Crème Brûlée Cheesecake Bars
[Picture from BettyCrocker.com]
Prep Time 15 Minutes
Total Time 3:25 Hrs:Mins
Makes 36 bars
Ingredients:
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1 box (4-serving size) French vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs plus 3 egg yolks
2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup toffee bits, finely crushed
What to do:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, pudding mix, brown sugar, melted butter, 1 teaspoon of the vanilla and 1 whole egg until soft dough forms. Press dough in bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of pan. cheesecake bars 002
2. In small bowl, beat cream cheese, sour cream and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add remaining whole egg, 3 egg yolks and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla; beat until smooth. Spread over crust in pan. cheesecake bars 005cheesecake bars 008
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until set in center. Immediately sprinkle top with crushed toffee bits.
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Finished Product!
4. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate about 3 hours or until chilled. For bars, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.
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Note: I used toffee and chocolate pieces to put on top!
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Enjoy!
simple as 1 2 3
Monday, December 20, 2010
Reindeer Poop
So I have heard about making Ghost poop and Halloween poop but as always my awesome cousin-in-law over at Mine for the Making found this awesome idea “Reindeer Poop” ! So I decided to make it for the students in the classroom I work in!
So here's your recipe:
1 Package of malted milk balls, Milk Duds, or other chocolate candy
1 plastic baggie
1 reindeer poop poem (see below)
xmas n deer 001xmas n deer 002
Take the package of candy and pour into the bag. Seal the bag. Print the poem and attach it to the bag. (See? Didn't I tell you this would be easy?)
Poor your goodies into a bowl:
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Mix them together then place in your cute little bags!
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Put a whole in the poem and in the bag and tie a ribbon through it!
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Finished product!
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If you really want to make it more difficult, you can use this reindeer poop recipe to bake some treats rather than using packaged candy.
So here's the magic poem (from Reindeer-Crafts.com) that will turn your candy into something unmentionable and put a smile on your student’s faces:
xmas n deer 005
I woke with such a fright when I heard Santa call...
"Now dash away, dash away, dash away all!"
I ran to the lawn and in the snowy white drifts,
those nasty reindeer had left "little gifts."
I got an old shovel and started to scoop
neat little piles of reindeer poop!
But to throw them away seemed such a waste,
so I saved them, thinking-you might like a taste!
As I finished my task, which took quite awhile,
Old Santa passed by and he sheepishly smiled.
And I heard him exclaim as he sped off in the sky...
"Well they're not potty trained, but at least they can fly!"
Enjoy!!!
simple as 1 2 3
Monday, December 20, 2010
Peanut Brittle How to
Peanut Brittle
[Picture taken from BettyCrocker.com]
This is my dads favorite thing to eat! So I decided to make some for him for Christmas this year!
Prep Time
15 Minutes
Total Time
1:45 Hr:Mins
Makes
6 dozen candies
Ingredients:
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 cup light corn syrup
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 pound shelled unroasted peanuts
How to:
1. Heat oven to 200ºF. Butter 2 cookie sheets, 15 1/2x12 inches, and keep warm in oven. Mix baking soda, 1 teaspoon water and the vanilla; reserve.
2. Mix sugar, 1 cup water and the corn syrup in 3-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, to 240ºF on candy thermometer or until small amount of syrup dropped into very cold water forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from water. xmas n deer 006
3. Stir in butter and peanuts. Cook, stirring constantly, to 300ºF or until small amount of mixture dropped into very cold water separates into hard, brittle threads. (Watch carefully so mixture does not burn.) Immediately remove from heat. Quickly stir in baking soda mixture until light and foamy.
4. Pour half the candy mixture onto each cookie sheet; quickly spread about 1/4 inch thick. Cool completely, at least 1 hour. Break into pieces. Store in covered container.
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Finished Product:
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Enjoy!
simple as 1 2 3
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Oatmeal Cookies
Here is a FABULOUS recipe called “Holiday Oatmeal Cookies”!
I made these for Thanksgiving and everyone loved them!!
Prep: 40 MINUTES plus cooking
Cook: 13 MINUTES per batch
Makes: about 4 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
* 1 1/2 cups all Purpose flour
* 1 tsp. baking soda
* 1/2 tsp. salt
* 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
* 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 1 large egg
* 1 tsp. vanilla extract
* 3 cups old-fashioned oats, uncooked
* 1 cup raisons
* 1 package (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips (optional) (1 cup)
Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. On waxed paper combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large bowl with mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar's until creamy occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low; gradually beat in flour mixture just until blended, occasionally scraping bowl. With spoon, stir in oats, raisons and chocolate chips.
4. Drop dough by heaping measuring tablespoons, 2 inches apart, on ungreased large cookie sheet. Bake cookies 13 to 15 minutes or until tops are golden. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.
TIP: instead of using a tablespoon use a small ice cream scoop to scoop out the dough it make them into perfect balls!
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Enjoy!!
xo
simple as 1 2 3
Homemade Sauce
Ingredients:
- Minced garlic
- Onion chopped
- Fresh basil chopped
- 4-5 cans of Tomato puree ( or you can make your own!)
- Red wine
- Sausage & Meatballs
-Chop up the garlic
-Cut up the onion (very small pieces) and add to the pot
-Mix in oil (enough to coat the bottom of the pot)
-Put stove on high and stir occasionally until the onion is almost transparent.
-Chop of the basil and put into pot
-Put cans of tomato puree into pot
-Add a cup of red wine
-Stir
-Let simmer on low for several hours, stirring occasionally
-Make sausage (oven 350 degrees for 45min.) add to sauce.
-Make meatballs (oven 350 degrees for 45min.) add to sauce.
On a side note it felt like fall was definitely here when the temperature hit below 40 degrees! So i decided to light the first fire of the season!!
A nice glass of wine never hurts either (:
Enjoy!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
PECAN BARS!
My mom made these for me a couple of years ago and I LOVED them! These are so easy and so yummy!! Just made them for my neighbors and they too loved them as well!! Let me know what you think!Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.
Crust
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
- In large bowl, stir all Crust ingredients until dough forms. Press dough in bottom of pan using floured fingers. Bake 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in medium bowl, stir all Pecan Filling ingredients until well blended. Pour over hot crust.
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
- Bake 15 minutes or until center is set.
- Cool completely, about 2 hours.
- For bars, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.
Only four were left over!! :)
EXTRA: Add chocolate chips, butterscotch or white chocolate chips to the 'filling' for a little extra!!
Enjoy!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Guacamole
What you will need:
4 Avocados
5 Tomatoes
1/2 An onion
1 Hot pepper
Salt & Pepper
Cut them horizontally and vertically:
Scoop out with a spoon into a bowl:
Cut 1/2 an onion up (I used a food processor):
Cut up the tomatoes:
Cut the hot pepper and take the seeds out..make sure it is chopped finely!
Add salt and pepper to taste!
Refrigerate…it is that easy!
YUMO!
Enjoy
Friday, September 17, 2010
Buon Appetito!
My husband works for the NYPD so he is never home for dinner! I get to make him a meal twice a week! It stinks but this gives me a lot of time to really practice making meals during the week to give to him lol! Tonight I made pasta sounds easy I know…BUT IT IS easy and yummy!These are the ingredients you will need:
-I used two tomatoes from my garden
-Oil
-Pepper & salt ( to taste)
-Fresh basil from my garden
-4 Cloves of fresh garlic---I LOVE garlic!
1st the water…I think we all have a tendency to warm the water last…at least I do! This time I started the water and then prepped the rest. I turned the water on high when I knew I was ready to put the pasta in. It was great because I didn’t have to wait for the water to heat up!
Then I cut the basil and placed it in the pot
Tip: roll the basil together then cut it horizontally…easier, faster and it comes out in small strips my cousin JP taught me this. He learned it from my his mom AKA: My Aunt Ginny!
Then I put oil, garlic, salt and pepper in the pot. I “eye” balled it- as my mom would say- to see how much oil I wanted in the pot. Sauté these ingredients on low to medium heat. Stir every so often!
When garlic is browned- add your tomatoes:
Stir and place on medium to high heat!
While this is cooking you can then put your pasta in:
After the pasta is done pour it into a strainer and take your “sauce”, for lack of a better word, off the burner. Place the pasta back in the pot and pour your sauce on top. Stir together then place in a plate!
YUMO! Enjoy!
XO
Monday, August 16, 2010
Zucchini, oh Zucchini!
This year I decided since we moved into our first house to have a garden! Kevin and I found stone left over from our patio and built up a wall for the garden! I planted two different types of tomatoes from seed and basil from seed!
My dad gave me three pepper plants and two eggplant plants that he grew from seed…for my first time I did pretty good!!
My garden:
I never liked zucchini when I was growing up in the Kacocha household ….but oh did I LOVE zucchini bread!! It was one of the first things me and my mom ever made together! Childhood memory: eating zucchini bread warm from the oven with a little bit of butter spread on it or my moms favorite…cream cheese!
My dad gave me the most massive zucchini from his garden! It measured at over a foot long! So I decided to make Zucchini Bread! One of my favorites! It made one small and one really big loaf! I froze the big loaf (can freeze up to 3 months) and we ate the other loaf!
I also learned how to make Zucchini pancakes, something I have never had before, but REALLY enjoyed! Kevin not so much he is a meat and potatoes kind of guy!! But my family is bringing him around to trying more and more things! He actually eats a lot more now then he ever did from fish and zucchini bread to gnocchi!! He is trying to try different things so I give him an A+ for his enthusiasm and effort!!!
Here is the recipe I used:
| ZUCCHINI PANCAKES |
| 3 eggs 2 zucchini, grated 1/2 c. whole wheat flour Add more flour or a little milk to make pancake consistency Stir the eggs into the grated zucchini, then mix in the flour until all the lumps are gone. Fry the batter like pancakes with a bit of butter to keep it from sticking. Delicious topped with grated cheese. These are a great finger food and make a balanced meal |
---sprinkle with cheese! SO good!
Enjoy!!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
It is possible!!
So being a newlywed I decided I should become more “wife like” and start to cook more on the weekends for the week coming! It is hard for me to cook during the week because Kevin as you all know is a cop and works nights and I don’t get home till 6 sometimes 7 at night. So I decided to experiment on the weekend for dinners during the week that I can freeze. This weekend….”Im”possible pies!
It IS possible! I made a broccoli & chicken cheese pie (2x) and an apple pie so easy, simple and delicious!!! Kevin was my guinea pig, and for someone who is very picky with what he eats, he loved them! And we are not even apple pie eaters and we both loved everything!
<<<Today I made a cheeseburger pie….ground beef, onion, tomatoes, salt, pepper, milk, eggs and bisquick! Look below for pictures!!
Cook time: Bake 400; 25 minutes
Finished product!!
Freeze up to: 3 months
Stay tuned till next time!
xo