Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

I recently had some cookies with craisins in them and thought they were fantastic.  So when I saw this recipe that was a mix of chocolate, oats, peanut butter, and craisins I was ecstatic about making it.  I made these for out Bible Study group and I really enjoyed them.  They're not the perfect food for a gathering like that because they're better served right out of the fridge.  The longer they sit out the more they melt as soon as you put them in your fingers.  But if you're just looking for a sweet snack it's nice that you eat them right out of the fridge.

These bars are almost fudge like but the craisins give them a really sweet taste and the oats give them texture.  I'm not normally a texture person in my cookies, etc (I really dislike nuts in my desserts) but I really enjoyed these.  Plus they're no-bake so they were quick to mix together and pour in a pan.  You do need to let them sit in the fridge before serving but an hour will get them perfectly hard.  

If you're looking for a new recipe for Christmas or the holiday's this is a good one to consider.  I found the recipe via Pinterest and the recipe was from the blog, New Nostalgia.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

Makes a 9x13 pan of bars

1 cup Peanut Butter

2/3 cup Honey

1/2 cup Coconut Oil (no substitutes!)

2 cups Oats

1 1/4 cups Mini Chocolate Chips

3/4 cup Dried Cranberries

1. In a medium sized saucepan, melt together peanut butter, honey, and coconut oil.

2. Remove from heat and add oats, chocolate chips, and dried cranberries.

3. Stir until combined and chocolate chips are melted.

4. Spread into a 9x13 pan.  Refrigerate until hardened (about an hour).

5. Store in the refrigerator.

Ranch House Pork Chops

This is yet another crock pot recipe from Pinterest.  If you can't tell, most of my cooking these days involves the crock pot and most of my recipes are coming from Pinterest!  I just made the pork chop part of this recipe and served it with boiled potatoes and butter which is one of our favorites but I'm sure it would be just as good, if not better, with the parmesan potatoes that the original author mentions.  Another good, easy recipe that's great for cool nights.

Ranch House Pork Chops

6 Pork Chops, 1/2 inch thick

1 packet Ranch Dressing/Seasoning Mix

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

1. Place pork chops in the bottom of a slow cooker.

2. Mix soup and dressing mix.  Pour over pork chops.

3. Cook on High for 4 hours or Low for 6 hours.  

Baked Cinnamon Breakfast Puffs

I was looking for a breakfast recipe to make for Tuscaloosa and remembered that I had pinned a doughnut hole like breakfast.  So Charlotte and I mixed it up and got it ready the Friday before and we cooked them Saturday morning.  It was an extremely easy recipe to make, even with a two year old sous chef!

A few notes on these.  They are kind of dense, they reminded me of the Pioneer Woman's French Breakfast Puffs if you've ever made those from her cookbook.  But the beauty of these is that they're much smaller so they're less overwhelming than I feel like the French Breakfast puffs (which are huge) can be.  But they are very good and were just as good reheated on day two as they were eaten straight out of the oven.  Also, I made them the day before and took them to Tuscaloosa in a cooler and we cooked them the next day.  That didn't seem to hurt them at all, so I bet they would freeze well -- cooked or uncooked.

Baked Cinnamon Breakfast Bites

Makes 2 and a half dozen bites

1 1/3 cups All Purpose Flour

1 cup Rice Krispies, coarsely crushed

2 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup Sugar, divided

3 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/4 cup Butter-flavored Shortening

1/2 cup Milk

1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1/4 cup Butter, melted

1. Mix flour, cereal, 2 tablespoons cereal, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

2. Cut in shortening with pastry blender or fork until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

3. Add milk and stir until just moistened.

4. Roll dough into approximately 2 1/2 dozen 1 inch balls.

5. Mix cinnamon and remaining sugar in another bowl.  Drop balls into melted butter and then roll in cinnamon sugar.

6. Place balls onto a greased pan.

7. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.   Cool for a few minutes in the pan on a wire rack before removing from pan.

Chicken and Dumplings

It took me six weeks but I finally go back enough energy to start cooking again.  So the week James turned six weeks old I went from literally not having cooked since he was born to three crock pot recipes in one week!  I think the crock pot was a good thing to ease in to cooking again because the three recipes that I picked from Pinterest were extremely easy but also tasted good.

I can see this recipe becoming my go to recipe when anyone in our family isn't feeling good.  Soup is nice, but chicken and dumplings are better and this recipe is so easy but very yummy.  I ran out of time and wasn't able to chop up onions and so just added onion powder and I found that I didn't have parsley on hand like I thought I did, but even without those two recipe ingredients the finished product was great. I'm sure with them it would be even better.  It's a perfect "when you're sick" food and when we're not I might add some veggies to make it almost more like a chicken pot pie with dumplings.  Very easy, very good, and even Charlotte couldn't get enough of it so that means it must be good!

Chicken and Dumplings

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 tablespoons Butter

2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup

1 can Chicken Broth

1 Onion, diced

1 tablespoon Dried Parsley

4 Grands Flaky Biscuits

1. Place chicken in crock pot.

2. Add butter, soup, chicken broth, onion, and parsley on top of chicken.

3. Cook on HIGH 4 hours or LOW 6 hours.

4. At the end of the cooking time use a fork to break apart the chicken.

5. Cut the biscuits into nine pieces per biscuit and add them to the crock pot.

6. Cook for another 30 minutes.

Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken

When I was making my dinner plan last week I went through Pinterest to see what recipes I had on my recipe board.  This BBQ Chicken recipe looked easy and worked well since the only chicken breasts I had were frozen.  It ended up being super easy and was very good!

Crock Pot Barbecue Chicken

4-6 pieces of boneless skinless chicken breasts, frozen

1 bottle Barbecue sauce

1/4 cup Vinegar

1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1/2 - 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1. Mix Barbecue sauce with all ingredients listed below it.  

2. Place chicken in crockpot.

3. Pour sauce over it and cook on Low for 4-6 hours.

*I would do less times if the chicken isn't frozen.

Chicken Poulet

KayKay brought this for dinner after James was born and we really enjoyed it so I thought I'd share.  It is apparently a recipe from an old restaurant in Decatur called The Iron Gate.

Chicken Poulet

Makes a 9x13 dish

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1/2 Cup Mayonnaise

4 eggs

1 stick Margarine

2 cups Chicken Broth

16 ounce package Peppridge Farm corn bread stuffing mix

1 cup Milk

1 cup Water

1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup

Sprinkling of Salt

1. Melt stick of margarine in a cup of water by heating in the microwave.

2. Place stuffing mix in bowl.

3. Pour water and margarine over and stir.

4. Add 2 eggs and chicken broth, stir.

5. In a separate bowl, combine shredded chicken and mayonnaise.  Stir well.

6. Place 1/2 of stuffing mix in bottom of a 9x13 pan.  Top with all of chicken mixture.

7. Dash salt over chicken.

8. Top with remaining stuffing mix.

9. Beat together remaining two eggs and milk.  Pour over mixture in pan.

10. Cover and place in refrigerator for at least eight hours.

11. Before baking, remove cover and spread cream of mushroom soup over top.

12. Place in 350 degree oven, uncovered, and bake for 45 minutes.

13. Remove from oven and top with shredded cheese.  Return for another five minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Mrs Jenni's Cornbread Muffins

We have been so blessed over the past few weeks to have friends and family bring us dinners as we've been settling into life as a family of four.  The first person to bring us dinner was our friend Jenni and she brought a great stew with delicious cornbread muffins.  To be honest, I've never been a fan of cornbread and even though Jason loves it I just haven't been able to find a recipe that I like.  But Jason snuck a taste of Jenni's cornbread muffins and told me that I had to taste them because he thought I'd like them.  I'm glad he told me and didn't just keep them all to himself because I loved them!  I knew I had to ask Jenni for the recipe and she graciously agreed to let me share it with you.  Even Charlotte enjoyed them although when she would see a piece of corn she would pick it out but I know some got into her mouth without her noticing!  Thank you Jenni for sharing!

Mrs Jenni's Cornbread Muffins

Makes 24 muffins

2 boxes Jiffy cornbread mix

1 can cream corn

1 cup of shredded cheese (all cheddar or a blend)

Diced onion to taste (maybe 1/3 cup) -- optional, Jenni left it out of ours

Few teaspoons of diced jalapenos -- optional, Jenni left it out of ours

2 eggs

2/3 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. Grease muffin pans or use paper baking cups.

3. Blend ingredients.  Batter will be slightly lumpy.  Let batter rest for 3-4 minutes and then restir before filling cups.

4. Fill muffin cups 1/2 full.

5. Bake 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Note: These freeze wonderfully and you can pull them out anytime you need them!