Lasagna Bites

Pin Rating: 4

I've seen a lot of different bites recipes on Pintrest and have pinned a couple of them.  I've finally had a chance to make the lasagna bites so I was very excited for this one.  I actually read up on a few different lasagna bites recipes and in the end got pinspiration from 2 of them (Here and here).  One thing you have to know about me is that I am a huge lover of lasagna.  Every italian restaurant I dine at I must try their lasagna.  (So far I think the lasagna at Macaroni Grill is the best because they use a thin pasta for the lasagna noodles.  If you guys know somewhere even better I must know!)  But because I'm such a huge lasagna fan, when I actually bit into the bites I was disappointed.  The extra crispiness from the wonton wrapper was nice, but I felt like it lost it's lasagna identity.  I debated between a 3.5 or 4 but in the end gave it a 4 because it did taste good, it just didn't live up to my high lasagna expectations.   

Ingredients:

• Mini muffin tins (silicone ones work best)
• Wonton Wrapper Sheets  (I was lucky enough to live close to an asian supermarket, but in case you don't, you can find them on Amazon.)
• 1 1/2 cup Ricota cheese
• Cooking spray (optional)
• Meat sauce
• I used 1 lb of ground turkey
• 1 24oz jar of sauce
• 1/2 small onion chopped
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 2 cups of Mozzerella (I was generous with the cheese :))

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Regular sized muffins: 18-20 minutes

Mini muffins: 10-12 minutes

I made my own adjustments to the recipe in terms of the size I used for the bites but other than that I followed the recicpe and layering instructions.  I also tested out the original size in the full muffin tin as well as made the mini muffin sized lasagna bites.  I ended up liking the smaller bites better.  

Copy Cat Applebee's Spinach Artichoke Dip

I ran across an awesome blog on Pintrest in search of this artichoke dip - The Budget Savvy Diva.  Her website is filled with tons of budget friendly recipes and deals.  Definitely check it out if you have the chance.  I did make minor changes to the amounts in the ingredients but the items are still all the same.

Also, before I dive into the blog post I wanted to give a quick shout out to the members of http://bloggingitforward.com/ for helping me make some changes to my blog.  So you'll probably see some changes to the website in the near future, and it will all be for a better blogging experience for you and me.  :)

Pin Rating: 4.5

This recipe was easy to make and tasted great.  However, I think there is probably a more delicious spinach dip out there.  Even though this dip was served fresh, it didn't seem as too many people were eating it.  My friends seemed to have gravitated towards other dishes that was served.  I also realized I didn't take too many pictures because it was my last dish that needed to go into the oven and the guest were already arriving.

Ingredients:

• 10oz bag of fresh spinach
• 14oz artichoke hearts drained & chopped
• 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 8-10oz alfredo sauce
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 4 oz softened cream cheese
• 1 tsp pepper
• Chips or bread for dipping ;)

Oven 350 degrees.  Bake time 30 minutes.

Game Night - Dice Cheese Blocks

The dice cheese blocks were pinspired by this pin here.  Unfortunately the pin link itself leads you to a blog round up which leads you to a dead source.  On the other hand, the pin image itself gives you the right idea just not the materials.  So here's my blog post on what I used an how I made it.

Pin Rating: 5

Ingredients:

• Frozen Grapes (I had grapes left over from the PB+Chicken salad wraps 
• Frozen grapes are easier to cut in my opinion and it also holds it's shape well.  You can also use olives but since I had left over grapes I used those instead.
• Cheese block (Or some sort of soft cheese that you can mold)
• Toothpicks 
• Crackers
• Dice (for a sample on where to place grapes if you care for accuracy)

Game Night Food Table!

Today's been a long and productive day so I'm going to make today's post really short.  I spent an hour or so with my friend today clearing our Hobby Lobby's Christmas decorations (80% off) for her wedding decor in December 2013.  Congrats again on your engagement!

So back to the blog post, as I mentioned in a previous post, my boyfriend decided to have a small get together at his house on New Year's Day to play some board games.  So it's not really game night, but more like board game day. He originally wanted it to be a small get together but I decided to use the opportunity to put together some decorations and make some pinspired finger foods. In the end we had a a large group of friend over and the decorations and foods were a hit.  Here's a preview for what's to come in blog posts (no listed in any particular order).

• Playing Card banner & Purple Cow Paper cutter review
• Playing card box food stand & vase decor
• Dice Block Cheese & Crackers
• Copy Cat Applebee's Spinach Artichoke Dip
• PB+Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps
• Lasagna Bites

I also made Deviled Eggs, Honey Sauced Chicken, Skyline Chili Dip and my sister (thanks again sis!) made HotLink Corndog minis, Pigs in a Blanket, and some Spicy Cream Cheese Poppers.  And only 2 people made all of this food, can you believe it?!  Granted it took me a couple of hours the day before to prep a lot of the food, but being able to see this final display made me really happy.  And not to mention provided full tummies to our guest as well!  Individual posts to come shortly.

Oven Cooked Bacon & Bacon Jalapeno Poppers

Original Pin: http://pinterest.com/pin/231724343298689221/

Original Blog Post: http://www.hellohue.com/2011/01/pop-em-like-theyre-hot.html

Pin Rating: 4.5

Duration:
Prep time: 20-30 minutes
Bacon Bake time: 17-20 minutes @ 400˚ F
Popper Bake time 15-20 minutes @ 375˚ F

One thing that I liked about making the Honey sauced chicken in the crock pot was that I can just prep it and then have time to make a second dish.  Also, if you haven't tried oven baked bacon you're in for  treat!  These poppers weren't as delicious as the chicken but they're still a quick, easy and delicious appetizer to bring to a party.

Yields 16 pieces

• 2 jalapeño
• 1 can of crescent roll
• 2 oz cream cheese
• 5-8 slices of bacon (the more the merrier!)  
• Baking sheet
• Foil