Here is my layout for this week over at rwlazercuts take a look at what they have lots of fun goodies.

I used some Martha Stewart glitter on the chipboard, lots of fun, till next time

happy scrapping book

Black Bean Dip for My Girl Paula

This is my third recipe for My Girl Paula, and it was delicious! In fact, I made it again a couple of days later. It really hit the spot! I have to admit, I haven't had Velveeta cheese in many years. But, I stuck with the recipe and made the dip with Velveeta cheese. This dip was flavorful the night it was made, but even better the next day.

A couple of days later, I made this dip again without the Velveeta cheese. I added 4 oz. of cream cheese instead of the Velveeta and I liked this version even better. I'm tempted to make this dip again, but there is such a thing as too much beans ; )

Black Bean Dip - Adapted from The Lady & Sons, Too! -Paula Deen
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons chopped onions
One 4-oz. can green chiles, chopped
1 tomato, diced *I used 1/2 cup salsa*
2 teaspoons chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
1 teaspoon The Lady's House Seasoning
One 15 oz. can black beans with jalapenos
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
4-ounce block Velveeta Mexican cheese product, diced
1- 3 oz. package cream cheese, diced

Melt the butter in a skillet. Add the onions and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the green chiles, tomato, cilantro, and House Seasoning, and cook for 5 minutes longer. Add the beans and cheeses, and simmer until hot and bubbling. Serve hot with white-corn tortilla chips.

Oikos Greek Yogurt Week #1

Today is the perfect day to Go Greek!! At work today, we had a toga party and celebrated all of the Greek ingredients in our products. We wore togas and the florist made all of us girls very pretty wreaths to wear on our hair. It was so much fun. When I came home, I noticed that even Ina Garten went Greek today cooking all kinds of Greek goodies. I decided it was the perfect day to start my posts about Oikos Greek Yogurt.

A couple weeks ago Kristina at Stonyfield Farm contacted me about trying Oikos Greek Yogurt. I was very interested and welcomed the package with open arms. Kristina was so sweet...she sent me tons of coupons and a very cute Stonyfield reusable bag. In the package were also coupons for five FREE 5.3 oz. greek yogurts! I also received another packet of coupons for some of their other products. I was so excited to receive this package and try the yogurt!!

Oikos Greek Yogurt comes in a variety of flavors: plain, vanilla, blueberry, and honey were all available in my supermarket. They use a centuries-old straining process to remove the whey (liquid) from the yogurt which leaves the end product both rich and creamy. The Oikos Greek Yogurt is organic and has twice the protein of normal yogurt. There is 0% fat, and each 5.3 oz. container has just 80 calories! The very best part is that the Oikos Greek Yogurt is deliciously creamy and seems very decadent! Not only is it great to eat on its own, it is also great to bake with PLUS use in smoothies, salad dressings, frozen yogurt...you get the idea : )

I've been dreaming up recipes and ideas for posting and have decided that each Sunday, for the next 4-6 weeks, I will post a new recipe using the Oikos Greek Yogurt. In the meantime, have fun thinking of ways that you might like to use Oikos Greek Yogurt. At the end of my 4-6 week series, there will be a very generous giveaway!! Kristina at Stonyfield Farm will send one lucky winner the following:

2 FREE 16 0Z. OIKOS COUPONS
4 FREE 5.3 0Z. OIKOS COUPONS
$4 WORTH OF STONYFIELD COUPONS
OIKOS SPATULA AND RECIPE CARD SET

This is definitely something that you would want to win!!

Now, onto the food!!

Tip # 1 - Use greek yogurt in place of sour cream when baking! It is delicious and much healthier!

I chose Martha Stewart's Date-Bran Muffins and replaced the sour cream with the Oikos Plain Greek Yogurt. The muffins were moist from the yogurt and delicious with a hint of orange flavor. I would recommend baking with the greek yogurt anyday! This recipe makes 1 dozen, but I halved the recipe and everything worked out just fine.

Date-Bran Muffins- Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp, plus more for pans
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups wheat bran
1/4 cup plus 2 TBSP packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1-1/2 cups sour cream OR Oikos Greek Yogurt
1/4 cup unsulphured molasses (do not substitute sulfured of blackstrap)
1-1/2 cups (8 ozs.) pitted chopped dates
1 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest

Preheat the oven to 375F. Generously butter a standard 12-cup muffin tin. *I used muffin/cupcake liners.** In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and bran; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar on med-high spped until light and fluffy; 2 to 3 minutes. Scrap bowl as needed. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add greek yogurt/sour cream and molasses; mix on low speed until just combined.

Using a rubber spatula, fold in the reserved flour mixture, dates, and orange zest until just combined; do not over mix. Divide and fill muffin pans. Bake, rotating halfway through, until a cake tester comes out clean, 22-25 minutes. Transfer the pan to wire rack and let rest for 10 minutes. Let cool completely.

The next morning, I served these date-bran muffins alongside Tyler's Greek Yogurt with a Fig, Date, and Honey Swirl. Do yourself a HUGE favor and find the recipe here. It was heavenly, creamy, crunchy, sweet and just plain delicious. I couldn't even believe it was healthy!! I am already craving more. Plus, this is probably the easiest Tyler recipe that I have ever made!! If you don't believe me, check out Beth's post at The Seventh Level of Boredom. Beth and I both loved this creamy and decadent breakfast treat!!



Come back next Sunday for more recipes using greek yogurt!!

Scrapbook Creations

Yesterday, I got the latest edition of Scrapbook Creations and I have two layouts published, I had totally forgotten about them being in there, they are fairly old layouts, I was excited as the one of Addison throwing a tantrum was actually on the title page for the article.

This is actually Addison when he was 7 months, he was and still is such a fussy eater.

NO NO NO is about 6 months old, and luckily this doesnt happen any more.

Enjoy, and I will be back soon with my layout for RW lazer cuts.

BUSY BUSY BUSY

I have been very busy over the last three days, four layouts in 3 days, must be a record for me, I can show you one in full and a sneakie of another but you will have to wait for the others.

This first one of Addison I have been wanting to do for a while now, its about his non stop talking, he never stops, tells complete strangers any thing and everything, drives me batty sometimes. Next is a close up of the chipboard, I used some Alison Ellis glitter on him and added different thickers and letter stickers coming out of his mouth.Lastly a sneakie peak of my RW lazer cuts layout for this week, come back Sunday for the reveal, thats is it for now, hope you have a fanatstic weekend I know we will be enjoying the beautiful Brisbane Sunshine.

Happy scrapping book

Dont forget

Dont forget to have a go at our first AD challenge over at dottydivas, you need to have them emailed through to Katy by the 22nd August , our first challenge looks like this

Hope to see your layouts soon

Kim

CREATIVE THURSDAYS: Baked Jalapeno Poppers

Do you think of a jalapeno pepper as a blank canvas? If not, you should consider it. Most often, we cut them up and add them to chili, tex-mex, or we might top our burgers with them. They are probably not a staple on the grocery list. However, jalapenos are extremely inexpensive, keep well for long periods of time, and are a terrific canvas for cheese, bacon, sausage, and breadcrumbs. For all these reasons, jalapenos are this week's featured ingredient.

Create your own filling for them, roll them in breadcrumbs and bake away. You can even freeze them and bake them later when you need to have a quick appetizer or treat!

Both my mom and neighbor have an abundance of jalapenos in their garden. I literally received bags of jalapenos. My husband and I love spicy food, but there was no way we could eat all the peppers we received in time. I thought about canning, but just wasn't feeling it. I started looking up recipes for jalapenos and found a recipe for poppers.

I made a huge batch of poppers and froze them so that we could have them whenever we want. These poppers were so delicious, you would never know they were baked and not fried! When you bite into these, they are so crunchy and the cheese just comes oozing out! The poppers bake for around 30 minutes which allows the peppers to soften just perfectly. In other words, when you bite into them, it is a clean bite. You will not find yourself biting into the popper and pulling out the whole jalapeno in one bite, leaving only a shell of breadcrumbs behind. (Does that ever happen to you?)

The recipe that I used is from the Food Network and can be found here. Basically, you remove the stems and halve the jalapenos. You then create a mixture of cheese (I used garden vegetable cream cheese and monterey jack) and stuff the jalapenos. Once all jalapenos are stuffed, you roll them in flour, egg, and breadcrumbs. This recipe uses panko, but I'm sure any breadcrumb would be fine. You can bake them right away at 350F for 30 minutes or freeze them and bake later. I brushed mine with a little bit of olive oil before baking to help achieve a golden brown color. Use this recipe as a guide only. Feel free to stuff your jalopenos with any kind of cheese, wrap them in bacon, or use regular breadcrumbs.

The Pioneer Woman also has a recipe for bacon-wrapped jalapeno thingies, found here. She has said on more than one occasion that she absolutely loves these jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon.

And, if you can't stand the heat.....don't get out of the kitchen just yet!!! Try Kevin's Baked Jalapeno Popper Dip, recipe found here. This dip looks simply delicious and would be great with tortilla chips or crackers. Surely the all that ooey gooey cream cheese, cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese, and mayo will balance out the heat. The breadcrumb topping looks to die for!!

I also want to post my carrot flowers for a wonderful giveaway over on my friend Beth's site. Please go to The Seventh Level of Boredom and check out Beth's extremely generous giveaway. It is a Pampered Chef Deep Covered Baker!! I saw what those bakers can do at a recent Pampered Chef party and they are fabulous! You can even cook with them in the microwave.

Beth is going to a baby shower coming up and will be creating a vegetable garden to take with her. She is looking for good ideas from readers about cutting veggies into flowers. Submissions can be posted on your blog or sent to Beth directly. I searched and searched and found a carrot flower that I thought was pretty cute. It is suppose to be set alongside sprigs of rosemary to look much like a flower with a pretty rosemary stem. Please don't laugh, I'm not very artsy at all.