Bacon & Cream Cheese Crescents

I saw these on PI-days blog for her house warming, I saved the recipe because they sounded really good. We are doing appetizers at my aunts for Christmas today and I thought this was would be a perfect time to make them

These were very simple to make and very tasty, definatly not something I would eat all the time, but was a good treat.

Bacon & Cream Cheese Crescents (From: Real Life Foodie Adventures)

• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 4 slices bacon, crisply cooked, crumbled
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 tablespoons onion, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 1 (8 ounce) can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix cream cheese, bacon, parmesan, onions, parsley and cream until well blended and set aside.

Separate dough into triangles. Spread each triangle with 1 very generous tablespoonful of the cream cheese mixture. Roll each crescent, starting at the wider end. Place, seam-sides down, on ungreased baking sheet (line with foil or a silpat for easy clean-up).

Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Cookie Dough Dip

I love cookie dough, I think half the time I make cookies is so I can eat the cookie dough :-) As soon as I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it. I never could find the right time, finally I decided just to make it!!!

This is a VERY sweet snack, very tasty, but as good as cookie dough for me :-)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (From: Recipezzar)

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 (8-oz) pkg cream cheese
• 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
• 3/4 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips

In a small saucepan, melt the butter with the brown sugar over medium heat. Stir continuously, until the brown sugar dissolves. (You can also do this in the microwave but watch it closely. The butter/sugar mixture will boil over fast. Stir every 30 seconds or so.)

Remove from heat, whisk in vanilla extract and set aside to cool.

Beat the cream cheese and confectioner's sugar for 1 minute.

Slowly beat in the cooled butter mixture and beat again for another minute.

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Pour into a serving bowl and refrigerate.

Garnish with additional chips, if you choose. Serve with Nilla wafers (my choice) or graham crackers.

**Note: after refrigerating the dip it will be pretty solid and un-dippable so make sure to remove it from the refrigerator about 15-30 minutes before you plan on serving it, so it has time to soften up.

Ranch Flavored Pretzels

As soon as I saw these in Ambers blog I knew I had to make them, I am not much of a pretzel fan but Adam is, these are very good and even I like them. Amber calls them snack crack and I must agree they are addicting!

Ranch Pretzels (From: Krashed)

• 1 bag pretzels (can also use oysters)
• 1/3 cup canola oil (I used veggie oil)
• 3 Tbls (1.5 oz) dry ranch seasoning mix
• 1/2 tsp dill weed
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Preheat oven to 250 degrees

Place oyster crackers in gallon size zip-lock baggie. Add in the oil, seal bag and shake to coat all crackers with oil. Open bag and add all dry seasonings, seal bag and shake to coat. Dump onto cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until oil has absorbed into the crackers. Let cool and enjoy!

Meatballs

Grape Jelly + Chili Sauce + Spicy Brown Mustard + Beef = ??

Meatballs!!! When Adam told me of his potluck I quickly started looking for recipes. I posted on the Nest board and someone mentioned this. Although I did not get to taste one, the reviews I got were WONDERFUL.

This where super easy to throw together. I cooked in the crock pot for about 2 hours instead of the 30 minutes it called for.

Cocktail Meatballs (From: Allrecipes)

• 2 pounds ground beef (I used about a pound and half, and got 25 meatballs)
• 10 ounces grape jelly
• 1/4 cup chili sauce
• 2 tablespoons prepared mustard (I used spicy brown)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a large roasting pan with aluminum foil.

Shape ground beef into golf-size balls. Place on prepared roasting pan for 20 to 25 minutes until done.

Meanwhile heat the jelly, chili sauce and mustard together in a 2 quart Dutch oven. Drain and add meatballs to the Dutch oven. Cover and simmer on low for 1/2 hour. Serve hot in chaffing dish with toothpicks.

Taco Dip

We had our annual family reunion today, for my step-dads side of the family. It is a pot-luck type of picnic at a park. It's always hard for my to decide what to bring and this was even harder because they don't have a stove or anything to keep the food warm. I found this recipe and had to try it. Adam and I love to buy Taco Dip from our local Cub Foods, it has the creamy yummy base, without refried beans. This is the first recipe I have ran across that didn't have beans. It tasted just like the Cub one!

Taco Dip (From: Allrecipes)

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (16 ounce) container nonfat sour cream
• 1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
• 1/4 head iceberg lettuce - rinsed, dried, and shredded
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 3 chopped tomatoes
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped (I omitted)
• 1 (2.25 ounce) can black olives, drained

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, sour cream and taco seasoning. Spread this mixture in a 9-inch (or a little larger) round serving dish. Top the mixture with lettuce, Cheddar cheese, tomatoes, bell pepper and black olives.

Lil Smokies 2 ways

Yesterday I had my grandpa's sides family picnic it is a pot luck style, and this was one of my first years bringing something. I made one of these recipes a while ago and loved them and have been wanting to make them again, and the other recipe was one I really wanted to try. They were both really good.Bacon Wrapped Lil' Smokies (From: Allrecipes)

• 1 pound sliced bacon, cut into thirds
• 1 (14 ounce) package beef cocktail wieners
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, or to taste

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

Refrigerate 2/3 of the bacon until needed. It is easier to wrap the wieners with cold bacon. Wrap each cocktail wiener with a piece of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Place on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle brown sugar generously over all.

Bake for 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until the sugar is bubbly. To serve, place the wieners in a slow cooker and keep on the low setting.

Sweet Lil’ Smokies (From: A Nestie)

• 1 Package of Lil' Smokies
• 2 tubes of Croissant dough
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (used almonds instead)
• 6 T Brown sugar
• 1 T honey

Melt butter, and add nuts, sugar, and honey. Pour into a baking dish. Roll the Smokies in the dough (about 48 total) and place on top of butter mixture. Bake 375 for 25 minutes.

***Tips: I made these the morning of, I melted everything, and put the smokies on top, and then kept them cool until baking. They were VERY good! I also omitted the nuts.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

I found this dip on a board I visit daily, this is always raved about. I made it for company back in January and we loved it, and really wanted it again. I was planning to make it at Adam's birthday party, but that got cancelled so we had it last night for dinner. It is very filling, so you don't need much more with it.

Buffalo Chicken Dip (Nesties)

• 4 boiled chicken breasts
• 8 oz. Franks Red Hot
• 8 oz. Ranch Salad Dressing
• 8 oz. crumbled Bleu Cheese
• 8 oz. shredded Cheddar Cheese
• 16 oz Cream Cheese

Mix all ingredients, bake at 325 for 40 minutes. Serve with celery and tortilla chips.

***Tips: When I made this for company half really enjoyed the celery we enjoy the chips. So I think it is personal preference.

Mozzarella Sticks, and Monkey Bread

Our Tuesday date night was reschedule to Thursday this week, so last night we made our dinner. We did a Calzone bar basically, we had everyone make their own calzones and we baked them while enjoying a appetizer. I found this appetizer through a friend and thought it would be fun to try on a date night.

Mozzarella Sticks (From: Food Network)

• 1 1/2 cups Italian-style dried breadcrumbs
• 1 1/3 cups freshly grated Parmesan
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 (16-ounce) blocks pasteurized mozzarella cut into
• 4 by 1/2-inch sticks
• 4 large eggs, beaten to blend
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 4 cups Marinara Sauce

Stir the bread crumbs, 1 cup of Parmesan and 1 teaspoon of salt in a medium bowl to blend.

Dip the cheese in the eggs to coat completely and allow the excess egg to drip back into the bowl. Coat the cheese in the bread crumb mixture, patting to adhere and coat completely.

Place the cheese sticks on a baking sheet. Repeat dipping the cheese sticks in the egg and bread crumb mixture to coat a second time. Cover and freeze until frozen, about 2 hours and up to 2 days.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Working in batches, fry the cheese until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Transfer the fried cheese to plates. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and serve with the Marinara Sauce.

***Tips: We made these Sunday morning, we froze them on a cookie sheet until Monday afternoon and then I put them in a Ziploc baggie. We made half the recipe, and it was plenty for 4 people. Next time, I think we would double bread them, as they didn't have as much as we were hoping for.

Calzones

We made these a few months back, they were just as good this time. Click here to go to recipe.

Monkey Bread (From: My Mom)

• 4 cans biscuits
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. cinnamon
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1.4 c. dark karo syrup

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl.

Pour 1/2 of melted butter in bottom of a bundt pan.

Cut biscuits into quarters, roll in cinnamon sugar, and place into bundt pan on top of butter.

After all biscuits are in pan, pour some cinnamon sugar on top, as much or little as you want. pour rest of butter over, then pour the karo syrup over.

Baked for 30-45 minutes or until golden brown.

The easiest way to serve is to tip over on plate and have every grab a chunk and eat.

Green Food....

We had a party down at my moms for St. Pattys day, everyone was suppose to bring a good food. Everything was REALLY good.

Pistachio Salad (My Mom)

• 1 tub of cool whip
• 1 lg. can of pineapple
• 1 pkg. pistachio pudding mix
• 1 bag mini marshmallows

Mix cool whip and pudding mix together, slowly add in drained pineapple, then add in about 1/4 to 1/2 bag of mini-marshmallows.

Spinach Artichoke Dip (My Recipe) ** Not the best picture sorry

• 1 block of frozen spinach
• 1 can artichokes
• 1 small cottage cheese
• 1/4 c. mayo
• 1/4 c. parmesan cheese
• 1 bag mozzarella cheese

Blend spinich and artichokes together in bowl, with mixer, then add cottage cheese, mayo, and parmesan

Diet Coke Cup Cakes (Nestie Recipe)

• 1 box of cake mix
• 1 can diet pop

Mix cake mix and pop together, bake in oven and direction on box or until toothpick comes out clean.

***Tips, I have seen this recipe many times on the nest but was also a little worried to try them, I used a white cake mix and diet 7up, they were wonderful! People were amazed they were fat free, execpt for the frosting. You can use any kind of cake mix and diet pop for this recipe. They are a little more sticky and moist then regular but wonderful tasting!

Tortilla Roll-ups (Lori's Recipe)

• 8oz sour cream
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup chedder cheese
• 4oz diced green chilis (well drained)
• 4 oz diced black olives (well drained)
• garlic powder to taste
• seasoned salt to taste
• (it called for green onions - but since I don't like onions - I didn't add any)
• 5 (10 inch) flour tortillas

Combine all and spread on tortillas, Roll up and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate about 2 hours. Unwrap and cut into 1" pieces.

Can be served with salsa.