Bacon Cheeseburger Roll-Up

Happy Wednesday! How are you? Have you had a good summer? Are you ready to roll back into the fall/school routine? Routine. What a nice, safe word that sounds like... :D This year has been all OVER the place at our house, and "routine" days have been few and far between.

SO. Today's recipe is for a Bacon Cheeseburger Roll-Up from Melissa's Recipes.

I made this as an easy take-along dinner for some friends who'd suffered a sudden loss. (This has been a ROUGH year for many of my loved ones. :( ) I wanted to take them something that was easy for me, and easy for them to reheat, since most of the family had just come back from a long trip. I made them TWO of these - they've got four kids, most of them teens or pre-! - and made myself one to do for this blog post. :)

Let's see. The only thing I think I did differently was that I used a little less bacon per roll, but it wasn't a LOT less. The roll turned out to be pretty long, and wanted to break easily. I did wrap and transport both of theirs in one piece, because I didn't want the insides to come out all over the place! :)

This is what mine looked like on the inside. I got about a dozen pieces out of the roll. I ate these two for my lunch that day, and froze the rest - I wanted to know if it would do well if frozen. And YES, it worked wonderfully! I wrapped two pieces in paper towel, and heated for 1.5 - 2 minutes.

I'm NORMALLY a big ketchup person, but I liked the flavor of these without my ketchup this time. The filling - and yes, I know Velveeta's got lots of bad things in it, so I don't use it often at all!! - was really good and quite creamy. The crust held up well to the rolling, even where I was afraid it wouldn't.

SO. This gets a YES, PLEASE! And my friend came up to me Sunday and told me her kids were begging her to get the recipe. :D So let me know if you try it, and what you think of it! :)

Have a wonderful day, dear friend! BE BLESSED!!!!!!!

Brownie Bundt with Coconut Cream Cheese Filling

HAPPY FRIDAY! I hope you've had a good week - but I'm betting you're ready for the weekend. :D

Today's review is this recipe for brownie bundt cake with coconut cream cheese filling from Vanilla Sugar Blog.

I won't make you wait on this. This recipe would need to much tweaking for me to give it anything but a NO, THANK YOU. :( I was SO disappointed! I mean, it's three of my favorite things: brownies, coconut, AND cream cheese! I sprayed and sprayed the bundt pan, but the brownie STILL stuck horribly. The coconut and cream cheese mixture had very little taste, and added nothing but contrast and texture. I hate throwing food out, but I did toss most of this cake - after taking it to a pitch-in (or pot luck, depending on where you're from! :) )

SO. If you tweak it enough and really love it, let me know! Or if you decide to try it and love it, tell me - maybe I just did something wrong. :D

Have a WONDERFUL weekend! BE BLESSED!!!

Movie Review: GIMME SHELTER

GIMME SHELTER (Click this link for synopsis, more pictures, etc. )

Good morning, friend! Welcome to Friday. It's beautiful here, but cold - wind chills overnight were crazy low for Middle TN! But I was out in it; I got a pass to a screening for this new movie, GIMME SHELTER.

I had seen the trailer on BuddyHollywood.com and wanted to check it out - but Kenn's busy shooting again, and I wasn't sure we'd get a chance to go together. Plus, free is always good! :)

How do I tell you about this movie? :) It's based on a true story. Rated PG-13 for a bit of language and violence, the subject matter - teenage pregnancy and the limited choices these girls have, and the backgrounds they come from - is also not for little ones.

It's got a star-studded cast, with Rosario Dawson, Brandon Frazier, and James Earl Jones to name a few. As an audience, we laughed, we cried, we ooh-ed, we recoiled - it's quite an emotional movie, as you can guess, with the subject matter.

The sets are beautiful - you won't ever question if you're "where you're supposed to be". Costumes, too, show the difference between the "haves" and the "have nots".

The movie was under an hour and thirty-five minutes. I felt like it needed to be a little longer; I have a feeling there were a lot of Brandon's re-connection scenes that ended up on the cutting-room floor, because there just wasn't enough developed there for the ending to make sense - except that, as a movie-goer, you suspend your disbelief. :D

Go see this movie. Take friends with you. Although there are Scriptures quoted by the priest, the movie isn't over-the-top Christian. But it IS a movie that should have us talking!

OK, I'm outta here! :) Enjoy your weekend! Be BLESSED!!!!

"Outback" Black Bread: Copycat

Happy Wednesday! Are you having a good week? Are you staying WARM, people?!??! :D

Today's recipe would be a good recipe to try today - what's better when it's below freezing outside than a warm loaf of homemade bread?! It's "Outback" Black Bread: Copycat from Freida Loves Bread.

Now, first let me tell you: finding caramel coloring locally is nearly impossible. I put a bottle on my Amazon wish list and got it for Christmas. One bottle will last me a long, LONG time - it's huge! So you might want to consider splitting a bottle with a friend or five...

When I finally had all the ingredients in one place, I made this bread. It's a YES, PLEASE!

Mine made two whole loaves and one tiny one. I love having things like this in the freezer, for when someone I care about needs a meal delivered. So we cut into the tiny loaf, and then one of the big ones - and I put the other loaf in the freezer as soon as it cooled, because we really did love this bread! :) My mom is still mentioning how GOOD it was... :D

Now, I didn't use the cornmeal. I sprinkled oats on top of the loaf before it baked, instead. I have to be in the right mood for the grittiness of cornmeal. :) The oats were a nice textural contrast without being too much so.

OK, I'm outta here! :) Have a WONDERFUL day! Let me know if you try this recipe! :) Be BLESSED!!!

Microwave Caramel Corn

Welcome to Wednesday! :) We're SLOWLY thawing out here in middle Tennessee; we're RIGHT at 32 degrees for the first time since Sunday. There's still a little bit of snow on the ground, but I suspect it will be gone by tonight. :)

Today's recipe is for a yummy, easy caramel corn - but the website I originally got it from isn't there any longer! SO, I guess I'll just site my source, and give you the recipe. Because you're going to want it! :)

Kenn LOVES caramel corn. I love THIS caramel corn - it's not overly sweet, although I try not to eat more than a few pieces when I do indulge. :) It's super easy, and I do EVERYTHING in the microwave - pop the corn, melt the stuff, and coat the corn! I purchase a brand-new paper sack at Aldi when I do this, so my bag is clean. :D

Here's the recipe. Be sure and come back and tell me when you've tried it. :D You can thank me later... :D

(Original recipe found at rubyglen.com)

Microwave Caramel Corn
By: Joyce Moseley Pierce

Part of the heistation in making caramel corn is the sticky, gooey mess that remains once you've finished making it. You almost need a blow torch to remove the hardened sugary stuff from your pans.

Help is on the way! This recipe can be made in your microwave, and when you're finished, you can just throw the paper sack away.

This doesn't mean that it doesn't take a little preparation time, but at least you can relax and enjoy the finished product without having to worry about a lot of cleanup.

Next time you go to the grocery store, ask for your groceries in paper bags. You'll need one per batch.

Here's what you'll need:

3-4 quarts popped corn
1 stick of butter (no substitutes!)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup Karo Syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda - add last

Pop the corn and discard the unpopped kernels. Put the popped corn in the paper sack. While the corn is popping, put the butter, sugar, salt and syrup in a glass bowl and bring it to a boil in your microwave. Stir after one minute, and let it boil for an additional minute. Add one tsp. of baking soda and stir well, until thickened. It will turn light in color and look like taffy. Pour this mixture over the popped corn in the paper bag and shake well. Put the paper bag back in the microwave and cook an additional 1-1/2 minutes (90 seconds). Remove and shake well again. Return to the microwave and cook another 1-1/2 minutes. Shake again. Open the bag and let it cool. You can even tear the bag down the side and speed up the process.

Plan to make more than one batch because you'll want to eat the first one! Great for Christmas or birthday gifts. I gave this as a Christmas gift to my co-workers one year and the next year they started hinting for it again in September.

Once completely cooled, break up the chunks, put it in a plastic holiday bag and tie with a festive ribbon. If you eat a lot of ice cream the containers with lids make a great receptacle for packing the caramel corn. Save your ice cream containers throughout the year, wash them out, line with plastic wrap and stic a bow on the top. Include the recipe and directions unless you want to tell them it's an old family secret, but let me warn you that if you don't share the recipe, they will come back next year begging for more.

Chicken & Avocado Enchiladas

Welcome to another Monday. :D Did you have a good weekend? Did you try anything new?

I'll get to today's share quickly; with the open house less than three weeks away, time is PRECIOUS, people!! :D It's for Chicken & Avocado Enchiladas from Gimme Some Oven.

First, let me say that I find the name a little misleading. The avocados are in the SAUCE; even though there's a bit of sauce in the enchiladas, I think these are more chicken and pepper enchiladas with avocado and cilantro sauce.

With that being said, these got a YES, PLEASE! from Kenn and me. My mom despises cilantro, so she didn't like them at all. I was happily surprised at how little HEAT the peppers brought, and how much flavor. If you like heat, keep some of the ribs and seeds from the jalapenos in. Not for US, however. :D

I cooked the chicken the day before; when I poach chicken, I always try to give it extra flavor. I used dried minced onion, a bit of onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. It gave it a nice flavor without being too cumin-y. :D The recipe made a LOT of sauce. I doubled the whole recipe, because I took some to a friend's family who just had a baby. I gave them a jar of sauce AND had two more jars. I've got a full jar in my fridge; what to do with it?!? :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a WONDERFUL day!!!! Be BLESSED!!!

Buffet Pancake Dippers

Happy FRIDAY! Do you have a busy weekend planned? I swear, I think EVERY weekend is BUSY these days...!

Anyway. :D

The pancake recipe I reviewed already? Well, I used it to do these Buffet Pancake Dippers from Lady Behind the Curtain.

Don't you love my new serving dish? :D I put sugar-free syrup on one side, regular on the other - and we each had our own dipping cups!

I used turkey bacon. And I didn't like these much; I think turkey bacon has a strong flavor on its own, but the flavor did NOT come thru in these. I don't think it would have been any different if I'd used real bacon, either. So I'm saying, NO, THANKS! to these. It didn't save any time, didn't taste wonderful.

So, there you go! :D Have a wonderful day, and a wonderful weekend. Be BLESSED!

Brunch Puffs

Happy Wednesday!! Hope you're having a wonderful week! Today we bid adieu to July. Wow, so hard to believe!

ANYWAY. :D Waaaaay back in May, I had a dear friend - who's in Africa right now, on a missions trip - over for brunch. I wanted it to be peaceful and renewing for her; she's a very busy woman, and I wanted our time together to be a time for her to BREATHE. So, Mom helped me set the table...

And I made lots of new recipes for breakfast. Actually it was three, but two of them will be in a review together. :D I can't believe I haven't already reviewed them!

Today's recipe is for Brunch Puffs from Taste of Home.












I made the puffs the day before; they turned out really delicately. There's less flour in the recipe than I'm used to, but I followed the directions exactly. :) (I had extra puffs, because I didn't want to make ALL of them for just the two of us! I used them with fruit in them, and a bit of sugar-free cheesecake pudding. YUM.)

They were a bit messy to eat; the puffs collapsed easily when cut into. But they were very good. I would call this a delicate dish, overall - it sounds like it would be quite filling, but it really wasn't overly so. Quite yummy! :) I'm going to say YES, PLEASE! to these. :)

OK, I'm outta here! Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!!

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Good Wednesday Evening! :) I'm so glad you haven't given up on me. :) I'm sorry things are a little flaky right now; we're really strapped for cash, so what I'm making for dinner is cheap and not very exciting. :/ This, however, was not only relatively inexpensive, but easy. :D

This is Chicken Pot Pie Soup from SkinnyTaste.

Let's see. After looking at it, there are only two things I did to modify the recipe. First, instead of using the water it calls for, I used the stock from poaching the chicken breasts. It gave just a bit more flavor. Second, we just used regular sliced white mushrooms instead of portabellas - they were cheaper and easier to come by.

And this got a YES, PLEASE! from everyone who ate it! (I had to find SOMETHING to serve with some more of those yummy garlic cheese biscuits! :D ) The soup had a great flavor, was hearty and filling but not heavy - if that makes any sense. :D We'll definitely do this one again!

OK. It's late here, and even later at home :D, but I wanted to get something up! Let me know if you try this! Also, I've heard from ONE of my Biscoff recipients - did you other two get yours?!?!? I sent them before I left in MARCH!!

Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!!!!!

Shepherd's Pie

Good Friday Morning!

Can you believe I've been gone for a whole month already? Cooking's been an issue, because I've not had my own tastes and place to please and cook in. But that will change - we just got a place! :) I posted all about it on my new blog.

Anyway! Today's recipe is one I got for shepherd's pie from SimpleRecipes.com.

I more used the method from the recipe than the recipe itself, because I wanted to use up some leftovers. I seasoned and browned up the ground beef, added some leftover corn and frozen veggies, made some packaged brown gravy and poured over top of that hot mess. :D I put it all into a loaf pan, then put the leftover mashed potatoes on top.

It was a hit with the two guys I was cooking for. :D It was not something I'm dying to eat again. But it was filling, and Kenn's friend loves food like this. :D So take those YES, PLEASE!es and NO, THANK YOU!s for what they're worth. :D

Savory Pork Roast

Good Monday Morning! How are you today?

Sorry I didn't make it to posting two days last week; I have a feeling it might be a little sketchy until we settle into a place and I have a routine. :D We're still looking for a place to rent, but I've been cooking a lot for our friends in St. Paul. This was one of the first recipes I tested on them. :D

This is Simple Savory Pork Roast from allrecipes.com.

This got a definite YES, PLEASE! from everyone here. :) It was super easy! The only thing I did differently was cook it lower and slower - I wanted to get it into the oven, and wasn't sure what time everyone would be gathering for dinner. So, it got about two hours at 320 degrees - and was it ever moist!!!! SOO yummy - don't forget to let it rest for a few minutes before cutting, just like any other meat. :)

I made red mashed potatoes and brown gravy, and served with Corrine's homemade applesauce and a tossed salad. Easy, lovely meal. :)

OK, I'm outta here!! Have a wonderful day - BE BLESSED!!!!!

Crab Rangoon Cups

It's FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOORAY!!!!!! You made it through another week! :D And I'm going to assume I did, too.... :D It's almost time to leave for the family reunion, and then Westward! Ho!

These are another one of the new recipes I tried for my jewelry party; they're Crab Rangoon Cups from Big Red Kitchen.

(I wish you could see the whole platter; Kenn bought it for us about six years ago, and it's the first time I've gotten to show it off! It's got CRABS on it! :D)

I did this one EXACTLY as it said. I ever treated my women to REAL crab meat - and that was expensive!! But I would have liked it better with the fake stuff, I think. :D That's probably the only thing I'd change - except I'd get real sweet & sour instead of duck sauce for dipping. :) So I guess that's a YES, PLEASE, right? :D

OK, I'm off!! Have a WONDERFUL weekend - spend some time with people you love!