Christmas cookies

What did you make over the holidays? I haven't been cooking too much. But I did do a lot of baking for our Christmas cookie tray.

This year we had:
chocolate chip cookies
sugar cookies
oatmeal scotchies
peanut butter cup cookies
candy cane hershey kiss cookies
buckeyes
oreo truffles
mint oreo truffles
golden oreo truffles

I got the sugar cookie recipe here: http://creatingpostitnotes.blogspot.com/2010/02/almondine-sugar-cookies.html (here). They were delicious. She sells them so I knew they had to be good.

I also tried a new recipe. These turned out very good. Moist, chewy and just enough mint. I did not add the peppermint extract.

Candy Cane Kiss Cookies
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1¼ cups butter, at room temperature
1 tsp peppermint extract, optional
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1/2 cup finely chopped Candy Cane flavored Hershey’s Kisses
granulated sugar
additional, unwrapped Candy Cane Kisses- about 30

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Make room in either refrigerator or freezer for your cookie sheet.

2. In large mixer bowl, combine powdered sugar, butter, extracts and egg. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often until creamy (2-3 minutes). In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to wet mixture and beat, scraping bowl often until well blended (1-2 minutes). The mixture will be a bit crumbly. Stir in chopped Kisses.

3. Shape dough into ¾-inch to 1-inch balls; roll in granulated sugar. Place 1-inch apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set. As soon as they come out of the oven, press a Candy Cane Kiss in the center of each cookie. They’ll crack a little around the edges, so just use your fingers to kind of hold the cookie together while you set the kiss inside. Put cookie sheet (with cookies) immediately into the freezer (preferred) or refrigerator so that the Kisses will set quickly. As soon as you press them into the cookie, they will begin to soften… so if you can get them into the freezer then they will keep their Kiss shape.

4. Store in a covered container- at room temperature for up to a week. In the freezer they should be ok for a couple of weeks.

Yield: About 2 1/2 dozen

See recipe here

Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings

It is a super cold day here...man I miss Florida. This recipe hit the spot. I just got back from our vacation and have lots of unpacking to do. This is an easy one. And did I mention it is freezing. This is definitely comfort food.

Ingredients

* 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
* 1 onion, finely diced
* 1 (10 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces

Directions

1. Place the chicken, butter, soup, and onion in a slow cooker, and fill with enough water to cover.
2. Cover, and cook for 5 to 6 hours on High. About 30 minutes before serving, place the torn biscuit dough in the slow cooker. Cook until the dough is no longer raw in the center.

I got the recipe from all recipes. I add some garlic and other seasonings. Sometimes I add some veggies too.

Got Pumpkin?

This is probably a little late since Thanksgiving is now over. But maybe you have extra pumpkin that you need to use up...

This year I made a pumpkin sheet cake. I found the recipe on allrecipes.com. But instead of eating it as is, we made it into cake balls. They turned out really good. How do you make cake balls?

Make 1 cake (box or from scratch)
Make some icing or just buy it in a can.

Let cake cool. When its cool crumble it up in a big bowl. Add some icing so it gets all sticky. Then roll into small balls. Freeze for a few minutes. Then dip in chocolate (white or regular). Then decorate as you like.


Here is the recipe that I used for the cake: here




Since I had leftover pumpkin we also made pumpkin chocolate chip coookies. I love these.




Ingredients
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
1.Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
2.Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.
3.Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

Enjoy! We hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Oven Roasted Potatoes

We had chicken with garlic cream sauce the other night with broccoli and cauliflower. I had some left over potatoes from when we made potato soup (I will have to post that recipe later) so I was looking for a way to use them. I found this recipe at all recipes.

I would think you can use whatever seasonings you want. These had a tiny kick to them b/c of the red pepper flakes. We liked that, but if I was making them for company I would maybe leave them out since not everybody likes that.

Ingredients
1/8 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
Directions
1.Preheat oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).
2.In a large bowl, combine oil, garlic, basil, marjoram, dill weed, thyme, oregano, parsley, red pepper flakes, and salt. Stir in potatoes until evenly coated. Place potatoes in a single layer on a roasting pan or baking sheet.
3.Roast for 20 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, turning occasionally to brown on all sides.

Balsamic Chicken Pasta

Here is a healthier recipe I found on a blog. It was easy to make since I just put the chicken in the crokpot to cook ahead of time and used steamable bag broccoli.
We will keep this in our dinner rotation. I even used the whole wheat pasta. I bought it at Aldi's and I would recommend it.

Recipe:

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 large broccoli crown
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 14 oz can or 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups cooked and shredded chicken
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 12 oz whole wheat fettuccine, cooked according to package directions
• parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In a large sauté pan or skillet (I use the skillet), heat olive oil over medium heat. Add red bell pepper and broccoli, cook until tender (add some water, 1/4 cup, if you want it to steam up a bit). Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds. Add broth, vinegar, chicken, and basil. Bring to a boil, then simmer until liquid is reduced by half. Add fettuccine. Mix it all up. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with parmesan sprinkled on top.

Found recipe: here

A birthday dinner

Mike turned 34 on Tuesday. With soccer and work I just don't have time to cook some fancy meal. But I did manage to make a few favorites and possibly a new favorite.

Since it is fall I picked up a quart of Eat N Park Chicken Noodle Soup. Mike loves the homemade noodles.



I was going to pick up some bread but decided I could make his favorite cheddar bay bisquits. I posted the recipe awhile back here


Then I made a side dish to go with it that we call tater tot casserole. It is So bad for you but Mike loves it. It is pretty much your standard "funeral potato" recipe or simliar to the Duggar recipe except we don't put ground beef in it.


Here is the recipe:
Ingredients
1 (32 ounce) package frozen potato rounds
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup

Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes.
Adapted from allrecipes.com


For dessert I made some peanut butter chocolate rice krispie Treats.

They were more like "buckeye" cookies but they were yummy. Mike took a bite and did this groan noise. So they were a hit. But they are very rich. Here is the recipe:
* 3 cups Powdered Sugar
* 1-½ stick Butter, Melted
* 2 cups Peanut Butter
* 3 cups Rice Krispies
* 16 ounces, weight Semi-sweet Chocolate

Mix the powdered sugar, butter, peanut butter, and Rice Krispies together in a large bowl. Lightly butter a 9×13 baking dish, then spoon in the peanut butter mixture. Use a spatula to spread evenly. Melt the chocolate, then layer evenly on top. Refrigerate for an hour or two, then cut into bars and store in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer.

Sweet and Spicy Chicken

I have been craving Chinese food. We had all of the ingredients for this recipe so I tried it. It was good. It is not too spicy but I wasn't sure about giving it to Hayden. He took a bite, made a funny face and went "hot hot". Then shoved 3 more pieces in his mouth! Of course he licks the bottle of hot sauce at my sisters house so I am not sure why I was even worried.


Recipe:
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
oil (for pan-frying)
cornstarch (for dusting)

Sauce:
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ teaspoon ginger (I used ground ginger)
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
¼ cup apple juice
⅓ cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
½ cup water
⅓ cup soy sauce

Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces, and lightly dust with cornstarch. Heat oil in your wok and fry chicken bits in batches until lightly browned. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

In a bowl combine all sauce ingredients. Pour into wok and bring to a boil. Add chicken bits back to the pan, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve over rice with veggies.

I got the recipe from this site: here