No Bake Cream Cheese Coconut Snowballs

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, well drained
1 cup chopped pecans
3 cups flaked coconut

In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese and pineapple until combined and then fold in the pecans.  Cover and refrigerate for one hour.  Take out of refrigerator and roll into 1 inch balls; roll the balls in coconut.  Refrigerate four hour or overnight.
Yields:  about 2 dozen

Finished product!

Now this is just the dorkiness in me coming out and something my mom used to do....how to get the perfect size wax paper sheet to put between layers in your cookie tin!

Pasta Salad

There are so many versions of pasta salad out there but this is one of my favorites and also a great way to use up leftover meat!  I have no idea where this recipe originated; it is one my mom used to make.

4 cups of cooked pasta (I use penne)
beef, ham, or turkey
1/2 green pepper
1 green onion
1 tomato
parsley

1/2 cup oil
3 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
3/4 tsp. honey
pinch of salt and pepper

Mix all salad ingredients together.  Mix dressing ingredients together.  Pour dressing over salad, toss to coat!  I like to chill it before serving!  If I do not have parsley on hand I just omit it and the salad is still wonderful!

Eggnog Fudge

This is another tasty tret from Allrecipes.com

cookiing spray
1 cup eggnog
3 cups white sugar
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 cup butter, chilled
1/2 (11 oz) package white chocolate chips
1 cup chopped almonds

1.  Line a 9 x 13 baking dish with aluminum foil and set aside
2.  Spray the bottom and sides of a large saucepan with cooking spray.  Heat eggnog and sugar over medium heat.  Bring to a rolling boil, stirring constantly  .Boil for 2 minutes.
3.  Fold in the marshmallows, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Return to a boil for 6 minutes, stirring constantly.  As the mixture boils it will become brown.  Remove from heat and quickly stir in butter, white chocolate chips and almonds.  Stir untill well mixed and glossy.
4.  Quickly pour into prepared pan.
5.  Cool at room temperature.  Remove from pan, remove foil and cut into squares.

I find fudge a very picky thing to make and altitude often makes a difference in cooking confections.  6 minutes was way too long to cook this and it hardened in my pan and I had to chip it out.  I tried a second batch and boiled it for 4 minutes in step three and I still found it a little long though at least this time it was edible; just a tiny bit harder than I would have liked.

Slow Cooker Taco Soup

This recipe comes from Allrecipes.com.  They suggest serving it with totilla chips and a dollop of sour cream.  I served mine with corn chips, sour cream, and some grated marble cheese.

This soup got a big thumbs up from my six-year-old daughter minus the corn chips which is fine since you only add a few on top of the serving.

1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can chili beans, with liquid
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, with liquid
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, with liquid
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
2 cups water
2 (14.5 ounce) cans peeled and diced tomatoes
1 (4 oz) can diced green chile peppers
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix

Directions:
In a medium skillet, cook the ground beef until browned over medium heat.  Drain, and set aside.

Place the ground beef, onion, chili beans, kidney beans, corn, tomato sauce, water, diced tomatoes, green chili peppers and taco seasoning mix in a slow cooker.  Mix to blend, and cook on low setting for 8 hours.

My cheat in this one was to cut the onion the night before and have it ready in the fridge.  All I had to do in the morning was brown the beef and open all the cans to toss ingredients in the cooker.  Probably less than 15 minutes time.

Also, my daughter does not love kidney beans so I used two cans of BBQ style beans I had in my pantry.  they are a mix of brown beans and kidney beans so not too many of either!!

This is a picture of what it looks like in the slow cooker when I was ready to turn it on!

 

 

 

This next picture is my serving!!

And finally.....the leftovers for the freezer.  I took this one to give an idea of how much this makes.  The recipe says it serves 8 but it is very filling with the gound beef and all the beans.  My daughter and I each had a bowl and this is what was left!

 

Chicken and Spinach

This recipe is from a Company's coming low carb cookbook.  I did not have high expectations for it because I normally do not eat cooked spinach but it was so good that I will make it again.

Boneless, skinless, chicken breast halves     4
large egg, fork beaten                                   1

margarine or butter                                       2 tbsp.

Canola oil                                                    1 tsp
Chopped red pepper                                    1/2 cup
Chopped onion                                            2 tbsp.

box of frozen chopped spinach,
thawed and squeezed dry                            10 oz.
Seasoned salt                                              1 tsp

Light (or regular) sour cream                    1/2 cup

Dip each chicken breast half into egg in small shallow dish until coated.

Melt margarine in large frying pan on medium.  Add chicken breast halves.  Cook for about 2 minutes per side until lightly browned.  Transfer to greased 1 quart shallow baking dish.  Cook, uncovered, in 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes until chicken is no longer pink inside.  Transfer to a meduim servinig dish.  Cover to keep warm.

Heat canola oil in same frying pan on medium.  Add red pepper and onion.  Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until onion is softened.

Add spinach and seasoned salt.  Heat and stir for about 3 minutes until heated through.

Add sour cream.  Stir.  Divde and spoon spinach mixture onto each of 4 individual plates.  Cut each chicken breast into 5 slices.  Place one sliced chicken breast half on top of spinach mixture.  Serves 4.

Three Potato Salad with Bacon

It ended in the the words, "with bacon" so I had to try it! 

This one came from a Reader's Digest magazine but I am not sure which month.  I tend to just tear out the recipes I want to try.

4 medium unpeeled red-skinned new potatoes
3 unpeeled Yukon gold new potatoes
1 large unpeeled sweet potato, halved
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup light mayonnaise
2 tbsp grainy mustard
2 tbsp white vinegar or white wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
4 green onions thinly sliced
3 tbsp chopped fresh dill

1.  Place new and Yukon Gold potatoes in a large saucepan; cover with salted water.  Bring to boil; reduce heat, cover and cook until tender when pierced with a fork, about 30 minutes. Drain and cut into bite sized pieces.
2.  Meanwhile, place sweet potato in a small saucepan; cover with salted water.  Bring to boil; reduce heat, cover and cook just until tender when pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes.  Drain, peel and cut into bite sized pieces.
3.  In a large bowl, whisk buttermilk, mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, salt, and pepper.  Add potatoes, bacon, green onions and dill, folding gently to coat.  Cover and refrigerate at least one hour for flavors to blend.

Egg-a-muffs

I do not know where the original recipe came from and I have no measurements but these are so good I have to post them.

Crush ritz crackers and add some butter to make a crumb crust.  Pat crumb mixture into the bottom of greased muffin cups.

Meanwhile partially cook some bacon strips and then use them to line the outside of the cup. 

Crack an egg into the cup on top of the crackers.  If desired you could sprinkle a little salt and pepper on the eggs but I prefer to let people season their own at the table.

Sprinkle with some of the cracker crumb mixture.

Bake in a 350 degree oven.  I baked for 20 minutes and had hard yolks.  If you want soft/runny yolk 15 minutes should do it.
During the last few minutes of cooking sprinkle some grated cheddar cheese on top.

Return to the oven so the cheese can melt.