Easy Cream Cheese Sausage Mexican Dip

I thought this recipe looked similar to my "Not your average Rotel Dip" but with cream cheese.  This recipe was actually even easier than that one, and I think I like it even better.  It was a hit both times I've made it!  This would be perfect for a super bowl party!

Easy Cream Cheese Sausage Mexican Dip
From: Our Best Bites
Prep time: 5 Min
Cook Time: 10 min

Ingredients:
1 8 oz block cream cheese
1 cup jar Salsa
1 12 oz pkg Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage

Directions:
1.  Brown sausage in a large pan.  Drain fat if necessary.

2.  Add the cream cheese and salsa to the pan with the sausage and heat through until creamy. Serve hot with tortilla chips. (I transferred mine to a crock pot to keep warm for a party).

S'Mores Bars

I made these a while back when I was wanting some type of s'mores dessert.  These were super easy and soooo tasty.  I used store bought cookie dough, but you could make your own if you wanted.  I served it warm, but didn't serve it with ice cream as was suggested, but it would probably be good with ice cream.  I made the bar part and added the marshmallows, but didn't brown them until right before serving it so they were warm when I served it at my in-laws.  I will definitely make these again!

S'Mores Bars

From: Say Yes to Hoboken

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 10 min

Ingredients:

Graham Crackers
Cookie Dough (I used store bought)
Hershey Bars
Mini Marshmallows

Directions:
1. In an 8x8 square pan make a layer of graham crackers

2. Spread cookie dough out on parchment to a thin layer to fit over the graham crackers, then place in the pan over the graham cracker layer.

3. Bake according to the cookie dough package for about 8 minutes.

4. Remove from oven and drop small squares of Hershey bars on top of the cookie layer.  (I think I used 2-3 bars, but use as many as you like).

5. Cover with mini marshmallows and bake for a few minutes until the marshmallows become fluffy and slightly brown.

6. Serve warm.  Can serve with ice cream.

Caprese Skewers

We did a wine tasting a few weeks ago and since I had a lot of grape tomatoes from my tomato plant, I thought this would be a nice light appetizer to serve.  They were very easy to make, and the plate was empty at the last of the night so everyone liked them (including us!).

Caprese Skewers
From: Elizabeth's Dutch Oven
Prep Time: 20 min

Ingredients:
Small grape tomatoes
Fresh Mozzarella balls (small pearl ones), cut in half
Fresh Basil Leaves, washed, dried, and cut in half
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and Pepper
Toothpicks

Directions:
1. Wash and dry tomatoes and basil leaves.  Put one tomato on a toothpick, then fold over 1/2 a basil leaf and put it on the toothpick, then a mozzarella half.  Repeat until you have the desired amount of skewers.

2. Place on serving dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle with Olive oil and balsamic vinegar right before serving.

Easy Feta Dip

This dip was totally easy to make and was quite good.  I think it might have been a little better on toasted bread, so I'll try that next time.

Easy Feta Dip
From: The Girl Who Ate Everything
Prep Time: 20 min

Ingredients:
1/2 cup olive Oil
3-5 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
4-5 green onions, sliced thinly
8 oz feta cheese, grumbled
2-3 teaspoons greek seasoning
fresh baguette, sliced thinly

Directions:
1.  In a large bowl, combine oil, tomatoes, green onions, feta, and seasoning.

2. Place on a large plater and serve with sliced baguettes for scooping up the dip.

Candy Apple Grapes

These grapes are easy and delicious and would be perfect for a hot weekend treat (supposed to be a hot one here in Chicago) or for a Labor day BBQ.  I got this recipe from Sandi a friend and fellow youth leader.  They kind of taste like candy apples with the chocolate, nut, and sour combo, but are a lot easier to eat and make!

Candy Apple Grapes
From: Sandi Fischer
Prep time: 10 min
Chill time: 30 min

Ingredients:
Green Grapes
White Melting Chocolate
Roasted Peanuts, crushed (I used chopped nuts to make it easier)

Directions:
1. Wash and thoroughly dry grapes. Prepare a cookie sheet with wax paper or parchment. Place crushed nuts in a small bowl.

2. Melt chocolate heating in 30 second intervals (stirring each time) on medium heat in the microwave.

3. Take a grape and dip into the chocolate, then dip into the nuts and place on cookie sheet.  Repeat with as many grapes as you would like.

4. Chill in refrigerator for 1/2 hour.  Place in an airtight container and store in the fridge.

What's for Lunch Wednesday - Cookie Dough Greek Yogurt

I saw this on Pinterest and thought it might be a nice snack.  The person I pinned it said to freeze it and it would be like ice cream. It doesn't. However, it is pretty tasty when it isn't frozen. The only thing is that it is pretty rich so I really need to split it in half or even thirds and would be a great snack at work.

What's for Lunch Wednesday - Cookie Dough Greek Yogurt
From: My Fridge Food
Prep time: 5 min

Ingredients:
1 Greek Yogurt
1 Tbsp Peanut Butter
1 Tbsp Honey
1 Tbsp Mini Chocolate Chips
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients together with greek yogurt.

Cashew Cookie Bars - Larabar copycat

I tried making my own Cherry Pie Larabars a while back which turned out great.  I saw this copy cat recipe of another Larabar flavor - Cashew Cookie.  I've never tried the real one, but I have to say this was pretty good.  I still like the tart flavors of the Cherry Pie one better, but these were so easy to make and were a nice snack when you want something sweet.

Cashew Cookie Bars - Larabar copycat
From: Edible Sound Bites
Prep Time: 10 min
Makes: 8 small bars

Ingredients:
1 cup raw unsalted cashews (or you can use sunflower seeds)
10 medjool dates, pitted (or 1 cup of regular dates)
pinch of sea salt

Directions:
1. Pulse Cashews in your food processor until finely chopped.  Empty the nuts into a bowl.

2. Place the dates into the food processor and grind until roughly chopped into small pieces.

3. Add the cashews back into the food processor with the dates, add a pinch of sea salt and pulse until well combined (if using regular dates and the mixture isn't holding together add 1-2 Tbsp warm water)

4. Form into bars and store in air tight container and refrigerate.

What's For Lunch Wednesday: Turkey, Goat Cheese, Peppers, and Avocado Roll Up

It is pretty well documented on this blog and with anyone who knows me that I don't really like bread (with a couple exceptions).  This idea from my Beach Body T25 nutrition book appealed to me since it is basically a sandwich without bread.. but I did change it up a little bit.  It was a nice combination of smooth in the goat cheese and avocado, salty in the turkey, and crunch in the peppers.  It was super easy to put together and filling (and easy to bring to work). You could easily add any veggies to this, but I liked this combo, although some red/yellow/orange peppers would make it a little more colorful! 

What's for Lunch Wednesday: Turkey, Goat Cheese, Peppers, and Avocado Roll Up
From: Elizabeth - inspired by BB T25
Prep time: 5 min

Ingredients:
Sliced Turkey (preferably nitrate free)
Goat Cheese
Sliced Peppers (Any Color)
Avocado slices

Directions:
1. Lay Turkey slices flat, spread a thin layer of coat cheese on turkey.

2. Place avocado and pepper on turkey and roll up turkey around them. Enjoy!

Baked Apple Ring Chips

In an effort to eat a little healthier, especially when snacking, I tried making some Apple Ring Chips from a pinterest recipe.  It was pretty easy to do and I actually didn't remove the cores, I just thinly sliced them on my mandolin and then popped out the seeds.  I think these turned out ok, but I probably should have taken them out about 5-10 min earlier as some were a little to crispy for me. 

Baked Apple Ring Chips
From: Delighted Momma
Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients:
2 apples
Cinnamon

Directions:
1. Remove apple cores.

2. Thinly slice the entire apple.

3. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place apple slices on it.  Sprinkle with cinnamon

4.  Bake at 275 degrees for 2 hours.  Flipping after 1 hour. (Check at 1 1/2 hours, may be done early.)

Homemade Peanut Butter (or other nut butters)

I wanted to try my hand at making my own peanut butter because from what I had read/heard it was pretty easy.  When on a costco run with my friend I picked up a huge thing of peanuts, almonds, and cashews and decided to give it a try (although you don't need huge amounts of nuts).  It was so interesting to me how the nuts go through different stages and it seems like it will never become a nut butter, but then, it finally does!  And it is so delicious! I stored mine in a jar in the fridge.  After making a Peanut Butter, I then made a cashew/almond butter and both were very good.  I read  somewhere that sunflower seeds are a good addition so I may have to try that sometime. If you are thinking of making your own peanut butter, you should definitely give it a try.

Homemade Peanut Butter (or other nut butters)
From: Elizabeth's Dutch Oven
Prep Time: 5 min

Ingredients:
Peanuts (or cashews, or almonds, or any nut)

Directions:
1. Place 1 -2 cups of nuts in your food processor.  Alternate between leaving it on and pulsing. (Anywhere from 3-5 minutes) Occasionally you may need to scrape down the sides with a spatula.

2. The nuts will go from powdered, to wet, then to smooth eventually, so be patient! You can also add a 1/4 tsp of vanilla if you want.

*** I did one batch with just peanuts, and one batch with 1/2 almonds and 1/2 cashews.  Both were delicious!

Easy S'Mores Dip

In the summer, I love a campfire.  Even more so, I love campfire treats like s'mores!  Since we don't have a firepit in our back yard I don't get them very often so I'm always interested in s'more type desserts.  This one appealed to me because of how simple it seemed.  And it was simple but more importantly, it was delicious.  Definitely more fattening since I inhaled about 1/2 the bowl immediately, but totally tasty!

I realized as I was making this that it reminded me of my grandma Mimi.  If I was at Mim's house and she didn't have any candy (she usually always had candy for us grand kids) then I would take some chocolate chips and marshmallows and heat it up in the microwave until they were melted and then mix them together and eat it with a spoon. I only ever did this at her house.  Probably because she was the only person who wouldn't scold me for eating marshmallow-chocolate goop with a spoon.  She always just thought it was a weird funny snack.  Since what I used to make is essentially what this dip is, I cant believe I never thought of this before!  This dip is a little more socially acceptable than just scarfing down melted marshmallow-chocolate goop with a spoon, so it is a keeper!

Easy S'Mores Dip
From: Bakeaholic Mama
Prep/cook time: 10 min

Ingredients:
1 cup of milk chocolate chips
2 Tbsp milk
1 1/4 cup mini marshmallows
Graham crackers for dipping

Directions:
1.  In a medium sauce pan add chocolate chips, milk, and 1 cup of marshmallows.  Mix continuously over medium heat until melted and smooth.  (Meanwhile preheat broiler)

2. Pour/Scrape mixture into a small casserole dish. Top with Remaining marshmallows.

3. Place dish under broiler for approximately 60 seconds or until the top has started to brown.  Serve with graham crackers.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars

Like a lot of people these days, I'm trying to make my snacks instead of buying granola/snack bars that I don't really love or know what exactly is in them.  This one looked not only easy, but delicious.  I think they turned out great, and were great to bring with to work for a snack when I'm feeling like a need something a little sweet in the afternoon.  I might try throwing Chia Seeds in the mix next time.  I do suggest storing them in the fridge because i left one at my desk all morning and it was still delicious, but a little difficult to eat because it was soft.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola Bars
From:  The Marathon Mom
Prep/cook time: 10 min
Chill time: 1 hr
Makes 8-10 bars

Ingredients:
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup local honey
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup oats (not quick oats)
2 Tbsp wheat germ or ground flax seed (we used Flax)
1/2 cup coconut (I used some slivered almonds because I wasn't too keen on coconut)
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Melt the butter, peanut butter, and honey in a pot over medium to low heat, stirring constantly.  Turn off the burner when mixture is melted together.

2. Pour in the cup of oats and Flax/Wheat germ.  Stir til combined.

3.  Wait until it cools and stir in the almonds/coconut and chocolate chips.  Or you can put both in before it cools and the chocolate will melt and will give it a more chocolaty taste overall (which is what I did and really liked the flavor).

4. Spread into foil-lined 8x8 pan and stick in the fridge.

5. Once cooled, flip out hardened bars and cut to the size you like.

Skillet Chicken Nachos

I was talking to my brother one night and he told me that his wife (Natalie) makes these skillet Chicken Nachos the eat often.  I immediately knew I had to try them and went out the next day to buy the ingredients.  They were definitely right up my alley and so easy to whip up!  It is a pretty healthy mixture and hits the spot when you are craving some possibly not so healthy nachos.  I made it again a couple weeks later on a Friday night when I just wanted to have a big plate of nachos and watch a movie on a Friday night.  Thanks Dan & Natalie - this recipe is definitely a keeper!

Skillet Chicken Nachos
From: Natalie Bos/ Betty Crocker
Prep time: 10 min
Cook Time: 10 min

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 (8oz) can tomato sauce
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped (or green)
1 (15oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (7oz) can whole kernal sweet corn, drained
2 cups shredded mexican cheese blend
tortilla chips
cilantro
olive oil

Directions:
1. In a 12 inch nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Cook chicken in oil 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink in center.

2. Stir in Taco seasoning, tomato sauce, bell pepper, beans, corn and 1 cup of cheese.  Reduce heat to medium; cook 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until heated through and cheese is melted.

3. Divide tortilla chips between plates, spoon chicken mixture evenly over chips.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese and cilantro.

Copycat Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs (with sugar free powdered sugar)

 

Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs are one of my favorite Easter snacks (Second only to the Cadbury Mini  Eggs).  Something about the ratio of peanut butter to chocolate is way better than a regular Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.  When I saw this recipe for "healthier" PB Eggs I knew I had to try it.

These turned out SOOO good and pretty easy.  The coconut oil gives a hint of coconut flavor, but I kind of like it.  They aren't exactly like a Reese's PB Egg, but they are as close as you will get especially with making it a little healthier.  I made my own Sugar Free Powdered sugar (recipe coming soon) but you could easily use regular powdered sugar.  If you love Reese's PB Eggs then you should definitely try these!

Copycat Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs (with sugar free powdered sugar)
From: Chocolate Covered Katie
Prep Time: 20 min
Chill Time: 2 hrs 
Makes: 6-9 small eggs

Ingredients:
1/4 cup natural Peanut Butter (or regular BP, or any nut butter)
dash of salt
1/2 cup powdered sugar or Sugar Free Powdered Sugar
2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
2 Tbsp Virgin Coconut Oil
2 Tbsp pure Maple syrup or liquid stevia to taste

Directions:
1. Mix together PB, powdered sugar, and salt together in a bowl until it becomes crumbly doughy.  I found with the natural Peanut butter that I had to add a little extra powdered sugar (maybe 2 Tbsp or more).

2.  Form dough into flat ovals/egg shaped. Place on wax paper and put in freezer for an hour or until hard.

3. Melt coconut oil if it is not already melted (I melted mine in the microwave on high for 15 seconds).  Mix in cocoa and maple syrup/stevia drops until it looks like chocolate sauce.  Taste to see if it needs any additional syrup or cocoa. 

4.  Working quickly dip egg into the chocolate and cover with sauce (I actually used corn cob skewers as she suggested and this worked pretty well.  Place it back on the wax paper ind put it in the freezer until hardened.  Enjoy!

Note:  These should be stored in freezer (thaw a minute or two before eating, or eat frozen).  If you don't want to store them in the freezer you can just melt some chocolate chips for dipping instead of the cocoa mix above. 

Chocolate Covered Peeps Pops

I like to make cakepops, but they take a lot of prep time, so for Christmas I tried doing chocolate covered oreo pops instead and they turned out great. I decided to do something similar for Easter.  Peeps Pops!  These were so easy!  I decided to try them in Pink Wilton wafers, a white fondue wafer, and a milk chocolate fondue melting to see the difference (and to have different colors).  Hands down the milk chocolate was the easiest to dip and tasted the best.  It was the thinnest of the three so it dipped easily and didn't weigh the marshmallow down, and in turn the coating wasn't as thick as the other two.  The white and pink were definitely prettier for Easter, but I think next time I would just go with Milk chocolate.

 Chocolate Covered Peeps Pops
From: Gimme Some Oven
Prep Time: 20 min


Ingredients:
Bunny Peeps
Melting wafers (white, pastel color, or chocolate)
Popsicle sticks
Sprinkles

Directions:
1.  Separate the bunnies and prep a cookie sheet with wax paper, or use a Styrofoam block to stick the sucker sticks in.

2. Heat melting chocolate in microwave until melted stirring every 30 seconds.

3. Dip end of stick into the chocolate and then push into bottom of the bunny (go pretty deep because the chocolate can get heavy).  Then dip bunny into the chocolate and coat all sides.  Be careful the bunny doesn't flop over or of the stick as the marshmallow is pretty flimsy against the heavy chocolate.

4. Place chocolate coated bunny on wax paper or push into in Styrofoam block.  Shake sprinkles over bunnies.  Let dry until chocolate is firm and store in a air tight container.

Our "Bunny" Buckley

Chicken Nacho Dip

I wanted to try a new dip for the Superbowl and you can't go wrong with a cheesy nacho dip.  While I realize the pictures of these are horrible (possibly my worst yet), I assure you that it was very tasty.  I did leave out the jalapeno because one of our guests doesn't like spicy food, but I think it would be great with them so I'll add them next time.  It was creamy and cheesy with good flavor.  Great for dipping chips or putting on Nachos!  In general I think I prefer the spicy sausage rotel I usually make, but this is a nice new one to add to the rotation.

Chicken Nacho Dip
From: The Swain Family
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 2 hours

Ingredients:
3-4 chicken breasts (cooked and shredded)
1 lb velveeta (cut in cubes)
taco seasoning packet
1 can rotel
1/2 cup green onions
1 jalapeno (diced)
1/3 cup sour cream
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients except the beans int he crockpot for 1 1/2 - 2 hours on high (stirring occasionally)  - I actually did it on low for about 3 hrs.

2. Stir in black beans for the last 20 minutes.  Serve with tortilla chips.

Cheddar Bacon Dip

This dip could not be easier.  I will warn you though, it is quite salty.  I happen to LOVE salt so it wasn't a problem for me, but consider yourself warned.  This would be great for a super bowl snack - you know, if your into that kind of thing. :)

Cheddar Bacon Dip
From: Plain Chicken
Prep time: 5 min
Refrigerate: 24 hrs.

Ingredients:
16 oz sour cream
1 packet Ranch dressing mix
3 oz bacon bits (in the bag not jar)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Mix together and refrigerate 24 hours.  Serve with tortilla chips, fritos, or veggies.  (I would suggest pulling it out of the fridge about 15 minutes before you want to serve it so it isn't has cold/thick)

Mini Nutella Cookie Cups

Bill loves Nutella, I'm not a big fan.  It is too rich or something for me.  But since it isn't always about what I like to eat (shocking I know), I decided to find a couple of Nutella recipes on Pinterest to try sometime.  I had to bring dessert to our small group, so I thought these would be perfect, plus I hoped I wouldn't be left with a bunch.  Since I'm not a fan of Nutella, I'll have to go with what Bill and the group thought... they said they were very good!  We only had 3 leftover.  So if you like Nutella, you will like these!

Mini Nutella Cookie Cups
From: Daisy Chubb's
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 12 min

Ingredients:
1 cup butter (softened)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tspn vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tspn baking soda
1/2 tspn salt
Jar of Nutella (I used a small jar and used the entire thing... in fact there were a few that didn't get any, so I would suggest a bit bigger jar, but you will likely have some left over with the big jar)

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray mini muffin tin.

2. Cream butter and both sugars in a bowl until light, smooth and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla until fully incorporated.  Gradually add dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda) until all the flour is mixed in.

3. Roll dough into balls and pop them in the mini muffin tin and bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown but not too dark around the edges.

4. When done, remove from oven and let sit for about 2 minutes.  Then make wells for the nutella with the bottom of a shot glass or a spoon.  Add a Tablespoon Nutella to each cup.  As it starts to warm from the heat, stir and make it smooth.

5. Let cool 15-20 minutes in a tin.  Remove from tin and let cool.

Homemade Fruit Roll Ups/Fruit Leather

I loved fruit roll ups as a kid, and still love fruit leather.  These are about halfway between a roll up and a fruit leather.  They turned out absolutely delicious and surprisingly stayed soft throughout the week. 

This recipe does require a bit of planning since it requires a long cook time (4-8 hrs) on a low heat in the oven.  My oven didn't get low enough (plus I'm convinced it runs 25 degrees hotter), so I left the door opened while it cooked.  I did run into a bit of a problem though when after about an hour in, I had to leave the house.  Not wanting to leave the oven while I wasn't home, I turned it off and shut the door.  Apparently even that was too hot because when I got home 3 hours later, it was done and the edges were burnt (see below).  While the burnt part did not taste good, once I cut it off, the rest of it was perfection.  So I guess, I just want to warn you to really watch it since every oven is a little different.

Notes: This made about one cookie sheet worth of fruit roll ups.  I did add a little sugar, probably 1/8 of a cup, but looking back, it might not have even needed it.  The original recipe said to strain it to get the seeds out, I left them in because i'm lazy and didn't mind having them in.   I also think this would be great with some other fruits... maybe mango, or raspberry.  I'm thinking you could probably use frozen berries if preferred.

Homemade Fruit Roll Ups/Fruit Leather
From: Georgia Pellegrini
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 5-8 hours

Ingredients:
Strawberries
Lemon
Sugar - up to 1/4 cup(optional)

Directions:
1. Cut up strawberries into small pieces and place in pot.

2. Add a squirt of lemon juice.  Then stew them mostly covered until they are soft and mushy.

3. Place plastic or parchment paper over a cookie sheet and spray with cooking spray or brush with olive oil.

4. Place in a blender or food process and puree.  Add sugar if desired (but not too much - it will sweeten up as it dries).

5. Pour mixture onto the covered tray and spread evenly to the edges.

6. Place in the oven on the at 140 degrees, or the lowest setting you have and leave door of the oven open for 5-8 hours.  It is done when it isn't sticky any longer.

7. Place on a cutting board and cut into strips with pizza cutter. Roll up in parchment paper (I tied them with some twine because they kept unrolling). Store in airtight container.