Peanut Butter Cup S'more Brownies

Peanut Butter Cup S'more Brownies

Catchy name, right? Whenever I make something new, Chris (formerly known as Mr. Bell but recently I have added stupid nick names to the ever growing list of things that annoy me) wants to know what I'm going to call it. He's a marketing guy and is big on catchy names for things. This one? Not so much. I like to look at the name of something and know what is in it. Recipes with the words "surprise" "mystery" or my personal favorite "secret" tend to be met with much skepticism.

Recipes that include the words peanut butter cup, however, always win. I recently heard of this really cool party idea - a S'mores Bar. Instantly I decided that it is what we must do for the little Bell who is turning 6 next month. Then I realized that camp fires and children hyped up and making their own s'mores in my backyard was really only a great idea in theory. You see? I am learning.

Also I have no say in the birthday party themes around here. We tend to have a lot of Lightning McQueen and various forms of trucks. This year, we've had a request for an ambulance theme which I have drawn the line at. There is no way to make an ambulance party seem not weird. Of course the camp out/s'more party idea gone wrong could include an ambulance but I don't think that's what anyone had in mind.

Peanut Butter Cup S'more Brownies
Recipe by Michelle's Dinner Bell

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
6 tbs butter, melted
Brownie mix and ingredients called for on package (I like Ghiradelli Double Chocolate)
12 peanut butter cups
24 large marshmallows

1. Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter and mix. In silicone muffin mold or paper lined muffin tray, pack an equal amount of mixture in bottom of each well - about 3-4 tablespoons per well.
2. Place a peanut butter cup and a marshmallow on top of that.
3. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions and pour into mold until each is about 3/4 full.
4. Bake for 20 minutes or until done being careful not to overbake.
5. When brownies are cool, remove them from the molds.
6. The marshmallow topping is easiest with a creme brulle torch. But if you don't have one, you can just toast a marshmallow over your gas flame, cut it in half and press onto top of cupcake. You could also do it in the broiler.

Enjoy!

Tacos, Margaritas and More

So you know what my blog is full of? Really good Cinco de Mayo recipes. I knew some day it would be good for something.

First you need a good cantina type of drink. You can't go wrong with any of these. Click the link and scroll down - why on my blog the drink would come after the food is beyond even me but they are there, I promise!

Classic Frozen Margarita

Salty Chihuahua (No actual chihuahuas were harmed in the making of this drink)

Pineapple Sangria 

Want to know my top secret super easy shortcut salsa? I buy a container of pico de gallo in the produce section at the grocery store. It is just a little container of chopped tomatoes, onion, cilantro and jalapeno usually. You can make it at home but this is my super easy shortcut salsa so don't judge, okay? Anyway take that and dump in a can of undrained Ro-Tel. Season with some garlic salt and some pepper. Done.

Now inevitably people ask me what Ro-Tel is - it's a can of diced tomatoes and green chiles. Be careful - you can buy it in many varieties and the hot and super hot? Really are hot and super hot. If you don't have Ro-Tel in your area, you can substitute canned tomatoes with green chiles - just make sure they are chopped fairly small.

You want some guacamole? Well mash up a couple of Haas avocados and throw in about 1/2 cup of your super easy shortcut salsa and add salt and pepper and maybe a squirt of fresh lime juice. You know from the lime, not that plastic green imposter you find in the store and should be outlawed.

You want to know what goes great with salsa and guacamole besides tacos? These little Southwestern Egg Rolls.

Okay now for tacos, I have plenty....

Cilantro Lime Fish Tacos
Crispy Shrimp Tacos
Shredded Beef & Potato Tacos

Maybe you want something you can make ahead so you can really enjoy your margaritas I mean fiesta guests.

Roasted Pork & Potato Chile Verde
Taco Casserole
Taco Soup - I think you should know this is the number one most requested dish in my house, fiesta or not!

Now off to work on some kind of super fabulous Cinco de Mayo dessert....

Enjoy!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Lasagna

Chicken Cordon Bleu Lasagna

Have you ever gone on a diet where for like 3 days you're supposed to eat whatever you want to kind of prepare yourself for your new way of eating? I love those plans. They are the best. I am so good at those.

Until day 4; then it kind of all falls apart. But this dish? It would be perfect for days 1, 2 and 3 of such a diet. And then for day 4 around lunch time when you give up on such a ridiculous thing as losing weight.

Pair this with a spinach salad. While it doesn't cancel out the sins of the lasagna, you won't feel quite as guilty!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Lasagna
Recipe by Michelle's Dinner Bell


3-4 chicken breasts - boneless and skinless, seasoned with salt and pepper
2 tbs butter
2 tbs olive oil
3/4 cup white wine
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbs corn starch
1/2 pound ham, diced
3/4 baby swiss cheese, thinly sliced
No bake lasagna noodles - I like Barilla brand
Grated cheese for topping - I used a blend of sharp cheddar and mozzarella

1. In a large skillet with a lid, heat butter and olive oil over medium heat. Brown chicken on both sides.
2. Add wine and broth and bring to a simmer.
3. Cover and let simmer about 20 minutes.
4. Remove chicken and chop into bite-sized pieces.
5. In a small dish, dissolve corn starch in small amount of liquid - you can use a bit of the cream or chicken broth. This is called a corn starch slurry for future reference. There may or may not be a quiz.
6. Now add the cream and slurry to your broth and wine mixture. Mix well and cook until thickened. Do not boil it - just simmer it gently.
7. To assemble your lasagna, put spoonful of sauce in your baking dish, lay out your pasta, top with chicken, then ham, swiss cheese and another spoonful of sauce. Repeat layers ending with sauce.
8. Cover tightly with foil - this is important when using the no-bake pastas.
9. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove foil and top with grated cheese and bake ten minutes more.
10. Let lasagna rest covered for at least 15 minutes before cutting into it.

Enjoy!

Blackberry Peach Tart

You know how some recipes are super simple and they taste good but they are kind of ugly? I hate things like that. I mean, obviously I'm not all "Cupcake Wars" over here - I don't even have the attention span to pluck my eyebrows. But I don't really want to present anything that has the word "dump" in it. I also don't like to eat anywhere that has the word "chuck" in its title. I have a lot of rules.

Anyway, back to the dump cake. I had a revelation. Turn it upside down and suddenly it's all fancy tart like rather than rustic cobbler ish.

Now I'm not going to google this because I'm sure that there are others who have had this revelation long before me, but I like to pretend that I am, in fact, solving the world's problems one by one with each passing day. Humor me, would you?

Blackberry Peach Tart
Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com


1 can (about 20 ounces) peach pie filling
1 cup fresh blackberries
1 yellow cake mix
1 stick unsalted butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Pour peach pie filling into round cake pan (or silicone mold - see how cute mine is?). Scatter berries over that.
3. Pour cake mix over fruit and pat lightly.
4. Slice cold butter into slivers and top the cake mix with that.
5. Bake 30-40 minutes.

Now one thing I love about my particular mold is that look what happens when you slice it.

How cute is that? And imagine the possibilities - French toast casseroles, quiches, heck, heart-shaped shepard's pie.... The choice is yours! For more information on these all-natural molds (which come in about a gazillion shapes) email me here.

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Photo courtesy of Campbell's

It may come as no surprise that I love to read recipes. When I was growing up before I could even cook, I loved looking at my mom's huge recipe collection. The internet has made this addiction so so easy to feed, I tell you. 

I love to go on the big recipe sites and browse recipes but I find myself wanting to fight with people. And really I'm not a mean person, but when a recipe has been rated as a 4-5 star recipe by eight gazillion people and then you (general you here) go on and write that it didn't work for you and was horrid, I'm pretty sure it was YOU and not the recipe. 

Another thing I love is when people change 8 of the 10 ingredients posted and add 3 more and then rate the recipe. Um, newsflash, it's no longer the same recipe. So sometimes, I find myself wanting to hunt these people down and find out WHY they do what they do. And then I realize that in another way, I am that person. Many things that many people love? I shun. 

There is a recipe that pops up everywhere that people rave about and I ignore. I typically avoid the recipes that call for cream of anything soups or I substitute ingredients to make a more natural substitute. Well this particular pot roast recipe seemed to be stalking me and so I thought what the heck and made it - cream of mushroom soup and all. Guess what? My family loved it! Okay, my husband loved it and my kids ate it, kind of- which is a win here!

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

Recipe adapted from Campbell's

3 lb boneless roast

1 can cream of mushroom soup

3/4 cup water

1 envelope dry onion soup mix

1. Place roast in slow cooker.
2. Combine soup, water and soup mix and pour over roast.
3. Cook on low 8-9 hours.

Note: Add carrots and potatoes if you'd like - I prefer to roast mine separately in the oven but realize to many people this kind of defeats the purpose of the slow cooker!

Enjoy!

Cucumber & Curry Chicken Salad

Well here we are, three weeks into our new adventure on the east coast and I continue to find things to be neurotic about. Will wonders never cease?

I have realized that I have a deep fear of basements. I don't understand everyone thinking they are normal. They are underground and dark. Weird because I always kind of wanted a basement that I could fix up as a karaoke lounge and have a margarita machine (or ten). Yet my real life basement experience has not been very karaoke/margarita lounge ish at all.

First of all, it took me about ten days to find the light switch down there. I probably could have asked Mr. Bell to help me find it but that would have possibly entailed an extra trip down there and he wouldn't instinctively know that you can only be in the basement for as long as you can hold your breath. Not because it is particularly smelly down there but because everyone knows that serial killers and rabid ground hogs alike respect the you can't kill your prey while they are holding there breath law.

As the days went by, however, just walking by the basement door started to freak me out. I realized it was time to discuss it with the mister and add all basement business to his list of trash and bug abatement. I made him a drink and began to explain how scary it is down there. I told him he doesn't realize it because he is from "back here" where things like underground serial killer slash rabid ground hog pits under your house are normal. I was sure that he would realize that of course a California person couldn't be expected to just flounce down the stairs all carefree into a BASEMENT.

Has he not seen Silence off the Lambs? Wasn't that pit the weirdo with Precious the dog put his chubby girls in actually a basement type of cave thing? That could be me. You know what he said? "You have to go in the basement. The washer and dryer are in there." It was a chillier night than usual in Massachusetts that night.

And speaking of chilly, I feel so out of synch with the blog world. When I lived in southern California, it seemed everyone was talking soup when it was 90 degrees at my house. Now it seems everyone is talking salads and cool fruity drinks and frolicking in their pools while it is peaking in the 40s and 50s around here. Sigh. So I'll embrace my out-of-synch-ness and pretend that it is quirky and fun.

This Cucumber & Curry Chicken Salad is perfect for those of you in warm climates and it is perfect for me when I crank up my heater to 82 degrees, lose my coat and pull out my flip flops and wear them with love.

Cucumber & Chicken Salad
Recipe by Michelle's Dinner Bell

For the dressing
1 pkg ranch dressing mix
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cucumber, peeled, chunked and patted dry

For the salad
2 cups cooked chicken
1/2 cured onion, thinly sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup pistachios
1/2 tsp curry - more or less depending on how you like it
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine dressing ingredients in your blended and blend well. Refrigerate about an hour.
2. Combine salad ingredients. Toss with dressing to desired consistency - but about 1 cup of dressing is what I use. Serve salad on rolls or wrap in lettuce leaves.

Refrigerate remaining dressing. It is great on a green salad or as a dip.

Enjoy!

Thank you all for the sweet emails..... I am out from under the boxes and have located my kitchen, however, I am still disconnected from the modern era except via my magical red phone.

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