Chicken Curry in a Hurry

August 11th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Recipes - (0 Comments)
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This is another great recipe that we found years ago from our friend Michelle @ Made By Michelle. It is an easy chicken curry that is delicious. I think we have gotten kind of tainted (in a good way) by this recipe – earlier this year I tried another chicken curry recipe from allrecipes that had a lot of high ratings, and it took way longer and was (in our opinions) not nearly as good as this one.

Ingredients:

1 T. vegetable oil

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. curry powder

1 can (12-14 oz.) unsweetened coconut milk

1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes

2 T. tomato paste

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1″ cubes (we have some pre-cooked and frozen, again for easy cooking)

3 c. packed fresh baby spinach (we used 1 c. here – it was what we had on hand, and about what I thought my kids could handle)

Step 1: In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the onion and the salt. Cook until softened, about 7 minutes, stirring often. Add the curry powder and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute.

Step 2: Stir in the coconut milk, tomatoes, and tomato paste. Cook for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally.

Step 3: Add the chicken, stir well, and cook 5 to 6 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Stir in the spinach and cook for 3 minutes or until wilted, stirring occasionally. Season to taste with salt. Serve over rice.

It is a winner here – and curry is such a great flavor too.

Enjoy! :)

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Pioneer Taffy

July 24th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Fun | Recipes - (0 Comments)
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Happy Pioneer Day! For those of you who may not know what Pioneer Day is, it is when the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka “Mormons”) celebrate the day the first pioneers made it into the Salt Lake Valley as they were trekking west.

Although we are in Texas, where Pioneer Day is not recognized as an official holiday, we still decided it would be fun to commemorate it. SO, I found this recipe for Pioneer Taffy from Jamie Cooks It Up! and thought we could give it a whirl. If you would like some more pictures, check out Jamie’s site for great step-by-step pictures of the process, including a great tip on checking for taffy readiness using a spoon and cold running water. **Note: This recipe is best done with several people, or it will take a long, long time to get everything pulled, cut up and wrapped.

Ingredients:

  • 2 c. sugar
  • 1-1/2 c. water
  • 1 c. light corn syrup
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. *VEGETABLE GLYCERINE (see note at the bottom about this)
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 2 T. butter

***You will also need kitchen shears, waxed paper (pre-cut into squares) and a candy thermometer.

Directions:

1. Mix sugar, water, corn syrup, salt & glycerine in a heavy saucepan.

2. Bring to boil and continue cooking on medium-high until it reaches 258 degrees. Jamie said it should take about 35-40 minutes, and she was absolutely right.

3. Take the taffy off of the heat and add your vanilla and butter.

4. Pour onto greased cookie sheet (I used butter) and let it cool down until it is no longer hot to handle. This takes probably 10ish minutes. Make sure it really is cool enough to handle, or you WILL get burned. No personal experience here (cough).

5. Hand out pieces to all of the lucky participants. Pull the piece straight out into a line, fold it in half, and then pull again. Repeat cycle until you have beautiful white taffy.

6. Cut up into little pieces and wrap into wax paper.

That is it!

Ours turned out great – it had a perfect consistency (I thought) and the flavor is excellent. After the taffy had been pulled, I made the mistake of just leaving it in balls. Don’t do that. You’ll want to roll them out to a good thickness to cut BEFORE they cool down completely (like playdoh snakes) or you will have hard-ish candy ball to try and deal with and roll out later. Once I fixed my ball problem, I ended up putting my “taffy snakes” back on the greased cookie sheet while I was cutting them each up into pieces (the pieces went onto a plate lined with waxed paper to keep them from sticking). I used kitchen shears to cut the taffy. My lovely assistants were great at helping roll each candy into waxed paper – many hands makes light work. What good helpers!

Overall Rating: *****

Difficulty:Easy (make sure you have a candy thermometer), BUT it is time consuming.

Would I Try it Again? I have mixed feelings about this. They are delicious and the individually-wrapped end result is great, BUT they took a little more effort than I had planned on. If I had things thought out earlier (waxed paper cut up beforehand, make sure the taffy stayed in a good snake shape instead of a ball before cutting it, realize that the taffy will stick to EVERYTHING that is not waxed paper or is not greased), it probably wouldn’t be that bad. So, I probably will do it again once I forget the effort it took.

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***GLYCERIN vs. VEGETABLE GLYCERINE***

I went looking for glycerin at CVS. And at Walmart. And at another CVS. At the second CVS, they found a manager who finally was able to find glycerin for me. In the cosmetics section. It turns out it is for covering up skin wounds or something. I told him it was for making taffy, and we both looked over the label and could not find anything about being edible anywhere on it. So I went home and did some research.

Turns out there is GLYCERIN (no “e” at the end) and GLYCERINE (note the “e”). Vegetable glycerine can also be used as a skin cleanser or something, BUT it is also food grade. Which, as far as I understand, means it is edible.

I read from the comments on Jamie’s blog that a pharmacist had told another reader that glycerin would probably be okay in small quantities, but I found the vegetable glycerine at a whole foods-type store here – and it was actually a bit cheaper than the glycerin would have been. Bonus! It was near their essential oils – I just called ahead to see if they carried it, and they did. You could call around as well and save yourself some driving around and foot time.

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Quinoa Recipes

July 23rd, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Recipes - (0 Comments)

I have a bag of quinoa in my pantry that stares at me every once in awhile and makes me think, “Hey – I should really figure out how to use this.” Here are a few recipes that I have found that look promising:

Broccoli-Quinoa Casserole from Eating Well…..Living Thin(ner)

Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa from Epicurious

Quinoa and Roasted Pepper Chili from myrecipes.com

Greek-Style Quinoa Burgers from wholeliving.com

Lentil Quinoa Salad from Melissa d’Arabian

Quinoa Tabbouleh from Aarti Sequiera

Corn and Manchego Tri-Color Quinoa Salad from Cheese Please

Wow! These look good. What are your favorite Quinoa recipes?

Enjoy! :)

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Dried Fruit – Oven-Syle

July 18th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Recipes | Tips - (1 Comments)
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I saw this pin and decided it merited a try: fruit that was better than twizzlers – sweet! It comes from The World Gourmet. As I read through the page and it said to add salt and pepper, which I opted not to do because that would seem to take the “twizzler” taste out of things.

Since I was already doing strawberries, I thought I would experiment with bananas and raspberries too.

Step 1: Cut up some fruit (quarter or halve the strawberries) and put onto a baking sheet.

Step 2: Bake at 210 degrees for 3 hours. The bananas seemed done at this point, but not the raspberries or strawberries.

Step 3: Flip fruit over and keep baking for another hour or two. I just made this step up. The fruit was still not done (minus the bananas), so I kept baking. Here is what it looked like after 5 total hours and some sampled fruit along the way:

End result: I should have taken the bananas off at 3 hours because they were burned…..one of my boys tried the bananas out at the 3 hour mark and was not too fond of them, so they just may have been a flop. The raspberries were not done at 3 hours, but tasted a little burned at 5 hours. The strawberries were AWESOME. I would just stick with those next time. They didn’t taste quite as good or sweet as twizzlers, and I probably prefer them fresh, but they ended up tasty enough. Not nearly as pretty as the picture on The World Gourmet, but that is probably because I am not a Gourmet. :)

Overall Rating: *** (out of 5)

Difficulty: Easy.

Would I Try it Again? Possibly, but like I said before, I preferred the fresh ones and those take less time to be done.

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Enchiladas with Green Chile & Sour Cream Sauce

July 4th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Recipes - (0 Comments)
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Happy Independence Day!! As a totally non-festive American thing to do (or maybe it is a very festive American thing to do since we have all come from all countries and backgrounds…) – I bring to you a yummy Mexican dish, as promised. :)

Is your chicken shredded? Ha HA! – you are now ready for the recipe!

Any time we go out to get Mexican food I always find myself ordering enchiladas with green chile sauce. Every time. They are my favorite. I found this recipe a couple of months ago on Six Sisters’ Stuff and it is awesome. And there is no “cream of….” in the sauce. Hooray!

Ingredients:

  • 8 flour tortillas
  • 2 c. cooked, shredded chicken
  • 2 c. Monterrey Jack cheese
  • 1/2 tsp. chili powder (optional)
  • 3 T. butter
  • 3 T. flour
  • 2 c. chicken broth (or 2 c. water and 2 bullion cubes)
  • 1 c. sour cream
  • 1 (4 oz.) can green chiles
  • 1 tsp. dried cilantro (optional)
  • 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp. onion powder
  • 1/4 tsp. black pepper

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Step 2: Mix your chicken, 1 c. cheese and chili powder together. Place mixture in tortillas, roll them up, and place in a greased 9×13 pan. I like to make some with less of the meat/cheese (like above) for my kids, and then make some that are a little more filled for my husband and me.

Step 3: In a medium saucepan, melt butter. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add broth and whisk until smooth. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly.

Step 4: Stir in sour cream, chiles, cilantro, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper.

Step 5: Pour sauce over enchiladas and top with remaining cheese.

Step 6: Bake 20-22 minutes. If desired, place under high broil for 3 min. to brown the cheese.

There you have it! Super yummy chicken enchiladas. No fatty, gristly meat. Just pure goodness. My sister has made these before with Pepper Jack cheese, and said they were awesome.

My one extra tip here too: these are best eaten within a day or so of making them. If they survive to the “leftover” phase, make sure you eat them sooner than later or you’ll have some soggy tortillas.

Enjoy! :)

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Vegetarian Tacos

June 27th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Recipes - (0 Comments)
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These are actually delicious. Shocking, I know. Especially since they are made from….lentils. But don’t tell anybody.

Last year I decided that I wanted to make more vegetarian meals for our family, so I asked some of my friends for their favorite vegetarian recipes. This one can be found at allrecipes and was passed on by a friend from high school who said that she was vegetarian for seven years and this was one of her favorites.

So I thought we could try it. And I actually like this BETTER than normal taco meat. Crazy, right? It has the same flavor, but the texture is, in my opinion, MUCH better.

In case you have never cooked with lentils before and are wondering what to look for, here is a picture for you:

You can find them with the dried beans, which is normally by the rice.

Ingredients:

1 c. finely chopped onion

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tsp. canola oil

1 c. dried lentils, rinsed

1 T. chili powder

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. oregano

2-1/2 c. chicken broth (or dissolve 3 chicken buillion cubes into 3 c. water, and use 2-1/2 c. of it)

1 c. salsa

12 taco shells or tortillas

Step 1: In a large skillet, saute the onion and garlic in oil until tender.

Step 2: Add the lentils, chili powder, cumin and oregano; cook and stir for 1 minute. Add broth and bring to a boil.

Step 3: Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes or until lentils are tender. Uncover and cook for 6-8 additional minutes or until mixture is thickened. Mash lentils slightly.

Step 4: Add salsa. Serve up and enjoy!

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Hawaiian Meatballs – Aloha! :)

June 20th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Recipes - (0 Comments)
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My friend Jaime brought these meatballs as an appetizer at a party, and they were so good. We have used these as a meal too (as pictured here), but I think they are even better as an appetizer.

Ingredients

30 Homestyle meatballs (find in the frozen section of your store)

1 13-1/2 oz. can pineapple chunks – we usually use the 20 oz. can because I love the extra pineapple

2 T. cornstarch

1/2 c. vinegar

1/2 c. brown sugar

2 T. soy sauce

2 T. lemon juice

1 c. coarsely chopped green peppers

1 T. chopped pimentos (optional)

Step 1: Drain the juice from the pineapple chunks into a measuring cup. Add enough water to make 1 c. liquid.

Step 2: Blend together the pineapple liquid and cornstarch until smooth. Stir in the vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce and lemon juice.

Step 3: Cook on medium high until thickened and clear. As this gets thicker, you’ll want to make sure you keep stirring it, and you may want to turn your heat down as well.

Step 4: Add pineapple chunks, green peppers and pimentos (if desired). Simmer for 15 min.

Step 5: Add meatballs and simmer an additional 15-20 min.

Ser

Serve over rice (or alone as an appetizer) – and ENJOY! :)

Thanks Jaime – all of these years later we are still enjoying it. :)

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EASY Taco Soup

June 12th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Recipes - (0 Comments)
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I know it is getting a liiiiiiitle bit out of “soup season”, but this one also has some good summer flavor in it. Plus also, it is SUPER easy. As in open and dump cans easy. My mom passed this recipe along last year, and we have been very happy to have it because you can keep the ingredients on hand and throw it together at the last minute. We likey.

Ingredients:

1 15 oz. can corn

1 15 oz. can kidney beans

1 15 oz. can pinto beans

1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans (chick peas)

1 30 oz. can tomato sauce (29 oz. is what I can find usually)

1 pkg. taco seasoning

1 lb. ground beef, cooked

shredded cheese & tortilla chips (or broiled tortillas) to top

Step 1: Brown your ground beef if it isn’t already browned. I usually buy in bulk, cook it all at once, and put it into baggies by the pound and freeze it to make life easier later.

Step 2: Open your cans and dump everything into a large pot (including the juice from the cans). Add the taco seasoning and beef. Stir well.

Step 3: Cover and cook on stove for about 1 hour. (Now that I am typing this up, I realize that we usually just bring it to a boil, and then simmer uncovered until we are ready to eat it – which could be 10 or 15 minutes. Your pick.)

Step 4 (if desired – or you can just use tortilla chips): Turn your oven to broil and move one of your oven racks to the top spot. Take about 6 or so soft tortillas and cut them into pieces. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and put your tortilla pieces on the sheet. Stick the sheet into the oven and broil until the pieces are slightly browned. KEEP AN EYE ON THEM SO THEY DON’T BURN. Take them out of the oven and flip them over, and brown the other side. We LOVE these little tortilla pieces – they add a good texture to the soup.

There you have it – easy peasy.

Thanks Mom for the recipe, and thanks Chelsea for the tortilla pieces tip! :)

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Carmelitas – Yum. Yum. Yum.

June 2nd, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Recipes - (0 Comments)
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These are really, really, really, truly good. Caramel and chocolate are two of my favorite things, and together they are AWESOME. And with an oatmeal cookie-like top and bottom – who can beat that? I mean, really.

I found this one from Lulu the Baker. You actually should read this post from her too – it’s pretty funny. She is a bit obsessed with them, which – when you have tried them – is totally understandable. :)

Ingredients: (this is for an 8×8 recipe – for a 9×13 recipe, just double it)

32 caramel squares, unwrapped (many hands makes light work – bribe your roommates, spouse or children to help)

1/2 c. heavy cream

3/4 c. butter, melted

3/4 c. brown sugar, packed

1 c. flour

1 c. rolled oats

1 tsp. baking soda

6 oz. (1/2 bag) semisweet chocolate chips

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine caramels and cream and melt over low heat. You’ll want to keep an eye on this and stir until the caramels melt and it is completely smooth. This takes F-O-R-E-V-E-R, so start on Step 2 while you are doing this.

Step 2: In a large bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, flour, oats and baking soda. Pat half of this mixture into the bottom of an 8×8 pan (whatever it takes to cover the bottom with no gaps). Bake for 10 min. Snack on some of the remaining oatmeal cookie dough while you have nothing else to do (yuuuuuummmmmmm – egg free is the way to be).

Step 3: Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the crust. Pour your caramel mixture over the chocolate chips (after the mixture is all melted and smooth).

Step 4: Crumble the remaining oatmeal mixture over the caramel and return the pan to the oven. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.


These are good enough that even the edge pieces, which are not usually my favorite, are SOOO good because of the cooked caramel.

Enjoy!! :)

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Pasta Tuna Salad – “Pasta Puna Pasta”

May 28th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Recipes - (0 Comments)
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This is a big favorite in our family that I found from my friend Michelle @ Made By Michelle. It is perfect for the warmer weather that we have been having here, and is great for summer. Our kids love it enough that they have renamed it to “Pasta Puna Pasta”, and they do a little happy dance when they find out we are having it for dinner.

And yes, that is dill that you see there. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum.

 

Ingredients

1-1/2 c. pasta (shell, farfalle, whatever)

1 pkg. frozen peas, thawed (10 oz.)

1-1/2 c. chopped carrots

1/4 c. onion, finely diced

2/3 c. mayo

2 T. lemon juice

2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. dill weed

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 can tuna (or we will use 2 cans for dinner)

 

Cook pasta; drain well and set aside to cool (or run cold water over it to cool it down faster). Combine pasta, peas, carrots, onion and tuna in a large bowl and mix well. In a smaller bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients together (mayo, lemon juice, sugar, dill weed, salt, pepper) and mix well. Pour mayo mixture over pasta mixture and toss lightly to combine.

That is it! It is very easy, and INCREDIBLY yummy. I will probably consider doubling the recipe the next time we make it because we go through it so quickly and wish there was more.

Thanks Michelle! And don’t forget to check out her blog – she is very talented, and makes a lot of cool stuff to sell. You can see her ad on the sidebar as well to get an idea of what she can do, or just go check her site out.

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Easy Manicotti

May 22nd, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Recipes - (0 Comments)
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This recipe is easy, delicious and another family winner dinner. It is always nice to have an easy weeknight dinner, and this qualifies. I found it in the Kraft Magazine a few years ago, back when they used to send them out for free. Those were good days. You can still find the recipe online here - along with their other recipes. This recipe introduced me to the joys of pesto – yummmmmm.

Ingredients

12 cooked manicotti shells, rinsed in cold water

2 cups spaghetti sauce, divided

1-3/4 c. Ricotta cheese

1-1/2 c. shredded Mozzarella cheese

1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg, beaten

1/4 c. pesto

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If you haven’t done it yet, cook your manicotti shells according to the directions on the box. Rinse in cold water. Set aside.

Step 2: Line the bottom of a 13×9 baking pan with foil. Spread 3/4 c. spaghetti sauce in the bottom of the pan.

Step 3: Mix cheeses, egg and pesto in a bowl. Move your mixture into a resealable bag. Clip one of the corners of the bag off. Our favorite pesto is Classico’s Traditional Basil Pesto. I’m sure any pesto would be great, though.

Step 4: Fill your manicotti shells by squeezing some of the cheese mixture into EACH side of the manicotti shells. Place the shells in a baking dish and cover with the remaining spaghetti sauce. Cover. If some of your shells have split open in the cooking process, just lay them in your dish, squeeze some of the cheese mixture into the shell, fold it closed, and pretend like everything is okay. :)

Step 5: Bake for 40 min. or until heated through.

There ya go! Sorry for the ugly picture….I think we had some ravenous children so I took one quickly and served them up. At any rate, this is very tasty, and actually, kind of fun to do. I normally end up with 8-9 filled manicotti shells – I think I am a little extra generous with my cheese filling. If you want more filled shells at the end, just watch how much you fill – you won’t want to stuff them completely.

Enjoy!! :)

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Cookie Dough Brownies. Yum.

May 15th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Recipes - (2 Comments)
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I found this recipe for Cookie Dough Brownies just a couple of months ago and have made it twice since then, and it is delicious. The first time we made them (they are RICH!, by the way) I decided that a lot of them needed to find another good home so they didn’t land straight in my hips, so we gave them to the teachers of my oldest two at their schools. One of the teachers stopped me the next day and told me that she normally doesn’t like brownies (wha?), but she loved these ones and wanted the recipe. I saw her a month or so later at the store and she said that she had just made the brownies for a family function of sorts, and then pronounced some kind of woe on me for giving them to her in the first place because they are so good and, obviously, unhealthy.

And, actually, come to think of it, my sister pronounced some kind of cursing on me for introducing HER to the recipe too. Maybe this one isn’t a good one to share. ;)

I found the recipe from the gals at Six Sisters’ Stuff. It is SO good. I also have tweaked the recipe a bit – I changed the butter to margarine. Feel free to change it back, but it really is almost too rich with the butter. Your call though, and don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Ingredients:

Brownies

1 c. margarine

2 c. sugar

4 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. cocoa

1 1/3 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream margarine and sugar together. Add the eggs and blend well. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until it comes together – don’t overdo it. Pour into greased 9×13 pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely (or, throw them in the freezer).

Cookie Dough

1/2 c. margarine

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

1/4 c. sugar

2 T. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 c. flour

1/2 c. mini chocolate chips (or normal ones, if that is what you have on hand)

Cream margarine and sugars together in large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in milk and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour, and then stir in the chocolate chips. Spread over cooled brownies and put it in the freezer until it is firm.

*Note: when you are spreading out the cookie dough, it is VEEEEEEERY sticky. I got my fingers slightly wet and spread out the cookie dough that way (I had to get them slightly wet more than once). Another option is to add just a touch more flour – I’m not sure why I didn’t do that before, other than the fact that the dough was already on my brownies.

And, yes, these did just come out of the freezer – hence the frosty glass.

 

Chocolate Glaze

2 c. chocolate chips

2 T. shortening

3/4 c. walnuts (optional)

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips and shortening together in 30 second intervals (cook in microwave, stir, cook in microwave, stir, etc.). Do this until it is smooth. Spread it over your chilled cookie dough. Sprinkle on your walnuts (if you want them on there) and press them into the glaze. Throw it into the freezer again, or wait for the glaze to harden before you eat them.

These are delicious, but very hard to cut. Hence my awesome picture here:

I tried, and that is what counts, right?

These are also delicious with just the brownie & cookie dough layers, minus the glaze. Or you can cut down on the glaze if it seems like a bit much – my sister did that and thought it was perfect for them.

Enjoy! :)

 

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Pasta with Artichoke Hearts and Tomatoes

May 10th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Recipes - (2 Comments)
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I was having a conversation with one of my sisters a while back, and the subject of artichokes came up. Normal conversation, right? :) She was talking about how much she loves artichokes, and I was telling her that I had recently realized that I don’t know if I really have consciously eaten an artichoke. So she passed on this recipe for us to try from the Pioneer Woman.

That was delicious. And pretty easy too – artichokes and all. :)

Ingredients:

2 T. olive oil

1 lb. pasta (she does thin spaghetti – I prefer something with more texture)

2 T. butter

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 medium onion, diced

1 can artichoke hearts (14.5 oz.), drained

1 can diced tomatoes with juice (14.5 oz.)

1 c. heavy cream

1/2 c. chicken broth

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

salt and pepper, to taste

1 c. Parmesan cheese

 

Step 1: Cook your pasta. Drain, and set aside. (see? easy so far.)

Step 2: Put olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat & melt. Add onions and garlic. Saute for 2-3 min.

Sauteed onions have to be one of my favorite smells. And tastes. So good.

Step 3: Add artichoke hearts (drained) and tomatoes (with juice). Stir and cook for 8-10 min. I also chopped up the artichoke hearts before I threw them in so they wouldn’t be so hugely chunky.

Step 4: Reduce heat to low and add cream and chicken broth. Add salt and pepper, to taste, and keep cooking on low until heated through. Make sure you use enough salt so you have flavor. That means to test your sauce and make sure you can taste it.

Step 5: Place pasta in a large bowl, and pour Parmesan cheese over the top. Then pour the sauce over the top and toss to coat.

Done! That was very delicious, pretty easy and it made a LOT of food. My sister had told me that they usually have it for dinner, then for leftovers at lunch for a couple of days – which I interpreted to mean that my family would finish it off in one night. Nope. We also had it for dinner that night, and then happily had it for leftovers at lunch for a couple of days afterward.

Thanks Jen for passing that one on! And thank you to the Pioneer Woman for sharing this awesomeness in the first place. :)

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The Greatest Granola

April 27th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Recipes - (0 Comments)
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While we are on a breakfast theme here, I wanted to share one more of our favorite breakfast recipes EVER. It came from my friend Melissa @ 320 Sycamore, and was given to her by her sister Kelsey.

This one is so good that my kids will eat it for breakfast, for snacks, for whenever. And my husband will actually EAT breakfast when we have this. That is saying something.

It is very easy, and – did I mention? – is super delicious.

Ingredients:

6 c. oats

1 c. coconut

1 c. craisins (or raisins or other dried fruit)

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. almonds (or other nuts on hand)

1/2 c. flax seed or wheat germ (we use milled flax seed)

1-2 T. cinnamon (to taste – we use the full 2 T.)

1/2 tsp. salt

2 T. vanilla

1/2 c. canola oil

3/4 c. honey

Directions: Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Put all of your ingredients in a large bowl and stir them together. Spread on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown. The longer you bake it, the crispier it will be, so you can bake to your crunchiness/chewiness preferences.

That is it. When I shared the recipe with my mom, she mentioned that she prefers to mix the dry ingredients together first to keep things from clumping, and then pour the wet ones in. I arranged the recipe so if you would prefer to do it that way also, you can just go down the list until you hit the salt, mix it together, and then add the rest.

Also, I like to pour my canola oil in first, and then use the 1/2 cup measuring cup for the honey and just do 1 1/2 of those (to get the 3/4 cup needed). Since the measuring cup is already coated in oil, the honey all slides right out – no need to scrape.

When we made the granola this time, we used blueberry craisins. One of my favorites was when we used orange crasins – that had a nice twist to it.

See? Happy boy. Thanks Melissa – and Kelsey! :)

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Breakfast for Dinner

April 25th, 2012 | Posted by Kat in Recipes - (2 Comments)
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Who doesn’t love breakfast for dinner? Seriously – I could happily eat breakfast for every meal.

Weekend dinner nights seem to be the ones that are prone to turning into breakfast for dinner here, but really, breakfast for dinner is good any night of the week.

Here are some of our favorite recipes for “breakfast foods” – be them for dinner, or for a real breakfast:

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Grandma Rock’s Pancakes (family recipe) – this batter works great for waffles as well

Ingredients:

2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

2 T. sugar

1 T. baking powder

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/3 c. oil

2 c. milk

Directions: Preheat griddle to 325 degrees. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour onto heated skillet, and flip over once there are bubbles that form, pop, and then stay “empty” (see below). Cook on other side until browned to your liking. Enjoy!

*The original recipe has you separate the eggs, put the yolks in the batter, and beat the egg whites. Then you fold the egg whites into the batter. We have found that they still get nice and fluffy if you just beat everything together for awhile, and then it is not an extra step. They still are super tasty either way.

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Homemade Pancake Syrup (from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

3/4 c. packed brown sugar

1/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. water

1/2 c. light corn syrup

1/2 tsp. maple flavoring

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions: In a saucepan, combine the sugars, water and corn syrup and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 7 minutes or until slightly thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in maple flavoring and vanilla. Cool for 15 minutes. We store the remaining syrup in a container in the refrigerator.

This recipe is legit – it has the perfect consistency (in our opinion – it’s not thick like the store kind, but has a little more substance than some homemade ones we have tried), and it tastes fantastic.

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Breakfast Potatoes (slightly modified from Our Best Bites)

Ingredients:

4 medium baking potatoes (or more – we sometimes fudge on that one)

1 small onion, minced

1/4 c. salted butter

Pepper and salt, to taste (Kosher salt is great)

Tabasco sauce

Directions: Bring a medium or large pot of water to a boil. While you are doing this, cut your potatoes into bite-sized cubes. Once the water is boiling, add your potatoes and cook for 5 minutes, or until potatoes are slightly softened, but not totally cooked. Drain and set aside.

Heat a large skillet (we use an electric one) over medium heat. Add the butter. After butter is melted, add your onion and cook for 1 minute. Add your potatoes in a single layer and cook for 3-4 minutes. DO NOT STIR THEM AROUND. Please. :) Sprinkle some salt, pepper, and a couple of dashes of Tabasco. Flip your potatoes, trying to get as many to flip at once as you can. This is just to minimize your potato touching.

Cook for another 3-4 minutes and give them a test to see if they are done and how your seasonings are. You can add more salt, pepper or Tabasco at this point, if desired. If they are still not done, flip them as before, and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Repeat cycle until they are done.

*These are also legit – they are so tasty! The original recipe calls for up to 20 shakes of Tabasco – 4 shakes about does me in and gives me heartburn for the rest of the night. It is all up to your preference. We usually moderate to around 3 – enough to have a “kick”, but not so much that you feel pain rather than have the sensation of taste.

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There you go – add some scrambled eggs and you have breakfast for dinner. Enjoy!!

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