I can’t believe Easter is just around the corner and here in Texas, that means HOT weather is on the way.  We’ve already had some warm days so I’ve been on the prowl for easy, cool desserts.  I’m sure this Strawberry Mousse is something several of you already know about, but I’ll admit, it’s new to me.  I was planning on making chocolate mousse using Philadelphia Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese but couldn’t find it in my small town, so I settled for Philadelphia Strawberry Cream Cheese.  I’m glad I did, it was a big hit here on the ranch!

This is another one of the easiest recipes ever.  I beginning to wonder if I’m smart or lazy ’cause if any recipe requires too much work, I’m outta there!  Anyways, everyone in my house loved it and we had ages of 18 to 5.  Two thumbs up from the Falcon household!  I’m even thinking about taking this is a snack for the kiddos in Truett’s class.  Enjoy y’all!

These are your ingredients….super easy y’all!

Disclosure: I am an official Walmart Mom. Follow me and my fellow Walmart Moms as we share our experiences and ideas! Walmart has provided me with compensation and gift card in return for my time & efforts to create this post. My participation in this program is voluntary and my opinions are my own, always have been, always will be.

I can only imagine all the dips that were being consumed during Super Bowl weekend, how about you?  I know we had our fair share, including a new one that included the new Spicy Buffalo Velveeta cheese!  Now we originally had no plan to use this but we thought the dip needed some kick. This made a LOT of dip.

So what dips did you make for game day?

Just because you want to offer healthier snacks for your next party (and maybe the next Super Bowl party) doesn’t mean you have to cut ALL the goodness out!  Offering foods that are cooler make a party lighter.    Try these 3 very simple, but tasty food ideas at your next get-together and I bet you’re gonna be surprised at how big a hit they’ll be!

Tip: To make things even healthier, you can substitute several of the items with low fat products like the cream cheese, mayonnaise, and sour cream.And I always shop at Walmart for everything I need!

Knorr’s Spinach Dip

• 1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed (do not use fresh)
• 1 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1 c. mayonnaise (I use Hellmann’s)
• 1 (4 oz.) pkg. Knorr vegetable soup mix
• 1 (8 oz.) can water chestnuts, finely chopped
• 3 green onions, finely chopped
• Round Loaf of King’s Hawaiin Bread

Squeeze spinach until dry. In medium bowl, stir together spinach, sour cream and soup mix. Add finely chopped water chestnuts and green onions. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight. Cut slice from top of round loaf of pumpernickel bread, hollow out loaf to leave shell to contain dip. Use bread removed from shell and top slice to cut into bite size pieces. Butter inside of bread shell, fill loaf with dip and place on platter and surround with crackers or even vegetable sticks.

Meat and Cheese Platter

Obviously no recipe involved but this was a hit! Cubed cheese surrounded by a variety of deli meats.  Oh so good!

Basic Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

• 1 8-ounce package cream cheese,softened
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients and beat until smooth and creamy. For Marshmallow Fruit Dip:  Add 1/2 cup marshmallow creme to the basic recipe.

What kind of finger food do you serve at home parties? And are you as challenged as I am?

Since I’m unable to visit a tropical destination, I figure creating tropical desserts will have to do and what’s more tropical than Pina Colada!  Because I’m always trying to incorporate fruit into our every day eating habits, I thought adding the traditional Pina Colada ingredients along with the tasty banana.

This recipe is great on a hot Summer day or even a cold day after eating a hot meal.  It makes for a pretty presentation too because when you slice it up to serve, you’ve got 3 layers-the creamy mixture, bananas, and cream mixture all topped with coconut!

Enjoy and let me know how you like it!

I’ve made DiGornio Pizza with BLT Topping, South of the Border Chicken and Pasta Skillet, and today I bring you Creamy Chicken Pot Pie.    This was an easy meal and was wondering how all the kiddos would react since the mixed vegetables but they LOVED it. In fact, my husband who wasn’t hungry at the time, got only a spoonful by the time he was!

All these recipes came from the 2-Week Meal Planner that Sam’s Club and Kraft put together.  The really cool thing for Sam’s Club members is that you can create a personalized cookbook, valued at $25.  If you’re not a member, don’t fret because you can win a membership later.  I encourage you to go make your personalized cookbook because there’s nothing like having one with all your favorites and after trying out all these recipes from the planner, I’ll be adding a few to my own cookbook.

Sam’s club is great for bulk buying and us folks who live way out here on the ranch.  If you’ve never done any shopping by bulk, you should learn.  You can save so much money in the long run and once you get a stockpile going, you won’t spend much of anything later on.  So worth it!

CREAMY CHICKEN POT PIE

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pkg. (8 oz.) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, cubed
• 1⁄2 cup chicken broth
• 1 lb. cooked Tyson® boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed (about 3 cups)
• 1 6 oz. frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
• 1⁄2 tsp. garlic salt
• 1 egg
• 1⁄2 cup milk
• 1 cup all-purpose baking mix

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 400°F.  Cook cream cheese and broth in large saucepan on low heat until cream cheese is completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring frequently with whisk.  Stir in chicken, vegetables and garlic salt.
spoon into 9-inch pie plate. Beat egg and milk in medium bowl with whisk until well blended; stir in baking mix just until moistened. Spoon over chicken mixture.  Place pie plate on baking sheet.  Bake 25 to 30 min. or until golden brown.

Find your your local Sam’s Club

Well, I Ain’t No Rachael Ray!

In early June, I had the chance to attend an Oscar Mayer event and learn about their Deli Fresh Meats.  Not only did we get to visit the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, we had to do was create a sandwich using their Deli Fresh Meats.  I’m probably one of the most uncreative people alive but after 6 sandwich taste-testing sessions with my family, I narrowed it down to a wrap called, Lori Falcon’s Roasted Red Peppers and Roast Beef Wrap. They guys at Oscar Mayer were nice enough to bring in a camera crew to make a video of us making our sandwich, which you can see below. You can see all the videos from the other bloggers at the Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh youtube page.

INGREDIENTS

• Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Slow Roasted Roast Beef
• Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
• Ground Cumin
• Garlic Powder or Clove of Garlic
• Soft Flat Bread
• Avocado, cubed
• Tomato, chopped (and seeded if you like)
• Havarti Cheese
• Red Roasted Peppers
• Lettuce Leaf
• Salt & Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Mix the cream cheese, cumin, garlic, and roasted red peppers until well blended.  Spread of a layer of cream cheese mixture over flat bread tortilla.  Place a lettuce leaf on each flat bread tortilla and top with 2-3 slices of roast beef.  Sprinkle evenly with avocado, tomatoes, and cheese.  Starting at one end, roll up each flat bread tortilla so that it looks like a large burrito.  Cut in half and serve 2 pieces on a 6″ plate.

Eat & Enjoy

Enjoy the video.  I’m clearly not made for TV and I would love for the counters to be just a bit taller so that I don’t look near as big!

More to come on sandwiches to get you through the hot Summer!

I am loving this menu planning! It’s no wonder so many people do it. It really simplifies the whole shopping and cooking process. I’m really bad about just buying whatever I see whether we need it or not but I told myself I was gonna stick to the 2-week menu planner shopping list from Kraft. I went in with my list, browsed a bit, then pulled out the list and began to shop. I found everything with no problem, with plenty to cook for more than two weeks.

It was time to decide on what to cook. There are a ton of recipes & tips and everything looked very good! Since the first day was a hurried mess, we cooked the pizza which was a hit with the guys! Please tell me I’m not the only one that spends an hour trying to decide what to cook….I’m not am I? This is what I loved about the menu plan, all the ideas were ready and waiting to be cooked. AND, it even gave me creative ideas for future meals. We all took turns picking out what we wanted to try from the 2-week planner. We even let little man pick one!

This week, we tried the South of the Border Chicken and Pasta Skillet and it was soooooo good! While my guys are meat eaters, they really loved this chicken dish. I think it’s because I don’t normally cook like this so it was a nice change for them. It was also a much simpler meal to make and *I* liked that. I usually go overboard when cooking a meal and I think with the hot weather, they appreciated that I didn’t with this.

South of the Border Chicken and Pasta Skillet

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups medium-size pasta, uncooked
• 2 Tyson® Boneless skinless Chicken Breast halves (about 1 lb.), thawed, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 6 oz. salsa
• 1 0 oz. frozen corn, unthawed (about 2 cups)
• 4 oz. (1⁄2 of 8-oz. pkg.) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, cubed
• 1⁄4 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 cup Kraft Mexican Style Finely Shredded Four Cheese, divided

DIRECTIONS

Cook pasta as directed on package.  Meanwhile, cook and stir chicken in large nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat 6 min. or until done. Add salsa, corn, cream cheese and cumin; simmer on medium-low heat 6 min. or until corn is heated through
and cream cheese is melted, stirring occasionally.  Drain pasta; add to skillet with half the shredded cheese. Simmer 3 min. or until heated through. Top with remaining shredded cheese; cover. Remove from heat; let stand 5 min. or until cheese is melted.

You can download the 2-week menu planner and find out about in-store recipe demonstrations at a Sam’s Club location near you and do your shopping and feel free to join right in with me in making these recipes. We can swap stories!

OVER TO YOU

Give your top 3 tips for menu planning and shopping for groceries.  Share with us what works for you!

During the summer I like to make quick and easy desserts. I also look for desserts that don’t have to be cooked. I don’t want to heat up my oven any more than I have to. This pie recipe is all of the above. It is very good, but also quick and very easy, plus you do not have to bake it.

The recipe originally came from Hersey’s, so I should have known it would be good. I usually use the special dark chips because I prefer them, but semi-sweet also work well. The recipe calls for a graham cracker crust. To keep this no bake, I buy my crust. I would suggest making it with an Oreo cookie crust instead of just graham cracker. I think it makes the pie even better than the graham cracker crust. But again either one will work.

INGREDIENTS

• 1-1/2 cups dark chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 1 package (3 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick), softened and divided
• 2 cups frozen non-dairy whipped topping, thawed
• 1 packaged graham cracker crumb crust or Oreo crust

DIRECTIONS

Place chocolate chips and 1/2 of the butter in small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave 45 seconds and stir. If necessary, microwave an additional 15 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating, just until chips are melted when stirred. Set aside.

Beat cream cheese, sugar and remaining butter in large bowl on medium speed of mixer until creamy. Gradually add melted chips, beating on low speed until blended. Fold in whipped topping until blended; spoon into crust. Refrigerate until firm.

Lynn is a stay at home mom to three kids. She loves to cook and try new recipes. You can follow her adventures in the kitchen at lynnskitchenadventures.com

The Super Bowl is right around the corner so if you’re looking for some quick and easy recipes to make your party delicious, look no more!  Also, tonight at 10:30pm CST, I’ll be hosting a radio talk show on Super Bowl Party Ideas for a fabulous party!  Join me and listen, chat or even call in!

DIPS

The Ultimate Cheese Dip

5-Minute TexMex Dip

(be sure to read the comments because they mentioned some great variations to make this!)

Holy Moly Guacamole!

Lori’s Hot Sauce

YUMMY BITS!

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapenos with Cream Cheese

Cocktail Weiners

Bacon Brunch Bites

Now this is a breakfast appetizer BUT you could totally use pizza sauce & toppings instead!!

DRINKS

• Slush Punch
• Peachy Iced Tea
• Jello Shooters (Alchohol in this one)

For a HUGE list of other recipes from around the web, check out the list Tipnut compiled and shared!

Guest post by Rachel

Sounds too good to be true? It isn’t, but it IS delicious!

My ex-boyfriend had two favorite desserts: cheese cake and anything with peanut butter and chocolate combined. When I found this recipe (while we were dating, of course!) I couldn’t wait to make it for him. I surprised him with it on day, and I was right, he loved it – and I was quite proud of my culinary skills. Since then we’ve parted ways, but while he’s no longer in my life….these brownies are! A more cynical woman than I might joke that I kept the better part. And they are even better than ever, because I’ve added a new twist…pie!

I “cheat” a little bit on these brownies, because I use a box mix. You can use whatever brownie recipe you like – If you’re in a more authentic mood, here’s the recipe for the chocolate brownie part:

• 8 oz unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 cups Dutch process cocoa (or European Style)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 cup chocolate chips

You can read the original post here: Then I follow the following recipe for the peanut butter cheesecake part:

Peanut Butter Mixture

• 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 c. peanut butter
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 egg

You get the marbled effect by pouring 2/3 of the batter into the pan, spooning chunks of the PB mixture on top of it, covering it with the remaining batter, and then swirling it around with a knife. Cool for better cutting and chill before serving. I love these brownies straight out of the freezer. They don’t tend to freeze through, just cold enough to taste fudgy!

I baked them recently for a book club meeting that I am hosting, and added a new twist. I baked it into a pie shell….yummy!!!

You can read more recipes, books, and other musings at my blog: The Rachel Chronicles
Happy baking and tasty eating!
Rachel

Photo Credit & Original recipe from: Cookie Madness