Category

Appetizers

Mashed Potato Puffs

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A couple of weeks ago there was a sale on 10 pound bags of potatoes at the grocery store. I typically only buy half of that, but since the 10 pounder was cheaper than the 5, it was a no-brainer.

10 pounds of potatoes is a lot, even for a potato lover like me.  There are only so many days a person can eat mashed potatoes in a row. As you know, I love making recipes out of leftovers & anything that I am trying to get rid of in my fridge. Here is a delicious way to get rid of leftover mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

1 cup of left over mashed potatoes

1 tube of crescent rolls or crescent sheet

5-6 bacon strips cooked to desired crispiness

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375. Put 1 cup of mashed potatoes in a medium sized mixing bowl. Add the sour cream. If the potatoes are lumpy, mash or whip them until they are smooth. Crumble or chop your cooked bacon & add to the potato mixture. Stir in the cheese. Unroll the crescent dough. If using crescent rolls, press seam together to form a sheet & then roll out with a rolling pin. With a knife, slice crescent into 1 1/2 inch squares. (If the dough is too soft to work with refrigerate for 10-15 minutes to firm up.) Scoop a heaping spoonful of mixture & place in crescent square. Pull each corner into the center. Roll the bottom & sides with your palm to seal the seams. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

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These were a huge hit. I have admit that I was pretty proud of these. My husband even asked me to make more.

Macaroni & Cheese Bites With Ham

MacNcheeseBites.jpgBeing a working mom, it is hard to be away from my daughter all day. It is a struggle for me to walk out that door every morning. If I am lucky I get to see her wake before I walk out the door. Most evenings I do not return home until almost 6 pm. When I get home from work, I am so excited to see my munchkin. The last thing I want to do is spend all my time worrying about dinner & then getting into our usual battle over her not eating it. It is exhausting. I try to opt for quick kid friendly food during the work week. It is difficult with my daughter’s picky diet. It is honestly a roll of the dice as to whether she will eat or not. Even her old standby foods sometimes fail us, but still I try. I am always trying to re-introduce foods even the ones she hates in hopes that she will learn to like them. One food that she has never liked & has often puzzled me is mac & cheese. What kid doesn’t like mac & cheese? Mine apparently.

My daughter like most toddlers loves bite sized foods. For some reason it is not simply enough to cut the food into small pieces, it must be formed this way from the get go. I am not complaining though, I find the little morsels to be fun to eat as well. Our last experiment was bite sized macaroni & cheese with ham. Would this fool my little food diva into eating it? Let’s find out.

This is a quick & easy one.

Ingredients:

1 box of Velveeta shells & cheese

1 6 oz ham steak thinly diced (about a cup – 1 1/4 cup)

1 egg

Pepper to taste

Directions: Preheat the oven to 400. Prepare the boxed mac & cheese. Mix in the diced ham, stir until ham is evenly distributed. Stir in the egg & add pepper to taste. Spoon the mixture into a greased mini muffin tin filling to the top. Bake for 15 minutes. Use a spoon to slide out the bites.

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Did my bite size treats impress my tough little food critic? Unfortunately this experiment failed me. She took a bite & said, “I don’t like cheese.” & then spit it out. The good news is they were a big hit with my husband. I did get Mai to eat at least an ear of corn on the cob. Back to the drawing board, but for those of you with mac & cheese lovers in your midst, they might enjoy these bites. The battle continues.

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Maple & Swiss Turkey Meatballs

0071As you all well know, my daughter is a picky eater. There are very few things that I put in front of her that she will eat. We have our old standbys that usually work. For breakfast french toast balls or nanna’s pancakes are a sure fire hit. For lunch a basic cheese sandwich with ranch dressing will usually do the trick and for supper meatballs or meatloaf are a safe bet. As of the past month our daughter has begun commenting that her food is “too spicy”. This is a strange comment as mommy never makes spicy food. She has developed a fear of her old favorite the meatball over the “too spicy” concern, Mommy thought she would squash this fear by making her some sweet meatballs & since one of her favorite things to eat is maple syrup it was the perfect combination.

Maple and Swiss Meatballs

Ingredients:
20oz of ground turkey
1 egg
1/2 cup of wheat bread crumbs
1/3 cup of real maple syrup
1 cup of shredded swiss cheese
1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. Combine all the ingredients except the cheese in a large mixing bowl. Add the cheese and mix in with your hands evenly distributing the cheese throughout. Shape mixture into small balls about 1″ round. Place on a cookie sheet lined with foil & spray with cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked fully through. Cook times may vary.

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In a stroke of pure genius from my husband, he made cocktail meatballs by sticking pretzel sticks in the middle of them. What a great idea instead of a toothpick. I will be trying this at our next party.

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Mai has been practicing with her chopsticks and getting pretty good at it. She gobbled up her meatballs and they were not too spicy.

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Related Topics:

http://trialanderrorkitchen.wordpress.com/2014/05/04/turkey-meatballs/

http://ktoonkooks.wordpress.com/2014/05/04/succulent-spaghetti-meatballs/

http://meggoesnomnom.com/2014/05/01/gingery-pork-meatballs-with-noodles/

Baked Pickles

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There are a lot of interesting food combinations out there these days. There are food pairings that I would never think of like peanut butter and bacon, deep fried oreos, and deep fried pickles. I remember the first time I ever heard of a deep fried pickle. I thought that it was so strange and then I tasted one… Wow! I was hooked. If ever I was out and saw them on a menu, I had to order them. The problem is now that I am off of fried foods, I miss them. So, if you can’t fry them, bake them.

This is a quick and easy snack that is fun to eat and tasty.

Ingredients:

15 mini dill pickles

1/2 cup of egg whites

1/2 cup of flour (I use wheat flour but regular all purpose flour will do)

1/2 cup of bread crumbs

Directions:

Preheat your oven at 400 degrees. Slice the pickle in half lengthwise. Pat dry with a paper towel. Coat in flour & then dip in the egg white. Roll in the bread crumbs and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes. Serve with low fat Ranch dressing.

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My husband said that he likes these even better than the fried version. They were gobbled up quickly.

Taco Crescent Wreath

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It is official, we are entering the Christmas season.With Thanksgiving behind us, it is time to take down our turkeys & cornucopias and replace them with stockings & Christmas wreaths. It is also time to break out all our favorite holiday recipes & Christmas crafts. This is a very exciting holiday season for us. Our daughter is older this year & is learning more about Christmas & all of the magic and wonder that comes with it. Lately, she has become mommy’s little helper & loves cooking and baking with me. I look forward to the next month of baking Christmas cookies & other Yuletide favorites with her.

Mai has always been a finicky eater. I agonize over planning meals. I have always tried to open her up to a wide variety of foods but she is very resistant. One trick that has always worked for me is wrapping full meals inside a crescent roll & then serving her bite sized pieces. My daughter is not a fan of meat other than ground turkey. I use this tactic to sneak in shredded chicken or beef & also vegetables.  I have stuffed them with chicken & broccoli or with holiday leftovers such as turkey, stuffing & cranberry sauce.

One of my favorite holiday party platters takes any of these different combinations & puts it into a wreath form.

For this recipe, I chose a ground turkey taco wreath but as I said their are a number of possibilities that you can experiment with.

Ingredients are enough to make two to three wreaths. You can freeze unused portions.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey (ground beef will also work)

2-3 cans of large crescent rolls ( I used Pillsbury Grands)

1 taco seasoning packet

6 oz of cream cheese (softened)

1/3 cup sour cream

1/2 a tomato (diced)

1 cup of frozen corn

1/3 cup of sliced black olives

2 cups of mexican cheese

Red & Green peppers for garnish

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

In a large skillet, brown meat & drain. Add taco seasoning & follow package directions. Place aside.

In a large mixing bowl add cream cheese & sour cream. Mix well.

Add cooked meat mixture & mix well.

Stir in the corn, olives, cheese until evenly distributed throughout mixture. Mix in diced tomatoes last.

On a greased baking sheet, overlap crescent rolls in a circular pattern pointed side out. Pinch crescent together. Add mixture to the overlapping crescents following the circular pattern about an inch thick & an inch high.

Pull a crescent point in and fold over diagonally, pull each point in one at a time.

Slice peppers into tiny pieces & press into your wreath scattering them. Slice 4 long slices of red pepper to form your wreath bow. Repeat for each wreath.

Bake in the oven according to crescent recommendations for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cook times may vary according to oven.

Let cool & transfer to a serving dish & serve.

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This is a delicious all in one meal. It is perfect to bring to holiday parties. The best part of all, my picky little lady loves them. I hope you enjoy.

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Up next…What Happens When Mommy’s Not Home?