Watermelon Pops

Ingredients

  • 1 cup sugar, divided
  • 1 pkg. (3 oz.) JELL-O Lime Flavor Gelatin
  • 2 cups boiling water, divided
  • Ice cubes
  • 1 cup cold water, divided
  • 1 pkg. (3 oz.) JELL-O Strawberry Flavor Gelatin
  • 3 Tbsp. miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • ½ pkg. (4 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
  • 1 ½ cups thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

Directions

  1. Take a medium-sized mixing bowl out and mix the lime gelatin mix and 1/3 cup of the sugar together. Pour 1 cup of boiling water into the bowl, constantly stirring for 2 minutes until everything’s dissolved. Measure out ½ cup of the cold water and add enough ice into it to now measure ¾ cup. Add the icy water to the lime gelatin mix, stirring until all of the ice has melted. Place in the fridge for 25 minutes.
  2. Repeat step 1 using strawberry gelatin mix but omitting the fridge step and instead pour mix into 16 (3-oz.) paper cups (we ended up pouring a little bit more than 2 tablespoons of the strawberry mix into each cup). Freeze the cups for 20 minutes*. Put ½ tsp. of the chocolate chips into the strawberry gelatin (it seemed like way too many chips for us so we cut down on the amount of chocolate chips we put in ours).
  3. Take a medium-sized bowl out and using a hand-mixer, beat the cream cheese and remaining sugar together until well blended. Stir in the COOL WHIP** and spread over the strawberry gelatin (for us that equaled out to 4 teaspoons of cream cheese mixture per cup).
  4. Pour the lime gelatin over the cream cheese mixture and insert wooden pop sticks into the center of the cup. Place in the freezer for 3 hours or until the pop is firm. Take the pops out of the cups right before serving.

*They said 20 minutes but when we pulled them out they were almost completely frozen !  It was hard to get the chocolate chips in there. Maybe our freezer was colder than theirs was but next time we make this we’ll check on them after 15 minutes. If the JELL-O mixture had been looser, we probably would’ve seen the chocolate chips toward the outside of the strawberry mixture.

**We were afraid that by the time we got the Cool Whip stirred in that it would break so we used the hand mixer for maybe a few seconds or so to get it blended.

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The strawberry and lime work really well together and it’s nice having that cream cheese mixture in the middle. As the pop firms up the chocolate chips disappear which makes it a tasty surprise when you bite into this ! The chocolate chips also add a different texture to the treat. We think everybody (but kids especially) will enjoy this frozen treat !

Recipe source unknown.

We weren’t paid in any form to promote JELL-O, Philadelphia cream cheese or Cool Whip.

Take care everybody !

Spicy 50/50 Burgers

Ingredients

  • ¾ lb. ground chuck
  • ¾ lb. hot Italian sausage, casings removed
  • Salt and pepper (we used kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper)
  • 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
  • 8 slices of Monterey Jack cheese (½ lb.) (we used Kraft Big Slice Hot Habanero cheese slices)
  • 2 Tbsp. water
  • 4 brioche hamburger buns, split and toasted
  • 1 cup cilantro leaves
  • Thickly sliced hot or sweet pickled peppers, for serving (don’t know if it counts as thick, but we used pickled jalapeño slices)

Directions

  1. Take a medium-sized mixing bowl out and mix the chuck and sausage together in it until it looks like they are thoroughly mixed together. Divide the meat mixture into 4 sections, shaping each section into a 4-inch patty that’s about ¾-inch thick. Season the patties with the salt and pepper (we only seasoned one side of the patty).
  2. Take a large cast-iron skillet and pour the olive oil in, setting the heat high enough for the oil to start shimmering (we went with medium-high heat). Add  the patties into the skillet, pressing them down a little with a spatula until they’re only about ½-inch thick. Cook the patties over high enough heat that they become really crusty on the bottom in 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the burgers over and cook them for another 2 minutes or until well browned. Place 2 slices of cheese* on each burger and pour the water into the skillet. Immediately put the lid on the skillet and let it cook for another minute or two or until the cheese has fully melted and the burgers are fully cooked.
  3. Place the cheeseburgers on the toasted buns and top with the cilantro leaves and sliced pickled peppers. Put the top bun on and eat right away !

*Our cheese slices were bigger than the size of the patties so we folded each slice in half before putting them on the patty.

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This might be the most successful we’ve ever been at melting cheese on a burger thanks to their method ! The flavor of the hot Italian sausage definitely comes through in this. The patty is so rich that it’s really nice having the fresh cilantro and the acidity from the pickled jalapeño slices. We do wish that there had been some kind of spread to go with this but having some of the pickling juice dripping from the peppers on the burger did help some.

We got this recipe from Food And Wine.

We weren’t paid in any form to promote Kraft or Food And Wine.

Take care everybody !

Slow Cooker Pork Ribs with Spicy Cola Sauce

Ingredients

  • 2 (2 ½-pound) racks baby back ribs
  • 3 tablespoons canola oil, divided
  • 2 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons ground black pepper, divided (we used freshly ground black pepper)
  • 1 (12-ounce) can cola (we used caffeine-free coca-cola)
  • 1 ½ cups ketchup, divided
  • ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 3 teaspoons hot sauce, divided (we used Frank’s Red Hot Original)
  • 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Directions

  1. Take a 6-quart slow cooker out and spray the inside of it with cooking spray.
  2. Take a sharp knife and pierce the thin membrane found on the back of the ribs, peeling it away to remove and throw away afterwards. Cut each rack in half. Brush the ribs with 2 tablespoons of the oil, seasoning them with 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper.
  3. Take a cast-iron skillet or grill pan (we used a 12-inch skillet) and brush the inside of it with the last of the oil, preheating the skillet over medium-high heat afterwards. Turn the heat down to medium and cook the ribs in batches for 3 minutes per side or until browned all over (we did one rack at a time). The original recipe says you may or may not need to adjust the heat while browning. Once browned, stack the ribs in the slow cooker.
  4. Take a medium-sized mixing bowl out and whisk together the following ingredients until combined: the cola, 1 cup ketchup, brown sugar, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and 1 teaspoon of hot sauce. Measure out 1 cup of the cola sauce and leave it off to the side for now. Pour what’s left of the sauce over the ribs, turning them so all of them get coated all over. Put a lid on the slow cooker and let it cook for 3 ½ hours on HIGH or 7 hours on LOW or until the ribs are tender (we cooked ours on LOW), rearranging the ribs halfway through the cook time (we switched the top and bottom pieces and switched places with the middle two).
  5. Take the ribs out of the slow cooker and place them on a cutting board. Measure out 1 cup of the cooking liquid for the next step.
  6. Take a large saucepan out and add to it the 1 cup of cooking liquid, that 1 cup of cola sauce you reserved, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, remaining ½ cup ketchup, remaining 2 teaspoons hot sauce, and the remaining ¼ teaspoon each of salt and pepper, stirring to combine. Turn the heat up to medium-high and wait for it to come to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down so it’s simmering for 5 minutes. Serve on or with the ribs.

Serves 4.

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These were so tender ! If you don’t like your ribs that saucy then these still taste good just from cooking in the slow cooker, they have a little sweetness to them thanks to the cola sauce. If you use the sauce at the end though, it really takes the flavor up a notch ! It turns it into a “lick your fingers clean” type of goodness ! The sauce is sweet and tangy and has just a little bit of heat at the end. It’s nice having a recipe for ribs that you can enjoy even when the weather’s crappy.

We got this recipe from Taste of the South.

We weren’t paid in any form to promote Coca-Cola, Frank’s Red Hot or Taste of  the South.

Take care everybody !

Fire And Ice Pickles

Ingredients

  • 1 quart dill pickle chips (we used a 32 oz. jar of Heinz Hamburger Dill Chips)
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup hot sauce (such as Frank’s Red Hot)  (we used Frank’s Red Hot Original)
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions

  1. Measure out 1 cup of the pickle juice from the jar, putting it off to the side for now. Discard any remaining juice. Place the pickle chips in a colander and drain them, rinsing them afterwards with cold water 3 times.
  2. In a mixing bowl, stir the sugar, hot sauce, garlic, cayenne pepper, and the 1 cup of pickle juice together until combined. Place the pickle chips back in their original jar, pouring the sugar mixture over the pickles afterwards. Put the lid back on the jar, and let it chill for 3 days before serving.
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Oh my god these are some of the best pickle chips you’ll ever have. These are so delicious you’ll want to eat them like potato chips ! You got spiciness, acidity which gives it that wonderful tang, and there’s some sweetness and it’s wonderful having the heat while the chips are still cold. The garlic is a nice background flavor. Perhaps the only downside is that the flavors are muted when combined with a burger. Perhaps it’s best you put a portion on your plate and put the jar away before you start eating them, otherwise you’ll probably have people mad at you for eating half the jar !

This recipe came from “the South’s Best Butts”.

We weren’t paid in any form to promote Frank’s Red Hot, Heinz or “the South’s Best Butts”.

Take care everybody !

Pineapple Rum Slush

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup frozen pineapple juice concentrate, thawed (from 12-oz. can)
  • 1 (6-oz.) can frozen limeade concentrate, thawed
  • 4 ½ cups cold water
  • ¾ cup rum
  • 3 ½ cups lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage (we used Sprite)

Directions

  1. In a large nonmetal container, add to it the pineapple juice concentrate, limeade concentrate, water and rum, stirring to combine. Put a lid on the container and freeze the mixture overnight.
  2. When you’re ready to enjoy this, pull the mixture out of the freezer and let it sit at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes or until it becomes slushy (20 minutes did the job for us). For each serving, spoon ½ cup of the slush into a glass, followed by ¼ cup of the carbonated beverage. Serve right away (we had our drinks in mason jars and it took 2 servings to fill the glass up).
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We loved this drink ! You taste the pineapple first but then you taste the limeade afterwards. You don’t taste the rum so much but this sweet-tart of a drink will have you feeling a buzz after one serving !

Recipe source unknown.

We weren’t paid in any form to promote Sprite.

Take care everybody !