Spiderweb Dip

Jeff and I went to a Halloween party last night. We were asked to bring an appetizer to share. I found this cute recipe on the Taste of Home website for Spiderweb Dip with Bat Tortilla Chips. It looked yummy and super easy!

Of course when it came time to make it, I realized I didn't have any bat cookie cutters, so I just made the spiderweb dip

and served it with regular, store bought tortilla chips.

Ingredients:

• 8-oz pkg cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 c salsa
• 1/2 c prepared guacamole
• 1-2 T sour cream

Directions:

Mix the cream cheese and the salsa together. Spread into a pie plate. Carefully spoon the guacamole into the center of the cream cheese mixture leaving about a one-inch border.

Put sour cream into a zippered bag. Snip corner of bag. Pipe sour cream in concentric circles.

Beginning with the center circle, gently pull a knife through circles toward center edge. Wipe knife clean. Repeat to complete spiderweb pattern.

I knew Jeff would love the cream cheese and salsa (two of his favorite things) part, but he usually says how much he dislikes guacamole,

so I wasn't sure how well this dip would go over with him.

He LOVED it!

He couldn't stop eating it or raving about it (even the guacamole part).

It was awesome. :-)

Happy Halloween, everyone!!

This post was written as an entry for a contest to win a Canon Rebel T2i camera. Hop on over to SITS for great blogging tips and more awesome Halloween crafts.

Spaghetti Pie

The other day, I wanted spaghetti pie for dinner. Naturally, I checked my blog for the recipe. It wasn't there! I couldn't believe I hadn't done a post on it yet. It's one of my all time faves! It's relatively easy and oh, so yummy!!

Click here for Printable Recipe.

Ingredients

• 6 oz spaghetti, cooked, drained, rinsed with cold water
• 1 large egg, separated
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1 1/4 cups spaghetti sauce
• 3/4 cup cottage cheese
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray. Combine spaghetti, egg white, and Parmesan in a medium bowl. Press mixture into pie plate to form a pie shell.

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat; add beef. Cook, stirring frequently, until beef is brown and crumbly; about 5 minutes. Stir in spaghetti sauce; simmer for 5 minutes. Set aside.

Combine cottage cheese, egg yolk, parsley and 1/2 cup mozzarella in a medium bowl. Spread mixture into spaghetti pie shell.

Spread meat sauce over cheese mixture.

Top with remaining mozzarella.

Cover pie with foil. Bake for 35 minutes, removing foil during the last 10 minutes of cooking. Let stand before serving.

Of course, I couldn't wait to eat this when it came out, so I forgot to take a picture of the final product before cutting and serving this delicious meal. You'll just have to imagine the above picture with the cheese all nice and melted. :-)

Puffed-Up Chocolate-Chip Cookies

Who doesn't love a good chocolate chip cookie? Some people may prefer to stick to a tried-and-true chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I like to experiment. When I received this recipe for Puffed-Up Chocolate-Chip Cookies from MyRecipes, I couldn't wait to try it out! Plus they are made with applesauce, so they're a little lighter when talking about fat content.

These turned out super good. They were a little more cake-like than most chocolate chip cookies, which made them almost melt in your mouth.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• Cooking spray

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl; stir well with a whisk.

Spoon applesauce into a fine sieve over a bowl; let stand 15 minutes. Discard liquid. Scrape drained applesauce into a large bowl. Add sugar and butter; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in vanilla and egg. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed until well-blended. Fold in chips.

Drop by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes or until almost set. Cool on pan 2 to 3 minutes or until firm. Remove cookies from pan; cool on wire racks.

Two-Bean Soup with Kale

I know, I know. It's been forever. Hopefully this is the beginning of a long stint in updating regularly.

Anyway, a week or so ago I received in my Inbox a recipe from MyRecipes.com. As you may remember, my husband loves himself a good soup. I asked him if he'd be willing to try a soup that had kale in it. We've been so.very.adventurous (*rolling eyes*) with our dining in the past that, yes, I did have to google kale. It sounded like something that might be good, and we are trying to make some changes and experiment more with good food, so I decided to take it for a whirl.

It was delicious! We couldn't stop eating it. If I'd known how yummy it would turn out, I probably would have doubled or tripled the batch to gobble up (and maybe save for later).


It was the perfect consistency - not too creamy, not too brothy.
It was colorful and had a delectable flavor.

The only complaint I got was the kale. Not the taste but the size. It was slightly bigger than the spoon. I know I could have cut it a little finer. Next time for sure!

Since I didn't really make any changes to this recipe, I'm not going to post it all here. You can click here to get the printable version from the MyRecipes website.

Hope you make this soup. You'll LOVE it!