Category: recipes

Making a Charcuterie Board, #1

Need help making a charcuterie board? Check out this blog to begin your journey.

I love to make charcuterie boards! Today, I have made a simple appetizer charcuterie board for our dinner . Our daughter, husband and son are coming for dinner. We’re having sausage/cream cheese/Rotel crescent sandwiches and white chicken chili. There is usually a request for appetizers. What better way to have those, than have a charcuterie board!

If you’ve never made one, and don’t know where to start, just follow my process. I like to have several sizes of boards and little condiment dishes. I also ordered some white paper containers that resemble french fry containers. Too, I ordered a couple of kinds of picks. A place like Goodwill is a great place to find baskets, boards and containers.

my supplies

For this board, I’m using one of my cutting boards. I covered it with parchment paper, taping it on the back. I also used a small cutting board. I arranged a couple of small ramekins at each end, for green and black olives. Another small container holds Roasted Pine Nut Hummus. Then I positioned the paper holder at the other end, to try it all out.

A temporary layout

At this point, you can have fun playing with different ingredients. Because the hummus is at one end, I arranged carrots and wheat thins close by. Next came cheese, pepperoni and pretzels. I put a pepperoni rose in the center, and a fresh carnation flower at the end.

On the small board, I arranged pick fruit kabobs, made with strawberries and blueberries. They are easy to make, look cute and are easy to pick up and eat.

I ended up not using the paper holder. I almost put the kabobs in one, but decided to put them on the other board. If I had used my larger charcuterie board, I would have used the paper holder .

There are so many options for a charcuterie board. Grapes are always good, plus cheese cubes. Try fruits, nuts , chocolates, little cookies, crackers, etc. I’ll be making different kinds of boards in future posts. I think one of the keys to making charcuterie boards is to buy ahead and keep items like olives, crackers, little cookies, etc. on hand. They can be rather expensive, if you are making a large board, and need to buy things all at once.

Have fun and let your creative juices flow! Now….I just have to keep my hubby out of the food until my company arrives.

Let me know if you liked this recipe. Hit the like button on this page. What kind of charcuterie boards do you like to make?

Hugs,

Grandma Ruddell

A BUNDT CAKE FOR FALL

I am always looking for new recipes to add to my collection, and tantalize the taste buds of my friends and family. I recently saw one of my favorite vloggers, Dawn Madsen from the Minimal Mom, make this cake, and knew I needed to try it. It fit the bill, and I took it to a dinner at my kids’ house. We all agreed it was tasty and fun. Part of the appeal was the surprise inside. Here’s the recipe.:

CANDY CORN BUNDT CAKE

–1 white cake mix, 9 X 13

–4 egg whites

–1/2 c. oil

–1/2 c. warm water

–1 1/2 c. sour cream

–1 pkg. cheesecake pudding mix

Preheat oven to 325 F.Blend everything together in a medium bowl. Divide batter into three bowls. Add food coloring to make one bowl orange, one bowl yellow, and leave the other bowl white. Put batter into greased bundt pan in layers of white, orange and yellow. Bake at 325 for 47 – 53 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes, and then remove from pan. Cool until room temperature.

FROSTING

–1 can of Cream Cheese Frosting

–Candy Corn

When the cake has cooled, put the can of cream cheese frosting in a gallon zip lock bag, with a small hole in the corner. Pipe the frosting onto the cake, as shown in the photo. Or if you prefer, just frost the cake with the frosting.

Place candy corn pieces around the top of the cake. Cut, serve. Delicious with ice cream!

I hope you enjoy this recipe. It’s a fun addition to your Fall meals!

Hugs,

Grandma Ruddell

My First Attempt At Making Cocoa Bombs!

We are almost to the end of 2020, this crazy year. Is everyone ready for Christmas? It’s in less than a week. I’m almost ready, just had a few more presents arrive, so I need to wrap those. Now I’m ready to make goodies.

You may have noticed two hot things that are featured this year. One is Christmas Gnomes. They are so cute! I bought a couple for myself, and a couple to put in with gifts.

The other “hot item” this year, is Cocoa Bombs. So I decided to try making some. How hard could it be? Yeah, sure. One of my friends makes them and they look beautiful. I see them all over the internet. I can do this!

I ordered my silicone molds from Amazon. Took them awhile to get here, but they finally arrived. I coated them with melted chocolate chips, and put them in the freezer for 15 minutes. Afterwards, I peeled them off of the silicone, and they were shiny and smooth…fabulous!

The directions said to fill one half with mini marshmallows and hot chocolate mix. So far, so good. Then to use some of the melted chocolate, and attach the other half with a little of the melted chocolate around the center. Well…that’s where the trouble started. I’d get one part done, and see a little area that needed some more chocolate on it, and would put some on that. Some of the powder leaked out in places, so I smeared some chocolate on those places. It came out looking like a roughed up, chocolate snowball. Not attractive.

After that, you put it back in the freezer for 5 more minutes. Before I did that, I decided to melt a bit of white chocolate and drizzle it over the top of them, and add some crushed peppermint. Then off to the freezer.

I had my hubby be the taste tester. After we poured hot milk over the cocoa bomb, we watched little marshmallows suddenly pop up to the top. That was fun. The end result??? He really liked it! Yes.

Note: My friend, Kim Heuermann, who makes these a lot, shared her secret. Put a plate in the microwave for a little bit. Put the empty halves upside down, to melt just the edges, and then press on to the other half. You can smooth that with your finger, if needed. GREAT IDEA!

Let me know if you’ve made any of these Cocoa Bombs. I’m going to refine these and add as Christmas gifts for a few people.

Have a happy holiday. Pray for a better 2021!

Love,

Grandma Sherry

OCTOBER…FALL, MUMS and AFGHANS!

October!! Yeah! It’s a great time to pull out the afghans and snuggle up on the couch. My hubby is wavering between watching football games and Halloween movies. I don’t need any of those scary movies. But both of us always watch Wheel of Fortune. I am SO good at solving those puzzles!

bread dough rising.

Two yummy loaves!

This week, I made some homemade bread . I hadn’t made any of that in forever. It turned out pretty well. Seems a lot thicker and heavier than store bought bread. (OK..I admit…every so often, we have a craving for good ole Wonder Bread, from our childhood.) But part of the great thing about making bread is the whole science related thing. Watching the yeast interact and create a dough, watching it rise..again and again..and finally baking it in the oven. You know it’s going to take all day. When I make bread, it’s like I’m channeling my ancestors.

The oil diffuser, with Lemongrass scent.

At Nana School, with my grandson, Isaac, we are thinking about Fall. This week, we talked about our five senses. Isaac was particularly interested in smelling things. I pulled out all of my sensory oils, and he had fun smelling them. I let him choose the oil for our diffuser. He chose Lemongrass. The next time he came back, he said, “let’s smell things!”

Painting the witch
The finished product. Look at that smile!

Isaac also painted a witch. I bought a small wooden square from Joann Fabrics. My hubby drilled a little hole in the back, so it could be hung up. I kind of outlined the face and mouth, and he painted with our tempera paints. I told him to not spread the paint too much, because it showed the wood underneath. We had googly eyes to put on, and I cut out tiny black teeth from felt. Isaac was so excited when it was done!

Today, I bought some plants…unfortunately, my two mums kicked the bucket before I got them planted. Tomorrow, I will work on the garden.

Yesterday, my hubby said he would take my car and get it inspected, so that we could get the registration renewed. He went to 5 different car places, and would either have to wait two hours, or they couldn’t get their machines to work. He finally gave up. Today, I drove to the Kwik Kar , in Crowley, and they inspected it for me. YES!! After that, I went to CVS and had my flu shot. One more check off of my list.

No matter our political views, we are praying for our President and the many other people who have tested positive for Covid. We’re still wearing our masks and limiting our outings.

Hope you are remaining safe and snuggled up at home. We all need some outings, here and there. A good walk in the woods, a bike ride, or even driving through the drive-through at McDonald’s…these are things to get out of the house. Wear your masks. Wash your hands. Use Social Distancing. Be kind.

Have a fun weekend,

Grandma Sherry

MEXICAN VEGETARIAN CASSEROLE…A FRIDAY FREEZER MEAL!

I’m excited to share this recipe with you. This is a yummy recipe that my family loves…especially my daughter, who isn’t a fan of a lot of meats. This is also a good recipe to use right now, when grocery supplies are low, and people aren’t wanting to go to the store. Is the Corona … Continue reading “MEXICAN VEGETARIAN CASSEROLE…A FRIDAY FREEZER MEAL!”

Yummy!

I’m excited to share this recipe with you. This is a yummy recipe that my family loves…especially my daughter, who isn’t a fan of a lot of meats. This is also a good recipe to use right now, when grocery supplies are low, and people aren’t wanting to go to the store. Is the Corona Virus taking its toll on you and your pantry? I had everything for this recipe, in my pantry or refrigerator, except for the bunch of green onions. I purchased that. I’m not sure of the origin of this recipe, because I typed it up for my files. I will tell you that this is not my original recipe.

This recipe says to spoon into a greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish. I decided to use two 8×8 pans. One of the pans, we had for dinner. The other one went to the freezer. Be sure and label the recipe name, the date, and instructions for baking. It’s so nice to be able to pull out a meal from the freezer, when you have a busy day planned. I usually thaw mine over night. I covered mine with foil, for the first 30 minutes, and then removed the foil so the cheese could melt nicely. Enjoy!

Ingredients…plus the rice was cooking.

MEXICAN VEGETARIAN CASSEROLE

1 c. uncooked rice

1 – 15 1/4 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained

1 – 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 – 10 oz. can tomatoes and green chiles (Rotel or store brand)

1 – 8 oz. Carton sour cream (you can use low fat but not fat free)

1 – 8 oz. jar picante sauce

2 c. (8oz) shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Cook rice according to directions. You should have about 2 1/2 c.. Cool slightly. Combine rice with above ingredients in a large bowl. Spoon into a lightly greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish or two 8 x 8 inch pans.

One for tonight, one for the freezer.

Sprinkle with:

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1 – 2 1/4 oz. can sliced ripe olives

1 – 8 oz. pkg. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

Bake one at 350* for 50 minutes.

TO FREEZE: Cover the pan with foil. Label with the recipe title, the date, and cooking instructions.

TO COOK FROM FROZEN: Remove from freezer and thaw overnight. Bake as noted above. I sometimes add extra minutes to the cooking time. Remove the foil for the last 10 minutes of cooking.

It’s hard to mess up this recipe. The last time I made it, I started putting in all of the ingredients and got carried away. I put the green onions and sliced ripe olives in with the rest of the ingredients. Then I looked at the recipe for the topping, and went OOPS! So I dug out a bit of green onions and a few olives, and put them on top. I also added some whole ripe olives, and then the cheese. It all tasted good.

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Have a great day!

Grandma Sherry