Blueberry Dessert

So this is what I've always called this dessert since I first tried it at a Young Women in Excellence meeting back when I was around 13, and I begged my mom to get the recipe from whomever made it. But it is just so dang good, it really should be renamed.... something with "awesome" in it (I'm thinking of Ivan the Terrible who wanted to be named "Ivan the Awesome"  in Night at the Museum 2 haha). Because it is AWESOME! I only make it about once a year, because I have a tendency to sneak half the pan when no one is looking or to eat it just as a meal. It's that good!

1 white cake mix

1 ¼ cup quick cooking oats

½ cup butter or margarine

½ cup chopped nuts (I always omit this because nuts don't belong in sweets haha ;)

1 egg

¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

21 oz can blueberry pie filling

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 pan. In large bowl combine cake mix, 1 cup oats, and 6 tbsp margarine. Cut it in until crumbly. Reserve 1 cup crumbs for topping. To remaining crumbs blend in the egg. Press into prepared pan and bake for 12 minutes. Meanwhile, to reserved crumbs add remaining ¼ cup oats, 2 tbsp margarine, nuts and sugar and cinnamon. Beat til well mixed. Spread base with pie filling and sprinkle remaining crumb mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely and then keep refrigerated.

Roasted Cauliflower & Aged White Cheddar Soup (So Good!)

This is to die for! I found this on closetcooking.com and that guy got it right! Just the name of it made my mouth water. I didn't know how my family would react, but it got 5 stars! Mr. Amazing kept saying it was something he would expect to be served in an upscale restaurant. The aged white cheddar is a key ingredient. It's hard to find. I found it at our local Smith's made by Private Selection. It costs a pretty penny (6 oz is $4) but it is a must! :) I hope you like it as much as we do!

1 small head cauliflower, cut into florets

2 tbsp oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp oil

1 med onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tbsp thyme, chopped

3 cups vegetable broth

1 ½ cups aged white cheddar, shredded

1 cup milk or cream

Salt and pepper to taste

Toss the cauliflower florets in the oil along with the salt and pepper and arrange them in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Roast the cauliflower in a preheated 400F oven until lightly golden brown, about 20-30 min. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until tender, about 5-7 min. Add the garlic and thyme and sauté until fragrant, about a minute. Add the broth and cauliflower, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 20 min. Puree the soup until it reaches your desired consistency with a stick blender. Mix in the cheese, let it melt and season with salt and pepper. Mix in the milk and remove from heat.

Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake

Oh my! This cheesecake is the real deal!!! Stacey is a rock on baker and this is just more proof of her incredible skills in the kitchen! Pumpkin only appeals to me in small amounts of flavor, and this recipe has it just right! This is the perfect recipe for Thanksgiving Dessert!!!

Crust:

1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs

5 tbsp butter, melted

1 tbsp sugar

Filling:

3- 8 oz pkgs cream cheese, softened

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup canned pumpkin

3 eggs

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

¼ tsp allspice

Whipped cream

Mix crust ingredients together, just til coated and crumbly. Press onto the bottom and 2/3 cup the sides of an 8” spring form pan. Bake at 350 for 5 minutes. Set aside. Combine cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl, mix smoothly with an electric mixer, add pumpkin, eggs and spices, beat until smooth and creamy. Pour into the crust. Bake for 60-70 minutes or till the top turns a bit darker. Remove from oven and allow to come to room temp and then refrigerate. After it has thoroughly chilled, remove the pan sides and cut. Serve with whipped cream.

Mini Fruit Pizzas

Oh I wish I would've taken my camera to recipe group last month! Every single item brought was delicious and all of them made the dang good list! So I'll post them for you even with no picture because you will totally want these recipes!! 

1 pkg Pillsbury refrigerator sugar cookie dough

8 oz cool whip

4 oz. cream cheese at room temp.

Roll dough into 48 ¾” balls. Place balls in mini cupcake pan. Bake for 6-7 min at 350. Let cool for a few minutes then remove from pan (dough will cave in while cooling). Whip softened cream cheese and then add in cool whip until nice and smooth. Place in baggie, cut off tip and pip into cookies. Decorate with fruit. (From Samantha).

Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cookies

To eat these cookies is to step into the memories of my wonderful childhood, with the iconic mom who is baking away in the kitchen making delicious, enticing and aromatic goodies for her kids, friends and guests. These have been my favorite since I was a little kid and because of that, I'm sure they always will be :) More a cake like texture than cookie itself, these are best right off the pan with at least 16 oz of milk!

1 cup applesauce

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup sugar

½ cup shortening

2 eggs

¾ tsp cloves

1 tsp salt

¾ tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

2 cups flour

1 bag chocolate chips

In a small bowl add applesauce and baking soda. Stir and set aside. In a larger bowl cream sugar and shortening. Add egg and cream. Add applesauce mixture and stir well. Add all dry ingredients and mix well. Add chocolate chips. (Dough will be fairly sticky). Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes.

Vampires

I had to post this pic of these adorable cupcakes my friend (and preschool student's mom) Angie made for our party!!! Didn't she do an awesome job!!

White Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies

Call the cookie police, I cannot stop eating these!!!!!! These are by far my new favorite pumpkin cookies! My sweet friend Candy brought our family a couple plates full and I am ashamed to admit I ate 9 of the 14 of them. Any attempt at self-control flies out the window with these little babies!!!

2 cups (4 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
1 can ( about 16 oz.) solid-pack pumpkin
2 eggs
4 cups flour
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 pkg. (12 oz) white chocolate chips
1 container (16 oz.) cream cheese frosting
1/4 cup brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease cookie sheets.

2. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at med speed until light and fluffy. Add pumpkin and eggs; beat until we'll blended. Add flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and baking powder; beat just until blended. Stir in white chocolate chips.

3. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart on to prepared cookie sheets. Bake about  16 minutes or until set and bottoms are browned. Cool 1 min. On cookie sheets. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

4. Combine frosting and brown sugar in small bowl. Spread on warm cookies.

Pizza Rolls

Not that my picture taking skills are anything to get excited about, but I apologize even more so for this one. Mr. Amazing had the camera for the weekend and all I was left with was my really crappy dumb-phone camera. But it worked, right?! .

In all seriousness, these pizza rolls are incredible!!! My kids snarfed these little babies down so quickly that 3/4 of the pan disappeared within 15 minutes! Then hubby came home, ate his fill, and then kept grabbing another and then another. (Addicting? I think, yes!). I can't wait to try these as a freezer meal! Another dang good recipe makes the menu!! (Recipe from honeybearlane.com)

4 cans store-bought buttermilk biscuit dough

1 package pepperoni

3-4 cups of Mozzarella cheese (or Mozzarella sticks cut into 3rds)

Basil, Oregano, Garlic Salt, Grated Parmesan

Open each can and taking one biscuit at a time, press each biscuit flat. Put in 2 pepperoni's and the desired amount of cheese. Fold up sides into a ball and put into a greased 9x13 pan close together. Brush the tops with oil and sprinkle with seasonings and Parmesan cheese. Bake in oven at 425 degrees for 18-22 minutes. For 10 minutes have them covered with foil and for the last 8-12 minutes remove the foil so they can brown.

Quick Banana Bread

When Grandma showed up with 6 overripe bananas that needed used immediately and with a lack of desire time to whip up a couple batches of banana bread, I decided to try out artsyfartsymama.com's easy version. Although I would have to say this has more of a light cake with banana flavor appeal that actual banana bread, the way my kids ate through 2 loaves in 8 minutes deemed it a keeper! And hands down it is a lot easier and quicker! 

1 box yellow cake mix

2 eggs

3 overripe bananas, mashed

1 cup chocolate chips

Mix everything together and pour into greased bread pans (I find it cooks better if they aren't super thick which is why I do 2 pans. You can do just 1 pan with it being really thick if you want though). Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Cowboy Salsa

This is a pretty popular salsa known under many names, but I call in Cowboy Salsa, because I am a die hard Wyoming-ite and therefore, a salsa that is this amazing needs some association with us Cowboys :) (even if I am just a wanna-be cowboy haha). My daughter's fav snack ever, she sees me buy an avocado and she starts jumping for joy...

1 can black beans, rinsed, drained

1 can corn, drained

1 bunch green onions

1 bunch cilantro chopped

1 avocado

1 tomato

Salt to taste

1 pkg Italian Dressing mixed up according to directions. Not a requirement, but it does taste better if you can make the dressing up a few hours in advance and let it refrigerate.

Mix everything together but the dressing. Only add dressing right before serving. Watch the bowl disappear in record time (or hide what is left in the fridge in the furthest part of the fridge for that midnight craving :)

Mama’s French Bread Pizza

I might have just been given the easiest meal in the world to make. Seriously. This is SO GOOD! And ridiculously easy! From Priscilla from our recipe group, I say THANK YOU!! My kids had this gone within minutes, I kid you not! The secret really is the garlic butter, so unless you have a killer garlic butter recipe (and are more gung-ho than I am), then buy a bakery garlic french bread loaf that already has it spread on! We did discover that there was too much in the middle and not enough on the sides so next time I will spread around the butter more evenly first. Perfect as is, my kids have asked that next time we try adding a few toppings (jalapenos for Rachel, pepperoni for baby doll, etc). The best part was how fast this came together. It took about 4 minutes to get into the oven and was ready to eat in 13. It just doesn't get any better than that! 

Garlic French bread (the bakery kind that already has garlic butter spread on it)

Mayonnaise

2 tomatoes

Colby or Pizza blend cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Spread mayo over the garlic butter on both halves. Slice tomatoes and arrange on the halves. Cover with desired amount of cheese. Place in oven and bake for 13 minutes or until cheese is melted and French bread is toasted. Slice up and enjoy!

The Best Buttermilk Cornbread

This cornbread is so good that I couldn't even snatch a picture of it before it was half gone! Still ranked in the top 20 on allrecipes.com, this buttermilk cornbread is almost like cake. It's divine! Never really haven eaten cornbread til I married my hubby who lived in the south for 2 years, I was never a big fan. That all changed when I found this recipe a few years ago. Now it's a staple. It's a snack! And it is a requirement for stew! Only 1 thing makes this better... and it requires being awesome, and therefore I am disqualified. But my mom, she's awesome. She dehydrates her own corn. And when she wants a little piece of heaven, she freshly grinds enough corn for the corn meal. And that my friends, makes this even better than best. Yes, that is possible :)

½ cup butter

2/3 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

½ tsp baking soda

1 cup cornmeal 

1 cup flour

½ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375. Grease 12 muffin tin cups.

Melt butter and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. Combine buttermilk and baking soda. Add to mixture. Stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt until well blended and few lumps remain. Pour batter into muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes. (I always double this and just put in a 9x13 and cook a little longer).

Slow Cooker Mexican Chicken

This is the easiest meal I think I have ever made! I kid you not! I threw the chicken in still frozen, opened 2 cans and started the slow cooker! Eight hours later, with some cream cheese and chips, I had a meal that my family literally devoured! Baby doll took one look at it and said "I don't like this stuff" (granted, it's not the prettiest looking stuff in the world) but after one bite, she changed her mind and even came back for a big helping of seconds. So glad for another dang good recipe!!

1-15 oz can Pinto Beans

1- 4 oz can chopped green chilies

1 pkg. of taco seasoning

2-3 chicken breasts (depending on size)

1 pkg. cream cheese

Add beans and chilies with juice, chicken and seasoning in slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. An hour before it is done shred the chicken and add the cream cheese. Serve with hot tortilla chips, rice or on tortillas.

Easy Peasy Pumpkin Cookies

I love that Rachel loves to bake! And I love even more that she likes to make my fav sweets :). These awesome cookies are so simple and so quick to make up, you just might find yourself making them more often than you should (not to mention stocking up on Spice cake mixes)!

1 box Spice cake mix

1 small can pumpkin pie

½ tsp cloves

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 bag of chocolate chips

1/4 bag cinnamon chips (optional but super yummy ;)

Mix everything together and then spoon onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake 375 for 8-10 minutes and then let cool on the pan for a couple more minutes.

Frito and Corn Salad

I have been looking for more summer salad recipes, and I am so glad I ran into this one from thethrifycouple.com! We had this as a side to the Baked Creamy Taquitos and it was a hit! Even baby girl kept asking for more! You'll want to stock up on chili cheese Fritos because this is sure to become a fast favorite!

2 (15 oz) cans whole kernel corn, drained

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1 cup mayo

1 cup bell pepper, chopped

1/2 cup red onion, chopped

1 (10 1/2 oz) bag coarsely crushed chili cheese Fritos corn chips

Mix the first 5 ingredients and chill. Stir in corn chips just before serving. Enjoy!!

Asian Summer Salad

The first time I tried this, my friend Debra had brought it over after I'd had my son. I've never liked Ramen noodles or cared for cabbage, but one bite of this changed my whole perspective! I seriously could not stop eating it. Of course I had to immediately get the recipe and start bombarding my family with my newest love affair every other week. Seven years later, this is still one of our fav summer salads (especially with a nice juicy hot-off-the-grill hamburger!).

1 head cabbage, shredded or 1 bag of Coleslaw

5 green onions, chopped

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

2 packages Chicken Top Ramen uncooked, broken into pieces

Mix all of these ingredients together

In a separate bowl combine:

1/2 cup oil

4 tbsp vinegar

2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp chicken bouillon

1/2 tsp pepper

2 envelopes seasoning packets from the Top Ramen

Combine all and pour over salad 1-2 hours before serving.

For another variation, add cooked chicken for a one bowl meal!

One Pot Mac and CheeseI

I ran into this recipe the other day on tipgarden.blogspot.com and thought it would be a perfect addition to the River Chicken (and easy meal for a super busy day). I threw all the ingredients into the crock pot 3 hours before dinner, and voila! My family had thought I had made the best meal ever :)

Cooking oil spray

2 cups milk

1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk

1 egg

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 1/2 cups preshredded sharp cheddar cheese

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

Spray the pot of the slow cooker. In a mixing bowl whisk together milk, evaporate milk, egg, salt and pepper. Pour milk mixture into the crockpot. Add cheese and uncooked macaroni. Stir gently to mix.

Turn slow cooker on low and cook for 3 hours (this is a custard style mac and cheese so it gets really thick so it is supposed to be able to be cut like a brownie. I don't like this style as much, and it was plenty cooked at 3 hours, but was still creamy so don't cook more than 3 hours ON LOW if you don't want custard style and if you do want custard style, still don't cook more than 4 hours on low).

Southwestern Egg Rolls

My friend Chelsie brought these egg rolls to Bunco night a few weeks ago. They were a hot item, and I was lucky to even get one! I got the recipe from her and decided Kyle had to try this! They were a huge hit at our house! Her recipe originally called for avocado ranch, but with the obsession I have with the Cafe Rio Cilantro dressing, I thought it would be a better way to go! I always base my recipe ratings by how quickly my family devours the meal. Well, this one gets a 10! You would've thought I'd given them sugar cookies with how quickly they were grabbing these! Next time we're going to try it with seasoned chicken or steak!

For the egg rolls:
2 cups frozen corn, thawed
1-15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1-9 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry with paper towel
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese
1-7oz can diced green chiles, drained
4 green onions, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 package of egg roll or wonton wrappers

Preheat oven to 425F. Line 2 baking sheets with aluminum foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.

In a large bowl mix together corn, beans, spinach, cheese, chiles, onions, cumin, chili powder, salt and cayenne pepper. Using a small spoon, scoop a small amount of filling onto the wrapper. Starting at a corner, carefully start to roll the wrapper. When it’s slightly rolled, tuck in the two side and continue rolling to the last point. Wet your finger with water and dab a bit on the corner to seal the egg roll. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling, placing them slightly apart on the baking sheet.

Lightly spray the tops of the egg rolls with cooking spray and bake for 15-17 minutes, flipping them at least once during baking.

Cafe Rio Cilantro Dressing:

2 cups prepared Ranch dressing

1 small bunch cilantro with stems removed

2 large or 4 small tomatillos

1/2 tsp minced garlic

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 tsp green Tabasco sauce

Wash cilantro and spin dry. Add cilantro to food processor and pulse until finely chopped Add tomatillos, garlic, lime juice, and green Tabasco sauce to the food processor and pulse until ingredients are finely pureed. add the ranch and pulse just until well combined. Chill for 1-2 hours. Serve.