watergate salad.

watergate salad is one of my favorite things ever.

pistachio pudding and marshmallows together?

a delicious dream.

my family always had it at cookouts when i was wee lil' guy.

until recently i had never made it myself.

i could never find a recipe, and wasn't even sure what it was called.

pretty sure it was some secret recipe, i gave up trying to duplicate it.

as it turns out, the recipe has been on the pudding box all this time.

now, i can share it with blogland:

Watergate Salad

• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant pistachio pudding mix
• 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, with juice
• 1 cup miniature marshmallows
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Mix everything together. Refrigerate for at least an hour :-)

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cibelle - green grass (a tom waits cover)

<3

knitxcore.

I swear I still knit....

but right now, I have nothing to show for it. So, I'm going to share some recipes I tried this week instead.

The first recipe comes to us via craftster, after hours (probably only ten minutes in real life) of searching for things to do with my *small* crock-pot.

Crock-Pot Chicken Taco Soup (originally posted by... )


2 large cans of Chunk White Chicken (sounds gross, but it's not bad!)
2 cans of diced tomatoes with jalapeno
1 packet of Ranch Dressing Mix (I used Hidden Valley)
1 bag frozen black beans and corn (I used something called "Latino Blend", it had peppers and onions in it)
water to fill

Toss all ingredients into the pot, let cook on low for 8 hours. Serve with crumbled tortilla chips.

It really is that easy! I'm usually kind of leery when it comes to things like canned chicken and ranch dressing mix but, I threw caution to the wind and gave this a shot anyway. Dave and I really liked it and I can keep all the ingredients in the pantry until I need them, so I'm a fan :-)

The second is from MarthaStewart.com. I was looking for a good baked apple recipe because Dave came home from a friends gushing about how tasty they were and I knew I could one-up whatever she had made. After a visit to aunt Martha and a lil' maple syrup, I found what I needed.


Baked Apples With Spiced Ricotta and Maple Syrup

4 medium Rome apples, (8 ounces each), cored to within 1/2 inch of base
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
4 (3-inch-long) cinnamon sticks
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon confectioners' sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons heavy cream

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Peel about 1 inch of skin from tops of apples; cut a sliver off the bottom so apples will stand. Place them in a 9-inch glass pie plate. Cut 1 tablespoon of butter into 4 pieces; fill each apple core with a piece of butter, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, 1/8 teaspoon ginger, and 1 cinnamon stick. Place remaining 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons syrup in bottom of pie plate.
Bake apples, basting several times with pan juices, until they are golden and tender, about 35 minutes (the skin may split). Transfer apples to a serving dish; let baking juices stand to thicken, about 15 minutes.
Puree ricotta, confectioners' sugar, remaining 1/2 teaspoon ginger, cinnamon, and cream in a food processor. Serve 2 heaping tablespoons of ricotta cream with each apple, and drizzle with the warm syrup.

I skipped the ricotta sauce, it was only supposed to be a quick breakfast. Despite the long directions and the cooking time, it really didn't take much. These were DEEEEE-licous!!!!! I can't wait to make them with the Ricotta Cream!

I have a cake in the oven right now (this was supposed to be a quick post), so I'll catch everything else up later in the week.

<3
knitxcore.