If you only make one thing this weekend...

My darling sis sent me this shepherd's pie recipe with instructions that I must try it. Well, it was delicious! I loved ever single bite and I'm sure the kids would have too if I had shared instead of eating it all myself. I used leftover mashed taters and gravy from the night before and it turned out A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. And Pokey was right, it was super quick and so easy.

So as I was surfing the site for other quick and easy recipes I came across the recipe for Bacon Cheeseburger Rollups.

OMG. OMG. OMG.

Let me just tell you, this is one of the most yummy things I have ever tasted in my entire life. Liberty thought I was a goddess after trying this. So, I am sharing the recipe here for you because you must try this. And then you must come back here and tell me how amazing I am :-D





Ingredients:

* 1 lb. lean ground beef
* 4 slices OSCAR MAYER Bacon, chopped
* 1/2 cup chopped onions (about 1 small)
* 1/2 lb. (8 oz.) VELVEETA Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
* 1 pkg. (13.8 oz.) refrigerated pizza crust

• PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Cook ground beef, bacon and onions in large skillet on medium-high heat until ground beef is evenly browned, stirring occasionally. Drain; return meat mixture to skillet. *Add VELVEETA; cook until completely melted, stirring frequently. Cool 10 min.

• UNROLL pizza dough onto baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Press into 15x8-inch rectangle. Top evenly with meat mixture. Roll up dough, starting at one of the long sides. Rearrange, if necessary, so roll is seam-side down on baking sheet.

• BAKE 20 to 25 min. or until golden brown. Cut diagonally into six slices to serve.

* I don't care for Velveta cheese so I used shredded Colby Jack cheese and spread it over the meat mixture after placing meat on the dough.


Seriously, this will be on my super bowl menu and everyone will love you for doing the same!

Our Favorite Party Recipes

If you'd like to see the party schedule read here.

A party is always better with food! So today I'm going to give you four recipes. Two of them are 'party food' recipes that I can guarantee will be a huge hit. They are fun and easy to make and my kids love to help make them. The other two recipes are for breakfast tomorrow to help make the morning a little easier after two days of partying. They are both recipes I have made from RecipeZaar, one of my favorite cooking resources.

This Monkey Bread is AWESOME as Alex would say. My kids love it's sweetness and the name adds a lot of fun to eating antics.

The next recipe, Sausage Pinwheels are a huge hit with the entire family.

Both recipes are easy to make and contain 5 or less ingredients. My favorite type of recipe! Have fun making them and then let me know how you liked them!

The first party food recipe I'm going to share with you, I have been making since I was a little girl. I have seen variations of the recipe with different names.

Chris' Oyster Crackers

Ingredients
2 Bags Oyster Crackers
1 double package dry Hidden Valley Ranch
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
2 tsp. Dill Weed
1 C. Veggie Oil

Optional Spices
(These are what make it my recipe)
1 tsp. Onion Powder
1.5 tsp. Mcormicks Natures Seasoning Blend

Supplies
2 Paper Grocery Bags
Cookie Sheet or 9x13 Pan

Instructions
Place bags inside of each other, open.
Pour all Dry ingredients in bag. Shake bag gently to spread out spices.
Pour Oil in bag. Fold bag tops over.
Give to your kids and have them shake bag as hard as they can for 30 seconds.
Pour crackers into cookie sheet or pan and let dry.
Put in an airtight container and enjoy!
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This next recipe I was given to me by a lady at Alex's preschool. They have always been a huge hit and everyone always asks me for the recipe.

Easy Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients
1 container Cool Whip (Fridge temp, NOT frozen)
1 pkg. Chocolate Chips
1 pkg. Cream Cheese (room temp.)
1 box Oreo Cookie Crumbs
(if you can't find these, crush up a package by placing cookies in a gallon size ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to crush them or have the kids beat the heck out of them ;-) The finer the crumbs the better)
1 tsp. Vanilla

Supplies
Electric Mixer
1 spoon
2 bowls (1 microwave safe)
1 cookie sheet

Instructions

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave.
Place melted chocolate, cool whip and cream cheese in electric mixer.
Mix on Med. speed until well blended.
Add vanilla.
At this point the best thing to do is refrigerate the mix for about 20 minutes.
( If you are in a hurry, you can skip this step, but it is a bit messier.)
Place cookie crumbs in bowl.
Take a spoonful of mixture and roll in the palm of your hand to form a ball.
Place in bowl and gently roll the ball to evenly cover.
Place on cookie sheet. Simply repeat until all chocolate mixture is gone!
Store in airtight container in refrigerator.
They will be fine if they are left out to serve, just a little messier and softer.

Be prepared to share this recipe!

Tomorrow I am going to share some sites for free food samples. Please let me know if you tried any of these recipes and how you liked them. See you tomorrow!

Mmmmm ....Mmmmm....Yummy!

I LOVE to cook, but I am ALL about fast prep, easy to make and cheap (that doesn't taste cheap) food.

My house smells divine right now..and I can't seem to find the scratch and sniff font so I decided to share the recipe :-D

I have tried many different recipe sites, but none have become a staple in my baking or cooking life. I found the search ability to be so limited and I would have to spend twenty minutes sorting through to find a recipe in my budget and skill range. That is, until Jen shared her link to Recipe Zarr !(THANK YOU JEN!)

The best and most wonderful feature on this site is the different Search options! You can search by time, skill, course, ingredients, and rating among other things. The best,most wonderful option..is their '5 ingredients or less'!!

I use this option almost every week as I'm searching for new recipes and planning out our dinner menu. I have found some amazing recipes, and because they are only 5 ingredients, they are very cost effective when you plan for a whole week.

Here is the recipe I made last month and the VERY discriminating Prince Charming LOVED.
So I am making it again tonight.

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
(I bought frozen ones @ Wal-mart for $5.50 and still have 3 left in bag)

2 (10 oz) cans of tomatoes and Green Chilles
(I bought Del Monte for $.84 Each)

1 Package Taco Mix
(Generic Brand, $.65)

Place Chicken in bottom of Crockpot. Pour both cans of Tomatoes on top. Pour Taco Mix on Tomatoes and stir, covering chicken. Leave on high for 3 hours, or low for 5-6.

The original Recipe calls to shred the chicken.
We, however, left them whole.
I then put a few tomatoes from the crock pot on top of chicken, and made Spanish rice (bag mix $1.25) also adding the tomatoes from the crock pot into it.

I also made corn bread muffins (bag mix .99).





The entire meal only cost me $10.07. It's actually less if you account that the cost of the chicken is really two or three meals.

Bonn Appetite!
Let me know if you liked it!

A Day for Baking!

I LOVE to bake. I feel that nothing shows your family you love them like baking yummy treats....or at least nothing gets them to actually notice that you love them...like yummy treats.

Last year I started making a serious effort to always have warm, homemade cookies or another type of treat ready when Alex got off the bus. I was surprised how much it meant to not only him..but everyone in the house. And I started finding ways to make baking a little quicker and more efficient as Liberty always wanted to help and Bean always wanted ME.

Today I made a recipe that I 'invented'. I'm sure there is an existing recipe out there...I just have never run across it. So, I thought I'd share both the recipe and hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as my house has :-D

Serendipity S'mores

Ingredients:

1 bag Large Marshmallows

1 bag chocolate chips or 6 blocks chocolate Bark


1 box graham cracker crumbs



Prep Work:

• Place approx. 1/2 c. of graham cracker crumbs in a bowl (it's better to add more as needed so that you don't end up with too much extra)
  
  


• place marshmallows in a bowl: this allows them to 'fluff up'


• Line one or two cookie sheets with wax paper


• lay out bowl for Melted chocolate
  


• Place all the above in an easy to reach location next to each other

Begin the Fun:

• Melt Chocolate: (I did use a double boiler and found it to be a GREAT way to do it w/out burning the chocolate and it helped to keep it from cooling) Stir until completely melted and smooth
  
  

• Place melted chocolate in bowl (This is if little people will be helping..otherwise you can leave in double boiler to help keep soft)
  
  
• Dip one end of marshmallow in chocolate..then roll in Graham cracker crumbs (Placing a Popsicle stick in one end of marshmallow adds a fun touch and makes eating a little less messy!!!)
  
  
• Set chocolate dipped side down on wax paper and let cool
  
  

That's it! Now eat 'em up and enjoy!

Let me know how you liked 'em!!