Chick-Fil-A Nuggets

Blurry pic, I know.

Recipe from here.

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 cup milk
1 egg

In a medium bowl whisk milk and egg. Place chicken in mixture and cover. Let marinade for 2-4 hours. I did an hour and a half. We were hungry.

1 1/4 cup flour
2 TBS powdered sugar (I will probably only do 1 TBS next time)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
peanut or canola oil

In a gallon sized bag, add all ingredients except oil. Place the oil in a deep frying pan and heat on medium high. Using a fork or tongs, remove chicken from egg mixture and add to flour mixture, shake to coat. Place a few in the hot oil and cook until browned on one side and flip to brown the other side. Place cooked chicken on paper towel to drain. Repeat until all chicken is cooked.

Chili's Salsa

Sorry for the terrible picture, I had to snap a shot before Jeff ran off with the bowl. 

I got the recipe here.

2 cans whole tomatoes, drained

1 small can diced jalapenos

1/2 cup yellow onion, diced

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp sugar

1 tsp lime juice

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth. It has a kick to it, so if you are not a spicy fan, maybe reduce the amount of jalapenos you add. Jeff likes spice, so we added the whole can. 

Crunchy Crumb Apple Pie

Martha requested this recipe. It's awesome super yummy and the best pie I've had.

INGREDIENTS
1 refrigerated ready-to-bake pie crust (from a 15-oz box)

CRUMB TOPPING
1⁄2 cup plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1⁄2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1⁄3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 stick (1⁄2 cup) cold butter, cut in small pieces

FILLING
7 medium to large tart apples (about 3 1⁄4 lb), such as Granny Smith
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1⁄2 tsp ground cinnamon
1⁄8 tsp ground nutmeg
I usually add a little more of both the cinn. and nutmeg to suit my taste.


Recipe Preparation

1.Have 9 in. pie plate and a baking sheet. Place oven rack in lowest position in oven. Heat oven to 450
2. Line pie plate with pie crust, flute or crimp edges
3. Topping:Mix flour, sugars and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Cut in butter (or rub in with fingertips) until mixture forms moist coarse crumbs that clump easily.
4. Filling: Peel, halve and core apples. Cut in 1/8 in thick slices. Place in large bowl, add lemon juice and toss to coat. Mix remaining ingredients in a small bowl and sprinkle over apples, toss to coat.
5. Layer apples in pie shell, mounding them higher in the middle. Pat topping evenly over apples to form a top crust. Place pie on baking sheet to catch drips.
6. Bake 15 min. Reduce temp. to 350 and bake 45 min. longer or until skewer meets some resistance when center of pie is pierced and topping is golden brown. apples will continue to cook after removed from oven. If topping is getting to dark or burned, drape a piece of foil loosely over the pie.

Pumpkin Muffnuts

Pumpkin Muffnuts? Seriously? Yeah, probably not the most appetizing name, but my friend, Casey and I came up with it on a long drive back from Utah County. It is a combination of a muffin and a donut- muffnut.

Look at those bad boys. 

I made them for a potluck at Casey's house. You know, kind of a tongue in cheek, "hey I actually made the muffnuts we were talking about." Yeah, I ate most of them before they could make it to the plate.

I got the recipe here. It is so easy. It takes 10 minutes to put everything together and 10-12 minutes to bake it all. Perfect for me, since I can't be on my feet for too long these days.

1 3/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/3 vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain pumpkin (I used pumpkin pie filling, because I didn't read the can)
1/2 cup milk

1 stick butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
2 TBS cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 24 cup mini muffin tin.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. In a separate bowl, mix oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, pumpkin and milk until smooth, gradually add the dry ingredients until just combined.

Scoop the batter into the muffin tins evenly. Bake for 10-12 minutes (I did 11).

Remove the muffins from the oven and let cool slightly. Dip the muffins into the butter and then roll in cinnamon/sugar mixture. Voila! Muffnuts.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know I have posted a simple recipe on here before using spice cake mix. Jeff wasn't so happy about it. So, last night I made some from scratch. YUM. He accused me of eating a whole dozen myself, to which I guffawed. But, let's be honest, he was probably right.

I found the recipe on Pinterest, which linked me to here.

As I am apt to do, I made a few modifications.

2 cups canned pumpkin
2 cups white sugar
1 cup applesauce
2 eggs
4 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp milk
2 TBS vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine pumpkin, sugar, applesauce and egg. In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients. Slowly add flour to mixture. I added the vanilla and milk as the batter became a little dry.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a GREASED cookie sheet. I say that because I forgot to grease mine and was scraping crumbly cookies off of them and into my mouth. Bake for 11-12 minutes. This makes about 4 dozen.

Brunswick Stew

Brunswick Stew

6 lb. stewing chicken
3 med. potatoes, diced
2 large onions, diced
4 c. corn
4 c. tomatoes
3 t. salt
2 c. butterbeans
1 t. pepper
1 T. sugar

Cook chicken in 3 qts. water until meat is ealily removed from bones(about 2 1/4 hrs.). Add rqw vegetables and simmer, uncovered, until tender. Stir occasionally to prevent scorching. Add boned diced chicken, and seasonings. Let stand refrigerated overnight, to blend and enhance flavors. Serves 8 to 10.

Comments and helpful hints: You can use fresh, frozen, or canned corn; fresh or canned tomatoes; and if you don't know what butterbeans are--baby limas. I usually don't wait for the vegetables to cook completely before I put in the meat and seasonings. Cook it until it reaches the thickness that you like--and go ahead and serve it right away. When it is cooked outside in big iron pots, it sometimes is very difficult to tell what is what--just a great brown mass of delicious stew.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cake

OK, disclaimer. This is not my picture. I got it from this site, where I also got the recipe. I took a picture, I swear, but it wasn't on my camera this morning! This recipe has chocolate peanut icing, but I didn't have heavy cream, so I made my chocolate glaze and it was heavenly!

2 ounces unsalted butter (about 1/4 cup)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup tightly packed brown sugar
3 ounces creamy peanut butter
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup hot water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I eyeballed and know I put in more than that- hee hee)

Preheat oven to 325.

Grease 9x 13 pan. Set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Mix together brown sugar, peanut butter and butter for 2 minutes. Add egg and egg yolk and mix for another 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl and mix for 1 more minute.

Add half of the flour mixture and mix until incorporated. Then add sour cream. Mix for 20 seconds. Gradually add remaining flour mixture. Add the water in a slow steady stream and mix for 30 seconds. Add vanilla and mix. Add chocolate chips and stir by hand to finish mixing.

Pour cake batter into pan and spread evenly. Bake for 22 minutes. Let cool and top with chocolate icing, or the one listed in the recipe link if you so desire.

Paradise Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies

Don't get me wrong. I love my chocolate chip cookie recipe. Love it! But last night, I was feeling a little antsy and wanted to try a different recipe. I found a Paradise Bakery one. I don't know if it is their actual recipe, but I thoroughly enjoyed it anyway. Let's just say I ate a few with a cold glass of milk, and then grabbed a couple to eat on my late night walk with Jeff.

I did tweak a few things from the original recipe. I know what a whole cup of butter does to my cookies:

Preheat oven to 375.

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1/2 brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Cream together butter, shortening, and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda and salt. Incorporate into the butter mixture.

Spoon drops onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 9 minutes.

This seriously took me 20 minutes to mix (that includes pulling all the ingredients out) and it made 3 dozen cookies- so about 1/2 hour to bake them all.

Enchisagna

Jeff loves enchiladas and lasagna. How about mixing the two and making this delicious meal?

2 TBS olive oil
1 pound chicken breast cut into bite sized chunks
5 cups cheese (Mexican blend or whatever you have on hand)
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cup sour cream
1 small can chopped green chilies
Small corn tortillas ( I used about 12)
Salt
Pepper

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Brown your chicken in the olive oil, over the stove top. In a medium bowl combine soups, sour cream and green chilies.

Now onto the lasagna potion of our meal. Spoon some of the soup mixture in the bottom of a baking dish. I used a 9x 13 glass dish. Layer a few tortillas on top. Spoon more mixture, chicken and then some cheese. Repeat these layers, finishing with soup mixture and more cheese.

Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until cheese on top is melted.

One Pot Mac and Cheese

I have been trying to find the perfect Mac and Cheese recipe. I love that stuff. I finally found a few that are in competition for top dog.

I tried this one last week. It's all in one pot. My kind of dish.

2 cups large elbow macaroni (uncooked)
2 cups milk. I used low fat
1 TBS butter (but you can omit, it won't harm the flavor)
1/2 tsp mustard powder (did you know mustard powder enhances the flavor of cheese?)
1 tsp salt
1 cup grated cheese. (I only had Colby Jack, but I think next time I want to mix Colby Jack and Sharp Cheddar- use what you like)

Okay- Quickly rinse the noodles in a colander.

In a medium sauce pan combine noodles, milk, salt and mustard powder and butter. Cook on medium heat SLOWLY. We don't want the milk to curdle. Bring it to a simmer.

When mixture comes to a simmer, reduce heat to low. Low helps the macaroni to cook and doesn't evaporate the milk too quickly.

Keep stirring!! Let noodles slowly cook. This should take about 15-20 minutes. Mine took 15. When the milk has evaporated, stir in your cheese until melted.

This was so yummy!

Peach Cobbler

Saturday we took our annual drive up to Brigham for some peaches. So, that meant that last night, we made peach cobbler. I am a southern girl and like my cobbler southern style. Jeff is a mountain man and likes his cobbler dutch oven style. I had to find a way to meld our tastes together. Paula Dean saved the day, ya'll.

I found this recipe: Paula Dean's Peach Cobbler and had to try it.

I meant to take pictures. I wanted a picture of Jeff peeling and slicing the peaches, I wanted a picture of the peaches boiling in a pot. I wanted a picture of the assembled cobbler ready for its date with the oven. I wanted a picture of the peachy syrupy goo bursting from the crust like Old Faithful. But, I didn't. We were having too much fun and dreaming of the final product.

It was so easy, though! In all it took about an hour from start to finish.

What you need:

1/2 cup butter
4 cups fresh peaches, peeled and sliced
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cup flour
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups milk

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put a baking dish with the butter in the oven to melt. Use real butter for an amazing flavor.

Put your peaches, 1 cup sugar and the water in a medium size pot and bring to a boil. Let boil for 10 minutes. While that is boiling, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and 1 cup sugar. Slowly stir in milk. When peaches are done boiling, take baking dish out of the oven. Pour flour mixture over the top. Spoon in peach mixture. Pour the remaining syrup over the whole thing. Bake for 45 minutes or until top is golden brown and sides of the cobbler are pulling away from the edge of the baking dish.

I know you want to dig in. We did. There were pockets of peach syrup bubbling and oozing. But, it is best to let it cool so you don't burn your tongue and then miss out on the experience.

We waited about ten minutes and then dove in. Again, no time for pictures.

Baked Glazed Donuts

Ingredients
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp. Buttermilk
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 cup egg substitute
1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. lemon peel
2 1/2 cup bread flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tbsp. yeast

Glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp. lemon juice

steps



Place ingredients in bread machine following the order specified by manufacturer and process on “dough” cycle; when dough is ready, remove from machine. Separate into 10 balls. Pull a large hole in the center of each, shaping into donut shape. Place on greased baking sheet and let rise until double, about 45 minutes. Bake at 425 degrees until golden, about 6-8 minutes. Combine lemon juice and sugar, adding more juice if needed to make drizzling consistency and spoon glaze over warm donuts.

Corn on The Cob

Everyone has their own way of cooking their corn on the cob. I am not here to judge, just impart how I do it, since I eat it with almost every meal in the summer.

4 ears of corn

Pinch of sugar

drop of lemon juice

Shuck the ears of corn. Put in a pot of cold water, enough to cover the ears. Add a pinch of sugar and a drop of lemon juice (never salt- it toughens the corn). Turn on heat to high. Let come to a boil. Boil for two minutes. Turn off heat. Let sit in hot water for 10 minutes, then enjoy. 

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Move over Bryers:

2 cups 2% milk
2 cups whipping cream
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint extract
1 cup mini chocolate chips

In a large bowl mix all ingredients except chips. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Pour into ice cream mixer container and churn per machine's instructions. Add chips to the last 5-10 minutes of churning.

We made this for a family cook out last night. It was so simple to make. It took about 45 minutes total. It was so good. It was light and refreshing.

Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

I will for sure be making this REAL soon!!

1 1/4 c. smooth peanut butter
3/4 c. granulated white sugar
1 1/4 c. whole milk
2 c. heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. chopped chocolate peanut butter cups, chopped and frozen (8 to 10 regular-sized PB cups)

1. To make the base: In a medium mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to combine peanut butter and sugar until smooth. Add milk and mix on low until sugar is dissolved- a full two minutes. You don't want to be tasting crunches of sugar in your ice cream, so give it a chance to dissolve. Mix in heavy cream and vanilla and beat until well combined and smooth.

2. To process the ice cream: Turn on your ice cream machine, pour the base in the freezer bowl, and let mix until thickened, about 25 to 30 minutes. A couple of minutes before you're ready stop the mixing, add in the chopped, frozen peanut butter cups. The ice cream will be a soft-serve consistency. You can eat it right away, or freeze to eat later. If you freeze it for later, it will be more ice-cream-scoopable. Let it sit out for a few minutes before you try to scoop it. Enjoy!

Better Than Sex Cake

1 Chocolate Cake Mix (plus ingredients to make the cake)
1 jar Caramel ice cream topping
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 bag Heath Toffee Bits
1 carton Cool Whip

Make cake per box instructions. When cake is done, take out of oven and poke holes with back of wooden spoon. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over the cake. Let is settle. Then, pour caramel topping over the cake (I heated mine up to make it easier). Sprinkle a little of the Heath bits over the cake, if desired (I desired). Put cake in fridge for 1-2 hours. When ready to serve, spread Cool Whip over the cake and sprinkle with Heath Toffee Bits.

This cake is better if it sits overnight.

Corn and Cheddar Chowder

3 TBS butter
1 onion, chopped
1 large potato
1 bay
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp sage
1 tbs flour
2 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernals
2 TBS chopped parsley
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

In a large saucepan over medium high heat, melt the butter and stir in the onion, potato, bay leaf, cumin and sage. Saute about 5 minutes, until the onion is tender. Mix in flour, coating the onion and potato. Pour in teh chicken stock and milk. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly until smooth. Reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes, stirring frequently, until the potato is tender.

Mix the corn and parsley into the saucepan, and cook about 5 minutes, until heated through. Remove the bay leaf, and stir in the Cheddar cheese until melted and blended. Season with salt and pepper.

OR: do like I did and dump everything (except cheese) into a crock pot. Add cheese about 20 minutes before serving.