Oreo Truffles

No one can deny that Oreo Cookies are uber delicious. So, what could be better than turning them into a truffle?!? Lately I've been really into trying to make different types of chocolates and candies. I first had these truffles at my husband's cousin's wedding. Then, my sister-in-law Joni made them for my other sister-in-law's baby shower. They are fantastic. I dusted mine with cocoa powder, but they would be adorable sprinkled with Oreo crumbs. This made about 42 truffles for me. Next time, I will try to temper my chocolate so that it gets nice and shiny and won't get so soft at room temperature. If your chocolate chips are a little too thick, add about 1-2 Tbsp. vegetable oil per 1 cup of chocolate chips until desired consistency is reached. Here is the recipe from Joni:

Oreo Truffles

8 oz block of cream cheese, at room temperature
1 package of regular Oreo Cookies
1 tsp vanilla
1 pkg semisweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips

Twist apart Oreo cookies. Scrap out cream filling and place in mixing bowl. Crush cookies in ziplock bag with a rolling pin. Add to bowl with oreo cream filling. Add cream cheese and vanilla. Beat with mixture until no white remains. Roll into balls and place on parchment paper or wax paper lined baking sheet. Refridgerate for 1 hour. Melt chocolate chips over double boiler or in a microwavable bowl at 30 second intervals stirring until smooth. (Add oil to choclate if necessary to thin out for dipping if chocolate is too thick) Dip or Roll oreo mixture in melted chocolate. Place back on lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with cocoa powder or cookie crumbs. Refridgerate until hardened. Store in the refridgerator.

My First Ever Cake Roll & Some Tasty Lasagna

On Friday my husband, Mike, and I had some friends over for dinner. I decided to go with a no fail entree, lasagna. Who doesn't love lasagna? All those layers of cheesy, saucy, pasta-packed goodness. Oh, I'm drooling just thinking about it. For the sake of being healthy since Mike and I will be eating these leftovers for a few days, I opted to try to healthify this lasagna a bit. My general rule of thumb is that I make the recipe exactly as written the first time and from there I modify where I see fit. Since I've made this lasagna before, I knew I'd be safe lightening it up a bit. I used part-skim ricotta cheese and italian turkey sausage to trim down this pan of Italian deliciousness. I find in this recipe the egg in the ricotta helps hide that it is lighter. I wouldn't use anything lighter than part-skim ricotta as it could get slightly too watery and you'd lose out on the richness. As far as using turkey sausage, I've found a brand that I love. It is the only brand I've found thus far that can compete with the full fat pork sausage. I find it at Hy-Vee and it's Honeysuckle brand. They also make great Turkey Brats and Turkey Breakfast Sausage. This recipe if from the back of the Creamette No Bake Lasagna noodles. Well, it use to be. The recipe on the back of my last few packages has changed. As far as the amounts of ingredients, I sometimes need more of the cheese, ricotta, and sauce depending on the size of my pan and how many layers I get. This batch ended up being 4 layers. This is also best made the night before. As it sits in the fridge, the flavors meld together and the noodles will soften up a bit too.

Lasagna:

1 container ricotta cheese (15-16oz)
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs
2 jars of pasta sauce + 1/2 c water
1 lb. No Cook Lasagna Noodles
1 lb. Italian Sausage, cooked and drained
4 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the ricotta, parmesan, and eggs well. Combine the 2 jars of pasta sauce with the 1/2 c water. In the bottom of a greased lasagna pan, spread 1 cup of sauce. Top with 1 layer of noodles, then spread with some of the ricotta mixture, sprinkle with sausage. Spread more sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella. Repeat these layers until you have no more noodles left. On top of the last layer of noodles, pour remaining sauce and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. (I often need to use about another 1/2 jar of sauce and 1 c. mozzarella, sometimes I even need a little more ricotta too.) Cover with foil. Bake for 50 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes until cheese is brown and bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes before servings, cover with foil while it sits to hold the heat in.

This made 12 huge servings.

Feast your eyes of those lovely layers!

For dessert, I attempted something I've never made before, a cake roll. Mike got me a jelly roll pan for my birthday and I've been dying to try to make one, but I've always been so scared to try. Well, I sucked it up and just told myself that if I fail at least it will taste good. Much to my suprise, making cake rolls are so much easier that I thought. Next time I'll take pictures of the process to show you how to make assemble one (because there is a pumpkin one I plan to make this fall). The only thing I would do differently the next time I make this would be to whip my whipping cream stiffer. When I rolled it up in the cake roll it was a little loose and started to come out the edges and the bottom. This recipe is from a friend who hosted the monthly Bunco game. Her's looked so good and tasted so great, it inspired me attempt making a cake roll myself. I'm so proud of it and Mike was completely impressed. He even felt the need to show it off to our guests before I cut it up to serve. So here is the cake roll recipe from Miranda:

Strawberries & Cream Cake Roll

Cake:

4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 sifted cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Powdered sugar

Filling:
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cup strawberries, cut up
powdered sugar
more strawberries (optional)
whipped cream (optional)

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs and vanilla on high for 5 min. gradually add sugar, beat until dissolved. Combine flour, baking powder and salt fold gently into egg mixture just until combined. Pour into a greased and waxed paper-lined jelly roll pan. Spread batter evenly over pan. Bake at 375 for 10-12 min. or until light brown. Turn out onto a cloth that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar. Peel off paper from cake; roll up cloth and cake. Cool. For filling, whip: cream, sugar, and vanilla. Unroll cake and spread filling over it, sprinkle with strawberries. Roll up cake again and chil 2 hours before serving. sprinkle with powdered sugar, garnish with strawberries and whipped cream.

Amazing Pumpkin Muffins

So the weather was chilly here in good old Minnesota for a few days. This got me on an absolute Fall kick...I know, I know it's still July. But, the crisp cool 60 degree weather kicked my pumpkin cravings into full gear. I got this recipe from my mom. It's super easy and so delish! These muffins are moist and dense, actually they are much more like a cupcake. I top mine with Fat Free Cool Whip and a drizzle of caramel sauce and a sprinkle of cinnamon...yum, yum, yum! Now I know some people would wonder why I would use Cool Whip let alone Fat Free Cool Whip. I'm not going to lie, I much prefer real whipped cream from scratch, but this is quicker since I usually use these muffins as a quick snack or dessert..and not going to lie even breakfast. (And by the way, these are even better topped with the real deal whipped cream).

Another shocker about this recipe is that it uses boxed cake mix. Now, I rarely ever use boxed cake mix, but these really do turn out amazing, and you can hardly tell it's boxed mix. I recommend using the Duncan Hines Super Moist variety.

Pumpkin Muffins
Yield: 18 muffins

1 box Spice Cake Mix
1/4 - 1/3 c. unsweetened applesauce
15 oz. canned Pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with foil muffin cups. Combine all ingredients in large bowl. With the applesauce, add at least 1/4 c. and up to 1/3c to get a smooth consistency (Note: this batter will be very thick). Beat thoroughly with a hand mixer. If you don't beat the batter well enough, you'll end up with hard spots in your muffins. Pour equally into the muffin pans. Bake for around 12-15 minutes or until tops of muffins spring back when touched. Remove from muffin pan and cool on wire rack. Top with whipped cream, cinnamon, and caramel sauce.

*Note: I prefer using foil muffin tins because they don't stick to your muffins and are easy to pull off.

Looking good!

My mediocre attempt at making my plate pretty.

Oh it was so good, I could have licked the plate clean.

Welcome!

Welcome to Simply Delicious Living! I've decided to start this foodie blog to chronicle my adventures in the kitchen. I'm on a mission to make the most delicious, nutritious, and satisfying meals possible. I have loads of recipes I'm dying to try. What exactly is my food philosophy? Well, I think all food should be absolutely delicious and wonderful, but I also like to try healthy swaps in my cooking and baking. However, even when trying to healthify foods, we can't sacrifice on flavor. Oh, I should also mention that a guilty pleasure here or there (or perhaps weekly) is an absolute must. So, come on and join my on my journey of delicious living!