Chocolate Rats & Eiffel Tower Cookie

We improvised a bit on this recipe and it turned out great. The girls loved them!

CHOCOLATE RATS
Chocolate candy making melts
Nutter Butter cookies
Mini M&M's (eyes)
Shoestring licorice (whiskers)
Dry-roasted peanut halves (ears)
Tootsie Rolls, Starburst or any other pliable candy (tail)
(instead we used more of the licorice)

Place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and melt in the microwave. Dip the Nutter Butter cookie into the chocolate until covered, place on waxed-paper. Add the eyes, whiskers, tail and ears. Refrigerate until hardened. (Note: the original recipe called for dried apricots attached with a skewer to make the mice shape. They would have been more realistic perhaps, but not as tasty as the Nutter Butter cookies!)We then constructed an Eiffel Tower out of Sugar wafers, using frosting as the cement. John and Audrey had a fun time creating this and the girls had a fun time breaking it apart to eat!

Remy's Macaroni and Cheese

For the main dish we had Audrey's favorite - mac & cheese! We found this recipe in the Ratatouille book (thus the Remy's affiliation) but found the recipe to be unique, especially in how to make. I was pleasantly surprised how easy it came together. We were a little heavy-handed with the paprika, so ended up with too much of a kick for most, but the rest of the recipe tasted great!

REMY'S MACARONI AND CHEESE
1 pound elbow macaroni, cooked
3 cups half-and-half or whole milk
12 to 18 slices American or cheddar cheese (in the plastic wrapper)
12 Ritz crackers
Salt, pepper, and paprika to taste (not too much!)

Heat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 13x9 baking pan or large casserole dish. Spoon a third of the cooked macaroni into the pan, then pour in 1 cup of the half-and-half and cover everything with 4 to 6 slices of the cheese. Add two more layers of pasta, half-and-half and cheese. Place the crackers in a zip lock bag and crush. Add the salt, pepper, and paprika, then sprinkle the crumbs on top of the past and cheese. Bake until bubbly, about 35 to 45 minutes.

Ratatouille Appetizers

For Audrey's birthday party, we had a fun time theming everything to Ratatouille. Found this great Disney cookbook with fun ideas! For the appetizers we had Cheese Fondue and then Faux Escargots. We made some without the meat for Audrey's vegetarian friend and those were tasty too.

CHEESE FONDUE
12 ounces Swiss cheese (or cheddar, Gruyere, or a combination)
4 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 garlic clove
3 tablespoons butter
2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups milk
Juice from a lemon
Dippers, such as French bread, carrots, peppers, broccoli, or cherry tomatoes

First, grate the cheese into a bowl. Toss with 1 tablespoon of the flour. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, stir together the remaining 3 tablespoons of flour, paprika, and nutmeg. Set aside. Melt the butter in the pan over medium-low heat with the garlic then stir in the four mixture until it is smooth. Add the milk, 1 cup at a time, and stir constantly until the sauce is creamy and warm. Next, add the grated cheese by the handful, stirring well after each addition. Once the cheese has melted, stir in the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to the fondue pot and enjoy.

FAUX ESCARGOTS
Whipped cream cheese
Tortillas
Lettuce
Sliced deli meat of your choice
Sliced Cheese of your choice
Gherkin pickles
Chives (whoops, we forgot!)

Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on tortilla. Layer the lettuce, then the meat and cheese and roll it up tightly. With seam on the bottom, slice the tortilla into 2-inch-wide pinwheels. For the heads, cut a pickle in half at an angle. Poke 2 small holes in the uncut end and stick pieces of chive for antennas. Slip each pickle half under the edge of a pinwheel, securing them together with a toothpick if necessary. Makes 4 to 6 pinwheel sandwiches.Would definitely have looked better WITH the chives so the escargots had their antennae!!

Kitty...

The question of the day - So, if kitty is allowed to step on her own tail, how come she gets mad when we do it too?

Roasted Asparagus Spears

This is Y-U-M-M-Y !!

ROASTED ASPARAGUS SPEARS
1 bunch thin asparagus, ends trimmed
1 TB extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spread out asparagus spears in a large shallow roasting pan or cookie sheet. Drizzle with olive oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Shake pan gently so asparagus is completely coated in oil. Roast in oven until spears are just tender. Cooking time will depend on thickness of asparagus, I did mine about 10 minutes and it was medium to thin. Shake pan halfway through cooking time to keep spears from sticking to pan.

Stephanie's Pasta

I got this recipe from a friend at work (Stephanie) and decided to try it out. I can see where this would be a very versatile recipe, depending on what veggies, spices or pasta you had on hand. We made it with Mixed Frozen Veggies, Cream of Chicken soup, Mrs. Dash and no meat. It was good. Audrey thought spiced just right - I thought it needed a little more "umph" (more spice? pepper? chicken?). Will try this recipe again, but might experiment with the other options.

Note to self... next time you choose the frozen veggies WITH carrots, don't need to also hand grate a carrot : )

STEPHANIE'S POTLUCK PASTA
2 cups dried pasta (shells, rotini, elbow macaroni)
10oz package frozen veggies (chopped broccoli or peas or mixed veggies)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can cream of soup (celery or chicken or cheddar or mushroom)
8oz sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded carrot
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano or basil or dried dill weed (or Mrs. Dash)
Optional: You can also add tuna or ham or chicken or turkey

In a large saucepan, cook pasta, adding frozen veggies and onion at the last 6 minutes. Drain in a colander. In same saucepan, stir together condensed soup, sour cream, milk, carrot and spices. Cook and stir over medium heat until heated through. Stir in drained pasta mixture; heat through. Transfer to a warm serving dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

Cougar Chili without the Cougar

This might be one of those "had to be there" stories - not that you had to be there at the event, but that you had to hear the story from the source. Here goes... My boss and his two adult sons were hunting this fall and had one bullet left in their rifle. Cougar leaped in the air to attack one of the sons, the other son shot the cougar. Now they have cougar meat in the freezer. My boss brought Cougar Chili to work and offered it to anyone wanting some. I did not want any. Not at all (meow). But my daughter caught wind of the event and was excited to sample some. She loved it! She insisted on getting the recipe for the chili. It was originally titled "Chuck Wagon Chili", which we really should call it, but this seems more fun?! By the way, the chili (sans cougar) is delicious!!

COUGAR CHILI WITHOUT THE COUGAR
2 lbs ground beef
1 lb smoked sausage, sliced
2 onions, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Jalapeno pepper, diced
14oz catsup
16oz can cut green beans, drained
7oz can diced green chiles
14oz can sliced stewed tomatoes
15oz can kidney beans, drained
2 - 15oz cans pinto beans, drained
1 pouch Chili spice mix

In large skillet brown the beef; drain off drippings. In crock pot add the browned ground beef and all the remaining ingredients. Add 1 cup water. Cook until heated thoroughly and bubbly. Recipe says can top each serving with sour cream or shredded cheese, but we ate it just like this. Made some cornbread muffins and then had a slice of pie for dessert!! Fabulous Sunday meal :)