Category Archives: Entertaining

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

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I really hope that you have been enjoying my St. Patrick’s Day recipes and posts.  I really wanted to bring you some different takes on this Holiday.  From Savory to Sweet, from traditional to novelty, I have had such a good time making these wonderful treats for you all!   Tonight I am bringing you an amazing dinner! Ireland has such a diverse culinary history.  With all the European invaders over the centuries you can see influences from Spain, Portugal, France, The Netherlands and of course England.  With the English influence you also get a bit of Indian thrown in there. It’s not all rabbit, corned beef and cabbage in Ireland. Given the fact that it is an Island the Seafood must just be amazing!  Lamb and Venison and Pork are the main meat dishes found there and this is why I have made this wonderful Pork Tenderloin for you tonight. This main dish is not only amazing tasting it has quite the wow factor in it’s presentation.  This is just perfect for entertaining guests.

When you slice into this your guests will be amazed at the beauty of the meal that they are about to eat.  You can beam with pride knowing that you created this and bask in the glory of the praise you are given.  They will think that you slaved and slaved for days making this meal and only you will know that it really was easy to make.  I’m not going to tell them and neither should you.  Enjoy your time in the limelight!

Just look at that beautiful cut of meat. The color! The flavor! You will serve this proudly and  you and your family and guests will absolutely enjoy this meal till no end! Make sure to serve the Irish Potato Cakes along side of this.

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Irish Pork Tenderloin

Irish Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients

  • 2 1-2 lb pork tenderloins
  • 2 cups dried bread crumbs
  • small bunch of fresh parsley chopped
  • 1 small white onion diced
  • 1 egg lightly beaten
  • 1 orange grated and the juice
  • salt pepper
  • 2 tsp eachonion and garlic powder
  • 1 tsp thyme

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350
  • You will need to open each tenderloin
  • take a knife and cut the top almost all the way through. ALMOST. You want to be able to open the tenderloin like a book
  • salt and pepper the insides of the tenderloins
  • In a mixing bowl combine the rest of the ingredients and toss
  • lay the stuffing on top of one of the opened tenderloins
  • form the stuffing to look like a log then press as flat as it will go without spilling over
  • place the second tenderloin on top
  • secure with kitchen twine {you can take a look at the picture to get an idea of how this should look}
  • make sure that you get the ends tied tight so they won't open on you during cooking
  • lay the meat in a baking dish
  • rub the top with olive oil and salt and pepper
  • pour 1/2 cup of water in the bottom of the baking dish {this helps keep the meat moist during cooking}
  • bake at 350 for 30-45 min
  • check at 30 min
  • Enjoy!
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Take a look at all these other fun St. Patrick’s Day Recipes

Irish Caramel and Vanilla Fudge

Irish Potato Cakes

Lucky Charms Marshmallow Treats

Irish Meat Hand Pies

Guinness Stout Ice Cream Float 

Green Velvet Cupcakes

Guinness Stout Ice Cream Float

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Everyday that passes brings us one day closer to the Big Party! I am getting so excited. I have Shamrocks and green plaid all over the house right now! As I am sure you are all aware by now St. Patrick’s Day is a favorite here at the P and P Kitchen! One big happy excitement is that Kitchen Meets Girl will be here for the whole weekend and we get to have a fun filled wonderful time! So far this Green Season I have brought you Irish Caramel Vanilla Fudge, Irish Potato Cakes, Lucky Charm Marshmallow Treats, and Irish Meat Hand Pies. So now I bring you a really fun and really wonderful Ice Cream Treat for Adults Only!  At the begining of St. Paddy’s day posts I told you that I wanted to bring you some original and different St. Patrick’s day food and fun. I think this recipe really delivers on that! I came across this recipe during a google search for a completely unrelated topic. It was just a recipe no pictures or any real idea where it came from just a byline Recipe by Alice Medrich.  I don’t know who she is but boy am I glad I stumbled across this! This is by far the best way to drink Beer ever! All Beer should come with a scoop of Ice Cream!

This is rich, thick, chocolatey with a bite at the finish goodness! The recipe has it’s own chocolate sauce to make but you could easily just use Hershey’s Syrup. Not only is there thick rich Guinness Stout but you have a shot of Bailyes in the bottom of the glass! The crowning achievement to this is the perfect dollop of home made whipped cream!

Remember when you were a kid and you would go into a soda shop or ice cream parlor and how good a root beer or coke float was on a hot summer day? Well this float will take you back to those good old lazy summer days, but it will make you so happy that you are an adult now that you can have booze and chocolate ice cream all in the same glass! Oh yeah Baby! Not a beer drinker? That’s ok beacuse neither am I.  Nevermind that we have 25 gallons of beer fermenting at any given time in my basement from my Hubby.  You don’t have to like beer at all for this.  All of the additions of Bailyes and ice cream and chocolate syrup and whipped cream take the yucky bitterness out of the beer and just make this so very very delightful! This is a perfect addition to your St. Patrick’s Day festivities! Oh and serving it up in a stolen pint glass from your favorite Pub a total plus!

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Guinness Stout Ice Cream Float

6 servings

1 pint

Guinness Stout Ice Cream Float

This recipe was adapted from Alice Medrich

Ingredients

  • 6 bottles of Guinness Stout
  • 6 tbs of Bailey's Cream
  • 6 scoops of chocolate ice cream
  • for the homemade chocolate sauce:
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup dutch process cocoa powder
  • 2/3 cup boiling water
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • Or use Hershey's Chocolate Syrup
  • for the whipped cream:
  • 1 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
  • 2 tbs sugar
  • or use Redi Whip

Instructions

  • To make the Chocolate Sauce
  • in a sauce pan mix the cocoa sugar and boiling water
  • whisk and bring to a simmer over low heat and simmer for 11 min
  • remove from heat and add vanilla
  • let cool to room temp
  • Sauce will keep up to 3 weeks in an air tight container in the fridge
  • For the Whipped cream:
  • using a chilled bowl and chilled beater whip the cream and sugar until stiff peaks form
  • In 6 pint glasses
  • pour 1 tbs of Bailey's
  • 1 tbs of chocolate sauce
  • 1 scoop of chocolate ice cream
  • slowly pour 1 bottle of Guinness Stout into the glass by holding the glass at a 45 degree angle. This will help keep the head {foam} under control. You may have to stop and wait for the head to go down before fitting all the beer in the glass.
  • Place a dollop of whipped cream on top of the head and drizzle in more chocolate sauce
  • Enjoy!
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Here are some other St. Patrick’s Ideas you might like:

Shamrock Boozy Cake

Irish Cream Coffee Cupcakes

Irish Meat Hand Pies

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No we are not talking Mrs. Lovett’s Meat Pies! Sweeny Todd has not made a visit to our home, no worries here.  These are just gorgeous, tasty, wonderful, portable food. These are actually called Dingle Pies.  I re-named them as I just didn’t think that name would go over very well with an American Audience.  These Dingle pies are actually made with lamb, but as that is not as readily available here I used beef.  Let me tell you I really prefer lamb. Like I could eat lamb everyday of my life. This is coming from the girl who really only eats red meat because I live with 2 men.  I could go the rest of my life and never have another piece of cow touch my lips and never think twice. So when I say I love lamb you get how much that really means! As good as this pie looks and as good as it tasted it would be phenomenal with lamb.

So a bit about that name Dingle.  Well it is a county in Ireland, and these hand pies are famous in this area.  August 1st marks Lammas Day an Anglo Saxon (go figure) traditional  first day of the Harvest.  These pies are a big portion of the food served at Lammas Festivals in the county of Dingle.  Hence, Dingle Pies.  Still I think I’ll call  them meat hand pies, I am sure you can guess at all the fun my hubby and the boy had with this name. Funny name aside these are an entire meal all wrapped up in a delicious flakey crust! Inside there is tasty little cubes of meat, potatoes, carrots, celery and spices.  I love watching the steam come out when you make the first cut into the pie. You just know that you are about to dig into something really special.   We ate them with a knife and fork of course but the main reason that they were made like this was so they could be transported and eaten like a sandwich  so there’s the name Hand Pie.  Just a note on the side… the 20 year old ate them with his hands.  Oh well….

Look at that crisp buttery crust.  You know that you just want to dive in and eat the whole thing! These are great for a dinner party as you don’t really have to serve many, or any for that matter, side dishes.  Plus they look really fancy and your guests will think that you slaved over them all day.  Guess what you won’t have to as these are really easy to make! They are a little time consuming but still easy. To make the pies you need 2 plates as guides to cut the circles.  One needs to be smaller than the other.  For the bottom I used a small dessert plate and for the top layer I used a saucer.  Just use ready to use Pillsbury Pie Crusts. (Don’t use a generic brand, it has to be Pillsbury to get this amazing golden flakey crust)  I bet that you have all the ingredients in your kitchen right now. Another really good thing about this meal? Super easy left overs, just pop the pie in the oven and re-heat.  I did accidently  make more meat and veg filling than I had pie crusts for, so I just mixed in some cream of celery soup and made mini pot pies in ramekins!

So cute huh? These were the perfect lunch the next day with a green side salad. The mini pot pies are just as portable as the meat pies. Taken to work in your lunch or just to serve as heavy after school snack these mini pot pies are just as good on their own!

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Irish Meat Hand Pies

Irish Meat Hand Pies

Ingredients

  • 2 packages Pillsbury Pie Crusts
  • 1/2 large onion diced
  • 2 russet potatoes peeled and diced
  • 2 carrots diced
  • 2 celery sticks diced
  • 1 lb (or more) chuck or round steak cubed
  • Salt, Pepper, onion and garlic powders to taste (not sure what your taste is go with 1 tsp each)
  • 1 egg beaten

Instructions

  • In a skillet combine onion, celery potatoes, carrots, salt let the veg sweat and soften up a little
  • once sweated add the meat in and the pepper, onion and garlic powders
  • let cook for 3 min (taste and adjust seasoning as needed)
  • remove skillet and let the mixture cool. (I placed it in the fridge. The heat will melt and turn your crust soggy. So chilling is important.
  • roll out each round of the pie crust (2 packages make 4 rounds)
  • Place the dessert dish and trace with a paring knife
  • gather up pie scrap and re roll and cut the smaller round using a saucer
  • do this to all 4 rounds out of the package
  • (Each round makes one complete pie with a little scrap left over for decorative cut outs and enough to make the little pot pies)
  • Pre heat to 350
  • Once cool place approx 1/4 cup mixture in the center of each large pie crust circle
  • place the smaller pie crust circle on top of the mixture
  • roll up the sides of the larger over the edge of the smaller to complete the pie crimp with fingers to secure
  • pierce a hole in the top to let the steam vent while cooking
  • brush the tops and rolled sides with the beaten egg for a more golden top
  • Gently place pies on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 for 50 min
  • they are best served hot out of the oven but as they were designed to be portable in the 1400's you can also eat them cold.
  • Enjoy!
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Oreo Cookie Bon Bons

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It’s SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!!! I know that your parties are in full swing right now and I am sure that I will be yelling at Flacco to make sure that he wins this game! Year after year we have all had to sit through The Patriots and The Giants going to the Super Bowl, it’s predictable and it’s boring.  Unless you are my husband and The Pat’s and The Giants are your home teams!  My #1 team is the Titans {don’t laugh! we all have to have a home team} my #2 team is the RAVENS!!!! They are my top pick for a totally Girly reason.  I love the city Baltimore, I am a HUGE Edgar Allen Poe fan {the team is named for his most famous poem…. get it?} and they have FABULOUS colors!!! . I look Great in Purple and Black!!  And as a bonus they happen to be a great team.   It’s a win win all the way around!!!! So let’s all shout GO Ravens!!!

I know most of you are going but wait…. didn’t you just move to the Mid West and come from the Bay Area/ Central Valley?  Well yes, yes we did.  But the kicker is I am an AFC girl and did I mention that I look great in Purple and Black?! Not so much in Red and Gold….. So for the Big Day I wanted to make something fun for you.  What’s more appropriate than Little Chocolate Footballs on a day like this?

The great thing about these Bon Bon’sit only takes 3  ingredients that’s right only 3 ingredients are called for! You can whip these up an hour before game time or make them a day or two before and just toss them in the freezer!  Once the chocolate coating is hard you can store them super easy till it’s time to need them! They are perfect bite sized portion control candy bites.  Just use a food processor to make crumbs out of Oreo Cookies mix with Cream Cheese and form chill and coat with melted Candi Quick! Presto you have a an amazing gourmet Bon Bon!

They look great don’t they?! So tasty and so much fun for your party.  Another great thing is now that this is the last day of Football this Season you can make these bon bons just how they are! Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day all these still need chocolate treats.  Don’t let the football shape scare you off till next August, make some all year long for any occasion. Use any flavor Oreo that you want.  Nabisco makes many wonderful flavors of Oreo’s.  I am partial to Double Stuff and the Traditional, but I can tell you that come next Christmas I am making Gingerbread Oreo Bon Bon’s! So go ahead and experiment and have fun with the flavor combinations!

So which ever team wins today is not as important that you all have Fun and Eat Good Food! {insert whistle blowing noise} Have a Great Day!!!! Go Ravens!

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Oreo Cookie Bon Bons

Oreo Cookie Bon Bons

Can't you just imagine these as beautiful Easter Eggs?

Ingredients

  • 2 Sleeves of Oreo Cookies
  • 1 8 oz box of cream cheese
  • 1/2 package of Candi Quick
  • See just 3 ingredients!

Instructions

  • In a food processor make crumbs out of the cookies
  • in a mixing bowl cut in with a pastry cutter or use your hands to combine the crumbs and the cream cheese (using your hands is messier but it much faster and easier)
  • once combined pull tablespoon size pieces off and roll into a ball
  • place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and freeze for 15-30 min
  • take the balls and form them into oval/ football shapes (if you are not making footballs and just making regular bon bons skip this step)
  • put back in the freezer for 10 min
  • melt the Candi Quick according to package directions
  • dip the bon bons in and coat completely
  • place back on the cookie sheet to set
  • once set pipe the lines or any other design that you want
  • if the bottoms have this little "foot" thing from the excess chocolate just use a paring knife to cut the excess off
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Buffalo Wing Haogies

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Dinner is served! As I am typing this I am so sad that these are all eaten and I don’t have any leftovers.  When I saw these meatballs in a  magazine I knew I was going to make them right that same very day.  And I did!  If you like meatballs, if you like buffalo wings you are going to love these buffalo chicken wing meatballs! I mean really love them! The recipe in Fun and Festive Christmas Woman’s Day Specials had these meatballs as an appetizer.  They certainly would make a great party appetizer, especially for a football party.  Wings and football kinda go together, like PB&J.  Since I was not having a big party this night and it was just going to be 3 people eating I paired down the amounts and decided to make sandwiches out of them.  My Husband goes Bezerko over Meatball Grinders.  To anyone who does not live in Southern Connecticut that means huge meatballs, insane amounts of marinara sauce, oodles of bubbling cheese all on an over sized submarine roll.  Heart attack on a plate and not very appetizing to look at. Yet this is his favorite food.  We can be at a very expensive Italian Restaurant and he will ask if they have this even if it is not on the menu! Every time he does this I want to crawl under the table in embarrassment! So now that I have found a healthier option and quite frankly a tastier option he can have as many of these sandwiches that his little tummy desires!

This recipe has it’s own Blue Cheese sauce, it made so much that I used the left over sauce as salad dressing all week in my lunches to work.  I used Whole Wheat rolls and baked oven waffle fries to complete the meal!  Now all we needed was a good football game!

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Buffalo Wing Haogies

Buffalo Wing Haogies

This recipe is adapted from Woman's Day

Ingredients

  • For the Meatballs:
  • 1 pound of ground chicken
  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs
  • 1/4 tsp of each salt, pepper and garlic and onion powder
  • 1/8 cup diced celery
  • 1/2 cup Franks Buffalo Wing Sauce divided
  • For the Blue Cheese Dipping Sauce:
  • 3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
  • 3/4 cup fat free sour cream
  • 1/2 cup fat free mayo
  • 1 tbs white wine vinegar
  • 1/8 cup finely diced green onion whites and greens
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
  • pinch of salt and pepper

Instructions

  • Whisk the egg in a large mixing bowl
  • add the chicken, bread crumbs, seasonings and celery
  • mix to combine
  • add half of the wing sauce
  • make 1 inch meatballs and place on a foil lined cookie sheet
  • bake at 350 for 25-30 min
  • when done toss meatballs in remaining wing sauce
  • For the Blue Cheese Sauce:
  • whisk all ingredients in a bowl
  • you can make these into sandwiches like I did or double this recipe for a great party appetizer!
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You can find me at these great Linky Parties this week:

Mom’s Test Kitchen, Crazy Sweet Tuesday’s, Trick or Treat Tuesday’s, Totally Tasty Tuesday’s, Back for Seconds , Cast Party Wednesday’s, Whatcha whipped up Wednesday’s Hungry Little Girl Wednesday’s Extravaganza, Sweet treats and Swanky Stuff Thursday’s, Just my Crazy Kitchen,Fantastical sharing of recipes, Art by ASM,  Strut Your Stuff Friday’s, I’m loving it Friday’s, Crumbs and Chaos Saturday’s, Weekend Pot Luck

Black Bean Cheese Dip

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My theme for the week is Tailgating and Football!  On Monday we had a Oh So Good and portable Cocktail, Spiked Tea.  Now today we have a tasty and healthy dip and chip to nosh on!  My husband is cringing that I used MY team The Titans and NOT his team The Patriots.  I am so bored with Teams that stay on top for years on end.  Move over and let someone else win a game every now and then Brady!  I am sure that would fall on deaf ears. Not only is Tennessee home, but I always root for an underdog!  Seriously my team has had its share of drama and trouble lately.  The dumbest thing they did was to get rid of Jeff Fisher!  So now I am a Ram’s fan too!  That works as I live in Missouri now.  But I do not like The Chief’s.  Has anyone in their publicity team taken a look at how hideous their colors and uniforms are?  Really it is like they are playing for Ronald Mc Donald!  The best part of Football is to wear cute clothes to Cheer your team on!! I mean really ladies at the end of the Football party does it really matter who won or lost?  As long as we look good?  There is no way to look good in bright yellow and fire engine red!

Ok I hope I did not just lose any of My KC foodie friends!  I do hope that the QB Matt Cassel is doing well.  It was really bad form when they cheered when he had to leave the game due to an injury.  These guys go out and risk their health and safety just for our entertainment.  I know they are paid grotesque amounts of money, but still no one should ever be happy when a player is injured.

So I am sure you did not come to a food blog to discuss sports! Let’s get down to the business at hand.  I love this dip! I took it to work for lunch for 3 days and I never got tired of it!  It is light and healthy and full of energy boosting foods and it tastes great!!! It is super easy to throw together and you can add or leave ingredients out.  It is definitely a crowd pleaser and would fit right in at any Tailgating event!

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Black Bean Cheese Dip

Black Bean Cheese Dip

This recipe was adapted from Phyllis Hoffman Celebrate Autumn 2012

Ingredients

  • 1 bag of cubed cheddar cheese (I use mild but you can use sharp if you prefer)
  • 1 bag of cubed monterey jack Cheese (pepper jack would be good also)
  • 1 can of black beans drained and rinsed (that yucky sauce canned beans come has to go!)
  • 1 can diced tomatoes
  • 1 cup corn (frozen and thawed, or fresh or canned)
  • 1/2 cup chopped red onion
  • 1/2 cup sliced green olives
  • 1/2 cup sliced kalmata olives
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
  • 2 limes juiced and zezted
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 2 tbs taco seasoning

Instructions

  • In small mixing bowl coming the lime juice, zezt, olive oil and and taco seasoning.
  • Whisk briskly
  • In a large mixing bowl combine all the other ingredients
  • Pour the dressing over the top and toss gently to combine
  • cover and chill
  • Serve with chips, pita bread, crackers
  • This is so good you will find all sorts of things to top it with!
  • I even put it on top of a Baked Potato!
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Spiked Tea

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Oh Autumn how we love thee!  It is time for so much fun after we have barricaded ourselves in the grand relief of air conditioning, hiding from the blazing heat of summer!  We lovingly throw open the windows let the fresh air in, sit on the porch during cool mornings and then warm as the sun rises throughout the day.  We run and jump for joy at the gorgeous colors you make the tress, we happily pick apples and pumpkins and bake the most delicious desserts.  We rejoice at the sound of the school bus as it pulls away with the kiddies all inside.  And on Sunday’s we get ready and we cook, and we bake and then we go out and party in parking lots! Parking lots?!  What?!  Yes Tailgating that most cherished of pre game traditions is held in an ugly dirty crowded parking lot!  Just once I would love to have it at Park or in the backyard where the scenery is so more pleasant to look at and sometimes smell.(depending on who is Tailgating next to you!)

I am sure you all know who Phyllis Hoffman is.  She has the cutest and great party idea magazine that comes out once a Season.  This Autumn she has a great section on Tailgating, that is where I got the idea for this cocktail.  The picture shows a spread in the back of an SUV that is fit for the Queen when she is in residence at Balmoral! Of course there is a beautiful Plaid tablecloth in the photo so of course I am biased about this!  But really this is how tailgating should be done.  Maybe it would be too time consuming to go to a park and then make to the game on time.  Ok I can see that.  When you tailgate at the stadium you get there early and you don’t have to fight for a place to park or end up parking 1 mile away.  I get that is the main reason for tailgating in the parking lot.  So here is my proposal……

Let’s make this a 2 day event!!!!! On Saturday we have the great bang out party in the park and Sunday we go see the game! I mean we all love football right? So why should we just celebrate and have fun on one day of the weekend?  When we can have 2?!!!  I think that I have solved the problem. Hee Hee well maybe not so much as a problem as it is a way for me to have more time to play……

This Tea is quite strong and soooooooooo good. Can I say that again. Sooooooo good!! Make it and take in mason jars with lids and you have the perfect portable cocktail!  Now this would also be good warmed up and taken in a Thermos.  For the NorthEast football fans I am sure it is already getting quite Chilly!

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Spiked Tea

Spiked Tea

This is a great portable cocktail or just to make for parties at home. I adapted this recipe from Phyllis Hoffman's Celebrate Autumn 2012

Ingredients

  • 1 bottle of Sweet Tea Flavored Vodka
  • 1 2 liter bottle of 7-up
  • 1 can frozen lemonade concentrate thawed
  • 1 can frozen orange juice concentrate thawed
  • 4 cups of water with 5 teabags steeped in it (this will be very strong tasting tea)

Instructions

  • In a large pitcher combine the juice concentrates and the vodka
  • then add the 7 up
  • when all the fizz from the pop has calmed down
  • add the tea steeped water
  • gently mix so as not to make the 7up fizz over
  • pour into mason jars filled with ice cover and take with you!
  • You can also mix this in a dutch oven and put over medium low heat until desired temp has been reached
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Peppermint Fudge Cookies

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It’s 12 Weeks of Christmas time again!!!  You have to go over and see Brenda at Making Meal Magic! She puts this great blog hop together for us all! Every Thursday for the next 9 weeks you will be delighted with yummy treats for that happiest of all baking days!!! This week at The Plaid and Paisley Kitchen it is all about,”Just how easy can we make this?”  Well foodie friends we can make this Very Easy so easy in fact that I am almost embarrassed to tell you just how easy.  We’ll get to that in a minute.  First I want to tell you all about our Christmas Eve Family Tradition.  I am like a big kid around Christmas and I can’t wait to open my presents and have others open what I have purchased for them.  I found though as I got older Christmas pretty much petered out after breakfast….. you come to a point in life where you don’t sit and stare at your toys and play with them all day.  In order to stretch out Christmas a bit and to appease my need to open a gift, on Christmas Eve either right before or after Mid-Night Mass (depending if we have gone or not…. bad I know) we each get to open a present.  Now mind you this is not just any present under the tree, it is a present prescribed by me.  Each year it is the same gift.  We all get brand new warm and fuzzy Jammies!!  That way the next morning we are all in our new P.J.’s for our Photo’s.  Of course they are almost always plaid and they always have a matching theme!  It appeases the Type A control freak in me!   I’d give you a photo sample but I am sure no one want to see me with crazy bed hair!

Now back to the crazy easy, crazy good cookies!  The secret is (drum roll please) Cake Mix!  You heard me right Cake Mix!  Can you believe a box could make anything as beautiful as this?

These are can’t resist, have to eat, can’t stop gobbling up cookies!!!  Just ask my co-workers! They are loving this 12 Weeks of Christmas!

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Peppermint Fudge Cookies

Peppermint Fudge Cookies

Perfectly easy for a cookie exchange and easy to freeze! Just do the fudge topping after thawing out!

Ingredients

  • 1 box chocolate cake mix
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tbs vanilla
  • 2 handfulls of Andes Peppermint Bark Chips
  • 1 bottle Duncan Hines Pourable Ganache
  • more Peppermint Bark Chips for garnish

Instructions

  • pre heat oven to 350
  • mix cake mix, eggs, oil and vanilla
  • fold in the 2 handfulls of Bark Chips
  • spoon rounded tablespoon sized dough balls on to a cookie sheet and bake for 15 min
  • cool on a wire rack
  • once cool heat the ganache by bottle directions and pour over the cookies
  • this can get messy so it is best to leave them on the wire rack with wax paper underneath to catch the excess
  • sprinkle a few bark chips on the cookies
  • let set and then commence eating!!
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Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

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This time of year is just filled with great outdoor activities!  I just got back from a visit to my home state.  Well as much as I can call anywhere home!  Having lived in 9 states makes it very difficult to call anywhere home.  For me I call Nashville Tn home.  I spent the best part of my 20′s there and that is the home of my BFF and her 3 wonderful children.  One just happens to be my God-Daughter! Oh she has a pretty Nifty husband too. Middle Tennessee had this magic quality that is steeped in her beautiful rolling hills where the mist settles nicely in the early morning.  The sun is always high in the sky shinning down, the air is brisk in the morning but warms you through and through during the day. The history, the scenery and that it is all a great round about place to live, really tugs at my heart and makes me very homesick while we live in all these other places.  None of them hold the place in my heart like Tennessee! Plus there is not that much emphasis on the Country Music as you would think.  It is pretty much just all in its little own world.  Which suits me just fine.

I actually made these cupcakes before I left and didn’t get a chance to post them.  Well that delay worked out great, because lo and behold while I was away we went to a PUMPKIN PATCH!!!!  What great time we had!  It was just me and the 2 little ones. Although I can just hear the 10-year-old moaning now,”Aunt Chandra I am not LITTLE anymore!”  We got to choose just the perfect pumpkins, ride a hay ride and get lost in the corn maze.  Well we weren’t really lost but it was fun to pretend!

All that we needed was a big bonfire and some marshmallows!  Maybe the next visit! Now as for these totally amazing Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes!  The frosting and the filling are the same and let me tell you that this is Amazingly good!!!!  I took these to work (bloggers tell me you do the same!  We would be big as a house if we ate all our goodies!) and they were gone lickty split!  So easy to make and they have a great WOW factor for guests and family!  There is like 4 ingredients minus the cake needs.  I love being able to take a boring ole box mix and jazz it up!  I mean really we hardly have the time to get all the family, work, cleaning, baking, cooking, picture taking, post writing, networking done in one measly day!  So anything that can help us is a really good thing! The frosting and the filling were light as air and really kicked up the flavor value of this cupcake.  Kids will love this cupcake, but really this is more of what we as adults are looking for in a desert. It is light, airy and full of flavor!  Oh and not to mention Cute!!!

There is even fun delight in the middle!


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Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

This is an easy and very impressive looking dessert to serve to guests and to take to potlucks!

Ingredients

  • 1 box of yellow cake mix and the eggs, oil and water it calls for
  • 1 tbs pumpkin pie spice
  • 1 14 oz pumpkin pie filling
  • 1 pint of Heavy Whipping cream
  • 1 9" pie crust

Instructions

  • In a mixing bowl beat the cake mix and it's called for ingredients
  • add the pupmkin pie spice and stir in
  • pour the batter into 24 prepared cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake for 20 min or until done
  • cool on a wire rack so your bottoms don't get soggy
  • whil they are cooling take the pie crust and cut out 24 little pumpkins with a mini cookie cutter
  • score in the pumpkin details and cook at 400 for 10 min
  • when cool freeze your whisk attachment to your blender and the bowl
  • beat the whipping cream in the frozen bowl untill stiff peaks are formed
  • fold in the pupmpkin pie filling
  • place in a pastry bag with the largest star tip you have
  • take out the middle of the cupcakes ( used a mellon baller)
  • pipe the filling in the hole and top the cupcakes with star points to make a pretty presentation
  • place a pie crust pumpkin on each cupcake
  • Enjoy!
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You can find me at all these great link parties this week!

Making you crave Monday’s, Crazy Sweet Tuesday’s, Trick or Treat Tuesday’s, Tasty Tuesday’s, Totally Tasty Tuesday’s, Cast Party Wednesday’s, Whatcha Whipped Up Wednesday’s, Sweet Treat and Swanky Stuff, Kitchen Fun with My Three Son’s, Crumbs and Chaos, I’m loving it Friday’s, Weekend Pot Luck, and Six Sisters Stuff

Apple Caramel Bread Pudding

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I am so excited to be doing my first post  for the 12 Weeks of Christmas!!!! I followed this great blog hop last year and this year I knew I had to join!  Brenda at Meal Planning Magic hosts this great blog hop and we are all very greatful for her!  I can’t wait to see all the fun and yummy treats that everyone is going to make and blog about!  I hope that you take the time to take to a look at each and everyone of these delicious treats.  Everyone is so talented and there are so many delights and goodies to be made and enjoyed!  For my first post I made an easy to freeze and great to give as gifts, have for yourself and even easy to take to party!  Really who can resist an ooey gooey treat like this?

This is the perfect time of year to make this dish as the apples are all ripe and crisp and ready for picking! Bread pudding is a favorite around here.  I really wanted to make a like a super huge batch; but, I was afraid that I wouldn’t freeze it and I would be tempted to eat it all in one sitting!  Seriously, I think I could do just that.  This is just that good!  If you want to make this ahead of time to freeze for later eating or giving, don’t make your caramel sauce right now.  It will only last 2 weeks in the fridge.  Whatever you decide to do , do not skip making the sauce!!

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Apple Caramel Bread Pudding

Apple Caramel Bread Pudding

Ingredients

  • 10 slices of cinnamon raisin bread cut into cubes. Let them dry overnight or bake at 250 for 10 min to dry out.
  • 3 eggs lightly beaten
  • 2 apples sliced and cubed
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tbs apple pie spice
  • 2 cups milk
  • pinch of salt
  • for the sauce
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 2 tbs light corn syrup
  • 1 tsp kosher salt

Instructions

  • grease 2 6 cup foil cupcake/muffin tins
  • in a mixing bowl combine all ingredients and mix till bread is completely coated
  • spoon into each muffin cup and bake at 350 for 35-40 min or till toothpick comes out clean
  • cool completely place the plastic lid on top and wrap with pretty ribbon for gift giving!
  • If freezizng wrap the muffin pan and lid in cling film (plastic wrap) and then in foil
  • for the caramel sauce:
  • in a sauce pan over med high heat melt the butter and sugar.
  • Once melted add the corn syrup and salt
  • bring to a light boil and cook till the sauce is clear and not opaque
  • cool and pour into a container that you can make air tight
  • To reheat the pudding and sauce:
  • in a 325 oven place the thawed muffin pans in the middle rack on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 min
  • bring the sauce to room temp and then microwave for 15 sec at a time till desired temp is achieved. Drizzle over puddings!
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