MISC – Page 178 – Chasing MY Life WHEREVER it Leads ME

Whoopie Pies!

Whoopie Pies
adapted from: The Marshmallow Fluff Cookbook
350 degree oven
makes 15 pies

1 large egg
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 c sugar
2 c flour
1/2 c unsweetened coaoa
1 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/4 c milk
1 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare/grease 2 large baking sheets, set aside.

In a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed, beat the egg and vegetable oil until combined. Gradually beat in the sugar and continue beating until pale yellow in color.

In another bowl, combing the flour, cocoa, soda and salt, whisk to combine. In a measuring cup combine the milk and vanilla.

Add the flour and milk mixtures alternately to the egg mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.

Drop by tablespoons onto the baking sheets. These will spread a lot, so make 6 cakes per sheet, at a time.

Bake for about 5 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched with a finger. Let cool on pans for a minute or 2 to prevent the delicate cookie from crumbling. Remove to wire racks for complete cooling.Continue baking until all dough has been baked.

When cool completely, sandwich the filling between 2 cakes to form the Whoopie Pies.

Filling:
1/2 c (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 c confectioners sugar
1 c Marshmallow Fluff
1 t vanilla

In a medium size bowl, beat butter and sugar together. Add Marshmallow Fluff and vanilla. Beat until fluffy.

OLD FASHIONED MACARONI and CHEESE

I’m always trying new recipes searching for THE one that most resembles my grams recipe. I don’t unfortunately have her recipe. I think I finally found it though.

1 2/3 cups dry, small elbow or shells macaroni cooked and drained
1 large bunch green onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
3/4 cup 1% milk
2 tablespoons butter
2 + 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease 2-quart casserole dish.
Combine evaporated milk, 1% milk and butter in medium saucepan.
Stir in flour and pepper.
Cook over medium-heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil.
Boil for 1 minute.
Remove from heat.
Stir in 2 cups cheese until melted.
Add macaroni and onions, blending well. It will be a little soupy, but that’s okay!
Pour into prepared casserole dish.
Top with remaining cheese.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until cheese is melted and light brown.

Pizza Roll Up Burritos

So have you every had those frozen pizza rolls? I’ve bought them. We eat them occasionally. They are extremely greasy, fatty and like a million calories for 4 of them. Not filling at all either.

These remind me of those but are like 10,000 times better! I love how they get crispy in the oven, with out all the fat. They are also super easy to handle without all the mess.

I posted these on my other blog awhile back and recently made them again. They deserve anther look. They were incredibly simple and everyone loved them.

They are a little higher on the calories than I usually make but these are very filling! I was completely satisfied with 1 of these bad boys and a side of watermelon.

I thought about making these more like enchiladas and pour a bit of pizza sauce over and a bit of cheese but decided these were much neater. It certainly would have made a pretty presentation that way though!

We made extras and froze them for lunches. We just take them out, thaw and microwave them for an awesome lunch. Or a snack in my kids’ case!

Pizza Roll Up Burritos

Adapted from Penny-Pinching Provisions

2 pounds ground turkey, 93%
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
2 ounces pepperoni (about 50 slices), cut in half
1 (15 ounce) can pizza sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano
10 slices mozzerella string cheese
10 – 100 calorie whole wheat tortillas

Cook turkey in pan until it’s almost done. Toss in onion and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes or until ground turkey is no longer pink. Add pepperoni slices, oregano and pizza sauce and simmer for a couple of minutes to warm. Add about 1/2 cup pizza mix on tortilla. Place 1 piece of string cheese along the middle on top and roll. Place seam side down in 9 x 13 pan. I was able to put 9 in the pan, we just stuck the 10th one on a tortilla the next day for lunch. Bake in oven at 350 for about 15 – 20 minutes until cheese is melted.

Total calories = 3743 calories
10 servings = 374 calories per burrito

1 Pizza Roll Up Burrito + 2 cups watermelon = 474 calorie dinner

COCOA FUDGE CAKE FOR JULY TASTE & CREATE

Taste and Create was started as a food event by Nicole from For the Love of Food. The whole purpose of Taste and Create was, and has been, and continues to be to create a community of bloggers who test each others’ recipes and share links. The participants of the event are paired together and try a new recipe from one another’s blog. My partner this month is Kat from Study Food. I spent a lazy Sunday afternoon perusing her recipes and decided on her COCOA FUDGE CAKE because I also had a lot of fun with the Joanne Fluke books. Kat’s recipe is here. Kat had halved the sugar which I didn’t do to try and keep it original. I then added a hershey’s milk chocolate icing.

COCOA FUDGE CAKE

1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 stick butter
1 cup water
3 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs, beaten

Set oven to 350 degrees, and grease your cake pan. Kat used a silicon Bundt pan, but the original recipe calls for a 9″x13″ tin. I decided to also use a Bundt pan.
Sift the flour and sugar together into a large bowl. Set aside.
In a separate mixing bowl, mix the milk, vanilla, baking soda and eggs. Set aside.
Bring the butter, water and cocoa to a boil over medium heat.
When done boiling gradually pour into the flour/sugar mixture and stir to combine.
Follow this with the milk mixture and fold all ingredients together.
Pour into your prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes. Because this is a fudge cake – you don’t want the center to be cooked all the way through, but the outside should be firm enough to hold its own when removed from the pan. Joanne Fluke suggests this should take 20-25 minutes.
Best served warm, and reheats brilliantly. Enjoy!

PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE DROPS

PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE DROPS

2/3 cup Hot water
10 ounces Land of Lakes cocoa mix
2 cups JIF creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup
3 cups C&H powdered sugar, divided 2cups + 1 cup
2 cups crushed vanilla wafers
2 cups crushed ginger snaps
72 Hershey Kisses (I like the cherry cordials)

Whisk together the hot water and cocoa mix until smooth.
Add peanut butter and corn syrup. Blend until smooth.
Add 2 cups powdered sugar and stir until well blended.
Stir in cookie crumbs until well blended.
Spray wax paper with PURE (these will be sticky so don’t forget this step).
Drop heaping teaspoonfuls of dough onto the wax paper.
Place the remaining 1 cup of powdered sugar in a shallow bowl.
Roll each piece of dough into a ball and dredge in powdered sugar.
Press your thumb into the center and fill with a Hershey’s kiss. I used cherry cordial kisses.

SLOW COOKER TEXAS PULLED PORK

Slow Cooker Texas Pulled Pork adapted from allrecipes.com

This recipe is for 8 servings but I doubled it (plus a little more) to have about 20 servings.

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

1 (2lb) pork shoulder roast

1 cup BBQ sauce

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 extra large onion, chopped

2 large cloves, crushed

1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme

8 hamburger buns

2 tablespoons butter

Directions: Pour the vegetable oil into the bottom of a slow cooker. Place the pork roast into the slow cooker; pour in the BBQ sauce, apple cider vinegar, and chicken broth. Stir in the brown sugar, yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, onion, garlic, and thyme. Cover and cook on High until the roast shreds easily with a fork 5 to 6 hours.

Remove the roast from the slow cooker, shred the meat using two forks. Return the shredded pork to the slow cooker, and stir the meat into the juices.

Spread the inside of both halves of hamburger buns with butter. Toast the buns, butter side down, in a skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Spoon pork into the toasted buns.

Modifications:

-I didn’t use brown sugar.

-I didn’t toast the buns.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Chop up the onions.

Chop the garlic.

Pour the oil into the bottom of a slow cooker and lay the pork on top.

Pour the BBQ sauce over the meat.

Add the rest of the ingredients.

I cooked it on 375 for about 4 hours and then I turned it down to 300 for another hour.

Pull the pork from the cooker and shred it.

Put the shredded meat back into the sauce. Turn it on low until ready to serve.

Here’s what you’ll end up with:

OLD FASHIONED MACARONI & CHEESE

1 2/3 cups dry, small elbow or shells macaroni cooked and drained
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
3/4 cup 1% milk
2 tablespoons butter
2 + 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease 2-quart casserole dish.
Combine evaporated milk, 1% milk and butter in medium saucepan.
Stir in flour and pepper.
Cook over medium-heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil.
Boil for 1 minute.
Remove from heat.
Stir in 2 cups cheese until melted.
Add macaroni and onions, blending well.
Pour into prepared casserole dish.
Top with remaining cheese.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until cheese is melted and light brown.

HAMBURGERS

Hubby’s Hamburger Recipe…
3 pounds ground beef or ground turkey
1 1/2 tube of Ritz crackers
1/2 cup of BBQ sauce
1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
garlic salt to taste
garlic powder to taste
pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together by hand in large bowl
Form into desired size patties
Cook on grill to desired doneness with or without cheese
Enjoy with your favorite condiments
Happy Eating…

Bizzy Goes Healthy – Quinoa Pasts with Goat Cheese & Vegetables

As I understand it, Wednesday is supposed to be healthy recipes and I can honestly say, I have been working on eating healthier meals. I have fallen in love with vegetable and fruit. From childhood, I rarely volunteered to take a piece of fruit or eat a salad. Now, salads are better than chocolate.

There is the other half of me. I still love sweets. While savory wins out, sweets play a big place in my eating, which is why I say I am working on healthier meals. I am not there yet.

I got to this recipe by checking out several blogs and by my new admiration for goat cheese. I only started eating goat cheese, this year, and in that short time, I found several different ways to use it. I have loved each one, especially since I discovered herb goat cheese and Pecan Cranberry goat cheese. I add these to salads with greens and all of a sudden, I am eating something heavenly.

Quinoa Pasta with Goat Cheese & Vegetables

I don’t really like titles of recipes that go on and on with all the important ingredients but I am not sure, I can distinguish the dish, without some key words. I played around with the title. I tried Balsamic Quinoa Pasta but that was not accurate. Balsamic vinegar is a minor flavor and did not belong in the title. I wanted to stress the goat cheese and vegetables as main components. At one point, I removed the vegetables from the title but Quinoa Pasta with Goat Cheese sounded sterile. The heart of the recipe is a combination of the pasta and veggies but the goat cheese gives it the fullness of the flavor.

I just noticed that the final photo is missing and when I looked for it, it is no longer there. My apologies. The recipe is really too good to bring in another.

Ingredients:
12 ounces spaghetti type pasta (fettuccine)
1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon oil from dried tomatoes
1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
1 yellow pepper, sliced
1 very small zucchini, cut in half and then half again and then in 8 cubes for each piece
1 yellow zucchini, cut the same way as zucchini
1 red onion, chopped
1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh oregano
a few drops of hot cayenne pepper sauce
2 tablespoons Parmesan, grated
4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

Method:

In a medium to large saucepan, boil water for pasta. Let simmer while you cook vegetables. Follow the package directions.

In a large skillet, heat oil. Add onion and cook for three minutes. Add remaining vegetables and cook for another three minutes or until onion is translucent. Mix in Balsamic vinegar.

Add oregano to vegetables and mix in. Pour vegetables over pasta in bowl. Sprinkle with Parmesan and then with goat cheese. Mix pasta, vegetables and goat cheese together.

Serve.

I had no idea how this was going to turn out. My choices for vegetables and cheese were based on what I had, in the house. I would think thinly sliced carrots would be another vegetable that would blend in, nicely. I plan to make this often, each time using up the vegetables in the refrigerator.

Other quinoa dishes…..

Link up to Bake With Bizzy

STRAWBERRY KIWI BUTTERMILK SHORTCAKE

This is even better when you take the time to make fresh whipped cream or homemade vanilla ice cream to go with it.

GLAZE
2 baskets fresh strawberries, sliced
2 kiwis, chopped
1 cup pureed strawberries*
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons KARO light corn syrup
3 tablespoons cornstarch
½ cup water

BUTTERMILK SHORTCAKE
2 cups flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
dash of salt
4 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup butter, softened, but not melted
¾ cup buttermilk**

Mix together 1 cup sugar, corn syrup, cornstarch and water in a 2 quart sauce pan, cover and bring to a slow boil.
When you reach a boil remove the lid. Add the 1 cup pureed strawberries and boil a few minutes more. Chill 10-15 minutes. After the sauce is chilled, pour over the fruit and toss gently. Return to the refrigerator to continue chilling.
Sift the dry ingredients together. Add the milk and butter and mix well into a soft dough. DO NOT over knead – it will become tough.
Grease an 8 inch pie pan really well. Gently arrange dough into an even mound and pre-cut into your serving portions before baking.
Bake at 400° for 15 to 20 minutes or until toothpick done and golden brown.
Slice each shortcake open, dot with a thin layer of honey, arrange on plate and top with a scoop of the strawberry kiwi glaze and vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

*I use the less than pretty berries for the puree.

**As a substitute, Buttermilk can be made by adding 2 tablespoons of vinegar to regular milk.

SNICKERDOODLES with TASTE & CREATE

Taste and Create was started as a food event by Nicole from For the Love of Food. The whole purpose of Taste and Create was, and has been, and continues to be to create a community of bloggers who test each others’ recipes and share links. The participants of the event are paired together and try a new recipe from one another’s blog. My partner this month is Carol from NO REASON NEEDED for our 3rd pairing. I spent another lazy afternoon perusing her recipes again and was still intrigued by her unusual recipe titles like elephant ear cookies, zippy slow cooker chili, pizza stuffed pretzels and super easy strawberry and lime ice cream but opted for a comfort favorite of ours snickerdoodles. Carol’s recipe is here.

SNICKERDOODLES
1 1/2 cups sugar + 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 400ºF.
Mix 1 1/2 cups sugar, butter and eggs in large bowl.
Stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.
Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls.
Mix 1/4 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture.
Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set.
Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

While our recipes varied quite a bit, the result was the virtually the same in taste and completely the same in that the plate was empty in no time flat!

GREEK SALAD

I can’t even begin to tell you how good this is. I could seriously sit down and eat the entire bowl. If you like feta cheese, you are going to love this.

Greek Salad adapted from A Step Into My Kitchen

1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and sliced 1/4-inch thick

1 red bell pepper, large-diced
1 yellow bell pepper, large-diced
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 red onion, sliced in half-rounds
1/2 pound feta cheese, 1/2-inch diced (not crumbled)
1/2 cup calamata olives and green olives, pitted

For the vinaigrette:
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup good red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup good olive oil

Directions: Place the cucumber, peppers, tomatoes and red onion in a large bowl.

For the vinaigrette, whisk together the garlic, oregano, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Still whisking, slowly add the olive oil to make an emulsion. Pour the vinaigrette over the vegetables. Add the feta and olives and toss lightly. Set aside for 30 minutes to allow the flavors to blend. Serve at room temperature.

Modifications:
-I didn’t have a cucumber on hand so I just left it out.

Here is some of what you will need. I messed up the first picture and didn’t have all of the ingredients out for the vinaigrette.