Showing posts with label semi-homemade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label semi-homemade. Show all posts

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Summer Stew-licious

Isn't it funny how you can put -licious on the end of pretty much any word these days? I actually just googled "licious" and these websites came up: candle-licious, mama-licious, cycle-licious, picklelicious, vegan-licious, madonna-licious; I could go on and on. Google it yourself and see.

Anyway I found this recipe for a summer stew and I'll just say right now that I am absolutely in love with it therefore I deemed it worthy of the "licious" tag.

This is my first eggplant recipe which I am finally getting around to posting. I've actually made this recipe twice in ten days! It's perfect for summer, perfect for lunch or dinner and a perfect way to use up your vegetables from your garden.

Eggplant, Zucchini and Sweet Red Pepper Stew
4 servings (actually way more than 4 servings I think)

1 eggplant, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
5 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
1/2 cup basmati rice
1 zucchini, cut into large chunks
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes, Italian style
1 cup Marsala wine
2 - 2 1/2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped

Place eggplant in a colander and sprinkle with salt. I peeled my eggplant too by the way. This is what an eggplant looks like on the inside in case you didn't know.


Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or large pot. Add onion and saute until transparent. Stir in garlic and cook 1-2 more minutes. Meanwhile rinse eggplant and pat dry. Add to pot with onions and garlic and cook until slightly browned (only a few minutes).

Stir in wine. Now take a minute and breath in all the Marsala goodness before you continue. The Marsala wine makes the whole thing smell so good. Then add 2 cups of the water, rice, zucchini, red bell pepper, tomatoes, salt and red pepper flakes. Cook over medium-high heat until mixture reaches a low boil. Reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Add more water if necessary.

Remove from heat and stir in basil, parsley and rosemary.


You can find the original recipe here. I made a few changes. First I switched the order on cooking the onions and eggplant. The first time I made this recipe I made it exactly as written and cooked the eggplant first. The eggplant soaked up all the oil and there wasn't any left to cook the onions and garlic. The second time I took the advice of one of the reviewers on All Recipes and cooked the onion and garlic first and then added the eggplant. I thought that worked a lot better.

Second, I increased the water by a full cup. There just wasn't quite enough to cover all the vegetables. That could be because I used a pretty big zucchini, eggplant and red pepper.

Third I substituted a can of Italian diced tomatoes for fresh tomatoes only because I don't have any fresh tomatoes right now and I had this can of diced tomatoes already on hand. When the tomatoes finally ripen in my garden I will be making this with fresh tomatoes. I will also use my yellow bell peppers too!

This recipe is SO good. I'm really glad I found it. It has the best flavor. It also freezes really well. The second batch that I just made went straight into the freezer in my favorite Pyrex bowls.


I had picked an eggplant the day before and I knew I needed to use it right away so I whipped up this stew again since I already knew how to make it and knew I liked it. It makes a really great lunch too - very filling. That's the primary reason I freeze it in these individual bowls. I just grab one of these bowls out of the freezer in the morning, let it set on my desk all day and then pop it in the microwave at lunch time. Just to warn you though that the bowl will sweat all over your desk as it thaws out so make sure you set it on a plate or on some paper towels or something.

I love finding awesome recipes!

Other zucchini recipes:
Zucchini Pie (I just posted an update here so go check it out again)
Zucchini Cake
Zucchini with toasted walnuts

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Green Beans and Feta

I found this receipe on the inside of the lid to my Athenos feta cheese. The instant I saw it I knew I would make it. Greens beans and feta together? What a fantastic idea. Feta is good on lots of things but I had never really thought about putting it on green beans before.

Green Beans and Feta with Dill

2 lbs fresh green beans
1/2 cup Kraft Zesty Italian dressing
1/4 cup Athenos crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

Cook beans in boiling water seven minutes or until tender crisp (I don't like soggy beans so I cooked mine only five minutes). Drain then rinse with cold water.

Toss beans with dressing, cheese, onion and dill in large bowl (my store didn't have fresh dill so I had to used a sprinkling of dried dill instead).

Serve immediately or refrigerate for several hours until chilled.


Doesn't it look delicious? I really, really liked this recipe. Super simple and quick to make. I will be making this again I am sure. I have plenty of green beans from the garden that need to be eaten!

One note on the Kraft Zesty Italian salad dressing - this dressing is awesome. I love it and usually have it on hand. I buy the light version which tastes great and has only 25 calories per serving. It's perfect on salads.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Cream Cheese Squares

Last Friday a coworker and I decided to make breakfast for everyone in our department. We have ovens in our office which comes in very handy for cooking in the office, as well as baking cookies in the afternoon (people seriously do that and it makes the entire office smell like cookies).

Our office does not have a stovetop so we were limited on what we could make. We decided to make two casserole type dishes that can be thrown together quickly and then baked. One of them was Cream Cheese Squares which I actually baked the night before.

Cream Cheese Squares
24 servings

2 8 oz cans crescent rolls
2 8 oz packages cream cheese (at room temp)
1 cup sugar, divided
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray. Unroll one can of crescent rolls and press into bottom of prepared pan. In a medium bowl mix together the cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spread over the crescent rolls in the pan. Unroll the second can of crescent rolls and lay on top of the cream cheese mixture.

In a small bowl mix together the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon. Melt butter in microwave and then pour over the entire pan. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture over the top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes in preheated oven until top is crisp and golden. Serve warm or refrigerate overnight.


You can see the original recipe here. The only change I made was to decrease the amount of sugar by 1/4 cup and to decrease the amount of butter from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup. A whole cup and a quarter of sugar seemed like a lot to me, and a half stick of butter was plenty to coat the entire dish.

So how did they turn out? Let's just say I didn't take any of these home with me. The dish was completely empty by noon and several people asked for the recipe. That's the mark of a successful recipe - when people ask for a copy!

Monday, February 25, 2008

Cupcake Invasion!

A couple of weeks ago my SIL was married in Las Vegas. Only immediate family and a few close friends flew to Vegas to attend the wedding. Then this past weekend they had a reception here in town to celebrate their wedding and marriage.

As a family we pretty much put together the entire reception ourselves. MIL and my other SIL did all the food and decorations. My mom was the DJ. FIL carried stuff in and out of the reception hall and did whatever MIL told him to do. And I made the cake – cupcakes actually.

About 60-70 people had RSVP-ed “yes” to the invitation so I figured I would make around two cupcakes per person. My SIL wanted me to make both vanilla and chocolate which also factored into this decision. I think when there are multiple flavors of cupcakes people are more likely to eat more than one. I know if I was at a wedding reception and there were two different kinds of cupcakes, I’d want to try them both!

I therefore planned to make 120 cupcakes or five batches at two dozen per batch. I decided to make three batches of vanilla and two batches of chocolate. All cupcakes would have the same vanilla buttercream frosting. I planned to bake all the cupcakes on Friday evening and then frost the cupcakes at the reception site on Saturday afternoon. It is a lot easier to transport unfrosted cupcakes than frosted ones especially since I have a rather small car.

Now I have a confession to make. I used cake mix. Doh! I know, I know! A cake mix? What the heck is that about? Okay! I have a perfectly good explanation for this. First I was under a time crunch here. I had to make 120 cupcakes in one evening in my regular ole kitchen with my regular ole oven. I only have two cupcake pans so I can only bake two pans at a time. And to tell you the truth I haven’t really found a from-scratch vanilla cupcake recipe that I’m super pleased with. I have however made vanilla cupcakes from a mix before (with certain extra additions) that have received rave reviews over and over again. Since it was such an important occasion, I didn’t want to attempt a new recipe and have it turn out awful. So I went with experience.

Both recipes originally came from Cupcakes! from the Cake Mix Doctor. I made a few minor modifications to result in the following:

Vanilla Cupcakes
Makes 22-24 cupcakes

1 package (18.25 oz) white cake mix
1 box vanilla pudding (French vanilla, cheesecake and white chocolate would also work)
1 cup whole milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 12 cup cupcake pans with paper or foil liners (use foil for fancier occasions like weddings). Place cake mix, milk, oil, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed to combine. Add pudding and blend on low speed to combine; scrap down sides of bowl as necessary.

Spoon or scoop batter into each cupcake cup, filling two thirds full. Bake cupcakes until they are lightly golden and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 16-20 minutes. Remove pans from oven and allow cupcakes to cool in pan for five minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and cool on wire racks. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting. Frost cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and add sprinkles or decoration as you wish.

Chocolate Cupcakes
Makes 24 cupcakes

1 package (18.25 oz) devil’s food cake mix
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ½ cups buttermilk
½ cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 12 cup cupcake pans with paper or foil liners. Place cake mix, cocoa powder, buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed to combine; scrap down sides of bowl as necessary.

Spoon or scoop batter into each cupcake cup, filling two thirds full. Bake cupcakes until they are lightly golden and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 16-20 minutes. Remove pans from oven and allow cupcakes to cool in pan for five minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and cool on wire racks. Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting. Frost cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and add sprinkles or decoration as you wish.

It’s a cupcake army!


I decorated the cupcakes with pink and clear sprinkles and placed them on cupcake stands FIL had made. I used gerber daisies as accents. The bride and groom had a small cake on the top tier of the bigger stand. This was the cake they cut together.



So was it worth it? At first I was a little apprehensive about making all these cupcakes and how they would turn out. This is the largest quantity I’ve ever made at one time. It actually was not as crazy as I thought it might be. It took me approximately three hours to mix and bake all the cupcakes. Then it took me another two hours or so to mix up all the frosting and then frost and decorate all the cupcakes as well as arrange them on the cupcake stands.

There were a lot of leftover cupcakes so next time I will reduce the quantity to 1.5 times the number of RSVPs instead of 2 times. My co-workers enjoyed the leftovers this morning though!

The cupcakes tasted wonderful and I received tons of compliments on them, both at the reception and at work today. No one knows my secret though!

I wouldn’t hesitate to make these again though I do promise to practice from-scratch vanilla cupcakes until I find a recipe I’m happy with.

More pictures:



Sunday, December 9, 2007

Tuna Noodle Casserole

This weekend we were supposed to get mountains of ice and snow and be locked in our houses until Tuesday. I instantly had dreams of lazy days in my kitchen and ran to the store on Friday night to stock up on ingredients for the 18 recipes that popped in my head all at the same time.

Well we didn’t exactly get the wintry mix that the weather people were predicting and I didn’t exactly get around to making my 18 recipes. But I did make one of my very favorite comfort food dishes that I haven’t made in a very long time – tuna noodle casserole. This is my mother’s recipe and one of the very first dishes I learned to cook.

I don’t actually measure anything when I make this dish, so I’ve tried to estimate the measurements below.

Tuna Noodle Casserole
About 4 servings

Four servings of pasta, any kind
1 can cream of mushroom soup
¼ cup of milk or so
1-2 cups of shredded cheese, yellow or yellow/white mix
1 can tuna, drained
Potato chips or bread crumbs

A few notes about the ingredients. For the pasta I like to use bigger pasta like rotini or rigatoni. Elbows will work ok but I think they are a little too small and get lost in the sauce. As for cream of mushroom soup, it has to be Campbell’s. I have tried generic brand and it does NOT taste the same to me. Campbell’s is the creamiest. Finally for the shredded cheese you can really use any kind of yellow shredded cheese like cheddar or Colby or any kind of white and yellow cheese mix like Colby jack or a Mexican blend or Italian blend, just whatever you have on hand.

First cook the pasta according to package directions and drain. While the pasta is cooking, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In two quart casserole dish, mix together soup and milk until blended. Then stir in a few handfuls of cheese.

Stir in tuna. Now this is a very important step as this dish is called TUNA noodle casserole. When my husband and I were first married I made this for him and accidentally left out the tuna. So it was just noodle casserole. We didn’t realize the mistake until after we sat down to eat. I ended up microwaving the forgotten tuna and then threw it on top of the casserole. Hubby thought it was hilarious and still brings it up whenever I make this dish.

Next stir in the drained pasta until well coated. If you are feeling particularly healthy you can stir in some frozen vegetables at this point, like peas or carrots. I do this sometimes but not this time.

Then sprinkle another few handfuls of cheese all over the top. On top of that sprinkle crunched up potato chips or bread crumbs. Cover and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is melted and a bit bubbly.


This is a recipe from my childhood. My mom made this for us ALL the time. It is truly my comfort food.

I was actually talking to my mom the other night about this recipe and she said she always wanted to try making individual casseroles. I think next time I will try that. I will mix the casserole the same way but in a big bowl, then spoon it into four two cup pyrex bowls or casserole dishes. Then sprinkle the tops with cheese and bread crumbs and bake on a cookie sheet for 20-25 minutes.

Four individual casseroles would be awesome because we could eat two and put the other two in the refrigerator or freezer for another meal. They would already be packaged up and ready to go. I can’t wait to try it next time.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Peculiar Spice Company: Cheesy Chicken Soup

I discovered the Peculiar Spice Co. a few years ago at a local craft show that MIL operates called Craft Patch. There was constantly a traffic jam of people around their booth because they were giving out free samples of all their products.

Peculiar Spice Co. produces and sells mixes: soup mixes, dip mixes, sweet mixes, side dish mixes. They are located on the south side of the Kansas City Metro area in a town called Peculiar, MO. It is now obvious where they got their name.

Of course I had to sample every single product that they offered and let me tell you, their products were GOOD. Even though everything tasted so great, I never did buy anything until this year. I think it’s because the craft show was always close to the holidays and I never felt like I could spend any money on myself (even for food?!?).

Well I made up for lost time this year. I bought six of their mixes last Saturday at Craft Patch. And on Sunday I mixed up a batch of their Cheesy Chicken Soup.

To make the soup you need the following:

Cheesy Chicken soup mix
16 oz Velveeta cheese
2-3 cups cooked chicken
8 cups of water


I took the easy way out and bought canned chicken.

First combine the water, soup mix and chicken in a large pot. This soup makes 14 cups of soup so you really do need a fairly large pot. Simmer on the stove for 25 minutes then stir in the Velveeta cheese until melted. That’s it. Seriously that’s how easy it was.

And oh my goodness does it taste good. Whatever they put in that spice mix just gives it the best flavor. I wanted to gobble up the entire pot. Instead I paced myself and packaged up the leftovers to go in my freezer.

So how does this compare to other soups from a cost perspective? I thought I saved my receipt from my shopping trip so I could do this right but of course now I can’t find it anywhere. I think I can remember the costs. It shouldn’t be that hard since I only had to buy two things. Ok, the cost to make the soup is as follows:

Soup mix – $4.50
Velveeta cheese - $3.89 for a 32 oz brick and I used half of it so $1.95
12 oz can chicken $2.12
Water – negligible

Total cost - $8.57
Divide by seven, two cup servings gives us a cost of $1.22 per serving.

This is not bad at all actually. A can of Progresso or Campbell’s Chunky soup would cost around this much or more unless you caught it on super sale. The store bought version would often be less than the two cup serving as well. So if you wanted to stretch the batch of soup into 8 servings to be more comparable to the canned version, your cost would be only $1.07.

So is it worth it? I was really, really impressed with this soup. It tastes great and it was really easy to make. It would be easy to throw on the stove when you get home on a weeknight. I like to support local businesses whenever I can and I will definitely be buying from them again in the future. I am really looking forward to trying the other four mixes I have in my pantry: Chicken Enchilada soup, Mexican Fiesta soup, Hashbrown Potato soup, and Hawaiian Chicken salad. I actually bought two Cheesy Chicken soup mixes so I’ll be making this one again!

Peculiar Spice Co. does have online and phone ordering so if you are interested please check out their website.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

I'll Wipe the Floor With You!

I am always looking for ways to clean my home quicker and easier. One time saving solution is Clorox or Lysol cleaning wipes. I have used these before and really liked them, but they were just too expensive for me to keep buying. So I decided to investigate making my own at home. I have looked into this several times, but I’ve never actually made them until today. Here is the supply list:

Homemade Cleaning Wipes, from Organized Home

Supplies Needed:
Round plastic food storage container, 10 cup capacity
Extra large roll of quality, durable paper towels
2-4 cups cleaning solution (see below)
Electric drill with ½ inch drill bit
Electric knife
Measuring cups

Cleaning solution options (each makes approximately 3 cups):

General surface cleaning:
1 ½ cups vinegar
1 ½ cups water

Disinfectant cleaning:
¼ to ½ cup pine cleaning solution, such as Pine Sol
2 ½ to 2 ¾ cups water

Window & glass cleaning:
½ cup rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol
2 ½ cups water
1 tablespoon vinegar

The supply list meant I needed to go to the store. I had to stop by the grocery store last night anyway to pick up a few things so I decided to get the supplies I needed for this project as well. I began with the container. My grocery store did not have a round, 10 cup capacity container. Arg. I really did not want to go to another store, so after examining all large round containers, I settled on a 7 cup capacity Ziploc brand.

Next up was cleaning solution. Originally I was not going to go the Pine Sol route, as I wanted to make everything at home including the solution. In the end though I decided to try the Pine Sol so I picked up a 48oz bottle of Orange Energy Pine Sol. I figured it would probably smell pretty good.

Finally I need paper towels. I examine all good quality paper towels and opt to go with the Viva Big Roll White (70 ct). They seem really thick and sturdy. I go check out and head home.

This morning I wake up and I am ready to undertake my project. Here are the directions as provided by Organized Home:

“In the garage or workshop area, place a small block of wood beneath the plastic food container lid. Use an electric drill to drill a ½ inch diameter hole in the center of the container lid.

“Without removing paper towel wrapper, use the electric knife to cut the paper towel roll into two shorter rolls. Save the second roll for a refill later. Be patient! It may take up to two minutes to cut through the towel roll and cardboard tube inside.

“Remove the wrapper and place one short paper towel roll inside the plastic food storage container. Using a liquid measuring cup, gently pour the cleaning solution recipes over the top of the paper towel roll.

“Place the lid on the plastic food storage container and allow paper towels to absorb cleaning solution for 4 hours or overnight.

“Open the container. Gently pull the wet cardboard tube from the center of the paper towel roll and discard. Carefully pull the end of the paper towels from the inside where the cardboard roll had been. Thread end of the towels through the hole in the lid and replace the lid.

“Tips: As you use the wipes they will dry out so add more water and/or cleaning solution as necessary.”

The first thing I notice is that half of my paper towel roll is not going to fit in my container since I had to buy a smaller container. So I decide to cut my paper towel roll into thirds instead. I roughly measure the roll and mark off sections with a marker. The other decision I make is to not drill a hole in the lid of my container. Not only do I not know how to operate a drill but I figure not having a hole will help keep my wipes from drying out. Plus how hard is it to open the lid and get one out?

Out comes the electric knife, which I have also never operated before but I figure it can’t be that hard. I snap in the blades and plug it in and start cutting away at the paper towel roll. They weren’t kidding when they said it would take awhile – it does. I finally get all the way through. I am also left with paper towel dust and bits on my kitchen counter.

I grab my 4 cup Pyrex liquid measuring cup. I decide I better make a lot of solution because these paper towels are thick. I put ½ cup of Pine Sol into the measuring cup, then I add water until it is about 3 ½ cups or so. I give it a quick stir then, after placing the short roll into my container, I pour it all over the paper towels.

The first thing I notice is that the paper towels start to separate out a bit. The other thing I notice is that the towels are pulling away from the cardboard tube so I go ahead and pull that out and throw it away. I put the lid on and let it sit for 4 hours.

I came back to them about noon. The moment of truth – will they work? I open up the container and pull out a wipe from the inside of the roll, tearing it off from the rest. The wipe is SOPPING wet. I think I’ve used a little too much cleaning solution. I use it to wipe off my stove and a part of my counter. It works pretty well! I decide to try it out in the bathroom, so I use 3 more wipes to wipe out my bathroom cabinet shelves. They work great except they are really wet so I had to dry off some surfaces with a towel.

The Economics: To make these wipes I spent $2.98 on the Ziploc containers (qty 2), $1.99 on paper towels (70 ct) and $3.27 on a 48 oz bottle of Pine Sol, for a total of $8.24. While at the store last night I checked on the prices of cleaning wipes and jotted down the following: Lysol 80ct wipes - $4.79, Clorox 75 ct wipes - $5.15, Hy-Vee 35 ct wipes - $1.98.

Because my supplies will last for more than one set of homemade wipes and I can reuse the container over and over again, the actual cost of making a 70ct roll of wipes is as follows:

Paper towels - $0.66 (I will get 3 refills from one roll)
Pine Sol - $0.27 (I only used ½ cup from a 48oz bottle)
Total - $0.93! (not including the container)

Even with the container ($1.49 for one) the cost of the wipes is only $2.42.

So is it worth it? A resounding yes from almost every angle. The cost savings is quite significant. When compared to the cheapest 70 ct commercial wipes (two 35 ct Hy-Vee brand for $3.96), the cost savings is $3.03 per roll! I think you could even make these cheaper by buying a generic brand of Pine Sol or by making your own cleaning solution instead. I will definitely continue to use these in the future.

One last thing I would like to point out: It will take you awhile to perfect your own recipe for homemade cleaning wipes. Today I learned that I used way too much cleaning solution so next time around I will reduce the amount. You may like a stronger solution or a different scent. Keep adjusting this and that each time until you get the right formula.

If you decide to try this out please let me know how it goes and share you tips & tricks with the rest of us!

Have a great weekend.

Friday, September 7, 2007

O - R - E - O!


I have a fantastic recipe for homemade Oreo cookies. It was given to me by my friend Katie who also gave me the pizza dough recipe and pizza sauce recipe. These cookies taste more like those new Oreo Cakesters cookies than traditional Oreo cookies, but Katie was making this recipe long before those imposters came out.

Homemade Oreo Cookies
makes about three dozen

2 boxes devil’s food cake mix
1 1/3 cups shortening
4 eggs
Cream cheese frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all ingredients together except the cream cheese frosting. The dough will be stiff. Once dough is combined, roll dough into balls of any size. I usually use a teaspoon to dip out the dough. It is best to try to make the dough balls approximately the same size. Place dough balls on cookie sheets and bake for approximately 8-10 minutes or until done. Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheets for a couple minutes then remove to cooling racks or paper towels.

Once all cookies are baked and cooled, frost the backside of one cookie with as much cream cheese frosting as you like and top with another cookie to make a sandwich. Voila!

I have made these cookies several times and I ALWAYS get tons of compliments on them. They are really rich so you can only eat one or two.

Variations? I have not tried this yet, but I imagine these cookies would be fantastic with peanut butter in the middle instead of cream cheese frosting. If someone tries this please let me know how it goes.

It is my goal to make these cookies completely from scratch sometime in the future. I would not use the cake mixes or canned frosting. The frosting part would not be too hard, but figuring out the cake mix part will require a little time and perhaps a few batches of cookies to work out the kinks. But I will repost this recipe at some point that doesn’t use any prepackaged items.

So is it worth it? These cookies taste excellent, but they take awhile to make. They are great to take to barbeques, parties or to the office for someone’s birthday and they look and taste a lot better than packaged Oreos. However they are not really any cheaper to make compared to buying a pack of Oreos at the store.

Bottom line – make these for a large group gatherings. Depending on the size of your family, if you made these just for eating at home you might not eat them fast enough because they are so rich. You could also freeze them individually and then stow these special treats in lunches or picnics.

I will admit that I still buy Oreos on occasion. There’s something about an Oreo that’s comforting to me. However I will only buy double stuffed Oreos, which taste best dunked in a cold glass of milk (of course!).