Portobello, Broccoli and Red Pepper Melts

We'll just call these YUMMMMM.  And if you don't know about Annie's Eats, you need to go there.  We both liked these very much.  No calorie count on this one because it would depend on surface area and size of bread.  And I am lazy..... it might be around 400 each.  We had this with some soup and it was great.


Portobello, Broccoli and Red Pepper Melts
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1 small head broccoli, cut into small florets
1 tbsp. olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper
4 portobello mushrooms (stems removed), sliced ½-inch thick
2 red bell peppers, seeded and sliced ½-inch thick
¼ cup light mayonnaise
1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
4 thick slices country bread
2-4 oz. provolone cheese, thinly sliced

Directions:
Preheat a broiler with a rack placed 4 inches from the heat source.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.  Place the broccoli on the baking sheet, drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Toss to combine.  Broil until the broccoli begins to brown, tossing once or twice, about 4-6 minutes.

Add the sliced mushrooms and peppers to the pan with the broccoli and toss to combine.  Broil, tossing once or twice, until the vegetables are tender, 8-10 minutes more.  Set aside.

Meanwhile, combine the mayonnaise and garlic in a small bowl; season with salt and pepper.  Place the slices of bread on a work surface.  Spread each slice of bread with 1 tablespoon of the garlic-mayo mixture.  Top with the cooked vegetables, then the cheese.  Line the baking sheet with a new piece of foil.  Transfer the assembled sandwiches to the baking sheet.  Broil until the cheese is melted and lightly browned, 2-4 minutes.

Elephant Ears

These were really easy, really quick and pretty tasty. I didn't think they were terribly authentic (I did grow up in the town with the world's largest free fair!)... but I think these would make a great dessert component, like with some ice cream or some apple pie filling or drizzled with caramel/chocolate/icing. Imagine the possibilities! Thanks Molly.


Elephant Ears


Ingredients:
* Refrigerator biscuits - 1 roll
* 1 cup cooking oil
* 1/4 cup cinnamon sugar (I made a mix of 1/2 c sugar and 1 tbsp cinnamon)
* Paper lunch bag

Directions: Place cinnamon sugar in paper lunch bag. Heat cooking oil in large (10"+) frying pan. Test for hot enough: Drop of water will sizzle. Separate dough into individual biscuits-"ear". Stretch each biscuit until they just about have holes in them. They do not have to be perfect. Gently drop each "ear" into the hot oil. As soon as one side becomes golden, flip them and let second side get golden. DO NOT WALK AWAY. They burn quickly. Place "ears" on paper towel to soak up excess oil. Shake "ears" in paper bag of cinnamon sugar. Serve warm with ice cream or just plain. Make lots, they will go quickly.

**I just used premade cinnamon sugar and sprinkled it on both sides because I didn't have a paper bag. These really only take like 2 minutes per side. I used regular buttermilk biscuits.

Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes

Molly gave me this suggestion for Easter/mom's birthday. Everyone loved how cute and bite sized these little cakes were. It was a huge pain in the butt having only one 12-mini muffin pan so I suggest having more than that if you plan to do them this size. Yes you can use regular muffin pan size, just increase everything accordingly.... but they won't be this cute and bite sized!

Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cakes
Yield: About 48 cakes?

Ingredients:
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 (18.25 ounce) package pineapple cake mix (Duncan Hines has a Pineapple Supreme flavor)
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
maraschino cherries, quartered

1. Preheat the oven to 350. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and butter; mix well. Spoon a tiny bit into greased mini muffin cups. Place a small piece of cherry in the center of each cup. Spoon a little bit of pineapple around each cherry. Yes mini muffin cups are tiny... so you only need a tiny bit of everything.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs, oils and mix well. Spoon over pineapple, filling each cup almost full. Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Watch them!! Time may need to be adjusted for the size of the cup.

3. Immediately pop out onto wire racks to cool. This can be messy and you can burn your hand if you don't have mad baking skillz like I have. Yes these will be a bit sticky... what can you expect from sugary pineapply goodness?

**I made one larger cake in my 4" round pan with a full sized pineapple ring and cherry to place in the center of the tray with all the mini cakes around it. Super cute.

Superbowl Wings

Matt wanted wings during the Superbowl and the frozen bag of wing sections was on sale. I have never made these before so I kind of 'winged' it (hahahahaha). Matt and his cousin sure liked them so I guess I did ok.


Superbowl Wings
Serves: 2-4

1. Preheat oven to whatever the frozen wings say. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with Pam.

2. Rinse and pat dry 18 wing sections.

3. In a large plastic baggie, mix together 3/4 cup flour, palmful of oregano, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp cayenne pepper. Toss the wings into the bag and coat with the flour mixture. If you have the time it is best to let the wings sit for an hour before proceeding, but I didn't.

4. In a large bowl, pour about 1/3-1/2 bottle of Franks buffalo sauce and 2 tablespoons of melted butter. With tongs place each flour coated wing in the sauce to coat. Place on the cookie sheet. Repeat as necessary.

5. Bake according to bag directions... about 50 minutes if frozen turning halfway thru cooking. Broil for the last 5ish minutes. Watch carefully or they could burn.

6. In a new bowl, dump some more sauce in and toss the hot wings in and coat them. Ta da! Wings!

Taco Cups

O-M-G yum. I was very surprised that these were so yummy. I saw a recipe like this from the Jenny O Turkey store or something and just kinda made up something else.

Taco Cups
Yield: 12 cups

1. Heat a tablespoon of veggie oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. Brown a pound of ground turkey. (It comes in 20 oz packages. You really will only use about 12 oz for this recipe but the taco seasoning is for a pound... so either have some leftover taco meat or reduce the meat and the taco seasoning). Drain and follow the directions on a taco seasoning packet. I highly recommend the Ortega jalapeno and onion taco seasoning.

2. While the meat is cooking, lightly spray/grease a 12 regular sized muffin cup pan. Open a 12 pack tube of refrigerated breadstick dough (by the crescent rolls). Preheat the oven to whatever it says on the package. Seperate the dough at the perforations and roll each strip into a ball (there will be 12). With a rolling pin, use a little elbow grease to roll out each ball into a 4 inch (approx) circle and press into the bottom and sides of each muffin cup.

3. Spoon a little taco meat into each cup. It will only be about a spoonful. Then top with a little bit of canned diced tomatoes with green chiles. Sprinkle on a pinch of shredded cheese, I like colby jack but mexican blend is obviously a good choice.

4. Bake according to the dough directions (about 10 minutes). Pop the cups out of the pan and onto a platter. Top with a little dollop of sour cream and some diced green onion.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

This amazingly addictive recipe comes from my favorite buffalo sauce lover Lindsay. It was a huge hit at my family's Christmas party. Warning: This is spicy. If you can't handle it, back away! I personally didn't like the celery with it, so I stuck to the chips. I also made a half recipe, which worked well for our party of 20. The entire thing got eaten with no leftovers. We needed about a full bag of Tostitos scoops.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Ingredients
* 16 oz cream cheese, softened (I used reduced fat)
* 12 oz Frank's buffalo sauce (I used about 10 oz, and Franks is the best!)
* 8 oz Ranch dressing (I used Hidden Valley)
* 4 cups cooked, shredded chicken (just bake some plain chicken breasts and shred with forks, one medium breast makes about 3/4 cup shredded)
* 1 cup shredded colby jack or cheddar cheese


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the cream cheese, dressing, and buffalo sauce until well blended. Add shredded chicken and mix well.
3. Spread into a glass baking dish. Top with cheese. ****
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes. (After baking, I transferred the dip into a small crockpot to keep it warm.)
5. Serve warm with tortilla chips (scoops!) and celery.
6. Devour! Remember to breathe!!

****I didn't do any of the baking. I just mixed all the ingredients and put it in a Little Dipper crock pot. It took about 30 minutes to heat thru and melt together. Worked great!

Cookie Dough Dip

This came from my friend Jill. Makes a fabulous snacky appetizer! I really like the variation I came up with, but the party was split 50/50 on which was their fave.

Cookie Dough Dip
Serves: a party

1. Take a 8 oz block of (reduced fat) cream cheese and a stick of butter out to soften.

2. In a stand mixer (or a hand mixer and bowl) beat together the following:
-cream cheese and butter
-3/4 cup powdered sugar
-1 Tablespoon vanilla extract (not that imitation crap)

3. Stir in 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips. Chill and serve with graham cracker sticks (or graham crackers or vanilla wafers).

VARIATION:
Do everything above but add 1/4 cup of peanut butter in step #2. Then change the chocolate chips to 1 cup of peanut butter chips.