Ham & Gouda Pastry Puffs

Don’t these look delicious? BONUS – Super easy to make!

Ingredients:
*1 1/4 cups finely diced fully cooked ham
*1/2 cup shredded Gouda cheese
*1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained, and chopped
*2 tablespoons sour cream
*4 medium green onions, chopped (1/4 cup)
*2 packages (17.3 oz each) frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all ingredients, except pastry.

Cut pastry into circles with 2 1/2 – 3 inch round cookie cutter or pastry wheel. Spoon about 1 rounded teaspoon ham mixture on center of each circle, brush edges with water. Fold each circle over filling, pressing edges to seal.

Place in ungreased 15×10-inch pan. Bake 18 to 22 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm.

SECOND BONUS: Can make ahead!
Prepare and bake puffs up to a day ahead of time. Cool completely, then cover and refrigerate no longer than 24 hours. Reheat in 400 degree oven 6 to 8 minutes or until heated through. You can also freeze unbaked puffs. Place waxed paper or cooking parchment paper between layers of puffs. Cover lightly and freeze up to 1 week. Bake as directed.

Recipe courtesy of Betty Crocker Small Bites.

Spaghetti Squash with Meat Sauce

After many requests to get this blog back up and going – here it is.

This is absolutely one of my favorite recipes now, even though I only made it once. It definitely satisfied my craving for “pasta” but its a much less carby (and gluten-free) version. BONUS – it’s super easy to prepare. (Note: This recipe is a modified version of Cheesy Spaghetti Squash with Tomato Sauce by Rachael Ray.)

What you’ll need:

• Spaghetti Squash (roughly 2 – 2 1/2 lbs)
• 2 tablespoons on EVOO plus a little more for tossing
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, crushed and peeled
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1 jar of tomato pasta sauce (spaghetti sauce)
• 1/4 cup chopped bell pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped tomato
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Grated mozzarella
• 1 LB ground beef

First, preheat the oven to 375 degrees . Pierce the squash all over with a fork. Place on a baking sheet. Bake until tender when pierced with a knife, about 1 hour 15 minutes.

While baking the squash, saute the ground beef in a skillet until no longer pink. Drain excess fat. Next add chopped onions and bell peppers. Saute until onions are translucent and bell peppers are tender. Pour in your favorite jar of sauce and add the garlic, oregano, salt, pepper and fresh diced tomato. Allow to simmer while squash finishes baking.

Slice the squash in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, remove the seeds. Using a fork, flake apart the flesh. (The really AWESOME part – the squash comes apart in spaghetti-like strands. Thus its name.) Transfer your “noodles” to a bowl and toss with EVOO. You may want to add a little salt and pepper here as well.

Then, add some “noodles” to a plate, put some sauce on, and garnish with the mozzarella. Enjoy!

 

 

 

Private Selection: Desserts to Die For

Sorry it has been so long since I have written, my fans! But as a college student, it has been finals time. I haven’t been doing much cooking or writing. So now I have plenty to catch you up on!

Firstly, as a BzzAgent, I got the opportunity to try a lot of Kroger’s Private Selection items for free and discounted. My fiance and I chose a few desserts, appetizers, and one of their pizzas.

Now, we had already fallen in love with Kroger’s Private Selection ice cream over the summer. He loves the Denali Extreme Moose Tracks. My favorite is the Caramel Hazelnut Fudge Truffle.

With our coupons, we bought the miniature chocolate lava cakes, the cream puffs, and the chocolate croissants. The miniature lava cake was good. Although, if you microwaved it a little too long, it scorched the chocolate easily which did not taste good. It was nice that it came in it’s own container though.

I personally love the cream puffs. The only inconveince is that you have to keep them frozen and thaw them 30 minutes before eating. They aren’t the type of dessert you can just grab whenever you want. Of course, perhaps that makes them good for people who are dieting.

We haven’t had the chocolate croissants yet, but I’m sure they’ll be delicious. We’ll keep you updated.

Until then, happy eating!

The (truly) Awesome Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookie

I tried out these cookies with skepticism. A boxed cookie that tastes like homemade – right.

Surprisingly, this cookie DOES taste kind of like homemade. It’s at least the closest I’ve ever seen a boxed chocolate chip cookie come. It tastes like a cookie that you’ve let cool down all the way (who does that?).

If you pop it in the microwave for a few seconds, it really does taste like it’s just come out of the oven! I was totally impressed.

The chocolate chips are actually chocolate-chip-sized and you can tell they’re actually made with butter.

They do fall apart kind of easily though. I’m not sure you’d want to take them to lunch or anything where they might get slightly crushed or banged around.

I am als0 NOT impressed by the price. For EIGHT cookies – you’re paying like $2.79. I can make cookies for much cheaper.

But overall, the quality was pretty good. The kind of thing I would buy when I have a coupon or something.

***Pst… I am a BzzAgent. As such, I get free products and get MyPoints for reviewing them. However, I get points whether I say good things or bad things, so this hasn’t had an influence on my review.

Delicious, Easy Restaurant Nachos

Sometimes, you just need some melted cheese, beans, and meat over something crunchy. This recipe definitely satisfies that hunger.

Start with some tostada shells.

(Why not tortilla chips? Because it is easier to spread beans on tostada shells than it is to spread them on individual chips.)

Spread some refried beans onto each shell, laying them in a baking dish. Make your taco  meat and add a can of diced tomatoes with chilis. Pour that over the beans. Finally, layer with some cheese. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 5-7 minutes, until cheese is melted.

Serve with sour cream, green onion, salsa, and fresh guacamole.

This recipe was adapted from here.

Happy eating!

Chocolate Eclair Cake

This is the simplest and most delicious dessert recipe in existance.

You’ll need:

Graham crackers

Chocolate Pudding

Vanilla pudding

Whipped Cream

Chocolate Chips

Mix some whipped cream into the vanilla pudding as well as the chocolate pudding. Lay down a layer of graham crackers in the bottom of a pan. Pour some of the vanilla pudding over that. Next, put another layer of graham crackers down and put some chocolate pudding over that. Repeat layers as desired. Finish with a layer of graham crackers and put whipped cream on top. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave and put on top of the whipped cream.

It’s best to let this recipe set over night!

Appetizer: Mini Pigs in Blankets

I’m sure you ALL have this recipe. But I was at the store Friday and for some reason they just sounded soooo good. So I bought the stuff and made them.

In case you don’t know how to make them, or just need a refresher because you haven’t thought about them since childhood either, here it goes:

Get a package of cocktail sausages.
Get a can of croissants.

Cut each triangle croissant into 3 pieces. Wrap each piece around the cocktail sausage. Bake for 12 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

I made these for lunch and made a side of macaroni and cheese. It tasted just like childhood.

Happy eating!

Fall Treats: Miniature Pumpkin Cheesecakes, Brownies, Gluten-Free cupcakes

For my miniature pumpkin cheesecakes, I used my pumpkin pie recipe but added 16 ounces of cream cheese.

In the bottom of my miniature cupcake papers, I put graham cracker crumbs and butter. Then I poured the pumpkin mixture over that. Like I said, without a miniature cupcake pan, the results weren’t pretty. (They were tasty though. A friend told me she normally didn’t like cheesecake but she liked this.)

The brownies were a huge hit. I don’t think there were any left. They looked cute because the batter was thick enough that they didn’t spread out like the other treats.

We knew a few guests at our party had gluten intolerances, so I made some gluten-free cupcakes to accomodate them. I used a gluten-free mix and made the buttercream icing myself.

Happy eating!

Appetizers: Stuffed Mushrooms

I submitted a food story to the Indiana Daily Student’s housing guide (IU’s newspaper.) One of the recipes I included was for stuffed mushrooms. However, I can’t even follow my OWN recipe. So this is my adaptation of my recipe.

*12 baby bella mushrooms
*1/2 cup Parmesean cheese
*8 ounces cream cheese
*Pepper
*Minced Garlic
*Real Bacon Bits
*Green onion
*2 pieces wheat toast
*Italian seasoning
*Butter
*Fresh rosemary

The first step is to wash the mushrooms. Then break off their stems, setting them aside. Cut the mushroom stems into SMALL slivers, discarding the hard pieces.

Sautee the mushroom stems, minced garlic (to taste), the bacon bits, and the sliced green onion together until the mixture loses a lot of its moisture.

Let that cool. While its cooling, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease your cookie sheet. Run the wheat toast through the food processor so it turns into crumbs. Add the fresh rosemary and italian seasoning. Dip each mushroom head into the melted butter and then into the bread crumbs. Set on greased cookie sheet.

When the mushroom stem mixture is cool, add the parmesean cheese and cream cheese. This should be thick. With a spoon, fill each mushroom cap with the cream cheese mixture.

Let these bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

I took these to a dinner party. There was only 1 left when we left the party. Everyone raved about them.

Happy eating!

Fall Treats: Taco Tarts

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween. It is one of my favorite holidays because I get to dress up. For my Halloween party I was Rose from Titanic. For my little sister’s party I dressed as a witch.

Everyone raved about the food at my party so I thought I would share my yummy recipes with all of you! Keep in mind that these recipes can be adapted for Thanksgiving – or any holiday! Check back every day until Nov. 7th for a new recipe!

As promised, I have a surprise for five lucky readers! I have created an E-cookbook! Enter the drawing and it can be yours!

To make the taco tarts:

Start with 2 refrigerated pie crusts. Cut them into pumpkin shapes (2 for each tart). (You can use other shapes if you have the cookie cutters! Be creative! Make Christmas tree or gingerbread-taco-man!)

Caramelize some onion and minced garlic. Add hamburger, ground turkey, or Morning Star Crumbles. Then add some taco seasoning. Scoop a bit of this meat mixture onto one pumpkin for each tart. Add a piece or two of chopped tomato and some cheese. Put the other half of the tart on top and press the edges together.

Do this for all of the tarts.

Finally, take 3 egg yolks and add orange food coloring. Paint this onto the taco tart. I also did 1 egg yolk in green for the pumpkin stems.

Bake on 375 degrees for 10 – 12 minutes.

These are incredibly easy, delicious, and fun to eat!