Nutter Butter Frozen Peanut Butter Pie

This was the dessert I made last Saturday night. I needed to think of something non-chocolate since I gave up Chocolate for lent. This was very good but extremely rich. Everyone tried some, but most people couldnt finish their piece. The crust was awesome!!! I think everyone kept eating the crust and leaving the filling. You have to really like peanut butter too, sine that mostly what this was made of. For all you peanut butter fans...heres the recipe for this:

Prep Time:15 min
Total Time:4 hr 45 min

Makes:12 servings

24 NUTTER BUTTER Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
5 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

CRUSH cookies in resealable plastic bag with rolling pin or in food processor. Mix cookie crumbs and butter. Press onto bottom and up side of 9-inch pie plate.

MIX cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Gently stir in 1-1/2 cups of the whipped topping. Spoon into crust.

FREEZE 4 hours or overnight until firm. Let stand 30 minutes or until pie can be cut easily. Garnish with remaining whipped topping.

Chicken Pockets (aka Chicken Baseballs)

Thanks to Michelle for passing along this recipe!! I went home last night and looked in the fridge and was so happy to see that I had all of the ingredients! Until I pulled out the already sliced mushrooms and realized they had seen better days! 8 oz. of mushrooms went straight into the garbage. My fridge is pretty darn good at extending the life out of my food - previous owners must have set it on REALLY cold, but it's great, I get an extra week of life out of my veggies (which means these mushrooms are at least 2 or 3 weeks old! haha).

I made a few tweaks and therefore have amended the name to Chicken Taschen or Chicken Pockets and posted my version of the recipe below, as well as my review. (Note: Taschen is German for pockets and they remind me of these delicious cheese filled "Topfentaschen" or pot pockets - aka danishes - that I had while in Europe - YUM!!)

I also have recently started the Weight Watchers diet, so was able to amend things slightly to fit within the plan and will be adding the Flex Points at each WW entree that I put out there. I'm on week 4 and have lost 12 pounds to date!

Chicken Pockets

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
1 tube reduced fat Pillsbury crescent dough
1 lb. fresh spinach or 1 package frozen spinach

4 oz. reduced fat cream cheese
2 Tbsp skim milk
1½ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp parsley flakes

½ tsp paprika
1 Tbsp melted butter
4 – 4 oz. chicken breasts
Italian seasoned bread crumbs

Directions:
- In a skillet sprayed with cooking spray, sauté chicken seasoned with seasoned salt until done. Remove chicken and let cool. Dice chicken and set aside.

- In same skillet, add fresh spinach and cook until wilted (a splash of chicken broth or water should be used so spinach does not burn in pan) or put frozen spinach in a pot with small amount of water (as recommended) – drain all water once heated. Add to chicken.

- In mixing bowl, mix cream cheese, milk, spices, and melted butter until well blended (will be a creamy consistency). Add chicken and spinach to cream cheese mixture.

- Open can of crescent dough. There are 8 triangles and 2 triangles make a rectangle. With pastry roller or fingers, take two triangles and roll out/press into a rectangle.

- Place ¼ of chicken mix in center of pastry and fold up dough to completely coat filling.

- Sprinkle Italian seasoned bread crumbs on top of the baseball.
- Bake your Chicken Pocket in a 350 over for 20-25 minutes, or until it is golden brown...like this:

Voilà!

WW Flex Points: 10

Review: These are out of the world delicious!!! I am so excited, because we're having them again tonight! I had to change the name, because mine didn't end up looking like baseballs - haha! I can't say enough about them. I was full enough with just this, but you could also add a salad on the side.

Red Velvet Cake

February Recipe: Red or Chocolate

So, I said, why not Red AND Chocolate?! Two birds with one stone, right?! My cousin, Biz, had told me about this Red Velvet Cake that her mom makes that is to die for. So, I emailed Aunt Jo and asked if I could have the recipe. She found it on the NY Times website and wanted to know when she was going to be invited over for it! (Note: Picture on left was found online.)

Here is the recipe:

Red Velvet Cake

Published: February 14, 2007
Adapted from "The Confetti Cakes Cookbook" by Elisa Strauss (Little, Brown, to be published in May).

Time: 90 minutes, plus cooling
Yield: 3 cake layers.

INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3½ cups cake flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch process)
1½ teaspoons salt
2 cups canola oil
2¼ cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) red food coloring
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1¼ cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
2½ teaspoons white vinegar

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place teaspoon of butter in each of 3 round 9-inch layer cake pans and place pans in oven for a few minutes until butter melts. Remove pans from oven, brush interior bottom and sides of each with butter and line bottoms with parchment.

2. Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.

3. Place oil and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. With machine on low, very slowly add red food coloring. (Take care: it may splash.) Add vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.

4. Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.

5. Divide batter among pans, place in oven and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pans 20 minutes. Then remove from pans, flip layers over and peel off parchment. Cool completely before frosting.


Red Velvet Cake Icing

Published: February 14, 2007
Adapted from “The Waldorf-Astoria Cookbook,” by John Doherty with John Harrisson (Bulfinch, 2006)

Time: 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups heavy cream, cold
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
12 ounces mascarpone
½ teaspoon vanilla
1½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

DIRECTIONS:
1. Softly whip cream by hand, in electric mixer or in food processor. Cover in bowl and refrigerate.

2. Blend cream cheese and mascarpone in food processor or electric mixer until smooth. Add vanilla, pulse briefly, and add confectioners’ sugar. Blend well.

3. Transfer cream cheese mixture to bowl; fold in whipped cream. Refrigerate until needed.

Yield: Icing for top and sides of 3-layer cake.

Review: So, I only had two cake pans available and made only two layers. The cake was so tall with two layers, I can only imagine the height with 3 layers! Because I made two layers, the cakes needed longer to bake (about 55-60 minutes). The cake itself was good (not my fav), but the icing was delicious! Wow! If it weren't for the calories (I can only imagine with the heavy cream, mascarpone, AND cream cheese!), I would use it for some other kind of cake. It tastes the best when first made. I refridgerated the cake due to the icing, but would suggest taking it out at least an hour before you are going to serve it - tastes better at room temperature.

Rice Krispie Treats - test 1

If you look at my post about my Disney vacation, you'll see the Mickey head Rice Krispie Treats. I was looking through my pantry for something and I noticed I had all the ingredients for rice krispie treats. It was a sign from the sugar fairies or something, to make them, so I did. I was trying to think when was the last time I made this classic treat and I couldn't. But when it came time to spread the mixture into the pan it all came back to me on how I always forget to spray the wax paper. Yup it got stuck to the paper. But next time I'll remember.


They were easy to make, the only problem I came across was I didn't spread the treats thin enough so when it came time to "cut" out the treats it was a little difficult to get the cookie cutter all they was through. I ended up using a knife to cut them out the rest of the way. Mike and I were talking about how I made them and we can't image Disney would make a batch and then cut them out, because there is a decent amount of "waste". We're thinking they some how stuff the cookie cutters with the mixture, but that doesn't make sense either. I think further research will have to be done. Next time I think I'll use the Mickey Head egg/pancake rings that I bought.

Cheese ball

This was the other appetizers I made for Saturday. More people snacked on this then the pepporoni cups. One of the girls I work with at the salon makes this all the time and its always a hit. She calls it a cheese ball. Again, this was very easy to make and you can prepare it in advance. It calls for:

1 pkg cream cheese

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

chopped onions

2 tsp chopped pimentos

2 tsp worshester sauce (sp)

chopped walnuts

You basically just mix all the above together with your hands ( exept the walnuts ). Roll into a ball, then roll that in the chopped walnuts just to coat the outside. Serve with chips, pretzels or anything else you enjoy.

Pepporoni Cheese Cups

My cousin Michelle recommended me making these for my guests Saturday night. She told me how much everyone loves them when she makes them. I thought I'd give it a try. She calls them Pepporoni Cheese Cups. They were pretty simple to prepare and only take a few mins to cook. Here is the recipe:

2 cups (8oz) shredded cheddar cheese

2 pks (2 1/2oz) sliced up pepporoni

3/4 cup mayo

1/3 cup bacon bits

2-3 tsp mustard

1 tube large flaky biscuits (grands)

1. In a large bowl, combine the cheese, mayo, bacon and mustard. I divided up the cheese, mayo and bacon and mustard into 2 bowls, then put ham in one and pepp. in other)

2. Split the biscuits into thirds. press each 1/3 into the bottom oand up the sids of aungreased miniature muffin cups. Fill each with about 1 tablespoon of cheese mixture.

3. Bake at 450 degrees for 9-11 minutes onr until golden brown and the cheese is melted. Let stand for 2 minutes before removing from the pans. Serve warm. Makes about 2-2/12 dozen. Enjoy!

You can make this appetizer using ham as well as pepporoni. Michelle recommended pepporoni, she said the ham wasnt as big of a hit. I think if I had more then just 4 people over, these would have all been eaten. This was only one of the appetizers I made for Saturday night and theres only so much you can eat before dinner..LOL.

Kevins weekly dinner - Taco Bake

Hi all, I've said before I was going to try and think of different dishes to make Kevin for those nights he works late so he has something quick to eat for dinner when he gets home. This past week I tried this taco bake. It was so easy to prepare. I think the total time was about 15 mins. He must have like it, I made it for him last friday and by last night, it was all gone =). I have to start timing the meals better so he's got them during the week. The whole point is for him to have dinners all ready for him when he gets home from work. Anyway...here is my taco bake:

Prep Time:15 min
Total Time:35 min

Makes:6 servings, 1 cup each.

1 pkg. (14 oz.) KRAFT Deluxe Macaroni & Cheese Dinner
1 lb. ground beef
1 pkg. (1-1/4 oz.) TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Taco Seasoning Mix
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream
1-1/2 cups KRAFT Shredded Cheddar Cheese, divided
1 cup TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Thick 'N Chunky Salsa


PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Prepare Dinner as directed on package. While Macaroni is cooking, brown meat; drain. Add taco seasoning mix and water to meat; simmer 5 min.


STIR sour cream into prepared Dinner. Spoon half of the Dinner mixture into 8-inch square or 9-inch round baking dish; top with layers of the meat mixture, 1 cup of the cheese and remaining Dinner mixture. Cover.


BAKE 15 min. Top with salsa and remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake, uncovered, an additional 5 min. or until cheese is melted.

I have to say, this smelled soooooo good when it came out of the oven. I was good and didnt cut into it. You could smell the salsa right away.

Mock-Lasanga

I just realized I totally forgot to post about Friday's meat free Lent meal. I didn't really make a new recipe just more experimented with an old one. My mom once told me she saw a cooking show where the host used raviolis to make a "lasagna" instead of the traditional way.

I bought last week at the supermarket spinach and cheese raviolis to make for dinner on Friday. I didn't feel like having just the raviolis and figured I would try to make it into a Mock Lasagna.

Here is the "recipe" I used:

Ingredients
1 (25 ounce)package frozen cheese ravioli
1 (26 1/2 ounce)bottle spaghetti sauce
2 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese , shredded

Directions
1) In 9x13-inch dish spread a little bit of sauce at bottom (to prevent sticking).

2) Put on ravioli, as many as will fit without being"tight".

3) Put on more sauce and then cheese.

4) Repeat until all ravioli is gone.

5) Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes.

Review: I would make this again just because it was super easy to put together and it was just like eating plain ravioli. What I might do is if I make it during a non Lent day I would buy half meat ravioli and half cheese...or all cheese and use a meat sauce instead of just a plain sauce. Mike like it a lot but then again he loves pasta and loves when it is covered in sauce. I ended up using an 8x8 pan to cook it in because I made the mistake of buying the mini raviolis instead of the standard size...it came out just as nice.

Irish Soda Scones

Today is March 1st and I started thinking about what recipe I wanted to try next, but than I remembered St. Patrick's Day is coming up soon. So that means Irish Soda Bread. Instead of making the traditional loaf, I found a recipe on the Joy of Baking website for Irish Soda Scones. My mom use to get something similar from the supermarket by her house, so I was excited to try this recipe.


Irish Soda Scones

3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add most of the buttermilk. Using one hand, or a wooden spoon, mix (adding more buttermilk if necessary) until you have a soft, moist dough.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and gently knead the dough into a 7-8 inch round that is about 1 inch thick. Cut this circle into 6 triangular sections. Place the scones on your prepared baking sheet and brush the tops with a little extra buttermilk and then dust with a little flour. This gives the baked scones a wonderful brown crust.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of a scone comes out clean. Test by tapping the bottom of a scone - it should sound hallow. Remove from oven. Best if served warm.



My Review: This recipe is quick to make. I like raisins in my soda bread so I added probably about a half a cup to the dough before shaping it. The only problem I had was that the dough got a little sticky to work with after I turned it on to the floured surface. Next time I'll have to make sure I put a enough flour down so the dough won't stick to it. Other than that it was easy. I think we'll have them tomorrow morning for breakfast. They will go great with a cup of coffee or tea. Enjoy!

Jacob & Mason Jumping on the Bed!!