Yummy Grub

Peanut Butter Mood

2012-02-16T16:52:00.000-08:00

I LOVE Jamba Juice's Peanut Butter Mood drink. It is sooo good. If you like peanut butter and bananas and chocolate, this is for you! I found this recipe that is a knock off, so tried it and it is pretty darn close to the original. I made a few changes though... my changes are in PINK.

Found on: Cut Out and Keep
For 1 serving

Add half a cup of milk to your Blender/smoothie Maker. (First I added a couple Tbs. of flax seed and ground that up).
Put 3 Level Tbs. of peanut butter into the milk, (i prefer smooth, otherwise you are left with the lumps at the bottom of the smoothie - but i guess its all about what you like) (If you want this to be healthy, use only natural PB. By natural, I mean, no junk added, no high fructose corn syrup, etc. I used Adams.)
Add HALF a chopped and peeled ripe banana...(not a black banana...but ripe with flavor)
Sprinkle 2 level Tbs. of drinking chocolate mix into the blender, and put the lid on tightly. (I wanted to reduce the junk in here so I just used unsweetened cocoa powder. It does not have as much of a chocolate taste, but it works for this.)
Blend. (DUH) until you have no lumps left.
Put into a cup and enjoy!! Yummy :] hope you like it! xxxxxxx

Nanaimo Bars

2011-07-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

A friend brought these yummy bars over the other night and they were a fun, new treat. I had never had anything like these before, which is always a plus. Here's the recipe. Thanks again Liz!

From Liz T.

Crust:

3/4 cup margarine/butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs beaten
1 1/2 cups coconut
3 cups graham crackers finely crushed (usually about 2 packages)
3/4 cup walnuts (optional, I never add them)

Melt butter in sauce pan, add sugar, cocoa, vanilla and eggs. Cook stiring until mixture thickens.
Remove from heat and stir in coconut, graham crackers and nuts.
reserve about 1/3 cup for topping. Press firmly into 9X13 pan (I butter the pan first)
Refrigerate at least one hour.

Filling

1/2 cup margarine/butter -creamed
4 tbsp milk
4 tbsp instant vanilla pudding
3 1/2 to 4 cups powdered sugar

Cream butter, add pudding sugar and milk, blend til fluffy. If too thick add more milk. Spread over crust and top with reserved topping. Refrigerate at least 30 mins or until firm.

My alterations:
I used butter instead of maragarine. I crushed 3 packages of graham crackers and added a little extra coconut. For the filling I just used the whole package of pudding, which was only a tsp or 2 more than 4tbsp's and the full 4 cups of pwd sugar. I also ended up adding at least another tbsp of milk, maybe even two, I didn't measure.
After it was all put together I tossed it in the freezer for 20 mins to do a quick set.

A lot of other recipes I've seen don't use a crumb topping, they melt chocolate and spread that across the top.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

2011-05-29T20:02:00.000-07:00

My mother in law makes her own chicken noodle soup and homemade noodles. My husband has always loved it and we wanted some a while ago. Of course, I didn't think about asking her until too late, so I found this recipe on the Food Network. I made homemade noodles to go with it, but still have not found a recipe I really like for that yet. Hope you like this!

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 medium carrots, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices
2 celery ribs, halved lengthwise, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
4 fresh thyme sprigs (I used a couple dashes of dried thyme)
1 bay leaf
2 quarts chicken stock, (recipe on the Food Network website)
8 ounces dried wide egg noodles (I used homemade, but am still looking for a really good recipe!)
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Directions

Place a soup pot over medium heat and coat with the oil. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, thyme and bay leaf. Cook and stir for about 6 minutes, until the vegetables are softened but not browned. Pour in the chicken stock and bring the liquid to a boil. Add the noodles and simmer for 5 minutes until tender. Fold in the chicken, and continue to simmer for another couple of minutes to heat through; season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.

Included in this recipe on the site is a recipe for chicken stock. I save time and just use the chicken stock I buy at the store!

Macaroni Grill's Pasta Gamberettie Pinoli

2011-05-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe my Mom made a few times while I lived at home and it is soooo yummy. I pulled it out the other day to make and about choked looking at the amount of butter it called for! I know that in the restaurant, they probably don't skimp on the butter and that is why it is so good, but at home, I was trying to figure out the best way to make it by cutting down on the fat. So, here (in pink!)is what my mom and I came up with. (Oh, this was found on a website a long time ago, but I tried to pull it up and it was no longer there. Sorry!)

Lemon Butter Sauce

4 oz. Lemon juice (3 oz. fresh lemon juice)
2 oz. White wine (1 1/2 oz.; can substitute chicken stock)
4 oz. Heavy Cream (3 oz. )
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 lb. unsalted butter (EEK!!) (1 stick of butter)

1. Heat lemon juice and white wine in a sauce pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and reduce by one-third.

2. Add cream and simmer until mixture thickens (approx. 3-4 min.). Slowly add butter until completely incorporated.

3. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Remove sauce from heat and hold in warm area.

Preparing Shrimp Pasta
6 oz. butter (about a Tbs. olive oil)
12 oz. sliced mushrooms
1 1/2 oz. garlic, chopped
36 shrimp, large, peeled and deveined (I cooked chicken breasts, with seasonings, on the stove)
1 1/2 oz. Pine nuts, toasted
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp black pepper, ground
6 oz. fresh spinach, cleaned and stemmed
36 oz. Capellini pasta, cooked (I used tri colored farfalle - the bowtie looking pasta and only used about 15 oz.)
18 oz. Lemon butter sauce
1 bunch parsley, chopped (I didn't have enough fresh, so just sprinkled some dried parsley on top)

1. Heat butter in large saute pan over med. high heat.
2. Add mushrooms and saute for 2 min.
3. Add garlic, shrimp, pine nuts, salt, pepper, and saute until shrimp are translucent. Reduce heat and add spinach; lightly toss with shrimp mixture (be careful not to wilt the spinach).
4. Mix everything together.
5. I would advise eating a really BIG green salad with this or a HEAPING amount of green beans or peas, (or both!) to combat how unhealthy this meal is. This is a meal I will make once a year (if that), just for something different.

Greek Roasted Chicken and Potatoes

2011-05-29T19:36:00.000-07:00

This is what my hubby cooked for dinner tonight. Yes, my hubby made it! He is quite a good chef when he wants to be. But don't let on that you know or he says his reputation will be ruined and all the guys will make fun of him or get mad at him bc their wives will make them cook :) The chicken has a very mild flavor and the potatoes soaked up the lemon juice, which, I would normally not think would be very good, but it was! Oh, and instead of putting this in a roasting pan, my hubby put it in the crock pot before church and about an hour after church, it was ready. So give or take about 5 hours if using a crock pot.

From: The Complete Guide to Country Cooking Cookbook

1 whole roasting chicken (5-7 pounds)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 to 3 tsp dried oregano, divided
4 to 6 baking potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/4 C. butter melted
3 Tbs. lemon juice
3/4 C. chicken broth

Place chicken with breast side up on a rack in a roasting pan. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and half of the oregano. Arrange potatoes around the chicken; sprinkle with salt, pepper and remaining oregano. Pour butter and lemon juice over chicken and potatoes. Add broth to pan. Bake, uncovered, at 350 until juices run clear and a meat thermometer reads, basting frequently. Cover and let stand 10 min. before carving.

Chicken Stuffed with Spinach, Feta, and Pine Nuts

2011-05-29T19:29:00.000-07:00

Here's another recipe from Cooking Light Magazine (September 2010). It was a really good recipe that was just a little bit different from what I normally do. The kids were not really sure about the stuffing, but my hubby and I liked it! I never have feta on hand but thought we would try this recipe. The sour taste of the feta combined with the lemon was very fresh and different. The magazine says that you could use mozzarella or provolone for a milder flavor though. Also, if you don't have pine nuts (because they are way over priced!), I would think it would be good without, or maybe you could substitute sliced or slivered almonds for some crunch.

5 Oz. fresh spinach, chopped
1/2 C. (2 oz.) crumbled feta cheese
2 Tbs. pine nuts, toasted
1 tsp fresh thyme, minced
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 (6 oz.) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 C. fat free, lower-sodium chicken broth

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Heat a large nonstick ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add spinach to pan; cook 1 min. or until spinach wilts, tossing constantly. Place spinach in a colander; press until barely moist. Wipe pan clean.
3. Combine spinach, cheese, nuts, thyme, juice, and garlic. Cut a horizontal slit through the thickest portion of each chicken breast half to form a pocket. Stuff 3 Tbs. filling into each pocket. Seal with wooden picks. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.
4. Heat oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook 3 min. on each side or until brown. Add broth, and cover pan. Place pan in oven. Bake at 350 for 15 min. or until done. Yield 4 servings (serving size - one half chicken breast).

Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake

2011-04-24T12:17:00.000-07:00

My hubby found this recipe this morning for an Easter breakfast. The recipe calls for a 9x13 pan so he cut it in half. He also added frozen Marionberries to it which added a lot of extra flavor. Enjoy!

From: Lord Stocking's Bed and Breakfast

3/4 Cup Butter -softened or Crisco can be used too.
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
4 eggs
1 t. vanilla
3 Cups Flour
1 1/2 t. Baking Powder
3/4 t. Baking Soda
1/4 t. Salt
1 to 1 1/2 Cups Sour CreamFilling: 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 T. Flour
1/2 t. cinnamon
2 Cups Fresh or Frozen Blueberries
Cream Butter & Sugar.
Add eggs 1 @ a time.
Add Vanilla.

Combine Dry ingredients, Add to mixture; alternating Sour Cream with Dry Ingredients.
Spoon 1/3 of Batter into a 9X13 greased or sprayed Baking Pan.
Sprinkle 1/2 of the Filling Mixture over the top, then half the Berries.
Repeat Layers.
Bake @ 350 degrees 45-50 minutes.
Can drizzle w/ a Glaze: 1 Cup Confectionary Sugar w/ 2-3 T. Milk.

Apple Cake

2011-04-16T21:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a recipe I got from my sis, who got it from a friend. Thanks again!!
This is a great recipe for parties. It serves lots of people and is always a hit. Don't look closely at the ingredients and don't think about calories when eating or making it though. This is NOT a low -cal food. But oh -so comforting and yummy!

From Catherine F.

1 1/2 C. oil (you can decrease the oil by up to 1/2 C. and replace it with water; it is just a little less moist)
2 C. sugar
3 eggs
2 1/2 C. sifted flour (I never sift mine! I use 2 C. white flour, 1/2 C. whole wheat to make myself feel a little healthier!)
1 tsp. salt ( I used sea salt tonight)
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 C. peeled and chopped apples
1 C. chopped pecans (optional)

Optional Spices:
1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, 1 tsp. ground cloves ( I ALWAYS use the spices. Don't think it would be as good without them! But I omit the cloves because I never have them on hand)

-Grease and flour bundt pan.
-Combine oil, sugar, and eggs and beat well.
-In separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder (and spices if using)
-Gradually add flour mixture to creamed mixture, beating well; add vanilla.
-Fold in apples and nuts
-Pour into pan
-Bake at 350 for one hour (I check mine at 45 min.)
-After cake has cooled, invert onto a serving plate and cover with glaze.

Glaze:
Beat together:
2 Tbs. butter melted
2 Tbs. milk
1 C. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 ts. lemon extract

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

2011-04-03T17:40:00.000-07:00

These are a great side to any meal. Pair it with chicken and green beans and you're done! My kids eat it up! If your kids are not a fan of sweet potatoes, try these and they will more than likely enjoy them. Mine do!

From Come and Get 'Em

2-3 medium sweet potatoes, washed, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1/2 t. sea salt
1/4 t. pepper
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
dash ground cloves
1/2 t. vanilla
2-4 T. coconut oil (can substitute butter)
1-2 T. agave nectar (optional)

Place sweet potatoes in enough water to cover potatoes plus 1 inch. Cook for 10 minutes or until tender. Turn off heat and drain. Place saucepan back on burner for 30 seconds more to dry potatoes.

Add remaining ingredients and mash until all ingredients are mixed well. Potatoes will be slightly lumpy.

Can be made ahead and frozen in sealed container.

Makes eight to ten 1/2 c. servings.

Great Pizza Dough

2011-04-03T17:34:00.000-07:00

I have tried a few pizza dough recipes, and I have come to like this one recently. It makes two pizza crusts, so I freeze the other half, thaw and then use it for another meal! I try to do different types of pizzas instead of the normal meat, and cheese. This time I did kind of an alfredo pizza. I topped the pizza dough with alfredo sauce (Classico is a good brand if you want to buy it), then mozzarella cheese, spinach, artichoke hearts, fresh basil, tomato slices and seasoned, cooked chicken bits. This was a good, fresh pizza, but I wish I would have added more basil and some salt and pepper. It was a good change though!

Recipe from Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

1 teaspoon Instant Or Active Dry Yeast
1-½ cup Warm Water
4 cups All-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
⅓ cups Olive Oil

Preparation Instructions

Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water. Let stand for a few minutes.
In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined, and the dough comes together in a sticky mass.
Coat a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it aside for 1 to 2 hours, or store in the fridge until you need it.
Note: it’s best to make the dough at least 24 hours in advance, and 3 or 4 days is even better.
When you are ready to make the pizza, grab HALF the pizza dough (recipe makes 2 crusts) and squeeze the dough toward the bottom to form a nice, tight, pulled ball. You can roll out the pizza with a rolling pin if you’d like, but sometimes it’s just as easy to throw it around and pull and stretch till it feels right. And when the crust is nice and thin, lay it on an oiled baking sheet or pizza pan. Drizzle a little olive oil on the dough and spread it with your fingers. Very lightly sprinkle some salt on the crust.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Top your crust with your toppings of choice. Then bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and toppings are bubbly.

Roasted Red Pepper and Herb Pasta with Shrimp

2011-03-09T15:13:00.000-08:00

I had leftover shrimp from my Coconut Shrimp dinner the night before, so I made this recipe. It was good, but HOT! I will make it again, but probably reduce the crushed red pepper even more. If you want your kids to eat this, I would ditch the crushed red pepper altogether.

From Cooking Light magazine

2 Red bell peppers
8 oz uncooked fettuccine
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbs unsalted butter
1 C finely chopped onion
1 Tbs. minced garlic
1/2 pound peeled and deveined shrimp
1/4 C fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
2 Tbs chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme (I used dried thyme)
1/2 tsp chopped fresh sage (I used dried sage)
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbs shaved fresh Parmesan cheese

-Preheat broiler.
- Cut Bell peppers in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Place pepper halves, skin sides up, on a foil-lined baking sheet; flatten with hand. Broil 15 min. or until blackened. (I got nervous seeing my peppers get black, but don't worry! The burnt part is just on the skin. Make sure you let it all get black and burt or else the skin won't peel as easily) Place in a paper bag; fold to close tightly. Let stand 20 min. Peel and chop; set aside.
-Cook fettuccine according to the package directions, omitting salt and oil; drain well. Set aside; keep warm.
-Heat 2 Tbs olive oil and butter (I only used olive oil) in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add chopped onion and garlic to pan, and cook for 4 min. or until the onion is tender, stirring frequently. Add shrimp to the pan (I even added some cooked chicken), and cook for 2 min. Add bell peppers and 1/4 C lemon juice to the pan, and cook for 4 min. or until the shrimp are done and half of the liquid has evaporated. Add chopped parsley and the next 5 ingredients (through 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper) to the shrimp mixture. Remove pan from heat.
-Combine cooked fettuccine and 1 tsp olive oil in a large bowl; toss well. Add shrimp mixture, tossing gently to coat. Top each serving with cheese.

Coconut shrimp with Fiery Mango sauce

2011-03-09T14:55:00.000-08:00

I "heart" shrimp. So if it is on sale, a really good sale, or for a special occasion, I get it. I found this recipe for coconut shrimp in Cooking Light magazine and it turned out great! Although, I will make sure that I have the shrimp all coated with everything before I start cooking instead of doing it while I go. Yeah, I know.... duh! But, when you are juggling two kids, and nursing a baby, you do what you can, right? The sweet coconut is great with the salty taste of the shrimp and breadcrumbs. YUM! My kids didn't eat these, so I just cooked them for my hubby and I and did probably about 3/4 pound of shrimp, paired with green beans and orzo with parmesean and basil. Delicious!

From Cooking Light magazine Jan/Feb 2010

28 jumbo shrimp (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1/2 C flaked sweetened coconut
1/2 C panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1/3 C cornstarch
3 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp salt
8 tsp oil, divided
Cooking spray

-Peel and devein shrimp, leaving tails intact, discard shells (or you can save time and get the already cooked and peeled shrimp from the butcher's counter in your store!)
-Place coconut in a food processor; pulse 6 times or until finely chopped. Add panko; pulse to combine. Place coconut mixture in a shallow dish. Place cornstarch in a shallow dish. Sprinkle shrimp evenly with 1/2 tsp salt. Working with 1 shrimp at a time, dredge shrimp in cornstarch, shaking off excess. Dip in egg whites; dredge in coconut mixture.
-Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 tsp oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add 7 shrimp to pan; coat tops of shrimp with cooking spray. Cook shrimp 2 1/2 min. on each side or until done. Repeat procedure 3 times with remaining oil and shrimp.
4 servings

They also had a Fiery Mango Sauce with this, that I actually didn't make. Didn't have the ingredients for it or the time, and I thought the shrimp was good plain. But in case you want it, here is the recipe!

1 tsp oil
2/3 C finely chopped onion
1/2 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1 (12 oz) can mango nectar
1/4 Scotch bonnet pepper, unseeded
1 1/2 Tbs fresh lime juice
1/8 tsp salt

Heat a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tsp oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion, ginger, and garlic; saute 3 min., stirring frequently. Add nectar and pepper; bring to a boil. Cook 10 min or until reduced to 3/4 C. Remove from heat; let stand 10 min. Place mixture in a blender; process until smooth. Stir in juice and 1/8 tsp. salt. Cool.

Coconut milk pancakes

2011-03-09T14:29:00.000-08:00

Ever realize that you don't have any milk left to make pancakes?? Well, if you have coconut milk on hand (which I always do just in case I want to make sticky coconut chicken), you can now make pancakes! Cooking light has a recipe for them that is really good. You may be thinking that they will taste too much like coconut, but really, you can't even taste it! The original recipe calls for light coconut milk, but regular works too. The light milk is thiner and so it makes the pancakes lighter and fluffier. This is how I like my pancakes. My hubby, on the other hand, likes them thick and dense, which you can get if you use regular coconut milk. Either way, they are good! For 4 people, I would double or even 2 1/2 the batch. 1 batch is definitely not enough if you are pancake lovers!

From Cooking Light magazine Sept. 2010

Combine:
1 C All purpose flour (As always, I use half wheat, half white flour)
1 Tbs sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Whisk together:
1 C light coconut milk
1 1/2 Tbs oil
1 egg

Combine with dry ingredients.
Cook as usual for pancakes.

Tex-Mex Pork

2011-02-27T21:35:00.000-08:00

A terrific friend gave me a subscription to the Cooking Light Magazine last year for Christmas (Thanks again and great idea by the way if I didn't ever tell you!!). I have tried some of the recipes, but lately I have been in a need new recipes funk, so I am going back through all the ones I pulled out that I wanted to try. Tonight I made a dinner that was soooooo easy and it was good too! My husband (who shows little emotion about lots of things :), even was impressed by this meal. Looks like it was a winner! I am not a huge fan of pork, but get sick of chicken. So, I got some pork chops on sale and had them in the freezer waiting for me to decide what to do with them. This was a great recipe for them, and a lot less fattening than your normal pork chop dishes. And, one of the best things besides how easy and quick it was, is that it only had 7 ingredients, 2 of which are optional! You should try this!

From Cooking Light December 2010

1 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into 3/4 inch cubes
1 1/2 C refrigerated fresh salsa (DON'T Go "el cheapo" on this. The salsa will make or break it! We used the Organic Salsa from Costco. The best!)
2 C. hot rice (we use brown rice)
1/4 C. light sour cream
3/4 C. cubed avocado (I actually didn't have a ripe one, so we didn't use this tonight and it was still great)

Heat a large nonstick skillet over med.-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork to pan; sprinkle with 3/4 tsp kosher salt and 3/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper. Saute for 8 min. or until lightly browned. Add salsa and 1/4 C. water to pan; bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer 5 min. or until slightly thickened. Serve pork mixture over rice; top with sour cream and avocado. Yield 4 servings.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

2011-02-23T20:15:00.000-08:00

Here is a great recipe if you are in need of something different than the regular, weekly meals. I don't make this very often because to be honest, it takes a bit of time to prepare. I did, however, finally get smart this last time I made it and I did it in phases. I cooked the stuffing earlier in the day, and then finished it up before dinner time. Much better idea. So, note to anyone who makes this... plan ahead. Sorry to say this is not a great throw together recipe at the last minute, but it does taste yummy!

Stuffed Peppers

* 6 green bell peppers

* 1 tablespoons butter

* 1 tablespoon olive oil

* 1/2 cup chopped onion

* 1/2 cup chopped celery

* 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes

* 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce

* 1 clove garlic, crushed

* 1 teaspoon dried leaf oregano

* 1/2 teaspoon dried leaf basil

* 2 teaspoons salt, divided

* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, divided

* 1 egg, lightly beaten

* 1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

* 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef (or turkey)

* 1 1/2 cups cooked long-grain rice (we prefer brown rice)

* shredded mild Cheddar cheese, about 1/2 to 3/4 cup, optional

PREPARATION:

Cut tops off peppers; remove seeds and membranes. Chop edible part of tops and set aside. Rinse peppers under cold water. Place peppers in a large pot; cover with salted water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain peppers and set aside.

Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat until hot. Sauté chopped green pepper (from tops), chopped onion, and chopped celery for about 5 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, crushed garlic, oregano, basil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, combine egg with remaining 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. Gently stir to blend; add ground (either precooked or raw, but if you want to take less time cooking in the oven, cook meat) beef, cooked rice, and 1 cup of the tomato mixture. Mix well. Stuff peppers with meat mixture and place in a 3-quart baking dish. Pour remaining tomato mixture over the stuffed peppers. Bake at 350° for 55 to 65 minutes. If desired, top stuffed peppers with a little shredded Cheddar cheese just before peppers are done; bake until cheese is melted.

Recipe for stuffed peppers serves 6.

Chicken Cordon Bleu 2

2011-02-04T14:26:00.000-08:00

Found on Mel's kitchen cafe

I have made a couple different recipes for this (as always!), and really like this one, and it was a hit with my family too (which is always a plus!). They had a really great tip too on this website... they said, "Thankfully Cook’s Country came out with a clever version of how to stuff this classic dish and it peaked my interest. The shredded swiss cheese is rolled up in ham slices and then gently tucked inside a pocket cut into the chicken." I didn't shred my cheese, but used cheese slices and just rolled those up in the ham and then stuffed them inside the chicken. It worked great!

Note: To make sure the cheese doesn’t leak out of the chicken while baking, use large (at least 8-ounce) chicken breasts and chill the stuffed chicken breasts in the refrigerator before breading. (I didn't chill mine, and it still turned out fine)

Make-Ahead Tip: The breaded chicken can be refrigerated covered for up to 1 day.

*Serves 4 to 6

25 Ritz crackers
4 slices hearty sandwich bread, white or wheat(I wanted this part to be quick so I used store bought italian bread crumbs)
6 tablespoons butter, melted (I didn't use butter, but used olive oil instead)
8 thin slices deli ham (about 8 ounces)
2 cups shredded swiss cheese
4 thick boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 pounds total), see note
Salt and pepper
3 large eggs ( I realized as I was making this that my hubby used the last egg for breakfast! So I omitted this)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Pulse the crackers and bread in a food processor until they are coarsely ground. Drizzle in the melted butter (or olive oil) and pulse (I just mixed mine with a spoon) to incorporate together. Transfer the crumbs to a rimmed baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the crumbs are lightly browned. Transfer the crumbs to a shallow baking dish (a pie plate works great!). Leave the oven on.

Top each ham slice with about 1/4 cup shredded cheese (Or if you have slices, roll these up in the ham). If your ham slices are too small, shingle two ham slices on top of each other to create a larger slice and roll the cheese up in that. Roll tightly and set aside. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Cut a pocket in the thickest part of the chicken breast and stuff each pocket with 2 (I only used 1) ham/cheese rolls. Pull the top flap of chicken over the rolls and press to seal (you can use a toothpick to gently secure the pocket edge, if you like). Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper. Refrigerate the stuffed chicken, covered, for at least 20 minutes. (I forgot this step, but it worked fine)

In another shallow dish or pie plate, beat the eggs (or if you don't have eggs, just mix olive oil, enough to dip the chicken in on both sides, and mustard) and mustard. Place the flour in a third shallow dish. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator. Working with one stuffed chicken breast at a time, coat the chicken lightly with flour and then dip in the egg mixture, covering both sides. Dredge the chicken in the toasted bread crumbs, pressing lightly to help the crumbs stick to the chicken. (The breaded chicken can be refrigerated covered for up to 1 day.)

Transfer the chicken to a lightly greased rimmed baking sheet. Bake on the lowest rack of the oven until the bottom of the chicken is browned, about 10 minutes. Move the chicken to a middle rack in the oven, reduce the temperature to 400 (you don’t have to leave the chicken out of the oven while the temperature adjusts, just put it back in the oven and then reduce the temperature), and bake until golden brown and the chicken is cooked through (160 degrees on an thermometer), about 25-30 minutes. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Recipe Source: slightly adapted from Cook’s Country April/May 2010

Sauteed Chicken Breasts with Creamy Chive Sauce

2011-02-04T14:09:00.000-08:00

My husband found this recipe a while back when I was still prego, and I thought it tasted so good. I didn't know if it was because I was pregnant and starving or if it was because it actually was good. Well, we have had it twice since I have had our baby and yes, it is just a good recipe!

Found on DisneyFamily.com

Recipe Ingredients
	4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 pound), trimmed of fat
	1 teaspoon kosher salt , divided
	1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour , divided
	3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil , divided
	2 large shallots , finely chopped (I never have these so I just use white or yellow onions)
	1/2 cup dry white wine (I don't like a strong white wine flavor, so I substitute some of this with more chicken broth)
	1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth
	1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
	1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
	1/2 cup chopped chives (about 1 bunch)

Recipe Directions

Place chicken between sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet or heavy skillet until flattened to an even thickness, about 1/2 inch. Season both sides of the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Place 1/4 cup flour in a shallow glass baking dish and dredge the chicken in it. Discard the excess flour.
Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate, cover and keep warm.
Heat the remaining 1 teaspoon oil in the pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and cook, stirring constantly and scraping up any browned bits, until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon flour; stir to coat. Add wine, broth and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil, stirring often.
Return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until heated through and no longer pink in the center, about 6 minutes. Stir in sour cream and mustard until smooth; turn the chicken to coat with the sauce. Stir in chives and serve immediately.

Mexican Tortilla Chicken Soup

2011-02-04T13:54:00.000-08:00

I have tried a couple of different recipes for Chicken Tortilla Soup, and didn't really like any of them... until I found this one. I love it because it has a fresh flavor and is very easy! I have made it a couple different times and like it still. Hope you do too!

Found on Food Network

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium white onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 jalapenos, seeded and minced
3 ripe medium tomatoes, chopped (you can use canned tomatoes in a pinch, but fresh is best!)
1 quart chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Canola oil, for pan-frying
8 corn tortillas, cut into 1/8-inch-thick strips (I just use store bought torilla chips to save time!)
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
2 avocados, halved, pitted, peeled, and diced
1 cup shredded Jack cheese, optional
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish
1 lime, cut in wedges, for serving

Directions

Place a stockpot over medium heat and coat with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the onions, garlic, jalapenos, and tomatoes; cook, stirring for 15 minutes until the vegetables are cooked down and pulpy. Pour in the stock, season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 1-inch of canola oil in a skillet over medium-high flame. When the oil begins to smoke, add the tortilla strips in batches and fry until they are crisp on all sides. Remove to a paper towel-lined platter and sprinkle with salt while they are still hot.

Ladle the hot soup into 4 soup bowls and put a pile of shredded chicken on top of each. Top with the diced avocado and fried tortilla strips (and cheese if using). Garnish with cilantro and serve with lime wedges.

Cinnamon Sour Cream Cake

2010-12-20T21:15:00.000-08:00

This is a great recipe to take to parties and gatherings. If you have ever been to a Corner Bakery store, you will know what this tastes like. Theirs is better of course, partly because I didn't have to make it. But alas, there are no Corner Bakery stores here in Boise for me to enjoy a nice slice of this stick- to- your-hips sweet cake. Yes, you may choke when you see the amount of butter and sugar, but that is why I take it to get togethers... my secret plan is to make my friends fat, so I don't have to eat it all and get fat myself! :)

Found on Hersheys.com

3 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 container (8 oz.) dairy sour cream
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) HERSHEY'S Cinnamon Chips
Powdered sugar(optional)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Generously grease and flour 12-cup fluted tube pan.

2. Combine 3 cups flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Beat sour cream, eggs and vanilla with fork or whisk in medium bowl until smooth.

3. Add butter and 1 cup sour cream mixture to flour mixture. Beat on low speed until thoroughly combined; beat 1 minute on high speed. Add remaining sour cream mixture; beat on medium speed until fluffy. Stir together cinnamon chips and remaining 2 tablespoons flour until chips are coated; gently stir into batter. Pour batter into prepared pan.

4. Bake 60 to 70 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. 12 to 16 servings.

Quick, Easy-N-Fast Cashew Chicken and Snow Peas

2010-11-30T13:38:00.000-08:00

I honestly can't remember where I got this recipe. I just know it has been in my recipe box for quite a while and it is a good meal and something a little different. Hope you enjoy it too!

3/4 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breasts
freshly ground pepper
1/2 lb. fresh snow peas
3 garlic cloves
3 T. olive oil or coconut oil (divided)
1/2 C. salted roasted cashews
1/2 C. chicken broth

Cut chicken into thin strips and season with pepper. Remove stems and strings from snow peas and cut in half diagonally if very large. Finely chop garlic.

Heat 2 Tbs. oil in a wok or large skillet. Add chicken and stir fry over high heat until just cooked through, 2-3 min. Remove to a plate. Add remaining 1 Tbs. oil to wok and stir fry snow peas over high heat 1 min. Reduce heat to medium. Add garlic and cashews and cook, stirring, 1 min.

Return chicken to pan, add 1/2 C. chicken broth and simmer until heated through, about 1 min.

Makes 4 servings. Serve over hot brown rice.

Homemade Rolls- The Best!

2010-11-27T15:46:00.000-08:00

This is the recipe my Mom and Grandma use for our Thanksgiving rolls. They are delicious and are always eaten up. They are terrific for leftover turkey sandwiches too. After a couple days, pop them in the microwave and they soften right up.

Mix together and let sit until bubbly: 2 pkg yeast (or a little under 2 Tbs.)
1/2 C. warm water

Melt together on stove or in microwave: 1 1/2 C. milk
1/2 C. shortening (I did 1/4 C. shortening, 1/4 C. salted butter)
(Make sure this is lukewarm when you add the other ingredients to it so that it doesn't kill the yeast when that step is added.)

To the above milk mixture, add 1/2 C. sugar, 3 tsp. salt and 3 C. flour (I added 1 C. wheat flour, 2 C. white flour).

Then add 3 beaten eggs.

Add 1 C. flour and yeast mixture to the above.

Keep adding flour until you have a sticky dough (not too sticky though).

Let raise until double.

Roll out dough and cut into circles. Then dip half of the middle in butter and fold over onto itself. Then put on pan (greased) and pinch ends together.

Let raise until double in pan.

Cook at 350 8-10 min until golden brown. Spread butter on top of warm rolls. Enjoy!

Yam Casserole

2010-11-27T15:27:00.000-08:00

This is a recipe my family uses for Thanksgiving. It is really yummy and more of a dessert than anything. I cut this in half and made it this Thanksgiving and it turned out great! Hope you enjoy it!

               Bake and then mash 5 medium sized sweet potatoes
               Add the following and beat with a mixer -
   1/4 tsp. salt                      1 tsp. vanilla
   1/4 c. butter                     1/2 tsp. cinnamon
   2 eggs                               2/3 c. sugar
              Place in casserole dish.

             Mix together the following and sprinkle on top.
                   1/4 c. melted butter
   3 Tbl. flour
   3/4 c. brown sugar
   1/2 c. chopped pecans
             Bake about 45 min. at 350

Chocolate Cake in a Mug

2010-09-26T20:09:00.000-07:00

I got this recipe in an email, and didn't believe it would work. But, of course, it was chocolate and I decided to try it! The first time I made it, I was not all that impressed. I tweaked it a bit and it is much better now! It is really rich though and what I add to it make it more so. But, my husband and I split it and it is a great treat for when you want something chocolatey fast!

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug (MicroSafe)

-Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. (I got smart and just mix everything together, in the correct order, in a bowl and then pour it into the mug. It is much easier that way!)

-Add the egg and mix thoroughly.

-Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.

-Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again. (I actually mix 2 Tbs chocolate chips and 2 Tbs Peanut Butter chips. The peanut Butter chips make it so much better!!)
-Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.

-The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!

-Tip upside down on a plate. I then top with whip cream and sometimes hot fudge!

Peanut Butter Fingers

2010-09-26T19:55:00.000-07:00

I had these for the first time tonight and they were delicious! In my opinion, anything with chocolate and peanut butter is great in my book! Thanks again Dawn for the recipe!

From Dawn A.

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 tsp soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

1 cup quick rolled oats

1 6 oz pkg semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup peanut butter

2 to 4 Tablespoons milk

Cream butter; gradually add sugars; cream well. Blend in egg, 1/2 cup peanut butter, soda, salt and vanilla. Add flour and oats; mix well. Spread in 10x13 greased pan. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cover with chocolate chips. Let sit til melted and spread. Mix remaining ingredients and drizzle over the top.

Avocado Stuffed Chicken

2010-09-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

Ryan found this recipe and made it the other week. Yes, my husband can cook. Don't tell him you know though. He likes it better when I cook! It was very fresh and light with great flavors. Hope it turns out as good for you!

Found on About.com

4 chicken breasts, pounded flat
2 avocados
3 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup fresh, minced basil leaves
1 large diced tomato
1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
pepper mill

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the avocados lengthwise all the way around. Twist the halves and using your knife, strike and remove the pit.

With a large spoon, scoop the avocado out of its peel. Then, with a small paring knife, slice the avocado lengthwise.

Place the slices in a mixing bowl. Add the lime juice, the pepper, the garlic powder, the minced basil, the diced tomato, and the chopped onion. Mix this all together.

-Next, lightly oil a baking dish with cooking spray. Now, lay a piece of chicken out on a flat surface.

Scoop out a spoonful of the mixture and lay it onto a chicken breast. Roll the meat over the mixture and tuck in the ends.

-Place the stuffed chicken in the dish. Do this with all of the chicken; aim to use just about half of your avocado mixture. Then sprinkle the top of the chicken with the cracked peppercorns.

-Place them in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. I like to serve this chicken with brown rice. Lay a piece of chicken against the rice and then spoon the more of the avocado mixture all around the chicken. Enjoy!

Rumford Baking Powder Biscuits

2010-09-22T09:46:00.000-07:00

I FINALLY found the best biscuit recipe (well, according to me!). These turn out crispy and crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Great with butter and honey or homemade raspberry jam!

2 C. sifted all putpose flour
3 tsp. Rumford Baking Powder
1 tsp. salt
6 Tbs. shortening (I use butter instead)
2/3 C. milk

Sift flour, Rumford Baking Powder, and salt together (personally, I don't sift my ingredients!). Cut in shortening (or butter) until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk to make a soft dough. Turn out on floured surface and knead gently for 30 seconds. Roll out to 1/2 in. to 3/4 in. thickness. Cut into rounds of desired size and place on greased baking pan. Bake in hot oven (450) for 12-15 min. Yield: 8-10 biscuits.

Potato Cheese Soup

2010-09-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

I love a good soup on a cool day. Well, yesterday wasn't especially cool, but it still sounded and tasted great. Guess I am getting ready for winter! Here is a great soup recipe that can be used for clam chowder, you can add broccoli and make it broccoli cheese soup, add bacon, etc. The possibilities are endless. However, when I make it, I usually omit the cheese and just make it Ham and Potato Soup. YUM! Pair this with homemade biscuits and cooked carrots, broccoli and peas, and you have yourself a great dinner!

From the Grover Family Cookbook
(I never measure out the ingredients except for the milk, cream and seasonings. Just eyeball it and decide what works best for your family!)

1 C. chopped onion
1/2 C. chopped celery ( I do more than this)
2 Tbs butter (I use olive oil)
2 C. raw potatoes, cubed
1tsp. parsley
2 C. chicken broth
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 C. milk
1/2 C. cream
3 C. grated cheese (optional)

Put vegetables in first with olive oil to tenderize them. Then add your broth, seasonings and add milk products last. Use instant potatoes to thicken to your liking.

Hot Fudge Sauce

2010-09-22T09:25:00.000-07:00

I have had this recipe for a LONG time, but never even bothered to make it. I was having a nasty prego chocolate craving the other night and decided to make this to go on top of a pan of brownies. I convinced myself if I made the brownies, I would be eating them the whole next day, so decided to make a chocolate cake in a mug instead with this on top. DELICIOUS!!! And this hot fudge sauce is good hot, cold, a spoonful out of the jar when no one is looking... shhh! Don't tell my husband or my midwife! Enjoy!

1 C. chocolate chips
1/2 C. butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 C. Powdered sugar
1 1/2 C. canned evaporated milk

Melt chocolate chips and butter on stove. Add sugar and milk. Bring to a boil and cook 8 min., stirring every once in a while to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom. When this gets thick after about 8 min., you know you are done. Add vanilla.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

2010-08-07T06:47:00.000-07:00

Around Thanksgiving time, I get the urge to make something pumpkin so I end up buying a couple big cans of pumpkin. Well, mine were still sitting in the pantry and I wanted some pumpkin pancakes. So, I opened up that lovely can and made some pancakes. Not the best pumpkin pancake recipe ever, so I won't post that, but I wanted to know what to do with the leftover pumpkin. So, I found this great recipe on My Kitchen Cafe. I had plenty of pumpkin leftover, so I doubled the batch. I froze half of the cooked muffins and then pulled them out for our trip to Utah for a family reunion. They froze and thawed great!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
from Mel B.

1 2/3 c. flour
1 c. sugar (As always, I reduced the sugar to a little less than 3/4 C)
1 T. pumpkin pie spice**
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 c. canned pumpkin puree
1/2 c. butter, softened (I used half butter, and half applesauce to try to decrease some of the fat!)
1 c. chocolate chips

Mix ingredients well and then add chocolate chips. Pour into greased muffin tin (or use muffin liners). Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Don’t overbake or they will be dry!

**My tip: if you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, use the following combination: 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon cloves. Mix together and woila! – you have the equivalent of 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (and it is much cheaper than buying it premade). So for this recipe, you would need to triple the above amounts to equal one tablespoon pumpkin pie spice.

World's Best Dinner Rolls and Cinnamon Rolls

2010-08-07T06:36:00.000-07:00

I was having a prego craving moment of wanting homemade dinner rolls. I browsed my usual recipe sites and ended up on Our Best Bites as usual. The rolls turned out great (they would have turned out even better if I would have remembered to add the salt like it called for!) and I had a full 9 x 13 pan of them and still had half of the dough left. I decided to just make it into cinnamon rolls! I used the recipe on here but just did a little less since I didn't have a whole batch. These will probably be my go to recipe now since I can morph them into whatever I want! The orange roll recipe looked good too, but alas, no oranges in my house right now. Good luck!

World's Best Rolls

2 c. whole milk (if you're in a pinch, you can use 2%, but whole is best. Don't use 1% or skim) (I used a can of evaporated milk and 1/2 c. of 1 % milk)
½ c. + 1 Tbsp. sugar, divided
1/3 c. (5 1/3 Tbsp.) butter
2 tsp. Kosher salt
2 pkgs. active dry yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp.), preferably bread machine yeast
2/3 c. warm (105-115-degree) water
8-9 c. all-purpose flour (Try using part whole wheat and part white flour! Just make sure you add a tiny bit more liquid than called for if using wheat flour.)
3 beaten eggs

Combine milk, 1/2 c. sugar, butter, and salt in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until butter melts. It's salty. It's sweet. Yum.

Remove from heat. Allow to cool to lukewarm. I usually rub some ice cubes along the sides of the pan or pop the entire pan in a sink full of ice cubes to cool the mixture down because this step can take forever. This step is really important because if the mixture is too hot, it will kill the yeast.

While the milk mixture is cooling, dissolve the yeast and 1 Tbsp. sugar in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes. If the yeast hasn't bubbled, you'll need to repeat this step--moving on with yeast that hasn't been activated properly will only end in heartache for you and hate mail for us.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 3 c. flour and milk mixture. Beat on low for 30 seconds, scraping sides of bowl constantly. Add yeast mixture and beat on high for 3 minutes.
Add beaten eggs. Why should you beat your eggs first? Same reason you should combine your dry ingredients before adding them to moist ingredients when making cookies and cakes--it ensures everything is well-mixed and can be evenly-distributed through your dough or batter. If you add the whole eggs, your dough may not be as consistent.

Stir in as much remaining flour as needed to make a soft dough. This dough should be very soft--it will be coming away from the sides of the bowl, but it will still stick to your finger when you touch it. Don't worry, it will firm up during the rising process. Part of what makes these rolls so good is that they're so soft and light; if you add too much flour, they will be heavy and dense. Place the bowl in a warm place and cover with a clean towel; allow to rise 1 hour.

Punch down dough. Lightly flour your work surface and turn dough out onto surface. Divide in half.

Spray 2 9x13 glass pans with cooking spray. Roll first portion of dough into a rectangle and then cut it into 12 equal-sized pieces. I like to use a pizza cutter because it has a blade on each side, so it cuts right through dough without sticking to the blade. This dough should be very easy to work with, almost like playdough. Shape each piece into a ball and place in prepared pan. Repeat with remaining dough in the second pan.

Cover with a clean cloth and allow to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes. When dough has about 15-20 minutes to go (depending on your oven), preheat oven to 375.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden-brown.

When done, remove from oven. Rub a stick of cold butter over the tops of the rolls.

Mint Chocolate Delights

2010-07-22T15:54:00.000-07:00

I bought a bag of Nestle Toll House Dark Chocolate & Mint Morsels when they were on sale around Christmas time and they came with this recipe. I kept them in my freezer and decided to pull them out last night as my son and I were spending some one on one time together. Of course, what are we going to do? Bake treats! It was between these and Nummy Bars. He chose these and I must say, I was a little skeptical. But, they turned out nice. So nice that my prego self has eaten WAY too many since last night :)

2 C all purpose flour
2/3 C Baking Cocoa (Of course it calls for Nestle but I use Saco's Premium Cocoa.)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C (2 Sticks) butter softened
2/3 C granulated sugar
2/3 C packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1 2/3 C (10 oz. pkg) Nestle Toll House Dark Chocolate & Mint Morsels

Preheat oven to 325
Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop by well-rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 11-13 min. or until cookies are puffed and centers are set. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

I baked one batch of this at the 325 like the recipe said and ended up baking them for more like 15 minutes. I decided I couldn't wait that long next time so I changed the temp. to 350 and baked for about 11-13 min. like the original time should have been. When pulling these cookies out, the centers are NOT set and the outside and top edges are just getting a little crispy. Let them cook and they will turn out just fine. YUM!

Apple Pancakes

2010-07-22T15:43:00.000-07:00

Tired of the same old plain pancakes? Yeah, me too sometimes. Well, here is a different type you can try. My husband's family introduced me to these and I thought they were weird. Who puts apples in their pancakes, and who puts powdered sugar on their pancakes?! Well, try them and you will like them. I know I do!

Apple Pancakes:
2 C. flour
2 Tbs. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 well beaten egg yolks
2 C. milk
2 Tbs butter melted
1 Apple chopped into small pieces
2 beaten egg whites

Add dry ingredients first. Then add the yolk and milk. Next, add the melted butter and apples. Make sure everything is stirred well. Then FOLD in egg whites. Do not completely mix in. The egg whites make the pancakes light and airy like they do in homemade waffles too. To make these a little healthier, add 1 C. whole wheat flour, 1 C. white flour. Top with butter and powdered sugar, and pair with a smoothie for a great breakfast!

Orzo With Parmesean and Basil

2010-07-20T19:41:00.000-07:00

If you need a great side dish, this is it. I get tired of potatoes, rice and noodles, so this is a different thing that you don't normally have. At least we don't in our house. Another good one is couscous. Anyway... back to Orzo pasta. It looks a little like a flat piece of rice. I am sure you can eat it many ways, but this is what I have done a couple of times and it turns out great. And the great thing, it is really easy too! Hope you like it!

From Allrecipes

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter ( I do a little less)
1 cup uncooked orzo pasta
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I only had shredded Italian cheese and this turned out great!)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (It tastes better with fresh, but in a pinch, dried can be used. I only use about 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 tsp dried basil)
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil (Only for garnish)

Directions

Melt butter in heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in orzo and saute until lightly browned.
Stir in chicken stock and bring to boil. Cover. Reduce heat and simmer until orzo is tender and liquid is absorbed, about 15 - 20 minutes.
Mix in Parmesan cheese and basil. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to shallow bowl. Garnish with basil sprigs.

Banana Pudding... the best!

2010-07-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

My mom has a recipe for this really great banana pudding. Not just your every day mix up a box of banana pudding and that's it. This is WAY better! Just know that this is not something to eat if you are counting calories. But it is delicious! Thanks for the recipe Mom!

1 large box (can't remember the actual size!) instant vanilla pudding
3 C. cold milk
3/4 tub of cool whip
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3 ripe bananas
1 box nilla wafers

-Whisk the pudding with 3 cups cold milk for a couple minutes.
-Then add the can of sweetened condensed milk and stir.
-Put in fridge to set up for about 5-10 min.
-In a 9x13 cake pan, place nilla wafers in rows to fill bottom of pan.
-Cover with sliced bananas (Do not use green bananas and don't use really brown bananas. Just in between in best!)
-Fold cool whip (about 3/4- the whole tub) into pudding mixture.
-Cover cookie and banana layers with pudding mix and repeat until your pudding is gone. Serve cold.

Enjoy!!

PS My Mom says go with the name brand on everything for this recipe. I didn't go with name brand and it ended up delicious, but not as sweet. Mom says go with THE Nilla Wafers, Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk, and regular Cool Whip (I used Lite). Apparently this gives the best version possible.

Spaghetti Sauce recipe

2010-07-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

I have tried a couple of recipes to find a really great spaghetti sauce recipe. I have also tried just about every bottle of sauce in the store. The best one we found was Newman's Own Sockarooni sauce. Pretty good in our book. However, my husband and I kept wanting a more fresh, homemade taste. I went to a little cooking class our church was putting on and they taught how to make your own sauce. I took bits and pieces from that as well as from this website and put my own together. Turns out different every time, but still very good.

2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
3/4-1 medium onion, chopped
3/4 medium green bell pepper, chopped
3/4 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon salt (This sounds like a lot, but with all the other ingredients you have, it turns out about right. I use more like 1/2-3/4 Tbs at first and salt to taste at the table)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced or crushed tomatoes - (use one Italian stewed tomatoes and one plain tomatoes. It adds more flavor. Or if you have lots of tomatoes from your garden, I have used 3 big fresh tomatoes ground up in a blender)
1 teaspoon dried leaf oregano
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oil; sauté onions, peppers and garlic in the oil until tender. Add salt, pepper, tomato paste, tomatoes, and oregano. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in cheese before serving or serve cheese separately. Serve with hot cooked and drained spaghetti. Serves 6 to 8.

Meat version: Sauté 1/2 pound of lean ground beef (we use ground turkey and you can't tell the

difference!) with the onions, peppers and garlic until browned. Proceed with recipe.

Traditional Chicken Parmigiana

2010-07-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

Being prego this third time has thrown me through a loop for food. I do not remember having this many food aversions with the other two nor the lack of wanting to eat (although I have to or I will be sick... hmm Catch 22?). Sweets and steaks ALWAYS sound good to me, but who can live off of that and be healthy? Not me. So, my sweet family has put up with me lately with my finicky taste buds. When I get the urge to cook a real meal, I just go for it, even if it means having dinner at 7:00 (which I what I did the other night when I made this meal). The picture on Pioneer Woman's website looked delicious so that is why I made it. And alas, I was so hungry by the time the food was made, I did not take my own picture. Sorry! I thought it was good but will make a few changes next time. Hope it works for you and satisfies your cravings!

(My comments are in pink)

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Cook Time: 45 Minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 6

Ingredients

4 whole (up To 6) Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Trimmed And Pounded Flat (I used two thick chicken breasts and it was enough to feed two adults and two kids for dinner and lunch the next day)
½ cups All-purpose Flour
Salt And Pepper, to taste
½ cups Olive Oil ( I didn't use this much. Just drizzled some in the pan when cooking)
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 whole Medium Onion, Chopped ( I only used half of an onion)
4 cloves Garlic, Minced
¾ cups Wine (white Or Red Is Fine) (I used white cooking wine and only used a little over 1/4 C. and thought it had a rich wine flavor... then again my tastebuds are weird so use to your liking!)
3 cans (14.5 Oz.) Crushed Tomatoes (With my 2 thick chicken breasts, I used 2 cans crushed tomatoes. Wish I would have used one can of Italian tomatoes though to give it a little more flavor)
2 Tablespoons Sugar
¼ cubes Chopped Fresh Parsley ( I used dried and realized it did not have the flavor I needed. Will use fresh next time!)
1 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 pound Thin Linguine

Preparation Instructions

Mix flour, salt, and pepper together on a large plate.
Dredge flattened chicken breasts in flour mixture. Set aside.
At this time, you can start a pot of water for your pasta. Cook linguine until al dente.
Heat olive oil and butter together in a large skillet over medium heat. When butter is melted and oil/butter mixture is hot, fry chicken breasts until nice and golden brown on each side, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Remove chicken breasts from the skillet and keep warm.
Without cleaning skillet, add onions and garlic and gently stir for 2 minutes. Pour in wine and scrape the bottom of the pan, getting all the flavorful bits off the bottom. Allow wine to cook down until reduced by half, about 2 minutes.
Pour in crushed tomatoes and stir to combine. Add sugar and more salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cook for 30 minutes. Toward the end of cooking time, add chopped parsley and give sauce a final stir.
Carefully lay chicken breasts on top of the sauce and completely cover them in grated Parmesan. Place lid on skillet and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer until cheese is melted and chicken is thoroughly heated. Add more cheese to taste.
Place cooked noodles on a plate and cover with sauce. Place chicken breast on top and sprinkle with more parsley. Serve immediately.

Alfredo Pizza

2010-05-10T13:41:00.000-07:00

I have not found a good, puffy crust pizza dough recipe. I try new ones all the time, but end up not liking them after a few times. But, I did make a good pizza the other day, minus the dough! Here's the ingredients I used:

-1/2 of a bottle of Newman's Own alfredo sauce (This was the first time I used it, and I chose it because it had less "junk" in it than most. If I am not making my own, I try to buy things that have the most recognizable ingredients in them. That way I know what I am eating and feeding my family.)
-1/2 red pepper chopped
-1/2 green pepper chopped
-1/2 white onion chopped
-1 garlic clove chopped
-handful sliced mushrooms
-1 chopped tomato
-Mozzarella cheese
-1 chicken breast sliced and cooked

1. Make pizza dough of your choice (still looking for THE recipe!). Spread out on your pizza pan and set aside.

2. Cook chicken (I cooked mine in a pan, chopped in bits, with olive oil, season salt, fresh garlic and italian seasoning). Remove and place in a bowl to the side.

3. Cook red and green chopped peppers with chopped onion and 1 clove diced garlic in olive oil until tender. Remove and place in a bowl to the side.

4. Cover pizza dough with sauce, add cheese, and add all other ingredients. Cook until dough is done and cheese is melted and browning on top.

Enjoy with a nice green side salad, or we made a fresh fruit/spinach smoothie. Yum!

Stir Fry with Noodles

2010-05-10T13:12:00.000-07:00

We went on a big group date a while ago and all ate out at a Mongolian Barbeque restaurant. If anyone has been to these you know you can load up on whatever you want. They have lots of raw veggies, noodles, and meat and you pile it all in a bowl, add seasonings and then they cook it right there in front of you. YUM! Well, I wanted to eat this again, so I decided to make it on my own. Not as good, but still yummy. This was kind of one of those things that I didn't have a recipe, but I just threw in whatever sounded good. So here were my ingredients:

1 pkg dry stir fry noodles
thinly sliced chicken pieces
Green cabbage
broccoli
sugar snap peas
onion
fresh ginger
seasoned rice vinegar
sesame oil
olive oil
fresh garlic
Any other veggies I had around (I am drawing a blank right now!)

I started out by adding a little olive oil in a pan, a drop of sesame oil (it is kind of strong so don't add too much) and some seasoned rice vinegar. I added about 1 chopped garlic clove and the onions and cooked those for a bit. Then I added my chicken and cooked until done. I put that aside and added a little more of the oils and vinegar and added my veggies, starting with the broccoli and any other hard vegetables. I cooked those first and added the softer things last, like the cabbage and the peas. I cooked them all without a lid for a bit, and then added water and put a lid on. I then added the noodles when my veggies were tender (not soft!) and voila! You have your homemade mongolian stir fry. But add some soy sauce to taste and you have it made!

Grilled Bruschetta Chicken

2010-03-21T17:36:00.000-07:00

Tonight we are having Grilled (actually baked tonight!) Bruschetta Chicken, baked asparagus, garlic bread baguettes and herbed chicken couscous. YUM! My friend and I did this chicken recipe for a cooking class and it turned out great! She cooked it on the grill and in the oven for variety. The grill is much better, but hey, it was still good in the oven too. It has lots of flavor and it a healthy way to cook chicken.

Found on Kraft.com

what you need!

4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb.)

1/4 cup KRAFT Sun-Dried Tomato Dressing, divided

1 tomato, finely chopped

1/2 cup KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

make it!

HEAT grill to medium heat.

COVER half the grill grate with sheet of heavy-duty foil. Place chicken in large resealable plastic bag. Add 2 Tbsp. dressing; seal bag. Turn bag over several times to evenly coat chicken with dressing. Refrigerate 10 min. Remove chicken from bag; discard bag and dressing.

PLACE chicken on uncovered side of grill; cover with lid. Grill 6 min. Meanwhile, combine remaining dressing, tomatoes, cheese and basil.

TURN chicken over; place on foil. Top with tomato mixture. Grill, covered, grill 8 min. or until chicken is done (165ºF).

Baked Asparagus

2010-03-21T17:30:00.000-07:00

I thought I had posted this already, but came back looking for the recipe and couldn't find it. So sorry to the people I told to find the recipe on my blog! I like this recipe for the fact that it is a non-measuring, do it to your liking recipe. Just throw on the ingredients, pop it in the oven, and there you have it! A different way to cook asparagus rather than just steaming it. My Mother -in -law has a recipe like this but it also calls for adding bread crumbs on top to give it some crunch. Hope you like it!

Handful of asparagus
salt
pepper
parmesan cheese (green tube kind)
olive oil

Preheat your oven to 350. Place a handful of asparagus (chop off the ends to get rid of the "woody" parts) on a cookie sheet. Drizzle (now go easy on this or it will get mushy) extra virgin olive oil on top and mix the asparagus around to coat. Sprinkle salt, pepper and parm. cheese on top. Cook 10-15 min. depending on how thick the asparagus is. It is best still a little crunchy and better for you so you don't cook out all the great vitamins. Enjoy!

Pot Roast

2010-03-18T18:08:00.000-07:00

My sister made this recipe a couple weeks ago and said it was really good. Just thought I would post it and hopefully try it sometime soon. Let me know what you think!

Aaron's Pot Roast
3-5 pound roast (mine was 3.75lb - it feed us, Randall and Sara and their kids and left us a little for leftovers the next night.)
1 can basil and garlic flavored stewed tomatoes
some minced garlic (I did about a spoonful)
1 can beef broth (about 2 cups/bouillon cubes)
onion and carrot on bottom of pot under roast (I did about 1/2 onion and 1/2-3/4 small bag of carrots)
1 packet McCormick's Roast seasoning for crockpot
1 packet onion soup mix
a little soy sauce
salt and pepper
a little worchestershire sauce

Cook on low 10-12 hours in crockpot.
Add red/yellow bell pepper last 20 minutes. (I forgot to do this last week but it still tasted fine without it. Nobody noticed.)
I also added 1 stalk of celery cut up to add a little extra juice and flavor.

The recipe calls for putting red potatoes in with the roast to cook. I left these out because I didn't have any room to put them in and was afraid it all wouldn't cook if I stuck them in. So we steamed them and then added them to the juices later to get the flavor. This made so much yummy gravy too! Really yummy and really easy!

Bruschetta

2010-03-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to try bruschetta before but have never gotten around to making it until the last couple of weeks. And I wish I would have made it a long time ago! It was great!!! I did my own variation of the recipes I found online though. Most of them called for fresh basil, olive oil and tomatoes, with a few added ingredients here or there. I had just made a fresh batch of pesto that same week and decided that since pesto has olive oil and basil in it, I would try that. So glad I did. Here is my made up recipe below:

-One long bread baguette
-Pesto (If using frozen pesto from ice cube trays (http://sweettoothqueen.blogspot.com/2010/01/homemade-pesto.html), use 4 ice cubes worth. If using bottled pesto, you will need to just eyeball it!)
-1 1/2 tomatoes chopped (something like hot house tomatoes... the round ones)
-shredded parmesean cheese
-Salt and pepper to taste

Slice baguette into 1/2-1 inch slices. Spread with pesto. Pop in the oven on broil until warm. Then add chopped tomatoes and a little parm. cheese on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put back in oven until warm (try not to cook too long so the tomatoes don't get mushy). Serve warm with soup and/or salad and a smoothie for a light dinner. This is also great as an appetizer. To add a little more substance, add chopped chicken pieces. Enjoy!

Banana Bread w/ Sour Cream

2010-03-18T17:45:00.000-07:00

If you are like me, you buy sour cream for tacos or fajitas, but don't end up using the rest of the container. Need something to use it for? Try banana bread. I know, I know, it will just add to the bread to make it fattier. Point taken, BUT it tastes oh so good!! I am a fan of banana bread. Some people like it, others don't. To each his own, and that is fine because it means more for the rest of us! Anyway, back to the recipe... I like this one because even though I add whole wheat flour, it still turns out moist because of the sour cream. I am sure you can probably substitute for something less fattening like plain yogurt, but I never buy that, so I go with the original version. Let me know if you try it with yogurt.

PS This is even better with chocolate chips in it :)

Ingredients:
2/3 C. butter (I try to cut down a little each time I make this)
1 1/3 C. sugar (ditto to the above statement. My norm is about 1 cup)
2 3/4 C. flour (I usually do at least 1 C. whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla (If you are using real Mexican Vanilla like I do, only use 1/2 -3/4 tsp)
1 1/2 C. mashed bananas (If you do add whole wheat flour, add a little more bananas and make it about 1 3/4 C.)
1/2 C. sour cream

Cream butter and sugar. Add all others. Mix well. Grease bread pan, muffin pan, bundt pan, etc. Cook at 350. If using a bundt pan, check bread at 1 hour. If using muffin pan, check at 12-15 min. If using bread pan, check at about 30 min, but probably cook for about 45-50 min depending on size and how full. Good luck!

Turtle Tart

2010-02-28T18:47:00.000-08:00

We did a big group date a couple weeks ago and this is what I made for the dessert. It was very rich, but very good! Mine didn't look as pretty as the picture on Betty Crocker's site though! We were feeding a big group, so I made mine in a cake pan to spread it out a little further. I don't think I needed to though because we had plenty of leftovers. Enjoy!

Cookie Base
1	pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® oatmeal cookie mix (we used Peanut Butter cookie mix!!)
1/2	cup butter or margarine, softened
1	tablespoon water
1	egg
1	cup chopped pecans
Filling
40	caramels, unwrapped
1/3	cup whipping cream
3/4	cup chopped pecans
Topping
1	bag (11.5 oz) milk chocolate chips (2 cups)
1/3	cup whipping cream
1/4	cup chopped pecans

Print these coupons...

$0.75 off Betty Crocker® Box Supreme Brownie Mixes

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About Concordance™

1.	Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, water and egg until soft dough forms. Stir in 1 cup pecans. Press dough in bottom and up sides of ungreased 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom.
2.	Bake 19 to 21 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 10 minutes.
3.	Meanwhile, in medium microwavable bowl, microwave caramels and 1/3 cup cream on High 2 to 4 minutes, stirring twice, until caramels are melted. Stir in 3/4 cup pecans. Spread over cooled crust. Refrigerate 15 minutes.
4.	In another medium microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips and 1/3 cup cream on High 1 to 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until chocolate is smooth. Pour over filling. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup pecans. Refrigerate 2 hours or until set. To serve, let stand at room temperature 10 minutes before cutting. Store covered in refrigerator.
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Use 10-inch tart pan. In step 2, bake crust 21 to 23 minutes.

Homemade granola bars

2010-02-19T14:22:00.000-08:00

Ryan and I try to limit the amount of preservatives we eat as well as give to our kids, try to not buy anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup, and try to limit the amount of sugar we eat (although that is hard when you like to bake like I do!). So, when it comes to finding snacks for the kids, I was getting frustrated at the junk that is in gummies and granola bars. That is when I started making homemade fruit leather, dried apples and pears, and homemade granola bars. This is a great recipe because you can use the oat, seed, and nut (or omit the nuts if you have peanut allergies in your family and maybe try to add something else for more substance)base and add different ingredients to make all varieties of granola bars. I have adjusted the "glue" every time I make these and have come to the realization that if you want your granola bars to stick together, keep the ingredients the way they are. I have made the glue with less butter and less sugar(which is what I do most of the time now), and used Agave nectar as a sugar replacement (This way creates crumbly granola instead of granola bars. Still taste good, but do not stick together.). So, play with the glue a little and see what works best for your family.
Let me know what combinations you have tried and what is your favorite! I can always use more ideas!!!

PS This post is really long, but the recipe is actually pretty easy. Sorry if I stressed you out!

Found on Joyful Abode

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Gather your ingredients:

2 cups oats
3/4 cup wheat germ ( I don't have this, so I omit this step)
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup peanuts, crushed ( I usually use almonds, but this last time I used chopped cashews. YUM!)
2/3 cup brown sugar ( I make it a little less than this)
1/2 cup honey
4 Tbsp butter (I use more like 3 Tbs.)
2 tsp vanilla extract (or if you have real Mexican vanilla, use around 1 - 1 1/2 tsp)
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
approximately 8 oz. dried fruit ( I have used craisins, coconut and chocolate chips, or dried apples and dried blueberries)

To crush your peanuts, put them in a plastic bag and smash them with a heavy mallet, measuring cup, or sauce pan. (I chop my almonds and cashews in my small food processor.)

Then, mix the peanuts, oats, wheat germ, and sunflower seeds in a baking dish with sides. Toast them in the oven for 10-12 minutes, stirring every few minutes so that they don’t get burned (I have burned mine. So really watch it and keep stirring!)

Meanwhile, prepare a glass baking dish (about 11 x 13 inches) for your granola by lining it with waxed paper lightly sprayed with a nonstick spray.

Put the brown sugar, honey, butter, vanilla, and salt into a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. (Make sure you don't overheat or cook too long. This will make the glue almost crumble and break) (I have wanted to try adding some natural Adams Peanut Butter to this mix so I can make peanut butter chocolate chip bars, but haven't tried this yet. if you do, let me know how it turns out!!!)

By now, your grains and nuts should be toasted, so mix everything together in a large bowl. The grains, the liquid “glue,” and the dried fruit (This is usually when I add my chocolate chips too. Then they melt in with the oat mixture and cover everything. I tried just pressing in my chocolate chips this last batch I made, but it made my granola break apart too much.) Oh, and turn off your oven, because you’re finished with it now.

Mix everything REALLY WELL because you want to make sure the “glue” gets all over everything. Now, dump your granola mixture into your prepared baking dish.

Spread out the mixture with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Now fold over the sides of the waxed paper or add a sheet on top, and PRESS HARD all over the granola. You want to compact it together so that your bars won’t fall apart when you cut them.

Wait 2-3 hours or until the granola has totally cooled.

Then, open the waxed paper … And carefully turn the granola onto a large cutting board, peeling away the rest of the paper.

Now, firmly pressing down with a big knife (not sawing), cut your granola into whatever size bars you’d like.

I wrapped ours individually in plastic wrap, so that we could just throw one into our bag or lunch box in the morning. If you’d like to save on packaging though, you can store yours in an airtight container, between sheets of waxed paper (so they don’t stick together).

Bow Tie Pasta and Chicken

2010-02-19T13:57:00.000-08:00

I checked out a couple of cookbooks at the library this week, and found this recipe. I made it last night and it was REALLY good. Not as good the second day for lunch, but still very yummy, so deserves to be on my Yummy Grub site. I made a few adjustments though, as always (which I will put in parenthesis below). Hope you like it though!

From Turn up the Heat with G.Garvin

Ingredients:
4 Tbs olive oil
salt
1 16 oz. pkg bow tie pasta ( I didn't have this so I used penne noodles. I also was cooking for 2 adults, and 2 kids, so I cooked a 12 oz. box and probably only used 6 oz.)
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked (I chopped mine into bits, cooked them on the stove at Medium heat with olive oil, chopped garlic, and seasoned with season salt, italian seasoning, and onion salt.)
8 asparagus spears, blanched (To blanch, place in boiling water for a minute or so until it turns bright green. Transfer to ice water. Drain well.) (I used 8 spears, but next time will definitely use more like 10-12.)
2 Tbs. chopped garlic ( I didn't do quite 2 Tbs.)
2 Tbs. chopped shallot ( I didn't have this so I used a yellow onion)
1 C. chopped tomato
1/2 C. tomato sauce
1/4 C. grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbs. chopped fresh basil (Didn't have fresh, I used about 1 tsp. dried)
2 tsp. chopped fresh Italian parsley ( Ditto to above, but used 1 tsp. dried) )
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 Tbs. unsalted butter
Grated Parmesan cheese
Chopped fresh basil and fresh Italian parsley

1. In a large pot combine 2 quarts of water with 2 Tbs. of the olive oil and a pinch salt; bring to a boil. Add pasta; cook according to package directions until tender. Drain pasta; place in a bowl and keep warm.

2. Break chicken into small pieces and set aside. Chop asparagus into 1-inch pieces and set aside.

3. In a medium pot heat the remaining 2 Tbs. olive oil over medium- high heat. Add chicken, asparagus, garlic, and shallot; stir (I also had a lot of mushrooms, thanks to buying bulk at Costco!, so added a couple handfuls of chopped mushrooms). Add chopped tomato, tomato sauce, the 1/4 C. Parmesan cheese, 2 Tbs basil (adjust if using dried), 2 tsp parsley (adjust if using dried), the pepper, and a pinch of salt; stir. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Add pasta to pot and stir to combine. Add butter (next time I will use less butter) and stir until melted. Spoon mixture onto serving platter. Garnish with additional Parmesan cheese, basil, and parsley.

Healthy Fruit Smoothies

2010-02-17T21:28:00.000-08:00

My kids have been hooked on smoothies since they were babies. It is a great way to get a boost of fiber and Vitamin C into yourself and your kids. And it is even healthier (and an easy way to get picky eaters to eat veggies, as long as they don't see you making it!) if you add a handful of spinach and a couple carrots! Sounds gross, I know. I thought so too. But if you add enough other fruits (especially ones with a lot of color like bluberries) you can't even taste or see the icky green color. Add variety by trying different flavors of 100% juice, or flavored yogurts.

Blend together:
-Enough 100% fruit juice to liquify fruit and veggies (my favorite is orange juice)
-handful of spinach
-2 medium sized carrots

After fully chopped and blended, add:
frozen or fresh fruit in example:
      -We use Costco's frozen fruit blends with peaches, pineapples, strawberries, and also their mix of marionberries, blueberries, and blackberries. Or try:
-bananas
      -oranges
      -peaches
      -pineapples
      -strawberries
      -blueberries
      -raspberries

You get the picture.... try different variations of fruit with different juices. Or to make a more smoothe smoothie, add a little yogurt (Our favorite is Mountain High brand). For a little kick, add some lemon or lime zest. If your fruit is very tart (and of course if you don't add yogurt), you can add a few squirts of Agave nectar (sugar replacement, similar to honey, but less viscous).   This is a great, cool summer treat, and a great way to get your vitamins and help get your kids, or yourself over colds!

Hot Roast Beef Sandwiches (Or homemade Philly Cheese Steak)

2010-02-17T21:17:00.000-08:00

Need another quick idea for dinner? Do your kids love lunch meat as much as mine do? Here is a nice twist for that boring lunch meat and a quick dinner. Serve with a fruit smoothie, broccoli slices and ranch, and some chips.

To Serve 3-4:

Ingredients:
1 pound deli roast beef, (we like Boars Head - higher price, but no preservatives!) sliced
1 green bell pepper sliced
1 red bell pepper sliced
half of a yellow/white onion, sliced
handful of mushrooms, sliced
Italian Dressing (we prefer Newman's Own - no icky high fructose corn syrup)
Shredded Mozzarella cheese
Hoagie rolls

-In a saucepan, on medium heat, add sliced roast beef and enough Italian Dressing to lightly cover meat.
-Let simmer until warm.
-While meat is simmering, in another saucepan, add a little olive oil or about 1 Tbs butter and saute onions, and bell peppers until tender. Then add mushrooms until starting to turn brown.
-Butter or put mayo on your hoagie roll, place meat, veggies, and top with mozzarella cheese!

Voila! Another quick and easy dinner!

Shrimp Paulista

2010-02-17T21:04:00.000-08:00

This is a great recipe I found a long time ago on AOL Food.
I love it because it is quick, easy, and FULL OF FLAVOR. I serve it on top of brown rice and with a green salad. Enjoy!

Serves 6; ready in 35 min.

Ingredients

2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 tablespoons lime juice

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, divided

8 cloves garlic, minced, divided

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper, divided

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1. Place shrimp in a medium nonreactive bowl and toss with lime juice, 1/4 cup cilantro, half the garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shrimp, marinade and remaining garlic; cook until the shrimp are just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; add the remaining 1/4 cup cilantro, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon red pepper. Toss to combine.

Stir Fry Sausage

2010-02-17T21:00:00.000-08:00

This is another favorite recipe of mine that my Mom used to make when I was home. It is quick, full of flavor, and you can add in as many veggies as you want, making it so much more nutritious! There really aren't measurements, but I just kind of eyeball it depending on how much of one thing or another I want. Good luck!

Feeds (in my house) 2 adults and 2 kids
Chop:
About a head and a half of broccoli
Half of a white/yellow onion
2 carrots
1 small pkg of white mushrooms
half of a package of sausage (Not the small sausage links, or the breakfast patty sausage, but the pinkish sausage that is kind of in a smooshed "C" shape. What do you call that?!)

-In a large saucepan, add enough olive oil or coconut oil to create a thin layer over bottom of pan.
-Add about 1 tsp minced garlic.
-Add onions, carrots, broccoli, and a little water and put a lid on this for a couple minutes until veggies are getting tender (NOT MUSHY).
-Then add the mushrooms (and if you decide, snow peas are good too) and sausage.
-Cook until mushrooms are browning and sausage is warm.
-Sprinkle a little salt over veggies.

-While all this is cooking, boil about a half of a package of wheat egg noodles.

-When all is finished cooking, place egg noodles on plate with veggie mix on top. Add shredded parmesean cheese.

Great served with a roll and salad.

Chocolate Bowls

2010-02-15T13:46:00.000-08:00

My cousin posted a link to this site for the chocolate bowl recipe. What a great idea! I thought they looked delicious and such a fun party treat. Thought I would pass it along. Let me know how they turn out!

Here's the link!

Tortilla Troubles

2010-02-15T13:38:00.000-08:00

I didn't have any tortillas last night to go with my Bajio Chicken salad (we wanted to make it more like burritos than an actual salad), so I used this recipe my sister in law sent me. It worked in a pinch (and my daughter had fun rolling them!), but it was really not my favorite recipe. It says it makes 15-20, but when I first started rolling them out, they were really thin. They almost turned out crunchy because they were too thin. I started adding two together to make them thicker and they turned out a little better. Still not my favorite though. Any ideas, or thoughts? Any great tortilla recipes?

Home Made Tortillas

2 cups – All Purpose Flour
½ tsp. salt
2/3 cup warm water
¼ cup oil
Additional Flour

Rub flour, salt, & oil together with your fingers until completely
incorporated and fine crumbs form. Pour water into dry ingredients and
immediately work it in with a fork. Dough will be in large clumps.
Sprinkle flour and knead until smooth, about 2 minutes. Divide dough into
12 – 15 portions and shape into balls about 2 inches in diameter. Set
dough balls on a plate, cover with plastic wrap, and let dough rest for at
least 30 minutes before baking. Roll out until thin, rolling from the
center to the outside. It may be helpful to roll the dough between 2 sheets
of plastic wrap. Bake on very hot, ungreased griddle until freckled, about
20 seconds on each side. Serve warm.

Gary's Cinnamon Rolls

2010-02-15T13:13:00.000-08:00

This is a really easy cinnamon roll recipe. It, like any other bread recipe, just takes a while to do. So if you are planning on enjoying some of these scrumptious cinnamon rolls, block out a good 4 hours to make sure you have enough time. My sister got this recipe from someone at church and I am hooked! I made them for church yesterday for a lesson I was teaching on Women and their Divine ROLLS. So, hence the Cinnamon ROLLS. Anywho... I figured it 12-13 year old girls didn't remember anything about my lesson, they would atleast remember that I made good cinnamon rolls, right?! :)
The only thing I have noticed and done wrong with this recipe is that I made the milk, water and butter mixture too hot and it killed my yeast. If your mixture gets too hot, just make sure you let it cool before adding it into the dry mixture. Good luck!

This makes about 25 cinnamon rolls.

Mix:
2 C. flour (I do half white, half wheat flour)
1 1/2 C. sugar ( For most of my recipes, I cut down on the sugar. But not for cinnamon rolls! I go all out!)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. (or 2 packs) yeast

In saucepan, heat (to approx. 140 degrees):
1 C. milk
1 C. water
1/2 C. butter

Add:
Liquid to flour mixture. Mix for 3 min. on medium speed. Add 3-4 cups of flour, 1 cup at a time to form a firm dough. Place dough in a greased bowl. Cover with plastic and allow to rise until doubled (about 45 min.).

Mix:
3/4 C. sugar
1/8 C. cinnamon

Divide dough in 1/2. Punch down, then form a square and roll out into a rectangle. Spread 1/4 C. softened butter over surface. Sprinkle 1/2 of sugar mixture on dough. Roll dough into a log (roll from stomach, up). Slice dough about 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart. Place slices on a greased jelly roll pan (I used a big cookie sheet). Cover with plastic or a towel. Allow to rise until doubled (about 30 min). Repeat with other half of dough.

Bake:
365 for 16-20 min.

Frosting:
Mix until smooth:
About 1 1/2 C. powdered sugar
1/4 C. butter (melted)
1/4 C. milk

Frost cinnamon rolls while warm. Pair these with a glass of cold milk and you have a great treat!!

Quick treats - Peanut Butter and chocolate covered bananas, chocolate covered pretzels

2010-02-11T15:47:00.000-08:00

If you are like me and are a "chocoholic", you will like this. I hope I meet in heaven, the person that first thought of putting chocolate and peanut butter together. YUM! And to add to it, put banana and you have an even better treat!!
My husband was searching for something sweet one night and came up with this. Melted chocolate meltys, covering a banana that had peanut butter smothered in the middle. The picture doesn't do it justice. Really, this is fabulous! I made this for a treat for the kids this afternoon (okay, and for me too!) and we had leftover chocolate. I am not going to waste it of course, so I decided to use it and cover pretzels with it. I don't know about you and your kids, but if your kids like pretzels and chocolate as much as mine do, they will think this combo is great. Have fun!

Oriental Chicken Salad

2010-02-11T15:20:00.000-08:00

I have been on a salad craze this week. Taco salad, now Oriental Chicken Salad, and later this week, Bajio/Cafe Rio Salad. Guess that is what happens when you buy lettuce/spinach in bulk at Costco! Gotta use it up! This is a recipe that I wasn't so sure I would like the dressing. I am kind of the boring, plain jane, stick to the usual type of person. I like my ranch dressing best. This actually is a Green onion dressing. And it is GREEN! Looks kind of gross, but tastes good on salad. Bad part about this salad, it really doesn't have many veggies in it, so I add mushrooms. The other bad thing, the rice noodles and wontons are fried. That is never good. But the good thing about this is that it is different than your everyday salad, and it has that oriental flavor.

-4 Chicken Breast halves (seasoned, cooked, and chopped or shredded; I cook mine in italian dressing in the oven or on the stove)
-1 head romaine lettuce (chopped)
-1 head red leaf lettuce (I don't usually have this so I substitute spinach) (chopped)
4 green onions finely sliced
6 oz. toasted slivered almonds

4 oz. Rice sticks (basically a big handfull)
(You can find these in almost any store in the Asian section. They are kind of hard to break apart so use scissors.)
Heat oil and throw in rice sticks. Turn over once to lightly brown. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. (If oil is hot enough, they will "poof" up. If the oil is not hot enough, they will be hard and inedible.)

12-16 oz. egg roll wrappers or wonton skins - Cut into 1-1/2 inch squares. Lightly brown in medium hot oil, drain on paper towels.

Mix all above ingredients in LARGE salad bowl. Serve tossed with dressing, or dressing on the side.

Dressing:
Mix well in blender:
8 green onions (entire onion)
1/2 C. sugar
1 C. oil
3/4 C. Seasoned Rice Vinegar
1 tsp. Pepper
1 tsp. Salt

You can make half the dressing. It will feed about 3-4 people. You only need a little bit because it is strong (as you can imagine with 8 green onions!). Don't think about kissing anyone after you eat this :)

Taco Salad

2010-02-11T12:30:00.000-08:00

Need to add variety to your salads? Something new to do with ground beef? Why not make a taco salad?? I like this because it is a good salad to take places because people can load up on the sides to create more filler. Try different sides to create variety. Or try different meats or dressings....

For a salad to feed 2 adults and 2 kids, I do a big handful of spinach, and about 5 big leaves of romaine lettuce (chopped).

Meat:
I use about a pound of ground beef or elk meat. Brown and add a pkg. of taco seasoning ( I think you have to add water to this too. Look on back of pkg. for directions). Or if you don't have taco seasoning, we have made our own variety with using garlic powder, onion salt, chili powder, cayenne pepper, and season salt. Pour and keep trying until you get the right flavor for you.

Sides:
chopped tomatoes
cilantro
avocado slices
sliced olives
cucumbers
mushrooms
black beans
shredded cheese

Dressings:
Ranch
Salsa

To create, place tortilla chips (crunched up a bit so it makes it easier to eat) on bottom of plate. Add lettuce/spinach. Then add your meat and sides. Or try it the other way around. Doesn't really matter because it all gets mixed up anyway. Have fun with it!

Better than Anything Cake

2010-02-11T12:22:00.000-08:00

This cake has a lot of different varieties of names and how to make it. I will post, what I think to be the BEST way. It is the chocolate version, so what can be better?! It is a great cake to use for parties or get togethers because it is always such a hit! You can cook it in a cake pan like a regular cake, or for the last event I made it for, we were trying to feed a lot of people so we cooked it in a large cookie sheet (or jelly roll pan) to spread it out a bit. Turned out great. Hope yours does too!

Bake:
1 devils food cake mix (or any kind of chocolate cake mix) according to package directions

After cooked, poke holes all over the cake with the opposite end of a spatula, end of a bbq skewer, or using a fork. (Or be creative. As long as there are holes in it, it doesn't matter what you use!)

Then pour sweetened condensed milk and caramel ice cream topping all over the cake, letting it seep into the holes. The more you pour, the better the cake. But don't overdo it or you will have a mushy cake.

Put cake in the fridge for a couple hours.

Then cover top with a container of cool whip, sprinkled with toffee chips.

DELICIOUS!!!

Homemade Pesto

2010-01-31T19:11:00.000-08:00

Pesto is such a fresh, light flavor and can be used for so many things. It can be used as a spread on a lunch meat sandwich, to add flavor to baked chicken, or to create a really great pasta dish. I prefer homemade over store bought, so here is a recipe I found. You can freeze pesto in ice cube trays, pop them out when frozen and store them in a freezer bag. When needed, pull one (or more!) out and let thaw. There you have a fast, fresh, healthy seasoning ready to make your meal come alive!

Found on Food for Thought

They recommend doing this in a food processor. I had to use a blender because I am not the lucky owner of a big enough food processor (mine only holds maybe 1/2 cup of anything). Sigh.... :)

3 cups of packed basil leaves (washed and stems removed)

2/3 cup pine nuts

2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

3-4 cloves garlic, peeled

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

olive oil - enough to allow it to blend freely, but not be soupy

Place all of these ingredients in a food processor and drizzle a generous amount of oil on top. Pulse several times until it is coarsely chopped, adding more oil as necessary. Pulse a few more times until it is finely chopped.

Freeze in containers (I used ice cube trays, then when frozen, popped them out and put in a freezer bag), or use fresh.

Italian Flag Chicken

2010-01-31T18:58:00.000-08:00

I found this recipe on Eat it Up and thought I would give it a whirl. I had everything I needed, which was a big plus. It turned out great! The pesto gave it a very fresh flavor. I will wait next time to add the tomato on top. By the time the chicken was done, it was almost mush and so pretty much killed all nutritional value. I think I will add the tomato on top just before the chicken is done. Anywho... this was really easy, fast, and yummy. Hope you like it!

This feeds approx. 2 adults.
-2 thawed chicken breasts
-3-4 tsp of pesto, homemade or bought (mine is homemade (see next post for that recipe) and is frozen in ice cub trays; I used 3 pesto cubes)
-grated mozzarella
-1 tomato
-bread crumbs
-Parmesan cheese
-Bacon slices

1. Put your thawed chicken in a zip lock bag and pound with a mallet until thin and flat.

2. Place on a foil lined cookie sheet and put a teaspoon full of pesto on half the chicken. Top with mozzarella cheese (this is also where I added a slice of uncooked bacon).

3. Fold chicken over and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with 1-2 tomato slices.

4. Cover top and bottom with Italian bread crumbs.

5. Sprinkle with a bit of Parmesan cheese (I omitted this part) and pop in the oven at 425 for 15-20 minutes. So easy!!

Best Ever Whole Wheat Bread Machine Bread

2010-01-31T12:21:00.000-08:00

I have tried my fair share of bread machine recipes. I finally found one that my whole family likes. It is thick and hearty, but not too heavy. I am sure you can add things to it and make variations (like adding sunflower seeds and craisins) but I am a simple kind of bread girl.

Found on baking.about.com; this makes a 2 pound loaf

1 1/2 C plus 2 Tbs luke warm water
2 Tbs oil
2 tsp salt
1/3 C. brown sugar (I have substituted Agave nectar and honey for this and they both turn out great!)
3 Tbs nonfat dry powdered milk
4 1/4 C wheat flour
2 tsp dry yeast

My machine requires liquids, solids, then yeast on top (so the ingredient order is how I put it in my machine). Do according to your machine directions.

I set this on the dough cycle. When finished, I pull it out, spray a bread pan, mold the dough into a nice shape (careful not to mess with it too much or it becomes tough), plop it into the pan and cover with a towel for about 30 min. to rise. Cook at 350 for 30-35 min.

This is great warm with butter and honey, almond butter and honey, or homemade jam. Enjoy!

Homemade Oreos

2010-01-31T12:15:00.001-08:00

Mix together:

1 Chocolate cake mix (or devils food cake mix)
2 eggs
1/3 C. oil

Make dough into small round balls and drop onto cookie sheet (ungreased). Cook for 8-10 min (no more or they will get too crispy!!) at 350.

When cool, smear the bottom of one cookie with cream cheese frosting (either store bought, or homemade)and put another cookie on top. TA DA! Your very own homemade oreo cookie! These never last long in our house. They are very rich, but SOOO YUMMY!

Cream Cheese Frosting:
Beat together:
3/4 block softened cream cheese
1/2 stick softened butter

Then add about 3 cups powdered sugar and a dash of vanilla. (Give or take on the powdered sugar depending on how much or little of a cream cheese taste you want.)

If this is too thick, add a little water or milk.

Minestrone Soup

2010-01-31T12:06:00.001-08:00

This is a great soup for a cold day. It calls for hamburger, but is also good with ground Elk meat too. I have never tried ground turkey though. If you do, let me know how it turns out! This is a recipe that I got from my Mom and I think of home every time I eat it. Enjoy!

-Boil 2 qts. water in a big pot with 1 Tbs salt (you may need to add more or less salt depending on how much salt is in your tomatoes)
-Divide 1 pound hamburger into small round balls.
-Put meatballs into boiling water and let boil until no pink remains.
-Then add:
1/2 of an onion (white or yellow, chopped)
2 stalks celery (chopped)
1 can of stewed tomatoes plus 1/2 of a small can of tomato sauce
- After this has simmered for a little while (until vegetables are getting tender), add:
1 can of carrots (undrained)
1 can beans (I prefer french cut; undrained)
1 chopped zucchini
about 3/4 cup macaroni noodles
1/4 C. dried parsley
-When heated through and ready to serve, add parmesean cheese to the top of the soup in each bowl.

Enjoy!

PS This makes a lot!

Chicken Marsala

2009-12-16T20:56:00.000-08:00

This is another great recipe I found on getoffyourbuttandbake.blogspot.com
This calls for 6 chicken breasts, but I only used 2 thick chicken breasts. I didn't cut down on the seasonings and thought that they were barely enough for the 2 chicken breasts I had. I would suggest doubling it if you are adding more chicken breasts. I also only marinated the chicken for about 5 hours. I think I will marinate it for closer to the 8 hours recommended next time. But so yummy!! Sorry about the picture!

Ingredients:

6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 ounces each) 1 cup fat-free Italian salad dressing 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon paprika 1/4 teaspoon pepper 2 tablespoon Olive Oil, divided 1 tablespoon butter 1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth 1/2 cup Marsala wine or 3 tablespoons unsweetened apple juice plus 5 tablespoons additional reduced-sodium chicken broth 1 pound sliced fresh mushrooms (opt) 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley

Directions:

Flatten chicken to 1/2-in. thickness. Place in a large resealable plastic bag; add salad dressing. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Drain and discard marinade. Combine the flour, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, paprika and pepper; sprinkle over both sides of chicken. In a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, cook chicken in 1 tablespoon oil and butter for 2 minutes on each side or until browned. Transfer to a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Gradually add broth and wine or apple juice mixture to skillet, stirring to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes. In the same skillet, cook mushrooms in remaining oil for 2 minutes; drain. Stir sauce into mushrooms; heat through. Pour over chicken; sprinkle with parsley. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until chicken juices run clear. Yield: 6 servings.

Pecan Pie Muffins

2009-12-16T20:33:00.000-08:00

An old coworker used to make these and I got hooked. I haven't had them for a long time and don't usually have pecans on hand. But tonight was my lucky night when I realized I did have some pecans in my fridge. I was afraid I had the recipe wrong because there are no spices and only a 1/2 cup flour. But, when you eat these, you realize that those ingredients are all you need. (These are more of a dessert than a breakfast muffin.)

Pecan Pie Muffins (Makes approx. 9 muffins)

1 Cup chopped pecans
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar (I used 3/4 cup)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 large eggs
1/2 cup butter melted

COMBINE first 3 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture.

BEAT eggs until foamy. Stir together eggs and butter; add to dry ingredients; stirring just until moistened.

COAT muffin tin with cooking spray and spoon batter into cups.

BAKE at 350 for 20-25 min. or until done. Remove from pans immediately and cool on wire racks. Makes approx. 9 muffins

Mint Sticks

2009-12-16T20:22:00.000-08:00

OOPS! I posted this a while ago but just realized when I was going to make these this morning that I didn't post the measurements! Sorry! Here they are now.

This is another family Christmas recipe. I always love these and they are so much better when my Mom makes them! I didn't have peppermint extract so I used mint extract. It makes a difference. They were still good, but are much better with peppermint.

Mint Sticks (makes 1 cake pan)

1 C. melted butter

2 C sugar

4 eggs

3 ½ squares melted baking chocolate

¼ tsp peppermint flavor

1 C flour

1 C nuts (optional)

1. Combine butter, sugar, eggs and beat well. Add chocolate and flavoring. Add flour and nuts. Put in greased pan. Bake 350 for 20-25 min.

2. When cool, add 5 Tbs melted butter, 2 ½ Tbs cream, 2 ½ C pwd sugar, ¼ tsp peppermint; (Blend butter and cream, then add sugar and flavoring). Spread over cooled baked layer.

3. 8 -10 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips and 4 Tbs butter and melt together. Spread or drizzle on top.

Even better alfredo

2009-12-16T14:27:00.000-08:00

I have used one recipe for alfredo for a long time. My Mom used a new recipe while I was visiting home in September and it was really good. The thing I like about this recipe is that I don't feel like I am consuming all of my daily intake of calories on this one meal. It is not as greasy as my old recipe and has more flavor. To get some veggies in, I added steamed broccoli, for flavor, added bacon pieces, and for more substance, added sliced chicken to the sauce as well. YUM! It is even good the second day.

Melt in a small saucepan on the stove:
2 Tbs butter
2 1/2 Tbs flour
Cook until thick about 1 min.

Add :
1 C. cream
1 C. milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 Tbs. chicken bouillion cube crushed (mine was actually a little less than this)
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/2 Tbs. parsley

Stir until thick. Add about 1/3 cup shredded or grated parmesean cheese (if you want this really cheesy, add more!).

Pour over noodles and stir.

Easy Romano Chicken

2009-12-16T14:18:00.000-08:00

I found this recipe online on Target's website a couple years ago. It is quick and easy and tastes great with a baked potato and steamed broccoli.

Ingredients:
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - pounded to 1/4 in. thick (mine don't ever get this thin, and I usually only use about 2 thick chicken breasts cut in half)
4 slices of swiss cheese
4 slices of ham (deli sandwich ham, or ham steaks cut thin)
2 Tbs. grated Parmesean cheese
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp garlic salt/powder
1/2 tsp dried tarragon (I don't have this, and it still turns out great!)
1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
1 Tbs butter melted
1/3 cup dry bread crumbs (I do a fresh piece of bread toasted and crumbled. I am sure you could use italian bread crumbs too though)

Directions:
Place chicken breasts on a plate. Place swiss cheese and ham slices on top and roll up, securing with a toothpick. In a pie plate, or bowl, combine the Parm. cheese, paprika, garlic salt, tarragon, basil and bread crumbs. Mix together and dip rollups in mixture to coat.
Drizzle with melted butter and cook on high in microwave for 4 -5 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear.

I have been tempted to try this in the oven, on the stove in a pan with a lid, or in the crock pot. I like the microwave idea though for nights I am in a pinch.

Sticky Buns

2009-12-16T13:53:00.000-08:00

This has become one of my Christmas goodies. They are delicious! But, I make them only once a year because they require a lot of butter and cream, etc... Things we really don't need, but are sometimes nice on occasion. I haven't made these with half white/half wheat flour, but I am sure you could, and just add a little more water to make sure they stay moist. Enjoy!

Dissolve in a big bowl:
3 C. warm water
2 pkg yeast (or 4 1/2 tsp yeast)

Add to yeast mixture and mix with an electric beater:
1 pkg white/yellow cake mix
3 eggs

Add in 5 1/2-7 C flour (add a little at a time and make sure dough is still a little bit sticky)

Grease a big bowl, put dough in it and cover with a towel. Let rise until double (approx. 30-45 min.)

After raised, I pull the dough in half. For each half, roll into a rectangle, spread with 1/2 cube butter (melted), and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Now this is where it really gets good (and fattening!!) Have 2 9x13 cake pans out. In each pan, melt 1/2 C. butter, and mix it with 1 C. brown sugar and 1/2 C. milk or cream.

Roll up your dough (start at your stomach and roll up). Cut with a bread knife, slices about 3/4-1 inch thick. Turn those upside down in the brown sugar mix in the cake pans.

When both cake pans are full, cover with towels and let rise until double.

Bake at 350 for about 30 min.

Cool slightly and tip upside down onto cookie sheets.

YUM!

Moo Goo Gai Pan

2009-12-12T21:35:00.000-08:00

This is a great dish full of flavor and color. It has a nice crunch and is even good the second day.

Found on Better Homes & Garden

12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine or dry white wine
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon cooking oil (I use olive oil)
3 cloves garlic, minced (this was too much; I use about 1 1/2 cloves)
2 medium carrots, thinly bias sliced (1 cup)
8 ounces whole small fresh mushrooms (3 cups) or large fresh mushrooms, halved (3 cups)
2 cups fresh pea pods or one 6-ounce package frozen pea pods, thawed
1/2 of an 8-ounce can sliced water chestnuts, drained
3 cups hot cooked rice (brown rice is great with this & healthy too!)

Directions

1. Cut chicken into thin bite-size strips. For sauce, in a small bowl stir together the chicken broth, soy sauce, rice wine or white wine, cornstarch, and sugar. Set aside.

2. Pour cooking oil into a wok or large skillet. (Add more oil as necessary during cooking.) Preheat over medium-high heat. Stir-fry garlic in hot oil for 15 seconds. Add carrots; stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and, if using, fresh pea pods; stir-fry about 1 minute more or until carrots and pea pods are crisp-tender. Remove the vegetables from the wok.

3. Add the chicken to the hot wok. Stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes or until no pink remains. Push the chicken from the center of the wok. Stir sauce. Add the sauce to the center of the wok. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly.

4. Return the cooked vegetables to the wok. Add water chestnuts and, if using, thawed pea pods. Stir all ingredients together to coat with sauce. Cook and stir about 1 minute more or until heated through. Serve immediately over hot cooked rice. Makes 4 servings.

Sweedish Twists

2009-12-12T21:04:00.000-08:00

This is a recipe that my Mom has made at Christmas time for years. They are so delicious!! They taste a lot like Cinnamon rolls, but with a little bit of a different flavor because this requires buttermilk. I made these this week for a girls night out and for Christmas goodies. They were a hit! Hope you like them! (this made about 30) Warning: They can be addicting when they are warm!!! :)

Dissolve in a small bowl:

2 Tbs or 2 pkgs yeast

½ cup warm water

1 Tb sugar

Heat to boiling and cool to lukewarm:

2 C buttermilk (or 2 C. milk, plus 2 Tbs lemon juice or vinegar)

8 Tbs butter

6 Tbs sugar

2 tsp salt

In a large bowl, slightly beat 2 eggs.

Add yeast mixture to eggs and stir in ½ tsp baking soda.

Add 7 C. flour along with buttermilk mixture into egg mixture. (Add 6 cups at first)

Knead until elastic; Let dough rest 15 minutes.

Divide in half; roll each half out and spread each half with 4 Tbs butter (softened).

Sprinkle each half with ½ to 1 C brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and ½ C chopped nuts (optional)

Fold dough in half (fold from your stomach up); cut strips about 1 1/2 inches wide (again from your stomach up, so that one end is connected, and the other is not) and twist.

Place 1 in. apart on a greased cookie sheet and raise for 45 min.

Bake 375 for 12 minutes.

Cool slightly and brush with sugar glaze – 1 ½ C powdered sugar, 1 Tbs melted butter, 2 Tbs hot water (use this amount for each cookie sheet).

Chicken & Dumplings

2009-12-12T20:40:00.000-08:00

This is a really great recipe. Nice and warm for a cold day like today in Idaho. I like this recipe because, unlike some other Chicken & Dumplings recipes, it doesn't have any cream in it. I usually skip out on using the butter, I don't ever use the full onion, use 2 potatoes and don't use the bay leaves. I don't use a box mix for the biscuits, but I make my own. It is much better that way in my opinion! This makes enough to feed my husband, myself, our two little kids and about another 2 bowls leftover.

From food network

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds chicken breast tenders
1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
2 tablespoons butter
1 russet potato, peeled and diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced or thinly sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 rib celery, diced
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, 1/3 palm full
2 tablespoons flour, a handful
1 quart chicken broth or stock, canned or paper container, preferred brand Kitchen Basics
1 small box biscuit mix(preferred brand Jiffy Mix)
1/2 cup warm water
Handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 cup frozen green peas

Directions

Dice tenders into bite size pieces and set aside. Wash hands.

Place a large pot on stove over medium high heat. Add oil, butter, vegetables and bay leaf and cook 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Season mixture with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Add flour to the pan and cook 2 minutes. Stir broth or stock to the pot and bring to a boil. Add chicken to the broth and stir.

Place biscuit mix in a bowl. Combine with 1/2 cup warm water and parsley. Drop tablespoonfuls of prepared mix into the pot, spacing dumplings evenly. Cover pot tightly and reduce heat to medium low. Steam dumplings 8 to 10 minutes. Remove cover and stir chicken and dumplings to thicken sauce a bit. Stir peas into the pan, remove chicken and dumplings from heat and serve in shallow bowls.

Bajio Chicken Chile Salad and Cilantro lime ranch dressing

2009-11-13T21:45:00.000-08:00

This is a recipe I found on yourhomebasedmom.com. It is really good and was a hit with my inlaws. It also made plenty for us and we ate it for a couple of days.

4 chicken breasts (I think I only ended up using 3, and it fed 4 adults and 2 kids)
1/2 c. salsa (I used the cheap Pace)
1 Tbs. cumin
1/2 C. brown sugar
1 4oz. can diced green chilies
6 oz. can sprite

Cook 5-6 hours in a crockpot. Shred the chicken and put back in juices. Cook for 1 more hour. Thicken the juices with corn starch (I omitted this step). Make as a salad with a warm tortilla on the bottom, or roll it up and make it a burrito. Serve with chopped lettuce, shredded cheese, black beans, olives, pico de gallo, and guacamole.

found on letsdishrecipes
Cilantro Lime Ranch Dressing

1 pkg ranch dressing mix
8oz. green salsa ( I used Mrs. Renfroe's. It is REALLY spicy, but added a really good kick, and I only used 4 oz.)
1/2 bunch cilantro chopped
2 cloves garlic
3/4 C. mayo
3/4 C. sour cream
1/4 tsp hot sauce (I used Frank's cayenne pepper sauce)
juice of 1 lime

French Bread

2009-11-13T21:31:00.000-08:00

I tried my mother-in-law's french bread recipe for the first time yesterday. I have to say it tasted really good, but did not look as pretty as hers and did not rise as well (I am wondering if it is because I did half whole wheat and half white flour??). I guess I have some work to do and more years ahead to perfect this.

Makes 2 loaves. Cook at 400 fr 30 min.

Dissolve 2 tsp. yeast in 3 C. warm water and let sit for a few minutes until bubbly.

Add and stir with wooden spoon:
1 1/2 Tbs sugar
1 1/2 Tbs oil
1/2 tsp salt
6 C flour

Rest 10 minutes. Stir and rest 5 times. Divide in half and rest 5 minutes. Roll in a rectangle and roll up (like you are rolling dough for cinnamon rolls). Place on a greased cookie sheet. Cut slits on top and brush with milk. Let rise for 1 1/2 hours. Then bake.

Homemade Brownies

2009-11-13T21:24:00.000-08:00

My mother-in-law gave me this recipe and they are my husband's favorite brownies. He can't stand to eat the boxed brownies anymore after having these for years. She usually cooks them and then sprinkles powdered sugar on top. I like mine more chocolatey, so tonight for a get together, I added chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Who can go wrong with that combination? Well, unless you are allergic to peanuts. If so, I am so sorry! But, I do have a bag of dark chocolate and mint chips that I was tempted to use in the batter tonight too. Hmm... something to try in the future. I will tell you though, these brownies are more cake like and not so chewey and really chocolatey. But are delicious!! Well here is the recipe Emma. Hope they turn out well for Richard!

PS Don't think about calories when making or eating these!

Cream together:
2 C. sugar
2 sticks butter

Add in and beat well:
4 eggs

Then add and mix together with batter:
2 tsp vanilla (unless using real Mexican vanilla and then use only 1 to 1 1/2 tsp)
4 Tbs. cocoa (HEAPING!!)
2 C. flour
1/2 c. nuts (optional)
And mix in more chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, caramel, mint, toffee, etc. for more flavor...

Put in a greased 9 x 13 pan (or smaller to make them more chewey and thick). Bake at 350 for 30-40 min.

Poppyseed Dressing and salad

2009-10-31T19:17:00.000-07:00

This is such a great salad because it is sweet and different from your every day plain green salad. It is my favorite to take to get togethers and always goes so quickly!

Poppyseed Dressing
In blender, mix all on high:

1/2 c. white vinegar
2 tsp poppyseeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c. sugar (this makes it pretty sweet; I actually do a little less than this)
1 Tbs. yellow mustard

After mixing all of the above, add 1 c. canola oil. Then you are done!

Salad:
(I put everything in separate bowls just in case people don't like all of the ingredients. Then it is kind of a buffet style salad.)
Romaine lettuce
Spinach
Shredded mozzarella cheese
1 14 oz. can mandarin oranges
Craisins
Crumbled bacon (or bacon bits if you don't have fresh bacon)
red onion (chopped finely)
fresh sliced mushrooms
Toasted almonds (Melt 1 tbs butter on low in a pan, add 1 1/2 Tbs sugar and 1/4 c. sliced almonds. Stir continuously until sugar is dissolved and almonds are well coated. Place and separate on foil or a plate to cool. If you don't separate them, they will dry and clump together.)

Chicken Thyme

2009-10-25T12:44:00.000-07:00

This is a variation of a recipe my Mom used to do when I was growing up. It was usually a Sunday specialty.

-Take the skin off of 1 whole chicken and remove the insides of the chicken (who would eat them anyway?!)

-In the bottom of your crock pot, place slices of white or sweet onion, and sliced carrots. Place your skinned chicken on top of the onions and carrots.

-Inside of your chicken, place more onions, carrots and season with salt, pepper, garlic and Thyme.

-Sprinkle more salt, pepper, garlic, and Thyme on the outside of the chicken and place more sliced carrots and a few more onion slices around and on top of the chicken. You can also chop up some potatoes (red or brown) and throw those in there too. ( I personally don't like my potatoes in the crock pot. I think they get too mushy. I know, I am weird!) Cook for a few hours or until chicken is falling off the bones!

-If you put potatoes and carrots in your crock pot, you have a whole meal ready to eat. If not, serve chicken with a green salad and mashed sweet potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, diced and seasoned red potatoes, you get the picture. Chicken, potatoes, and vegetables. Enjoy!

No pictures

2009-10-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

Please excuse my lack of food pictures lately. I have been in one of those stages of waiting until the last minute to decide what on my list of things to eat for the week sounds good for the night, thus creating 4 hungry people when the food is ready. That means no time for pictures, just time to eat. Note to self: Be better at planning and sticking with my menu and taking pictures!

Chicken Alfredo

2009-10-25T12:31:00.000-07:00

Once again, this is not a healthy pasta, but how many alfredo recipes are? If you have one less fattening than this, let me know! But really, this is a good recipe.

-Grill, cook in the oven, or in a pan on the stove 1 1/2 chicken breasts (seasoned to your liking) and chop in small chunks.

-Cook up some (if using a box of noodles, I use about 1/2 of a box) wheat noodles (I use the spiral noodles or farfalle, or anything I have in the pantry).

-While noodles are cooking, (if you want some vegetable added to your alfredo) add some frozen peas into the noodle water to cook.

-Also while noodles are cooking, on low, melt:
-1/4 c. butter
-3/4 c. GRATED parmesean cheese (grated is SOOO much better than the bottled stuff)
-1/2 c. whipping cream
-1 Tbs. parsley
-1/8 tsp. garlic powder/salt
-dash of salt and pepper to taste

When noodles and peas are done cooking, drain and add the chicken and sauce and stir to combine. Serve with a fresh green salad and some biscuits!

Variations:
-Add chunks of bacon to the sauce while cooking to give it a smoky flavor.
- Saute slices of mushrooms in a pan with a little butter or olive oil and add to final mixture.

Mexican Chicken Chowder

2009-10-25T12:19:00.001-07:00

This is a recipe that a family friend where I grew up would not give out. Then our family moved and we have been passing it around since! It is delicious, easy, filling, and great in the crock pot for a cold day. But note, it is NOT a healthy soup. I am still looking for some really great, healthy, and delicious soups, so if you have some, PLEASE let me know!

Boil and cut into chunks 2 chicken breasts.
Put in crock pot (or if in a pinch, you can cook this on the stove for about 30 min) with:
-enough corn to fill the bottom of the pot (or more if you like a lot of corn)
-1 small can of green chilis
-1 pkg. taco seasoning
-1 can cream of potato soup
-2 -3 cups chicken broth (If you like yours more like soup, add 3 cups; if you want it thicker, add more like 1 1/2-2 cups. If you are using the broth from your chicken you just boiled, add a crushed chicken bullion cube for more flavoring.)

-About 20 min. before ready to eat, add 1 c. sour cream and a 1/2 of a small block of velveeta cheese diced (You can omit the sour cream if you don't like it, or even reduce the amount to make it less creamy. We like ours really cheesy so we end up doing about 3/4 of the bar of cheese.)

-A great finishing touch and something to add more flavor to this is adding chopped bits of cilantro on top when you are ready to eat.

-To make this go farther and feed more, cook up some brown rice and put some in the bottom of the bowls with the soup on top. It is a lot more filling.

-Can be served with tortilla chips and chunks of avocado on the side as well. ENJOY!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

2009-10-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

This is my go-to for any party or get together. It is easy and everyone loves it. What could be better?

From spinachrecipes.org

Ingredients:

14 oz of artichoke heart (I chop mine up really fine)
1 clove of garlic (fresh or minced in a jar)
2 cups of freshly chopped spinach (I have heard this is what makes the dip special. It is FRESH spinach, NOT FROZEN.) * I end up doing about 2 1/2 cups finely chopped spinach.
½ cup of parmesan cheese
½ cup of mayonnaise (I always do 1/4 c. mayo, 1/4 c. sour cream. This is what some of the reviews on the website said to do and it does turn out better than straight mayo.)
Grated white cheese (I omit this step. I figure there is already parmesean cheese, why fatten this up anymore?)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation Instructions:

Mix everything except the grated cheese together. (Once again, I omit the grated white cheese, and mix in the parmesean and sprinkle a little on top to give it a brown cooked look.)

Place the mixture in an oven-proof dish; then top with the cheese.

Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 10 minutes ( I find it is more like 15 min.) or until spinach is tender and the cheese nicely melted.

Serve with tortilla chips. (Or, a really great and better idea, hollow out a big bread bowl or one of those thick square loaves of specialty bread, such as sourdough, from the store and put your dip in this. Then wrap the whole thing in foil and cook for about 30 min in the oven. Then break chunks of the bread off with the dip and ohhhh! YUM!

Nummy Bars

2009-10-12T15:27:00.000-07:00

This recipe is really dangerous to have in my house. I WILL EAT THEM ALL! Their name fits them well.

Mix together:
1 c. flour
1 c. quick oats (I have old fashioned oats and chopped them for a minute in the food processor)
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c. melted butter ( I used a little less than this)

Blend and divide in half. Press half in pan and bake at 350 for 10 min.

While that is cooking, mix:
1 c. chocolate chips ( I used half milk chocolate, half semi sweet. Or I have even used half chocolate chips and half white chocolate chips. That combo was REALLY RICH!)
1/2 c. nuts (optional)
3/4 c. caramel ice cream topping ( I used a mild butterscotch topping instead last night and it turned out great)
3 Tbs. flour

Spread over bottom oat mixture. Crumble remaining oat mixture on top. Cook another 15 min.
Cool before serving. If you aren't patient enough (like me!), you can eat them warm. But, they are REALLY gooey and VERY rich and sweet. They don't seem quite as sweet when they have cooled. I keep them in the fridge.

Sweet Potato Fries

2009-10-12T15:17:00.000-07:00

I think I have found THE sweet potato fry recipe. We have tried a few others and were never pleased with the results. But after I made these last night, my husband is asking to have them again!

From Our Best Bites

2 medium-sized sweet potatoes ( I used 1 large) (technically, I think what I use are yams)
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t oregano
1/2 t coriander (didn't have any ground coriander so I omitted this)
1 t kosher salt
1 t parsley
fresh ground pepper (completely forgot this!)

Preheat oven to 425 and spray a cookie sheet. (DO NOT LINE YOUR COOKIE SHEET WITH FOIL OR ANYTHING ELSE!) Put your oil and seasonings in a bowl and toss/stir to coat your fries. Place fries on your cookie sheet in rows and with a little space between each fry. Cook for 15 minutes and then flip. Cook another 15-20 minutes and eat! YUM!!! We dipped ours in ketchup but really didn't need to. They have plenty of flavor. Or, the site I found this on makes their own sauce. My kids ate these up! Hope yours do too!

Chocolate Candy Cake

2009-10-08T14:18:00.001-07:00

This is a delicious chocolate cake that is pretty much the same thing as Texas Sheet Cake. And if you are trying to count calories, this IS NOT the cake for you to make. But it is VERY GOOD!

Mix together in a medium bowl:
2 c. flour
2 c. sugar

Bring to boil and let cool:
2 sticks butter
1 c. water
4 Tbs. coco
Add this to the mixture above.

Then add:
2 eggs
1/2 c. sour milk (Regular milk and 1 tsp vinegar)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

Spray cake pan and pour in mixture. Bake at 350 for about 30 min.

Frosting:
Mix together:
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Boil and add to mixture above:
1/2 stick butter
5 Tbs milk
4 Tbs coco

Mix together and you may need to add some water or more milk to thin it out a little. Put frosting on cake while frosting is still warm.

Fresh Bread

2009-09-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

This is actually a white bread recipe but I made it half white, half whole wheat and it was a great combination of the sweetness of white bread but a little better for you with the wheat (or so I like to tell myself!). I cut this recipe out of a Dallas Morning News newspaper years ago and never tried it until this week. But beware, it gets really crumbly when you make a sandwich with it!

Makes 2 - 9x5 inch loaves

Ingredients:
2 c. warm water
1 1/2 tsp salt
2/3 c. white sugar (or a little less like I did)
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 Tbs active dry yeast
6 cups bread flour

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam (about 5 min.).
2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Kneed dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl and turn dough to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until double in bulk, about one hour.
3. Punch dough down. Kneed for a few minutes and divide in half. Shape into loaves and place into two well oiled 9 x5 inch loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 min., or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
4. Bake at 350 for 30 min. (Mine were done at about 25 min. so set your timer for less and check)

Peanut Butter Cookies

2009-09-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

In my 5 years of marriage, I can't recall a time when I had made peanut butter cookies. So, that is what I did the other day. Growing up, my Mom used to put hershey kisses on top but I didn't have any so we did hershey choc. chips mixed in. YUM!

Bake 370 for 8-10 min.

Cream together:
1/2 c. butter or shortening
1/2 c. peanut butter ( I like to use crunchy!)
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 egg

Add:
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 c. flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt.

Roll into balls and dip in white sugar; place on cookie sheet and press with a fork in an x shape. Cook 8-10 min. and enjoy!

Grilled Stuffed Zucchini

2009-09-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

I am not a huge fan of zucchini, but this turned out really well and was very good! We have a little charcoal grill and that gave the zucchini a great smoky flavor.

Grilled Stuffed Zucchini
recipe by Our Best Bites

2 medium zucchini (about 10")
4 oz Italian turkey sausage (I couldn't find the Turkey sausage so I used 2 regular Italian sausages)
1/4 C diced red onion ( I didn't have this so I used a white onion and a little green onion)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium tomato (about 1/2 C diced)
1 1/2 T chopped fresh basil (or abt a teaspoon of dried) ( I am not a big fan of basil so I used Italian seasoning)
2/3 C Italian cheese blend (the kind pre-bagged with parm/mozz/asiago/etc)
1 T Italian style bread crumbs

kosher salt
black pepper
extra virgin olive oil

-Slice zucchini in half length wise, leaving the tops on.
-Scoop out the centers, saving them in a bowl. Leave at least 1/4 inch around the edges and bottoms. Take the good parts of the zucchini guts you just scooped out and dice up 1/2 C. This will go in your filling.
-Drizzle the zucchini shells with a little olive oil and use your hands to rub it on all sides. Sprinkle with some kosher salt and black pepper and set aside.
-Preheat your grill outside and then start your filling in a skillet on the stovetop. Start by browning the sausage. When you no longer see pink, add the onions, garlic, and diced zucchini. Cook for 2-3 minutes until onion is tender. Add tomato and basil, 1/4 t kosher salt and a few cracks of black pepper. Remove pan from heat and set aside.
-First take your zucchini to the grill and put them hollow-side down.
-Grill for about 5 minutes on medium heat. They should have nice charred marks and look tender on the inside. (Make sure you don't cook them very long here. You will put them back on the grill when they are stuffed. If you cook them too long, they will become watery.)
-Take them back inside. Add cheese and bread crumbs to filling mixture. Stir to combine and then divide the filling between the zucchini. Top each zucchini with about 1T cheese and sprinkle with 1/4-1/2 t bread crumbs. Lastly, give them a little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
-Place them back on the grill (filling side up- please!) Close grill lid, and cook for another 5-7 minutes. Larger/thicker zucchini will obviously take longer to cook.
-If you're doing this inside, it will take a little longer seeing as you can't close the lid to keep in the heat. You also might want to broil them in the oven when they're finished to help the cheese on top get nice and bubbly.

Pear sauce

2009-09-17T12:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, for all you canning fanatics, you should REALLY try making pear sauce. I have never canned before and went to a class at enrichment the other night and helped make pear sauce. You know, like applesauce, but with pears. It was really great! I don't have the exact recipe, but if you are into canning, I am sure you can find one for it ( or I can find out if you want!). We had breakfast for dinner and had wheat pancakes with pear sauce and homemade whipped cream on top. YUM!!

Chicken Cordon Bleu

2009-09-17T12:52:00.000-07:00

I have never made Chicken Cordon Bleu before and decided to find a recipe. I got lucky and this one was good. Not as good the second day, but still very good. I liked that the sauce was not cream of chicken (not a big fan of this). The bad thing about this recipe though is that it took a while since it cooks on the stove and I had to keep babysitting it. I think next time I will try browning it on the stove and then cooking it in the oven.

INGREDIENTS:

*
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/2 inch thickness
6 slices Swiss cheese
6 slices ham
3 Tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
6 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup white wine or chicken broth
1 teaspoon chicken broth granules
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup heavy cream
4 cups hot, cooked linguine or pasta of your choice

DIRECTIONS:

Place a ham and a cheese slice on each chicken breast. (I pounded my breasts, to 1/4", it makes the chicken much easier to roll) Roll up tightly, tucking in sides to completely enclose ham and cheese. Secure with toothpicks. Mix flour and next 4 ingredients in a small bowl and coat the chicken pieces with the mixture. In a large skillet heat the butter over medium-high heat and brown the chicken rolls on all sides. Add broth and broth granules, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes, until chicken is done & tender in the center. Remove chicken and keep warm on a serving platter. Blend cornstarch with the cream and stir into the skillet, stirring constantly and cooking until thickened. Serve sauce over chicken and linguine.
Number of Servings: 6

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

2009-09-17T12:37:00.000-07:00

I know most of my posts say that the food I made was delicious, well, this one was too. Really, why would I post a recipe of something that wasn't delicious? I am a sweet bread fanatic, and a lover of chocolate, so what is better than a sweet bread with chocolate in it?? AND, this one has vegetables too! I know, I know, the chocolate, sugar and cooking it defeats the whole nutritional value of the zucchini, but it makes me feel a little better when I eat half a loaf! ENJOY!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread {makes 2 loaves}
Recipe by ourbestbites

2 C flour (I used 1 c. white and 1 c. wheat flour)
2 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t baking soda
6 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 C canola oil (next time I will try applesauce as a replacement)
1 C sugar ( I did about 3/4 c. sugar instead but could have probably even done 1/2 c.)
1/4 C brown sugar
3 eggs
2 t vanilla
1/2 C sour cream
3 C grated zucchini (About 3 medium sized zucchinis)
3/4 C mini chocolate chips (who wants mini? I used the real deal!)

Topping: (this makes a lot; maybe cut in half)
2 T brown sugar
2 T white sugar
1/2 t cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 loaf pans and set aside. I used one medium sized aluminum pan, and 3 small aluminum pans (the small ones are nice to give away!)

Mix topping ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. (The topping made way more than what I wanted, so you could probably cut this in half or even get rid of it all together and the bread would still be great!)

Place flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside.

With a stand or hand mixer beat oil, white sugar, brown sugar, and eggs until combined and slightly fluffy, 1-2 minutes.

Add vanilla and sour cream and mix until combined.

Gently stir in the grated zucchini.

Take a spoonful of the flour mixture and stir in with the chocolate chips (that will help keep them evenly distributed.) If you only have regular chocolate chips, or a chocolate bar, just give it a chop so it's the size of mini chocolate chips. Stir remaining flour mixture into batter and mix just until combined. Add chocolate chips and stir to combine.

Divide the batter between the two pans. and sprinkle topping over each.

Bake in your preheated 350 degree oven for 50-60 minutes. (I checked mine at 45 min. but they were done at about 50 min.)

When it's done a toothpick or skewer should come out without goopy batter on it and the top will be gorgeous and cracked with sugar.

Let it cool on a rack for 5-10 minutes and then remove from pans.

Chocolate Swirled Banana Bread

2009-09-13T13:40:00.000-07:00

To all those banana bread fans, here you go! I love banana bread, and love chocolate, so I figured I would give this a try. I really liked it! It has less sour cream, butter, and sugar than my regular recipe, and was still delicious! I even cut back on the sugar more and of course, added in about half wheat flour and increased the banana a little bit to make sure it was moist. YUM!

Found on: our best bites

Chocolate Swirled Banana Bread

2 c. flour
¾ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 c. sugar
¼ c. butter, softened
1 ½ c. mashed ripe bananas (about 3-4 medium bananas)
2 eggs
1/3 c. plain lowfat yogurt or sour cream
½ c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cups and level. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Cream sugar and butter. Add bananas, eggs, and yogurt, beating until just blended. Add flour mixture. Beat on low until just moistened. Microwave chocolate chips in a medium bowl for 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Cool slightly. Add 1 c. batter to chocolate, stirring until well-combined. Spoon chocolate batter alternately with plain batter (so you have stripes of plain and chocolate batter) in an 8 ½” x 4 ½” loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Swirl batters with a knife.
Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes (give or take a little; I'd probably set your timer for 1 hour and 10 minutes to be safe) or until a knife comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan and then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

Pork Tacos and Pico de Gallo

2009-09-07T20:12:00.000-07:00

This is a great meal to feel a lot of people. I have used 3-4 pork chops, or a pork roast. Add whatever toppings you like, and voila! A meal for many! Serve with fresh fruit salad, warm wheat torillas and spanish rice (still working on a good recipe for this. Have one? Let me know!).

Put 3-4 pork chops or a whole pork roast (serves 4-5 adults) in crockpot about 5 hours on medium and pour Mesquite marinade over top (I have used Lawrys, but am looking for a homemade one so I can get away from the high fructose corn syrup in the store bought ones) and walk away for a few hours! Then when it falls apart, shred it in the crock pot so all of the meat can soak in the marinade and turn on warm until ready to serve.

Serve with wheat tortillas and...
olives
guacamole (onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, seasoning salt, lemon juice mixed in
with 2-3 avocadoes)
lettuce
shredded cheese
black beans
pico de gallo

Pico de Gallo
Mix together in a bowl a few hours before serving to let flavors soak together:

1 large tomato diced small
handful of cilantro cut up small
couple slices of red onion diced
sprinkle garlic salt or about 1/2 tsp minced garlic
dash of salt and pepper

Want it to have a little kick? Add about half of a small diced jalapeno (seeds out)

Coffee cake

2009-09-07T20:06:00.000-07:00

Heat oven to 375 and grease 6 x9 pan (?? smaller than a cake pan).

Mix:
1 1/2 C flour
3/4 C sugar (can reduce and will still turn out great)
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 C shortening (we used real butter this morning and it gave it a rich butter flavor)
3/4 C milk (add a little more if using whole wheat flour)
1 egg

Topping:
1/3 C brown sugar
1/4 C flour
3 Tbs firm butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix together with a fork or pastry cutter to cut up butter into small chunks and make this a crumbly topping. Sprinkle over batter in pan.

Cook about 30-35 min.

Homemade Wheat Bread

2009-09-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

I have actually never made homemade bread by hand and this turned out fairly well. I have been lazy and put mine in the breadmaker but decided this week was the week to try it by hand. I was afraid whole wheat would be too dry, but this recipe was pretty easy and was really moist. I used Virgin coconut oil instead of vegetable oil and it gave it a little sweet coconut flavor.

From savory seasonings

Fast and Easy Whole Wheat Bread
Yields 2 (8x4 loaves)
http://savoryseasonings.blogspot.com/

2 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 tsp. dry active yeast

3 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 TBSP salt
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup honey or 1/3 cup sugar
1 1/4 TBSP lemon juice

2 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Mix together yeast and water and allow the yeast to proof for 5 minutes. Add 3 ¾ cup flour to yeast mixture and let rest for 10 minutes. Add salt, oil, honey or sugar, and lemon juice and mix for one minute. Add the remaining flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing between each cup. Knead for about 6-10 minutes until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. This makes very soft dough.

If you are kneading by hand, gradually add last cup of flour to keep dough from sticking to counter. You will add more flour when kneading by hand. With wheat flour always add the least amount of flour possible to keep the bread moist. Knead for 10 minutes before shaping into loaves.

Pre-heat oven for one minute to lukewarm and then turn off. Turn dough onto oiled counter top; divide, shape into loaves and place in oiled bread pans. Let rise in warm oven for about 15-18 minutes or until dough reaches the top of the pan. Do not remove bread from oven; turn oven to 350 and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on racks.

Jumbalya

2009-09-07T19:42:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe that I got from my Mom, who I think got it from my Aunt?? Anywho... it is really good, but turns out different every time I make it. The only thing different though is how spicy it is. Depending on your brand of rotel tomatoes, it may be really spicy, or hardly at all. But, it is a great crockpot dinner. Put it in and forget about it, or you can cook it on the stove in a big pot.

Before you start cooking everything else, make sure you have cooked and diced chicken (no seasonings necessary; I boil mine to make it quick; I usually only use 1 chicken breast), sausage (Turkey sausage, or regular; I usually use about half of the package), about 1/2 pound cooked shrimp w/tail off.

Add into the pot and stir:
1 can rotel tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 small can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes (I usually omit this)

Add in the meat: sausage, chicken, shrimp.

I don't ever measure the vegetables, but just kind of throw it in and do what looks good to me. Don't like as much onion or green pepper?? Add more red pepper or celery.

Dice and add to tomato and meat mixture:
red pepper
green pepper
yellow or orange pepper (I never have this so I usually omit this one)
white onion
celery

Cook in crock pot for a few hours or until vegetables are soft. Or, cook on stove in a big pot until vegetables are soft. Serve with rice mixed in, or to the side and a green salad. YUM!

Biscuits

2009-09-07T19:30:00.000-07:00

I tried a new biscuit recipe, and it is again from BHG.com. It was pretty good and more like KFC biscuits. I don't know if any of you have had those, but the ones in Texas were really good. And actually, the only good thing from KFC were the biscuits! Anyway.... I did my usual and made them mostly with wheat flour and a little white flour, but I didn't add extra liquid, so they did turn out a little dry. But with butter and homemade raspberry jam or honey, they were great! And I heated a couple up the next morning and put some scrambled eggs on them and they were REALLY great! But, I think I will keep searching for that really teriffic biscuit recipe. Anyone have a great one??

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening or butter
2/3 cup milk

Directions

1. In a medium mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt. Mix well to distribute the baking powder and the salt.

2. Using a pastry blender or fork, cut shortening into flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. If you use butter, be sure it is chilled. (Mixing by hand softens the shortening, making the dough sticky and hard to handle.)

3. Gently push the flour-shortening mixture against the sides of the bowl, making a well in the center. Pour the milk into the well all at once. Using a fork, stir just until the mixture follows the fork around the bowl and forms a soft dough.

4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently 10 to 12 strokes.

5. On the lightly floured surface, pat the dough to 1/2-inch thickness (or roll it out with a lightly floured rolling pin, if desired). Sprinkle a little flour over dough.

6. Cut biscuit dough with a 2-1/2-inch round biscuit cutter, pressing the cutter straight down. Be careful not to twist the cutter or flatten the cut biscuit edges or you won't get straight-sided, evenly shaped biscuits. Dip the cutter into flour between cuts to prevent sticking. If you do not have a biscuit cutter, use a straight-sided glass. Or, pat the dough into a 1/2-inch-thick rectangle and cut into squares or triangles using a sharp knife.

7. Using a metal spatula, carefully transfer the cut biscuits to an ungreased baking sheet. For crusty-sided biscuits, place about 1 inch apart. For soft-sided biscuits, place biscuits close together in an ungreased baking pan.

8. Reroll scraps of dough and cut into biscuit shapes. Try to cut out as many biscuits as possible from a single rolling of dough. Too many rerollings of the dough causes biscuits to be tough and dry.

9. Bake biscuits in 450 degree F oven 10 to 12 minutes or until biscuits are golden on the top and the bottom. Serve warm. Makes 10 biscuits.

Sticky Coconut Chicken

2009-09-02T22:04:00.000-07:00

This was DELICIOUS! I have wanted to try coconut chicken, and I was VERY pleased with this recipe. Of course, there are things I will do differently next time. I tried sprinkling dried coconut onto the chicken while it was on the grill, but this was just a waste of time. After turning the chicken over a couple times, the coconut just fell off. I marinated the chicken for about 3 hours. Next time, I will try about 6 hours to give it more flavor. The "sticky" glaze measurements seemed like a lot to me, so I cut it into thirds since I was only cooking 2 chicken breasts instead of 6-8 thighs. The glaze cooked down quite a bit and I ended up only being able to drizzle this over the chicken instead of covering it. I think I will make the whole amount next time to make sure I have enough. I also cooked up the glaze too far in advance and when I went to put it on the chicken, it was almost a solid so I had to reheat it. I know, I am picky and have too many things to change, but really... this was REALLY GOOD! I only used half a can of coconut milk for my marinade with two chicken breasts, and so did as the recipe suggested and used the other half for some of the liquid for the rice. It was a different, almost sweet flavor, but I added a little salt and it was a great combination of flavors! We had leftover coconut rice and leftover meat from the Hoisin Chicken Rice Bowls, so my husband combined the two for a leftover lunch and he said it was really good.

From mykitchencafe

6-8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 cup canned coconut milk
1 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
1 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1 tsp. red pepper flakes

Marinade chicken in coconut milk, ginger, pepper and red pepper flakes at least one hour (I let mine marinade four about four to five hours). Grill on barbecue.

Glaze:
3/4 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. red pepper flakes

While the chicken is grilling, bring above ingredients to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until mixture is reduced and thickened, about 8-10 minutes. Be patient because it takes a little while. But once it starts getting really thick, immediately take it off the heat! Glaze both sides of chicken the last few minutes of grilling and serve chicken over rice.

Sidenote: I used the extra coconut milk left in the can as part of the liquid in my rice and it was unbelievable! It was very mildly sweet and paired so well with the chicken. Yum!

Hoisin Chicken Rice Bowls

2009-09-02T21:54:00.000-07:00

When I read this recipe, I liked that it was a healthy meal. I had no idea what Hoisin was though. To tell the truth, after I bought it and was making this, when I opened the jar, my first thought was, "This looks like TAR". It looked disgusting! However, it give the chicken kind of a sweet flavor, almost like honey. I didn't think I needed all of the Hoisin it called for, but I wish I had used it. I think it would have given it a little more flavor. These were not my favorite, but my husband liked them, so I may try them again and make a few adjustments. I think I will leave the water chestnuts whole instead of chopping them. I like the crunch of these. The green onions you put on top after it is cooked gave it a great flavor. I think I will add some in while I am cooking next time.

From mykitchencafe

Serves 4

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 large red pepper, diced small
1 10-ounce package baby portebello mushrooms, diced small
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 average-sized boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced small
1 8-ounce can water chestnuts, drained, diced small
2 teaspoons teriyaki sauce (you can find this by the soy sauce)
4 tablespoons hoisin sauce
3 cups of hot cooked rice
romaine lettuce leaves
sesame seeds
scallions, thinly sliced

Heat oil over medium high heat in a large saute pan. Add red pepper and mushrooms and saute for 5 - 6 minutes until tender. Add garlic and saute an additional minute. Add chicken to pan and cook for 6 - 8 minutes or until cooked through. Stir chicken and red pepper mixture occasionally while it cooks. Add water chestnuts, teriyaki sauce and hoisin sauce and stir to coat the chicken and vegetables. Continue cooking until heated through.

To serve, line a single serving size bowl with romaine leaves. Top with a large scoop of rice, some of the hoisin chicken, and a sprinkle of the sesame seeds and scallions.

Alternately, you can serve the hoisin chicken mixture wrapped in lettuce leaves or omit the lettuce leaves completely and serve the chicken over rice.

Pick a Fruit Galette

2009-09-02T20:18:00.000-07:00

I made these tonight, one with fresh peaches, and the other with apples. They turned out pretty good. However, pie crusts and I do not get along, and so my galettes could have used some more work. I also did not add enough fruit to mine. All in all though, they were a good treat! (Sorry, the picture didn't turn out very well!)

Galette
Recipe By ourbestbites.com

Pastry Crust:
2 C Flour
11 T Butter (real butter, no exceptions) that's just over 2/3 C.
1/4 t Salt

4-5 T ice water

Fruit Filling:
4 C prepared fruit (peeled, pitted, diced, etc)
up to 1/2 C Sugar*
3 T Flour
1 1/2 T Butter
(plus a little extra butter and sugar for the finished crust, as explained in directions.)

* add sugar depending on the sweetness of your fruit. My cherries were so sweet I only added 1/4 C.

Make pie crust first.
I was able to make 2 medium pies, 1 small pie, and some leftover cinnamon and sugar pie crust.

Step 1: Measure flour and salt into a bowl. Cut cold butter (straight from fridge) into small chunks and throw on top of the flour.

Step 2: Cut the butter into the flour (with a pastry cutter, or a fork) until butter is in small crumbly pieces.

Step 3: Add ice water a tablespoon at a time while stirring dough mixture with a fork. *(I ended up using about 9 Tbls. Using 4-5 didn't moisten the dough enough)

Step 4: Bring it all together and pat into a ball. You're done! See? Less than 5 minutes. Wrap in plastic and put it in the fridge.

Now pick a fruit. It should be peeled, pitted, diced, etc. Sprinkle flour over fruit. Add sugar to taste, up to 1/2 cup. At this point you can also add flavored extracts, or other spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. I add 1/2 t almond extract if I'm using cherries.

Stir it all up.

Roll out your pastry dough on a floured surface. You want it to be at least 12" in diameter. Since this dough recipe will yield more than you need, be generous and err on the large side I also like mine on the thick side. Use a paring knife or pizza cutter to trim edges if you need to so you have a circular shape, but don't worry about it being perfect- that's the beauty of a galette- it's supposed to be messy looking!

To transfer the dough to your baking sheet, fold your circle in half and then in half again. Place on baking sheet and unfold.

Dump your fruit mixture right in the middle and dot with 1-2 T butter. You'll want at least 2" of dough surrounding your fruit, but it's fine if you have more.

Now take the edges of the dough and pull them up, pleating as you go.

Dip your fingers in some water and moisten in between the pleats to seal them a little better. When it's all wrapped up, press lightly with your fingers all around it. Brush the top of the dough with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Place in the oven (375) for 50-60 minutes. The fruit should be bubbling and the crust golden brown. When finished remove from oven and place pan a cooling rack. Cool for about 10-15 minutes before serving.

Cut into wedges and definitely serve with a big scoop of ice cream on top!

Walnut Chicken Breasts

2009-09-02T20:10:00.000-07:00

I found this recipe a while ago and love it. It is relatively easy to put together, but just plan ahead. It takes a little while to cook. I have added mushrooms to this mixture as well and that is good too. I added snow peas tonight to add more vegetables, but they turned out mushy. I think next time I might add them the last 15 minutes of baking. I don't think these would be good as leftovers because the stuffing would be too mushy, but I don't know. There are never leftovers in our house when I make these!

*I try to cut down on the butter so I spread olive oil on the foil instead. I only use 2 chicken breasts, and I still prepare the same amounts for the stuffing and seasonings. It still seems like I don't have enough stuffing, so you might want to add more. Sorry no picture. I didn't plan ahead and ended up being starving and late by the time these were done!

Found on about.com

Cook Time: 55 minutes

Ingredients:

4 boneless chicken breast halves
lemon juice
6 tablespoons melted butter
3 cups bread crumbs, toasted
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 teaspoons parsley flakes
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
seasoned salt and pepper

Preparation:

Mix together bread crumbs, half of the melted butter, onion, celery, parsley, walnuts, 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt, and enough water to moisten. Lay out 4 squares of aluminum foil, double thickness, and butter generously. Make a mound of stuffing on each buttered square of foil then place on baking sheet.

Brush both sides of the chicken with lemon juice then with the remaining butter. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Fold foil up over the chicken to make individual package. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes. Open packages to expose chicken and bake 15 minutes longer.

Homemade Waffles

2009-09-02T20:03:00.000-07:00

Love homemade waffles? Here is a great recipe. As always, make them whole wheat, white, or a mix of both. Try whipping up some whipping cream, with some sugar and a dash of vanilla to put on top with fresh peaches, or homemade raspberry jam! Or, be traditional and eat them with maple syrup. You can never go wrong with that.

Mix together: 1 3/4 C. flour

1 3/4 C. milk

1 Tbs. baking powder

1/2 C. oil

Drop of vanilla

Separate two eggs and put the yolks in with the above mixture and mix together. Beat egg whites until fluffy. Fold in egg whites to above mixture.

Homemade Maple syrup:

In a saucepan add and boil:

2 C. sugar

1 C. water

When sugar is dissolved and water is boiling, take off heat and add about one cap full (depends on how strong of maple syrup you like) of imitation maple flavor.

*We try to cut down on sugar so we only use 1 C. sugar to 1 C. water. I can't go back to store bought syrup now that we have been doing this. In my opinion now, store bought is way too rich and sweet.