World famous garlic and meatball dumplings

Okay, so they aren't world famous, but they should be!  I started making these fun little dumplings for the kiddos and turns out, adults love them too.  Everyone I have shared these with have asked me to make them over and over again.  They originally were something I made for my kids dinner, I'd serve a salad, the dumplings, and some marinara to dip into.  This would also be a fantastic appetizer for a party, or a side dish with some warm soup. 

Ingredients:

1 can (8 biscuits) of refrigerated biscuit dough
16 cooked, cooled meatballs (I use turkey meatballs, you can use any meatballs you want.)
shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp softened butter or margarine spread
garlic seasoning.

Preheat oven to 350*.  Mix garlic seasoning thoroughly with the softened butter and set aside.  I use about 2 tsp of Tastefully Simple's garlic bread seasoning. 

Cut each uncooked biscuit in half. 

Then slice the flat side open.  It will make a pita pocket looking piece of dough.  I stretch the dough a little so it will fit a meatball inside. 

 

Sprinkle cheese inside the pocket, then place a meatball inside. I then close the dough around the meatball, making sure there are no holes or gaps in the dough.  Then I put it on a greased cookie sheet.  Do this with each half of biscuit dough. 

 

Make sure you space them apart by a couple of inches.  The dough will expand as it cooks.  Now brush each dumpling with the garlic butter.  I like to cover the whole dumpling, but you could do just the top if you'd like.  The butter will melt and drip down over the whole dumpling.  I like the golden color that the dough gets when I cover the whole dumpling with the butter. 

 

Now bake for 25-30 min until golden brown. 

Your house will smell of yummy garlic and you'll have a trail of happy people making their way into the kitchen, waiting for these babies to cool off.  Serve with marinara sauce and dip away once they are cooled.  YUM!!!! 

Potato Cheddar Soup recipe

Fall is here!!!  That means leaves changing, football, sweaters and boots, and hot foods to warm our tummies. And I am taking full advantage of the cooler weather, cooking comfort foods that will warm my family and keep them happy.  Last night we had a split meal.  When my Husband and I decide that we want an "Unsafe meal" (My son is allergic to nuts, beef and seafood, so unsafe meals in my home are anything including those things.) we usually make the kids dinner at the usual time and then we eat after the kids go to bed.  Last night we decided on steak, so I made a very kid friendly meal for the kiddos and they LOVED it.  I made a potato and cheddar soup and turkey and cheese pinwheels.  (recipe for the pinwheels will be up on the blog soon!) Hubby and I ended up having steak and the soup with salads later on.  This soup was delicious.  Nice and hot, very filling, perfect for a cool fall day. 

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp butter
1 celery stalk diced
1 small onion diced
1 3/4 Cup chicken broth
3 large potatoes peeled and diced
2 tsp of white vinegar
3 Tbsp of flour
2 1/2 cups of milk
1/4 tsp salt, plus to taste
1 tsp pepper
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Dice up all your veggies. 

Melt the butter in a soup pot at med/high heat.  (Make sure the pot isn't too hot or else you'll end up with this.....)

Then add the onions and celery and cook until soft, 5-7 minutes. 


Add chicken broth, vinegar and potatoes.  Cover and bring to a boil. Stir, cover, reduce heat to low and et cook for 20-25 minutes until the potatoes are soft.  Add flour, milk, salt and pepper and stir constantly until the soup is heated thoroughly.  Add salt for taste, if necessary.  Add the cheddar cheese, stir until melted, and serve.  We topped the soup with bacon crumbles. 

 

 

 

Goosebumps Haunted Hollywood Vacation Sweepstakes

 TruMoo lowfat flavored milk and Goosebumps, the movies and books created by R.L. Stine are hosting a fantastically spooky giveaway!  You could win a Goosebumps Haunted Hollywood Vacation!  Codes on the top of specially marked TruMoo chocolate and special orange vanilla milk could win you a trip to Fox Studios in Los Angeles, CA with a spooktacular behind the scenes tour!  Go to TruMoo.com to print out a special coupon for $2 off of any Goosebumps DVD and you'll even find a link to get you coupons for TruMoo milk.  My family loves TruMoo as a special treat.  With 35% less sugar than other flavored milks, I don't mind my kids asking for it.  It's delicious 1% lowfat milk with no artificial growth hormones and no high fructose corn syrup.  Plus, it comes in flavors like Chocolate, Strawberry, coffee and for a limited time, Vanilla in a Halloween ORANGE color!  Try TruMoo, go enter this contest and GOOD LUCK on winning!   

Party Dips

I've got a quick little tip today for you.  Next time you have a party or girls night and want to do a chips and dip platter, don't automatically reach for the premade dips.  Try a new approach and make it healthier. Most dips are sour cream and seasoning.  I have realized that plain greek yogurt tastes very similar to sour cream, yet its packed with protein.  And most people don't even realize that it is greek yogurt when they are eating the dip.  When my girlfriends and I have girls nights in, they usually leave me in charge of the dips.  I ususally use Tastefully simple seasonings, Garlic garlic, dill, fiesta, etc, and greek yogurt.  Then I make sure that I have healthier chips with me, or pretzels.  I love the honey wheat braids from Rold Gold, or I use RW Garcia brand or Food Should Taste Good brand chips made with flax seed or sweet potato, or quinoa.  They also are packed with protein and taste good.  So instead of mindlessly dipping into something with little to no nutritional value, these chips and dips are full of healthy grains, low fat and high protein. 

Ice cream sandwich cake

What's this? Only the easiest cake I've ever made.  And what's hiding underneath that white top layer?  Yummy frozen deliciousness.  It's an ice cream cake and I made it in a time crunch last week when my kids announced last minute that we needed to make their "Mimi" a birthday cake.  This was of course on the busiest day of the week when I had errands, and work, and a parent teacher meeting.  It's Murphy's Law, the kids never spring something on you when its a quiet day.  But when they announced they needed a cake, I didnt panic.  I grabbed two ingredients at the grocery store and I was all set.  To make this cake, it only takes about 5-10 minutes, then it needs to set for a few hours.  I was able to make it in between errands and work, and then let it set between work and dessert time. 

You will need:
Ice cream sandwiches (usually a box of 12 works in a square glass pan.  I get 24 because I have backups for a spill, a drop, user error, or a bigger glass pan.)  You can use any brand, any flavor.  We used a box of chocolate and a box of mint chocolate chip, store brand, for this cake, because that's what my 5 year old wanted.

1 container of Cool Whip, light or regular.  I get the big container. You can use flavored, too, or add cocoa to it to flavor it up. 

You can also use candy toppings..... crushed peanut butter cups, jimmies, M&Ms, chocolate chips, caramel sauce, crushed oreos, etc) but for this one, we just did it "original style" without any fancy toppings. 

Take the frozen ice cream sandwiches and line them up in the pan.  You might have some leftover room that wont fit a whole ice cream sandwich.  Take a sharp knife and cut a sandwich or two into pieces that will fit.  You'll want the whole pan covered with ice cream sandwiches.

 

Ours were a little melted so this is the result, but it all tasted good in the end.

 

Now cover these ice cream sandiwches with a layer of cool whip.  You don't want it too thick, but make sure they are all covered.  The next layer can be your candy toppings, cookies, whatever, or you can skip this part.  Like I said before, ours was plain, and it still tasted yummy. 

 

Now take more unwrapped ice cream sandwiches and lay them on top of the cool whip, side by side, to fill the entire pan.  Cut some sandwiches to fill the odd shaped sides or any gaps there may be.  Then cover this layer with Cool Whip.  A thicker layer than before is fine, because this is your "frosting".  Put the cake in the freezer for atleast a few hours to freeze and set. 

 

When you are ready to serve the cake, you can then add toppings, write a message with frosting or a gel, add candles, toy decorations, etc.  The cake should be frozen enough that the ice cream wont be oozing out if you put any pressure on the top layer.  Now cut with a cake slicer or knife and enjoy! 

A Peppa Pig Birthday Party on a budget!

My daughter LOVES Peppa Pig.  If you haven't seen Peppa, check out Nick jr in the afternoons.  She's there with Mummy Pig, Daddy Pig, and her little brother George.  Peppa is a little british pig who has a huge imagination and is a lot of fun. My daughter fell in love with Peppa when she was 3 and the fascination hasn't stopped yet.  So when she was turning 5, she asked for a Peppa party.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find any Peppa items in stores (recently Toys R us has started selling Peppa toys, but we still cannot find party items anywhere), and the items I found online were super expensive.  So I got a little crafty and imaginative..... on a budget.  

Our first plan of action was to figure out where were going to have this party.  The local play zones, movie theaters, bowling/arcade center, etc were running about $250-$300 atleast for the party, and that didn't include the cake.  Some included the paper goods, but no one had a Peppa Pig themed party.  Plus, I really couldnt swing that PLUS a pig cake.  So I had a chat with my girl, who decided that an at home party could be just as fun.  (And Mommy's wallet was much happier with this decision!)

Then we started to look for pig paper goods.  Since Peppa wasn't an option, I was open to any pig items.  I did find a few Olivia things, but my daughter didn't want Olivia.  I couldn't find any other pig paper items, plates, bowls, napkins, etc, so I took a trip to my local dollar store.  I got plain pink everything.  The table cloth, bowls, spoons, etc were all plain pink.  The total was $7 and change. 


For decorations, I went very basic.  I bought one enormous mylar pig balloon at a party store (that went along with their "farm" party supplies) and hung it up.  I have a small fear of other balloons, so I saved myself a lot of aggravation and skipped the helium tank and latex balloons.  The total was $7 and change.

We always do an activity during my kids parties.  My daughter has a winter birthday, so playing outdoors usually is not an option.  So I bought a dozen ceramic piggie banks at Oriental Trading and set them up for the kids to paint.  I put their names on the bottom and let them paint with acrylics and glitter paint.  This kept the kiddos busy for over 30 minutes, and they all got to go home with a new bank. The total was $19 and change. 

For food, we went a real easy route.  I ordered 4 pizzas, bought 2 different types of ice cream, and had a pizza party and ice cream social. And we had all the cheesy pizza, ice cream, pink sprinkles and ice cream toppings that a 5 year old girl and her friends could ever want!!!  With coupons and sales, the total for all food included was $32 and change. 

 

I priced cakes.  Man, what an expensive item!!!!  I really couldn't swing the huge pricetag for a pig shaped cake.  Plus, my daughter suggested we order cupcakes instead of a cake..... the price locally is $3-$7 per cupcake!  I had 10 kids to feed, plus grownups.  So we compromised.  I could provide cupcakes for her party... if she allowed me to make them. Then I made pig cupcakes.  My daughter picked pink cake, pink frosting but I wanted to make it more themed for Peppa Pig.  For valentines day, I found large pink swirl marshmallows.  I added one to the top of each cupcake to make it a pig's snout.  I used black frosting gel to make the two dots.  The photo in the middle has Peppa and her parents on it.  The cake and frostings, $2 (bought on sale and with coupons.) The marshmallows another $2.

 

Now each year on my kids' birthdays, I try to get them an outfit to go with their party theme.  This year it was nearly impossible.  The only places I could find Peppa Pig outfits were either Ebay, or british clothing and toy stores.  Either way, I was going to have to spend a fortune.  So I got a bit creative.  I'm not very crafty, but I can make my kids pretty happy with what I've got.  I went to Michael's and bought a plain pink tee for my girl.  Then I came home and with a pencil and some fabric paint, I made her her very own Peppa Pig t-shirt. 

It is hard to see in this photo, but Peppa is bright pink, wearing a red dress, and holding a balloon that has the number 5 inside.  I even drew Peppa's shoes, which you can't see.  The shirt was a hit.  The total.... $2 for the shirt, and I already had the paints. 

 

The pinata was bought on clearance for $6.99.  It was a plain purple flower but it had a "Happy 1st birthday" picture in the middle.  I took a Peppa Pig picture that I found online, printed it out and glued it onto the center of the pinata. I had candy that I had bought with coupons inside.  Total.....  $9 and change.

For the goody bags, I bought plain colored bags at the dollar store above and stuffed it with leftover princess stuff, plus pig pencil toppers, pig activity sheets, a 3 little pigs book, a pig stuffed animal for each child (bought at the dollar store!).  The total was $ 17. 

 

For $98, I had a Peppa Pig party that kept 10 children happy for 2 hours.  They all had full bellies, a lot of fun, and went home with a piggie bank and a bag full of candy and piggie activities and toys.  It was a price I could afford, and everyone had a good time. 

 

A quick recipe post

Last night I made a pretty interesting meal while in a huge rush.  It was a clean out the kitchen night.  I didn't take photos, I didn't even think anyone would like it.  However, it turned into one of my most amazing meals yet!  We had some leftover boneless pork that was on sale a few weeks ago.  And we had lots of cheese.  So I got the idea to stuff the pork with cheese.  But thats not all.  Here is how it went. 

4 pieces of boneless pork
assorted spices (I used dried pesto seasoning, garlic, seasoned salt and a little black pepper.)
Cheese (whatever you have works.  I actually used velveeta and it came out gooey and yummy)
bread crumbs or assorted potato chips/tortilla chips/croutons.  No lie.  This is what happens on clean out the kitchen night!  I had no bread crumbs at all, so I improvised.  I used gluten free Flax tortilla chips made by the RW Garcia company. I added garlic powder to the mix. 

Preheat the oven to 375* and line a baking sheet with tin foil. 

I pounded out the pork real thin. I then sprinkled on pinches of each seasoning.  I then cut the velveeta into 1/4" slices and then cut that lengthwise into 4 pieces.  I put a piece of cheese on the pork and started rolling, adding another piece of cheese every so often.  Each pork roll had 4 small, long pieces of cheese inside.  I then took the leftover tortilla chips that we had and crushed them in a ziploc bag with a rolling pin until they were a little bigger than bread crumb texture. I then rolled each pork roll in the crumb topping and put them on the baking sheet.  I baked them for about 25 min until the pork was cooked completely, the chips were golden brown and the cheeze was bubbling out the sides. 

It was extremely easy to make this dinner.  I ended up re-heating some leftover pasta and adding broccoli on the side.  So delicious.  Since it was gluten free chips that I used, my gluten free fans now know a new way to "bread" chicken, fish and pork!  It tasted really good, and I will definitely be using this tip again and I will absolutely be making this recipe again.  Enjoy!