Cookies and Cream Puppy Chow

Cookies and Cream Puppy Chow

Delish, Easy, and Kid Approved!

Well last week was a whirl wind, we moved out of our house and into temporary housing while we await our new home being finished.  Right in the middle of all of this my oldest daughter had her very first Halloween party at gymnastics.  I needed to make something quick and easy that was kid approved and could be eaten in a gymnastics waiting room by kids 18 months to 3 years old with out too much of a mess.  That's easy right?  Well, after thinking about it and realizing I needed to also be able to make it with the few pots and pans that were not packed and ready to go to storage I thought about puppy chow.  This is a snack I never heard of before we moved to Nebraska but its one that my little one really likes, and it couldn't be any easier to make.  Basically its chex cereal, peanut butter, chocolate, and confectioner's sugar.  Since this was a special occasion,  I decided to kick it up with mini oreos making it cookies and cream puppy chow - a twist the kids and the movers liked (since I gave them the left overs I had not packaged for the kids).  I also liked this because I was able to make individual bags for this kids and label them with a peanut butter warning so if any kids were allergic parents/care givers could keep them away from them.  Which is so important when dealing with little ones.  Every packet I made went quickly and everyone asked me how I made it, a surprise since I assumed most people here already knew how.  Definitely recommended as a quick, sweet, picky food!

Here's how I did it:

Ingredients:

1 bag of milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

7 cups of corn chex

1 bag of mini oreos

1 cup powdered sugar

In a large saucepan melt your chocolate chips and peanut butter.  Pour your chex cereal and oreos into the chocolate and peanut butter mixture and stir coating everything.  In a large plastic bag pour your confectioner's sugar then dump your coated cereal and oreos into that bag.  Shake the bag liberally coating everything with the powdered sugar.  Store in a sealed container.

How easy is that?  For the holidays you could definitely add some red and green sugar sprinkles to your confectioner's sugar and serve this in a bowl at your party. 

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Pizza Dip

Super Easy, Super Fast

Pizza Dip

This week is the big move at our house, so needless to say very little has been coming out of my kitchen.  However, Saturday was game day and I needed to think of something that I could make that would be quick and easy, while also meeting the game day stamp of approval from my husband.  I decided that I would make a pizza dip rather than make dough and pull an entire pizza together.  This took me no time, in fact I would recommend it if you have somewhere to go but very little time to pull something together.  It was warm and delicious - both on game day as well as reheated the next day.  I served it with garlic toast slices, but it would be great with just crackers - which is how we had it as a left over.  If your family is a fan of pizza I think this would be a great dip to try for your next event.

Here's how I made it:

Ingredients:
1 brick of room temp cream cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Pepperoni Slices
1 - 16 oz package of mozzarella cheese
left over marinara sauce (or if you wanted a half jar of premade marinara sauce or pizza sauce)

Preheat your oven to 350.  In your mixer, cream your cream cheese, Parmesan cheese and mayonnaise.  Then spray a 9 inch pie dish and put your mixture across the bottom of the dish.  I then used two ladles of left over marinara sauce and poured it over the cream cheese mixture as a second level.  Finally, top with the cheese.  I added pepperoni because that is what my family enjoys, however you could add any pizza topping your family loves.  Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until bubbly and your cheese begins to golden.  Serve warm with bread, garlic toast, or crackers.

Enjoy!



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Game Day Snack - Buffalo Chicken Style Meatballs

Buffalo Chicken Style Meatballs

Fall Saturdays in my house are game day.  We enjoy watching college football and I like to plan a menu around it that my kids and husband will enjoy.  I got the idea for this game day treat on pinterest and tweaked it to make it something my family would eat.  We eat meatballs frequently, and they tend to be a favorite for my daughter so I thought this might be something we would all find delicious.  It was quick and easy - start to finish just about a half hour and clean up was also fast and minimal.  The other thing I liked about this was it was something I could easily prepare for a game day party appetizer with out breaking the bank or my back trying to impress.

Here's how I made these Buffalo Chicken Style Meatballs.

Level - Easy
Prep Time - 10 min
Cook Time - 20 min
Total Time - 30 min
Cook top on Medium Heat

1lb ground turkey (I used 94%)
1 egg
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 T course black pepper
2 T olive oil
1 cup Frank's Red Hot
Chunky blue cheese dressing for dipping(Opt)

In a medium sized mixing bowl combine ground turkey, egg, crumbled blue cheese, bread crumbs and pepper - although I typically add salt when making meatballs because these have blue cheese and Frank's Red Hot I decided not to use salt, both of those are pretty salty so I thought they would balance it out, for us it was perfect. I use my hands when mixing meatballs and for these I thought it especially helpful because I could make sure the blue cheese was spread out evenly.

In a medium size non stick skillet heat the olive oil while rolling your meatballs.  I made mine about an inch in diameter, but you could even go as small as bite size.  Place the meatballs in your hot pan and brown them.  Try to resist the temptation to turn them too soon so that they have a chance to brown nicely.

Once your meatballs have browned all around use a plastic spatula to move them around the pan while picking up any dripping you may have from browning them.  Add your Frank's Red Hot and stir over heat.  Make sure all your meatballs are coated and allow to simmer for about 3-5 minutes.

I set mine in a small serving dish with a side of chunky blue cheese for my husband and daughter to dip. 

The pros about this new game day treat: it was super easy, almost everyone I know likes buffalo seasoned anything, and the ground turkey made it a healthy alternative to fried chicken wings.  Surprisingly, my oldest daughter who is 19 months really enjoyed these and wasn't turned off by the spice.  It was easy to give her one with a little less sauce on it to try and for dipping ranch dressing would work as well.

Hope you enjoy this game day treat! Pin It