Oreo Truffle Eyeballs

Not only do these taste great, but they looked awesome for Halloween as eyeballs. I know it may be a little late this year for Halloween, but these are perfect for a family party or any party really, so if you don't get the chance to make them for Halloween try them for Christmas and drizzle colored candy melts or sprinkle with Christmas colored sprinkles, or be even more creative than me which wouldn't be too hard as that's about the extent of my creativity. Anyway if you want more ideas check out Bakerella, she has a lot of cute ideas for cakeballs, but I think these actually work better because they stay firmer. These can also be made with Nutter Butters, but I have yet to try so if you try them before I do let me know!


1 pkg Oreos, or Nutter Butters
8 oz. cream cheese
about a bag of white chocolate chips, or chocolate if your using Nutter Butters

The easiest way to make these is in a food processor where you can crush the cookies and then drop chunks of the cream cheese in and mix together until it forms a sticky dough. If you don't have a food processor just crush the cookies in a ziploc bag until fine crumbs, then transfer to a bowl and mix in the cream cheese with a mixer. Roll dough into a 1-inch ball and place on a greased cookie sheet. Place in freezer for at least an hour if not a couple of hours. In a microwave safe bowl melt half your chocolate in microwave for intervals of 45 seconds stirring in between until melted. Drop Oreo balls into chocolate and completely cover with chocolate. Place back on pan (this is probably the hardest part and it takes a second to kind of get a rhythm so that they come out looking good, even if they're not pretty they still taste great) Put back in fridge for another couple hours. These are best served cold.

S'mores Bars

These are so good, and by so good I mean we ate them too quickly to take a picture good, sorry! I found these on thegirlwhoateeverything so if you want a picture you can find one there, until I make them again. I made these for a group of friends, and they were loved by all. They taste just like s'mores, especially the first day when they were still warm and the chocolate and marshmallow were still gooey, yum! So when you get a craving for a s'more and don't have access to a campfire, (hopefully I'm not the only one) these little bad boys will fix your craving!

Sorry I'm always in too big of a hurry to get this in my mouth rather than take a picture after it's cut so this was the best I could do.

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 king-sized Hershey's milk chocolate bars
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (7 1/2 oz jar)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. 2 king-sized Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly side by side, but break the chocolate if necessary to get it to fit in a single layer no more than 1/4 inch thick. Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff. I just kind of smooshed the dough out onto a plastic cutting board and then flipped it over the marshmallow and peeled it off. You can also cut it into sections and put it on one section at a time. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars (mine were still slightly warm and gooey, but still delicious!)

Russian Chicken

So I know I already gave you the recipe to this one, but it's one of those recipes that sounds too strange, and too easy to be good, but I promise it is! I saw this recipe in I don't know how many ward cook books before I finally decided I would give it a try, I figured if that many people submitted it, it must be good. So this is my extra nudge for you to give this one a try, if you haven't already:)


1 8 oz Russian dressing
1 c. apricot preserves (I've used peach, apricot-pineapple, all of which are good)
1 envelope onion soup mix
4-5 chicken breasts

Roasted Ranch Potatoes

So even though I try to make a weekly menu every week for some reason I always seem to forget to grab things at the grocery store, or because of changes in schedule I still seem to have days where I'm scrambling to decide what to make. Maybe one day I'll be good and keep freezer meals on hand for those crazy days, but until then it's nice to have quick and easy meals, or in this case a side for my chicken strips I decided to make. These roasted potatoes are super easy and super yummy. If you don't have a Ranch dressing pack on hand, a dry onion soup mix, or even an Italian dressing mix which I have yet to try would also work. I also added broccoli in as well, so try mixing up your vegetables as well. Sorry I have no picture for this one, but hopefully it'll be something I make again soon so that I can take one. Enjoy!

1/4 c. vegetable or olive oil
1 pkg. dry Ranch dressing- I accidentally grabbed a Ranch dip mix instead but still turned out yummy!
2 lbs. cubed potatoes, or any other vegetables you wish just adjust cooking time according, such as adding broccoli in after maybe 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450. In a Ziploc bag combine oil and dressing packet. Add in potatoes and mix to coat. Spread on cooking sheet and cook for 30-35 minutes.

Porcupine Meatballs

I'm not really sure why I love this recipe so much, I think it reminds me of how my mom use to make pork chops. She would brown them with onions and then pour tomato sauce over them and serve them with rice. I know this sounds strange but they were really good. I'm not a huge pork chop fan so this is kind of my way to get that saucy flavor with rice and I love it! These are super easy to make and you probably have all of the ingredients already so if you get the chance give them a try.

Sorry I missed lunch, and was in a hurry to get this in my belly, so not the prettiest pic!

1 lb ground beef
1 egg
1/4 c. uncooked, long grain rice
1/2 T. dried parsley
1 t. salt
dash of pepper
2 T. minced onion (I used dried minced onion)
2 cans tomato soup, divided
1 c. water
2 t. Worcestershire Sauce

Combine egg, rice, parsley, salt and pepper, onion, and 1/4 c. tomato soup. Crumble ground beef in and mix well. I use an ice cream scoop to scoop out balls and then using my hands help shape into balls. Place meatballs in 10 inch skillet over medium high heat. Combine remaining tomato soup, water, and Worcestershire and pour over meatballs. Bring to boil, then lower heat and cover with lid for 40 minutes, turning meatballs once or twice. Serve over rice and enjoy!

Carmel Apple Cheesecake Bars

So I'm not going to lie this one has kind of a lot of steps, but would probably have been much easier if I didn't realize part way through that I was out of vanilla, and if I had a child who wasn't teething and didn't demand so much of my attention and gosh my life is so rough! Jk I love my son, we're kind of trying to transition to 1 nap a day and let's just say it hasn't been pleasant for either of us:) Anyway that said I definitely suggest making this for a crowd because it's super rich and I'm not sure that you could keep it all to yourself (although I'm going to try:), not to mention for all the effort you got to share it with someone who will really appreciate your hard work! Anyway this it a definite must try because it's so good, I found it at thegirlwhoateeverything, but was originally a Paula Dean recipe (and if you know Paula Dean, you know it's got to be good!)

Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

Cheesecake Filling:

3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, divided

3 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Apples:

3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Streusel topping

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
In a small bowl, combine all streusel ingredients, clean hands work best:)

1/2 cup caramel topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry blender (or 2 forks) until mixture is crumbly. Press evenly into a 9x13 baking pan lined with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 3/4 cup sugar in an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Then add eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Pour over warm crust.

In a small bowl, stir together chopped apples, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Spoon evenly over cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle evenly with Streusel topping. Bake 40-45 minutes, or until filling is set. Drizzle with caramel topping and let cool. Serve cold and enjoy!

pictures to come, if impatient check out the girlwhoateeverything.blogspot.com

Fresh Peach Dessert

Sorry another dessert, but I guess it's just kind of that time of year and I just haven't made anything lately that's been worth posting. I've seen lots of peaches in the stores lately, but I actually got mine from Frank's grandmas and they were delicious! This dessert is super easy so if you have some peaches and you want something different from the usual cobbler, try this! Also, sorry for no picture, it just kind of looked like cool whip in a 9x13 pan so you didn't miss much, but it makes up for it in taste!

1 pkg. graham crackers, crushed
1 stick of butter, melted
8-10 fresh peaches, peeled, and chopped
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 lemon juice
8 oz. cool whip, or whipped cream

Combine graham crackers, and butter and press into a 9x13 pan to form a crust. Combine sweetened condensed milk and lemon juice, then stir in peaches. Pour peaches over crust, then top cool whip. Refrigerate for several hours before serving. Enjoy!