Cranberry Orange Cheese Ball

Cranberry Orange Cheese Ball

Ingredients

• 16 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup craisins
• 2 teaspoons orange zest
• 1 Tablespoon orange juice
• ½ cup powdered sugar

Coating

• 1 cup chopped candied pecans
• ½ cup craisins
• 1 Tablespoon orange zest

Instructions

1. Stir softened cream cheese until smooth.
2. Stir in craisins, orange zest, orange juice and powdered sugar until well combined.
3. Set bowl in fridge and allow to firm up for about 10 minutes or just long enough to be able to form a ball.
4. Roll cream cheese mixture into a ball and place on a plate or tray and place in freezer to soft set for 10 minutes.
5. While cheese ball is soft setting, combine coating ingredients onto a large tray or plate. Roll cheese ball into the topping ingredients to coat on the outside completely.
6. Cover with saran wrap and store in fridge until ready to serve.
7. Serve with crackers.

Author: Nikki

Recipe type: Appetizer

Original source: http://www.chef-in-training.com/2015/12/cranberry-orange-cheese-ball/

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Ingredients

4 bell peppers

2 lbs ground beef

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped fine

2 cups cooked rice

1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut tops off bell peppers reserving them for later use, clean out the seeds and par boil the pepper bottoms for about three minutes, or when color has just started to change. Remove peppers from hot water, drain well and place in baking dish. Mix half of the ground beef with salt and pepper and some of the chopped onion, garlic & chopped bell pepper tops, form into meatballs and stuff the bell peppers. Bake 20-25 minutes or until meatballs are done.  Brown the other half of the ground beef in a skillet with the rest of the chopped onions, garlic, bell pepper and salt and pepper to taste. Drain fat. Combine ground beef mixture with cooked rice and sauce, stir well. Remove stuffed bell peppers from the oven and spoon the ground beef and rice mixture around the stuffed peppers, sprinkle with shredded cheese and return to oven for 10-15 minutes until cheese has melted.  

Variation

Par boil bell peppers a minute or two longer until color has changed to dark green, brown all of the ground beef instead of making meatballs then combine all ingredients and stuff the bell peppers with the rice mixture. Bake 15 minutes or until cheese has melted and dish is heated through. 

Donna White Johnson