Colorful Vegetable Salad

This dish is sure to be a hit at your next pot luck or tailgate party!  I am not even a fan of broccoli or cauliflower, but I love this!

1 lb Broccoli, cut into small pieces

1 lb Cauliflower, cut into small pieces

1/3 cup chopped onion

1 cup Miracle Whip

2 tsp vinegar

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 small bag of real bacon bits (about a 1 cup chopped bacon)

1/2 lb cheddar cheese, cut into small cubes

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

In a large bowl combine broccoli, cauliflower and onion.  In a small bowl, mix Miracle Whip, vinegar and sugar.  Pour the mixture over the broccoli, cauliflower and onion and mix well.  Place in your refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.  Just before serving add the bacon, cheddar cheese and sunflower seeds and mix well.

Enjoy!

Dr. Seuss' Birthday

It is time to celebrate Dr. Seuss' Birthday again!  Last year I made Lorax Nutter Butter cookies and Lorax suckers.  You can see that post here.  This year for my son's class I am making Lorax Twinkies!  He has a classmate with a nut allergy, so a friend suggested trying Twinkies instead.  I think they turned out great and the kids will love them!

Up close, I bought the candy eyes and then piped on the yellow frosting.

Simple Chip Dips

It is almost Super Bowl Sunday, so I thought I would share a couple of my favorite chip dips!  This first one couldn't be any easier.

Creamy Salsa Dip

1 (8 oz) block of cream cheese, softened

1 cup of your favorite salsa

Mix ingredients together in a blender or with a hand blender until smooth.  Refrigerate.  Serve with tortilla chips.

Hamburger Cheese Dip

1 lb hamburger, browned and drained (ground turkey or sausage would work too)

1 lb Velveeta cheese, cut into cubes

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 pkg Williams Chili Seasoning

1 can Rotel

Place all the ingredients in your crock pot and cook on high for 1 hour and then low until ready to serve, stirring often.  Serve with tortilla chips.  

Christmas Crack

My friend introduced me to this new recipe and it is a winner!  I wanted to share it with you!  I will warn you now, it is very addicting...

Christmas Crack

Approximately 50 saltine crackers

2 sticks of butter (I tried to use margarine and it was kind of sticky)

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups chocolate chips (I used semi sweet)

1 cup of M&M's, slightly crushed

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.  Line a jelly roll pan with aluminum foil and spray generously with cooking spray.  My pan is 13x17.  Line pan with saltine crackers.  In a medium sized pot, melt butter and sugar together.  Bring it to a rapid boil and let it boil for exactly 3 minutes, stir continuously.  Remove the pan from the heat and pour it over the crackers.  Spread the mixture the best you can.  Then pop it in the the oven for 7-8 minutes.  Then pour your 2 cups of chocolate chips over top.  Return your pan to the oven for approximately 2 minutes or until the chocolate chips have melted enough you can spread them over the crackers.  Spread the chocolate evenly over the crackers.  Sprinkle the M&M's on top.  You can also add sprinkles, Reese's piece could be good, or my friend used some Andes peppermint chips.  Place the pan in the refrigerator or freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour.  Once it has hardened, break the pieces off the foil and enjoy!  This would be a great treat to give neighbors, friends, teachers, coworkers, etc.  Plus it is super quick and easy!!

Cottage Cheese Salad

My family LOVES this easy side dish!  In fact, this is the ONLY way my kids (and myself) will eat cottage cheese.

Cottage Cheese Salad
1 (24 oz) container cottage cheese
1 (8 oz) container Cool Whip
1 (3 oz) pkg Jello, unprepared (any flavor, we prefer cherry)

Mix all the ingredients together and let it set in the refrigerator until firm.

This recipe can also be found in the My Family Meal Planner #2 and Meal Planner for 2.  Simple, Easy meals planned for you for 4 days per week for an entire year!  All the recipes are included and the weekly grocery lists! www.myfamilymealplanner.com

4th of July Jello Cake

Jello cake is my favorite cake.  Just ask my mom.  I always requested a cherry Jello cake for my birthday when I was younger.  I love that the cake is cold, seems light and the frosting is amazing!  I thought it would be fun to try to make my favorite cake a little festive.  (Any excuse to make it!)  It worked out great!

Jello Cake

1 white cake mix (plus ingredients listed on the box)

1 (3 oz) pkg of Jello any flavor (for this recipe I used 1/2 a box of Berry Blue and 1/2 a box of Cherry)

3/4 cup boiling water

1/2 cup cold water

Frosting:

1 container Cool Whip

1 (3 oz) pkg Instant Vanilla Pudding

1 1/2 cups cold milk

1 tsp vanilla

Make cake as directed on the box.  Let the finished cake cool for 20 minutes or longer.  Then use a fork and poke holes all over the cake.  Mix 3/4 cup boiling water with your Jello.  After all of the Jello is dissolved, add the 1/2 cup cold water.  Then pour the Jello over the cake and put the cake in the refrigerator to allow the Jello to set up.   (For this cake, I stirred up my cherry Jello first.  I made the whole package of cherry, but only poured 1/2 of it over the cake.  The other 1/2 I put in a bowl and put it in the refrigerator to eat by itself.  I then let the Jello in the cake set up for a couple of hours.  I then made my entire box of berry blue Jello and let it cool to room temperature.  I then added a few more holes to the cake with my fork and poured 1/2 of the Jello mixture over the cake.  The other 1/2 I put in the refrigerator to eat later.  I then put the cake back in the refrigerator to allow the berry blue to set up.)  After an hour or so, you can begin to make your frosting.  Mix together the Cool Whip, pudding, milk and vanilla.  Frost the cake and store the cake in the refrigerator.

Oven Fried Broccoli

I really do NOT like broccoli, but I know it is good for me, so I keep trying it.  I am okay with in stir fry or fresh and dipped in ranch dressing, but I can not eat it steamed as a side dish.  Yuck!  I found this recipe on Pinterest and thought I would give it a try.  There was no direct link to the recipe, it was just listed under the picture.  The pinner claimed that her husband would rather have this oven fried broccoli instead of french fries.  I thought there was no way it could be that good.  I am happy to report that it is that good!  It really doesn't taste too much like broccoli and it has a crunch to it.

Oven Fried Broccoli

1 bunch of broccoli

2 cloves of garlic, minced

salt & pepper (just a few shakes of each)

olive oil(I use a few tablespoons, just enough that when you shake the bag there is some on each piece of broccoli, but not so much that you have olive oil puddled in the bottom of your bag)

Cut your broccoli into little pieces and put them in a Ziploc bag.  Add the minced garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil.  Seal the Ziploc bag and shake until all the pieces are coated with olive oil and the garlic is spread about the broccoli.  Pour it out on a pan (I use my Pampered Chef stone) and bake at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes.  

I like to add carrots to the mixture too.  The finished product has a garlic taste and the broccoli is crunchy.  My 3 year old even asks for seconds!