Chocolate Eclair Cake

Ingredients

Crust:
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup flour
• 4 large eggs
Filling:
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 large box (5.1 ounces) vanilla instant pudding
• 3 cups milk
Topping:
• 1 8 oz. container cool whip (just enough for a thin layer. I don't use the whole container) or one batch of homemade whipping cream
• chocolate syrup or homemade chocolate sauce

Instructions

1. Instructions:
2. Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease a 9"X13" glass baking pan.
3. For the Eclair Crust: In a medium saucepan, melt butter in water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in flour. Mix in one egg at a time, mixing completely before adding another egg. Spread mixture into pan, covering the bottom and sides evenly. Mixture will be very wet. *If the sides of your pan are too greased you won't be able to get the mixture to stay up the sides so make sure to just lightly grease. No big deal but I like the crust to go up the sides a bit.
4. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown (Mine only took 25 minutes.) You may want to check it occasionally-you don't want to overcook the crust, it will ruin the cake! Remove from oven and let cool (don't touch or push bubbles down).
5. For the Filling: Whip cream cheese in a medium bowl. In separate bowl make vanilla pudding by beating the pudding mix and the milk for 3 minutes and put in the fridge until set. Make sure pudding is thick before mixing in with cream cheese. Slowly add pudding to cream cheese, mixing until there are no lumps. Let cool in fridge.When the crust is completely cooled, pour filling in. Top with layer of cool whip however thick you want it and serve with a drizzle chocolate syrup. *If you want to make this even better use homemade whipped cream.

**recipe and photo courtesy of  The girl who ate everything

Stuffed Italian Bread

 

1 Italian loaf, about 12 inches long

1 stick butter, melted

1/8 cup olive oil

3 tsp minced onion

2-3 cloves garlic, grated

1 tbsp dijon mustard

1 tbsp poppy seeds

3 tsp chopped parsley (add more if you wish)

12 oz grated cheese (I used a mix of white cheddar and monterey jack.)

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Mix the melted butter, olive oil, onion, garlic, dijon mustard, poppy seeds and parsley in a bowl.

Cut the bread into cubes with X slices without cutting all the way through the bottom crust.

 

Pour the butter-onion garlic mixture carefully into those X cracks using a small spoon and over the top of the bread. Fill those delicious cracks with the grated cheese.

 

Wrap the entire loaf with foil, sealing the sides properly and bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and unwrap. Bake for another 10 minutes until the cheese is melted and gooey.

 

Orange Strawberry Salad

1 package spring mix greens

1 pint strawberries, sliced
1 large orange, cut into small pieces
3 green onions, sliced
1 cup Sliced Almonds
4 TBS butter
4 TBS sugar

To make candied almonds:
Mix almonds, butter and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until the the butter and sugar turn to a toffee color, stir constantly.

 

 

Orange Dressing

½ tsp grated orange peel, or orange zest
1/3 cup fresh orange juice ( 1 to 2 oranges )
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon “Good Seasons Dry Italian” dressing mix. It is about ½ a package

Put all ingredients in a container and shake- serve.

recipe and photo courtesy of See Jane in the Kitchen

Birds Eye Honey Citrus Corn

1 bag (10 oz) Steam fresh Super Sweet Corn, cooked according to package directions

1 tablespoon Butter

1 teaspoon Honey

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

1.     Toss cooked corn, butter, honey, lemon juice, and parsley together in a bowl until butter melts

2.     Season with salt and pepper if desired.

*Recipe.com

Cheesy Bacon Oven Chips with Chipotle Ranch Sauce

·         1 large, uniformly-shaped russet potato, scrubbed well and sliced into 1/8" rounds*

·         cooking spray

·         3/4 C. shredded colby jack or cheddar cheese

·         salt & pepper to taste

·         2 T. crumbled bacon (about 2 slices) - I used real bacon bits

·         chopped parsley or chives, for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Bring sliced potatoes to a boil in cold, salted water to cover

for 5 minutes.  Carefully drain, and transfer slices to a paper-towel lined countertop or cutting

 board.  Pat to dry.

Grease a baking sheet with cooking spray, and lay out potato slices so they are overlapping

on it.  Spray lightly with additional cooking spray, then sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste.  

Sprinkle evenly with shredded cheese & bacon.  Bake 12-14 minutes in preheated oven until

cheese is melted & bubbly.  Serve with chipotle ranch sauce (recipe below).  Serves 2.

*You can use 2 medium-sized potatoes rather than 1 large.  Also, I like to leave the skin on

 but you can peel the potatoes if you prefer.

Chipotle Ranch Dipping Sauce

·         1 T. ranch dressing

·         3 T. sour cream

·         1/4 t. chipotle chili powder

·         1/8 t. cayenne (adjust more or less depending on how spicy you want).

·         1/8 t. salt

·         1/8 t. garlic powder
Place all ingredients in a small bowl, and stir to combine.  Refrigerate any leftovers

Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

24 ice cream sandwiches
16 ounces of cool whip
1 jar caramel sundae topping
1 bag of your favorite candy, coarsely chopped Reeses peanut butter cups

Lay half of the ice cream sandwiches (whole) in the bottom of a

9 x 13-inch pan, trimming the last couple to get complete coverage.

Top with half of the cool whip, half of the caramel sundae topping and

 half of the candy. Lay down another layer of ice cream sandwiches.  Top

with remaining cool whip and spread out evenly with a knife, making

a lip around the edge so the sundae topping won't run out and over

the edges.  Top with remaining candy, cover and freeze for several

 hours (or overnight) before serving.

Whipped Marshmellow Cheesecake

Graham Cracker Crust:
40 squares of graham crackers (crushed)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine (melted)

Mix above ingredients. Press into top and sides of 9 x 13' greased pan. Reserve 1/2 cup for top.

Filling:
10 1/2 oz. large marshmallows (40 marshmallows)
3/4 cup milk
2 - 8-oz. packages of cream cheese
12-oz. Container of fat-free Cool Whip

Alternative Topping:
4 C sliced strawberries
1/3 C water
1/2 C sugar
2 T cornstarch
few drops red food coloring

In saucepan bring to a boil water, sugar, cornstarch and food coloring for 2 minutes. Cool and then fold in strawberries. Once cool spread over filling mixture.

Melt marshmallows and milk over low heat. Beat cream cheese; add marshmallow mixture. Cool. Fold in Cool Whip. Spread into crust and sprinkle with remaining graham cracker crust. Refrigerate until set.

Passion Punch

Ingredients:

2 cups water

2 cups reduced-calorie cranberry juice cocktail

1 pkt. (makes 2 qt. drink) or 2 pkt. (makes 1 qt. drink each) CRYSTAL LIGHT Raspberry Ice Flavor Drink Mix*

2 cups cold sparkling water

1/2 cup frozen raspberries

 

Directions:

 

ADD water and juice cocktail to drink mix in large glass or plastic pitcher; stir until mix is dissolved.

REFRIGERATE until ready to serve. Stir in sparkling water.

POUR over berries in 6 tall glasses.

From Kraft Recipes

Loaded Baked Potato & Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs chicken breasts, cubed or shredded
• 10-12 small  potatoes diced
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 TBS. freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 TBS. garlic powder
• 2 c. Mexican Blend Cheese
• 1/2 c. crumbled bacon
• 1/2 c. chopped green onion

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 475. In a large bowl, mix together olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder. Add the potatoes and coat with mixture. Place the potatoes into a greased baking dish, leave as much of the mix as possible. Bake potatoes for 1 hr, flip the potatoes every 15-20 mins. Check with a fork to ensure the potatoes are done. While the potatoes are baking, coat the chicken with the left over mixture and cook in a skillet over medium heat, until the chicken is done (no longer pink inside!) Once the potatoes are done, take them out of the oven and turn the oven temperature down to 400. Add the chicken, cheese, bacon & green onions. Put the casserole back in the oven and bake for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve with sour cream or ranch dressing

 

Recipe and photo courtesy of My Sweet Little Steiner Family

Pumkin Lust Cake

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup flour
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tbs sugar
* Or an alteration (which I did) is to make a gingersnap crust. I blended a couple of handfuls of gingersnap cookies with the 2 T of sugar and the melted butter. It was delicious!

Cream Cheese Layer:
1 (8oz) package of cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 (8 oz) containers
cool whip (or one 16 oz container)

Pumpkin Layer:
2 small packages (3.4oz) of Jello Instant Pumpkin Spice Pudding
3 cup cold milk
Nutmeg for sprinkling

For the crust: Combine butter, flour, chopped pecans and sugar and press into a 9 x 13 in baking dish. Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes. Let cool completely.

For the Cream Cheese Layer: Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and 1 1/2 cups cool whip until smooth. Spread over crust.

For the Pumpkin Layer: Mix pudding mixes with cold milk, whisking for several minutes. Set it in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to let it thicken. Spread over the cream cheese layer. Top with remaining container of cool whip. Sprinkle with nutmeg.

Cut into squares and serve. Keep refrigerated.

*The Pumpkin Spice Pudding is a season pudding but I found it at Wal-Mart during the holidays. This is an awesome pudding for desserts so buy a few to keep on hand... they sell out fast!!

Adapted from Sweet Treats & More

Ranch Cheese Spread

Ingredients:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 C. sour cream (I substituted Greek yogurt)
1/2 C. mayo
2 C. shredded cheddar cheese
2 green onions, chopped
1 envelope ranch dressing packet

*In a large bowl beat cream cheese, sour cream (or Greek yogurt), and mayo until smooth. Stir in cheddar cheese, green onions and dressing mix. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

Serve with crackers or vegetables

Fluffy Orange Fruit Dip

1 8 oz package cream cheese
2 tsp orange zest
3 tbsp fresh orange juice
1/4 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1 (7 oz) jar marshmallow cream

Beat cream cheese, orange zest, orange juice, vanilla, and salt until smooth and creamy.  Add marshmallow cream and beat until combined.

Serve with any chopped fresh fruit.