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Archive for the ‘Quick and Easy’ Category

Captain Cavedweller is once again my hero.

I came home last night to find he had been to the store and found these.

The monster of all marshmallows.

I kid you not, these things are huge!

So after seeing the size of these babies, my mind immediately jumped to S’mores. They are marvelous with regular size marshmallows. How much better would they be with gigantic puffs of fluffy sweetness?

The answer…

So good I nearly melted in a puddle. Oh. My. Goodness.

S’mores are made by sandwiching a toasted marshmallow and a piece of chocolate in between two graham crackers. The name of the treat comes from the two words “some more,” clearly combined because people often wanted to have at least a second serving after having one s’more. The treat was developed by campers in the early part of the 20th century, although the exact date or place is unknown. The first recipe was published in 1927 in the Girl Scout Handbook.

If you’ve never made S’mores, give it a whirl. Especially if you can snag a bag of these over-sized marshmallows! Captain Cavedweller found these at Wal-Mart.

Start with your basic three ingredients for S'mores - marshmallows, a chocolate bar and graham crackers.

Toast your marshmallow until the inside is oozy and the outside is toasty brown. You don't even need a campfire. Captain Cavedweller toasted these on the barbecue.

Line up your chocolate on a graham cracker.

Top with your toasted puff of liquid sweet bliss, aka marshmallow. Place another graham cracker on top.

Enjoy!

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The rest of this week, I’ll be posting Fourth of July party tips and ideas. You may even get a recipe or two if you stick around.

Today, I wanted to post a few cute and fun ideas I came across last week in my travels. Please keep in mind Hubby and I were on vacation and I got to go to at least 75 stores which is about 74 more than I usually do a month let alone a week so I don’t remember exactly where I found what.

This was one of the first things I found and had to have. I think I grabbed it at one of those outlet mall kitchen stores. I think. It is silicone and works really slick. I strongly advise against putting it in the dishwasher. Even the top rack warped it. Still makes the mold just fine, but it doesn’t sit flat or straight.

I used juice to make the cubes. That way when added to punch or pop on a hot day, you aren’t diluting the liquid. Freeze fun colors like red juice or blue Kool-Aid for an unexpected patriot pop of color.

You can also use this mold for jello, mints, chocolate  – all sorts of fun and entertaining items. I was most entertained by the frozen juice stars. They were pretty yummy.

This one is easy – you can get patriotic cupcake papers just about everywhere right now. They are in grocery stores, departments stores, kitchen stores. I think I got these at Wal-mart last year.

The point of all this rambling is do something fun with these besides cupcakes. Arrange them on a serving tray and fill with a patriotic snack mix like Chex Mix with red, white and blue M&Ms. Use them to hold solid berries like blueberries or strawberries. Raspberries can get a little smooshy on you in the heat. Fill them with grapes, nuts, bits of fresh veggies. Put battery-operated tea lights in them and place them around for decorations on your buffet table. Place a Tostito’s scoops chip in each one and fill with cheese, taco-seasoned meat and olives. Put a brownie bite inside and finish with a dollop of whipped cream (use Reddi-Whip in the heat to keep a swirled shape the longest.)

I loved this mini patriotic pinwheels. What I’m going to do with them exactly I don’t know, but the possibilities are so exciting! You could tuck them in a salad or dessert for a fun accent. Put a piece of rectangular florist foam in a long container, cover the top with moss, then poke in stems of red,white and blue flowers and use these little gems for a final accent for your centerpiece. Use them to mark dishes that are extra hot or spicy.

Think outside the box and have fun with your Fourth of July entertaining. You’ll be a savvy entertaining!

She Who Needs to Get Crackin’ on Her Own Fourth of July Buffet Plans

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It’s all about lasagna today on Savvy Entertaining!This lasagna recipe is so easy and simple not to mention quite tasty. For a lazy slug like me, it is the perfect combination in making it look like I went to a lot of work when actually I didn’t.

A few other things to note about this lasagna – I make it in bread pans. Hubby and I eat one and freeze the other (because it makes two) but you could make it in a regular lasagna or casserole pan. This recipe also contains no tomatoes or tomato sauce.

I am about to share a little known fact, so hold on to your hats… I am allergic to processed tomatoes. A lot allergic. So that means no tomato sauce, paste, canned tomatoes, cooked tomatoes. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

There are many, many things I love to eat that involve processed tomatoes. So I have learned over the years to adjust my recipes and use alternate ingredients. It has been an interesting adventure in trial and error, for sure! But this recipe is one I’ve made many times and is always good.

So enjoy!

Ingredients for Easy Lasagna

Brown hamburger and sausage.

Stir up the cheese mix.

Pour Alfredo sauce into the bottom of a pan. I spray mine with non-stick cooking spray first.

Start your layers with a noodle. I use the kind you do not have to cook because they go straight from the box into the pan.

Mix your cooked meat with the cheese and layer over noodles.

Continue layering sauce, noodles, meat mix and shredded cheese.

Finish with a final layer of cheese and bake at 375 degrees for about 50 minutes.

The edges will be golden brown and bubbly when cooked.

Piping hot, sprinkled with more cheese and ready to be devoured. Yum!

Easy Alfredo Lasagna

1 box of lasagna noodles (the kind you do not have to boil first)

16 ounce container of ricotta cheese

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan

2 eggs

1 pound ground beef

1 package of ground sausage

salt

seasonings

1 jar Alfredo sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine ground beef and sausage with your choice of seasoning and cook over medium heat until brown.  While it is cooking, mix together ricotta and Parmesan with eggs. Stir until blended, set aside.

When the meat is browned, drain as much grease as possible from it before stirring into egg and cheese mixture.

Spray a bread pan (or casserole if you want to make one big pan instead of two smaller pans) with non-stick cooking spray. Pour in enough sauce to cover the bottom of the pan, layer in a noodle. In the bread pan, one noodle fills the bottom and makes layering a snap.

Next, layer on meat mixture and top with shredded mozzarella. Repeat layering process with sauce, noodle, meat and cheese. Pour a final layer of sauce and then top off with cheese. Cover with foil and bake about 35 minutes, until mixture is bubbly, then remove foil and bake another 10-15 minutes until cheese is melted and edges are brown.

Remove from oven, let cool a few minutes before plating. Serve with warm, crusty bread and a green salad for a lovely and simple meal!

She Who Can’t Eat Cooked Tomatoes

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Hawaiian Hoagie

On evenings when I’m tired, work late or just feel like a lazy slug (which oddly enough, happens quite a bit) I like to make something fast and easy for dinner. Even better, I like Captain Cavedweller to make something fast for dinner.

Those hoagie sandwiches are filling and tasty and because they are toasted, nice and warm on a cool evening.

And simple enough that anyone can make them. Really!

You can literally be eating your dinner in less than 10 minutes. Serve with a side of cottage cheese and fruit if you are inclined for a healthy choice or a plate full of crunchy chips if you are inclined to go the more flavorful salt-packed route.

Ingredients for Hawaiian Hoagies

Put a light layer of mayo on your hoagie. Or not. You could also put on pizza sauce if you so desired.

Layer on some Canadian Bacon.

Sprinkle on some shredded mozzarella cheese.

Toast until the cheese is lightly browned and extra flavorful then add on your pineapple.

Top with some sliced black olives.

Enjoy!

Hawaiian Hoagie

Mayo

Shredded Mozzarella

Hoagie Rolls

Canadian Bacon

Olives

Pineapple

How much of each ingredient is really dependent on how many sandwiches you are making and how much stuff you want on each one. For me, I use three slices of Canadian bacon and one pineapple ring with a sprinkling of cheese. Hubby’s sandwich on the other hand features eight slices of bacon, three pineapple rings and we won’t discuss the cheese. At all.

Make it however you like and enjoy!

She Who Likes Easy Dinners

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