Creative Popcorn Toppings

We love to eat popcorn in my house. Thanks to Publix we always have some because of the buy one get one free sales they have. I don't always like just butter popcorn, even the movie theater butter microwave kind. I usually add something to it. The only time I really want butter popcorn is at the movies because I always get extra extra butter. I don't really go to the movies often.

Here are some of my creative popcorn toppings I have discovered through the years.

Parmesan cheese popcorn

You can use either the sprinkles or the shreds. I use both. It just depends because Noah likes the sprinkle kind. The shredded kind gets a little crunchy but its so good.

Jalapeño Popcorn

This is something I learned in Texas with my cousins and her kids. We went to the movies and they put jalapeños on their popcorn. I tried it with just the juice because I wasn't in to Jalapeños. Now I love them so I just throw them on top too.

Homemade Garlic Popcorn

I totally love garlic popcorn but I can't eat it very often because my stomach hurts after, but it's definitely worth it.

Popcorn and icing

This is something I used to do with my Grandma Rose. She had heart problems and was on a special diet and so she had an air popper. The popcorn was pretty bland so I would dip it in chocolate icing. It was surprisingly good.

Chili powder on popcorn is not good. I really like chili powder but never on popcorn.

How do you like to eat popcorn?

Sheila's Spaghetti with Meat Recipe

When you think about spaghetti, you know that it is a meal that is great for feeding a bunch of people. Spaghetti is cheap and easy to make for a meal where you have lots of guests.  When I think of spaghetti I always think of the book Strega Nona. I think of Strega Nona and Big Anthony because I either make way too much or not enough.  Usually, it is way too much. Luckily, Noah loves spaghetti and he will gobble it up, like it’s no one’s business. There are different ways to make it of course. Most of the time I just make it with just sauce poured on and parmesan cheese. I will call that traditional spaghetti, but sometimes I want something more than just the sauce.  Usually when I can find hamburger on sale, I will make this recipe. It is great for serving a group because it is so filling and good. It is also really easy to make.

Sheila’s Meat Spaghetti Recipe

One box spaghetti

One Can Spaghetti Sauce whatever flavor you would like. I use Hunts

One pound hamburger

One small onion

A few garlic cloves

Cook Spaghetti per the box directions in a big pot, while it is cooking, start browning the hamburger in a skillet;  chop up onion and garlic. When the hamburger is almost done add the onion and garlic and cook through.  Drain the hamburger mixture.  Drain the spaghetti and return to the pot. Add the sauce and hamburger mixture and combine and  Enjoy!

How to Make Roast Pork

I mentioned in my Cuban sandwich recipe that I roasted my own pork. I am sure people were wondering how to roast pork. I know when I was living in Indiana I tried finding it roasted at the grocery store and even Hispanic grocery stores and I couldn't find it anywhere. I had to figure out how to do it. It's really easy actually. You buy a pork tenderloin. I love a lot of flavor so I always coat mine with McCormick's Montreal Steak seasoning. I make a crust of the seasoning and cook it per the directions on the pork. You don't have to pay more for it already seasoned. It definitely has a kick but nothing too spicy. I have also had slices of this pork with potatoes as a meal. You usually get quite a bit so I just slice it and it freezes well. This is great for when pork is on sale you can just season it, cook it, cut it and freeze it which is great when you have to have a quick dinner or doing a fend for yourself night.

The Easy way to Decorate your Child's Birthday Cake

I am not a cake decorator at all. I am left handed and it is horrible when I try and decorate a cake. My creations would be on one of those botched cake sites every time. My six year old could do better than I could.  I made his first birthday cake and it turned out cute, minus the writing.  It was a fish cake. Makes sense that he loves them so much. His room was underwater themed.  I am sure I just need practice  and eventually I will get the hang of it, someday, when I am ninety.

I prefer homemade cake to the store bought any day because I make it with love. I have made Noah's birthday cake every year except when he was two and five. I felt obligated to have someone do it at Kroger because she was friends with a friend of mine.  It was cute but it wasn't the same. It wasn't as good and it was really expensive. I decided from then on I would do it.  Except when he was five and we were out of the country.

Since I am not a great decorator I came up with an idea. I can frost a cake no big deal just don't leave any naked spots, and don't make it crumbly. Easy enough.  I think I am brilliant. Every year Noah picks a theme and I buy plastic toys and put them all over the cake. We eat the cake and he gets the toys. It's a win win. When he turned three he had a duck cake. It was really cute. When he turned four he had a flyers cake with planes and helicopters. When he turned five we were on our Disney cruise so he didn't have a special homemade cake. We shared the cake they gave him on his birthday.  When he turned six he had a sea creature cake.  They usually have been blue. I want to have a different color this year. Really for him some beautifully decorated cake doesn't mean anything, once it is gone its gone. I like the way I do it because he can always remember that those toys were on his birthday cake.

What do you do for your children's birthday cakes?

Garlic Burgers Recipe

This recipe is one of my absolute favorites. I have about ten recipes or so that are my favorites. Most people like to eat a good burger unless you are a vegetarian then you probably don't. I have had many different types of burgers at restaurants. I have made many hamburgers but hands down this is my absolute favorite. Once you try these you will not want to have any ordinary burger again. It contains two of my favorite ingredients. Onions and Garlic. I have made my Garlic burgers for friends and family. We had them at Noah's second birthday party. Everyone raves about them. 

I make these on a grill pan. A skillet will also work. I guess you could make them on a grill, however I will not because the best part is the little bits of yumminess. They are onions and garlic that have glazed on the grill pan. Those little bits would fall in the grill and that would make me really sad. 

Check out those huge chunks of garlic!

Garlic Burgers

1 pound hamburger
1 head of Garlic or 2 smallish heads
1 small onion
Seasoning Salt
Pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cut the top off the head of garlic and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap in foil and bake for 45 minutes. You are roasting the garlic.

While the garlic cools enough for you to handle, chop the onion in to small pieces. Place the hamburger in a bowl and add the onion and garlic.

I try and use my fingers to get the cloves out whole or almost whole. You can squeeze it but really you are wasting garlic goodness.

Mix together with your hands and shape in to four patties. Make them thin because they thicken as they cook.

Liberally sprinkle your grill pan with seasoning salt and pepper.  Preheat your grill pan or skillet be sure to not breathe in the pepper while it heats up. You will know it is ready when you can put a drop of water on it and it will sizzle up.

Place the hamburgers on the grill pan or skillet and let them cook. Try not to flip them too much, for even cooking.

If you want to add cheese do it when they are completely cooked. I don't like cheese on mine. It doesn't need it. 

I also like to heat the bun on top of the cooked burgers.

Remove hamburgers and scrape the brown bits off. It is the best part. It's caramelized onion and roasted garlic.

Enjoy!

Let me know if you try this recipe. I look forward to your thoughts.

Cinnamon Quesadilla Recipe

When I make Noah Quesadillas, I usually make him dessert to go with it.  I make him Cinnamon Quesadillas. Once again you don’t have to have a special kitchen gadget to do it. You just need a skillet. I thought I would share my recipe with you.  These are also extremely cheap to make and they are the perfect quick and easy dessert.

Noah’s Cinnamon Quesadillas:

Two Tortillas or one big tortilla

Spreadable butter

Cinnamon and Sugar mixture (I keep mine in a shaker)

Directions:

First butter one side of the tortillas. Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar mixture all over the tortilla. Shake off the excess.  Place the other tortilla on top of it and butter both exposed sides.  Cook on medium until golden brown on one side. Flip and cook the other side.  Cut and Enjoy!

Serves one!

Noah's Cheese Quesadilla Recipe

Noah loves to eat Cheese Quesadillas. I used to want a Quesadilla maker. I didn’t realize how easy it is to make them.  You don’t have to have a special kitchen gadget to do it. You just need a skillet. I thought I would share my recipe with you.  These are also extremely cheap to make and they are filling.

Noah’s Cheese Quesadillas:

Two Tortillas or one big tortilla

Spreadable butter

Shredded cheese

Directions:

Butter both tortillas on one side. Place one in skillet butter side down. Sprinkle cheese on top. Place the other tortilla butter side up. Cook on medium until golden brown on one side. Flip and cook the other side.  Cut and Enjoy!

Serves one!

Strawberry Daiquiri Recipe

I live in Florida and we are in the middle of Strawberry season. It is my favorite fruit so of course I am excited that I can get amazing strawberries from Plant City Florida in the winter. Being from Indiana instead of being able to buy a quart of strawberries for $1.99 they would be closer to five dollars. 

Since I do like strawberries so much, naturally I would love to drink strawberry daiquiris. When I was making my strawberry fruit leather I decided I would share a great daiquiri recipe.  I know you can buy the mix, it's not that great and it's expensive and made with who knows what. 

Strawberry Daiquiris

1 quart strawberries

1 cup rum

Ice

Place strawberries in the blender an purée. Add rum and ice and turn it on.  Grab a strawberry  to garnish and a little umbrella and a beach and enjoy!

BBQ Chicken Pizza Recipe

I love pizza. I could eat it all the time. I don't always want the red sauce as Noah calls it. I love to mix it up. I started making BBQ chicken pizza. Who doesn't love BBQ chicken? I know I do. Every time I make my special BBQ chicken pizza it is fabulous. It may not be the most beautiful pizza but holy cow is it amazing. I laugh every time I make it because my best friend Brandy always comments that chicken doesn't belong on pizza. She is a little crazy, cause she has never tried it. 

I wanted to share my recipe with you all. My recipe is different when it comes to ingredients and the building of the pizza. Most pizzas have the toppings on the top but this recipe has them nestled inside. Please don't laugh at my pizza pan, it is very old and has made many pizzas and fruit pizzas in my life. This pan could be well over twenty years old because it is the only one I remember, and I have a great memory. I am convinced I should be a history teacher because I am so good with dates and memories.  Here is my recipe:

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Pizza Crust (I use Jiffy it works well)

BBQ sauce ( I use Jack Daniels no 7 BBQ sauce)

One package precooked Chicken ( I use Tyson in the green pouch)

Half of an Onion or a small onion

8 slices of Bacon

5 slices or 4 ounces of muenster Cheese

 1 cup Shredded mozzarella

3/4 cup shaved or shredded Parmesan

When using the Jiffy Pizza Crust, I let it rise for two hours. I turn on the oven on the lowest temp, preheat it and turn it off. I usually leave the oven open a little to let some of the heat escape. Then close the door.  I rise the dough inside the oven. 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees,

Oil the pizza pan and spread out the dough. Bake for 5 minutes. 

While it is baking chop the onion and chicken and bacon and put it in a bowl. Pour in some BBQ sauce to cover it and mix. Make sure it is completely covered but not swimming in sauce. 

 When the timer goes off, put a layer of BBQ sauce on the crust and then pour on the BBQ chicken onions and bacon mixture. 

Bake for ten minutes at 400 degrees.  While it is baking chop the muenster cheese. I decided match sticks work the best. 

After the ten minutes is up take out the pizza. First put on a layer of muenster cheese, then the Parmesan and finally the mozzarella.

Return to oven for 5 to 7 more minutes until the cheese is melted and enjoy. 

I hope you like this recipe. Let me know what you think. This a good quick delicious recipe that anyone can make.    

Pearberry Fruit Leather Recipe

I really like fruit snacks, fruit roll ups and fruit leather. I used to buy stretch island fruit leathers when I was in high school. As everything has done it became really expensive. I stopped buying them because they are  like 99 cents each.  Last time I ate fruit leather was probably when I won some in a giveaway. Archer Farms sells it but it is still $3.99 a box.  I always wanted to make fruit leather. I used to have a fruit snack maker, it was nasty. I have a dehydrator but I never used it for making fruit leather.  The dehydrator seems to take forever to use so I didn't even attempt it. I kinda forgot about it for a while, until a friend of mine posted a recipe for fruit leather on Facebook. I decided I would finally try it. I was so excited about it. I couldn't sleep. I am a total dork. I went to the local fruit stand with the full intention of making one of the recipes on Oh My Veggies. She has a lot of fruit leather recipes. Unfortunately not really in flavors I am fond of like banana, mango and strawberry banana. I wanted to try the peach raspberry recipe. That sounds really good. When I went to the fruit stand they didn't have any raspberries. So, I bought blackberries. I took Noah with me so you know there was a variety of fruit purchased. Half of what I wanted to buy wasn't in the store. So, we just grabbed some fruit. 

The inspiration for this recipe came from soap. I was in the bathroom and I looked at the soap I have and I decided to make Pearberry fruit leather.  I had strawberries but I wanted pure strawberry so I thought I would try pear and blackberry. I wasn't too sure how it would turn out. Originally I was just going to make strawberry yesterday as we had a play date. I figured since there was room in the oven and it was on and the kitchen was already messy, I would make it too. 

Here is my recipe for Pearberry Fruit Leather:

3 pears

1 container of blackberries

1 tablespoon of honey

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees

Cut up pears and place in the food processor. Add the blackberries and purée until there are no lumps.  Add honey and mix it up. 

Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and  spread it evenly.  Bake it for about 5 or 6 hours until completely dry. 

Remove the fruit leather from the cookie sheet carefully and cut in to strips and enjoy. 

My fruit leather is really thin. It is really good this way. It melts in your mouth and doesn't hurt your teeth, like the thicker stuff does. It's also a little crunchy. We love it though. Noah tried to attack it this morning, I thought it would be great for lunches.

If you would like it thicker you could use a smaller cookie sheet or increase the amount of pears and blackberries.

Nestle Holiday Candy Review and Recipes

It is no big surprise that I love sweets.  When my mom gave me the nickname Sheilacakes when I was an infant, little did she know that the cakes would become more than just a nickname?  I also love my family’s tradition of holiday baking each year. It is probably my favorite thing about preparing for the holidays. I used to bake with my mom and my sister when I was younger. Now I bake with my mom and my son.  We always make a bunch of delicious treats and enjoy giving them to friends and family. I had a chance to receive some holiday candy from Nestle and some new recipes to try out.  I am a huge Nestle fan. They have great products and great recipes. I have one of their recipes that I have made every year for the last seven plus years. I can’t wait to sink my teeth in to it and these new recipes I received.

First let’s talk about the candy I received. Nestle has a big holiday candy line.  Here is all the goodies I was able to try out.

• Nerds Rope
• Paul Frank Crunch Bar
• Butter Finger Jingles
• Crunch Jingles
• Frosty Nerds
• Nerds Fantastical Fun Book
• Fun Dip Fantastical Fun Book
• Butterfinger Fantastical Fun Book
• Crunch Heritage Tin
• SweeTart Gummies
• SweeTart Merry Mix
• SweeTart Candy Canes
  
  
  
  
  
  

There are other delicious treats as well.  My favorites are the Butterfingers and the SweeTart Gummies, although I love them all. I used to eat Butterfingers when I was younger all the time. I remember when I was at camp my mom sent me a card with a coupon for a free Butterfinger in it for when I got home. I don’t know why I thought that was so cool, but I did.  I am addicted to SweeTarts. I prefer the Chewy and Gummy kinds over the traditional ones.  Did I mention they are only red and green ones?  Cherry and Apple are my favorite ones. I don’t have to pawn the yellow and orange ones off on Noah.  I haven’t had Fun Dip in years! My favorite part of Fun Dip was the stick. I think my sister and I had an arrangement, that she would eat the powder and I would eat the stick.  My sister and I would make weird agreements like that, she would “make” me eat the pimentos out of olives.

Here are a couple of the delicious Holiday recipes you can make this weekend in anticipation of Santa.

These recipes are from the Nestle Website:

Cakey Chocolate Jingle Bars

Ingredients:

30 NESTLÉ BUTTERFINGER Jingles, unwrapped
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Baking Cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Powdered sugar (optional)

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in large bowl.

BEAT granulated sugar, brown sugar, butter and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until combined. Beat in eggs. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in Nestlé Jingles. Press into 9-inch-square baking pan.

BAKE for 18 to 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

NOTE: Try substituting NESTLÉ Milk Chocolate Jingles. 

 

Santa’s Thumbprint Cookies

1 package (13 oz.) NESTLÉ BUTTERFINGER Jingles, unwrapped
3/4 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup granulated sugar (optional)

Directions:

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

BEAT peanut butter, brown sugar, butter and 1/2 cup granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Gradually beat in flour and baking soda.

SHAPE dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in 1 cup granulated sugar; place on ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 7 to 9 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press 1 Nestlé Jingle into center of each cookie (cookie will crack around edges). Cool cookies on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

To find the candy I wrote about please visit your local store’s holiday section. For more recipes please visit Nestle’s website.

Thank you to Nestle for providing me with complimentary candy samples and sharing these recipes with me. The recipes are Nestle’s but the thoughts and opinions are my own.