Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I'm pretty sure you have a recipe handy for this already, but I am going to share this one because I want to keep it!
Confession #1: usually we mix up a batch of the Betty Crocker Choc Chip cookie pouches. It only takes like an egg and a cube of butter. Fast, tasty, gets the job done. But. Its gone in like 20 minutes. And today I needed more than that.
The next option is usually the recipe on the back of the bag of chocolate chips. The bag I bought doesn't have a cookie recipe.
I pulled out our handy Good Eats book (the Early Years) and realized I really don't want to weigh my ingredients, even if he does say

yep. sometimes I am just that lazy. Confession #2.
Then! I remembered that one of my favorite bloggers had just shared a chocolate chip cookie recipe. I may as well give it a shot, right? Well, I ended up halving the recipe, mostly because I didn't think my mixer could hold 8 cups of flour. haha. I had to google how to half 3/4 cup, so for your information, the answer is 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. Good to know. (how did we survive before google, seriously?!)
Also, when I cut open the bag of chocolate chips I have to sneak a couple and ohmygoodness I think I found heaven! I took a picture to show the difference between these chips and the kind I usually buy. These are much bigger and probably the perfect candy to nibble on! haha!

Confession #3: I love cookie dough. Yes I KNOW there's the egg problem. And in this case I'm eating crisco (yuck!) but I really love cookie dough and this one is a keeper!! Add in the chocolate chips and oh my word....I lost interest in baking them! hahaha!!!

But of course I DID bake them (easier to share that way) and it really DOES make tons and everyone enjoyed them a lot, even if there were only 2-3 chips per cookie, haha!

So here's what I did:

1 cup regular crisco
1/2 cup margarine
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 Tbsp salt
1/2 Tbsp. baking soda
1 1/2 Tbsp vanilla
3/4 tsp baking powder

I let the mixer run a good while and added
4 cups all-purpose flour, gradually.
Then closer to 2 cups chocolate chips.
Bake at 350 for 11-12 minutes.

Oreo Pie

This is a recipe my husband created when he was about 9 years old, and it has become a staple at our Thanksgiving dinners! It's also been used as birthday treats and for other occasions!

1 9inch pie crust (he uses a pre-made one from the store, you can make your own)
1 package of oreos
1 chocolate mousse mix
1 small tub of cool whip

Allow the cool whip to thaw completely. Bake pie crust and set aside to cool. Blend oreos in food processor until they are crumbs- cream filling and all. You will need to grind up about half the package, or more if you'd like. Mix the mousse according to the directions on the package, but beat the mousse with a wire whisk longer than is recommended to give it extra volume.

Once the crust has cooled completely, sprinkle a generous amount of oreo crumbs all over the bottom of the crust, making the first layer. Then take about half the mousse and spread nearly smooth on top of the oreo crumbs. Spread about 1/2 inch layer of cool whip on that, and spread smooth. Next, put down another generous layer of oreo crumbs, but save about a handful to top the pie with. Use the remainder of the mousse for the next layer, except about 1 1/2 tbsp worth (again for topping). Spread a second layer of cool whip on the top. Now swirl the last bit of mousse in with the top cool whip for a nice, rich, brown swirled look. Sprinkle the final handful of oreo crumbs on top. Decorate with half cut oreos if you want.

Chill at least an hour before serving.

Cauliflower Soup!

Tonight, I mixed up my potato soup recipe and created this:

1 head cauliflower
4 small potatoes
3 cubes chicken bouillon
2 cups milk
4 cups water
granulated garlic
black pepper
1/3 cup dehydrated onion 
When the veggies were soft I pureed it all together using my stick blender...

Then added 1/3 cup crumbled bacon
chives
frozen carrots
frozen corn
1 can cheese sauce
handful parmesan cheese

and served it with french bread. YUM!!
*My husband thinks it needed some shredded cheddar or other cheese to make it smoother, but the kids ate it just fine.

Dark Chocolate Caramel Apple Crisp

I mean, with a title like that, what's not to love?!
I found THIS recipe in a Betty Crocker email last year...or maybe the year before that? and I finally got to make it tonight!

This is what * I * used tho, because apparently I'm learning to be a little more creative in the kitchen, haha!
5 granny smith apples
1 golden delicious apple
cored and sliced, and put into a greased 9x13 baking dish.
Sprinkled the flour and cinnamon the recipe states, and mixed it all up.
Chopped 12 caramels into quarters and not so much sprinkled as placed them throughout the apples.

Melted 1/2 cup butter and mixed it in a bowl with the Betty Crocker oatmeal cookie mix. I used my mini food chopper to turn a bunch of almonds into crumbs and mixed in 1/2 a cup of that, and added then closer to 1/2 a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, because that was the end of the bag. Sprinkled that mixture all over the apples and stuck it in the oven for 35 minutes to bake.

my house smells SOOO good.....
and it is DELICIOUS!

Liz's Apple Crisp

My friend Liz posted this recipe on facebook about a month ago and I have been anxious to give it a try. I actually made it right after we enjoyed the minstrone last week! Apples are my favorite part of autumn baking! Apples of all kinds were on an awesome sale this week, so it was a great time to make it!

Her instructions and ingredients are as follows:

Slice 10-12 apples into bottom of 9x13" pan.

Sprinkle 3/4 c. white sugar on top.

Dot with butter (I slice off maybe 2-3 tbsp and cut it into bits over the top) and sprinkle appx. 2 tbsp. flour evenly over the top.

Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg over the top (I do quite a lot of cinnamon).

Combine 1 c. brown sugar, 1 c. oats, 1 c. flour and 1 c. butter (cold). Use pastry blender (or forks if you don't have one), and cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.

Sprinkle oat mixture over apples, sprinkle more cinnamon over the topping and

bake @ 350 for appx. 1 hour.

It was soooo good!!! I did let it cool for about 45 minutes before serving it, because that sauce was BOILING, as you can see in the photo! We had whipped cream on top while it was hot, and that was great, but plain, and cold was delicious too! It was the perfect balance of autumny cinnamony apples, hearty oatyness and butter, lol! YUM!

Minestrone, by ME!

 

My husband is coming home today after being gone most of the week. I wanted to surprise my him with dinner, but I also wanted to use the crock pot. I started by searching my food emails for crockpot dinners that I was

a- interested in eating and
b- had all the ingredients for!
I found THIS minestrone recipe and was inspired!

However...it seemed to me that recipe was lacking ingredients from minestrones I have had before. Off to Pinterest I went in search of more ideas!
And that's where I found THIS recipe!

buuut that seems to cook faster than a crockpot allows. HMM.
And so I present, my own minestrone recipe, and goodness I hope its tasty! LOL!

1 15 oz can kidney beans
1 15 oz can black beans
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 8oz can tomato sauce
4 cups broth (I used 4 crushed chicken boullion cubes and 4 cups water, microwaved for 3 minutes)
1 cup water
2 carrots, grated
2 celery stalks, minced
1 zucchini, minced
1/3 cup minced green beans
dehydrated onion
3 tbsp olive oil
basil
salt
pepper
oregano
thyme
parsley
minced garlic
onion powder
1 1/2 cups small elbow pasta
baby spinach

I put most of the ingredients (everything but the pasta and spniach) into the pot to cook on high heat for about an hour, and then low heat for three more hours. Then I turned it back to high (my crock pot only has two settings) tossed in the pasta and spinach til softened, which took about 20 minutes. We sprinkled Parmesan and cheddar cheese, and serve with a slice of bread and you're set! YUM!

The four of us ate and I had enough left over to set aside two lunches for my husband and I'm pretty sure there's plenty for still another nights' dinner!
(oregano at the top, then going around like a clock: thyme, parsley, basil, sea salt, and onion powder in center)

just LOOK at all those fresh veggies, ready to go into the pot! (I prepped these all the night before becuase I knew I wouldn't have time in the morning!)

Canning Pears

My daughter loves pears, but when she sees them at the store and asks for them, they always seem to be about $1 per pear. That is outrageous to me, so she really gets maybe 3 a year and one of those is in her stocking on Christmas day! I decided to get a half bushel of pears from a local fruit stand, and bottle them myself.

My friend gave me her instructions on bottling pears and the process was quite easy, although time consuming. Here's what I did -

Washed each pear and peeled them, using a potato peeler. I cut them in to about 4 slices, just like an apple, cutting out the core. And yes, it was easier to peel the whole pear rather than cutting first and peeling after.

I would do about 8-10 pears at a time, so I kept the peeled slices in a bowl that had 2 cups water and 1tsp lemon juice to prevent them from browning while I was cutting the others.

When I thought I had enough pears to fill enough bottles to fill my canning pot, I would start stuffing jars with pears. I could fit about 3.5 pears per bottle, but it really depended on how the pears were cut and what the jar was shaped like.

In my 4 cup glass measuring cup, I would microwave 4 cups water and 1 cup sugar for about 2 minutes, then used a whisk to help the sugar completely dissolve. When my 7 jars were full of pears, I poured that sugar water mixture over the pears to fill the bottles.

Then, make sure to wipe the rim of the bottle clean so that you get a good seal, pop a heated, new lid on top, screw the ring on tight and put the bottle in the processing pot! Once the pot was full of its 7 bottles, I let it go for about 40 minutes, so that it was boiling at least 30 minutes.

I ended up with 26 bottles of pears, but one burst in the processing time. So, that's 25 lovely pints of pears into our food storage! Yeay!!!

*and yes, a few of them are pink. My husband's parents added red and green food coloring to their pears when he was growing up so he requested that I do that too. I think its awfully funny to add artificial coloring to what should be healthy food, but hey, that's what he wanted so he got a few.

Blueberry Bran Muffins

This spring my maternal grandmother, and last of my four grandparents, passed away. Fortunately, four years ago she had the foresight to give each of her children and grandchildren a small photo album STUFFED full of her recipes, as a Christmas gift. She wrote a lot of the recipes herself on 4x6 cards, and my aunt and cousin (that I know of- maybe others helped too) wrote some of them. Copies were made so that each recipe didn't have to be handwritten twenty-something times, but its really cool to have Grandmom's recipes in Grandmom's handwriting. *grin

This recipe for bran muffins is one such recipe. I knew it made "like a million" muffins, which meant I could make one batch and freeze it, providing warm breakfasts for a few months to come.

This batch actually made 67 muffins, which is really a ton, LOL. They are sooo yummy straight out of the oven! And they're almost as good reheated in the microwave, straight from the freezer!

Ingredients & Instructions

2 cups Kellogg's All Bran cereal

2 cups boiling water 

Mix these together in small bowl and set aside.

In a very large bowl mix

2 1/2 cups sugar

1 generous cup Shortening (I used margarine because I discovered my shortening was rancid)

5 cups Flour

1 1/2 tsp Salt

4 tsp Baking Soda

4 Eggs

1 qt Buttermilk* (well shaken)

Then add small bowl of soaked All Bran and mix well.

Add 4 cups dry All Bran and 1 can drained blueberries. Fold in carefully and scoop mixture into sprayed muffin tin. Bake at 375* for 20 mins.

The notes say to call my mother if you have any questions on the recipe. That made me laugh!

* My parents never bought buttermilk, ever. When a recipe calls for it, my mom would sour the milk by putting the required baking soda into the milk, as soon as she started the recipe so it had time to turn sour. My husband follows Alton Brown's advice on just about everything, and he sours milk with apple cider vinegar. So when I made these, I poured my quart of milk and added 4 tbsp of the vinegar and let it sit while I mixed everything else together. It works just fine!

Banana Puff Pastry

How fabulous is this treat? Oh yes. Its amazing. Want to make it? Keep reading!

Ingredients:
Banana Pastry Cream

• 2 packages Dream Whip
• 2 boxes instant banna pudding mix
• 1 tsp vanilla
• milk as instructed. (2 3/4 cup)

Pastry Shell:

• 1 sheet puff pastry, cut into 9 squares
• dusted with cinnamon & sugar

Chocolate topping, and filling:

• 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

About 2 hours ahead of time, mix up dream whip, milk, pudding and vanilla according to the Dream Pie recipe found on the box of Dream Whip. Put mixture into gallon zip top bag, (we kept the bag in a pre-chilled bowl) and chill for at least 40 minutes, about 2 hours would be better.

Thaw one sheet puff pastry. Whatever baking sheet you use, use parchment paper or greased pan so they come off easily. Dust entirely with cinnamon & sugar mixture, cut into 9 squares. *pizza cutter works great! Bake at 400* for 15 minutes, until golden brown as instructed. Allow the squares to cool.

While its cooling, melt the chocolate chips and vegetable oil in a glass bowl, in the microwave, heat for 2 minutes at half power. Stir chocolate til completely smooth, keep warm til done using it.

When pastry squares are cool, slice in half, paint both inside halves with chocolate. Retrieve bag of pastry cream, push whole mixture to one corner, and snip off corner of bag. Then pipe two half-inch thick layers of pastry cream as shown.

Make squares into sandwiches, drizzle remaining chocolate all over the top of squares, dust with powdered sugar.

Try not to eat them all...maybe share with neighbors! *grin!

Twist & Shake!

Or rather, a New Twist on an Old Shake!

I have posted THIS basic shake before, which I frequently have for a quick and mobile breakfast. (meaning, I can eat it while doing other things)
It has evolved to become more like this:

• approx 3/4 cup frozen berries (or 1/3 cup peanut butter and 3 ice cubes)
• 1/3 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 packet chocolate instant breakfast powder
• 1 cup milk

 But yesterday my cousin posted this recipe on facebook...

• 1 cup of whatever milk you use
• 2 tbsp of unsweetened cocoa
• 1 banana
• 1 1/2 c. of rolled oats/quick oats /whatever oats you have
• 1 scoop protein powder (I used vanilla cause that's what I had on hand )
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• Then add ice to the consistency you want

So I tossed in 3/4 cup oats into my shake this morning! Today I only used blueberries and blackberries, and with the oats it really tastes like a pie or a cookie! Also the oats give the added benefit of extra fiber, and this breakfast will stick with me longer, making me feel less hungry and snacky before lunch. And its a pretty darn healthy breakfast!

Meatless Lasagna-ish Casserole!

Recently I had some zucchini and some tomatoes that needed used up. A year or two ago I pureed a huge squash of some kind and hid it in a lasagna, so I thought I'd try that method again. But I only had half a pkg of cook-first lasagna noodles and half a pkg of no-cook lasagna noodles so I couldn't do that. As I stared at my pantry wondering how to make this work, I remembered that I'd seen a recipe for a similar concept in a cookbook before!

This recipe is based off the Pampered Chef Pronto Pasta Bake and is listed below. But what I did this night is listed first.

I started by pureeing the zucchini, and the tomatoes, using my stick blender!

I mixed oregano, basil, thyme, sage, onion powder, minced garlic and a bit of brown sugar into the tomatoes, along with a can of tomato paste to make it thicker. (fresh tomatoes are very, very juicy, and somewhat watery!) Then I mixed the zucchini in with it to hide it well, haha! I cooked up some bowtie pasta and created my own layered pasta dish: pasta, sauce mix, cheese, pasta, sauce mix, cheese.

and, since no one knew I used fresh tomatoes and zucchini in their dinner, I added carrot sticks on the side, for a very healthy dinner!

Pronto Pasta Bake:
12 oz rotini pasta
2 medium zucchinis, chopped
2 garlic cloves
1 48 oz jar spaghetti sauce
1 tsp dried basil leaves
2 oz fresh parmesan, grated
2 cups shredded mozarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375*. Cook pasta & drain. Mix zucchini, garlic, spaghetti sauce and basil. In 9x13 pan, layer 1/3 of the sauce mixture, half of the pasta, 1/3 of the sauce, and half of each of the cheeses. Repeat. Cover with foil and bake 45 mins. Uncover and bake additional 5 minutes.

Breakfast Cookies!

Since my kids are back in school, I need filling, nutritious and QUICK breakfast ideas! Today, I gave these cookies a try! The cookies are breakfast-sweet but not candy-sweet. My son and I really liked them. My daughter, not so much - but she didn't like the craisins. Maybe next time I'll leave it out?

I stuck with her original recipe, except for my own edits, LOL. For one thing, I didn't have walnuts on hand, but I did have a big bag of almonds! Rather than attempting to chop them, I stuck them in my blender, along with the craisins, to make them both smaller and less noticeable, for picky eaters, haha.

Also, I used 1/3 cup craisins because I had that, and no raisins.
And a tip I learned? Flatten the cookie when you put it on the pan to bake! The first pan, I didn't know if they would spread so I gave them plenty of space. I don't think they spread even a millimeter! So the second pan I fit more on, and flattened them so they might bake a little faster. Between the flatter cookie, and my elevation (she's east of CO and I'm pretty sure 4,700 feet is higher than anything east of CO) it only took me about 18 mins to bake, rather than her 30-35mins.

Guacamole!

This is one of my favorite things for my husband to make. It is SO yummy and I swear its nutritious becuase its made out of nothing but produce!
5-6 ripe Avacados
3 Roma Tomatoes
5 jalapeno peppers
2 Tbsp Lime Juice
1/8 cup dehydrated onion
1 Coconut
garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, sea salt, hot sauce to taste

Here's what he does:
Peel avacados, chopped and pureed with a stick blender til smooth (unless you like chunks, then a fork is fine) Add 2 Tbsp lime juice, or more if you want more citrus flavor. Chop tomatos and sort of smash them (if you use other tomatoes, squeese the seeds out). Rehydrate your dehydrated onion in about 1/2 cup water. Drain off the water, squeeze out in paper towels. (he thinks it would probably taste better to mince fresh onion but we always have dehydrated on hand). Roast the jalapeno peppers on an open burner or in a steamer basket on the stove, until the peppers are charred all the way around. Run them under cold, running water and rub the charred, waxy skin off. Cut off the ends, butterfly the peppers open and cut out the seeds and middle spine, mince up finely. They'll be very soft to work with. Now you want to add about 3 tbsp fresh coconut water (as in, crack open a coconut, pour the liquid thru a strainer and use the liqued) *You can leave this out but it adds a yummy, rich flavor. Do not use a canned coconut milk product, you need the fresh stuff. and, if you don't like to eat a coconut, give it to us, thanks! haha!
Add about 2 tsp salt, some garlic powder, onion powder and black pepper to taste.
Use a dash of hot sauce if you want more bite, but the peppers may be hot enough for you.

Eat with chips all day long, LOL!
Actually, we often freeze about half of it, becuase if you keep it in the fridge too long it turns brown and doesn't look so great. It will freeze and thaw extremely well.

Peach Season!

Around here, its peach season! We took a trip to a local farm and bought half a bushel of peaches to enjoy! We'll be making jam out of most of them, but we're eating them fresh and look at this- we grilled them!!
The grocery ad showed them grilled and I thought that sounded fabulous. I'd never had grilled peaches, but I have had grilled pineapple. Peaches are sweet and juicy like pineapple so I thought it would be just as great...I was RIGHT!
My awesome husband cut these in half, removed the pits and placed them on the grill cut side down. About five minutes later he turned them over and let them cook another three minutes. He sprinkled just a touch of sugar over them and they were AH-mazing!!!!
Summer side dish? Oh yes. Dessert? Sure, that works too!
*the peel was left on and that was just fine with me too.

Its like pizza...

A few years ago, my kids and I were camping with my parents. {By camping, I mean in a 7-person camp trailer with a fridge, stove, etc. just so you aren't picturing us cooking over a firepit. *giggle.} One of the meals my mom had planned was biscuit pizzas, which is simply flattening out a canned biscuit, spreading tomato sauce mixed with Italian spices over it, adding pepperoni or ground beef or browned sausage and then sprinkling cheese on it, and baking it. That night I am sure we had either ground beef or sausage to work with, which was too time consuming to make that particular night. So to eliminate the meat idea, but still feed people a quick dinner, I suggested this twist-
Bake the biscuits topped with cheese, and dip it in the spiced and herbed tomato sauce!

This works nicely for a summertime lunch too!

Key Lime Pie

Today's recipe was sparked by a trip to the snow cone shack, where my husband got a key lime flavored snow cone. Then he decided he needed to make a pie! Yeay!

The whole family loved it, even those who don't like strong flavors like you might expect from key lime.
You can find the recipe he used HERE.

Quick Chicken Pasta

This is the type of meal my husband would throw together, but its the first time I've ever done it. It was one of those days where we're waiting on payday to replenish the fridge and pantry, but I still need a meal that is going to fill up two growing kiddos. I used only one chicken breast, made a basic pasta sauce based off my spaghetti recipe, and mixed it up with an entire package of penne pasta! The best part? It fed my family of four, plus there were left overs for at least another 5 servings! Yeay!!

So, if you want to make it too...
1 chicken breast, thawed, cut into bite size bits, browned in pan with black pepper and salt, set aside.
Boil pasta, drain.
While chicken and pasta are cooking, pour 12 oz tomato sauce in pan, season with oregano, basil, minced garlic, onion powder and thyme.
When pasta is done, mix chicken into sauce, pour over pasta, toss to coat, sprinkle mozzarella cheese all over, dinner is served!

Granola bars!

Last week, with the intent to control the ingredients and save a buck or two, I tried this snack - homemade granola bars!
I edited the recipe to be 1/2 cup pb, 1/2 cup honey and 1/4 cup cocoa powder.  I think her comment about cutting the honey is not actually a good idea. They are pretty dry... my daughter will not eat them and she would live off store granola bars if I let her. My husband said they taste good but need a few glasses of milk. My son and are working our way thru the pan. I think they make a decent breakfast!

They are cut into bars here, one cut down the long center and then every 2 inches or so across.

Summer Idea

Somehow we ended up with two open 2-liter bottles of root beer. Okay, I know how it happened but it was not really a good situation, lol.
The point is we ended up with flat root beer, which is not very tasty. But its been unusually hot around here. So I had an idea!

I poured the flat root beer into our little popsicle molds and THAT is a tasty way to cool off!

Grilled Chicken!

Last time I showed the yummy birthday treat. This was my husband's birthday dinner!

That's grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and mixed vegetables, with root beer! yum!

He made the chicken marinade based on what sounded good and what we had on hand.It turned out *really good! All of us enjoyed it. So that's today's recipe! You are welcome! haha!

He mixed together the following ingredients in a measuring cup:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup bbq sauce
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp onion powder
1/2 tbsp garlic powder

Then he put three large chicken breasts into bag, poured the mixture over it, rubbed it all around, and allowed the chicken to marinate a bit. He put the chicken on the hot grill, squeezed the remaining marinate mixture into a bowl, and thinned it out with A1. And he brushed the mixture on a couple times while cooking. It was juicy and flavorful and delicious! I strongly recommend you give it a try!

S'mores Cookies!

So my husband's birthday is this weekend. He wouldn't make up his mind and tell me what kind of treat he would like us to make for him so my son and I sat down at the computer and started searching for a yummy sounding new treat. THIS is whaht we picked! This is a website my husband found (I've shared it before on this blog) so I figured that was a good place to start and we had the ingredients on hand to half this recipe! Yeay! haha!
And its a keeper!!

So you mix up the dough, press half of it into the pan. Then you dollop marshmallow creme over it...

 and sprinkle chocolate chips all over it...

 and then crumble/dollop the remaining cookie dough  on top of that!

 Stick it in the oven for a while and voila!

YUM.

Blueberry Muffins from Scratch!

This was my yummy Mother's Day Breakfast!

They look like bran muffins, but they're not. Its just dark from the blueberry pie filling they used! *grin

Like many things my husband makes (if there's a recipe involved) it comes from Alton Brown. Its in Good Eats 2: The Middle Years for those who wonder. If you want to look it up online the episode it comes from is "The Muffin Man Method". The substitutions involved came from the fact of that's what we had on hand.

And here's the recipe...

7 oz sugar

1/2 cup veg oil

1 large egg

1 cup plain yogurt (he used vanilla because that's what was in the house)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp orange zest (he forgot this part)

12 1/2 oz all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 heavy pinch kosher salt (regular old salt in this case)

8 oz fresh blueberries (used about a half a can of blueberry pie filling. Worked really well too!)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, egg and yogurt. Add the dry ingredients reserving 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients and toss with the blueberries. Stir mixture for a count of 10. Add 1 cup blueberries to mixture and stir 3 more times. Reserve the 1/2 cup of blueberries.

Using a #20 ice cream scoop, add the mixture to greased muffin pans. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of berries on top of muffins and press down lightly. Place into the oven and increase the temperature to 400 degrees. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Remove from oven and turn out, upside down on tea towel to cool completely. Serve immediately or store in airtight container for 2 to 3 days.

The link to the original recipe on the Food Network's website can be found HERE!

White Chicken Pizza

Tonight I tried a couple recipes from THIS site once again.
First I used their pizza crust recipe, and then I made the one titled "White Pizza with Chicken". To get to both recipes, click on step 2 and then choose Pizza for your Theme. Both recipes will be listed there.

I only needed 3 cups of flour, and I think stuff like that depends on the humidity level and whatever is in the air. So I did one cup wheat flour, then scooped about 3/4 cup wheat flour into the measuring cup, and topped it off with all-purpose flour, and the third cup was also all-purpose. I kneaded it right inside my bowl, instead of turning it out onto a floured counter. I also rolled it right on to my stone instead of rolling it out on the counter. I really don't like cleaning up, LOL!

Then, in following the pizza recipe, I spread the garlic butter all over the dough, and then baked it about 5 minutes, hoping it might set more, making it easier to spread the ricotta.
I did not mix the ricotta, parmesan and spices because when I complained about making lasagna, that seemed to be my biggest "error". Everyone else just tosses in this and that. So! I spread the ricotta, then sprinkled the parm, then sprinkled the spices.
I decided to use a can of chicken chunks for a couple of reasons...its quicker and easier, plus its cheaper to buy a can of chicken than to buy chicken breasts. So I drained the can, rinsed the chicken and crumpled it up? to make it lots of tiny shredded bits. I only used about half the 13oz can. Then I sprinkled on some mozzarella, and I didn't use anywhere near 3 cups worth! I had a package of 2 cups moz, that we'd already used some from, and I didn't use half of what was in the package. This is what it looked like ready to go in the oven...

and here it is, ready to eat!

I liked it just fine, but I think I would bake it at 350 or 375 so that it cooked more evenly throughout. My son ate without complaint or compliment, lol. My daughter told me that it was "good, but please don't make it again." haha!

Pretzelmaker at home!

Pretzelmaker is my very favorite mall food.
THIS is a darn close imitation, and can be made at home!
(which I'm sure is JUST what I need...hahaha!)
I intended to take pictures of the process but um...that didn't happen. Then I didn't get a picture of the finished product either! They were devoured much too quickly! 

These are about to be boiled...!

....I'll add pictures the next time I make it! hee hee!
Until then, here's my husband's tip. We made salted pretzel bites, parmesan pretzel bites and cinnamon/sugar pretzel bites, as per each of our personal orders, lol. The first pan he brushed with butter and salted...but we were on our way out the door and wanted our pretzels to go with us. We put them in brown paper lunch sacks to go. So for the other flavors, he brushed them with butter, put them in the sack and sprinkled the parmesan or the cinnamon/sugar straight into the bag and shook it up! Ready to go and soooo yummy!

Make your own Quiznos!

Once again, friends to the rescue, when it comes to dinner ideas!
A while ago, my friend told me about this idea she'd done for dinner. I asked her to email me the exact instructions, and then we gave it a try this past week. Here's what she said:

Just got some french bread. Cut it in half. Piled one half high with turkey from the deli and the other side I put probably a half pound of Muenster cheese and half pound of provolone. (I know, LOTS of cheese)

Then I had my oven on about 400 or so, maybe 425 and stuck them on the same cookie sheet, like two open faced sandwiches (does that make sense) and toasted them until the cheese looked melted and then I switched it to broil for about 3 minutes, until the cheese starts to bubble.

After it's been out of the oven just long enough I flip the cheese side onto the turkey side, the turkey side will fall apart if you try to flip that.

I got the french bread and deli turkey and deli ham...and I used the shredded cheeses we had in the house - cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan. Here's how mine turned out:

 and then I cut it into 3rds, (only 3 of us home that night) served it with apples (and lettuce...) and there was dinner!

A twist on french toast!

Here is another recipe from THIS website. This one is easy to find, click on step two and every single time I've visited, this is the first recipe shown! Its called Croissant French Toast. The recipe says you can use a loaf of french bread instead of croissants, and that's what I did - mostly because French Bread is cheaper!

So here's the process....

 and the finished product...

the edits...

I added an egg because the first egg cracked somehow inside the box so I hurried and flipped the box over the bowl and think I got about half an egg... so I had 3 and a half, lol. I left out the sauce because I was totally out of berries. *sniff... That extra half an egg had a LOT of batter left over and I really hate to throw away food so I ended up making 9 bread "sandwiches", instead of the four croissants it says. So all the berries went inside the sandwiches! LOL!
Also, if I make it again, I will half the butter/oil they cooked in. Or use a large electric skillet instead of my frying pan. That was waaay too much.

and the mixed reviews....
I thought it was just fine. It would be super tasty with whipped cream, like when I get berry covered waffles at the diner? lol. And I bet it would have been dreamy with the sauce.
Both of my kids told me it smelled "amazing" and "like heavenly deliciousness" but when they started eating, thought the berries were too sour and the sandwiches were yucky. sad!

My husband thought it was a "good different", and pretty much felt exactly how I did about it.
So if you're looking for a new idea, its worth a try! But no one in my family is going to request it often.

Key Lime Cheesecake

I have mentioned time and again that my husband is an amazing cook. And that he spoils me. My birthday was this week and he happened to see some Key Lime juice at the store the week before, so he made me a Key Lime cheesecake for my birthday cake! YUM!

The recipe he used came from allrecipes.com, and we printed it in July of 2006. So since I don't know if you can still find it, I'm just going to type the recipe and instructions here.

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
6 tbsp butter, melted
24 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
3 eggs
1 tbsp grated lime zest
2/3 cup key lime juice

Combine graham cracker crumbs with butter or margarine. Press into bottom and partially up sides of 9 inch springform pan. Refrigerate.
In a large bowl, beat with an electric mixer, the cream cheese, sugar, lime peel and cornstarch until smooth and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, blending just until smooth. Add key lime juice with mixer on low. Finish mixing by hand. Do not over beat or cake will crack during baking. Pour batter into prepared crust.
Bake at 300 degrees F for 55-65 minutes, or until set. To minimize cracking, place a shallow pan half full of hot water on lower rack during baking.
Turn oven off, and let cheesecake stand in over 30 minutes with the door open at least 4 inches. Remove from oven. Refrigerate cake overnight and up to 3 days.

He even whipped up his own sauce to balance the tartness of the lime! In a mug he mixed some homemade strawberry jam with a little water, a little butter and a little milk, heated in the microwave and mixed with a spoon til smooth. It made maybe 1/3 cup worth of this syrup, and it really is the perfect complement to the cake.
Pretty sure my husband is the best! *grin!

A different lasagna!

I have now entered the world of Pinterest, have you? That is how I found THIS new dinner idea!

We used ground beef instead of chicken becuase we have more beef right now, lol. It was not a hit, but it was okay. It needed more flavor....but maybe feta is a super flavorful cheese? I used shredded mozzarella in place of the feta. My husband thought it needed salt in the mix, but that's not in the recipe. I used my own spaghetti sauce instead of Prego... I'm not sure what we should have done, lol, but it was filling and reasonably nutritious.

If you make it with chicken and feta, let me know how it turns out! :)

Cheesy Bread!

When we have Italian food we like to have cheesy bread on the side. Kinda like they make at pizza places. This is what ours looks like

and here's what we do...
My husband mixes cubed margarine, minced garlic, garlic powder and garlic bread sprinkle (could use garlic salt) and some parmesan cheese.
He spreads that onto halves of a loaf of french bread, then tops it with mozzarella cheese and sticks it under the broiler for a minute or two.

Hot Mulled Cider

In October I had a persistent sore throat. My friend brought me over a whole jar of hot cider, right off her stove top! I love hot cider anyway, but this was sooo perfect for my throat and it tastes so yummy, I was very happy to get the recipe and last week when my daughter was dealing with a cough, I gave it a try!

Georgeanna's Hot Mulled Cider

1 qt apple juice or cider
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
In sauce pan over low heat, dissolve sugar in juice.

Add:
1/2 tsp grated orange peel
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 tsp whole cloves
2 whole allspice berries
3 inch cinnamon stick
1 Tbsp lemon juice
dash of nut meg

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Strain and discard spices. Serve hot.

I had some juicy, fresh oranges, so I zested the heck out of its peel, added a section of peel, and squoze (squeezed?) the juice out of 3 orange sections. I did not have whole cloves or allspice, so I just used a little of the ground spices I had. Mine had a different flavor than hers but it was still very tasty and soothing! mmm!