Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Dreamsicle Cake

Cake:
1 orange cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cup water
1 small box orange gelatin

Mix all together and pour into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until done.

Topping:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 large box vanilla instant pudding
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 11oz can mandarin oranges, thoroughly drained
8 oz cool whip or whipped cream

Blend together cream cheese, pudding, and sugar. Add orange juice. When blended, fold in whipped topping and mandarin oranges. Spread on top of thoroughly cooled cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Personal note: The next time I try this, I'm going to change the topping by eliminating the pudding, using real whipped cream instead of cool whip, and add a tsp. of vanilla flavoring to the cream cheese.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Caramel Fruit Dip
(February at Julie’s House made by Marlana)

1 pkg. cream cheese, softened at room temperature
¾ C. brown sugar, dark
½ C. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix all ingredients either with a blender or by hand. Serve with fruit or pretzels! Makes a great after school snack.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Oreo Truffles

36 Oreo cookies crushed
1 80z. brick cream cheese (I used Neufatchel)
Dipping chocolate

This is easiest in a food processor, but I don't have one. I crushed the cookies in a Ziploc bag and then mixed them with the cream cheese with a hand mixer.
Roll into balls.
You can dip them now, but I found it easier if you refrigerate them for an hour or so.
I used white chocolate chips and melted them in the microwave for about 15 seconds at a time, stirring thoroughly.
Drizzle with milk chocolate.
Allow to set up in the fridge.

You could do a variety of flavors of cookies and chocolates. I'm thinking of doing Nutterbutters and milk chocolate, drizzled with dark chocolate. Lemon sandwich cookies, vanilla cookies, mint Oreos...the possibilities are endless.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Southwest Toasted Meatloaf Melt with Avocado Salsa and Cilantro Mayonnaise

1 lb lean ground beef
1 egg, slightly beaten
½ Cup garlic and herb dry bread crumbs
4 oz can diced green chilies
¼ Cup finely chopped onion
¼ Cup finely chopped green bell pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

2 ripe avocados peeled, seeded and diced into ½ inch cubes
2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
1 roma tomato diced
¼ Cup finely diced red onions
¼ cup fresh chopped cilantro leaves
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon roasted garlic seasoning

¾ Cup mayonnaise
¼ Cup fresh chopped cilantro leaves
¼ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

4 slices cheddar cheese
8 slices sourdough bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl combine the ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, green chilies, onions, bell pepper, garlic, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper. Gently mix until just combined. Form into loaf and place into meatloaf pan that has been lightly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until meatloaf is cooked through and top has browned. Let sit for 10 minutes before slicing.

Meanwhile in a medium bowl combine diced avocados, lime juice, cumin, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, salt and pepper. Toss gently, cover and refrigerate until serving.
In a small bowl combine the mayonnaise, cilantro and black pepper. Mix until well combined. Set aside.

When meatloaf has been removed from oven, preheat oven’s broiler. Place cheese onto 4 of the slices of bread. Place all 8 slices under broiler for 1-2 minutes or until lightly toasted and cheese melted. Spread generous portions of the cilantro mayonnaise onto the insides of the 4 toasts without the cheese. Slice the meatloaf into 8 equal slices. Place 2 slices of meatloaf onto the cheese side of the toasts. Top the meatloaf with divided avocado salsa, and place the remaining toast on top to close sandwich.

Julie's house February

Christmas Punch - February at Julie's house

Christmas Punch (from LaFaye Bergman)

1 package raspberry Kool-Aid
3/4 c. sugar
1 qt. water
1/2 c. orange juice
1/4 c. lemon juice
1 1/2 c. pineapple juice

Note: Raspberry Kool-Aid seems to be impossible to find these days. I used Raspberry ice Crystal Lite for Dinner Group. I reduced the amount of sugar by about a third.

Beautiful Burger Buns

1 c. water
2 T. butter
1 egg
3 1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 T. yeast
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder


Mix all ingredients together in mixer until soft dough forms. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise for 1 hour. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape each piece into a flattened ball. Place buns on greased baking sheet, cover and let rise 30-40 minutes, until they are quite puffy. Brush tops with beaten egg (this makes them pretty and helps the topping to stick) then sprinkle, sesame seeds, poppy seeds or dried onions on top. Pre-heat oven to 375*. Bake the buns for 12-15 minutes, until they are golden brown. Remove from pan and let cool on rack. Enjoy!!

Recipe from Korrie Bastian but LaVon brought them with her permission!

LaVon - February 2010 - Julie's house

Peanut butter cup pie Feb at Julie's

1 pkg cream cheese
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp creamy peanut butter (divided)
1 cup cold milk
1 pkg vanilla instant pudding
2 1/2 cups thawed cool whip
1 oreo pie crust
3 squares Baker's semi-sweet chocolate

Beat cream cheese and 1/2 cup peanut butter until well blended. Add milk and dry pudding mix; beat 2 min. Whisk in 1 cup cool whip; spoon into crust. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Microwave remaining 1 1/2 cup cool whip and chocolate on high 1 1/2 to 2 min or until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring after each minute. Cool completely.
Spread chocolate mixture over pudding layer in crust. Microwave remaining peanut butter for 30 sec; stir. Drizzle over top. Refrigerate 4 hours or until firm.

Citrus Quencher January at Lori's

2 2liters of Sprite
3/4 cup limeade concentrate
1/2 cup orange juice

Combine all and serve over ice.
Cheese Noodles

From Paula Deen, Food Network

1 c cottage cheese
1 c sour cream
6 oz angel hair pasta, cooked and drained
2 T grated onion (or 1 T dried minced-I did onion powder)
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp garlic salt
½ c grated Parmesan (I did more)

Stir together cottage cheese and sour cream and add to noodles. Add onion, Worcestershire, and garlic salt.

Place in a greased casserole dish.

Sprinkle Parmesan over top and bake at 350 for 45 min.