Bacon Wrapped Tater Tot Bombs

 This blog is full, or becoming full, of pinterest inspired meals. So of course I scroll through Pinterest for several hours, with no shame at all, and I find awesome recipes. However, for once I did not find this one. It was sent to me through Pinterest by not only one but two different people. My cousin Carly, as well as Taylor's sister-in-law, Meagan. ~Click here to go to Meagan's blog!~ So, of course I had to give it a try! This creation is an odd one, but tasty. We were having leftovers and happened to have all the ingredients the recipe requires and I figured I would make these tots for our side. The tricky thing about this recipe is not letting the sugar get burnt. The taste of burnt sugar is not an appetizing one. Don't be alarmed when you consume these and it's a sweet taste. If you aren't a fan of sweet things, this recipe would be just as delicious without brown sugar. Give it a try and let me know what your thoughts are!

Ingredients

2 cups frozen tater tots, at room temp
1 oz block of sharp cheddar cheese, cut into 1/4inch squares
4-6 slices of bacon, cut in thirds
1/4 cup brown sugar

Directions

Oven: 400
Line pan with foil, lightly oil or spray with nonstick spray.
Working one at a time, wrap each tot and cheese in a piece of cut bacon. Coat wrapped tot in brown sugar. Repeat. Place tots seam side down onto prepared baking sheet.
Place into oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Halfway through, use tongs to turn.
Serve immediately!

TATER RATER

"The sugar was weird when burnt, but when it wasn't it was perfect." -Tater

Suggestions: I did not put foil down when I cooked these, so I would recommend doing that; I have a feeling that is how most of the sugar became burnt.

Adapted from Damn Delicious

Stuffed Green Peppers

My roommate and I decided that once we got back from Christmas break we were going to work out and attempt to eat healthier. You know, the typical and basic New Year's resolution. It is so easy to just buy frozen dinners or go through the drive through. We have been pretty good not to do that. We just need to change the meals we plan, or at least some of the meals. I still like to eat my cheese and crescent rolls. Eating health is quite tough in college, but we are trying! 

We've come across a lot of yummy looking meals, including this one. The only thing that I changed are the portions. Since there is just me and Leslie, I changed the recipe from four peppers to two peppers. If you want the original recipe with the actual portions you can either double what I have under ingredients or visit Kalyn's kitchen. Lately, we have been eating a lot of cheese filled, hefty meals, so it was nice biting into this very light and very colorful meal!

 Serve it hot and with a yummy side*. 

Ingredients

1/2 cup brown rice

2 large green bell peppers

half an onion, diced

2 tsp + 1 tsp olive oil

1 link of Sweet Italian Sausage - Turkey

~for vegetarians: use diced mushrooms in place of sausage~

1/4 tsp dried oregano 

~Greek or Turkish is preferred, I just used plain oregano~

Salt and ground pepper, to taste

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/8 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Directions

Oven: 375

While oven is preheating, cook rice according to package directions, or if you're cool and have a rice cooker, use that. 

Trim bottom of bell peppers so they have a flat surface to stand on.

Cut off a fairly generous amount of the stem end of pepper.

Remove seeds.

Place hollowed-out peppers in a baking dish that is sprayed with non-stick spray or olive oil.

(It is best too cook is a dish that is close in size to the peppers)

Remove stem part from the pepper caps and trim off any white membrane.

Dice pepper caps and the onion into fairly small dices. 

Heat 2 tsp of olive oil in a large skillet.

Saute diced pepper and onion for 3-4 minutes until they are soften, but aren't brown.

Remove pepper-onion mixture to a bowl.

Add 1 tsp olive oil.

Then, squeeze sausage out of casing and cook until lightly browned, breaking apart with the cooking utensil.

Put the onion-pepper mixture back into the pan with the sausage.

Add oregano to pan and saute for 2-3 minutes.

Then add cooked rice and Parmesan cheese, season with salt and ground black pepper to taste.

Cook just long enough to warm, about 1-2 minutes.

Stuff the mixture into the hollowed-out peppers, using a spoon to press the mixture down so it is tightly packed into the pepper. 

If you have any extra stuffing, you can put it in a small oven safe bowl and cook with the peppers.

Bake peppers for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and put a generous pinch of mozzarella on top of peppers.

Bake for about 10-15 minutes more, until cheese is melted and lightly browned.

SERVE HOT

You can freeze any leftover peppers**

TATER RATER

Suggestions: Unless you really love green peppers, I wouldn't put diced peppers in the filling.

*Tater made our side, which was spicy buffalo cauliflower bites. It was actually pretty darn tasty with some kick too it.

**You can freeze leftover peppers for a month or two, although the frozen peppers will be a little softer texture (but still tasty.) Cut them in half top-to-bottom before freezing. 

Sweets for your Sweetie

Happy Valentine's day everyone! I have a great cupcake recipe you can bake for that special valentine, or even for yourself. For mine and Taylor's two year anniversary one of his presents to me was a small cook book. This was one of the recipes. He absolutely loves these. So, I figured I would surprise him this valentines day with a batch of cookies n' cream cupcakes.

Now, if you're wanting to whip these up last minute, I wouldn't. This recipe takes time; other than the Oreo cookies, everything is made from scratch. Allow approximately 2 hours to make. 

I am not a huge fan of chocolate cupcakes. I don't particularly like frosting and I prefer vanilla batters over chocolate batters. However, I can make an exception for these. The frosting is not rich like some frostings, this one has a smooth taste and they are not overly chocolatey, which I like.  

The best part about these are the Oreo cookies at the bottom. It gives a little crunch to the cupcake, as well as a smile! Enjoy the cupcakes! And have a great Valentine's Day. If you don't have a significant other to share these with, grab a friend and spread the love with a delicious cupcake.

ENJOY!

Ingredients

Cupcake

3 oz bitter sweet chocolate, chopped

~I used semi sweet since the store didn't have bitter sweet~

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 cup hot water

3/4 cup bread flour

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp table salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

6 tbsp vegetable oil

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp white vinegar

1 Oreo cookie per cupcake

Frosting

5 tbsp all purpose flour

1 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup finely crushed Oreos 

Directions

Oven: 350

~Bakes 18 cupcakes~

In a medium sized bowl, combine chopped chocolate, cocoa powder, and hot water.

Whisk until the mixture is smooth and all of the chocolate has melted.

Place this mixture in the fridge to chill for about 20 minutes.

In a large bowl, while the chocolate mixture is cooling, combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.

When the chocolate mixture has cooled, whisk in vegetable oil, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla extract.

Next, pour the wet ingredients into the large bowl of dry ingredients. 

Whisk until all of the ingredients are incorporated together.

Place an Oreo cookie on the bottom of each cupcake liner. 

Pour batter over each cookie and fill each cupcake liner about 3/4 of the way full. 

Bake for 17-18 minutes.

While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the frosting.

Finally crush Oreos, enough for 1 cup. 

~If you have a food processor, I would recommend using that~

In a small sauce pan, combine flour with milk. 

Stir and whisk the mixture constantly over a medium low heat until it becomes really thick.

Place this mixture in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

While milk/flour mixture is cooling, cream together butter and sugar.

When the sugar is incorporated into the butter, add in the vanilla and mix for 30 seconds.

Add in thickened milk/flour and mix for 3 minutes. 

Lastly, add in crushed Oreos.

Once cupcakes cooled, pipe icing on to cupcake. 

ENJOY

TATER RATER

Suggestions: If you want to get fancy, twist Oreo cookie to separate. Break the cookie, that has the frosting, in half. Place on top of the frosting.

Not so sloppy joes

They taste better than they look. I promise. Let's be honest, almost every food tastes better than it looks. Let's be honest again, anything that has to do with Pillsbury is going to taste good. I could be extremely biased though because personally, I absolutely LOVE Pillsbury anything. So, if you think this looks tasty, then you are correct. Yet another spin on a classic meal; there is nothing like a good ol' sloppy joe. Well, actually, let me correct myself, there is something better; this recipe right here. It is fantastic. 

Now, I know this doesn't look appetizing with a slab of cheese on top, but we didn't have any more shredded cheese, so we took the college route and slapped some sliced cheese on it. This made it cheesier, so I am not disappointed in our lack of shredded cheese. Also, our oven cooks things real fast, so ours turned out a little more "golden".

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef

Hickory Sloppy Joe Sauce 

~I used Del Monte~

Half an onion

Pillsbury Grands biscuits, package of 8

Shredded Cheddar Cheese, to your liking

Directions

Brown ground beef, drain the grease. 

Add sloppy joe sauce and chopped onions.

While that cooks, press out six Pillsbury Grands biscuits on a greased baking pan. 

Fill one side of the biscuit with the sloppy joe mixture. 

Top it off with shredded cheddar cheese.

Fold over and press the edges closed. 

Once those are folded you can press out the last two biscuits and fill with mixture and cheese. 

Fold the last two and then place in oven. 

 Bake according to (the biscuits) package or until golden brown. 

Let cool for 5 minutes. 

TATER RATER

Suggestions: Serve with a side of veggies!

Adapted from The Late Stork