Easy Chocolate Caramel Pie

I found this recipe over the weekend online. (http://www.womansday.com/Recipes/No-Bake-Chocolate-Truffle-Pie) I wanted to make a dessert for company but didn't want to bake anything. This is the perfect dessert, and so GOOD! I modified it a little bit:

Ingredients

1 small package sliced almonds

17 caramels

1 tsp. vanilla

2 tbs. butter

1/4 cup evaporated milk

1 ready made chocolate pie crust

1.5 cups chocolate chips (I used dark because we had it)

1 cup of heavy cream

1. Toast the almonds for a few minutes in the toaster oven or stove-top. Remember to stir them periodically... I burned half of mine!

2. While the almonds toast, melt the caramels in a medium sauce pan on med-low heat and add the 1/4 cup of evaporated milk until smooth. Add the vanilla at the last second.

3. Pour the almonds over the pie crust, and then the caramel sauce.

4. Clean the sauce pan and mix the chips, heavy cream, and butter. Stir until glossy and smooth on low heat.

5. Once the chocolate is done, pour it over the caramel! Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

**I used the rest of the cream to make whipped cream for the top. Enjoy!

Chicken Tamale Casserole

Sarah found this recipe on My Recipes, it's from the Cooking Light magazine. Jason and I liked this but it didn't taste like our favorite tamales from Ponaks!  We would make this again, it's inexpensive, tasty, and lots of leftovers.

Ingredients

• 1  cup  (4 ounces) preshredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese, divided
• 1/3  cup  fat-free milk
• 1/4  cup  egg substitute
• 1  teaspoon  ground cumin
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground red pepper
• 1  (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn
• 1  (8.5-ounce) box corn muffin mix (such as Martha White)
• 1  (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
• 1 onion
• Cooking spray
• 2  (10-ounce) can red enchilada sauce (such as Old El Paso)
• 2  cups  shredded cooked chicken breast
• 1/2  cup  fat-free sour cream

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. Combine 1/4 cup cheese and next 7 ingredients (through chiles) in a large bowl, stirring just until moist. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
3. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until set. Pierce entire surface liberally with a fork; pour 1 can enchilada sauce over top.
4. While cornbread mixture is cooking, saute cooked chicken with taco seasoning, 1/2 onion, 1/2 can of enchilada sauce.
5. Top cornbread mixture with chicken; sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese. Optional- top with remaining onion.  Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. Cut into 8 pieces; top each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream.

Approx: 360 calories/ serving

Jalapeno Popper Dip

One of our "go to" dips- I made this as an appetizer for our Mexican themed dinner for the KU game Friday night.  We had this dip, Tamale Casserole, and margaritas...yummm.  I cut this in 1/2 because it was only for two.

Ingredients

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies, drained
• 2 ounces canned diced jalapeno peppers, drained
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Bread or tortilla chips 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Stir together cream cheese and mayonnaise in a large bowl until smooth. Stir in green chiles and jalapeno peppers. Pour mixture into a microwave safe serving dish, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. 
3. Bake at 375 degrees F  for about 30 minutes or until the cheese browns. 
   

Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich

I love Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches, this recipe includes a garlic mayo that is amazing.  I like a sweet taste so I add a little teryaki sauce when I saute the meat and veggies.

Ingredients

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound beef round steak, cut into thin strips
• 2 green bell peppers, cut into 1/4 inch strips
• 2 onions, sliced into rings
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 hoagie rolls, split lengthwise and toasted
• Sliced  provolone cheese
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Optional- teryaki sauce

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise and minced garlic. Cover, and refrigerate. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute beef until lightly browned. Stir in green pepper and onion, and season with salt and pepper. Saute until vegetables are tender, and remove from heat. Optional- add teryaki sauce
3. Spread each bun generously with garlic mayonnaise. Divide beef mixture into the buns. Top with shredded cheese, and sprinkle with oregano. Place sandwiches on a baking pan.
4. Heat sandwiches in preheated oven, until cheese is melted or slightly browned.

-Robin

BBBB: Best Baked Beans w/ Bacon

I got this original recipe from thepioneerwoman.com. These are incredible, simple, and so delicious! You will never make any other baked beans, again. I mixed it up a little bit. I used peppered bacon, spicy Oklahoma Joe's BBQ sauce, and spicy mustard.

Ingredients
8 slices o' bacon, halved
1 medium-small onion, diced
1 small green bell pepper, diced
3 cans of baked beans
3/4 cup BBQ sauce, I used Night of the Living Dead (OK Joe's)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tbs. spicy mustard and/or Dijon mustard

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
2. Cook up the bacon halves, about 3/4 the way, just until it's slightly cooked and a little pink. Place on paper towels to drain grease.
3. DO NOT throw out the bacon fat in the pan... saute the onion and pepper in it, until tender. 5 minutes.
4. While the veggies cook, make the sauce- whisk the BBQ sauce, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, and mustard in a bowl and set aside.
5. Open all of the beans (Undrained) and add to the saute pan. Now, add the sauce mixture and stir until combined.
6. Finally, spray a 9x13 pan, and pour the beans in the dish. Carefully, put the bacon strips on top. Bake for 2 hours, until they are thick and bubbly.

Enjoy!
-Sarah

Egg Casserole

I made this egg casserole on Saturday for some friends before we began our first St. Paddy's day celebration in Denver. The leftovers are just as good!  

Ingredients

• 1 pound hot pork sausage
• 1 (8 ounce) package refrigerated crescent roll dough
• 10 eggs, beaten
• 1 8oz bag of finely shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 small green bell pepper (optional)
• 1 3.5 oz can of mushrooms (optional)
• 1/2 small onion (optional)

Directions

1. Place sausage in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. Line the bottom of the prepared baking dish with crescent roll dough, and sprinkle with crumbled sausage. In a large bowl, mix beaten eggs and oregano.  Pour mixture over the sausage and crescent rolls. Add veggies on top and sprinkle bag of cheddar cheese on top.
4. Bake 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

* Add your favorite veggies and enjoy!

Jalapeño Cornbread Casserole

This is the perfect side dish to those pulled pork sands :)

Ingredients

1 can of creamed corn

1 can of regular corn

1 cup of sour cream

1 stick o' butter

1 jalapeño, diced (keep the seeds for heat, ditch them if you don't like it spicy)!

1 box of Jiffy cornbread mix

1 egg

S&P taste and cheese if you want...

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Chop up the jalapeño, and saute with the butter.

3. Mix all other ingredients and whisk together. Add the butter and jalapeño, S&P, and cheese if you want. (Mix).

4. Pour into a greased/ungreased (there's so much butter, you won't need it) 9x13 pan and put in the oven for 45 min to an hour, until a knife comes clean!!

Thank you, G-ma for this recipe... we kicked it up with the jalapeño and cheese.

One of our fav recipes

One of our favorite (and easy!) recipes: 

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

 

Ingredients

• 1 (2 pound) pork tenderloin or pork shoulder
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle root beer
• 1 (18 ounce) bottle your favorite barbecue sauce
• 8 hamburger buns, split and lightly toasted (we recommend onion buns)

Directions

1. Place the pork in a slow cooker; pour the root beer over the meat. Cover and cook on low until well cooked and the pork shreds easily, 6 to 7 hours. The actual length of time may vary according to individual slow cooker. Drain well. Stir in barbecue sauce. Serve over hamburger buns. 

Serving size: 6, recipe found on Allrecipes.com
*Robin's recommends Sweet Baby Ray's and Sarah recommends Oklahoma Joe's Spicy BBQ sauce

Enjoy!

Baby Painting

I recently started doing custom paintings for my friends and co-workers that are having babies.  I tried to match their bedding with my own touch! Let me know if you know anyone interested.

-Robin

Hand-painted chairs

Hello!
It's Robin, I painted these chairs and re-upholstered them my senior year in college.  I tried selling them on Etsy... they received a lot of attention but the shipping cost was outrageous!  These are one of my favorite projects I have ever done. 

Welcome to our blog!

Best friends since the fourth grade... separated by distance, Sarah lives in Austin, TX and Robin lives in Denver, CO we manage to stay in touch thanks to gchat.  Daily we share our menus and favorite recipes with eachother.  On our blog you will see anything that is on our minds but mostly art and food.  We hope you enjoy and thanks for visiting!

-Robin and Sarah