Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Easy Peasy Oreo Cookie Balls

Christmas Cookies - Oreo Cookie Balls


These are soooo yummy and so (as my son would say) easy peasy lemon squeezey. Kids love to help with this one. Get them involved with baking around the holidays and you'll have a cherished memory to last a lifetime for you and your children/grandchildren.



Here's what you need:

1 whole package of Oreo cookies
8oz. tub/package of cream cheese
12 oz. package of chocolate rounds/morsels/bits (whatever you'd like as long as you can melt it)

Here's what you do:

Crush the Oreos in a food processor or blender or with a potato masher like I did the day I couldn't find either of the first two (the kids had fun pulverizing them), then fold in the entire pack of cream cheese until well blended.

Next, you will use your hands (remove all rings...you will get quite messy), roll the cookie/cream mixture into 1 inch balls and place on a wax-papered cookie tray. Pop in fridge for about an hour.

Before you pull out the balls, you must melt the chocolate. Melt in 10-15 second increments (stirring each time) in the microwave until well melted. Drop one ball at a time into the melted chocolate and fish out with a fork. Drop it on the wax paper and repeat the process with the next cookie ball (lather, rinse, repeat...LOL).  After all balls have been dipped, pop 'em in the fridge to harden, then eat as many as you'd like. I forgot to mention...they are calorie-free....because you know calories don't count between Thanksgiving and New Year's...So enjoy as many as you'd like. jk.

Be creative by using different chocolates or by drizzling white chocolate over these (use food coloring in white chocolate for a cool Christmas-themed cookie ball). Chopped nuts are good to sprinkle on top of the still warm chocolate before they harden. But if you want to keep it easy peasy lemon squeezey, just stick to the three ingredients. They look and taste awesome. Adults and kids alike will love these!!!!

Enjoy!

The Silly Sicilian



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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Italian Sausage Meatloaf


Italian Sausage Meatloaf was created when I was blatantly staring down my refrigerator shelves scanning the none-to- exciting items I had, trying to figure out what to make my hungry family for dinner. I had leftovers, hot dogs, or ground Italian sausage. When I usually cook with ground Italian sausage I put it in a tomato sauce, but we had a tomato-based sauce twice already that week, so I found my pantry staples and realized I have everything I need to make meatloaf. I wonder if ground sausage would make a good meatloaf. Hmm....

Yes it did!

Here's the recipe:

Italian Sausage Meatloaf:

Ingredients:

1 lb. Ground Italian Sausage
1/4 Ground Beef ( this is optional, I had just a tiny bit of ground beef left, so I threw it in)
1/2 cup of Italian bread crumbs
1 Egg
1/4 tsp Parsley
1/4 tsp Basil
1/4 tsp Oregano
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
Topping: Ketchup and leftover tomato sauce

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl mix ground sausage, ground beef, bread crumbs, egg, and spices. Mix with fingers. YES, fingers. You better do it...I'll be watching. Don't overmix or the meatloaf may become tough and there's nothing worse than tough meatloaf. Transfer mix to baking pan and form mix into a log. Mine was about 10 inches long and 3-4 inches wide. After the form is solid and pretty, zig zag the top with ketchup, then spoon tomato sauce (you can use the canned variety or leftover sauce) over the meatloaf to keep it moist. Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes.

Serves 4

The result was an Italian-infused masterpiece. Super moist and yummy! Definitely a do-again meal in my book. If you give it a try I would love to hear how it came out for you and if you have any suggestions or variations.

Good Luck and Happy Cooking!

Always,

The Silly Sicilian