Orange-Dill Pasta Salad

Mix the following and refrigerate overnight, if possible:

2 C. mayonnaise
1/2 C. orange juice
1 tsp. minced garlic
2-3 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tb. dried dill weed
2 dashes Tabasco sauce
1 Tb. sugar
1 tsp. black pepper
*Optional:
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar (I think I prefer it without)

The next day toss the dressing with the following:

16oz box/package (approx.) of pasta - whatever shape you prefer, cooked & cooled
1/2 C.- 3/4 C. of the following (depending on your taste):
sliced, chopped, or shredded carrots
sliced celery
chopped red onion
frozen peas (they thaw quickly)
salt to taste


This recipe came from my Mom's friend, Pam. She recommends using this as a base recipe and adding whatever veggies you like, but I like it just as listed. And it really does give it a good boost of flavor to let this dressing marinade overnight, or at least for a few hours. Let me know what you think, if you get the chance to make it.

Shamrock Oreo Truffles

You guessed it… Mint Oreo Truffles ummmmm… good. These might even be better than the originals (well, maybe). And, they’re just as easy to make, but because I could only find the mint Oreos in Double Stuf, I changed the ratios a little from the regular Oreo Truffle recipe. Here you go…

Mint Oreo Truffles

1 pkg. Double Stuf Oreos – Cool Mint Flavor – (1 lb. , 1 oz. pkg.)
• use 22 cookies with cream centers included
• use 10 cookies with cream centers discarded
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, room temperature
chocolate bark or candy coating*

1. Finely crush the cookies in a food processor or a ziploc bag with a rolling pin.
2. Stir in softened cream cheese. Use the back of a large spoon to help mash the two together completely.
3. Roll the mixture into 1″ balls and place on wax paper covered cookie sheet.
4. Place covered in freezer or refrigerator for a few minutes to help retain shape when dipping in melted chocolate.
5. Melt chocolate as directed on the package and then dip balls into chocolate, tap off extra and set aside on wax paper covered cookie sheet to dry.
6. Refrigerate and enjoy!

*Or, go green:

white chocolate bark/candy coating for dipping
green candy melts for dipping

1. Make your green and/or white shamrocks first (see picture below). You can use a ziploc bag with a small corner cut off or a decorating bag with with a small round tip attached to make the shamrocks. Use a toothpick to direct chocolate into desired shamrock shape. (Of course, in hindsight, this would have been a lot easier if I had found some little shamrock sprinkles.) Let dry.
2. Then, dip half the truffles in white chocolate and the other half in green.
3. If necessary, dip them again for a smooth finish. I found it necessary, especially for the white ones.
4. Then, on the second dipping, while still wet, press your cooled shamrocks gently on the top of your truffles.
5. For another effect, you can take the ziploc bag of chocolate and drizzle across each truffle with the alternating color.

Makes about 36 truffles.

I used a brand from Hobby Lobby for the green candy melts and regular white chocolate bark found at Kroger for the rest.

http://www.bakerella.com/its-no-sham%E2%80%A6these-rock/

Puff Pancakes

Puff Pancakes
1 Tablespoon butter
1/2 C Milk
1/2 C Flour
2 Eggs
1/2 tsp Vanilla
dash of Salt
dash of Cinnamon

1. Melt butter in pan in oven while it is preheating.
2. Whisk all ingredients together in bowl, pour into pan w/ melted butter and move to oven.
3. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes or until the pancake has risen and is firm.

Serve right away (it will start to puff down, that's ok) with fruit, syrup, powdered sugar... whatever you want!

*we always double it so we each get our own.
http://taza-and-husband.blogspot.com/2010/02/our-weekend-snowed-in-walks-around.html

Dirt Cake Garden Tea Party

You'll need six, new, 3 or 4-inch terra-cotta (clay) glazed flower pots, thoroughly washed. (I used 4 inch pots from Home Depot.) Even with glazed pots, I think I'd line the inside of the pot with aluminum foil, just to be safe. Another option would be to use plastic cups, inside, cutting them down to the right height.

You also need 6 flowers, either real or faux....gerbera daisies work really well. I opted for faux flowers and bought a big bunch for $1 at Dollar Tree. (Important: If you use real flowers, make sure they are pesticide free.)

You'll need 3 boxes of the cheesecake mix if you use 4 inch pots. While your cheesecake mix is mixing away, place a cookie in the bottom of each clay pot to cover the little hole, if you didn't line the pots with aluminum foil. Most recipes suggest using vanilla wafers, but I used little shortbread cookies since I like them better. Spoon your cheesecake mixture into each pot, stopping 1/2 inch from the top.

Now, the recipes I found said to use a plastic straw for this next part, but I found these cute little cereal straws and thought they would be more fun...plus, they are edible! :-) If you use real flowers, you may want to opt for the plastic straw. One cereal straw, when cut in half, was the perfect height for the pot...so it only took 3 straws for all 6 pots. Just press the straw down into the center of the cheesecake mixture. If you find one is a tad tall, just take your kitchen scissors and snip off the top a bit.

Now, for the fun part! (insert evil laugh here) I bought some gummy worms at Dollar Tree...just take a worm and position him on your cheesecake...like he's slithering right out of the pot. :-)

You'll probably only need one bag of Oreos for this next part, that was all I used. I broke up the Oreos before putting them into my mini-Cuisinart. I used my little Cuisinart to crush them, instead of my big one. It took 3 batches in the mini one; if you use a full size Cuisinart, you could probably do the whole bag at once.

Sprinkle your "dirt" over the top of your pots. Then chill them in the frig until you are ready to serve.

At serving time, just poke the little flower stem down into the cereal straw and your done! Just place a worm or two on the saucer of the pot for some added fun. :-)

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/2009/04/welcome-to-36th-tablescape-thursday-and.html

Bread Sticks

Breadsticks

1 1/2 c. warm (105-115 degrees) water
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. yeast
1/2 tsp. salt
3-4 1/2 c. flour

In a large bowl (the bowl of your mixer, if you have one), combine water, sugar, and yeast. Let stand for 10 minutes or until yeast is bubbly.

Add salt and stir. Add 1 1/2 c. flour and mix well. Gradually add more flour (usually between 3-4 cups, depending on your elevation and your humidity) until dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and it barely sticks to your finger.

Spray a glass or metal bowl with cooking spray and place dough in the bowl. Cover and allow to rise for 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
Remove from bowl and place on a lightly-floured surface. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Roll into a rectangle and cut into 12 strips with a pizza cutter.
Roll out each piece of dough into a snake and then drape over your forefinger and twist the dough. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining 11 pieces of dough. Try to space them evenly, but it's okay if they're close; pulling apart hot bread is one of life's greatest pleasures!
Cover pan and allow dough to rise for another 30 minutes. Look how fat and happy they are...

When there's about 15 minutes to go, preheat your oven to 425. When done rising, bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Rub some butter on top of the breadsticks (just put a ziploc bag on your hand, grab some softened butter, and have at it) and sprinkle with garlic bread seasoning or the powdery Parmesan cheese in a can and garlic salt.

Or you could sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar. I did that once. It was awesome.
http://www.ourbestbites.com/

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Most sweet potato dishes are full of bad-for-you ingredients (deep frying oil, brown sugar, butter, marshmallows). And sweet potatoes are very very good for you. They're packed with vitamin C, fiber, and tons of antioxidents, just to name a few. They're also lower in carbs than regular potatoes. If you battle with blood-sugar issues, regular potatoes are disastrous, but ironically "sweet" potatoes are much better. The sweetness comes from complex carbohydrates (the good kind) and not simple carbs (the bad kind). Also, they're tossed in olive oil which is well known for it's healthy qualities. This is a great, healthy alternative to french fries and they taste fantastic.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

2 medium-sized sweet potatoes*
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t coriander
1 t kosher salt
1 t parsley
fresh ground pepper (about 10 turns of a pepper mill)

*you want 1lb sweet potatoes after they are peeled, sliced, etc. If you weigh them at the store make sure you have a little more than a pound to allow for the peeling, and tossing of small pieces.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet lightly with cooking spray. (Do you need to spray it? Probably not. But I feel safer doing it!) Don't use a silpat, or parchment, or anything like that. You want them right on the cookie sheet.

Slice your sweet potatoes into french fry shape and size. I like mine to be 1/4", or maybe a tad bit bigger. Cutting them larger, like steak fries, will sometimes result in a big soggy mess, so stay small to get the best results.

It's important that all of the pieces are evenly sized to ensure even cooking. So toss any irregular pieces aside (or eat them in another dish). When you're ready, you'll have something that looks like a pile of carrots.

Put the sweet potatoes in a bowl and drizzle the olive oil over them. Use your hands to make sure each one is coated. If you've got more than a pound of sweet potatoes, add a little extra olive oil. They should all be glistening.

Then sprinkle on all of the herbs and spices and continue to toss until well coated.
Place the fries on the baking sheet. It's very important that they are not touching, but can be pretty close together.

*if you end up needing more than one cookie sheet, make sure they are spaced more than one rack apart in your oven to prevent steaming. Also, rotate the pans when you take them out to flip.

Place cookie sheet in pre-heated oven and set the timer for 15 minutes. Don't open the oven door, not even for a peak! Let them do their thing.

After 15 minutes take pan out of oven and flip the fries. If you try to do it one at a time, it will take forever. Flip a bunch at time then make sure they're spaced out again. Be careful because at this point they're quite soft.

Put the pan in the oven and cook for another 15-20 minutes. Just keep an eye on them. They should be nice and golden brown. Click on the picture below so you can see the nice caramelization in detail! Mmmm...I want to eat that up right now. Crispy crunchy on the outside, and sweet and soft in the middle.

Take them out of the oven and serve immediately. They cool off very quickly so they're best eaten right away. Serves about 4.
http://www.ourbestbites.com/

Bacon Cheddar Fondue

Bacon-Cheddar Fondue
The acidity in wine makes for a smooth cheese fondue (the alcohol has nothing to do with it). Other stabilizing agents such as flour, corn starch, lemon juice and soup can also do the trick.

5 slices bacon
1 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (10 1/2 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup milk
1 1/2 pounds sharp Cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dry mustard
3 dashes Tabasco sauce
Parsley

Fry bacon until crisp and brown in 3-quart heavy saucepan. Drain and crumble; set aside.

Add onion and garlic to 1/4 cup drippings; saute' until tender. Do not brown. Add soup; slowly stir in milk, over medium heat; blend until smooth. Add cheese, a little at a time, stirring until melted. Add bacon, reserving some for garnish. Add Worcestershire sauce, mustard and Tabasco sauce. Pour into fondue pot and keep warm. Garnish with bacon and parsley. If mixture becomes too thick, stir in a little hot milk.

Yields 5 cups.

Assorted dippers - cubed ham, blanched broccoli, carrots, or cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, chopped green bell peppers, cubed French bread, peeled and chopped apples or pears

These baked potato wedges are great for dipping into the fondue, or just eating on their own, maybe with a dab of ketchup.

Oven-Baked Fries
Ingredients:
2 medium potatoes
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Wash and scrub the potatoes. Cut into long wedges/fingers.
3. In a bowl, toss together the potatoes, oil, salt and pepper.
4. Spread the potato wedges in a single layer on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick spray.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes, stirring once or twice while baking, till wedges are crispy and golden.
Try these with other seasonings such as garlic powder, rosemary or chili powder.

Video on Making a Classic Cheese Fondue:
http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Making-Classic-Fondue-Video/Detail.aspx