Joy in the Kitchen!

A few years ago I had fun tricking my family with this fun April Fool's Dinner.   The recipes aren't critical, you can use any meatloaf recipe and any mashed potatoes/gravy mix.   It was so much fun to prepare and the kids had fun eating this silly dinner! April Fools 2013 Dinner Meatloaf Cupcakes with Mashed Potato Frosting Mashed Potato Sundaes Jello "KoolAid" Wormy Dirt Pudding Meatloaf Cupcakes:  Bake regular meatloaf recipe in large muffin tin and pipe mashed potatoes on for frosting.  Place in a cupcake liner. Mashed Potato Sundaes:   Layer mashed potatoes and a caramel colored gravy (chicken works good) in Sundae glasses. KoolAid:   Mix KoolAid colored Jello and pour into glasses.  Set straw in and put in refrigerator to set. Dirt Pudding:   Mix 1 package chocolate pudding as directed.  Add a cup of whipped topping if desired.   Fill individual bowls or cups with pudding....

Zippy Pizza Rolls! My 12 year old daughter has been requesting pizza a lot lately.  Today I made bread and decided to combine that with a pizza type dish to satisfy her craving.     I generally make 4 loaves of bread in a batch.  Today I saved half of that dough for the pizza rolls.   I keep shredded mozzarella and pepperoni in the freezer so every thing I needed was right on hand!  I love being able to keep a stocked pantry and freezer!  I can't tell you how much money that has saved me over the years! The bread recipe I used is found HERE .  You could use your own favorite recipe or frozen bread dough that is thawed and ready to work with.   You'll notice at the bottom of my recipe I have the ingredients for just 2 loaves.  That size will fit in a regular sized Kitchen-Aid mixer. Zippy Pizza Roll 2 loaves worth of bread dough 1 can spaghetti sauce small package of pepperoni sliced 2-3 C. shredded mozzarella ...

This bar cookie recipe comes from Grandma Evelyn, my husbands grandmother.  She sure had the best cookie recipes ever!  These are actually on the healthy side of cookies.  The base is mainly oats, sugar, and butter.  (And if you count the butter as a dairy serving, all the healthier, right?!)    These are quick and easy to make.   My sister makes a similar cookie but hers has a different name.   I would venture a guess that these are as healthy as your average chocolate covered granola bar and MUCH tastier! O'Henry Bars 6 C. quick oats 1 C. melted butter  1 1/2 C. brown sugar 1 tsp. vanilla Mix together well and press into an 11 x 17 inch pan.  Bake 15 minutes at 375. Mix in double boiler or carefully in microwave: 3/4 C. corn syrup 1  1/4 C. chocolate chips (I like semi-sweet) 3/4 C. chunky peanut butter Heat and stir until melted, spread on hot cookie bar crust.    Cool, cut, and serve!