Marinated Mozzarella Cubes

(Photo courtesy of Taste of Home)

Knowing we had to travel over Christmas, I wanted to be able to pack things that would travel quite easily. These cheese cubes were perfect since they were sealed tight in their jars. I ended up making 2 of these jars, and they either 1) were not very good or 2) or it was just a lot of cheese, because the two jars lasted through two Christmas get-togethers and New Years Eve!

I really liked these, but I think the oil may have thrown some people off. I tried to limit the amount of oil that went in the serving dish, and I think some people were just confused about what those white cubes were! I did not add the roasted red peppers (because I forgot to buy them) but I think next time I will add them in. The only other tricky thing about this is that I could not find any single canning/mason jars, so I had to buy a pack of 12.

Marinated Mozzarella Cubes

Source: Taste of Home

Ingredients:

1 pound mozzarella cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 jar (7 ounces) roasted red peppers, drained and cut into bite-size pieces
6 fresh thyme sprigs
2 garlic cloves, minced
1-1/4 cups Crisco® Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Canola Oil
2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Bread or crackers

Directions:

In a quart jar with a tight-fitting lid, layer a third of the cheese, peppers, thyme and garlic. Repeat layers twice.

In a small bowl, whisk the oil, rosemary, Italian seasoning and pepper flakes. Pour into jar; seal and turn upside down. Refrigerate overnight, turning several times. Serve with bread or crackers. Yield: 4 cups.

Sausage and Chicken Jambalaya

I did not get a chance to get a picture of this before it was devoured by our Monday night football guests a few weeks ago. I did not even eat anything other than the random bits left in the crock-pot! That was alright though because my mom has made this before so I knew what I was missing out on.

This recipe was passed on to me by my mom, and I have no idea where her photocopy came from. So just to be clear, this is not my original recipe! But this is really good. I have never had jambalaya before this dish, and I am fairly certain this is not "authentic" jambalaya, but it still tastes great and feeds a hungry crowd, which is all good in my book.

My mom has adapted this to be made in the slow-cooker, and it still tastes just as great! The original recipe says it serves 6, so I doubled it for our party, but the original is below.

Sausage and Chicken Jambalaya
Source: unknown
Serves 6

Ingredients:
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
Mrs. Dash or other seasoning for the chicken
2 Tbls. oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. Thyme
2 Tbls. parsley, chopped
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
3/4 lb. smoked sausage, sliced
3/4 cup Acini di Pepe noodles
2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

Stovetop:
Heat the oil in a large skillet and brown the chicken. Once cooked, remove the chicken and set aside. Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic to the oil and cook until just soft. Add the sausage and herbs; stir for 1 minute. Return the cooked chicken and add chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer 30-40 minutes. Add Acini di Pepe and continue to simmer until pasta is tender. Serve warm.

Crockpot:
Heat the oil in a large skillet and brown chicken. Once cooked, remove the chicken and set aside. Add the onion, bell pepper and garlic to oil and cook until just soft. Transfer chicken, onion, pepper and garlic to airtight container and keep in refridgerator until ready (can be done the day before). Combine chicken, onion, pepper and garlic in crockpot. Add thyme, parsley, cayenne, sausage and chicken broth. Cook on low for 4 hours. Add Acini di Pepe during last 10-15 minutes. Serve warm.

Herbed Cheese and Cracker Bits

I recently re-discovered this recipe while trying to come up with an appetizer to make for Christmas. It has been awhile since I've made these tasty little crackers, and now I remember why: they are SO addicting! There are similar variations of snacks like this (ranch pretzels and oyster crackers) but this particular recipe takes it to a different level with the cheese crackers. Honestly, I could eat the whole container of these in one sitting, so I think I subconsciously forgot about them to try to keep my weight down:) But I can't wait for another excuse to make them, hopefully soon.

Herbed Cheese and Cracker Bits
Source: Paula Deen

Ingredients:

2 (10 1/2-ounce) boxes cheese crackers (recommended: Ritz Cheese Bits, not peanut butter flavor)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 (1-ounce) package salad dressing mix (recommended: Hidden Valley Original Ranch)
1 heaping tablespoon dried dill
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon celery salt

Directions:

Place the crackers in a large sealable freezer container. In a bowl, mix the oil, salad dressing mix, dill, garlic powder, and celery salt. Pour this mixture over the crackers, cover the container, and invert it to coat the crackers with seasoning. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours, turning the container every so often to keep the crackers coated. Let the mixture come to room temperature before serving. Store in the covered container in refrigerator.

Spinach-Bacon Macaroni and Cheese

Ok, I promise I will get a better camera or make myself a lightbox so my pictures stop looking so gross:/ It is really kind of disappointing to have such a tasty meal, but then end up with a photograph like this! Maybe I'm just too critical of myself. Or maybe I can blame it on winter and it getting dark so early, making it very hard to take nice pictures.

On a happier note, we had Andy's parents, his brother and our nephew over for breakfast this morning. I thought it would be nice to have breakfast before we headed out in the cold to decorate Grandma Lavon's gravesite, and I'm also really obsessed with finally finishing our 'fancy' living room and I wanted to show it off. Here's a couple pictures of it, because I really can't resist, and this room makes me happy everytime I walk through it.

But really, the point of this post is the macaroni. I actually saw the recipe on the back of the shredded cheese as I made the Eggbake for breakfast. I'm going to be gone every night this week so I thought this would be good to try so Andy would then have some leftovers. I have not had much luck with homemade macaroni in the past, but this actually turned out really well! However, I did not have spinach so I used Arugula instead and it tasted great. I also used 1 cup sharp cheddar and 1 cup mild cheddar, and grated my own parmesan cheese instead of using the stuff in the green can.

Spinach-Bacon Macaroni and Cheese

Source: Kraft Foods

Ingredients:

3 cups medium shell macaroni, uncooked

1 pkg. (6 oz. ) fresh baby spinach leaves

4 slices OSCAR MAYER Bacon, chopped

2 Tbsp. flour

2 cups milk

2 cups KRAFT Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese, divided

1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees

COOK macaroni as directed on pkg., adding spinach for the last min. Cook bacon in large saucepan. Remove bacon; save drippings in pan.

ADD flour to drippings; cook and stir until bubbly. Gradually stir in milk. Bring to boil, stirring constantly; cook and stir 3 to 5 min. or until thickened.

STIR in 1 cup Cheddar and Parmesan; cook and stir until melted. Add bacon and macaroni mixture; mix well.


SPOON into 1-1/2-qt. casserole; top with remaining Cheddar. Bake 20 min.

Enjoy!

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