Pumpkin Dip

Pumpkin Dip. Served with ginger snaps and tart green apples. So yummy. And seriously easy. The recipe is forgiving. As in, I didn't put in the pie spice and added in vanilla. I sorta just mixed it all together. Well, actually kiddo did the mixing. It was fun. I used whipped cream cheese instead a regular block that needed to be softened. I also sifted the powdered sugar, but it might have been overkill. It was such a hit with my boy and the kiddo that I plan on making it for the next family get together. And I plan on putting the finished dip into a sugar pumpkin for a festive presentation.

Pumpkin Dip

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon frozen orange juice concentrate
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a medium bowl, blend cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Gradually mix in the pumpkin. Stir in the cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla and orange juice until smooth and well blended. Chill until serving. 

Peanut Butter Popcorn

Popcorn + Peanut Butter + Chocolate = YUM! An easy snack that kiddo will love.

Pop 1/2 cup of popcorn however you like to pop your popcorn. I use the microwave method. Melt 1/2 cup of peanut butter and 1/2 tablespoon of butter in the microwave and mix together. Pour the peanut butter mixture over the popped popcorn and mix. Then spread on wax paper to cool. Add in the some plain M&M's, the amount is up to you. Then eat until your mouth hurts enjoy! Delicious and easy!

*image via foodgawker*

Baked Broccoli

This is hands down one of my favorite recipes. Not only is it super easy, but Kiddo gets to help. And it's tasty. I came up with it on my own after eating pizza with broccoli on it and realizing that I love baked broccoli. I'm sure other people have done it before, but this is how we do it.

Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Take whatever amount of broccoli you would like to have and chop it into small pieces. Kiddo like to do this with our chopper. Put onto a baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil over. Sprinkle on powdered garlic to taste. Mix up a bit and then spread it out evenly. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, but keep an eye on it. As soon as it gets cooked looking with the cheese melted, barely brown, pull it out. It's super gross if burned, trust me.

*image via freedigitalphotos.net*

Strawberry Crescent Rolls

Kiddo and I were a little bored this evening. So we decided to make dessert. I wasn’t feeling up to a whole bunch of measuring so I went with super simple. Crescent roll wraps. I had blogged about them before, but my house has been full of other goodies. Well, until yesterday, when I devoured we finished off the cake. We settled on putting strawberries in them since that makes them healthy right? Ha. Who am I kidding? We sliced them up and sugared the strawberries and I added a very small dab of butter to the inside of the roll AND sprinkled a bit of raw sugar on top because I thought it looked pretty. Kiddo had a lot of fun. You can see his handy work below, he got to slice strawberries with a real “grown up” knife. He then put the strawberries in a plastic bowl. After I had added the sugar and placed the lid on top, he shook them all together. We put 1 scoop of the berries on top of the rolls and then I did my best to sorta roll them all up. They actually came out decent looking, which really didn’t matter because they were devoured. Every last one.  FYI these little babies are tasty with a scoop of ice cream (err we use Dryer’s Frozen Yogurt, but it’s really the same thing).

DRL: Crescent Rolls

Via Pillsbury.com

Let's file this under, DRL, or don't read label. They are not good for you! They are, of course, delicious, as every terrible for you thing is want to be. And versatile. You can add a variety of different things to these and create all sorts of fun snacks.  An added bonus is this is something you can make with the kiddos!

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Unroll the rolls. Now add you ingredients.  Roll up and bake for 10-13 minutes. Let sit for a few minutes, ENJOY!

Here are some ideas for the filling:

Layer thinly sliced apple, ham and provolone.
Sprinkle in coconut, chocolate chips and pecans.
Spread peanut butter on the roll and sprinkle with chocolate chips.
Place leftover taco meat and cheese.
Spread butter on the roll and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
Layer in ham and cheddar cheese.

I’m sure there are a million combinations of other yummy things to add to the list. Feel free to add some in the comments below.