Upside Down Cinnamon-Apple Coffee Cake

Serves: 8

What You'll Need:
1 1/2 cups peeled, cored, chopped apples
1 can Pillsbury cinnamon rolls w/icing
1/2 cup pecan halves or pieces (I omitted these, not a huge pecan fan. I added raisins instead)
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp corn syrup

What You'll Do:
Preheat oven to 350.
1. Spray 9 inch pie plate. Spread 1 cup of apples in pie plate.
2. Seperate dough into 8 rolls. Cut each roll in quarters; place in large bowl. Add remaining apples and pecans.
3. In small bowl mix butter, brown sugar and corn syrup until well blended. Add brown sugar mixture to dough mixture; toss gently to coat. Spoon mixture over apples in pan.
4. Bake 28-38 minutes or until deep golden brown. Cool 5 minutes. Invert onto serving platter.
5. Remove lid from icing. Microwave 10-15 seconds or until it is drizzling consistency. Drizzle over warm cake.

The hubby says this is his FAVORITE cinnamon roll recipe, EVER!

Homemade Maple Syrup

Yields: 2 cups

What You'll Need:
1 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp maple extract

What You'll Do:
Bring water and both sugars to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to med-low and stir in maple extract; simmer 3 minutes.

*2 cups brown sugar can be substituted for thicker syrup. Can also use 1/2 maple extract and 1/2 butter flavoring if you want a more "store bought" flavor.

Oreo Truffles

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen
What You'll Need:
1 package double stuffed Oreos
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
Vanilla flavored candy coating

What You'll Do:
1. In food processor, finely crush oreos. Save about 2 tbsp of cookie crumbs for garnish.

2. In a large bowl using your hands, mix together oreos and cream cheese until well combined.
Roll into 1 inch balls and place on waxed paper lined cookie sheet. Freeze for 15 minutes.

3. Melt vanilla candy coating according to directions. Using a toothpick, roll each ball in candy coating.

Place back on waxed lined cookie sheet and sprinkle w/ reserved cookie crumbs. (The candy coating hardens pretty quickly so sprinkle with cookie crumbs immediatley after placing on cookie sheet.)

 *Remove toothpicks before serving :)

Keep refrigerated. ENJOY!!

Creative Kids Lunches

What You'll Need:
Muffin tins
Assorted lunch materials....

It's so cute and the kids love it!

CHILI

What You'll Need:
1 1/2 lbs. hamburger
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 cans of stewed tomatoes or Hunt's tomatoes for Chili
1 can (15oz) tomato sauce
2 heaping tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne red pepper
1/4 tsp. paprika
2 cans Bush's chili beans

What You'll Do:
1. In large skillet, cook hamburger with onions and green peppers; drain grease.
2. Add all ingredients, EXCEPT chili beans to large pot, stir and simmer for one hour. Add chili beans and simmer for one more hour. (This is for the flavors to blend good. You can add everything at once and cook for about an hour and it will come out just fine.)

                                            Cooking the hamburger with onions and peppers...

                                                       Adding the remaining ingredients...

                                                                    WALA! CHILI!

Ham and Cheese Roll-Ups

Serves: 8

What You'll Need:
1 pkg. crescent roll dough
4 pieces string cheese
8 slices deli ham

What You'll Do:
Preheat oven according to package directions.
1. Unroll each crescent roll into triangles.
2. Slice each string cheese in half.
3. Place one piece of deli ham on each triangle then string cheese half. Roll into crescents. Place on baking sheet and bake according to package directions.

*Perfect for kids lunches!

Sausage Stuffed Shells

What You'll Need:
1 lb. ground italian sausage
1/2 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. oregano
8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
jar spaghetti sauce
1 box jumbo shells

What You'll Do:
Preheat oven to 350.
1. Boil jumbo shells until al dente.
2. In large skillet, cook and crumble sausage with diced onion, garlic cloves, basil and oregano; drain grease.
3. Dump sausage mixture in large bowl and mix with half the mozzarella cheese. It should look kind of gooey.
4. In 9x13 baking dish, spread a layer of spaghetti sauce to cover bottom of pan. Stuff each shell with sausage mixture and place close together in pan. After stuffing each shell, dump more spaghetti sauce on top to cover the shells then sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese.
5. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 minutes longer.

PS-
Sorry about the picture. I took it after we dished up our plates. :)