Basic Deviled Eggs

Hmmm..your thinking, deviled eggs, everyone knows how to make deviled eggs, but you would be suprised had how many people do not know how to make this simple dish that seems to always be well received when you take them to a gathering. I found this recipe at Southern Living Magazine back in 2002 and everyone really seems to like the way they taste. I like them just plain and simple, no fancy ingredients for me!

Basic Deviled Eggs
6 large eggs
2 tablespoons mayonnaise, no salad dressing
1 1/2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
1 teaspoon prepared mustard, think French's
1/8 teaspoon salt
dash of black pepper
paprika for garnish, optional

Place eggs in a single layer in a saucepan; add water to depth of 3 inches. Bring to a boil; cover, remove from heat and let stand 15 minutes. Drain immediately and fill the saucepan with cold tap water. Tap each egg firmly on the counter until cracks form all over the shell. Peel under cold running water. Slice eggs in half lengthwise, and carefully remove yolks. Mash yolks; sprinkle with salt and pepper; toss yolks; add mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, and mustard; stir very well, you want it to be a smooth texture. Spoon yolk mixture into the egg white. Garnish, if desired.

Now it is important that you make the deviled eggs while your eggs are still warm, the yolks absorb the flavors better while they are warm, they will not taste as good if you hard-boil the eggs one day and devil them the next day.

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I hope you give this recipe a try, you will not be disappointed!     Mary

3-2-1 Cake

Hi everyone, did you think I had fallen off the face of the earth?! Sorry about not posting for so long, just haven't had time to take pictures and post to the blog. Hopefully things around here will calm down and I can share some recipes again and some crafts too! Today I want to share with you a recipe my friend Chanda from So NOT Betty! sent to me. She wasn't going to use it on her blog, so I will share it with all of you now!
First you start with an Angel Food cake mix and a regular cake mix, doesn't matter what favor BUT one of them has to be Angel Food, that's because there are dried egg whites in it and that is important.

Before I poured my angel food cake mix in, I wrote the cooking directions on the bag so I don't need to keep the recipe with it. Now pour in your Angel Food cake mix,

then add your cake mix of choice, and mix both together well. That's it!! Now you are ready to make yourself a individual cake!

I used a restaurant side dish that came home with us one time by accident and it worked perfect for this. I did measure and it holds 1/2 cup of liquid, so a little Pyrex dish would work well too. No, you don't have to grease it.

Measure out 3 tablespoons of mix (can do this right in the dish you are going to microwave it in).

Now add 2 tablespoons of water and mix it until well combined.

Pour into your baking dish.

Here it is before....

Here it is after.

Still hot.....

Oops, sorry its blurry.

Let it cool for 15 minutes before eating, taste way better after it has cooled, don't ask how I know this one! Here it is with some Reddi-Whip and some fresh raspberries on it, YUMMM!!!

It is very moist, which really surprised me, even hubby commented on this.

Well, I hope you give this a try, they are low in calories, if you don't add Reddi-Whip, lol!

3, 2, 1 Cake

1 box Angel Food cake mix

1 box cake mix, any flavor

In a zip-loc bag, combine the two cake mixes together, mixing well. For each individual cake serving, take out 3 tablespoons of the cake mix combination and mix it with 2 tablespoons of water in a small microwave-safe container.

Keep remaining cake mixture stored in the zip-loc bag and use whenever you feel like a treat! You can top each cake with a dollop of whipped topping and/or fresh fruit.

Try various flavors of cake mix like carrot, red velvet, pineapple, lemon, orange, strawberry, spice, etc. Just remember that one of the mixes has to be the angel food cake mix, the other is your choice.

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Thanks for stopping by!    Mary

Sweet Potato Medalions

Do you have trouble coming up with an easy side dish for your evening meals? Boy, I sure do. The other week I got this recipe in my e-mail box and decided to give it a try as we all like sweet potatoes and they are so good for you and making them this way does not make them too fattening either! This recipe is from Me and My Pink Mixer

I poured about 2 teaspoons of olive oil on a small plate and using my fingers (yes, I washed my hands first), I just rubbed some on both sides and than sprinkled each side with salt and pepper, you could add your favorite herb(s) too.

Please be careful when you are slicing your raw sweet potatoes, they are hard to slice! This is one large one sliced up.

I placed mine on the same foil lined cookie sheet as the chicken tenderloins I was baking, saved alot of clean up time and lucky me, they needed to be cooked at the same temperature and time too!

Here they are after they have roasted! I peel mine before I eat them, but hubby just eats them, peel and all! They are so good this way and I've been buying more sweet potatoes and roasting them this way!

Sweet Potato Medalions

1 large sweet potato, washed and slice about 1/4 inch thick

2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon of olive oil

salt and pepper

your favorite herbs, optional

Line your cookie sheet with foil. Rub olive oil and both sides of your potato slice, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until tender. Serve.

I can't remember if she said to turn them half way thru the baking time, but there is really no need to do that.

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Well, I hope you give these a try, I think you will find that they are very good! Mary

No Rinse Body Bath

Hi! Hope you are having a good day today, I'm having a great one, got our taxes all done, so that is a huge relief!
Now as you all know hubby had surgery in December, well he was not allowed to take a bath or shower for TWO WEEKS, eeeewwwww! Well it wasn't that bad because we found this great stuff to use to help keep him smelling good, lol! To use this liquid you fill your sink basin or use one of those pretty little pink tubs that they give you in the hospital, you put 4 capfuls in 32 ounces of water. Take your wash cloth and get it wet with your solution and wipe your skin with it, repeat until you are all finish. Than just towel dry! Now you will feel refresh and feeling human again!! The only place I could find this was at a pharmacy that is next to or by a hospital, sorry can't get it at Wal-Mart, CVS or Walgreen.

It only cost $5.88 and it makes 16 baths! I did have to take hubby to the barber shop so that he could get his hair washed! After words, he as so thankful for both, it really improved his whole attitude for the rest of the day and evening!

Have a great day and hope you found this information helpful..................Mary

Traditional Chex Party Mix

Hi everyone, hope you all have doing well. It has been busy here with hubby and PT, we just found out he will have his back surgery on March 8th, so I'm still going to be busy playing nurse for awhile longer yet, but his back surgery should go really well and only be down for two weeks. Well I had good intentions of posting this closer to Christmas and than for New Year's and than for the Super Bowl, but, sigh, I just didn't get it done. This is a recipe that I got from my Mom, in fact, this is the only chex mix my youngest daughter will eat! She always ask, "is that Grandma's recipe" before she will even take any! It's an old recipe from the 1970's, I'm guessing it may be the original recipe for Chex Mix. My Mom did make a few changes to it, she increased the seasoned salt and Worcestershire sauce amounts and she substitute Cheerios for some of the Chex, but we like it her way the best, so that is what I'll put down.

See that red bowl? I have a green one just like it, it is huge and I found these one year at Wal-Mart, they hold alot, which is great for mixing up this recipe! Melt your butter (I do this in a small saucepan); then add the seasoned salt and Worcestershire sauce and stir until well combined.
Pour over your cereal/nut/pretzels and gentle stir and toss until everything looks like it is coated with the melted butter mixture.

Bake in the oven for one hour and let it cool on your pan. After it has cooled, eat or I put mine in a gallon Zip-Lock bag to keep it fresh. Will hold for a long time sitting on the counter, that is unless you eat it all, lol!

Traditional Chex Party Mix

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

2 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt, original recipe called for 1 1/4 teaspoon

6 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce, original recipe called for 4 1/2 teaspoons

2 2/3 cups Cheerios, original recipe called for Wheat Chex cereal

2 2/3 cups Rice Chex cereal

2 2/3 cups Corn Chex cereal

2 2/3 cups pretzel sticks, optional but we add1 cup salted mixed nuts, I use cocktail peanuts and I always use 2 cups, you could add cashews.

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Heat butter in a large shallow roasting pan (about 15 x 10 x 2-inches) in oven until melted. Remove. Stir in seasoned salt and Worcestershire sauce. Add cereals, nuts and pretzels. Mix until all pieces are coated. Heat in oven 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on paper towels to cool ( I don't do this, I just let it cool on my sided cookie sheet).

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Well this is it for this post, I hope you enjoy this recipe! It seems like alot of work, but it is really very easy to make. Thanks for stopping in to see me! Mary

The Best Little Kitchen Gadget Ever Made!

Hi!!! It's me and I'm back again. As promised in my post yesterday, I told you I would come back and tell you about this niffy little gadget I got from The Pampered Chef. My next door neighbor invited me to her recent home party and she was just doing on and on about how great this gadget is, but the one comment she made about how great it was at breaking up Italian sausage is what convinced me to not only buy one but to buy three! I gave one to each of my daughters too..
It is called Mix 'N Chop. You can use it for ground meat, scrambled eggs, homemade tomato sauce, but also for chopping and mixing frozen fruit or fruit juice concentrates.
It is top rack dishwasher safe.

All you do is place your thawed food in your pan, grasp the handle and gently push downward into the food and twist. Repeat motion until desired consistency is reached. It's that simple and now I can see why she was raving on about it. Both of my daughters have used theirs and really like theirs too. So if you are invited to a Pampered Chef party in the future, I would highly recommend you purchasing this gadget!

These opinion are of my own and I was not paid to write this blog post about the Mix 'N Chop by The Pampered Chef.

Have a great week-end! Mary

Italian Vegetable Soup

BRRR...is it cold in your part of the country? It sure turned off cold here in Kansas City, MO. this week. So what better thing to make than a big pot of soup?! I found this recipe over on Allrecipes, but changed it to the way I like to make and eat it.
First, put your hamburger and two Italian sausage links (remove the casings) along with your chopped onion in a pot. See that black thing? It makes chopping up your raw meat a SNAP, I love it and I found it at Pampered Chef. I will do a short post on it soon!

After you have the hamburger and Italian sausage all broken up, than remove the casing from the other three links and break those into chunks, I like some chunks, but if you prefer, than just mash them all up.

Now brown all the meat and onions until no longer pink and drain off any fat.

Now add the rest of the ingredients: garlic, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, kidney beans, beef broth, corn, green beans and potato.

Give it a good stir and bring to a boil, than turn it down to a simmer and let it simmer for one hour.

On the day I made this, I started out with it in my soup pot but than found out I was going to have to run hubby around alot the rest of the day, so I transferred it to my big crock-pot and put it on HIGH for about 3 to 4 hours (if you put it in the crock-pot first thing in the morning, than set it on LOW and cook for 8 to 10 hours).

 Serve with a crusty bread or biscuits or cornbread. It must have tasted really good to hubby, as he ate two bowls of it!!

Italian Vegetable Soup

1 pound hamburger
1 pound Italian sausage links
1/2 to 1 cup chopped celery
1/2 to 1 cup chopped onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 - 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 - 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1 - 16 oz. can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 - 14 oz. cans beef broth
1 - 15 oz. can whole corn, drained
1 - 15 oz. can green beans, drained
1 cup potatoes, peeled and cubed

Remove the casings from the Italian sausage, set aside. In a large soup pot, add your hamburger and two sausage links, mash all together; than add remaining links, broken into chunks and chopped onions. Brown until no longer pink and drain off any fat. Add the remaining ingredients, stir. Bring to a boil, than reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer until potatoes are tender.

Serves 8. Serve with a crusty bread.
Can freeze any left-overs.

Hope you all have a wonderful day and stay warm too! Mary

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Annual New Year's Day Dinner

Hi too all of you! I thought I would share with you the meal that hubby and I every New Year's day, it has been come our annual meal now for probably over 10 years!

Shown is Hoppin' John, smoked mustard green (from a can) and from scratch cornbread muffins. Oh my, this stuff is so good and hubby always comments about how we should have it more than once a year and it is a big plate of comfort food at it's best!

When I make my Hoppin' John, I just use canned black-eyed peas, it make it really quick and easy to put together, the part that takes the longest is cooking the bacon and cooking the rice. The recipe for the cornbread is on the side of my Quaker cornmeal, so easy too.

Well, if any of you would like the recipe for Hoppin' John, just leave me a comment and I will be glad to add it to this post!

Hope you have a great day in the kitchen! Mary

Chocolate Chip Brownie Cookie Bars

Wow, did you all survive Christmas and New Years? We made it. My husband had total knee replacement done on his right knee on December 20th, yup, right before Christmas!! It was the soonest they could get it done and we wanted done before the end of the year for insurance reasons. So I had our small family Christmas at our house on the 18th, in between, working, getting as much done before his surgery and oh ya, also remodeling our master bathroom! Are we CRAZY....YUP!! Oh and I also squeezed in some baking for my neighbors goodie trays too.

I received this recipe from a Stampin' Up demostrator, Patty Bennett. She found this quick, easy and oh so delicious recipe at http://www.bettycrocker.com/. I'm so pleased that she shared it with me too! So now I'll share it with all of you.You mix your box of chocolate chip cookies according to box directions and you also mix the brownies according to box directions. Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough in your prepared 9 x 13 inch cake pan. Than do the same with your brownies.

Opps, forgot to get a picture before putting in the oven, but you can still see from this, what I mean.

Here they are all done baking, so the house smell so yummy too!

Here they are with a can of chocolate frosting on top!

Not the best picture, remember, I'm flying around trying to do too many things at one time, but boy do they ever taste good!

1 package Betty Crocker Brownie Mix with chocolate pouch

egg, vegetable oil, and water as noted on brownie package

1 package Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

1/2 cup softened butter

1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix brownie mix as directed on box.

Mix chocolate chip cookie mix as directed on box.

Grease 9 x 13" baking pan.

Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough in baking pan.

Drop spoonfuls of brownie dough in baking pan.

Spread alittle, if needed, so the doughs just touch.

Bake for 42 to 47 minutes.

Cool on cooling rack.

Frost, if desired, after fully cooled.

Cut into bars.

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Happy New Year 2012!!

I hope you all had a safe celebration, if you choose to celebrate. I also hope you all have a wonderful New Year this coming year also!!

Mary