Cheesecake stuffed strawberries.

These things are so delicious. Just another gem I found on pinterest (but the photo is my own). I've made them a few times, and once for my boyfriend's work potluck thing whatever. They're really easy to make, and easy to devour in a small amount of time. Lol. Also, there's no cooking involved. It's all no bake!

Ingredients

1lb large strawberries
8oz cream cheese, softened/room temperature
4 tbsp powdered sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
a paper plate full of graham cracker crumbs

Preparation
1. Rinse  strawberries and trim tops with a paring knife, or a similar small knife.Hollow out all strawberries.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until creamy.
3. Add cream cheese mixture to a piping bag and fill strawberries with the mix.
4. Dip top of strawberries in the graham cracker crust on your paper plate.
5. EAT!!

Now, of course you don't have to use a paper plate. But I keep all my good dishes put away until company comes over. Also, I suppose you could sprinkle on the graham cracker crumbs, but it might be quite messy and not nearly as effective as dipping them. These things are really good, and the mix tastes just like cheesecake filling.

Eat up y'all!

Go home, McGriddle. You are drunk.

So. I don't know about any of you guys, but my guiltiest pleasure is McDonalds McGriddles. I prefer the bacon egg and cheese ones. And they're considerably smaller now that they were when they first came out. Most things end up that way though. Honey buns. Twinkies. Whoppers. Y'all know what I mean. 

Anyway..I was at my moms house the other day and I made a whole mess of pancakes for the kids. Surprisingly, we had some leftover ones. It was those Hungry Jack ones in the packet, the funfetti kind. Really freakin' delicious. My mom ended up making some breakfast after that, and had some leftover sausages. I saw them sitting next to eachother being all pancakey and sausagey and I figured they'd probably make a pretty good sandwich. So I slapped a couple tomato slices on there, and voila. Sausage and funfetti pancake mcgriddle with tomato. I can't wait to have these again.

Pizza Dip.

Have you ever just really wanted to put a pizza in a blender, and either drink it or dip your chips in it? Oh, no? Ok, maybe that's just me. I'm weird. I get it. However, there's a recipe for the most incredible dip on the planet and it tastes exactly like a pizza. Yes, pizza dip. I've made it several times and everyone who's ever tried it gets all rabid-like, and starts moaning like a zombie. I take it as a compliment. It's whatev.

I originally found the recipe on Pinterest. The photo alone gave me a foodgasm. So I'm sharing the recipe with you, and a photo of my own pizza dip.

Servings: Makes 4 servings (if you double it, it makes 8)
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes (if doubling it, make it 40 minutes to an hour)

Mixture Ingredients
4 ounces cream cheese (room temp)
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayo
1/2 cup mozzarella (shredded)
1/4 cup parmesean

Topping Ingredients
1 cup pizza sauce
1/2 cup mozzarella (shredded)
1/2 cup parmesean
2oz pepperoni (sliced)
2 tablespoons green pepper (diced)
2 tablespoons black olive (sliced)

Directions
1. Mix the cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, mozzarella, and parmesean. Spread it across the bottom of a round glass baking dish or pie plate.
2. Spread the pizza sauce on top, and sprinkle on the cheese, pepperoni, green pepper, and black olives.
3. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees until the sides are bubbling and the cheese has melted and turned golden brown on top, about 20 minutes.

*Best served with Tostitos scoops

And that's it! Pretty easy. I change it up a bit, and I almost always double the recipe. I have a 13x9 glass baking dish, so I have to double it in order to fill the sucker. It takes a little bit longer to cook as well. I don't add the black olives because I hate them, and I don't add parmesean to the topping because I feel it makes it way too salty. Bacon is a good topping to add, and I don't measure it. I just cook about 6 slices until they're done but still chewy, and crumble it up on top. Also, I like to add minced garlic to the mixture. For some reason I really enjoy smelling like a sweaty italian guy so I add garlic to just about everything I eat.

Anyway, here's how mine usually turns out.

Eat up, y'all!

Now THAT'S italian!

In 2005 I visited a restaurant called Come Back Inn located in Jeffersonville, Indiana. It was a small, hole-in-the-wall type place, and above all, Italian!! Their menu has tons of delicious foods, but one in particular caught my eye. I'd never heard nor tried it before, so I figured what the hell. Pasta Greco. Boy, was I in for a treat.

They brought me a very large bowl filled with fettucini noodles, spinach, kalamata olives, sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese, pine nuts, olive oil, and red onions, all tossed together like a beautiful food orgy. I immediately fell in love with this dish, but not so much the price (I'm cheap, what can I say?) or the drive. So I decided that in order for me to enjoy this for a much cheaper price and less driving, I'd have to make it at home. So I did.

Sorry about the photo quality. I didn't know about macro yet. Lol. But it turned out AMAZING. I still like to go back to Come Back Inn from time to time for the Greco, but I still make this at home. :) So, for all of you interested, here's the recipe. :)

Ingredients

12 oz. Fettucini
1 bunch baby spinach
4 oz. feta cheese
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives
2 T kalamata olive oil
I T diced sundried tomato
1 T diced red onion
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 tsp. lemon zest
1/2 tsp. sea salt
fresh ground pepper to taste

preparation

Boil fettucini according to package directions. Drain, rinse and return to pot.

Rinse and dry spinach
Sliver olives (cut in quarters)
Zest lemon
Crumble feta

With pan of drained and rinsed fettucini on low heat, add all remaining ingredients and gently stir until spinach is wilted and ingredients are mixed. Serve warm.

You could always substitute anything in this recipe, like penne, spaghetti, or bowtie pasta noodles. Whatever you like. I'm just partial to the fettucini noodles. :)

Eat up, y'all!