Category Archives: Recipes

Chocolate Raspberry Cups

cooking, Desserts, Gift ideas, Recipes, Tutorials, Valentines, , , , , , ,

Woot, Woot! My rss reader has had a post teaser on it that I could not seem to get removed, but it is now off!  Yeah!  I think that I might have actually jumped up and down and shouted for joy!

So let’s celebrate with a little chocolate!

I saw these in an ad that came in the mail and I decided to give it a try and see if I could make some on my own. I liked the results and my family loved these!

They are beautiful to look at and oh so yummy and wouldn’t these be a fun little Valentine gift for that special little someone? Continue reading →

Bruschetta

Appetizers, cooking, Parties, Recipes, Valentines, , , , , , , ,

One of the dishes that my daughter made for our Super Bowl  meal was Bruschetta.  It tasted so good in the middle of the winter.  Of course it tastes better with home grown tomatoes in the summer, but hey we’ll take what we can get!  I love the tomatoes, garlic and basil flavors in this scrumptious appetizer!  Doesn’t it look good enough to just eat with a spoon?  (And maybe I did or did not do that!)

Continue reading →

Peanut Butter Brownies!

cooking, Desserts, Family, Recipes, Valentines, , , , , ,

For our Super Bowl dinner last night I had all the fixings for sandwiches and the girls brought chips and bean dip, a relish plate with a yummy ranch dip from Landee See Landee Do and bruchetta.  I was in charge of dessert, which I have not been in charge of  for a long time, so I asked my husband what he wanted me to make and these brownies were at his request.  They are a family favorite and they make a large batch!

I cut them into footballs for the Super Bowl. Continue reading →

Heavenly Filled Strawberries!

cooking, Desserts, Recipes, Valentines, , , , ,

We celebrated a couple of birthdays last night and they were both of the male species so we had grilled hamburgers, potato salad, baked beans and chips in their honor and then I made these wonderful Heavenly Filled Strawberries for those of us of the female species! Although the male species ate just as many if not more than the female.  Not that I was counting! :)

I saw fresh strawberries at the store yesterday and they just looked so good  to my poor fresh fruit deprived soul that I bought them and I knew immediately what I wanted to do with them!  I love this recipe because their is no guilt involved in eating them!  If you are a Weight Watchers person then you will love these because they are zero points!  It doesn’t get any better than this folks!

Continue reading →

Recipe Book Dividers

Books, cooking, Organization, Printables, Recipes, Tutorials, , , ,

It is January and I am still trying to do a little bit of organizing, I had this BIG stack of recipes that I had printed from different websites, pages that I had ripped out of magazines and some recipes that were handwritten by myself or given to me by a friend.  So I decided that I really needed to get them all organized, since they are recipes that I use and I was getting tired of flipping through the whole entire stack to find one recipe!  As I was looking through these recipes I noticed that some of them had been printed 3 years ago!  So I would say that it was definitely time to get my act together.  :)

I went to Costco and bought this plain white binder that you can put a page in the front of it and also in the spine.  This is the 2″ size. Continue reading →

Breakfast for Dinner!

cooking, Recipes, , , , ,

Do you ever have breakfast for dinner?  The other night that is what I did and my husband kept telling my how good it was!  I guess that I need to do that more often! I saw this idea out there somewhere in blog land, but I honestly cannot find where I saw it.  So I decided to just make up my own recipe.  Do you ever do that?  I am kind of a dump person when it comes to cooking.  I add a little of this and little of that until I think it looks/tastes good, and I must of had just the right portions, because this recipe really seemed to hit the spot!  I made Croissant French Toast!  Whoever thought up this idea was a genius!

I added some frozen fruit to mine along with, yes, canned whipped cream!  It was so yum!

 

My husband is more of a maple syrup kind of guy, so I just sprinkled a little powdered sugar on his, before he smothered it with syrup!  I added a ham and cheese omelet to round out the meal.  And like I said, it really hit the spot!

Does anyone else out there want to make croissant french toast?  Your taste buds with thank you if you do!

Croissant French Toast

1 egg

½ cup milk

2 croissants split in half

1 tsp cinnamon-divided (or to taste)

 

Mix egg and milk together until well blended in a flat bowl.

Add ½ tsp cinnamon to egg mixture.

Dip both sides of the croissant into egg mixture.

Cook on a hot griddle until egg is cooked and slightly browned, repeat for other side.

(I only added ½ of the cinnamon and dipped two slices then added the other ½ before dipping the next two slices.  I like quite a bit of cinnamon, so you may have to adjust how much you use for your own taste.)

Top with powdered sugar, fruit and whipped cream, or your favorite syrup.

Serving size: 2

Roasted Red Rosemary Potatoes

cooking, Recipes, Tutorials, , , , , , ,

I made these potatoes for dinner on Sunday when I had all my crew here.  My grandkids kept saying that they were big french fries!  And I say, whatever it takes to get them to eat  is OK by me!

These are very simple to make and they have so much good flavor to them,  I paired them up with whole roasted chicken, cabbage salad and my DIL’s yummy crescent rolls!  So does anyone want to make Roasted Red Rosemary Potatoes?

I covered my baking sheet with tin foil before I started, only because I am lazy and don’t like a lot of clean up.  You do not have to do this step unless you are lazy like me!

Next I went to my rosemary plant in my kitchen and cut a few sprigs off the top.  Don’t you love my little statue!  It says “She Who Has A Great Attitude!”  It is my reminder everyday to look for the good things and to be happy and have a Great Attitude.  It does not always work, but I find myself smiling at it a lot and it is a fun little reminder!

I used 4 sprigs, but you can totally use as much or as little as you want.

Strip all the leaves off the stem.  These stems were pretty tender and not woody at all, but I still stripped them off and then chopped them up.  You can buy fresh rosemary at most groceries stores, or you could use dried.  (If you use dried, you will want to use less than if you use fresh)Wash and chunk your potatoes and put into a big ziplock bag.  Then drizzle the potatoes with olive oil.  If you are trying to watch your weigh you can just use a little drizzle, if you want a little more flavor and crunch, add a little more oil. :)

Next, spread them out on your prepared baking sheet.

Sprinkle with the rosemary, Kosher salt, pepper, and garlic, to taste.

Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.  Most recipes say to bake for about 40 mins, but I like my potatoes mushy in the middle and more crispy on the outside, so I baked them for a little more than an hour and they were perfect!

I made that big pan full for my crew and I thought that I was going to have way too much, and this is what I had left over!  (I forgot to take a picture right before we ate, so I was glad that there were at least this many left over!)

This is a great way to make potatoes that can go with a lot of different dishes and they are yummy with all the different spices on them.  You could also add whatever spices your family likes…seasoning salt, parsley, dill, crushed red pepper etc.

So go make some for your dinner tonight, your taste buds with thank you!

Zuppa Toscana Soup

cooking, Recipes, , , , , ,

I hope that you are all having a great week with your families and friends.  I started putting away most of my Christmas decorations and all I have left is to take down two trees!  I know some of you are saying, just what exactly have you taken down then, but I had decorations is my kitchen, family room, bedroom, front hall and living room!  It feels so good to start cleaning it all up and organizing a bit.  I have decided that I have to clean out my clothes closet before I can hang up anything new in there, so that is really quite a challenge, since I have not gone through my closet  and really dejunked for a couple of years!  But the new year is always a good time to organize and start fresh, so that is my goal!  I am going to do one rod, shelf and drawer at a time so it is not too overwhelming!

 Are you tired of all the Christmas food yet?  I know I am ready to go back to the good old homemade soups and salads, etc.  Here is a recipe I found  for a Copycat Zuppa Toscana and then I adapted it to make it more the way that I thought it should be.  :)  This is a great hearty soup that is so good for you!  It is a meal in and of itself and all I added was a butterflake roll to make the meal complete.

Here is the recipe:

Zuppa Toscana Soup

4-6 servings

Ingredients:

1 lb mild Italian sausage

2 large russet potatoes, sliced in half, then cut in ¼ inch slices

1 large onion, chopped

½ cup real bacon bits

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups kale, chopped

2 cans chicken broth-14.5 oz

1 quart water

1 cup whipping cream or half & half

Directions:

  1.  Brown sausage and drain off the oil.
  2. Place the onions, potatoes, chicken broth, water and garlic in a pot.  Cook on medium heat until the potatoes are done.
  3. Add the sausage and bacon bits and salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
  5. Turn to low heat and add kale and cream.
  6. Heat through and serve.
  7. Can garnish with more chopped kale and course ground pepper.

Famous Mint Brownies

cooking, Recipes, , , , ,

We had a couple of birthdays last week in our family and one of the recipients requested these instead of Birthday cake!  They are so moist and full of flavor that they are hard to resist!

They also have an entire pound of butter in them, so they had better be good!  I feel like I am the Pioneer Woman when I make these!  Which by the way, is where I found this recipe a couple of years ago, at Tasty Kitchen, which is a sister site to the Pioneer Woman.  I hope that you can make some of these sometime.  These wonderful brownies look and taste professional. But they are so easy to make. Bake them today and share them with your friends. They may make you famous!

Famous Mint Brownies (tastykitchen.com)

Ingredients

  • FOR THE BROWNIES:
  • 1 cup Melted Butter
  • ½ cups Cocoa Powder
  • 2 cups Sugar
  • 4 whole Eggs Beaten
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  • ½ teaspoons Salt
  • 1-½ cup Flour
  • _____
  • FOR THE MINT FROSTING:
  • ½ cups Butter, Softened
  • 2 Tablespoons Milk
  • 2 cups Powdered Sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Peppermint Extract
  • 5 drops Green Food Coloring
  • _____
  • FOR THE GANACHE TOPPING:
  • ½ cups Butter
  • 1-½ cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Note: Increasing amounts to 1 1/2 times the original amounts will yield a baker’s half sheet (large cookie sheet) of brownies, to make 4 dozen brownies.

For the brownies, whisk together melted butter and cocoa powder. Then add sugar, beaten eggs, vanilla, and salt. Mix well and then add sifted flour. Stir in by hand. Do not over mix.

Pour into a 9×13 pan sprayed with cooking spray. If making 1 1/2 recipe, pour into a baker’s half sheet (large cookie sheet).

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-28 minutes. Cool for a few minutes and then place in the freezer for 20 minutes.

While brownies are in the freezer make the first layer of topping. Mix the mint frosting ingredients thoroughly. Evenly frost brownies and put back in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Make the chocolate ganache top layer. Melt the butter and chocolate and whisk together. (I melt them together in a Pyrex measuring bowl in the microwave for one minute. Be careful not to overheat. It won’t look melted but once whisked, it will.)

Drizzle warm chocolate over brownies and spread smooth with a spatula. Put back in the freezer for another 20 minutes.

I think that these would also be great with red food coloring for the holidays!

 

English Toffee

Christmas, cooking, Gift ideas, Recipes, Tutorials, , , , , , ,

Ok, so this is the last candy post, at least for this week! :)  I am starting to feel the sugar high a little bit too much.  I started making this candy at 7:30 am and my husband was wondering what in the world I was doing and I just replied, “Oh, I’m just working on my blog!”  He just shook his head!

This candy is just the right combination of chocolate, nuts, and toffee.  I am also having the hardest time staying out of it, it is probably one of my favorite candies!

So let’s make English Toffee today!

Start by lining a cookie sheet with foil and then butter the foil.  Spread 1 cup chopped nuts on the cookie sheet.  ( I used pecans, but you can use whatever you have)

Mix 1 cup butter, 1 cup sugar, 1/8 tsp salt, 3 TLBS water, and 1 tsp vanilla.  Put in a kettle and bring to a boil.

 Reduce heat to medium and stir constantly until mixture is light brown in color and crack stage has been reached (300-310 degrees on candy thermometer) If you want to know how to test for crack stage, go to the Anise Candy post.

 Spread cooked candy thin over nuts.

Sprinkle 11.5 oz package of chocolate chips on top. ( I used milk chocolate, but semi-sweet would be good also, totally your preference!)

When melted, spread over all of the toffee.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup chopped nuts on top of chocolate and press down into the chocolate with your fingers.

Break into pieces and enjoy!  This is another candy that is great to give as gifts, to fill a candy dish with, or just make for a treat for yourself!

Here’s the recipe:

English Toffee

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/8 tsp salt

3 TBLS water

1 tsp vanilla

Combine in a kettle and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and stir constantly until mixture is light brown in color and crack stage has been reached (300-310 degrees on candy thermometer)

1 1/2 cups chopped nuts

11.5 oz package chocolate chips

 Place buttered foil on cookie sheet and spread with 1 cup of the chopped nuts. Spread cooked candy thin over nuts. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Let melt and spread over entire candy. Add remaining 1/2 cup chopped nuts on top. (I pressed them down with my fingers into the chocolate)

Break into pieces when cool. Enjoy!