Jalapeno Popper Dip

Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday so it was the perfect opportunity to make a new dip to share!

Michael and I love jalapeno poppers and love dip, so the idea of putting the two together sounds great!

Ingredients:

2 8oz containers of fat free cream cheese
1 cup low fat mayo
1 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons of minced garlic
4 oz canned green chilies
4 oz drained jalapenos
8 oz cooked and diced bacon

Directions:

Mix together softened cream cheese, mayo, Parmesan cheese, and garlic. Once mixed add the green chilies and the drained jalapenos. Mix in bacon and pour mixture into a 9 inch baking dish. Cook at 350*F for 20 minutes, or until the top starts to brown. I served the dip with crackers.

If you haven't had a jalapeno popper, you are missing out!!
Enjoy!

Neisch Dinners

Yay for Pinterest and making dinners a lot more yummy at the Neisch house!

I would say we make at least one new recipe a week and so far we have not been disappointed with what we have tried. We have been trying to mix it up and not repeat dinners that often, so luckily I have a huge bank to chose from on my food board.

I wish I was able to come up with a recipe on my own, but I just can't. I tried to think about what ingredients I could buy to make something new on my own, and I just kept thinking of ingredients that go into dishes I already know how to make.
So I thought I would share some of our new favorite recipes that are here to stay. We have altered almost all of them somewhat but I will attach the recipe so you all can try them too!

Toasted Raviolis -

We tried this one twice. The first time we fried them in oil and they were good but not what I was hoping for. Too greasy! So a few weeks later we tried them again and baked them in the oven. They are MUCH BETTER baked.


Penne with Chicken Pasta -

We really liked this! We both love broccoli and white sauce so this was a perfect meal.


Pesto Baked Potatoes -

I think Michael was a little unsure when I told him we would be making these for dinner, but he let me try making them and surprisingly really liked them. I loved how crispy the skin got when they were re-baked after they were stuffed. I can not believe all the years I skipped out eating potato skins.


Chicken Gyros -

If you have never had a gyro, you have to! They are delicious! When we get them when we are out, they are greasy and full of yumminess! When we made them at home they were not greasy at all, but still full of yumminess. This meal was very fresh and light! The only thing was the recipe made SO MUCH sauce, I have no idea why, just about 10 times the amount we needed. I should have realized it when I was making it, but I didn't. My bad. We made homemade naan as the bread and this will be made a lot more in the Neisch house!


Baked Manicotti and Fried Mozzarella -

OH MY GOSH! I can not believe it took us so long to make both of these! Michael and I loved cooking this meal. The manicotti was so cheesy and delicious, and the fried mozzarella sticks, no words to describe. I am getting hungry just thinking about how yummy this dinner was!


Lettuce Wraps -

We have made these about 3 times since we made it the first time! This is the fastest meal we make with lots of flavor! We actually ate this last night for dinner, we love these! (We alter this a bit and do not add the peanuts or water chestnuts.)


Queso Chicken Pasta -

This is the closest to a casserole that I have gotten Michael since we got married. Michael has this thing where he thinks he does not like casseroles, LAME is what this is haha. I love casseroles and I love how easy they are to make. This meal was so cheesy which means so yummy!!




Creamy Grilled Chicken Penne -

We made this tonight. The sauce on the pasta was so flavorful, but not over powering and the chicken was wonderful! The marinade on the chicken made the entire house smell great as it was cooking. This will be another recipe we make a lot. (We left out the capers from the recipe.)


I am a lucky lady who has a husband who loves cooking with me and who is great at doing it.

Lemon Blueberry Cake

How did I used to bake without this beautiful piece of equipment?!?!?

Thank you mom and dad for this wonderful Christmas present! 

I love this and love how many things I can do with it! It makes cooking and baking so much easier! No more wasted hours shredding chicken by hand, just pop it in the mixer and turn it on, magic! There are so many attachments I can not wait to get and start using.

The latest creation:

Lemon Blueberry Cake

Michael loves blueberries and I love lemons and the two go together perfectly! This morning I woke up and couldn't wait to get started making this new recipe.

Ingredients:

Box of lemon cake mix

Ingredients to make the cake

1 cup of frozen or fresh blueberries

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 cup of blueberry yogurt

First, preheat the oven to 350*F and generously spray a bundt pan.

Place 1 cup of blueberries and ½ cup water in a saucepan and simmer.

Make the cake mix according to the package. I used a lemon cake mix which needed 3 eggs, 1 1/3 cups water, and 1/3 cup vegetable oil.

Once mixed, zest one lemon and then squeeze the juice of the lemon into the batter.

Add 1 cup of blueberry yogurt and mix.

Once blueberries are thawed put them in a blender. Pour into the batter but do not mix.

Pour batter into the greased pan and bake for about 50 minutes to an hour.

We had some technical difficulties flipping the cake out of the pan haha

We took this cake to Sunday School today so I cut it all up to make it easier.

Yummy, yummy!

Peanut Butter Cup Bars

YAY for a new favorite dessert!

I absolutely love love love peanut butter and Reese’s are my favorite chocolate candy! (I personally would chose a fruit candy but when there are no fruit options Reese’s is my go to candy) 

 

These are basically giant Reese’s peanut butter cups!

Ingredients:

½ cup butter

1¾ cup powdered sugar

1 cup peanut butter

¾ cup crushed graham crackers

¼ cup butter

½ cup milk chocolate chips

Line an 8x8 baking dish with foil that has extra that hangs over the sides. Spray the foil with cooking spray.

Melt the ½ cup butter over low heat in a medium sauce pan. Turn off the heat and stir in the 1¾ cup powdered sugar till smooth.  

Add the 1 cup peanut butter and ¾ cups of crushed graham crackers to the mixture. (I chose not to crush the graham crackers into a powder and left some chunks – a little texture!)

Once mixed thoroughly spread the peanut butter mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Try to smooth it best as possible.

Using the same saucepan melt ¼ cup butter. Add ½ cup chocolate chips and stir till almost melted. Pull off heat and continue stirring till completely melted.

Pour chocolate on top of peanut butter mixture and smooth.

Put in the fridge to cool for at least 30 minutes.

Once cooled, cut and enjoy :]

I made these for dessert with friends last week and for Tasty Thursday today at work. Hope y’all like these yummy treats!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

In an earlier blog about Tasty Thursday I showed a picture of chocolate chip cookie dough brownies. They are really easy to make and delicious!

Ingredients:
For Brownies:
4 ounces unsweetend bakers chocolate
1 cup of butter, room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup of flour

For cookie dough:
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

*For the chocolate drizzle, you will want some extra chocolate chips and shortening


Make the brownies first:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and spray a 9x13 pan.
2. Cut up the bakers chocolate. Put in a microwave safe bowl and cook for 30 seconds at a time, stiring each time. Once smooth put aside to cool.

2. In a different bowl using an electric mixer, mix butter and brown sugar. Beat in the eggs and the vanilla extract. Once combined, mix in the chocolate then the flour.

3. Spread mixture in greased pan and cook 25 to 35 minutes. Let the brownies cool completely.

Now to make the cookie dough:
1. In a bowl, mix butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Then mix in the milk and the vanilla. Once combined add the flour and then mix in the chocolate chips with a spoon.

Making the final product:
1. Once the brownies have cooled completely top with the cookie dough and put in the fridge till dough is firm.

2. For me, I cut mine into serving sizes and used cupcake holders to place them in. I also melted some of the chocolate chips with 1 tbsp shortening and put it in a ziploc bag. I cut the bag corner and drizzled the chocolate over the top of individual servings.

Since there are no eggs in the cookie dough it is fine to eat raw. These things are delicious and addictive!
Enjoy!!

Oreo Crispies!

Thank you Pinterest for another good one!

I was looking for something yummy and that I did not have to actually bake to take to my women's bible study last night and ran across this recipe that I will be making again!

Oreo Crispies is what I am calling them:

It is a very simple recipe! They are made just like rice crispie treats, but instead of using rice crispies, use crushed oreos, genius! I altered the recipe from what I read on the blog, so here is what I did.

Ingredients:
1 bag small marshmallows
4 tbsp butter
1 package of oreos

First, coat an 8x8 pan with butter.
Put package of oreos in a Ziploc bag and using a rolling pin crush the oreos.
On the stove melt the butter and marshmallows, stirring continuously.
Once melted quickly add the crushed oreos to the mixture, mix, and pour into the butter pan.
Let sit about 20 minutes, cut, and serve.

Delicious!

Tasty Thursday!

We started a tradition at work that makes us look forward to Thursday! I blogged earlier about Tasty Thursday and some of the things I have made here and here, and today I am catching up on some of the things I have made lately.

We decided that Tasty Thursday was a little much for every Thursday, so we have changed it to every other Thursday and we have had a great turn out since then! We also changed the idea behind it and Tasty Thursday is now like Iron Chef when you have to use a certain ingredient in order to participate. It is nothing crazy like beets or oysters, but more normal ingredients.

Here are the past three things I have made for Tasty Thursday!

The ingredient was Chocolate so there were so many idea but I wanted to try something new. Thanks to Pinterest I made chocolate chip cookie dough brownies that were DELICIOUS!! I will blog later about how they are made, but I never would have guessed making homemade brownies would be so easy. On top of the brownies was no bake cookie dough (no eggs) with chocolate sauce drizzled on top. Here is the recipe!

 

Two weeks later the ingredient was cinnamon and I made snickerdoodle blondies. They did not turn out like cookies like I thought would, I actually had no idea what to expect, but it turned out like a coffee cake. Click here for the recipe.

On a side note about cinnamon: Earlier in the week I had made snickerdoodles for Michael (his favorite cookie) and it was a recipe for Pinterest, who would have guessed. I had not been happy with the recipe I had been using so I was ready for a new one. My old recipe used shortening and the new one used melted butter and dark brown sugar. The cookies were soft for a week and were so good! I will be making more of these soon! Oh and dark brown sugar is the way to go, from now on its the only kind of brown sugar I am going to use. Here is my new recipe for snickerdoodles.

Today our ingredient was pumpkin (in the spirit of halloween and fall). I have been searching Pinterest for recipes and found one, pumpkin spice doughnut holes. These are baked and not fried, which is GREAT! They were so easy to make and yummy! They did not turn out as circles though, I am not sure how they could have, but as they looked little muffin likes. When I rolled them in the cinnamon sugar they sorta looked like circles. Such an easy recipe you all should try, click here for it.

In two weeks our ingredient will be strawberries!

One Month Later....

I'm back! And full of things I have been wanting to blog about!

For those of you who know me, I LOVE Pinterest! And as much as Michael hates to admit it, he must love Pinterest too as we have made so many new and delicious recipes! Michael does not like eating the same thing that often so before Pinterest it was somewhat difficult for me to come up with new ideas for dinner every night. Now, not so much!

Michael has told me that I make cooking very difficult when I am trying to take pictures at every step (and he is right) so for this blog post I am going to post pictures of some of the final products we have made in the past few weeks.

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wrap

We made these tonight! So easy, so yummy, and I think pretty healthy minus the tortillas. We will be making these again but with either jalapenos or pablanos to give it a little more spice! Click here for the recipe.

Egg Rolls and Fried Rice

This was a yummy recipe Michael had been wanting ever since I pinned it. It was actually really easy and delicious! We are actually making this again this week but we are going to bake them instead of frying them. Click here for the recipe.

Salsa Chicken and Spanish Rice

Another easy recipe from Pinterest! I put it together before I left for work and it was ready when I got home. Perfect for when you have a busy day and/or evening. Plus it makes the house smell delicious! Click here for the recipe.

Stuffed Shells

Michael and I loved making these! They were a little more difficult then we though they would be, but luckily they turned out delicious. I was not expecting some of the shells to get stuck together and rip but it still worked out. I'm glad I found this recipe because I have always wanted to make these but never would have. Click here for the recipe.

Naan Pizza

This is not a Pinterest recipe but a TexAgs idea. For those of you who know Michael, you know this is his favorite website that keeps him busy while I am pinning :] Almost every time we are at HEB, Michael will say he wants to make something with the naan bread and we finally did. One of the posters on TexAgs posted just a picture and we did the rest. So no recipe to link to, but what we did was put some pizza sauce on the naan, added some ham, onion, bell pepper, and cheese and put in the oven till the cheese was melted. Delicious and easy!

Stuffed Chicken Breast

Close up of the Stuffed Chicken Breast

This was so good it deserved two pictures. With a few mess ups along the way we finally had our final product! This had a little more work involved but it was worth it. The pastry sheet was a great idea with the baked chicken. We loved how flaky it was. We can not wait to make this again. Thank you Pinterest, click here for the recipe.

Homemade Margherita Pizza

This is not a Pinterst recipe, but one of Michael's favorites. We have been making this dough for the last 2 years and really like it. The recipe for the dough is: Mix 1 cup of flour, 1 tbsp sugar, and 1 tsp salt, and 1 package of dry yeast together. Then mix in 3 tbsp olive oil and 1 cup very warm water. With a blender beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Then I usually mix in another cup of flour with the beater and then with my hands beat in another 3/4 to 1 cup of flour into the dough. I then knead the dough for about 5 minutes. I then cover the dough with flour and loosely wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let sit for at least 30 minutes. Enjoy :]

Tuscan Pasta with Tomato-Basil Cream Sauce

Sadly this is not my picture but we have made this twice now (and both times we forgot to take a picture)! We used raviolis once and tortellinis once, both were great! I recommened this recipe to everyone! Click here for it.

So after reading this, if you do not use Pinterest, start now :] It will make dinner in your house so much better! And Pinterest is not all about food, there are many other things as well, such as crafts, home ideas, tricks to fix things, clothes ideas, decorating ideas, kid crafts, health tips, and so many more things.