Buckeyes

Look at this picture.  There is no better sight than rows and rows of Buckeyes.

Question:  I used a toothpick to dip the peanut butter balls into the chocolate.  A hole was left.  Do you fill in the hole?  It looked weird if I didn't.

Here is the recipe I used. 
(Note - it does NOT require paraffin.)

1 1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. soft butter
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. confectioners' sugar
2 tbsp. salad oil
1 (6 oz.) pkg. semi sweet morsels

Cream butter, peanut butter. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Mix well. Roll into balls and place on waxed paper lined cookie sheet. Refrigerate.

Melt oil and chocolate pieces together. Drip half of ball into chocolate mixture. Return to cookie sheet and refrigerate until serving.

Very rich if you use milk chocolate chips!

Christmas Cookies

Using a basis sugar cookie, I made several shapes this year.  I have to admit, though, that they kicked my ass.  I don't know if it's the difference in humidity or the new oven or WHAT, but these cookies were puffing up to unrecognizable (and unusable) shapes.  What's here are the only designs that turned out. 

Mimi Bites

I think it was Plato who said that necessity was the mother of invention.  Mom didn't like the new Wheaties Fuel cereal, so she invented a yummy new way to use it.  Go, Mom!

Mimi Bites
6 cups Wheaties Fuel
4 cups mini marshmallows
1/4 cup butter
Slowing heat marshmallows and butter. Butter a 9X12 pan. When marshmallows melted take off heat and stir in cereal. Turn into pan, Put wax paper on your hand and flatten. Cool, cut and eat!

Mac & Cheese

I have only made home-made mac & cheese one time, and the recipe, while ok, wasn't outstanding. 

Since I was having a craving for something more than K-R-A-F-T, I experimented.



Here's what I came up with:

1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk
8 oz. Ragu double cheddar sauce
8 oz. queso dip (I used Jardine's TJ Ranch Queso Armarillo)  Any dip with jalapenos or peppers will do.
Elbow macaroni - I used about 1/2 of a large bag.

Boil macaroni till tender.

Heat flour and milk till well mixed.  Add both cheeses and heat through, stirring so it doesn't stick to the pan.

After draining macaroni, add cheese mixture till well blended.

I liked this because I didn't have to bake it.  The peppers in the queso gave it some color.  I served this with garlic bread.  (Yeah, that's a lot of carbs.  I know!  Sheesh!)

What's also cool is that I used enough of the cheese sauce to cover the macaroni, but still had a small amount left over.  Nachos, anyone?

The real scoop
by Andrew
This was very creamy and cheesy.  I liked the extra kick that the queso gave it.  I loved it!

Fake-fried Chicken

3-4 pounds of chicken, cut up, skin removed
1 c. ranch dressing
2 cups instant potato flakes

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

Coat baking sheet with oil.

Lightly brush chicken with ranch dressing, then roll in the potato flakes.  Place on greased pan.

Turn down oven to 350 and bake for 25 min. or till juices run clear.

The verdict:
Not too bad, but there was a lot of mashed potato flakes left over.  The chicken was tender and almost melted in your mouth.  I should have put more oil on the pan, perhaps that would have made it more crispy.

In the future, I will just use Oven Fry...less waste, more crisp.

The Real Scoop
by Andrew
I couldn't really taste the ranch dressing, and I thought it would be crispy since it's supposed to be fried chicken.

Turtle Burgers

When I was little, my parents called me "Turtle."  I am sure it was because of the lightning-fast pace in which I moved.  So imagine my dismay when Mom sent me this recipe....

While your plain hamburgers are cooking, cut a hot dog for the head, feet and tail. When burgers are done, toss in the hot dog parts to brown and curl. Lay a slice of cheese on the burger, and use "heat 'n serve" bacon and weave it like lattice on top of cheese. Attach the head, feet, and tail with toothpicks.  Pop them in the microwave to warm the cheese and burger. Turtle Burgers are the only seafood I will eat!  P.S. These could be made ahead of time and just heated in the oven.    Mom served these to my dad as a joke.  Anyone notice a divorce notice in the St. Marys paper?  LOL

Pizza for Breakfast

When we woke up this morning, we were still inspired by the pizzas from last night. (Yes, they were THAT GOOD.)  We prepared the store-bought crust simply by lightly rubbing it with olive oil.  We then topped the crust with scrambled eggs (which had a bit of garlic) and just a few diced green peppers.

Over that, we sprinkled crispy bacon and cheddar cheese and baked it till the cheese melted.










To drink, we got a bit fancy with our sweet iced tea by adding fresh strawberries.






The Real Scoop
by Andrew
The fun part came afterward when we brainstormed what else we could add to our iced tea.  We then went to the grocery only to find they had no raspberries or blueberries. Seriously, I hate Wal-Mart.

Playin' with Pizza

Andrew and I did some serious experimenting with pizza tonight.

The pizza on the right:
We brushed olive oil infused with onion and fresh garlic onto a thin and crispy crust.

We topped the pizza with green peppers, tomatoes, feta cheese and fresh mozzarella.  We then sprinkled the top with Mrs. Dash.

The flavors were amazing!

I wish the picture of the pizza on the left had turned out better.  If it had, some of you would notice that it's my Buffalo Chicken Dip.  We put ranch dressing on the pizza crust, then the dip.  Oh, my goodness!  The only thing that would have made it better (in my opinion, not Andrew's) is if I had added some thin celery slices as soon as it came out of the oven.

The Real Scoop
by Andrew
I'm used to pizza having red sauce, but neither one of these did. I was surprised how much I liked them.  I would eat both of them again, but if I had to choose, I would say the Buffalo Chicken one was my favorite.  Good stuff!

Even the dog thought it all smelled good.
If he had gotten any closer to the table, he would have been sitting in Cliff's chair.

Pizza & Cake

Place: Dewey's Pizza on 5th Ave. in Columbus

New tastes: Pine nuts & artichokes on pizza and mint cream on cake.  Not sure I would do the artichokes again, but I definitely would do another slice with pine nuts.  I'm also hoping I can find a good dessert with mint cream.  Recipes?  Suggestions?

I have no idea why I didn't take pictures of the pizzas we ordered:

• Edgar Allen Poe Pizza:  White saucee, olive oil, mozarella-fontina cheese blend, roasted garlic, kalamata olives, goat cheest, tomatoes & parsley.
• Green Lantern Pizza: Red sauce, mozzarella cheese,  minced garlic, goat cheese, artichokes & pesto.
• Custom Pizza #1:  Peppers and smoked cheddar
• Custom Pizza #2:  Ricotta chese, tomatoes & pine nuts

And then there was dessert...chocolate cake with mint cream between the layers.  Chocolate crumbs around the outsided edge, and a layer of chocolate and a layer of mint on top.  So yummy!

It's so good to share food with friends.

It's a Mimi Snack!

Mom used to surprise us with a "these-all-don't-necessarily-belong-together-on-one-plate" snack.  We'd look forward to what combination she could come up with.  She does the same thing with my children.  Even at age 18 1/2, my middle child asked for a Mimi Snack over the weekend.  Of course, her Mimi obliged!

My mom & the dip

How Mom makes it:
Mix together in equal parts:
Cream cheese
Cool Whip





How I make it:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 small container of Cool Whip
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice

Mix together until smooth. Use as a dip for fresh fruit.
 
Her rendition tasted just as good as mine does, and it saved some calories.  Bonus!

So...what can I stir up today?

I've wanted to do a cooking blog for a while.  I'm hoping my move to Texas will allow me more time to do some actual cooking with actual ingredients.  No more cooking from a box!

Also, it will allow the entire family to share recipes from afar.  One of the things I will miss is tasting some of Mom's creations.  At least this way, we can share what we're doing.

I will also miss Melissa's vegetarian dishes, Matthew's fudge, and the neighbor's Christmas cookie assortment.
Wouldn't it be great if all of our friends were creating blogs and we could all link to each other?  No more need for hundreds of cookbooks!  (Those will be a pain to move, by the way!)

I think I may reserve space here for new recipes, but who knows!  I could also do a "Featured Favorites" post every once in a while, too.

The first post, however will be a new recipe Mom and I tried last Saturday.  We did the math, and this costs less than $1 per person for the entire meal. (Hey, that sounds like another feature post..."Cheap Eats!")

Jiffy Corn Dogs
Stolen/borrowed from the "Lick the Bowl Good" blog.

• 1 box Jiffy Corn Bread Mix (plus milk and egg as directed)
• Hot Dogs (2-3) or Kielbasa Sausage
• Grated Cheddar Cheese

Make corn bread mix according to the package instructions and set aside. Spray 7 openings of a muffin tin with nonstick spray and set aside. Chop hot dogs into 3rd (about 1 1/2-2 inch pieces).

Place a tablespoon or two of the cornbread mix into greased muffin tins. Add a piece of the hot dog and a sprinkling of cheese. Top with more corn bread mix filling each tin about 2/3 of the way full. Sprinkle with a little more cheese.

Bake in a preheated 400F oven for 15-20minutes or until lightly golden on the edges. Let cool for a few minutes before removing from tin. Serve with condiments of your choice such as ketchup, mustard, chili, cheese or relish.

Next time:  I will add more hot dogs.  This time, I only used one hot dog and made 5 muffins.  (The 6th muffin was vegetarian.)