Crockpot Casserole

I love breakfast foods. I could eat three meals a day of breakfast foods. Unfortunately, my husband is one of those people who wants to only eat breakfast at breakfast. Shocking I know! So when I stumbled upon this crockpot recipe that seemed to include all my favorite breakfast foods, I decided to make it for dinner and sneak it into the rotation.

It's got everything a breakfast lover could want...
Eggs
Bacon
Cheese
Potatoes


Plus, we have to work for a living so the added benefit of leaving it in the crockpot all day and coming home to breakfast dinner was an added perk.


Here's what you need to create this amazing breakfast/dinner crockpot meal
12 Eggs
1 Cup of Milk
4 tablespoons of All Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon of Salt
1 Teaspoon of Pepper
1 bag of frozen tater tots
2 Cups of cheese
4-6 oz of your favorite meat ( You can do Canadian bacon, sausage, ham chunks, etc)


After greasing the inside of your crockpot, layer the bottom with tater tots and your meat choice, continue to do that on repeat tots then meat until you run out. In a separate bowl, mix all of your other ingredients minus 1 cup of cheese (you'll need it later).


Once you have everything mixed take it over to your layered crockpot and begin evenly pouring it over the potatoes and meat. When you've completed that, take the 1 cup of cheese you were saving and sprinkle it over the top.


Cover and then place on low heat for the next 6-7 hours. Enjoy!

Cafe Lalo

New York City has some great eats. In fact they have so many it can be hard to choose. One place that I knew we wanted to visit and eat at was Café Lalo.

Café Lalo is the eatery featured in one of my Mother and I's favorite films, You've Got Mail.

Café Lalo is home to one of the most famous scenes in the movie. It's the Café that Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) and her internet friend NY152 agree to meet at for the very first time. Unbeknownst to Kathleen, NY152 does show up by has his friend check her out first. The scene goes on from there but I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen the movie.

Since You've Got Mail came out in 1998, I'm happy to report that Café Lalo is still open for business. In the restaurant world not many places stay open for decades but this NYC landmark is going strong and is still serving people daily. When I knew we were going to the city, I knew this had to be one of the places we made time to stop at.

 

While they are known for their amazing desserts and cafes, we actually went there for breakfast and it was fantastic. They also had all of their desserts on display and if it hadn't been 9:00 a.m., I would have inhaled a piece of their double chocolate cake I saw in the display case.

Only a short walk from the subway this restaurant is located at 201 West 82nd Street. After you finish eating you can walk the short distance of two blocks to Central Park. That way you'll be burning off some of those calories you just consumed! And for all my fellow You've Got Mail lovers, here's a look at the wallpaper in the bathrooms at Café Lalo...

Seattle Eats

Seattle isn't just about great sightseeing, they also offer great food options!

On our first night in Seattle we found a local pizza place, Roccos.  The reviews and the menu sounded great and it did not disappoint. Where was it? Belltown. It had a very vintage feel and felt like a pizza bar. Their menu offered tons of specialty pizzas and a build your own option. We weren't for sure on the sizing even after asking our waiter so we chose a full size pizza. BIG mistake. The pizza was huge!

We got a half of the "Three little pigs" and the other half was pepperoni. Rocco's makes all of their sauces and their sausage. They also use ingredients that they've sourced locally. It was very good and if and when we go back to Seattle we may be stopping back in Roccos. The décor was also like a vintage 70's bar with wood paneling, brick walls and vintage alcohol brand clocks. Very cool, very unique and very good food.

The next place that we hit was for breakfast, Biscuit Bitch.

I had been reading and searching on several sites for great breakfast places. I love breakfast so I was wanting to try something great. I wanted to go somewhere we normally wouldn't at home and we ended up at Biscuit Bitch. Luckily, Biscuit Bitch was located literally right next door to our hotel. We got there about 30 minutes after they opened and the timing was perfect. The line quickly went out the door and wait became longer as the morning went on. They have limited seated so we were lucky enough to get a table. The place isn't fancy and that's OK because the food wasn't just your normal breakfast biscuits.

 

The restaurant revolves around everything laying on top of biscuits and gravy. I chose the Cheesy Bitch (Bacon and cheese over biscuits) and he chose the Hot Bitch (his featured a Louisiana hot link on top of eggs, cheese and biscuits and gravy). We really liked this place but I don't think we would visit again. My husband got really bad heartburn and we are 99.9% sure it was the Louisiana hot link. My breakfast was good but not great. It was something not found on every menu.

The Metropolitan Grill

This is where we went for his birthday dinner and it was fabulous! It's listed as the best steakhouse in Seattle and they aren't lying. It was literally THE best steaks we have ever had. The meat was prepared to perfection. The MG isn't like going to a Texas Roadhouse, this is a refined, classic restaurant that has hosted Seattle's most famous and elite. It's a little pricy but the meal totally speaks for itself. We had to get a reservation a few weeks in advance since it was a Saturday night. The green booths and the formally dressed wait staff add that special touch for special occasions. They even brought him a dessert with a candle on top.

Sport

Sport was a great sports restaurant to watch the Oakland Raiders game. They were playing the Sunday that we were in town and we found this place by searching everywhere for a place that was going to have tons of televisions to show the games. It was conveniently located across the street from the Space Needle. I didn't take any photos of the restaurant itself but it was located in the same building as a local television station. They had all of these really cool memorabilia around the lobby.

Those were our local eats while we were in Seattle! They had some great food!

Chocolate Dipped Pretzels

Here's what you'll need:

Pretzel Rods

1 Bag of Semi Sweet Chocolate

1 Bag of Green Candy Melts

1 bottle of Sprinkles

2 Mixing bowls

2 Spoons

Wax paper

Microwave

 

First take your green candy melts and cover the bottom of a bowl. If you do not have a mixing bowl you can use a tall coffee mug (which I actually think works better).

Do the same think with your milk chocolate in your bowl or mug.

 

 

I put my chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds and check it to see it's progress. Then I place it in the microwave for another 30 seconds. Times will vary depending on your microwave. Start out using too little time until you know how fast your microwave is going to melt the chocolate. The last thing you want in your house is the smell of burnt chocolate.

 

Once you take out the chocolate, mix and smooth it out with a spoon.

Take a pretzel rod and dip it into the chocolate of your choice. I find that rolling the pretzel rods along the side of the mug or bowl helps to evenly distribute the chocolate onto the rod and keeps it from getting too thick.

Once you have your chocolate onto the pretzel you can either leave them plain or add fun sprinkles. You'll need to decide quickly if you want to add them because the fresher the chocolate is on the pretzel the better the sprinkles stick to it.

For my pretzels, I added the only sprinkles I have in the house at the moment which is Easter ones. Earlier in the month I had Valentines Day Sprinkles all over them. If you decide to add sprinkles have a bowl underneath the rod to catch any sprinkles that don't make it on to the rod. That way you can reuse them and drop onto the next ones.

Once you have your sprinkles on, place the rods on your wax paper to let them harden. Give them a good hour before you bag or place in a container. You want to make sure the chocolate is hard and not sticking to the wax paper when you put them away.

You can make these chocolate dipped pretzel rods for any occasion. If you use the green candy melts you can have yourself an Easter or St. Patrick's Day dessert. I did two of mine in green but then realized I had no St. Patrick's Day sprinkles so I stuck with my milk chocolate.

 

These were my Valentine's Day ones...

 

They only take about 30 minutes to make depending on how many you want to create. Remember a typical bag of pretzel rods has 33-35 inside but there will be broken ones. Plus if you are like me... you snack along the way while making them. So enjoy these fun and easy treats for your next holiday party!

The Best Chocolate Pie

Last week my Peanut Butter Pie was a hit! I wondered how I could follow it up. So I thought what kind of pie could I make? The answer was simple... Chocolate! Who doesn't love chocolate? Your friends will go crazy over it!

What you'll need:

1 Cup of Chocolate Chips

1/2 Cup of Sugar

1 tub of Cool Whip

1/3 Cup of Milk

1 Teaspoon of Vanilla extract

1/3 Cup of Cocoa Powder

Mixing bowl

Measuring cups

Measuring spoons

Oreo Pie Crust

Electric mixer

 

The first thing you'll need to do is get your cream cheese, sugar, cocoa powder, milk and vanilla extract into your mixing bowl. Once you have it in your bowl slowly mix it with your electric mixer.

It will start to look something like this...

Once you have it well mixed, mix in only 1/4 cup of your chocolate chips.

It will look a little lumpy once you add the chocolate chips but your chocolate mixture should still remain smooth. Next open your pie crust and spoon the mixture into the pie crust.

I typically use the Oreo crust but the store was out this week. Instead this time I used a chocolate crust.

Once you've got your pie mixture evenly smoothed into the crust, you'll want to open your cool whip container. Make sure that your cool whip has warmed some because you'll need to spoon it out and spread it on top of the chocolate mix.

Last step... add the remaining chocolate chips to the top of the cool whip. I like to sprinkle them evenly on because once you drop them on to the cool whip you don't want to try to move them around. Now you've got yourself a pie! Place it in the refrigerator and let it chill.

 

For best results leave in your refrigerator 4-6 hours before serving.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Pie

This recipe is my mothers and her peanut butter pie is famous. I've been making this pie for a few years now and people love it. It's extremely easy to make and doesn't require any baking. People go nuts over it! Be warned... it's very rich!

 

Here's what you'll need:

 

Graham cracker crust

1 tub of cool whip

1 jar of peanut butter

Powdered Sugar

1 block of cream cheese

Mixing bowl

Electric Mixer

The first thing you'll need to do is get all of your ingredients into the mixing bowl. You'll use the entire tub of cool whip. Add 1 cup of peanut butter. 1 cup of powdered sugar and 3 ounces of cream cheese. It should look something like this...

Next you'll take your electric mixer and mix all of the ingredients together until it's become smooth or well blended. You'll want to make sure that the powdered sugar and peanut butter is completely blended leaving no lumps. Once you have it blended you can take a spoon and scrape the sides. The mix will be thick even after it's blended.

I use a pre-made, store bought crust. Remove the plastic lid and place the crust near your mixing bowl. You'll want to take your pie mix and pour it into the center of your crust.

 

Use your spoon and fill the crust from the center outward. Gently smooth the pie mix outward. If you push too hard or pull upward the crust will stay attached to the mix and come up from the container. Make sure to get the mix evenly around the crust and along the edging. 

Pay close attention to the pattern you make with your spoon when smoothing the mix into the crust. You can do a swirl or zig zag or a circle. It's really up to you. Just be mindful because once you've got your pie mix into the crust you'll need to chill it in the refrigerator and your design will chill in place.  

Once you've finished filling up your crust, attach the plastic lid back to the pie and place in the refrigerator. Leave your pie in there for a minimum of two hours before serving. The pie is much easier to cut and better to serve if left in the fridge for four hours. Serves 6-12 slices depending on cut size. I recommend smaller sizes because the pie is very rich.

Enjoy!

Smore Brownie Bars

Last month I wanted to try and make a new dessert to serve after Christmas dinner. I started searching online and everything that I was seeing took tons of prep time. I wanted something pretty simple to make but would turn out great. That's when I found the Smores Brownie Bars. They were a total hit at Christmas and I was asked to make them again. I thought I would share them this time!

Here's what you need...

Baking Pan

Marsh Mellows

Graham Crackers

1 box of Brownie Mix

Oil

Water

Two Eggs

Mixing bowl

 

Pre-heat your oven to 350 and start with the brownie mix. You'll want to empty the brownie mix in your mixing bowl. Follow the directions on the mix. Add your two eggs, water and oil. It'll look like this...

Once you've got all your ingredients from the brownie mix into your bowl start stirring them together. You'll want to mix the batter about 50 times or until it becomes well mixed and no lumps. When it's ready it will start to look like this...

Now you'll need to prepare your baking pan. You have a few different options of how to do this. You can either spray it with a baking spray (which is the method I used), grease the pan or butter it. Once you've got your pan you will pour a small layer of the brownie batter into the pan. Don't pour a lot, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan.

Once you've got the layer of brownie mix into the pan you need to cover it with graham crackers. Depending on the size of your pan the crackers will not match up in length or shape. Gently break the crackers without cracking them into pieces and line them on top of the chocolate. Make sure to cover as much of the chocolate as you can.

Once the crackers are on top of the chocolate open the bag of marsh mellows. Scatter a generous amount of the marsh mellows on top of the crackers. Try not to pile the marsh mellows on top of each other but evenly  disperse them on top of the crackers. Typically I eat half the bag while their out. Try not to do that.

Once you've got your crackers down and the marsh mellows evenly on top of them you'll take the remaining chocolate mix in your bowl and spread it across the marsh mellows. Make sure to start on one end of your pan and make your way to the other side before you let all of your batter out of the mixing bowl. You'll want to make sure to cover the entire pan. It's ok to have a few areas of marsh mellows popping out.

Check your oven and make sure you are at 350. Place in the middle rack and leave in the oven for 35 minutes. Take out the pan and place a toothpick in the center to see if  the brownie mix is done. If it's not place back into the oven for another 10 minutes. These typically take anywhere from 35-45 minutes depending on your pan and oven. Once the mix isn't gooey, place the pan on a cooling rack or trivet to cool. Allow the pan to cool and cut into squares when their luke warm. Depending on how large you cut them they make from 9-12 bars.

 

Enjoy!

These Smore bars are easy to make with little to no prep work. Once you've mixed the ingredients and place in the oven it's just a waiting game.