Recpe Review - Broccoli Ham Quiche

Happy Wednesday! :)

This week's recipe is for Broccoli Ham Quiche from Shugary Sweets.

This is DEFINITELY a YES, PLEASE! So much so that I used the basic recipe twice in less than a week! :)

I made this for a stamping get-together. It was so good! I didn't do the individual ones, because I didn't want to mess with putting several things in the oven in the morning. I mean, I do well to mix something up in the morning! :D

I put the liquids together the night before, and the vegetables and meat chopped and in a bowl all ready to mix in. I did the whole thing in a 9" square dish.

Savory, with a little sweetness from the ham - and with the crunch of the puff pastry and the bite of the cheese - it was great! People went back for seconds! :D

Have a wonderful week, friends - be BLESSED!!!

Copycat Panera Bread Broccoli Cheese Soup

Good morning!

Kenn was gone for two weeks in January; he doesn't do well with a lot of cheese, so I don't do many recipes for both of us with cheese. While he was gone, I wanted SOUP. and I wanted broccoli cheese soup. I really would have loved to do a bread bowl for it, too, but I was actually being really good. :D

This recipe fo copycat Panera Bread Broccoli Cheese Soup comes from Budget Savvy Diva.

This is a REALLY rich soup. I would say the recipe is a YES, PLEASE - but I can't say I would eat it for more than two days in a row. Because it's so rich. And decadent. :D

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

Ham and Cheese Gnocchi

Happy Friday! Have you had a good week? I sure hope so! And that you can stay warm this weekend - I'm cold today! :)

Today's recipe is for Ham and Cheese Gnocchi from Kevin & Amanda. (Just click on the website's name, on any post, to go to the recipe! :) )

This is a YES, PLEASE! It's good, warming comfort food - and I thought it was even better warmed up for lunch the next day. :) I cut back on the cheese on top, because Kenn has an issue with cheese. :) I also used about half of the onion - and it was PLENTY!

It's easy to put together. I try to keep a package of gnocchi in the freezer, and we had ham in the freezer from an earlier meal. Poof! :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a wonderful weekend, dear friend. BE BLESSED!

Cheese Sticks (aka Cheese Straws)

Happy Wednesday (night :D )!!! Have you had a good week? Sorry I am having trouble getting into the habit of blogging again; I'm staying really busy. Kenn has turned in his two-week notice, so we're doing lots of "What if..." planning, etc., right now. :)

ANYWAY. This is a "How To Make Cheese Sticks" from allrecipes.com - and I know them as Cheese Straws. :)

I wasn't really thrilled with this recipe, but it turned out pretty good. :) First of all, it says to do this as soon as the dough is thawed enough to unfold; I really think the toppings/ingredients would do better if it came further up to temperature for maybe 15 minutes.

These are really good the first day, and pretty good the second day, and then forget about it. :) Also, think of doing something else - like using a different cheese, or maybe doing a sweet one like cinnamon sugar with butter instead of oil. :D

So I'm saying this is a YES, PLEASE, even though I'd tweak things a bit. LOL - like you never hear that from me.... :D

OK, I'm outta here. :D Have a WONDERFUL evening/day! Be BLESSED, dear friend!

Breakfast Pie

 Good Monday Morning! I hope you've had a great weekend, and are ready for your week! :) (Seriously. Is anyone, EVER????)

Today's recipe share is for Breakfast Pie from Joyful Momma's Kitchen.

This is so much a YES, PLEASE! that the first time I made it, I didn't even get to photograph it! :D I made it for my Bible study ladies, and we all devoured what we had; I put the rest in the fridge, figuring to eat some the next day and photo it then.

Didn't happen. :D

Kenn wanted to know if he could finish it off! Of course I said yes - and remembered, hours later, that I hadn't gotten a photo for you!

Guess I'd have to make it again....

So I did, for our farmer friends in Indiana. And I forgot: I should have doubled the recipe, because they need FUEL to work as hard as they do. But they were SO polite, and saved Kenn the last piece. :D

The second time, I used bacon bits. For one thing, I was using someone else's kitchen, and that always throws me off (and makes things take longer to make!). For another, it's SOOOOOOO much quicker! :D

Also, I didn't do the corn flakes thing. It's already got potatoes in it, and I didn't want to add more carbs! Neither time did I do them, and no one felt like it was missing ANYTHING. :D

I hope you do try this; it's really good, really easy, and will get rave reviews. :D

Have a wonderful day, friend! Be BLESSED~!

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!!!!!!!

Bella Nashville

WELCOME to Friday! :) Have you had a good week? Are you looking forward to a long weekend? I'm looking forward to Monday - a dear friend is coming over to spend some time with me/us, and I love being with her. :)

Today is a review of a pizzeria in the Nashville Farmer's Market, Bella Nashville.

When Kenn and I took 24 hours and just escaped, we ended our time with lunch at the food court at the Farmer's Market - that way, we could each get what we wanted. And, since I'd been craving pizza for a while, that's what I opted for.

Mine was the very first order, so it took a while. (We were there before Bella even opened.) This is how it was served.

I'll tell you right now: if you like a thin, crispy crust, this isn't the one for you. It was crunchy, with a bit of char, and chewy. That and the fresh basil were what won me over; the sauce, frankly, tasted like - well, my first thought was "Boyardee". :/ But I couldn't stop eating that CRUST!! (And it's not terribly cheap, but it's a beautiful pizza oven... :D)

I'm not a huge sauce fan, anyway, so if I get the chance to try them out again, I think I'll ask for either light or no sauce. But I will try them again; I'm giving them a YES, PLEASE! (I know. Bread is not good for my glucose levels. But we were on staycation! :D )

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

Mexican Casserole

Happy Wednesday! I hope you're having a fantastic day so far. :) And a fantastic week!

This is one of those recipes I made SO long ago, I'm really having to remember how we liked it. LOL! I actually made DOUBLE of the recipe, and had this little casserole dish left over for Kenn and me. I put it in the freezer, and baked it off about two weeks after I made the dinner for some friends going through stuff.

What is it? :D It's Mexican Casserole from Plain Chicken.

I'm giving this a YES, PLEASE! I may have actually quadrupled the recipe, now that I'm thinking back on it. It was a MESS of casserole fixin's! :D I like that my photo and her photo look very similar - that always makes me feel better.

It was filling and flavorful without being too spicy. It froze well, and it traveled well when I took it to my friends. (I took it unbaked so they could have it hot whenever they wanted to cook it!) And I KNOW it fed a LOT of people. I made the refried beans I love so much (because they're so easy!) and rice.

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

Cauliflower "Mac" and Cheese Casserole

Happy Friday! :) I know it's a little late, but I'm here. :) I went to see CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER today. Good movie. I think the first was better, but this one will do JUST fine. :D

Anyway! Today, I'm sharing this Cauliflower "Mac" and Cheese Casserole from The Food Network.

This tasted really good, but I wasn't fooling my tastebuds! It definitely wasn't "mac". I ate it all - halved the recipe, ate it all in one day :D - but breaking up the cauliflower was a bit more time-consuming than I'll do again.

So, once again, YOU decide: is this a YES, PLEASE! or a NO, THANK YOU! review? :)

Have a wonderful weekend! BE BLESSED!

Caprese Salad: re-designed

Happy Monday! Sorry, no Manicure Monday this week; my nails are always weak, and I went too long without polish on them last week, so they mostly broke. So, I've got polish on them now, hoping to grow them out again quickly. :D They're fun to play with!

I did this Caprese Salad: re-designed from The Party Dress for my hostess appreciation luncheon in October.

Caprese salad is one of my all-time favorite dishes. I love the fresh tastes, with the balsamic vinegar topping it all off. So when I saw this salad presentation, I knew I wanted to try it.

For presentation, this is DEFINITELY a YES, PLEASE. I wish there was a way to be able to keep the dressing more with the other ingredients, but the only way I can think that that would be possible is if they were served on individual plates.

I used a steak knife to cut the tomatoes; I like to cut them with a serrated blade of some type, so the skin doesn't cause an issue with tearing. The steak knife made it possible to control the depth of the cut pretty easily; cutting almost all the way through is not my easiest task! :D

I do recommend you try this. It was absolutely beautiful!

OK, I'm outta here. I'm trying to recover from a cold that's settling into my chest. UGH. Prayers appreciated! Have a wonderful day! be BLESSED!!!

Tex-Mex Chicken and Tortilla Stack

Good Monday midday! :D I've been busy this weekend, and not in the mood to really blog today, but here I am anyway! :D

Dad was gone last week, but Kenn also had a really bad infection in his tooth. So I wasn't sure I was going to get to make this - but I did. On Tuesday night, I tried this Tex-Mex Chicken and Tortilla Stack from Recipe.com.

First of all, I will admit: I took the METHOD of this recipe more than the recipe itself. Every place I looked for jicama, it was sold out. So we didn't have jicama in ours.

And I don't like precooked chicken, unless it's in a can (and I still don't LOVE it, then!); it almost always gives me heartburn, and I don't care for the chemicals they use. So, I used two boneless, skinless chicken breasts and poached them in water with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and dried minced onion. When they were done, I shredded the chicken and let it cool.

I wasn't sure I was going to like this recipe; it's served cold, and I tend to like COOKED Mexican food. :D You know, HOT and a little spicy. :D But we really did like it! It got a YES, PLEASE! from both of us! And of course, I personalized it. :D

For instance, I made our guacamole. Doing it myself saved at least a dollar - and it's not a CHEAP recipe, although it's not too bad. Part of the cost for US, though, is that I need to use low-carb tortillas. To cut down on the whopping cost of my favorite white flour LC tortillas, I alternated them with whole wheat ones. (I tend to not like those at all because of texture and flavor. It's a personal thing! :D) I would say this, by itself, serves 4 - it makes 8 pieces, if you cut it like a cake. :D but we didn't have anything WITH it.

I also didn't put red peppers in it - again, they don't like me. I also added cilantro to the cheese layers - did you know it's one of the top 5 nutrient-dense foods on the planet?!? - because Kenn LOVES it, and I like it. My mom says its flavor is too "loud" - it overpowers everything else. :D

I used fat free regular refried beans. Kenn doesn't tend to like things too spicy, so no jalapeno, either. And his system is sometimes intolerant of the colors they use in cheeses, so I used Velveeta queso blanco shredded cheese. I also added tomato to the top!

I guess what I'm trying to express is this: don't be afraid to play! :D I wouldn't have tried a "stack" if I hadn't found this recipe. I'd have loved to have had the jicama for the recipe, but oh, well. :D I know what we like, and if I can get things that are good for us into a recipe, I'm gonna! :D

OK, I'm outta here. LOTS to do! :D Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!!!!

Chicken Enchiladas

 It's FRIDAY!!!! Got anything huge planned for the weekend? I'm going to tell you right now, this is a YES, PLEASE! recipe - you should take the time to make them this weekend. :D

These come from Pearls, Handcuffs, & Happiness. (Yeah, I know, but her recipes are fantastic!!!!! :D )

My tweaks: I needed more than the can of enchilada sauce listed - like maybe 4 ounces. I used low-carb tortillas that are made by Mission. (They cost an arm and a leg, but they're fantastic for when you NEED a tortilla!) I used brown rice, to increase the complex-carb count. And, finally, I used a Mexican cheese blend - it has the two cheeses in the recipe plus two more. :D And I LOVE cheese. :D

This recipe made TWO PANS of enchiladas. And ohhhh, were they good. They were moist, and steamy, and filling. We ate one pan, and froze the other. I'm SO glad to know they're in there, waiting for a night when we need something that will prep fast. They DO take a bit of time for assembly, but don't let that put you off. You seriously NEED to make these enchiladas. :D

Have a WONDERFUL weekend! Let me know if you DO try something new, or if you put these together. Be blessed!

Cheese Ball

Good Monday Morning!!!!!

Did you get to try anything new over the weekend? We did - but that's a later post. :D I also heard from my friend who I took the Meatball Bubbles to:
Thank you so much for the meal you sent us... those meatball things were sooo good! Even tho I was soo sick that first week, I wanted them every meal! thank you so much.

 I love the fact that something that's so easy is so tasty. I know I keep telling you that, but they really are wonderful. :D She's still not feeling too well - please pray for her! - so I'm taking them another meal this week, and doing the bubbles again. :D

OK, on to today's recipe from Chef In Training. It's a different kind of cheese ball than I normally make; I usually do the one that's partially cheddar, partially cream cheese. This one was pretty good, too!

I did modify it a bit. (Shocker, right?? :D) I didn't use the powdered sugar, and kept just a bit of the juice from the pineapple in the mix. But that's it! :)

It was really light-tasting. I *might* use just a bit more ham next time, just to up that flavor a bit. I ate it for breakfast a couple of times; the longer it sat, the more the individual flavors of the things added to the cream cheese flavored the whole thing. It was popular at the barbecue we had with Kenn's discipleship group - I served it and our homemade "salsa"(more like a pico de gallo) as appetizers. Good thing, too - it was LATE when we finally got everyone here and ready to eat! :D

This is a YES, PLEASE! for us. It might be another new addition to the open house this year. :) I hope you'll let me know if you try it! Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!

Ham n Egg Cups

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

So, to proclaim some independence from breakfast - as a diabetic, I *have* to eat breakfast, and I HATE it. <sigh> - I bring you this recipe from Just a Pinch - it's a great recipe community. HOPEFULLY, I'll have gotten to go to the get-together Tuesday. (I'm pre-posting, so you're sure to get a post today! :D)

These got a YES, PLEASE! from both Kenn and I. I have to tell you: they're SALTY. The first time, I added a little more salt. The second, none - and the ham was salty! Kenn says it concentrates the salt, and I guess that's probable. The only tweak I did was to use a few fresh spinach leaves instead of frozen; we try to keep fresh spinach around, to use in place of lettuce on sandwiches, etc.

Well, OK, I fibbed. :D I just went and looked at the original recipe again. I used COOKED ham, not SMOKED. We don't like smoked meats much. And I also used 1/4 piece of an American cheese slice instead of shredded cheese. It's still cheese, right? :D I threw in a piece of high-fiber, lower carb toast, and it was a really nice meal!

OK, I'm outta here! Have a WONDERFUL day - and try something NEW! :)

Copycat Recipe for Cracker Barrel's Hash Brown Casserole

Good morning! How was your weekend? Did you make anything new? Or did you make as little as possible, to not add any more heat to your world? MAN, has it been hot! :) I'm SO grateful for air conditioning!

I did make the Meatball Bubbles again, for a friend's family with three little ones. I haven't heard how they liked them, but they sure turned out wonderfully again. I would DEFINITELY have eaten them! :D

ANYWAY. You can find the recipe for this at Budget Savvy Diva; she's got a great blog! I follow her on FaceBook, too. :D

I made this recipe on the beach, when we had the house in February. I don't remember what main dish I served it with. Hmmm. Let me go see if I can find it.... No, I found which day I made it, but not what I served it with. :D I DO know we ate it for two different meals.

I didn't tweak a thing on it! :D It's DEFINITELY a YES, PLEASE! rating; really simple to make, gooey cheesy goodness. I actually think it was better the second time; I warmed it up in the oven, not in the microwave, because I had plenty of time. I don't eat the Cracker Barrel version enough to say whether it's a true copycat recipe or not - my favorite things at Cracker Barrel are all carb-heavy, so I try not to eat them all together. :D But it is a wonderful side dish, full of comfort and flavor. And it makes a LOT.

Have you found something you'd like me to try? Or have you found a recipe that's wonderful, and you think I should try, too? Let me know! I'd love to! :) And let me know if you try anything I've reviewed! I'd love to know your thoughts.

Have a wonderful day! Be blessed!