Mommy is in Timeout

Aside from Mommy Knows Best and Crazy Mommy Monday, another series I have at my blog is to post a recipe each Sunday. Bon Appetit!

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Recipe: Stuffed Red Peppers Appetizer*

What You’ll Need:

3 Large Red Bell Peppers
1 Package of Cream Cheese
1 1/2 Cups Shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 Tube/Package of Bob Evans Sausage (uncooked)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Saute the sausage in a pan in a little bit of olive oil. As you are cooking the sausage, chop it up into smaller pieces. Once the sausage is cooked, remove from heat. Add in the package of cream cheese. Let it melt and then mix together with the sausage. Set aside. Wash & cut the red peppers. Stand them up and cut them in half first and remove the seeds & stem. Then, cut each half into thirds. Add 1 cup of the parmesan cheese into the sausage mixture and stir. On a cookie sheet, lay out all of the red peppers. Spoon even amounts of the mixture into the red peppers. Top with the rest of the parmesan cheese. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, checking regularly. Near the end, you can turn on the broiler for a crispy top. Serve & enjoy!

*Recipe credit to my friend, Jen, who made these stuffed peppers for a recent girls night in.

Since it’s an awards kind of day, I’m making my award-winning cocktail sauce for our Oscars cocktail party. Serve with any seafood. I prefer it with either shrimp, crab or lobster. Award winning might be a stretch. However, I would consider my cocktail sauce to be relatively famous. Not Colin Firth famous, but definitely Jesse Eisenberg famous.

It’s the one item that I’m frequently asked to bring to parties. Although, if I knew Jesse Eisenberg I’d probably be asked to bring him to parties with me instead.Well, my secret recipe is now yours to use to impress your guests. Enjoy!

What You’ll Need:

*not pictured: cayenne pepper

Ketchup
Horseradish
Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 Fresh Lemon
Frank’s Red Hot
Soy Sauce
Srirachi Sauce
Garlic Powder (or Garlic Salt)
Cayenne Pepper (not pictured)

For this recipe I will tell you rough measurements for the items listed. This version is a bit more spicy.

In a bowl, pour a good amount of ketchup (about 1 to 1 1/2 cups). Then add about 3-4 tablespoons of horseradish. Juice the 1/4 of a lemon and pour in the bowl. Add about 5 dashes of worcestershire. Then add 3 dashes of frank’s, soy and srirachi. Add in a few shakes of garlic powder & cayenne pepper.

Mix all together and taste test on a cracker. If you need more spice, add more of the spicy items. If it is too spicy, add in a little more ketchup & lemon juice.

I serve the sauce with many different types of seafood. Cooked cold shrimp, crab meat (mock crab is a cheap & good substitute), lobster claws, lobster chunks, fried clams, raw oysters or fried shrimp. Enjoy!

This appetizer is so easy but really tasty. It’s a definite crowd pleaser!

Pizza Dip

What You’ll Need:

1 Jar of marinara sauce or pizza sauce (any brand – I prefer Trader Joe’s pizza sauce or Prego)
1 package of shredded mozzarella (or italian blend) cheese
1 package of cream cheese (room temperature)
1 scallion, diced
1 loaf of french bread
Shredded parmesan cheese
Any pizza toppings

Diced into small pieces – pepperoni, tomato, green pepper, etc.Preheat the oven to 350. In a pie dish (or any oven safe casserole dish) spread the cream cheese around the bottom. Then add a layer of marinara/pizza sauce. Try and have the cream cheese & sauce layers the same thickness. Add a layer of shredded mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle the top with parmesan cheese. Add any of the diced toppings you chose. Bake for about 15-25 minutes until cheese is completely melted & browned to your desire. Slice the french bread. Serve as a dip for the bread. Enjoy!