new years, shrimp & grits, and gooey cake....

Kaz and I have a tradition of making Shrimp & Grits every New Years! We have made this since we've been married! My uncle "Vester" said it's the best meal I've ever cooked! I like to think this is one of my "specialities"! This year for dessert we are going to make OOOOEY Gooey Butter Cake! Yummmmm, Yummmmmm!

Below are the recipes:

Creamy Shrimp & Grits

Creamy Grits[this is for 1 serving-I usually triple it]

1 cup water                  1 cup half and half

2 oz butter                         3/4 quick grits

In a small saucepan combine the water, milk and butter. Add salt[just enough to taste]. Bring to a simmer and add the grits. Cook over medium low heat for 10-15 minutes until grits are tender. Grits should have the same consistency as oatmeal.

Shrimp

4 stripes of bacon sliced in 1/4 pieces              3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 lb peeled & deveined small shrimp                               1/4 cup of flour

2 peeled diced tomatoes                                        1 1/2 cups half & half

Cook bacon until crisp in a saute pan. Add shrimp to the bacon[leave a little bacon grease] and cook until shrimp just begins to firm up. Dust the mixture with flour and stir until well blended. Add tomatoes and half & half. Stir until well blended. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately over grits!

Gooey Butter Cake

1 Box yellow cake mix
1 stick butter, let soften
2 eggs
Heat oven to 350. Blend together and spread in 9X13 inch baking pan.

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
4 Cups confectioners sugar
2 eggs
Blend together and pour over batter in pan. Bake 30 minutes.

Crepe-a-licious!!

I LOVE crepes! I was first introducted to them in San Fransico a few years ago! They are so easy to make!

This is my favorite:
3 eggs
1 cup of flower
2 cup of milk

Mix everything together. Put oil in a frying pan and get the pan HOT! Pour a thin layer in the pan and let each side get a little brown!

THEN the BEST part….I cover mine in Nutella and diced strawberries! Add a little whip cream to the top and you have yourself a tasty breakfast or dessert:)

So good!!!

Chocolate Oreo Balls

My mom told me this great AND easy recipe that I wanted to try! It turned out so good, I thought I would share it with you!

-Take 1 box of chocolate cake mix. Cook your cake like you normally would!

-In a separate bowl crumble a box of oreos. Once the cake has cooked, tear it all apart and mix with the oreos and add a whole carton of cream cheese! Mix everything together to that you can take little chunks and roll them into balls!

-Heat either white or regular chocolate and dip the balls in it! Cool them in the refrigerator!

TRUST me! It’s so yummy! You can do this with any cake mix and make it your own! My next experiment will be Red Velvet dipped in white chocolate!

some healthy treats....

I’m going to share 2 delicious and HEALTHY recipes with you….
Manpineberry smoothy

Strawberries

+

Pineapple

+

Mango

+

Peaches

+

a little orange juice

+

Ice

= Fantastic healthy smoothie! And a sweet treat!

This next recipe...I can’t remember the name of it…So I’m going to call it Mango delight! Let me tell you a little about this recipe….Back when I was in 8th grade, we had an Acteens sleepover at church and my cousin Pam decided we would make foods from other countries. This recipe was from another country although I can’t remember which one..It’s only been 13 years since then…I’m doing pretty good just to remember the recipe!

This is the perfect sweet BUT healthy snack during the day!

2 mangos
1 small tub of fat free cool whip
1 teaspoon of vanilla flavoring
Thinly sliced almonds
Orange juice

Put a little orange juice in a blender[just enough to cover the blade]. Cut up the mango, put it along with the vanilla flavoring in the blender and mix together. If it’s too thick add a little more orange juice, BUT you don’t want it soupy like liquid…It needs to be a little thick. Mix all of that with the cool whip, add the sliced almonds on top….AND you have a great dip! I personally like to eat it with celery. It’s the perfect healthy BUT sweet snack during the day…and low calorie:)

Do you have healthy snacks that you love? If so, I’d love to hear them!