Cheetos "Carrot" Treats

Note: If you are a room mom for your child's school, you are constantly looking for ways to take cute and creative snacks. Cupcakes and cookies get old... fast. With Easter fast approaching I wanted to take something fun, but filling a cone shaped bag with jelly beans has been done a hundred times. It also can be expensive and the kids tend to throw them away because not a lot of kids like jelly beans. Cheetos are a very cute way to fill cone shaped bags. They are orange. Kids LOVE them and the results are adorable!


Cheetos "Carrot" Treats

Ingredients:
Crunchy Cheetos
Cone Shaped Bags
Twist Ties
Green Ribbon

Directions:
Fill bags 3/4 of the way with Cheetos. Tie off the bag with twist tie. Tie big green ribbon to be the "leaves".

Tell me... could there be a cuter snack for your child's class?

Go and visit Tempt My Tummy Tuesday for even more great recipes!
It is my favorite day of the week to plan my menus!

How To: Make Baking Powder

Homemade Baking Powder

Ingredients:
1/4 cup cream of tarter
2 tablespoons baking soda

Directions:

Sift all of the ingredients together 3 times, and transfer to a clean, tight-sealing jar. Store at room temperature, away from sunlight, for up to 6 weeks.

Egg Salad

Note: We have a deli just up the street from our house and for a while every time I went I would order egg salad. After I realized what a waste of money that was when I could make it so easily and inexpensively at home. Because we eat it on toast, it really is something that we will eat for breakfast (minus the lettuce) or lunch.

Egg Salad

Ingredients:
6 large eggs
1-2 tablespoons mayonnaise
Salt and pepper
A tiny squeeze of lemon juice
2 stalks celery, washed and chopped finely (optional)
4 leaves of lettuce
8 slices of bread, toasted

Directions:

Boil eggs. Peel and chop eggs. (Different people have different preferences to size of "chop". I like my eggs chopped fairly small.) Add the mayonnaise, a couple generous pinches of salt and pepper, now mash with a fork. Don't overdo it because you still want the egg mixture to have some body and texture. At this point, if you need to add a little more mayonnaise, go right ahead.

Stir in the celery. Taste, and adjust the seasoning - adding more salt and pepper if needed.

To assemble each egg salad sandwich: place a bit of lettuce on a piece of toast, top with the egg salad mixture, and finish by creating a sandwich with a second piece of toast.

Cucumber Sandwiches

Note: We are trying our hand at gardening this year and cucumbers are on our list because of my love of cucumber sandwiches.

Cucumber Sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 (.7 ounce) package dry Italian salad dressing mix
2 loaves French bread, cut into 1 inch slices
2 medium cucumbers, sliced
lemon pepper

Directions:
In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, mayonnaise and Italian dressing mix. Refrigerate overnight.

To make a sandwich, spread the cream cheese blend on slices of French bread. Top with cucumber slices. Sprinkle with lemon pepper. Make one or make an entire loaf. The cream cheese mixture will keep for about a week in the refrigerator.

Grilled Pizza Sandwich

Note: Why eat ANOTHER ham and cheese sandwich when it is so easy to add variety to your life?

Grilled Pizza Sandwich

Ingredients:
1/3 cup pizza sauce
8 slices slices Italian bread (1/2-inch thick)
pepperoni
4 slices mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

Directions:

Spread about 2 teaspoons pizza sauce on one side of each slice of bread. Top four slices with the pepperoni and cheese. Top with remaining bread; brush the outsides of bread with butter. Grill sandwiches on a hot griddle or in a skillet over medium heat until both sides are golden brown and cheese is melted.

Pimento Cheese

Note: Just like the Fall makes me think of soups, Spring makes me think of salads. I love having a variety of salads in the refrigerator for our busy schedules and so we can stay outside in the late evening hours as long as possible. I will admit that although this is my favorite pimento cheese recipe for now, it is not the best one I have found. The best one I have ever tasted is my neighbor's mother's recipe. It is divine. She hasn't given it to me.... yet!

Pimento Cheese

Ingredients:
1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup grated sharp cheddar
1 cup grated Monterey Jack
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon Lawry's Season Salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
2 to 3 tablespoons pimentos, smashed
Cracked black pepper

Directions:
Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Add all of the remaining ingredients and beat until well blended.

To serve: You can eat this on bread for sandwiches or you can spread this on toasted French bread and put under the broiler under warm and bubbly.


Grab a glass of tea and enjoy me for a visit with Lana and Lisa over at Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. I dare you not to go away with new recipes for your recipe box!

Virtual Great American Bake Sale

Stolen Moments Cooking is hosting the Virtual Great American Bake Sale. From now until April 5th you can submit a recipe to be included in the ebook which will be available for sale during her online bake sale.

• Submit a baking recipe to be included in the ebook(s). Submit a recipe before April 5th. The recipes will be compiled, and the ebook(s) will be available for purchase on April 13th. You can submit a recipe here or via email - virtualbakesale@gmail.com
• Spread the word! If you have a blog, ask your readers to submit a recipe for the ebook. The deadline for ebook recipe submissions is April 5th. Feel free to copy and paste any information in this post when you spread the word. Make sure you offer your readers either a link to this post or the email address, virtualbakesale@gmail.com, so they can submit their recipes.
• Tweet! Spread the word about ebook(s) and the Virtual Great American Bake Sale through twitter. Please use hashtag #vgabs.

Participate in the Virtual Great American Bake Sale. If you have a recipe you’d like to share, write up a post, include a link to the ebook purchase page (the link will be available the 12th), and then send her the URL to your post by April 12th. She will post a master list of all the VGABS participants on April 13th.


What recipe did I submit? One of our family's favorites...

Chess Squares
Recipe Here

Simple Syrup

Note: You can use this syrup to sweeten tea, coffee, fruit punch, fruit salads... the uses are endless. It eliminates the grainy texture of just using straight sugar.

Simple Syrup

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup water

Directions:
Combine ingredients in 2-quart heavy saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. The sugar should dissolve. Remove from the heat and pour into clean air tight glass bottles. Let cool completely before using. Simple syrup can be stored in the refrigerator.

Garlic Cheese Grits Casserole

Note: This G.R.I.T.S (Girl Raised In The South) LOVES her grits!

Garlic Cheese Grits Casserole
Ingredients:
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
2 eggs, beaten
6 Tbsp butter softened
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp Tabasco sauce
2 cups cooked grits

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine cheese, eggs, butter, salt, garlic powder, and Tabasco sauce; mix well. Add cooked grits, mix well and pour into a 1 1/2 quart casserole.

Copycat Girl Scout Cookies

So I am obsessed with copycat Girl Scout Cookies since I didn't buy any boxes of their delicious goodness!!

I am going to be trying Little Birdie Secrets' homemade thin mints.

And don't these Samoas from Baking Bites blog look AMAZING!



But these babies? They are screaming my name! Peanut butter patties!

Green Punch

Note: Something green to sip on for St. Patrick's Day!

Green Punch

Ingredients:
2 (3 ounce) packages lime flavored gelatin mix
1 quart hot water
1 (46 fluid ounce) can pineapple juice
2 (12 fluid ounce) cans frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
2 cups white sugar
4 1/2 cups cold water
2 liters ginger ale

Directions:
In a large saucepan dissolve the gelatin in 1 quart of hot water. Allow to cool.When gelatin is cool, pour into a large punch bowl, Stir in pineapple juice, orange juice concentrate, sugar and 4 1/2 cups cold water. Pour in ginger ale just before serving.

Blueberry Muffins

Note: Little Guy said he just wanted some yummy blueberry muffins while on Spring Break. I can do that because these are easy and so delicious!

Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon


Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup, add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in the blueberries. Fill the muffin cups right to the top and sprinkle with the crumb topping mixture.

Directions for Crumb Topping:
Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.


For more great recipes, go to Lisa and Lana's blog spot for Tempt My Tummy Tuesday!

Menu Plan Monday - Spring Break!

Ahhh! This week's menu takes on an entire life of its own because it is Spring Break. This means that my grocery budget is going to be stretched beyond belief with the boys home for three meals a day plus snacks. I spent a lot of time last week trying to plan and prepare. I will be totally honest. I think that this will be the week that tests us the most as far as Lent. We gave up soft drinks and fast food and I know that at some point during this week we will be so tempted to want to grab something "quick".


Breakfasts

sausage cheddar muffins, crunchy snickerdoodle French toast, cold cereal, toast, blueberry muffins

Lunches
grilled ham and cheese, homemade pizzas, tuna fish salad, pasta salad

Our "Main" Meal

Monday - crockpot brown sugar chicken and broccoli and cheddar rice
Tuesday - corned beef and potatoes with green punch (for St. Patrick's Day!)
Wednesday - steak and spinach pinwheels with twice baked potatoes
Thursday - ham and cheese quiche
Friday - leftover night
Saturday - waffles, scrambled eggs, grits and bacon
Sunday - crockpot chicken and dressing

If the weather will cooperate, we will pack our picnic basket on Friday and go to one of my childhood favorite picnic spots, Rocky Springs.

Potato Chip Cookies

Note: Potato chips. No wonder they have devoted an entire day to this salty, wonderful snack. Would a sandwich be complete without it? Have you ever put potato chips ON your sandwich? Yummy! This recipe is very "vintage". I can remember having these cookies at school parties when I was little and that was a LONG time ago.

Potato Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
5 cups crushed potato chips (Lay's are BEST!)
2 cups flour
1 cup each, brown sugar and white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:
Mix crushed potato chips with the two sugars. Beat the two eggs and add to sugar and chips. Stir in milk and vanilla. Mix the flour and baking powder together and then slowly add to other mixture. Mix well. Grease baking sheet and drop by rounded teaspoonful. Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes, or until golden.

Crustless Ham, Cheese & Spinach Quiche

Note: Little Guy and I think this quiche is AMAZING! It is fairly healthy considering it doesn't have the crust and uses fat free cheese, etc...

Crustless Ham, Cheese and Spinach Quiche

Ingredients:

3/4 cup cubed ham
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1 cup reduced fat shredded mexican cheese blend, separated in 1/4 cup and 3/4 cup
3/4 cup fat-free cottage cheese
1/2 cup evaporated fat-free milk
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup baby spinach leaves

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add ham, onion and pepper to pan and sauté 4 minutes until ham is lightly browned.

Spray a 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray. Sprinkle 1/4 cup mexican blend cheese in pie plate. Top with ham mixture.

In a large mixing bowl, gently whisk together the eggs, remaining cheeses, cottage cheese, and evaporated milk.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder. Add flour to egg mixture and gently stir in. Add spinach to egg mixture and gently mix in.

Pour the egg mixture over ham mixture in pie plate. Bake for about 45 minutes, until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Monkey Bread

Note: Who doesn't love monkey bread? It is the easiest thing to make and you better watch out or you won't get any!



Monkey Bread



Ingredients:

3 cans small biscuits

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup pecans (optional)

1 stick butter



Directions:

Cut biscuits into fourths. Mix sugars and cinnamon in a bowl. Roll biscuits in mixture and layer in a greased tube cake pan. Sprinkle pecans between layers. Melt butter and pour over all. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Copycat Schlotskys Oatmeal Cookies

Note: Have you ever had oatmeal cookies from Schlotzkys? They are delicious and I am not a big fan of raisins in my cookies. This recipe is about as close as I have found. The secret to this recipe is soaking the raisins.

Copycat Schlotskys Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
3 large eggs, well beaten
1 cup raising
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups oatmeal
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Directions:
Combine eggs, raisins, and vanilla and let stand for one hour. Cream butter and sugars. Blend in egg-raisin mixture, flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, oatmeal, and chopped nuts. Dough will be stiff. Drop dough by heaping teaspoons on ungreased cookie sheet and flatten slighly with hand or measuring cup. Bake at 350° for 10-12 or until lightly browned. If you give the cookie sheet a whack on counter before cooling it helps make them set up more chewy and more uniform shape.



I am about to go make my grocery list, but before I do I am going to check out all the great recipes over at Lisa and Lana's blog for Tempt My Tummy Tuesday!

Menu Plan Monday

orgjunkie.com

As much as I enjoy cooking, I don't like to be in the kitchen every day.     To have to get in there takes the joy out of it for me and on some days with my muscle disease it just isn't possible.     I like to cook our week's worth of meals on Saturday.    It gives me a tremendous peace of mind to know that our meals are cooked and no matter how I am feeling that my boys will be fed.

Breakfast

Options:   cold cereal and milk,  bacon, egg, cheese breakfast burritos (in the freezer),  pancakes (in the freezer),  breakfast cookies

Supper

Monday - roast, redneck potatoes, green beans and whole wheat dinner rolls
Tuesday - chicken and dumplings and fruit salad
Wednesday - bbq beef sandwiches, potato chips and spinach salad
Thursday - ravioli with marinara sauce and garlic toast
Friday - leftover night
Saturday -homemade deep dish pizza
Sunday - poppyseed chicken, rice, crockpot corn, salad, homemade biscuits

Yummy Carrots

Note: I love carrots... especially sweet carrots cooked like this. When I am cooking these I stop cooking when they are just tender crisp. Nothing worse than biting into mushy carrots!

Yummy Carrots

Ingredients:
5 carrots, sliced into rounds
1 Tbsp. yellow mustard
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. corn syrup
1 Tbsp. butter
1/8 tsp. salt

Directions:
Boil carrots until tender crisp. (About 10 minutes or a little less.) Drain.

While carrots are cooking, mix remaining ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat stirring constantly until well blended. Do not boil.

Pour over drained carrots. Serve.

Sesame Chicken

Note: If hubs and I get a craving for Chinese, we want one thing: sesame chicken. I was thrilled to find this recipe for sesame that is both easy and delicious!

Sesame Chicken

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds, divided
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder (I used allspice.)
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
5 (6 ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into chunks
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 yellow onion, cut into wedges
1/2 cup green bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons teriyaki sauce
2 tablespoons honey

Directions:
In a large resealable plastic bag, combine flour, 1/4 cup sesame seeds, black pepper, five-spice powder, and red pepper flakes. Place a few pieces of chicken at a time into the bag, and shake to coat. Remove to a platter. Heat oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Place chicken into skillet, and brown on both sides, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken, and set aside. Stir onion wedges and bell pepper slices into skillet; cook until slightly browned, about 2 minutes. Remove, and set aside. Return chicken to skillet, and reduce heat to low. Mix in teriyaki marinade, 1/4 cup sesame seeds, and honey; stir until sauce thickens. Return onion and bell pepper to the skillet. Warm through, and serve.

Steak & Spinach Pinwheels

Note: When I first got married I had one cookbook, The Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook. I would read it and try to figure out what I could cook. This is one of the first recipes that I cooked.... successfully. The crazy thing is I am not sure why I cooked it because hubs hates spinach. I still love this recipe and hubs still eats it even though spinach is not his favorite.

Steak & Spinach Pinwheels

Ingredients:
8 slices bacon
1 (1 to 1 1/2 pound) beef flank steak
1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
In a large skillet cook bacon until almost done but not crisp. Drain on paper towels. Score the steak by making diagonal slits every inch making a diamond pattern. Turn over and repeat. Pound steak with a meat mallet starting at the center of the steak and working outward. Sprinkle the steak with salt and pepper. Arrange the bacon lengthwise on the steak. Spread spinach over the bacon. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Roll up the steak from the short side. Secure the steak with toothpicks every inch starting 1/2 inch from the end. Cut between the toothpicks. Place pinwheels on a broiler pan. Broil about 3 inches from the heat. Turn and broil for 6 or 8 more minutes.

And yes... these are delicious if you put them on the grill!

Source: Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook



Head over to Lana and Lisa's place for even more Amazing, Delicious, Wonderful Recipes!

Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps

Note: Little Guy is addicted to the Food Network. One night when trying to figure out what to cook he suggested we make this recipe. He had watched Paula Deen cook it. He remembered the recipe off the top of his head and it turned out amazing! This works well as an appetizer or served over saffron rice for supper.

Sweet Chicken Bacon Wraps

Ingredients:
1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless, chicken breasts (about 4 breasts)
1 (1-pound) package sliced bacon
2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons chili powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes. Cut each bacon slice into thirds. Wrap each chicken cube with bacon and secure with a wooden pick. Stir together brown sugar and chili powder. Dredge wrapped chicken in mixture. Coat a rack and broiler pan with nonstick cooking spray. Place chicken wrap on rack in broiler pan. Bake 350 for 30 to 35 minutes or until bacon is crisp.