Easy Snack | Philly Cheesesteak Croissant Bites

It's Friday. Friday means scary movies and video game night with the boyfriend. Friday means beer and snacks.

Digging through the fridge yields limited results - but I did manage to scavenge up some pepperjack cheese, banana peppers, some veggies, and some shredded beef. So, the Philly Cheesesteak Croissant Bites were born.

This is a super flexible recipe. Use as much or as little of the stuffing as you want. Change it up. Use jalapenos instead of banana peppers, provolone instead of pepperjack - it's all up to you. Technically, these don't even have to be cheesesteaks. They could be quesadillas.


Philly Cheesesteak Croissant Bites
Yield | 8 croissant bites

Prep Time | 5 minutes
Cook Time | 8-10 minutes
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Ingredients:

1 tube croissant rolls (I used Pillsbury)

1/2 cup cooked steak or chicken

1/4 cup shredded cheese (I used a chunk of pepper jack and sliced off small pieces)

3-4 tablespoons onions, diced

3-4 tablespoons mushrooms, diced

3-4 tablespoons banana peppers, diced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread out croissant dough and put meat, cheese, and veggies on the wide end. 

Roll dough up and seal ends. Place on lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Enjoy! These were fantastic with bleu cheese dressing. So good. And, you can freeze and reheat. Who needs Hot Pockets?

Pasta Night! | Baked Manicotti

We try to do pasta at least once a week. The boyfriend says it's one of the things I do best.

While I'm not sure about that, I do love everything cheese-filled and sauce-slathered... not to mention garlic bread.

Originally, I wanted lasagna. It's funny, how tastes change - as a child, I hated lasagna. It was in the same category as brussel sprouts (though cover just about anything in cheese and I'll eat it) and cauliflower. Just. Not. Happening.

Now, however, I can't quite get enough. In the fall and winter I have a crockpot lasagna made with cottage cheese we swear by.

However, despite my lasagna craving, my shopportunist nature won out... big pasta sale, and lasagna was not one of them. Manicotti was, though. Never tried to stuff my own manicotti, but what the hey, sounds absolutely tasty.

So cheesy. So delicious. So worth every bite. Thank you, Anny of AllRecipes, for guiding me through this. And, the great thing about this recipe is you can either use a jarred sauce and shorten it (boil, stuff, sauce, and bake) or make your own, so I've included a recipe for a basic marinara sauce, as well. I love making my own - it's easy, and I use red wine, so there's plenty of, uhmm, tasting.

Round up some garlic bread and enjoy!


Baked Manicotti
Yield | 4 servings

Prep Time | 15 minutes
Cook Time | 30 minutes
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Ingredients:

1 package manicotti
1 pint low fat ricotta cheese
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese (I used a 6-cheese Italian blend)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, plus 1/4 cup for topping
2 eggs
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon oregano
2 cups spaghetti sauce (jar, or use the basic marinara recipe below!)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring water to boil and add pasta. Salt (or add olive oil) to keep pasta from sticking. Cook until nearly al dente - they tear easily so don't cook through, the sauces in the oven will soften them.

In a large mixing bowl, add cheeses, eggs, garlic, and oregano. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Mix well. Spoon a little sauce into the bottom of an 11 x 17 baking dish.

If you have piping tools, that's fantastic, but if not, spoon cheese mix into a Ziploc bag. Cut the corner and pipe into the noodle shell. Place filled pasta in dish and top with marinara sauce and remaining parmesan cheese.

So much easier.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Marinara Sauce
Yield | 4 servings

Prep Time | 5-7 minutes
Cook Time | 30 minutes
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Ingredients:

3 tablespoons EVOO
1/2 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons oregano
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/3 cup red wine (or 1/4 cup red wine vinegar)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until onions are translucent. Add oregano and crushed red pepper. Stir and add red wine (or red wine vinegar - use less if using vinegar) to deglaze the pan.

Add canned tomatoes and salt and pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes.

Of course, with my love for capers, this was the perfect time to sneak them in, so feel free to add a tablespoon of the salty, delicious morsels!

So yum!

Coming soon... Quick and Easy Cajun Spinach and Artichoke Dip, Dark Chocolate Coconut Cookies, Pasta Salad with a Balsamic Dressing, Jerk Marinaded Chicken Drumsticks, and so much more!

Cookie Monday | Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies

I know, I know.

Cookie Monday on a Tuesday... shame, shame.

I know. I know... I promise, I'll work on it. But if the guys in the shop don't complain... well... these cookies are worth the wait. I swear.

These are Red Velvet Cheesecake cookies. When I first saw this recipe, from Two Peas and Their Pod, I thought, "no way."

No, really, no way. Cheesecake-filled cookies? Wow. My two favorite desserts... in one... imagine the applications, the implications. This is like my cookie kryptonite. My cookitonite. Seriously. These might be a problem.

Anyways, make these giant, delicious orbs of red velvety goodness. I promise you will enjoy every cheesecakey, wonderful bite. And before you scoff at the filling part, it's not as hard as you think. Really, just mix, freeze, and squish into giant yummy cookie balls. Super easy and so delicious you'll want to eat every single giant tasty cookie.

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies
Slightly adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod's original recipe, here.
Yield | 10 giant cookies

Prep Time | 10 minutes
Cook Time | 11-13 minutes
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Ingredients:

Cookie Dough

1 package red velvet cake mix (I know, totally cheating, but I promise... no one will be able to tell! I used Duncan Hines, so good)

2 tablespoons flour

2 large eggs

1/2 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cheesecake Filling

4 oz cream cheese, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For white chocolate icing, see my White Chocolate Ganache recipe.

Mix all ingredients for dough together. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.

While dough is chilling, prepare your cheesecake filling. Mix all filling ingredients together. Scoop into tablespoon-sized balls and place on wax paper. Chill for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Take roughly 1/4 cup cookie dough and wrap it around 1 scoop of cheesecake filling. Make sure it completely covers the filling so nothing leaks out. Place 3 cookies on a baking sheet (trust me, the original poster is correct, they really do expand) and bake for 11-13 minutes.

Let cool and frost with your icing. Eat. Enjoy. SO. GOOD.

Be honest. Really, could you resist?

Kitchen Classics | Chicken Cord en Bleu

I have something to admit to you. All of you.

I don't like ham.

I don't really care for Swiss cheese, either.

However, even I'm a sucker for homemade chicken cord en bleu. It started as a way to get rid of extra Christmas ham. And now, we're stuck with it. It is a boyfriend-approved and oft-requested recipe.

So, chicken cord en bleu it is. He's been asking for it for a little while now, but we've only had frozen bag chicken. Anytime I have to beat the crud out of a chicken breast, I prefer the fresh, meat section kind - the frozen ones just don't... smoosh... quite as nicely as the butcher section cuts.

It's easy, quick, and completely tasty. I hope your family loves them as much as we did!

Chicken Cord en Bleu
Yield | 3-4 servings

Prep Time | 5-7 minutes
Bake Time | 20 minutes
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Ingredients:

1 lb chicken breasts

8-10 slices of ham (depending on how many chicken breasts)

5-6 slices of Swiss cheese (same as above)

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup cracker crumbs (or panko, breadcrumbs, etc)

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Cooking spray

Three flattened chicken breasts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Pound chicken breasts out to 1/4 inch thickness. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Top with 1-1 1/2 slices Swiss cheese and 2 slices of ham. Roll together tightly. Repeat with each chicken breast.

In a separate bowl, combine cornstarch and crumbs. Lightly spray each chicken roll with cooking spray and  coat with the crumbs, covering each side.

Yup, some of those crumbs are definitely multi-grain Cheerios. I substituted. You know what, they were delicious.

Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through.

Uhmm, yum. For real. So good. Love it.

Gameday Grub | Buffalo Chicken Bites

Oh my.

These... well, these were fantastic. They are, already, a gameday snack requirement. I mentioned yesterday how important gamedays are in our house. If only you could see the boyfriend, completely decked out in Bruins gear, screaming at the top of his lungs - the Bruins just tied the game.

I don't know if our dogs will ever recover. The big one is under the coffee table.

Great. Now I'm not allowed to move from my seat. He thinks I'm good luck. I swear, I just sat down for a minute! Thankfully, I have nothing in the oven.

Oh well, I love hockey. And, let's be honest, I don't really want to clean the house, anyways.

Back to the point. The best part about gamedays is the food. We always have something special on gamedays: jalapeno poppers, chicken wings, fried just-about-anything. They're a big deal.

These delicious, creamy, cheesy, spicy Buffalo Chicken Bites pretty much top the list of the hundreds and hundreds of gameday snack recipes we've played with this year.

They are just wonderful and the dough can be used for so many things. It's even good with nothing stuffed inside it. I can't wait to try different fillings, like potato, cheese, and bacon (and a little ranch, of course!). So versatile.

Plus, these little bites are great to freeze. Just cook them halfway, baste, cool, and freeze. Costs a third of the frozen snacks. In our house, this is ridiculously important. Snacks are a way of life.

The best part about these: I was able to fix 'em up so they weren't too time-consuming. Did I mention you can freeze them?

A very special thanks to What's Cookin' Chicago? for introducing me to this snacktastic recipe. Find the original here. My adaptation, below, is a little creamier and cheesier, and a little quicker. Enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Bites
Yield | Roughly 48 bites

Prep Time | 15 minutes, plus 2 hours to rise
Cook Time | 6-8 minutes
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Ingredients:

1 packet rapid rise yeast
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup warm milk
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup cooked chicken
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup hot sauce*
4 tablespoons bleu cheese dressing (or ranch, if you prefer!)

Stir brown sugar into warm milk until completely dissolved. Pour into large mixing bowl. Now, as a note, I don't have a mixer, like the original poster, so these are the directions by hand. If you have a mixer, fantastic! Use it, as I live vicariously though you. I'm jealous :) Luckily, these aren't too difficult at all to make by hand.

Add flour and yeast to bowl and stir until mixed well and dough. Pour onto lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 5 -7 minutes.

Spread a light coating of oil over a large bowl. Place dough in bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set in a warm place and let rise for roughly two hours.

While the dough rises, make your filling. Combine the remaining ingredients. I used canned chicken to cut down on time and it turned out great because it shreds up so easily. And we *always use Franks! So good.

"We put that sh*t on everything" is practically our household motto.

Preheat over to 400 degrees F.

After dough has doubled in size and bubbles have formed on the surface, set dough on floured surface and cut into four pieces. Take the first piece and roll until it is roughly 12 inches long, like a long rope. Use your rolling pin to stretch it out until it is 4 inches wide, 12 inches long.

Scoop 1/4 of the filling onto the 1/3 of the dough.

Fold in half and pinch to close on all sides. Roll into a 12 inch-long "rope."

Cut the "rope" into 12 pieces and place on lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake for 6-8 minutes, until golden brown. Melt two tablespoons butter or margarine and brush over bites, salting lightly. Let cool for a couple minutes and devour.

So very, very tasty.

If you want to freeze them, bake them for 4-5 minutes, or until the dough is hard but not yet browning.

EDIT 4/24/2012: Reheated my frozen ones - SO GOOD. Very pleased with this recipe!


Next time: Hawaiian Shoyu Chicken & Grilled Pineapple... one of my all-time favorite chicken marinades. I love anything with soy sauce, though, and pineapple only makes it better!

Cookies! | Triple Chocolate Fudge

Almost too much chocolate for one cookie.

So, it's a dreary day outside, and in my boredom, I decided to make the extra cookie dough from Monday's cookies into Triple Chocolate Fudge cookies.

I took my Double Chocolate Cookies and took out the white chocolate chips.

The chips became a ganache.

And the ganache became a sweet, smooth white chocolate icing.

Top it with a milk chocolate Hershey's kiss and... voila! Triple Chocolate Fudge cookies.

I used the white chocolate ganache recipe below to coat the cookies (recipe can be found here). Once your cookies are baking, make your chocolate - it will need to chill.

Fresh, hot cookies.

White Chocolate Ganache
Yield | Enough for 12 cookies

Cook Time | 1-2 minutes, plus 15 minutes to chill
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Ingredients:

2 ounces white chocolate (I used Hershey's white chocolate chips)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Pour all ingredients into a microwave-safe bowl.

Microwave all ingredients in short 20 second intervals, stirring in between, until smooth. Refrigerate for 15 minutes, until chocolate is thick and smooth.

Microwave until smooth and creamy.

After the cookies were finished in the oven, I set them out to cool for 5-10 minutes, while the ganache finished setting in the fridge.

Once set, I scooped the ganache into a plastic baggy, cut the tip, and squeezed the sweet, creamy goodness onto the still-warm cookies in a spiral pattern while the cookies are still on the pan.

The warm white chocolate melts over the cookie while it stays warm on the pan.

Stick a Hershey's kiss in the middle and let the cookies sit for a couple minutes on the warm pan and the icing will melt all over their dark chocolatey deliciousness.

Probably one of my favorite variations of this cookie. So rich and chocolately, the gooey brownie-like cookie with the creamy white chocolate... so good. I highly recommend eating on right after the icing has gotten all melty - the Hershey kiss gets all soft and the middle all gooey.

Pour yourself a glass of cold milk and enjoy!

Cookie Monday | Double Chocolatey Goodness

Oh, cookies.

If there's anything I love (nearly) as much as bacon, it's cookies. I love cookies. All shapes, all sizes, they're all delicious.

In our house, surprisingly, sweets don't go that fast - with the exception of the boyfriend's favorites, like cobbers. So I send a lot of baked goods with the boyfriend for work. A garage full of men can definitely find a home for our uneaten goodies.

The first time I made these cookies, they broke the mold. Not only were they all eaten, but I made a second batch the next day, and another a week later.

And now I'm revisiting them.

Try them. They're amazing. Fantastic, even. Be warned, however: you'll never look at cookies the same way again. It's just not possible.


Double Chocolate Fudge Cookies
Yield | 12 cookies

Prep Time | 5 minutes, plus 15 minutes to chill
Bake Time | 10-12 minutes
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Ingredients:

1 box dark chocolate brownie mix (I like Duncan Hines)
1 cup flour
1 large egg
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Ignore the butter. I was thinking of frosting them, but they are so good without it!

Mix the brownie mix, flour, egg, water, and oil together. Add chocolate chips. Pour powdered sugar in a separate dish and set off to the side. Chill for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Scoop out tablespoon-sized balls of dough. Roll in powdered sugar.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Ooey, gooey, and cracked is the best way! Sooo good.

I've tried these cookies so many ways and the dark chocolate mix is by far my favorite. Some of the flavored ones, like the peanut butter or mocha brownies, don't seem to have the same rich, chocolatey taste after the flour is added. Instead, I use the dark chocolate and vary my mix-ins. Dark chocolate with dark chocolate chips and coconut is fantastic!

Oh yes. They're that good.

Next time: Cheesy Bacon & Mushroom Chicken... a truly man-approved meal. Bacon, mushrooms, red onions and chicken with a tangy Cajun and honey mustard marinade.

Follow me on Pinterest! 

Gameday Grub | Bacon-Wrapped Heaven

Everything tastes better with bacon.

Everything. I'm not kidding.

You don't add bacon to recipes. You add recipes to bacon. It's the Chuck Norris of foods. So what, possibly, could be added to bacon to make bacon better?

Baked Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

Jalapenos. Cheese. Deliciousness. Bacon-wrapped heaven. Thank you, Pinterest, for gracing me with this recipe (originally found here: http://blogchef.net/bacon-wrapped-jalapenos-recipe/) and the inspiration for my creation. As a note, the original recipe grills them, which, now that the weather is getting better, will be fantastic. I baked mine. They're really greasy, so be warned!


Baked Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers
Yield | 12-16 poppers

Prep Time | 10 minutes
Bake Time | 10-12 minutes
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Ingredients:

6-8 whole, fresh jalapenos
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese (I used reduced fat)
A handful of shredded cheese, your choice (in this variety, I used cheddar)
12 slices bacon

Optional variations:

1 clove garlic, minced      |      1/4 cp pineapple, diced      |      Bleu cheese crumbles
1/3 vidalia onion, diced    |      Splash of soy sauce
1 tablespoon EVOO

For this recipe, I used the garlic and vidalia onion combination.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Halve and seed jalapenos.

Soften cream cheese as you prepare your other ingredients (if you choose any, the original recipe was simply cream cheese, bacon, and jalapenos, so it's up to you!). For mine, I sauteed up the garlic and onion with 1 tablespoon EVOO over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, until the onions were translucent.

Add shredded cheese and extra ingredients (in our case, onion and garlic) to cream cheese and mix. Spread into jalapeno halves, wrap with bacon, and bake for 10-12 minutes, until bacon gets crispy and brown.

If jalapenos start to look done before the bacon, just throw them under the broiler for a minute. Serve with ranch dressing.

So good. Got the boyfriend seal-of-approval. Football season-level approval. That's a big deal.

I think next time I'm going to try them with pineapple and a light splash of soy sauce... or maybe some Cajun seasoning (my addiction). And we may just have to grill them!

Next time: Double Chocolate Cookies... so melt-in-your-mouth delicious you won't be able to stand it.

Seriously. They're like the bacon of cookies. So good.

For the Love of a Foodie

Double Chocolate Cookies - Recipes Coming Soon!

Food is my greatest weakness. I am - at my core - a devoted foodie.

Thankfully, I was blessed with a love of yoga and the metabolism of a six year old. And we can't forget my wonderful foodie parents and very understanding and hungry boyfriend - they make my full-fledged love affair with food possible.

From melt-in-your-mouth Double Chocolate Cookies to Jerk-Style Chicken Wings with Cherry Peppers, to Tuxedo Cupcakes, Mini Beer Burgers and Mini Cheesecakes: my love for food knows no end.

Shish Kabobs with Homemade Lemon Vinaigrette Marinade

Chocolate Tuxedo Cupcakes

Garlic Parmesan, Buffalo Hot, and Spicy Cajun Wings