My Cups Runneth Over

When my friends from Nashville found out I had a blog, they were surprised I hadn’t posted any cups recipes. Why? Because when I lived there I was CRAZY about cups! They were my answer to everything. Baby shower? Cups! Wedding shower? Cups! Pot luck? Cups! Superbowl? Cups! Brunch? Cups! See what I mean? I brought them to Sunday school when it was my turn to bring snacks. I brought them to game night on the weekends. I loved cups! I still love cups! They are one of the few things I make over, and over… and over. So since I’m so smitten with cups, it’s about time I share them with you.

I decided on 6 cups to post today. Some of the recipes use biscuits, some don’t. Some are full-size cups, some are miniature. Some I copied straight from the cookbook, some I altered, and one is right from my brain! But no matter how different they are, they all have one thing in common: They are delicious!!

Here they are in no certain order. (How could I have possibly ordered them from least to greatest?)

Mini Chicken Taco Cups
adapted from Taste of Home

1 lb. Boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 envelop taco seasoning
¼ cup chopped onion
1 cup salsa
1 cup cheddar cheese
45 mini fillo shells (comes 15 per box, so 3 boxes)
sour cream, chopped green onions, and additional salsa and cheddar cheese to garnish optional

  • Preheat oven to 350°. Toss chicken in taco seasoning. In a large skillet coated with cooking spray, cook and stir the chicken over medium heat for 5 minutes or until meat is no longer pink.
  • Transfer chicken to a food processor; cover and process until chopped. In a large bowl, combine the chicken, onion, salsa, and cheese.
  • Place fillo shells on a cookie sheet. Spoon rounded teaspoons of chicken mixture into cups; top with additional salsa and cheese (if desired). Bake 10 minutes or until heated through. Serve warm. Garnish with sour cream and green onions, if desired.

Depending on how much you filled the cups, you may have some extra chicken mixture left over. Roll it in a tortilla, bake it, and have a snack! Oh, and try not to eat the whole batch when they come out of the oven! They are so addicting!

Barbecue Beef Cups
adapted from Everyday with Rachel Ray

1 lb ground beef
¾ cup barbecue sauce
1 ½ cup cheddar cheese, divided
Pillsbury grands jr. flaky layers 12 oz. Buttermilk

  • Preheat the oven to 400. In a skillet, brown the beef over medium heat; drain off excess fat. Remove from heat and stir in the barbecue sauce and 1 cup of cheese.
  • Grease a 12-cup muffin pan and place a flattened biscuit dough in each cup, pressing the dough up the sides.
  • Spoon a heaping tablespoon of meat mixture into each cup. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
  • Bake until biscuits are golden brown, 10-12 minutes.
These are men’s food. MEAT. Can’t make a meal without meat can we? At least you can’t for my man, or it won’t be a meal.

Broccoli-Chicken Cups
modified from Taste of Home

¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup cubed cooked chicken
1 tube refrigerated biscuits
1 can broccoli cheese soup
3 cups frozen chopped broccoli, cooked and drained

  • Place biscuits in greased muffin cups, pressing dough onto the bottom and up the sides.
  • In a bowl, combine the chicken, soup and broccoli; spoon into each muffin cup. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle with cheese. Makes: 10 cups
Best way to eat broccoli in my opinion. These are so warm, gooey, and cheesy! Joshua wasn’t so sure about these when I first made them. I mean, anything with broccoli can’t be good can it? After eating them he said, “These are actually pretty good!” I think they might even be kid friendly!

Ham and Cheddar Mini Cups
from Taste of Home

2 cups (8 ounces) finely shredded cheddar cheese
2 packages (2-1/2 ounces each) thinly sliced deli ham, chopped
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup real bacon bits
2 to 3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tube (10.2 ounces) large refrigerated flaky biscuits

  • In a large bowl, combine the cheese, ham, mayonnaise, bacon and mustard. Split biscuits into thirds. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of greased miniature muffin cups. Fill each with about 1 tablespoon of cheese mixture.
  • Bake at 450° for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown and the cheese is melted. Let stand for 2 minutes before removing from the pans. Serve warm. Makes: 2-1/2 dozen.

These are the best little things to bring to a brunch. I always get compliments on them and people are always asking for the recipe. I’ve made them dozens of times and they always turn out right. Also, as a side note, I don’t like mustard too much, but I like it in these. So don’t shy away from this dish for that reason. They are worth a try!

P.S. Kroger has these awesome packs of pre-diced ham by Cumberland Gap that I always use to make these. They come with 8 oz. so I only use half of it, and use the rest for salads or omelets.

Apple Cobbler Cups
from 2busybrunettes

Pillsbury grands jr. flaky layers 12 oz. Butter lovin’
2 apples, finely chopped (I chopped mine in a food processor)
¾ cup sugar
2 tablespoon cornstarch
3/4 cup water
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup rolled oats
cup packed brown sugar
1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
¼ cup butter, softened

  • Preheat the oven to 400. Squeeze each biscuit flat and press onto the bottom and up the sides of greased muffin cups.
  • In a saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, water, vanilla, and ½ teaspoon cinnamon. Bring to a boil. Add apples. Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until apples are tender and liquid is clear and thick.
  • Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Cut in butter until crumbly.
  • Spoon ¼ cup apple mixture into each cup. Sprinkle with crumb mixture. Bake until golden brown, 10-12 minutes.
  • Let stand for 2 minutes before removing from pans. Serve warm with ice cream and caramel syrup. Makes: 10 cups
Joshua says these are the most delicious thing he’s ever had in his life. They’re good. Really good. He’s always asking me when I’ll be making them again.

Mini Pizza Bread Cups
from Plain Chicken 

3/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 cup milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
½ cup mini pepperoni
1 cup italian sausage, cooked and crumbled
pizza sauce for dipping

  • Pre-heat the oven to 375°. Grease a 24-cup mini-muffin pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, garlic powder and baking powder; whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella, sausage and pepperoni; let stand for 10 minutes.
  • Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve with the warmed pizza sauce for dipping. Makes: 24 mini cups

I made these to take in my lunches all week, but Josh ate the whole plate while watching Kentucky win the National Championship on Monday night (Go CATS!). So guess who’s been eating school lunches all week? Yep, corn with pizza, corn and pizza.

Here’s one small side note you need to know before you start baking all these cups. The great thing about cups are they are unique finger foods, easy on-the-go foods, and fun to eat. But the tricky thing about cups is you don’t alway end up with the right amount of fillings for the right amount of cups. Sometimes I end up with more biscuits than fillings, and other times it’s the other way around. So when you run into this problem, don’t think you did something wrong! If this happens, one thing you can do if you have more filling is split one or two of your biscuits in half to create another cup to fill.

Happy cooking! Let me know how they turn out!

I’m linking up with:

Somewhat Simple52 MantelsHouseofHepworths

Nutella Dip

Nutella dip. Need I say more?

Nutella, to me, is kind of a dip to begin with, so why make Nutella dip? Just try it. You won’t need an explanation.

Nutella Dip

3/4 cup Nutella
1 cup Vanilla Yogurt
1/2 cup Cool Whip

Combine all ingredients. Whisk until smooth. Garnish with reddi whip and mini chocolate chips (optional). Yields: approximately 16 oz.

It’s basically my cake dip recipe, but minus the cake mix and with nutella. I used the Kroger brand nutella because it’s slightly less than the name brand, and I like it better. (They have crunchy nutella too!)

This dip is naturally good with anything that nutella is good with (well, probably not bread). I’m thinking vanilla wafers, graham crackers, marshmallows, and fruit.

I hope you enjoy it! Drop a comment if you do!

Layers of Love!

That’s layers of sugary love, I mean. Here’s a Valentine’s treat to make, share, and enjoy!

What? It’s not Valentine’s Day?! You mean, I missed it?!….. haha…. Ok, ok, so I’m a little late on posting this yummy desert….. (I mean this is called, 2busybrunettes.. I’ve been a little busy!)

Even so, It’s never too late for chocolate, right?? Last weekend my husband, Jesse, came up with this delicious Valentine’s version of dirt cake! (Yes, MY HUSBAND did!) He loves to invent different dishes and crazy creations for people to try. While he whipped all these sugary treats together I didn’t lift a finger! (Well, except to type, that is.) I sat at my laptop and took notes so I could share the recipe with you! Then I got to help eat the end result! I took it to school and shared with my fellow teachers in the lounge on Valentine’s Day. It was a HUGE hit! No one believed me when I told them my husband made it. What can I say, I’m a lucky girl!

“Oh my!” Trifle

(because you will say, “Oh my!” when you take a bite)

The Goodies You’ll Need:
1 Package of Double Stuffed Oreos
1 Roll of Ready to Bake Chocolate Chip Cookies (16.5 oz)
1 box of Chocolate Jell-O Instant Pudding (5.9 oz)
1 package of Fat Free Cream Cheese (8 oz)
1 Box of No Bake Cheesecake Mix (11.2 oz)
1 box of powdered sugar (1 lb)
1 tub of whipped cream (16 oz)
1 package of 6 snack size Reese’s Cups
1 handful of mini-snickers (or a full or king size snickers bar)
1 bag of pink and white strawberry & vanilla marshmallows (optional)
4 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups of 2% milk

Directions:
1) Follow directions for the Cheesecake mix. Prepare the cheesecake crust and filling as directed on the box in your trifle dish. Store the cheesecake in the refrigerator for about an hour while you prepare the rest.

2) Use a food processor to separately chop up Reese’s cups, Oreos, and snickers. Then separate into individual bowls.

3) Combine 4 tbsp of butter, 8 oz of softened cream cheese, 1 tsp of vanilla extract, 1 cup of powdered sugar into a mixing bowl. Mix with beater on low-speed until it is smooth.

4) Next, pour 3 cups of 2% milk and the package of pudding mix and blend with the cream cheese mixture.

5) Bake the cookie dough in big clumps that would potentially make huge cookies, on 355 degrees, for about 7 minutes. (The cookies should still be fairly gooey.)

6) Layer in the different goodies in a pattern of your choice. (Have fun. You can’t go wrong!)

By the way, Jesse was also responsible for the heart decorations on top! :) I seriously didn’t touch a thing!

Ways you can add a little more Valentine’s pizzaz:

1) Instead of the traditional gummy worms hanging out of the top, incorporate gummy hearts.

2) Make it more festive by adding colors to your layers. Add food coloring in the whipped cream, or another flavor of pudding mix (cherry or strawberry?) to give it a pop of color.

3) If you really want to be an “overachiever” try creating a pattern on the sides of the trifle dish. Poke a skewer down against the edge of the dish to add a design.

Enjoy your sugar rush!

Batter Up!

This blog is dedicated to what we’re busy with. And lately for me, that’s been eating! (Good thing I don’t have any new year’s resolutions, huh?!) What have I been eating, you ask?

Cake batter dip!

It is SOO good. In fact, I was making it for a church potluck and had my husband taste test it. He had me make a whole new batch just for him! Well I won’t make you wait any longer. Here is the recipe.

Cake Batter Dip

  • 1 1/2 cup funfetti cake mix
  • 1 cup yogurt
  • 1/2 cup cool whip

Mix together cake mix and yogurt until smooth. Fold in cool whip. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Simple, huh? It’s good with vanilla wafers, animal cracker, grapes, etc., but my favorite is granny smith apples!

What are you going to do with all that left over cake mix? Make cake batter rice krispie treats! I made these about a month ago to kick off a friend’s new diet (best way to do it, huh?). We loved them! I don’t have a picture though because we devoured them too quickly. Oops!

Cake Batter Rice Krispies
(From Gimme Some Oven)

  • 3 Tbsp. butter
  • 1 (10 oz.) bag of mini-marshmallows
  • 1/2 cup funfetti cake mix (original recipe said 1/4, but I increased it to 1/2 and STILL thought it needed more!)
  • 6 cups crispy rice cereal
  • 1 (1.75 oz.) container of sprinkles

Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat and add marshmallows. Stir until they begin to melt, adding in (dry) cake mix one spoonful at a time so its combined. Stir in cereal so it is completely coated with marshmallow mixture. Sprinkle in half of the sprinkles and mix. Press (with buttered fingers) into a baking dish and top with remaining sprinkles. Let sit for about 30 minutes before cutting.

I know. You’re totally going to go pick up some funfetti cake mix. Go for it! And tell me how it turns out.