Philly Cheese Steak Stuffed Peppers

These were a success. Like a really, really big success. Usually only some of the more unique things I make, pass the 'would I make this again test?'. This one passed with flying colours and everyone seemed kind of shocked that this slightly bizarre concept could taste so amazing.

Recipe from Quick & Easy Recipes.

Ingredients

8 oz. thinly sliced roast beef (or leftover steak)

8 Slices Provolone Cheese (I used a spicy Monterey Jack and it was amazing, don't use havarti it just melts away to nothing)

2 Green Bell Peppers

1 Onion, diced

1 C. Mushrooms, sliced

2 Tbsp. Butter

2-3 Cloves Garlic, minced

Salt 

Pepper

Directions

~Preheat oven to 400 F

~Slice peppers in half lengthwise and remove the seeds and stem.

~Place a slice of cheese in side each half of the pepper

~Combine onion, mushrooms, butter, salt & pepper in a heated skillet and saute until softened.

~Add in beef slices and stir long enough to heat.

~Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly.

~Scoop mixture into each pepper.

~Top with another slice of cheese.

~Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese on top is bubbly and golden.

Enjoy

Cheese Crackers (Cheez Its / Cheese Nips Copy-Cat)

These didn't exactly taste like Cheeze Its (for those Americans out there) and Cheese Nips (for the Canadians). They tasted better. Different, but oh so much better. Let's just say the batch almost didn't have a chance to cool and leave it at that. Plus, there is only five ingredients and they are pretty darn simple to make (but they do take a bit of time to chill and cut, but nothing hard about that).

One thing for certain, roll them thin. Like really thin. The ones that worked the best for me were the ones that I could see the colour of the countertop underneath them coming through. They puff up. So unless you want little cracker cubes, roll them thin. I though I had them thin enough, I didn't. Not that it made them taste any worse. They just weren't as crunchy right out of the oven.

Recipe from Better Home & Garden

Makes 14-15 dozen crackers

Ingredients

1 C. Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1/4 C. Butter

1 Tsp. Salt

1 C. Flour

2 Tbsp. Cold Water

*Optional* Additional Salt for Sprinkling

Directions

~Combine cheese and butter in an electric mixer.

~Add in salt and flour and mix until well combined and crumbly

~Continue to mix while adding the water, until a ball forms

~Form dough ball into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate to chill (at least an hour)

~Preheat oven to 375 F

~Roll out dough onto a floured surface to a 1/8 of an inch (when you think you have it thin enough, keep rolling)

~Cut into squares using a pizza cutter, knife or pastry wheel (if you want the classic jagged edge)

~Place squares on baking sheet and with a chopstick or similar sized utensil, poke a hole in the centre.

~Sprinkle with a small amount of salt over the top

~Bake for 12 minutes

Enjoy (warm they are delicious, cool they are crunchy)

The Non-Balled, Cheese Ball

AKA The Best Tasting, & Easiest Cheeseball Out There!

This thing is amazing. Once you start eating it you just can't stop. Seriously, what's better than garlic and cheese together? Umm, nothing. So, you could theoretically roll this mixture once made into a ball like you would for any normal cheese ball, but we get lazy and just throw it into a bowl and scoop it out with a knife (or by the spoonful if we're too lazy to search for a non-stale box of crackers). I've been thinking lately though that this may be pretty darned good spread on a toasted bagel. After all you put cream cheese on a bagel, and this recipe is just a souped up cream cheese. I was also one night wanting something to put on my baked potato but I didn't feel like making garlic butter or grating some cheese so I just put a scoop of this stuff inside the potato and let it melt and it was again amazing. Garlic and cheese, need I say more? I'm also just being reminded that this was also scooped onto steamed veggies and allowed to melt and was a simple cheese sauce.

There is a lot of fancy cheese ball recipes out there that call for expensive and fancy ingredients. This one calls for some pretty basic ingredients and very little work, and it tastes a million times better than any cheese ball I've ever tasted, and as you can see it's pretty versatile. We typically only make it at Christmas, but this year we bought a two pack of the Imperial Cheese so we had one spare for later.

Recipe (or ingredients list with no directions or quantities) comes from one of the ladies my mom worked with.

Ingredients

1 Pkg. Imperial Cheddar Cheese
Equal Part Soft Cream Cheese
4 Cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce

Directions

~Combine all ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix until all ingredients are combined and mixture is fluffy.

~Allow to rest in fridge for at least half an hour (if you can)!

Enjoy