Caramel Cream cheese dip

My sweet tooth had attacked yet again today. I wanted something and for the life of me couldn't think of what. I had just bought some apples for the healthier eating habits I was trying for this year, but I still wanted something dessert type sweet. I had some caramel dip in the fridge but that was too sweet and too addicting. I had some cream cheese fruit dip but again that was sweeter than I wanted and I love that with my blackberries I had also bought. Can you see where my mind is going with this..lol

I decided upon a combination of the two but didn't want to combine them. Now in my pantry there are always dozens of choices. I had some individual wrapped caramels, but I didn't want to go to all of the trouble of melting them down and adding the butter to make the caramel sauce. So I look over and there is a bottle of caramel ice cream topping...mmm perfect! In the fridge is always blocks of cream cheese, a good go to protein for snacks for me when I want something not so good for me.

I whipped up the cream cheese with a hand mixer until it was light and fluffy. The easiest way for me to know when it's whipped light enough is when the cream cheese starts to pull away from the beaters. I started adding the caramel sauce as I whipped it and of course tasting along the way. The cream cheese had a nice caramel look to it but was a bit sweet as I got heavy handed with the caramel. So to cut the sweet a little bit I added some vanilla extract and some cinnamon. Mmmm perfect! It was just the perfect sweetness and dessert taste that I wanted not terribly healthy but I didn't need that much to satisfy my craving

 

 

Voila! This has so many possibilities to it for adding extra things to change the flavor. Right off the top of my head a few additions could be nuts, toffee bits, and chocolate. I'm not a huge cheesecake fan but I am a candy bar junkie :-) Anyway about 2 Tablespoons satisfied me with my apple. I'm thinking this would be yummy with a banana as well.

 

The ingredients:

• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 cup of caramel ice cream topping
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Enjoy!!

 

 

Overnight crockpot apple oatmeal



What better way to wake up in the morning than with a nice hot bowl of apple oatmeal...and not the instant packet stuff either. I am very picky about my oatmeal and don't like it too mushy or too chewy, but I saw this and I thought well why not give it a try. Besides if I don't like it...I can always pawn it off on the hubby...evil smirk...muwahahaha.

There are a few things that I would change but they are for my own personal preference. So before we get to that, here is the recipe :

• 2 medium apples peeled and diced
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups oatmeal
• 4 cups water

I prefer big pieces of apple in my oatmeal rather than small diced so I sliced mine. I also prefer more apples so I used 3 apples instead of the 2.

Place the apples in the bottom of the crockpot. There is no need to spray the crockpot with any kind of cooking spray but if you wish you can use a slow cooker bag to help with clean up.

 

I added the brown sugar like it said but think that it's not really necessary as I like to add my sugar after it's cooked...I can be a bit heavy handed on the brown sugar :-)

Add the brown sugar and cinnamon on top of the apples. I was surprised at how bland the oatmeal was with the 1/3 cup of brown sugar so I think next time I will leave it out and add the sugar later...but DO add the cinnamon! By adding the sugar later you can control how sweet or not you want it or if you want to sweeten with sugar substitute. It won't affect the cooking of the oatmeal if you omit the sugar.

 

I used old fashioned oats because of the cooking length and my finickiness about mushy oatmeal

Now add the two cups of oatmeal. The recipe didn't specify what kind of oats to use, but since it was going to cook over night I decided to use old fashioned oats rather than quick cooking ones so it wouldn't turn into wallpaper paste. After making this, I thought steel cut oats would be a lovely alternative.

 

Added the water.

Next add the water. Do not stir! Once the water is added put the lid on, turn the crockpot onto LOW and let cook for 8-9 hours, or give or take to your own liking. I found that 8 hours was plenty for me. Not to mushy but not chewy or gummy either.

 

Couldn't wait to try it, so sorry no pretty picture of it in a bowl garnished...lol. There is just enough leftovers for tomorrow..yeah!

Oh the house smelled divine!!! Nothing better than waking up to the smell of apples and cinnamon! It's for sure a great way to make you smile...even on a Monday! This recipe makes a nice fairly large batch of oatmeal great for families. Since it's just the two of us we had some left over...but not much..lol. The container here holds about 2 cups.

 

It doesn't matter the type of apples used, I used fuji because it's what I have on hand all the time but if you prefer a granny smith for a more tart apple that would work fine too. I used light brown sugar but dark brown sugar could be used as well for a richer deeper molasses or carmelish flavor. Again with the oats, my personal preference was the old fashioned but any kind would work well just be mindful of cooking times. Other things would be lovely added to this as well like dropping in 1/3 cup of raisins, dried cranberries, or any other type of dried fruit you enjoy. This recipe is so versatile and easy even the kids could join in and make it their own.

 

I hope you enjoy it and I would love to hear the different variations that you all come up with.