Beef and Onion Cheese ball

This time of year I truly like to indulge on various types of cheese balls. It is one of my favorite go to snacks. Do you have a favorite cheese ball, cheese spread or topping for crackers or veggies? If so share your recipe.

A friend of mine Toni Summers started bringing in beef and onion cheese ball for food pitch ins at work. She had tweaked her recipe a few times and knowing that I liked horseradish she started incorporating that into the recipe as well. Cheese ball recipes are nice because you can tweak them to your own preferences. I switch out the type of onion I use in recipes. Sometimes I use green spring onions other times I might use a sweet or just a plain yellow or white onion. That is the beauty of cooking...the sky is the limit! Here is the recipe I currently use when making a beef and onion cheese ball.

Beef and Onion Cheese Ball

 

8 ozs cream cheese, soften ( I use reduced fat)
4 ozs chipped beef I use Buddig (chopped into small pieces)
1 tsp Seasoned salt
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 bunch green onion (chopped tops too)-This is where you
switch out your onions for different taste profile
1/4 c shredded cheddar cheese - optional
1 T horseradish (prepared)- optional

Mix all ingredients together. Shape into a ball or you can just leave in covered container. Refrigerate for an hour at least.

Serve with your favorite cracker or veggies.

Enjoy!

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls...A favorite in this house.

Many recipes that I have come across in the last couple of years of making cabbage rolls vary just a tiny bit on the ingredients that are utilized. You can use ground beef, veal, Italian sausage. I am guessing you could use game meat too like venison. I haven't personally tried making them with venison but I wouldn't mind giving it a try if I got my hands on some.

There are many ways you can cook them too. You can put them in a crock pot, simmer on the stove, or you could bake them. I prefer to bake them.

Below is my basic recipe for making cabbage rolls.

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Ingredients-

 
1 head of Savoy Cabbage
2 lbs of ground meat (I use Italian Sausage)
1/2 c. of uncooked instant white rice
1/4 c bread crumbs (seasoned or unseasoned)
1 medium finely diced onion
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground pepper (freshly ground)
2 large eggs slightly beaten

1 - 2 jars of your favorite Tomato sauce (homemade or store bought)

Directions-

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Remove the entire core of the cabbage. A paring knife does a good job of this. Immerse the head of cabbage in the boiling water for a few minutes, peeling off each leaf with tongs as soon as it s flexible. Set the leaves aside. You will need at least 14 leaves depending on their size.

In a large bowl you will make the filling. Combine the ground meat, eggs, onion, breadcrumbs, rice, oregano, basil, thyme, salt, and pepper.

If you want your rolls to have more of a tomato taste you can add 1 cup of the tomato sauce to the meat mixture and mix lightly with a fork. I don't do this regularly , but it does help if your meat mixture appears to be a bit drier than normal as well.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

To assemble, place 1 cup of the sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish (or crock pot if you decide to go that route of cooking).

Remove the hard triangular rib from the base of each cabbage leaf using that handy paring knife. Place 1/3 cup of filling in an oval shape (small cigar shape) near the rib edge of each leaf and roll up toward the outer edge, tucking the sides in as you roll (kind of like a burrito). Place half the cabbage rolls, seam sides down, over the sauce. Add more sauce and more cabbage rolls alternately until you have placed all the cabbage rolls in the baking dish or crockpot. Pour the remaining sauce over the cabbage rolls. Cover the dish with foil or just put the lid on your crock pot and bake for 1 hour or until the meat is cooked and the rice is tender. If using crock pot, cook on low for 6-7 hour. Internal temp should be 160 degrees F. Serve hot.

I must confess, I find these very addictive.

Enjoy,
Michelle

Cinnamon Yeast Rolls

Saturday I made homemade cinnamon rolls for the first time. Happy to say they turned out wonderfully.

The recipe was shared with me from one of my direct reports on my configuration audit team at work. Thank you Sheryl Rounds. It was passed to her from a friend. I encourage you to try this recipe. Delicious and very easy.

Cinnamon yeast rolls

Ingredients:
1 box yellow or white cake mix
4 1/2 c flour (all purpose)
7 tsp yeast (4 pkgs)
1 tsp cinnamon more for sprinkling
2 1/2 c water @ 120 degrees F
1 c brown sugar


Directions:
Whisk together cake mix, flour, yeast and cinnamon. Add water.

Mix until combined.
Flour counter top knead until soft.
Put back in greased bowl, cover and let rise for 1/2 hour.

A great hint to use less bench flour when rolling out dough, spray your counter with cooking spray then dust with flour and smooth out flour.

Roll dough out to about 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll up dough then cut into 2 to 2 1/2 inch pieces.

Set in greased 9 x 13 cake pan.
Let rise 15 minutes.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 min.

I made a maple cream cheese icing for mine.

I used: 2 T milk, 4 T maple syrup, 4 oz cream cheese (softened) and 1 1/2 c confectioners sugar. Blended until smooth then drizzled over warm rolls.

I can't believe I am saying this but I confess that they were so decadent that I could only eat one and I was full!

Enjoy!

Pizza Casserole

In the mood for pizza but want something lighter and easy to throw together? Well this recipe was shared with me from one of my son Nicholas' former teachers. Thank you Jode.

This recipe can be thrown together and just warmed in a crockpot on low for two hours or put in a 9 x 13 baking dish and baked in the oven for about 30 minutes. I will say having it sit in the crockpot lets the flavors intensify a bit and really nice for potlucks.

Pizza Casserole

Ingredients-

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground Italian sausage
1 pkg of sliced pepperoni (chopped)
1 pkg of egg noodles ( I use No Yolk noodles extra wide)
2 jars of your favorite pizza sauce
Here is where you can get creative (Whatever you normally like on your pizza you can throw into the mix):
1 small onion (optional)
1 small green bell pepper (optional)
1/4 c chopped fresh mushrooms (optional)

1 sm can of sliced black olives (optional)
1 1/2 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese
1/2 T of oregano or Italian seasoning

Directions-

In a large skillet brown ground beef and Italian sausage, drain and set aside.

While the meat is browning, boil water in a dutch oven pan and cook egg noodles for about 7 minutes. Drain the water off noodles.

In the dutch oven pan add the ground meat, pepperoni, Italian seasoning and any other fixins you decided would be good on your "pizza". Mix together but be gentle not to destroy your noodles.

This is where you will decide which vessel to cook your casserole in. Whichever you choose, layer mixture by separating the two layers with 1/2 your mozzarella cheese. End with sprinkling the remainder mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese on top. If you cook in crock pot, cook on low for 2 hours. If you bake in oven in a 9 x 13 baking dish, bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. The cheese on top will have melted and will be a bit brown.

You can serve this with a nice side salad and some garlic bread. Such a nice tasty Italian meal.

Again, thank you Jode for sharing this tasty recipe.

-Michelle

Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Some of you might be tired of all the pumpkin recipes people are posting. I happen to enjoy pumpkin overload. It is a shame that many don't enjoy pumpkin dishes or desserts until the fall. I like them year round.

Here is a recipe for Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin cookies. I adapted the recipe from several recipes I have seen online as well as cooking shows over the weekend. After a trial run yesterday of making them, I tweaked the recipe a bit and I think I might be onto something.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients-

1 c all purpose flour
2/3 c old fashioned oats
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground allspice
3/4 c turbinado sugar (raw sugar) plus a bit more for sprinkling on cookies
3/4 c canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/3 c vegetable oil
2 T maple praline syrup (you can use pure maple syrup) * I like the extra nuttiness of the maple praline syrup.
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c raisins

Directions-
Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, oats, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and the allspice. blend them together well.

In a larger bowl, combine the sugar, pumpkin, oil, syrup, and vanilla and whisk it together.

Gradually add the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture (using a folding method so you don't over mix batter. Stir in the raisins.

Drop cookie batter mixture (will be sticky) by tablespoon full onto cookie sheets. spacing the cookie mounds about an inch apart. Mini cookie scoops or ice cream scoops come in handy for this.

Moisten your fingertips and flatten each cookie to about 2 inches in diameter. Sprinkle a bit of the turbinado sugar on top of each cookie.

Bake the cookies until brown which is about 17-19 minutes depending on size of your cookie and its slight firmness. Transfer cookies to cooling rack and cool completely.

I must confess I am not much of a milk drinker but I enjoyed a nice glass of the moo juice with my cookie. Okay...cookies!

Enjoy giving these tasty cookies as a nice treat to teachers, neighbors, your clergy....Heck I bet your UPS or Fed Ex guy would love a nice treat!

-Michelle

Chocolate did someone say Chocolate?

Oh my goodness, I have to confess I love the feeling I get inside when I indulge in something chocolate.
Not the cheap chocolate flavored candy...REAL chocolate or cocoa.

I love to read through other bloggers pages, especially those related to cooking. It is all due to my addiction to Pinterest. While looking through the vast number of blogs I follow, I ran across this recipe the other day.

It is for Skinny Chocolate Fudge Banana Muffins. Yes there is that "C" word...CHOCOLATE.

The recipe is from the blogger Sally's Baking Addiction. You should check her blog out sometime.

Let me just warn you, these muffins are kind of on the healthy side in regards to no oil being used in the recipe. It utilizes applesauce. That and they also have whole wheat flour in them. Don't run away screaming....no I want sinful tasting muffins. These can't taste good. Well, I have to say they are DIVINE!

Give this recipe a try!

Chocolate Fudge Banana Muffins

Ingredients-

3 large ripe bananas
2/3 c granulated sugar ( you can reduce to 1/2 c for less sweet of a muffin)
1 large egg
1/3 c whole wheat flour
1/3 c all purpose flour
1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 c semi sweet chocolate chips (I used the mini morsels)/have extra to top muffins

Directions-

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line muffin tins with baking cups.

In a large bowl mash your bananas with a fork. Make sure no large lumps.

Stir in the sugar, egg and applesauce.

Now sift the flours,cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder into wet ingredients. Mix together gently. Do not over mix. Fold in chocolate chips.

Divide the batter into 12 muffin cups. Fill to top. Sprinkle top with a few chocolate morsels. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until pick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool for 3-4 minutes then transfer to cooling rack to completely cool.

Muffins stay fresh up to 5 days in airtight container...but I must confess these will not last that long. Delicious!

Enjoy-
Michelle

Some say I am a bit corny.

In all the social circles I have been in, people often say I am a bit corny. Well, I don't think that is all that bad of a thing and I tend to embrace it.

So today I am going to go with it and share with you a recipe I tried last night for dinner.

Corn Casserole aka "Corny Casserole"

Ingredients:
8 T butter
1 15.25oz can whole corn with liquid
1 14.75oz can creamed corn
8 1/2 oz box of Jiffy corn bread mix
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 c light sour cream
Pinch of salt and pepper
1 c shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degree F.
Melt butter in 9 x 13 baking dish. Add corn and cornbread mix; mix with fork. Add eggs; mix with fork. Drop sour cream by tablespoon all over the top of the mixture. Fold in gently. Add salt and pepper blend into corn mixture. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake for 35 minutes or until mixture is firm. Cool slightly before cutting into squares.
This is heavenly! I must confess, I could just make a meal of this.

What are some of your favorite "corny" recipes? Feel free to share as well as you can visit my Facebook page "Momma's Hungry Thoughts".

Have a great day!
Michelle