Arctic Ants On A Log

Today's Nom Nom Monday recipe is another simple snack, Arctic Ants On A Log.  Now I know celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins are tasty, but I often crave a more salty snack than a sweet snack, and that's how I came up with this idea.  Celery sticks with cream cheese, and kalamata olives and/or peanuts.  For these five sticks I used one and a half celery stalks, and about a tablespoon of cream cheese, three olives, and three peanuts.  Which was the perfect amount to hold me off until dinner, but I didn't eat too much of the unhealthy stuff to make it a terrible thing to munch on.

I love to snack, and I'm of the belief that snacking isn't a bad thing.  Sure we have a tendency to munch on a truck ton of unhealthy snacks, instead of a sensible portion of healthy food.  However if we think of what we have in the house, and what we could whip together before we get hungry, it can be a helpful trick to curb your appetite between larger meals.  That way when it does come to dinner time we aren't eating three times our portion size, and making poor choices when planning a healthy meal, because we're starving.   Real Simple had a great article A Guide to Healthy Snacking in August's edition.  There are definitely some great tips in there, and I highly recommend giving it a peek.

Thanks for visiting, and hope you had a lovely Monday, and happy DIYing, chris  

Sopapilla

Happy Labor Day and Nom Nom Monday!  I love Monday holidays.  There should be at least one of these every month.  I made Sopapilla for our family gathering.  My friend Kristen had this at her house one night, and I loved it.  I found a recipe for it on Chocolate Therapy, and decided today would be the perfect day to try it out.  It tastes like a cheesecake and a cinnamon roll had a baby.  A yummy baby!  

Ingredients:

- 2 cans crescent rolls

- 16 oz of cream cheese

- 1 cup white sugar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- 1/4 cup butter

-1/3 cup white sugar &1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon mixed together

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.  Spread one package of crescent rolls over the bottom of a glass 13"x9" baking pan.  The crescent rolls will completely cover the bottom of the pan.  

Mix together the softened cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla.  Spread the mixture over the crescent rolls.

Roll out the other can of crescent rolls over the cream cheese mixture.  This one is a little trickier, because with the layer underneath you can't go back and move the pieces. Though if you start out in the right place, it's not messy at all.  

Melt the butter in a small dish, and mix together the cinnamon and 1/3 cup of sugar in a separate dish.  

Using a brush spread the butter over the pastry, and any remaining butter can be gently poured over the top.  Thickly dust the top with the cinnamon and sugar mixture.  

Then pop into the oven for 25 - 30 minutes.  

They taste great served warm or cold.  I love the cinnamon sugar with the pastry, and the cream cheese.  MMM!!!

I'm going to go enjoy the end of my holiday weekend.  Happy DIYing, chris!

Bacon Mac & Cheese

Happy Nom Nom Monday!  Oh gosh, what I have for you today is TO DIE FOR!  Bacon Mac & Cheese, but there is a special mix of cheeses that bring this dish to the next level.  

This can be made with any brand of box mac & cheese (but Velveeta), cook the noodles as you normally would.  While that is cooking make some bacon extra crispy.  Use enough for each person eating the mac & cheese.  When the bacon is done crumble it up, and set aside.  When the noodles are done drain and set aside.  I like to run cold water over the pasta so it doesn't stick together.  Now for the cheese sauce, use the cheese powder packet, 1/3 - 1/4 cup 2% milk, 1/4 cup cream cheese, and 1/4 cup farmer's cheese.  Once that is all melted together mix in the noodles.  Serve, and top each mac & cheese with the crumbled bacon.  

This is the creamiest tastiest cheese you will ever let cross your palette!!  Absolutely perfect!  I'm not sure I'll be satisfied eating my mac and cheese any other way!  

Have a great week ya'll, happy DIYing, chris!

Strawberry Cream Muffins

Last week we celebrated my brother getting engaged!  We had dinner at our house, and I made Strawberry and Cream Muffins.  Not sure how I found this on the internet, probably pinterest.  They didn't turn out as pretty as Jane's Sweets.  Her food photos are definitely drool worthy.  Even though they weren't all that pretty, they tasted fantastic.  I'll try this again, and maybe next time they'll come out prettier!  

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

*for the muffin mix (will make about 12 - 14 regular sized muffins)

-  1 cup of whole milk (we didn't have any so I used 2/3 cup of 2% milk and 1/3 cup of half-and-half)

- 1/2 cup unsalted soft butter

- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

- 1/8 teaspoon almond extract

- 2 large eggs

- 2 cups all purpose flour

- 3/4 Cup granulated sugar

- 2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1 cup strawberries (the redder the better!) diced into tiny pieces

*for the cream cheese layer

- 4 ounces of cream cheese softened

- 1 1/2 tablespoon of an egg that has been lightly beaten

- 1/3 cup granulated sugar

- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Begin by heating your oven up to 400º F.  Line your muffin pan with paper liners.  Clean and cut up your fresh strawberries;  set them aside.  

Now mix together the ingredients for the cream cheese layer in a small bowl.  Don't worry if it's a little lumpy, set aside but do not refrigerate.  

Next mix together the muffin batter.  Start with a saucepan on low heat and melt the butter down.  Then add the vanilla and almond extracts, and the milk.  Stir until throughly mixed together.  Remove from heat and let cool, then stir in the eggs.  In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Then make a well in the center of the dry mixture, and pour the ingredients from the saucepan in.  Mix together, but be sure not to over mix.  Again it's okay to have some lumps.  

This is the tricky part.  I always have a hard time with portion, and I think that's why my muffin's aren't as photogenic.  Fill the muffin cups ONLY half way with the muffin batter.  It's better to be a little under halfway then over!  Then drop in a few strawberries.  Now add a tablespoon and a half of the cream cheese mixture.  Top off with the remaining muffin batter and a few more strawberries, but be sure not to overfill!  

Generously sprinkle sugar over the tops just before you stick them in the oven. 

Cook for 15 to 18 minutes or until lightly browned on the tops, a toothpick through the middle should come out (mostly) clean.  I think I could have left my muffins in for slightly longer, but they were still very tasty.  We ate them straight out of the oven, and the muffins stuck to the paper a bit.  I think some people ate their's with a fork.  

There were a couple left over, and I ate one the next day.  I think it may tasted even better the next day!  Plus, the muffin was no longer sticking to the paper.  

These would be a great thing to make on the weekends, and to take to work for a quick morning breakfast.  Plus your left with a bunch of fresh strawberries, because this recipe barely uses half a pint of strawberries.  I'll have a great suggestion for your left over strawberries in tomorrow's post!