Oreo Balls

I got this one from Robin!

Oreo Balls

Ingredients:
1 pkg oreo cookies
1 cont. whipped cream cheese
1 pkg. almond bark - white

Finely crush oreos in a food processor.  Put crushed oreos and cream cheese in a bowl and mix together (this takes a little squishing and maneuvering).  Use hands to make oreo/cream cheese mixture into little balls.  Place the balls on cookie sheet and put in fridge for a couple of minutes.  Put 1/2 of the almond bark into a microwavable bowl and microwave until melted and smooth (took mine about 1.5 min.).  Drop oreo/cream cheese balls into almond bark a few at a time, use two forks to cover balls with almond bark and then transfer to a wax paper lined cookie sheet.  When you run out of almond bark melt the rest.  Place oreo balls in the fridge until cold and set.

Our Review:  These are SO yummy, my favorite!

Butterscotch Fudge

This one came from somewhere online.

Butterscotch Fudge

Ingredients:
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter/margarine
2/3 evaporated milk
1 pkg butterscotch chips
1 jar marshmallow fluff
1 T vanilla extract

Line 13x9 pan with foil and grease buttom and sides.  Put sugar, margarine, and evaporated milk in saucepan, bring to a boil.  Boil for 5 min. and turn off heat.  Add butterscotch, mashmallow fluff and extract.  Stir into mixed thouroughly (your arms will hurt :) .  Pour into the 13x9 pan and chill until cool and set.  Pull foil out of pan and cut fudge into small pieces.

Our Review:  This fudge is a little more crumbly than the other but really yummy.  This is Mike's favorite fudge. 

Peanut Butter Fudge

I found this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine after my dad said he would really like some a few years ago.  Now many of my family and friends all expect this every year at Christmas time!

Peanut Butter Fudge

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 1/3 cup peanut butter
1 jar marshmallow fluff

Line 8x8 pan with foil and then butter bottom and sides.  Put sugar and milk in a saucepan, bring to a boil.  Boil for 3 min. then turn off heat.  Stir in peanut butter and marshmallow fluff until totally mixed together (your arm will hurt at this point :).  Pour into the pan.  Chill until cool and set.  Pull foil from pan and cut fudge into small squares. 

Review:  This is Brooke & Lexy's favorite of all time!!

Rice, Chicken & Cheese Casserole

I found this one at http://www.blahtota-daa.blogspot.com/.

Rice, Chicken & Cheese Casserole

Ingredients:
1 box/packet of saffron or zatarain's rice (I used Zatarain's wild & long rice)
1 1/2 - 2 cups cooked chicken, diced/shredded
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can corn, drained
2 cups cheddar cheese

I cooked chicken (about 3 breasts) in the crockpot all day and then shredded it for this recipe.

Cook rice according to directions.  Mix everything except for about 1/2 cup of the cheese together.  Put mixture into a 13x9 pan and cover with remaining cheese.  Bake at 350 for about 30 min.

We served this with salad and strawberries.

Our Review:  Mike and I both REALLY liked this one, I even ate it for lunch the next two days!  Brooke didn't care for the type of rice or the corn that was in it, her loss :-)

Zucchini Butterscotch Cookies

This recipe came from http://www.cooks.com/



Zucchini Butterscotch Cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. soft butter
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. cloves
1/2 t. nutmeg
2 eggs
1/4 c. milk, omit if using frozen zucchini
2 1/2 c. flour
1 t. cinnamon
1 c. shredded zucchini
1 c. butterscotch chips
1/2 c. raisins (optional)
1/2 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Cream sugar and butter; add eggs and milk, beat well.  Mix and add dry ingredients.  Stir in zucchini, chips, raisins, nuts.  Drop by spoonfuls on greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 for about 12 minutes.

Our Review:  These were very good.  I did not put in raisins or nuts.  Watch the cookies as 12 min. seemed too long for my first batch.  Made almost 3 dozen.

Pop Up Pancakes

I don't remember where this one came from but thank you!

Pop Up Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 c. milk
1 c. flour
6 eggs
1/4 c. melted butter
dash of salt

Preheat oven to 400.  Blend all ingredients.  Grease muffin tins.  Bake 15 minutes or until puffy & golden.  The pancakes will puff up in the oven and then will sink once removed from the oven.  Makes 24.

We served this with bacon, sausage, syrup and powdered sugar.

Our Review:  These were loved by ALL.  Lexy ate more than the rest of us!  Next time I'll try using cupcake liners or grease the muffin tins better as they tried to stick.  We think these taste like a cross between a pancake and french toast, YUM!!

Yummy Banana Bread

One of the things that I do to try to keep the stress & crazies from our morning routine is to have breakfast items in the freezer ready to defrost and quickly eat. I usually have waffles, pancakes, homemade french toast sticks, etc. in the freezer. Yesterday I saw this recipe for banana bread on one of my favorite blogs, Who Says Eight is Enough, thanks Debi! I thought if I used my Perfect Brownie Pan (I absolutely love this thing) that I could freeze the little squares and they could be defrosted one or two at a time for breakfast.

My Favorite Banana Bread

Ingredients
1/2 c. unsalted butter (I have replaced this MANY times with 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce)
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour, sifted
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 c. ripe bananas, mashed (about 5)
2/3 c. nuts, chopped (optional)
(I have also substituted chocolate chips, or coconut & dried pineapple)

Preheat oven to 325.
Grease a 2 qt. loaf pan or two 2lb. loaf pans*
In a large bowl, cream butter & sugar. Add eggs, vanilla & bananas. Blend well.
Beat in remaining ingredients.
Pour into loaf pan.
Bake 1 hour & 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Remove from pan while still warm.
Cool before slicing.

The only things I did differently to this recipe was that I didn't use nuts but I did put about 3/4 c. mini choc. chips in. I also used the Perfect Brownie Pan and a 9x9 square pan instead of two loaf pans. I cooked mine for about 28 min. For freezing I just let the bread cool then put the individual squares into a gallon ziptop bag and threw in the freezer.

You could also do muffins and cook for 15 - 20 min