Buckeyes: Dessert From Heaven!

I spotted these at Your Fun Family and started drooling. Oh I just love peanut butter and chocolate! It doesn’t love me, so there’s always that supplements for weight loss in the back of my mind.. *sigh*

Well, Melissa graciously allowed me to copy her recipe and share. We are making these very soon! Melissa didn’t say how many this recipe would serve, so I’m guessing it when I include it.

Buckeyes
Serves 1. Well, OK OK I guess you’ll have to share… serves 2.

INGREDIENTS

* 1 1/2 cups peanut butter
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 6 cups confectioners’ sugar
* 4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, mix together the peanut butter, butter, vanilla and confectioners’ sugar. The dough will look dry. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet.
2. Press a toothpick into the top of each ball (to be used later as the handle for dipping) and chill in freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.
3. Melt chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 15 second intervals stirring in between until melted.
4. Dip frozen peanut butter balls in chocolate holding onto the toothpick. Leave a small portion of peanut butter showing at the top to make them look like Buckeyes. Put back on the cookie sheet and refrigerate until serving.

FFFF 101

Well, I’m not the only one who is late with the Four Foods For Friday meme, now am I! The creator herself, Val, was a little tardy this last week. Here’s mine, tardy as always!

FFFF Week 101:

1. Do you have any food related New Years resolutions?
2. What’s one thing you’d like to learn how to make from scratch this year?
3. What’s the most unusual thing in your cabinet, refrigerator or freezer right now?
4. What kind of can opener do you have?

1. Eat more beans.
2. I’d like to learn how to can food someday. I have to wait until my kitchen is renovated, though.
3. I’m tempted to write something whimsical and shocking, like a potion for blackhead extraction or something… but I don’t have anything like that. Hmmmm probably the most unusual thing I have is… uhhhh….. ??? besides me… I guess I could say it is…. uh, some really funky looking oranges that the kids have GOT to eat, because I’m not throwing them out!!
4. For years, I had only a hand-cranker, because every electric one I used broke. Then, my sister gave me a Black & Decker, and it’s still alive!!

Wow Chow Pork and Beans Bake

I am blessed by four children who love to eat beans. I can’t believe it! I HATED beans as a kid. Beans are incredibly nutritious, and incredibly cheap! So I’m implementing them more in our diet. I’d like to have it so that we eventually have a bean dish of some sort two or three times a week, rather than once every other week. Served with rice, beans are a complete protein- perfect for children’s growing bodies and for maintaining a healthy heart. Beans and rice, yum! Better than the best prenatal vitamins you can buy!

My recipe makes use of budget meat, packaged dried beans (although you could use canned), and bulk rice. It’s a very budget-friendly meal. I nabbed up a large package of Southern Style pork ribs at my local supermarket– they have them on sale for $1 a pound! The dried beans cost me $1.20, and the rice (5 cups) probably cost me around .50 because I buy my rice in bulk. So for feeding six adult-sized portions, this meal cost me about $5.70 to put on the table. And we still had leftovers, after that. I did add a salad, which raised the price of my meal, but you could add something like apples and oatmeal mixed together, or sliced fresh peaches, and that would drive the cost down. This is also a recipe that keeps well, so you could make two casseroles and serve one of them later in the week.

Here’s a quick and easy (what else?) recipe that’s perfect for a chilly winter’s day. This would probably be a great meal in the summer, too!

Wow Chow Pork and Beans Bake
serves 6-8

2 Tablespoons olive oil
3-4 pounds Southern Style pork ribs (bones removed and fat trimmed, cut up into large cubes)
1 bag dried black beans boiled/prepared to package instructions (or 3 12oz cans, drained)
1 small can tomato soup (save the can, you’ll need it to measure water)
1 tablespoon Adobo seasoning
Minced garlic (according to your liking)

In a large skillet, heat up the oil and sear the meat. Add the Adobo seasoning and cook a little longer. Once the meat is almost completely cooked, place the pieces into a large casserole dish. Pour in any remaining juices from the skillet.

Open the tomato soup can and pour all over the meat. Fill up the can twice with water, and pour it in the casserole.
Take your boiled beans and pour them on top. Add the minced garlic. Chop in the beans just a little, to mix with the liquid.
Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour; then, turn your oven down to 325 and bake for 3 more hours.
The house will smell GREAT.

Serve with rice and green salad or a fruit salad.

Leftover Turkey Salad Pasta Primavera

I know it’s an unusual name. It’s a very unconventional kinda recipe.

BUT OH MY GOSH THIS IS DROP-DEAD GOOD!!!

I am *still* using my leftover turkey. No no, not from Thanksgiving. Not from Christmas, either. Not New Year’s Eve, even. (My husband wanted a nice dinner that evening, so I made him one. Mmm, roast turkey. Salad. Mashed potatoes with garlic and parsley. And Rum and Molasses Apple Pie– I’ll have to post that recipe sometime). After the holidays, turkeys go on sale and I scarf them up as quickly as I can! I love turkey. YUM. And the cold house feels a little warmer with roasting poultry in it.

Well, we had some salad and turkey left over recently, and the salad was starting to wilt pretty bad. What to do? I concocted a great dish off the cuff! Kind of like a gumbo-style, throw-in-the-pot-and-see-what-happens new orleans la style cooking.

Here’s what you need:

This:

Oh, and this:

MMM, and this:

To get this:

OK, in English:

Wow Chow Leftovers Primavera

Left over turkey, cut up in bite-sized chunks
Left over salad (in my salad: lettuce, spinach, mushrooms, red pepper, red onion)
Pasta (any kind, I used rigatoni)
Alfredo Sauce

Boil the pasta.
Get a frying pan and add a little olive oil. Add the turkey and saute just a little until heated through.
Add the salad, and saute until heated through. Add some prepared minced garlic (to your liking).
Remove from heat.
Drain the pasta.
Combine the pasta, turkey and salad, and alfredo sauce.
EAT!

It’s so good. SOOOOO easy. And it gets rid of the leftovers. No more bland turkey casseroles when you’ve got this!

Wow Chow Rum Cake

Oh wow. This is GOOD Rum Cake. I never had it or made it before this. Yum Rum Cake! I found a conventional recipe and altered it a little. It’s a tiny bit more “rummy” than the regular kind, but it’s not bitter or overly rum-tasting. This is an incredibly moist cake, too. My family eats it up immediately. I barely got a few photos in before it was gone!

Wow Chow Rum Cake

1 box of yellow or white cake mix (they are about 18oz or so)
1 1.75oz instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup cold milk
3/4 cup rum

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Grease a Bundt cake pan.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Blend with an electric hand mixer for 2-3 minutes, until batter is smooth and there are few lumps. Pour the mix into the Bundt pan, and bake for one hour.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan, then invert on a serving dish.

You can serve this cake with various things: warmed strawberry jam (yum!), vanilla yogurt, orange glaze, or a rum glaze.

Rum Glaze:
1/2 cup butter (not margarine)
1/4 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup rum

In a small saucepan, melt the butter; stir in the sugar and the water. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and stir in the rum. Drizzle onto the rum cake.

I personally prefer an orange glaze or strawberry glaze, or even sprinkle with fresh blackberries from the garden! It’s a great and easy dessert. I can’t say it’s exactly the most healthful of things; you’ll probably need some serious health insurance leads after eating too many slices… but OOOHHHH it’s sooo good! Enjoi!

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