Sugar Cookies with Poured Icing

Sugar cookies are one of my absolute favorite cookies, but I never have the time to make them. I got this recipe from my aunt a few years ago and I think my favorite part is the poured icing. Most icing has too much of an over powering powdered sugar taste to me, but after this one dries it is fantastic!

Cookies
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
Icing
1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
2 tsp milk
2 tsp light corn syrup
1/4 tsp vanilla
Desired food coloring

• Combine flour and salt in medium bowl.
• In large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy.
• Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
• Add flour to wet mixture.
• After combined, roll in to a ball and refrigerate approximately one hour (or until firm enough to work with).
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• Roll dough out and cut in to desired shapes.
• Bake for 13-15 minutes, do not brown.
• Mix sugar and milk together, add corn syrup until you reach desired consistency.
• Seperate in to bowls and use food coloring to make desired colors.
• Spoon or pour on to cooled cookies and let dry.

Rosemary-Sage Chicken

The original recipe was for chicken kabobs, but I was in too much of a hurry to take the time to prepare kabobs. If you want to make kabobs out of these, I will include the alternate directions after the picture.

This recipe is great for a fast dinner. It only takes a few minutes to throw the marinade together and can cook while you're doing other things. All of the ingredients were handy in my cabinet except the fresh parsley, but I simply substituted it with dried parsley.

3 Tbsp red-wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
3/4 Tbsp dijon mustard
3 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley leaves
3/4 tsp dried rosemary
3/4 tsp dried sage
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper.
1 & 1/2 lbs chicken

• Combine all ingredients in gallon ziploc bag.
• Refrigerate over night
• Place chicken in 9 x 13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes (depending on breast or thigh and size of pieces).

For the kabobs:

1 pint cherry/grape tomatoes

16 small cremini (baby bella) mushrooms

1 red pepper, cut in to 1 inch pieces

1 red onion, cut in to 1 inch pieces

8 skewers

• Alternately thread chicken, tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, and onions on to skewers.
• Place in 9 x 13 pan and brush with remaining marinade.
• Grill or broil on high for 4-5 minutes. Turn and grill for approximately another four minutes.

Texas Roadhouse Rolls & Honey Butter

I stumbled across this recipe while I was bored one day, and of course I had to try it out. Who doesn't LOVE the sweet rolls at Texas Roadhouse?! I couldn't get mine as fluffy as the restaurant, but they still tasted amazing.

Rolls
1 package (1/4 oz) active dry yeast plus 1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup warm water (100-110 degrees)
1 cup milk
1Tbsp butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
4-5 cups flour
1 egg
1 tsp salt

Butter
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

• Mix yeast with 1 tsp sugar and warm water. Let sit for about five minutes.
• Microwave milk for about 60 seconds. Add butter and stir until butter is completely melted.
• Add milk mixture to yeast mixture. Add sugar and about half the flour, the dough should be the consistency of muffin batter. Let stand for 10 minutes.
• Add egg and salt to mixture, beat well.
• Add remaining flour until soft dough is formed.
• Knead dough until smooth, cover, and let rise until doubled (about one hour).
• After rising, punch down and let rest for 10 minutes.
• Shape dough in to rectangle and cut in to squares using a pizza cutter.
• Place on floured and greased baking sheets and let rise until doubled (about one hour).
• Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, brush with honey butter.
• For honey butter, beat butter with hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add remaining ingredients and beat until well blended. Serve on warm rolls.

I didn't put cinnamon in our butter because I prefer it without.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm a firm believer that baked goods should be homemade as often as possible. The only thing I don't (didn't) make myself was chocolate chip cookies because no matter what I did they never seemed to turn out right. They were always flat, the chips dropped to the bottom, or looked funny. The pre-made dough was just always better than I could get here at home.

The other day, I was visiting some friends for the afternoon at Sarah Russel's house and she had some spectacular cookies! I just had to get the recipe. She had gotten the recipe from bakeitandloveit.blogspot.com.

Sarah made these with whole wheat flour, so even though the recipe called for flour, I went ahead and made mine with the wheat as well. Also, when she gave them to us, they were cold. They were surprisingly good chilled!

3 & 1/2 cups flour
1 & 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 & 1/4 cups butter
1 & 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 bag Ghiradelli semi sweet chocolate chips

• Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix dry ingredients and set aside.
• Cream butter and sugars together until blended.
• Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well. Add vanilla and mix.
• Reduce speed and add dry ingredients. Mix until combined. Stir in chocolate chips by hand.
• Bake for 12-13 minutes, cool on cookie sheet for a couple of minutes then move to rack.

Whoopie Pies

Since I've been baking a lot of cookies, a friend requested whoopie pies for bowling this week. I'd never made them before so I went through a bunch of recipes and picked the one that looked the best. I think I got the most compliments for these cookies than any other I've ever made (except maybe the pumpkin cookies)! They were really easy too :)

I used parchment paper on my cookie sheets so I'd have less of a mess to clean up when I was done and it worked great.

Cookies
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup shortening
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
2 cups milk
2 tsp vanilla
10 Tbsp cocoa
4 cups flour
2 & 1/2 tsp soda
Pinch of salt

Filling
1 & 1/2 cups shortening
1 & 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
12 Tbsp marshmallow fluff
2 tsp pure vanilla

• For the cookies, cream shortening and sugar.
• Combine eggs, milk, vanilla, and beat in to cream mixture.
• Sift dry ingredients together and slowly stir in to cream mixture. Beat on medium for about 2 minutes.
• Drop on to greased and floured cookie sheet, enough dough to make cookies about 2 inches.
• Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 8-10 minutes.
• Let cool completely on a wire rack.
• For the filling, combine fluff, shortening, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed.
• Slowly add confectioners' sugar until well mixed.
• Place a generous amount on the flat side of one cookie and top with another cookie.
• Refrigerate for about 30 minutes before serving and store in airtight container in fridge.

Strawberry-Champagne Cheesecake

I got this recipe out of a recent Taste of Home magazine. My mom noticed it and suggested I try it. I don't normally like cheesecake, but this is absolutely amazing! I made it for dessert for Thanksgiving and everyone that tried it, liked it.

The original recipe said to melt the chocolate chips in the microwave, but I found it was too hard to get the time/temp just right, so I melted them on the stove. Be careful because if you melt them at too high of a temperature or for too long, it becomes dry and crumbly. I took mine off of the heat while there were still a few small lumps of chocolate.

Cake
1 cup champagne or other sparkling wine
2 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs (about 14 whole crackers)
2 cups sugar, divided
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup sliced fresh strawberries
3 - 8 oz packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 egg yolks
Topping
20 fresh strawberries, hulled
1/3 cup milk chocolate chips
1 tsp shortening, divided
1/3 cup white chocolate chips
Sauce
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

• In a small saucepan, bring champagne to a boil and cook until reduced to about 1/4 cup (about 8 minutes). Set aside and let cool.
• In medium bowl, combine cracker crumbs, 1/2 cup sugar, and butter.
• Press onto bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Spread sliced strawberries across the bottom and set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and 1/2 cup sugar until smooth. Beat in sweetened condensed milk, cornstarch, and champagne. Add eggs and yolks, beat on low speed until just combined.
• Pour mixture over strawberries and bake at 325 degrees for 55-60 minutes, until center is almost set.
• Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes then run knife around edge to loosen. Cool an additional hour at room temperature and refrigerate overnight.
• Remove sides of pan. Slice and arrange strawberries over top of cheesecake.
• Melt milk chocolate chips and 1/2 tsp shortening on medium-low heat in small saucepan. Drizzle over strawberries. Repeat with white chocolate chips.
• In small bowl, beat cream until it begins to thicken. Add confectioners' sugar, beat until soft peaks form, serve with cheesecake.

Peanut Butter Cookies

If you can't tell, I've been making a lot of cookies lately. This is another recipe I got out of my cookie cook book. The dough is a little softer than what I have worked with in the past, but the cookies were still great! Maybe I'll find another recipe that's more like what I'm used to and post that later :)

A friend requested I put Reese's Pieces in the cookies as well, so I made half the batch with and half the batch without. They were good, but it was just more peanut butter with some crunchy added in. We decided they might be better with M&Ms or something that adds a different flavor. The colors were great for fall though!

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1&1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Granulated sugar

• In large bowl, beat butter and peanut butter until smooth.
• Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, and baking powder. Beat until combined.
• Beat in egg and vanilla until combined.
• Beat in flour (hand stir if it gets too thick).
• Refrigerate for one hour to make easier to handle, if necessary.
• Shape dough in to 1-inch balls, roll in granulated sugar, and place on ungreased cookie sheet.
• Using fork, flatten balls by making criss-cross pattern.
• Bake for 7-9 minutes at 375 degrees. Let cool.

If these look a little different than yours, it's because I didn't roll the cookies in sugar or shape them with a fork.

Chocolate No-Bake Cookies

This is another family favorite cookie that my mom has made for us as long as I can remember :) It is really fast, really easy, and everyone loves them!

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
3 rounded Tbsp cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups oats

• Bring sugar, butter, cocoa, and milk to a boil in a medium-large pan.
• Remove from heat and mix in peanut butter and vanilla until peanut butter is completely melted. Stir in oats.
• Scoop 1 inch balls on to wax paper, aluminum foil, or parchment paper and let cool until set, approximately one hour.

Hobo Stew

Growing up, my parents got us Schwan's food or ice cream every once in a while. While looking through their website (or maybe one of their catalogs) my mom came across this great recipe. It is just ridiculously good! It also makes great left overs, one of those foods that is just as good (if not better) the next day.

Most of the items in it are from Schwan's, but I don't think it would be hard to substitute fresh items. If you order from Schwan's, you can just go on their website, look the recipe up, and there's a link to buy all of the items needed from them. You can order it online and have them deliver straight to your house, you don't even have to be home. You can make two batches out of the order.

4 Polish sausages, frozen, sliced*
12 Italian meatballs, frozen*
2 cups super sweet cut corn, frozen*
2 cups grilled onions and mushrooms, frozen*
6 baby red potatoes, cut in to pieces
1 cup baby carrots
2 cups BBQ sauce
*Items purchased from Schwan's

• Put all of the ingredients in a slow cooker, cover, and cook on low for about 8 hours. Stir occasionally.
• To bake instead of slow cooking, place in large covered casserole dish and bake at 375 degrees for about 2.5 hours.

Chocolate Crinkles

I got these from the cookie book our friends gave us that I mentioned in the last post. I love crinkle cookies but never had a book with the recipe and just never got around to looking for one. I was in a super baking mood yesterday so I whipped up the batter for these while I made the other cookies.

4 eggs
1 & 3/4 cups sugar
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 cup cooking oil
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
Powdered sugar

• Beat eggs, sugar, chocolate, oil, baking powder, and vanilla.
• Gradually beat in flour.
• Cover and chill for about two hours, or until easy to handle.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Shape dough in to 1 inch balls, roll in powdered sugar, and place on lightly greased cookie sheet.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are set and tops are dry. Transfer to wire rack and let cool.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I've been looking for the perfect oatmeal raisin recipe for a while. I posted one on here before that was good, but not perfect, and I'm just not one of those people that can taste a recipe and know what needs to be change. A couple of years ago a friend of ours gave me a cookie cook book so I decided to try the recipe in there. I think we've found a new favorite! Even my step-dad, who does not like raisins, took some home with him :)

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 & 1/2 cups flour
2 cups rolled oats

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Beat butter on medium high for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and (if desired) cinnamon and cloves. Beat until combined.
• Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined, beat in flour, and stir in oats.
• Drop dough on to ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Tacos

I know tacos are probably something every family makes and already has a "recipe" for, but I'm sure every one's is different, so I thought I'd share how we do Taco night at our house!

This recipe is for what we do on a basic night. Because we have tacos so often, I quit buying packets of taco seasoning and found a bulk container at Costco. We like both Taco Bell and McCormick's, but I've only seen the McCormick's in bulk.

I know the spinach probably sounds weird to everyone, but we started using it because lettuce really doesn't have anything in it. The spinach is so much better for you and tastes just as good (I think better) in the tacos.

Last, we like to serve these buffet style. Each person prepares their own tacos from the toppings available, that way everyone can use what they like. It's great for a party or a big get together, everyone can find something they like!

1 lb ground beef
1 packet taco seasoning
8 flour burrito shells
1 bag Mexican blend shredded cheese
1 tomato, diced
2 cups spinach, chopped
1/2 can olives, chopped
Sour cream

• Prepare tomato, spinach, and olives and place in small bowls.
• Brown ground beef and drain off excess fat.
• Mix in taco seasoning according to directions on packet or container.
• Put seasoned beef on shell, top with cheese, and microwave approximately 10 seconds (or until cheese begins to melt).
• Top with spinach, olives, tomatoes, and sour cream.
• Fold closed and enjoy!

When I was little, I used to put all the toppings on the shell, eat it like a taco salad, then eat the shell by itself. Every once in a while I like to use salsa in the tacos as well. What other toppings do you use on your taco night?

Red Lobster Biscuits

This is another recipe from our seafood night. Here are links to the rest of the recipes:
Garlic Salmon
Shrimp Scampi

This is the second recipe I've tried for biscuits similar to those at Red Lobster. The first one didn't taste quite right, but I went back to see if I could find it again (in the midst of our moving, the drive with my recipes on it is still missing) and stumbled across this one. This sounded much better, so I tried it. It definitely tasted much better!

Biscuits:
2 & 1/2 cups bisquick baking mix
3/4 cup cold whole milk
4 Tbsp cold butter
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 heaping cup grated cheddar cheese
To brush on top:
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/4 tsp dried parsley flakes
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Salt, to taste

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Combine bisquick with cold butter and cut together with a pastry cutter or large fork. There should be small chunks of butter about the size of peas throughout when you're done.
• Add cheddar cheese, milk, and garlic powder. Mix by hand to combine.
• Place approximately 1/4 cup portions onto ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake about 12-15 minutes or until tops begin to turn light brown.
• While baking, mix together butter, garlic powder, and dried parsley flakes for topping.
• When done, brush topping mixture over biscuits.

Shrimp Scampi

Here is another recipe from our seafood night :) Here are links to the rest of the recipes:
Garlic Salmon
Red Lobster Biscuits

This was the first time I'd ever made a dish with shrimp. I bought the shrimp precooked so I didn't have to shell or de-vein it. This was a pretty fast and easy recipe, took maybe 10-15 minutes to prepare and cook the whole thing.

The recipe calls for clarified butter, but I'm not very good at clarifying, plus I wanted to save time, so I just used regular butter. It didn't look or taste funny, so it can't be that big of a deal :)

1 & 1/2 lbs shrimp
1/3 cup clarified butter
4 Tbsp minced garlic
6 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 dry white wine
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper, to taste

• Rinse shrimp and set aside.
• Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until softened (NOT browned).
• Add shrimp, green onions, wine, and lemon juice. Cook until shrimp is pink and firm.
• Add chopped parsley, salt, and pepper.
• Serve with lemon slices.

Garlic Salmon

Yokes had a seafood sale last Friday so I decided to have a seafood night here at home. I bought and cooked shrimp and crab legs for the first time! We also had fish and biscuits similar to what Red Lobster has. Here are links to the rest of the recipes we used last night:
Red Lobster Biscuits
Shrimp Scampi

This salmon recipe was a fast easy recipe, would be great for a fast weeknight dinner. For just the fish, it took about 10 minutes to prepare and cook. I found it online while looking for a fast recipe that I already had all of the ingredients for. As usual, you can use any type of fish you want. I used salmon for my piece and cod for my husband's.

2 Tbsp butter
3-4 garlic cloves, pressed
2 tsp lemon pepper seasoning
4 - 4 oz salmon fillets
Lemon wedges

• Season both sides of fillets with lemon pepper seasoning.
• In large skillet, over medium-high heat, melt butter. Stir in garlic.
• Put fish in pan and cook for approximately 3-5 minutes per side. Fish should flake when tested with fork.
• Serve with lemon wedges.

Snickerdoodles

As I was going through recipes and putting labels on them yesterday, I couldn't believe I hadn't put up a recipe of these wonderful cookies yet! I decided to make them this afternoon and share with you guys :)

The recipe is originally from an old copy of the red plaid Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. The book had been used so many times, the pages are literally scattered throughout the rest of my mom's recipes. These are honestly THE BEST snickerdoodles you'll ever eat!

Side note, I don't know if it's my oven or cookie sheets, but I actually had to cook these for about 12 minutes rather than the 8 the recipe calls for.

3 & 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter or margarine (softened)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• In a medium mixing bowl, stir together flour, soda, cream of tartar, and salt.
• In large mixing bowl, beat butter for about 30 seconds. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy.
• Add eggs, milk, and vanilla, beat well.
• Add dry ingredients to wet and beat well until combined.
• Mix together the 3 Tbsp sugar and 1 tsp ground cinnamon, roll dough in to 1 inch balls, roll in mixture, and place on cookie sheet.
• Bake for about 8 minutes or until light golden.

Fruit Salad

Before I get to the recipe, I'd like to point out that I added labels to all of my posts! In the right hand column, there is now a list of categories to help you readers sort out the types of dishes I have in this blog. I hope you all find it to be a handy feature :) If any of you have any suggestions for more labels, or other changes that you feel might make the blog more user friendly, I'd LOVE to hear them! Also, if you'd like to see more of a certain type of recipe on here, let me know.

Now for the recipe! My mom got this recipe from my step-dad's sister (whew, mouthful). My mom has been making it for family get-togethers, but was too busy at the last one and asked me to make it for her. It's always a hit, the kids LOVE it, and hopefully you will too.

1 sm package vanilla pudding (NOT instant)
1 sm package orange Jell-O
1 - 8 oz container Cool Whip
1 - 11 oz can mandarin oranges
1 - 20 oz can pineapple chunks
2-3 medium bananas

• Cook pudding according to package, replacing the milk with water.
• Pour in to large bowl and stir in package of dry Jell-O. Refrigerate over night.
• Add Cool Whip to mixture and whip together until blended.
• Add drained oranges, pineapple chunks, and sliced bananas. If it will be a while before serving, you may want to hold off on the bananas so they don't brown.

Unfortunately, this picture doesn't really do the salad justice... it's much more orange in person!

Lemon-Herb Steak Marinade

When I put this marinade together, it seemed a little strange to me for steak. It smelled amazing, and turned out perfect! It's another meal that's pretty fast. The most time consuming part was crushing the garlic, and mincing the shallot. I didn't notice that it said to process in the blender, but it worked out anyway :)

4 - 1 inch steaks
1/2 cup vegetable or olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
Juice and grated rind of two lemons (about 1/4 cup)
1 Tbsp fresh basil or 1 tsp dried
1 shallot or onion, minced
1/4 tsp oregano
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp pepper

• Process all ingredients (other than steak) in a blender or food processor until smooth.
• Place in baking dish or zip lock bag with steak and marinade at least two hours in refrigerator.
• Let steak stand 20 minutes at room temperature.
• Grill steaks at 400 degrees until desired doneness is reached.

Honey-Mustard Chicken

As promised, a new recipe! The picture doesn't make it look that amazing, honestly it just looks like grilled chicken, haha. But I promise, this was really good. The best part is, it was super fast and easy!

The recipe didn't state what kind of yogurt (plain or vanilla) so I went with plain and it tasted great :) I also didn't pound the chicken flat... I wasn't in the mood to take the time or make the mess. If you don't pound them, remember they'll need to cook a little longer on the grill though.

1 & 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, pounded thin
1/2 cup yogurt
1/4 cup honey mustard
1 tsp coarse salt
1/2 tsp cayenne

• Combine all ingredients in plastic bag.
• Shake to coat chicken.
• Grill over medium heat, 4-6 minutes each side
• Serve hot or in a sandwich.

White Bread (Bread Machine)

Since gallon ziploc bags aren't big enough to hold a 2 lb loaf of fresh baked bread, I decided to look for some bread boxes. I was sure that Tupperware would have one, but surprisingly they don't! I found this box on Amazon.com and I LOVE it :) It has a little vent at the end for humid climates. I open it when I first put the bread in the box, if it's warm bread. I close it after it's cooled a little to keep it moist.
While shopping for the box, I found this as a suggested item on the bread box page. It makes cutting slices soooooo much easier!
Anyway, for this recipe... I wanted a PB&J sandwich for lunch this afternoon, but I don't like wheat or cracked wheat bread, so I made a loaf of this white bread for myself. The recipe is pretty simple!
1 cup water
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
3 cups bread flour (all-purpose works as well)
1, 1/4 oz package active dry yeast

• Place ingredients in to bread machine in the order suggested by the manufacturer.
• Select the desired crust and the regular cycle.
• Press start!

Potato Salad

I'm not sure how you can make potato salad look good in a picture... but I promise, this is the BEST potato salad ever! I'm not usually a fan of potato salad, so the fact that I love this one is amazing :)

I got the recipe from a family friend. She always made this salad for BBQs and camping and I loved it so much I had to get the recipe!

1 egg to 1 potato
2 parts mayonnaise to 1 part sour cream
Relish to taste

• Hard boil eggs and boil potatoes until cooked through.
• Dice up eggs (I use the pampered chef egg slicer, slice the egg, turn it the other direction and slice again) and cut potatoes in to bite size pieces. Mix together.
• Mix together mayonnaise and sour cream, add to egg and potato mixture until you reach desired consistency.
• Refrigerate and serve cold.

Lemon Chicken with Garlic

This is a super easy and fast dish! My husband said he couldn't taste much other than chicken with his breast pieces, so I'm guessing to really get the flavor of everything else, you should use thighs. That's what I used for my portion and it was perfect :)

8 skinless boneless chicken thighs
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
10-15 whole peeled garlic cloves
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 Tbsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper, to taste

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Place the garlic in a roasting pan and lay the chicken over the top. Top the chicken with remaining ingredients and season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Roast in oven, turning occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through and most of the juices have evaporated.
• Serve chicken with the roasted garlic cloves and lemon wedges.

Outback Bread

I got this recipe off of RestaurantRecipesBook.com. Surprisingly, it tastes a lot like the bread at Outback! I didn't notice that the recipe calls for DARK molasses, so I'm assuming that's why my bread didn't turn out as dark as it is in the restaurant. I'm also pretty sure my yeast is dead :( fortunately I used the rest of it on the bread I made today, so I'll be getting some fresh yeast for next time. I'm also thinking next time the dough should be shaped in to 3-4 loaves, it turned out to be really big.

2 packages dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 Tbsp sugar
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup dark molasses
1 Tbsp salt
2 Tbsp oil
2 cups rye flour
2 & 1/2 to 3 cups bread flour (all-purpose flour works as well)
Shortening & cornmeal

• Soften yeast in 1/2 cup warm water, stir in sugar and let stand for six minutes or until it's bubbly.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the yeast with remaining warm water, molasses, salt, oil, and rye flour. Mix until it makes a smooth batter.
• Work in the bread flour until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky. Knead for a few minutes.
• Place dough in a greased bowl and let rise until doubled. Grease sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Punch down dough and shape in to 2 large round loaves, place a few inches apart on the sheet. Sprinkle the top of the bread with cornmeal as well.
• Let rise until doubled and preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Bake loaves for about 30 minutes or until crust makes a hollow sound when tapped.

Cracked Wheat Bread (Bread Machine)

I got most of my kitchen appliances either for Christmas my senior year in high school, for wedding presents, or with the money we got at our wedding. There were just a few that I didn't get, and I'd been wanting, but didn't really want to spend the money. For Christmas this year, my mom bought me this bread machine (pictured below), a food processor, and a steamer that stacks three levels high (great for veggies, fish, and shell fish)!



I hadn't had a chance to use the bread machine until this weekend. My husband takes sandwiches for lunch every day, and his favorite bread is cracked wheat. I did a search of bread machine breads online, and came up with quite a few, including this one!

1 & 1/4 cups water
3 cups bread flour (all purpose works as well)
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup cracked wheat
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp dry milk powder
1 & 1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter, softened
1 & 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

• Place ingredients in pan of bread machine in order recommended by the manufacturer.
• Select regular/light cycle and press start.

Mini Chicken Alfredo Pot Pies

I got this recipe from my Pillsbury 2011 Annual Recipes cookbook. This is definitely one of our new favorite recipes and we'll be cooking it over and over! I posted another pot pie recipe a while ago, but this is way better (faster and easier as well).

The steamers that the recipe calls for can be found in the frozen section. They are bags of vegetables that you put in the microwave to cook. This bag comes with peas, carrots, green beans, and corn.

4 cups chopped cooked chicken
4 cups mixed vegetables steamers (two 12 oz bags)
1 jar (16 oz) Alfredo pasta sauce
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated garlic bread sticks

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• In 3-quart saucepan, heat chicken, thawed vegetables, pasta sauce, and milk over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until thoroughly heated. Spoon mixture in to ramekins.
• Sprinkle cheese on a plate, unroll dough, separate one strip at a time and press both sides into cheese. Twist the strip and arrange on top of chicken mixture in ramekin. Repeat with remaining ramekins.
• Place ramekins on a large cookie sheet with sides, cover with foil, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes, until mixture is bubbling and bread is golden brown on top.

Honey-Lime Red Snapper

I got this recipe out of the 2011 Taste of Home Annual Recipes cookbook. The grocery store didn't have red snapper, so we went with our usual cod and salmon. A note above the recipe said to use regular lime juice if you can't find key lime. I couldn't any, so that's what I used. Also, 1/2 cup is a lot of honey, I found larger refill bottles of honey at Wal-Mart. It's much easier to pour out of, plus you won't have to use your whole "bear."

1/4 cup key lime juice
1/2 cup honey
4 red snapper fillets (about 6 oz each)
2 tsps chili powder

• In a small bowl, combine lime juice and honey. Pour 1/2 cup (reserve remaining) in a large ziploc bag, add the fish, and refrigerate for up to an hour.
• Drain fish and discard marinade. Sprinkle fillets with chili powder and place on greased broiler pan.
• Broil 4-6 inches from the heat for 12-15 minutes, until fish flakes easily with fork.
• Meanwhile, bring remaining lime juice to a boil, simmer uncovered until reduced by half. Spoon over fillets and serve.

Herb-Crusted Pork Chops

This recipe was in my Rachel Ray magazine! Some people might find the mustard on the chops a little overpowering, but I noticed there was a tidbit in the top corner that suggested trying it with honey mustard for a sweeter taste. I didn't have whole wheat breadcrumbs, so I went ahead and used our usual Panko and it tasted great! I also just noticed the recipe calls for pork loin chops, rather than regular pork chops... oops! Oh well, it tasted great anyway :)

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 & 1/2 cups fresh whole wheat breadcrumbs
3 Tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
4 Boneless, center-cut pork loin chops
3 Tbsp grainy mustard

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees and place a greased rack on a foil-lined baking sheet (as seen in the picture below).
• In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add breadcrumbs and toast, constantly stirring, for about 6-8 minutes (or until browned).
• Let cool, stir in the parsley and cheese.
• Brush the pork chops with mustard and coat with the breadcrumbs.
• Arrange on the rack and bake until cooked through, but still juicy (about 20-25 minutes).

Crock Pot Lasagna

This came from another cookbook that my mom gave me. While picking out meals, I gave the book to Michael and said to pick some meals out. This was his choice this week!

Other than the fact that this meals has to cook for up to four and a half hours, it didn't take any longer to prepare than any other dinner I make. I just have to remember that it needs to be prepared at two and not five!

I didn't really pay attention to the measurements of the cheese or lasagna noodles while making this, I just spread enough to cover each layer. You may need more or less than listed depending on the diameter of your slow cooker. Also, I set my cooker to the six hour setting but it was starting to burn by the end of the cooking. I'd suggest setting your cooker to the lowest setting and cooking it on the longer side.

Edit: I made this recipe again yesterday and didn't think the ground beef/sauce mixture smelled good enough. I decided to add oregano, rosemary, and garlic powder (about 1/2-1 Tbsp of each). It was absolutely PERFECT!

1 lb ground beef
1 jar (26-28oz) tomato pasta sauce
1 can (8oz) tomato sauce
1/2 package no-boil lasagna noodles
1 jar Alfredo pasta sauce
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

• In large skillet, brown beef.
• Spray slow cooker with cooking spray and spread 3/4 cup tomato pasta sauce in bottom of cooker. Stir remaining tomato pasta sauce and tomato sauce in to beef.
• Layer lasagna noodles over sauce in cooker, breaking noodles as necessary. Top with 1/3 of Alfredo pasta sauce (spread evenly) followed by 1 cup of mozzarella cheese. Top that with 1/3 of beef mixture (also spread evenly).
• Repeat layering two more times and sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top.
• Cover and cook on low for three and a half to four and a half hours.

Herbed Trout with Lemon Butter

This recipe was from my Better Homes and Garden cook book. It calls for dressed fish, but they didn't have any at Winco the day I went grocery shopping. I used our usual salmon and cod and adjusted the recipe to make it work. As you can see in the picture, instead of putting the onion/rosemary mixture inside the fish, I just covered the top.

Even if you don't like onions, give this recipe a try. We scraped the onions off of the top (they were too powerful to eat with the fish). The residual flavor was perfect!

4 - 8 to 10 oz fresh or frozen dressed boned rainbow trout (or other fish)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tsp finely shredded lemon peel
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 Tbsp snipped fresh rosemary or tarragon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Snipped fresh parsley (optional)
Lemon wedges

• If frozen, thaw fish, rinse, and pat dry. Lay on cutting board, spread open, skin side down.
• In small bowl, stir together melted butter and lemon juice. Set half of the butter mixture aside. Brush remaining half over the fish.
• In a small bowl, stir together lemon peel, onion, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle onion mixture over the fish and fold fish closed.
• Place fish on greased 15 x 10 x 1 inch baking pan. Bake at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes or until fish begins to flake when tested with a fork.
• Sprinkle with parsley, serve with reserved butter and lemon wedges.

Herb & Mustard Sirloin

I got this recipe out of my Christmas Food Network magazine. It is definitely different way to cook sirloins. We loved it! I looked high and low for the herbes de Provence that this recipe calls for, I finally found it at Yokes. If you don't have a store around you that carries more specialty type items, I did find a few recipes for the mixture online as well. There are plenty out there, just choose the one that sounds best to you (or fits what you have in your cabinet best, hehe).

I wasn't sure if spicy brown mustard was the same as spicy mustard, but that's what I had in my fridge, so that's what I used. I also doubled the mustard/herb mixture because a single serving of it just didn't look like enough to cover all the sirloin. Turns out, at least for our sirloins, doubling was perfect! Also, we're not big fans of regular butter, so instead cooking the steak in butter, we used olive oil and didn't put any on top after it was done.

1 & 1/2 lbs sirloin steak (1/2 inch thick)
2 Tbsp spicy mustard (plus more for serving)
2 tsp crumbled herbes de Provence
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
Salt and pepper to taste

• Pierce both sides of the steak with a fork. Mix the mustard and herbes de Provence in a bowl and rub over the steak.
• Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, add one Tbsp of butter. As soon as it melts, add the steak and sear on one side until browned (about 7 minutes). Turn and brown the other side (about 4 more minutes).
• Transfer steak to a cutting board, season with salt and pepper, and top with one Tbsp of butter. Let rest 5 minutes. Thinly slice the steak.

Baked Fries

I saw a picture of these potatoes in an ad in one of my cooking magazines. Unfortunately it didn't have the recipe with it... but it did have a website! http://www.potatogoodness.com/. It is a website with a ton of information about health, and to show that potatoes aren't bad for you! It also has a wide variety of recipes using potatoes, with a section specifically for quick and healthy ones.

These are really similar to the rosemary potato recipe I threw together a while ago, but it never hurts to have variations of the same thing :) We ate them without salt and they were still great. To top it off the baby couldn't get enough of them! I added 4 more cloves of garlic, pressed it, and added it to the mixture with the olive oil and thyme. We love garlic and it couldn't hurt ;)

6 russet potatoes (or any potato of your choice)
6 cloves of garlic
8 sprigs fresh thyme, picked from the stems
5 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Place whole potatoes (do not poke) in a microwave safe, covered dish. Microwave on high for 3-4 minutes. Let cool.
• Cut each potato length wise in to 8 wedges.
• In a large mixing bowl, toss potato wedges with olive oil, thyme, garlic cloves, and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
• Arrange potatoes and garlic cloves in a single layer on a baking sheet. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring half way through.

Blackberry Cobbler

In honor of Pi Day yesterday, I made this blackberry cobbler. Ok, so it's not really a pie, but close enough... just don't tell anyone ;) I got this recipe out of my Taste of Home annual recipes. My mom gets them in the mail every year and she decided she didn't want this one so she gave it to me!

Coincidentally, this was already on our list of things to make this week. I was bored yesterday and thought to myself, "What a great day to make a pie (cobbler)!" Michael LOVES blackberries or anything with a mixture of berries in it, so of course he loved it :)

I didn't have the utensil you need to cut butter in to a flour mixture, so I used a fork. Breaking the butter out of it's block was difficult, but once I got it in to smaller chunks, it wasn't that bad. That being said, I'm definitely going to buy one next time I'm at the store (and think about it).

Also, we use fat-free milk, so there was no 2% available in our house when I went to make this. I don't know if it made a difference, but there were no complaints! The recipe actually had you mixing the berry filling first in the directions, but the topping directions say to drop it on to a hot berry mixture. I figured the best way to get a hot berry mixture is to make it second, so I reversed the order of the directions for the recipe. My suggestion is to read through the entire recipe and get everything ready before you start to cook anything so as not to burn the filling.

Topping
1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter
1/2 cup 2% milk

Filling
3 cups fresh or frozen blackberries
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1 cup cold water
1 Tbsp butter

• Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Stir in the milk just until moistened.
• In a large saucepan, combine blackberries, sugar, and cinnamon. Cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil.
• Combine the cornstarch and water until smooth; stir in to fruit mixture. Bring to a boil, cook and stir for 2 minutes (or until thickened).
• Pour mixture into a greased 8 inch square baking dish. Dot with butter.
• Drop the topping, by tablespoonfuls onto the hot berry mixture.
• Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes or until filling is bubbly and topping is golden brown.
• Serve warm with whipped topping or ice cream.

Crunchy Pepper and Parm Crusted Halibut

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted, we went on vacation! When we came back, I was in a fishy mood, so there are lots of fish dishes on the menu this week (plus we're going to Anthony's for my birthday, hehe). Hope you enjoy!

This recipe was in my newest Rachel Ray magazine. I decided to not make the sauce/topping that went with it, but I did make the drizzle. I think I either reduced the drizzle too much or got it too hot because it ended up being a lot harder than it should have been. More of a caramel like substance than a syrup like one... oops... Oh well! It tasted good anyway ;)

I had a hard time finding the parmigiano-reggiano cheese, but I wasn't sure what I was looking for at the first store either. It is a hard cheese that's just kind of pressed together, so really crumbly. I ended up finding it (already grated) at Yokes in their specialty cheese section. Also, instead of halibut, we used cod and salmon, both worked and tasted great.

Sauce
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large shallot, chopped
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
A few leaves basil, torn
Salt and pepper

Fish
About 2/3 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
Lots of coarse black pepper
Four 8 oz halibut fillets
Extra virgin olive oil
Store bought balsamic drizzle (or reduce 1/2 cup vinegar with 2 Tbsp brown sugar until syrupy)

• Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and shallot and stir for a couple of minutes.
• Add tomatoes and basil, season with salt and pepper and cook to break down tomatoes (10-15 minutes).
• Mix the cornmeal with the cheese and black pepper. Add fish and turn to coat.
• Heat a thin layer of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish and cook, turning once, until crisp and brown all over (8-10 minutes).

Pan-Fried Garlic Steak and Potatoes

After getting all the stuff out and reading this recipe, I wasn't going to post it. It's one of those that's really simple, that you wouldn't think you'd need a recipe for (and you really don't). After eating it, it was so good, I changed my mind. As simple as it was, it was just too good not to share!

I did make a few changes to the recipe. Instead of cooking the potatoes in the microwave, I boiled them on the stove top for about 10 minutes. I then threw them in the skillet (as the recipe says) but sprinkled them with dried rosemary to add a little more flavor! I put some of the garlic in with the steak as I was cooking it in the pan as well. We also don't like cooked tomatoes, so we left them out of our meal.

12 cloves garlic
1 lb potatoes (we used red)
4 - 6 oz steaks (we used New York strip)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes
Fresh oregano

• Halve or quarter any large potatoes and place in microwave safe bowl. Cover with vented plastic wrap and microwave on high for five minutes. Stir in pressed garlic, cover, and cook for five more minutes (or until tender). Drain.
• Meanwhile, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in skillet over medium high heat. Season steak with salt and pepper. Cook steaks to desired doneness, turning once.
• Add remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil to skillet. Add potatoes, garlic, and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Cook five minutes or until potatoes are golen and tomatoes begin to wilt. Stir occasionally.

Mini Corn Dogs

Isaiah has been such a picky eater lately, I decided to make something I KNEW he would eat. I did take the blue cheese out of it just in case he didn't like it, haha. I don't remember what magazine this came out of, it's been printed out in my recipe folder for a really long time so it's probably from one of my parenting magazines.

You can do this without the skewers, I actually found it easier to just drop the hot dogs in to the batter to cover them. The only problem was the batter didn't stick to the hot dogs very well. I think drying them off with a paper towel beforehand might solve that problem.

1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
2 Tbsp sugar
1-1/2 baking powder
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp shortening
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup blue cheese
1 egg
3 slices bacon (crisp cooked, finely crumbled or chopped)
6 jumbo beef franks (cut in half crosswise)
12 6-inch wooden skewers

• In large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, dry mustard, and salt. Cut in the shortening until mixture resembles fine crumbs.
• In a blender, combine milk, blue cheese, and egg. Cover and blend until almost smooth.
• Add egg mixture to flour mixture along with bacon, mix well.
• Meanwhile, heat 1 inch of oil in a heavy 10-inch skillet over medium heat to 365 degrees.
• Insert skewers into ends of franks. Holding on to skewers, cover franks in batter mixture.
• Place coated franks, 3-4 at a time, in hot oil. Turn with tongs after 10 seconds to prevent batter from sliding off. Cook until golden brown, turning to brown evenly.
• Remove and drain on a baking sheet lined with paper towels.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

My mom gave me a Pillsbury Annual Recipes book. She gets them in the mail all the time and I guess she decided she didn't need this one. The name of the dessert chapter was "Decadent Desserts," so of course I had to check it out :)

My husband LOVES chocolate and peanut butter together, so I knew I'd have to try this recipe the second I saw it!

The recipe says to put 1 Tbsp of the batter and filling in each cup for the layers. Do not put more than that on each layer or you'll run out before you're done. I used my cookie scoop for the peanut butter, which was barely larger than 1 Tbsp and I ended short the top layer on 6 cupcakes!

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
1 Tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 - 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 peanut butter chips
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate baking chips

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 18 regular size muffin tins with paper cupcake liners.
• In large bowl, mix flour, cocoa, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add oil, water, vinegar, and vanilla. Stir until just smooth (do not over mix).
• In another large bowl, beat egg, cream cheese, peanut butter, and granulated sugar until smooth. Add powdered sugar, beat until creamy.
• Spoon 1 Tbsp chocolate batter into each cup, evenly spread 1 Tbsp peanut butter filling on top. Repeat with second layer. Sprinkle each with peanut butter chips and chocolate chips.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Do not over bake. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, cool on rack for another 15 minutes.

Baked Greek Chicken

A Rachel Ray magazine magically appeared in my mail box, I had no idea where it came from. Turns out my dad ordered it for me :) This recipe came from that magazine!

I could not find fresh nutmeg. I don't know if it just isn't in season right now, if I was looking in the wrong place, or something else. If someone knows what part of the grocery store to look, please let me know!

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
3 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
10 oz spinach, chopped
Salt and pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg (to taste)
3 Tbsp butter
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 tsp dried oregano
4 pieces skinless boneless chicken breast (or thighs!)

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Heat 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and two third of the garlic. Cook until softened (3-4 minutes).
• Transfer to a bowl to cool, add spinach, feta, and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
• Melt butter in same pan, turn off heat, and add panko, oregano, and remaining garlic. Toss together.
• Drizzle a baking dish with remaining olive oil.
• Split each chicken breast across, but not all the way through and open like a book. Stuff with spinach mixture (let the stuffing overflow) and place in baking dish.
• Top the chicken with breadcrumbs and bake for about 20 minutes.

Roast Pork Loin

This recipe came from my Cuisine at Home magazine. I love this magazine because it shows pictures of every recipe (I do eat with my eyes!) as well as hints/clues on how to do some of the trickier steps in preparation. It would be really good for anyone that doesn't really know how to cook and wants to have a little help along the way :) Plus, they've had tons of great recipes in the few issues I've gotten so far!

This recipe is pretty much like a normal roast, except you cook it in the oven. I calls for pork loin. I originally went in to the store looking for something about the size of the piece of meat in the picture and found nothing. Turns out, pork loin is that giant long piece of meat in the same section as the pork tenderloin. I bought the cheapest one I could find ($26) and cut it in to three portions, bagged the other two portions, and threw them in to the freezer for use at a later date.

The original recipe said to cook this for 20 minutes, turn, and cook for 20 more minutes. The meat was only up to about 95 degrees at that point! I ended up cooking it for about 70 minutes, maybe a little more (I quit using the timer after 60). If you don't have time to cook it for that long, you might try putting it in the slow cooker in the morning for on a low setting for 8-10 hours, or maybe even one of the higher settings for 4-6 hours.

1 pork loin roast (2-3 lbs)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried thyme
3 cloves garlic, cut in half
salt and black pepper to taste

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees with rack in center position. Line a shallow roast pan with foil. Let roast stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• Combine oil, rosemary,s age, and thyme in a small bowl.
• Pierce top of pork to make six slits, 2 inches apart on either side. Insert garlic half in to each slit.
• Score top of pork by cutting a crisscross pattern. Rub herb mixture onto pork.
• Roast for 30 minutes, flip, then roast another 30 minutes or until center of meat reaches 145 degrees.
• Remove from oven, tent pork with foil, and let stand for 10-15 minutes before slicing.

Dijon-Crusted Chicken

I got this recipe out of my Taste of Home magazine and man was it tasty! It's definitely moved up towards the top of our list of favorites :)

My spice rack had this spice called Italian seasoning in it. I'd never seen it in a recipe before, never heard of it actually! I used it on a roast just to try it out about a year ago but never used it again. This recipe calls for it and in this mixture it was wonderful!

I only have a couple notes about this recipe. First is that we used Panko for the bread crumbs because that's what I had (and it tastes really good). I'm sure any type of bread crumb would work though. Second, I used 3 chicken breasts and 4 chicken thighs. The seasoning didn't look like nearly enough so I went ahead and tripled it just to be safe and it ended up being just enough. I'll leave the recipe as is, just in case you're cooking less chicken. Same with the Dijon.

1/3 cup dry bread crumbs
1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 oz each)
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp butter or margarine

• Mix first six ingredients together in shallow bowl. Brush chicken with Dijon and roll in crumb mixture.
• In large nonstick skillet, cook chicken in oil and margarine over medium heat for 5-6 minutes on each side (until center of meat reads 170 degrees).

Another easy way to cook this, since it seems cooking chicken in the skillet always takes 10 times longer than the recipe says, is to cook it in a 9 x 13 pan in the oven. That's how I cooked the chicken last night. To do so, I spread some bread crumbs in the bottom of the pan, placed the chicken in the pan, and sprinkled the remaining bread crumbs over the top of the chicken. Bake in the oven at 400 for 45-60 minutes (my chicken was slightly frozen so it took closer to 60 minutes).

Honey-Marinated Pork with Gremolata

I got this recipe from one of my Bon Appetit magazines. Honey is one of our favorite sauces/condiments. We LOVE to eat it on our chicken nuggets and french fries at McDonald's (if you haven't tried it, you should)! It's the only sauce that Isaiah will eat on anything, he puts it on eggs, waffles, sausage, tatter tots, fries, chicken, and more. Of course this dish was right up our alley :)

I used up all of my rosemary with the last recipe (oops, didn't buy enough). I used dry rosemary instead, so your gremolata will look a little different than mine did.

2 pork tenderloins
1/2 honey
4 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp orange juice
1 tsp (or more) fine sea salt
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 Tbsp finely grated orange peel
1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme
2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
2 tsp chopped fresh sage

• Whisk honey, garlic, orange juice, 1 tsp sea salt, and 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper in a small bowl. Place tenderloins in a gallon ziplock bag, pour mixture in with tenderloin, and coat. Chill at least two hours, or over night.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Heat oil in large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork to skillet, reserve marinade.
• Brown all sides of pork, turning often. Transfer to oven and cook until internal temperature reaches 150 degrees (20-30 minutes).
• Transfer tenderloins to plate and pour reserved marinade in to skillet. Add wine and boil gently until reduced to 1/2 cup (about 3-4 minutes). Season with sea salt and pepper.
• Mix orange peel, thyme, rosemary, and sage in small bowl for gremolata. Cut pork crosswise into 1/2" thick slices, pour sauce over pork, and sprinkle with gremolata.

Rosemary Rubbed Salmon with Roasted Potatoes, Parsnips and Mushrooms

I got this recipe from my Bon Appetit magazine. Overall it was a pretty good meal :) We decided we would change two things though.

First, the fish was waaaay too salty. I've noticed that most recipes I make that call for coarse kosher salt seem to be this way, so to remedy this, I reduced the salt in the recipe by 3/4 (the original recipe calls for 4 tsp). Second, neither of us liked the parsnips. They were like carrots with the consistency of potatoes. Next time we're definitely going to leave them out of the roasted mixture. For this recipe, I'm going to leave them in though, because I know everyone has different tastes, and you guys might like them!

As usual, we used both white fish (cod in this case) and salmon with this recipe because we all like something different :)

1-1/2 cups loosely packed fresh rosemary leaves
1 tsp coarse kosher salt
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
6 Tbsp olive oil, divided
1 lb red skinned potatoes, cut into 3/4" pieces
1 lb parsnips, cut into 3/4" pieces
3.5-3.75 lbs whole side of fish with skin
1 lb crimini mushrooms, quartered or halved
1/3 cup pinot noir or other dry red wine

• Blend rosemary, salt, and pepper in processor until finely chopped. With machine running, gradually add 4 Tbsp olive oil and process to a coarse paste.
• Position 1 oven rack in top third of oven, the other rack in bottom third of oven. Preheat to 450 degrees.
• Toss potatoes and parsnips in 2 Tbsp oil and 3 Tbsp rosemary mixture in large bowl. Transfer mixture to rimmed baking sheet, arranging in an even layer. Roast on lower rack for 20 minutes.
• Line large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Place fish skin side down on sheet. Spread with remaining rosemary mixture.
• After first 20 minutes, toss mushrooms with vegetable mixture, return to lower rack. Place salmon on upper rack and bake until just opaque in center and vegetables are tender (about 20 minutes).
• Empty vegetables from baking sheet and place sheet over two burners on high heat. Add wine and bring to boil, scraping up browned bits. Drizzle juices over salmon.

I used a glass 9 x 13 pan for the vegetables so when I got to the last step, I wasn't able to make the wine sauce. Because of this, your fish will look different than in my picture!

Churros

Churros are one of my absolute FAVORITE desserts! When I found a recipe for them in my Cuisine at Home magazine I was beyond ecstatic! All the necessary items were immediately put on my shopping list and we went shopping :)

Unfortunately the only part that seemed to work out right was the shopping, haha. The recipe says to use a 1/2 inch wide star shaped piping tip, but the churros just seemed to come out waaay too small and the center wasn't doughy enough. About six churros in, the piping bag actually broke! I popped the piping tip in to the corner of a zip-lock bag, but it was only one churro later before the tip tore it's way out of that. The dough was just too thick to pipe out of a bag.

I decided to squeeze it out of the corner of the bag, but as I did, the corner just continued to tear bigger and bigger until the entire glob of dough popped out! At that point I simply started tearing dough off and rolling it with my hands. This was a very laughable situation because after frying, the churros looked more like turds than churros :O Fortunately after being covered with the sugar mixture they looked a little better ;)

Next time I'm going to try a "+" plate with my cookie press. If that doesn't work, I found a few churreras (basically a cookie press with a star shape at the end) for less than $20.

Vegetable Oil
1/2 cup + 2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 water
1/4 tsp salt
Minced zest of 1 orange
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs

• Heat about 2" of oil in a large pot until it registers 350 degrees on a candy thermometer.
• Combine 1/2 cup sugar, cinnamon, and cardmom in cereal bowl, set aside.
• Heat butter, water, 2 tsp sugar, salt, and zest in saute pan over medium until bowling. Stir in flour. Cook one minute more to dry out.
• Transfer dough to mixing bowl, mix for 30 seconds with hand mixer. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until incorporated.
• Transfer dough to a piping bag fitted with medium star shaped tip.
• Pipe 3" long strips of dough in to hot oil. Slice dough from piping tip with knife dipped in frying oil.
• Fry churros until golden brown on both sides, remove from fryer, and drain on paper-towel-lined plate. Immediately coat in sugar mixture.

Here are the... funny... looking ones ;)

Rosemary-Orange Pork Tenderloins

As you can tell, we really like pork tenderloin! A friend of mine, Caroline May, made this dish for us at a dinner party. I absolutely LOVED it, so I got the recipe from her :)

1 cup orange juice
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp rosemary
3 cloves garlic, minced
Pork tenderloin

• Trim the fat off of the pork.
• Combine the orange juice, soy sauce, olive oil, rosemary, and garlic in a baking dish or zip lock bag. Add pork and marinate at least hour, up to over night.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Drain pork and reserve marinade.
• Place pork on a baking sheet and season generously with pepper. Roast until done (about 20 minutes per pound).
• Bring marinade to a boil in small sauce pan. Mix a little cornstarch with water and add to marinade to thicken (if desired).
• Slice pork and serve with sauce.

I was in a little crunch for time and had to get other things done while dinner was cooking, so I had to make the dish a little differently. Instead of reserving the marinade, I put the tenderloin in a 9 x 13 pan, added the cornstarch to the marinade, poured the marinade mixture over the tenderloin, and cooked it all together.