Memorial Day Truffles

We had a family get together with the Sink's yesterday and Adam and I were in charge of dessert and we thought oreo truffles sounded good. I found a picture on pinterest of a lady who did this American flag with cake balls, so I decided to do it with our oreo truffles instead.

The blue truffles are made with mint oreo, the red withh regular oreos, and the white with golden oreos. Surprisingly the golden and mint oreo truffles were the favorite.

Here's a link to the Oreo Truffles recipe.

Strawberry Blossoms

Mine aren't that pretty, but they were really yummy and I nice little decoration for a dinner plate or a great finger food. You could also just make the filling and use it as a dip to dip the strawberries in. There are some beautiful strawberries out there right now.


Strawberry Blossoms

12 large, fresh strawberries, washed

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar

1 tablespoon sour cream

fresh mint leaves for garnish (optional)

Remove stems from strawberries to form a flat base. Place berries on cutting surface, pointed end facing up. With a sharp knife, carefully slice each berry in half vertically to within a 1/4 inch of base. Cut each half into three wedges to form 6 petals. (Don\'t slice through the base.) Pull petals apart slightly.

In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar and sour cream; beat until light and fluffy. With a pastry bag and star tip or small spoon, fill strawberries with cream cheese mixture.

Notes & Options:

A plastic zipper sandwich bag can be used instead of a pastry bag by filling with cream cheese mixture and squeezing out excess air before sealing. Carefully cut one corner off of the bottom of the bag and squeeze mixture out through the cut.

For added sweetness, you can use strawberry flavored cream cheese instead of plain.

My Attempt at Sushi

I have been wanting to make my own sushi for quite a while because it is one of my favorite things to eat. Adam got really sick off of some unagi a few years ago and so he won't touch any type of sushi. He is still in Chicago, and with him starting his new job making him around for dinner a lot more, I thought that tonight would be the perfect night to try it. As you can see, it is not the most pretty assortment of sushi ever, considering I used way too much yummy rice that I didn't make sticky enough and I used an old folder as my bamboo rolling mat, but let me tell you, it was delicious! I ate ever bit of it. I filled it with some of my favorite things that I like to have in my sushi rolls. It's like a California roll with a cream cheese twist.

Sushi - California Roll

Serving- 1 roll

Lemon juice
1/2 avocado
1 sheet nori (toasted seaweed)
1/4- 1/2  batch sushi rice, recipe below
Toasted sesame seeds
1/4 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into thin matchstick-size pieces
1 stick imitation crab, sliced in half long ways
Cream cheese
1/2 tablespoon scallions (optional)
Pickled ginger, for serving
Wasabi, for serving
Soy sauce

Prepare all your filling ingedients for the sushi and get them sliced and prepared how you would like. Pour some lemon juice on the avocado to prevent it from browning. Cover a bamboo rolling mat with plastic wrap (in my case, I covered a folder). Cut nori sheets in half crosswise (which I forgot to do and that's why mine turned out so fat, but it's your choice if you want to cut it.) Lay 1 sheet of nori, shiny side down, on the plastic covered mat. Wet your fingers with water and spread rice evenly onto the nori until it is fully covered. Sprinkle the rice with sesame seeds. Turn the sheet of nori over so the rice side is down. Spread desired amount of cream cheese across the middle of the nori. Sprinkle cream cheese with scallions. Place cucumber pieces, avocado, and crab sticks in the center as well on top of the cream cheese. Grab the edge of the mat closest to you, keeping the fillings in place with your fingers, and roll it into a tight cylinder, using the mat to shape the cylinder. Pull away the mat and set on a plate. Cut roll in to 6-8 pieces. Serve with pickled ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce.

Sushi Rice

1 cup uncooked sushi rice
1 1/4 cup cold water
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon oil
pinch of salt

Rinse uncooked rice in strainer until the water flows clear. Place on a medium sized skillet and add the cold water. Bring to a boil at high heat. When it is at a boil, lower heat to low, cover, and let sit for 20 minutes not lifting up the lid. When the twenty minutes are up, remove from heat, keeping it covered, and let it sit for another 10 minutes. Take the lid off and let it cool until it is handable. In a small sauce pan, heat the vinegar, sugar, and oil until the sugar disolves. Pour over the rice and add a pinch of salt and stir until the rice becomes more dry again.

Oreo Truffles

These are So So YUMMY and moist! Adam brought home one today for me and I had to find a recipe for these amazing little bites of joy. So we are actually making them right now and we are just chilling the oreo stuff for a little while.

I am going to make these for St. Patrick's day and use the green mint Oreos and then dye the white chocolate green so that it will be the perfect St. Patty's day treat of gift to give to neighbors or anyone else. These are seriously worth trying.

Oreo Truffles

1 bag Oreo Cookies, ground up in blender or food processor
1 8oz. packages of cream cheese, softened

2 cups white chocolate chips or 1 package Almond Bark (white chocolate candy coating)

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips or 1 square of the Chocolate Bark for drizzling

1. Combine ground Oreos and cream cheese in mixer using paddle attachment until well mixed. Roll into 1 inch balls and place onto baking sheet or tray. Refrigerate overnight or until very firm. I did it for 45 min and it was okay.

2. Melt white chocolate in microwave for 1-2 minutes on 70% power. Using 2 little spoons, dip balls into chocolate and place onto parchment paper to harden. Once dry, melt dark chocolate and spoon into the corner of a ziplock baggie. Snip a small corner and drizzle back and forth over the truffles. Let dry.

Chicken Pillows

Chicken Pillows

 Mix together

2/3 cup pepperidge farm Herb Seasonal Stuffing, crushed (I used Stove Top Chicken Stuffing and it worked just as well)
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Cream together

2 (3 oz) pkg. cream cheese with chives
4 T. soft butter
1/8 t. pepper

Add

2/3 cup cubed chicken
2/3 cup mushrooms stems and peices
2 cans crescent tolls
6 T. butter melted

Spread rolls out, put 1/4 cup chicken mixture into each roll. Roll small end, tuck and seal like a pillow. Dip in butter thin roll in stuffing mix. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 375 for 15-20 min
Serve with cream of chicken soup