Halloween Treats

For playgroup last week I put together a few desserts that I had seen a few weeks ago. They turned out really cute and tasted good too! I might make up another batch of ghosts to give out to special trick or treaters this weekend! Both of the recipes were from Parenting.

Marshmellow Ghosts

Makes 6 ghosts

* 8 large marshmallows

* 6 wooden skewers (points cut off)

* 1 cup white-chocolate chips

* 1 Tbs vegetable shortening

* 12 cinnamon Red Hots (I used M&M's)

* Black decorating gel

1. For each ghost, push three marshmallows onto end of skewer; set aside.

2. Microwave white-chocolate and shortening in a microwave-safe dish on medium-high for 1 minute. Stir. Microwave in 10-second intervals until smooth.

3. Holding the skewer, spoon the melted mixture over marshmallows until covered; place on wax-paper-lined cookie sheet. Use two Red Hots for eyes and decorating gel for a mouth.

4. Refrigerate until chocolate has hardened; serve.

**I just mixed the chocolate in 1 cup of chip increments and it worked great!

 

Witch on a Stick

1. Cut off the tops of pretzel rods and set aside.

2. Melt 1 cup white-chocolate chips, 1 Tbs shortening, and a few drops of green food coloring; stir until smooth.

3. Dip the cut end of the pretzels into the chocolate, covering the top 2 inches. Place on wax paper and sprinkle the sides of each with coconut flakes to form hair.

4. Top each with a Hershey's Kiss and refrigerate until the chocolate has hardened. Draw on eyes, nose, and mouth with black decorating icing; finish by covering the Kiss, too.

Apple Dumplings

Last weekend I was in charge of putting together the food so I went in search of some new recipes. I found a recipe for Apple Dumplings in the breakfast section of my Alabama Rich in Flavor cookbook and decided to try it out for breakfast on Saturday. I omitted the Mountain Dew that the recipe calls for because I figured we'd get enough caffeine the rest of the day and even without it they were great! I would highly recommend making this for breakfast or topped with ice cream for dessert.


Apple Dumplings
Serves 8

2 10 oz cans Crescent Rolls
2 or 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped
2 sticks butter, melted
1 c Sugar
1 t Cinnamon
Place two crescent rolls together to make a rectangle. Fill with apples and fold up like a package. Repeat with remaining crescent rolls and apples. Place, seam side down, in a 9x13 baking dish. Combine butter, sugar, and cinnamon; pour over rolls. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Sweet Potato Fries

Grow Alabama has started delivering sweet potatos again and not being a big fan of sweet potatoes I've been at a loss at what to do with them. So this week I set out to make something other than sweet potato casserole and so I searched Tasty Kitchen and came up with this recipe for Sweet Potato Fries. I made them last night and they were even tasty for me! Charlotte thought they were too spicy though so tomorrow when I make some more since we have sweet potatoes coming out of our ears I will omit the seasoning on a few for her. But this was a really easy recipe that didn't require a lot of work and the fries came out really great. And one of the best parts was that they were baked so they were a relatively good way to eat veggies.

Sweet Potato Fries
Serves 2

2 whole sweet potatoes
3 T Olive Oil
1 t Salt
1 t Pepper
1/2 t Smoked Paprika (couldn't find this at the grocery store so just used paprika, use less than 1/2 teaspoon!)
2 T Brown Sugar
- Preheat oven to 425
- Peel potatoes (if desired). Cut into wedges until you get the size fry that you want.
- Put potatoes in a bowl. Combine with other ingredients and mix thoroughly with your hands so that every wedge is covered.
- Set a wire rack on a baking sheet and spray with non-stick spray. Lay wedges on the wire rack. Bake for 25 minutes. Rotate pan and put back in for 20 minutes. (Time is approximate, cook them to whatever your desired doneness level is.)

Baked Parmesan Fish

When I was reading my friend Catherine's blog a few weeks ago I saw this recipe and thought I'd give it a try. Jason and I are always up for a fish recipe. I took Catherine's advice and added a small jar of Bruschetta sauce to the recipe and it was fantastic. Jason picked most of the mushrooms out (of course) but Charlotte and I loved them. And it was really easy! Great meal for when you only have a little bit of prep time. I also used salmon like Catherine did and I was worried about getting the skin off once I had cooked the fish, but the skin sticks to the roating pan (which is the kind of pan that I used) and so it wasn't a problem at all! Catherine got this recipe from the Nestle Cookbook.
Baked Parmesan Fish with Pasta
1/3 cup grated fat free Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon all purpose flour
3 thyme springs, leaves removed and crushed (I used regular thyme in the bottle)
4 white fish fillets (6 oz each) (I used Salmon and it was great)
1 package (9 oz) Buitoni Refrigerated Angel Hair Pasta
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup halved mushroom caps (I used sliced mushrooms)
1/2 cup finely sliced green onions
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small jar of Bruschetta sauce (I added this to the recipe)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
Place cheese, flour, and thyme in paper bag (I used ziploc). Individually coat fish by gently shaking in bag; discard coating ingredients. Place fish in baking pan with rack.
Bake for 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily.
Prepare pasta according to package directions.
Heat large, nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add onion, mushrooms, green onions, and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are tender. Season with salt and ground black pepper.
Place past on oven-warmed plates. Attractively arrange fish over pasta. Serve with mushroom medly over fish and pasta. Garnish with thyme, if desired.

TIP: you can use most firm, white fish fillets, including swordfish, sole, halibut, or red snapper.
Prep: 15 min
Cooking: 25 min

Prairie Pork Chop Bake

We hadn't had pork chops in a while so I went back to Tasty Kitchen to look for a pork chop recipe and found this recipe that looked SO SIMPLE! So I tried it and it was really good. Just as simple to assemble as it looks in the instructions (cutting the fat off the pork was the most time intensive part!) and tasted great. It has a little bit of a sweet taste but I'm not sure if that was the kind of mustard I used (Boar's Head Deli Mustard) or just all the brown sugar. But regardless this is definitely a recipe I will be using frequently. It would probably be great over chicken also if you don't like cooking pork.

PS One thing I love about Tasty Kitchen is that you can change the servings online for whatever the recipe is and it will do all the math for you. If you haven't checked it out make sure you look at it next time you're looking for a recipe!

Prairie Pork Chop Bake
Serves 4

4 whole Pork Chops
1/4 c Prepared Mustard
1/4 c Brown Sugar
1/2 box Stove Top Stuffing (6 oz box)
1/2 can 15 oz Niblet Corn
1/2 c Water

1. Mix brown sugar and mustard together. Cover each side of each pork chop evenly.
2. Then combine stuffing, corn, and water. Top each chop with 2-3 spoonfuls of stuffing mixture.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Simple Spanish Rice

I made this rice a few weeks ago as a side to chicken and it was really good.  The rice tasted like the rice that you get at a good Mexican restaurant.  I will definitely be making this again!

Simple Spanish Rice

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

½ whole Onion, Chopped
1 cup Long Grain White Rice
1 pint Chicken Broth
¼ pounds Tomato Sauce

1. In a medium-sized pot, heat the olive oil (or your oil of choice). When hot, add the onion and rice. Cook, stirring frequently, until rice is light golden brown.
2. Add chicken broth and tomato sauce to the rice; stir to combine (this is the only time you’ll stir it). Bring just to the boiling point and immediately reduce heat to low. Cover and cook on low for about 20 minutes, or until all liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.
3. Remove from heat. Fluff with a fork before serving.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

A few weeks ago I was looking for a dessert recipe for Bible Study. I wanted something that had chocolate in it but wasn't a brownie and was something that could be eated without any utensils. So I searched my trusty recipe source (Tasty Kitchen) and came up with a few options. I gave Jason the choice of which one to make since he would get leftovers and he chose the Chocolate Peanut Butter bars. I'm so glad he did because they were so good! And while making them I might have stumbled upon my new favorite, super guilty pleasure of peanut butter and brown sugar (don't worry I was cleaning the spoon after everything had been safely put into the pan and the pan was cooking in the oven!). These are really good and very easy. And they have oats in them so they're healthy right?? Oh... just because they have oats doesn't mean they're healthy?? I will choose to ignore that you just told me that! Enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Bottom layer:
1 box Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
1/2 cups Butter, melted
1 whole egg

Top layer:
1/2 cups smooth Peanut Butter
3 tablespoons Butter
1/2 cups packed Brown Sugar
1 cup Oats
2 tablespoons All-purpose flour
Semi sweet chocolate chips

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pray a 9x13 dish with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, mix cake mix, butter, and egg together until well combined. Press into bottom of pan.
- Melt peanut butter and butter together in a microwave safe bowl until butter as been melted. Stir in brown sugar, oats, and flour until oats and flour have been incorporated. Sprinkle over chocolate layer and gently press peanut butter crumbles into chocolate layer.
- Top with chocolate and bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cut into squares and serve. Great warm or cooled.

Apple Dip

I had never had this dip until a friend of mine brought it to a party Memorial Day weekend. The first bite I had I fell in love with it. I had a chance to make it for our last Bible Study gathering a few weeks ago and everyone there asked me to post the recipe. It is a really simple recipe that is better the farther ahead of time you make it. I made one recipe with six cut up apples for our Bible Study and we ate most of it. If you're having more than 10 people I would double the recipe.


Apple Dip

1 package of cream cheese (softened)
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 package toffee chips/heath bar chips (in chocolate chip section)

*Mix all ingredients together, then fold in toffee chips.
*Refrigerate for at least 2 hours prior to serving to allow flavors to be absorbed.
*Serve with tart apples (Granny Smith). Put lemon juice on the apple slices to keep longer...

Fried Okra and Fried Green Tomatoes

We have been loving our Grow Alabama boxes this summer. It has provided us with very fresh, varied produce that is all organically grown in Alabama and the surrounding states. A few weeks ago we got some green tomatoes and one of Jason's co-workers brought some fresh okra into work to share so we took the challenge and fried up our first ever batch of fried okra and fried green tomatoes! I went to my trusted recipe source of Tasty Kitchen and found two recipes and went with them.

The okra was pretty good. We should have added a little more spice into the breading because we added salt and pepper afterwards but we were scared to go too spicy with our first batch. In the future we'll know. This was a traditional southern recipe and it did taste like the fried okra that you get at the local country restaurants.

The fried green tomatoes were really good. This recipe is NOT the traditional southern recipe. The parmesan cheese gave it a different kick that was really good once you realized you shouldn't expect the typical tomato fare.

Overall, both great recipes that we will try again. It might be next summer before I have the desire to make that mess again, but we will try it again eventually!

Southern Fried Okra
Serves 2
1 lb fresh okra pods
2 whole eggs, beaten
1/4 c Buttermilk
1 c All-purpose flour
1 c Cornmeal
2 t Baking Powder
1 t Salt
1 dash Black Pepper
3 c Oil for frying
1. Wash and slice okra; pat dry with paper towels.
2. Combine eggs and buttermilk; add okra, and let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Combine flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and pepper.
4. Drain okra, small portions at a time, using a slotted spoon.
5. Dredge okra in flour mixture.
6. Pour oil to depth of 2-4 inches in a Dutch oven or fryer and heat to 375 degrees F.
7. Fry okra until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.
Panko-Parmesan Crusted Fried Green Tomatoes
Serves 6

2 whole green tomatoes
1 cup Buttermilk
1/2 c All-purpose flour
1/3 c Panko Bread Crumbs
1/3 c Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs
5 T shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 t Kosher Salt
1/2 t Ground Pepper

1. Slice the tomatoes into about 1/2 inch thick slices. Place in a bowl and cover with buttermilk while you combine the other ingredients.
2. Place flour in a shallow container and season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Combine panko bread crumbs, Italian bread crumbs, and parmesan in a shallow container. Season well and also season with salt and pepper.
4. Bring about 1 inch of oil up to 350-375 degrees F in a cast iron skillet or dutch oven.
5. Dredge the buttermilk-soaked tomato slices through the flour, back into the buttermilk, then into the bread crumb mixture. Fry until golden brown, turning once and being careful not to knock off the breading.

Greek Chicken Pasta

When I was on the tail end of being sick a few weeks ago Mom called and told me that she had made a pasta dish and they had lots of leftovers and she wondered if we wanted them. I'm always up for not having to cook a meal, especially when I'm not feeling 100%, so I jumped on the opportunity. I'm sure glad I did because this was one of the best pasta dishes I've had in a while! Thanks Mom for the recipe!

Greek Chicken Pasta
Makes 5-6 servings
2 cups uncooked penne pasta
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth
3 cups cubed rotisserie chicken
1 jar (7.5 oz) marinated, quartered artichoke hearts, drained
1 cup (4 oz) crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1/3 cup sliced, pitted Greek olives
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

1. Cook pasta according to package directions
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt butter.
3. Add onion; saute until tender. Add garlic and cook about a minute more.
4. Stir in the flour until blended; gradually add broth.
5. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in the chicken, artichoke hearts, cheese, tomatoes, and olives.
6. Drain pasta; stir into the pan. Broil 3-4 inches from the heat for 5-7 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Sprinkle with parsley.

Chicken Enchilada Ring

This recipe is from Kelly Stamps' Mom. I made it over the weekend and our entire family -- including Charlotte! -- loved it! I didn't have all of the ingredients (like the tomato and the lime) but it was great without and made even better with a little salsa on top of it. This is a super easy recipe that your family will definitely love.


Chicken Enchilada Ring

2 cups cooked chicken
1/4 cup chopped black olives
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 small can chopped chilies, undrained
1/2 cup sour cream
1 package taco seasoning
2 rolls of crescent rolls
1 small chopped tomato
1 lime (juice)
2/3 cup finely crushed tortilla chips

1. Chop chicken and add olives, cheese, chilies, sour cream and taco mix. Seed and chop 1 tomato and add 2 tablespoons lime juice; add to chicken mixture. Reserve 2 Tblsp. crushed chips and add remaining chips to mixture.
2.Unroll crescent dough and separate triangles. Arrange on round baking stone or cookie sheet making a circle with wide ends OVERLAPPING in the center and points toward outside. ( I did lightly spray oil on the cookie sheet I used). There should be a 5 inch diameter opening in the center.
3. Spread chicken mixture evenly onto widest end of each triangle.
4. Bring points of triangles up and over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough at the center of the ring. Sprinkle with 2 Tblsp. crushed chips. ( I put shredded cheese all on top!)
5. Bake @ 375 for 20-25 minutes. Garnish with tomato and serve with salsa and sour cream.

Charlotte's Corn

I've been working hard to deplete my canned food stores in my pantry since a family of 10 could probably live a year on the cans that I have in there! I'm the worst about planning a week of meals, buying what I need, and then not completing the whole week of meals and having items left over and just making a whole new list of meals for the next week. So, when I checked we had like 8 cans of corn in the pantry so I went looking for a corn recipe. I love the Cotton Country Baked Corn with Sour Cream (it's my favorite corn dish of all time!) but it takes a little while and I was looking to try something different. While I was on my search I found a recipe that I knew I had to try... Charlotte's Corn! It is a local Delta Zeta alumnae chapter cookbook and so I modified the original recipe by using canned corn instead of frozen but kept the amount the same. No pictures (I'm a slacker, sorry!) but it was pretty good.


Charlotte's Corn
3 boxes of frozen corn
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 pint Whipping Cream
1 tablespoon flour
Mix whipping cream and flour with melted butter. Add corn. Pour into casserole dish and bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Stir once half way through baking.
Variations that were given included substituting creamed corn for some of the corn so I did use a can of creamed corn in mine.

Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza

I saw a version of this on Tasty Kitchen and I made it a little simpler based on what I had on hand and what Jason and I both like. Turns out that this is a fantastic and really easy pizza. If you're pressed for time and are wanting something a little different try this, it's great!
Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza

1 Pizza Crust (we use the Pillsbury Refrigerated Dough)
Olive Oil
Ranch Dressing
Pre-cooked chicken pieces/slices
Bacon (we use the ready made kind)
Mozzarella Cheese

- Spread dough out onto pan
- Spread olive oil on top of pizza dough
- Spread ranch dressing on top of dough until you have a thin layer
- Place chicken evenly on top of pizza
- Cover pizza with cheese
- Crumble/cut bacon on top of cheese

Bake at 400 degrees (or 425 based on your type of pan) for 10-12 minutes until edges are golden brown.

Summer Squash Casserole

Until last week I had never made a vegetable casserole. But with Grow Alabama providing us with veggies like squash and cucumbers pretty much weekly I had to come up with something new to use the veggies in. So I went to my trusty Arab Mother's Club cookbook that Jason's grandmother gave us when we got married and found a Summer Squash Casserole that turned out to be divine. Even Charlotte loved it which I guess means that she's like her mother in that if you put mayo and cheese on it she'll eat just about anything! So this will now be my go-to recipe for Squash when we're tired of onion squash. I hope you enjoy it also!
Summer Squash Casserole
Yields: 6 servings

2 lbs summer squash, sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
1/4 cup Mayonnaise
1 cup grated Cheddar Cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste
3/4 cup herb-seasoned stuffing mix

Boil squash and onion in water until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and mix with mayonnaise, cheese, salt, and pepper. Turn into buttered 1 1/2 quart casserole and sprinkle with stuffing mix. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

Brown Sugar Pork Chops

I will be the first to tell you that this recipe is not your typical southern fare. However, Jason had a brown sugar tenderloin on our first trip to The Masters and he talked about how interesting it was so I thought I'd try to come up with a recipe that was similar. They turned out really good but you need to be prepared for a sweet main dish. I will serve mashed potatoes with them next time instead of onion potatoes and green beans because you kind of need a thick, blander starch to counteract all of the sugar. Mac and Cheese would probably go great with it also. I did really like them though and will probably try the recipe on chicken sometime soon. If you do it before I do I would love to hear how it is on chicken! I hope you enjoy them! I did make this up so it's very unprecise and open to your own interpretation.

Brown Sugar Pork Chops

Pork Chops
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Brown Sugar
Maple Syrup (our's was light maply syrup -- any kind of breakfast syrup should be fine)

1. Trim fat from pork and tenderize with mallet or fork
2. Drizzle olive oil on one side, turn over and do the same
3. Lightly salt and pepper one side, turn over and do the same
4. Heap 1 - 2 teaspoons brown sugar on each side of pork rubbing into meat, turn over and do the same
5. Drizzle mape syrup over pork chops until the tops are barely covered
6. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to a couple hours to let the pork absorb the juices
7. Bake at 350 for 30 - 45 minutes depending on the thickness of your pork chops

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

My friend Christen posted a Parmesan Crusted Chicken recipe a few weeks ago and I thought it looked great. So last week when we begged, pleaded, and bribed my parents to come help us set up our new bed I figured it was the perfect occasion to try what I was sure would be a fantastic recipe. It definitely didn't disappoint! The chicken was juicy and tender and the spices and crust made it very tasty. I normally cook with chicken tenders and so to use chicken breasts was different but I think this recipe wouldn't be nearly as good with tenders. I did go with the broiler pan like Christen did and I think that worked fine, but I agree that a cookie sheet should work just fine too. I hope you like it as much as I did! And, if so, make sure you let Christen know!

 

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

 

12 multigrain saltine crackers
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
2 Tablespoons finely chopped Parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried Basil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 tsp. each of salt and pepper
1/4 cup buttermilk
4 boneless skinless chicken breast

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place baking rack on a baking sheet/broiler pan.
2. Place crackers in a large zip lock bag and crush. Add parmesan, parsley, basil, paprika, salt and pepper. Shake to combine. Pour crumbs in a shallow dish like a pie plate or breading trays.
3. Place buttermilk in a shallow dish (again with the breading trays). Dip chicken in buttermilk, then coat both sides with cracker mixture.
4. Place chicken on rack on baking sheet.
5. Bake @ 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Crock Pot Cream Cheese and Black Bean Chicken

I got this recipe off of Magnolias, Marriage, and Manhattan and I made it last week. It was SO GOOD and SO EASY! I am loving my crock pot so much these days because it makes cooking a healthy meal really simple. And the good news is that we found out Charlotte's a huge fan of salsa because she was downing the salsa and black beans and when she had sucked all the salsa off she was spitting out the black beans. As a sidenote, I'm afraid my child is never going to eat any table food veggies! :) Also, I would have had a picture but I realized when I checked the picture after dinner that my memory card was in the computer and not the camera when I was taking pictures with it. Sorry!


Cream Cheese and Black Bean Chicken
4-5 chicken breasts
2 cans of rinsed and drained black beans
4 oz cream cheese
2 cups salsa (I used mild)
Spice Options: taco seasoning, chili pepper, garlic powder, crushed red peppers
Throw salsa, chicken and beans into crock pot for 6-8 hours until chicken is falling apart. At the very end, add cream cheese until it melts (about 15 minutes). Stir. Serve.
We served ours plain, but you could use it as a filling in a tortilla or over rice.

Pork with Veggies

Since we started participating with Grow Alabama in January we have been eating a lot more vegetables because we are getting them weekly. The past two weeks we have gotten squash and root vegetables and so I decided to come up with a recipe to use them. This recipe is my creation....it was very good and very, very simple. The beautiful thing is that if you don't like the seasonings that I used you can vary them to suit your tastes. This would also be a great recipe with chicken instead of pork or if you wanted to eliminate the meat and just cook this as a side it would be wonderful. I will list the recipe as I made it but feel free to substitute out veggies for ones that you like. Although, I will say, turnips are the forgotten vegetable! They taste very similar to potatoes and are very good!
Pork with Veggies
One container thin sliced pork chops (mine had 5 small chops in it)
5-6 Small to medium sized Squash
2 large Turnips
6-8 medium sized carrots
Olive Oil
One small box of chicken broth
Onion Seasoning Packet
Salt
Pepper
Italian Seasoning
Garlic Powder
1. Trim fat from pork and lay on the bottom of the slow cooker. Season meat with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder (lightly coat tops of meat).
2. Cut vegetables into bite sized pieces (peel turnips and carrots first if fresh). Throw veggies in plastic bag as you are cutting them.
3. Mix 1/2 cup olive oil with packet of onion seasoning.
4. Pour onion mix over vegetables and move around in plastic bag to coat all of them evenly.
5. Pour veggies over meat in slow cooker.
6. Add chicken broth until meat and veggies are covered.
7. Cook on high for 3 hours (or low for approximately 6 hours).

Meat with Potatoes

This recipe is from Stephanie at Happily Ever After.  This dish combines meat with any kind of veggies that you like.  It was really easy to put together and was very tasty.  I felt like it was a pretty decent meal health wise also because of all of the veggies I put in it!

Meat with Potatoes

Hamburger (1-2 lb., depending on your crowd)

Green Pepper (1-2)

Green Beans (I used one bag of frozen green beans)

Onion (1)

Celery (1 C)

Potatoes (1-2, washed and sliced)

1 8oz. can of Tomato Soup

1 pkg. of Lipton Onion Soup Mix

1 C of water

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Form meatballs from the hamburger, put on bottom of 9x13 pan.  Cut up fresh veggies and layer on top of meatballs, ending with the potatoes on top.

Mix tomato soup and onion soup mix together with water.  Pour over top of veggies and hamburger.  Cover with foil, bake for 1-1.5 hours (depends on your oven and how much hamburger you use).

This is a great, flavorful dish that is perfect on a cold winter night!  The soup mixture makes a thick sauce that gives everything a wonderful taste.  It's so simple and yummy and that's the beauty of it.  Plus, you can tweak it with the ingredients you have on hand or the ones you prefer.  I've made it several ways, depending on whether or not I feel like grocery shopping!

**Notes: I used 1 lb meat, added carrots, and left out the celery and pepper because I didn't have any.  You could use whatever veggies you have and have as much or little meat as possible.


The funny thing about this recipe is when Stephanie posted it she mentioned that if you were reading all of her posts about food you would think she was pregnant because that's what her posts were like when she was pregnant with their almost 1 year old, Ava.  She said that she was not pregnant but they found out a few weeks ago that she is! So if you get a chance drop by and wish them congratulations!

Napa Pasta

My parents came up with this recipe and I'm sorry that I don't have a picture to share with you because this is really a fantastic recipe and I feel like you won't get the full effect until you see the finished dish.  They used spices from Napa Style and I looked online and couldn't really find anywhere else that sells these salt's, but I bet there is somewhere.  I would also link to the salts but the Napa Style website keeps crashing my browser...not good.  Regardless, this is a wonderful recipe that is different and pretty light.  And, the best part, it is almost better re-warmed up or eaten cold the next day!  Great job Mom and Dad! Enjoy!

Napa Pasta

Package of refrigerated pasta (we used three cheese ravioli)
NapaStyle Citrus Rosemary Gray Salt
NapaStyle Roasted Garlic Gray Salt
NapaStyle Prosciutto Bits
Roasted Chicken, pre cooked and cut into pieces
Parmesan Cheese, grated
Olive Oil
Sprinkle chicken and Prosciutto bits with a little of each salt and heat in skillet in olive oil until heated through.  Put in serving dish, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and heat in oven on low while preparing the pasta.   Brown pasta in olive oil with a little of each salt (I did this one layer at a time, lightly browning on each side.  It took about four skillets full.).  Move browned pasta to serving dish in oven until all pasta is finished.  Sprinkle more Parmesan cheese on top, stir and serve.

Breads!

If you don't have a bread machine I highly recommend that you go and purchase one.  The smell and taste of home baked bread is something that very few things compare to (can you tell I love carbs?!?!).  These are my two favorite, favorite time-tested recipes that always get rave reviews.  I know for sure that the Honey Oatmeal recipe is from my grandmother, Gramme.  I'm not sure if the Italian bread one is also or not.  But regardless, it's great too!

Honey Oatmeal Bread
Makes 2 lb loaf

11 1/2 ounces (or 1 1/4 cup and 3 T) water
3 T Honey
3 1/4 cups Bread Flour
1 c Old Fashioned Oats
2 c Dry Milk
2 T Butter
1 1/2 t Salt
2 1/4 t Active Dry Yeast

1.  Add ingredients to pan in the order they are listed, stopping before you add the butter, salt and yeast.
2. Level ingredients in pan by shaking or tapping on counter.
3. Spoon dry ingredients out to make a well in the center (put the extra in the corners).
4. Cut the butter into four sections and place in the corners of the pan.
5. Put the yeast in the center of the pan.
6. In one corner put the salt.
7. Follow machine instructions to get the outer crust type that you want (I put this on the white bread setting for a 2 pound loaf with a light crust)

Italian Bread
Makes a 2 lb loaf

1 ¼ c. 2 T. water

3 T. oil

4 c. bread flour 

3 T. sugar

3 T. dry milk

1 T. Dried Italian Seasoning

2 t. salt

2 ¼ t. active dry yeast 

1.  Put ingredients in pan in the order they are listed, stopping before adding the salt and yeast.

2. Spoon out a well in the center.  Add the yeast into the well.

3. Add the salt in one corner.

4. Follow machine instructions to get the crust that you want (I put this on the French course for a 2 pound loaf with a light crust).

Calzones

Have you ever made calzone's before?  Until last week I hadn't, but one day I got the idea that if we could make a pizza surely we could make a calzone.  And with my addiction to bread the extra bread to sauce ratio was exquisite!  This is super easy and probably not new to most of you, but I'm trying to put together some simple, easy recipes for my newly graduated into the working world brother and this is a surefire winner!

Easy Calzone's

1 tube refrigerated pizza dough (the calzone above is half of one calzone made with one tube of dough)
Marinara Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese
Toppings (i.e. pepperoni, Italian sausage, mushrooms, peppers...the possibilities are endless)
Olive Oil
Red Pepper Flakes

1. Lay pizza dough out on a cookie sheet or pizza pan.  Spread with fingers to cover most of the width of the pan.
2. Brush olive oil on dough (light brushing).
3. Put marinara sauce on half of the pizza dough spreading it fairly close to the edge of the calzone.
4. Place toppings on top of the marinara.
5. Spread cheese on top of the toppings.
6. Fol the other half of the pizza dough over the top of the side with toppings.  Press down the edges to seal with your fingers.
7. Brush top with olive oil and sprinkle red pepper flakes (if desired).
8. Bake at 350 for approximately 20-25 minutes or until top is turning golden brown and the bottom is not sticking to the cookie sheet.

Cashew Chicken

Yet another Rachael Ray Kid Food recipe.  So good!  Although next time I'll use plain rice instead of jasmine rice, we didn't like the flavor of the jasmine rice.  Also, Jason requested that I reduce the amount of water chestnuts next time.

Cashew! God Bless You Chicken with Jasmine Rice

1 box Jasmine rice

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced

2 T sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, minced and mashed

2 T rice wine vinegar (or rice wine or dry sherry)

A couple of shakes crushed red pepper flakes

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 large carrot, peeled and diced into small cubes

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 can (about 7 oz) sliced water chestnuts, drained and coarsely chopped

3 heaping tablespoon-size scoops hoisin sauce

A couple handfuls unsalted cashews

3 green onions, thinly sliced on an angle

Follow directions on rice box and start rice.

In a large bowl, combine chicken with 1 T sesame oil, garlic, rice wine, crushed red pepper, and black pepper.  Set aside and let it hang out.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon sesame oil in wok or large nonstick skillet over high heat until it smokes.  Add carrot and stir-fry for 2 or 3 minutes.  Add the coated chicken and cook another 3 or 4 minutes.  Toss in the bell pepper and water chestnuts.  Heat through for 1 minute.  Add the hoisin and toss to coat evenly. Place chicken on a bed of jasmine rice and top with cashews and green onions.  Feeds 4 well.

Spicy Chicken Taco's

I can now definitely recommend that you go and buy the Rachael Ray Kid Food cookbook.  I have made a lot of recipes out of it and each one has been pretty superb.  This recipe, Spicy Chicken Taco's, was really good and really easy.  And, it wasn't too spicy at all!

1 1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into small cubes (I used pre-cooked and cut chicken)

1 T extra virgin olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced (I used the jarred version)

1 cup Tomato Puree

2 teaspoons Chili Powder

1 teaspoon Ground Cumin

A handful (I used around 8) coarsely chopped Spanish olives stuffed with pimentos

A hadful of golden raisins (I omitted this)

Coarse salt, to taste (I used regular salt)

8 jumbo taco shells or flour tortillas

Toppings:

Shredded cheese

Avacado dices

Tomato dices

Chopped green onion

Shredded lettuce

In a big skillet over medium heat, brown chicken in olive oil.  Add onio and garlic and cook another few minutes to soften onion.  Add tomato puree, chili powder, cumin, olives, raisins, and salt, to taste.  Bring to a bubble, reduce heat to low and simmer until ready to serve.

Warm taco shells or tortillas in oven or microwave according to package.

Scoop filling into shells and add toppings at the table.

Super Sloppy Joe's

 

In college I tried cooking some of Rachael Ray's recipes but I always found them too hard.  Too many ingredients that weren't common.  Maybe she could make those recipes in 30 minutes but it took me a LOT longer than that!  So I kind of gave up on her.  Until my aunt gave me her "Kid Food" cookbook for Christmas.  A few weeks ago I was looking for new recipes and I figured I might could find something in this cookbook so I pulled it out and I made Rachael's Super Sloppy Joe's.  And let me tell you, they were super!  We used to make Sloppy Joe's a lot in our first year of marriage when we were trying to stretch our grocery budget but it was always with the sloppy joe mix package from the store.  These homemade sloppy joe's were so good!  Please give this recipe a try, you won't regret it! (I couldn't find this recipe on her website but if anyone has the link please let me know!)

Super Sloppy Joe's

1 T extra virgin olive oil

1 lb Ground Beef (the leaner the better)

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1 teaspoons Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick

1 medium Onion, chopped finely

1 small Red Bell Pepper, chopped finely

1 T Red Wine Vinegar

1 T Worcestershire Sauce

2 cups Tomato Sauce

2 T Tomato Paste

4 crusty rolls, split, toasted, and slightly buttered

1. Heat a large skilled over M/H head.  Add oil and beef to the pan, spreading it around to break it up.

2. Combine brown sugar and steak seasoning, then add to skillet and combine.

3. When meat has browned, add onion and red pepper.  Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes.

4. Add vinegar, stirring briefly, then add Worcestershire, tomato sauce and tomato paste, stirring to combine.  Reduce heat to simmer and cook 5 minutes longer.

5. Serve on toasted buns

Pineapple Zucchini Cake

A few weeks ago we joined Grow Alabama.  This is an organization that you can sign up with to receive a box of locally grown, mostly organic or working towards an organic qualification produce.  Each week you get a list of things for your box and you can eliminate items that you don't want and get an extra portion of items that you want.  We have found it to be a great way to introduce more produce into our diet while knowing that we are supporting local farmers and families. 

The first week that we got a box we received zucchini in our box.  Since it had been too cold to grille and that's usually how I would enjoy zucchini I set out to find some zucchini recipes.  So I started out by searching typical recipe sites and then I went to The Pioneer Woman because I've found that she has great, go-to recipes.  And I found a recipe from her recipe website, Tasty Kitchen.  I had forgotten about Tasty Kitchen but I went and checked it out and if you're not using it for your recipes you should be!  It's full of reader submitted recipes that other people comment on and put their opinions.  It includes ratings and pictures.  It's a great resource!

Anyway, so I found Ree's post about Pineapple Zucchini Cake and I decided to try it.  It is similar to carrot cake so don't flip out too much about there being zucchini in it.  And the pineapple's make it moist.  It is a really delicious cake that's topped with cream cheese icing!  Go check out Ree's post about it which links to the original recipe on Tasty Kitchen or here's the recipe. (BTW, sorry about the quality of the picture.  All I had with me was my camera and it was kind of dark!)

Pineapple Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
    * 1 cup All-purpose Flour
    * 1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (can Use All White Flour If You Don't Have This)
    * 1-¼ cup Granulated Sugar
    * 1/2 Cup Sweetened Flaked Coconut
    * 2 teaspoons Baking Soda
    * 1 teaspoon Salt
    * 2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
    * Freshly Grated Nutmeg, To Taste (1/4 To 1/2 Tsp?), Optional
    * 1 Pinch Ginger (about 1/16 Tsp Or So), Optional
    * 3 Tablespoons Canola Oil
    * 2 whole Large Eggs
    * 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
    * 2 Cups Grated (unpeeled) Zucchini (*see Note)
    * 1 (20 Oz.) Can Crushed Pineapple In Juice, Drained (reserve In Case You Need It For The Cake Batter Or The Frosting)
    * FROSTING
    * 2 Tablespoons Butter, Softened
    * 8 Ounces Low-fat Cream Cheese, Softened (can Use Full-fat Cream Cheese)
    * 2 Cups Powdered Sugar, Approx.
    * 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
    * Splash Of Milk Or Pineapple Juice, If Necessary
    * Chopped Walnuts Or Pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare cake, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, coconut, baking soda, salt, and spices in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk.

Combine oil, eggs, and vanilla; stir well. Stir egg mixture, grated zucchini, and pineapple into flour mixture. Batter will be stiff and dry but keep folding it and it will all come together. If it still seems too dry, just add a little splash of the pineapple juice.

Spoon batter into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for about 33-35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs and cake is pulling away from sides of pan. Cool completely on a wire rack.

To prepare frosting, combine butter and cream cheese in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Beat in powdered sugar and vanilla just until smooth. Add a splash of milk or pineapple juice if necessary. Spread frosting over top of cake. You can garnish with chopped pecans or walnuts, if desired.

NOTES : If your zucchini are huge, scrape the seeds out of the center before you shred it so it’s not too watery. Also, I spread it all out on layers of paper towel to drain it and dry it off a bit. Then I measure out 2 cups. Not sure if this is critical though. Nuts can also be added to the cake batter if desired. This recipe makes a very generous amount of frosting.

And this recipe can be turned into a Carrot Cake just by substituting shredded carrots for the zucchini.

Valentine's Petits Fours

Last year at Valentine's I channeled my inner Bakerella and made Red Velvet Cake Cookies.  They were a huge hit and have been a huge hit multiple times between then and now.  If you haven't ever made them then please go make them for yourself today.  Consider it your Valentine's present to yourself.

This year, I'm channeling my inner MckMama and Amanda to bring you Valentine's Petits Fours.

Yes, I made these myself and yes, I'm rather proud of them.  I had never worked with Fondant before and it was surprisingly easy and, with some vanilla added in, surprisingly tasty.  I've never been a big fondant fan, actually the one thing that I said about my wedding cake was that I didn't want fondant because it always makes cakes (that I had had in the past) taste horrible.  Please excuse me if your wedding cake had fondant on it, I'm sure it tasted lovely, but apparently the bakers in my hometown don't know how to flavor it and keep it from tasting like rubber so I try to avoid it.  That being said, despite how much I've maligned the fondant name in the past, I decided to try these because they were oh so cute and I figured they would look pretty even if they didn't taste good.  I followed Amanda's instructions from MckMama's blog and I think the end result was quite satisfactory!  I didn't get all fancy with the royal icing but the next time I make them I think I will!  Here's my condensed version of the previous post (the post has pictures, etc to go with steps so hop on over there for more detail).

Valentine's Petits Fours
Makes: However many you want to make

You will need:
Oreo Cakesters (my Target had the golden cakesters and they were probably better than original but its your preference)
A box of fondant (from Hobby Lobby)
Rolling Pin (from Hobby Lobby)
Red Food coloring (the gel kind from Hobby Lobby)
Colorless Vanilla extract (from Hobby Lobby)
Cookie Cutters
Royal Icing (if you are so inclined)

Instructions:
- Take a good chunk of fondant and put a little bit of vanilla extract in it and work it in until you feel like the fondant is pretty well flavored.  My precise measuring of the vanilla extra included maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of one of Charlotte's soft tipped spoons. 
- If you are coloring it then add in some food coloring and do the same mixing that you just did before.  To make a deep red it takes a lot of food coloring but start with a little and work your way up to it.
- Break off a piece of the fondant and start rolling it out with the rolling pin.  I rolled it straight on to my granite because that's supposed to be best but if you don't have a stone countertop MckMama recommends rolling it out on wax paper.  Make sure that you bring the ends of the fondant up onto the rolling pin while you're rolling so that they won't stick to the counter making it hard to peel off.
- Once it's rolled fairly thin place the fondant on top of a cakester and use your fingers to gently press it down on the top and sides.  It really helps when you're doing this if you've see Ace of Cakes.  I felt like I was a professional from all of their episodes that I've watched.
- Once the fondant is pressed down on the sides cut around the cakester leaving a little edge.  Then pick up the cakester and using your fingers press the fondant down to seal the edges.
- Decorate as you desire.  I bought a paintbrush at Hobby Lobby and used it to paint water onto the top of the cakester and on to the back of the heart to fuse them together.

Chicken Parmesan

 

This is another Family Circle recipe and, like the last, I couldn't find the recipe online.  I found this recipe to be fairly simple to put together and it was very good.  The only thing that I would recommend is to carefully watch your chicken while it is browning in the skillet because mine didn't take three minutes per side -- that left my chicken pieces a little too browned!

Chicken Parmesan

Serves 6

Prep 20 minutes

1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 egg, lightly beaten
12 chicken tender filets, about 1 1/2 pounds
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup bottled marinara sauce
12 fresh basil leaves
1 cup shredded four cheese blend

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees
2. Place bread crumbs in a shallow dish and egg in a shallow bowl.  Dip chicken pieces in egg, shaking off excess.  Coat with bread crumbs, place on a plate.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat.  Add half the chicken and cook for 3 minutes per side.  Remove to a 9x13 inch baking dish.  Repeat with remaining 2 tablespoons oil and remaining chicken.
4. Spoon marinara sauce over a chicken in dish.  Top each tender with a basil leaf, then sprinkle cheese over chicken.
5. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes, until bubbly and cheese melts.  Serve with cooked ziti and marinara sauce, if desired.
   

Potato Salad with Bacon and Parsley

 

This recipe is from Real Simple's June 09 issue.  It was a feature on "Summer Vegetable Sides" but potatoes are always in season -- at least you can always get them at the grocery store -- so I think this is a year round recipe.  This differs from the "traditional" Southern potato salad with a mayonnaise base.  Since Jason isn't a big mayo fan I thought this would be a good recipe.  We enjoyed the recipe but I didn't have as many potatoes as I was supposed to and so the ratio of sauce to potatoes was a little strong.  If you are cooking less potatoes than the recipe calls for I would recommend mixing the sauce in a separate bowl and just putting in enough sauce to lightly coat the potatoes.  My potatoes also cooked a little too long, so make sure you don't overcook them or they'll start falling apart when you're trying to mix in the sauce!

Potato Salad with Bacon and Parsley

Serves 6 Hands-On Time: 10m Total Time: 25m

• 1 1/2 pounds new potatoes
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 4 slices bacon
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

1. Place the potatoes in a pot with water to cover and 1 teaspoon salt and simmer until tender, 15 to 18 minutes. Drain and run under cold water to cool. Cut into quarters.
2. Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat until crisp, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to paper towels. Crumble when cool.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the oil, vinegar, mustard, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Toss with the potatoes, bacon, and parsley.

Shrimp Pizza

I pulled this out of the September 2009 issue of Parents magazine from an article about making things that your kids will eat. (I couldn't find the recipe on their website.)  Kids, husbands, same thing right??? :)  I kid, Jason is a really good eater, but he loves shrimp so I thought that this recipe would be perfect for him and I like shrimp so good for me!  I made this on Monday night and it was fantastic!  It's more like an authentic pizza that you would get in Italy as opposed to something from a pizza delivery chain.  It was really good and I felt pretty healthy eating it since the recipe says that each slice only has 175 calories.  It was really easy to make and only took about 35-40 minutes from start of prep time until sitting at the table so that was great also.

Shrimp Pizza

1 14 oz can refrigerated pizza crust
2 T olive oil, divided
2 tsp minced garlic
1 lb Shrimp, peeled
5 plum tomatoes, cut into 1/4" slices
1/4 c fresh basil, slivered
1 c shredded mozzarella cheese
Pepper to taste


1. Preheat oven to 425.  Roll out crust to fit a jelly roll pan or your pizza stone.  Brush crust with 1 T olive oil and sprinkle with garlic.  Top with shrimp and tomatoes; bake for 12 minutes.
2. Remove the pizza from the oven. Sprinkle it with basil and cheese.  Drizzle with the remaining olive oil.  Return to the oven just until cheese is melted, about 7 minutes (only took 5 in my oven).  Season with pepper and allow the pizza to cool slightly before serving.

PW's Chocolate Sheet Cake

I'm not going to feature a PW recipe every week but this one is too good to not feature so that I can try and twist your arm to make this cake because you definitely won't regret it!

Chocolate Sheet Cake

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Cook Time: 20 Minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 24

Ingredients

• FOR THE CAKE:
• 2 cups Flour
• 2 cups Sugar
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 2 sticks Butter
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• ½ cups Buttermilk
• 2 whole Beaten Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• _____
• FOR FROSTING:
• ½ cups Finely Chopped Pecans
• 1-¾ stick Butter
• 4 Tablespoons (heaping) Cocoa
• 6 Tablespoons Milk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 pound (minus 1/2 Cup) Powdered Sugar

Preparation Instructions

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.
In a saucepan, melt butter. Add cocoa. Stir together.
Add boiling water, allow mixture to boil for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Pour over flour mixture, and stir lightly to cool.
In a measuring cup, pour the buttermilk and add beaten eggs, baking soda, and vanilla. Stir buttermilk mixture into butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake at 350-degrees for 20 minutes.
While cake is baking, make the icing. Chop pecans finely. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add cocoa, stir to combine, then turn off heat. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add the pecans, stir together, and pour over warm cake.
Cut into squares, eat, and totally wig out over the fact that you’ve just made the best chocolate sheet cake. Ever.

Hawaiian Sandwiches

This is not so much a recipe as an idea. Since we were gone all week last week, I'm playing catch up with the Cooking through the Pioneer Woman's cookbook this week and am pretty much only cooking staple recipes that I've already posted or Pioneer Woman recipes. So I thought I would give you the details about one of my favorite warmed sandwiches since this time of year is the perfect time to enjoy a warm sandwich.
The key ingredient is Hawaiian bread/rolls. I buy King's because that's the only kind of Hawaiin bread that they sell at our grocery stores. So buy either a package of small square rolls or a large round pan of the bread. The sweetness of the bread is what makes it so good. Then you can add whatever you want on the sandwich and then you heat it in the oven until the cheese is all melty. My Mom used to make it with onions but I don't have that exact recipe so we just make a sandwich now. We usually put two kinds of meat (ham and turkey usually), cheese (usually something really yummy from the deli like smoked guyere or smoked cheddar), mayo, and mustard (something tangy works best). These are super easy and are really good. And if you're making them for, say, a football game or an event their easy to make ahead of time and just pop them in the oven about 20 - 30 minutes (on 350) before you want to serve them. So in summary...
Hawaiian Sandwiches
One large package of Hawaiian Bread
Mayo
Tangy Mustard
Ham
Turkey
Cheese

Cut sandwich bread in half. Spread mayo on bread. Add mustard to bread. Add meats and cheese(s). Toast in the oven on 350 for 20-30 minutes or until the cheese melts.

The Pioneer Woman's Monkey Muffins

Monkey Bread is perhaps one of my favorite breakfast foods. It's so yummy and sweet and gooey that I just eat it up! So the Christmas after we got married I decided I wanted a bundt cake pan so that I could make Monkey Bread. Being the good Santa that Santa at our house is, he brought not only the pan but a mix for Monkey Bread from Williams-Sonoma. So later in the winter I set out to make the Monkey Bread and I kid you not, I think it took me one entire Saturday to make it. So time consuming! Of course, super delicious when it was actually finished but that was a lot of work!

That experience is what made me giddy when The Pioneer Woman put up a recipe for Monkey Muffins. Basically, it's a shortcut for Monkey Bread! I planned to make them for the day after Christmas morning but I was sick so I finally made them New Years morning. I made them after feeding Charlotte when she got up and they were ready right when we were ready to eat breakfast! Super easy and so, so, so good. We ate the leftovers the next morning and they might have been even better because they had more time to soak up the sweetened, condensed goodness! If you're a Monkey Bread fan you have to try Ree's adaptation!
PW Monkey Muffins
Servings: 12
Ingredients
Leftover Bread Dough (or Refrigerated Biscuit Dough, Cut Into Thirds)
Butter
Sugar
Ground Cinnamon
Sweetened, Condensed Milk

Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Add 1/2 teaspoon butter to muffin tins. Sprinkle in sugar and cinnamon.
Roll dough into walnut sized balls (or cut refrigerated biscuit dough into thirds). Place three into each muffin tin.
Top with 1/2 teaspoon butter. Sprinkle on more sugar and cinnamon.
Allow dough to rise, if applicable, or just go ahead and bake for 15 minutes, or until golden and bubbly.
Remove from oven and immediately drizzle plenty of sweetened condensed milk over the top of each one. Be generous! Allow rolls to sit for a little while to absorb sweet, sticky milk.
Scoop out with a spoon and serve to hungry humans.
My Notes:
- I used one can of flaky biscuit dough. I ended up putting probably 4 or 5 smaller balls in each muffin place instead of just three.
- Once these have baked they come out of the muffin tins and stay together beautifully so if you wanted to serve them they would be easy to serve.