Mozzarella Sticks are standard pub fare and often accompany pizza on family game night with garlic bread, because when are you ever going to have time to make them yourself - and why would you? They must take hours right? And you can't just make it with stuff you probably already have in your pantry RIGHT NOW, can you? I swear, these little snacks go from passing thought to burning your greedy fingers in less than 30 minutes. No, honest. I have seen versions of them kicking around online but I didn't trust that any recipe I could make myself would come close to the glorious fried gooeyness Mr So Very Domestic adores so much. And you know, given that I clearly refer to myself as 'so very domestic', I take kitchen fails as crushing blows to my womanhood a little harsher than most others. Ahem. (read)
The sauce is a very simple little combo I learned from my dad years ago that will give you so many different flavors depending on what combination you use. equal parts barbecue sauce and chicken stock! Voila! You'll want to adjust that depending on how thick your base barbecue sauce is, and of course how thick you want your finished sauce to be. With all the different ways to make barbecue sauce (vinegar, whiskey, hickory, brown sugar, molasses etc etc etc), and all the different ways to make chicken stock (endless combinations of spices to be spicy or sweet, different flavors from strictly chicken bones to whole carcasses and veggies etc etc) make it a very versatile sauce for meatballs. I've used it with meatballs made from pork, beef, chicken and turkey and they all were total winners! Honestly, they are even better the next day! (read)
The original poster intended these jalapeño poppers to be cheesy jalapeño cornbread but switched them up because she'd done the spicy cornbread a zillion times before (I may be paraphrasing). This is one of those things that reminds me of the foodie differences between Canada and The States, I have never had cheesy jalapeño cornbread. That's ok, I'm sure I'll get the opportunity! (read)
In trying out and coming up with different recipes for Thanksgiving of course the emphasis leans towards bigger is better and this time of year especially the menus often tend to be a lot richer. We don't need to give up the richness completely, but it is a smart to make adjustments to recipes to make them healthier for ourselves and our families. Years ago I would have made this recipe with butter, traditional bacon and full fat cheddar cheese. However, with a few small changes I was able to make this recipe much healthier! Country Crock has 0g trans fat, no-nitrate bacon is always a better choice than a bacon (either pork or turkey) made with nitrates and low fat cheese is a no brainer switcheroo. (read)
This spiced up version of the buttermilk fried chicken I made a couple of months ago was the perfect partner to these hybrid french fry/onion ring creations, which are really just a potato-ed up version of my favorite Leek Ring recipe. I was originally inspired by this post over at Spoon Fork Bacon but I ended up going in a totally different direction because we decided we wanted more of an onion ring base. I will eventually try the original recipe! (read)
A few weeks ago, I made mini chicken pot pies and ever since then the kids have been encouraging me to make mini versions of other dinners they love! So far I've made mini chicken hot pockets and these mini pizza bites. I served these with pizza sauce to pour over top or, as Wee One #3 chose to do, dunk in. Next time I will add some sauce to the mini bites before I cook them and see how that works out. This week I'm making Mini Shepherd's Pies! (read)
Why my children prefer these rolled up grilled cheeses over classic grilled cheese sandwiches, I'm not sure. I mean of course growing up with me as your mother you're going to go for whimsy instead of standard fare and that's cool with me but man...they loooooove them. (read)
They don't look like fishies, but they taste pretty bang on!! I was going to follow the little homemade goldfish cookie cutter tutorial on the post with the recipe, but I just moved about a million miles and don't have kitchen scissors yet! I know, I know, it's total insanity. It really is, I'm forever saying 'why didn't I bring that?!? (read).
Tater tots are really just rolled up mashed potatoes and everyone knows mashed potatoes go with pretty much anything! Whatever they don't work with french fries or scalloped potatoes can totally stand in for them. It's potato madness. So once I discovered how to make tater tots myself, a whole world of weird culinary (I use the word extremely loosely) adventure opens up. Tater tots IN a casserole? sure, why not? Wrapped in bacon? What isn't there to love?! I have also recently stumbled onto, but haven't tried, Tater Tot Pie, Cheeseburger Tater Tots and some kind of insanity called Tater Tot Hot Dog Casserole?! What?! (read).
This right here? Is husband food. Both the chicken wings and the potato wedges are far too spicy for 2/3 of the children, and I went ahead and made something different for all three of them anyway so my husband wouldn't have to share. He has his favorites that the kids and I like too, like stew and chili and lasagna and chicken ceasers and things like that, but this kind of meal, the kind of purposely greasy but still made from scratch food you only really find in old school pubs and family restaurants, is defo his hands down number one love. Not just the combo of wings and wedges, but wings that aren't off chickens that look like they starved to death and wedges that have been cut to actually resemble a wedge of some kind. (read).
This is one of those ridiculous after school snacks I have made for the kids that they absolutely loved, and I felt especially silly making! The kids next door were here when I made them and they thought they were hilarious and amazing. Both snacks are super easy to make and are a really cute and filling snack for wee ones (and maybe some grown ups too). ;) (read).
This is one of those recipes that's hardly even a recipe really. You can make as much or as little as you want, depending on what you already have on hand. Don't mistake though, even if you don't have any of the ingredients on hand this little treat is worthy of a trip to the store. I have read Lasagna Wraps described as a quick fix to a lasagna craving. No. No, it's not a quick fix. You still have to make your sauce, which is arguably the bulk of the work in making lasagna anyway, you still have to shred cheese and you still have to boil the noodles. Even if you use 'quick' noddles, you have to boil them when with lasagna of course you don't have the boil the quick ones. So long story short, they're good and smaller and cuter, but they're pretty much the same amount of work - unless you have a pot of lasagna sauce kicking around. In which case, they will be pretty close to effortless. (read).
I know technically these little bundles of deliciousness are called Beggar's Purses but I made them for my mother's Pixie-themed 60th birthday party (my mother loves fairies and anything to do with fairies), so Pixie Purses they are! Bacon + goat cheese? OMG. I've recently given up the bacon but I'd probably still snarffle down a few of these little babies. They were a hit with everyone that tried them and the only treat I made for my mother's party that didn't have any leftovers! (read).
I made these when I wanted to serve up something cute and simple, but that was a little more 'adult' than typical apps I make for the kids after school. (read).
They can be dressed up with fancy cheeses on the inside or swanky breading on the outside but really, cheese sticks are just chunks of cheese rolled in a coating and fried till heavenly delicious - and man are they ever. These are your standard mozzarella sticks, modified ever so slightly from a recipe that used Panko. Deeee-lish. (read).
This is the 5th recipe my kids have made from Baking With Kids and this created yet another fun Sunday in the kitchen. The recipe calls for ready-rolled puff pastry, but overachiever that I am, of course I had to make it myself. Here is the recipe and walkthrough for the puff pastry I made for them, it's from an ancient cookbook my Granny gave me called The Art of Cooking and Serving, that I will cook and bake my way through one day. (read).