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Food, Sweet

Sand Pail Pudding Cake

Sand Pail Pudding Cake

When I was visiting Vermont, I spent a few nights with one of my best friends (Mallory), her husband, and three of the most adorable children you’ll ever meet. And lucky me, she had to make a pudding cake for her son’s seventh birthday.

I CANNOT believe he’s seven already! I remember holding him in my arms and he was so tiny. Now he’s running around the house, driving a four-wheeler, and probably a better swimmer than I am. He’ll have a job in no time.

Anyway, he apparently is like me, and would rather have vanilla than chocolate when it comes to desserts. He’s also not fond of cake, so a pudding pie was on the list of options for his birthday cake. And Mallory had a fantastic idea to make a sand cake. I also love putting it into a sand pail instead of little cups. And she used sour worms as sand worms. So cute!

Sand Pail Cake

Gather
1/4 cup of butter, room temperature
8 ounces of cream cheese
1 cup of powdered sugar
2 (3 1/2 ounce packages of vanilla instant pudding mix)
3 1/2 cups of milk
12 ounces of Cool Whip
14.3 ounces of Golden Oreo cookies, crushed finely
Sour candy worms

Mix butter, cream cheese, and sugar in a bowl. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix milk and pudding. Fold in Cool Whip. Combine the two  bowls by folding until combined.

In the pail, alternately layer cookies and pudding mixture (start with the cookie layer: three layers cookie, two layers pudding). Add worms every other layer. Top with worms and refrigerate until ready to eat.

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June 17, 2014 by
Food, Sweet

Campfire Pies

Easy Campfire Pie - Blueberry

I took a trip to Vermont this weekend to visit some family and somehow with trying to find somewhere to stay, I ended up camping with my grandparents, aunt, and uncle. Oh yeah, and the furry, friendly Miss Gracie who was trying to steal all our leftovers.

I was super impressed with myself, starting and maintaining a fire for us to roast marshmallows and make campfire pizzas (which I’ll blog about later for you all to learn about). And then my grandparents found out I had never had a campfire pie. It was shocking, to say the least. I’d heard about them for years, but never had one. I think it was assumed I had.

So out came the cast iron pie maker, butter, white bread, and pie filling. The key, my grandfather told me, was to use a round pie maker, not square. “Seals in the crust.”

A lot of patience, the right heat from the fire, and letting it cool just the right amount, and I took my first bite. So buttery, so good, and I still can’t believe I hadn’t tried this before. Perfect for family camping trips. Easy, too!

Campfire Pies – Blueberry

Gather
White bread
Butter, softened
1 can of blueberry pie filling

Heat the pie maker in the fire pit until hot.

Heavily butter two slices of white bread (only one side). Place a piece of bread butter-side down in the pie maker. Add three spoonfuls of pie filling on the bread, top with other piece of bread (butter side so it will touch the top of the pie maker. Close pie maker and place over fire.

Cook for 5 minutes, or until the crust is browned and the bread does not separate when opening the pie maker. Remove from maker, and let cool. (The inside will be SUPER hot.)

Enjoy!

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June 15, 2014 by
Food, Savory

Hearty Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Andy should be mad at me by now. Not once, but twice have I tried to sneak an excessive amount of vegetables into his dinner. This time, I really wasn’t even trying to hide them, that’s how bad it’s gotten.

I was lazy, I admit it, I could have pureed the pizza base so it was more of a sauce, but I didn’t want to. And to be fair, I think it actually added something to the pizza. I did, however, cover it with so much buffalo chicken, there was no way he could actually be mad. I even added ranch dressing, cheddar cheese, and an extra helping of hot sauce before popping it into the oven.

Hearty Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Pre-cooked pizza crust
1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded
1/2 cup of Frank’s Red Hot
1/4 cup of Peppercorn Ranch dressing
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
Base
1 carrot, diced
1 Beefsteak tomato, diced
1 small onion, diced
1/2 small green pepper, diced
1/2 cup of white wine
Preheat oven to 350. In a small sauce pan, cook carrots, tomato, onion, and green peppers on medium-high heat until onions are translucent and browned. Add white wine and cook until reduced down. Vegetables will be softened.
Pour mixture evenly over pizza dough.
In a bowl, mix chicken and 1/4 cup of hot sauce. Toss until combined. Evenly spread chicken over pizza. Top with shredded cheese. Pour ranch dressing over pizza in a spiral. Do the same with the hot sauce. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted, lightly browned.
Remove from oven, let cool, serve and enjoy.
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June 4, 2014 by
Food, Savory

Chicken Salad – Spicy

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Yummmm, Spicy Chicken Salad. I know what you’re thinking, “oh big surprise, something else with Frank’s Red Hot.” Yeah, I know, I have an addiction. Let’s just cut to the chase, chicken salad is delicious. Mostly, for me, because I can’t stand tuna salad. I had a bad experience in pre-school. I’ll never forget the day my mom made me take a bite of the lunchroom tuna salad sandwich before a doctor’s appointment. Let’s just say I stick to chicken from now on. And if I’m going to eat tuna, it’s fresh and stuffed into sushi.

So when I had made a crockpot full of buffalo chicken, I took it, diced up with some low fat mayo, garlic powder, and some fresh diced green peppers. A slice of American cheese and a toasted Arnold’s flatbread topped it off.

Spicy Chicken Salad

Gather
2 cups of cooked, diced chicken breast (cooked in Frank’s Red Hot sauce, or add 3 tablespoons of hot sauce to mixture)
1/2 cup of low fat mayo
1/2 tsp of garlic powder
1/4 of a green pepper, diced
American cheese slices
Arnold’s Flatbreads

Combine chicken, mayo, garlic powder, and green peppers in a bowl. Toast your flatbread. Spoon chicken mixture on toasted flatbread and top with a slice of American cheese.

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May 29, 2014 by