Brown Sugar and Balsamic Pork

If you're looking for a good recipe for New Year's this one is a winner!  I cooked it for dinner one night for our family and it was a big hit!  Jason even suggested that I take a picture of Charlotte enjoying it so much...

I ended up doing the recipe with pork tenderloin's in the oven.  We just baked for 45 minutes to an hour on 350 and they were perfect.  I took them out and basted them for like the last half of the cooking time every 5-10 minutes or so.  Turned out wonderful and is very easy!  I also made this for Christmas with Jason's family and it was a big hit with them also.

The highlight of this recipe is the sauce.  You could put it over any kind of meat that you want and it would be fabulous.  For one pork tenderloin I made one recipe of sauce and had plenty left over for us to use during dinner and then some.  For Christmas I made a little over four pounds of tenderloin (four one pounders) and made two recipes of sauce.  I still had plenty to baste with, eat with dinner, and left over.  But the sauce is good so you don't want to have too little!

Brown Sugar and Balsamic Pork

Some kind of meat -- I used pork

Sage

Salt

Pepper

Glaze

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1 Tablespoon Cornstarch

1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar

1/2 cup Water

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

1. Combine glaze ingredients in a sauce pan.

2. Heat and stir until glaze thickens.

3. Cook meat according to directions -- in oven or slow cooker.  Brush meat with glaze 2 or 3 times during the last portion of cooking time.

4. Serve meat with remaining glaze.

From Let's Dish via Pinterest

Puppy Chow

Puppy Chow

One of my favorites from growing up!  We originally got the recipe from my friend Kate's Mom.

1 box Chex cereal

1 cup Peanut Butter

1 cup Chocolate Chips

1 lb Powdered Sugar

1. Pour Chex into a very large bowl.

2. Melt peanut butter (30 seconds in microwave) and melt chocolate (30+ seconds in microwave).  Once melted pour over cereal and mix until cereal is coated.

3. Slowly add powdered sugar and mix until all cereal is coated with powdered sugar.

Strawberry Angel Cookies

Strawberry Angle Cookies (via Smuckers)

Got this from Pinterest also.  As a note, make sure you make these cookies small, they are much better and much easier to handle when they're smaller.  They also are very sticky so if you're storing them you might want to layer between wax paper to avoid them sticking together.

1 package Angel Food Cake Mix

3/4 cup Strawberry Preserves

3 Tablespoons Mini Chocolate Chips

1. Heat oven to 325 F.

2. Coat cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.

3. Mix cake mix and preserves with a mixer until thoroughly combined (about 1 minutes).  Beat an additional minute.

4. Stir in the chocolate chips.

5. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the cookie sheet.

6. Bake 10-12 minutes or until tops are just lightly browned.  Place on a cooling rack to cool completely. (Cookies will be soft and chewy.)

Saltine Toffee

Saltine Toffee (via A Southern Grace)

An easy toffee recipe that is very yummy!

1 cup Unsalted Butter

1 cup Brown Sugar

2 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Saltine Crackers

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Lay out the Saltine's evenly on the sheet.

3. Melt the sugar and butter until a boil is reached.  Reduce heat and simmer for 5-8 minutes or until the mixture has thickened and sugar has completely dissolved.

4. Pour sugar mixture over saltines and spread evenly.

5. Bake 5-8 minutes or until the toffee becomes bubbly.

6. After removing the pan from the oven, let it sit for 3-5 minutes.

7. Sprinkle on the chocolate chips.  Let them soften and melt and spread around to evenly coat the top.

8. Let cool and then cut or break into pieces.

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Peanut Butter Cup Brownies (via Baked Perfection)

I love Reese's.  These are similar and I can make them at home!

1 box of Brownie mix

Ingredients to make brownies (usually water, veggie oil, and an egg)

1/2 cup Peanut Butter Chips

1/2 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1/2 cup Peanut Butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Mix brownie batter as directed on the box.

2. Grease mini-muffin pans with non-stick cooking spray.

3. Spoon brownie batter into muffin pans (about 1 heaping teaspoon into each).

4. Bake for 13-15 minutes until they are set.

5. After brownies come out of the oven wait for the centers to fall.  If they don't fall take a spoon and tap the center to create a well.

6. Place peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on high for 45 seconds.

7. Fill the wells in the brownies with peanut butter.

8. Top the brownies with peanut butter chips and chocolate chips.

Cinnamon Sugar Pecans

Cinnamon Sugar Pecans (credit)

Set these out for the Christmas party but they were a bigger hit on the neighbor goodies plate.

1 large Egg White

3 cups Pecan Halves

1/3 cup Cinnamon and Sugar (1 T Cinnamon to 1/4 cup Sugar)

2 teaspoons Vanilla

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1. Preheat oven to 300 F.

2. Whisk the egg white in a cup and then pour over the pecans.  Stir until pecans are coated.

3. In a small bowl combine the other ingredients.  Add them to the pecans a little at a time while continuing to stir.

4. Spread the pecans on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Cook for 20 minutes without stirring.

5. Use a spatula to remove the pecans from the cookie sheet immediately after cooking.  Let cool and then store.

Apple Pie Dip and Cinnamon Sugar Chips

Apple Pie Dip and Cinnamon Sugar Chips (via The Peach Kitchen)

Another hit from the Christmas Party and a recipe that I got from Pinterest.  It was good cold but I might serve it hot next time so that it will be out of this world!

2 cups (about 2 1/2 regular sized apples) Apples, peeled and diced

2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 teaspoon Cornstarch dissolved in 1 teaspoon water

5 (or however many you want) Tortilla's

2 Tablespoons Butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 1/2 Tablespoons Sugar

1. Combine apples, leon juice, brown sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon in pan.

2. Heat mixture on the stove for a few minutes until it's boiling and has extracted the juices from the apples.

3. Add the cornstarch-water mixture.  Keep on the stove until it's boiling and the sauce has thickened.

4. Serve warm or cool.

5. Cut the tortilla's into wedges.

6. Put tortilla wedges onto a slightly greased baking pan.

7. Combine 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon and sugar until mixed.

8. Brush tortilla's with butter and then sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture.

8. Bake at 410 F for 5-8 minutes or until the chips are browning.

Holiday Fruit Cocktail

Holiday Fruit Cocktail

We served this punch at our Christmas party and it was a huge hit! Jason thought it wasn't potent enough so you can add more alcohol if you prefer but this is how we made it.

1/3 cup Sugar

1 Quart Cranberry Juice

2 cups Pineapple Juice

3 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract

2 Liters 7Up

1/2 of a 750 mL bottle of Vodka

1. In a large container mix together sugar, cranberry juice, pineapple juice and vanilla extract.  Stir well to dissolve the sugar.

2. Chill for an hour or two.

3. Immediately before serving add the 7Up and Vodka.

Serves 32

Chicken Taco Chili

This great soup is not too spicy (the way I make it) and makes a ton so you can either eat half and freeze half or can eat leftovers.  It would be a great soup to mix together and then freeze as well.  I got the original recipe off of a pin from Pinterest which came from a Photo A Day blog.

Chicken Taco Chili

1 teaspoon Onion Powder

16 oz Black Beans, drained and rinsed

16 oz Red Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed

16 oz Tomato Sauce

1 pkg Frozen Corn Kernals

28 oz Diced Tomatoes (or you can use 2 cans of Rotel to up the spice factor)

1 packet Taco Seasoning

1 Tablespoon Cumin

1 Tablespoon Chili Powder

3 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

1. Mix everything except the chicken up in a slow cooker.

2. Place the chicken breasts on top of the mixture.

3. Cook on Low for 10 hours or High for 6 hours.

4. 30 minutes before you are ready to eat, open the slow cooker and shred the chicken with two forks.  Stir the chicken into the soup and continue cooking.

5. Serve with taco chips, sour cream, etc.

Bacon Ranch Chicken

This recipe came from a pin on Pinterest which linked to the Healthified Kitchen blog.

Bacon Ranch Chicken

2 Turkey Bacon Strips, cooked and chopped

1 teaspoon Minced Garlic

1 package Ranch Dressing/Seasoning Mix

1 10.75 can Fat Free Cream of Chicken Soup

1 cup Fat Free Sour Cream

16 oz Chicken Breasts (1 package)

8 oz Pasta

1. Combine the bacon, garlic, dressing mix, soup, and sour cream.

2. Place chicken in bottom of crock pot and cover with mixture.

3. Cook on high for 3.5 hours.

4. At least 30 minutes before you want to eat open the crock pot and shred the chicken.

5. Cook the pasta per instructions.

6. When you're ready to eat, stir the pasta into the chicken mixture in the crock pot and serve.