Treats and Eats

Oreo Balls

1 bar of cream cheese, Softened
18 ounces package of Oreo cookies, crushed
1 package of chocolate bark/ candy coating - regular or white

Mix cream cheese with electric mixer until fluffy. Add the crushed Oreos and beat on high until well mixed. Chill for at least 2 hours in the freezer. Then roll Oreo cookie mix into one inch Oreo Balls.

Dip the Oreo balls completely into the melted chocolate bark using tongs or a toothpick. Put on wax paper. After the Oreo balls harden, keep them in the refrigerator.

I first made these using the golden oreos and white chocolate and have never gone back to the original chocolate on chocolate you thought it would be intended for. I try and bake for my work team weekly and these were actually gone by 10 AM. Admittedly, they are amazing and I really stress, they are easy to make.

Plus what's great is that there's no baking, a bit of mess (which who doesn't like a little hands in the bowl action) and the results are near perfection for a three ingredient wonder dish. I invite you to try other cookies even, you may have to add cream cheese in for missing filling, but why not chocolate chip or even ginger snap? I"m sure there are ways you can use any cookie here. Experiment - that's the best part of cooking!!

Pot of Gold

Irish Stout Beef Stew

4 pounds beef chuck, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cans (6 ounces each) tomato paste
2 1/2 pounds new potatoes, scrubbed
2 medium onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium beef broth
1 can (14.9 ounces) Irish stout beer
10 garlic cloves, sliced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 boxes (10 ounces each) frozen baby peas, thawed


Preheat oven to 350. In a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot, toss beef with flour; stir in tomato paste. Add potatoes, onions, broth, beer, and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cover, and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Transfer pot to oven, and cook, covered, until meat is fork-tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Stir in peas, and season with salt and pepper.

It's obvious who's recipe this is. And before the world's start to rain me with insults for liking the woman - she's my idol. I love Martha Stewart. Economically speaking, I can appreciate any woman who's worked her way into that sort of net worth. I mean come on, do you see her success? It's staggering? And who goes to jail and comes out even better? HELLO!

She can cook, clean, sew, craft, wedding, she can do it all. And she knew the market and grabbed onto it with gusto. I can't rave about her enough. For the purposes of this food blog, I'll let the recipe speak for itself.

This soup S C R E A M S Autumn Dinner on the weekend. It requires nothing more than a fantastic soft French bread and REAL butter and of course, a beer. It's simple and warms you. I love soups of all times, but today's reason is that I'm home sick and in bed and need tos tay awake so I can sleep tonight. So here I am, blogging.

Enjoy it. It's a heart and soul warmer.

Base Sauce

Alfredo Sauce

1 Pint of Sour Cream (full fat only)
1 stick of butter (or margarine)
1/2 onion, minced/grated
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 bar of Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan.


Melt butter and saute onion and garlic until onion is clear. Break up cream cheese and stir until melted and combined. Add sour cream and parmesan. Serve over hot pasta.

This is the beginning sauce for alot of things. You can add cajun hot sauce or seasoning, a little shrimp, green & red bell pepper and it's fantastic over linguine. Add chicken and broccoli for another dish. I've used it over top of shrimp and scallops on shell pasta for a seafood alfredo. I've added it to tortellini with bacon and peas.

Because of the fat content, it tends to break up if you keep it overnight in the fridge, so always make it the day of. Margarine is perfectly fine in this dish, just salt it a bit less as butter is delicate and can take the salt.

Sides? Just about anything here. I throw it with garlic bread and salad on the table. Be wary, this stuff is pretty rich, it's diet unfriendly as all get out. But it's worth it, don't do the jar any more, it's too easy to turn this out in 30 minutes.

Stuffed Bell Pepper Casserole

2 chopped green bell peppers
1 small (6 oz) can of tomato sauce
1 large (15 oz) can of tomato sauce
1 lb of ground beef
1 cup of instant rice, uncooked

Mix ground beef and rice (both uncooked) along with green bell pepper and large can of tomato sauce in a greased 8x8 pyrex dish. Spread evenly through pan. Top with small can of tomato sauce. Cover with foil. Bake @ 350 degrees until cooked through - about 45 minutes.

This recipe is another one of mom's. Must go with canned corn and butter bread. Don't even consider cutting carbs here. It's the only way to go. It also lends well to making ahead and freezing before you cook it. It works with ground turkey too if you want to cut calories.

This is one of those dishes from my childhood that I remember was a great fall dish. I remember sitting in the corner of my parents kitchen, watching mom cook. I remember the little yellow pot that she had to put the corn on to cook. I remember the little vintage-y white pyrex dish that she cooked the casserole in.

Dad sometimes brought mom the bread from the Mrs. Baird's store. Rianbow bread was a special thing. Forget flowers, that stuff was tops. We'd put margarine on that and rock out. On "special" occasions, we'd put garlic powder on and microwave the bread. As a middle class kid, that was pretty cool to us.

That yellow pan for corn. Mom got rid of it later. That was one of the pans I wanted when she goes to the big kitchen in the sky. I miss it already, it had a wobbly handle, but fit perfectly on the smaller burner. Shame it's gone.

Oh my my....Spasketti Pie

New York Spaghetti Pie

8 oz Spaghetti
2 eggs
1/4c grated Parmesan Cheese
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/2c chopped green bell pepper
1/3c chopped onion
1 lb. Italian Bulk Sausage
1 6oz can of Tomato Paste
1 c Water
4 oz sliced mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Break spaghetti in half and cook in salted water until barely tender. Beat eggs, add parmesan, toss with spaghetti. Put the spaghetti mixture in greasted 10-inch pie pan. Melt butter or margarine in a medium skillet; add green pepper and onion, saute for 5-7 minutes. Do not brown. Add sour cream to vegetables, mix and spoon over spaghetti. Cook sausage; drain off grease. Add tomato paste mixed with water. Simmer for 10 minutes. Spoon tomato sauce over sour cream mixture. Bake for 25 minutes. Cut cheese in strips and arrange over top. Return to oven for 3 to 4 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Note: Make two and freeze one.

*Cook spaghetti now or use spaghetti you have prepared and frozen.
Serves 6

Another Mom recipe. The picture this time is the actual page of the book that my mother has been cooking out of for years. I've already put dibs on this piece of literature when she dies. It's a nameless cookbook, but several of her dishes come from this book.

I have a fond memory of my mother putting taco seasoning into this dish on accident. I never read the recipe, but I don't even know why should would have been doing that. I remember there being a spatula and lots of giggling involved in the process. and her trademark "Ohhh, Lesley...look what I didddddd". Messing up recipes counts as cooking, the memories are classics for me.

No set sides for this one, we didn't have it a ton, as you can see it required quite a bit of prep. But if it were mine now, I'd say salad and bread. It's fantastically vintage housewife food - everything fits nicely into the pie and you can get yourself together just in your best dress prior to hubby getting home! ;)

My Ultimate Comfort Food

Homemade Mac & Cheese

4 Cups Cheddar Cheese
1 Stick of Margarine or Butter
1 Can of Evaporated Milk
1 bag of pasta (small shells preferred)
Splash of Milk

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain. Turn heat to simmer and add in butter, milk and then stir in cheese until it melts. Toss pasta on top and continue to stir and add milk to adjust until desired consistency is achieved.

That's it. You can read about 1,000 other recipes for macaroni and cheese. You can make bechamel sauce bases until your hearts content. You can stir and whisk and add breadcrumbs and make. Not for me, nope, nuh-uh, ain't gonna do it. This is the easiest version I have come up with entirely on my own, and it works.

This is my go-t0 food. Stressed? Here's comfort in a bowl. For those of you who follow me personally, after the apartment fire, we were at the table eating this and corn dogs. I add pepper to this and on a winter's day with a good movie and a puppy beside me, I can't ask for a better time to relax. It takes minutes and impresses every time.

As an FFG (Former Fat Girl), I used to consume this in quantities that I'm a bit embarrassed to admit to. On the cheat days that I do allow myself, this would be at the top of the list. It's far from dietetic, but it can be leaps and bounds above the blue box stuff.

It's also extremely flexible. I've added bacon, carmelized onions and blue cheese. I've put in artichokes and sundried tomatoes. You like swiss? Try it. I try to keep the cheddar to "other cheese" ratio to half and half, most cheeses just don't melt as nicely. Gruyere is good, a smack of brie, try it. You can't hurt it badly by adding, just make sure that you don't take away the other fats.

Unfortunately this doesn't keep as well. As with anything with this much "love" (known to non-foodies as butters, creams and cheeses) in it, it tends to congeal up into a mess. Will I eat it the next day ? Yes! It makes alot, so assemble a crowd. It's great for Thanksgiving with some of those "fancy breadcrumbs" thrown on top - no one will know you didn't take all day. Roux schmoo, this is easy stuff.

Papri-what?

Chicken Paprikash

2 green bell peppers, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 T. flour
3 cups of sour cream
1 stick of butter or margarine
2 T. garlic, minced
1 whole chicken
1 large can of whole tomatoes (32 oz)
1 package of spiral noodles, cooked
salt, pepper, paprika

Boil entire chicken until it's cooked through. Remove all meat and discard carcass. Saute garlic, bell peppers and onions in butter. Add flour to thicken. Add tomatoes with juice, breaking up with spoon. Add sour cream, salt, pepper and about a tablespoon of paprika. Stir until combined and add noodles. Serve hot!

It's said Chicken...Pop-Ree-Kosh. It's another recipe from mum, and my favorite go-to for a crowd pleaser that isn't your basic spaghetti or chili. Everyone tends to love it - hello sour cream and butter - and it's easy on the wallet as well. If you want to make it easier, grab a rotisserie chicken or even just grill up some chicken breasts. Get canned diced tomatoes instead of whole. They also sell chopped onions and green bell peppers in your freezer section, so at some point this entire dish becomes dump into pot, stir, cook, eat.

Out of respect for mum, I'm going to give you the recipe as it should be...and then tell you how I might make it easier now. I have come to appreciate very much the long handed method of cooking certain dishes, but when applicable, the fast method is just easier, you might lose some pride, but it's on the table and still fabulous.

This dish doesn't really have a side dish to it, we throw a little bread and salad on the table and call it an evening. But it does highlight one of my mom's favorite qualities about a dish - the one pot use. I am a big pot user - okay Clintonites, calm it down - I love dishes that require a little bit of a stove challenge. This is relatively easy if you do the footwork (or the easy route!) on the chicken and noodles and set it aside and then make the sauce.

This dish reminds me of the coming of fall, it's fabulously warm and rich. Don't expect to eat tons of it, and honestly, it's not a great leftover item. The sour cream and butter tend to separate. It's not terrible, but don't expect the same product to come out. It's sorta like heated up boxed macaroni and cheese the next day - not the same. Okay, so it's rare that I want to save that stuff, but every now and again....

One of My First Recipes

Chicken & Rice

1 can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can of Chicken and Rice Soup
2 "cans worth" of water
2 "cans worth" of instant rice
4 Bone In Chicken Thighs - 2 skin on, 2 skin off.

Mix first four ingredients in 9x13 Pyrex dish. Put the skin on thighs in opposite corners and put skin off thighs in remaining corners. Place foil on pan. Bake at 400 for 45 -1 hour until chicken is done.

This is one of my favorite recipes from my mum. Upon giving it out, she'll also tell you that they used water because they were poor, and if you really want a good one, replace the water with milk and the chicken with pork chops. That works too. Oddly enough, I've never had this one with pork chops.

You'll learn quickly through my blog here that I love, live, breathe and of course, eat, food. So I figured why not devote a huge portion of my blogging to another passion entirely.
I have several blogs:
http://randomthoughtsofananalyticalmind.blogspot.com/ - personal
http://latoomuchfortheman.blogspot.com/ - humor
http://prettysmartphotography.blogspot.com/ - my budding almost business
and even...
http://ralphthomas.blogspot.com/ - yes, my dog.

But I digress, you'll learn about me that when it's my mum's recipe, there's almost always a preset side dish to go with it. This one is a can (must be can) of french cut green beans. Over the years this has attempted to get a dish of frozen peas, or even canned peas. But it's not right. And don't get regular green beans either. It doesn't work, they don't stick on the fork with the rice well. It's wrong on many levels.

So there's your first recipe. Get to getting on it.

Start your Whisks...

Welcome kitchen geeks!

I have a hands down sickness for eating and cooking and baking and chopping and...you get me. I have decided to start this at the urging of several friends who have asked for recipes and figured...well, why not. I like to write and am finding alot of fun sharing stuff with the big ol' world out there. Who they aren, I'm unsure, but maybe one person wants a recipe and I helped. Lord knows, the internet has given me plenty by way of recipes!

I've been a big cook since as far back as I can remember. I grew up middle class, with a mom who had a fantastic talent to cook and "after she had kids, the house plants died and she didn't have tons of time to make all day spaghetti sauce any more."....enter me.

I've gotten my hands on her recipes as well as many others along the way. Growing up in a huge city, I have gotten the taste for Vietnamese, Indian, Thai, Mexican, Greek, even Bosnian. You name it. I've learned techniques and spices and seasonings. These dishes not only have added a great level to my cooking, but they've also helped me learn that there's a bigger world than the fantastic home cooking that I grew up on.

I will admit my food tends to never be "hoity toity". I can make it look that way, but to me, it's like what people in the wedding cake business tend to struggle with. It can look absolutely beautiful, but it HAS to taste good. So with that said, I can serve up anything on a leaf of endive or on a perfectly toasted canape base, but unless that morsel tastes great, I'm just not into it.

Let's not forget one big thing to me, I'm cheap and impatient. I'm not into mushrooms you can only find growing on the side of a mountain in China and mortgage your house for. I'm also into using convenience products when it's not hurting the overall dish. I'm not asking you to spend all day unless it's totally worth it and while I'm a self professed, self indulgent gadget junkie (My name is Lesley and yes, I'm beverage and chocolate fountain owner...) I also feel like anyone can get by on a good skillet, pot and a knife.

There's the whole underlying need for me to "feed the masses". Growing up, no matter what, when we did have guests over, all stops were pulled out and we made sure that there was a feast on the table. Cook like you have 20 people coming when there is only 10 invited. It's how I learned to love people, by feeding them. So here's to feeding the masses in a new conduit, welcome to my blog.