Yum-oh.

Lots of people I know on Facebook have been posting pictures of scrumptious looking cupcakes.  And have not instantly sent me the recipe OR mailed me a cupcake.  So rude.  Sooooo, I began looking through hundreds of cupcake recipes on Tasty Kitchen--the recipe website built by Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman, where readers of her blog can publish and share recipes with each other.  Most people that know of PW and sign up on the website are pretty good cooks.  So I trust that website almost above all others for recipe finding.  That is where I stumbled upon "Mini Oreo Cheesecakes."  Uh, yes please.  So here is the recipe and my pictures along the way.  Super easy, super yummy.  Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
52 oreos (36 whole, 16 crushed)
2 lbs cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 pinch salt
36 cupcake liners

Start by putting your liners in your cupcake pans and preheating your oven at 275 degrees.

I only have two 12-cupcake pans so I had to repeat this again after making 24.

I was shopping with my mom when I got some of the ingredients for this.

She wanted me to use the "shiny" liners.

Here they are mom!

Grab your whole oreos.  Or "Twist & Shouts" if you are a one-income family :)

Put one oreo at the bottom of each liner.

Now grab your cream cheese.  (You're going to be seeing lots of generic brands throughout this post)

Add all 4 packages to your mixer.

One cream cheese...

Two cream cheese...

Three cream cheese...

Four.

Now add your sugar.

Here's my nice spectrum of measuring spoons/cups...

Add the sugar to your cream cheese in the mixer.

On a side note, you can get single sheets of wax paper in a box at Sams.  I like to use them to put messy spoons and things on while I'm cooking.  Saves some clean up time!

I used my whisk attachment for this.

Mix on a medium setting.

On another side note, I did not get the average canister set for the wedding.  Instead, I registered for the four largest sizes.  I want to be able to put a large scoop inside (or at least 1 cup) and be able to get what I need!  No small canisters for me :)  So, I keep two on the counter (flour & sugar)...

And two in a cabinet (brown sugar & powdered sugar).  Works great for me!

Now you'll want to add 4 eggs one at a time to the mixture.

Before the eggs it should look like this.

After the eggs it should be much runnier.

My mixer often leaves some stuff on the sides of the bowl unmixed.  

So I go back through, scrape the sides, then turn the mixer back on.

Once you've got a good mixture, it's time to add the sour cream.

While the mixer is doing it's job, bag up your 16 oreos (if you are like me and don't have a handy food processor yet).  

Crush them with your rolling pin.  Like so.

They should come out looking like this.

Add your vanilla to the mixture.

Then add crushed oreos.  The final result should look like this.

The recipe calls for 3 tbsp of the mixture per cupcake.

I measured the first one then eyeballed it after that.

Once they are all dipped out...

...put them in the oven for 20 minutes.

Since I had to reuse my cupcake pan, I pulled the cupcakes out and put them in 9x13s.  Then I put them in the refrigerator to cool for 4 hours. 

Notice anything wrong with this cupcake?

Answer:  it has multiple liners.  Whoops!   

These are fantastic!!! Not too difficult either.  Hope you enjoy!

If you didn't already know, my husband, Mike, is the youth minister at the Catlin Church of Christ.  We have anywhere from 10-20 students at our house every Sunday night.  Since we've been married, I have decided to add a meal to the Sunday night regimen just like my youth minister's wife, Jen Burger, did when I was in high school.  Did I mention we're living in the parsonage I once attended youth group at? So crazy where life takes us.  Anyway, last night was taco night.  As a side dish, I made Macho Nacho dip--a dish one of my classmates always made for anything from float making to bonfires at her house to tailgating at football games.  Here's the recipe!

You'll need:

1 can no bean chili

2 packages/1 lb cream cheese

1 package shredded cheddar cheese

Grab that cream cheese again!

Spread 2 packages out on the bottom of a 9x13.

Then grab your no bean chili.

Pour over the cream cheese.

I know it doesn't look appetizing now but it gets better.

Now pour the cheese evenly over the chili.

Like so.

Then put it in the oven on 350 for about 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Here's the finished product and the taco bar!  

It was sooo yummy.

Ok, that's my big post for today!  Hope you enjoy your second to last Monday of summer!