everyday food made simple

Puppy chow.

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I remember the first time I heard of those two words about 10 years ago, I thought it was something the dogs ate. Well, I guess it could’ve been considering there is a brand of dog food out there named Puppy Chow.

I remember when my friend gave me a bag of peanut butter chocolate puppy chow she made, I smiled and said thank you, but wondered deep down inside why she made food for a dog and gave it to me to try… reluctantly, I popped one in my mouth and fell in love.

“These things are called puppy chow?” Now I’ve learned some people call them Muddy Buddies. Either way, both names still make no sense to me whatsoever. It doesn’t look like any dog food I’ve ever seen, and I don’t even see the relation between these little yummy squares and being “muddy”.

I guess what it’s called doesn’t really doesn’t matter. What matters is that there’s a gazillion different ways you can make these and the possibilities are endless… and they’re delicious!

I’ve always stuck to the traditional peanut butter and chocolate combo, so today I decided to try something new. Something fruity, sweet, and doesn’t involve chocolate. These babies are bursting with orange flavors! It doesn’t require artificial food coloring or artificial flavors – they’re 100% made out of real oranges and are a refreshing change to the traditional flavor combos.

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orange creamsicle puppy chow
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Ingredients
  1. 1 box Rice Chex cereal
  2. 16 oz vanilla coating
  3. 2 tablespoons orange zest
  4. 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
  1. Place the cereal in a large bowl.
  2. Melt the vanilla coating using a double boiler. Once it's completed melted, pour immediately over the cereal. Stir to make sure cereal is evenly coated with the vanilla mixture. Sprinkle the orange zest over the cereal. Mix some more.
  3. Add in the powdered sugar to the cereal. Stir to combine, making sure all surfaces are coated with sugar. Add more sugar if needed.
  4. Makes approximately 9 cups.
Notes
  1. Another common method is to add the cereal in a large Ziploc bag and mix everything else in that way. It is an easier way to get all the cereal coated with the powdered sugar.
Adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything
Simple Everyday Food https://www.simpleeverydayfood.com/
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Is there anything that beats something sweet, yummy, and easy to make? I think not! I think from start to finish, these took me less than 30 minutes. I’m all about being efficient and nowadays. It does turn out to be quite a lot of puppy chow in the end, so either pack some in Ziploc bags and give to your friends, or store them in an airtight container and save for yourself!

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from The Girl Who Ate Everything

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At my job, my coworkers love finding a reason to do potlucks:

Birthdays.

Going away parties.

Holidays.

Big events (i.e. SuperBowl)

And oh why not, let’s just do a potluck just because.

Who doesn’t like potlucks? It’s the perfect opportunity for people to make their signature dish (or try making new ones) and bring recipes to share with others.

This week, I decided to try out a new truffle recipe – people at my job are suckers for sweets. Our nurses love to bake – cookies, cupcakes, cake, brownies, bread… you name it, someone in our ER can make it. Usually when we do a potluck, we have about 2-3 savory dishes and 5-6 different desserts.

Yeah, we’re probably not the healthiest bunch of healthcare workers lol.

I’m generally known to make something “different” when it comes to dessert – other people like making traditional, classic desserts like brownies or chocolate chip cookies. I like to make peppermint chocolate cupcakes, sugar cookie cupcakes with orange buttercream frosting, and gingerbread whoopie pies.

Last time I made some mint chocolate truffles and received rave reviews from my coworkers, so this time I decided to stick with truffles but change it up a bit. I saw this recipe a while back and have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to make them – well, I’m glad I didn’t disappoint my coworkers, because this was a big hit this past weekend too.

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frosted animal cracker truffles
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Ingredients
  1. 1-13 oz package of frosted animal crackers
  2. 6 oz light cream cheese, softened
  3. 8 oz almond bark
  4. white chocolate chips or sprinkles for decorations
Instructions
  1. Using a food processor, pulse the crackers until they turn into fine crumbs.
  2. Add in the cream cheese and mix until thoroughly combined - you can use your hands, but I used an electric stand mixer to make the process easier.
  3. Roll the mixture into 1" balls and place onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  4. While the cookie balls are chilling, make the candy coating: melt the almond bark in a double boiler over medium-low heat, stirring constantly to make sure you don't burn it.
  5. Dip the cookie balls in the melted almond bark, one at a time, until evenly covered. Return back onto parchment paper and return into refrigerator and chill for another 30 minutes.
  6. If desired, melt some white chocolate chips over a double boiler with a few drops of food coloring. Add the melted mixture into a Ziploc bag. Cut the corner of the bag with a pair of scissors and drizzle over truffle balls.
Notes
  1. I dipped half of my cookie/cream cheese balls into the plain melted almond bark, then added a few drops of pink food coloring into the remaining melted almond bark and dipped the rest of the cookie balls in them to get truffles with two different colored coatings.
Adapted from Cookin' Cowgirl
Adapted from Cookin' Cowgirl
Simple Everyday Food https://www.simpleeverydayfood.com/
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Can you tell I was mildly obsessed at how pretty these truffles turned out?

I’m sure we’re going to have another potluck soon – I’m already searching for the next new dessert recipe I can try. Cupcakes? Cookies? Either way, I’m sure my coworkers will all gladly be my guinea pigs :)

Recipe adapted from Cookin’ Cowgirl

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