Cake Mix Cookies

 One of my roommates in college shared this recipe and I LOVE IT!! It's super easy and they taste wonderful! It's a great recipe to use with kids and you can make any color or shape you want! All you need is:

1 Cake Mix (If you are coloring, get a white or yellow cake mix. If not, get whatever you want!)

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

Food Coloring (Optional)

Sprinkles (Optional)

Mix eggs, oil, and cake mix in a bowl. Once all mixed together, add food coloring. We used orange today to make pumpkins for Halloween ... but you can use whatever color you want!

 You can either drop spoonfuls on a greased cookie sheet or spread the batter out on the cookie sheet and make one BIG cookie. If you want sprinkles add them before you bake.

 Bake @ 350* for 12-18 minutes. Take out of the oven and use whatever cookie cutter shape you want. Cool on cooling rack.

Enjoy!!

Tortellini Soup

So glad that soup weather is here ... even though this soup is great any time of year! It's super easy and tastes GREAT!

48 oz. Chicken Broth

2 small cans diced tomatoes (or 1 large can)

2 tbps. minced garlic

1 package tortellini (you can use frozen, refrigerated, or packaged ... whatever you like!)

Fresh spinach (optional)

Mozzarella cheese

Bring broth, tomatoes and garlic to a boil. Add tortellini and cook according to the package. Once the pasta is done cooking, remove from heat and add 3 or 4 handfuls of spinach (or however much you would like). Serve with mozzarella cheese on top!

Romaine Crunch Salad & Dressing

Topping:

1 pkg. Romaine Noodles, broken up

1 cup chopped pecans

butter

Brown noodles and pecans in butter. Cool on paper towel.

Dressing:

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup red wine vinegar (can also use balsamic vinegar)

3 tsp. soy sauce

salt & pepper to taste

Mix together!

Salad:

1 bunch broccoli, chopped

4 green onions, chopped

2 bunches romaine lettuce

Combine!

If you are serving the salad right away, you can toss the salad and the dressing together and top with topping. Or just wait and put dressing and topping on individual salads.

This dressing is also good on a green salad with grapes and strawberries ... or with chicken! I love getting creative! =) Enjoy!

Monkey Muffins

Monkey Bread is something that I remember Mom making when we were little and we LOVED it!! She always let us help ... which now I realize is a lot more time consuming, but is totally worth the extra time spent! I decided to make some last week and thought I would try to make them in muffins instead of a bundt pan and they turned out wonderful! I mean ... how can you go wrong with bread, butter, cinnamon and sugar?!?

Here is what you need:

2 cans of jumbo biscuits

1 Cup Melted Butter

1 Cup Sugar

Cinnamon (as much as you want ... some like more and some like less)

**Preheat oven @ 350*. Either use muffin cups or grease pan.

1. Cut each of your biscuits in 4 pieces and roll them into balls.

2. Mix your sugar and cinnamon together.

3. Roll your biscuits in the butter.

4. Roll your biscuits in the sugar/cinnamon mixture.

5. Put 3 balls into each muffin cup.

6. Sprinkle a little bit of cinnamon sugar on top of each muffin.

Bake for 12-16 minutes.

I didn't use muffin cups, but will next time. They didn't hold together very well ... but tasted wonderful!

Lydia agreed ...

Yumm!!

Blueberry Muffins

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com this morning and they turned out so good! =) They are called "To Die For Blueberry Muffins" ... and just let me say the name fits! Jeff and Lydia really liked them! We'll be making these again for sure!

• Muffin:
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ** I added some cinnamon to my batter **
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 
  
• Topping:
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I added a little more)

1. Preheat oven to 400*. Put muffin liners in pan (or grease pan).

2. Combine vegetable oil, egg and milk in a bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Mix together. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups and sprinkle crumb topping on top.

3. For crumb topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter and 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Mix with fork and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes until done.

Not the prettiest muffins I've ever seen, but they taste great! =)

Spinach & Fruit Smoothie

A lady I used to go to church with in Searcy shared this smoothie recipe, and it is wonderful! The name of it doesn't sound too good, but don't let it fool you!! This is a great way to get some good nutrients in you and your kids ... and no one has to know!

1. Fill blender a little under 1/2 full with spinach (or kale).

2. Add frozen berries. I used a strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry mix that was really good! She also suggested a peach and mango mixture ... I'm going to try that next!

3. One banana, sliced

4. Couple dollops of yogurt (She suggested Greek, but I could not find any, so I used regular fat free vanilla yogurt).

5. Orange Juice (to help it mix well)

Mix up and enjoy!! =) Makes 2 large smoothies.

I think Jeff was doubting it would be any good when he saw me put the spinach in, but once he tasted it, he changed his mind! Lydia even had some and asked for more!

Taco Pasta

When I was in college and living with 3 other girls we had a staple meal in our house that we called "Slop". Not a very appetizing name, but a delicious meal! We had a friend that worked at K-Mart and they had a HUGE shipment of mac-n-cheese that was damaged (the boxes dented just a bit) that they were not able to sell, so we had an abundance of mac-n-cheese and started to experiment with it ... and that's how we came up with Slop!!

I made it one night for dinner from scratch and it was a hit at our house! Jeff said it was SO much better than what we made in college ... and Lydia ate every last bite of her bowl! Yippee! Jeff doesn't like the name "Slop" so I told him we could call it "Taco Pasta".

Noodles

1 lb. ground hamburger meat (or you can use turkey)

Taco Seasoning

1 Can Corn

1 Can R0-Tel

1 Can Black Beans (rinsed and drained)

Velveeta Cheese ( I just used a small chunk ... you can use how ever much you want!)

1. Bring water to boil and cook noodles (I used No Yolk Egg Noodles). Drain water after they've cooked.

2. Cook hamburger meat. Once browned, add taco seasoning and water and let simmer for a couple minutes.

3. While simmering, add corn, Ro-Tel and black beans.

4. Right before you are ready to serve, add meat mixture and Velveeta cheese to noodles and mix well.

**If you want, you can serve with salsa on top**

Chocolate Chip Pie

Saw this from a friend on facebook and HAD to try it out! So glad that I did! It was WONDERFUL!

1 frozen pie shell (don't thaw or bake)

1 stick of butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp. vanilla

6 oz. chocolate chips (or more ...)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Pour into crust. Bake @ 325 for 50 minutes. Best served warm.

Cookie Surprise Cupcakes

If you LOVE cupcakes ... you must try these out! =)

You take any cake mix that you want ... and mix up according to the package.

Fill your muffin pans about 1/2 full. Next, take refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough (the ones you just break apart) and put one chunk of dough down in cupcake dough.

Bake for 18-20 minutes @ 350*. Let cool completely and top with icing.

Enjoy!!

Monterey Jack Dip

This dip has become a staple recipe for any get together that we go to. It's super easy and very good! I got it out of a cookbook that my mother-in-law got for me a few years ago ... Any Blonde Can Cook! It's full of simple recipes, and everything we've tried out of there has been yummy!

1 can Ro-Tel

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1 (4 1/2 oz.) can chopped black olives

1 (4 1/2 0z.) can chopped green chilies

1/2 cup Italian dressing

8 oz. shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

Mix all ingredients together. Serve chilled with chips.

Fish & Potatoes

Jeff wanted to cook some fish over the weekend and decided we would try to make our own fish batter and french fries. Jeff did an awesome job with the fish!!

For the batter, he took 3 parts corm meal and 1 part flour. He then added some Tony Creole's seasoning. It was perfect!! He dipped the fish in milk, then batter ... then fried it up in the fryer!

For the potatoes, make a seasoning out of olive oil, chili powder, garlic powder and some Tony Creole's seasoning. I used 1 tbsp. of olive oil per potato and about 1/2 tsp. of each of the seasonings ... maybe a little more. Mix it all up in a gallon sized ziplock bag.

Cut the potatoes into chunks and put into the ziplock bag and covered the potatoes. Next, pour the potatoes into a 9x13 casserole dish lined with foil. Bake @ 400* for 40-45 minutes, stirring half way through.

Mmmm ... Lydia LOVED it!

She's such a little clown! =)

Truffles

6 squares Baker's chocolate

1/4 cup whipping cream

1 tbsp. butter, softened

6 squares Baker's white chocolate

3 drops yellow food coloring 2 drops red food coloring (for orange pumpkins)

3 tbsp. coconut

Microwave chocolate squares, cream and butter for 1 1/2 -2 minutes. Stir after 1 minute. Stir until chocolate is melted; cover. Freeze for 1 hour or until firm enough to handle.

Use a teaspoon scoop and roll into 20 balls. Place on waxed paper and freeze for 20 minutes.

Microwave 3 white chocolate squares for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes. Stir after 1 minute. Stir until melted. Repeat with remaining squares. Stir in food coloring. Cool completely. Tint coconut with food coloring. Easiest way to tint coconut is put coconut into ziplock bag and add 1-2 drops of food coloring and shake. Pour into bowl.

Dip balls into tinted chocolate and then in tinted coconut.

ENJOY!!

I ran out of white chocolate, so I had to use regular chocolate for a few of the balls. They were good as well!

7 Layer Dip

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

1 (16 oz.) can refried beans (I ended up using 2)

4 cups shredded Cheddar-Monteray Jack Cheese

1 (8 oz.) container sour cream

1 cup guacamole

1 cup salsa

1 (2.25 oz.) can black olives, chopped

1 can Ro-Tel

1/2 cup chopped green onions

In large skillet, brown ground beef. If you want, you can season your meat (don't add water!) with taco seasoning or chili powder. Drain and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Spread beans into bottom of 9x13 pan. Sprinkle 2 cups of shredded cheese on top of beans. Sprinkle beef on top of cheese. Spread sour cream very slowly on top of beef. Spread guacamole on top of sour cream. Pour salsa over guacamole and spread evenly. Sprinkle remaining shredded cheese. Sprinkle black olives, tomatoes, and green onions on top.

You can serve this dish immediately, or refrigerate it overnight and serve cold.