Too busy to cook...........

So are there days that you are too tired and too busy to cook??  I feel like over the past couple of weeks I have had MANY of those days.  It has been crazy at work, and I have had so much going on outside of work.  But here I go again. 

Over the holiday season one of my fantastic employees  brought a store bought cheese ball that I LOVED.  Now we went to our local grocery store where it was purchased and I was horrified to see that the one cheese ball was $10.  I knew that I could make it for less, and guess what--I did.  A few ingredients, and a little time, and this party pleaser was formed.  And as a little tidbit of info, I made four cheese balls for about $6.

Cranberry White Chocolate Cheese ball

1 package low fat cream cheese
1 12 oz bag of cran-raisins
1 12 oz bag of white chocolate chips
coconut for outside
1 stick of butter-softened
1/3 cup powered sugar

*Cream together butter and cream cheese
*Once creamy, mix in powered sugar
*Melt about half of the chocolate chips in the microwave until a little creamy, and then mix in with the cream cheese mixture.
*Once well combined, mix in the cran-raisins and 1/2 of the remainder of chocolate chips.
*Refrigerate for about two hours.  Once set, this will make four normal size cheese balls.  You should use wax paper, put a "pool" of the coconut in the center, and then put a fourth of the mixture in it.  Take the wax paper and form the ball with the coconut around the outside of it.  Bring all the outside of the wax paper up and form the ball in the bottom, squeezing it into a ball.

Enjoy this with crackers or even graham crackers.  This is definitely a sweet dessert, but is something everyone will love.  You could also use slivered almonds as the outside of the cheese ball. 


Expect a lot of from me in the next while.  I am working on putting together a small cooking class that we can get together and share ideas.  So look for more info on that.

Happy cooking, and enjoy your food!!!
Jennifer

Oreo Stuffed Cookies

Hey cooking friends.

A few days ago Mark sent me a link for this website that is called "Becky Bakes".  There are some wonderful recipes on that site.  And for all of you out there that love Oreos and fresh baked cookies, this is the perfect recipe.  Let me warn you though:  THIS RECIPE IS DEFINITELY NOT LOW FAT, BUT IT IS WORTH IT.

Oreo Stuffed Cookies

2 sticks softened butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tbsp pure vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
10 oz bag of chocolate chips, or other favorite chips (for mine we used the Andes Mint chips)
1 pkg. Oreos

Preheat oven to 350.  Cream butter and sugars together with a mixer until well combined.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda.  Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined.  Using a cookie scoop take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of an oreo cookie.  Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of oreo cookie.  Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until oreo cookie is enclosed with dough.  Place onto ungreased baking sheet and bake for 9-13 minutes.  Cool and serve.


Okay so today the kids and I made these, and look at how delicious they look.  Trust you won't be able to eat more than one at a time, but they are soooooooo good.  Next time I make them I am going to use Nutter Butter cookies, and chocolate chip cookie dough.  Think of all the variations you can do.  But all will be great.

Happy cooking and enjoy your food!!!!

Recipes Online

Hey there all you fellow foodies.  So I hope you are enjoying this frosty Wednesday.  Here in San Antonio it is about 20 degrees outside and myself and two kiddoes are home sick with strep.  So I will be happy for warmer weather to hit.

Mark sent me an email from DC with this link that you can use to find recipes online.  What you do is type in what recipe you are looking for, and then it brings up several recipes that it finds online.  Its kinda like GOOGLE for recipes.  This is a wonderful tool.  Try it out and see what you think.

http://www.foodily.com/

Happy cooking and enjoy your food!!!

Carrot Souffle

Hey all!

Well I am back from Florida.  Had a little fun sun and a lot of rain.  But all in all it was a great week.  Came home to find out that two of the kids and myself have strep.  But the upside is that I have time to do some cooking. 

I had a wonderful recipe shared with me.  It was sent to me via my mom and given to her by her boss' wife.  So Nancy thanks so much for sharing.  I enjoyed it, and I am sure each of you will too.

Golden Carrot Souffle
1 lb. carrots
1/2 cup sugar
3 T. flour
1 t. vanilla
1/2 cup butter
3 large eggs
1 t. baking powder

*Peel and cook sliced carrots in water and a little salt until tender.  Once soft, drain well.
*Put drained carrots and butter in food processor or blender and puree until smooth.
*Now add remainder of ingredients: sugar, flour, vanilla, eggs and baking powder.  Blend until smooth and well incorporated.
*Put in greased casserole dish, and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until firm. 

This was also good with a touch of cinnamon mixed in the mixture.


Once again thanks to Nancy for sharing this.  I hope each of you enjoy this.  Happy cooking and enjoy your food.

Green and White Chili

Hey friends,

So tonight for dinner I took a recipe that I found in a cookbook that I have at home, and changed it up a bit to make it healthier.  Lets just say that this is sooooo good.  Everyone in my house ate it right up. 

Green and White Chili

1 lb. ground turkey
2 cans of white beans (Great Northern beans), drained and rinsed
1 can chicken broth
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 small onion diced
1 bell pepper diced
minced garlic to your preference
2 tbsp. worcheshire
1 jar of green chili salsa

*Brown your ground turkey in a little (very little) olive oil.  Mix your onions and bell peppers with that, and cook them off too.
*Once that is cooked off, put a little worcheshire sauce (appx 2 tbsp.) in, cook for 2 minutes.
*Mix beans, green chili salsa, chicken broth together.  Once mixed put in seasoning.  You can put as much or as little seasoning such as chili powder, and even some cayenne if you like heat.
*Cook for atleast half hour on low heat. 

Serve with sour cream and cheese if wanted. 


This is a yummy recipe.  You can use any type of ground meat (chicken, beef, pork) that you prefer.  But we used the ground turkey, and LOVED it.  This recipe if four servings, and the good thing, each serving is only 400 calories.  That is a great value for your calories.

Happy eating and enjoy your food!

Cheesy Tortilla Soup

Last night we had this soup along with "do-over" chicken tacos.  It was great.  The only thing that I will do differently next time is that I will not cook it in the crock pot all day.  It doesn't need that long to cook.  It really only needs to cook for a couple of hours, so the stovetop is perfect.  But here is the recipe....

Cheesy Tortilla Soup

2 cups milk
1 can mexicorn, drained
1 can nacho cheese soup
1 4oz can of diced green chilis, undrained
1/2 diced onion
1/2 diced bell pepper
1 can diced tomato
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 oregano
Tortilla chips, crushed

*Mix the first ten ingredients together.  Cook on medium for about two hours, stirring frequently.
*You can add chicken, turkey or fish to this recipe if you like.  Add that cooked meat about half way through the cooking process.
*Serve with tortilla chips on top.

You can also serve with sliced avocado and sour cream.


This is a very easy recipe and doesn't take long to put together, or long to cook.  As I said, the crockpot wasn't the correct cooking vessel for this soup.  But when I make it next time I will do it on the stovetop.  Happy cooking and enjoy your food!!

Conversion Calculator

So how many times have you been cooking and it has asked for a certain measurement of something, and you either do not have a measure for that, or do not know what it is.  I just found a great website that not only lists the common ones, but it also has an auto converter.  Save this in your bookmarks.  It is a great site for all at home cooks.


http://www.cooks.com/rec/convert/