Bocconcini Salad with Tre Stelle

I am a huge cheese fan.  I could eat cheese every day.  And often, I do.  I enjoy all kinds of cheese - cheddar cheese, goat cheese, havarti...you get the idea!  I love trying new cheeses, and recently we were given the opportunity to try Tre Stelle cheeses.  As always, excited to try new things, and to find a new recipe, I did a little searching and found a salad recipe that I thought

might work with our dinner.  Here is the recipe:

Bocconcini Salad (Source: Food Network)

1 pint cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

1 200 g container Tre Stelle bocconcini (I used the mini-mini)
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

In a bowl, combine the cherry tomatoes, bocconcini, basil and garlic.  Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper (to taste).  Serve, and enjoy!

VERDICT:

This was the perfect compliment to our BBQ – such a nice, light treat with the fresh bocconcini, the fresh tomatoes, the fresh basil..oh my!  Our 6 year old "downed" his salad before he touched anything else on his plate - a true compliment!  I look forward to making this one again!

Be sure to check out all the great Tre Stelle products and...RECIPES over at the Tre Stelle website, and on Facebook too! (great contests currently running on Facebook!)

Disclosure - I received product in exchange for my honest opinion.  The views expressed in this post are solely my own.

Guest Post - Sarah from Repeat Crafter Me

I am so excited that Dawn has given me the opportunity to guest post this week! Addicted to Recipes is my go-to blog for new recipe ideas and I am always inspired by all of the delicious dishes I find at her Scrumptious Sunday's link party.

My name is Sarah and I blog over at Repeat Crafter Me. On my blog you will find kid crafts, DIY projects, crochet patterns and my attempts at cooking with the help of my Crock Pot. I am a busy mom of a two boys, so I rely on the convenience of my slow cooker each week. It's a real time saver! Crock Pot meals are quick and easy and the food always turns out tender and tasty.

Today I am sharing a 4 ingredient Crock Pot Nacho Dip! Yes, only 4 simple ingredients and you will have a yummy dip for your summer BBQ's. It's great on top of nachos, hot dogs, or just eaten with tortilla chips. This would also make a great party dip for the fast approaching football season!

Crock Pot Nacho Dip

Ingredients:
1lb Velveeta cheese (half block)
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes and green chilies
1/2 can of no-bean chili

Directions:
1. Cube Velveeta cheese and add it and the rest of the ingredients to 2 quart Crock Pot. Give it a good stir.
2. Cook on LOW for 2 hours or until cheese is melted.

You can serve it in the crock pot! Leave it on low and your dip will stay nice and warm for your entire party. Feel free to make your own variation of this recipe. Don't add the chili if you are a vegetarian, or add fresh ground beef if you want a chunkier dip. However you make it, this is sure to be a crowd pleaser!

If you like this recipe and are interested in seeing more, stop by my blog Repeat Crafter Me for a new crock pot recipe each week!

Smoked Salmon Gruyere Grilled Cheese Sandwich

April is "Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month" and our Crazy Cooking Challenge for the May party suitingly is "Grilled Cheese Sandwiches".  I had to think about what I would like to try for a new grilled cheese sandwich, and I happened to have a hankering for smoked salmon, so a little googling and I found a recipe for a Smoked Salmon Gruyere Grilled Cheese Sandwich, which inspired me to come up with my own creation. I made mine without lemon, and it was pretty tasty! 

Here is what I used / did:

Sourdough bread

Smoked Salmon

Gruyere Cheese (we used a smoked gruyere)

Butter (Unsalted)

Butter the outside of the sourdough bread.  Place butter side down, and start to fill the sandwich with toppings.  I pulled apart the smoked salmon into small chunks and place the chunks along the bread.  Slice the cheese and place in/on/around the smoked salmon, ensuring that the cheese will melt and tocuh each side of the sandwich to help hold it together.  Place the second piece of bread on top (again, butter side out) and place on warmed grill.  Cook until the cheese has melted and the bread is golden brown.  Slice and serve!

VERDICT:

What a nice treat this was!  My husband and I both felt it was a great "grown up" grilled cheese sandwich.  Very tasty indeed - an indulgence for sure!

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Spaghetti Squash Casserole

My Dad will be so pleased...I made squash for dinner.  Or maybe he won't be once he reads the verdict below.  I guess we'll see!  My Dad is a big squash fan...and everytime it was prepared when we were growing up, we (me, my brother, and I am pretty sure my Mom) all turned our noses.  Ewww, squash.  I painted all squash the same.  If I didn't like one, I didn't like any of them.    But then I grew up, and occasionally at a restaurant one of the vegetable sides would be a squash of some sort.  Sometimes it was spaghetti squash.  And I sometimes tried it.  And I discovered that I like it. Fast forward a few moons and I'm reading through my pile of cookbooks and I come across a recipe for "Spaghetti Squash Casserole"...hmmm...sounds promising.  I think I'll try it.  And we did...here is the recipe:

Spaghetti Squash Casserole - from Taste of Home

1 medium spaghetti squash
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, washed and sliced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 cup cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350F.

Slice the squash in hal lengthwise; remove and discard the seeds.  Place squash cut-side down in a baking dish.  Bake for 45-60 minutes or until easily pierced.

Increase oven temperature to 375F.

Melt butter in a skillet.  Add in onion, garlic, mushrooms, herbs and seasonings.  Saute until the onion is translucent.  Add in the tomatoes and cook off most of the liquid.  Set aside.

When the squash is cool enough to handle, use a fork to separate into strands.  Combine the squash, tomato mixture, cottage cheese, mozzarella, parsley and crumbs.  Pour into a greased 2 quart casserole.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.  Bake, uncovered at 375 for 40 minutes or until heated through and the top has started to brown.

VERDICT:
Wow, this was so good.  My husband's first reaction was "mmmmm" and he then proceeded to have three servings!  He even took leftovers to work and I think he shared a little there.  We gave some of the plain (baked) spaghetti squash to the baby, he wasn't a fan.  Our oldest son, well, we had to tell him that the spaghetti squash was noodles...which he found acceptable and he cleaned his plate.  My husband is already asking me to make this again!

Baked Egg Cups

Breakfast at our house is quite boring, I am happy eating my oatmeal with raisins and our oldest son likes to have pancakes, french toast or waffles.  Every.Single.Day. Not kidding!  So I have been trying to "shake it up" a bit to save myself from endless pancake flipping (one can only get so creative with pancakes!) and I have found a few new recipes to try.  One of my former co-workers made something like these for us at work one morning, which everyone enjoyed.  I totally forgot about them until I saw a photo of something similar come across my Pinterest screen, so of course I had to add them to my list to try.  With my mother-in-law visiting this past weekend, we had my Mom over for brunch on Saturday (neither my Dad or father-in-law were in town), and I made them for everyone.  Adjust the quanitites based on how many people you are serving, I'm going to include the numbers I used on Saturday.  Here is my adaptation of the recipe:

9 eggs
9 slices of deli meat (I used Schneider's Country Naturals Ham)
Shredded cheddar cheese (or cheese of your choice)
Diced green onions
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 400F.  Spray muffin tin with cooking spray. Lay a piece of ham in each muffin hole, creating a ham cup. Crack one egg per muffin hole. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, depending on how you like your eggs cooked.  Remove from oven, top with green onions and cheese.  Enjoy!

VERDICT:
This is a SUPER EASY recipe and a great way to change up breakfast.  We served these eggs with hashbrowns, toast and cantaloupe and the meal was well received by everyone!  Next time I might try to add a few more veggies to the egg cups, maybe some peppers (or whatever I happen to have in the fridge), maybe some fresh parsley, and maybe a different cheese. Yum!