Veggie Pizza

Veggie pizza will forever remind me of my loving Grandmother. She makes it for EVERYTHING because she knows how much I love it. & honestly, I could eat it for 3 meals a day plus snacks & never think twice about it. There's just something about the savory crescent roll crust and the creamy cream cheese "sauce."

This was the first time I followed a "recipe" for it. Grandma's was a brick of cream cheese mixed with dry ranch or Italian dressing & veggies on top. This is a little more detailed. Both are amazing though.

Ingredients:

-1 8-ounce package crescent rolls
-1 8-ounce package low-fat cream cheese, softened
-½ cup low-fat mayonnaise
-½ envelope ranch dressing mix
-Assorted raw vegetables, chopped (tomatoes, broccoli, red onions, celery, carrots, cauliflower, green and/or red peppers--You can do all, some or your own variation)
-½ to ¾ cup shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread crescent rolls out onto a baking sheet or a pizza pan. Crimp seams together. Bake 8 – 10 minutes. Leave on pan until cool.

In a small mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, and ranch dressing – mix well. Spread over cooled crust. Top with assorted vegetables. Sprinkle cheese over top. Chill 1 – 2 hours before serving. Cut into bars and serve.

Jalapeno Popper Dip

At the end of January, I hosted a baby shower for my best friend Maggie. I was searching for some "non traditional" baby shower foods because really, who doesn't like something a little less traditional every now and again? I came across this Jalapeno Popper Dip recipes on Annie's Eats blog & I knew I had to use it. It was simple and tasty, everything I look for in a recipe :-)

Ingredients:
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup mayonnaise
1 (4 oz.) can chopped green chiles, drained
1 (4 oz.) can diced jalapeño peppers, drained
½ cup shredded Mexican style cheese
½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375˚ F. In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese, mayonnaise, green chiles, jalapeños, and shredded cheeses. Mix thoroughly with a spoon or spatula until smooth and evenly combined. Spread the mixture into a baking dish (approximately 9 x 9-inches).

In a second bowl, combine the Panko and Parmesan and stir with a fork until combined. Sprinkle over the cream cheese mixture in the baking dish. Spray lightly with cooking spray. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the mixture is hot and the topping is golden. Serve warm with baguette slices, vegetables, etc. as desired.

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies

This is a quick and easy appitizer that I found on Pioneer Woman's blog. AMAZING! Again, another recipe I've made this NUMEROUS times and they are always a huge hit!

Ingredients:

15 jalapenos, sliced in half, and seeded
1 block Cream Cheese, room temp
1 package of bacon
Toothpicks

Directions:
-Now start smearing cream cheese inside each jalapeno half.
-Now take a piece (1/3 slice) of bacon and wrap it around the jalapeno.
-Now stick a toothpick through the middle of each one; this will keep the bacon from coming off in the oven. Place them on a pan with a rack (so bacon grease can escape) and bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Pesto Palmiers

Another HIT from Annie's blog! I made this for the baby shower as well. There were NONE left! They were sooo incredibly amazing! I've made them at least two more times since then!

YUM!

Ingredients:
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, optional
½-3/4 cup pesto
1 egg
1 tbsp. water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°.

Lay puff pastry out onto parchment paper. Roll out into a 12×12” square. Lift up one side of the puff pastry, sprinkle grated Parmesan onto the parchment paper, and replace the puff pastry; repeat with the other side. Using a spatula, spread the pesto within ½ - inch of each side of the pastry. Using your spatula, make three indentations on the top edge of the dough at 3 inches, 6 inches and 9 inches to divide the sheet into quarters.

Fold the left and right edges of the puff pastry halfway to the center of the dough (to the closest quarter-mark indentation). Fold the sides to the middle again until they are almost touching. Fold the two halves together like a book.

Cut into half-inch slices and place onto parchment-lined baking sheet. Whisk the egg and water together and brush over the palmiers. Bake for 8 minutes, flip and bake for 6-8 more minutes. Palmiers are best the day of baking

Queso

David *my hubby* is from TX and he always makes this amazing queso for all of our family GTG's and such so I thought I'd post his recipe. I'm not sure where the original came from since it's something that was passed down from his mother, to his sister, and now to him. The great thing about this dip is that it can make as much or as little as you like so the ingredient quantities are based on how many bricks of cheese you use and of course your personal taste.

"Dave's Queso"

2 bricks Velveta Cheese
1 small onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
3 strips of Bacon cooked and finely chopped
A good bunch (we use lots because we like spice) of jar jalapeno pepper rings and some juice
2 fresh jalapeno peppers (seeds and veins removed)
2 cans diced green chiles
1 can evaporated milk (used for thinning)

Chunk the velveta cheese and place in your slow cooker.
Sautee the bacon on the stove top, drain and chop into small pieces. Then sautee the onions and garlic in the left over bacon grease (we drain some off if the bacon is especially fatty). Place bacon, onions, and garlic in slow cooker. Mix in remaining ingredients (minus evaporated milk) and set your slow cooker on low.
We usually have this in the cooker for a couple of hours before we're serving it. Taste it and add what you need to to satisfy your pallet. The evaporated milk can be used to thin out the cheese as it starts to thicken over time.

This is really yummy with tostitos, crackers, on burgers/hotdogs...and just about anything else you put cheese on!
ENJOY!

Party Food!

This past weekend I hosted a creative memories party for a bunch of my girlfriends. It was a lot of fun!! I of course went over board on food but I wanted to share all of these recipes with you! They were all very simple and only used a few ingredients each! I made them ALL the night before too!

The first recipe is for Hot Artichoke Spinach Dip--this one came from allrecipes.com (my favorite website!) It was very easy, and I put it all together the night before and then baked it in the oven the day of the party!

Hot Artichoke Spinach Dip
Submitted by: Sherrie D.Rated: 4 out of 5 by 243 members
Prep Time: 20 MinutesCook Time: 25 Minutes
Ready In: 45 MinutesYields: 16 servings

INGREDIENTS:
1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained
1/3 cup grated Romano cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 (10 ounce) package frozen
chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded mozzarella
cheese
DIRECTIONS:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2.In a blender or food processor, place artichoke hearts, Romano cheese, Parmesan cheese and garlic . Pulse until chopped, but not ground. Set aside.
3.In a medium bowl, mix together spinach, heavy cream, sour cream and mozzarella cheese. Stir in artichoke mixture. Spoon into prepared baking dish.
4.Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

I served this one with many different types of crackers--Cracker Sticks, Gourmet crackers, club crackers...I had a little platter of everything!

This next one is for a cheese ball. This cheese ball is one of the best I've ever tasted! It was GONE by the end of the party--which disappointed my husband greatly! This one also from allrecipes.com!

The Best CheeseBall

INGREDIENTS
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup shredded pepperjack cheese
1/2 green bell pepper, minced
1 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Directions
In a medium bowl combine the cream cheese, Cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, green bell pepper, jalapeno pepper, Worcestershire sauce and garlic salt. Mix together and form mixture into a ball. Roll ball in cilantro and serve with your favorite crackers.

Yum...Cucumber sandwiches. These were a favorite of mine from when my mom used to sell pampered chef. She used to use the cute little flower shaped bread tube and do italian bread in them and make these.
This recipe came from allrecipes.com as well and was a HUGE hit at the party!

CUCUMBER SANWICHES

INGREDIENTS
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 (.7 ounce) package dry Italian-style salad dressing mix
1 (1 pound) loaf cocktail rye bread
2 cucumbers, sliced
Dill

DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl, blend cream cheese, sour cream and dry Italian-style salad dressing mix.
Arrange cocktail rye bread slices on a medium serving dish. Spread with the cream cheese mixture. Top each with a cucumber slice and sprinkle dill on the top of each completed sandwich!

I attempted cheesecake for the first time (from scratch) for this party. I was really nervous that it wasn't going to turn out--but they were a HUGE HIT! I only had a few left over! This recipes is also from allrecipes.com

MINI CHEESECAKES

INGREDIENTS
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (12 ounce) package vanilla wafers
1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line miniature muffin tins (tassie pans) with miniature paper liners.
Crush the vanilla wafers and place 1/2 tablespoon of the crushed vanilla wafers into the paper lined miniature muffin tins.
Cream together with an electric mixer the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Fill each miniature muffin liner with this mixture, almost to the top.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 15 minutes. Cool and then top with a teaspoonful of cherry (or any other flavor) pie filling.

RANCH HAM ROLL-UPS

These were another allrecipes.com favorite of mine growing up! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

INGREDIENTS
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (1 ounce) package ranch salad dressing mix (Also really yummy with Dry Italian)
3 green onions, chopped
11 (8 inch) flour tortillas
22 thin slices deli ham

DIRECTIONS
In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and salad dressing mix until smooth. Add onions; mix well. Spread about 3 tablespoons over each tortilla; top each with two ham slices.
Roll up tightly and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm. Unwrap and cut into 3/4-in. slices.

APPLE DIP
This is s recipe my mom got from a neighbor of ours. I'm not sure where it came from, but it's amazing! This one MUST be made the night before so it can sit and let the sugar "do it's thing."

Ingredients
12 oz Whipped Cream Cheese
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 bag of chocolate and toffee bits
Grannysmith Apples

Directions
Place mix together (easiest with your hands) cream cheese, sugars, chocolate and toffee bits). Put in fridge over night to sit. Before your party, core and slice your apples, then dip in pineapple or lemon juice to keep them from browning.

I can guarantee that this recipe will be a HUGE SUCCESS!