Easy homemade croutons

Yummy note: Wondering what to do with that leftover bread? Don't want to throw it away or take a lot of time making another dish with it in there, then this is your recipe! I love these homemade croutons, as they are nice and crispy, yet tender to the fork when you try and pick them up in your salad. What's worse then trying to get that crouton on your fork and all it does it break into a bunch of tiny pieces or worse yet, like me, if you have a slight clumsy notion, you'll send it shooting across the table. :) This recipe is perfect for avoiding those issues, plus it's quick and easy to make these homemade croutons to add to your meal.

Ingredients:
about 3 cups of bread cubes (maybe a half loaf of bread or 6 slices or so) (can use any type of bread, just as long as it is slightly dried out, or if it is a fresher bread still, throw it in the oven at 300-350 degrees for a few minutes to toast up a little before using)
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic powder or crushed garlic
2-3 tsp assorted flavored herbs - such as oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, or parsley
1/8 to a 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (if desired for a cheesy crouton)
salt and pepper to taste





Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the bread into cubes, about 1/2 inch to 1 inch sizes. (Again, if bread still seems a bit more soft, toss it in the oven for a few minutes before to start drying it out.) In a baking pan, like a 9x13 cake pan, add melted butter, olive oil, and seasonings. Stir together. Next, in the baking pan, toss bread cubes into butter/oil mixture and lightly coat. Add any other additional seasonings (like salt and pepper) if you wish. Once cubes are evenly and lightly coated, put croutons back into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes until bread is golden and crunchy. Toss cubes several times during baking to ensure even baking of croutons. In the last 5 minutes or so, add the Parmesan cheese, if desired. Try not to add it too early on, or else it might burn on a bit. Let croutons cool and store in a plastic container or a plastic bag. They last up to about a week unrefrigerated or you can store in the refrigerator to last about 2 weeks.

peanut butter cracker treats

Yummy note:
A little bit of peanut butter, with a chocolaty coating crunch.... who couldn't want more?! These simple little cookie cracker sandwiches are super easy to make, seriously. I think I can get a batch of these little guys made in like minutes. What's even cooler, is I often have all these ingredients on hand in my pantry closet, so it's an easy and cheap fix. Also with a few variations, you can make some super cute cookie treats. Oh, and did I mention satisfying, since you have the salty, the sweet, and the crunchy treat, all in 1.


Ingredients:
about 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 sleeve (4 ounces) round butter-flavored crackers (aka Ritz crackers work awesome)
about 8 ounces of chocolate bark or chocolate candy melts
sprinkles or any other decorative candy (or you can use a candy cookie mold tray)

Directions:
Spread a small amount of peanut butter on a cracker and top with another cracker.



Melt chocolate using a double boiler or if you don't have one of them, try this instead to make your own double boiler. Fill a sauce pan with 1 to 2 inches of water and place it over low to medium heat until the water begins to simmer. Use a pyrex or a stainless steel bowl that has a diameter larger than that of your saucepan and place it on top. Make sure that your bowl does not fall into the pan or touch the simmering water. Next, place your chocolate into the glass bowl and let the steam heat the bottom of the bowl to melt the chocolate without burning. You could also melt your chocolate in the microwave heating it at a lower wattage to avoid burning your chocolate.

Next, dip the peanut butter sandwich crackers in the chocolate mixture, turning to coat thoroughly. Place on wax paper and decorate with sprinkles or candy if you wish.

If you have a candy cookie tray like the one I have shown below, you can fill those trays with the melted chocolate and then put the sandwich inside the tray to set up. For ease, I melted the chocolate in a microwave bag to be able to drizzle it with more control inside the tray. Let treats stand until coating is firm.





























Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week or so. Makes about a dozen or so treats.

Another variation:
Instead of peanut butter, you could use Nutella or another flavored peanut butter in the middle of your crackers! Also, if you have extra melted chocolate, you can quickly make some chocolate covered Oreos!

Carrot Cake Balls

Yummy note: Let me start out with I love this basic recipe for cake balls. It really has many endless possibilities... For this specific recipe, I made a yummy carrot cake and cream cheese combo dashed with a few walnuts. Hmmm.. its like a bit-sized piece of carrot cake, tell me who doesn't love that?! I wish I could recall where I first saw cake balls, or where I even got this recipe from I really do, as I just love them! So I'll send you to one of my favorite sites here, as I'm sure I'll be trying this recipe soon... don't they look so cute? http://www.bakerella.com/cupcake-bites-made-easy/

Carrot Cake Balls

Ingredients:

1 (16-ounce) can prepared cream cheese frosting
1 (18.25-ounce) box of carrot cake mix (plus ingredients called for on box)
1 package of Almond Bark Coating, Confectionery Wafer Coating, or Chocolate Chips
small package of chopped walnuts

Directions:

Bake the cake according to package instructions. While the cake is still a little warm, crumble the cake into a bowl. Crumble it into fairly fine crumbs and mix in the frosting. Note: You can use about 3/4 to a full can of frosting until mixture is a nice, not too moist, not too dry consistency. Next, chill the cake/frosting mixture for atleast 2 hours. Using a small cookie scooper or your hands, form the mixture into 1 to 1 ½ -inch balls.

Place the balls on wax paper or parchment paper and freeze for several hours before dipping them. This step allows you to handle the cake balls so that they don't fall apart or get too crumbly. Next, when the balls have chilled and are ready, melt some Almond Bark Coating (or whatever chocolate coating you choose), according to the package directions. Next remove cake balls from freezer and dip the cake balls into the coating. To dip the balls, use either a fork or even toothpicks can work well, too. Next, remove the cake ball from the coating and place on the wax or parchment paper. At this point, when I made my carrot cake balls, I sprinkled walnuts on top before the coating had set up. You may decorate as you wish, such as using sprinkles, chocolate chips, coconut, etc. Store in refrigerator/freezer when finished. Makes about 30 or so cake balls.

So speaking of endless possibilities for this recipe, here's just a few I've either tried or want to try!

• Devil's food cake or a brownie mix with fudge icing with a chocolate coating • White cake with white frosting mixed with sprinkles inside and topped with a white sprinkled coating • German chocolate cake with coconut-pecan icing and then topped with milk chocolate coating • a spice cake with cream-cheese frosting and a vanilla coating • Lemon cake with lemon frosting and vanilla coating • Chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and mint-flavored coating • Red velvet cake mix with cream cheese frosting dipped in white chocolate coating

Blueberry Apple Crisp

Yummy note: At a recent get together, I thought what would be perfect near this holiday week would be something festive including the red, white, or blue colors. I know, who color coordinates their food with the holidays, haha.. well I'm one of those nuts out there. It makes things more fun and lively! Not to mention, something fun to talk about! So I decided to go the all-American way, and first thought of making a nice apple pie to celebrate the Fourth of July season, but instead I opted for the crisp as I had no time to make a pie crust or to run to the store at that moment in time. I really love the "crisp" part, sometimes when I make my apple pies, I make only a bottom pie shell and add more crisp on top. I like how it is almost like having an oatmeal cookie on top. hmm.. ok, so back to the dessert, I decided to toss in some fresh blueberries into my apple crisp to liven the color up, not to mention it added some great flavor.

Blueberry Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

Fruit mixture:
4-5 medium tart cooking apples, sliced
1 cup of fresh blueberries
(optional, may toss your apples with a little lemon juice - maybe a teaspoon or so, if you'd like)

For the Topping:
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flour (can use all-purpose flour or self-rising flour)
1/2 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oatmeal (sometimes in a pinch I will use the instant brown sugar/maple packets of oatmeal if I don't have enough on hand)
1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of 8-inch or 9-inch square pan. Spread the apples and blueberries out in the pan. Sprinkle a little cinnamon and sugar over the apples with the lemon juice, if desired. Next, stir remaining ingredients until well mixed and crumble over the fruit mixture. Sometimes, I make an additional half-batch of the topping mixture to add on top of the fruit, as I really like my crumb topping. This doesn't really affect the baking time a lot, maybe add an additional minute or two. Bake about 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown and the juice starts oozing and bubbling through a bit. Plus the apples should be tender when pierced with a fork. I really enjoying serving it warm, with some ice cream or whipped cream on top, or else I know others that love it cold. So serve as you wish and enjoy!

Fresh Shamrock Salsa

Yummy note: This is one of my favorite quick salsas I like to make. It uses nice fresh ingredients that combines together to make a pretty colorful dish. There are a lot of great flavors and textures in this dish that really works together well. It is not too spicy nor bland, so it typically is a pretty good crowd pleaser that everyone is usually asking me for the recipe afterwards. This fresh shamrock salsa is a fairly simple dish to prepare, the only thing that really takes the time is the cutting of the fresh herbs. I've had people ask, can I just used dried ones instead of the fresh? hmm.. no. I wouldn't, you don't get the same flavor or crunch, not to mention the freshness out of this salsa. So please use the fresh versions of the parsley and cilantro in this dish. It might take you some time to chop your herbs, but hey if you make this salsa enough you'll get great with your cutting skills and it will go much faster :)

Fresh Shamrock Salad

Ingredients:

1 bunch parsley, chopped to stems
1 bunch cilantro, chopped to stems
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 can chopped green chiles
1 can or about 4 oz. of chopped black olives (if you use the canned version, please drain olives)
3 medium tomatoes, chopped (or you can use a small jar of chunky salsa)
2 cups of shredded of Monterey Jack cheese
1 envelope Good Seasons Italian Dressing, made to package directions
1 clove crushed garlic
1 small can of Mexican corn (if you can't find that, any type of corn will work)

Directions:

Prepare the dressing according to the package directions. Crush a small clove of garlic and add to the dressing and set aside.

Next, chop the tomatoes, parsley, cilantro, green onions, chiles, and olives. Add all of the ingredients into a large bowl. Toss in corn and cheese.

After all ingredients have been added to the bowl toss together lightly. Next, pour the dressing mixture into bowl, and stir until well mixed and coated. The flavors are best if you give this dish about an hour or so of marinating time, but if you don't have the time, it is still pretty good. My favorite way to serve this salsa is with the lime tortilla chips. Make sure to refrigerate any leftovers you might have.

Chocolate Eclair Dessert

Yummy note: I'm not really sure where I got this recipe, but I know I've had it for years. This chocolate eclair dessert is such a great dessert to make for a crowd. It is also pretty easy to cut in half if you need to also and make a smaller batch. I've prepared the chocolate topping a few different ways before, all depending what I had in the pantry on hand. No use buying something special for a recipe, if you can find a substitute instead. I've also heard people using chocolate graham crackers instead, and using a different flavoring of pudding as well; so I guess your combinations are endless :) The only catch with this dessert is to remember to let it sit overnight before eating it, as it pulls it all together. If you don't wait it kinda falls apart more, and just doesn't meld together well. I remember getting this dessert at a restaurant in the past, where it was piled super high with a ton of layers of graham crackers and pudding, so they must have used like a trifle dish of something instead of a 9x13 pan like I use to achieve all of those beautiful yummy layers. Maybe next time...

Chocolate Eclair Dessert

Ingredients:
Filling:

2 small packages (the 3 ounce boxes) of French Vanilla Pudding
8 ounces Cool Whip
3 cups milk
Almost a whole box of graham crackers

Directions:

Mix together the pudding and milk; then gently stir in the Cool Whip.

In an ungreased 9x13 casserole dish/baking pan, line the bottom with whole or half sheet of graham crackers.

Next, evenly pour half the pudding mixture over them. Add another layer of graham crackers then the remainder of the pudding mixture. Top with a final layer of graham crackers.

After the final layer of graham crackers are put on, prepare the chocolate topping. Please use one of the topping suggestions below to cover your layers of filling.

Note: You can eliminate all of the topping ingredients below if you want to substitute the recipe for the topping for a can of already prepared chocolate frosting for a quicker preparation. However, I think it tastes much better with a homemade chocolate topping. :)

Chocolate glaze topping:

2 squares bakers chocolate, melted
2 Tblsp butter, melted
2 Tblsp corn syrup
1/2 cup sifted confectioner's (powdered) sugar
2-3 Tblsp milk

Directions:

Put the squares of bakers chocolate and butter in a microwavable bowl and heat until melted. Stir in the corn syrup until mixed together. Next add in the sifted confectioner's sugar and milk. Stir until smooth, and pour over top layer of the dessert until it is covering the entire graham cracker surface.

Put in refrigerator and let it sit until the dessert has set (preferably overnight, or 6-8 hours for melding time.) Cut, serve and enjoy!

beer bread

Yummy note: I've gone to a few of those parties, lets call them "simply tasty" ;) where everything I think is served with beer bread. Every dip mentionable is served on beer bread I think the last time I was there, wow a great utensil beer bread makes, right?! haha.. in all seriousness though, beer bread is pretty darn easy to make without any fancy bread mixes, dips, or crazy ingredients. I found this recipe several places online that really seemed ridiculously simple, and it really was. I was almost surprised that it worked. I've made it several times. The one time I even made a load using cream soda, as the "beer" ingredient, and added some cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top of the butter, which turned out nice and breakfasty. Another time I went a bit more traditional and used a local beer. A note on the beer, be careful on what you choose as the beer does make a difference in the end taste.

Beer Bread

Ingredients:
12 0z beer (I've heard not to choose a super light beer so pick what you like to drink would be a good choice)
3 cups self-rising flour
1/3 cup sugar
3-4 Tablespoons melted butter

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray. In a bowl, combine flour and sugar. Next, stir in the beer, it will be foamy and sticky. You might have to even use your hands if you can not stir it with a spoon.

Pour the batter into the pan and brush with melted butter. Bake 50-60 minutes until browned. Cool slightly and remove loaf from the pan and continue to cool. Enjoy with a nice cream cheese spread or some other flavored spread.