Taco Raviolis

Recently we went to a friend's house for a birthday party and I wanted to bring a snack. I did not want to go to the grocery store, so I was limited to the items I had on hand.

After some brainstorming, I came up with these little taco raviolis. Dippable (a party-must), portable and delicious.


Taco Raviolis
Yield: 15+ (It really depends on how full you make the raviolis. You can stretch this pretty far.)

1/2 lb ground turkey (or beef)
2 or 3 green onions, chopped
1/2 packet taco seasoning
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
2 pie crusts (I use the refrigerated kind & keep them in my freezer)


-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

-Brown the ground meat on the stove. Add the taco seasoning and water, as directed on the package. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped up green onions.

-Roll out the pie crusts to about 1/8" thickness. Use a biscuit cutter to cut the dough into circles about 3" in diameter.


-Put a spoonful of taco meat on half of each circle of dough. Top the mounds with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese. Be careful to not overload the dough- you will not be able to close them!

(Too full.)

-Fold the dough in half over the meat to make a half moon shape. Use a fork to pinch the dough closed. If the dough is not staying closed, use your finger to spread some water on the edges of the inside before closing the dough- this will help "glue" the ravioli closed.

-Once all of the ravioli are folded and sealed, lay them onto a sprayed cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the dough is golden.

-Serve warm or room temperature with salsa for dipping.

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Veggie Pizza

Veggie Pizza

1 roll/can of crescent rolls (the garlic butter ones work nicely!)
4 oz cream cheese (I like to use chive/herb), at room temperature
4 oz sour cream
1/2 packet of ranch dip mix
Assorted veggies, chopped up (green peppers, broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, green onions, etc.)

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
-Spray a cookie sheet with some baking spray and then roll out the crescent rolls onto the pan. Flatten the dough and make sure to pinch the seams together to create a large "sheet."
-Bake the dough for 5 minutes- enough so that the dough puffs up. Remove from the oven and flatten the dough and spread out a little more, if possible. (You can just do this with your hands.. or a rolling pin if it is too hot for you.)
-Stick the cookie sheet back into the oven for another 5 minutes, or until the dough is cooked through and golden.
-Meanwhile, combine the cream cheese, sour cream and ranch mix.
-When the crescent dough has cooled, spread the cream cheese mixture onto it.
-Top with your cut up veggies and then cut into slices for eating!

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Pizza Cup Things

This recipe was straight up made up. I derived it from a dip recipe of Rachael Ray's that I loved. We were going to a party, so I wanted something portable. Thus, the birth of the Pizza Cup Things.


Pizza Cup Things
Samantha @ The Long Haul

1 medium onion, chopped finely
1 lb bulk sweet Italian sausage
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 .5 bricks of cream cheese (12 oz?), room temperature (I used low-fat)
1/2 cup of shredded parmesan cheese
3/4 cup of tomato sauce
2 cans of refrigerated crescent rolls
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

1- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2- Saute the sausage over medium heat, breaking it up into pieces as it cooks. Once the sausage is no longer pink and there is a bit of fat in the pan, add the onions and garlic. Continue cooking, stirring periodically, until the onions are translucent.

3- While the meat combination is cooking, spray 2 (24 cup) mini-muffin tins w/baking spray. Pop the crescent rolls cans open and break off pieces of the dough. Press the dough into the muffin tins and push up the sides to make a cup. I found it easiest to roll the dough into a ball first, approximately 1 inch in diameter, before pushing it into the cups.

4- Put the muffin tins into the oven for 3 minutes. The dough should puff up, but not change colors.

5- When you take the tins out of the oven, immediately use your thumb (or a spoon if the dough is too hot) to press the puffed-up dough back into a cup, the put aside. This first bake helps them hold their shape.

6- Put the cream cheese into a large mixing bowl. Add the sausage mixture. Stir to combine well. Once thoroughly combined, add parmesan cheese and tomato sauce. Stir to combine.

7- Scoop the cream cheese mixture into the dough cups (still in the muffin pan). You can mound them a bit on the top, but make sure you have enough for all of the cups first.

8- Garnish each filled cup with a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese.

9- Put the muffin tins back into the oven. Bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until the mozzarella on top gets melty and gooey.

10- Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Once they are cool to the touch, pull the Pizza Cup Things out of the tins. These taste equally delicious warm and room temperature.

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Homemade Auntie Anne's Pretzels

I saw this recipe awhile ago at The daily life of JCHokie and have had it saved ever since. I LOVE Auntie Anne's pretzels, and pretty much any other homemade soft pretzels.

We made these on a Sunday for dessert and it was fun and delicious! I made the dough, but John had to form them into the pretzels because they were so dang sticky and frustrating. I don't have the patience to deal with them sticking and then to form them into the ropes. He did good!

Cinnamon & Sugar

Salt

Auntie Anne's pretzels

1 cup milk
1 package active dry yeast
3 TBS packed light brown sugar
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour, plus more for kneading
10 TBS unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
1 TSP fine salt
1/3 cup baking soda
2 TBS coarse salt (I used regular table salt since we don't have any coarse)

Directions

1. Warm the milk in a saucepan until it's 110 degrees. (I just microwaved it for 20 seconds). Pour into a medium bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Let the yeast soften, about 2 mins. Stir in the brown sugar and 1 cup of flour with a wooden spoon. Dice 2 TBS butter and soften. Stir into the mix. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cups flour and the fine salt to make a sticky dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding more flour if needed, until smooth but still slightly tacky, about 5 mins. Shape into a ball, place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size. About an hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and grease a large baking sheet. Punch the dough to deflate it, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Roll and stretch each piece with the palms of your hand into a 30 inch rope, holding the ends and slapping the middle of the rope on the counter as you stretch. Form into a pretzel.

3. Dissolve the baking soda in 3 cups warm water in a shallow baking dish. Gently dip each pretzel in the soda solution, then arrange on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with the coarse salt. Bake until golden 10-12mins.

After I removed it from the oven I brushed it with more butter.

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White Trash

White trash in the perty new crystal/glass dish from Grandma!

This is a family favorite- we make this every year at Christmas. Once you make it, be prepared to not be able to stop eating it!
1 box Cheerios
1 box Chex
1 can of peanuts
1 bag M&Ms
1/2 bag of mini pretzels
1 bag of white chocolate melties/bark
1- Combine all of the above. You can reduce the amounts based on your bowl (or stomach) size.
2- Pour the bag of white chocolate melties/bark into a microwave safe bowl.
3- Microwave for a minute and stir. Repeat until all of the chocolate is melted.
4- Pour the white chocolate over the cereal/M&M mixture.
5- Stir the mixture until the white chocolate is covering everything.
6- Place wax paper on cookie sheets and then spread out the white trash so that is cools and dries separated (and not in giant hunks).
7- After the white trash is cooled, put it back into an air tight safe container to store (and munch from).

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