Raspberry Fluff Salad

AKA potpourri. This made our house smell so good! We chose raspberries for the fruit in this salad, but I am ready to try more fruits and jello flavors. Perfect for a potluck or as a side dish for a family get together, this dish is so light and cool, perfect for spring!

Ingredients:

1 small box raspberry jello
2 small boxes tapioca pudding
12 ounce frozen raspberries
8 ounces cool whip
3 cups water

Boil 3 cups water.  Add jello and pudding; cook for 3-5 minutes.  Let stand a few minutes.   

Add raspberries.  Put in refrigerator until set or overnight.

Fold in cool whip before serving.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Why do the tastiest recipes always turn out to be the easiest? After years of trying different spinach and artichoke dips, I was finally handed this recipe and was blown away by the simplicity of it. I mean, seriously, you just cook it in the microwave and all the measurements are in 1/2 cups...someone could do this in their sleep! But seriously, I went to a friend's swap party (swapping shirts, pants, purses, jewelry, etc) and in walked this dish. The girl who brought it even saved the cooking part until she got there and just stuck it in the microwave. It was delicious and I knew I had to swap her recipe! Haha!

Spinach Artichoke Dip ingredients

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1 can artichokes, drained and chopped

1 box frozen spinach, thawed and drained

Mix all ingredients together, spread in a greased dish, cook in the microwave on high for approximately 8 minutes.

Stir and serve with tortilla chips.

I chose to use fat free sour cream and mayonnaise and combine that with the veggies I chalked this up to a pretty light appetizer!

Mom's Luncheon

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there! I have the best mom ever and I love every moment we spend together. With everything that we have in common from cooking to crafts to antiques to garage sales, we can definitely fill up our time together and we have so much fun while we're at it! These pictures are from a luncheon my mom hosted at my grandma's house for her sisters and their daughters. It was beautiful and very "Semi-Homemade" (check out the table-scape). I had the greatest time as her sous-chef and the food was delicious!

Chocolate Chip Gooey Butter Brownie Cake

This is my new twist on the fabulous gooey butter cake. I posted the traditional recipe months ago and I was so glad I did! Come to find out, this was the only place I had the recipe, my blog really is paying off for me (hopefully someone else too). Well, I altered that recipe to fit all the chocoholics out there and it came out seriously close to a local grocery store bakery version. I did have a mishap on Easter when I went to share the cake with family. Lesson learned, gooey anything should not be overcooked, and yes, it did burn. I was so bummed. Oh well, guess it will go back on our meal plan to try again!

Chocolate Chip Gooey Butter Brownie Cake

Ingredients:

Cake Crust:

1 package chocolate cake mix

1 egg

8 Tbsp. butter, melted

Filling:

1 8-ounce package cream cheese (1/3 less fat)

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

8 Tbsp. butter, melted

1 box (16 oz.) powdered sugar

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips or 3/4 chopped semi-sweet chocolate bars

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine the cake mix, egg, and melted butter. Mix well.

3. Press into bottom of a greased 9x13 baking pan. 

4. Prepare the filling. beat cream cheese until smooth.

Add the eggs, vanilla, melted butter and mix well.

Next add the powdered sugar, and beat until smooth, scraping sides as needed. 

5.Spoon onto crust and spread evenly.

6. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes.

Center should be gooey, so make sure not to overcook.

7. Serve warm or at room temperature, and top with powdered sugar, if desired.

Veggie Pizza

Veggie Pizza: perfect for potlucks and as an appetizer. It can be a little pricey when you're buying all those vegetables and only use a fraction of them, but I made three separate pizzas over the course of a week to use with different get togethers. That, or you could just eat the veggies and do a body good. ;)

Ingredients:

2 packages crescent rolls

1 package cream cheese

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1/2 envelope ranch dressing mix

assorted vegetables (cauliflower, carrots, red pepper, broccoli, etc.)

Spread crescent rolls onto jelly roll pan and seal seams.

Bake as directed on package (10-13 minutes) at 350 degrees.

Let cool completely.

Mix together cream cheese, mayonnaise, and dressing mix.

Spread onto cooled crescent roll crust.

Finely dice vegetables and spread over pizza.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

When cool, press veggies into cream cheese mixture to help stick.

Cut into square pieces.

Sausage-Cheese Balls

To continue with the breakfast posts, here's another Christmas morning fav! My grandparents also serve up some sausage cheese balls with their cheese souffle. A bisquick classic, and why reinvent a wheel that's not broken?? I'm the biggest fan of back of the box cooking for that reason, of all the recipes their product can make, the ONE the marketing gurus choose to display on their packaging is surely the best. ;)

I cut this recipe in half for the two of us, and I will list both the full recipe's ingredients below as well as the halved amounts. I know that on a Thursday night (TGIF tomorrow!), I can't be the only one who appreciates not having to think that hard!

Sausage-Cheese Balls

Ingredients:

Full Recipe

3 cups Original Bisquick mix

1 pound ground sausage

4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves, crushed

1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes

Half Recipe

1 1/2 cups Original Bisquick mix

1/2 pound ground sausage

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves, crushed

1/4 teaspoon parsley flakes

Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease baking sheet.

Stir together all ingredients.

And YES, the sausage can be uncooked, who'da thought???

Shape mixture into 1 inch balls and place on baking sheet.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until brown. Immediately remove from pan.

Eat with Cheese Souffle!!!

Cheese Souffle

Family traditions are so important to our family. I love looking forward to them each time we get together. One of my favorite traditions is this breakfast souffle. We eat it every Christmas morning at my Grandpa and Grandma Carter's house.

I have been wanting to make it for forever, it seems like I love it so much once a year, and then don't see it until 365 days later. This year at Christmas I made a decision to make it a few extra times. So easy to put together...but, my goodness, does it have a lot of cheese! Don't think this is an egg bake or bread pudding. Nope! This is fluffy cheese! Yummy, all the same, but not something to add to a daily diet!

Cheese Souffle Ingredients:

6-10 slices of bread

3/4 lb graded mild cheddar cheese

4 eggs

2 cups milk

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dry mustard

2 Tbsp. butter, melted (Ignore the tub of margarine.:))

Prehead oven to 350 degrees. Butter 9x13 making dish.

Remove crusts from bread and cut into cubes.

Layer half the bread cubes, half the cheese.

Then repeat with remaining bread cubes and cheese.

In a bowl, beat eggs slightly.

Add the remaining ingredients (milk, salt, dry mustard, melted butter) and stir together.

Pour mixture over bread and cheese.

Regrigerate overnight or for a few hours. (I'm good with about 20 minutes!)

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes.

Yummy and enough cheese to last you the whole week! Serve with yummy sausage balls and petite carmel rolls...I'll post those to round out my breakfast week blogs!