Mini Candy Apples

My sister, Heather, sent me this from Family Fun to try. They were fun and yummy!!

Ingredients:
4-inch lollipop sticks (I used tooth pics)
Melon baller
Granny Smith apples (one apple makes about 8 mini apples)
Butterscotch or peanut butter chips
Chopped nuts, nonpareils, sprinkles, shredded coconut (optional)
Small paper candy cups

1. First, cut the lollipop sticks in half at an angle (the pointy end will go into the apple pieces easier). With the melon baller, scoop little balls out of the apple. Each ball should have a section of apple peel. Push half of a lollipop stick into the peel of each ball. Pat the apple pieces dry.

2. Melt the chips according to the package directions. Dip and swirl the mini apples in the melted chips, then roll the apples in nuts, sprinkles, nonpareils, or coconut, if desired. Place the mini apples in paper candy cups to set.

I dipped the apples in caramel and then put mini-m&ms on them.

Shredded Pork Sandwiches

These were easy and yummy!! I was short on time and didn't get to make french bread, so I picked up a loaf between the two soccer practices. The pork was cooked in the crock pot and ready when we got home. Just had to throw it all together.

Shredded Pork Sandwiches

I'm not quite sure how to write this up. When I buy pork tenderloin, I usually cut it into 3 or 4 large pieces and then package them individually to freeze. I made this sandwich with one of those portions. My husband LOVES the hot cauliflower and the little hot yellow peppers that you buy in jars. I used some of the juice from the bottle to cook the pork in.

Directions: (sort of:)) Defrost pork. Salt and pepper pork and place in crock pot. Add juice from a jar of hot cauliflower or hot peppers. I add enough to come about 1/3 to 1/2 up the pork. Cook on low for 4-6 hours until the pork is cooked through. Shred pork in the crock pot. Slice a loaf of French bread in half(see pic above). I pull some of the bread out of the top and bottom of the bread to make room for the meat and toppings. My kids LOVE to snack on the yummy 'middle' bread while I finish the sandwiches. Butter both pieces of bread. Place them on a baking sheet in the oven under the broiler until they start to brown. Spread the pork on the bottom piece of the french bread, cover with shredded Monterrey jack cheese and place back under the broiler until the cheese melts. Add your favorite toppings and slice into individual servings. ENJOY!! --I hope this makes sense:)

Skeleton Veggie Tray

Just thought I'd share a picture of a veggie tray I made for my son's birthday a few years ago.

Chicken Tortellini Soup

We just had the most WONDERFUL weekend!! My sister and her family came to visit from Utah. They all left this morning and I MISS them already!!

A friend of mine gave me this recipe several years ago and I LOVE it!! We had this for dinner last night. Unfortunately, I got busy visiting and didn't have time to get rolls made before we decided dinner needed to be made. This soup is SO yummy in a nice crusty bread bowl or with crusty rolls on the side.

Chicken Tortellini Soup

Ingredients:

• 10 oz broccoli
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 2 cups chopped cooked chicken
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3 cans chicken broth(14 1/2 ounce), ~6 cups
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 t. oregano
• 1/2 t. basil
• 9 oz package cheese tortellini(fresh in the clear plastic box in the cheese section)
• grated Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top

Directions: In a large pot combine chicken broth, cream of chicken soup, chicken, onions, carrots, water, garlic, basil and oregano. Bring to boil. Add tortellini. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Add broccoli and simmer and additional 5-10 minutes. or until broccoli is tender. Serve with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

Fruit Dip

I LOVE this fruit dip!! Quick, easy and DELICIOUS!! Now I wish I would have bought more grapes while they were on sale last week!!

Fruit Dip

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. softened cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2-3 T maple syrup

Directions: In a medium bowl combine all ingredients. Beat until smooth.

Quesadillas

We eat tacos and bean burritos quite often at our house. These are two inexpensive and easy meals. This past week I have tried to make the beans and taco meat into something that looks like a whole different meal:) So hear you go. Next time you make taco meat or cook a pot of beans try serving them up this way:)

Taco Quesadilla Rolls

Ingredients:

• Prepared Taco Meat
• Tortillas
• Cheese
• Salsa
• Sour Cream
• Lettuce

Directions: Warm tortilla on a griddle or a large frying pan. Add cheese and taco meat to the top of the tortilla. Roll the tortilla up and let sit on the griddle/frying pan. Roll until all sides of the tortilla are warm and getting crunchy. Serve with salsa, sour cream and shredded lettuce.

Layered Bean and Cheese Quesadillas

Ingredients:

• Refried beans, or prepared beans(see below)
• Tortillas (I used 5 large tortillas)
• Cheese
• Salsa
• Sour Cream
• Cilantro

Directions: Warm tortilla on griddle or large frying pan and spread with beans and cheese. Top with another tortilla. When the bottom tortilla is warm and getting crispy, flip the 'stack'. Top the crispy tortilla with beans and cheese and another tortilla. When the bottom tortilla is warm and getting crispy flip again. Repeat for desired number of layers. I did 5 tortillas with 4 layers of beans and cheese. These were SO yummy!! We loved the crispy tortilla layers!! For the beans: I cooked a pot of beans and put them in the food processor to make them smooth.

Blog Award

We recently got our SECOND blog award! We are SO excited. Thanks to Real Mom Kitchen!! Laura has a wonderful blog, check it out!!

Here are the rules for this award. Please find at least 10 more blogs, of any kind that you love to read. Write a post about the blogs you picked, linking back to me and to them. Once you’ve posted, return here to let me know your post is done and be sure to let them know too!!! (If you don't come up with 10, that's fine too!)

Here are the 10 blogs that we are passing this award on to. Check them out they are all wonderful!!

Crazy Crafty Cousins

Homemade Goodness

Smoky Mountain Cafe

Gather Round Our Table

Food Friends and Fun

Crafty Chicks

Tender Crumb

A Corner of My Kitchen

Mommy's Kitchen

Cookies with Boys

Hot, Crusty French Bread

The other day I was looking for a recipe for a fast and EASY french bread recipe and found the perfect one! I found this recipe at Chickens in the Road. This recipe is very easy and the bread tastes GREAT!

Hot, Crusty French Bread

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 package yeast (rapid-rise recommended)
• 1 cup warm water
• salt to taste (~3/4 teaspoon)

Directions: In a large bowl, combine water with yeast and salt. Let sit for five minutes. Stir in flour until the dough is stiff enough to knead. (Add flour a little at a time. Three cups flour is approximate; exact amount may vary.) Knead dough until smooth and elastic–a few minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl; cover. Let rise until doubled. Form dough into a french-style loaf and place on greased baking sheet. (Dust baking sheet with cornmeal first if desired.) Place immediately in oven (unpreheated!)–bread will rise as oven heats up. Set oven at 375-degrees. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Makes one loaf. Recipe can be doubled, tripled, and so on.

PB and Chocolate Banana muffins

I love banana bread and I love mini-muffins!! I love being able to grab a quick one-bite(I have a big mouth:)) bit of goodness. I have a little guy here that wanted some "nuffins" for his birthday breakfast. The peanut butter is very subtle in this recipe. If you want a big peanut butter taste, add more:)

PB and Chocolate Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Crisco Shortening
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (you can make your own 1/2 T. vinegar, milk to make 1 cup)
• 2 mashed bananas
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1 t. salt
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup oatmeal (I used old-fashioned oats)
• 1/3 cup unprocessed bran
• 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions: Cream shortening, peanut butter, sugar and eggs together. Mix in buttermilk and bananas. Add soda, salt, flour, oatmeal and bran. Stir in chocolate chips. Fill mini-muffin pans 2/3 full. Bake at 375 degrees for 16-18 minutes. Makes ~40 mini-muffins.

This is the bran that I used. I didn't notice until I downloaded that picture that my 8 year old has turned this into unprocessed Brain. Haha...we do have a few of those around here:)

Here is the birthday boy showing off a couple of his new books from Grandma. Thanks MOM!! ....and yes, the messy chin is permanent. It seems to be anyway:)

Baked Omelet Roll

I found this recipe in an old issue of Taste of home. I made it for breakfast Sunday morning and it was a big hit!! We really enjoyed it. I don't have a 9x13" pan. Can you believe that? Me neither. I have a 9.5x13.5". I used a smaller pan and it still worked well, but I would recommend the 9x13" if you have one.

Baked Omelet Roll

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 t. pepper
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• other toppings of choice, I added green chili and Canadian Bacon

Directions: Place eggs and milk in a blender. Add flour, sat and pepper; cover and process until smooth. Pour into a greased 13-in. x 9 in. x 2 in. baking pan. Bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes or until eggs are set. Sprinkle with cheese and other toppings. Roll up omelet in pan, starting with short side. Place seam side down on a serving platter. Cut into slices.

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BBQ Chicken Pizza with Alfredo Sauce

This pizza is SO yummy!! This is super easy, unless you want to make each ingredient from scratch. My family LOVES this!! I made mine with a homemade pizza dough, but I have also made it with pizza dough that I have purchased from the bakery at my grocery store. I have made it with homemade Alfredo sauce, and I have made it with store bought sauce.

BBQ Chicken Pizza with Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 12" round pizza crust
• 1 cup Alfredo sauce
• 1 cup shredded chicken in BBQ sauce
• 1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions: Roll out pizza crust. Put oil on pizza pan and sprinkle with cornmeal. Place pizza crust on pan. Top with Alfredo sauce, BBQ chicken and cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for approx. 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and starts to brown. All ingredients are depending on taste, add more or less, whatever you like.

Creamy Ranch Chicken Enchiladas

The other day I had ONE chicken breast in my fridge. I also had some left-over homemade cream of mushroom soup that needed to be used. This turned out to be a great way to stretch one chicken breast. SO yummy, you won't be sorry if you try these!!

Creamy Ranch Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken breast(I used one with bone-in and skin-on)
• 1 4 oz. can green chili
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 2 T Ranch dressing mix, separated
• 1/4 t. ground cumin
• 2 oz. cream cheese
• 1 cup prepared cream of mushroom(1/2 can, 1/2 cup milk)
• 1 can cream of chicken
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1 1/2 cups cheese, separated(I used half cheddar and 1/2 Monterrey Jack)
• 1/4 t. oregano
• 7 small flour tortillas

Directions: Cook chicken, green chili, chicken broth, and 1 T. ranch dressing mix in crock pot on low for ~3 hours. Remove skin and bones from chicken. Shred chicken and return to the cock pot. Add cumin, cream cheese and cream of mushroom soup. Cook until crock pot until the cream cheese is melted. In a separate bowl mix the cream of chicken soup, milk,1 T. ranch dressing mix, 1 cup of cheese and oregano. Spread ~1 T of the chicken mixture and the soup/cheese mixture in the middle of the tortilla. Roll and place in a greased baking dish. I had a little of the chicken mixture left, so I added it to the soup/cheese mixture. Spread the soup/cheese mixture over the enchiladas and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until cheese just starts to bubble and brown. Serve with sliced olives, sour cream and lots of salsa.