Marshmallow Popcorn

Marshmallow Popcorn


2 bags of microwave popcorn
3 cups of mini marshmallow
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
½ cup corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Mix popcorn and marshmallows together and set aside. Mix in heavy saucepan butter, sugar, and corn syrup. Bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour over popcorn and mix well. 

Lime Cheeseball

Ready In: 3 Hours 15 Minutes
Servings: 16
"One lime flavors a sweet cheese ball to make a very refreshing snack for a spring or summer get-together. Serve with mini graham crackers. "
Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp. Zest of a lime
Juice of one lime
1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs or chopped nuts

Directions:
1.In a medium bowl, mix the cream cheese, butter, confectioners' sugar, lime zest and juice using an electric mixer. Refrigerate for 3 hours.
2.When the mixture is completely chilled, shape into a ball and roll in graham cracker crumbs. Serve on a platter with your favorite crackers.

This makes a great dip. We had it with homemade waffle cones broken up. It would be good as a fruit dip as well.

Black Bean/corn Salad

I get recipes from the Food Network on my homepage, this one I gave a try. It was tasty! I had to tweak it a little, to use what I had on hand. They called it a Salad, but we found it most enjoyable eaten with tortilla chips.

Ingredients

• 2 cans black beans, drained, about 30 ounces
• 1 (15-ounce) can corn, drained
• 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1/4 cup diced green onions
• 1/4 cup diced pineapple
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro leaves
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
• 4 tablespoons sherry vinegar
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoons salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• Pinch ground cumin

Refridgerate for one hour before serving.

• I changed it up a little by using Apple Cider Vinegar (what I had).
• I added the juice of the whole lime
• I didnt have a jalapeno, but I think it would be tasty with a little fire.
• I added extra cilantro, because again, i like it.
• I omitted the green onion, and just used a tiny bit of yellow onion instead of the red. (what i had)
• I only used one tomato (steve's not such a fan)
• I only used a little bit of pepper, green and red.
• I used one can of black beans, and one of kidney. This was an accident, i didnt read the label, but it was tasty all the same.

So you can see, you can tweak this to your own liking. :)

pretzels

4 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 1/4 c warm water
4 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
oil
1/4 c baking soda
2 c hot water
coarse kosher salt

dissolve yeast, sugar and water- 5-10 minutes. add flour, sugar, salt; knead 7-8 minutes (or 3-5 in mixer bowl with bread bar). coat dough with oil (1 tbl is plenty). proof til double (i force it in the oven, 20 minutes 100-120F). roll pretzels pencil thin (at least).
mix soda and hot water in shallow dish. dip pretzels in soda water, and shape onto greased baking sheet. (this is what gives them that beautiful brown color)
sprinkle with coarse salt.
bake 8 minutes 45oF.

makes 12 mall-sized pretzels, or 24 small.
best fresh, they get stale quickly, and if you store them air-tight for too long, the salt gets mushy.

Elise's Granola bars

these are a huge hit at my house (and relatively healthy/high in fber & omega 3s--healthier than cookies at least)

in large mixing bowl combine:

1 c flour
4 c oatmeal (add another 1/2 c if you don't want nuts, chips, fruit, etc)
1/2 c milled flax
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

in microwaveable bowl melt:
1/3 c brown sugar
2/3 c marg/butter
1/2 c honey
(consider substituting maple syrup or molassas for part of this, haven't tried it yet, but sounds good)

stir well, then combine with dry ingredients. then add any or all of the following:

1-1 1/2 c mini choc chips (i use half mini m&m's)
1 c rough-chopped nuts (i like almonds)
1/2 c coconut (for chewiness)
1/2 c raisins
etc...

coat everything well. press into 9x13" pan and bake 20 minutes @ 325. after removing from oven, press down firmly (with large metal spoon) or they'll crumble. let cool at least 15 minutes, better if completely cool. cut and store or serve. (You were holding out on us so I swiped it from that other blog!)

Fast Amazing Pickle Dip

If you read Moms post on her blog, she mentioned our conversation that sparked the idea of this blog so I wanted to share our favorite dip recipe with everyone.

So we have all eaten the pickle dip mom picks up from the store. Well its not available in Reno so Mandy makes this amazing dip that I know Dad will love.

1/2 block of fat free cream cheese (use more cream cheese to make more dip)

Dill pickle juice

Chopped up dill pickles

(you can play with seasonings Garlic salt, onion powder etc.) I like it plain.

So soften the cream cheese in the microwave for a couple seconds, then pour in some pickle juice the more you pour the more it tastes like pickles and the thiner it gets, no exact measurement. Then throw in the chopped up pickles grab a bag of Ruffles, and BAM!! the best pickle dip ever and super fast.

-Adam/Mandy Fluke