Cheesy Spinach Phyllo Rolls

I made these today to take to a going away party that was for some friends. They are moving to Ft. Lewis next week so several folks gathered at the park for good food and good talk. This was my contribution. I found the recipe on the Kraft website. It's very similar to spanikopita. They were really good!!!!!

Cheesy Spinach Phyllo Rolls

1 egg , beaten

1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained

1 cup ATHENOS Traditional Crumbled Feta Cheese

1 tub (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Garden Vegetable 1/3 Less Fat than Cream Cheese

4 green onions, finely chopped

15 sheets frozen phyllo (14x9 inch), thawed

1/3 cup butter, melted

MIX first 5 ingredients until well blended; set aside. Brush 1 phyllo sheet lightly with butter; top with 2 more phyllo sheets, lightly brushing each layer with some of the remaining butter. Place remaining phyllo between sheets of plastic wrap; set aside.

SPREAD 1/5 of the spinach mixture along 1 short side of phyllo stack; fold in both long sides then roll up, starting at 1 of the short sides to make log. Repeat with remaining phyllo sheets and spinach mixture to make 4 more logs. Brush with remaining butter. Make small cuts in tops of logs at 1-inch intervals. Place in large freezer-weight resealable plastic bags or wrap tightly in plastic wrap.

FREEZE up to 3 months. When ready to bake, remove desired number of logs from freezer. Refrigerate, tightly wrapped, several hours or overnight until thawed. Unwrap, then place on baking sheet. Bake in 375°F-oven for 25 min. or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheet 5 min.; transfer to cutting board. Use serrated knife to cut each log into 6 slices.

Halloween Eats

I've been doing a lot of baking lately for Halloween and haven't been posting it....shameful!! This is always a busy time for us and I just kept forgetting to post the recipes. So here goes...



This first one I made for a Halloween party we'd been invited to. Everyone was supposed to bring something to munch on and I really didn't want to go wtih the standard chips and salsa that the husband always suggests (I seriously think he could live off that stuff!!!). So I found this in the TASTE OF HOME HALLOWEEN edition and couldn't resist.

CHEESENSTEIN

2 packages cream cheese (8 ounces each), softened
1/4 C mayo
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp hot pepper sauce
2 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese
6 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
3 green onions, thinly sliced
2 cartons (4 ounces each) whipped cream cheese
Moss-green food coloring
3 large olives
1 pepperoncini
black decorating gel
1 pretzel rod
assorted veggies

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese (not the whipped just the carton), mayo, Worcestershire sauce and pepper sauce until smooth. Stir in the cheddar cheese, bacon and onions. Shape into a 5in. x 4in. x 3in. rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap, Refrigerate until chilled and firm.

Unwrap rectangle; place on serving platter with 3in. side on top.Tint whipped cream cheese green, spread over top and sides of rectangle.

Add pepperoncini for ears (cut in half). Cut one olive in half and place on front for eyes. Slide other olives on pretzel rods and insert in sides for bolts. With black decorating gel pipe mouth, brown and stitches.

Add assorted veggies and crackers.



Next up is what I made for Sunday dinner last week. Also found in the TASTE OF HOME HALLOWEEN edition. I knew that Hallween weekend would be crazy busy so I made this one in advance. Besides, we always order the pumpkin shaped pizza from a certain pizza place for Halloween and I didn't want to interrupt that tradition. ;O)

YUMMY PORK MUMMY
3/4 C heavy cream
1/4 C dijon mustard (I used honey mustard because I already had it)
2 tsp minced fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 pork tenderloin (about 1 pound), however I used a pork roast that was about 4 pounds because I had bought it on sale!
2 tsp oilve oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
10 sheets phyllo dough (14 in X 9 in)
6 tbsp butter, melted
1 medium apple, peeled

In a small skillet bring cream and mustard to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 10-15 minutes or until mixture is reduced to 2/3 C. Remove from the heat and add thyme.

Meanwhile, place pork on rack in shallow baking pan. Brush with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil 6 in from the heat for 6 minutes. Remove from the oven, cool slightly. Change oven temperature to 400 degrees.
Set aside 1/2C mustard sauce for serving. spread remaining mixture over pork.


Place one sheet of phyllo dough on a work surface; brush with butter. (WARNING: NOT CALORIE FRIENDLY!!!!!!!!) (Keep remaining phyllo dough covered with wet towel to keep from drying out). Repeat layers four times.

Place pork on one edge of phyllo dough; roll up tightly to form mummy's body and tuck in ends.

Plae another sheet of dough on work surface, brush with butter and repeat 3 times. Cut into thin strips; wrap around pork bundle.

Cut remaining dough in half, brush with butter. Cut 1 in. cube from apple;wrap in prepared dough. Position at the wide end of the bundle for the head. Save remaining apple for another use. Discard remaining phyllo dough. (I did not do this part with the apple)
Place bundle in ungreased shallow baking pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees. Transfer to a serving platter. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with remaining mustard sauce.

I can feel my arteries hardening with this one!! But the mustard on it made it ssssoooooo moist and tender that you didn't even need a knife to cut it. The husband even praised it's yumminess so it had to be good!!!

Next up..........some halloween cookies!!!

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!!!

Savory Pumpkin Tarts

I love fall and I love Halloween. Well most holidays for that matter, but especially Halloween. I love all the fun food things you can do!! Tonight for dinner we had these little savory tarts. They were so tasty. They'd make a really good appetizer for a Halloween party or a yummy after school snack for the kiddies. After giving me a weird look, the kids ate these up. They had to get past the color... But how fun were these to make? Seriously!!! Enjoy!

Savory Pumpkin Tarts
1 pkg (15 ounces) refrigerated pie crust
3 tbsp honey mustard
1/2 pound fully cooked ham, thinly sliced, (I used the little packages of deli ham found near the bologna at the grocery store)
1C mozzarella cheese
2 egg yolks
4-6 drops red food coloring
1 egg white
2-3 drops green food coloring

On a lightly floured surface, roll out one sheet of pie crust. Using a floured pumpkin cookie cutter (or any halloween cookie cutter for that matter), cut out 8 pumpkins. Repeat with remaining pie crust. Spread mustard over eight of the pumpkins.

Layer with ham, onions and cheese to within 3/4 in of edges.




With a pastry brush (or your finger) dip in water and wet outside edges of pumpkins. Top with remaining pumpkins, press edges to seal.

In a small bowl beat egg yolks with enough red food coloring to achieve an orange color. In another small bowl beat egg white with enough green to get desired color. Brush colors over pumpkins to get desired effect.

Transfer to a greased baking sheet (s). Bake at 400 degrees for 15 min or until browned. Mine were done at 13 minutes. So just keep an eye on them after about 10 minutes.

These were really good and fun to make. You could easily do this with any type of cookie cutter for any type of occassion! Go wild and crazy!!!

HAPPY EATING!!!!!

Layered Bruschetta Dip

For father's day my husband always gets the same thing. Pork roast and saurkraut. This year I had a head of napa cabbage in my fridge and used that instead of the saurkraut (glad I did because now the rest of us got to eat some of the roast too, otherwise the kids and i would have had something different). NOT a saurkraut fan, but I know my husband loves it, so he gets it on Father's day and his birthday. I also wanted to make an appetizer for him. He loves chips/crackers and dips and I found this in one of my recipe books and really wanted to try it. I don't think I've ever tried it before. It was a HUGE hit. He ate almost the whole thing in one sitting. Guess i'll be making this more often!!

Layered Bruschetta Dip
1 pkg cream cheese, softened
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1 tomato, diced
3tbsp garlic powder
dash paprika
1tbsp dried Italian seasoning
1/2C shredded sharp cheddar cheese
parsley, chopped

Mix garlic and cream cheese. Place in bottom of small dish. Top with paprika.

Then add green onions,

tomatoes,

cheese and parsley.


Eat with wheat crackers.

You could add any spices or flavors to the cream cheese that you like to make it more italian. I made this the day before and let it sit and the flavors melded together beautifully. Of course my fridge smelled like it but it was worth it!!! Hope you enjoy it!

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday night went headed over to a 40th birthday party. It was pot luck style and I decided to bring wheat crackers and a dip. This dip is really easy and was super yummy! It was a HUGE hit. It's one I'll be making again for sure!!!

BBQ Party Spread
2 pkg cream cheese
1C of your favorite BBQ sauce (I used hickory flavor)
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 C mixed bell peppers, chopped
2 green onion stalks, chopped
2C shredded cheddar cheese

Spread cream cheese on bottom of 12in pan or pie plate. Top with BBQ sauce and remaining ingredients ending with cheese and then bacon. Chill over night and serve with wheat crackers. The longer this sits, the better it gets. Yummy!!!!!!!

HAPPY EATING!!!!

Lots of Good Things

First off let me apologize for not blogging in a while. My daughter has RSV and we've been taking care of her as a top priority. She's so sad looking while taking her medicine, but she's just such a trooper. She is better now but still on her meds 4X a day as well as antibiotics for an ear infection.
But I have been cooking and taking pictures and i'm here now to share with you what I've done over the past week.

just makes you want to cry-this was taken on
day 1 after we got back from the doctor's office.

So we've been anxious for the super bowl and it was a great game! We rooted for the Steelers and were very excited when they won. My husband just about had heart failure on several occasions!
So without futher interruptions.....the food. I love trying new things and for the big game I wanted to find something to make for dinner that would be authentic to Pittsburgh. So I did some research and found this sandwich. It's funny looking, but it turned out really good!!!!!

Pittsburgh Sandwich
deli style roast beef
hamburger buns
provolone cheese
carrot slaw (recipe to follow)
french fries, hot and crispy

Here's where is gets funny! Layer all ingredients onto bun , eat and enjoy.
Yeah I know, french fries on a sandwich....????? But it was really good. The husband had 3 sandwiches so I guess it worked. He added mustard to his bread and I added a bit of mayo. But you don't' have too. But I have to say, as odd as it sounds, it was really good. And once I found the recipe I remembered that I had seen it featured on a Food Network show. The story behind it that there was a worker who came into his favorite sandwich shop on his lunch break and didn't have a whole lot of time. So he asked the guy behind the counter to just put everything on the bun and he'd eat it that way. So that's how the sandwich was born. Interesting.

Carrot Slaw
1/4 head of cabbage
3 medium carrots, washed and peeled
1/4 medium red onion
garlic powder
oregano
parsley
salt and pepper
1/4 C mayo
3-5 tbsp red pepper italian dressing

*all the measurments are approximate-use however much you like of each ingredient*

In a food processor, grate the carrots, cabbage and onion. Put in bowl and mix in mayo and dressing and add spices to taste.

This was basically, throw it together and see how it tastes slaw, and I think it turned out really well. There's enough left over from the sandwiches for hot dogs later in the week. And I love slaw on my hot dogs. Yummy!!!!!

Next on the list of Superbowl Sunday food was a munchie. It's just not football without the munchies. So I made these and we also had chips and salsa. Easy finger food!!!

Fried Cheese Sticks
12 of your favorite string cheese (I used the cheddar and mozz ones)
italian style bread crumbs
2 eggs, mixed with a little water
veg oil for frying

Cut each of the cheese sticks in half. Coat in the egg mixture and then into the bread crumb mixture. Repeat. Place stick on wax paper lined cookie sheet. At this point place in the freezer for 2 -4 hours until you need them. This helps the bread crumb mixture stay on the cheese stick.
Once ready to cook, heat oil in pan and fry sticks until golden brown.
Serve with favorite marinara sauce (I whipped up my own using 1tbsp tomato paste, 1 roma tomato chopped, garlic powder, oregano, parsely, salt and pepper-cooked on stove top for about 10 minutes until thick). These were really ooey and gooey and so good. I think I made too many for our little family, but we sure enjoyed eating them.
I really liked the cheddar cheese ones. A little different take on the traditional fried cheese stick. Just make sure you plan ahead since these need to go into the freezer.

And lastly I made cupcakes to celebrate. Gotta have something sweet after all that salty. So I whipped these babies up. Just a regular boxed mix with chopped crunch candy thrown in for good measure. The design on top is the steelers logo on top of the grass on the field. Nothing fancy, just good eats as Alton Brown would say!

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!!!

Super Bowl (GO STEELERS) Snacks

I'm so excited for the Super Bowl this Sunday!!!

Even though we live in AZ we are die hard Steelers fans. We've received a lot of grief about that. But that's ok. It's all a part of the fun!!!

So here's a recipe that would be super yummy to munch on during the game. My mom used to make these little appetizers all the time while I was growing up. They aren't fancy, yet they pack a HUGE punch of flavor. I really love them and anytime we had company I would always ask her to make them. Oh and did I mention that they are really easy??

Cheesy Sausage Balls
3 cups bisquick mix
1 pound sausage (I like mild but I bet the spicey would be super in this!)
4 C shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 C milk

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and shape the mixture into balls. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool and eat. These are good by themselves or you could have a dipping sauce of your choice. My mom always had these without sauce.

sorry, not my picture, found it online.


HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Flautas

Have I mentioned that I love Mexican food. Actually I just love food. But I do enjoy some good Mexican on occasion. Lately I've been craving it. So tonight for dinner we decided on flautas. I first saw a recipe for them in the Pillsbury 2008 cookbook. I decided to change it up a bit (cause that just what I do). So enjoy! These are quick and super easy. It took about 30 minutes from start to finish. Not too bad for a late Saturday night supper.

Bean and Cheese Flautas
1 can refried beans
1 C shredded cheddar cheese
1 C salsa
10-6in whole wheat flour tortillas
veg oil for cooking

Make sure tortillas are pliable. Don't want our tortillas breaking in the middle of trying to assemble them. That would be bad! :O)

Heat pan on med. low heat.

Mix the cheese, beans and salsa. Place a spoonful of the mixture in the center of tortilla. Roll up and put a toothpick in to keep it closed (make sure they are wooden as the plastic ones will melt once they hit the pan). Brush tortilla with oil.


Place flautas in pan and cook until brown on both sides. About 3 - 5 minutes on each side. Once browned and warmed through, remove from pan to a plate and remove toothpick. At this point they will stay closed.

Serve with more salsa, sour cream, gaucamole, ranch dressing, whatever your family likes.



We had this with chips and a queso dip. It was filling and really yummy.

HAPPY EATING!!!

Upside-down Pizza Pulls

Happy Friday!!
It's football night at our house. BYU vs. UTAH St. It's a big night. So we decided instead of our regular pizza we'd try something new. I found this recipe on the kraftfoods.com website. It looked really easy and super yummy. Here's what I did:

Upside-downPizza Pulls
1 refrigerated pizza dough
1/2 pound sausage, cooked and crumbled
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 large tomatoes, chopped
shredded cheddar cheese
shredded mozzarella cheese
1C (give or take) italian dressing



Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Spray a 9X13 pan with cooking spray.
Place veggies and cheese in bowl and coat evenly with dressing. Add more or less depending on how you like it. Place mixture on bottom of baking dish. Cover with the cheese, again as little or as much as you like (we like a lot so ours is extra cheesy).
At this point I added a little more dressing to the top of the cheese.
Open dough and spread out on counter. Cut into squares. Place squares on top of cheese until covered. Place in oven for 30 minutes. Once cooked, cool 10 minutes and invert onto platter or pan of choice.



I had leftover dough so I took the squares and added some sausage to each one and scrunched them into balls. I cooked them at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. I like to call them little sausage poppers. These are great anytime.




Hope you enjoy!!!

Last minute dinner

Today was a scorcher here in AZ. So I decided to do something that wouldn't require a whole lot of kitchen time. Enter the salad and roll for dinner. It was yummy. The red onions in it were a bit strong so maybe next time i'll use about half of what is called for, otherwise it was really good!!



LAYERED HAM SALAD
1 bag of your favorite salad greens (I just used lettuce since that's what I had on hand)
6 medium plum tomatoes (I used a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes)
1 can (11 oz) corn with peppers, drained
2 C cubed ham, cooked
1/4 C red onion
2 C shredded cheese

Dressing
1 C mayo or salad dressing
1/4 C taco sauce or 1/2 taco seasoning packet
2 tbsp honey

In a large bowl spread salad greens. Top with remaining ingredients except the cheese.
Mix up dressing and drizzle over salad. Top with cheese.
Refrigerate for 3-5 hours.



Knotty Garlic Rolls (these are a no-brainer-so ridiculously easy and quick too!)

1 can refrigerated bread sticks with garlic spread

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut strips in half and roll out until several inches in length. Twist up dough until it resembles a knot. Place on a greased cookie sheet and spread the garlic butter liberally on each piece.
Bake for 13-15 minutes.

My VERY picky eater ate this like it was going out of style. If that means anything. I hope you enjoy it!

Bite Size Monte Cristo

I love, love, love, Monte Cristo sandwiches!! So when I found this recipe I just had to try it. I changed a few things to cater to my family, and the end result was a HUGE success. We had this as a main dish with some veggies on the side. It can also be used as an appetizer.
I hope you enjoy it!

1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 can refrigerated crescent roll dough
16 thin slices of your favorite deli meat
16 cubes cheddar cheese
powdered sugar
maple syrup, if desired

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet with non stick spray.
• Beat egg and milk until well mixed.
• Unroll the dough, seperate into 2 sections (rectangles), seal all perforations. Cut each rectangle into 8 strips.
• Fold each slice of meat in half and add cube of cheese to each dough slice. Wrap dough around both and seal edges making sure that they are completely sealed.
  
• Brush top and sides with egg mixture. Place on greased cookie sheet.
• Bake for 10-14 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cool for 2 minutes, remove from cookie sheet. Dip in syrup if you'd like.
  
• EAT AND ENJOY