Cheese Plate

When I think of winter, I think of long naps and lots of snacks!! One of my favorite kinds of snacks is a cheese plate!! Gavin and I made one for games at Christmas with my family. We make one when we curl up on the couch with a good book or movie. I also like to make one to snack on while I make dinner. I just wanted to share what goes on my cheese plate with you!

• Apples

  • red delicious

  • granny smith

• Red, seedless grapes

• Dried apricots

• Cheese

  • Aged Gouda or Smoked Gouda

  • Goat Cheese

  • Port wine ball or sharp cheddar ball

  • Cotswold

• Crackers

  • Firehook Sea Salt Baked Crackers

  • Capeacho’s Water Crackers

Happy eating and enjoy!! I would love to hear your favorite way to make a cheese plate! Let me know what I can add to mine!

Winter Cookie - Russian Teacakes

These little delights are perfect for the winter season! I bake these cookies every year [ by request from my dad :)] We got this recipe from Betty Crocker’s Cookie Book and are called Russian Teacakes.

Here is the recipe so you can make your own!

Ingredients

1 cup margarine or butter softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/4 cups all- purpose flour ( do not use self-rising flour in this recipe)

1/4 teaspoon of salt

3/4 cup finely chopped nuts (optional - I don’t put nuts in mine)

3/4 powdered sugar or colored sugar

Directions

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix 1 cup of margarine , 1/2 cup powered sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Stir in flour, salt, (and nuts if you choose). Shape dough into 1- inch balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until set but not brown, 8-9 minutes. (In my oven, 7 minutes is the perfect time for my cookies.) Pour 3/4 powdered sugar into a bowl. Roll balls in powdered sugar while they are still warm; cool. Roll in powdered sugar again. Eat now and enjoy or store for later!

My Top Three Snacks with Fruit

Now, I say snacks with fruit because I don't feel like I can say, "fruit snacks," because these aren't necessarily the healthiest, but they are some of the tastiest!! 

This first one I saw on Pinterest from Stockpilingmoms.com and it was called Apple Cookies! 

Directions:

1. Cut the apple into slices.
2. Spread peanut butter on each slice.
3. Place the chocolate chips onto each slice.
4. Eat and say yum! 

This next one I do not just use as a snack, I eat this for breakfast!! It's just like a standard parfait.   

Directions

Directions

1. Pour into bowl 'fruit and nut whole grain granola' just enough to cover the bottom. I use granola cereal that has raisins and slivered almonds!
2. Then I add 3 oz of strawberry yogurt. Honestly, use as much or as little as you want. I sometimes use the entire 6oz cup of yogurt depending how hungry I am!!
3. Then I pour more granola to make one layer on the top. 
4. Sometimes I add a little milk as well. This is totally optional of course. The consistency of the parfait is completely up to you! I like to make it where the granola and yogurt are even. (I don't want more granola than yogurt or vice versa but that's just me :) I also like to mix my yogurt with the granola before adding the berries!! )
5. Then I add strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and sometimes blueberries!
6. Eat and enjoy! 

Be careful with this next one....it can be addicting lol!! I saw this on Pinterest. It's from Buzzfeed.com called 29 Life-changing Quesadillas You Need To Know About. They got this from BudgetBytes. I will definitely be trying more quesadillas from this article in the future!! 

Directions

1. Spread peanut butter over an entire flour tortilla. (I am using the small one if it's just for me and Gavin. If you are making this snack for more people, or you just can't get enough, then the large size works just as well!!!)
2. Place sliced banana onto one side of the tortilla.
3. Sprinkle chocolate chips amongst the banana slices. 
4. Fold the side with just the peanut butter on top of the bananas and chocolate chips. 
5. On low-medium heat, warm the banana tortilla in a skillet.  Once a little brown and crispy, flip and warm other side. Once a little brown and crispy, and all the goodness inside has melted, it's ready!  This step takes no time, I almost burnt mine!!! 
6. Pour some milk and enjoy the snack!! 

Please comment below which one you want to try!!! Happy snacking!

Egg, Bacon, and Fried Rice

Eggs, Bacon and Fried Rice

Hello my Pearls! I wanted to share this great tasting meal/side dish with you! The original recipe is from The Woks of Life and you can see the original recipe here! https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-bacon-and-egg-fried-rice-224298?crlt.pid=camp.YIoTq7olTEd0

Here is my variation with portions for 2 people and there were no leftovers. In the picture above it filled both bowls perfectly! If you want more...double the recipe! 

Here is what I used

• 1 cup of uncooked rice
• 4 strips of bacon
• 4 eggs
• salt and pepper (seasoned to taste)
• half onion
• olive oil
• soysauce
• my rice cooker
• my copper pan

1. First thing:  cook 1 cup of rice (I used white rice) and 2 1/2 cups of water in the rice cooker.
2. While the rice is cooking, I pour the olive oil in the cooper non stick pan. (I just coated the bottom) and cooked the four strips of bacon on medium to med-high heat. (I keep the same temp the entire time.) While bacon is sizzling, I chop half an onion. 
3. Once the bacon is ready, set aside. Using the same cooking pan with oils and bacon juice still in the pan, cook the chopped onions. Once the onions have a yellowish cooked through look, set aside. 
4. Add a little more oil to the nonstick pan and scramble 4 eggs. Season with salt and pepper then set a side when done. 
5. Because I'm slow, the rice was done about the time I had cooked everything. Add the rice to the nonstick pan. (Here I added a about 1-2 tsp. of olive oil and 1 tbsp of soy sauce.) Fry the rice for 5 minutes. 
6. Break up the bacon into smaller pieces then add to the rice. Add in the eggs and onions as well! Mix well then serve! 

I loved this and wish I had made more! I honestly had not planned to make this meal. It was more of....I have eggs, bacon, and rice...what can I make? Let me know if you tried it and how you like it!!