Tag: Recipes

  • Quick, Low-Cost, Yummy Dinner

    Chicken Popovers
    Yesterday marked day 3 of being at home. We ran out of a lot of things in our kitchen. I wanted to throw something warm and comforting together. I also spent most of the afternoon reorganizing so when dinner time came let’s just say I didn’t have a lot of time or energy.

    I went to the pantry and found 2 cans of cooked chicken breast (a nice item to have, quick and versatile), I also had carrots that I needed to use, chicken stock was the 3rd thing I found. I then went to allrecipes.com and did an ingredient search… The results came back and they had some excellent chicken recipes… most take some time to prepare and cook.

    Back to the fridge… Pillsbury rolls… cheese. Got it… Cheesy Chicken Popovers, the quick and easy version.

    I brought 2 cups of stock to a boil, then added 1/4 cp milk and 1 tbsp of corn starch, brought to a boil and then reduced the heat and added chicken and sliced carrots, added salt, pepper, seasoned salt, onion salt and garlic salt. I also added 2 tbsp of cream cheese and a 1/2 cup of marbled cheddar.
    Chicken Filling

    I rolled out Pillsbury biscuits and put them in my Jumbo Muffin Pan (they do not look there is much room, but this is a JUMBO pan). Baked them for 5 minutes.

    Chicken Popovers
    this were baked for 5 minutes

    I then filled them and topped each one with another rolled biscuit. Baked for 8 minutes on 350.

    Chicken Popover
    In the oven
    Chicken Popover
    with Munster on top
    Chicken Popover
    One Happy Diner

    They were delicious. One thing I would change is the type of Pillsbury rolls, I only had Flaky Layers Biscuits, would have preferred Crescent Dough.

    Kids and husband gobbled them up.

  • A Delicious Gift from God

    What’s not to love about avocados? They might be the most delicious super-food in the world.

    Avocado and Crackers

    Avocado snack

    Healthy snacks that my kids like are sometimes hard to come up with.  One thing that has proved to be a favorite is avocados. Avocados, like many fruits and vegetables, amaze me. That you can walk up to a tree, pick a fruit, cut it open and enjoy it fascinates me. Avocados are creamy, light, and delicious.

    Sliced Avocado
    Cut Avocado

    The possibilities are almost endless.  Some ways we like to use them:

    • Guacamole – mashed with garlic salt, chili powder, splash of lemon and salt
    • Sliced on sandwiches and burgers
    • Diced and served with eggs, sliced tomatoes and toast
    • Served with chips or crackers
    • Eaten with a spoon

    Unfortunately they are expensive but sometimes we can find them for $1.00. I picked some up and we enjoyed them the good old fashioned way.

    avocado
    Diced in the skin, you can get the seed out with a solid tap into with your knife
    diced avocado boat
    diced avocado boat
    avocado
    Enjoying a boat

    What’s your favorite avocado dish?

  • Birthday Cake, a Delicious “Doctored Up” Cake Mix Cake

    My husband loves chocolate and I love my husband. Wasn’t it only natural that I would set out to find the most chocolatey cake ever?  I started out on my search and eventually found the one I had to try.

    It was amazing, delicious, moist, a chocolate lovers dream come true… on a plate… with sprinkles and pretty candles.

    The recipe is called Too Much Chocolate Cake and it has 5 stars from almost 2500 people. It called for a bundt cake pan too which I really liked the idea of making, they are so pretty, and I like the way they slice up too.

    Too Much Chocolate Cake
    Daddys Cake

    Ingredients

    • 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil’s food cake mix
    • 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
    • 1 cup sour cream
    • 1 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 cup applesauce)
    • 4 eggs
    • 1/2 cup warm water
    • 2 cups semisweet mini chocolate chips

    Directions

    1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
    2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan.
    3. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar.

    And just in case you were wondering about the name of the cake  – NO there is not too much chocolate.  Enjoy!

  • Delicious Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins – Ahh the Comforts of Fall

    Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
    Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

    Moist, spicy, warming, chocolaty, the perfect Fall recipe.  Great to have around, give out and include them when sending care packages to loved ones.  I headed over to allrecipes.com, this recipe has 5 (out of 5) stars from almost 4,000 people – you can’t beat that!

    Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
    Jumbo

    The recipe is called Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread it is supposed to make loafs but I wanted to use my new muffin pans.  My sister couldn’t resist giving me my Christmas present early, I guess she figured I could get a lot of use out of them for the Holiday Season.  I LOVE THEM!!!  It came with 3 muffins pans, jumbo, regular and mini.

    Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
    the regular sized muffins with cinnamon sugar butter poured on top

    We added chocolate chips to the recipe as well. To keep the chips from falling to the bottom of the muffin, toss them in flour first.
    Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
    Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

    Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
    Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
  • Dutch Puff Recipe

    Dutch Puff with Maple Syrup
    Dutch Puff with Maple Syrup

    Raising Olives is a blog that I follow, she has excellent tips for Moms. I came across this recipe on her site called a Dutch Puff. Sounded good, perfect for an easy, super quick warm breakfast. Today is the 3rd time I have made it and we love it.

    Toppings we have tried:
    A dab of yummy fruit yogurt in the middle
    Fresh cut strawberries and cantaloupe with a sprinkle of white sugar
    Powdered Sugar and Maple Syrup

    The possibilities are endless. One comment on her post is from someone in the UK and this is like Yorkshire Pudding except with sweet instead of savory.

    Dutch Puff fresh out of the oven
    fresh out of the oven

    The first time I made it, I did so in a 9×13 pan however we had alot left over, and like her recipe says it is best fresh, hot out of the oven. The next 2x I have halved the recipe and used a 9″ glass pie dish.

    Dutch Puff fresh out of the oven
    Puffy and Yummy

    You really can’t beat it for a quick, easy breakfast option.  I think I might try to top it with crunchy bacon and grated cheese.  We’ll see how that goes…

    Thanks Raising Olives!

  • Homemade Almond Joy from Joy the Baker

    I love Joy the Baker, she has inspired in so many ways.  She comes up with such yummy, interesting recipes.  A couple of weeks ago she made Homemade Almond Joy candy bars.  Simple recipe, super delicious.  Although they are super rich, must have coffee or milk with one.  Her’s turned out looking perfect, mine did not.  They were still yummy.

    Freshly Toasted Almonds
    Freshly Toasted Almonds
    Coconut with Almonds
    Coconut with Almonds
    Dab of Chocolate to hold the almond in place
    Dab of Chocolate to hold the almond in place
    Freshly dipped "joy"
    Freshly dipped, this is where it gets messy!
    After being chilled
    After being chilled
    Sloppy Almond Joy
    I decided not to completely cover in chocolate because it is so rich, hence they do not look as pretty

    Even though mine aren’t that great looking, they did taste delicious. Also, with the leftover chocolate I coated some almonds, huge hit with my boys!

    On a side note:  I almost didn’t post this because I don’t like the way mine looked… but then I was thinking that that is reality.  I don’t want to put up any false fronts, like everything is always peachy and perfect.  So here I am exposing myself… in all my chocolate messi-ness.

  • Homemade Chocolate Chip Muffins

    Chocolate Chip Muffins
    Chocolate Chip Muffins

    I love chocolate and I love muffins, so why have I never made chocolate chip muffins? Well now I have and I found an excellent recipe on Allrecipes.com.  These turned out good, with some modifications.  My kids and husband gobbled them up.

    Here is the recipe in it’s original form, I improvised based on some reviews I read, I will post my changes in parenthesis.

    • 2 cups all-purpose flour
    • 1/2 cup sugar  (+ 1/4 cup brown sugar)
    • 1 tablespoon baking powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • 1 egg
    • 3/4 cup milk  (1 cup of milk)
    • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
    • 3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
    • (2 tbsps of cocoa powder to the mix)

    In a large bowl, combine the first four ingredients. In a small bowl, beat egg, milk and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

    One other change: I made mini-muffins so I adjusted time and temp.

    I cooked on 375 for 15 minutes

  • A Fall Family Tradition

    Pueblo Mosca chile
    Bushel of Pueblo Mosca HOT

    In my family, the Fall means more than beautiful trees, colors, apples, pumpkins and cider. It also means it is time for green chiles to come up from Southern Colorado and New Mexico.

    My mom used to get to actually go pick em with her parents but we just venture down the street to a temporary produce stand.  The smell… AMAZING!  Have you ever had fresh roasted chiles in your car?  It is quite heavenly!

    This year we chose a mix of Pueblo Mosca Hot and a Hatch Medium, we had them fired and bagged together, it makes for a nice mix.

    The boys really enjoyed watching the process, we got to pick our chiles out and then the lady put them in the roaster and fired them up.  Then we watched her pour them into a bag, then into our car.  When we got home we bagged them, about 5-6 per bag, then froze them.

    chile stand
    nice variety!
    chile stand
    yum!
    chiles freshly roasted
    freshly roasted
    Oliver watching the roasting
    Oliver watching the roasting

    I happened to be making french bread pizza that night so I took a couple of chiles, chopped them up, added garlic salt, then spread on the bread after the sauce and before the cheese……. yum!

    There are so many things you can put green chiles on, the possibilities are almost endless.   I will be sure to post some recipes once I start pulling them out of the freezer.

    Some more shots of the produce stand – the boys got to pick out a mini-pumpkin to decorate.

    chile stand
    Chile Stand in SW Denver
    Oliver found his pumpkin
    Oliver found his pumpkin
    Boys with the pumpkins
    Boys with the pumpkins
  • A Mini Candy Buffet for Yummy Fun

    candy buffet skittles
    skittles

    As I mentioned in the previous post, my sister-in-law’s baby shower was today.  I made chocolate covered pretzels and then added store bought candy to the table and made what I call a mini candy buffet.  I have seen some amazing candy buffets on the web and was really wanting to try one.  It is not as grand as I would have liked but it seemed to be a hit.

    ALSO _ you must try to the recipe for the pretzels, sooooo many people loved them!

    Here are some pics of the spread (the fuzzy little things you see are supposed to be spiders):

    candy buffet reeses pumpkins
    reese's pumpkins
    candy buffet chocolate covered pretzles
    chocolate covered pretzles
    candy buffet jolly ranchers and gum
    jolly ranchers and gum
    candy buffet gum
    bubble gum
    candy buffet jelly beans and gum
    jelly beans and gum

    All in all, it was fun and easy.  I do think that a bigger budget would make it that much more fun too!  If you make one, come back and share your pics!

  • Salty Sweet – Chocolate Covered Pretzels

    Chocolate Covered Pretzels

    My sister-in-law is due in December, tomorrow we celebrate with a baby shower.  Her sweet friends are putting the shower on and I asked if I could contribute with a “mini” candy buffet.  I will take pictures and blog about the buffet later.  Tonight I made chocolate covered pretzels.  I looked up some recipes but the first few I found called for a double-boiler, which I do not have.

    I finally came across this recipe ,it allows for microwave chocolate melting.  I used butter Crisco which gave the chocolate a smooth, buttery taste.  They are using the colors purple, lime green, orange and black for October so I added sprinkles I picked up at Walmart.

    Chocolate Covered Pretzels
    the ingredients
    chocolate chips with crisco
    chocolate chips with crisco
    chocolate covered pretzels
    on the cookie sheet

    Prep Time: 10 minutes

    Total Time: 10 minutes

    Ingredients:

    • 1 package (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips
    • 1 tbsp shortening
    • 2 dozen pretzel rods or large pretzel twists
    • Assorted sprinkles or small candies (optional)
    • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips (optional)

    Preparation:

    1. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with aluminum foil.

    2. Combine the chocolate chips and the shortening in a large microwave-safe bowl, and microwave until melted, stirring after every minute.

    3. If dipping pretzel rods, hold a rod by one end and dip it in the chocolate, leaving an inch or two uncovered. If you are dipping pretzel twists, drop the whole pretzel in the chocolate and submerge it slightly. Use a fork to pull the pretzel out of the chocolate. Shake the chocolate-dipped pretzels several times to remove excess chocolate, and place it on the prepared baking sheet. If you are using sprinkles or small candies, sprinkle them on when the chocolate is still wet. Repeat with remaining chocolate and pretzels.

    4. Place the pretzels in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to set the chocolate.