Peanut Clusters

I made this recipe to go along with our annual Harry Potter party. Of course, I called them Cockroach Clusters, just to mess with my kids but really no bugs were harmed during the making of this recipe! I'm glad too because....Cockroach Clusters?! Ewww!

 Ingredients
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
1 cup cocktail peanuts

 Directions
Place parchment paper on cookie sheet and set aside. Pour semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips and peanut butter into a large microwave-safe bowl. Heat for approximately 1 minute on 50% power. Stir and repeat until all chips are melted. Add peanuts to the melted chocolate and peanut butter and stir until well combined. Drop chocolate peanut butter mixture by the teaspoonful onto the parchment paper. Allow to cool in the refrigerator for approximately 30 minutes to an hour until completely firm. Store in an airtight container.

Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

We really don't eat a lot of fish around here but I'm trying to branch out. This recipe has probably converted me to the benefits of eating Tilapia. I was very happy with how it turned out and it's really quick to prepare and cook. 

 

Ingredients

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 teaspoons paprika

1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

4 tilapia fillets (about 1 pound total)

1 lemon, cut into wedges

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees . In a shallow dish, combine the cheese with the paprika and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the fish with olive oil and dredge in the cheese mixture. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake until the fish is opaque in the thickest part, 10 to 12 minutes (my fish was mostly frozen and it still cooked in about 15 minutes.) Serve the fish with the lemon wedges. I served mine with a green salad and Buttermilk Herb & Cheese Bread. 

Buttermilk Herb & Cheese Bread

I've made this bread a few times now and it's a hit every time. Plus it's really easy to throw together and it's a quick bread so....well....it's quick!

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper, ground
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, plus 1 teaspoon, divided
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup kerrygold dubliner cheese, grated*
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt, for sprinkling

Egg Wash:

1 egg yolk
teaspoon water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pepper and mustard. Add the parsley, 1 tablespoon thyme and cheeses. Stir.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, 2 whole eggs and olive oil. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just until combined and evenly moistened. Do not overmix. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan.
4. In a small bowl, mix together egg yolk and 1 teaspoon water. Brush top of batter with egg wash. Sprinkle top of batter with remaining teaspoon thyme leaves and sprinkle with sea salt.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in loaf pan 5 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack. Serve warm or room temperature.

*I don't do mine all fancy pants with dubliner cheese. I just use two different kinds of cheese, whatever I have on hand, usually chedder and mozzerella. 

Homemade Corndogs

  When you have little kids not every night can be super healthy or even at all healthy, right?! We made these homemade corn dogs and they were so fun and tasted really good! Much better than store bought ones. I did have a bit of trouble making mine look good. Most of them had tumor-like growths on them but they still tasted great. The trick is in getting the batter thick enough to stay on the corn dog but not too thick. I had to play around a little with the recipe below to get it just right, and honestly I can't remember what I did because we made these about a month ago (and I'm just trying to catch up!)

 

Ingredients

1. 1 cup yellow cornmeal
2. 1 cup all-purpose flour
3. 1/4 cup sugar
4. 1 Tablespoon baking powder
5. 1/4 teaspoon salt
6. 1 egg, beaten
7. 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (regular milk works too)
8. 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
9. 1 Tablespoon honey
10. 1 (10 count) package Hot Dogs
11. 10 wooden skewers or chopsticks 
12. Vegetable Oil for frying. I used my Fry Daddy but you could do it on the stove in a deep pan. 

Mix the batter and pour into a tall drinking glass, put the hot dogs on the skewers and dunk in the mixture (since I used my Fry Daddy the skewers were too long so I just dunked the corn dogs, fried them, then put them on a skewer to serve.) Fry in the hot oil for a minute or two until they are golden brown. Enjoy with ketchup and mustard!

Lebanese Lemon Parsley Bean Salad

Ingredients:

2 cans red kidney beans, rinsed and drained, or 3 cups cooked kidney beans

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained, or 1½ cups cooked chickpeas

1 can black beans

1 small red onion, diced

2 stalks celery, sliced in half or thirds lengthwise and chopped

1 ripe red tomato, chopped

1 medium cucumber, peeled and diced

3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill or mint

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

1 teaspoon salt

Zesty Italian Dressing

Instructions:

1. In a serving bowl, combine the prepared kidney beans, chickpeas, onion, celery, tomato, cucumber, parsley and dill (or mint).
2. Make the lemon dressing: in a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper flakes until emulsified. Pour dressing over the bean and vegetable mixture and toss thoroughly. At this point I wanted a bit more flavor so I added a few generous squirts of Zesty Italian Dressing. Serve immediately for the most flavor, or let it marinate in the refrigerator, covered, for a couple of hours or longer. 

This is a great salad to take to a potluck or picnic because there's no mayo or cool whip to have sitting out on the table or in the sun.  And it tastes really good, nothing like the waxy bean salads you can buy in the store!

Amazing Pork Tenderloin

I made this pork tenderloin a few nights ago and it turned out so good! Plus, it was really easy and took very little time to prepare. I'm thinking you could easily make this in a crockpot as well. I tend to not plan far enough in advance for my crockpot recipes though, so I'm glad this one works just as well in the oven. This is my new favorite way to do pork tenderloin so it will be making it into the rotation fairly often! I paired this with mashed potatoes/gravy and green beans.

Pork Tenderloins
1 package of pork tenderloins (2 tenderloins total about 2-2.5lbs)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoon country dijon mustard (whole grain mustard)
4 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley*
1/2 cup chicken broth
freshly ground pepper, to taste
3 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Take tenderloins out of package. Rinse and pat dry. Spray a 9x13 baking dish and place tenderloins inside.
Make the marinade next. In a measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients and pour over the pork. You do not have to let the meat marinate for hours before hand. 

Bake, uncovered, for 1 hour (or until your meat thermometer says its done), basting once halfway through cooking process.
Once removed from the oven, let pork rest on a cutting board for 10 minutes before cutting in.
Don't forget to pour the sauce over it. The sauce is really amazing! I think next time I will actually thicken the sauce with flour or cornstarch to use as a gravy over mashed potatoes.

*The recipe actually called for Rosemary which I don't like. So I substituted the parsley and it tasted great! 

Meatballs

I hadn't ever made my own meatballs before, but since my son asked for Spaghetti for his birthday dinner I decided I'd better do something a little more special than just the same ol' spaghetti we usually have. This recipe turned out really good. It's makes a TON but you can freeze them for future dinners, either of spaghetti and meatballs, or meatball sandwiches, or even as appetizers. *

Ingredients:
4 Eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup water
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
4 tsp. minced garlic
1 medium onion, finely minced
1 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 TBSP dried oregano
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 TBSP ground black pepper
1 1/2 lbs ground pork
3 lbs ground beef

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine eggs, water, buttermilk, and breadcrumbs in a bowl; let rest for 10 minutes. The mixture will thicken as the bread crumbs absorb the liquid. To this thickened mixture, add garlic, onion, parsley, cheese, oregano, salt, and pepper; stir until combined. In separate large bowl, combine ground pork and beef. Mix meats with fingers or a large fork using a light touch until 2 meats are combined throughout. Add bread crumb mixture to meats. Mix these together, again using a light touch with fingers or large fork. Combine ingredients well, but do not overmix. Form meatballs with hands, or use a scoop. For larger meatballs, use 1/4 cup meat per meatball or use a generous 2" scoop. For mini meatballs, use 1 to 1-1/2 tablespoons per meatball or a generous 1-1/4" scoop. Place meatballs on baking sheets. Bake large meatballs for 30 minutes and mini meatballs for 15 minutes, until no longer pink in center.

*If you've frozen them, let them thaw and then heat thoroughly in marinara sauce on the stove top.  Approximately 15-20 minutes.