Crab Pizza

Down a few posts I made the Crab & Ricotta Cannelloni and I mentioned I had some of my "Crab mixture" leftover so guess what I made a Crab PIZZA! I completely surprised myself how good it was...I must put it on here! okay so first I'll remind you of what the "Crab mixture" consists of!

"Crab Mixture"

1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
3/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1 pound lump crab meat
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

Before even starting anything preheat oven to 450 then lower the heat to 425!!!!
I bought some all ready made pizza crust. spread olive oil along the crust, add 2tablespoons of the Olive Oil onto the surface of the pizza crust, spread a thick layer of Alfredo sauce {really any kind!} I sprinkled a 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, onion powder, basil, & salt & pepper. Then sprinkle a layer of Mozzarella cheese. Next I placed the "Crab mixture" all over the Mozzarella til it was good and covered {probably a good 8oz of Crab}. In a sauce pan I sauteed mushrooms with Olive Oil & placed them over the the "Crab mixture" and finished with the rest of my Mozzarella scattered all over and topped with sprinkle of basil and DONE!

Place in the oven at 425 for 7 1/2 to 10 min.

It's that easy & so GOOD!!! Enjoy!!!

Apple Raisin Betty

This is another recipe from the Food Network but from another amazing cook Sandra Lee! She is always so fun to watch b/c of how she has a theme all thought out the kitchen as well as the meal and table setting! All I'm going to say about this dish is OMG!!!! Yes....it is that good!

Ingredients
Butter flavored cooking spray
2 (21-ounce) cans apple pie filling (recommended: Comstock)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 packets instant oatmeal with raisins and spice, divided (recommended: Quaker Oats)
6 tablespoons butter, divided
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 9 by 13-inch casserole dish with butter flavored cooking spray.



Spread half of the apple pie filling in the bottom of the casserole dish. Sprinkle with the cinnamon and 1 1/2 packets of oatmeal. Dot with half the butter. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Cover with foil and bake for about 1 hour. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!!!

Crab & Ricotta Cannelloni

Ok ...I'm a HUGE fan of the Food Network channel and this week I've been watching it like crazy and one of my fav's on the show is Giada De Laurentiis and her show Everyday Italian...I just love her! She made this Crab and Ricotta Cannelloni and I made it last night for dinner and you all must try...it was so yummy!!! & the recipe makes quite a bit! I still have leftovers of the crab mixture!



Ingredients
1 box (8 ounces) cannelloni or manicotti pasta (about 12 shells)
1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
3/4 cup grated Parmesan, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1 pound lump crab meat
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
Bechamel Sauce, recipe follows



Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta.
In a large bowl, mix together ricotta, 3/4 cup Parmesan, egg yolk, basil, crab, salt, and pepper.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Fill the cannelloni with the crab mixture and place in a buttered baking dish. Top the filled cannelloni with the Bechamel Sauce and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake until bubbly and the top is golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve immediately.
Bechamel Sauce:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups whole milk, warmed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until smooth, about 2 minutes. Gradually add the warm milk, whisking constantly, until the sauce is thick, smooth, and creamy, about 10 minutes (do not allow the sauce to boil). Remove from the heat and stir in the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. (The sauce can be made up to 3 days ahead. Cool and then cover and refrigerate.)


It was so simple & it tasted like I worked on it for hours!!!

Strawberry/Blackberry Smoothie

6-8 Strawberries
4-6 Blackberries
1 Banana
1 Single Serving Cup of Strawberry Flavored Yogurt
Low Fat Milk
Sugar
Ice

Get your blender out and wash up the strawberries and blackberries. You will want to remove the stems off the strawberries. Next, slice the strawberries into halves. Cut your banana into smaller pieces as well. This will make things blend easier. Once you have that done it’s time to put everything into the blender.You will want to add the strawberries, banana, and blackberries first. Next, pour in the strawberry yogurt. Pour about 1 cup of low fat milk. You will also add in 3-6 tablespoons of sugar. This is to add a little bit more sweetness into the smoothie. Finally, pour in the ice. We filled a tall glass up with ice cubes to use in this recipe. That will give you an idea of how much ice you may want to add. Hit that blend button after all the ingredients are in there.

Garrett enjoying his smoothie!!!

Homemade Fortune Cookies

I found this recipe just browsing the Internet and thought how fun & simple! But my favorite part was I had all the ingredients! The batter has just a few steps, and the only tricky part is thinning out the batter on the cookie sheet. Once you perfect this (and even if you don’t) you’ll have your friends and family blown away by your pastry skill! Forming the actual cookies is as simple as folding them while they’re still hot. So get creative, come up with some fun predictors of the future and whip up a batch of the future!

Homemade Fortune Cookies

3 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter — melted
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium-sized bowl, combine ingredients in the above order, mixing well after each addition. Chill batter for 15 minutes.

On a well-greased cookie sheet, drop a spoonful of dough for each cookie. It is very important to spread dough very thin with back of spoon to about 3 inch diameter. Bake about 5 minutes or until edges are lightly brown. Working quickly, place a fortune in the center of each cookie. Fold cookie in half enclosing fortune, to form a semi-circle. Grasp rounded edges of semi-circle between thumb and forefinger on one hand. Place forefinger of other hand at center of folded edge, and push in, making certain solid sides of cookie puff out. Place each cookie in small size muffin tin, open edges up, until cookie is set. Store in airtight container. Note: the fortune needs to be on thick paper if it's to thin it will stick in the batter! I know this from experience!

Enjoy!

Supper Corn Chowder

I found this very very simple recipe in a cook book I like to use Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book! And to make a long story short Adam came home one day after work with a ton of bagged kernel corn....so of course every once in a while I look for ways that I can use it. So I found this chowder recipe & my family seems to enjoy it {we have it probably once every 2 weeks}

Ingredients:
5 slices bacon
1 medium onion, thinly sliced and separated in rings
2 cups cooked or canned whole kernel corn
1 cup diced cooked potatoes
1 10 1/2-ounce can condensed cream of mushroom soup {I don't always use...and it's still good!}
2 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt

Now cook bacon till crisp in large saucepan. Remove bacon; pour off drippings, returning 3 tablespoons to pan. Add onion and cook till lightly browned. Add remaining ingredients and dash pepper. Heat to boiling; reduce heat and simmer a minute or two. top each serving with crumbled bacon and butter. {I don't use the butter}. Make 6 servings

It's that easy and it really has a great taste! I hope you enjoy!

Guacamole

Last night Adam & I made homemade guacamole for the first time ever! And to be honest It wasn't hard at all & I think we really enjoyed it better then the bought stuff! Now we looked up tons of different ways to make it and we both couldn't pick just one so we kinda came up with our own {but still very basic guacamole}

Our ingredients:

2 medium avocados {for the two of us...if you have more then 2 I recommend more!}
The juice of 1 lime
Half a medium yellow onion
1 small tomato
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of salt
3 chive's

Put it all in a medium bowl and mix together {I used a potato masher.. it worked great!}. & serve immediately!

Cheese Ball

I love making these cheese balls for get together's or just at home snacking in front of the t.v. because there so simple & easy....and full of flavor!

Ingredients: 2 {8 oz} Boxes of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, 1 {3 oz} of Corn Beef {if you like a lot of meat use 6 oz}, 3 green chives cut up, 1 tablespoon of Garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon of Accent {I didn't have any Accent on hand so I used salt..it worked fine}

Get a medium size bowel put all you ingredients in and take off your jewelry ladies because it's about to get messy! combine all the ingredients together! Roll into a bowl and that quickly your done! Easy right!?!



The most important part is to wrap tightly with plastic wrap and set in the refrigerator over night!

& enjoy!

P.s. Thanks for the recipe Mom!

Chocolate Cookie Dough Brownies

I ran across this recipe and I just had to try it and now share it they are Delicious!!! And as you can see it's a good way to get the kids in the kitchen to help!

Ingredients: 1box Betty Crocker® Original Supreme brownie mix (with chocolate syrup pouch)1/3 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup water 2 eggs 1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® chocolate chip cookie mix 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened 1 egg

1.Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease bottom only of 13x9-inch pan. Make brownie mix as directed on box, using oil, water and 2 eggs. Spread in pan.2.Make cookie mix as directed on pouch, using butter and 1 egg. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls evenly onto brownie batter; press down lightly.3.Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out almost clean.

Garrett helping clean up! {His favorite part of the whole cooking process!}

All finished and ready to enjoy! I hope ya'll enjoy them as much as my family has!

POTATO NACHOS

I found a little twist on nachos! basically with out the hard tortilla chips we used potatos cut into circles as the chips and it was amazing I'll never go back! Now this recipe can be made to taste. Top the nachos as you like the ONLY difference is the potatoes! Plus great for the vegetarian in the family....my sister-n-law is so when she comes over I have something she can enjoy too!

1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt.
1 cup Mexican blend shredded cheese
1/4 cup rinsed and drained canned black beans
1/4 cup diced tomatoes
1/4 cup sliced black olives
1/4 cup sliced green onions
3 tablespoons canned diced green chile's
TO SERVE:
Salsa, guacamole and sour cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Scrub potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch thick wedges. Place potatoes into a medium size bowl with the oil, garlic salt . Stir well to coat potatoes with oil and seasonings. Transfer to a large baking sheet and spread into a single layer.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring several times, until crisp and golden brown.

Top with cheese, beans, tomatoes, olives, onions and chile's.

Bake for 5 minutes more to melt cheese.

Serve with salsa, guacamole and sour cream.

Enjoy!

Chicken with Salsa

Adam & I deciede to spice up our normal chicken dinner with some mild salsa and covered in cheese....very simple but amazing!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C)
Place chicken breasts in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle taco seasoning on both sides of chicken breasts, and pour salsa over all.
Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 25 to 35 minutes, or until chicken is tender and juicy and its juices run clear.
Sprinkle chicken evenly with cheese, and continue baking for an additional 3 to 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Top with sour cream if desired, and serve.

Pumpkin seeds & Boo-rrific cookies

We decided to have a big cooking day yesterday! Garrett & I roasted our pumpkin seeds.... 2 big batches! One with Cinnamon and sugar and one with garlic, seasoned salt, and paprika....They turned out great!

We let ours dry over night!

So we recommend you don't throw away those pumpkin seeds!
Preheat oven to 300º F. clean off any major chunks.
Toss pumpkin seeds in a bowl with the melted butter or oil and seasonings of your choice. Spread pumpkin seeds in a single layer on an oiled baking sheet. (or spray with cooking spray).
Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

These are the Cinnamon ones....Don't they just look yummy!?!


Now Garrett helped me so much I felt bad because he can't eat the pumpkin seeds so we found a great little recipe for Boo-rrific cookies (with only 15 calories!) from one of my blogger friends.



Ingredients: 2 egg whites, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/4 teaspoon almond extract, 1/8 teaspoon cider vinegar, 1/2 cup sugar, Orange food coloring, optional,
1-1/2 teaspoons miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Place egg whites in a small mixing bowl; let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Add extracts and vinegar; beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, on high until stiff glossy peaks form and sugar is dissolved, about 6 minutes. Beat in food coloring if desired.
Cut a small hole in the corner of a pastry or plastic bag; insert a #10 round pastry tip. Fill bag with egg white mixture. Pipe 1-1/2-in.-diameter ghosts onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Add two chips on each for eyes.
Bake at 250° for 40-45 minutes or until set and dry. Turn oven off; leave cookies in oven for 1 hour. Carefully remove from parchment paper. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 2-1/2 dozen.

Here's one of the Boo-rrific cookies up close!

Adam helped me makes these goody bags full of the different kinds of pumpkin seeds and Boo-rrific cookies for my in laws for Halloween!

And of course I can't have a post without pictures of Garrett!

Garrett loves these cookies!!!!

Chocolate covered strawberries

Yesterday I decided to make a special desert last night for my boys and since strawberries were buy one get on free at our Harris Teeter I decided on chocolate cover strawberries & chocolate cover strawberries with crushed almonds! I have to say they were delicious....since I'm watching what I eat for my new years resolution I may not be making these to often! {grin}

1.Melt the chocolate. You can use any kind of chocolate chips; just whatever you think will work best with the strawberries. Use a double boiler to make sure you don't burn the chocolate. If you don't have a double boiler, you can make one by filling a medium saucepan 3/4 full with water. Then rest a smaller saucepan or a heat-proof bowl inside of it and fill it with your chocolate chips. Turn the stove on low heat. Stir occasionally.

2. Rinse and dry the strawberries. You don't have to be extremely delicate with them, since the chocolate will cover most of the strawberry, but make sure to check for bruises and dark spots. Make sure to leave the stems and leaves, as they make the berries easier to grip and look nicer than if you cut them off. After rinsing each one, dry them well; the chocolate won't stick if they're wet.

3. Line a cooking sheet with wax paper. Parchment paper works just as well; whichever you have in the kitchen is fine. Make sure the cooking sheet is large enough to place all the strawberries on the sheet, as well as giving each a few inches of room for after dipping.

4. Check the chocolate. When all but a few pieces have melted, turn off the stove; you don't want to burn the chocolate, or have it boil over. Stir the last few pieces a bit to melt them. Your chocolate will be smooth and creamy.

5.Take a strawberry, and dip it completely into the chocolate. Twirl it around to get it completely coated. Put it on the cookie sheet to cool. Just prior to cooling, roll the strawberries in sprinkles or crushed peanuts or almonds!

I'm pretty sure Garrett enjoyed them!