Oreo Bars

This is a recipe that absolutely flows with this blog. I took this recipe and adapted it because they just didn't quite turn out how they had them on there. When making their recipe I found that first it called for ALOT of brownie mix and there wasn't really enough cookie on the bottom to hold the oreos together and it made a CRAPLOAD (yes that is a word at least in this household.. is is less then a buttload but more then a reg load) of bars that due to their richness my husband refused to help me eat so naturally being a resourceful wasteless person I just had to figure out a way to eat them!

SO in comes my creative brain... I decided to make the recipe in a smaller pan with less brownie and more cookie and add some marshmellows (to break up the weight of the bar) and some caramel on top.. just because caramel is SO SO SO good!

So here are your ingredients
1 pkg of cookie dough (you can go ahead and make your favorite from scratch but I am SO not normally a baker so I go with the prepackaged stuff)
1 box of brownie mix (pick your favorite kind)
a cup of mini marshmellows
oreos (your favorite kind)
a couple dizzles of caramel sauce
parchment paper lining a 8 x 8 pan

So first make sure the parchment paper fits in the pan and leave enough to go all the way up to the side (this is really a pain in the rear but it makes it SO easy to pull the bars out later)

preheat your oven to 350. Go ahead and prepare the cookie dough to the pkg instructions (or your recipe) and then spread into the bottom of the pan. This step is also a pain and I can promise it will not turn out "perfect" and it will spread out as it cooks so just do your best to spread it evenly.

Top this part with oreos

then sprinkle some of those yummy marshmellows

prepare the brownie mix

top the whole thing with the brownie mix (also a pain but it will also cook out)

Oh my goodness just grab me a spoon now right?

then drizzle some caramel across the top (totally forgot a pic of this... sorry I was drooling way too much)

place in oven for about 45 minutes and you can either a serve these hot with ice cream. They tend to be a little difficult to get out of the pan hot so I usually just wait until they cool really well and then cut them and serve then as actual bars.

I know not the most photogenic (I probably took them out a little early)

Enjoy :)))))

Melt in Your Mouth Ribs

Ok so this is hands down my easiest recipe... You can of course make it much more complicated but why add steps when easy is so so so good!

So this was pretty much handed down from my mom... it took some experimenting to find my favorite sauce and figuring out how "I" like it best.. my husband would rather have it off the grill but I dont have three hrs to watch ribs slow cook on a grill. So this is a brilliant meal for those moms on the go and the added perk is your house will smell oh so yummy when you get home from work!

Two ingredients (yep only TWO.. and one crock pot)

Grab your trusty crockpot.. I truly believe that a crockpot is a MUST HAVE in the kitchen.. at least in mine we definitely got our $15 out of it a million times over!
Get some yummy pork ribs (you can literally do this with ANY kind of ribs but those pictured were on sale and our usual!

and your favorite BBQ sauce (we like the sweet smokeyness of this kind)


This is the BEST part.. especially for someone like me who ALWAYS forgets to defrost things... throw in your ribs (thawed or frozen) in the crockpot

and slather on a cupish (depending on the amount of ribs) the sauce goes a long long way so don't add too much!) You can totally put all this together the night before throw it in the fridge and then just pop it in the crockpot in the morning!

Turn that sucker on low and let them cook for 8 hrs minimum.... the longer the better!

My favorite is to serve this with white rice, corn (or corn on the cob... oooo garlicy buttery grilled corn on the cob) and lima beans/butter beans... oh and some yummy bbq bread to help slather up the sauce!

Pair all that with some good old sweet tea and napkins and you have yourself a FEAST! PS be careful because there are bones within these ribs and once they cook the meat will separate from the ribs so be sure to pick the bones out before serving!

A Bacon-y mess

Tonight's dinner consisted of Meatloaf, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and some yummy rolls. I wish I had remembered to take a final picture but I was a bit rushed by my hunger pains as a late dinner was attempting to cook! But it was loved by all who ate it and I have a tiny sliver left for lunch tomorrow :)

So here is my thing with meatloaf. It is always given a bad wrap. I was one to always turn my nose away at it. It was always either too runny, too dry, too oniony .. too just yuck...But along comes the wonderful Ree Drummond and introduces bacon into the picture... and I mean add bacon to anything and it immediately sounds better. So it was worth a try and considering it takes the easiest of ingredients and time it works for my book. So I tried it a few weeks ago and even my 13 year old sister in law loved it... So I adapted my version from there..

Now this is why I love naptime and meals such as these. Jaxon napped today for two hrs. I was able to get SO much accomplished including completing these meals and stuffing them in the fridge to put in the over later.. oh and a huge pile of paperwork, phone calls, emails and even some school work.. oh and add in a shower and we are  right on track! did I mention I LOVE naptime!

SO I started  with green bean casserole.. I mean it is just so easy and just reminds me of yumminess.. So much better then plain ol green beans..

so it is your typical ingredients

2 cans of reduced sodium green beans (try to get reduced sodium anything.. you can control the salt and your life span at the same time!)
1 can lowfat/sodium cream of mushroom soup
3/4 cup of milk (any kind will do.. we happened to have whole)
a good bit of frenchs crispy onion things (sorry brain fart)
pepper to taste
and considering bacon was a big part of the meal, some nice bacon bits!

Add the soup soup  and milk together with pepper too.. stir until combined

add green beans (drained and rinsed) you can add a pinch of salt to this too if you want but not too much)

add a small palm full of bacon bits

Top with crispy onions (complete this step before putting in the oven, if you are just putting this together early and popping it in the fridge the onions will get soggy)

bake for 30ish minutes at 350!

On to the main act!!! MEATLOAF

Ok so this is so super simple you will smack yourself for not ever coming up with this on your own!

So your ingredients (my version.. to see Ree's version go here)
1 lb ground turkey
1 lb ground beef
4 eggs beaten
1/3 cup of parsley (I like fresh but settle for dried every now and again)
6 pieces of fresh white bread
1 cup of whole milk
1 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp of season all
1 tsp salt
8 strips of bacon (any kind will really do)
pepper to taste ( I do not recommend "tasting" raw meatloaf but I mean if you like pepper pile it on.. if not a pinch will do)

So I add my turkey and ground beef in a zip lock bag and mix it well together... it seems to become one yummy meat that way.

in a separate bowl add the bread in pretty pattern (not really necessary but I like to play with my food) and pour on the milk.. allow to soak thoroughly

combine ingredients into bowl with milk drunk bread... beaten eggs, meat, parm cheese, salt, other salt, pepper, parsley

then comes the fun part... take off those rings and dig those hands it.. You CANNOT make a good meatloaf without getting your hands dirty and involved :))))

form into a loaf on a broiler pan (basically a pan that will allow the meatloaf to cook and the fat to drain away.) Then comes the extra yummy part.. wait for it....

fit your slices of bacon across the meatloaf and tuck the edges  underneath.. I am so drooling!

top with your favorite sauce (it can be just plain ketchup)

mine is simply a cupish of ketchup, a good mound of brown sugar and a nice squirt of spicy mustard (like those measurement?) I have also thought of doing BBQ sauce in there but one of my dinner guests has a thing with BBQ sauce.. they are not friends....sad i know :(((((

At this point you can simply cover it with foil and place it in the fridge until you need to throw it in the oven.. It is so great to have recipes like this when you have a little one who likes to "help" in the kitchen .. which normally I don't mind but when there is raw meat and hot ovens involved I like him to have other things to do.. ie naptime!

But you place this loaf of meat in the oven at 350 for 1 1/2 to 2 hrs depending on how thick you make it (if you need it to cook quickly make it a thin loaf)



So ok this comes the time within the post that I would normally post the end pictures.. the final product... the finale... in this instance.. I fail... I fail miserably.. no final product photo... no putting it in the oven and miraculously poof I have yumminess... Not the case.. I didn't even get a photo of the plated version.. so sad cause it really is a yummy presentation of a meal...

I served these two dishes with some mashed potatoes and yeast rolls... You can do it with whatever but I find that meatloaf belongs with mashed potatoes. They are best friends.. one is not as good without the other!

Enjoy everyone :) More on my DIY projects to come tomorrow :))))