Recipes I will be making this week and next

I have been on Pinterest for the last half hour collecting this week and next week's recipes.  I'm out of personal ideas, so here is what is going to be on my dinner table at some point over the next couple of weeks.

Monterrey Chicken

P.F. Chang's Mongolian Beef Copycat Recipe

Lasagna Soup

Outback Steakhouse Alice Springs Chicken Copycat Recipe

Easiest Spaghetti and Meatballs Ever

Thanks Pinterest!  It's my new cookbook!

Please share, what are YOUR favorite Pinterest recipes?  Post a link in the comments??

Have a yummy week!

Creative Kid Snacks #6

I've been at it again!  Here are some of my latest "creative lunches" or Creative Kid Snacks, as I like to call them.

Made on Good Friday, Jesus is made out of a baby carrot.  The main body lies flat because the carrot was sliced in half.  Jesus' eyes are tiny bits of raisin, his crown of thorns - pretzels, and the cross is a peanut butter sandwich cut into the right shape.  The hill is made of banana.

This guitar is made of a turkey sandwich.  The strings are carrots, and the musical notes are grapes.  Blueberries add the bit of dark contrast color around the strings.

To make this very easy monkey, simply cut a peanut butter sandwich into what looks like a pear and then add 2 half circle ears.  Layer a slice of turkey to create the facial area color, and add a red bell pepper mouth and 2 raisin eyes.

This tropical island getaway is created by using oatmeal for the land/sand, yogurt for the waves, a graham cracker tree trunk, sugar snap peas for leaves, and colby jack cheese for a sun.

Mr. Peacock was so fun to make.  The best part is that you can make a colorful tail out of any colorful fruits or veggies you have on hand.  Mine has a body made from a peanut butter sandwich, legs and feet of carrot, and a tail made of celery, bananas, carrots, and blueberries.

EASIEST creative lunch ever!  Little Miss is made of a folded over sandwich, has blueberry eyes, strawberry lips, and carrot arms and legs.  PERFECT for beginning creative lunch makers.

This is a dessert.  Make an airplane by slicing a banana in half lengthwise, then taking one of the halves and slicing it at a slight angle about 2/3 of the way through.  Arrange the pieces to look like a plane.  Add halved brown M&M's for the windows, half a strawberry for a tail, and whipped cream from a can for the jet stream and the clouds.  The kids won't be able to resist!

Happy Creative Snack Making!

If you've concocted a creative lunch for your little one, please leave a comment and link for me!  I'd love to see what you can come up with!

 To see where I party and blog hop, please see the "Weekly Link Parties" tab above!

1. Beautiful Thursdays

It Was Supposed To Be The Best Cake Ever

This is the story of the cake that came this close to being the best cake ever. 

This past year, every time I've needed to prepare a dessert for a special occasion of some kind, I've gone to Pinterest.  It's like my virtual cookbook.  I swear, if it exists, it's on Pinterest.

So, when looking around for a dessert to bring to Easter, I came across what looked to be an amazing cake.  Check it out!

Source: Pillsbury.com

The recipe seems tedious, but it was really easy to make.  (Click on the link below the picture to read the entire recipe).

Basically you cook 3 round cakes with brownie batter on the bottom and strawberry cake right over that.  You cook the 3 cakes, let them cool, then prepare the cream filling.  It's a fluffy cream cheese flavored gloriousness.  To assemble, layer all three cakes with the cream filling between.  Frost the whole thing with a whipped cream frosting.  

Looks amazing, right?

So, I set out to create this masterpiece.

First layer complete.  Brownie/strawberry cake on the bottom, cream cheese filling and fresh sliced strawberries on top.  So far, so good.

Next . . .

The second layer.  Here is another photo so you can see the brownie layer better.

And there, my friends, is where I should have left it.  But, in hopes of greatness, I followed the rest of the recipe.

Once the third layer went on and the frosting was applied, it looked like this:

I put the gallon jug next to the cake so you can see that it is nearly as tall as a gallon jug.  It was a BEAST.  Impressive, yes.  But how user friendly?

I transported this thing over to my parents' house for the Easter celebration, eager to see if it would look as impressive as the picture on the recipe.  

Dinner came and went.  Time for dessert came.  I retrieved the beast from the fridge.  I topped it with some strawberries and a birthday candle as we were celebrating my daughter's birthday along with Easter.

The beast sat proudly on the table; the center of attention, waiting for its big reveal.

The cutting of the cake was just too much and the beast could not stay intact.  There goes its third layer!  

Everyone enjoyed bits and pieces of a would-be great and glorious cake.  

Oh well, maybe next year!  (2 layers tops!)

Easiest Spaghetti and Meatballs Ever

I discovered there is a much easier (and even tastier) way to make spaghetti and meatballs than my old method of making my own meatballs (working my hands through the raw ground beef and all), baking, and then hoping the flavors in the sauce comes together with the meatballs as they simmer forever, etc.

Would you like to know the easy way to make this yummy dish?  I thought so.

Ingredients:

1 bag of Trader Joe's party size frozen meatballs (they come in a yellow bag with colorful letters)

2 jars of Prego pasta sauce (I use the "Fresh Mushroom' kind)

1 package vermicelli pasta

fresh basil for garnish (optional)

Directions:

Place frozen meatballs and both jars of pasta sauce in the slow cooker.

Cook on low 2-3 hours (that's it)

Serve atop al dente vermicelli pasta and add a bit of fresh basil.

I served mine with the awesome beer bread from Tastefully Simple.

This got rave reviews from my family!  Try it when you don't have much time - you'll be glad you did!

The thing I love about this recipe is that you can keep all of the ingredients for it around the house to use at any time.  Frozen meatballs, dry pasta and bread mix, and jarred sauce!

What are your favorite recipes to make with ingredients that you almost always have in the house?

 

Pulled Chicken Tostadas

I'm sure most of you are with me when I say I am all for EASY and tasty dinners.

This tostada recipe is made with crock pot chicken and assembled in 5 minutes.  The finished product can be as basic or as dressed up as you want.

Here's how to make them.

Slow Cook the chicken

Place about 3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts in the crockpot.  (I use a standard package of 3 from the grocery store).

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 tablespoon cumin, 2 teaspoons of onion flakes and a bit of cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes over the chicken.

Add 2 cups of chicken stock to slow cooker.

Cook for 6 hours on low.

Once chicken has cooked, remove the chicken from the liquid and use 2 forks to pull it apart.  Place the pulled chicken on a plate to use for assembly.

(Don't allow chicken to sit out too long that it gets dry - that's no fun is it?)

Assembly:

1)  Spread a layer of refried beans over a tostada shell (the flat kind).

2)  Layer a generous portion of the pulled chicken over top.

3) Pour some salsa over the chicken.  (I made my own salsa for the tostadas shown, recipe will follow).

4) Sprinkle grated cheese over top (I use either colby jack, cheddar, or mexican blend).

4) Broil 3-5 minutes.  Check oven frequently to make sure tostadas are not burning.

5) Once tostadas come out of the broiler with the cheese melted and ready to go, serve and eat or add some guacamole or sour cream.  Finish with fresh cilantro.

6) To make this dinner even easier, I used the fully cooked rice in the airtight bag that you can zap in the microwave for 90 seconds.  Super easy!  Serve with rice, extra guac, salsa, and chips.

Hope you enjoy!

P.S.  Thank you Cyndy for this recipe.  This was another one of those easy but delicious recipes from Jesse's side of the family.  Love it!

 

 

Bacon Double Cheeseburger Dip {Pinterest Challenge}

Thanks to Pinterest, I made an awesome Bcaon Double Cheeseburger Dip for the Superbowl Party yesterday.  Here's a photo of what I made.





 Have you heard of the Pinterest Challenge? 

  The Pinterest Challenge encourages us to get out of our routine of just pinning and no doing - and actually recreate something we have pinned on Pinterest.

The Superbowl yesterday was the perfect chance for me to make one of the pins I have on my "Food and Drink" board called "Super Bowl Recipes".  

My choice for this challenge?   Bacon Double Cheese Burger Dip!  Perfect!

Here are the Pinterest photos from my board:

. . . and here is what I created:

If you'd like the recipe for this, please head over to Closet Cooking and take a look.  It was perfect for the Superbowl party . . . or should I say "Big Game"?  It was gobbled up in 45.6 seconds.  Seriously.  First one to go. 

Vote for me over at Pinterest Challenge if you like this.  You don't have to, of course, but if you want to, I'd love your vote!  I've never won anything before except one coloring contest when I was about 10.  I don't even remember what the prize was!  Anyway, to vote, click the link, find my little photo, and click vote.  Voting should be open today (Monday).

I hope you have a great day!