No Bake Cookies

It’s that time of year when it’s hot outside, but you don’t really want to turn on the AC because it will cool off in the evening. And it also keeps me from turning on the oven to further heat up the house. What is a girl to do when she really wants to make something chocolaty but doesn’t want to use the stove!?!?! You make No Bake Cookies!

One of my dear friends from college gave me this recipe. I remember we went to stay at her house for a couple days and made these for a little treat. While I made this recipe I thought back on all the fun times I had in college; great people, girls nights, theme parties, college football, making easy mac at 3 AM, no care in the world, and many more sweet memories.

This recipe works great as is or can be cut in half. I did a half recipe because I didn’t need to have 3 dozen siting around.

No Bake Cookies

2 cups sugar

3 tbsp cocoa

½ cup peanut butter

3 cups oatmeal

½ cup butter

½ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mix cocoa and sugar in saucepan. Add butter and milk. Bring to a boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add other ingredients – mix well. Drop by spoonful onto waxed paper. (I formed mine into little patties.) Let set on counter or in refrigerator and enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Bake

Brinner! I love having breakfast for dinner. Brinner makes the way to our dinner table weekly. It’s kind of my favorite comfort food too. We almost always have 2-3 dozen eggs on hand so it’s my go-to for something quick.

I found this recipe on The Kitchenarian blog and have already made it twice. It is sooooo good and soooo easy! I made a few minor adjustments to her recipe; doubled the recipe (leftovers are just as good), made in a 9 x 13 pan instead of muffins, and used turkey breakfast sausage.

Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Bake
From The Kitchenarian (Love her blog; awesome recipes!)

1 pound ground turkey breakfast sausage, cooked & drained
2 cup Bisquick
2/3 cup sour cream ( I used light)
3/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (plus extra for sprinkling on top)
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup skim milk
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the 9 x 13 pan. Cook sausage and drain on paper towels.

In one bowl, combine Bisquick, sour cream, cheddar cheese, and sausage. In a small bowl, beat eggs and add milk. Pour into sausage mix and mix completely; don’t over mix. Salt and pepper to your liking. Pour evenly into pan and top with a little more cheese.

Bake for 30 – 40 minutes until cooked through.

Enjoy! Thanks for stopping by!

Lemon Cookies

I decided to make my mom and mom-in-law cookies for Mother’s Day this year. Both are lovers of citrus so Lemon Cookies were the winning recipe. But before the cookies, I should tell you about these lovely ladies!

My mom, Cheryl, is a fifth grade teacher for only about another week and then retirement here she comes! I might have given her a couple tough years in High School (sorry mom) but she is truly one of my best friends. Living a couple hours away, we still talk on the phone almost every day. She is the most giving, thoughtful, and sweet lady you’ll meet. She volunteers at the local animal shelter and would do anything for anyone.

Jacob’s mom, Gail, is also a teacher. I tell everyone I hit the in-law jackpot and I’m not kidding. Gail treats me like her very own daughter. She is always smiling, and can drum up a conversation with anyone. Her warm heart makes her a joy to be around. We always have fun shopping for deals or catching up on Young and the Restless episodes. Jacob and Joel (father-in-law) are carbon copies of each other (sometimes verrrrrry scary) so Gail and I often shake our heads at the same things our hubbies do.

Now for the cookies!

Lemon Cookies
From: eaternal bliss (Such a cute blog, you should check it out!)

What You Need:
1 (18.25 ounce) package lemon cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Pour cake mix into a large bowl. Stir in eggs, oil, and lemon extract until well blended. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough into a bowl of confectioners' sugar. Roll them around until they're lightly covered. Once sugared, put them on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes.  The bottoms will be light brown, and the insides chewy. Transfer to wire rack and let cool completely before serving.

I had 2 ½ dozen cookies, so enough for the mom’s and a few for me! They do taste best completely cooled. I had square cupcake boxes (I often find at Home Goods/Marshalls), ribbon, and scrap book tags and presto your gift is ready to go!

Enjoy! Thanks for stopping by!

Beer Muffins

It’s Friday!! Friday’s are always a good day to have a beer so why not beer muffins! This is another recipe from my grandma’s collection. You could use any beer, or even a soda pop; I used my favorite cider beer, Magners. Yummy.

These muffins are great with just honey, butter, or jam. They are super quick to make and have great flavor. I found this Raspberry Peach Champagne Jam at a gift shop and it is amazing!! If anyone has a recipe for this jam, send it my way.

Beer Muffins

2 cups Bisquick Baking Mix
1 TBSP sugar
½ can or ¾ cup beer of your choice

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin pan or use cupcake liners. Mix all ingredients; beat vigorously for 30 seconds. Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Chocolate Covered Orange Fondants

We were back in Nebraska this past weekend to see family. I spent Saturday shopping with my mother-in-law and that included a trip to Ben Franklin. This is a general store where you can buy candy by the piece – I mean like each piece is 10 cents. You grab an old plastic bowl and venture down the narrow isle to fill up with goodness. Jacob used to walk to Ben Franklin as a kid and buy 100 tootsie rolls for $1.00…and they are the same price 20 years later. I love that these stores are still open and going strong.

Ben Franklin is the hot spot for Wedding Mint making supplies. They have a ton of mint molds and sell the Ben Franklin recipe for 10 cents. They also carry a great deal of decorating supplies – pastry bags, cupcake liners, sprinkles, frosting kits, and much much more. While I picked out cupcake liners I really didn’t need (but they were cute, so what the heck) I noticed a wide selection of extracts and flavor oils. The orange oil popped out at me and I immediately thought of this recipe from Wilde in the Kitchen’s blog. I knew that would be perfect for her recipe! I bought a couple other flavor oils, but those are for another baking day.

When I saw this recipe a few months ago, I thought about Brach’s candy. I can’t remember what they were called but they were fruit flavored creams covered in chocolate. Orange was one of my favorites and I would only pick those out when buying Pick-A-Mix. I was soooo hopping this recipe would recreate that childhood fav and it did!!

You should try it with your favorite flavoring and tell me what you think! The recipe doesn’t make a huge batch which is good because they are a decedent candy. They also didn’t take very long to make; I was thinking candy making, hard, but Wilde in the Kitchen gives WONDERFUL step by steps and I’ve added pictures to help you out.

Here we go….

Chocolate-Covered Fondants

From Wilde in the Kitchen

1 ½ cups sugar

½ cup + 2 tbsp water
2 tbsp corn syrup
½ tsp Orange Extract
12 ounces milk chocolate

1. Butter a 9x9-inch pan and set aside

2. In a medium pot, stir together sugar, water and corn syrup. Heat to medium and stir with a whisk until sugar is dissolved.

3. Clip on candy thermometer and heat, without stirring, to 240 F (soft ball)

4. Pour hot sugar syrup into the prepared 9x9-inch pan and let sit on the counter until it is lukewarm.

5. Add orange extract and stir with a big spoon. Try to incorporate as much extract as possible; you may need to fold the sugar over itself.

6. Transfer sugar blob to a zip-top plastic bag and let it sit for a minute. Press down on the blob with the heel of your hand, pressing into the countertop. You may need to squish it all to the center of the bag a few times.

7. After about ten minutes the sugar will turn opaque and become stiff, like cookie dough. First the sugar will probably break apart and look all grainy. Continue kneading for another minute until the sugar comes together and is creamy.

8. Either roll the sugar into 1-inch balls or press into small candy molds. Place candies in the freezer for ten minutes to harden.

9. Melt half of the chocolate in the top of a double boiler. Remove chocolate from the heat and add remaining chocolate. You are looking for a temperature around 89 F. If it gets too cool simply place the bowl back over the simmering water.

10. Dip fondants in the chocolate (I used candy tools to minimize finger smudges) and set on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet. Place chocolate-coated candies in the fridge to harden the chocolate.

My mouth is watering!!  Thanks for stopping by!  :)

Coconut Caramel Brownies

I have been thinking about this recipe for the past couple of weeks. It’s a combination of 2 recipes – Girl Scout Samoas and Turtle Bars.

Samoas – We were in the process of moving so we missed the boat with Girl Scout cookies this year. HUGE bummer. Thanks to Food Buzz I found a number of recipes for Samoas. I also found Keebler’s Coconut Dreams which taste just like the real thing and they sell them year-a-round. *High five* to Keebler!

Turtle Bars– Before we moved to Kansas I worked at a Real Estate company. Every quarter we would have a welcome reception at the president’s house for the new agents and staff. She always had the same caterer so we all anticipated the same goodies. My favorite was what we all called Turtle Bars. They had a thin fudgy brownie base with caramel, chocolate, chocolate chunks, and I think pecans; so moist and scrumptious. They were bite size pieces so you could quickly eat 10. I made the mistake of telling the chef how much I loved them and she made sure a full plate was in front of me all night…I left with a bit of sugar high each time. I still need to figure out her recipe, but then again, might be better for my pants if I don’t.

I decided to merge these two recipes into one. Beginning with a thin brownie base and then topping with coconut, caramel, and chocolate. For the brownies, I used a box mix but baked in a sheet cake pan instead of a 13 x 9 inch pan. Make sure to reduce your baking time to about 20 minutes.

Once the brownies were completely cool, I went to work on the toping…caramel, coconut, and chocolate. You do need to work quickly before the caramel sets, but you also have to be careful not to tear up the brownie base while you spread the caramel/coconut topping.

The finished product was everything I hoped it would be – fudgy base and chewy goodness on top. I like them served chilled but they were also good at room temperature.

And the recipe…..

Coconut Caramel Brownies

1 box brownie mix

2-3 cups coconut

2 bags (20 oz total) Werther’s Original Chewy Caramels
½ tsp salt
6 tbsp milk

3 regular sized Hersey Bars (or your favorite chocolate)

Prepare brownies as directed on box but bake in a sheet cake pan and shorten cooking time to 20 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean. Set aside and let cool completely.

Coconut – Toast the coconut in a large pan on the stove over medium/high heat, stirring regularly, until golden brown. Place in bowl and set aside.

Caramel – Unwrap the caramels and place in a microwave safe bowl. Add in the milk and salt. Microwave for 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to stir every minute of so until smooth and completely melted.

Add toasted coconut to caramel and stir together. Pour mixture onto brownie base and use a spatula to cover the whole brownie base.

Chocolate – Break up candy bars and place in another microwave safe bowl. Microwave 30 seconds at a time, stopping to stir each time until completely melted. Drizzle melted chocolate over the entire pan.

Place pan in the refrigerator to set. Cut into small squares and serve chilled or at room temperature.

Oh – I did have a little leftover toasted coconut and chocolate so I combined and placed in refrigerator to set – hey, didn’t want it to go to waste! 

Enjoy! Thanks for stopping by!

Chicken Fried Rice

“You’re not making my mom’s fried rice!?!?!”, my hubby said with a look on his face like one of a kid who just had their favorite toy taken away. Turns out Jacob had been thinking about the fried rice meal all week. See, every weekend we map out the coming weeks menu and then do our shopping around that list. We had chicken, rice, and veggies one night and then the next night would be chicken fried rice with the leftovers. (He had a hankering for his mom’s recipe she always made.) Well, as I was making the chicken, rice didn’t sound good so I made stuffing instead (and it was delish). As I was serving the meal I realized – crap, no rice for tomorrow. I told Jacob we would just do it next week and that is when I saw the look. I felt so bad!

Enter super wife to the rescue! Jacob works this Saturday so I knew having it ready for his lunch would make his day. I made the rice this morning so it would be somewhat ‘leftover’ for the recipe – it just taste better if day old. So when he gets home from work he will have his Chicken Fried Rice waiting for him!

While making this recipe I realized how much I like one pot meals. It makes clean up a breeze! I also like that you can pretty much add just about anything into the rice/eggs and it will be good. I used green onions, ½ of a green pepper, frozen peas and carrots, and leftover chicken.

Here is the recipe…

Chicken Fried Rice

3 cups cooked brown (or white) rice, preferably day old
1-2 cups frozen or fresh mixed vegetables
1 small onion, finely chopped
1-2 cups cooked chicken breast
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp olive oil
3 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce

In a large pan, heat oil on medium-high heat. Add onion and rice. Stir and cook until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add in chicken and vegetables – 2 minutes for frozen veggies or 5-7 minutes for fresh veggies.

Spread the mixture out to the sides of the pan, leaving space in the middle for the eggs. Add the eggs and scramble until cooked firm.

Mix the eggs in with everything else then sprinkle with soy sauce and serve!

Enjoy!  And thanks for stopping by my blog!  :) 

Salt Free Taco Seasoning

I wish I could say we are gearing up for Cinco de Mayo, but we eat Mexican food about once a week. It’s quick and always delicious. We almost always have shells, sour cream, and cheese, but I don’t always have a pre-made seasoning packet. That is how/why I have this recipe! I think I found this recipe on Spark Recipes website but it’s been awhile.

Also, as much as I like to eat cupcakes, cookies, brownies, pie, candy...OK you get the point…I try to make healthier meals as an attempt to balance things out. This seasoning is pretty spicy but once you add in all the other taco fixin’s it takes it down a notch. You don’t miss the salt at all; still a ton of flavor.

Salt Free Taco Seasoning
(Mix for 1 lb meat.)
3 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp red pepper flakes

½ cup water

Combine ingredients and add to cooked ground beef or ground turkey. Pour in ½ cup water and combine. Let simmer for 10 minutes and serve.

And yes, these are Corelle Spring Blossom plates, circa 1970's. Passed down from my mother-in-law and I like them! :)


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Practical Pan Substitutions

Another little cheat sheet courtesy of my TasteofHome Planner. This is a follow up from the Ingredient Alternatives post from a few weeks ago.

If the recipe calls for…	You can substitute….
One 8 inch x 4 inch loaf pan	Two 5 – ¾ inch x 3 inch loaf pans
One 9 inch round baking pan	One 8 inch square baking pan
Two 9 inch road baking pans	One 13 inch x 9 inch baking pan OR two 8 inch square baking dishes
One 10 inch fluted tube pan	One 10 inch tube pan OR two 9 inch x 5 inch loaf pans

More to come!  Have a great week!

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