Oreo Truffle Stuffed Strawberries

Haley and I have the perfect arrangement. She brings the ingredient and then I do the baking. Today was Oreo truffle stuffed strawberries. There were really yummy. We got the recipe here. Personally I wouldn't have have put the frosting on them because I'm not a big fan of frosting but it does make them look prettier.

Eggs Benedict

I was watching "Worst Cooks in America" on Food Network the other day and they made eggs benedict. I thought, if they can do it, I should be able to do it too. Not all of theirs turned out so I was hoping for the best. Today I had time to try and make it and I was really pleased with how it turned out. I was only worried about 2 things. 1. My hollandaise sauce would turn into scrambled eggs and 2. I would break my yolk or over cook the yolk in the poached egg. I was so proud of myself when it actually turned out. It hit the spot and I will definitely be making it again. I got the recipe here.

Chicken Fingers

This seriously was so good. I couldn't get over it when I made it; I just kept telling Andrew, "This is sooo good. I am keeping this recipe. I can't wait to make it again." I was watching food network and they made this. I have also seen similar recipes on Pinterest.

Ingredients

           Chicken Fingers

     1 lbs chicken breast

     1/2 c flour

     1 egg

     1 Tbsp water

     1 c bread crumbs

           Sauce

     1 c brown sugar

     1/2 c BBQ sauce

     1 tsp garlic powder

     1 Tbsp water

Place flour in bag. Cut chicken into strips. Put chicken in back and shake until coated.

Mix water and egg together. Dunk chicken.

Then coat chicken in bread crumbs

Place on greased baking sheet. Cook for 18 minutes at 400

 While the chicken is cooking make the sauce. Add everything together except the water. Bring to boil, Take off heat and stir in water. Place in container that you can also add the chicken in.

Shake the chicken with the sauce.

Allow to cool and

Enjoy! 

PS. We dipped them in ranch which was really good. 

Cinnamon Apple Muffins

I had some apples that needed to be used so what do I do? Get on pinterest of course and look for a recipe. After looking at all sorts of recipes I decided on this one. Like always I made a few changes. These turned out so yummy! I will definitely keep this recipe.

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream together:
     2 cups sugar
     2 eggs
     1 Tbsp vanilla
     1/2 cup oil
     1/2 apple sauce (I changed this to make it slightly healthier; original recipe had 1 cup oil)

 Add:
     3 cups flour
     1 tsp baking soda
     1 tsp salt
     1 tsp cinnamon

Add:
     3 cups apple - peeled, cored and diced

Top with brown sugar

Bake for 18-22 minutes

Enjoy!

Being Domestic

Sydney and I bought 40 pounds of chicken from Zaycon and split it because neither of us had much room in our freezers. We then canned 20 pounds of it to help solve that problem. I got 8 pint sized jars out of 10 pounds. Sydney got 5 quart sized jars out of 10 pounds.
It was actually much easier than I had expected. We cut off the fat, cut it into 1 inch cubes, put it into jars and added salt. Then we pressure cooked it for an hour and 15 minutes. It was that simple! Who knew that canning isn't that hard.

While my mom was here helping out she canned black and pinto beans. Our food storage is slowly growing which is good but it can't grow too much more or we will have to be very creative with where we put all of it.

Festive Sugar Cookies

On Friday, I decided that I wanted to do something different but fun that night. I decided to make sugar  cookies and then we had some friends over to decorate them.

The recipe I used is found here.
1 1/2 C butter
2 C Sugar
4 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
5 C Flour (I used a little more because it was really sticky)
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla

Add flour, baking powder, and salt

Refrigerate dough for an hour.

Flour the counter so the dough doesn't stick. Roll out and cut to desired shape. I used pumpkins, bats and ghosts  because its October and getting close to Halloween.

Bake for 6-7 minutes at 400

Some of the finished products

Enjoy!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

This is what the weather was like for the last 2 days, so I declared a SOUP DAY!

Andrew has had a cold the last few days so I thought chicken noodle soup was extra fitting.

Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

2 cups chicken - I used a double breasted chicken breast so it had the bones to give the broth more flavor

10 cups of chicken broth

1 cup carrots

1/2 cup celery

1 onion

Salt and Pepper to taste

noodles - I made my own - recipe to follow

Let chicken cook in the broth on low for about an hour.

Take chicken out and cut the carrots, celery and onion into bite size pieces. Add to broth.

Take the chicken off the bone and cut into bite size pieces. Add to broth.

Let simmer for about 30 minutes.

Bring to boil and cook the noodles about 10 minutes.

Serve!

Noodle Recipe

2 cups flour

2 eggs

2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp water

Mix together in a bowl with hands.

Flour counter and roll out.

Use pizza cutter to cut about 1/4 inch pieces.

Place in boiling broth and cook for about 10 minutes.

I also made rolls and the recipe can be found here.

Enjoy and stay warm!

Chocolate Lava Cake

I saw this recipe on pinterest and had to try it. It looked so good and who says no to something sweet especially on a Saturday night? Not I; and Andrew didn't object either. 

Crockpot Chocolate Lava Cake Recipe:

Mix together:

2 Cups Brown Sugar

2 Cups Flour

6 TBSP Cocoa Powder

4 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

Stir in:

1 Cup Milk

4 TBSP melted Butter

1 tsp Vanilla

Pour into the bottom of a large crock pot.

Mix together in a separate bowl:
1 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder
pour over top batter.

Boil 3 Cups of water and pour over.
DO NOT STIR!!!

Cook for 2 hours.
At about 90 minutes the house will smell so good but keep waiting. It will only taste that much better.

 Let sit for about 20-30 minutes to let it cool. It will still be gooey and full of lava so don't worry.

Top with ice cream (optional) - but why not add extra goodness and calories? They don't count on the weekend right?

Andrew topped his with peanut butter ice cream

I chose mint chocolate chip

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Rolls

Yesterday I made pizza dough. It makes 2 pizzas but I only used one. I decided to use the left over dough to make cinnamon rolls. 

Dough Recipe:

1 1/2 cups warm water

2 tsp yeast

1 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

4 cups flour

Mix together water, yeast and sugar and let set for 10 minutes.

Add salt and flour and knead for 5 minutes.

Let rise for 1 1/2 hours.

Punch down and let rise for 15 more minutes. Heat the oven to 375.

Roll out the dough 

Melt 1/4 cup of butter and cover the dough

2 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar

Spread on dough

Cut in 1/2 inch pieces

After rising for 15 minutes
Bake for 18-22 minutes

While the cinnamon rolls were baking I made cream cheese frosting.

Frosting Recipe:

1/4 cup butter

4 oz cream cheese

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup powder sugar

Beat together for 2-3 minutes.

 

Out of the oven

Smothered in frosting

Enjoy!

Friday Night Pizza Night

Today I made BBQ Chicken Pizza. Between the two of us there are only 2 piece left so either we were starving or it was really good.

1/2 cup warm water
2 tsp of yeast
1 Tbsp of sugar

Let sit for 10 minutes.

Add 1 tsp of salt and 4 cups of Flour

After kneading for 5 minutes

After raising for an hour and a half

Let raise for 15 more minutes.

Warm oven to 450.

Grease pan and form pizza. 

Makes 2 pizzas.

Top however your little heart desires!

I made a BBQ  chicken pizza because I had cilantro that needed used.

Before the oven

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy!

Teriyaki Burgers on Homemade Buns

For dinner today I made teriyaki burgers. I also made the buns which turned out really good. This recipe is definitely a keeper! I halved the recipe because I didn't want extra buns.

After rising for 45 minutes

With the wash.
I didn't have a brush so I just drizzled it with a spoon.

Right out of the oven.
I only baked for 14 minutes. Watch carefully so they don't burn.

Nice and Fluffy!

 Here is the recipe I based mine off of for the marinade. I changed just a few things. I used real garlic (1 clove), onion powder (2 tsps) and ground ginger (1 tsp). I didn't have any Worcestershire sauce so I just used extra soy sauce.  It kept the hamburger patties nice and moist. I marinated them in the fridge for almost 2 hours while the dough was rising. I grilled the burgers on a George Foreman Grill.

Here are the ingredients. 

I then grilled canned pineapple to add to the burger. Once everything was ready I added Mayo to the bun, then the burger, some cheese and the pineapple.

Enjoy!