Fry Cocktail

Last night I made french fries with supper.  Brandi got a little tupperware, filled it with ketchup, and stuck her fries in it.  She came over to me, and said:

"if shrimp can be a cocktail, so can french fries."  She's 8, and completely adorable!

Turtle Cheesecake

Not the best picture, but O...M...G!  The best cheesecake I have had.  Ever!  I was having lunch at a little "out of the way" place, and this was in their dessert case.  I had to have it.  And, the best part?  It was only $1.50!  I might just have to go back there for some more!

Applebee's Cheesecake Shooters

This was seriously the best little glass of cheesecake I have had in a while!  I have this friend, and we have been eating out for lunch quite a bit lately.  It seems like every restaurant we go to, we have cheesecake for dessert.  Wait until you see the one I had yesterday...I'll post that picture soon.  For now, drool over this little beauty!

My TiVo Would Be Full Of Cooking Shows

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of TiVo. All opinions are 100% mine.

I love watching Food Network.  My favorite shows are the cooking competitions.  Iron Chef America and Chalenge are two of the shows I try hard not to miss.  I am excited about the new season of "The Next Iron Chef" that is starting soon.

I also love Top Chef, which is on Bravo.  This past week the new series, Top Chef Just Desserts started, and I liked it.  It will be interesting to see what kind of yummy goodness the chefs come up with. Of course, if the desserts look good (and easy!) enough, I might just have to try recreating them at home.  To do that, I am going to have to watch whichever episode a couple of times to get the recipe down.  This is where TiVo would come in handy.

I say "would" because I do not have one.  I want one.  Badly.  Not only can I catch up on all the Fall TV premeires if I had TiVo, but they have so many pretty cool features that I want to try out.  For instance, with TiVo Search and TiVo Collections, I can search for and watch past episodes of my favorite shows on Netflix, Amazon Videos On Demand, or Blockbuster On Demand.  They also have this thing called TiVo Premeire, which allows you to find past shows and movies that your favorite actors and actresses have been in.

I am also drooling over the Slide Remote.  This remote slides open to reveal a keyboard, which makes typing quicker, so you can find your favorite shows easier.  You can even Enter to Win a Slide remote in TiVo's 30 Slides in 30 Days Sweepstakes.  All you have to do is become a Facebook Fan or follow them on Twitter.

I want to win the slide so I can make sure I never miss an episode of Challenge, Iron Chef, and Top Chef.  Oh, and Survivor.  I do watch regular television, too.  Sometimes.

Smiley Cookie Giveaway!

I am hosting a giveaway for these super yummy Smiley Cookies on my main blog, My Kids Are My World.  You can win a box of 12 sugar cookies with cute little multi-colored smiley faces on them.  You can enter here.  Hurry, though, because Friday is the last day to enter!  Good luck!

Cheesecake

Last Friday, a friend of mine took me out to lunch.  It was her birthday, so she wanted to eat a Capri's (a local Italian restaurant).  We shared a fried ravioli appetizer, then I had a chicken Parmesan sub, and she had the baked spaghetti.  After we finished our meal, she told the waitress that it was her birthday, and she said that it is company policy to give the birthday girl free dessert.  We ordered cheesecake.  It was the thickest, richest, yummiest cheesecake I have had in a long time.

My Version Of Sloppy Joes

This is the easiest recipe in the world.  Ready?

Brown ground beef in a skillet.  Drain grease.  Add a jar of Newman's Own Pineapple Salsa. Stir.  Put on buns and enjoy.

My family loves this, and it is a great, easy meal for those nights that you don't have time to fuss in the kitchen.

Banana Crumb Muffins

For muffins:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 large bananas, mashed

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup butter, melted

1/2 tsp cinnamon

For topping:

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 tbsp flour

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp butter

Preheat over to 375 degrees.  Spray muffins tins, or use cupcake liners.

In large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  In another bowl, beat together bananas, egg, sugar, and butter.  Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture, and stir just until combined.

Spoon into muffin pan (the recipe said 10 muffins, but I made 12 easily).

In a small bowl, mix together ingredients for topping.  I actually use my fingers to get it mixed together good.  Sprinkle over the top of the muffins.

Bake 18 minutes.

I only had enough butter to make the muffins, not the topping.  For the topping, I used a spread, and as you can see, it melted all over the place.  I am not sure if butter would have done the same thing.  Either way, these muffins were yummy.

Pigs In Blankets ~ My Way

Here's another simple ~ but time consuming ~ dinner idea.  I bought a package of little sausages, and cut them in half lengthwise.  I then made a batch of biscuits (I use Jiffy baking mix) and shaped them into little rectangles.  Kasi helped me do that.  Then I added either cheese sauce or bbq sauce to the biscuit mix and wrapped it around the sausage.  I baked then at 450 degree for about fifteen minutes, and they were delicious!  I preferred the bbq ones, and the few that I put bbq and cheese sauce on.  The plain cheese ones tasted bland to me.

They look good, don't they?