Star Wars Dinner

by penji1
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Vader Veggies and Droid Dip

My daughter Courtney and her husband Jaren had not seen the new Star Wars movie so after I bought it at Target I called to see if they wanted to come over to watch it and then decided to make a Star Wars dinner to go along with the movie.

Up first we had Vader Veggies and Droid Dip, the dip is the Hidden Valley Ranch Dip Mix and sour cream, easy but always yummy.

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Trooper Scoopers and 7 Leia Dip

Next up, Trooper Scoopers and 7 Leia Dip, the Trooper Scoopers are those Tostitos Scoops Chips and the 7 Leia Dip is your traditional 7 layer dip with refried beans, sour cream, salsa, shredded cheddar cheese, chopped tomato, chopped green onion and sliced olives (except I didn’t have any olives!).

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Bow-Ba Fet-A Pasta AKA Pasta with Chicken, Tomato and Feta

The main course was this Bow-Ba Fet-A Pasta, you can find the recipe for that here.

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Wookie Cookies AKA Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

And then Wookie Cookies for dessert, recipe here.

One other note, you might have noticed that I have the Star Wars font for the little food signs, you can get if for free here.

Wookie Cookies AKA Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

by penji1
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Wookie Cookies AKA Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

And for dessert for your Star Wars dinner, who wouldn’t love Wookie Cookies?  These were so delicious and so easy too!

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 sticks butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 cup cocoa

2 cups chocolate chips or M&M’s, or 2 chocolate bars, chopped

1 cup chopped walnuts

1  Preheat oven to 375.  Stir together flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl.  In a mixer bowl, beat butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla and cocoa together until well combined.  Gradually stir in flour mixture until well combined.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

2  Scoop dough onto cookie sheets and bake 10 – 12 minutes.  Cool on sheets for 2 – 4 minutes before removing to racks to cool completely.

Yield: 4 dozen

recipe from Food Network

Bow-ba Fet-A Pasta AKA Pasta with Chicken, Tomato and Feta

by penji1
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Bow-Ba Fet-A Pasta AKA Pasta with Chicken, Tomato and Feta

Courtney and Jaren had not seen the new Star Wars movie so after I bought it at Target on Tuesday, I texted her to see if they wanted to come have dinner on Sunday and watch the movie which of course they did so then I decided to make a Star Wars dinner too.  I made this pasta for the main course which was really easy and really yummy, to be eaten either warm or cold, would be even better during the summer with garden tomatoes.

12 ounces bowtie or other small pasta

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 cup (4 ounces) crumbled feta cheese

1 pound (3 cups) Roma tomatoes, cut into chunks

3 cups (12 ounces) shredded or diced cooked chicken

1 cup torn fresh basil leaves

salt and pepper

1  Cook pasta according to package directions.  Rinse well under cold water.

2  Put pasta in a large bowl and add rest of ingredients, seasoning generously with salt and pepper.  Mix together until well combined.

recipe from Martha Stewart

The Best Homemade Cheesecake

by penji1
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The Best Homemade Cheesecake

It was my daughter Courtney’s birthday a couple of weeks ago and she requested cheesecake instead of a birthday cake so I gave it a shot and it came out pretty good!  I don’t love cheesecake so don’t make it ever but this one was easy to make and tasted heavenly!  It wasn’t too cheesy tasting and it was light and fluffy in texture.  I will definitely make it again.

crust

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

5 tablespoons sugar

1/3 cup melted butter

filling

3 (8 oz each) packages cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 eggs, separated

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla

1  Preheat oven to 325.

2  For the crust, combine all crust ingredients and press against sides and bottom of 9″ springform pan.  (A measuring cup makes this really easy to do.)

3  For the filling, beat together cream cheese, sugar, 4 egg yolks, lemon juice and vanilla until well combined.

4  In another bowl, beat 4 egg whites until stiff and creamy.  Fold egg whites into cream cheese mixture.  Pour into crust in pan.

5  Bake for 35 minutes.  Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake in the oven for another hour with the door closed.

6  Freeze several hours before serving.  Remove from freezer and remove from pan before allowing cheesecake to thaw.

recipe from Plain Chicken

Zesty Hamburger Soup

by penji1
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Zesty Hamburger Soup

This is a great dinner for a chilly day and it makes a lot of soup so leftovers!

1 pound hamburger

2 cups sliced celery

1 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

4 cups water

2 potatoes, cubed

2 cups frozen corn

1 1/2 cups uncooked elbow maccaroni

4 cups V8 juice

2 (14.5 oz each) cans diced tomatoes

1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies

1 – 2 tablespoons sugar

1  In a Dutch oven, cook hamburger, celery and onion over medium high heat until meat is cooked through.  Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.  Drain any grease.  Stir in water, potatoes, corn and pasta.

2  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 10 – 15 minutes or until pasta is tender.  Add remaining ingredients and heat through.

recipe from Taste of Home

Meatloaf Cupcakes with Mashed Potato Frosting and Bacon Sprinkles

by penji1
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Meatloaf Cupcakes with Mashed Potato Frosting and Bacon Sprinkles

Anybody want a cupcake?  An April Fool’s Day cupcake? Had some fun in the kitchen this morning whipping up these “cupcakes”, they’d be a fun April Fool’s Day dinner for kids.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1 cup ketchup, divided

1 1/2 pounds hamburger

1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

2 tablespoons mustard

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 eggs

2 cups mashed potatoes (I used 4 medium sized potatoes and had plenty)

bacon bits

1  Preheat oven to 350, 325 for dark pans.  Spray wells of 12 capacity muffin cup pan.

2  Cook onion, oregano and garlic in olive oil over medium high heat for 2 minutes.

3  Combine onion mixture, 1/2 cup ketchup, hamburger, bread crumbs, mustard, Worcestershire, salt, pepper and eggs in a large bowl and mix until well combined.

4  Scoop mixture into muffin cups, filling to top of cups.  Top each meatloaf with about 2 teaspoons of ketchup.  Bake for 25 minutes or until thermometer reaches 160 degrees.

5  Let meatloaves cool in pan for about 15 minutes.  Put mashed potatoes in pastry bag fitted with large circular tip or in a large Ziploc bag with corner cut off.  Pipe potatoes onto tops of meatloaves in circular pattern and sprinkle with bacon bits.

recipe from Six Sisters’ Stuff

Salted Caramel Hot Cocoa Fudge

by penji1
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Salted Caramel Hot Cocoa Fudge

This is by far the easiest fudge recipe that you will ever find!  You can make it with as little as two ingredients, Wilton Candy Melts and a can of sweetened condensed milk, BAM!  FUDGE!!  I like to buy the seasonal flavors of the candy melts and freeze them.  I bought these Salted Caramel Hot Cocoa Candy Melts after Christmas and then found this fudge recipe and I knew that they were meant to be together!

2 (14 oz) bags Wilton Candy Melts, whatever flavor you want your fudge to be

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup chopped nuts, optional

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, optional

Heat candy melts and milk over low heat until melted and well combined.  (Can also melt in microwave, follow candy melt instructions.)  Remove from heat and stir in nuts and vanilla.  Spread evenly into an 8 – 10″ square pan lined with wax paper.  Chill 2 hours or until firm.

recipe from Wilton

Baby Italian Easter Bread

by penji1
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Baby Italian Easter Bread

These are one of my favorite things to make for Easter dinner, I have another recipe for them on the blog which makes them from scratch but these are made with Rhodes Rolls so are much easier.  This year we combined Easter dinner with Courtney’s birthday dinner so we had a less traditional Easter dinner but I did want to have some Eastery food and these were easy to throw together, I didn’t even use real Easter eggs as you can see, just plastic ones!

2 Rhodes frozen rolls per bread

1 raw (or plastic) egg per bread

2 tablespoons milk

sprinkles

egg dye

1  Place desired number of rolls (2 per each bread) on a cookie sheet and cover with plastic wrap.  Let thaw for 1 – 2 hours, until workable but not fully thawed.

2  Dye raw eggs (they will cook along with the rolls).

3  When dough is thawed enough, roll each piece into a 12″ rope.  Take 2 ropes and twist them together.  Bring ends of twisted ropes together to form a ring and pinch ends together.  Place on parchment covered baking sheet and place a dyed egg in center of ring.

4  Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 375.

5  Brush bread with milk and sprinkle with sprinkles if desired.  Bake 15 minutes or until bread is golden brown.

recipe from Rhodes Bake N Serv

Easter Peeps Cake Mix Bar Cookies

by penji1
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Easter Peeps Cake Mix Bar Cookies

Here is another really easy Easter treat recipe, like can’t fail easy!

1 cake mix, your choice (for these I used a Key Lime cake mix)

1/3 cup oil

2 eggs

1 cup white chocolate chips (or whatever goes best with your cake flavor, any kind of chocolate chips or M&M’s, Reeses Pieces, etc)

frosting, your choice (tub of store bought or homemade which is what I used, vanilla)

24 Peeps

Easter sprinkles

1  Preheat oven to 350, 325 for dark pans.  Spray bottom only of 9 x 13″ pan.

2  Mix together cake mix, oil and eggs until well combined then stir in chocolate chips.

3  Press mixture into pan and bake for 12 – 15, until just starting to brown.  Remove from oven and let cool completely.

4  Cut into 24 bars.  Frost each bar, place Peep on top then sprinkle edges with Easter sprinkles.

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Easter Peeps Cake Mix Bar Cookies

Easter Sugar Cookie Cups

by penji1
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Easter Sugar Cookie Cups

Here is a super easy and adorable Easter treat that will take you no time at all to throw together, next year of course although you could change this up for any occasion, birthdays, baby showers, etc.

1 package sugar cookie mix plus ingredients to make cookies (you could also easily use a tube of pre-made sugar cookie dough)

1 tub of frosting or a homemade batch

candy Easter eggs of any kind, I used Easter almond M&M’s

1  Preheat oven to temperature called for on cookie package.  Grease a mini muffin pan with baking spray with flour.

2 Prepare cookie dough as directed on package.  Place about 1 tablespoon of dough into each cup.  Bake about 12 – 14 minutes or until just starting to brown.  Remove from oven and immediately press centers down with tart shaper or back of spoon.  Let cool in pan 15 minutes before removing.

3  When cups are cooled, fill with about 1 tablespoon of frosting and top with candy eggs.

Yield: about 3 dozen