Easy Cheese Ball

As promised, here is the Cheese Ball recipe I brought to Alyssa's shower.  Julia told me about it and it is from allrecipes.com.  It is super easy and would be a great appetizer before a holiday meal.

INGREDIENTS:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened 1 (1 ounce) package ranch dressing mix

2 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:

1.

In a medium size bowl, mash cream cheese. Mix dressing mix and Cheddar cheese into the cream cheese. Shape the mixture into a ball. Roll the ball in the chopped nuts. Refrigerate covered until ready to serve. Yum! **This make a rather large cheese ball, so you could make the recipe and make two smaller balls and freeze one for later**

Pumpkin Muffins

I made these last night to eat for breakfast this morning...but we ate them all as dessert instead. Very similar in taste to Panera Bread's Pumpkin Muffin/Muffies. Easy and I had everything already in my pantry! Enjoy!

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From Gourmet Magazine, November 2006
Adapted from the American Club
Makes 1 dozen
Active time: 15 min.
Start to finish: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS:
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpking (from a 15-oz can) (I accidentally put the entire 15 oz. can in, with no ill effects at all)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp pumpkin-pie spice (a combo of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and allspice)
1.25 cups plus 1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Equipment: 12 foil or paper muffin liners; a muffin pan with 12 (1/2-cup) muffin cups

DIRECTIONS:
Put oven rack in middle positiona nd preheat oven toe 350F. Put liners in muffin cups.

Whisk together flour and baking powder in a small bowl.

Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin-pie spice, 1.25 cups sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined.

Stir together cinnamon and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in another bowl.

Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about 3/4 full), then spinkle tops with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake until puffed and golden brown and a wodden pick or skewer inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes, then transfer muffins from pan to rack and cool to warm or room temperature.

Italian Ravioli

I got this recipe from a girl at preschool (she made it for lunch for us one day). It was really good. I made it again tonight and it was easy and everyone ate it.


1 pkg of ravioli 24 oz (or any kind of pasta)
2 T of butter
1 pkg of mushrooms(8oz)
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of italian seasoning
1 can of rotel drained
2 T of chopped fresh basil
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in dutch oven over medium heat. Add mushrooms and next 2 ingredients;saute over medium high heat until mushrooms are tender. Stir in rotel, basil, and cream and bring to a boil. reduce heat and simmer stirring occasionally for approx 5 minutes. Sir in parmesan cheese and salt. Stir in ravoli and toss to coat and enjoy.

Maple Sausage Apple Balls

I made up a TON of these this weekend for a preschool parent breakfast this week. This recipe has been one of my favorite sausage ball recipes for a long time -- just slightly different than a regular one, but even yummier! I got the recipe off the maple sausage package a long time ago...when I bought the sausage this weekend, the recipe was still on the package! Enjoy!

1 package maple sausage
3/4 cup all purpose baking mix
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/3-1/2 cup grated granny smith apple
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375. Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl; stir well. Form into 1" balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool 5 minutes while still on the pan.

NOTE: Can be prepared ahead and frozen UNCOOKED. To bake from frozen, thaw on baking sheet approx 15 minutes. Then bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Easy Bruschetta Chicken Bake

On a whim the other day I picked up a box of Stove top stuffing mix for chicken. It had a recipe on the back that I thought sounded good. I made it tonight and it was tasty and easy, my two favorite things.

Ingedients:

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 pkg Stovetop stuffing mix for chicken

2 cloves garlic, minced

boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces (I used pounded chicken breasts, but you could also use chicken tenders)

1 tsp dried basil leaves (I used some of this and also italian seasoning)

Mozzarella cheese

Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400. Place tomatoes with their liquid in medium bowl. Add stuffing mix, 1/2 C hot water and the garlic; stir just until stuffing mix is moistened. Set aside

2. Place chicken in 13x9" baking dish, sprinkle with basil & cheese (I also drizzled mine with olive oil & added a little italian seasoning & sea salt); the recipe on the back of the box just called for Mozzarella cheese, but I used a little bit of shredded Parmesan too.

3. Top the chicken with the prepared stuffing (I also added a little more parmesan cheese on top of the stuffing mix).

4. Bake for 30 min or until chicken is cooked through.