Strawberry Cream Cheese Crepes

I bought a HUGE box of strawberries on Saturday and developed a craving for strawberry crepes last night. I found this recipe online and it was delicious! They were actually very easy. We did have a crepe maker that helped to make them a bit easier, but you can do them without that. We only had three of us eating these and so were able to keep up with the demand as they were made, but you may want to consider just making a bunch ahead of time and keeping them in a warm oven or something.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Crepes

Topping:

1 1/2 C. sugar

1 1/2 C. strawberries -- crushed (I just cut them into small chunks and smashed them slightly)

Filling:

1 C. strawberries -- washed and sliced

8 Oz. softened cream cheese

1/4 C. powdered sugar

Crepes:

4 eggs

1 1/3 C. milk

2 Tbsp. oil

1 C. flour

Topping: Stir sugar and berries together and heat in a saucepan until boiling. Reduce heat and cook 10 minutes stirring constantly. (I didn't have to stir constantly, it did fine).

Filling: Blend powdered sugar and cream cheese until smooth. Fold in berries.

Crepes: Beat eggs slightly, add remaining ingredients and beat just until smooth. Pour a few tablespoons into a hot skillet, tilting to spread evenly. Brown lightly on both sides.If you have a crepe maker that will work better. It took us a few tries to get used to the crepe maker. We had to hold it in the batter for a few seconds to get them thick enough. You only have to cook them on one side though and they are usually thinner than you can get them in a pan, but thick enough to do the job.

Put desired amount of filling in the crepe and roll up. Top with sauce and whipped topping. Overall, this was pretty sweet. You could go without the sauce, but it did taste better altogether. I'm sure you could experiment with various types of fillings as well to mix it up.

Picture of rainbow jello salad

Since Kristy shared the recipe I thought I would add a picture from when I made the rainbow jello salad last year. I did it in a bundt pan and to get the bottom layer (top when assembling, bottom when unmolded) to be thick enough I had to use two boxes of the same flavor I think.

Rainbow Layered Jello

This is really yummy.  It is a bit time intensive and you might find skeptics about mixing the different flavors of Jello, but it is actually quite good.  It is not hard, but you have to plan ahead because there are so many layers to set up.  Good luck!

Layered Jello 

*5 or 6 small boxes of various colors of Jello (i.e Grape, Cherry, Orange, Lime, Lemon)

*Boiling water

*1/3 C Sour Cream per box of Jello

 Dissolve one box of Jello in 1 C boiling water.  Add 1/3 C sour cream to ½ C  Jello mixture.  Place in Jello mold or 9 x 13 glass pan.  Make sure it covers the whole bottom of pan.  Allow to set in the fridge for 20 – 30 minutes.  When it is set add 3 TBLS cold water to remaining Jello and pour over the top of the first layer.  Pour carefully or you will mess up the first layer.  Continue with different colors of Jello until complete.  Top with a layer of Whip Cream Topping. 

You can also use colors to support a theme (i.e. alternated red and green for Christmas or purple and orange for Halloween. You could even do the same flavor, but alternating layers of normal and sour cream...say red for Valentines Day).

Shout out to the Money Saving Mom

I found this blog through my recent coupon obsession.  Let me just say she is the COOLEST!  Go here to see her latest project.  She is getting ready to have a baby and is stocking her freezer so she won't have to cook for MONTHS after the baby is born.  What a cool idea!  On top of that there are links to a lot of other great baking recipes.  I'm a seriously a fan of this gal and hope one day I can be as awesome as she is.  Check it out.  Let me know if there are any recipes we ought to post on here.  I will definetly be poking around so stay tuned!

REALLY easy and yummy Breadsticks

I don't know about your neck of the woods, but ours has been cold and SNOWY lately.  With that for inspiration I have been making soup lately.  Wanted to point out that there are some very yummy soups posted on this site.  You can check them out here.  Most recently I have tried the Cheddar and Soda Soup, the White Bean Chicken Chili and the Meatball and Gnocchi Soup.  LOVED them all!  Try them out and REVIEW them if you do!  Even though they were posted a while ago, any reviews are greatly appreciated.  So with soup on the brain I have been making these DELICIOUS breadsticks.  Seriously...the easiest things in the world!  Good luck!

Breadsticks:

1 TBLS Yeast

1 1/2 C Warm Water

2 TBLS Honey or Sugar

Mix together and let get bubbly. 

Add:

4 C flour

3/4 tsp salt

Knead together, grease Pan.  Grease or flour counter top, roll out dough in a rectangle shape (about 1/2 inch thick).  Cut in strips, twist and place on cookie sheet or pan.  Coat with melted butter (lately I've been dipping the whole strip into butter before I twist it up...)  Sprinkle with garlic salt, parmesan cheese and Italian Seasoning (I normally just use garlic salt, but sometimes add the others).  Let rise.  Cook at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  

This takes about 5 minutes to put together, 15 minutes or so to rise and then cook time.  Done in 40 minutes or the time it takes to make a meal.  My own kids and my daycare kids eat these up like crazy.  If you have a big family you'll want to double or triple the recipe.  We ate a whole batch between 5 of us tonight and I certainly could have had more.  I've also made this with half whole wheat and it is still really good (this is actually what I did for the daycare kids most recently...they still loved it).  The dough is a bit harder to work and takes longer to knead together.  You will love these if you try them.  They are REALLY good, but I also love that I don't have to wait for them like you normally do with breadsticks, yet they are homemade. 

Creamy Crock Italian Chicken

There are several versions of this on the web.  I took one I liked and then we tweaked it.  It was really easy, but you have to play ahead.  Just a note:  this meal was totally cheap for me!  I got bottles of Kraft Dressing at Walmart last week for $.08 with a coupon and some help from coupon bloggers.  Everything else in the meal was on sale as well!  Good, cheap, easy...can't ask for more!

Creamy Crock Italian Chicken with Pasta

4 - 6 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 C Italian salad dressing ( I actually didn't measure this...just threw some in until it seemed good)

Put these in the crock pot on low for 6 hours or so.  No need to add extra water, chicken will make it's own juice.

30 minutes before you are ready to eat, mix 1 can cream of chicken and 1 block cream cheese.  Mix into crockpot with chicken.  Put some pasta on to cook.  We used Penne, but Fettuccine or other would be great I'm sure.  After the cream cheese mixture is well incorporated take the chicken out and cut up into chunks.  (You can probably skip this step, but I think ours would have been a little dry if I had.  The smaller pieces allowed the sauce to do it's magic).  Return the chicken to the sauce.  Drain pasta and mix directly in with the chicken mixture.

Season the dish with garlic salt (a few teaspoons, depending on your taste) and parmesan cheese (1/4 C or more if you like).

Make sure to add some good veggies as this meal lacks any.  If fact, you probably could add some directly into the pasta and meat if you wanted to be really efficient.  

Carmel Popcorn...YUM!

This is my favorite recipe for Carmel Popcorn I've been able to find.  My husband doesn't like it because it stays soft.  I love it because it stay soft!  The sauce is yummy and gooey and doesn't get hard or crunchy like some types do.  Try it out!

Carmel Popcorn

1 C brown sugar

1 C butter

3/4 C corn syrup

Heat ingredients together until it is boiling and bubbly.  Pour over two bags of microwave popcorn and mix.  

If you are using air popped, I just pop as large a bowl as I can.   Tonight I popped about one and a half scoops.  I also added almonds tonight which was good or pecans is really tasty also.

Quick Cheese Biscuits

These remind me of the biscuits they serve at red lobster.  These are so yummy and QUICK!  They take less than 10 minutes to put together and 15 to bake.  Good luck!  Let me know if you like them...

Quick Cheese Biscuits

1 C flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese (recipe calls for sharp, I usually use mild because that's what I have on hand)

2 TBLS butter

2/3 C milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.  Stir in cheddar.  Cut butter using a pastry blender or 2 knives until course crumbs form.  Using a fork, stir milk into flour mixture until a soft dough forms.  Do not overmix or overwork dough.  Drop dough in heaping tablespoons, 1 inch apart onto an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake until biscuits are firm to the touch, about 15 minutes.

Couple of tips from me:

I use an ice cream scoop to measure out the dough balls.  I then use a spoon to get the dough out of the scoop.  It works better than just using two regular spoons.  

I also usually make at least a double batch.  This says it makes 8 biscuits.  I usually get almost a dozen out the recipe, but love them, so make more so there is plenty to go around.

Variations listed on recipe:

Freeze these for mini egg sandwiches.  Defrost the biscuits; reheat in a warm oven for 10 minutes.  Fill with scrambled eggs, bacon and cheddar.

Compliment a spaghetti dinner:  use parmesan cheese instead of cheddar and add 1/2 tsp dried basil in flour mixture.

Low Country Beef and Rice

Tried this the other day on the daycare kids. They didn't believe they would like it...but they did! It's really yummy. It is a little different, but has enough familiar elements...you'll love it!

Low Country Beef and Rice (from Saving Dinner by LeAnne Ely)

3/4 pound extra-lean ground beef

1 stalk celery, chopped fine

1 large onion, chopped

1 small green bell pepper, chopped

1 tsp Cajon or Creole seasoning

1 cup oats

3 cups brown rice, cooked (even if you don't normally like brown rice, use it in this...better for you and you won't be able to tell a difference if you use white rice)

3 medium tomatoes, chopped (1 1/2 cups)

2 11 1/2 ounce cans V-8 juice

In a skillet, over medium-high heat, cook beef, celery, onion, bell pepper, and Cajon seasoning in a skillet about 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until beef is brown and vegetables are tender. With paper towels, blot any excess grease. Stir in oats well. Then add remaining ingredients. Reduce heat to medium low. Keep uncovered and simmer about 5 minutes.

Note: I didn't have a skillet big enough that would hold all of this. I just followed the instructions, except transferred everything to a bowl and added the rice very last.

German Pancakes

UPDATE: Today I made this with WHOLE WHEAT and ALMOND MILK substituted in for regular flour and milk. It was delicious. The kids still gobbled it right up!

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If you have never tried these...you HAVE to. And you need to give it more than one chance. When we got married my husband had never had them. I made them for him and he was a little skeptical at first. They quickly became a family favorite however. These are YUMMY, FAST and full of protein (eggs). Although they are officially a breakfast item, we routinely have them after church and occasionally for dinner. So here you go:

German Pancakes

1/4 C Butter

1 C Milk

1 C Flour

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 tsp. Salt

1 TBLS Honey

6 eggs

Place butter in 9 x 13 pan, melting in an oven at 400 degrees. DO NOT BURN. (This usually takes as long to melt as it does to put together everything else, but I still keep an eye on it just in case.) Mix remaining ingredients in a blender. Pour all at once into hot butter and bake 20 minutes or until browned on the edges.

A couple of TIPS:

This will rise up in the oven and look like it's going to spill all over the sides. It won't, but make sure you don't have another rack right above it or you will get it all over that. It flattens back down (mostly) after you pull it out of the oven.

We normally eat this with a little bit more butter and then powdered sugar sprinkled on top. you can also eat it with syrup or fruit preserves. We did make it one time with apple pie filling in the bottom and it was really yummy. It might even be good with omelet type toppings or fillings, but we've never tried it that way.

This just barely feeds our family of four, even though our kids are little because they love it so much. PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW YOU LIKE THIS!