Brownies

Some of my friends and I had a Pinterest party.  We made a wreath we saw and brought something to eat.  I made these brownies from The Key Ingredient.

1 cup butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
2 cups chocolate chips

In small saucepan over low heat, melt butter completely. Stir in sugar and continue cooking for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Do not allow sugar mixture to boil. Pour butter mixture into a large bowl or stand mixer, beat in cocoa powder, eggs, salt, baking powder, and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined. Stir in the flour and chocolate chips until well combined. Spread into prepared pan in a buttered pan (batter will be very thick and sticky) and bake for about 30 minutes at 350, until a tester comes out mostly clean. The edges should be set and the center should still look slightly moist, but not uncooked. Cool on a wire rack.

Itailan Nachos

Matt and I love the Italian Nachos at our little restaurant in town.  I thought I would give it a try.  I'm glad I did they turned out really good.

1 bag of Thin Tortilla Chips
Jar of Alfredo Sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Sliced olives
Banana Peppers
Jalapeno Peppers
Fresh diced Tomatoes
Cooked, Shredded Chicken

Layer it all.  I did the whole bag of chips, some cheese then the Alfredo sauce, chicken then the rest.  topped with more cheese.  I baked it at 300 for about 20 minutes or until it is all melty and gooey.

Taco Seasoning

Matt loves tacos.  I am not such a huge fan but I have started taking a little more care in how I make them. 

I get the same size jars of each:
chili powder
ground cumin
garlic powder
onion powder

Dumb all jars into a zip lock bag and mix.  I usually taste it and then add salt.  You can also add red pepper flakes if it isn't spicy enough for your family.  It is good enough for us without it.  This lasts for a long time and I use it in chili also and what ever else sounds good.

Easy Angel Food Cake

Take a box of Angel Food Cake mix , and combine it with a 20 ounce can of Blueberry pie filling.  The mixture starts to froth and it turns airy and fluffy right before your eyes. Once it's all mixed up, simply pour it into a 9 x 13 baking dish and bake it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

Super easy right?  You can use any type of pie filling or even crushed pineapple with the juice.

Skillet Spaghetti

7 oz. pkg. thin spaghetti noodles
1 ground beef or Sausage
salt and pepper
8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
1/4 c. sour cream
8 oz. cottage cheese
1 jar spaghetti sauce

Cook spaghetti noodles and drain.  Cook meat.  I cooked the meat in my big cast iron skillet.  Drain the meat then add the cream cheese, sour cream and cottage cheese until all is melted and well mixed together.  Then add sauce.  Start with half a jar and see how much more you want.  Add the spaghetti mix well all together and top with cheese.  Bake at 325 for 30 minutes.

Crocpot Creamy Tortillini

1 bag of frozen tortellini
Couple Handfulls of fresh spinach
2 cans of Italian style diced tomatoes (14.5 oz)
4 cups or chicken broth
1 block of cream cheese (8 oz), cut into cubes
1 lb. sausage

Brown the sausage and put all ingredients in crock pot. Cook on low for 3-4 hrs. If you don't add the spinach at the beginning, add it ~1 hour before serving. If the 'sauce' is too thin, leave the lid off during the last 1/2 hour of cooking and it will thicken slightly. I topped mine with some grated Parmesan cheese.

Sugar Cookies and Cream Cheese Frosting

These cookies are so soft and delicious.  I have said I am for sure not a cookie maker but these are super easy I didn't even mess them up.  I made them the first time for Kyle's Valentine's Day Party then I made them again with Lego candies on them for his birthday.

 



Cream together:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup sugar
1 cup oil
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Add:
5 cups flour
1 tsp cream of tarter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Mix all ingredients well. Roll into golf size balls and roll in some granulated sugar. Flatten with your fingers just until there is some resistance.  Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Bake until just starting to crack. Don't let them get brown. Cool and frost with frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 block cream cheese
1 stick butter
lots of powdered sugar
vanilla flavoring


Cream together the cream cheese and butter. Whip it for a little while. Add powdered sugar and some vanilla flavoring until it tastes the way you like it. I usually do about 2 tsp vanilla and half a bag of powdered sugar.

Pumpkin Cookies With Frosting

Kyle and JD have been telling me they want a pumpkin pie.  So I thought I would be a wonderful mother and have one made for them when they got home from school.  Well I only had one pie crust and so I had to half my recipe.  This was going great until the second ingredient went into the bowl.  I halved the pumpkin but not the sugar.  So I had to find a recipe for cookies instead.  I found this one.  The boys were pretty happy to have cookies so I guess it worked out ok.

2 cups shortening

2 cups white sugar

2 cups canned pumpkin

2 eggs

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

4 cup sall-purpose flour

6 tablespoons butter

8 tablespoons milk

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup packed brown sugar

 

Cream shortening, white sugar and pumpkin. Add eggs and mix well. Sift together the baking soda, ground cinnamon, salt and flour. Add to pumpkin mixture and mix well.

 

Drop from spoon to cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes at 350 degrees

 

To Make Frosting: Cook butter, milk, and brown sugar until dissolved. Cool and add confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Spread over warm cookies.

Fresh Peach Pie



This is my friend Jana's pie recipe.  I tried it a few years ago and love making it every time I have fresh peaches.  I am sure you can make it with canned ones too but I never have.  It really is so easy to make and unbelievably delicious!

9" baked pie shell, cooled I just got one at the Wal-Marts because I wanted it right NOW.

5-6 large peaches

1 cup sugar

3 heaping tablespoons corn starch

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Take 3 large peaches and wash and peel them. Slice peaches into the bottom of your pie crust.

Next, mash 2-3 peaches, depending on size. I usually mash 3 medium sized peaches.

Add the sugar, corn starch & water...you need heaping tablespoons of the corn starch like this:  I am even using her pictures.  Thanks Jana!

 Then mix it all together. It will look like this when your done.

Thicken in the microwave. Mine usually takes 6 minutes all-together. Make sure you stir it after every 2 minutes. You will know when it is ready because it turns from a watery milky-looking mess to a beautiful translucent pie filling!

Now add the butter and almond extract. Do not skip the almond.

Pour the thicken pie filling over the cut up peaches.

Refrigerate until set & cooled. 

Enjoy!

Swirl Bread/Stuffed French Toast

I love to make Swirl Bread.  I haven't made it for a while so when I made the cherry braid I used half the dough and cream cheese mixture to make this.  Some times I use cinnamon and sugar too. 

 The Swirl Bread is good just plain but it is wonderful and Stuffed French Toast.

I use half the dough from the the cherry braid and roll it out next to a bread pan so I don't make it to long.  You can roll it out and much the other way as you want but I would let it be kind of thick it is easier to roll and bakes a little easier.  When it is all rolled out spread half the cream cheese mixture from the Cherry Braid on it which is:
1 can Cherry Pie Filling
1 (8oz) cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Mixed together.  You can also use:
Cinnamon and Sugar
Cream Cheese
Mixed together.  Both are so good.
When it is all spread out roll up the dough and put seam side down in the greased bread pan.  Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.  You will need to kinda check it and make sure it is baked all the way through.

If it is not all gone in the next day or two make Stuffed French Toast out of it.  Just like you always make your French Toast.  It comes apart very easy so just squish it back together and by the time it is cooked it is back together again.  Sprinkle with powder sugar and enjoy!

Cherry Braid

I make this every year for Christmas morning.  It is one of Matt's mom's recipes.  I made it a few days ago for a little breakfast we went too.

I use the the bread recipe that I use for everything else.  It makes enough for two loaves.  Then I let it rise.  When it has risen I take half of the dough and roll it out to about a quarter inch oval.

1 can Cherry Pie Filling
1 (8 oz) Cream Cheese (softened)
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Mix the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth then all the pie filling until it is all well mixed.  Pour half the mixture down the center of the dough and leave about three or four inches on the sides.  Use a pizza cutter to cut strips up and down both sides then braid the dough.  Seal the ends.  I usually have to cut some dough off the end so there is not to much on the ends.

Pour some icing over the top.

A little butter
A little milk
and Powder sugar

Mix together until the right taste and consistency.

Cowboy Caviar

Candy makes the best dip every year during the Celebration called Cowboy Caviar.  This is the only picture I could get of it.  It was gone before I knew it.  

Dustrie eating.  Poor girl I made her pose for the picture.

She really didn't seem to mind.

2 cans diced tomatoes

2 can black beans (drained)

2 cans corn

green onion (optional)

cilantro

4-5 avocados

packet of Italian dressing (put the amount of water the instructions have but not the oil)

garlic salt

Serve with tortilla chips.  Or just eat it with a spoon, no one will know.

Snikers Fruit Salad

The picture doesn't look like there is much to see, but give it a try.

1 big container of Cool Whip (thawed)
1 or 1 1/2 bricks of Cream Cheese (softened)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 bag of fun size Snikers Candy bars (To me this was almost not enough you might want to get a few more)
4-6 Granny Smith Apples

Mix Cool Whip, Cream Cheese and sugar together.  Cut up Snickers and apples and mix altogether.  I thought that adding strawberries and maybe some banannas would make it even better.

Atomic Poppers

It isn't the best picture you will just have to take my word that these are worth the work!  I found a these and decided to change them up just a little.

Jalapenos
Cream Cheese (room temp)
Red Pepper Jelly (divided)
Bacon
Little Smokies

Cut the jalapenos in half and clean out seeds.  Use gloves if you have them.
Mix cream cheese and red pepper jelly together and fill the cleaned out jalapenos with as much cream cheese as it takes to make it level with the edges of the jalapeno.  If you get to the end you can skimp on some or borrow from others if you need too.
Top cream cheese with a Little Smoky.
Cut your bacon in half and wrap the whole thing and stick a toothpick through so it stays together.  I don't do that with the regular ones but you will want to with these.
Then top each popper with a small amount of red pepper jelly.
Bake for an hour at 300.  At the end you might want to turn up the oven to make sure the bacon is crispy.
I had 20 jalapenos, two boxes of cream cheese, a jar of jelly, two packages of bacon and a package of little smokies.  So it made 40 poppers.  I usually don't make that many but they were still gone super fast.

Oreo Treats

I made these for Matt and his crew for Father's Day.  I thought they kinda looked like coal so it was fun to make them.  And what man doesn't like Oreo's.

2 bags Oreo's
2 bags marshmallows
1 stick butter

I used my blender to chop up the Oreo's but a food processor would work great.  Chop them pretty fine almost like you are making a crust with it.  I did like when I bit into a piece that wasn't quite so fine.
Melt marshmallows and butter until smooth and add Oreo's.  Mix well and pour into a greased 9x13 inch pan.  Let cool and cut into squares.
You can half this and put into a 8x8 inch pan.

Raspberry Rolls

I had these the other day when I was at Aunt Karma's.  She got this recipe from Miranda.  They are just a little bit addicting.  I couldn't wait to make them when I got home.  I had to send a pan full to work with Matt so I wouldn't sit home and eat them by myself.

For the dough I used the Quick and Easy White Bread recipe (click on the link for the recipe).  Aunt Karma uses Grandma Bonnie's Cherry-Go-Round dough recipe that is in the cook book (which is also the dough recipe Grandma used for her cinnamon rolls).

2 cans Raspberry Pie Filling
Sugar

After you mix the dough let it rise in a bowl for a few hours.  Then divide the dough in two and roll out the first batch like you are making cinnamon rolls.  Spread one can of Raspberry pie filling over entire surface of dough.  Then sprinkle generously with sugar and mix with pie filling.
Now the messy part.  Roll up the dough like cinnamon rolls, it will be messy but just keep as much filling in as possible and keep rolling. When it is all rolled up cut into about 1-1 1/2 inch sections place in a buttered pan or a pan lined with parchment paper, scrape all the extra filling that fell out while you were doing your rolling and spread over rolls.  Let rise for another few hours or until it fills the pan.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Bake at 425 for 25 minutes.  Keep a close eye on them you may have to adjust you oven and time.  Cool for about 30 minutes then dump out of pan.
I just used a basic Cream Cheese Frosting, but a easy powder sugar glaze would be good too.

Copy Cake

JD calls Coffee Cake, Copy Cake.  I hate to correct him when he hears things wrong, he comes up with some funny stuff. 

Matt and I went to visit his Grandparents in Texas when I was pregnant with Kyle and she made this for us.  I loved it so I got her recipe.

Batter:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup chopped nuts
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Mix sugar, shorting and egg good.
Add baking powder and salt to egg mixture.  Then add alternately the flour and milk.  Mix very well.  Spread half of batter in greased 9x9 pan.  Mix topping ingredients together and spread half of topping over half of batter in pan and circle in with a fork.  Repeat with batter and topping.  Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

Guacamole

A friend brought some Guacamole the other day to a BBQ we were having.  I couldn't believe how easy it was to make it so I whipped up a little for us.

Avocados
Sour cream
Pase Picante Sauce
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Lime juice

I used two avocados and just dumped everything else in I didn't measure anything.  So just do what you think would be best.  If you keep the avocado pits in the guacamole it keeps it from turning brown so fast.  The picture kinda looks brown but I think it is from the Pase.

Quick and Easy White Bread

I got this recipe from my friend Jana also.  It is a very simple recipe but very good.  I use it for lots more than just loafs of bread.  I make braids and rolls with it as well.

2 Tablespoons yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups HOT water
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon salt
5 Tablespoons oil
6 cups flour, divided

Put yeast in the 1/2 cup warm water and let sit.  Mix together the Hot water, sugar, salt, oil and 3 cups of the flour in a mixer.  Mix with whips until dough is smooth.  Pour in the yeast and rest of the flour and replace the whip for the dough hook.  Turn mixer on and add more flour if needed.  The dough should "clean" your bowl.  And let it knead the dough for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, grease 2 bread pans.  When the dough is finished kneading separate into 2 loaves and work it into a loaf.  Place each loaf in a pan and cover with a dish towel and let rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350.  Place loaves in oven and cook for about 35-40 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.  Remove from the oven and butter the top while still warm.

Fruit Dip

This dip is too easy and good not to make.

8 oz of Cool Whip, thawed
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup Coconut cream (found in the mixed drinks section)

Mix all together until fluffly.