DIY Garlic & Herb Cream Cheese Spread Recipe

There is this absolutely wonderful teeny-tiny little box of cheese that my husband and I LURVE to buy once in a while. It's a pretty fancy kind, comes in beautiful packaging and is so NOT in our budget!

So when I had a little spare cream cheese one night before dinner (a very rare thing in our house), I decided to try my hand at copying that wonderful fancy-pants cheese.

There were a few things I knew I'd need to get down to make it right - the texture, which was light and airy, the taste which was a strong, perfect garlic with sweet herbs, and the look, because who doesn't want something pretty on their table!

And I got it! Seriously, on my first try, that first bite was perfection! The family agreed so too. Although the original cheese isn't made with packaged cream cheese, this version comes pretty darn close in flavor and texture!

And now I'm sharing my little recipe with you! It's super simple, really quick and sooo good on a nice baguette! It adds that nice extra touch to dinner when you're eating something light too. In fact, I think I could seriously just eat this for dinner!

Garlic Herb Cream Cheese Spread

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 1/2 tsp. garlic salt 
• 1/4 tsp basil
• 1/4 tsp dill
• 1/4 tsp parsley flakes
• 1/4 tsp thyme

Instructions:

Whip up all the ingredients together, being sure to mix them really well. If you have a hand mixer, you can beat it for a minute to get that nice, lightly whipped texture. Serve it in a nice little dish. Then just fancy it up with a sprinkle of extra parsley on top! 

You might also find you like less garlic in it, or more! Experiment and see how it comes out best. Either way, you'll be spending just 1/8th of what a wheel of that already-made cheese costs. 

Enjoy!

Super Simple, Super Moist Chocolate Fudge Brownies Recipe

If there is one thing in this world I cannot resist its chocolate. Oh, and coffee! Mmm, and maybe some nice, fresh date squares too - just to complete my favorites list :) But chocolate is certainly at the top. Along with chocolate comes brownies - one of my favorite desserts! And I just love those super dense boxed brownies from the grocery store - you know, the ones with all the bad kinds of ingredients ! They are sooo good!

But whenever I set out to make my own batch of brownies at home, I always find that they come out too fluffy, like a cake more than a brownie. So after trying loads of recipes over the years, I came up with one myself that I think takes the cake - or at least takes the cake out of the brownie :)

If you love those little brownies that I'm talking about, then you're going to loooove these as much as I did! They are dense, choclatey, moist...

and best of all, easy to make! Plus I have a super simple frosting recipe to go with it! Follow the recipe below and make sure to let me know how they turn out :) I've made them twice now but am trying not to make them too often - shorts season is right around the corner.

Enjoy!!

To print recipes, just right-click the images below and open in a new tab :)

Easy,Cheap Homemade Rose Pasta Sauce!

One of my favorite dishes ever is a nice dish of tortellini with Rose Sauce! I first tried the wonderful, creamy stuff when my husband and I were first dating and since then cannot go a month without it at least once!
So while we've been trying to save money on groceries lately, I haven't really been able to buy any - it isn't exactly cheap unless you buy the no-name variety, which just does not taste as good!
So I decided to go ahead and try it myself one night when I was getting to the end of our grocery supply the day before our shopping day :)
And it came out really great! I was surprised, especially since I didn't have any real cheese, just cheese slices! (But you can use real cheese too!)

So here it is....

Homemade Rose Pasta Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 can diced or crushed tomatoes
• 1 cup cheese or 3 cheese slices
• 3 tbsp + 1 tsp margarine or butter
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 onion, minced or grated
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp basil

How-to

1. In a fry-pan on medium heat, melt 1 tsp margarine or butter. Cook garlic and onion until soft. 
2. Add diced or crushed tomatoes and cook until tender about 10 min. 
3. Blend up in blender, making sure everything is completely smooth. Set aside.
4. In a separate pan on low-medium heat, melt remaining margarine or butter. Add in flour.
5. Quickly stir flour with butter while pouring in milk very slowly, making sure to completely dissolve the flour mixture. Add more milk if desired for a smoother consistency. (If it seems lumpy, just keep stirring - it will turn out! :)
6. Add cheese, continue cooking until cheese is melted, then pour in blended tomato mixture.
7. Add Basil and salt, and some pepper to taste and cook on low heat for about 5 more minutes for flavor to seep in.

That's it! Wayyyy cheaper and honestly yummier than store-bought!

I had dishes that were licked clean that night :) Can't wait to make it again!

Hope you enjoy it!

 - Debbie Jean