BLT Pasta Salad

~12 oz corkscrew shape pasta (I used bowtie)
~1/2 c milk
~12 oz bacon
~3 tomatoes, cut into chunks
~1 tablespoon thyme
~1 clove garlic
~salt and pepper
~1/2 c mayo
~1/4 c sour cream
~4 tablespoons chives
~5 heads lettuce

Cook pasta, drain and toss with milk. Cook bacon. Discard all but 3 tablespoons of drippings from pan. Add tomatoes, garlic and thyme, warm. Season with salt and pepper. Crumble bacon into bite size pieces then toss with pasta and tomato mixture. Mix mayo, sour cream and chives with pasta, add lettuce, toss again.

I made a much smaller batch of this for myself for lunch. It was pretty good and didn't take too long to whip up. It would be an excellent side dish for a BBQ or picnic!

Cake Batter Blondies

~1 box yellow cake mix
~1/4 cup canola oil
~1 egg
~1/3 – 1/2 cup milk
~1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles
~1/2 cup white chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F.Combine the first four ingredients in a large bowl. Add the milk slowly – you want the batter to remain as dense as possible so they are more of a “blondie” and not a cake. Mix in the rainbow sprinkles and white chocolate chips. Bake for 25-30 minutes in a 8×8 pan at 350 degrees. (It is okay if they don’t seem completely done. They will set up more as they cool.)

Very yummy!!

Creamy Shrimp and Mushroom Pasta

~ 8 oz box fettuccine
~10 tbsp butter, divided
~8 oz fresh, sliced mushrooms
~2 garlic cloves, minced
~3 oz cream cheese, cut into small pieces
~2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
~1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
~2/3 cup boiling water (from your noodle pot)
~1 lb cooked shrimp (I used frozen)

Boil water and cook pasta.  I only used half of the 8 oz box. Cook shrimp, or thaw under hot water if using frozen.In a large skillet melt 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat and saute mushrooms until soft and brown. Season with salt and pepper.Reserve cooked mushrooms and melt remaining butter in the skillet. Add minced garlic, cream cheese, and herbs.  The cream cheese looks kind of funny, but don't worry about it, it will work out when you add the water. Simmer cream cheese mixture until well blended. Get a scoop of boiling pasta water from your noodle pot and mix it in, stirring quickly to smooth out the sauce. Keep sauce hot and add shrimp and mushrooms, mix well and simmer (stirring often) until everything is hot and thickened, about 10 minutes. Add cooked noodles. Enjoy!

So very yummy!

Strawberry Pretzel Jello Salad

2 cups crushed pretzels 

3/4 cup butter, melted

3 Tbsp sugar

16 oz cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

16 oz cool whip

1 (6 oz) box strawberry jello

2 cups boiling water

3 cups strawberries, sliced

Combine melted butter and sugar. Stir in the crushed pretzels. Press in bottom of a 9x13 pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool. In bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, and cool whip. Beat until smooth. Spread over pretzel crust. Make sure to get the cream mixture tight against the edges of the pan to prevent the jello mixture from seeping through.Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Remove from stove and add jello. Stir until Jello is dissolved. Add sliced strawberries. Pour over cream layer and put in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

 

I'm not really sure about this recipe. I would definitely leave out the pretzel crust if I made this again. The cool whip/cream cheese mixture with the strawberries and Jello was really good tho!

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

3/4 cup +2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 c butter
1 egg
2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup Buttermilk
1 tbsp sugar, for sprinkling on top

preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar. add eggs and vanilla. Beat until combined. Toss blueberries with 1/4 cup flour. Then whisk together remaining flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to batter a little at a time alternating with the butter milk. Fold in the blueberries. Grease 9inch square baking pan, spread batter into pan. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake 35-45 mins.

Rolo Fudge Brownies

1/2 c caramel sauce
2 cups unwrapped Rolo Candy (cut in half)
14 oz can sweetned condensed milk
3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2 tsp vanilla
box of brownies

make brownies. cool completely. pour and spread caramel over brownies. spread chopped Rolos over caramel. In saucepan over low heat melt sweetned condensed milk and chocolate chips together. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Immediately spread over Rolo's. Let sit for 2 hours, then cut into squares.

Oreo Muffins

1 3/4 c all purpose Flour
1/4 c sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/3 cup butter
1 c milk
1 egg
16 oreos chopped (+5 more for topping)

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder in bowl. cut in butter until mix resembles coarse crumbs. Blend milk and egg in bowl, stir in flour mixture. Gently stir in chopped cookies. Do not mix!! Spoon batter into greased muffin cups. sprinkle with cookie crumb topping. Bake at 400 degrees 15-20 mins.

Topping: Mix 5 chopped Oreo cookies and 3 tbsp each of flour and sugar. Blend in 2 tbsp of softened butter.

YUM!! I loved these!