of our weekend. 

And supply you with a great recipe in the mix.

 Friday started with Aunt Millie's Coffee Cake French Toast and bacon.

This is one of my favorite things to do with Aunt Millie's breakfast breads.

Just use it in place of regular bread for French toast.

It always turns out great.

Friday's weather was dreary and rainy.

So we took our time puttering around the house 

doing laundry, and watching Friday morning game shows.

We finally made it out around 3 o'clock.

We did a grocery store run.

And I would really like to know how two people buy almost

$200.00 in groceries?

How is that even possible?

I bet we have enough food in the house to last the rest of the year.

Then Saturday came:

We spent some time on Facebook in the morning while drinking our coffee, 

and after reading our news feed about all the B & E's happening in Marion,

we decided it was time to make our picture windows a little more private.

 We spent most of the late morning at Menard's.

We decided to go with vertical blinds for both picture windows.

And yes, as you can see in the photo above, we are still working on the puzzle.

 While we were at Menard's we came up with more improvements for

the house that really need attention.

We decided on a area rug for the dining room.

My theory: It is so much easier to vacuum than it is to mop.

We moved the dining room table into the kitchen to make room

for the birds big summertime cage.

 This is Tressel. 

Can you guess how he got his name?

Yup!

Named after Ohio State coach Jim Tressel since he is scarlet and grey.

Then onto Sunday:

Easter!

Which means FOOD!

Oh and, we prepped for this day all weekend.

 What I mean by prepping:

An herb marinade on a leg of lamb.

We marinated this leg of lamb for 24 hours. 

Johnie prepared the marinade,

bagged it all up,

flipped it,

massaged it,

and put love into it all weekend.

Johnie found an Emeril Lagasse recipe that he thought we would enjoy.

ENJOY is far from a correct description for this roast.

We LOVED it!

We didn't sway from the recipe at all because we wanted to make

sure our first roast leg of lamb was done right.

 We followed the recipe and directions as it was printed.

If you would like to try this amazing recipe you can find it below.

Just click here.

 The only thing we did differently is, we added asparagus with the potatoes.

We found out (trial and error) that the asparagus should be added

during the last fifteen minutes of roasting.

We added it to the last half hour and it turned out over-cooked.

But that's okay.

We now know for next time.

And there will be a next time......

 The roast turned out just like a prime rib roast.

Tender and juicy.

And the herbs and spices were fantastic.

 How is that for an Easter plate?

For dessert I whipped up this awesome banana bread snack cake.

This recipe came from a good friend of mine.

Best snack cake ever.

But this is going to remain for another post.

I will let you drool for a while until I get it posted.

All-in-all......

One great weekend full of fun and flavor.

See Ya'all Soon!