Homemade Cheese Balls (Blobs) Recipe

These are far too addictive and easy to make-so unless you've got a few extra calories to spare, beware, you will make these again.  I've been tweaking the usual breading I use after I made the chili glazed tofu where it called for cornmeal and cornstarch and it seems to work out pretty well.  I'm sure they would be great with panko or with really good cheese, but I just used some block mozzerella and colby cheese.  Fried cheese, what could go wrong?

Ingredients:
Cheese cut into little squares
Beaten Egg
1 cup of Itailian Bread Crumbs or Panko
1/4 cup of Cornstarch
1/4 cup Cornmeal
1/2 cup of flour
Canola Oil for Frying

Directions:
Mix bread crumbs, cornstarch, and cornmeal in a shallow container.  In another container place beaten egg, and in another container place flour.  Place oil in a skillet and heat at medium, I use probably about 1/2 an inch of oil, but the more oil the more likely they will come out in ball form instead of flat little blobs.  Depending on the amount of cheese balls being made the ingredients can be doubled or halved.  Dip cheese chunks in flour, then egg, and then breadcrumbs, turning to coat well.  Test to see if oil is hot enough by sprinkling some flour in it, if it fizzles up right away the oil is hot enough.  Place cheese balls in oil and turn when brown ( a few minutes).  When browned on all sides place on paper towels to take some of the oil off.  Eat and Enjoy!

***So I just looked at some other recipes and it looks like mixing shredded cheese, egg, flour, and salt and pepper together and then coating those in bread crumbs could be the way to go, but these were delcious and a simple addition to a meal when preparing breaded chicken anyway

Make Ahead Pie Crust

Well this recipe comes from my Mom and she got the recipe from a gal at church, so it has traveled a long way.  Basically you mix the flour and shortening together and keep it in the fridge until you need to make a pie.  When you need to make a pie you just take out a cup and add some water until it is the right consistency.  I would definitely recommend looking at a cookbook for details of how to properly roll out a pie crust because I do a pretty crumby job, but they still taste delicious.  It makes about 8 pies.  Enjoy

Make Ahead Pie Crust
6 cups of Flour
2 teaspoons of Salt
4 teaspoons of Sugar
2 cups of shortening (crisco, butter, lard, etc.)
Water

Mix ingredients together using pastry blender until well mixed.  Store in fridge until needed.
To make 9 inch crust use 1.5 cups of mix for a single layer crust and 2.5 cups for double crust.  Add water until just moist and roll out.  Bake for 12 minutes for a plain crust.  If making for fruit pie don't bake ahead of time.

Once a Month Cooking

I bought this cookbook because I needed to spend five more dollars to get free shipping so I ended up with this gem.  I had heard about once a month cooking and it perplexed me.  Would it save me time?  Money?  Energy?  I tried it last month and I don't think it saved any money or time.  I still had to use the oven or crock pot most days and instead of buying groceries once every week I did one big shop and still had to go back every week for lunch meat and milk.  What  I do enjoy about this method is the variety.  We commonly get in a rut of tacos, spaghetti, and grilled chicken so having new recipes to try out is thrilling in its own respect.  I was dissappointed in the quality of revisions of the cookbook.  Some recipes are vague and contradictory.  One calls for cooked cubed chicken in the ingredient list and then in the directions it says to cook it.  Here's our menu for two weeks that pretty much lasted a month for us.

Herbed Chicken:  Chicken with cream of mushroom soup baked in oven
Pot Roast:  Pot roast in crock pot
Chicken Nuggets:  Delicious!  Chicken strips dipped in bread crumbs
Playoff Burgers:  Burgers with cheese and onion
Farmer's Casserole:  Eggs, potatoes, ham, onion, and green pepper
Poppy Beef:  Strange but good.  Hamburger with linguine coated in cheese
Chicken Tacos:  Chicken mixed with taco seasoning in crock pot
Mexican Lasagna:  Chicken, beans, lasagna noodles baked
Corn Soup:  Tasty spicy corn soup

Cookie Oreo Brownie Bars

I must say I was quite disappointed by this recipe.  I had been drooling over the pictures on Pinterest for several weeks when I finally decided to make it for an upcoming trip back home.  These bars were touted as the best of all worlds-brownies-cookies-oreos-what would be better?  Well I can tell you brownies, oreos, and cookies would be way better separately.  The brownies burned, the cookies weren't moist, and the oreos didn't have their tell tale crunch.

Here's the picture from Pinterest-gooey and delicious

 Here are mine, dry, burnt, and blah:

Sugared Pecans or Walnuts

Yum.  That pretty much sums up this recipe.  I'm hoping to revisit this recipe over the holiday season and share with my friends and family as gifts.  The original recipe came from here.  I found that adding more powdered sugar helped coat the nuts better.

Ingredients:

• 16 ounces pecans or walnut halves
• 1/2 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Preparation:

Turn slow cooker to HIGH about 15 minutes in advance. In hot slow cooker, stir together the nuts and butter. Add the powdered sugar, stirring to blend and coat evenly. Cover and cook on HIGH for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to LOW and remove lid; cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 2 to 3 hours, or until the nuts are coated with a crisp glaze.
Transfer the nuts to a bowl.
In another small bowl, combine the spices; sift over the nuts, stirring to coat evenly.
Let cool before serving.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Dessert

Alrighty, I've been struck by a sweet tooth, and I must say it is doing the scale no favors, but the treats are so delicious.  I've been visiting Pinterest lately and have been bookmarking lots of tasty treats so I have been trying them out lately to see if they turn out as well as they look.  Most of the desserts have not disappointed. 

This recipe came from Taste of Home
Ingredients:  

• 20 chocolate cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, divided
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 package (8 ounces) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese (softened or cubed), softened
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, divided
• 1 carton (16 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
• 1 cup cold milk
• 1 package (3.9 ounces) instant chocolate fudge pudding mix

Directions

• Crush 16 cookies; toss with the butter. Press into an ungreased 9-in. square dish; set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, peanut butter and 1 cup confectioners' sugar until smooth. Fold in half of the whipped topping. Spread over crust.
• In another large bowl, beat the milk, pudding mix and remaining confectioners' sugar on low speed for 2 minutes Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Fold in remaining whipped topping.
• Spread over peanut butter cups. Crush remaining cookies; sprinkle over the top. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours. Yield: 12-16 servings.

I had to put part of this in the freezer so I wouldn't eat it so quickly and it is way better frozen-creamy and delicious!

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough Recipe

Lately I've been trying to eat healthier and to my husband's chagrin I have been experimenting with adding whole wheat flower to my baked goods.  Whole wheat waffles did not pass the test, but this whole wheat pizza crust is one of his favorites.  To add whole wheat appropriately you can't just substitute it for all the white flour you should probably start with replacing just 1/2 cup to 1 cup of the flour at a time for whole wheat flour. 

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon of Yeast
1 Cup of warm water
2 Tablespoons of veggie oil
1 teaspoon of sugar or honey
Dash of Salt
1 1/2 Cups of Flour (up to 1/2 cup more)
1 Cup of Whole Wheat Flour
Corn Meal
Toppings (Fresh tomatoes, pesto, onion, green pepper, chicken, cheese, garlic, etc)

Directions: 
1.  In a large bowl dissolve yeast in water.  Add in oil, sugar, salt, and 1 1/2 cups of white flour.  Mix until smooth.  Add in whole wheat flour and extra flour until the dough isn't very sticky.
2.  Dump dough on floured counter and turn/knead into a ball.  Cover and Let rest 10 minutes.
3. Roll dough out on floured surface.  I usually make 2 really thin crusts about 10x12 inches.  Once rolled out place on cookie sheet that has been sprinkled with cornmeal. 
4.  Bake at 425 degrees for ten minutes. 
5.  Take pizza out and top, place back in oven for 8-10 minutes until cheese and toppings are adequately gooey.