Stuffed Tomatoes

 How is your Wednesday going?

Mine?

Creative....

That's a good thing, right?

I had one lonely tomato sitting in my produce basket.

All alone.

All by himself.

So I decided to eat him this morning.

Yes, a stuffed tomato was my brunch.

By the time I got him prepared it was almost lunchtime.

I know you have tomatoes ready, or almost ready in your garden.

This is the perfect side dish to add to any meal.

Whenever anyone mentioned stuffed tomatoes I always turned up my nose.

Now I know what I have been missing.

Truly delicious!

 This is what I did:

I hollowed out the tomato meat.

But don't throw it away.....

It will go right into the stuffing mix.

I had to slice off just a sliver of the one bottom.

It didn't want to sit flat.

 See, you can see the tiny pieces of tomato I put into the stuffing mix.

Adding the horseradish gives these just enough zing to say....."MMMMM!"

 I topped them with mozzarella cheese and baked them for 

about 25-30 minutes.

Amazing flavors in these stuffed tomatoes.

You will love them.

Stuffed Tomatoes

Fresh tomatoes (if you want to get all the stuffing used I would suggest using two large tomatoes. 4 halves)

1 c. Italian bread crumbs

1 TBS grated Parmesan cheese

1 TBS finely chopped onion

1/4 tsp. prepared horseradish

1/4 tsp. crushed black pepper (more if you like)

1/2 tsp. salt

2 TBS extra virgin olive oil

1 TBS dried parsley flakes

4 triangles of Laughing Cow Garlic and Herb cheese spreads

Enough mozzarella cheese to top the tomatoes before baking

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Clean the tomatoes and cut each one in half between the top stem and bottom. Carefully remove the tomato meat without cutting through the skins. Chop the tomato meats fine and add them into the stuffing ingredients. Mix all ingredients listed until bread crumbs become damp and sticky. Stuff tomato halves with the amount of stuffing to your liking. Top with mozzarella cheese and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Peanut Butter Overload Cookie Bars

 Guess what?

I may just be back in action for a little while.

Oh how I have missed all of you......

I have decided to celebrate my own return.

Funny, huh?

I am going to celebrate with these Peanut Butter Overload Cookie Bars.

These come from A Kitchen Addiction. 

I made a sinful change though.....

You can't have peanut butter without chocolate.

So I combined the two most deadliest world sins.....

peanut butter

&

dark chocolate

Please forgive me "A Kitchen Addiction",

but if we are going to overdose (overload) I want to go out with love.

And I love dark chocolate!

Peanut Butter Overload Cookie Bars

1/4 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. Rodelle vanilla
3/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. quick oats
3/4 c. Reese's Mini peanut butter cups, un-chopped
1/3 c. dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray an 8x8 or 9x9 pan.
In a large bowl of a stand mixer lightly cream together butter, peanut butter, and sugars. Add egg and vanilla and beat until well combined.
In a small bowl whisk together the flour, salt and soda. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and beat until combined. Stir in oats. Stir in peanut butter cups and chocolate chips.
Press dough into the bottom of the baking pan. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes (mine took like 20-25) or until edges are golden brown and center is set.
Allow to cool for 15 minutes before cutting into bars.

Fun-Fetti Oatmeal Cookie Bars

 Have you ever found yourself trapped inside a man's kitchen?

Yes, trapped.

I was planning a meal for a family get-together,

visited my local grocery for the main course,

and found myself with no plans for dessert when I returned home.

You can't have a family meal without something sweet.

So I started opening cupboards, closets, and drawers 

looking for any sugary substances.

I started throwing things on the counter.

I will put something together once I empty unorganized

locations of sugary goodness.

This is what I found:

Cherry Pie Filling

Oatmeal Cookie Mix

Chocolate Chips

and a Fun-Fetti Cake Mix

Now what do I do with these ingredients?

I'll show you.....

 I lined an 8x8 pan with foil and spayed with cooking spray.

I mixed the oatmeal cookie dough according to package directions,

pressed it in the bottom of the pan and baked at 350 degrees 

for 15 minutes.

I removed the cookie crust from the oven and threw on half

of the bag of chocolate chips. 

I didn't spread them I just left them set where they fell.

 The fun-fetti cake mix:

1 cake mix

2/3 c. melted butter

2 eggs

All mixed together

I spread the cake mix on top of the cookie crust, 

and baked for 25-30 minutes.

Cool completely.

The foil lined pan makes it nice for lifting out the cookie

bars and slicing them into servings.

I topped each serving with cherry pie filling.

And that is what comes out of being trapped in a man's kitchen.

The impossible is always possible.