Roasted Marshmallow Frosted Cupcakes

This is such a great way to frost cupcakes when you don't have regular frosting...plus it's so quick to do and tastes great!

Baked Parmesan Truffle Fries

These fries are something I've been craving and researching for a very long time! I first had to find the perfect truffle oil. And that was no easy task! There are so many varieties. I didn't want a low quality truffle oil, but I also didn't want to remortgage my house to buy a high grade version. Then I had to decide if I wanted white or black truffle oil. I decided on the white because it's a milder taste. Sometimes black truffle oil can taste like what burnt rubber tires smell like. Well, that's if you could taste a smell. But I guess you can taste smells because one of the ingredients in this white truffle oil is 'truffle aroma'. I wonder how they captured the aroma and put in the bottle? This oil was pretty good for the price...only $10 for 3.38 fl.oz

My next step was to find a great recipe. Again, no easy task. There are a ton of truffle fries (or is it 'fry') recipes out there. I know I wanted baked fries with parmesan cheese on top, so that narrowed it down a bit. But I also wanted a very 'easy to make' recipe. You would be so surprised at how so many cooks make this so difficult. I found this recipe **Click Here** and it seemed to be the easiest. I tried it and loved it...then I tried it a second time, but I made it even easier because I didn't soak the potato slices in water for 30-60 minutes. And since I didn't soak them, there was no need to pat them dry. So I saved 2 big steps. The fries turned out exactly the same as when I did those extra 2 steps. I also saved a cooking step because I didn't turn the fries over during baking. What a pain that is, turning each individual fry...or is it 'fries'? 
These fries were perfectly browned and crispy, as you can see in my photo above.

 Maybe the key to my success was that I used this round, black, non stick, pizza pan. And I baked them in my convection toaster oven at 425 degrees for only 35 minutes. Not 50 minutes as stated in the above recipe! They would have been totally burnt if I baked them for 50 minutes!  All I had to do was give the pan a 1/4 turn every 10 minutes so they would brown evenly.

So now I can EASILY have baked truffle fries whenever I crave them!

Which is a good thing because there aren't any restaurants near me that serve these...what's up with that, Long Island?

Easily Peel Hard Boiled Eggs!

I am so in love with this little trick! I've been making LOTS of hard boiled eggs lately because my daughter is on an egg salad sandwich binge. I was having such a hard time peeling the eggs. I even bought this contraption, that I blogged about recently, to avoid peeling eggs...**Click Here** Then I Googled 'How to easily peel hard boiled eggs' and found this video that shows a super easy method!

Smokey Tuna Casserole

My husband has been asking me to make a tuna casserole since we were newlyweds! I just didn't like the idea of eating warm, canned tuna fish with pasta...YUK! He said his mother made it all the time when he was young and it was delicious! Sorry, still not sold. I just gagged at the thought of  it!

Almond Joy Ice Cream

I love Almond Joy candy bars! I once tried a recipe called 'Almond Joy Cake Mix Cookies'...they were VERY good!

So it was only natural that I try to make Almond Joy Ice Cream! And I'm so glad I did because it was Almond Joy heaven! It tasted just like the candy bar! My family totally loved it! I took this ice cream recipe that I tried recently 'Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream' and tweaked it to make my Almond Joy ice cream.

Stovetop Hot Pepper Jelly



Hot Pepper Jelly with Cream Cheese

I was so happy to find this recipe for 'Stovetop Hot Pepper Jelly' on the 'Averie Cooks' blog. I've never tried canning and I'm a little intimidated by the whole idea of boiling food in jars. But with this recipe you don't do any of that.

Addictive Blog Award

I was recently honoured to be chosen for 'The Addictive Blog Award' by a sweet and talented blogger named Didi from the 'Dishin with Didi' blog! I'm also addicted to her blog because she is an amazing cook...and so freakin adorable! Go check out her blog and you'll see what I mean!

My reason for blogging was to be able to share all the best recipes I've found and tried from various cooking sites and blogs. When I try a new recipe and it turns out to be delicious, it's like finding a gem! And I want to share all those gems with other cooks!

Now it's my turn to show you my 10 'addictive blogs'...I actually have much more than 10, that I'm currently addicted to, but I'll stick to the rules!

1. Chat 'n Dish

2. Road Trip Eats

3. Crunchy Creamy Sweet

4. Pearls, Handcuffs & Happy Hour

5. Plain Chicken

6. Vittles and Bits

7. Serena Bakes Simply From Scratch

8. Skinny Taste

9. Rita's Recipes

10. Heather Likes Food

Thank you so much Didi! I'm so thrilled that I made your list of addictive blogs! You truly made my day! I hope you'll always be addicted to my blog.

(((HUGS)))

 

Art Smith (Oprah's Chef) Cookbook Giveaway

I love Art Smith. He's an amazing Chef and cookbook author. I also love his cooking videos. He is so down to earth and makes food that is simple and easy, but can be elegant for entertaining! Check out his videos *Here*

Creamy Easy Crock Pot Mac n' Cheese

A view of my crock pot...I love the plastic crock pot liners!

I love to try new mac n' cheese recipes because just when I think I've found the perfect one...another great one comes along! I never made mac n' cheese in a crock pot before, but it's so much easier than making it on the stovetop. No more constant hovering over the stove to make the cheese sauce. 

Fried Green Potatoes...Not Tomatoes!

The potatoes aren't green...the spinach is! This is my version of hash browns! I love the flavor of fried potatoes with bacon, onions and spinach! It's important to get a nice crust on the potatoes.

Fried Green Potatoes

Portobella Burgers with Roasted Red Pepper Paste and Smoked Mozzarella

I found this recipe on GroupRecipes.com. This is a Rachel Ray recipe. I never had a portobella burger until I tried this one. How did I live without this delicious recipe for most of my life? I've made this recipe about 20 times since then.

Watermelon Used 3 Ways

I bought a gi-gundo watermelon a few days ago! Now I needed to find LOTS of things to do with it! So my hunt began for all things watermelon! So far I decided to make the 3 recipes shown here. I loved all of them equally.

Eggies

I thought this product seemed like a good idea...until I tried it!

Spa Water

I've never had a glass of water at a Spa before. Oh wait...that's because I've never been to a Spa! But I do love the flavor of this water!

Stabilized Whipped Cream Icing

I'm not much of a baker...well, I bake occasionally but I don't know all the tricks that good bakers know! I couldn't figure out how to keep my whipped cream from melting as soon as I took it out of the fridge.

Mango/Banana Sorbet

I'm totally loving my new ice cream maker! I just made this recipe called Mango Sorbet from Allrecipes.com. This was another activity for my Allstar Ambassador Program...and it was goooood! Below is the ingredients I used to make the sorbet because I didn't have all the ingredients listed in the original recipe. This frozen dessert was so easy to prepare!

Salad Wedges

When I saw this on Pinterest I thought it was a great idea! This is much easier than cutting the head of lettuce into lots of bite sized pieces!

S'mores Pops

As one of my activities for the Allrecipes.com Brand Ambassador Program for the month of June, I was asked to make some recipes that remind me of summer. I chose the following recipe for that very reason...S'mores is just one of those food items that is made time and time again during the summer months! But these treats are delicious ANY time of year!
 This version is a simple idea taken from the traditional S'mores recipe. My family loved it! And I loved how easy it was to make and keep stored for whenever that S'mores craving hits you!

Oven Roasted Salsa

Wow...what a difference a little roasting makes! I never thought to oven roast my salsa veggies, but it really works nicely! I loved the bold flavors the roasting brings out!

Apple Pie Egg Rolls with a Caramel Drizzle

I love to find new ways to make apple desserts! I also had some leftover won ton wrappers that I need to use before they expired. So I went searching on Pinterest and found a recipe called