Oreo Rice Krispie Treats

I was trying to think of a different treat to make for Dave's ukulele group meeting and found this recipe for Oreo Rice Krispie treats and I liked that it has a couple different things than the classic recipe. She browns the butter, which only takes a few minutes longer than the usual melting; adds more marshmallows; and adds a pinch of coarse salt. These turned out great and everyone loved - to serve, I cut into small squares and wrapped in plastic wrap to keep them germ-free (and fresh, I made them 3 days before the event). Yum. 

I read a review that shared what seemed like a good tip - melt the marshmallows in a large glass bowl in the microwave...yeah, that didn't work very good (!) so I ended up transferring them to a large pan and finished melting them that way. 

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 20 oz. marshmallows
• 1 t. vanilla
• pinch of coarse salt
• 7 cups (7 oz.) rice krispies cereal
• 20-24 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped or crushed

Directions:

1. Butter the bottom and sides of a 13x9" pan. Set aside.

2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan on low heat and let it cook until the solids start to turn golden brown and it smells caramelly, 3 to 4 minutes.

3.  Add the marshmallows and cook on low, stirring constantly until mostly melted (a few small lumps here and there are ok). Add the vanilla and salt, stir to combine.

4. Place the rice krispies and oreos in a large bowl, Pour the melted marshmallow mixture overtop and stir until evenly combined. Scoop the mixture into the prepared pan and press the mixture into the pan with lightly greased hands - smashing them down too hard will result in firm rice krispie treats, so use a gentle hand if you want them chewy. Let cool before slicing into squares.

Notes: 

• you don't have to brown the butter but it does add great flavor. 
• 20 ounces of marshmallows is more than the usual 16 ounces (it's about 10 cups of mini marshmallows or 75 large marshmallows) which gives them a more gooey texture. 
• to crush the oreos, I put them in a large baggie and whack them with a rolling pin. 

crush the oreos

brown the butter

melt the marshmallows

pour over the cereal and cookies

recipe found here

Tip-sy Tuesday: Fruit Filled Crescent Rolls

I guess this isn't a 'tip' so much as a shortcut...I bought a kit the other day for filled crescent rolls, I haven't had them in forever and after opening the box I realized you do not need to buy a kit! All you need is a tube of crescent rolls, pie filling, and confectioners sugar drizzle (make from thinning out the sugar with a little water, milk, or lemon juice). Bake for 8 or o9 minutes. Less expensive then buying the kit, and you can customize the flavors to whatever you want or have on hand. Simple!

Personalized Drink Cups

I think this is the last thing to show you from the bachelorette weekend - I found these plain white cups at the dollar store and cut out words using my Cricut. On the front they say "Oh Mickey you're so fine" (are you singing that in your head right now?) and the back has their name so they'd know which cup is theirs to use for the weekend; Mickey the bride-to-be says "I'm Mickey and I'm so fine" hahahha. Made us laugh. Super easy but a fun little extra detail that people seemed to like!

8.16.20: 🔥week 33

8.16.19: tuna avocado egg salad

8.16.18: sloppy joes

8.16.17: s'more pie

8.16.16: mashed cauliflower

🔥 Around the Campfire (week 33)

 Dear Campers ~

Here's a quick recap in case you missed anything at camp last week:

Posts ~

8/8: 🔥week 32

8/9: texas caviar

8/10: tip-sy tuesday: less messy way to drizzle chocolate 

8/11: baked breakfast frittata

8/12: room assignments 

8/13: taco cake

8/14: buffalo dip

I still don't have any menu ideas to share with you, life's been too hectic to be creative with meal planning!

Super quick recap today - August is such a busy month for us and I gotta keep moving. Hope you had a great week, stop back often to see more projects, crafts, recipes, whatever I think of (and have time for) to make at camp :) Bye!

Sincerely ~

Jill

camp counselor

8.15.20: mini succulent shadowbox

8.15.19: cheeseburger shepherds pie

8.15.18: zucchini bread or cake

Buffalo Dip

My sis makes a great buffalo dip in the crock pot that everyone loves, she gets asked to make it all the time and I finally asked her for the recipe. Funny tho, Mickey and I are kind of spicy-weenies so Jen scoops out some of the dip for us before adding Franks Red Hot sauce, so if you're afraid of it being too hot you can definitely leave out the Franks, or adjust the amount to suit yourself. I'm giving you the recipe how I ended up making it, hers is a little different in that she uses 2 cans of chicken and Franks hot sauce instead of mild buffalo.

Oh, and just so you know - she said she doesn't follow a recipe and will change it up depending on what she has on hand; you can add more or less of anything, if you don't like ranch then add more sour cream, omit the sour cream, change the type of cheese as long as it melts good, leave out the spinach or add more. Very adaptable!

1 large can chicken chunks, drained (note Jen adds 2 cans)
2 packages cream cheese (I used light), room temperature
1 cup Ranch dressing (I used light)
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup sour cream (I used light, are you sensing a pattern here?)
1/2 cup mild buffalo sauce, or to taste (note Jen does 1 cup Franks)
big handful of chopped fresh spinach

Mix everything together in a crockpot.
You have options how to cook it: (1) about 2 hours before serving, turn on low heat, stir occasionally or (2) if you have a removable crock you can put it in the microwave for a few minutes to get it started and then put back in crock pot on low. You don't want to heat this too far ahead of time, it gets a little crusty after a while.

I had some leftover dip so am experimenting with other ways to eat it - so far I've stirred it into white rice (add a little water to loosen it up), and this morning I made cheesy scrambled eggs with it. Both are yum - dip, it's not just for parties :)

Taco Cake

For Jeff's (aka 'Taco') birthday I made him a taco shaped cake! Corny and silly, but look how cute it turned out. This wasn't hard to do at all, you do not need cake decorating skills to make this one. 

Chances are you don't have a brother-in-law who goes by 'Taco', but how fun for Cinco de Mayo, or any fiesta themed party!

• Bake 2 cake layers - I made a yellow cake and put 1/2 the batter in one 9" pan, then added cocoa powder to the remaining batter to make it chocolate. Bake according to package directions. Cool completely.
• Make a batch of buttercream frosting (or used canned); leave a spoonful white, color some yellowish like a taco shell, and add cocoa powder to some to make chocolate. 
• I used oreo crumbs to resemble ground burger. Mix the crumbs with some chocolate frosting so you'll be able to stick the 'burger' onto the cake. 
• Put just a few very finely ground crumbs into the yellow frosting to create a more 'authentic' looking shell.
• Cut up red candy (I used twizzlers) for tomatoes, green fruit rollups for lettuce, add yellow food color to shredded coconut for the cheese. 

Cut the layers in half, you need 2 yellow cake halves but only one of the chocolate halves. The yellow halves are the 'taco shell' and the chocolate layer is the 'meat' filling. Frost the entire chocolate half with chocolate frosting, spread frosting on one side of each yellow halve; stand them up and push together forming a 'taco'. 

Frost the 2 yellow halves with the taco shell yellow frosting. Press the oreo crumbs into the chocolate cake so it looks like burger inside the taco shell. Add the tomato, lettuce, and cheese on the top; then add a big scoop of white frosting on the top resembling sour cream. 

Wait - I just realize looking at the photos that I forgot to add the 'sour cream'! Oops! Oh well, still cute. 

Room Assignments

Here's a quick easy little thing we did for the bachelorette airbnb house we rented - I made these cards with everyone's name on them and we taped them to the doors of the rooms each person was assigned. Saved everyone from having to figure out where they were going, and saved us from having to walk everyone around pointing at rooms hahah. Time saver, and it's a cute little extra touch. 

I punched out squares of black cardboard with a decorative edge using my Bigshot die cut thing (you could just cut out by hand and use edging scissors - or just leave in squares!), then cut out names in decorative paper on my Cricut. Glue the names to the squares. That's it, but they turned out so cute!

Baked Breakfast Frittata

I posted this recipe from Janis in 2016 - I don't know why I've never made this myself until last week for the bachelorette weekend! And now that I know how easy it is to make it will finally definitely be in rotation. I didn't realize until starting to make it that the original recipe isn't very exact - so I questioned how I know if it's 24 or 30 eggs, and also that amount seems like a ton of eggs to only feed 10-12; she verified that she doesn't use that many, and that there are so many ingredients it really doesn't matter - it's very forgiving. So I'll post the original recipe, and then my notes below - read thru to the end before making this for yourself.

By the way - this was a big hit for our brunch! I baked 2 casseroles ahead of time and froze them, thawed ahead of time and reheated in the oven for about 30 minutes. I sliced it and kept warm in a chafing dish, it holds up really well and even tastes good at room temperature. We had no leftovers if that tells you how good it is hahaha. 

Oh geez, I just realize I didn’t take a picture after it baked! 🤦‍♀️

Serves 10-12

2 large potatoes (baked or microwaved until firm and not overcooked)

1 large tomato

1 large red bell pepper

1 large bunch cilantro

1 bunch basil

2 bunches green onion

3 different cheeses (Havarti will dill, a smoked cheese, cheddar or any other cheese)

White pepper to taste

24-30 eggs

2 cups milk

Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a large lasagna pan or similar dish.  Dice cooked potatoes and leave some skin if desired.  Dice tomato, bell pepper, cilantro basil and green onions.  Shred cheeses.  Layer all ingredients in pan.  Beat eggs and milk and pour over ingredients.  Sprinkle top with Parmesan cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.  If not done, cover with foil and cook until egg is firm.

Most ingredients can be substituted.

Jill's notes: I made a couple changes to the above recipe - you really can change the ingredients to what you like! Here's what I did:

• 1 bag diced potatoes (I used 'simply potatoes' 20 oz bag in the refrigerator section of store)
• handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 orange bell pepper
• big handful of chopped spinach (remove thick stems)
• chopped cilantro leaves (I didn't measure, just a handful)
• chopped basil leaves (same as above)
• 2 bunches chopped green onion (white and light green parts)
• 1/2 cup shredded havarti cheese with dill
• 1/2 cup shredded colby jack
• 1 cup shredded cheese blend (mozzarella and provolone mix)
• 12 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup half and half
• parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Tip-say Tuesday: drizzling chocolate tip

I stumbled on this idea when drizzling the s’more cookies the other day - I put the cooling rack with the cookies on it in my big sink and drizzled melted chocolate over them…clean up was so easy! Just rinsed out the sink instead of scrubbing the counter like I’ve done my entire drizzling life. If you have a single sink large enough to hold a cooling rack, give it a try - you’re gonna love this!

Texas Caviar

I posted this recipe back in 2018 but after making it for the bachelorette party - and so many people loved it and asked for the recipe - I thought I’d post it again! 

 TESHA’S TEXAS CAVIAR DIP

Mix together in a big bowl:

1 can pinto beans w/jalapeno (if can’t find add 1 T. chopped jalapeño)

1 can black eyed peas

       *drain and rinse all beans very well. 

1 can white corn      

1 small jar pimento, chopped

1 cup green pepper, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

Bring to a boil then cool completely:

1 t. salt

1/2 t. pepper

1 T. water

3/4 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup salad oil

1 cup sugar

Pour over bean mixture, marinate 24 hours before serving. Drain to serve but save marinade. Serve with big scoop corn chips. Keeps for 2 months in fridge (you can add more beans, etc. to marinade and keep it going).

mix together in a large bowl

add the oil and vinegar mixture

strain before serving 

 

8.9.20: 🔥 week 32

8.9.19: paper straw easels

8.9.18: hemp dog necklace

8.9.17:  zucchini muffins

8.9.16: mason jar lunchables