Tag: Recipes

Hot Ham & Cheese Sammies

Published on by murphypartyof4Leave a comment

I don’t know about you, but nothing makes my taste buds happier than a sandwich. It’s so simple and can take on so many flavors, and most importantly-minimal prep work and clean up. Let’s be honest, as a mom those last 2 points are reason enough.

When I’m in a dinner rut or we have a busy day, I can always turn to sandwiches to bring dinner together in a pinch. And so I don’t get mom guilt that I didn’t actually ‘cook’ dinner, I use this Hot Ham and Cheese Sammies recipe to remind myself that if you have to turn on the oven-then you have in fact cooked. Add in my homemade Honey Mustard, and you have just whipped up a hot, homemade meal for your family in 20 minutes (including prep time!).

First, you’ll want to gather up your ingredients. You’ll want:
*8 croissants
*Ham (I also added turkey to a few of mine, because I needed to use it up)
*cheese (provolone is my favorite on these, but cheddar is what I had on hand)
For the Honey Mustard:
*1/2 C Mayo
*1 Tbsp Honey
*1 Tbsp Yellow mustard

First, make the honey mustard. Just add your mayo, mustard, and honey to a small bowl and stir until combined. It honestly doesn’t get any easier than that.

This is what you should end up with, a bowl of pale yellow goodness.

A little bit tangy.
A little bit sweet.
100% yum.

Now onto the most heavenly sight in the world…a big pile of golden, butter, croissants. Carefully slice each croissant in half lengthwise.

Start assembling your sammies. I cover the bottom of the croissant with the honey mustard, then layer on your ham and a slice of cheese.

Loosely wrap each sammie in tinfoil. You don’t need it to be perfectly covered, just wrapped enough so that the sammie will heat thru but your croissant won’t get hard while it’s baking.

Once you have all your sammies wrapped, place them on a sheet pan and place in a 350° oven for about 5-10 mins. Just long enough to make sure your meat is warm and your cheese is nice and melted.

Now this is what heaven must be like. Gooey cheese, warm croissants, sweet honey mustard. Add chips or a salad and you have a whole meal prepped and served in less than 20 minutes! You can’t beat that!

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4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cups (and a bonus recipe!)

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Today has been a doozy! Never ending phone calls and things to do….and it isn’t due to slow down until bedtime. I knew I was going to need a pick-me-up to pull me through the rest of the day, and there’s no cure quite like chocolate and peanut butter.

I found these adorable pumpkin ice cube molds at the Dollar Tree today and my first thought was…peanut butter cups! Luckily I knew I already had most of the ingredients stocked in my pantry. Here’s what I used:
*pumpkin molds
*1/2 C confectioners sugar
*1/2 C creamy peanut butter
*half a bag of chocolate chips
*1 Tbsp coconut oil

In a microwave safe bowl (or measuring cup) add your half a bag of chocolate chips and your coconut oil. Microwave them in 15 second intervals, stirring them every time until melted. I think I did this 4 times before it was smooth, so about a minute.

Make sure your molds are clean and dry, and then you can start pouring in your chocolate. I used a spoon to add a bit to the bottom of the mold and then spread it around with a (brand new) paint brush. Once both molds are covered, put them in the fridge for about 15 minutes to set the chocolate. Set aside the extra chocolate mixture, you will need it later.

While you’re waiting for your chocolate to set, start on your peanut butter filling. You can mix this by hand, but I prefer my stand mixer so I can make sure I get a good, even mix. Start with your 1/2 C peanut butter.

Then add your 1/2 C confectioners sugar. With your paddle attachment, mix your ingredients until smooth.

By now, your chocolate should be nice and solid. Take your peanut butter mixture and add about 1/2 tsp to the middle of each mold. Use the back of your spoon or your finger to gently push the peanut butter mixture down.

Take your remaining melted chocolate and carefully spoon it over the top of your peanut butter mixture. I added enough to make the chocolate even with the top of my mold.

When both molds are full, place them back into the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Try to distract yourself….these next 30 minutes can feel like a lifetime when you know you have peanut-buttery-chocolate-covered-goodness waiting for you!

When your chocolate is nice and set, it’s time to pop them out of the molds! My pumpkin molds, although incredibly adorable, made it difficult to get out some of the molds. Some of my pumpkins got a little cracked on the way out, but they still taste absolutely incredible. Just pop these into a sealed container and store them into the fridge. I honestly can’t tell you how long they will last in the fridge, because mine never last longer than the weekend. So if you have more self control than I do, let me know how long these keep will ya?

BONUS RECIPE TIME! I had about 1/4 C of my peanut butter mixture left over (next time I’ll use bigger molds!) and I knew there was no way I was going to let this go to waste! I peeked in my fridge/pantry to see what I had that I could make with this…honey, greek yogurt, peanut butter mixture….sounds like the perfect ingredients for a fruit dip!

Just whisk together the 1/4C peanut butter mixture, 1C greek yogurt, and 1Tbsp honey until smooth.

Cut up an apple, and enjoy! This became my impromptu lunch while I was waiting for my peanut butter cups to harden, and it was so delish and easy that I had to share it with you all!

Seriously….so good. And you get two recipes in one with minimal effort! Lucky you!

The Softest 6 Ingredient Bread Machine Sandwich Bread

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This post contains Amazon Affiliate links. Read my full disclosure here https://murphypartyof4.com/2019/10/08/amazon-affiliate-disclosure/

I’m going to level with you here, there are few things that make me happy like the smell of fresh baked bread. Ironically, all the time spent kneading the dough and waiting for it rise and then baking is a little daunting when you’re a busy Mom who has to get her life together. Enter one of the greatest machines ever invented….the bread machine! My amazing sister got me one a few years ago for Christmas and it has come in handy more times than I can count. Now, I’m not the kind of mom who makes her own bread on the regular, my kids actually prefer the store bought stuff and it’s a relatively inexpensive purchase to buy the pre-made stuff. However, there are those times when you’re in between paychecks and at the end of a loaf that it comes in really handy to be able to whip up an easy and inexpensive batch of the homemade stuff to help pull you thru the week. This is one such week.

With only 6 ingredients, this recipe really is the epitome of soft, easy, and inexpensive sandwich bread.
1C hot water
2Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4C oil
3C flour
2 3/4 tsp yeast

Attach your paddle attachment to the bottom of your loaf pan, then add the ingredients in the order listed (unless your bread machine specifies differently).

Once you add your ingredients to the pan, carefully place the pan into your bread machine and make sure it’s locked into place. This recipe is for a basic loaf, so I used the Basic level 1 setting, for light color and 2lb loaf (those are just my preferred settings, you may prefer something different) The timer will automatically set to 3 hours, and you my friend now have time to do whatever you want! No need to knead the dough, or wait for it to rise…the machine will handle all of that. Just resist the urge to open the lid or you may get a deflated loaf, and no one wants that.

The bread machine I use is a Sunbeam Programable Bread Maker. It is so user friendly and I just love it! You can get one on Amazon here (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/2M1SpAp

Once your machine beeps and your house smells divine, carefully transfer your loaf to a cutting board to cool. Or you can serve it up warm with some butter fresh out of the machine-we’ve all been there! Then sit back and enjoy as your family gushes over how great the house smells and how awesome it is that you spent 3 hours of your day making delicious, homemade bread for them (full disclosure-I took a nap and did dishes while mine baked, but my family is none the wiser) Just another reason why the bread machine is one of the greatest appliances you can own.

Sheet Pan Sausage and Veggies

Published on by murphypartyof4Leave a comment

Prepare yourselves for THE EASIEST dinner you will ever make. This recipe checks all the boxes on what a family needs for a quick and healthy meal on those nights when it comes down a home cooked meal or ordering a pizza.
Quick prep?
Delicious?
Healthy?
Easy cleanup?
Check, check, check, and check!

For this recipe, you’ll need:
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
half an onion, sliced
1-1.5lb brussels sprouts
1-1.5lb potatoes, cubed
1-2 packs chicken sausage
1/2tsp each garlic powder, parsley, paprika, Cajun seasoning, salt and pepper
Oil for drizzling (I used avocado, but feel free to use whatever you have on hand!)

I found these sweet Italian chicken sausages while roaming around the happiest place on Earth, Trader Joe’s. I was afraid they might be too spicy for my kids, so I opted to go easy on the spices. It must have worked because my 8 year old requested we buy these every time we shop there!

Start by prepping your veggies. I like to keep the skin on my baby reds, so I just gave them a good wash before cubing them. Also slice your brussels sprouts, onion, and sausages.

Once I got everything prepped, I realized that there was SO MUCH sausage! I ended up putting some of it back to add to scrambled eggs for breakfast. 2 meals in one!
Now, divide the mixture between 2 sheet pans and drizzle with your oil and spices.

By now, your kids have probably wandered into the kitchen to steal scraps and start asking you when dinner is ready. Don’t worry kids, we’re almost there! After a good hand wash, mix up the veggies and sausage so it all gets covered in the oil and spice mixture. Or you can pawn that job off to your mini sous chefs as you take pictures.

Place your sheet pans into your 400° preheated oven for 30 minutes. I didn’t even stir this in those 30 minutes, just left it alone while the kids did bath time and I got some laundry folded. Any time I can be making dinner while doing laundry and cleaning the kids is a huge mom win!

And that’s it! Eat it alone or with your carb of choice (we did sourdough garlic bread, as per my daughters request). You can now enjoy your dinner knowing your family is getting a healthy meal, you were able to finish your laundry and bath time while it cooked, and you only have a cutting board and 2 sheet pans waiting to be washed. Win, win, win.