Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

12 Oreos plus more for crumbling
2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line muffin pans with paper liners or foil cups.
Split the cookies, keeping filling on one cookie. Place filling covered cookie in bake cups, filling side up. Set aside.
Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla till smooth and fluffy. Beat in eggs just till well mixed. Spoon the cream cheese mixture into bake cups. At this point you can crush the remaining Oreos and sprinkle the fine crumbs over the cheesecake mixture, or you can break up the Oreo halves and stir them into the batter.
Bake, uncovered, in 325 degree F oven for about 25 minutes or till set. Cool in pan set on a rack. Cover and chill. Makes 12

REVIEW:
These were pretty good! I liked the individual size of the cheesecake, as well as it is easy to serve. I made these for a Halloween party so I lined them with Halloween liners, but this recipe could easily be used for any holiday. It would be awesome with the holiday colored Oreos too!

Cheesy Pasta Alfredo with Salmon

Cheesy Pasta Alfredo with Salmon

16 oz. jar Alfredo sauce
1 pound salmon fillets
1 lemon, juiced
1 TBSP vinegar
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
16 oz. package uncooked rotini pasta
6 oz. package Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat Alfredo sauce in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Place salmon in baking dish. Mix lemon juice and vinegar in small bowl and pour over salmon. Season with basil and parsley.
Bake salmon 15 minutes in oven or until flaked with a fork. Remove from heat and break into bite sized pieces.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and place in a large bowl. Gently toss the salmon, pasta and Alfredo sauce together. Serve with Parmesan cheese.

REVIEW:
This was actually pretty good! The salmon especially with the seasonings made a really nice flavor to the pasta. I also added mushrooms (and I had planned on adding broccoli too, but forgot to actually add it in!), and that was tasty too. Other than using a different pasta (I like to mix it up), the recipe is good as is!

Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

1 medium onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
28 oz can whole tomatoes
14 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
8 oz can tomato sauce
6 oz can tomato paste
4 chicken stock or water
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cups milk

In a large pot saute onion in olive oil until almost translucent. Add garlic and continue to saute a few minutes more. Add tomatoes, sauce, paste and chicken stock or water. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes. Puree in blender until desired consistency. Add milk and seasonings and continue to simmer for another 5 or 1o minutes.

REVIEW:
OK, summer is over and I am back! Technically I wasn't planning on taking the summer off, so I am sorry... but I have some great recipes that I am trying and so hopefully we are back in business!
As for this soup, it was super easy to make which is obviously my kind of recipe. And the taste was excellent! Jared liked it a lot and he doesn't even like tomatoes. It had a little kick for me, but it wasn't over the top hot. I served it with some sour dough grilled cheese sandwhiches and that hit the spot for me!!

Breadsticks

Breadsticks

12 Rhodes rolls
1/2 stick butter
Parmesean cheese to taste
Garlic powder to taste
Parsley

Defrost the frozen rolls. Roll them out into breadstick shapes. Melt the butter and add garlic powder to taste. Brush the butter mixture on the dough and let the dough rise. When the dough is ready, brush a small amount of the butter mixture over the top again and sprinkle with the cheese and parsley. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

REVIEW:
These are my mom's 'famous' breadsticks. I love them and they are so easy to make. I made these for a get together and I think just about everyone said how good they were and wanted to know how I made them! That's how you know something is good, right?!

Hawaiian Haystacks

Hawaiian Haystacks

1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 can milk
8 oz. sour cream
1 TBSP. lemon juice
1 onion soup packet
1 can chicken breast (or you could cook a breast and shred it)
Garlic powder and lemon pepper to taste

Heat all ingredients together and serve over rice. Top with anything you like from there!

REVIEW:

This was a recipe that some friends of ours made for us. Their recipe was approximate, so mine is even more so! However, this was pretty good. The only thing I would do different next time would be to only use half the packet of onion soup. I am not a fan of onions in the least, but my husband is and he loved it this way. So it's all in the eye of the beholder on this issue, but all in all, very good and very easy to make!

Alfredo Tortellini

Alfredo Tortellini

1 (8 oz) pkg cheese tortellini
1 cup ham, diced
(8 oz) cream cheese
1 pkg dry Italian dressing
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk
1/2 stick butter

Add tortellini to a large pot of boiling salted water and let cook for 8 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a skillet to medium heat. Add the cream cheese, butter, cream of chicken soup, Italian dressing, and milk and stir until smooth. Once smooth, add in ham and stir to coat. After the tortellini finishes boiling, drain, then add to cream sauce. Stir to evenly coat and serve warm.

REVIEW:
This was, like all of my recipes, super easy to make! It had a really good flavor and I would recommend this one for sure. The only thing I did different, was I had bought a 20 oz. pkg. of tortellini and I used about half (so a little more than the recipe called for), but I would even add a little more next time because there was a lot of sauce. But still, really good!

Strawberry Cake

Strawberry Cake

White or Yellow cake mix
Cream cheese frosting
Strawberry jam
Fresh strawberries
Red sprinkles (optional)

Mix cake mix, using directions on box. Use 8x8 or 9x9 inch pans. Let cool completely. On one half of the cake, place a thin layer of frosting. Then add a thicker layer of strawberry jam. Place the other half of the cake on top and frost the entire cake. Next add the sprinkles wherever you desire. Cut the strawberries in half and line the bottom of the cake. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

REVIEW:
OK, so this was my own "recipe" that I tried for a get together with some friends and everyone loved it! We served it with strawberry ice cream and that made it even better! You can see this would be easy to adjust to any cake mix (chocolate would be yum!) or even with different fruit. It's all up to your imagination. If you end up trying this out, let me know what you did! I would love to hear about it!!