Veggie Squares

For Easter this year, my parents hosted a covered dish lunch for family and “chosen family.” For years I took my mac and cheese to every Easter/Thanksgiving/Christmas, but for the past few years I’ve been trying different things. This time it was veggies squares. I found a video on Facebook and thought “perfect.” I told my mom that’s what I’d be bringing, she put it on the Facebook event and I was committed. I looked back at the video and realized it wasn’t a recipe, it was just someone cooking. There were no measurements or times or temperatures! I decided that I would carry on and just come up with my own recipe inspired by the video I watched. Here is that recipe!

Veggie Squares
Appetizer, Vegetarian
Serves 8

Ingredients:
1 can crescent rolls
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup Sour cream
1 ½ tsp Italian seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
Red, yellow, and orange bell pepper (about ⅓ each)
Broccoli (a small head)
Cucumber (about ⅓)
Carrots (4-6 large baby carrots)
Jalapeños (½-1 per personal taste)

Directions:

1. Roll out crescent rolls as a single sheet onto a parchment paper lined baking pan. Pinch together edges of rolls to seal gaps. Bake according to package instructions.
2. Combine cream cheese and sour cream. Add Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper and set aside.
3. Dice all vegetables. Proportions can be adjusted based on availability and personal taste. I only placed jalapeños on half as I assumed many people wouldn’t like them.
4. Once crescent sheet has cooled, spread on a thick layer of cream dip from step 2. Add diced vegetables on top, pressing gently into the dip.
5. Cut into desired sized squares using a pizza wheel and serve.

That’s it! Pretty easy, right? It’s very easily customizable, too. Try it out with different vegetables, add your own spices to the dip and let me know how it goes in the comments below! Share via Facebook or Twitter and, as always, follow me here on WordPress for more GREAT content like this!

Fudge recipes

Fudge is a delicious treat, perfect for the holidays. But it is also so so easy to make. Are you imagining Grandma slaving over a hot double boiler for hours, wiping sweat from her brow as she furiously stirs hot, bubbly butter and sugar? Forget all that, you can make fudge in your microwave with 3 ingredients! Y’all can make this in your dorm room.

1. Classic fudge: 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract

   
   Combine chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30s intervals until melted. Stir in vanilla extract. Transfer to a parchment paper lined brownie pan. Refrigerate until firm. Cut into bite-sized pieces.

2. Peppermint fudge: 2 cups white chocolate chips, 1 tsp peppermint extract, 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

   

   Combine white chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30s intervals until melted. Stir in peppermint extract. Optional: swirl in red food coloring to make a peppermint effect. Transfer to a parchment paper lined brownie pan. Refrigerate until firm. Cut into bite-sized pieces.

3. Reese’s Peanut Butter Fudge:
   1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
   1 10oz bag of peanut butter chips
   4oz mini chocolate chips
   1tsp vanilla extract
   1 bag Reese’s pieces

   
   Combine peanut butter chips and sweetened condensed milk in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30s intervals until melted. Stir in vanilla extract. Swirl in chocolate chips to create marble effect. Stir in about half of the Reese’s pieces. Transfer to a parchment paper lined brownie pan. Press remaining Reese’s pieces on top. Refrigerate until firm. Cut into bite-sized pieces.

4. Snickerdoodle fudge
   11 oz sweetened condensed milk
   12 oz white chocolate chips
   ½ tsp vanilla extract
   1 ¼ tsp cinnamon
   Cinnamon sugar mix

   
   Combine white chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30s intervals until melted. Stir in vanilla extract and cinnamon. Transfer to a parchment paper lined brownie pan. Refrigerate until firm. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top until coated. Gently pat down with a spoon. Cut into bite-sized pieces.

5. Irish cream fudge
   21 oz milk chocolate chips
   14 oz sweetened condensed milk
   ¼ cup Bailey’s Irish Cream
   1 tsp vanilla extract
   ½ cup Andes baking chips

   
   Combine sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30s intervals until melted. Stir in irish cream and vanilla extract. Transfer to a parchment paper lined brownie pan. Add baking chips on top and press in slightly. Refrigerate until firm. Cut into bite-sized pieces.

Which recipe is your favorite? Did you make it in your dorm? Tell me how it went in the comments below! Share this post via Facebook or Twitter and, as always, follow me here in WordPress for more GREAT content like this!

Shout-outs:

Classic fudge photo: http://www.kitchme.com/recipes/old-fashioned-chocolate-fudge

And inspiration: https://chocolatechocolateandmore.com/3-minute-fudge/

Peppermint Fudge photo: https://kirbiecravings.com/2014/12/microwave-peppermint-candy-cane-fudge.html

Irish cream fudge photo and inspiration: https://www.wineandglue.com/baileys-fudge/

Reese’s fudge inspiration: https://butterwithasideofbread.com/3-ingredient-reeses-fudge/

Snickerdoodle fudge inspiration: https://www.iheartnaptime.net/snickerdoodle-fudge/

Vegetarian Mexican Pizza

I’m not a fan of a drawn-out explanation before getting to the recipe. So, without further adieu….

Recipe makes one 10-12” pizza

Ingredients:

1 Pizza Crust (I used Boboli thin crust, which is pre-made, pre-baked pizza crust)
1 can black beans
½ tsp cumin
¼ tsp paprika
¼ tsp cayenne
1 bell pepper (any color)
1 small tomato
1 jalapeño (you can add more or less to taste)
1 handful of corn
Mexican cheese blend
Salt
Parsley

Directions:

1. Place pizza stone in oven and preheat to 500°F
2. While oven is warming up, cook one can of black beans
3. Seed and dice tomato, jalapeño(s), and bell pepper
4. Once beans are cooked, mash them and combine with cumin, paprika, and cayenne. Make sure the consistency is spreadable, you may need to add some water (I used the water I cooked the beans in).
5. Remove stone from oven and place crust on stone
6. Working quickly, spread bean mixture on crust (this is your pizza sauce), add cheese to taste, veggies (tomato, jalapeño, bell pepper, and corn), and parsley to taste. Sprinkle with salt to bring flavors together. You will probably have more vegetables than you need. The leftovers make a nice salsa!
7. Place pizza in oven for 2-5 minutes. Keep a close eye on it and remove when the cheese begins to melt.
8. Enjoy!

My husband and I have made this pizza together a few times. It’s a modification of this recipe. We had a lot of fun making it, and it was delicious.  In the picture above you can see I used a red bell pepper.  I’ve also made this pizza with a mix of red and orange peppers, and it worked well.  Any mix of bell peppers should be sufficient.

You might enjoy making your own crust, in which case you should bake your crust, then follow the directions with the pre-baked crust. We used a store-bought, pre made, pre-baked crust because I’m not about that bread baking life.

It’s a delicious, different pizza that is 100% vegetarian, though thoroughly enjoyed by my meat-eating family. It still packs protein because the sauce is black bean based!

Did you enjoy this recipe? Did you make any modifications? Tell me about it in the comments below! Share with friends via Facebook and follow my blog for more recipes like this.