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

Party Menu

So, as I mentioned in my Cream Puff post, I'm having a little party Thursday, and a Party at Suz's house would not be the same without FOOD! So, here's the menu for those of you interested, and I will be sure to post recipes in the next little while.

APPETIZERS
Southwestern Egg Rolls with Cilantro Cream Dip
Yummy Meatballs (Thanks to a dear friend)
Bacon Wrapped Smokies drenched in Brown Sugar
Deviled Eggs
Seven Layer Dip (Thanks to Costco)
Fruit (thanks to Costco) and Fruit Dip (thanks to me!)
Veggies and Dip (Again, Costco!)

And then for dessert:
Mini Molten Lava Cakes
and Cream Puffs
both served with fresh Bluberries, Rasberries, rasberry puree and powdered sugar!

YUM! I can't wait!
(and we wonder why I haven't lost the baby weight, yet....I love, love, love to eat!)

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!)

Warm Winter Lemon Cake

My friend Brandalee sent this to me and it is so yummy! It's from http://www.kraftfoods.com/ and they have super yummy, really easy recipes.

INGREDIENTS:
1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
2 cups cold milk
1-1/4 cups water
2 pkg. (4-serving size each) JELL-O Lemon Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS:

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Prepare cake batter as directed on package. Pour into greased 13x9-inch baking dish; set aside.

2. POUR milk and water into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes and granulated sugar. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Pour over batter. Place baking dish on baking sheet to catch any sauce that might bubble over sides of dish as dessert bakes.

3. BAKE 55 min. to 1 hour or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 20 min. (Sauce will thicken slightly as it cools.) Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Spoon into serving dishes to serve warm. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

BBQ Chicken Calzone

Sounds kind of different, but this is another one of Aaron's favorites!

INGREDIENTS:
4 slices bacon
1/2 small onion, chopped
3 cups shredded, cooked chicken breast meat
2/3 cup barbeque sauce
1 (10 ounce) can refrigerated pizza crust dough
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

2. Fry bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove from the pan to drain on paper towels; crumble.

3. Add the onion and shredded chicken to the hot bacon grease in the pan. Fry over medium heat until onion is tender. Stir in 1/3 cup of barbeque sauce, and remove from the heat. Mix in the cooked bacon.

4. Roll the pizza crust dough out onto a greased cookie sheet. Press out to an even thickness, and then cut in half. Divide the chicken mixture between the two pieces of dough, spreading on only half of each piece to within 1/2 inch of the edge. Drizzle the remaining sauce over the filling.

5. Sprinkle the cheese and cilantro over the top. Fold the uncovered portion of dough over the filling, and press the edges together with a fork to seal.

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until browned to your liking. Cool for a few minutes, then cut each calzone in half.

Stuffed French Toast

This is super easy and a fun breakfast treat.

INGREDIENTS:
Bread
Cream cheese, softened
Jam or jelly of your choice (orange marmalade is good, too!)
eggs, milk, and whatever you put in french toast mix

DIRECTIONS:

1. Make a "sandwich" using the bread, cream cheese and jelly

2. Dip in egg mixture

3. Cook on a skillet until each side is lightly browned. I also briefly cook each end

4. Serve with syrup, or whipped cream, or just plain, and ENJOY!