Cake Mix Cookies

I just LOVE these cookies! They are so easy to make and I always have the ingredients on hand. I've always made chocolate but tried lemon for the first time and mmmmmm! I think I'll try strawberry next. :)

1 box Devils Food Cake mix (or flavor of your choice)
1/2 cup of oil (maybe just a little less)
2 large eggs
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Mix by hand cake mix, oil, and eggs. Roll dough into 24 - 1 1/2 inch balls. Chill for 5-10 minutes. Roll each ball in powdered sugar to coat and bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 8-10 minutes. You almost want them to be under-done so they don't dry out and have a nice chewy texture.

Caramelized Onion Pizza

Ok, I'm a sucker for anything with caramelized onions, and this recipe was no exception!

Caramelized Onion Pizza
1 pizza crust
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 cans sliced mushrooms (or use fresh)
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to taste
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1 teaspoon dried thyme

Saute mushrooms & onions in oil about 10 minutes until tender. Add honey and vinegar and saute an additional 8 minutes until golden brown. Season with salt & pepper.

Sprinkle cheese & thyme on pizza dough, then add onion/mushroom mixture. Bake at 450 for about 15 minutes until cheese is bubbly. Or check out THIS blog post for a great tutorial on grilling pizza. It gives it great flavor and doesn't heat up your oven on these hot summer days. It's my new favorite way to make our weekly pizzas. :)

Easy Veggie Beef Soup

I love to make this and you really can't go wrong. The easy part is that you use all canned veggie. You can use fresh or frozen if you desire.

1lb browned ground beef
1 can tomato soup
2 cans full of water (that tomato soup came in)
1 can Rotel tomatoes (I use the mild version)
1 can green beans
1 can corn
1 can green peas
1 can lima beans
4 med. sized potatoes peeled & chopped
Chopped onion, celery, & pepper to taste
salt & pepper

Put all into crockpot and slow cook for 8 hours.

I like my soup thick so that it's more like a stew then drain the cans of veggies. If you like it a more watery like soup should be then don't drain the cans of veggies or add more water.

This recipe can be changed up to suit your taste. The above is listed the way I like it.

Grilled Veggies

If you're going to be doing any grilling this summer (and why wouldn't you?!) then you've got to try these. They are so easy, so tasty, and so healthy. What more could you ask for? :)

Grilled Veggies
sliced/chopped veggies (zucchini, yellow squash, red onions, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, mushrooms ... whatever is on sale or whatever you're family likes)
olive oil
garlic pepper

First you'll need a grilling basket. I got mine from Target for about $10-15.Then toss the veggies with olive oil and garlic pepper and grill until desired tenderness. If you're doing a ton of veggies, you may want to steam them for about 10 minutes first so they don't take so long to grill.

Patriotic Parfait

How can you go wrong with Jell-O and Cool Whip?! This is a refreshing and light dessert for any holiday or any day really. I got the recipe from the Kraft Foods website but changed it a little so that the Jell-O held its square shape a little better ... somewhere in between regular Jell-O and Jell-O jigglers.

1 (6 oz) box blue Jell-O
1 (6 oz) box red Jell-O
water
Cool Whip

Pour 1 1/4 cups boiling water into blue Jell-O in an 8x8 dish. Stir about 3 minutes until completely dissolved. Stir in 1 cup cold water. Chill at least 3 hours. Repeat the same process with the red Jell-O. When the Jell-O is set cut into 1 inch cubes and layer with Cool Whip. Enjoy. :)

Southern Fried Corn

You just can't beat good home style Southern cookin'! This recipe is very time consuming but will worth it. I also need to add that it's best if cooked in a cast iron skillet.

Southern Fried Corn
serves/makes= 6

6 ears fresh corn
1/4 cup cup bacon drippings
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup water
1/4 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

Note: if you don't have bacon drippings (not everyone keeps these), you can use a little bit (1/8 cup maybe) of vegetable oil.

1) Shuck corn, wash, and remove silk. Cut corn cobs in half and then cut kernels off. (This is called cream-style cutting)

2) Scrape juice out of the corn cob into the corn. Heat drippings in large skillet. Add corn, flour, sugar, water, milk, salt and pepper. Bring misxture to a boil, stirring constantly.

3)Cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 20-25min until corn is tender. If necessary, add a little hot water.
Note: I used my cast iron skillet which doesn't have a lid to cover with so I just reduced the time to 15min and it came out great!

This recipe is from CDKitchen

Crockpot French Dip Sandwiches

Mmmm, these were so yummy!!! I found this recipe on another great cooking blog Our Best Bites. The only thing I would change next time is to shred the beef in the crockpot and let it cook in the juices for the last hour. And maybe add some caramelized onions ... mmmm!

French Dip Sandwiches

1 2.5-3 lb. beef roast (you can use a frozen roast if you want)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper
2 1-ounce packages dry onion soup mix
2 c. water
2 cans beef broth
6-8 large buns (or more...6 would be VERY generous servings!)
Swiss, provolone, or mozzarella cheese, shredded or sliced.

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and rub roast with salt and pepper.

When very hot, carefully place roast in pan and sear on all sides. You're not cooking the meat, you're just browning it quickly on all sides to add flavor and seal in the juices.

Place in crockpot and sprinkle with onion soup mixes. Pour water and beef broth over roast.

Cook 8-10 hours on low or cook 4-5 hours on high and another 3-4 hours on low. When meat is ready, shred with a fork.

Place meat in crusty rolls. Top with cheese and broil open-faced in the oven or toaster oven for a few minutes, until bread is golden and cheese is melty.

Ladle juices into small cups for dipping and enjoy!