Cinnamon Caramel Cookie

This is the question that haunts my dreams. Sometimes it is so hard for me to think of easy, satisfying meals to feed my family. I suspect I’m not the only one with this problem. Here are a few dinner ideas that are full of flavor and fairly quick. They will also help use up all of those hard boiled eggs you may have left over from Easter.


English Muffin Tops:  Cut English muffins in half, spread on some pesto, top with tomatoes, sliced hard boiled eggs, mozzarella cheese and preferred seasoning. Broil on high until bread is toasted and cheese is melted. So delish!




Chicken Breast on Bed of Spinach:  Season chicken breast and cook with a little bit of olive oil over medium heat. Spread spinach over a plate then cut up cooked chicken and place on top. Top with mango salsa and add sliced avocado and eggs to the side.  Drizzle with homemade sesame dressing (recipe below). My favorite dish!


Sesame Dressing:  Add 1/3 C sugar, ¼ C apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp onion flakes, ¼ tsp paprika, ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce, ¼ C oil and 1 tsp lemon juice to a blender for 30-60 seconds. Stir in toasted sesame seeds and serve.

I was on a quest to search for the best way to hard boil an egg. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve always had issues cooking eggs. They never turn out quite right. They’re either rubbery or have a grayish yolk. Did you know that the gray is actually a chemical reaction from over cooking the egg? I also have problems with the peeling process. I usually end up losing half the egg with the shell.


I tried 3 different methods and I ended up with the perfect hardboiled egg. I suppose I should say hard cooked because they weren’t all boiled. Here’s a breakdown of each:

Stove top method- Place eggs in a single layer in pot, cover with cold water then bring to a boil on medium heat. You have to pay attention here, because as soon as the water comes to a rapid boil, you’ll want to put a lid on and turn off the heat. Let sit for about 10 minutes then place in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process.


Oven cooking- Put eggs in a muffin tin to keep them from rolling around. Cook at 325 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. Take out and place in ice water bath.


Crockpot cooking- Place eggs in a single layer in crockpot, cover with water and cook for about 2 hours on high. Time may vary depending on your slow cooker. Remove and place in ice water bath.

 And the winner is…(drumroll please)…OVEN COOKING!  Seriously, the perfect egg. The yolk was yellow and creamy and it was so easy to peel. Not to mention, this was the simplest way to cook eggs. The only negative (if I’m being nitpicky) is that a couple of the eggs ended up with a little brown spot from where they were resting against the pan. The stove top eggs ended up pretty good as well, but they were harder to peel and you really do have to make sure you’re watching those eggs so they don’t overcook. I was least impressed with the crockpot method. It takes the longest, the egg yolks turned slightly gray around the outside and they were so difficult to peel. I lost a lot of egg white along with the shell.

So there you have it. When getting ready for those egg hunts this Easter, heat up that oven and let it do all the work.  Then sit back and enjoy the perfect egg.

This year I found all of the fun football dishes at the Dollar Tree.  I like to make things easy to grab and eat, so that I don't have a lot of clean up.

Now I don't like to have all the food out at once.  Football games are LONG, and you will need to keep your food in stages,............BUT that doesn't mean you have to be cooking and preparing all day.

I made a goal to try a new recipe once a week.  I like to try new foods, and I have a dream to someday be a good cook, so this is great practice for me.  PLUS, you get tried and true recipes!

I say this dinner was a success.  Hubby and I loved it, my daughter had two huge bowls of it, my picky eater didn't hate it, and my oldest even ate it.  It's the perfect meal on a cold winter's night.  I made it one night after I taught a dance class, and paired it with some corn bread and it was so yummy!  I found the recipe online, and added the corn to it because my Hubby thought it would be a nice addition, and it was!

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 cans  great northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can  chicken broth
• 1 can chopped green chilies
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 can of corn

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, saute the chicken, onion and garlic powder in oil until chicken is no longer pink. Add the beans, broth, chilies, corn and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
2. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream and cream. 

Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas

Ingredients:

1 cup black beans
1 cup corn
1 cup Mozzarella Cheese
1/3 cup of Salsa Fresca
Tortillas

Combine beans, corn and Salsa Fresca.  Stir.  Spread mixture onto tortillas and then sprinkle cheese on top.  Cook until lightly browned and cheese is melty.  Enjoy!

• 3 cups Cap’n Crunch cereal, crushed
• 2 lbs chicken tenders
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Today is National Popcorn Day!  January 19th!  What a great day!

We eat a lot of Popcorn around here.  We have a projection screen theater in our basement, so we watch A LOT of movies.  And movies just aren't the same with out Popcorn and Candy.


We like freshly air popped popcorn.  Then we load it up with our favorite candy.  My favorite is popcorn and sour gummies.  Yum!  Friday Movie Nights have been a tradition of ours since the first month of our marriage.  We didn't have any money, so we would rent the .99 cent movies at Blockbuster, pop a bag of popcorn, share a Pepsi, and grab a candy bar.

Then we had kids, and we would do Pizza and a Disney movie with the kids.  After they went to bed, we would get take out and call it a great date night.

And now that we have a teenager, our Family Movie nights usually have a few extra kids with us.  But one thing has always stayed the same.  Popcorn and Candy!

We picked up these cute little burlap bags and black and white tags at Target - Dollar Spot.
We put a Chap Stick, Breath Mints, and a few Chocolate Kisses in each bag then wrote on the tag,
"Kiss Me At Midnight".  We had these little Kiss goodie bags for each of our guests.




We used a glass vase from the Dollar Store that we taped off and then spray painted Gold Stripes to hold the props for our Photo Booth.  An inexpensive way to make an elegant statement, don't you agree?  The Cute little Chalk Board Easel we picked up at Target - Dollar Spot, Score!

Photo Booth Props of Fun    A Photo Booth is easy to set up and guests of all ages have fun with it.  Just make sure to have lots of fun props to choose from.  We picked up a pack at Walmart that had a bunch of props in it for around $4.00 bucks. Most of all cut loose and be Silly! Beverage Bar    We covered our Sparkling Cider bottles with some gold glitter paper for a touch of sparkle.  (on a side note we covered our table with left over wrapping paper from Christmas) We picked up the paper straws with Tags at Target - Dollar Spot, and we put them into a mug that we picked up on clearance at Target.   We served Sparkling Cider and Sprite with garnishments to add to the glass like; frozen cranberries, lemon and lime wedges, assorted frozen berries and frozen peaches and mangos.   We also had some Cranberry juice to make "Mocktails" we mix 2/3 Cider or Sprite to 1/3 Cranberry Juice over ice or and add a wedge of Lime.  So Yummy!   Paper Fortune Cookies   We used the tutorial in the link above to make our Paper Fortune Cookies.  But instead of already having the fortunes in the cookies, we used it as a fun game.  We had slips of paper already cut and we gave one to each guest as they arrived and asked them to right a prediction for 2016 then place it in a cookie.  Later in the evening we read them out loud as guest tried to guest who wrote the prediction. (the link has printables for fortunes if you want to use those)    

Easy Peppermint Vanilla Sugar Scrub

Every year when Christmas rolls around, my kids start asking when I am going to make "Suga Nuts!"

These brownies are SOOOOO good, but they kinda look a mess!  But let's get back to how good they are!

I don't really like chocolate.  I know!  I know!!!  Can we still be friends?

But these brownies, I always have always loved these brownies!  I mean what's not to love!?  They are super easy, first off.  They are covered in caramel and pecans, and they are ooey gooey goodness!


I just make two batches of brownies.  Follow the instructions on the box, make two boxes, in two pans.  One pan will be the brownies, one pan will be used for the crumbly topping.  You can get a fancy box of brownies, but I usually just get the boxes that are on sale, because after we add the caramel and pecans, you would think they were the most expensive brownies ever.

After the brownies cool, I take about half the jar of caramel and coat one batch of the brownies.  After I have put on the layer of caramel, I crumble the other batch of brownies on top of the layer of caramel.  Then I drizzle more caramel on top of the crumbly and add the pecans and then it's super yummy!

You have to eat this brownie with a fork and a plate because they are super messy, but they are worth the mess!!!


Anytime I make these my family can't wait for dessert time!

• 1 lb. plus 2 oz. high-quality semi-sweet chocolate
• 1 lb. butter
• 12 oz. granulated sugar
• 8 oz. cake flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 4 large whole eggs
• 1 lb crushed, toasted walnuts

Apricot Glaze Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup apricot preserves
• 1 envelope unflavored gelatin powder

Instructions

1. Make brownies: Melt chocolate with butter in a double boiler or heat-proof bowl suspended over very hot water. Mix dry ingredients in a mixing bowl (except walnuts.) Mix melted chocolate/butter mixture with dry ingredients. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, taking about 5 minutes continuous whisking from the first egg to the last. Butter and flour a 9 x 12 baking dish. Preheat oven to 350. Toast walnuts for about 15 minutes until fragrant. Lower oven temperature to 300. Chop walnuts and set aside. Spread brownie batter into the prepared pan. It will be very liquid. Sprinkle surface with the chopped walnuts, pressing down so that they are partly submerged.  Bake in 300 degree oven 45 to 50 minutes until the brownies have crisped on the edge of the pan–about 2-inches around the full edge of the pan. The brownies in the center of the pan will remain slightly jiggly. Note: even when properly baked, these brownies will test “gooey” in the center with a toothpick test, due to the richness of the batter. Remove brownies from oven and cool on a rack for 30 minutes. Chef Stephen Henry says for cleanest slices, freeze the brownies for three hours after glazing. Then cut, and serve while very firm and cold.
2. Make glaze: Mix water, preserves and unflavored gelatin in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until boiling; heat at boiling for two minutes. While the glaze is still hot, spread a thick layer over the brownies. Cool completely. Place in the freezer for 3 to 4 hours. Slice and serve while very cold and firm.

Every Halloween we do a little get together over at my house with my sister and her family and my parents. We have the kids dress up in their costumes and we bring soups and treats and play games.

My sister brought over the best soup ever!!! I have made it a few times for church gatherings and I'm always asked for the recipe, so here it is.



Zuppa Toscana Soup

(4-6 servings)

1 lb. Italian sausage
2 large russet potatoes, sliced in half, and then in 1/4 inch slices.
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 bag Oscar Mayer bacon bits
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 C kale, chopped
2 cans chicken broth
1 qt. water
1 C heavy whipping cream

-Cook sausage in 300 degree oven for approx 30 min.
-Drain on paper towels and cut into slices
-Place onions, potatoes, chicken broth, water and garlic in pot and cook on medium heat until potatoes are done.
-Add sausage and bacon and salt and pepper to taste.
-Simmer for another 10 minutes.
-Turn to low and add kale and cream.
-Heat through and serve