Summer is finally here!!!! As a teacher, summer is a precious time for me. It means weeks of teaching and spending time with my own babies. I love it! For us, an important part of summer is grilling with friends. I tend to buy huge watermelons and then after the bbq, my children get to see the watermelon at every meal for the rest of the week. This week I decided enough was enough, I was going to figure out something to do with the rest of the watermelon. Celia, Charlie and I created this recipe for watermelon muffins. Can you believe it only has 2 ingredients! They had a lot of fun helping me. Charlie loved them so much he ate 7 in 2 days!
Watermelon Muffins
Ingredients:
3 Cups of Cubed Watermelon
1 Cake Mix (white, yellow, or be creative, maybe strawberry)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Puree watermelon cubes in the food processor until it resembles chunky applesauce. Don't over puree, 5-7 pushes of the button should do the trick.
3. Mix watermelon puree with cake mix. Pour into cupcake pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Makes 24 muffins.
I love after holiday sales! I went to Dollar General the other day and I got these 3 Chocolate Bunnies for ten cents apiece. What a savings! Andy's cousins moved into a new house so I made these Chocolate Bunny Bars for them for a housewarming gift. They were oooey gooey chocolate goodness and easy to make! Enjoy :)
Chocolate Bunny Bars
Ingredients:
For the Base:
1 Devils Food Cake Mix
3 Chocolate Bunnies (I used the hollow ones)
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup of Vegetable Oil
1/4 Cup of Milk
For the Top:
1/2 Cup Cake Mixture
1/2 Chopped Chocolate Bunnies
3/4 Package Cream Cheese, chopped into small cubes
1&1/4 Cup Coconut
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 glass baking pan.
2. Chop Chocolate Bunnies into small pieces, then set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil and milk. Add 1/2 of the chopped bunnies.
4. Set aside 1/2 Cup of the mixture in another bowl for the topping. Spread the rest of the cake mixture onto the bottom of the 9 x 13 pan.
5. In the other bowl, add the rest of the chocolate bunnies, coconut and creme cheese cubes. Mix together with 1/2 cup of cake mixture. When mixed, drop onto base in small dobs. Make sure to dob evenly across cake base.
6. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Andy loves meatloaf. It is a childhood favorite of his. However, it is not one of mine, so I always forget to make it for him. He has been so sweet lately that I wanted to surprise him with a meal he'd love, so I made meatloaf with an Italian twist. The fun thing about it is that I made it in the shape of a giant meatball which the kids loved!
Italian Meatloaf or Giant Baked Meatball
Serving Size: 8
Weight Watchers Points: 5
Ingredients:
1 lb Ground Beef
2 Eggs
1/3 Cup Sliced Black Olives
1/3 Cup Parmesan Cheese
2/3 Cup Smashed Ritz Crackers
1 Cup Cooked Peas
1 Tsp Italian Seasoning
1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 Tsp Onion Powder
1/8 Pinch of Salt
1/3 + 1 Cup Spaghetti Sauce
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix together ground beef, eggs, black olives, parmesan cheese ritz crackers, and peas. Add Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion, salt and 1/3 cup of the spaghetti sauce. Mix thouroughly.
2. Form meat into a meatloaf or giant meatball. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. After 30 minutes, pour 1 cup of spaghetti sauce on top and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top of the sauce. Bake for another 30 minutes.
This is a coffee cake I made for our Easter Breakfast at church. I have been working on "healthifying" my recipes, so this one is made with skim milk, pineapple and apple sauce. There's not any oil or eggs in it! It turned out incredibly light and delicious. It was so easy to prepare, I will definitely make it again. If you cut the cake in 10, there's about 5 weight watchers points per slice. Enjoy!
Pineapple Coffee Cake
Ingredients:
1 cup applesauce
1 cup bisquick
1/2 yellow cake mix
1/2 cup skim milk
1 can pineapple chunks and juice
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Mix together applesauce, bisquick, cake mix, skim milk and the juice from the pineapple in a bowl.
3. Spray 9" pie pan and pour pineapple on bottom. Pour batter on top. Sprinkle ground cinnamon on top. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.
4. Let cool and serve, or flip coffee cake over onto a serving platter and have Upside Down Pinapple Coffee Cake.
With Thanksgiving right around the corner (Holy Cow!!!), I thought I should start working on some "leftover" recipes for our favorite Thanksgiving foods. This one I made for dinner tonight. If you don't have leftover turkey, it also works great with leftover chicken. This recipe is a tasty change from normal turkey salad and it's very simple to make. It'll take you 15 minutes to prep and 20 minutes to bake. If you're as busy as we are during the holiday season, it's nice to have a great meal that doesn't take a lot of work. Enjoy!
Turkey Curry Melts
Ingredients:
1 Loaf of French Bread
2 Cups Chopped Turkey or Chicken
1 & 1/2 Cups Cooked Corn (cooled)
1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
2 Cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1 Tbsp Curry Powder
1 Tbsp Seasoning Salt
1 Large Green Pepper
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together turkey, corn, mayo, cheese, curry powder and seasoning salt.
2. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Slice loaf of bread in half long ways. Place two halves onto baking sheet. Spread turkey salad onto the two halves of bread. Slice green pepper into thin circles. Place on top of turkey salad.
3. Bake for 20 minutes. Serves 4 to 6 people.
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We have had such a beautiful, mild fall, but I'm excited for some cold weather and some cold weather cooking! Just this afternoon Celia told me, "Mom, I love winter! I can't wait to stand outside in the cold!" While I'm not quite that excited, I am thrilled to share some hearty What's for Leftovers recipes with you all! Here is one for leftover roast beef. The nice thing is you don't even have to cook a roast for this recipe. If you want to make it quick, get some thick slices of roast beef deli meat from your grocery store. After cooking for a half an hour with the stuffing, you (and your family!) won't even be able to tell that you used deli roast beef. Your short cut will be your secret!
One Pot Roast Beef Dinner
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Water
1 Green Pepper, diced
1 Onion, diced
2 & 1/2 Cups Roast Beef, chopped into large chunks
1 Can Green Beans
1 Cup Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 Cup Water
1 Box Stuffing Mix
2 Cups Chicken Broth
1. In a large, oven safe, skillet, saute green peppers and onions in 1/2 cup water on high for 5 minutes.
2. Add roast beef and green beans to skillet. Pour 1/2 Cup of water on top. Next add a layer of cheese. Then add stuffing mix to the top. Pour chicken broth over entire dish. Cover and cook on med/hi heat for 15 minutes.
3. Broil in the oven for 7 min. until top is golden brown and crispy. Serves 4 to 5 people.
With God, all things are possible :)
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It seems like a bag of baking potatoes lasts us forever! I looked in my crisper drawer just the other day and I have a 5 pound bag that desperately needs to be used. Since the weather has been fabulous lately, we've been spending as much time outdoors, soaking up the sun before cold, yucky weather starts. Here's a veggie recipe for the grill to make during those beautiful, golden fall days.
Potato Packets
Ingredients:
3 Large Baking Potatoes
2 Apples
1 Small Onion
2 Green Peppers
1 Red Pepper
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 Tsp Pepper
1/2 Tsp Salt
1. Wash potatoes, trim off ends and microwave for 90 seconds.
2. Chop potatoes into large chunks. Chop apples, onion, and peppers into chunks 1/2 the size of the potato chunks.
3. In a large bowl, mix together potatoes, apples, onion, peppers, olive oil, soy sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper.
4. Fold veggie mix into 3 large pieces of aluminum foil. BBQ on the top rack of bbq grill for 25 minutes on high.
