Monkey Muffins

I am going to take no credit for these balls of buttery goodness topped with sweetened condensed milk (yes, read that again...YUM!).  You can see the original recipe with pictures at The Pioneer Woman

Like Monkey Bread, but personalized and even gooier.  Mine are in the oven right now.

INGREDIENTS

• Refrigerated Biscuit Dough, Cut Into Thirds.....**I did the large ones and cut them into fourths (She also says you can used leftover bread dough, but we're white trash, we use dough from a can that pops)
• Butter
• Sugar
• Ground Cinnamon
• Sweetened, Condensed Milk

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Add 1/2 teaspoon butter to muffin tins. Sprinkle in sugar and cinnamon. **She originally says "a scant" (meaning a little less than) a tsp of sugar per cup...to be a little more healthy ;)

3. Roll dough into walnut sized balls (or cut refrigerated biscuit dough into thirds). Place three into each muffin tin.

4. Top with 1/2 teaspoon butter. Sprinkle on more sugar and cinnamon.

5. Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden and bubbly.

6. **My Favorite Part**  Remove from oven and immediately drizzle plenty of SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK over the top of each one. Be generous! Allow rolls to sit for a little while to absorb sweet, sticky milk.

 7. Scoop out with a spoon and serve to hungry humans.

Golden Graham S'mores

I bought Golden Grahams on sale today for $1 and in the midst of all of the excitement of such a screaming deal I realized I have never shared one of my very favorite treats!

You've been forewarned that these disappear fast...once you start eating them, you can't stop :)

INGREDIENTS


-3/4 cup light corn syrup
-3 tbsp butter
-1 package chocolate chips
-3 cups mini marshmallows
-1 tsp vanilla
-1 (12 oz) box Golden Grahams cereal

DIRECTIONS
1. Grease a 13 x 9 inch pan and set aside.

2. Over medium heat, heat syrup, butter, and chocolate chips, stirring constantly until chocolate chips are melted. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

3. Place cereal in a large bowl. Pour chocolate mixture over cereal and mix until completely coated. Fold in marshmallows, 1 cup at a time.

4. Press into pan and let sit 1 hour.  Best if kept in fridge! 
 
YUMMY!!

Caramel Corn Pops...not the cereal pops, the white trash pops! :)

This is a Utah-Mormon staple and is seriously the most addictive snack/treat ever! The corn pops* called for in the recipe are in a big bag and kind of look like Cheetos Puffs, but they are yellow and yummy. Kind of like caramel corn, but puffy and chewy, no annoying kernels.

If you're out of state, I don't know if you can find these things. Someone told me Wal-Mart carries them, but we're not sure where. *Just as a reference, they are the Barrel o' Fun brand Corn Pops.

1 (18 oz.) bag Corn Pops or Kettle Pops (look in the Potato Chip/Popcorn section of your store)
2 cup brown sugar
1 square butter (1/2 cup)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 Tbsp. water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Bring butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, vanilla and water to a medium boil. Stir continuously. Boil for 1 to 1 ½ minutes. Remove from heat. Add baking soda, coating will puff up. Pour over corn pops or kettle pops; toss. Enjoy!

Tuscan Dip

A friend found this from Kraft and it is a new staple of mine that I use for everything.

INGREDIENTS:
1 (8oz.) package cream cheese
2 tablespoons of sour cream
1 tomato, chopped**
1 handful of spinach, chopped
1 small can chopped or sliced olives
1/2 purple onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:
1. Blend softened cream cheese and sour cream.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.

Enjoy! My favorite thing to dip in it is the multi-grain crackers, but veggies or Ritz crackers work great, too.

**The original recipe called for sun-dried tomatoes which is really good, too, they are just more expensive, and I rarely have them on hand, so we have just been using regular tomatoes and it works great.

Chicken Salad

This is a classic, and it's amazing! I'll give credit where credit is due, too. I got this from my neighbor's mom, Kathleen out of a church cookbook...you gotta' love Mormon cooking! :)

INGREDIENTS:
6 large chicken breast halves, cooked, cooled & diced (or, you can do the WT thing and use 2-3 cans of shredded chicken)
1 lg. can crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup diced celery
3/4 cup chopped green onion (just the white part)
3/4 cup slivered almonds (add just before serving)
salt & pepper to taste (or, for my family, Daddy Don's Secret Spice)
1 cup grapes, cut in half (optional)
30 mini croissants (Sam's Club has the best!)

Dressing:
1 cup Ranch dressing (The recipe calls for "Litehouse Ranch Dressing" but I'm sure any ranch will work)
1 cup mayonnaise

DIRECTIONS:
Mix well and fill criossants just before serving.

TA DA!

DIRECTIONS:

Bacon Wrapped PINEAPPLE!

Ok, Yum...bacon and pinapple, does it get any better?

INGREDIENTS
2 (16 ounce) cans pineapple chunks, drained (That makes this easy....but, fresh pineapple is best)
1 (10 ounce) jar sweet-and-sour sauce
2 pounds bacon
1 box toothpicks

DIRECTIONS
1. Place the pineapple in a large bowl, and toss with sweet and sour sauce. Cover, and marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

2. To prevent burning, place toothpicks in a small bowl of water and soak 10 minutes.
Place a paper towel over a microwave-safe dish and arrange part of the bacon on the towel; cover with another paper towel. Cook the bacon in a microwave oven on medium just until partially cooked and still pliable, 2 to 3 minutes. Repeat with remaining bacon. Cut bacon strips in half.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet and set aside.
Wrap half a bacon strip around each pineapple chunk. Secure bacon with a toothpick, and place on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining bacon and pineapple chunks.

4. Bake in preheated oven until bacon is crisp, 20 to 30 minutes. Cool 5 minutes before serving.
(If you want to cook the microwaving bacon part, you can just bake for another 20 minutes, or for a quicker, crispier recipe broil for like 15 minutes.)

Don't Tell 'em Meatballs

Ok, these are so easy and so great...everyone loves them!

INGREDIENT:
Bag of pre-cooked frozen meatballs (As usual, best from Costco)
1 jar of grape jelly
1 jar of chili sauce

DIRECTIONS:

1. Combine everything in a crockpot

2. Cook on high for 4 hours

3. ENJOY!

Sticky Buns

This is a Utah Classic that our good friend Margo introduced to us. Prepare at night and bake first thing in the morning for a breakfast treat!

INGREDIENTS:
16 or so frozen rolls (I buy the bag of Rhodes from Costco)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tbls. light corn syrup

DIRECTIONS:
1. Place rolls in a lightly greased bundt pan

2. In small saucepan, heat brown sugar and butter just until melted

3. Remove from hear and stir in corn syrup

4. Poor over rolls - cover and let rise overnight

5. In the morning, back uncovered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes

TIP: Let cool for about 15 minutes and then dump into a big bowl or pan so the syrup mixture coats all of the rolls

Also, I have seen a recipe just like this that suggests you sprinkle a package of Butterscoth Jell-o pudding (Cook and Serve) on top of the rolls before you let them rise for a little extra flavor. Yum, yum!

The Best Fruit Dip

So easy, and so great!

INGREDIENTS:
1 small jar of marshmallow creme
1 tub of Cool Whip, thawed
1 (8 oz.) cube of Cream Cheese, softened

DIRECTIONS:
1. Mix well wil hand blender and enjoy! Great with cantelope, strawberries, watermelon, apples, Ritz crackers, Graham crackers, whatever!

Tip:
- For a little variation use strawberry cream cheese or flavored cool whip!

Bacon Wrapped Smokies

I haven't posted since my party (which, by the way, was super fun!) and we've all been super sick and a little crazy around here so I haven't been cooking much, but I wanted to post a few of the appetizer recipes from the party.

This is seriously my favorite!!

INGREDIENTS:
Bacon (mapled flavor works the best)
Lil' Smokies
Brown sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Cut bacon slices in half, wrap around smokies and secure with toothpick (Works as a good finger grabber when done!)

3. Line a pan with foil, place wrapped smokies on foil and "sprinkle" (more like drench...) them with brown sugar

4. Bake for approx. 45 minutes, or until bacon is a little crispy, turning half way through and sugaring the other side.

5. You can eat alone or mix some chili sauce with brown sugar and dip.

SO GOOD!

Some tips:
- To make ahead of time, wrap smokies and then place in plastic bag and coat with sugar. Leave in fridge overnight, shaking up the bag a few times.
- You can broil the wraps to make the cooking process quicker (about 10-15 minutes), but baking them at a lower temperature for longer results in better textures

Cream Puffs

Ok, did you know that Cream Puffs are EXTREMELY easy to make? My friend the other day told me that my opinion about recipes is getting somewhat biased because I am getting somewhat flawless, but I beg, no SCREAM to differ, because I just find easy recipes, and I promise, you follow the steps, use whatever cooking sense you have to make minor changes you think would be better, and Voila! You, too, can be a great cook.

Anyway, this is out of the classic Better Homes and Garden cookbook. I tried them tonight because I'm having a little party Thursday and was planning on making mini Lava Cakes and Cream Puffs for dessert and I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to screw them up. TA DA! These are super easy and so fun.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup water

1/2 cup butter

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup flour

4 eggs

3 cups whipping cream, pudding or ice cream

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a medium saucepan combine water, butter, and salt. Bring to boiling, add flour all at one, stirring "vigorously" (that's what the book says!) Cook and stir until mixture forms a ball (I would say a ball-like structure)

2. Remove from hear. Cool for 10 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well with a wooden spoon aftger each addition (make sure it's not slimey before you add the next egg!)

3. Drop 12 (I only got 10) heaping tablespoons of dough onto greased baking sheet. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 30-35 minutes until golden brown, firm and dry. (Mine took exactly 30 minutes in my gas oven.) Move to a wire rack and cool until they are cool enough to handle.

4. OK, now you decide...the recipe says to cut the tops off, remove the soft dough, and fill with your choice of filling, then put the top back on. The first one I did this too was fairly hollow anyway, so I just used my pastry bag with the long skinny attachment (I think it's made for things like this...) and stuck it in the side and filled them up with Cool Whip. Now, Cool Whip is pretty white trash, but it does taste ok. For the party, I'm probably going to use more of a creamy custard or something like that.

5. TA DA! Cream puffs...yummy, yummy!

P.S. The recipe says not to fill them more than 2 hours before they are served because they get soggy. I say that's probably good advice, but if you were to use ice cream, or Cool Whip, you could make them ahead of time and freeze them! I don't know about the pudding or custard, so if you do know, leave a comment and let us know!

(Believe it or not, about 20 different people look at this site a day, usually resulting in over 60 hits! I know there are no comments, but I promise you, people do check out this blog!)

Oreo Truffles

My sister found this recipe, and I have since seen it in several magazines and all over the Internet. I don't know if you can technically call these truffles, but they are SOOO easy!

INGREDIENTS:
1 Pkg crushed Oreo's
8 oz softened cream cheese
melted chocolate (any flavor: milk, semi-sweet, white, dark, whatever)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Mix crushed Oreo's and cream cheese

2. Refrigerate for a few hours

3. Make into balls and dip into your preferred chocolate

4. Dip in sugar, top with some more crushed Oreo's, drizzle another chocolate or whatever, let set, and enjoy!!

Caramel Crispix Crunch

My sister-in-law got this off of a Crispix box years ago and it is one of my very favorite snacks. It's a sweet version of a Crispix/Chex like mix, but much better. I can eat an entire batch in two days!

INGREDIENTS:
1 box Crispix
1 small jar caramel ice cream topping
2 tbls. margarine
1 cup toffee bits
1 cup sunflower nuts

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place ice cream topping in a large microwave-save bowl. Heat in microwave on HIGH 30 seconds. Stir until smooth.

2. Add cereal and sunflower seeds, stirring until evenly coated. Return to microwave and cook 4 minutes longer, stirring after each minute.

3. Remove from microwave and mix in toffee bits. Spread evenly on waxed paper lined baking sheet. Cool completely. Store in airtight container.

Options: Add mini choclate chips, Golden Grahams or pretzels.

Creamy Rice Pudding

I have never been a rice pudding fan because I was never brave enough to try it, but I found this recipe and decided to use the leftover Minute Rice I made for our teriyaki chicken dinner and I'm so glad I tried it. Aaron loves rice pudding and said that it tasted just like it was supposed to, and it was so dang easy, I thought I'd share!

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cup cooked white rice

2 cups milk, divided (I used skim and it worked just fine)

1/3 cups sugar (I used a heaping 1/3 cup because I knew I'd prefer it super sweet)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

2/3 cup raisins (optional)

1 tablespoons butter or margarine

1/2 teasponn vanilla extract

cinnamon and/or nutmeg (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. In medium saucepan, combine cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until think and creamy, about 20 minutes.

2. In a small bowl, mix egg and remaing 1/2 cup milk (this prevents the egg from getting cooked too fast in the pudding). While stirring rice, add egg mixture. Add raisins, if using. Cook for 2 more minutes, stirring constantly.

3. Remove from heat, add butter and vanilla and any spices you'd like for a little extra flavor! I added some Pumpkin Pie Spice which was just perfect. It's ready to eat!