Bacon Ranch Cheeseball

2 {8oz} package of cream cheese, room temp
1/2c shredded cheddar
1/4c green pepper, finely chopped
3 green onion, finely chopped
1c bacon crumbles, divided (I use a whole package of real bacon bits)
1 pkg of hidden valley ranch dip mix

Place cream cheese in a medium sized mixing bowl. Mix until both blocks are combined. Add in ranch dip mix and mix well. Mix in shredded cheddar, green onion, green pepper and 1/2 of the bacon crumbles.

Once mixed, using your hands, form into a ball. Roll the ball into the remaining 1/2 of bacon crumbles. Wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate 1 hour before serving. Serve with crackers.

Pineapple Crunch Cheeseball

Ingredients

2 {8 oz.} packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
1 {15.25 oz.} can crushed pineapple, drained
2 tsp. Seasoned salt
3 green onions, finely chopped {or more depending on your taste}              

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup green pepper, finely chopped
Chopped pecans or walnut for coating

Directions

Mix cream cheese and pineapple together until blended well. Add seasoned salt, green pepper, cheese and green onions until well mixed. Form mixture into a ball and coat outside with chopped nuts. You can refrigerate for a while until the mix is a little more firm before you form into a ball if you are having trouble or the mixture is a little too runny. Once formed into ball, wrap in wax paper and refrigerate until you serve with crackers.
 

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling

 
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling
Makes 12-14

3 cups All Purpose Flour
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 - 15 oz. can of pumpkin
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat together brown sugar, sugar, oil and pumpkin. Add eggs one at time, mixing well after each addition, followed by the vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.
Using a pastry bag with a round tip, or a big zip top plastic bag with one corner snipped, squeeze out concentric circles of batter, starting from the middle and working outward until the circles are about 2 inches in diameter. Bake for 11 minutes and cool on a rack.

Cream Cheese Filling
1 - 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened
1 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
1 - 16 oz. package of powdered sugar
about a capful of vanilla extract
a pinch of cinnamon (to taste)

Beat together cream cheese and butter. Add powdered sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Frost flat side of half the pies and top with another piece.

Enjoy right away or chill overnight.

Giovanni's Red Dressing

So yummy! I always ask for a little extra when I get an antipasto salad(equally delicious!!) at Giovanni's. I am glad I ran across the recipe. Enjoy!

2 cups ketchup
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
Pinch of garlic

I throw all of the ingredients in a mixer and blend for a couple of minutes until completely smooth and then refrigerate. This recipe yields 4 cups of dressing.

Patriotic Oreo Balls

I saw these on Facebook and wanted to save/share them but I don't like using Facebook like Pinterest because it's hard to go back and find them. I prefer Pinterest for my recipe finds because I know where they are and they are easily accessible from my computer or my phone. I tried pinning these but since Pinterest only allows 500 characters, I was unable to so I decided to make a blog post and pin from here. I do not know who the recipe comes from. The post I found was by Nai'a's Knits By The Sea on Facebook. Here is what was posted by the page:

I am so excited to try making these to bring to the fireworks this 4th of July. Has anyone made these before?

Super easy Patriotic Oreo Balls
What you need:
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
36 OREO Cookies, finely crushed
Chocolate wafers in choice color for dipping, or white chocolate food colored
sprinkles and chocolate for drizzle
lollipop sticks

MIX cream cheese and cookie crumbs until blended.
SHAPE into 48 (1-inch) balls. Freeze 10 min. Insert lollipop stick into center of each ball. Dip 24 balls melted chocolate; sprinkle if desired. Place on waxed paper-covered rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining balls.
REFRIGERATE 1 hour or until firm.
(Photo from party city, recipe adapted from a few recipes found online.)
#yum #cakepops #usa #baking #kids #bbq #dessert #recipe

Pepper Identification

 

How To Identify The Use of A Bell Pepper

While terming this to be "gender" is not accurate, as bell pepper plants are hermaphroditic, this does appear to be a method used to identify which type of bell pepper is best for each purpose - either cooking, eating raw or for seed collection. There is a simple method for identifying which bell pepper has the traits you desire. 

Look on the underside of the pepper, the ones with four bumps are "female" and those with three bumps are "male". The ones termed "female" peppers, or those with more bumps, contain more seeds and will be used largely for collection of seeds and replanting (hence "female"), but are also sweeter and better for eating raw. The ones with three or fewer bumps are better for cooking and contain fewer seeds. 

However, bell peppers are hermaphroditic, so any reference to gender is for a helpful memory aid only.
 
http://homesteadingsurvival.myshopify.com/

Homemade Detergent and Fabric Softener

The detergent yields about 6 gallons or more(depending on how thin you want it) and the fabric softener makes enough to fill (2) 90 load Downy bottles. All together I spent about $16.00 for EVERYTHING and I have never been able to find something else that works so well on my husband's work clothes. Did I mention my husband works in coal yards?

Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe

1 bar of Fels Naptha soap, grated

4 cups of hot water to melt the soap

3 gallons of hot water

1 cup of borax

2 cups of washing soda

1 cup of baking soda(I use oxyclean instead)

*I also add a little fabric softener to mine for smell, you can use a several drops of essential oil too. I have been thinking about using tea tree oil since it's also really good for skin and smells great.

1 large Rubbermaid container at least 4-5 gallons size, I have a 10 gallon one that I use. You can keep it in that or put it into left over jugs that you have saved.

Here’s what you do:

Grate the soap into a saucepan. You can use either a box grater or a food processor for this.

Add 4 cups of hot water to the pan. Simmer on low until the soap melts completely into the water. This is where I also add my fabric softener to the mix.

Add borax, washing soda and baking soda to the hot water. Simmer on low until it dissolves with the soap. If the mixture is not melting, add more water if needed.

Add 3 gallons of hot water to the large container. Add the mixture to the hot water. Mix with a large spoon until it completely dissolves.

Let cool overnight. You will notice that it turns into a thick gel. Use 1 cup of this homemade laundry detergent per load of laundry. You may need to shake it or stir a little per use but it works wonders for Ryan's coal clothes.

Fabric Softener

What You’ll Need:

6 cups HOT water

3 cups white vinegar

2 cups Conditioner (scent of your choice. I used suave daily clarifying and I think it smells like a fresh linen scent)

What You’ll Do:

Mix conditioner & hot water well, until conditioner is dissolved completely.

Add the vinegar, and mix well.

Store in a large container {empty fabric softener container, empty large vinegar bottle, etc}

Pour into a downy ball or use approx. 2 tbsp per load.

These can be used in high efficiency and top or front load washers!