Doritos Casserole

I"m sure this casserole has some other name floating around out there on the internet, but my kids started calling it Doritos Casserole and the name has stuck. They love it and are excited when I make it - which is always nice! No one likes to hear complaints over their meals, particularly when they are still in the middle of cooking them. They are even so good as to offer to help out with the left-over Doritos. My kids have their generous and selfless moments.

 

Doritos Casserole

1 tube crescent rolls dough that makes 8 rolls

1 pound hambuger

1 can Rotel

1 package Taco seasoning

1 c. sour cream

2 c. cheddar cheese

1/2 to 3/4 bag Doritos, lightly crushed

Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Unroll the crescent rolls and press onto the bottom of the pan so that they cover the entire bottom and the seams are pressed closed. Brown the hamburger in  a pan on the stove, drain grease, then add Rotel and taco seasoning. Pour the hamburger mixture over the crescent roll dough and spread out. Spread the sour cream over the hamburger. I have yet to figure out a good way to actually spread this so I drop little bits around the hamburger and call it good. Cover the sour cream with cheese, then Doritos. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Roasted Potatoes

This is one of my kids' favorite sides to a meal. They like to call them french fries, but they are not fries - no deep frying! They always ask if they can eat them with ketchup. Really? Why do they want to ruin the lovely potatoes with ketchup? How do they not see all the nice spices I flavor them with so they are delicious without ketchup? I don't get it - but then, as the only female in a house of males, there are a LOT of things I don't get!

 

Roasted Potatoes

5 large red potatoes

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. Italian Seasoning

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. Parmesan Cheese

Wash the potatoes. I used red potatoes this time, but I have also used Idaho potatoes or whatever else I happened to have at home. I don't peel them when I make roasted potatoes, but you certainly can if you are opposed to the skins being on. Cut the potatoes up into chunks. I didn't want them really small, but I also wanted them cook in about a half hour. The larger your chunks are, the longer they will take to cook. Put the cut up potatoes in a gallon bag and pour the oil over them. Add the spices, except the Parmesan, seal the bag, and shake well until all the potato pieces are evenly coated. Pour them onto a greased baking sheet and spread them out into a single layer. Sprinkle Parmesan over the top. Bake at 400 degrees about 30 minutes or until they are cooked through.

Andes Mint Cookies

I've wondered for a long time why we eat mint at Christmas. Anyone know? I love mint, don't get me wrong, but how did it become so associated with Christmas time? It was not one of the gifts the wise men brought. Well, whatever the reason is, I love mint, especially at Christmas. However it came to be, I must have mint treats at Christmas. This was one of the Christmas cookies I made this year and am just now getting around to posting here. The boys love them, too, mainly because it uses Andes mints and they love those. They all offered to help out with the extras. Wasn't that so good of them? Part of their Christmas service, I am sure.

 

Andes Mint Cookies

1 c. butter, softened

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

2 c. flour

2/3 c. cocoa

3/4 tsp. baking soda

Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Beat the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla together. Stir in the flour, cocoa, and baking soda, Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes. Immediately on taking the cookies out of the oven, put an unwrapped Andes mint on top of each cookie and allow to soften, about 5 minutes. Spread with a knife to swirl around the top of the cookie and allow to finish cooling.

 

Pizza Dip

This is another of our favorite dips when we have dip night. I like it best with Ritz crackers or pita chips. The boys aren't as picky and eat it with anything - tortilla chips, vegetables, whatever is still left on the table!

 

Pizza Dip

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. pizza sauce

mozzarella cheese

favorite pizza toppings

Mix the cream cheese and pizza sauce together, then spread it on the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate. Top the cream cheese mixture with mozzarella cheese, then your favorite pizza toppings. I usually just use the mini pepperonis because everyone in my house likes those and they are easy to scoop up. Bake at 350 degrees about 20 minutes. Cheese should be melted and the dip should be heated all the way through. 

Coconut Cranberry Muffins

Another of our Saturday morning muffin recipes. The recipe calls for cranberries, but I can't remember ever actually buying cranberries, so it isn't something I would normally have in the house. I use Craisins instead. The recipe might be better if you use real cranberry, but my kids like this one just fine and are excited to see them when I make them.

 

Coconut Cranberry Muffins

2 c. flour

3/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. unsweetened coconut

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/4 c. buttermilk

2 eggs

1/4 c. oil

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. coconut extract

1 c. chopped cranberries

Put flour, sugar,1/2 c. coconut, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and add buttermilk, eggs, oil, vanilla, and coconut extract. Stir together just until blended - the batter should still have some lumps in it. Add the cranberries and stir to combine. Divide batter into 18 muffin cups lined with paper liners of greased. sprinkle with remaining coconut. Bake about 20 minutes at 400 degrees or until tops are golden.

Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

  Sarah, a friend of mine made these for me years ago, a recipe her sister used to make them. Holy cow! They were AMAZING! I only wish I made them as well as these two do! They are still pretty good when I make them, just not quite as good as they do. Knowing someone else makes them better that I do doesn't stop me from eating them!

 

Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies- adapted from Stephanie Fordham

1 1/2 c. shortening

2 2/3 c. packed brown sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

2 1/4 c. flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

4 c. old fashioned oats

filling

3/4 c. shortening

3 c. powdered sugar

1 7 oz. jar marshmallow creme

2-3 Tbsp. milk

Cream the shortening and brown sugar together. I have been told that it is important to use shortening in this recipe and not butter. I didn't question the authority - I use shortening. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each one. Add vanilla and stir. Add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and nutmeg and mix well. Stir in oats. Drop onto lightly greased cookie sheet (I always forget to grease it and they come off ok). Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees or until golden brown. 

To make the filling: Cream the shortening, powdered sugar, and marshmallow creme together. Add enough milk to make it spreadable. Spread filling one the bottom of one cookie and top with another. Enjoy!

This recipe makes a fair amount of large cookies so it might be good to have someone to share them with - like me!

Fruit Dip

I make this dip when we have dip parties. Well, they are karaoke parties we serve dip at because the dips are easy and people can pick and choose which items they use for the dips.This is a popular dip and usually disappears pretty quickly, but it is delicious and goes with a variety of fruits. Or pretzels. Or cookies.  

Fruit Dip

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 large (13 oz) jar marshmallow creme

Mix together and serve. Refrigerate if you have any leftovers!

Cake Batter Pancakes

The boys caught me in a moment of weakness with this recipe. They like to hang over my shoulder whenever I am on the computer, just in case I may do something mildly interesting. This recipe was spotted while I was looking around on Pinterest for some dinner inspiration and much begging ensued. I caved - but only because I had a cake mix that had been sitting on the shelf in the pantry for too long and needed to be used. The original recipe can be found here. She must have used a different kind of sprinkle than I did because my sprinkles melted into the batter and made it a multi colored mess that they boys thought was great!

 

Cake Batter Pancakes

1 1/2 c. flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 c. white cake mix

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

1 1/2 c. milk

3 Tbsp. butter, melted

3 Tbsp. sprinkles, optional

Mix together flour, baking powder, and cake mix in a bowl.  Add vanilla, egg, milk, and melted butter; mix together well. Some lumps with remain and that's fine. Add sprinkles, if desired, and stir. Pour about 1/4 cup batter onto greased, hot griddle for each pancake. Wait until bubbles form on the top of the batter and begin to pop, then turn with a pancake turner to cook on the other side.= until golden. We eat these with regular maple syrup, but you could use all sorts of things - flavored syrups, fruit, whipped cream, etc.

Chocolate Banana Muffins

We seem to eat bananas in spurts. Some weeks we eat them all in a day or two and other weeks they sit around and turn brown. I don't do brown bananas. Once they start getting spots on them, I am done. The boys will still eat them, but not me. Too many spots and even the boys are done. I save my old bananas to turn them into other foods, because they are still good for something and I hate to waste food. I used to make banana bread with them, but the boys got tired of banana bread and banana muffins. So I disguised them. Well, not really, because the boys knew what I had done, but I turned them into chocolate banana muffins. They eat those with no problem! Chocolate makes everything better! Matthew is funny. One day when he was watching me mash the bananas he called them "squishy" bananas. So I guess these are squishy banana muffins. The original recipe can be found here.

 

Chocolate Banana Muffins

1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. milk

1 egg

1/2 c. oil

1 tsp. vanilla

1-1 1/2 c. mashed banana

1/2 c. chocolate chips

Place flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and both sugars in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Add milk, egg, oil, and vanilla and mix well. There will still be lumps, but that is ok. Add mashed banana and stir, then add chocolate chips and mix them in. Grease 12 muffin tins or line with paper cups. Fill 2/3-3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. They are done when a fork comes out clean or with only a crumb. This makes 12-16 muffins. I always double my recipes to feed my hoard of starving boys and this makes 35 for me when the recipe is doubled.

Pizza Biscuits

Dinner can be tricky. There are nights when nothing seems to go right and no one wants to eat what you cooked. that's irritating to me. If I took the time to cook it, you ought to take them time to at least pretend to enjoy it. I can't seem to convince my kids of that, however. But pizza is always a winner. I was looking in the fridge one night to figure out what I was going to cook for dinner (I try to plan ahead, but it doesn't always go as planned) when I saw the rolls of biscuits I use for the Barbecue Biscuits. Well, I didn't have all the stuff I needed to make those, but I did have some left over pizza sauce, cheese, and toppings. So... pizza biscuits! They were a hit as all thing pizza are in my house!

 

Pizza Biscuits

4 tubes refrigerated biscuit dough

1/2 jar pizza sauce

mozzarella cheese

1 bag mini pepperonis

Put each biscuit in the bottom of a muffin tin and spread it out so the biscuit dough covers the bottom of the tin and goes up the sides a little bit. Repeat for all the biscuits - this makes 36 - three muffin tins of biscuits. Put a little pizza sauce on each biscuit, the sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Add mini pepperoni. Bake at 350 degrees 12-15 minutes or until biscuits are turning golden brown.

Chili Dip

This dip is super easy and delicious! A friend of mine brought it to Bunco night years ago and then again to book club. It was so yummy that I had a hard time staying away from it so I asked for the recipe. She assured me I could remember it and told me right then and there. She was right. It is easy enough to remember the recipe.

 

Chili Dip - adapted from Colleen Douglas

8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

1 can chili with beans

cheddar cheese

 Spread cream cheese in the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate. Pour the can of chili of the top of the cream cheese. Cover than with cheese. I probably use 1 1/2 - 2 cups, but you can use as much or as little as you like. I bake this in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until it is heated through but you could also do that in the microwave. Serve with crackers or tortilla chips.

Muddy Buddies

We like to make treats on Sunday. This year especially with 9 am church. By the time we get home, the boys all think they are going to starve to death and lunch is just not enough to get themby until dinner. This is one of their favorite treats and there is always much cheering when I make it. I take it to work on occasion as well and the cheering there is equally as loud. Who doesn't love it? I am not a microwave cooker, however, so my directions are for making this on the stove top.

 

Muddy Buddies

9 c. Rice Chex cereal

1 c. chocolate chips

1/4 c. butter

1/2 c. peanut butter

1 tsp. vanilla

2 c. powdered sugar

In a large pot, melt the butter. Add chocolate chips until nearly melted, then add peanut butter. Continue to stir over low heat until mixture is warm through. Turn heat off and add in cereal. Stir gently until cereal is thoroughly covered. While mixture is warming, put powdered sugar into a gallon size ziplock bag. I always fold the top over so I don't get chocolate in the zipper - which means it won't zip shut tightly. When mixture is warm and cereal covered, pour cereal carefully into the gallon bag. Zip shut tightly and shake gently to coat all the cereal with the powdered sugar. When all is coated, pour onto sheet of waxed paper or aluminum foil and allow to cool. Then eat!

Eggnog Muffins

It's a little amazing, but we had some leftover eggnog this year. How was it not all gone, espeically after all my baking? But it was still in the refrigerator so I knew the time had come to make eggnog muffins for our Saturday morning breakfast. I think the boys may have been more excited about these than the were the cookies. Go figure.

 

Eggnog Muffins

1 c. eggnog

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/3 c. brown sugar

1/3 c. oil

1 c. flour

1 c. oatmeal

1/2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

sprinkle of salt

Mix flour, oatmeal, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and add eggnog, eggs, vanilla, brown sugar, and oil. Mix until ingredients are just combined.  Line muffin tin with paper liners and scoop in batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until the tops spring back when touched.

Fruit Salad

Holy cow! This salad is amazing. And it has a sad story. Years ago we lived in the Dallas, Texas area. We moved there for my ex-husband's job and went with another family in his company. Since we both were away from family for Thanksgiving, we decided to have Thanksgiving together. The other lady made this salad and it was delicious, so I asked for the recipe - and got it. The next year, we were back in Arizona with family and I was so excited to share this salad because it was so good! I knew everyone was going to LOVE it! We ate dinner with my ex's family and there were leftovers of the salad so I took it to my family's dinner as well. My mom asked what was in the salad, so I told her. She declared that it needed some more fruit and proceeded to open and drain a can of fruit cocktail before dumping in into my salad and mixing it in! Gasp! I don't do canned fruit. I don't do canned pineapple, which is in the salad, but I couldn't taste it, so the salad has retained the pineapple. But an entire can of fruit cocktail is not going to hide. I didn't have any more of the salad that year and I'm afraid that my mom has never been allowed near my salad again....

 

Fruit Salad - adapted from Tara Kropp

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

3/4 c. sugar

1 small can crushed pineapple, drained well

1 contained frozen, sliced strawberries, thawed and drained

3-4 bananas

large container Cool Whip, thawed

In a really large bowl, mix together cream cheese and sugar. Add in the pineapple, then the strawberries. The strawberries can be a little tricky to drain because of all the small pieces, but do the best you can. Mix well. Slice the bananas in the salad and mix gently. Fold in Cool Whip. Refrigerate until serving. This is best eaten the same day it's made, but is ok the next day. Most stores will have a large and small container of frozen, sliced strawberries. I get the large one. Sometimes I even get two of them to have more strawberries. I have added extra banana to it as well. It's hard to ruin this recipe - thank goodness! For the Cool Whip, I get the largest container of it I can find. Yum!