Baby Shower Recipes

I was so busy cooking for the baby shower that I didn't get to take pictures of everything so here is a list of the recipes that I haven't already posted.

 Becca’s taco roll ups
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 to 1 (1.25-ounce) package taco seasoning mix
1/2 cup water
1 (16-ounce) can refried beans
6 (10-inch) flour tortillas I used more to stretch the recipe and make more bite size pieces for the shower.
1/2 cup salsa
3/4 cup shredded cheddar, Monterey Jack, or Mexican cheese blend
Instructions
Crumble the ground beef into a large skillet and brown over medium-high heat. When the meat is cooked (about 10 minutes), drain the fat. Add the taco seasoning and water, then stir and simmer the mixture for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the refried beans.
To give the filling a smooth consistency, pour the beef mixture into a blender. With 4 or 5 short pulses, eliminate any large chunks from the mix.
For each wrap, heat a tortilla in the microwave for 10 seconds. Spread about 1/2 cup of the beef mixture evenly over it, then top with a layer of salsa and cheese. Roll it up and tuck in the ends.
Tightly cover each sandwich in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Cut in half at serving time. Makes 6 roll-ups.

 Old Fashioned Pink Popcorn
Ingredients:
2/3 cup popcorn kernels, popped
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup half and half
1 Tbsp light corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
6 drops red food coloring (or any other color you'd like)
Directions: Pour popped popcorn into two very large mixing bowls, set aside. In a large saucepan whisk together sugar, half and half, corn syrup and salt. Cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly until sugar has dissolved. Heat mixture to 232 degrees, stirring occasionally. Immediately remove from heat and pour in vanilla and food coloring. Drizzle mixture over popped popcorn. Gently stir popcorn until mixture is evenly coated and coating begins to dry (you'll notice the popcorn kernels separating). Pour mixture onto waxed paper and allow to dry about 20 minutes. Store in an airtight container. I used saran wrap and ribbon to make little favors. I also used plain popcorn and mixed with the pink to not make it so overwhelming with pink at the shower.

Skinny Taco Dip
8 oz 1/3 less fat Philadelphia cream cheese
8 oz reduced fat sour cream
16 oz jar mild salsa
1 packet taco seasoning
2 cups iceberg lettuce, shredded
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
2.25 oz black olives,
In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sour cream, salsa and taco seasoning and mix well with an electric mixer. Spread on the bottom of a large shallow glass dish. Top with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese and black olives. Serve with baked tortilla chips.

 

French toast kabobs
Strawberries
Raspberries
Blue berries
1 loaf bread for french toast
Kabob sticks
Make the french toast and quarter all the slices. Begin making a pattern with the ingredients and add them to the sticks until finished. We served these with syrup, cinnamon and powder sugar shakers.

Angel food cake kabobs
Angel food cake
Strawberries
1 can chunk pineapples
Melted chocolate chips mixed with 3 TB's butter

Cut the angel food cake into small 1/2-1 inch squares and begin putting the ingredients on the sticks making a pattern. Melt the chocolate on low heat with the butter stirring frequently and drizzle over the plate of kabobs it will harden as it sets up.



I had a ton of leftover berries that were about to go bad so we made a berry compote. Basically you heat all the berries on medium heat with a TB of honey until they become a chunky sauce. We used the sauce as pancake syrup for breakfast the day after the shower it was delicious!!!!

If you have berries that are getting mushy this is wonderful or you can make a smoothy!

Pink Rice Crispie Treats

10 ounces marshmallows
10 ounces rice crisp cereal (organic if possible), about 7 ½ cups
½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
1 tablespoon butter
Butter (or coat with non-stick spray) the sides and bottom of a 13x9 pan.
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

In a large pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. The butter will melt, foam, turn golden yellow, and will start to turn a light brown after about 5 minutes. Stir frequently. You may be impatient for it to start browning, but once the butter starts to take on a brown color it can start to burn within 30 to 60 seconds so it's important that you watch and stir frequently to know when it's ready.

As soon as the butter takes on a nutty brown color, turn the heat off and stir in the marshmallows and 7 drops food color,. If marshmallows do not melt easily, heat on low briefly. I had to leave on low heat most of time to get all the marshmallows melted.

Remove the pot from the stove and stir in the salt and cereal together. Quickly spread into prepared pan. Using a silicone spatula, evenly spread and press down the mixture until flat and even.

Let cool for at least 1 hour. Cut into squares and get ready to make new friends. If you haven't already guessed from all the pink on my blog lately my sister is having a baby girl and I made all the food for her baby shower.

Watermelon Sugar Cookies

 3/4 c butter softened
3/4 c sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/4 c flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
red and green food coloring
chocolate chips (original recipe called for currants)
sesame seeds

In a mixing bowl cream the butter, sugar, egg, and almond extract together until light and fluffy.
Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder and slowly incorporate into the creamed mixture.
Remove 1 cup of dough and set aside.

Beat the remaining dough on low and add enough red food coloring to tent the dough a deep red.

Roll into a 3 1/2 inch long tube then wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.
Divide the reserved dough into two equal pieces. Add green food coloring to one piece until it is a deep green color. Store each piece separately and chill until firm about 1 hour.

On a floured piece of wax paper roll the uncolored dough out 3 1/2 inches long by 8 1/2 inches wide. Place the red tube of dough on the short end of the rectangle  and roll the uncolored dough around the tube of red. Set aside.

On a floured piece of wax paper roll the green dough out 3 1/2 inches long by 10 inches wide. Place tube dough like last time and roll the green dough around the outside of the tube. Cover tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.

Unwrap the dough and cut into 1/8 inch slices using dental floss to keep the round shape.

Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheet.

Lightly place a few chocolate chips into each cookie and shake the sesame seeds over all the cookies until the resemble watermelon seeds.

Bake at 375 for 6-8 minutes or until cookies are firm but not brown. While still warm cut some cookies in half or quarters so they resemble watermelon slices.

The next time I make these I am going to try using watermelon flavoring from my hard rock candy supplies instead of the almond extract. Jared suggested it would be cool if they tasted like watermelons too at my sister's baby shower.

Ice cream cone cupcakes

Ingredients
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Arrange the ice cream cones in a muffin pan.

In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.

 Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.

Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well.

Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth.

Pour or spoon batter into the icing bag or use a Ziploc bag and cut a corner to pipe the batter into the ice cream cones.

 Do not over fill the cones. Half way full is good enough. I filled mine a little over half and they baked up too tall then deflated when they were taken out of the oven.This is what over filling will look like!

So after the mishap I used a box of cake mix and this is how they turned out...

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.Let them cool and then cover with icing and sprinkles. I made these for my sister's baby shower and everyone loved them!

Ultimate Peanut Butter Pizza

Pizza Crust Ingredients:
1/3 c butter
3/4 c milk chocolate chips
2 1/2 c crushed Reese puff cereal (approx 6 cups then put them in a food processor)

Filling Ingredients:
1/2 c peanut butter
1 package softened cream cheese
2 tbsp sugar
1 container frozen whipped topping

Topping Ingredients:
1 jar hot fudge ice cream topping
1/4 c crushed Reese puff cereal (optional)
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 container frozen whipped topping

 

Prepare crust:
Preheat oven to 325. Spray round pie pan 12-14 inch with non stick cooking spray.

In medium sauce pan combine butter and chocolate chips warming them until they are melted over low heat. Make sure you stir frequently so it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat and stir in the crushed cereal.

Press the mixture into the pie pan and bake for 10 minutes. When it's finished baking allow it to cool completely before putting filling in the pie crust.

Prepare the filling:
In medium bowl combine the peanut butter, cream cheese and sugar. Beat with a mixer on medium speed until the mixture is smooth. Mix in 2 cups of thawed frozen whipped topping by hand.

 Spread the mixture into the cooled pie crust and place in the fridge to chill.

Prepare the topping:
Heat 3/4 c to 1 c hot fudge topping in microwave for 45 seconds and pour/spread evenly over the chilled pie. Freeze the pie with the fudge topping for 2 hours.

Just before serving the pie spread the remaining cool whip on top.

To make it more decorative you can take hot fudge and/or peanut butter heated in the microwave again and drizzle over the pie.Dip cereal pieces in the hot fudge and place randomly on the pie for another touch of decoration. The kids I made this for said it was, "Willy Wonka in a cake!" It was definitely a crowd pleaser!