Inspired by 8th Graders

Every semester my 8th grade FACS students participate in the MTMS Dessert Challenge. For this "challenge" they get to pick out their own recipes (in groups of 4) and make them for a panel of judges (other teachers and principals). It's fun to watch them take such pride in making pies from scratch or creating a multi-layer cake. Grocery shopping for this event is a nightmare, but I usually do walk away with a few recipes I'd like to try again myself. This year's winner...Oreo Balls...from a group of 4 boys. I've never attempted to make cake balls...I hear it's quite complex. I had one (advanced) group of girls venture to make cake balls from a cake they made from scratch. This resulted in their group (and me) staying after school until 4:30 one day. And actually, their cake balls were quite ugly. The boys on the other hand, easily finished within the 44 minute class period. And they were good. I attempted to make the recipe for our staff cookie exchange. Don't tell anyone...but the boys' turned out much prettier than mine. But they do taste great! And they were considerably easier than other cake ball recipes.

Scrape off icing from a pack of oreos. Mix the icing with a package of cream cheese until fluffy and crush up the cookies in a ziploc bag. (Crush them up until they are crumbs. I left mine as chunky pieces and I regret it). Mix in the crumbs with the fluffy icing/cream cheese mixture and shape into balls. Chill them in the fridge for a bit.

Then dip in almond bark.

The dipping was difficult. There had to have been an easier way.

Back in the fridge until ready to serve. Perhaps I need to ask the 8th grade boys for some tips...

Find the recipe at cooks.com.

I Blame You, Sandra

Meet Sandra Lee. Sandra has quite the bio. And although I find her "semi-annoying" (see picture above...) I was willing to give her newest show "Sandra's Money Saving Meals" a chance. In theory, she's great. Easy, inexpensive recipes and she even gives "Round 2 Recipes" for some of the left-over ingredients. She's known for mixing store-bought items with some staple fresh ingredients for more convenient and realistic cooking. Again, great in theory.

I was excited to use recipes from her "Slow Cooker" episode because I feel like I need to utilize the slow cooker more. I don't really ever make a crock pot of soup or chili unless it's for a specific event. I always hear people rave about using their crock pot so I really thought this was my chance. Long story short...or shorter...the Banana Chocolate Crumbles were not worth the time and the Braised Beef Tacos were not very good at all. After cooking the meat for an hour more than she recommended it STILL did not "shred easily" like Sandra promised. In fact, I had to whoop out my electric knife to "carve" it up! I was flying along with my mini-chainsaw quite haphazardly when Matt gave me the ironic, "Slow down or you'll cut your finger off" warning.

You know where this is going.

Yep. I'm missing a hunk of my left middle finger. And somehow, I definitely blame you, Sandra.


No, not my actual finger. But my make-shift cast from a paper towel and athletic tape does look similar.

So I'm sorry to be a Negative Nancy...but I think I'm finished with Money-Saving Sandra.

Impromptu Breakfast Party

Matt gets home at around 4am from a trip to scrimmage Cowley County followed by a film break-down session with the other coaches. He then informs me that we're hosting the team film session at 10am. No problem. I really like having people over to our place...a little more than 6 hours notice would have been appreciated...but no problem. I wake up at 8 to head to Price Chopper and decide on a menu. Keeping it simple, orange juice and a couple different types of muffins. I used a mix that I've had in the pantry for awhile for Caramel Apple Muffins. I didn't get to try any of those but they looked and smelled good.
Then (keeping in the spirit of Fall) I used a recipe from allrecipes.com for Easy Pumpkin Muffins. These were SUPER easy and turned out to be a hit! I made 3 batches and they all vanished. What I didn't realize is that I guess I should have planned something for lunch too! Film session where they break-down film and talk about a SCRIMMAGE lasted over 3 hours. Guess this is serious business!!

EASY PUMPKIN MUFFINS
INGREDIENTS
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (I didn't use cloves because I didn't have any and I don't care for cloves).
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 12 cup muffin pan or line with paper liners.
In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves until smooth. Spoon equal amounts of batter into the prepared muffin cups.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.

What the heck is that?

"That" is my attempt at making potato cakes. What's a potato cake, you ask? It's what our family does with leftover mashed potatoes. "Our family" meaning everyone but me. This did not go well. I had tons of leftover mashed potatoes so I called Grandmama to get instructions and set out to broaden Matt's horizons with our family secret. Obviously I missed something somewhere because we just ended up with charcoaled potato blobs...and a ruined bowl of leftover mashed potatoes.

Ewww.