Cadbury Creme Egg Stuffed Cupcakes

I LOVE Cadbury Creme Eggs. They are my favorite Easter (and really all year round) candy. I decided to try and make some cupcakes with the eggs inside and they came out better then I could have anticipated.

Ingredients:
Your Favorite Cupcake Recipe (Mine came from a box - Devil's Food)
Cadbury Creme Eggs (I used 16 original and 8 caramel)
Cool Whip

1. Put Cadbury Eggs in the freezer for a few hours before you begin to make the cupcakes.

2. Prepare cupcake batter and put Cadbury Eggs standing in the batter. I stood mine up, and all but 2 of them stayed that way. The 2 fell over, but still turned out okay.


3. Bake as directed by Cupcake Recipe.

4. Frost with Cool Whip as they are going to be eaten. I thought frosting would have been too much sweetness on top of it all. The Cool Whip was the perfect touch.

Sausage and Peppers

Ingredients:

Italian Sausage (Pork or Turkey)

1 Red Pepper

1 Yellow Pepper

1 Orange Pepper

1 clove garlic

Red Onion

I made this for myself for dinner today, so I only used one link of Italian Turkey Sausage, so ingredients will have to be multiplied when making this dish for a family.

1. Slice the peppers into long strips.

2. Dice a portion of the red onion, and slice another portion of the onion into long strips. Amounts of the peppers and onions is based on your preference.

3. Dice clove of garlic

4. Chop the sausage into small pieces and cook thoroughly.

5. Once the sausage is cooked, add the peppers, onions, and garlic.

6. Cook everything together until the peppers and onions are tender.

I made mashed sweet potatoes to go with this dish.

Hamburger Soup

This recipe is so versatile and so ridiculously easy. You really can put anything in it, but it was pretty good - and was a huge hit with Grace.

Need:

- 1lb ground beef

- 1 small onion

- 1 clove garlic

- tomato soup (I used 1 32oz carton of Trader Joe's Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper)

- mixed veggies (I used frozen, fresh would be good too)

Do:

1. Sautee onions and garlic in a little bit of olive oil and add in ground beef. Cook until brown (it's better to just do all this in a large pot)

2. Add in veggies and then the tomato soup

3. Simmer until veggies are tender (or to your liking)

4. Serve with crusty bread or rolls

Chad put a little mozzarella cheese in his, you could add goldfish or oyster crackers on top.

Stuffed Shells

Ingredients:

16 jumbo stuffing shells
1 bunch chopped green onion
2 chopped roma tomatoes
2 tablespoons ricotta cheese
1 package ground Jennie-O-Turkey
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce. (Iused Prego Heart Smart Tomato Sauce with Mushrooms)

1. Boil water for the shells.
2. Chop green onion and tomatoes.
3. Place chopped green onions and tomatoes in a bowl. Add the ricotta cheese and mix together.
4. Cook the ground turkey, and season to your preference.
5. Cook the shells. Keep a close eye on them when boiling because they cook fast, and will split apart if they get too soft.
6. Spray a 9x13 in. pan with Pam. When shells are ready to be stuffed, place them in the pan. Add the cooked ground turkey to the bowl with the onions, tomatoes and ricotta cheese. Mix well.
7. Stuff shells with about 2 tablespoons of the mixture.
8. If any mixture remains after shells are stuffed, pour on top of the shells. Pour jar of pasta sauce over all of the shells.
9. Bake at 325 for 10-15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Sauerkraut and Sausage

Ingredients:

1 package Eckrich Smoked Turkey Sausage
1 package or can of sauerkraut

1. Turn crockpot on low
2. Slice sausage into thin slices
3. Drain juice from sauerkraut. Place sauerkraut into crockpot.
4. Add the sliced sausage pieces. Mix together.
5. Add enough water to add moisture, but not too much as to completely cover the food.
6. Cook 5-6 hours. Stir occasionally.

I have been experimenting with different turkey products lately, and I tried this one for dinner the other night and everyone loved it. I also have bad acid reflux, so anything that contains a lot of salt usually gives me really bad heartburn. When I was preparing the sauerkraut, I was trying to remove as much of the salt as I could. After I opened the package of sauerkraut, I dumped it into a strainer to drain out all of the excess salty juices. Then I rinsed the sauerkraut under cold water, and let it sit while the water stopped draining. Then I placed the sauerkraut in the crockpot, added the sausage and some water, and let it slow cook. I stirred it every so often just to make sure it was cooking evenly. I noticed a huge difference in the saltiness when I made it this way. It tasted very good, and I didn't get heartburn at all.

Cream Cheese Chili Dip

Ingredients:

10.5 oz. can Hormel Chili No Beans
2 blocks Philidelphia Cream Cheese
7 oz. or 8 oz. package of Shredded Cheese (I use shredded Colby Jack Cheese, but you can use whatever type of Shredded Cheese you prefer)
1-2 bags of Tostito Scoops (Depending on the size of your group)

1. In an 8.5x8.5 dish or one of similar size (I use a glass pyrex casserole dish), spread the two blocks of cream cheese over the bottom of the dish.
2. Pour and spread can of Chili over cream cheese evenly.
3. Put shredded cheese on top of Chili.
4. Cook in microwave until cheese is melted.

I make this dip a lot for family parties, and just made it again last weekend, and it's always a big hit! You can use any type of chip you want, but I have found that Tostito Scoops work the best.

Enjoy!

Basic Homemade Tomato Sauce

I totally winged this the other night, and it turned out great!

Need:

3 large tomatoes

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/4 large onion, diced

1tsp(ish) basil

1tsp(ish) oregano

1tsp(ish) marjoram

pinch of kosher salt

Do:

Dice and puree tomatoes. In a pot, combine ingredients, and simmer for about an hour on low-med heat. This boiled down to about a cup of sauce - which was perfect since we were making pizza - but if you were making spaghetti - you might want to double or triple the recipe.

Cool slightly and puree if you'd like (again, since we were doing pizza, I did) - voila!

Another great idea would be to add veggies - green or red peppers, mushrooms, etc. - while simmering.