::Nutter Butter Balls::

Chocolatey, peanut buttery, salty & sweet. What more could you ask for? Except a lot of epinephrine if you have a peanut allergy. Good thing my father-in-law doesn’t need that because he loves these and I made them today for a late father’s day gift since we weren’t with him on Sunday. I know he doesn’t go on the internet, so it is safe to post this before we give them to him. The first time I made these I brought them over to my in-laws and ever since then Kenny always asks if I’ve brought him “a treat;” specifically meaning these. This time I made a double batch, so not only does Kenny have “a treat,” he has about 120 of them! Besides making them to just indulge in them yourself, they would make a great recipe for a holiday “cookie” exchange, baby shower, bridal shower, anniversary party, birthday party, wedding dessert bar, or whatever else you choose! Which leads me to my next thing. If you are having a party, shower, wedding dessert bar, etc, and are looking for someone to cater something like this; I would absolutely love to be your go-to person. Just let me know what you would want/like and I can give you ideas or you can just tell me what you want. If so, or if you know someone who would be interested, please email me at mfischerbsn@gmail.com.

::Nutter Butter Balls::

1 pkg Nutter Butter cookies

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese

Chocolate Almond Bark

Either by hand or in a food processor, crush the Nutter Butter cookies until finely crushed. Mix in cream cheese until well blended. Make into balls and dip in chocolate; tapping off excess. Store in fridge (if they last that long)!

The ingredients!

I just took a picture of what you would need to make a single batch, however, I made a double batch and just doubled everything except the almond bark. If you make a single batch use only half the bar of almond bark.
Love having the food processor for this part!

To finely crush!

Opening the second package of cookies to process!

The binding agent of the recipe.

Cream cheese all mixed in. I used my hands to mix in the cream cheese (as always, don't forget to wash your hands well before mixing!)

To me, this would be the binding agent ;)

Pan with wax paper.

I melted the chocolate in the microwave...just stir frequently and watch closely in order to prevent burning it.

I used a heaping teaspoon to make sure they were all about the same size...but that's just the OCD in me acting.

Oh balls!

With a heaping teaspoon a double batch makes about 120.

I had these on hand and thought it'd be cute to use these small baking cups to place them in. I thought of this after I rolled them all into balls; so if I were to do it again I'd make them bigger so they would fit better in these.

Variation: for ex: say for a baby boy shower you could use blue cups or just have the Nutter Butter Balls on a tray with blue sprinkles or for a pink and brown wedding for a dessert bar use the pink sprinkles or pink cups. Lots more variations!

I saved some of the crushed cookies to sprinkle on top.

Pink wedding colors? Baby shower for a girl?

So pretty!

Graduation? John Deere themed bday party (have some green and some with yellow)?

Back to the pink...but out of the limited selection of sprinkles I had, I think these is the cutest!

Red!

All the pink ones!

Big selection! Looks better (which is an understatement) in person!

::Prize #1::

Remember the post regarding the ::Giveaway:: about the Kuchen recipe? Now you are probably going to wish you would have participated after seeing one of the prizes I gave away! I will be sending the second winner's prize out tomorrow as I was contemplating what to giveaway! Anyways, congrats to one of the winners who received this cookbook!

I have mentioned before that church/small town cookbooks are my favorite! I have used alot of recipes from this cookbook, some of which I have posted (ie Betsey's Shells) and some of which I still need to post! And of course, some that I still need to try; trust me, I have a VERY LONG list of recipes (in general, not just from this cookbook) that I want to try!

Because of the low response of participants to the giveaway; I probably won't be doing one until I get some requests or until I get more followers! So, become a follower and refer your peeps to become a follower; then we can do giveaways galore!

One more thing...stay tuned for the revealing of the other prize that I gave away!

Thank you to everyone who follows my blog; you have no idea how much I enjoy doing this and how much I enjoy hearing the positive comments and that people have made the recipes!

Variation ::Blueberry Salad::

Happy Monday...hope everyone had a great weekend! Remember the ::Blueberry Salad:: recipe that I blogged about a while ago that called for 2 packages of black cherry jello? My step-mom made the ::Blueberry Salad:: for a fathers day dessert (my dad loves blueberries) and made it with sugar-free jello...and it turned out wonderful! So, just letting you all know that sugar-free jello does work with this recipe. And if you want to get even healthier, use fat-free cream cheese and fat free cool whip. Also, if you didn't see the comment that someone had left about the recipe, it was commented that grape jello is a great alternative to the black cherry. Stay tuned for more blog posts this evening...had a busy morning/afternoon and now am going to do some baking!

::Crunchy Bueno Tortilla::

Wow, whoever thought of the name for this recipe, it sure is a catchy one! Wait, whoever thought of this recipe, it's delicious! Okay, i'll stop tooting my own horn; I was the "whoever." I thought up of this recipe as I was shopping for groceries and made it tonight for supper. It has a mexican flare and has a little kick to it! I used a soft and crunchy tortilla so this recipe has a good combination of ingredients and textures. Hope that you give this a try...it's a good one! As always, Enjoy!

::Cunchy Bueno Tortilla::

1/2 of a red onion, diced

1 cup peppers (red, yellow, orange, green), diced

1 cup montery jack cheese

1 can black beans

1 can refried beans

1 can corn

1 sm. can chopped green chilis

2 heaping spoon-fulls sour cream

water (about 1/2-3/4 cup)

small tortillas

tostada shells

1-1.5 lb ground beef

1 jar cheese/queso dip

olive oil

salt, pepper

1 1/2 pkgs. taco seasoning

garlic salt

garlic powder

red pepper

oregano

chili powder

Toppings:

tomatoes, diced

lettuce, shredded

sour cream (for topping)

black olives, sliced

taco sauce or hot sauce

Dice onion and peppers. Add to pan and saute with olive oil and salt and pepper. Add ground beef and brown. Add water and taco seasoning and mix. Then stir in black beans, corn, green chilis. sour cream, and shredded cheese. Take seasonings (besides salt) and for each one sprinkle across the mixture 4 times (start out with 2 times and then increase as you like for spice), stir.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a cookie sheet place parchment paper, wax paper, or tin foil and spray with cooking spray.

Place as many tortillas as you can fit on the cookie sheet and spread refried beans over each tortilla. Then place meat mixture on top of that and spread (about a cup). Place a layer of the cheese/queso on top of that and place in oven to everything through. Remove from oven and place a crunchy tortilla on top. Then add whatever toppings you like; sour cream, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, olives, jalapenos, hot sauce, taco sauce, more cheese/queso, etc.

Slice & dice!

Did you know that you are suppose to add your ingredients to the pan and then add the olive oil over top? Instead of heating the olive oil and then add the ingredients?

I forgot about the peppers until I started sauteing the onions...oopsies!

I love cooking with peppers...they look so pretty....in a cooking sort of way! When I say one cup of peppers...it's total...NOT one cup of each.

Beans, beans, the magical fruit...

Add the ground beef to brown.

Soft & crunchy textures are what make this good.

So, when I made the first ones, I put the tostada on the refried beans and then did the rest and baked; this made the tostada pretty soggy. So that is why not to put the tostada on after it comes out of the oven and on top...

Taco mix.

Pre-seasoned mixture.

This is what I mean by two heaping spoonfuls (used a regular sized spoon that you eat with).

With the sour cream and the shredded cheese, it makes for a creamy meat mixture...

Like this!

The pics are kinda out of order, but you would have adde these in the meat mixture already!

All the seasonings and spices needed.

We didn't use hot salsa with this, but used taco sauce instead.

This is the queso that you place a layer of on top of the meat mixture.

Tomatoes for toppings.

Tortillas ready for the refried beans.

Layer of refried beans.

What not to do...doesn't leave the tostadas crunchy! So in place, imagine the layer of meat mixture and then a layer of the queso and then in they go to the oven!

More toppings

Another topping...

Layers...didn't skimp on this one!

This doesn't show it with the tostada where it's suppose to be. So once the tortilla, r.f.beans, meat mixture, and queso layer is out of the oven, place tostada on top and then the toppings! Enjoy!

::Caramel Puffcorn::

As they say, a way to a man's heart is through his stomach. If I get to my man's heart, with a snack, it's with this; caramel puffcorn. I got this recipe from my neighbor who had first made it for Jamyson, so does that mean she got to his heart first (hehehe jk)!? Anyways, I got this recipe from her after I found out this was his favorite! This is another addicting snack, so beware. With that, I end...Enjoy!

Note: you boil the first ingredients and then take off the heat and add 1/2 tsp. soda.

Don't forget this step, otherwise it won't get crunchy like it's suppose to.

I might have snatched a couple paper bags from Cash Wise to have on hand when I make this!

The ingredients! Simple!

In the melting pot...

Boil the ingredients and then add the baking soda. It will puff up a little bit and be more "creamy" looking. I usually put half the bag of puffcorn in the bottom of the paperbag, then add half the carmel sauce, then put the rest of the puffcorn on that, and lastly, the rest of the caramel sauce. THEN, shake what yo' mamma gave ya! ...then do the microwave step and pour onto the wax paper. PS-you stick the paper bag in the microwave.

Cooling on the waxed paper...it cools fast!
(it looks lighter than it really is in this picture)

Yummy goodness!