Cinnamon Toast White Chocolate Pretzels

Recipe from Made By Melissa

OMG! Heaven in a bowl!  Seriously – these are the most addictive snack ever.  Sugar, cinnamon, white chocolate… how can that not be an amazing combination!

Ingredients:
18 ou small pretzels
2/3 c oil
1/3 c sugar
1 1/2 t cinnamon
Extra cinnamon sugar for sprinkling
6-8 ou white chocolate, melted

Directions:
Pour pretzels into a large, microwave safe bowl.  Mix the oil, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl, then pour over pretzels.  Mix and toss to coat.

Microwave pretzels about 3 minutes, stirring after each minute.

Lay pretzels out flat on baking sheets and sprinkle with more cinnamon and sugar while still hot.  Drizzle with melted white chocolate and allow to cool.

Store in airtight container.

 

Indian Spiced Chex Mix

Recipe from Chex.com

So good!  This was one of those things where you just aren’t sure on the first bite, but then you take a few more and you’re completely hooked!  It was definitely a hit when I made it for our Labor Day weekend picnic. 🙂

Ingredients:
2 c Rice Chex
2 c Corn Chex
2 c Wheat Chex
1 c cashews
1/2 c pistachios
1/2 c almonds
1 1/2 T butter
3 T light corn syrup
3 T honey
3/4 t salt
3/4 t ground cardamom
1/2 t ground ginger
Dash cayenne pepper

Directions:
Mix Chex and nuts in a large, microwave safe bowl.

In a small microwavable bowl, melt the butter.  Then add the corn syrup and honey, and microwave for about 10 more seconds.  Mix in the spices.

Pour butter mixture over the Chex, mixing well to coat all of the pieces.

Place bowl in microwave for 3 minutes, stirring after each minute.  Lay Chex mix on a baking sheet covered with wax paper to cool.  Store in an airtight container.

 

Ham & Cheese Pretzel Bites

Recipe from Kelly Cooks… And Other Amazing Feats

These were really delicious and pretty easy to make.  I wish I had kept them in the oven for just a few more minutes, but we were trying to get out the door, and these were coming with us. They still turned out well, and I think everyone else who tried them thought the same. 🙂

I didn’t try the dipping sauce on Kelly’s blog.  I just used some pre-made honey mustard, which was a good match.  I think any kind of mustard would be good with these.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 t active dry yeast
2 T plus 1 t packed brown sugar, divided
1/4 c warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 c warm milk (110-115 degrees)
2 1/2 – 3 c AP flour
1/2 c finely chopped ham
1/3 – 2/3 finely chopped sharp Cheddar
6 c water
4 t baking soda
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
Pretzel salt (I didn’t have any, so I used kosher)

Directions:
In a large bowl, mix together yeast, water, and 1 t brown sugar.  Let sit for about 5-8 minutes until foamy.  If it doesn’t foam, start over with new yeast.

In a small bowl, stir together remaining brown sugar and milk until sugar is dissolved.

With a wooden spoon, add the milk mixture and 2 1/2 c flours to the yeast mixture.  Mix together until dough begins to form, adding more flour in small increments (up to 1/2 cup) only if needed.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times just to form a ball.  Place the dough in a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Allow to rise about 2 hours, until doubled in size and bubbles begin to appear on the surface.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into four equal pieces.  Have a large sheet pan ready.

Take the first piece of dough and roll to a 12″ rope.  Use the rolling pin and roll out to about 4″ – creating a roughly 12″x4″ rectangle.  Place the ham and cheese across the lower third dough, leaving about 1/2″ of space along bottom edge.

Stretch bottom edge up over filling and press tightly to seal.  Continue to roll as tightly as possible to form a rope. Cut into 12 pieces, and transfer to the sheet pan. Repeat with the other 3 pieces of dough.

Let rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes.  And preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Bring the 6 cups of water to a boil, then bring back to a simmer and mix in the baking soda.

Add pretzel bites to the water in batches, turning once, for about 20 seconds each, until slightly puffed.  Transfer with a slotted spoon to the baking sheet.

Bake until puffed and golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and lightly brush with the melted butter and sprinkle with salt.  Enjoy hot or at room temp.

You can also freeze these, after they have cooled.  Just thaw for 30 minutes, then reheat at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.

 

Salty Brown Butter Rice Krispies Treats

I got this recipe from my sister, who’s made these a couple of times.  They are delicious!  They’re as simple to make as a regular Rice Krispies treat, but they have this slightly salty, nutty flavor to them.  Once you eat one of these, the regular recipe just doesn’t quite do it anymore. 🙂

Ingredients:
6 c Rice Krispies cereal
1 stick butter
1/4 heaping t salt
10 bag marshmallows

Directions:
In a large saucepan, brown the butter over medium-low heat. Be careful when browing, as there can be a fine line between brown and burnt. 🙂 

Once the butter is brown, mix in the marshmallows until fully melted.

Mix in the Rice Krispies and salt and remove from heat.  Press into a 9″x9″ baking dish and allow to cool.  Cut into squares and enjoy!

 

Caramel Apple Dip

Recipe from recipesource.com

 This is the third recipe from December’s Ingredient of the Month: Cream Cheese!

This was a delicious dip that went pretty quickly.  I had made apple butter a while back, and wanted to use some of it to make a dip or appetizer for our Christmas Eve celebration. 

The recipe also called for chopped peanuts, which I decided to skip.  I served it with graham crackers and cinnamon raisin bagel chips.  But other options include apple slices, celery, pears, peaches or ginger snaps.

Ingredients:
8 ou cream cheese, softened
1/2 c apple butter
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 t vanilla

Directions:
Mix all ingredients until smooth.  Chill for at least an hour before serving.

 

Baked Brie w/ Honey

Who doesn’t love Brie?  It’s such a great tasting cheese. 🙂  This was such a simple yet tasty recipe for an easy appetizer.

Ingredients:
Brie
Honey
Crackers

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 and bake Brie for about 7 minutes.  Remove to serving platter, drizzle with honey and serve with crackers.

 

Vegetable Summer Rolls

Recipe from epicurious.com

Delicious!! These were a perfect side dish to a summer meal.

Warning: the sauce is spicy! At least in my opinion. If you have anyone who can’t take a lot of spice, go very light on putting it into the rolls, and just leave the rest out. Anyone who wants more can take it. We had people with varying levels of spice tolerance, so this is what we did.

This recipe does make quite a bit of sauce. We have a lot left over and I’m trying to figure out what to do with it.

Since there were 6 of us eating, we ended up tripling the ingredient amounts. 2 rolls for each of us.

Ingredients:
Sauce:
3 T finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 t red pepper flakes
1 t vegetable oil
3 T water
1 T creamy peanut butter
1 T hoisin sauce
1 t tomato paste
3/4 t sugar

Rolls:
1 ou bean thread noodles
Salt, to taste
1 T seasoned rice vinegar
4 (8-inch) rice paper rounds
2 red-leaf lettuce leafs, halved w/ ribs discarded
1/4 c fresh mint leaves
1/4 c fresh basil leaves
1/2 c thinly sliced Napa cabbage
1/4 c fresh cilantro leaves
1/3 cup shredded carrot

Directions:
For the sauce – cook onion, garlic and red pepper flakes in oil in a small saucepan for about 4 minutes, until tender. Whisk in remaining sauce ingredients – simmer, whisking, for about 1 minute and then remove from heat and allow to cool.

Cover noodles with boiling hot water. Let sit for 15 minutes, drain well and press between paper towels to dry. Toss with vinegar and salt to taste.

Prep a work area for the rolls. What I do is lightly oil a large plate to keep rolls from sticking (keep the oil out, as you may need to re-oil once or twice). I use this plate to prep the rolls. Then I dampen a paper towel and set it on a plate or serving platter. As I set the rolls on the platter, I cover with another damp paper towel. Rice paper can dry out fairly quickly.

Place hot water in a large shallow saucepan or baking pan.

Soak 1 rice paper at a time in the water for about 15-30 seconds, until pliable – then transfer to the greased plate.

Take the red lettuce half and place it in the center of the paper, leaving about 1 inch of space. Tear leaf as needed to make it fit.

On top of the leaf drizzle on some sauce, then top it with the mint, basil, cabbage and noodles. Roll once, then add the cilantro and carrot to the crease (I did this once, then started adding it all at the same time. I’m not sure of the purpose of doing this). Fold in the sides and roll the rest of the way. Place on paper towel lined platter.

Repeat with remaining rolls. Serve rolls halved on the diagonal.

Note: if you do not serve these right away – wrap them individually in damp paper towels, and then in plastic wrap and refrigerate. Remove about 15 minutes before serving to bring to room temp.

 

Spiced Cilantro Shrimp

Recipe from Good Things Catered

I made these for dinner to go with the Artichoke, Spinach, Feta Summer Rolls. These could easily be used as an appetizer as well. I really wanted to put them on skewers and grill them, but our grill is being temperamental… hopefully it’s an easy fix.

Anyway – these were great! They had a really good flavor to them. I bet they’d be even better grilled. 🙂

I only made 20 shrimp, but I kept the same amounts for the marinade. It was just easier that way.

Ingredients:
20 extra large shrimp, peeled and deveined
Juice of 1 lime
Juice of 1 lemon
3 T tequila
1 T olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 t paprika
1/2 t chili powder
Salt & pepper
1-2 T cilantro, finely minced

Directions:
Mix the marinade ingredients, from the lime through the salt & pepper, in a bowl and whisk well.

Place the shrimp in a large bowl and pour the marinade over top. Toss to coat all pieces of shrimp. Place in refrigerator to marinate for about 10 minutes, tossing once more about 1/2 way through.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place shrimp in skillet. After about 2 minutes (shrimp will begin to turn pink) flip it over for another 1-2 minutes, until pink and opaque all the way through.

Remove from heat, and sprinkle with cilantro.

You can also do this with chicken!!

 

Spinach, Artichoke & Feta Summer Rolls

Recipe from A Year in the Kitchen

So, what is the difference, or is there one, between Spring Rolls and Summer Rolls? Just curious – I had been calling these Spring Rolls, then realized that they are actually Summer.

Anyway – these were really good! They were a bit time consuming to make, just because you have to do each roll individually. And you can only soak one rice paper at a time, or they stick together. I made these the night before. I’ll put instructions for refrigeration at the bottom.

I just made 10 of these. J and I each had 3 for dinner, then took 2 as leftovers. I’ll definitely make these again – maybe experimenting with different ingredients. We used these as a side dish, but they would also be a great appetizer.

I have tons of rice paper left! Any other ideas of what I can do with rice paper?

Oh, and I’m not really going to put ingredient amounts, because it really depends on how much you want to stuff in there, and you may want more of one thing, and less of another. 🙂

Ingredients:
10 rice paper wrappers
Fresh baby spinach
Canned artichokes, chopped
Roasted red peppers, julienne sliced
Red onion, julienne sliced
Feta cheese, crumbled
Basil leaves
Salt & pepper

Dipping Sauce:
1 T dijon mustard
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 T honey
1/4 c EVOO
Salt & pepper, to taste
Fresh oregano, chopped – about 1 T

Directions:
To prepare the dipping sauce, whisk all ingredients together and place in the refrigerator.

Get a pie pan or large skillet and fill it with lukewarm water. To soften the rice paper, soak it in the water for about 20-30 seconds. Be careful, because it will be fragile when it’s wet.

Prep a large plate or platter by wiping it with EVOO.

Place the rice paper on a cutting board and place spinach, artichoke, red pepper, onion, feta, basil and salt & pepper on the paper.

Roll up the paper like a burrito. Set aside on the plate or platter and continue with remaining paper.

For overnight refrigeration – roll the summer rolls in a damp paper towel, and then wrap them tightly with plastic wrap. I did 2 rolls per paper towel – rolling the first until about 1/2 of the way in, then adding the other. They were not at all dried out when I took them out for dinner.

 

Potato Slabs

From Amber’s Delectable Delights

These Potato Slabs have been making their rounds through the blog world lately, so I thought I’d get in on the action.

These were great! And extremely easy to make. They can very easily be used as a side or an appetizer, and suited to your tastes.

Ingredients:
Potatos (I used 4 red potatos for 2 of us)
Seasoned salt
Pepper
Extra Sharp Cheddar, shredded (or cheese of choice)
Ranch dressing

Other options include bacon, chives, green onion, sour cream, salsa, guac – and I’m sure the list goes on.

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375.

Clean the potatos well, then cut into 1/4″ slices. Season both sides with the seasoned salt or pepper.

Lightly grease a baking sheet with oil or butter. Place the slabs on the baking sheet, then cook for 30 minutes.

Flip them all over, then cook for an additional 15 minutes.

Sprinkle all of the slabs with the cheese (bacon would be good at this point as well). Cook until the cheese is all melted and bubbly.

Remove and serve as desired. I just served them with some ranch dressing for dipping.