recipes — Giving Up on Perfect

Monday Morning Mmmm: BLT Dip

January 21, 2013 By Mary @ Giving Up on Perfect 3 Comments

Last Sunday was a day we’d been waiting for: Small Group Night! Our small group took a break over the holidays, and it seemed to last forever. We were anxious to see our new friends, make some new ones and eat some snacks.

Okay, so maybe the snacks were a distant third. But I was excited to try out a couple new recipes. (Letting myself off the hook for a weekly recipe has been a relief, but I miss the excuse to try out all the food I see on Pinterest!)

Since the Superbowl is coming up – you know, the Superbowl of Snack Parties? – deciding to make a new dip was a no-brainer. And I just so happened to have a dip pinned and ready to try. I found this BLT Dip on Pinterest, posted from Someone Left the Cake Out in the Rain.

You know you can’t go wrong with a melty, cheesy dip that features bacon in a big way. And this dip was no different. It was, however, different than my other favorite melty, cheesy dip that features bacon in a big way. I love the addition of lettuce and tomato, and the Italian seasoning instead of the spicy peppers.

BLT Dip

1 pound bacon, cooked, drained, crumbled, and divided
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
4 cups shredded Italian mix cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 cups diced, seeded tomatoes
1 cup shredded Iceberg lettuce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients except 1/2 cup bacon, lettuce and tomato. Put dip mixture in baking dish, and bake for 25-30 minutes. Sprinkle remaining bacon, lettuce and tomato on top of dip, and serve with crackers or chips. (The original blogger suggested Stacy’s Pita Chips, which sounds great – but I couldn’t find them at the grocery store when I went shopping. I also think garlic rye chips would be tasty, too.)

This dip went over pretty well at our small group, but I will warn you that the dip doesn’t keep well. You might as well just eat it all at once. (Or scrape off the vegetables before you reheat it. Not that anyone at my house did that . . .)

Who do you serve new recipes that you’re trying out?

This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Made by You Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, 33 Shades of Green, Works for Me Wednesday, What I Whipped Up Wednesday, I’m Lovin’ It, Sweet Tooth Friday, Foodie Friday and Show and Tell Saturday.

Filed Under: Recipes & Food Tagged With: cooking, food, monday morning mmmm, recipes

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

December 10, 2012 By Mary @ Giving Up on Perfect 3 Comments

Signed up to take cookies to your kiddo’s Christmas party? Agreed to go to a cookie exchange at church? Need a simple homemade gift for your neighbors? Make these cookies.

Have I mentioned how much I love the combination of pumpkin and chocolate? I know. Just a time or two or twenty. So you won’t be surprised, I’m sure, to learn that when I saw a recipe for pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies on Pinterest, I put them on a short list to be tried as soon as possible.

I made them a few weeks ago, using up the last can of pumpkin I’d stocked up on last fall. But none of my pictures did them justice. So, of course I had to try again! Luckily I’d signed up to take food to church last Sunday, so I had the perfect excuse to make cookies – and then get them out of my house.

These cookies are simple to mix up and can make either three dozen large cookies or about five dozen small ones. And no matter how many you make, the pumpkin makes them all super soft and the oatmeal makes them chewy. (Not to mention, the addition of pumpkin and oatmeal seriously ups the fiber content and health factor of these cookies. So much so that one might be excused for eating a couple for breakfast? I think yes.)

Okay, fine, maybe eating cookies of any kind isn’t the best choice. I do know that, especially since I’ve – once again – climbed back on the trying-to-be-healthy wagon. I’m trying AGAIN because of the same old obvious reasons. But recently I read some information from the American Cancer Society and was reminded that maintaining a healthy weight can reduce your risk of many types of cancer.

You guys, I haven’t been a healthy weight for more than a decade.

So, like I said, I’m back on ye olde wagon. I’ve been tracking what I eat and really adding more fruits and veggies to my diet. It’s so easy for me to go through a whole day without a single veggie or piece of fruit! The American Cancer Society has some tips for adding these healthy foods to your regular diet, and I’m suggesting one more: Add pumpkin to your cookie recipes!

I mean, let’s be realistic, right? It’s the holidays. We’re gonna eat cookies. So we might as well make them healthier!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together butter and sugars, then add in egg, pumpkin and vanilla. Mix together dry ingredients, then add to sugar mixture. Fold in oats and chocolate chips. Scoop onto greased baking sheet and bake for 14-15 minutes (for large cookies) or 10-11 minutes (for small cookies).

The original recipe calls for 1 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup white chocolate chips. Instead of that, I used 1 cup chocolate chips and a package of M&Ms the first time I made them. The second time, I just used the chocolate chips (a little more than a cup). I also think Reese’s Pieces would be good, too.

For more meals that have been made healthier for the holidays, visit the American Cancer Society on Facebook for lots of recipes!

What’s your favorite cookie combination? Do you like pumpkin and chocolate?

Filed Under: Recipes & Food Tagged With: cooking, dessert, food, monday morning mmmm, recipes

Making a Turkey Veggie Platter

November 19, 2012 By Mary @ Giving Up on Perfect 4 Comments

In a couple hours we’re headed to Annalyn’s preschool for her Thanksgiving Feast. I’m not sure what to expect, as this is our first year at this school, but judging by my kiddo’s excitement and chanting of, “Feast, feast, we’re having a feast!” it’s a pretty big deal.

The teachers provide the meat and drinks, while the parents were asked to bring side dishes. I didn’t realize at first that we were supposed to sign up for what specific dish we’d be taking, so by the time I found the sign-up sheet outside her classroom, other parents had already claimed the usual holiday meal suspects (green bean casserole, cheesy potatoes, etc.).

Considering how stressed and busy I’ve been feeling lately, I decided to take the easy route and wrote “Veggie Tray” by my daughter’s name.

Well, that’s taken care of, I thought. At least, that’s what I thought until I stopped by Pinterest on my daily social media route a few days later. That’s where I saw the cutest veggie tray made in the shape of a turkey. A turkey!!

I couldn’t resist. Placing the veggies in a turkey shape on my nice platter didn’t take much longer than dropping the veggies into my plastic sectioned tray. After all, I was going to be chopping and slicing veggies no matter what the tray looked like!

And the few minutes extra were totally worth it, because Annalyn thought this was the fanciest thing ever. The fact that I let her “help” made the whole thing even better (to her). And, seriously, it was not hard. Here’s how I did it:

Turkey Veggie Tray

Ingredients:
Several leaves of romaine or other lettuce
2 (each) yellow, green and red peppers
1 cucumber
Baby carrots
2 black beans (olives would also work)
Toothpicks
Serving platter

Arrange the leaves of lettuce on your cute plate. Make an oval at the bottom with slices of cucumber (this is the turkey’s body). Slice the peppers into half-circle rings, keeping the bottoms of the peppers for later. Arrange the pepper slices above the cucumbers – yellow, then green, then red ones. Then line up the carrots for the top row of feathers.

Next, take the bottom part of a green pepper for the head. Attach a yellow pepper beak, red pepper waddle and two black bean eyes with toothpicks. Black olives would work for eyes, too.

The site I found this on made legs out of celery. But since we don’t eat celery normally, I didn’t want to waste a whole bag for one stalk. I used two more carrots instead.

Thanks to Eating with Food Allergies for the idea! (And Pinterest, of course, for convincing me a turkey veggie tray was way better than a regular one!)

What dishes are you taking to your “feasts” this week?

This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, 33 Shades of Green, Works for Me Wednesday, I’m Lovin’ It, Foodie Friday and Eat at Home Cooks Ingredient Spotlight.Also, FYI, affiliate links are used in this post.

Filed Under: Recipes & Food Tagged With: cooking, food, monday morning mmmm, recipes

Sometimes cooking is hard.

October 15, 2012 By Mary @ Giving Up on Perfect 4 Comments

I never claimed to be a Betty Crocker. But typically, I can handle most recipes from Betty Crocker. I mean, recipes from Betty Crocker more often than not include mixes or other pre-made ingredients. And, I don’t want to brag, but I’m kind of a pro at baking from a box.

A couple weeks ago, though, I bombed the simplest recipe. As in, throw-it-in-the-trash-there-is-no-salvaging-it BOMBED IT.

We were getting together with friends for dinner, and I had decided to take potato salad. Then I decided that wasn’t enough. So I pulled up a candy trail mix thing I’d seen on Pinterest and headed to the store for the ingredients.

Mixing together cereal, candy and pretzels? Easy peasy. Melting white chocolate chips? Incredibly difficult.

I’m embarrassed to say that I’m not even kidding. I dumped the white chocolate chips in a bowl and started nuking them, 30 seconds at a time. As I stirred the almost completely melted chips, I noticed the recipe called for adding two tablespoons of butter to the chips.

Oops.

You know what I did next, right? I tried to fix it. Even though my white chocolate looked just fine, I decided to drop in a little butter. COLD butter. Into the HOT chocolate.

It turns out that doesn’t work very well.

The white chocolate, even after much heating in the microwave, was beyond hope. It was chunky, waxy, gloppy and gross. [Aren't you sorry I didn't take a picture of that?!]

All I could do, though, was laugh. It was so ridiculous! Here I was, using the easiest recipe and botching it beyond all recognition. So. Very. Sad.

I didn’t let that stop me, though. I covered the cereal mix, made my potato salad and put “white chocolate” on my list for the next day’s grocery store stop.

I tried it again the next day (and left out the stupid trouble-making butter), and it worked great. This peanut butter puppy chow is delicious – and I can’t wait to make it again!

Peanut Butter Puppy Chow

4 cups Golden Grahams cereal
2 cups Cocoa Puffs cereal
2 cups small pretzels
1 cup Reese’s Pieces
1 cup dry-roasted peanuts
10 oz white chocolate chips
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Mix together the cereal, pretzels, candy and nuts. Melt the chocolate (don’t gunk it up with cold butter!). Coat the cereal mix in the chocolate, then toss in powdered sugar. Eat it by the handful, but don’t wipe your hands on your black pants. Not that you would. Not that I would.

Have you ever botched an easy recipe?

This post is part of 31 Days of Giving Up on Perfect. All month long, I’ll be writing about my fight against perfectionism and my quest to get on with life, already. For more 31 Days, visit The Nester.

Filed Under: Recipes & Food Tagged With: 31 days, cooking, monday morning mmmm, recipes

Monday Morning Mmmm: 60+ Delicious Recipes

June 17, 2012 By Mary @ Giving Up on Perfect 2 Comments

Sometimes when I tell a story, I like to go through all the details and twists and turns. I find myself saying things like, “To make a short story long,” and then, eventually, “Yeah, yeah, I’m getting to the point!” I like to over-explain and anticipate any possible reaction you might have – and then address it before you can even have it.

It’s kind of annoying sometimes.

So today I’m just going to cut to the chase [after two paragraphs of rambling introduction]. Monday Morning Mmmm is over. I’m not going to post a recipe every Monday anymore.

If I make something really great or interesting or pretty, I might still share it. But I’m taking a break from forcing myself to try enough new recipes to have something to share every single Monday morning. I hope you’re not too bummed out. Based on the response my recipe posts have gotten lately, I don’t think you will be.

The good news is that this frees up a day to share funny stories or meaningful insights with you. The bad news is my small group and other friends no longer will be asked to be my new recipe guinea pigs. Then again, maybe that’s the good news for them. (Probably not, though, as this food blogging phase of mine has involved things like snickerdoodle cake, chicken taquitos, jalapeno popper dip and bacon-wrapped green beans!)

I’m linking to all of my recipes in this post – more than 60 of them! With very few exceptions, these foods are super easy to make and delicious. I can’t promise they’re healthy [because they're mostly not], but they ARE good. Enjoy!

Appetizers