Labor Day Eats

Rachel. One of my two best friends in the world. You may remember her from such events as Memorial Day 2010, and have probably seen her lurking around in the comments. She’s like a sister to me. In my wildest dreams I sometimes (well more than sometimes) dream that she’ll marry my brother so we can be real sisters forever. Sorry Luke, but it’s reasonable right? You might be wondering why I posted this older picture and not one taken this weekend. It’s because there are no pictures of us this weekend. Once we hit the kitchen, it was off to the races and we didn’t come out for hours.

We decided that our planned Labor Day game night was going to be all about experimentation, with the theme being “snacks for boys.” There were some familiar recipes on the menu. We couldn’t help but make our famous Cream Cheese Beer Dip again (above). Still shows up in our analytics all the time!

Rach whipped up an awesome Hot Crab and Artichoke Dip via our beloved and much missed Gourmet Magazine.

Pretzel Dogs! We made a batch of our Homemade Soft Pretzel dough and wrapped it around turkey dogs. Out of the oven in 15 minutes and the boys loved them! They’d make great party or tailgate grazing as they aren’t overly greasy and don’t need a lot of dishes or utensils.

Another awesome experiment, Mini Deep Dish Pizzas! Make a batch of our Margherita Pizza Dough. Gather up your favorite pizza toppings (we used 2 cups tomato sauce, 2 cups shredded mozzarella, 2 cups turkey sausage, and some salt and pepper) and preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Lightly brush 16 standard muffin cups with oil or non-stick spray. Roll out each piece of dough into a 6-inch round and place each in a muffin cup, gently pressing dough into bottom and sides of the cup.

Layer tomato sauce, cheese and sausage into each cup and top with a little cheese (it seals ingredients in cup when it melts). Bake until dough is a golden brown and crisp (between 12-14 minutes). Let cool an additional 2-3 minutes before removing gently.

For dessert, Rachel whipped up a batch of her delicious peanut butter cookies — with a twist! A little added jelly to the center and you have peanut butter and jelly cookies! So good, I ate them with reckless abandon, scarfing up at least 10. I’ve never met a cookie I didn’t like.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 cup crunchy or smooth peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
Grape or Strawberry jelly-any jelly you would like anyways

Directions:
In a bowl, cream the butter, sugar, peanut butter, and brown sugar until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time. In a seperate bowl, mix  flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Once the butter-sugar mixture is smooth, slowly add your dry ingredients. Once thoroughly combined, roll into 1-1 1/2-inch balls and flatten on a cookie sheet that has been greased or covered with a silicone mat. Make a large indention in the middle to add the jelly after baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 min. After removing from the oven, place a tablespoon of jelly into each indention. Once  the jelly has been placed on each cookie, pop them back into the oven for 2 min. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from sheet.

We made an awesome feast fit for our boys as they played video games and talked all things manly. Our pups wore themselves out and Rachel and I had a great time as always. I swear we share the same brain. If that’s true I know she’s as excited for our next themed cooking night as I am!