Oreo Truffle Brownies

I know I have already caught your attention.  I wish I could take credit for this recipe but I saw it on another website.  I am happy to give them credit if I could only remember where I saw it.  If this is yours let me know and I will link your site to this post.  I love Oreo Truffles and I love brownies so this was a must try.  I had planned on sending you to the website where I found the recipe but I can't find where it is at....so I didn't take as many photos as I might have.  You will just have to put up with my crazy instructions on this one.  I am about to go to a game night with friends and I never show up empty handed. 

 This is what I will bring tonight.

 

Make a pan of your favorite brownies.

I happen to like a box mix of brownies.  You can use whatever you like.

Let that cool completely. 

Mix 8 oz cream cheese with 1 pkg. crushed Oreo cookies.

Spread the Oreo mixture over your cooled brownies.

In a glass measuring cup pour in 1 C. White Chocolate Chips.

Melt in the microwave for 1 minute.  Stir until smooth.

Drizzle over the brownies.

Cool complete - White Chocolate will harden.

Cut into 24 squares.

I am pretty sure that when I show up tonight I will not be turned away!

 



Lime Bars

Tonight we are going to watch the Hunger Games.  We saw it in the theater but now that it is out on DVD and Pay Preview we are going to watch it again.  It was such a good movie.  I decided to make a treat for the family to enjoy while we watched.  We don't eat a lot of lemon flavored things but we do like lime so this is a twist on a calssic lemon bar.  I will tell you they are a hit when I bring them to functions!

 

 

Lime Bars

 

Crust:  2/3 C. Margarine

1/2 C. Sugar

2 C. Flour

 

Filling: 1 1/2 C. Sugar

4 Eggs

4 T. Flour

6 T. Lime Juice

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

Green Food Coloring

 

Topping: Powdered Sugar

 

Combing the crust ingredients and mix together to a crumbly consistency.

Dump into an ungreased 13x9x2 pan and pat down

 evenly to form crust.

Bake at 350* for 15 minutes.

While crust is cooking combine filling ingredients and blend with a mixer.  I use green food coloring to make my bars look like a lime flavored bar - it is not necessary but I like my food to look like what it tastes like.  You can use as much or as little food coloring as you would like.  Once the crust is done baking immdeiately

 pour the filling over the crust.

Bake at 350* for 25 - 30 minutes. 

As soon as you take it out of the oven sprinkle powdered sugar

all over the top of the bars.

Cool completely and cut into 24 pieces.  Enjoy!

This recipe is a classic Lemon Bar recipe from my trusty Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book that has been modified to lime and doubled.

 

 

 



Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

Today is the first day of school.  I am not a breakfast maker most of the time....honestly it is just because I am lazy.  I like to cook breakfast but would rather sleep.  On the first day of school traditionally I do try to make an exception.  I am not sure if my kids have noticed all these years but I try to have a hot breakfast for them on the first day. 

With them all being in high school now that hot breakfast seems to be muffins. That is what they want the most.  This muffin recipe

 is so fast and easy to make and its lightly sweet flavor

 is not too sweet in the morning.

Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

1/3 C. melted Butter or Margarine

1/2 C. Milk

1 Egg

1 1/2 C. Flour

1/2 C. Sugar

1 12/ T. Baking Powder

1/8 tsp. Salt

1/4 tsp. Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. Vanilla

Cinnamon Sugar

Whisk together melted butter, milk and egg. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla.  Stir with a fork until combined.  Line muffin pans and spoon batter into 12 muffin cups.  Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top of muffins and bake at 350* for

 15-20 minutes.  Makes 12

Here is what the muffins look like before you put them in the oven.  I have a cinnamon sugar shaker that I just fill with cinnamon and sugar when it is empty.  I am sure I used less than 1/4 C. of

cinnamon sugar when I sprinkled it on top.

And 20 minutes later I had these....

And 3 girls and 1 mommy later I have 4 left!

Hot breakfast was a success. 

Happy first day of school to my 3 high school girls!

Southwest Chicken

I put together a recipe today that just sounded good...and it was.  I have no leftovers! If this has been made before I am not aware of it, so I will just say that I came up with this one myself.  I was going to put it in the crock pot but decided that with the length of time we were going to be gone that it was too long - even on low.  But that was not a problem.  This is definitely one of those speedy suppers that can be done in a flash.  I have a rice cooker and in the length of time it took me to cook the rice the meal was done.  This meal can have so many variations....you can serve it on mashed potatoes instead of rice, you can serve it on crispy fried potatoes - that would add a great texture.  You could mix the rice right into the chicken mixture and bake it in a casserole dish covered in cheese.  You can combine the rice and chicken and wrap it into a tortilla for a Southwest Chicken Burrito...

that one sounds good to me!  Anyway - use your imagination -

this is one you will want to try!

Southwest Chicken

1 can Black Beans

1 can Ranch Style Beans

1 can Corn

1 small can Green Chilies

1 pkg. Taco Seasoning

1 pkg. Chicken Breast Tenders - diced

Rice

I started my rice first - it takes the longest..but if you are using instant rice then you can wait until the chicken is simmering.  Put all ingredients into a large sauce pan.  Don't drain the liquid from your cans - just dump it all into the pan!

Black Beans

Ranch Style Beans

Corn

Green Chilies

Taco Seasoning

Chicken

Stir it all together and bring to a simmer. 

 Cook until chicken is no longer pink. 

This should only take as long as your rice -

 about 20 minutes start to finish!

Serve over cooked rice.

(or serve another way as mentioned above)

I added some Mozzarella Cheese, Salsa and Sour Cream to mine.

This was sooo good .. and as I said, it disappeared at my house!



Toffee

Well I needed a quick snack to make for my husband to take to a church meeting.  It was just travel snacks for him and whoever he was carpooling with.  I thought this was pretty fast and I had not made it in a long time ... I failed to realize that it needed more cool down time than it got so it is most likely a messy snack for them ... but for us here at home it is fine.  I got this recipe years ago from my sister in law and I am not sure where she got it from.  It's super simple and pretty quick. 

 I made mine in a cookie sheet even though

 the recipe calls for a 9X13 pan. 

Toffee

saltine crackers

1C. Butter

1C. Brown Sugar

1 bag Chocolate Chips

Cover your pan with foil and put a layer of saltine crackers on the pan

In a heavy pan combine butter and sugar and bring to a boil

Boil for 5 minutes

Pour over saltine crackers

Use a rubber spatula to spread the toffee where necessary

Bake at 400* for 7 minutes

Sprinkle chocolate chips over the hot toffee.  I use mini chocolate chips but whatever you have in your supply is fine.  Let the chips sit on the toffee for 1-2 minutes until they are soft and spreadable

Using an offset spatula spread the chips over the top.  If you are not familiar with what an offset spatula is I have a picture here to show you.

Cool completely. I like to cool it in the fridge to start and then the freezer once it is not too hot to put in the freezer.  Leave it in there for at least an hour.  Score the top of the toffee with a knife and flip the toffee over and peal off the foil.  If your toffee is cold and hard then the foil will peel off easily. 

With the score marks in the toffee it will break easily into pieces.

I was able to get 40 squares out of this toffee.

This may not be the most fancy toffee .... and possible not the best you have ever eaten, but it is easy toffee on a budget

 and its not bad if you are in a hurry!



Cheese Ball

Cheese balls are so easy to make it just astounds me that people buy them in the supermarket. There is a basic formula to a cheese ball.  Equal parts of cream cheese and finely shredded cheese...from there you can add whatever flavor you want like ranch, onion, etc.  Roll it in some nuts and you are done!  Here is my basic cheese ball recipe.

Onion Cheese Ball

8 oz. Cream Cheese

8 oz. finely shredded Cheddar Jack Cheese

1 pkg. Dry Onion Soup Mix

1/2 C. Pecans

Crackers

First start with soft cream cheese

Add your shredded cheese

Add your Onion Soup Mix

Mix it all together with a fork

Place it in the center of a piece of seran wrap

You want a piece big ehough to go around the cheese

Bring up the edges of the plastic and twist to help

form the cheese into a ball

Place nuts into your serving bowl.  I used pecans but you

can use other types of nuts

Unwrap your cheese ball and roll it in the nuts rolling and pressing

 until all the nuts are attached to the cheese

This whole process from start to finish takes about 5 minutes.

  Serve with crackers

It is delicious - but this does have a strong onion flavor so if you like a little less you could use half of the soup mix, or you could double the cheese and nuts and get 2 cheese balls.

This is the cheese ball I make most often.  There was a family dinner long ago where my mother in law brought a cheese ball that had pineapple and green pepper in it.  I thought it sounded bad and turned up my nose a little...but it was actually really good.  She gave me the recipe and I know I have it somewhere.  I wanted to include it with this post but if you could only see what my recipe cabinet looks like you would understand why I stopped looking for it after a half hour.  If I find the recipe I will come back into this post and add it later.  Just get creative with your cheese ball putting what you like in there...use your favorite cheese, and flavoring..any dry mix will do..you can make an Asian flavor with sesame seeds on the outside, a taco flavor with crushed corn chips on the outside...go crazy!