Oreo Rice Krispies

With two teenagers visiting for the summer I've had two struggles. Keeping them entertained and feeding them. It is unreal how expensive it is to feed a six person household! Today, we planned to have meatloaf, and when I realized we were completely out of eggs (because sometimes you have to eat breakfast) I made a mad dash to the store. In the process, I picked up the ingredients for these little treats because the kids love to bake!

Delicious is the ONLY word I would use to describe these. Cookies and cream meets rice krispies might just be the best combo around. Plus, what an easy snack for kids to help with.

Ingredients:
6 cups Rice Krispies cereal
20(ish) Oreo cookies, roughly chopped
1 package mini marshmallows
3 tbsp salted butter

Start buy measuring out the cereal into a large bowl. Chop the Oreos and mix place on top of the cereal and set aside. (For the Oreos, you could crush them in a large ziplock bag or chop them coarsely with a knife, which is what I did.) Melt the butter and marshmallows together until smooth. Mix the dry ingredients with the marshmallow and fold until all the cereal mixture is coated. Press firmly into a greased pan. Cut once everything has cooled. Enjoy!

Ham and Cheese Gnocchi

This is sooooo good! Like unbelievably rich, creamy, salty, cheesy and amazing! I love gnocchi and the combination with ham and cheese is delicious. The best part of this for me was using leftover veggies and ham. I love anything that can be used more than once, especially because we like to keep our grocery budget tight. I'll be keeping this one in our family rotation for sure.

And, let's be real, we all love a one pot wonder!

Ingredients:
(Adapted from Kevin and Amanda)

1 tbsp butter
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced peppers (any variety)
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
14 oz diced ham
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup water
12 oz potato gnocchi (my store sells this packaged)
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup cream
salt
pepper
1 cup mozzarella cheese

Start by melting the tbsp butter over medium heat. Sauté the onion, peppers and garlic till translucent.

Toss in the ham and cook until it's browned. Pour the stock and water into the pot and bring to a simmer. Throw in the gnocchi and cover with a lid, you'll want to cook the gnocchi through for about 5-8 minutes.

Once the gnocchi is hot, add in the peas and heavy cream. Stir well and add the salt and pepper to taste.

Turn on the broiler. Top with cheese and broil for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling. Serve hot. Enjoy!

Strawberry Whipped Cream

The amount of whipped cream being made in my home has escalated quickly! To be honest, I'm kind of disappointed that I've wasted so many years buying the canned kind. For one, it's ridiculously easy to make. Less than 10 minutes and you've got the perfect whipped topping. And second, it's way cheaper this way! We can usually take a pint of heavy cream and use 1/4 of it for whipped cream and turn the rest into homemade butter!

For the strawberry flavored whipped cream you'll need heavy whipping cream, sugar and strawberry preserves! This can be made with any flavoring you'd like, which makes it the perfect accompany to cakes, cookies or a fresh ice cream topping.

In a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer) begin by whipping the cream on high speed, it'll begin to aerate and double in volume. Add in the sugar and continue to whip until peaks are forming. Toss in the preserves. Whip until everything is combined and enjoy!

For my family, I generally use 1/4-1/2 cup heavy cream, up to 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup preserves! It was more than enough for everyone to eat excessive amounts off a spoon.

Hawaiian Fried Rice

I'm B-A-C-KKKKK!

Man, have I been on a serious break or what!?  And as sad as it is, that means my poor family has been eating the same ole boring meals! No new dinners, or cookies, or fancy snacks, and quite frankly, I think we're all a little bored. But, now I'm back! Yay!

Fried rice is my new "garbage" go to meal. By this, I mean that you can take those frozen veggies and leftover meat and throw them in a pan with some stale rice and call it a meal. There's no secret magic to it and, aside from the chopping of a few things, you can cook a whole dinner in 10 minutes.  The most important thing is how cheap it can be. For instance, those pork chops you made that are now just sitting in the fridge, begging someone to eat them, can be chopped, tossed and ready for consuming!

Hawaiian fried rice is the best version of a classic, in my honest opinion. I love ham and pineapple! This fried recipe melds all those classic fried rice flavors we love with the salty ham and sweet pineapple. I used canned pineapple and leftover ham from our new ham and cheese gnocchi dish. Yum!

Ingredients:

2 cups brown rice (let it sit out for about an hour to dry out)
1/2 cup diced ham
1/2 cup diced pineapple
2 eggs
veggies of choice (I used onion, peas and carrots)
1 tbsp sesame oil
soy sauce, to taste

In a large skillet, warm the sesame oil on high heat. Dump in the rice and sauté for just a few minutes. Add in the ham and veggies and continue to sauté on high heat, browning the veggies. Push all of the rice mixture to one side of the pan, add in the eggs and quickly scramble them. Mix everything together and add the soy sauce and a little black pepper. Remove from heat and stir in the pineapple. Serve immediately! Enjoy!

This recipe is very easily doubled and remember to move quickly so you don't burn anything!

Caramel Apples

I remember growing up in South Carolina, and waiting every year for the Coastal Carolina Fair to come around. I loved hanging out with friends, going through the crazy houses and riding the ferris wheel, but my favorite thing was the peanut covered caramel apples. I've tried a few recipes over the years, all of which required melting down a package of pre-made caramels. Most were mediocre and not at all like those fair types that you pay a small fortune for. But, thanks to Cooking Light, I can now make my own! Many, many caramel apples to come in my future.

You can follow the exact recipe here. 

Now, excuse me while I go enjoy my apple! 

If you plan to add peanuts, I recommend dry roasted. Coarsely chop them and press the freshly dipped apples in the nuts immediately after dipping! 

Caramel Chex

I've made Muddy Buddies, Lemon Buddies, and even Christmas Chex! But, Caramel Chex is hands down my new favorite. It stays so crispy and the buttery coating is superb. It's been tough to keep Haley out of it (not that I've been too successful myself). The kicker for this recipe, it's only 4 ingredients! It takes just a few minutes to put together, and cools down quickly which means you can enjoy it even sooner. You could literally make this in the middle of a party and no one would even notice you're missing.

Ingredients:
8 cups rice Chex cereal
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 stick salted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar

Add the dry cereal to a large microwave safe bowl. In a saucepan, melt together the corn syrup, butter and brown sugar until smooth. Pour over the cereal and gently fold until everything is coated. Then place the entire bowl in the microwave and heat for one minute. Remove the bowl and stir. Continue this process for another 4 minutes (stirring after every minute). (Be careful not to lick the spoon because it will be hot, however I do understand that the struggle is real). Once the cereal is hot and you can smell the cooked butter, spread onto wax paper to cool. Once cooled the cereal well gently break up. Place in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Lila and Colston

My home studio has been filled with lots of little baby love!