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.

Hawaiian Sandwiches

Our favorite pizza is the Hawaiian. I just love the flavors of the pineapple and ham. I also love it when it has bbq sauce slathered all over it. My mouth is watering just thinking about it-really.Great, now i want pizza!! haha!

Hawaiian Sandwiches

Hamburger buns or hoagie rolls - we used hamburger buns-cheaper and easier!
Deli Ham
Sliced Pineapple
Barbecue Sauce
Deli Sliced Provolone Cheese - feel free to use whatever you family likes best-mozzarella would be fab here as well!!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Assemble melts starting with Ham, Pineapple Slices, BBQ sauce, and Cheese last. Put the top on and individually wrap the sandwich snugly in the foil. Place sandwiches in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Give it 5 minutes to cool and enjoy!! If you are using hamburger buns I wouldn't go the full 15 minutes, maybe shave off about 5 or so minutes. Depends on your oven. Ours were super ooey and gooey. But hey if you like that then go for it (we were split down the middle on who liked the ooey and gooey and who didn't).

Serve these with your favorite potatoe or macaroni salad! SSSSSOOOOOO easy and ssssssoooo good!!!

Corn dog muffins

This is lunch for today. I got this recipe from a Relief Society meeting. They showed a bunch of camping type recipes that kids could help with. These were really good and everyone seemed to like them!! So I figured I'd give them a shot today. The boys have a friend over and so I whipped these little gems up!

Corn Dog Mini Muffins

1 pkg golden corn muffin mix
1/3 C +1tbsp milk
cooked hot dogs

Mix corn dog mix as directed on package.
Once the hot dogs are cooked, cut into thirds (I ended up cutting my last one into quarters).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Using a mini muffin pan spray and then put a coating of flour in each of the holes.
Fill each hole about 1/3 full. Place a hot dog piece vertically in each muffin.
Bake 10 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool slightly before removing from pan or they'll break apart.

Enjoy!!!!!

Shrimp Salad with Wheat Thins

Today for lunch I wanted something light and easy. We are all running in different directions and for 2 seconds I wanted to be able to sit down and enjoy lunch with the hubs and the kids. Of course they had cheese, ham and crackers for lunch and that didn't sound good to me so I whipped this up. Enjoy! I would recommend letting it sit for a while before eating, we ate ours right away and it wasn't as good as I'm sure it would have been had it sat in the fridge for an hour. I just couldn't wait that long! :)


Shrimp Salad with Wheat Thins
1 1/2 C salad shrimp, thawed
1/2C mayo
2tbsp garden veggie cream cheese
2 green onions thinly sliced
2 eggs, cooked and chopped
1tsp dill seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
parsley to taste
1tbsp dried celery flakes
(pretty much whatever seasonings you like)

mix ingredients and chill for an hour. serve with wheat thins.


this makes a yummy lunch or snack! would also be good on bread as a sandwich. You could chop up the shrimp for a finer consistency, but I left them whole.

last minute lunch idea

For lunch today the youngest wanted the same ole boring bologna sandwich. That really wasn't tempting me all that much so I headed over to the pantry to see what would entice me. I saw that I had some tuna and decided to make a tuna salad sandwich. I realize most folk know how to whip out one of these but I just thought i'd share my little tweak on it today. Turned out yum and there's even some left for chip dipping later on!!

Curry Tuna Salad Sandwiches
1 egg hard boiled
1 can tuna in water, drained
pickle relish (as much as you like, I just dumped some in)
mayo
shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
curry powder
garlic powder

place egg in bowl and smoosh (yes that's a technical term hahaha)in a bowl with a fork. add relish and tuna. add mayo and cheese and mix. add spices, as little or as much as you like. i just added until it tasted right. serve on whole wheat bread with spinach and viola, easy peasy lunch with a tweak!!!!

HAPPY EATING!!!!!

Octopus Dogs with Mac n Cheese

I made these for our lunch today. Something to make everyone happy and a little out of the ordinary. These were a hit.

Basically take your favorite hot dog and cut it up to the middle to make the 8 legs. Cook in hot water according to package directions. The hot water causes the "legs" to curl. FUN!!!
Place on top of mac n cheese mound and enjoy!!!!

Super easy and super fun!!

HAPPY EATING!!!!

Waffles

Now here's something that would be perfect ANYTIME!!!!
I treated myself to a waffle maker about a month ago.

And not a week has gone by that we haven't used it. Today was no different. Normally I've been using a biscuit mix to make them, but today tried a from scratch recipe. They were good, but I think next time i'll add some cinnamon or some other flavor's to it. I found the original recipe on ALLRECIPES.COM

Best Waffles
2 1/2 C all purpose flour
1/2 C cornstarch
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 eggs, seperated
2 1/2 C milk
2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp veg. oil
2 tbsp sugar

Preheat waffle iron.
In a large bowl mix together dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl mix together egg yolks, milk, vanilla, and veg. oil. Blend into flour mixture to form batter.
In a medium bowl, whip egg whites with sugar until soft peaks form. Fold into the batter.
Spray waffle iron with Pam or lightly brush with oil. Ladle batter in and cook until golden brown.


These were really good!! Perfect for just about anytime you have the craving!! You know you are on to something when the kiddies prefer these to mac n cheese for lunch!!

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

anytime sandiwch

I saw this particular recipe on Paula Deen's show the other day and thought it would be really easy and super yum! I grew up eating fried egg sandwiches. Whenever my parents would get home late and mom didn't want to cook-it was breakfast or egg sandwiches. A lot of the time we would fry up bologna to go with it. This time bacon is used and let's face it....everything is better with bacon! Even cooked the eggs in a bit of the bacon fat. Mmmmm...... happy!!!! So it's not terribly healthy for you,but really good!! Enjoy!

Fried Egg, Bacon and Avocado Sandwiches
2 slices of bread, toasted
1 egg, fried however you like it
2 pieces of bacon
sliced tomato
lettuce
slices of avocado

build your sandwich however you like it. With mayo or mustard (my 5 year old wanted ketchup on it......). Eat and enjoy. These were really good. Even the kids liked them!! This is great for a fast and easy lunch or dinner. Even a breakfast on the go!!

HAPPY EATING!!!!!!!!!

Just for kids

My kiddos got some great cookbooks for Christmas and my oldest was looking through one of them the other day. He found this recipe that he wanted to try. So I figured why not. It's good that he wants to cook and try new things and he was able to do most of it himself. So we are happy with that too!

Hot Dog Pizzas
5 hot dogs, cooked
1/2 whole wheat bagel per person (or a whole bagel if you are a grown-up)
ketchup
shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven broiler to low. Toast bagels.
Slice hot dogs into bite size pieces
Once bagels are toasted, put ketchup on them. Place as much cheese as you like on top of the ketchup and top with hot dog slices.

The is the oldest. He really got into making these!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place bagels back in oven for about 5-8 minutes or until the cheese is melted.


These really were good. They look kind of weird and in the beginning they sounded really weird, but honestly, these were good. Perfect for an after school snack.

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!!!!!!!!!!

Mmmmmm Nachos

I love nachos.....yummy! My favorite thing to order whenever we go to Taco Bell is the nachos. So why not have some homemade ones. I'm feeling the need to feed the craving..

I think I made enough for an army even though me and the husband were the only ones eating them.

• Nacho cheese flavored tortilla chips (or plain tortilla chips)
• cheddar cheese, as little or as much as you like
• 1 C black beans
• 1 C corn
  
• 1/2 large tomato chopped
• 1/2 onion chopped
• drizzle of ranch dressing or sour cream
• 1C salsa

This is basically whatever you like and whatever you have on hand. This is what we had lying around and therefore what we used. Feel free to tweak it as you see fit.

Put oven on broiler-if it has a low/hi setting use the low setting.
Place ships on sheet pan and top with cheese. Broil for about 5 minutes.
When they come out of the oven if you have super pickey eaters then let them top their own, or you can do like I did and just throw all the toppings on it right out of the oven.

This makes a great lunch or if you just make a little a perfect after school snack. Since we are currently watching our BYU Cougars beat UCLA I thought it would be perfect.

Rachel Sandwiches

I had no intention of turning on the stove or making my kitchen hot last night so we had these little gems for dinner. My pickiest eater cleaned his plate and my husband thought they were pretty dang good. So much so that this has been added to the repertoire.





Rachel Sandwiches
6 Kaiser buns, hamburger buns, or any other sturdy bread
deli sliced turkey
provolone cheese (original recipe used Swiss but since we don't like Swiss I improvised)
cole slaw (i used premade found in the deli section)
Thousand Island dressing

Slice open buns and slather dressing on bread. layer ingredients, eat and enjoy.

I liked mine extra sloppy so I put lots of cole slaw on it. The others weren't as excited about sloppy. I hope you enjoy!!! We served it with a yummy Caesar salad.

Tricked out Mac N Cheese

Our family loves all things mac n cheese. So I like to play with it every now and then so it's not the same thing over and over. Tonight was no different.
Here's what I did. (you can always half this recipe for a lunch instead as a side for dinner)

2 boxes mac n cheese
2 tbsp butter
milk for mixing in the cheese packet
1/4 C favorite BBQ sauce
6-8 slices of bacon crumbled
white onions finely chopped for topping (opt)

Cook mac n cheese like it says on the box. In the mixing stage add the bbq sauce and the bacon. Serve topped with the onions and enjoy!!

The bbq sauce gives it as extra little edge and makes it super yummy! Hope you enjoy!