Italian Potatoes

I love potatoes and will eat them anyway! This recipe is great for any addition to a dinner dish. You can even change the seasoning to match what you're making.

Ingredients:
Olive oil
Garlic
4-6 potatoes
Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper

Directions:
Peel and cut the potatoes into bite size pieces. I just slice the potatoes and then cut into quarters. Heat olive oil and medium heat. Add garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes. Add the potatoes. Sprinkle italian seasoning and salt and pepper over the potatoes. Cover and cook on low for 20 minutes stirring ocassionally until the potatoes are tender.

Pink Lemonade Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 box of pink lemonade cake mix (you can use strawberry as well and it would be just as good).
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, mix together cake mix and baking powder. Add eggs and oil and mix until blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Use a scooper, or spoon to make dough balls. Place on greased baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. After 5 minutes transfer to a cooling rack.

Crowd Pleasing Veggie Pasta Salad

I had a family get together and my cousin Angie asked if she could bring something. She brought a pasta salad. It was so good! Everyone munched it down and asked for any leftovers. It quickly became my favorite and it's so easy!

 

 



Ingredients:
1 pound pasta, any kind. I use rotini with the mixed colors.
Cheddar cheese cut into squares
Zesty Italian dressing 8 oz bottle
Various chopped veggies of your choice.
I used:
carrots
celery
broccoli
cucumbers
tomatoes
olives
green peppers

Directions:
Boil pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse the pasta with cold water. Add to bowl, mix with the veggies. Wait til just before serving to add the cheese and tomatoes so they don't get soggy. Add the full bottle of dressing for 1 pound of the pasta. Chill in the fridge. Serve when cold.

I keep this in the fridge for a few days and have it with different lunches and dinners. If the salad gets dry you can always add more dressing.

Homemade Oreo Cookies

For Valentine's Day I wanted to make a yummy treat. My friend Sandy and I made some yummy cookies. I went home and wanted more, but didn't have all of the ingredients we used at her house. She uses a Devil's Food Cake mix. I googled recipes for homemade ones and found THIS recipe. I loved how these turned out even more! I stacked them up and put them in a package and passed them out for Valentine's Day. Instead of the frosting recipe used on the site, I used Sandy's cream cheese frosting recipe.

Cookie Ingredients:
 1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 stick) of room temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

Cream Cheese Filling Ingredients:
1/2 cup of butter, softended
8 oz cream cheese
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl use an electric mixer to mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add the butter on a low speed, then add the egg. Mix until dough comes together in one big mass.
Use your hands to roll about one inch balls of dough. Place on a greased baking sheet about two inches apart. Slightly flatten the top. Bake for 9 minutes. Take out and let cool for five minutes. Then transfer cookies to a cooling rack.

To make the filling, mix the butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla together until smooth. Add more powdered sugar as needed to make it creamy.  Put in the refrigerator until chilled.

Once the cookies are cooled and the frosting is chilled you can assemble the cookies. Place about 1-2 teaspoons of frosting in the middle of one cookie. Use a knife to slightly spread the frosting out. Place another cookie on top to press the rest of the frosting around the cookie and they will be perfectly spread.