Category Archives: snacks

Sausage cream cheese squares

snacks 12 Comments

My sister made these for us one Christmas at her house. We were combining a bunch of appetizers and calling it a meal, but this was the one everyone kept coming back to. So tasty! And they were good hot and after they had cooled down, too, which is a lovely characteristic for an appetizer to have.

Anything else you would add to these? The kick from the Ro*tel is awesome, but I wonder what other flavors might be fun to work in?

Sausage cream cheese squares

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. sausage
  • 1 block cream cheese
  • 1 can Ro*tel, drained
  • 2 cans crescent rolls
  • 1 cup cheddar cheese

Instructions

  1. Put a frying pan over medium/high heat and brown and crumble sausage; drain any grease

  2. Turn heat down to low and mix in cream cheese till melted

  3. Drain Ro*tel and stir in

  4. Roll out 1 package of crescent rolls flat onto the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Top with cream cheese mixture, sprinkle with cheddar cheese, and top with other package of crescent roll dough

  5. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes

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Ranch chicken firecrackers

snacks Leave a comment

Out of desperation comes one of my favorite new snacks! Isn’t that often the way?

My friend Traci made me some firecrackers (fire crackers? Two words?) last summer and was kind enough to scribble down the recipe for me. I made some more of them last week but was trying to talk myself into something more substantial than crackers for lunch, when it occurred to me I had a cold roasted chicken in the fridge. Enter inspiration.

I shredded the chicken, tossed it in some ranch dressing, and put that on top of the firecrackers. It’s spicy with the peppers and cool with the ranch chicken, and oh so tasty!

Ranch chicken firecrackers

Ingredients

  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 package dry ranch seasoning
  • 1 tsp. onion powder
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 3-4 Tbsp. crushed red pepper, depending on your spice preference
  • 3 sleeves saltine crackers
  • Cold, cooked, shredded chicken
  • Enough bottled ranch dressing to lightly coat chicken (these last two depend on how much you want to make, obviously)

Instructions

  1. Add oil, seasoning, spices, and crushed pepper into a one-gallon zip top bag; seal the top and mush it all around till everything is well combined
  2. Add in the crackers and shake them around a little to coat them with the oil and spice mixture
  3. Let it all sit in the bag for a good 12 hours or so, flipping the bag over any time you think of it, till all the mixture is absorbed into the crackers
  4. Once those are ready, just shred some cooked chicken with a fork (leftovers are your friend, here), toss it in as much ranch as you like, and put that on top of your firecrackers. So good!

Baked Elvis oatmeal

baking, breakfast, kids, snacks 4 Comments

I’m not a stranger to baked oatmeal, but I love how Beth of Eat. Drink. Smile upped the ante with the addition of all her yummy fruit! I adapted her recipe a bit to use up what we had (super ripe bananas) and to add something both my kids are guaranteed to eat: peanut butter!

Baked Elvis oatmeal

Ingredients

  • 2 cups uncooked old fashioned rolled oats
  • 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 very ripe bananas, fork-mashed
  • 3 Tbsp butter (see instructions)
  • 1/4 cup peanut butter (see instructions)

Instructions

  1. Combine oats, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl
  2. Heat the butter and peanut butter together in the microwave till just melted, then let it cool slightly
  3. Make a well in the middle of your dry ingredients; add in the egg and beat well, then add in banana and butter/peanut butter mixture and stir well
  4. Pour into a buttered 8-inch square baking dish, and bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes.

 

This is such a great breakfast, and easy to keep around for snacks as well! Be sure to check out Beth’s original post for all her awesome fruit combinations, too. What fruits will you try with it?

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Broccoli bites

kids, sides, snacks 6 Comments

My little Peanut, as you may have heard, is NUTS for broccoli. Like, a crazy woman. I actually thought I didn’t like broccoli for years and years — it was roasted broccoli that won me over, and now I just love it in general. Since Peanut loves broccoli all the time any time, I was looking for some new ways to prepare it to give her a little variety. These turned out to be so good that we both ate them! I dipped mine in a little ranch dressing; quite tasty!

Broccoli bites

Yield: about a dozen

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces chopped broccoli, drained well
  • 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
  • 2 eggs
  • salt and pepper
  • 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375F
  2. Mix all ingredients in a bowl, then scoop out with a cookie scoop, gently shaping into patties on a parchment-lined cookie sheet
  3. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes; flip them over and bake for another 10

Since Peanut is ALL ABOUT THE BROCCOLI I would love to hear more broccoli ideas! How do y’all use it?

Roasted chickpeas

kids, snacks 18 Comments

This recipe has kind of made the rounds on the internet but I hadn’t gotten a chance to try it until this week. I followed Steamy Kitchen’s version because she’s never steered me wrong.

Roasted chickpeas

Ingredients
  • One can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans
  • Olive oil — about 2 Tbsp, but you’re drizzling it on so that’s approximate
  • Salt and cinnamon (or whatever spices sound good to you; see below)

Instructions

  1. Drain the beans and let them sit on a paper towel lined cookie sheet to dry while your oven preheats to 400F
  2. Discard the paper towels, then drizzle on olive oil, shaking the beans around so they’re well coated
  3. Sprinkle with salt (I find they needed a pretty good amount), then roast in the oven until they’re crunchy — around 40-45 minutes
  4. Remove the tray from the oven and shake on whatever spices you chose; I used cinnamon, but I hear cajun spices are good too

Once they’re cool enough to handle, go crazy! I like them warm or cooled; store at room temp.

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! 🙂

I get a lot of my recipes off the internet, AND my kids help me in the kitchen; this makes my iPad and my Pong case a perfect kitchen setup for me. I actually approached Pong myself about this giveaway because I’m such a fan of their products; I’ve been using one of their iPhone cases forever. They explain the features of this case better than I could (can you say decreased radiation, increased singnal?) so be sure to check out the info about it.

Because of their awesomeness, Pong sent an iPad case for me, and they’re giving one to one of you! All you have to do is comment here before Sunday July 15 at midnight central time and tell me: what’s your favorite source for recipes? I’ll select a winner via random.org, and Pong will send the iPad case directly to you; you’ll just need to let me know if you want the Wi-Fi only or the Wi-Fi + 4G Case.

And go!

We have a winner!

 

Comment #2 is from Nashville’s own Erin of Erin’s Food Files. Congrats! Just email me your address and what kind of iPad you have and Pong will have your new case on the way!