Creamy Deviled Eggs

A few weeks ago while my Brad and I were sitting together, cuddling and enjoying The Bachelor, Brad told me he really liked deviled eggs. I was shocked by this. Although we are fast approaching our 8th wedding anniversary, this is one thing I did not know about my man. In some small, but significant way, I was greatly affected by this new revelation. I thought "How could I not know after 8 years of marriage that my Brad loves deviled eggs so much?" AND I have never made them for him! I genuinely felt bad. What kind of a wife was I? So...I set out to redeem myself. Though I don't share Brad's love for deviled eggs, I made sure that the next day when he walked in the door from work that I had a plate of homemade deviled eggs waiting for him. After watching him eat a few and feeling satisifed that he was satisfied, I was feeling much better about things. Seems dumb, I know, but my Brad works hard for us and so endulging him with his favorite foods, is the very least I can do.

I had never made deviled eggs before but trust Martha so knew that if I made her deviled eggs, I'd likely be safe. They were quite finicky to make I thought. Just peeling the eggs and cutting them all whilst trying to keep them intact was a little tricky, but well worth it. Brad gave them his seal of approval and so I decided this recipe is a keeper.

Creamy Deviled Eggs
Martha Stewart





Ingredients
8 large eggs
1/3 cup light mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon white-wine vinegar
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce, such as Tabasco
Coarse salt and ground pepper
Paprika, for garnish
Directions

1.Place eggs in a medium saucepan; add cold water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a rolling boil. Remove pan from heat; cover, and let stand 13 minutes. Drain, and run eggs under cold water to cool them.

2.Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix together mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, shallot, and hot sauce.

3.Peel eggs, and halve lengthwise; remove yolks, leaving whites intact. Transfer yolks to bowl with mayonnaise mixture, and season with salt and pepper. Mash with a fork until smooth.

4.Mound yolk mixture into whites. Sprinkle with paprika just before serving, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 8 hours.

Cheddar Cheese Ball

Another cheese ball recipe. This is the very first one I ever made. Given that it was from America's Test Kitchen, it is no wonder it was so good. Once again oh so easy and delicious. You could make any additions such as bacon, fresh herbs etc to change this recipe up. I think the next time I make one of these I'll add some bacon to it. Yummmm!

Cheddar Cheese Ball
America's Test Kitchen

1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
1 tablespoon worchestire sauce
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 cups of grated cheddar cheese

1.In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese, mayonnaise, worchestire sauce, and garlic until smooth. Once smooth, add cheddar cheese and continue to blend until all ingredients are well incorporated. Wrap the mixture in some clear plastic wrap and mold into a rough ball shape. Refrigerate 6 to 8 hours, or overnight. Once refrigerated, unwrap the ball and re-shape to make a neat ball. Roll the ball in sliced almonds.

Let the ball sit out for 15 minutes before serving so that it has enough time to soften a little.

Enjoy!

Garlic Cheese Dip Ball

Let me just say right now that I will NEVER buy another dip ball from the store again! I made my first dip ball a few weeks ago when my sister in law Shanna was moving into her house for all the helpers to snack on. I was blown away by how fast and easy it was. It literally took me 10 minutes to throw this together and I was done. Minus the sliced almonds, I even had all the ingredients on hand at home - a HUGE plus! This is the second cheese ball recipe I tried. I'll pull the other one out of my cookbook and will post it soon. I made this one for the baby shower. Being a lover of ranch, cheese and garlic I knew I'd love this one. It did not disappoint me.

Garlic Cheese Dip Ball


2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter melted
1 tablespoon prepared Dijon-style mustard
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 (1 ounce) package ranch dressing mix

1.In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese, butter, Dijon-style mustard, garlic and ranch dressing mix. Wrap the mixture in some clear plastic wrap and mold into a rough ball shape. Refrigerate 6 to 8 hours, or overnight. Once refrigerated, unwrap the ball and re-shape to make a neat ball. Roll the ball in sliced almonds.

Let the ball sit out for 15 minutes before serving so that it has enough time to soften a little.

Enjoy!

Ranch Chicken Appetizers

This recipe is one I came up with after making the tomato-basil appetizers I posted for Memorial Day. I really think that using the Pillsbury biscuits in this manner makes the possibilities for this appetizer endless. Use your imagination. I think that BBQ chicken appetizers would be great too. Hmmmm the wheels are spinning! I'll say it again - these are so easy to make and are simply delicious! These will have your guests thinking you slaved in the kitchen for hours when in fact it was just minutes!

Ranch Chicken Appetizers
By Nat


INGREDIENTS
1 Rotisserie chicken cut into small pieces
1/4 cup or more or less of ranch dressing (suit your own tastes)
1/2 cup of grated mozzarella cheese
2 cans (7.5 oz) Pillsbury® Grand buttermilk biscuits
finely shredded Parmesan cheese for sprinkling on top of appetizer

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Spray 20 mini muffin cups with cooking spray. In medium bowl, mix chopped chicken, ranch dressing and mozzarella cheese.
2. Separate dough into 10 biscuits. Separate each biscuit into 2 rounds. Slightly roll out each round to flatten a little. Press 1 round in bottom and up side of each mini muffin cup. Spoon about 2 teaspoons chicken filling into each cup; press in lightly. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
3. Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 15 minutes or until golden brown on top. Serve warm.

Tomato-Pesto Appetizers - Cute AND delicious

I love to bake and cook but there are just some things that I enjoy making more than others. I had SO much fun making these cute little appetizers on Monday for a Memorial Day family BBQ we attended. Every year on Memorial Day our Grandma or Great-Grandma Welch has a BBQ at her house and everyone brings food to share. We sit around and visit and enjoy watching the big and little kids play. I am hosting a baby shower this coming Saturday and needed one more savory appetizer for my menu and thought this would be a great time to test out this new recipe before I made it for my shower guests. Not only were these little babies cute but they were also very tasty. The smell of the fresh tomatoes and the basil pesto was simply divine.

For mothers day my hubby bought me a 5 piece Martha Stewart 5-Piece Cake and Cupcake Carrier. I was so thrilled because I had actually bought one of these for my mother in law a while back and wanted one ever since. I had been so excited to try out the mini muffin tin and this recipe gave me just one more reason to use it.


Tomato-Pesto Appetizers


Pillsbury.com

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons basil pesto
3/4 cup diced seeded tomato
2 tablespoons finely shredded mozzarella cheese
1 can (7.5 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated tender layer or buttermilk biscuits
2 tablespoons finely shredded Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Spray 20 mini muffin cups with cooking spray. In medium bowl, mix pesto, tomato and mozzarella cheese.
2. Separate dough into 10 biscuits. Separate each biscuit into 2 rounds. Press 1 round in bottom and up side of each mini muffin cup. Spoon about 2 teaspoons tomato-pesto filling into each cup; press in lightly. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.



3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until biscuit edges are golden brown. I found that I had to bake mine for at least 15 minutes so just be mindful of that.