Vampire Cookies!

A very cool Halloween cookie that will get the kids attention! This is a butter cookie filled with your choice of any red jam. My kids loved these!

Fried Pasta Stix

I came up with this recipe as a way of using up some leftover cooked lasagna noodles. I love the crunchy baked ends of lasagna! That is exactly what this tastes like when dipped into your favorite pasta sauce!

Campfire Banana Boats!

This is a great summer time recipe because it's made on the grill or campfire! But this can also be made in the oven! I loved this and will be making it many more times because I want to experiment with lots of different toppings! The possibilities are endless! The main toppings are marshmallows and chocolate chips! Then just add whatever else you like!

Simple and Crisp Trail Mix

I love snacking on food that not only tastes good but is good for me too! It makes me feel good about what I'm eating while it cures my need to munch! Sometimes my snack ends up being a quick meal when I'm in a hurry...like for breakfast!

Having an easy homemade trail mix is so much better than store bought because it's made with only the things I want! Some store bought trial mixes contain items that don't appeal to me and that aren't really healthy like pretzels, or salty peanuts! And for some reason store bought trial mixes usually have stale, hard, raisins in them...not appealing at all!

Garlic Parmesan Wonton Crackers

I am loving the many things you can do with wonton and egg roll wrappers, such as...
Frickles...Smoked Sausage Egg Rolls...Apple Pie Egg Rolls with a Caramel Drizzle and Sloppy Joe Egg Rolls! Such an easy and versatile product!

Then I came across this recipe called Baked Wonton Chips.

Antipasto Fritters!

Recipe **here**

This is a recipe I created for an assignment I had this month through the **Allrecipes.com Allstar Program**  I was asked to create a recipe using Sargento Shredded Cheese. I mentioned this assignment in this recent blog post here. This was a VERY easy assignment because I'm Italian...and what red blooded Italian doesn't like Sargento cheese!

Candied Bread!

I never thought to 'candy' bread! But it's a great idea! It's a quick and delicious snack! The taste of this reminds me of the famous 'Auntie Anne's Pretzels'! I always get them when I go to the mall. I think I go to the mall just for that reason!

Firecrackers!

This is the kind of snack that you just can't stop eating! Especially if you love salty/sweet combinations! The little extra surprise in this treat is the slight spiciness from the Hot Fries and the cayenne pepper! Its just the perfect balance of sweet, salty and spicy!

S'MOreos!

Who would have thought you could make S'mores with Oreo cookies! It's actually a very good idea! But I decided to take it one step further and one step easier! Instead of using regular Oreo's and adding a piece of chocolate, I used chocolate covered Oreo cookies! They're called Oreo Fudge Cremes!  I know, I know...brillant, right?

I found the idea for the S'MOreos **HERE**

Sweet Taco Snack

I came up with this recipe because I wanted to use up some leftover flour tortillas...and I
was looking for something sweet to eat!  

This was perfect because it was fast and easy! I love the way all the ingredients melted together and was tucked inside the tortilla. But if your lucky like I was, the melted peanut butter will ooze out of the taco and drip down your hand! A taco just isn't a great taco if it's not messy!

Bacon Wrapped Pretzels!

When I first saw this recipe I said to myself, "How can this be bad?"...and you know what? It can't be bad...it's absolutely delicious! You just can't go wrong with bacon wrapped around a pretzel rod! And this is not just bacon! It's bacon coated with brown sugar, chili powder and cayenne pepper!

Pretzel Rolls!

I am such a HUGE soft pretzel fan! I just love the thin, crunchy, outer layer with the very soft and fluffy center!

Flower Hot Dogs!

I found this cute way of making and serving hot dogs on Pinterest...I think I may have mentioned that site a few dozen times! And I knew I was going to try it because how often do you come across a new way to prepare hot dogs? 

Reuben Dip!

When I think of a really tasty deli sandwich my mind always goes to a nice, thick, messy, dripping with dressing, Reuben sandwich! But I like my Reuben on white bread...

I know, I know! It should be on rye bread!

Zebra Cupcakes - Low Fat

I've been looking for a decadent chocolate dessert that has some substance, but is not too fattening! Is there such a dessert or am I just dreaming? Well if I'm just dreaming, then my dreams just came true!

I found this recipe called Root Beer Float Cake and decided it was the one for me! It had lots of positive reviews and one of the ingredients was root beer...which I had some that needed to be used up since my family hasn't been drinking it lately! I decided to tweak the recipe to make it lower in fat and calories!

It was a huge success! I didn't taste the root beer in this cake, but I loved the spongy texture and the decadent chocolate flavor! I made them into cupcakes and decorated them with a root beer drizzle (my own idea) The cupcakes were such a lovely dark chocolate color. The drizzle really stood out and resembled a zebra print, mainly because I have poor drizzling skills! The drizzle, just like the cupcakes, didn't take on any of the root beer flavor, but I thought I would use the root beer to continue the theme!

Here is my version of the recipe...

Skinny Pop Popcorn

I am totally in love with this snack!!! I buy it whenever I see it and I eat it just about everyday! I even bring it with me to the movies because I like it better than movie theatre popcorn! I never thought I would like ANY popcorn better than movie theatre popcorn! This popcorn has the unique flavor of movie theatre popcorn without all the fake butter and heavy salt!

The fact that it is lower in fat and calories...and cholesterol free, is just a bonus!

I was not compensated in any way for my opinion of this product! This is just something I wanted to share with my readers!

Black Bean Hummus with Lemon, Garlic and Sesame!

It was snack time at my house yesterday and I wanted something healthy, quick and easy! Then I remembered this recipe that I saw on a blog called 'Energize For Life'

Doesn't that sound like a VERY healthy website? Well that's because it is! 

I had all the ingredients to make the hummus, so I guess it was meant to be!

Homemade Beef Jerky

More 'man food' in honor of the Super Bowl...but lots of ladies love this too!

I started making my own beef jerky about 10 years ago. A friend of mine turned me on to this and my family and friends are so happy she did! This is requested quite often! I usually make about 4 lbs of Top Round London broil at a time. Yes, I use the good stuff! When the meat is dehydrated it shrinks down to about 1 pound of beef jerky.

This is my dehydrator.
It's nothing fancy. Just a  
Nesco brand. I bought 4 extra trays. The fan is on the top. It dehydrates 4 lbs of meat in about 7 hours. I rotate the trays every hour for even drying.

This is what the sliced London Broil looks like after being marinated for 24 hours and just before placing it into the dehydrator. The marinade is so dark and smokey flavored! It smells so good, even before it's dried!

This is 'tub o' marinated beef'...it soaks in there for 16-24 hours. 

And here is a nice plate full of the finished product!
This is about 1 serving in my house! So out of the 4 lbs of London Broil, I'll have 4 happy family members! They love this more than store bought beef jerky!  

Here is my recipe so you can try it for yourself!

INGREDIENTS;
4 lbs. top round london broil 
1 cup soy sauce - do not use light
1/3 c 'gravy master' browning seasoning - 2oz. bottle
1 large onion - chopped
3 large cloves of garlic - chopped
1 celery stalk - chopped
1/2 tsp.natural liquid smoke flavoring

DIRECTIONS;
                    Freeze the London Broil til hard. Then thaw slightly and slice across the middle (width wise) into very thin slices about 1/8 inch thickness for quicker drying.

 Put all the marinade ingredients in a blender(but not the meat of course) 
and blend til smooth.           

 

Dredge each slice of meat into the marinade and place in a wide, deep plastic container or large glass Pyrex casserole dish. Pour remaining marinade over top of the slices. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 16 - 24 hours.           

 

When ready to dehydrate, slightly skim the marinade off of each slice of meat and place each slice on your dehydrator tray. When all trays are full turn on the dehydrator and follow your instruction manual on how to dry meat. My dehydrator is a 700 watt unit with a fan to circulate the air. In my unit the meat will dry in about 6 - 7 hours.

 

When meat is completely dried and completely cooled, store in plastic storage bags or in an air tight container. This can be stored at room temperature for about 2 weeks. But it won't last that long because the jerky will probably be eaten up before then!

 

If you have a vacuum sealer, this jerky will have a much longer shelf life.

 

Tomato Mozzarella Toast!

I'm just totally loving simple and easy recipes lately! I'm finding that recipes don't need to have a long list of ingredients to be flavorful! As with this recipe from the 'Riches to Rags by Dori' blog.

This is my version of her recipe. I made this using white

toast sprinkled with shredded mozzarella cheese topped with chopped fresh basil, sliced plum tomatoes, minced fresh garlic and a pinch of salt. Then I put it in the toaster oven to melt the cheese and it was done. A very light but VERY flavorful fresh tasting open face sandwich!

 

I loved every last bite of this! Give it a try!

Cucumber Salsa

 I first saw this recipe on Pinterest. It was re-pinned from this blog called 'Paul, Kelsey & Levi'.