Bean Dip Salsa

This recipe is something special. By special I mean I am gonna be holding the bowl all night along with a bag of tortilla chips for dipping. Thank you to Jennifer for giving me this gem. Girl, you are the best. This recipe makes me reminisce about so many nights spent with friends and lots of laughs. Thank you Jenn for making this for us each and every time we begged you to. You are the bomb dot com darling.

     Ingredients:

• 1 can black beans
• 2 cans yellow corn
• 1 can white corn
• 1 can black eyed peas
• 1 can rotel original
• 1 small bottle zesty Italian dressing
• cilantro
• green onions
• Lime Juice

Directions:

Drain and rinse all canned vegetables except for Rotel.

Add to a large bowl.

Drain Rotel (do not rinse) and add to bowl with vegetables.

Chopped up desired amount of green onions and cilantro, and add to bowl.

(I usually start with 3 green onions and a HUGE handful of cilantro. If you don’t like cilantro as much you can scale it back some.)

Add small bottle of dressing and a tbsp of lime juice.

Mix everything together and refrigerate until ready to serve. I like to let mine sit overnight in the Fridge. The longer you let the flavors marinate the better it tastes.

Pair with tortilla chips or fritos!

Enjoy!

Strawberry Party Punch

Strawberry Party Punch

 

Ingredients:

6 c. sugar
6 qts. water
1 qt. ginger ale
1 lg. can pineapple juice
1 sm. can frozen lemonade
10 oz. frozen strawberries

 

Directions:

Mix all ingredients well and pour into 3 (1 gallon) containers. Freeze until about 3 hours before serving.

Tags: Party Time!

Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

INGREDIENTS:

• 1½ cups fresh cranberries
• 2 Tbsp chopped walnuts
• 1 tsp grated orange rind
• ½ cup butter, softened and divided
• ½ cup packed dark-brown sugar
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• ½ cup fat-free buttermilk
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tsp melted butter
• 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9-inch square or a 9- or 10-inch round baking pan with cooking spray and dust with flour.

2. In a small bowl, combine cranberries, walnuts, and orange rind. In a small saucepan, melt 2 Tbsp butter over medium. Stir in brown sugar, orange juice, and cinnamon. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour into pan. Sprinkle with cranberry mixture. 

3. Whisk flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl.

4. In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer set on medium, beat granulated sugar and emaining butter until creamy. Add vanilla, egg, buttermilk, and flour mixture. Spoon over cranberries.

5. Bake 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Invert onto a rack to finish cooling. Beat glaze ingredients. Drizzle over cake. Slice.

KITCHEN COUNTER:

Serves: 9. Per Serving: 350 calories, 56g carbs, 4g protein, 13g fat, 50mg cholesterol, 290mg sodium, 2g fiber

Banana-Orange Green Smoothie

I’m on a definite smoothie kick right now. It makes breakfast a cinch, and I know I am getting my fruits and veggies into my diet. Not to mention they are yummy.

Banana-Orange Green Smoothie

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Original Almond Milk

1/2 heaping cup Kale (chopped)

1/2 heaping cup spinach

1 medium banana

1 small orange peeled, and de-seeded (if it has seeds)

2 individual serving pkts of Splenda (optional)

2 handfuls of ice

Directions:

Blend together Almond Milk, Kale, and on high for about 1 min. or so. Give it plenty of time to come to a smooth mixture. No lumps please!

Add in banana, orange, splenda (optional), and ice.

Blend until completely smooth. Enjoy!

Crock Pot Baked Potatoes

I need to share an awesome thing with you. I need you to make this your homework for sometime this week. This is seriously a game changer. I saw a recipe for Crock Pot Baked Potatoes on Pinterest a couple weeks back. I pinned it and then forgot about it until today. I didn’t honestly think it would work… It totally did. Why didn’t I know about this?! What is even better is that these potatoes are better than if I had made them in the oven…Please don’t forget about this and the next time you have baked potatoes on the menu try ‘em out of the crockpot!

You need:

• a crock pot
• olive oil
• salt, pepper or for sweet potatoes – sugar and/or cinnamon
• baking potatoes or sweet potatoes
• tin foil

Now, you can completely skip the oil/seasoning step, but I will tell you it is SO worth it, and those that never ate the most nutritious part (the skins) will probably consume the flavor packed outside with the meaty inside.  Scrub the potatoes, and pierce each one of them with a fork a couple of times.

For Baking Potatoes: Rub them with olive oil (you can use vegetable oil, or canola, or whatever). Sprinkle them with Salt & Pepper. Wrap each potato in tin foil.

For Sweet Potatoes: Rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle them with sugar and/or cinnamon. Wrap each one in tin foil.

Toss the foil wrapped potatoes into the crockpot and cook for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.

(Times may vary an hour or so depending on the size of your potato. You can open the lid and check them for done-ness with a fork. Just prick them right through the foil. Yay!)

No water needs to be added to the crockpot. Just throw the wrapped potatoes in and trust me.

Green Chocolate & Banana Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Organic Chocolate Soy Milk
• 1 medium Banana
• 1 1/2 cups Kale
• 1 1/2 cup Spinach
• 1 cup Ice

Directions:

Pour soy milk into blender with kale and spinach and blender until completely smooth.

Throw in banana with about a cup of ice.

Blend ingredients until smooth. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Upside-Down Cinnamon Apple Coffee Cake

 

photos and recipe discovered from http://www.ladybehindthecurtain.com

 

Upside-Down Cinnamon Apple Coffee Cake 

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups apples, peeled and chopped

1 can (12.4 ounce) Pillsbury cinnamon rolls with icing

1/2 cup pecan halves or pieces

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons corn syrup

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 9-inch glass pie plate with cooking spray.  Spread 1 cup of the apples in pie plate.

Separate dough into 8 rolls.  Cut each roll into quarters; place in large bowl.  Add remaining 1/2 cup apples and pecans.

In small bowl, mix butter, brown sugar and corn syrup until well blended.  Add brown sugar mixture to dough mixture; toss gently to combine.  Spoon mixture over apples in pan.

Bake 28 to 38 minutes or until deep golden brown.  Cool 5 minutes.  Invert onto serving platter.

Remove lid from icing.  Microwave icing on high 10 to 15 seconds or until drizzling consistency.  Drizzle over warm coffee cake.  Serve warm.  Serves 8- This recipe was adapted from  the Pillsbury Spring Brunch  Magazine 2010

 

 

 

 

 

Butterfinger Cake

This cake is ridiculous. Absolutely… positively… dangerous….You should make it.

This is one of the more kid friendly recipes I have tried since I had Amelia. She helped me crack the eggs. She is an expert egg cracker. No lie. She helped me poke holes in the cake with straws, and when it came time for us to pour the condensed milk and caramel topping (yeah you heard me right) over the cake she looked like I had bought her a pony. She smiled her brightest smile and asked me when we could eat it.

I told her it had to cool. I thought the kiddo was gonna cry.

This cake is so moist. It is a recipe you should definitely have up your sleeve for pot lucks, family reunions, and for when company comes over.  It’s best when made the day before.

I hope that whatever readers I do have enjoy this cake as much as I have. It was so easy to make, and even easier to eat.

This recipe could also be customized to suit your favorite candy bars. I am already thinking up some alterations for variety. Heath Bars here I come! Recipe variations soon to come!

Butterfinger Cake

Ingredients:

1 box yellow cake mix, plus ingredients to make the cake ( I use the butter recipe yellow cake mix)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 jar Smucker’s caramel ice cream topping

1 (8oz) tub Cool-Whip

4 regular sized Butterfinger candy bars, crushed

Directions: 

Bake cake according to direction on the package.

While cake is baking, mix milk and caramel topping until well blended. When the cake is done and while it’s still hot, poke holes in it with a fork or straw. Pour milk mixture over the cake. (Try not to swoon too much!)

Allow cake to cool completely.

Sprinkle two candy bars over cake. Spread Cool Whip over the top, then sprinkle the remaining candy bars on tip. Chill.

Tip: I like to freeze the butterfingers and crush them right in the wrapper.

Sausage N Cheese Quiche!

This recipe given to me by my sweet little sister Savannah. She has a passion for cooking too. Getting Savannah and I together results in a room full of cookbooks and food magazines, lots of dirty dishes, and some really yummy food.

Lots of love sent my sister’s way for this recipe. It is a perfect idea for when you have company over. It makes two quiches, and you can make them ahead of time as well.

 

 

 

Sausage N Cheese Quiche

Ingredients:

• 2 (9 inch) pastry shells (deep dish)
• 2 cups fully cooked and crumbled sausage (ham works well too!)
• 2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• 2 teaspoons dried minced onion (1 tsp onion powder)
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups half-and-half cream
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1. Line unpricked pastry shells with a double thickness of heavy-duty foil. Bake at 400 degrees F for 5 minutes. Remove foil; bake 5 minutes longer.
2. Divide sausage, cheese and onion between the shells. *If you use the onion powder mix in with half and half mixture. In a bowl, whisk eggs, half and half, salt and pepper. Pour half and half mixture into shells. Cover and freeze for up to 3 months. Or cover edges with foil and bake at 400 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Let stand for 5-10 minutes before cutting.

Red Velvet Brownies with White Chocolate Frosting

I have made these brownies two times this week. Yes… two times.

Once for coworkers and again yesterday (along with my snickerdoodle cookies) for friends at a cook out. Yummy foods and sweet people make for a good night. Thanks Anna and Rob for having us.

When I tell you that these brownies do funny things to people it’s no laughing matter. Do yourself a favor and add this to your recipe file in the “pass down to future generations” section and thank Mrs. How Sweet for perfecting it. The brownies will make you smile.

The only adaptation I made to Mrs. How Sweet’s recipe had to do with the food coloring. In the original recipe it called for 2tbsp, and when I initially made them I didn’t have enough so I have to improvise. I used 1 tbsp of food coloring plus 1 tbsp water. It worked perfectly and I liked the red color better. My brownies just turned out a shade lighter than the ones photographed.

The second time I made these brownies I did them in my Perfect Brownie Pan. The turned out amazing. I think the dimensions of the Perfect Brownie Pan are 12″ x 8″. I felt like it gave my frosting more room to spread out. In the 8″ x 8″ the brownie to frosting ratio is a bit much, which is fine for me… but my hubby requested it be toned down a smidge.

Hope you enjoy this recipe!

all photos from http://www.howsweeteats.com

Red Velvet Brownies

adapted from http://www.howsweeteats.com/

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 tablespoon red food coloring (plus 1 tbsp water)

2/3 cups chocolate chips (optional but totally worth it)- I used half milk chocolate and half semi-sweet

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Butter and flour an 8 x 8 cake pan.

In a small bowl, combine cocoa powder, red food coloring, 1 tsp water, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to create a paste.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, then add remaining teaspoon of vanilla. With the mixer on medium speed, add in cocoa powder mixture. Beat until batter is completely red. (If at this time your batter is NOT red, you can add a little more food coloring if desired. Color will depend on brand.) Add flour and salt, mixing until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Spread in the 8 x 8 pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

White Chocolate Frosting

1 stick of butter, at room temperature

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 ounces white chocolate, melted (I used Lindt)

1-2 tablespoons milk (or more if needed)

Cream butter in an electric mixer until fluffy, then add vanilla. Slowly add in powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time with the mixer on low speed. Add in melted white chocolate and beat until incorporated. To reach desired consistency, add in milk 1 teaspoon at a time with mixer on low speed. If frosting becomes too liquidy, simple add additional sugar.