Chocolate Lasagna

This here is chocolaty goodness found from Oh My God Chocolate Desserts! If you know me, you know I am not chocolates #1 fan. However, I will be the #1 fan for this form of chocolate. Occasion to why I made this layered beauty is for family game night with mine and my best friend's family. Her family loves chocolate, so I figured what would be better than a chocolate lasagna?

Each layer is so different in texture and flavor and when you take that first bite with all four layers its an awesome senstaion for your taste buds. Easy to make and easy to consume. ENJOY

Ingredients

36 Oreo cookies (1 pack, not double stuffed)

6 tbsp butter, melted

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tbsp cold milk

12 oz tub Cool Whip, divided

2 - 3.9 oz pkg Chocolate Instant Pudding

3 1/4 cups cold milk

Mini chocolate chips 

Directions

Finely crush 36 Oreo cookies in a food processor. {Make sure the Oreos are now fine crumbs because you will be making a crust.} In a large bowl, with a fork, mix Oreo crumbs into the melted butter. When the butter is mixed, transfer it to a 9x13 inch dish and using a spatula press down the crumbs to the bottom of dish. Place the crusted dish in the refrigerator. While crust is chilling, mix the softened cream cheese until it is fluffy, add sugar and 2 tablespoons of milk, and mix well. Stir in 1 and 1/4 cups Cool Whip. Spread the mixture over the crust. Place back in the fridge. In a medium bowl, mix chocolate instant pudding with 3 and 1/4 cups cold milk. Whisk for a few minutes until the pudding starts to thicken. Spread the pudding over the cream cheese layer. Let it sit for 10 minutes to firm uo the pudding {no need to place back in fridge}. Spread remaining Cool Whip over the top and sprinle with as many chocolate chips as you'd like (:
Freeze for 1 hour or refrigerate for 4 hours before serving.

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Tuna Casserole

I love tuna and I love casseroles, so make it a dish and I am there with a plate and a fork ready to eat! Thank you Mrs. Lilien for sharing this simply and yummy casserole! I made a half batch since I was baking for me, myself, and I and there was still a decent amount of leftovers so thank goodness I split the batch! The problem with halving it is that I didn't have enough cream of mushroom in it! Dry tuna casserole is not as yummy as creamy tuna casserole... So these measurements below are up to you, I always love more sauce and more cheese! These ingredients are simple and you probably have it in your kitchen right now; I know I had the majority. The green from the peas adds a pop of color and you also get some, what are those called?, oh veggies! These recipe has everything I enjoy eating, so yes, I will be making this yummy casserole again, but with more sauce and cheese{and maybe some peas ;)}!

Ingredients

1/2 cup frozen peas

2 cans white tuna, drained and fluffed

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 can (10.75oz) cream of mushroom soup

1 bag (16oz) egg noodles, cooked and drained

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Oven 350
 Start by cooking the egg noodles according to the package. While that is cooking, start to open your cans and mix it in a bowl, or even the baking dish. Mix together the tuna, chopped onion, peas and cheddar cheese - add your cream of mushroom soup with a little milk if you'd like. Season with salt and pepper, then add the cooked and strained noodles to the pile of deliciousness. Mix up the casserole some more to combine all the ingredients. Bake for 30 minutes until nice and bubbly; let it cool for at least 5 minutes so you don't burn your mouth off!

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Pumpkin Fluff

This is such an easy recipe! This makes a large batch, so it is great for large parties. My family has used this for about two party occasions during this Christmas season. Although it takes time to chill, its a quick prep and then you can go on with cleaning the place for your upcoming party, or go get ready for someone else's party. Anyways, everyone has loved it. So, if you need a quick dish for an upcoming party, give this one a try. I did not do this, but the original source, Budget Girl, topped hers off with whipped cream. I will definitely have to do that next time, because there will be a next time. Have a happy holiday and I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Ingredients

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree

1 (8 oz) container Cool Whip

1 (5 oz) packet vanilla instant pudding

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, optional

Dash of cinnamon, to taste

Directions

Combine all ingredients in to a bowl and mix with a hand mixer. Spoon mixture into desired serving dish and chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours.
Boom, you're done.

I served my fluff with ginger snaps, but other great dipping options are: graham crackers, Nilla Wafers, or animal crackers.

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Oreo Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Merry Christmas! 

 This year I have actually had time to bake and cook things this break! Here is one of the recipes I was able to make. These cookies are exceptional. Everyone who tried these bundles of sweetness enjoyed them. It was hard not to eat more than one. However, they are pretty rich so that helps stop the urge to continue shoveling them into your mouth. Not everyone is a fan of peppermint, but if you are these are a good choice to satisfy your craving. The best part, in my opinion, is that you use cake mix. It makes the flavor and texture so much better than your average cookie. But hey, this isn't your average cookie; you've got cake mix, cream cheese, Oreo's, peppermint, AND chocolate chips. So many different flavors! But oh so yummy.

Enjoy your Christmas, or whichever holiday you celebrate, and let your tummies be filled with joy too!

Ingredients

1 box white cake mix

1 stick butter, melted

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 cup Oreo cookies, broken into chuncks

1 cup Andes Peppermint Crunch pieces

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Oven 350
{dough will have to sit for 30 minutes so don't make this in a rush}
Combine the cake mix, melted butter, egg, and vanilla extract. Beat until a soft dough forms. Add the softened cream cheese and beat in gently until combined. Stir in the peppermint pieces and chocolate chips. Then gently stir in the cookie chunks. Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes.  
Roll the dough into 36 balls. Bake on a cookie sheet for 9 minutes. Do not over bake; the cookies will be very soft and look undone. Let them sit on the hot cookie sheet for 2 minutes, with a spatula gently move them to a piece of wax paper. Very gently tap the tops of the cookies with the bottom of the spatula to even out the tops. Let them sit until completely cool. 
Store in a sealed container. 

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Adapted from Inside Bru Crew Life

Zucchini Relish

Here something that my fridge never goes without, zucchini relish. I put this on several different things: hot dogs, burgers, tuna salad sandwiches, etc. This makes a huge batch of relish, so if you are planning on making this be prepared to spread the love. A heads up, this is a sweet relish. This recipe takes two days because you will have to let the veggies sit overnight in salt water. This batch makes a huge amount of relish, which is great because my family is stocked with relish for usually an entire year. So stock up or spread the love!
Tater is not a huge fan of sweet relish, but guess what? She likes this! YAY!
Ingredients

10 cups zucchini, shredded

{10-15 medium zucchini}

4 cups onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 1/2 cup white vinegar

4 cups sugar

2 tsp celery seed

2 tsp mustard seed

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp corn starch

1/2 tsp pepper

NON-IODIZED salt

Directions

Make sure to shred the zucchini before measuring the 10 cups, chop the zucchini, onions, and peppers into very small pieces. Place in a large bowl and cover with water. Sprinkle with non-iodized salt over the top and mix. Let stand overnight.
Next morning, pour into strainer and rinse with cold water. Place into a large pot. In a separate bowl, combine white vinegar, sugar, celery seed, mustard seed, turmeric, corn starch, and pepper. In the large pot, add these ingredients to drained zucchini mixture; bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.
Place in hot sterilized jars and seal each jar immediately.

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Jalapeno Crescent Poppers

Makes 16 or 32 little Crescent Poppers

These yummy creations were found on My Homemade Life. What is unique about this recipe is that she added sugar to the cream cheese mixture! Sugar? Who would of thought? Surprisingly, it is actually tasty. Nothing like a little bit of sugar to sweeten up that spice. I made these for me and my roomie as our brain food for finals last week. What better than warm cream cheesy goodness? How 'bout all A's on my finals!!! Back to the poppers... other than finals week ;) these bad boys are great for game days. So easy to make and so easy to disappear, so I suggest you make double or even triple(!) depending on your head count. Mix, spread, and roll away to a yummy treat! Enjoy

Ingredients

1 tube original Crescent Rolls

4oz can Diced Jalapenos {only using half}

8oz cream cheese, softened, cubed {only using 3/4}

1 tbsp sugar

Directions

Oven 375
In a bowl, cube about 3/4 of your cream cheese. Add about half of your Jalapeños and tablespoon of sugar {I added more Jalapeños to the batch since the sugar made it sweeter, I needed more spice!}. Taste your cream cheese mixture and see how the flavor is, you may want to add more Jalapeños since the sugar sweetens it up a bit. Your choice! Take your fork and mash it all up really well. Set your bowl of cream cheese aside. Open up your tube of crescent rolls and place on your cutting board. Separate them to where you have two large rectangles{don't tear the triangles that form the rectangle}. Now pinch together the perforations to create the rectangles. You can use a rolling pin if you need too. With the back of a spoon, spread half of the cream cheese mixture onto one of the rectangles. Save the other half of the mixture for the other rectangle. 
Once you've spread your half portion of cream cheese on one of your rectangles, start with the LONG end of the triangle {think of it like when you fold your piece of paper hotdog style} and get to rollin'. Once it's all rolled up, you will need to cut your log into 16 {or 8 if you want bigger pieces} pinwheels. I stuck my rolls into the freezer to harden up a bit so I could cut them easier, but keep an eye on them you don't want them frozen! If you have one, make sure you use a sharp knife, that'll also make it easier to cut. Here is a break down of how to cut them into 16 - I'm not very good at math so this helped me-  Cut your log right in half. Now you should have two logs.  Then cut those two logs in half, and now you should have four logs. Now, cut these rolls in half and now you have eight smaller logs. This is where I stopped because I was not about to try cutting these tiny rolls into even smaller rolls. But, if you feel like taking on the challenge, cut those lil pieces one last time. You now have 16 {or 8} pinwheel poppers. Repeat with the other roll. So now you should have 32 mini rolls {or 16 larger rolls}. You can roll and cut the second rectangle while the first batch is baking.
Spray a cookie sheet with Pam and place your first set of 16 poppers, standing up. Make sure you stand them up, with the cream cheese facing upward. Pop these into the oven for about 13 minutes until they are golden brown.  Keep an eye on them, as each oven varies.

Once they are done, immediately slide them off the cookie sheet, onto a plate, and eat up because they are best fresh out of the oven.

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Cheesy Pesto Pull Apart Bread

I have mainly been making meals, so I figured I'd make something different. I love cheese and I love bread and I love pesto. Basically, I love this dish. Every week me and my roommates Miranda and Tater will make a meal. This week was Miranda's; she made a delicious cheesy chicken spaghetti. I've been wanting to try this recipe so I figured it would go well with this meal. Maybe that's just my excuse to make this because I would eat this with any meal.
I made this with store bought pesto, however, the website I got this recipe from, Shortcut Kitchen, provides ingredients and directions on how to make pesto.
Either way, this recipe is a must.

Ingredients

1 can refrigerator biscuits

1/2 cup pesto (you can make your own or use jarred)

1/2 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

For Pesto 

1 cup basil or spinach

1/4 tsp pine nuts

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1-3 tbsp olive oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine the pesto ingredients in a food processor. Blend on high until smooth.
Cut each biscuit into quarters. Place in a greased oven safe baking dish.
Spread the pesto over the top of the biscuits, being sure to distribute evenly. (I used a teaspoon to spread mine out in small dollops)
Spread the Monetary Jack cheese on top of the biscuits and pesto. Top with the Parmesan cheese.
Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until cooked through and cheese begins to brown.

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