Cheese of the Week: Muenster

I'm sure I've eaten muenster on sandwiches I've bought at a deli, but I think this is the first time I've bought it to eat at home.

Muenster is a semi soft cheese from the United States.  It is a white cheese with a distinct speckled orange rind.  I think it tastes a lot like mozzarella.

My favorite way to eat muenster is on a buttery cracker.  It'a a great flavor combination!

Easy Party Brownies

My favorite treat to take to a party!

I buy two-bite brownies at Kroger, pipe on store bought frosting, and add fruit and nuts.

Easy peasy!

S'mores Cake Pops

My little boy has been begging me to make cake pops that look like Oh the alien from the movie Home.

This was the first time I tinted white chocolate melts with oil-based food colors.  It was easier than I expected.  I used both purple and blue color to get the shade I wanted.  The candy dried darker than when it was melted, so I'll remember that for next time.  We added candy eyeballs, purple licorice ears, and a black marker mouth.

While we were making cake pops, I made some s'mores cake pops.  I used chocolate cake and chocolate frosting.  When I rolled the cake balls, I rolled two mini marshmallows into the middle of the cake ball.  I dipped the cake pops in dark chocolate melts and then dipped them in graham cracker crumbs (my mini Cuisinart is the perfect tool for making graham cracker crumbs!).  SUPER yummy.

Recipe Review: Chicken Quesadillas from The Pioneer Woman

I love carbs and cheese.  Grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadillas, empanadas.  Yum.

I really like The Pioneer Woman's recipe for chicken quesadillas.  So easy!  I make them on my electric griddle and they turn out perfectly crispy.

I buy my tortillas from the Taco Cabana drive thru for $2.50 a dozen.  They sell them warm and I could eat the entire dozen between Taco Cabana and my house.  They're THAT good.

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

Captain America Pancake

I saw a photo in my Facebook feed of a pancake that looks like Captain America's shield.

Here's our version:

I used 1/2 cup of pancake batter to make an extra large pancake.  We decorated it with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, banana, and whipped cream.  I found that cutting the raspberries in half and cutting the stems off the blueberries kept them from rolling off the pancake.

It was a lot to fit on one pancake!  Next time I will cut my strawberry slices in half.  Also, I discovered that Captain America's shield only has one white stripe, not two!

Cheese of the Week: Jarlsberg

This week my cheese selection was limited to the imported deli case at Target.  The only cheese I hadn't tried was jarlsberg.  This is a pricey little cheese.  I was hoping I wouldn't like it so that I can, you know, send my kid to college.

Jarlsberg (pronounced "yarlsberg") is a Norwegian semi soft cheese that looks a little like Swiss cheese.  You might remember it from a scene in The Devil Wears Prada where Andy's chef boyfriend makes her a grilled cheese sandwich.

I found that jarlsberg melts beautifully.  It also tastes pretty amazing on its own.  It has a flavor that is full and distinct without being overpowering.  This cheese won't go to waste.  It just might be awhile before I can afford to buy more.

Cake Ball Mix-ins

I love trying new cake ball combinations.  I pick the cake flavor, the frosting flavor, and the candy coating flavor.  Sometimes I try mix-ins.  I've tried coconut and I've also tried peppermint chips (peppermint-flavored white chocolate).  The mix-ins add a kick of flavor and can also add color, texture and moisture.  Other mix-ins I might try are mini chocolate chips and toffee chips.  I also think it might be fun to have a mini marshmallow at the center of a cake ball.