Valentine Sugar Cookies

This is a re-post for those that want to make your cookies before Valentine's Day. It's a tradition in our home to have these for Valentines. It's the perfect treat!!

1 cup shortening
1 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
1 Cup milk
2 tsp. vinegar (trust me!)
6 cups flour

Mix ingredients together. Roll onto a floured surface and cut into desired shapes. Bake at 350* for 8-10 minutes. Frost with Butter cream Frosting. (recipe follows)


Butter cream Frosting:
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup shortening
4 2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup water


In a large bowl combine butter, shortening, and sugar and beat until creamy. Add lemon juice and vanilla. Mix until well blended. Add water and mix until very light.

Cowboy Caviar

This recipe comes from my sister who got it from her friend, which I've revised just a bit. There is no wrong way to do it, and its a delicious (and healthy) snack or appetizer!!



*2 cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, drained
1 can regular diced tomatoes, drained
1 can black beans rinsed and drained
1 can black eyed peas rinsed and drained
1 can corn drained
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
2 tsp. Garlic Salt
1-2 avacados (I usually dont cut these up till right before I serve)
approx. 1 cup chopped cilantro
1 pkg. Good Seasons Italian Dressing mix (mix dressing as directed on package)

Mix all together, serve with tortilla chips and enjoy!

*You could also use fresh tomatoes instead!

3 Cheese Artichoke Dip

This recipe come from Paula Deen and does NOT disappoint.
It made for the perfect Superbowl dip! It can be found Here .

• 1 (8 ounces) block cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 (14 ounces) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 2 green onions, sliced thin
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• Dash hot sauce
• Dash Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand held electric mixer until smooth. Then beat in the mayonnaise until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and stir together until combined. Transfer the dip to a greased pie plate or shallow gratin dish. Bake in a preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes until the top is golden brown and the dip is bubbling. Serve hot with crackers, tortilla chips, crostini or veggies.

Slow cooker Ranch Pork Chops

6 boneless (or bone-in) pork chops
1 dry packet mix of Ranch dressing
1 can cream of chicken soup

Place pork chops in a slow cooker. Mix chicken soup and ranch dressing mix together and place over pork chops. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Remove pork chops and using remaining dressing in the crock pot as a gravy over the pork chops. The dressing is also great if its served over mashed potatoes with the pork chops. YUM!!

Magleby's Rolls

Ever eat at Magleby's Restaurant? They have the worlds best rolls. I've used this roll recipe (came from my mother-in-law) for years and I think it tastes pretty similar, if not exact!
Plus, the best part...... EASY!!!


24 Rhodes frozen dinner rolls, thawed out
1-2 cups grated KRAFT Parmesan cheese (the lovely stuff in the green bottle-or you can use fresh if you want to, although I take the easy way out and use the bottle!)
approximately 1 Tbsp. garlic powder, go heavily with this stuff
2 Tbsp. dried parsley flakes
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted



-In a small bowl mix together the Parmesan cheese and parsley flakes. In another small bowl mix together butter and garlic powder.
-Take your rolls and roll them out bread stick-style about 3-4 inches long.
-Dip your rolls in the butter mixture and then the cheese mixture. Place on a greased cookie sheet one inch apart. Cover and let rise until doubled in size.
-Cook in a preheated 350* oven for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Easy Ranch Chicken

1 chicken breast per person. (I use 3 Kirkland brand chicken breasts and cut them lengthwise; they're pretty big. That will feed my family of four- with a little extra!!)
1-1/2 cups Ranch dressing
1-1/2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs

Put ranch in one bowl and bread crumbs in another. Dip chicken in ranch and then in bread crumbs. Place in a greased 9 x 13 in. baking dish. Place in a preheated 375* oven and cook for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through.

Super EASY and the ranch makes it very flavorful and DELICIOUS!!

Awesome Grilled Cheese with any kind of Soup

So I have never posted anything, even though the thought has always been there in the back of my mind, so here is to my first post, hopefully you like it enough to try it.

Winter is always a great time to have soup. I remember always having the usual of tomato soup with grilled cheese. So instead I decided to mix it up a little bit. I love the Bear Creek Soups and I like to add a little bit more to it, you know the suggestion part on the back of there packages. But what I really did to mix it up was with the grilled cheese. At Costco there is this awesome stuff called Johnny's Garlic Spread. I always use it with pasta night and just use plain bread or whatever. It is so easy, just add butter and wala you are done.

So I made the spread mixed and ready to use. Spread it over the bread and starting thinking, why don't I add more than just American to this. I knew that my kids would just want the American, but I love different things, so I used what I had which was Provolone, Swiss and American.

Can I just tell you it was delicious. So if you want something different to try, I swear you will love this, in fact my husband came home didn't want to eat and I just made him try a taste and he then all of a sudden got hungry.

Baked Ziti

This recipe was soooo yummy. It's a must try. I found this on another person's blog and thought I would give it a try. I would do a few things differently so I'll post her recipe and then a few of my own added suggestions.


1lb ground beef
1 cup onion (chopped)
2 garlic cloves (minced)
1 (32 ounce) jar meatless spaghetti sauce
1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon oregano
1 (16 oz) package ziti pasta (cooked and drained)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet add ground beef, onions and garlic. Cook over medium high heat stirring frequently until the beef is browned. Stir in spaghetti sauce, chicken broth and oregano. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

2. Stir in 1 cup of sauce into the cooked ziti noodles. Spoon ½ of the ziti mixture into a 13×9” baking dish. Sprinkle 1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese and ½ cup parmesan cheese over the top of the ziti mixture. Top with 2 cups of the sauce, then add remaining ziti mixture and top that with the remaining sauce.

3. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes remove from oven, uncover and sprinkle the top with the remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Return to over and bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted.

*I would definitely add more garlic to this recipe and SALT and PEPPER. It needs an added kick. You could even do the minced garlic like it calls for and then add 1-2 tsp. garlic salt and 1-2 tsp. pepper. Also, an Italian Cheese blend would go perfectly with this dish.

Newlywed Chicken Casserole

For some they may refer to this dish as Poppy Seed Chicken. Well, not me. I like to call it Newlywed Chicken Casserole. Why, you might ask?
Well, when I was first married I didn't know how to cook a single thing. Okay, with the exception of scrambled eggs. That's it. So, I agonized at the thought of "fulfilling my newlywed roles" by having to cook anything. That's when I stumbled onto this recipe and it has become a family favorite that is a MUST have in everyone's recipe box. Still to this day, every time I make it, it reminds me of the newlywed times and how much we grew to love this dish. ENJOY!!

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts boiled and cubed
1 (16 oz.) container sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 sleeves from a 16 oz. box of Ritz crackers crumbled (approx. 2 cups)
1/2 stick of butter, melted
1-2 tbsp. poppyseeds


In a medium bowl, combine cooked chicken, sour cream, and soup. Place in a casserole dish. In a small bowl combine crackers, poppyseeds, and butter. Sprinkle over top of chicken mixture.
Cook in a 350* preheated oven for approximately 30 minutes.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

ANOTHER yummy pumpkin treat!
You will need for filling:

• 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, soften
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. grated lemon peel

For the muffins:

• 1 (14 oz.) pkg. Pillsbury Pumpkin Quick Bread
• 3/4 Cup milk
• 2 Tbsp. Vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 3 Tbsp. butter melted
• 1/4 Cup chopped nuts

Directions:

• Heat oven to 350 and spray muffin tin
• Beat cream cheese in med. mixing bowl until soft. Add egg, sugar, and lemon peel. Beat until smooth
• Empty bread mix into another bowl. Remove 3/4 cup mix, set aside. Then add milk, oil, and egg, stir until blended.
• Fill each muffin tin with about 1/4 cup of the batter. Make indentation with small measuring spoon sprayed with non-stick. But a heaping Tbsp. of the cream cheese mix in center of each muffin.
• Add melted butter to remaining bread mix. Stir till crumbly. Add pecans. Crumble about a Tbsp. over muffins.
• Bake 20 min. Cool 10 min. in pan and then the rest on a cooling rack.

ENJOY!

Layer Pumpkin Spiced Cheesecake

This is SO easy and SO tasty that it is a MUST HAVE for Thanksgiving!

You will need:

• No bake cheesecake mix
• Can (16 oz.) of pumpkin
• box of pumpkin spiced Jell-o
• Cool Whip for topping

Make your No Bake Cheesecake according to boxes directions. Then in med. bowl mix cup of milk, pumpkin, and Jell-o. Pour over cheesecake mix and refrigerate for four hours.

Put cool whip for topping and die happy it's so good and easy!

Crepes

These are Brandon's favorite breakfast meal! But recipes for this can be tricky, you can get some with little flavor or ones that tear every time your try to flip them. Well Brandon had crepes 90% of his mission so he is basically a master. So according to Brandon's Master Crepe Tasting Skills he says this is "The best crepes he has ever had!" So try for yourself and find out!?

What you will need:

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cups milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup flour
• 3 tablespoons melted butter

If you like them sweeter: (which we do!)

• 2 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Mix all ingredients in a blender on pulse for 10 seconds. Put batter in refrigerator for at least 1 hour, it can last up to 48 hours. This will allow the bubbles to subside and your crepes wont tear easily.

Heat non-stick pan, pour a small amount into the pan and swirl to spread the batter evenly. The thinner the better. Cook 30 sec. on one side, flip, then 10 sec on the other side.

This will make 17-20 crepes. If you have leftovers, let crepes completely cool then freeze them!!! SO yummy reheated.

Aunt Kay's Amazing Rolls!

This is my Aunt's recipe! They are super easy and I think personally they are the best rolls ever! But that might just be because she is my aunt!
You will need (I am halving the recipe so if you are making them for Thanksgiving, then double it):

• 2 cups warm water (the temperature is important for the yeast to work right so room temp is always best)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. yeast (the red star brand is her favorite)
• 1/2 tsp. sugar

Mix these ingredients together in a large bowl and wait a few minuets until bubbling then add:

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp salt
• 1/2 stick of butter (soften)
• 5-6 cups flour (add more as needed)

Knead until all is blended. Bowl should scrape clean, if not it needs more flour. Let rise in bowl for 1 1/2 hours.

Put some flour on the counter and smash dough till even. Cut into circles (I just used a cup) and fold in half on a cookie sheet (use non-stick spray). Let rise for another 1 1/2 hours.

bake at 400 for 10 min.

You can also use this dough for:

• Bread sticks
• pizza dough
• bread

Or a mountain of rolls! ;)

Creamy BBQ Chicken Pizza

I am normally not a BBQ pizza fan because I feel like the sauce overwhelms the rest of the pizza. But this BBQ sauce is really creamy and a perfect compliment to the chicken and cheese!
For the dough refer to Aunt Kay's Amazing Rolls recipe OR use a store bough dough works great too!
For sauce you will need:

• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 1 Tbsp. flour
• 1/2 cup milk or whipped cream
• 1 tsp. garlic salt
• 2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese
• 1-2 cups honey BBQ sauce

In a med sauce pan melt your butter then add flour until you have a paste. Add milk and stir with a whisk until paste is dissolved and milk is bubbling. Add salt, Parmesan cheese, and BBQ sauce stir until bubbling. Let bubble for 2-3 min. then place on the pizza. This enough for 12 in pizza. Add more or less BBQ sauce depending on the size of pizza dough.

For the chicken I will use the costco canned chicken and shred it over the pizza and top with pizza seasoning. You can boil chicken and then shred it, I just do it my way because it's easier and taste just as good!

For topping go to town with your family favorites. Brandon loves mushrooms so sometimes I will saute those and then add some olives and tomatoes. Whatever sounds good to you, that's why I LOVE pizza!

Bake at 425 until crust is golden and cheese in bubbling. If you don't have a pizza stone I would suggest investing in one! It's the only way to cook a even crust!

Apple-Cider Doughnuts

Pair this up with some Hot Chocolate and call it a day! Seasonal and delicious!
You obviously wont be making these every day but it would be something fun to do with the kids or as a special holiday treat!
What you need:

• 1 cup applesauce
• 1 cup apple cider
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 3 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 3 Tbsp. shortening
• 1 large egg + egg yoke
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• vegetable oil for frying

Making the dough:

1. Whisk flour, baking powder and soda, 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl.

2. In a large bowl beat 2/3 cup sugar and shortening, mix until sandy. Then beat in egg + yoke, and gradually mix in applesauce. Beat in 1/2 the flour mix, then add buttermilk and vanilla, and then finish beating in the rest of the flour mix. Dough should be sticky, don't overmix.

3. Scrape the dough on to some floured wax paper and pat into a 7x11 inch rectangle, about a 1 1/2 thick. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (you can even let it set up over night).

Making the Glaze:

4. Simmer the apple cider in a small pot over med-high heat until reduced to 1/4 cup. Whisk powdered sugar in until dissolved. Set aside. Mix remaining cup of sugar and 2 tsp. of cinnamon in a shallow bowl; set aside.

5. Heat about 1-2 inches of veggie oil in large pot over med. heat. Line a cooling rack or cooking sheet with paper towels. Cut chilled dough into 12 rounds, I used a cup for this and then a small measuring spoon for the donut holes. Put 2-3 doughnuts at a time in the oil. fry 1-2 min on each side. Transfer to paper towels to cool.

6. Dip one side of each doughnut into the cider mix and then into the cinnamon-sugar. Serve and ENJOY!

***I had a hard time with the frying part of this because I didn't at first use enough flour to manipulate the sticky dough. Also make sure your doughnuts are no bigger then a 1 1/2 in thick. These didn't look as pretty as I was hoping for but I had all of Brandon's family over and some friends later on that day and EVERYONE gobbled them up! They said they were so good... So it made it well worth the WORK!