Cheese-Stuffed Christmas Tree

This is absolutely AMAZING! But you have to eat it hot right out of the oven.

First make a batch of Easy Peasy Bread dough.

After the dough rises, split the dough into pieces to make rolls.

Roll the dough around 1/8 of a piece of string cheese.

Place stuffed rolls on a greased baking sheet in a Christmas tree shape.

Brush with an egg beaten with a little water. (it's not absolutely necessary) 

Bake at 450 for 20 minutes or until golden.

Remove from oven and brush generously with melted butter. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning, Parmesan cheese or topping of your choice.

Place back in oven for 2 minutes.

Remove from oven and serve immediately with pasta sauce for dipping.

String Cheese Airplane Snacks

Twice a month I watch our godson and his little sister. Every time they come over, we choose a different subject and do a mini unit-study. Guess what we learned about today?

Yup! We learned all about airplanes. Here are some fun facts about airplanes you may not have known:

1. A Boeing 747 is 150 feet long. The Wright Brother’s first flight at Kitty Hawk was only 120 feet.

2. The Concorde flew at over 1300 mph and made the flight from NY to London in 3 hours!

3. Modern 747s have just 365 controls. The first models had 971!

4. Airplane themed snacks are really easy to make! :o)

First we made candy planes. The kind with Smarties, Wintergreen Life Savers and a stick of gum all held together with a rubber band. I hadn’t seen these since I was a kid. It was extra fun because we all shut ourselves into our window-less bathroom and watched the Life Savers spark in our mouths when we bit them. I hadn’t done that since I was a kid either. My poor 17-year-old had never done it or seen it. I think he thought it was cooler than he let on… ;o)

But for our more healthy snack, we made string cheese airplanes.

All you need is a piece of string cheese, two carrot slices, a rectangular piece of bread and a slice of pepperoni.

Stick a toothpick through the front of the string cheese and poke one carrot slice on each end. Break a second toothpick in half. Use one half to secure the bread “wing” to the top of the cheese. Fold the slice of pepperoni in half and then use the second half toothpick to secure it to the back of the cheese with the open end opening to the rear of the “plane”.

If you want a fun and educational movie to watch while you enjoy these treats, check out Andy’s Airplanes episode one on YouTube. You can link to it HERE. 

Easy Lefse

We haven’t had really good Norwegian lefse since leaving MN almost 8 years ago… Friends there seemed to make it perfectly and gave me this great easy shortcut recipe for traditional lefse that is super delicious! Unfortunately I am still getting the hang of making the stuff. It’s not very tender, not rolled quite thin enough and not even close to a circle shape. I call it “rustic”. ;o)  I’m sure my boys wish I would just get more practice so I’d get better at it. We’ll see, we’ll see…

Boil together:

5 cups water

1/2 cup lard or shortening

1 Tablespoon salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

When lard is melted, add 2 cups milk.

Pour over 8 cups potato flakes (instant mashed potatoes).

Let cool overnight in fridge.

Add 2 cups flour. Mix well and divide into 2 or 3 balls. Keep the dough you are not working with in fridge to keep cold.

Cut off small pieces and roll out on heavily floured cloth. Brush off excess flour.

Cook on griddle at 450 on both sides.

  Let cool on wire rack covered with a towel.

Serve warm with butter and cinnamon-sugar.

Kettle Corn at Home

Kettle corn… that perfect combination of salty and sweet! I love kettle corn but hate that I have to wait until I go to the fair or some other large outdoor event to have the stuff… Why can’t I just install a giant cauldron in my dining room and make it all year round???

Now I don’t have to wait anymore! Now I can have it at home any time I want without the giant cauldron of yummyness! Wow! This could be dangerous!!! LOL

All you need is a stirring popcorn popper… I know you can do it in a large stockpot, but I don’t know how to do that. ;o)

Pour 1/2 cup popcorn evenly into the bottom of your popper. Top with 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil. Sprinkle with 3-4 Tablespoons of white granulated sugar.

Then you sit and watch it until it pops… There is something sort of magical about getting to watch all those hard little kernels explode into fluffy white puffs of deliciousness!!! So much better than microwave stuff! Does that make me a huge popcorn nerd???

Watch and listen to your kettle corn very closely! You want to stop it AS SOON AS YOU HEAR THE POPPING START TO SLOW! This stuff burns really easily!

Carefully flip over your bowl (after you put the cover back on the lid/bowl) and enjoy it while it is still warm!

Chocolate Chocolate Candy Cane Chex Mix

This is a quick and easy treat to make for your holiday parties or just for munching on while watching movies…

All you need is a box of Chocolate Chex cereal, 1 bag of white chocolate chips, 1 box of candy canes and 1 cup powdered sugar.

Dump box of cereal into a large mixing bowl.

Unwrap candy canes and place in zipper bag. Crush with a rolling pin until broken into very small pieces but not dust. This part is fun and can be done by kids!

Melt bag of chocolate chips in the microwave for 1 minute. Stir and microwave for another 15-30 seconds. Stir until smooth.

Pour over cereal. Stir to coat. Be careful not to break up the cereal while stirring!

Before cereal is completely coated, add the candy canes. Continue to carefully stir until all the cereal is evenly coated with chocolate and candy.

Immediately divide the coated cereal into 2 gallon-sized zipper bags. Pour 1/2 cup of powdered sugar into each bag. Seal bags but leave air in them.

Shake bags to evenly coat the cereal with sugar. This is another fun step for the kids!

Now you have two bags of Chex mix… One for you and one for someone you love!

Pineapple Salsa

Having 5 fresh pineapples this week (they were $1 each), meant thinking of new ways to eat pineapple. I had a fish taco once years ago that had pineapple salsa on it… I’ve often thought about that fish taco and figured this was the perfect time to make me one!

So I grilled up some tilapia and made up a batch of fresh pineapple salsa. I also threw in some white rice in the tortillas… I think these were even better than the ones in my memory banks! ;o)

Such a cool refreshing meal on a hot summer evening!

Here’s the recipe for the salsa…

1 small pineapple, peeled, cored and finely chopped

1 red pepper, finely chopped

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

1 whole jalapeno pepper, finely chopped (you can seed it and use less for a milder salsa)

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

juice from 1 lime

Mix and then chill for a few hours to let flavors combine. Serve with tortilla chips or with fish or chicken tacos.

Spicy Ranch Saltines

I found this recipe on Pinterest and decided it was just what our Superbowl party at church needed. But when I found MINI SALTINES at the store, I was so excited that I actually gasped out loud! You get very strange looks from the other shoppers when you gasp while grabbing a box of Saltines off the shelf… Oh, that poor pathetic woman. What must her life be like that she is so excited by salt crackers???

I’m almost 40 now and that doesn’t bother me a bit! And I used them to make some of the most scrumptious snack crackers ever… So there! :oP

Here’s the recipe for you to try:

1 cup vegetable oil

1 package ranch dressing mix

2 Tablespoons of crushed red pepper flakes (you can use more or less depending on your heat tolerance)

1 box of mini saltines

Heat your oven to 250. Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.

Mix the oil, dressing mix and pepper flakes in a small bowl.

Pour over the crackers that have been placed in a large bowl. Toss well to coat. This will take a few minutes. But be careful! You don’t want a bowl full of crumbs…

Place crackers on the baking sheet and pour the extra ranchy-peppery oil over the top of the crackers.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, stirring halfway through baking.

Let cool and store in airtight bags or containers.

Seaweed Snack Mix

That’s right: seaweed! I acquired a bottle of Nomi Komi Furikake rice seasoning from a dear friend just a few days before I saw this recipe come across my Google Reader. I was so excited to try it!!! Unfortunately, it took a while before I got around to doing it…

But now that I did it I’m so glad I did! It is so addictive!!! Nomi Komi Furikake is made of seaweed, sesame seeds, sugar and salt. I am a real craver for the salty/sweet thing and this just hit the spot.

I admit that it does have a very distinctive aroma (and taste), so if you aren’t wild about seaweed you might be a bit put off by it. But if you are an adventurous eater and like trying something new to munch on while watching TV, give it a try.

Click HERE for the recipe at the Food Librarian.

By the way, I made only a half batch of the coating and covered about 10 (or a bit more) cups of popcorn, Chex, Bugles and pretzels. It was plenty for just us! Especially since not all of us enjoyed it… :o)

I think it would be fun to serve in mini take-out boxes at a party!