Stuffed Jalapenos with Sausage and Cheese... yummmmm

As if I hadn't done enough cooking and baking lately ... *L*

But I HAD to try out these stuffed jalapenos that I had seen a recipe for on pinterest.

The recipe they had was pretty similar to one I make for my stuffed mushrooms, so I thought I'd use that one... and it turned out really great!

I used a package of Jimmy Dean's maple flavored sausage, cooked and crumpled well, then drained. Added two packages (8 oz. size) of softened cream cheese to the cooked sausage, threw in some freeze dried minced onions, and about 1/2 - 3/4 of a cup of grated parmesan cheese, mixed all together.



Then I cut 15 - 20 jalapenos in half, and using a knife and melon ball utensil, I removed the seeds and white membranes. I had read that if you leave in more of the white membranes that you'll get that hot "kick" more, and the seeds are especially HOT. I took most all of that out for mine, but they were a bit mild that way, so next time I'll leave a little more of the white part of the membrane in some.



Beware of the insides you remove... once on your fingers, the residue stays and you do NOT want to itch your eyes (or other sensitive places) without making sure you wash your hands VERY well ... I had to do that about 3 times, and used lotion as well between washing to get rid of the hotness on my fingers... some people told me afterward that I could have used a milk wash, or baking soda wash to help remove the residue. Some people use rubber gloves too I've heard while getting the insides out.

Then I added the sausage and cheese mixture into each one, baked at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes or so, and viola!! Delicious jalapenos!!

They were gone in no time, devoured quickly!

Chili Cook-Off and Dessert Contest - Great Fun!

What a fun night!! Great food, and fun at the Chili Cook-Off Event... here are some photos from tonite...

The Dessert Contestants and Chili Contestants... ALL DELICIOUS DISHES!




And the test tasting judges ... (all who came were the judges for the event), getting a small taste of each chili in a cup, then voting for the two best ones. After everyone went through the line, they could get a larger bowl of their favorites...same with the desserts.





The Chili Contestants dished up their chili's....




We had moose chili, venison chili, bean and beef chili, meatless vegetarian chili, spicey HOT chili, and milder chili, and chili that had cinnamon and chocolate in it even!



The desserts were equally as delicious! Apple pie bites, apple dessert, fruity cakes, delicious cherry cookies, double chocolate cake, cookies, and more sweet goodies galore!




And the winners were......




Jerry's moosemeat chili won first prize and Chellie's traditional chili won second prize (congrats to my Dad and my sister!!)....





Pat's delicious cake won first prize and Fr. Bill's chocolate cake won second prize!

Thankful for the great turn out and fun time! ... and for all who stayed to help clean up too!!

Chili Cook-Off and Dessert Contest Entries...

Tonite is an event at our church ... been busy baking and cooking for it the last two days ... here are my entries.. yummy!! Chili Deluxe and Corn Bread Muffins....






... and Apple Pie Bites.



Sure smells good here too! Come on over to Christ Church at 5:30 for our dinner... ALL are welcome!

Happy 60th Birthday John!!

I am married to an older man ...*G* ...well, today he is officially another year older anyway ... (and I'm not too far behind him - ugh!)

We had some friends, as well as some of our kids and grandkids, over for snacks and birthday pie bites with ice cream nuggets. Then we headed over to Tubby's for their Tuesday night lobster/steak special - yum!










The grandkids had homework, so they, unfortunately, had to head home after the birthday boy blew out his candles, we ate the goodies, and had a short game of Headbanz ... YES!, we MADE our friends play along as well..*LOL* They were good sports about it though!

Hate to see how they'll get us back however...ha!


It was a fun night, and a good birthday for John! (Special thanks to Randy for dinner too!!) And THANK YOU for the well wishes, and birthday greetings on FB and in snailmail for John!

Assemblage of Crayon Illustrations by my Sunday School Class

Have to share this ... I made a booklet from the crayon drawings the kids in my Sunday School Class did this morning on lines from The Lord's Prayer.

I LOVE how they expressed their definitions of that prayer through their drawings. Check out their great work!

Family - A blessing for sure!

Today was my FIL's Memorial Service at Christ Church. Paul died on Dec. 19th (2011) in Texas, his funeral was held on Dec. 30th, with burial and full military rites in San Antonio, TX.


But today was a gathering of relatives and friends to celebrate Paul. It was a wonderful service and reception following..thank you friends and church ladies ..Pat, Ann, Barb, Carol, and Chellie, for all you did for our reception, set-up, serving, and cleanup.. We SOOOO appreciate YOU ALL!

It was such a nice day, weatherwise... no coat weather actually...sunny and in the mid 40's... it allowed relatives from upnorth to come to the service too!


Some of the sibbings of Paul..Arline, Bob, Shirley, Florence and Marline. Unable to come from out west was Gladys, and Bill from Beloit.


It was especially wonderful to see Jim and Sherri (brother in law and sister in law) who we had not seen in 20+ years! Photo shows left to right, John (Roberta), Mary (Pat), Sherry (Wayne), (Sherri) Jim.. not able to be there were Gary (Judy) from AZ.




So wonderful to catch up with the family ... we did a spur of the moment gathering following the reception at the church, at our house. Chips, hotdogs and brats, and great sharing with cousins, and our kids and family who were able to come on short notice.




Here are some photos from the reception... wish I had gotten around to take more of everyone..thanks all for coming and paying your respects to Paul.











As mentioned at the service... the photo slideshow is available on a CD you can play on your computer and grab photos from as well... let me know if you'd like one and I will make more.

Apple Pie Bites

Another idea from Pinterest ... YESSSS, I am addicted!! *L*

So since Jorden and Kaine are here she helped me try out this easy and deeeelicious new recipe I thought I'd try.

First peel the apples, then slice them into thick slices, about 6-8 wedges per apple.



Take ready made pie crusts, brush on melted butter on one side, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture, slice the pie crust into strips (the picture here shows the strips as long ones, but I cut them in half so the crust wasn't so thick on the apples), roll the apple wedge up inside the strip, brush a little melted butter on the outside top, sprinkle a little of the sugar mixture on the top, place on parchment paper on a baking sheet, and bake approx. 15 minutes.




Yummm... Yummmm...



Ingredients:
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 pkg. refrigerated pie crust
3 tbsp. melted butter, divided
2 medium tart apples, each cut into 6-8 wedges


Directions:
In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon, set aside 1 Tbsp. On a lightly floured surface, unroll the pastry. Brush with 2 Tbsp. melted butter, sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture.

Cut each sheet into 8 one inch strips, about 8 in. long (I didn't make mine this long, about half of the size). Wrap one strip around each apple wedge, placing sugared side of pastry against apple.

Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar mixture. bake at 425 for 13-15 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. Serve warm.

Apple Pie in an Apple on a Teacup Pie Stand

Tonite is the Fund Raiser for the Walworth County Emergency Shelter, held at Delavan Lanes... there will be bowling, music, food, basket drawings and auctions, bake sale, and more! All for a great cause!

I decided to try and make a cool Apple Pie in an Apple that I had found on Pinterest, along with making an individual pie stand for each one based on another idea I saw at Pinterest too.




Here are my photos from today... along with the recipe and some helpful tips I discovered along the way too.



I bought several varieties of apples, red and green (Granny Smith). I like the color of the red ones more after they are baked compared to the green apples after baked.




I used a knife and a melon baller to hollow out the apples... be sure not to pierce thru the skin of the apple and leave some of the apple on the sides because they can (and do) split sometimes.

I used the insides (minus the part with the core) along with peeling and slicing up other apples - THIN sliced for the insides. I also decided to add some craisins to my apple pies, which made it look pretty inside and tasted good too! Also added sugar, brown sugar, cinnamin too ...see the recipe for amounts (I did add a little more to my second batch of apples after taste testing the first batch, although if you are going to add a scoop of ice cream to the apple pies you probably wouldn't need to add more sugar.)




I bought the ready made pie crust, sliced it into strips and made the lattice crust for the top. On my second batch of apple pies, I sugared the pie crust a little because it tasted kind of bland, and it was much better.





Then put the apples into a baking pan or dish, add just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan/dish. Cover with tin foil and bake (375 degrees) for about 20 - 25 minutes....then take off the tinfoil and continue baking for about 20 - 25 minutes. I found if you overcook (trying to brown the crust more) that the apples split. (this is a picture of the split ones, and then one of the ones that remained intact)



After taking them out of the oven, I immediately took them out of the baking dish too and let them sit on a dry plate, just incase they would get soggy sitting in the water in the baking pan/dish.



During the baking time, I took the tea cups and saucers I had bought at Goodwill (for under a dollar), and used my Amazing Goop for craft projects, and glued the underside of the saucer to the bottom of the cup, and put books on them to weigh them down for an hour or two...then turned them upright and put the books on the tops of the saucers for another hour or two.



Then after the apple pies cooled, I added them to the saucer/teacup pie stands, wrapped them up and had a great bake sale item! (also good for a birthday gift for someone special!)









Oh, yeah, and here is what the delicious apple pies in an apple look like when you cut them in half... yummy!!












Here's the recipe I pinned at pinterest.

5 - 6 Apples... make sure they stand on their own.

1 teaspoon cinnamon (I used a bit more).

1/4 cup sugar (I used a little more).

1 tablespoon (heaping) of brown sugar.

piecrust - homemade or pre-made (I used premade).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Step 1: Cut off the top of 4 apples and discard. Remove the inside of each apple with a spoon or melon baller very carefully, as to not puncture the peel.
If you’re a skilled interior apple excavator, salvage as much as you can so you can use it for Step 2.

Step 2: Remove skin from remaining apple(s) and slice very thinly. These apple pieces will give you the additional filling needed to fill the four apples you are baking.

Mix sliced apples with sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. If you prefer more or less cinnamon make adjustments as desired. Same goes for the sugar. I also added craisins ... not necessary, I just wanted to throw in something a bit different.
Scoop sliced apple mixture into hollow apples.

Step 3: Roll out pie crust and slice into 1/4 inch strips. I found the pre-made pie crust I used a bit plain tasting, so I added a sprinkling of sugar to it. Cover the top of the apple in a lattice pattern with pie crust strips.

Step 4: Place apples in a pan or baking dish. Add just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan/baking dish.

Cover with foil and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Remove foil and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes or until crust is golden brown and sliced apples are soft. Be careful to not overcook as the apples will (and do) split at times.

Add a scoop of ice cream to it while warm and serve... yummm!!! These can also be put in the microwave for 30 - 45 seconds and then add ice cream.