Bacon Rotel Cups

Bacon Rotel Cups - nice appetizer for your get-togethers!

makes: 45 cups

Ingredients

1 can rotel tomatoes, drained (almost all the way)
1 bag bacon pieces
1 cup shredded swiss
1 cup mayo
3 pkg. phyllo pastry cups – thawed

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix the first 4 ingredients and spoon evenly into the cups.
Place on baking sheet and cook at 350 for 15 minutes. **can add cooked cut up shrimp, scallops or pepperoni, hot ham, chicken, sausage

Directions: www.keyingredient.com/recipes/161210204/rotel-cups/

All-American Celebration Cake

All-American Celebration Cake

1 package (16 ounces) angel food cake mix
1 lemon
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 cups strawberries, sliced (12 ounces)
1/2 pint fresh blueberries (about 1 cup)
1/2 pint fresh raspberries (about 1 cup)
1 container (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
Vanilla ice cream (optional)
Directions.
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare cake mix according to package directions. Pour batter into ungreased Rectangular Baker, spreading evenly. Bake on center rack in oven 35-40 minutes or until top is golden brown and the cracks feel dry and not sticky. (Cake should be firm to the touch; do not underbake.) Carefully turn baker upside down onto Stackable Cooling Rack; cool completely. (Do not remove cake from baker.)
2. Zest whole lemon using Zester/Scorer. Juice lemon using Juicer to measure 2 tablespoons juice. Whisk lemon juice, zest and powdered sugar in Classic Batter Bowl until smooth.
3. Slice strawberries using Egg Slicer Plus®. Add strawberries, blueberries and raspberries to sugar mixture; mix gently with Mix 'N Scraper® to coat fruit.
4. Using large fork, poke holes in cake about 1 1/2 inches deep and 1/2 inch apart. Spoon fruit mixture over cake to within 1/2 inch of edges. Refrigerate at least 2 hours to allow juices to soak into cake.
5. Just before serving, attach closed star tip to Easy Accent® Decorator; fill with whipped topping and pipe stars evenly around edge of cake. To serve, cut into squares. Serve with ice cream using Ice Cream Scoop, if desired.
Yield: 15 servings of

Nutrients per serving:

This cake can be prepared up to 6 hours in advance.

Use the Bread Knife to easily cut through the tender angel food cake.
Source: Pampered Chef (R)

Chicken Alfredo Roll-ups

Chicken Alfredo Roll-ups

SOURCE: Chris Kelly

9 lasagna noodles
2 ½ cups alfredo sauce (optional homemade recipe below)
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
oregano
garlic salt
3 cups shredded Mozzarella, or cheese of your choice

Spray an 8x8 pan with non-stick spray and pour ½ cup alfredo sauce, or just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Boil 8-10 cups water in a large pan, cook lasagne noodles until al dente. (I usually cook 1 or 2 extra just because lasagna noodles always seem to break on me when I am stirring them.)
Now this is the important part! Drain and rinse the noodles with cold water to prevent them from sticking to each other. Then, lay out each noodle individually and blot dry with a paper towel.

Spread about 2 Tbs. alfredo sauce over each noodle. (if there is too much sauce you will have a big mess on your hands!) Sprinkle oregano and garlic salt on top of sauce. Take 1/9 of the shredded chicken and spread it out evenly over each noodle. Add approx. 3 Tbs. cheese. To roll up, start at one end and roll the noodle over the toppings. You will need to lift the noodle a little to prevent squishing out the inside ingredients while rolling.

Place the roll-ups in the pan, one by one, seam-side down so they don't come undone. Once they are all in the pan, pour the remaining alfredo sauce over the top. Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the cheese is completely melted on top.

Serves 3, 3 roll-ups each
Garlic Alfredo Sauce

½ cup butter
2 ounces cream cheese
2 cups heavy cream (or substitute half and half)
2 teaspoon garlic powder
½ tsp. fresh minced garlic
salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp dried oregano
⅔ cup parmesan cheese

In a medium to large saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Add fresh minced garlic and cook for 1 minute, or until fragrant. Add the cream cheese and whisk to smooth and melted. Whisk in the heavy cream.
Season with the garlic powder, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and whisk frequently until sauce thickens, around 15 minutes. Stir in the cheese and when melted, remove from heat and serve.

Laundry Soap Recipe

MAKE A YEAR’S WORTH OF LAUNDRY SOAP FOR $30.00!

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am completely sold on theNo-Grate Laundry Detergent that I posted back in February of this year.  But, like I’ve said many times on this website, I am always open to new ideas! And I really liked this idea that someone posted as a comment awhile back.

A YEARS worth of Laundry Soap!?!?  That’s an idea that is hard NOT to get behind!  Plus, I’ve been curious about the “dry” version of homemade laundry detergent that so many people are fond of. I have never tried it before. I figured it’s high time I did!

Here is the recipe that Anonymous posted (the text in red are my notes):

Anonymous said…
I make a dry version which works better for my family. I hate storing the bottles, shaking it up, and making it more often. I only make it once and it lasts for the entire year for our family of 4.

3 bars Fels Naptha, grated ($1.33 x 3)
1 box Borax  ($5.85  -  76 ounces)
1 box Washing Soda ($4.07  -  55 ounces)
2 cups of baking soda ($0.53 cents)
2 containers of Dollar Tree Oxyclean (I bought mine at Family Dollar store…SUN Brand…$4.00 each)
1-2 containers of Purex fabric softener crystals ($6.97  -  28 ounces) 

Use 2 tablespoons per load. Put it right in the barrel if you have an HE washer.

To grate the bars of soap I decided to make it easier on myself and use my ancient Hamilton Beach food processor. I figured if it broke in the process it would give me a good excuse to get a new one! But fortunately (unfortunately?) it handled the soap just fine. I would offer one tip though if you decide to use your food processer to “grate” your soap: add something else to the bowl to aid in the process. I added a cup of the SUN Oxygen Bleach to each bar when I processed it. It seemed to help the blades do their job better.

My only other tip for this recipe has to do with the “mixing”. Once you add everything, you have a LOT of ingredients to mix together. I decided to put it all in a kitchen garbage bag (doubled) and tumble it all together. Just tie it off tight and turn it over a handful of times and you’re good to go! Now you have a nicely integrated batch of laundry detergent that should last a family of four ONE YEAR!

Since we are over the “family of four” limit, and I tend to think we have more dirty laundry than your AVERAGE family…I’m not expecting this to last a full year….but based on my initial use of this (2 Tablespoons per load)….it’s going to last us a GOOD, LONG time! I did half a dozen loads of laundry with it before we left on vacation and was completely satisfied with the results! So much so that I’m planning on making TWO MORE BATCHES when I get home from vacation to give to my daughter AND my daughter-in-law. :-)  Fun gift idea don’t you think?

Dishwasher Soap Recipe

I just saw this yesterday for dishwasher soap.

Mix equal parts of:

1 cup Baking Soda
1 cup Borax
 1/2 cup Citric Acid (in canning section)
1/2 cup Kosher Salt -for spots
WHITE Vinegar in place of  jet dry or like products

Store in labeled container
Use 2 TBS per load

Grilled Banana Boats

Grilled Banana Boats


Source: Pampered Chef



6 bananas
6 tbsp (90 mL) semi-sweet chocolate morsels
6 tbsp (90 mL) miniature marshmallows
2 tbsp (30 mL) chopped pecans
Directions.
1. Prepare grill for direct cooking over medium heat.
2. Place bananas on BBQ Corn & Skewer Rack. Using Petite Paring Knife, make a deep lengthwise cut along inside curve of each banana, being careful not to cut all the way through. Open slit to form a pocket.

3. Fill each pocket with 2 tbsp (30 mL) chocolate morsels and 2 tbsp (30 mL) marshmallows. Top with ½ tsp (2 mL) pecans, if desired. Press ingredients gently into pockets.

4. Place Rack on grid of grill. Cover; grill 8-10 minutes or until marshmallows are light golden brown.

Yield: 6 servings of

Nutrients per serving:
U.S. Nutrients per serving: Calories 220, Total Fat 6 g, Saturated Fat 3g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 0mg, Carbohydrate 44g, Fiber 4g, Protein 3g
U.S. Diabetic exchanges per serving: No information is currently available.

Cook's Tips:
To bake in oven, preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil (22 in./56 cm) directly under Rack. Place Rack directly on oven rack. Bake 6-7 minutes or until marshmallows are light golden brown.

You may substitute semi-sweet chocolate morsels with peanut butter morsels.

Even though the skin of the banana turns black on the grill, the fruit on the inside stays a golden yellow color.

Orange Cream Freezer Dessert Recipe

SOURCE: Nonnie Sandifer


Orange Cream Freezer Dessert Recipe 


Ingredients

4 cups graham cracker crumbs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup butter, melted
3-1/2 quarts vanilla ice cream, softened
2 cans (12 ounces each) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

Directions
In a bowl, combine cracker crumbs and sugar; stir in butter. Set aside 2 cups for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture into two greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. pans. Cover and freeze for at least 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine ice cream and orange juice concentrate until smooth. Spoon over crusts (pans will be full). Freeze for 10 minutes or until partially firm.
Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture; gently press down. Cover and freeze for up to 2 hours. Remove from the freezer 15 minutes before serving. Yield: 2 desserts (24 servings each)