chocolate cake with biscoff bites

So the other day, Ryan points to a box of chocolate cake mix and says "mom, I want to make these chocolate cavity bugs for you and daddy" --- no joke, the girl is still obsessed with the dentist's book referencing cavity bugs when you eat sugary snacks. So we decided to make them and lately I LOVE baking everything in my mini-muffin pans so the girls get a bite-size taste of the treats we make, not a full-blown, sugar-high, up for 2 extra hours inducing size.  We made the batter according to the package directions and when I was filling the pan, I thought about adding my favorite find ever, Biscoff spread.  This stuff is crack.  Looks like peanut butter but oh so not.  More like a chocolate/carmel blend.  For awhile it wasn't sold in Missouri so I had my parents bring me back some from a trip to Cleveland and I stocked up awhile back when we were down in Dallas.  But the heavens opened up a month or so ago when I walked into Dierbergs and saw an entire Biscoff display.   I first discovered the spread when I found this recipe for biscoff stuffed white chocolate chip cookies  - those deserve a post of their own.  Next time I make them I will post my photos as well, but they are divine.  Back to the experiment at hand, I decided to add a dollop of Biscoff to my batter to see what would happen:
And after the dollop, I covered with a tiny bit more batter. The result - heaven in a bite sized chocolate cupcake form.

Ingredients
1 box of chocolate cake mix (mix the batter according to package directions)
biscoff spread

Make the cake batter, fill greased mini-muffin pans about 50% full, drop a teaspoon or so of biscoff spread on top, fill with more batter to cover the biscoff.
Put in a 350 degree preheated oven (or whatever degree the box calls for, I threw it away before writing this) for about 12 minutes. Enjoy and use a little self control to limit yourself to only one or two bites at a time. This would probably be even better with a little icing on top, but that's too much craziness for we Stiffs.

beef stroganoff

Guest blogger: Barbara "I'll drink for the kids" O'Neill
This one is a fave at the O'Neill house (and now Peg is on the strog train)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb. sirloin tip (cut into strips)- some store even sell "stroganoff meat"
4 tablespoons butter
6 oz. tomato juice
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt and pepper
1/2 cup sherry wine
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 pint of sour cream
egg noodles
Use an electric skillet to make if possible.
Brown meat in butter at 250 degrees for 5 minutes (or brown meat over medium heat until just browned for those of us sans electric skillet). Add garlic powder, tomato juice, wine, salt and pepper. Simmer, while covered, for 45 minutes. Add sour cream and soup. Allow to heat for another 5 minutes. Serve over egg noodles.
Also delicious to add some peas to the mix. Best when served with milk - or some red wine if you're drinking for the kids.

mini cheddar quiche bites

I posted about this way back when but thought I'd re post here because I was searching for the recipe the other day.  These are delicious and oh so easy to make - plus a finger food so no utensils required!  I found the original recipe on www.incredibleegg.org and followed the modification at the end  by frying up a few pieces of bacon, letting it cool, crumbling them up and then adding to my egg mixture.

Ingredients:
1/4 to 1/2 cup panko or regular bread crumbs
4 eggs
1/3 cup half and half
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 1/4 cups shredded cheddar cheese (5 oz)

1. HEAT oven to 350°F.  Generously SPRAY 24 mini-muffin cups with cooking spray.   Pat 1/2 to 1 teaspoon crumbs in the bottom of each muffin cup.  Tap muffin pan to lightly coat sides of each muffin cup. 
2. BEAT eggs, half-and-half, salt and pepper in medium bowl until blended.  ADD cheese (and crumbled bacon); mix well.  SPOON evenly into mini-muffin cups, about 1 tablespoon each.
3. BAKE in 350°F oven until just set, 12 to 15 minutes.  COOL on rack 5 minutes.  LOOSEN quiches from sides of muffin cups with a thin knife.  REMOVE from cups; serve warm.

*Leftovers are good cold or reheated briefly in the oven or microwave.  Great for snacking or a quick breakfast on the run.

**For added flavor, add 1/3 to 1/2 cup cooked crumbled bacon, sausage or chopped ham with cheese.