Watermelon Frosty

We had a bunch of watermelon at our house and needed to use it up before it went bad, so I looked up a recipe for watermelon on pinterest and found this awesome recipe for a watermelon frosty. We've had this a couple days in a row. You can put a small watermelon wedge at the top to make it more pretty.

Watermelon Frosty

2 1/4 cups frozen watermelon cubes
1/2 cup + water
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 large lemon, squeezed (or 2 limes)
1 banana

Throw all the ingredients in a blender and mix up till smooth!
 
 

Healthy Chinese Chicken Salad Cups

There were a lot more of these, but there were only two left that I could take pictures of. These are so cute! They are a little smaller than a muffin in real life. I'm excited about this new recipe!

These were so amazing and a definite keeper. They are so cute and easy to eat. They are packed with wonderful flavor and it is defiantly an added bonus that they are healthy! There is no guilt about eating these. I was thinking that this would be the perfect appetizer to serve at wedding receptions or any type of shower. I actually got this recipe from watching the Today show a few weeks ago and they have constantly been on my mind to make. It's a recipe from Candice Kumai who was on Top Chef. You should try them, you will love it!

(With the red cabbage, it was really expensive at the grocery store I went to, so I just bought a salad mix bag and picked out the red cabbage from that and it was the perfect amount for how much I was making, and it was a lot cheaper that way.)

Chinese Chicken Salad Cups

Servings: 48 cups (I fourthed this recipe and it was the perfect amount for Adam and I for two meals eating it as our side.)

For dressing

1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds

2 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons dark sesame oil (I used regular sesame seed oil)

1 1/2 teaspoons honey

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter

For salad

1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 8 ounces)

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

48 wonton wrappers

Dark sesame oil (I just used sesame seed oil)

1 1/2 cups chopped Napa cabbage

1 1/2 cups finely chopped red cabbage

1 medium carrot, coarsely grated

4 scallions, thinly sliced

1/3 cup finely chopped cilantro

1/4 cup Asian almonds (optional)

To make the dressing: Place the sesame seeds in a small skillet over medium heat and toast, shaking the pan often, until they're fragrant and golden, about 2 minutes. Transfer the sesame seeds to a medium bowl. Add the vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, and ginger and whisk to combine. Add the peanut butter and whisk until completely smooth. Set aside.

To make the salad: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Heat a ridged cast-iron grill pan over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Lightly coat with cooking spray. Season the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper and grill until both sides have grill marks and the chicken is cooked through, 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside until cool.

Press 1 wonton wrapper into each cup of a 24-cup nonstick mini muffin pan (the ends will peek up above the cups). Brush with a little sesame oil and sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Bake until golden brown and crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 5 minutes before gently lifting the wonton cups out of the pan. Repeat with the remaining wonton wrappers, sesame oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Chop the chicken into 1/2-inch cubes. Place them in a large bowl and add the cabbages, carrot, scallions and cilantro. Toss with three-fourths of the dressing. Fill each wonton cup with 1 heaping tablespoon of salad and top with the Asian almonds and extra cilantro. Serve immediately with the remaining dressing on the side.

Note: When you make salad, be light with the dressing. Save a little to serve on the side — this keeps things light and lets your friends do up their salads with as much or as little dressing as they like. The salad and wonton cups can be made a few hours ahead of time, just hold back on filling the wonton cups until right before serving so they stay nice and crisp.

Cake Truffles

I made these with Cherry Chip cake and regular vanilla frosting. They taste kind of like a cherry cordial. Next time I want to dry Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. There are so many yummy varieties.

Cake Truffles

1 cake mix (Any flavor)
1 tub frosting (Any flavor)
Chocolate chips or Almond Bark Candy Coating

Bake cake according to the directions on the box.
Let cake cool for about 30 minutes then crumble the cake into a large mixing bowl. Mix in the whole tub of frosting until well blended. Roll the cake and frosting mixture into 1 inch balls or however big you want them. Refrigerate until they harden. Melt the chocolate and dip the balls into the chocolate. I use forks and toothpicks to help me with that.

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.

Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips

Adam and I went to Utah last weekend and stayed with my Grandma Johnson. She made something like this and it was way yummy. She didn't give me an exact recipe, but I think it was like the one below. 

Fruit Salsa

10 servings

2 kiwis, peeled and diced

2 apples - peeled, cored

and diced

raspberries

strawberries, sliced

grapes, cut in half

(And any other fruit you may want in it)

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 tablespoon brown sugar

Cinnamon Chips

10 (10 inch) flour tortillas

butter

2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix kiwis, apples, raspberries, strawberries, white sugar, and brown sugar. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Spread butter on each side of each flour tortilla. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. I would spray the cookie sheet with baking spray just in case.

Bake in the preheated oven 8 to 10 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.

Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa

My friend originally told me about this recipe. She said that her husband took it to work for a salsa competition and he won for best salsa. I made this and it was pretty good. I'm still searching for a better salsa, but this will do for now. I'm pretty picky about my salsas.

Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa

Makes 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients:

1 to 2 fresh jalapeño chiles
3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice, preferably fire roasted
1/4 cup (loosely packed) chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Salt

My addition:
Onion, chopped finely, to taste
Ground pepper, to taste
Extra cilantro

1.    Roast the chiles and garlic.   In a small ungreased skillet over medium heat, roast the chiles and garlic, turning regularly, until they are soft and blotchy brown, about 10 minutes for the chiles, 15 minutes for the garlic.  Cool until handleable, then pull the stem(s) off the chile(s) and roughly chop.  Peel the skin off the garlic.  Scoop into a food processor and pulse until quite finely chopped.
2.    Finish the salsa.   Add the tomatoes with their juice.  Re-cover and pulse until you have a coarse puree.  Scrape into a serving dish.  Stir in the cilantro and lime juice.  Taste and season with salt, usually about 1/2  teaspoon.  You’re ready to serve.

I got this recipe from rickbayless.com

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

This was kind of our dessert for last night and it seemed like a romantic little snack that we could enjoy. I just found a simple, basic recipe for it and it really was yummy. But you can never go wrong with chocolate covered strawberries!

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
3 ounces white chocolate, chopped
About 20 strawberries with stems

Put the semisweet and white chocolates into 2 separate heatproof medium bowls. Fill 2 medium saucepans with a couple inches of water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Turn off the heat; set the bowls of chocolate over the water to melt. Stir until smooth. (Alternatively, melt the chocolates in a microwave at half power, for 1 minute, stir and then heat for another minute or until melted.)

Once the chocolates are melted and smooth, remove from the heat. Line a sheet pan with parchment or waxed paper. Holding the strawberry by the stem, dip the fruit into the dark chocolate, lift and twist slightly, letting any excess chocolate fall back into the bowl. Set strawberries on the parchment paper. Repeat with the rest of the strawberries. Dip a fork in the white chocolate and drizzle the white chocolate over the dipped strawberries.

Set the strawberries aside until the chocolate sets, about 30 minutes.

(I put the strawberries in the fridge)

I got this recipe from the Food Network