Some of my favorite (easy) recipes

As a thank you to my loyal reader(s), I'm posting some of my favorite, easy-to-make recipes.  Enjoy!

Apple Dump Cake

First, a special "thank you" to my friend from DC, Danielle Andrews for this one. It's kinda like an easy apple cobbler, except not crunchy. 

1 aluminum foil lasagna pan (the throw away kind because who wants to do dishes?)

2 or 3 cans of apple pie filling

2 sticks of butter

1 box of white cake mix

Preheat oven to 350

Melt the butter in the microwave so it's completely liquid.

Use spray to grease the pan

Dump the cans of apple pie filling into the pan - making sure it's spread out pretty evenly

Liberally sprinkle the white cake mix powder over the apples.  You won't use the whole bag, but the more you sprinkle the more topping you'll have.

Pour the butter evenly over the cake mix so that it's all moist but not floating.

Place in the oven and cook until the top is golden brown.

Scoop into a bowl (maybe throw some vanilla ice cream on top) and enjoy!

Jello Cake (aka "Traditional Polish Christmas Tree Cake")

Dolly's traditional Christmas hit.  It's not Polish at all - except the fact that it's simple.

Cake pan

White cake mix (and the ingredients that it calls for)

1 box of jello of any flavor/color you like

water

1 fork

Cool whip or white frosting of your choice

Food coloring the same color as the jello

Make and bake the white cake.

Transfer baked cake to serving dish

As it cools, boil the water for the jello and dissolve the jellow mix in it. (Do not use cold water.)

Use the fork to poke holes in the cake wherever you want and however many you want.

Pour the warm jello liquid into the holes, making sure to saturate the area.

Color the frosting the same color as the jello and decorate the cake as you wish.

We usually make this with cherry jello but I've also tried peach and blue raspberry. The peach was delicious but the blue raspberry was gross.

Queso con Carne

A special thank you to my friend Jamie Grezgoreck for this delicious dip recipe that kept me satisfied in Connecticut.

1 large brick of Velveeta

1 lb of ground beef

1 jar of salsa (whatever level of hotness you'd like)

Melt the Velveeta in the microwave in a large bowl

Brown the ground beef and drain the grease

Dump the browned ground beef into the melted Velveeta and add the jar of salsa.

Mix well.

Best served with Tostidos Scoops.

Shrimp Dip

I think I got this recipe from Don's wife, Laura. A thank you to her for it.

2 cans of Chicken of the Sea tiny shrimp (found near Tuna)

1 8oz brick of Cream Cheese

1/2 jar of Cocktail sauce

Soften the cream cheese.  

Pour in the cocktail sauce (flavor to your liking)

Dump in the shrimp

Mix.

Best served with Bagel chips.  

Note: I've also seen the cocktail sauce and shrimp just dumped over the bar of cream cheese but I prefer it all mixed together.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

We had this dip at Mer's BBQ last summer and it was a spicy treat!

1 8oz bar of cream cheese

1/2 cup of hot sauce (or as much as you'd like)

1/2 cup of blue cheese salad dressing

1/2 cup of crumble blue cheese

Soften the cream cheese

Mix in the other ingredients

Bake for 20 minutes on 325.

Got time to kill?

I've got AOL.com to thank for getting me ridiculously addicted to this game. In between Facebook checkings and helping students, this is how I've been passing my time. It's called Boomshine and you have to break a certain number of bubbles in one attempt. Not only is it challenging but it's pretty too!

Back to the Heart

I haven't said this out loud just yet but one of my New Year's Resolutions was to remember where I came from.  No, not Jersey.  Sacred Heart University.  While I was born and raised in Jersey and have returned to my home state, I did the most growing up at SHU.  That place and the people I met there taught me so much about life, responsibility, citizenship, and just how to be a pretty decent person.  I'll never forget the lessons I've learned there, but sometimes I get lazy and take the easy route around things.  I owe Sacred Heart so much more than that (no, not student loans.)  I owe them demonstration of what they taught me...and I need to show that its mission and lessons are present in all that I do.  I know that it might sound a little cultish when I say that, but really, Sacred Heart means that much to me - it saved my life and made it all at once.

So, since I've made this agreement with myself, I can already see the changes happening.  My concentration levels have gone up and my productivity and clarity at work has increased dramatically.  

I've always said if I had a lot of money, I'd give a lot of it to SHU (probably just to their Res Life program, as that's where I learned the most). I don't have a lot of money (yet) so I need to give back in other ways.  Living by SHU's mission is one way, but getting involved is another.  So, this week I am participating in a phone meeting with the Alumni Executive Council and have also agreed to host an extern - a SHU student who will come and career shadow me for a day or so.  

I can't wait for the meeting to see what it's all about! The one thing I'm sure of is that it'll feature a group of SHU Alums who take pride in their Alma Mater and who remain knowledgeable of self, rooted in faith, educated in mind, compassionate in heart, responsive to social and civic obligations, and able to respond to an ever-changing world.

Happy SHU Year

It's amazing and absolutely true what they say: "The friends you make in college will be your friends for life."

For New Year's, Josh invited me, Bidds, and Kelly up to the Berkshires to surprise Dana for her birthday...and surprise we did.  After traveling all day from different directions in a snowstorm, we surprised the pants off of Dana in her own home.  

I'm not sure how many of you have actually been to the Berkshires in Massachusetts.  It's beautiful there with its mountains everywhere you look and small town America charm.  It's a simpler life there, no traffic and still mom and pop stores.  

Josh took the liberty of getting us a table at the local hot spot, The Bounti Fare, for their New Years Eve dinner and dancing party.  Clad in our 2009 glasses (purchased earlier that day in NY Penn Station) we strutted our city girl stuff into the wood paneled back room to enjoy the bountiful fare and Phil n the Blanks - THE cover band of the Berkshires.  Even though Phil and his blanks played mostly toward the 40-50-something crowd, my friends and I danced all night and shared some good laughs (mostly at the cost of others in the room - sorry Mullet lady.)

The 24ish hours we were there flew by way too quickly and we enjoyed every minute we were there.  It's amazing how four girls met randomly 11 years ago and still have the same amount of laughs we had back in West Hall 613 way back when.  

An Intro to The Cheryl Show

I used to blog when I first moved back to Jersey and I enjoyed it. Then my subscription to .Mac ran out and work started.  Now I'm back in '09 giving another shot at it.  We'll see how this works out.

I wanted to start with some great big introduction to me but really, if you're reading this, you probably already know me.  So I guess I'll just start with my first entry.