Boar's Head Ham Glaze Appetizer

This recipe is Kroger's marketing working like a charm. 

I ran into the store one day for deli meat and

the Boar's Head lady was at the counter giving out samples of this: 

Next thing I know, I was scrambling for these 4 ingredients

because I needed to bring an appetizer to work the next day. 

And it was EASY and a hit!

Take a brick of cream cheese and put it on a plate.

Slice it up a bit.

Heat about 1/2 the jar of Boar's Head Brown Sugar and Spice Ham Glaze.

Yes, Ham Glaze.

Pour the warmed glaze over the cream cheese.

Top with chopped pecans.

Serve with crackers.

You are welcome!

The Sarasota

This was an easy summer drink to throw together.  I'd seen it posted on Pinterest numerous times and my sister-in-law made it one weekend for a family gathering.  So I thought it would be perfect for a summer party with my girlfriends.

The ingredients are super simple:

2 bottles of white Moscato (750 mL each)

1 12 oz. frozen pink or raspberry lemonade concentrate

3 cups Sprite

Raspberries

You will need a vessel large enough for all of the ingredients.  My go-to pitcher at home was too small.  So I actually mixed everything in a large stock pot and then transferred it into a pitcher and put leftovers in another container.

First, take a small container of raspberries, dump them into a bowl and crush the heck out of them.  I just smashed them with a fork for awhile.  Then put all of the liquid ingredients into your vessel.  Add your crushed raspberries.  Stir and chill.  Pour into a glass and garnish with more raspberries.

Yummy, yummy?  No thanks.  I actually am not a fan of white wine, so this drink isn't for me.  However, it received many compliments from the white wine drinkers!

Rainbow Jell-O

We decided to have a Rainbow-themed birthday party for Stella's 5th birthday and I found this Jell-O idea on Pinterest. There are many different versions of how to do this - some even have a beautiful Cool Whip layer between each color.  And this would also be fun on St. Patrick's Day.  Many thanks to Do Better and her instructions found HERE.

What I did...

Ingredients:
6 oz. boxes of Red, Yellow, Blue, Purple Jell-O
Box of Knox Gelatin (contains 4 envelopes, is right next to Jell-O)

In a bowl, mix box of purple Jell-O with one envelope of Knox Gelatin.  Add 2 cups of boiling water and dissolve Jell-O.  Add 1/2 cup of ice.  Stir until it thickens.  Pour into a 9x13 pan (I greased mine, but not sure you have to).  Put in the refrigerator and leave it alone until really firm.  I'd wait at least an hour.

Repeat steps with blue, yellow and red.  Pouring your cooled layer over top of the already firm layer.  After completely cooled, cut into squares to serve.

Orange and Green are NOT needed.  When stacked, the blue and yellow will create the green.  I did NOT use green and just look at the photos...it works!  I will admit I did use orange because I had room in the pan and I wasn't sure if it really would create the "missing" colors...but the GREEN proves it does!

This is an EASY process, but you have to take into account the time it will take each layer to become firm.  For our Saturday party I actually started the process on Thursday night with the purple layer.  The blue layer was Friday before work and Yellow and Red were Friday night.  I cut them Saturday morning. 

Enjoy!  These were gobbled up quickly and talked about most of the afternoon.



Peanut Butter Cup Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are oh. so. good.  I found the recipe because it had, of course, been pinned.  Then I realized it was originally posted on Tatertots & Jello which is one of my favorite blogs.  The original recipe is HERE. 

2 sticks softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 3.4 oz box of vanilla instant pudding
1 cup milk chocolate chips
25 mini Reese's peanut butter cups

Preheat oven to 375.

Peel the peanut butter cups and cut them into fourths...do not chop!  You don't want them to completely fall apart.  Then stick them in the freezer while you do the next steps of making the dough.  This will prevent them from completely melting into the dough by getting them nice and firm.

Beat the butter, sugars and vanilla in a large bowl (I used my mixer).  Add the eggs and beat until creamy.  Then add the rest of the dry ingredients including the instant pudding.

Add and stir in the chocolate chips.  Finally add the peanut butter cups and gently fold them in with a wooden spoon.

Drop teaspoons of the batter onto a cookie sheet.  I baked mine for 8 minutes and then let them sit another 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.  Do not overcook.  They will get harder as they cool.

Pour yourself a large glass of milk and savor each bite...

Mojitos

A special thank you to close friends of ours for sharing their recipe with us!

8 oz. of freshly squeezed lime juice (about 5-6 limes)

1 cup fresh mint leaves (2 plastic containers at Kroger)

16 oz. of white rum

20 oz. club soda

8 oz. of simple syrup*

*What is simple syrup?  Regular simple syrup is equal parts sugar and water, but 1.5 parts sugar to 1 part water is probably the happy medium for us.  We boiled 2 cups of water on the stove, added 3 cups of sugar.  Stirred and reduced heat a bit and continued stirring until sugar dissolved.  Mixture must completely cool and extra can be stored in fridge.  Our concoction made enough for 3 pitchers.

In pitcher, add lime juice and mint leaves and muddle.  A muddler is very handy for this.

Then add remaining ingredients and stir.

Pour into glass over ice. 

*This pitcher from Rubbermaid is awesome because it has an "ice guard" spout which for this keeps the mint leaves from tumbling out all over your glass. I found mine at Kroger for about $10.

Crock Pot Parmesan Pork Roast

No picture yet, Boo!

Ingredients:

4-pound boneless pork roast
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup honey
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp dried basil
1 whole garlic clove, diced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Cut pork roast in half.  Put on the bottom of a crock pot.  In a bowl, combine the Parmesan cheese, honey, soy sauce, basil, garlic, olive oil and salt.  Pour over the pork.  Cover and cook on low for about 5-6 hours. 

You want to be careful not to overcook this one from all the comments I read.  This is not an all-day crock pot recipe.  I actually premade the sauce mixture (minus the Parmesan cheese) before I left for work and then Andy put the whole thing together during his lunch.  By 6:00 it was perfect. 

The meat does not stay in tact to "slice" it.  It almost ends up like a pulled-pork.  We served it overtop couscous and my mom had leftovers overtop noodles and then rice.  The juices soak into the starch and YUM.  Add a green veggie and the meal is complete.

Notes on the ingredients (the variations I made):

Thanks to It's a Keeper for this recipe that my BFF added to Pinterest.  You can find the original recipe here:

http://www.everydaytastes.com/2011/05/31/slow-cooker-parmesan-pork-roast/

A couple of things to note. Many people use a plain (not flavored) pork tenderloin for this recipe. I chose to use an actual pork loin roast because it looked better at the store that day. When I purchased it, it was held together with strings in a netting formation. I removed all of that and after cutting it in half, the pork fell into 4 main pieces. The original recipe calls for 2 Tbsp of basil which I cut back to one. It also called for 2 Tbsp of minced garlic and I used a fresh whole clove instead. The original recipe also calls for cornstarch to make a gravy, but I found the juices were just fine without it.

Strawberry Cake Mix Cookies

Another online recipe I can thank both Pinterest and ModHousewife for recommending.  The original recipe is from Love Veggies and Yoga.  It is posted as half of what I made and also includes a cream cheese frosting.  I have to agree with ModHousewife that I prefer a buttercream frosting.  Charlotte and I made a batch to take to her classmates for her birthday. 

 
Ingredients:

1 stick butter (softened)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 Strawberry cake mix

Preheat oven to 350.  In a mixing bowl, cream the butter.  Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.  Add Strawberry cake mix until well blended.  For best results put the cookie dough into the freezer for 15-20 minutes.  This will help the dough from spreading so much while baking. 

When ready, form 1-inch balls onto a cookie sheet that is greased or use parchment paper.  Be sure to leave enough space for some spreading.  Do not overcrowd the cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes.  Cookies may seem undercooked (not completely firm) but take them out and let them finish on the cookie sheet a few minutes before transferring to cooling rack.  Do not overbake.  I made about 36 cookies using this recipe.

These are really tasty as is.  However, you can spruce them up by adding a frosting after they are cooled and some sprinkles.  I made the frosting I used on my Christmas cookies.  That recipe is HERE.  I added 2 more tablespoons of milk (5 total) to make it even creamier.  Then a few red sprinkles finished it off!