S'more Topped Brownies

Last weekend the BF and I met up with some friends to play some video games and hangout. I decided to make this to bring along. Eaten by itself or with some vanilla ice cream, it's delightful, as you can tell by my friends' face....

S'more Topped Brownies: adapted from Kate

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1-1/2 cup chocolate chips
3 eggs
1-1/2 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda (use 1/4 tsp if you like fudgey brownies)
1 1/2 cup broken graham crackers
3 tbsp butter, melted
2 cup mini marshmallows
1 Hershey bar, broken into individual pieces

1. Heat sugar and butter in a medium pot over low heat until butter is completely melted, stirring often. Remove from heat, stir in 1 1/2 c. chocolate chips until melted, and let cool to room temperature.

2. In a small bowl, briefly whisk the eggs. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of chocolate mixture to the eggs and stir to combine, just to temper the eggs. Then pour all of eggs into the pot with the melted chocolate. Stir to combine.

3. Stir in flour, vanilla and baking soda until well blended. Pour into a greased 13×9 casserole dish.

4. In a small bowl, combine the graham crackers and butter and sprinkle over the brownies. Add the marshmallows and the chocolate pieces.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy :)

Egg Bread

Mmmm. Yummy egg bread :) We were out of sammich bread so I pulled out my recipe book and made this delightful egg bread. It's almost like a challah but the texture is a bit different.

Heres my version:

Egg Bread
2-1/4 tsp yeast
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp nonfat dry milk
2 tbsp butter
1 cup water
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 medium eggs
1 tsp lemon juice

Add all items to bread machine in order for your model. You can bake it on white bread setting or you can remove it from the machine and place in a greased bread pan. Punch down the dough and let rise for another 10-20 mins in a warm place. Bake at 350* until top is golden - about 20 minutes. Quickly slice off the end of the loaf while it's still warm and slather with butter.

~Enjoy :)

Chicken Quesadilla

A few weeks ago, I had a craving for a Taco Bell quesadilla but didn't feel like going out because there was a ton of snow out. Luckily, I came up with this recipe. It's delicious and comes together in about 15 minutes.

Sauce

1 part softened cream cheese or sour cream

1 part mayo

1 tsp sugar

cayenne - to taste

paprika - to taste and for color

I usually do 3-4 tbsp cream cheese and 3-4 tbsp Kraft Mayo with Olive Oil

Chicken

2-3 breasts cut into little pieces

season chicken with Old El Paso seasoning or a mixture of cumin, garlic powder, seasoned salt and paprika

Fry the seasoned chicken pieces until no longer pink. Put chicken in a large bowl. Pour the sauce mixture over the chicken and mix well.

Spoon the chicken/sauce mixture onto half of a large burrito shell on a pan on medium heat. Sprinkle fiesta cheese over the filling and fold shell in half. (I love my split pan for this recipe :))

Let it warm enough to melt the cheese - about 1-2 minutes per side. Remove to plate and cut with pizza cutter. Makes about 6 quesadillas.

Enjoy!

Crocheted Dish Scrubbies

I got this idea and pattern from Suzanne. I haven't used them yet because they are too cute... I love the ruffles :)

I think they can double as trivets or pot holders. I've been using them to carry hot bowls of soup to the table/couch. They came together really fast too. I made the purple one at work while I was on break and lunch - total time about an hour and a half.

Cheers!

Custom Earrings

My friend Kerry started making custom earrings! I bought 2 pairs from her :)

Pretty pink pearls

Pretty blue trumpets with silver dangly bits

Aren't they pretty?!

If anyone wants a pair, check out her Etsy shop.

Garlic Pull-Apart Bread

I wanted to make bread to go with a pasta dish for a dinner party I was going to. I didn't want to make rolls and I didn't want to make a loaf. Then I found this recipe for garlic pull-apart bread. It got rave reviews!

Basically, make your favorite bread recipe but instead of baking it into a loaf, shape it into a rope and cut it into 1-2 inch pieces (15 to 20 pieces per loaf). Melt 1 stick of butter and add 1 beaten egg, 3 tbsps garlic salt and 1 tbsp dried parsley. Dip each of the bread pieces into the butter mixture and mush it into the pan. Pack them in fairly tightly and let it rise for another 30 mins. Bake for about 25 minutes. It's delicious!

The only change I would make to this recipe is to not make it in a silicone pan. The crispy parts were the best part. I think it would have been better in a regular metal pan.

Cheers!

Drop Biscuits

I've never had the courage to make my own biscuits. I don't have the room to spread out and really make a mess. Curse this tiny apartment! Anywho... Suzanne over at Chickens in the Road (one of my all time favorite blogs) had a recipe for drop biscuits!! I don't need lots of room for drop biscuits. I followed her recipe to the letter.

Drop Biscuits: recipe yoinked from Suzanne

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening, lard, or (softened) butter

1 1/3 cups milk

Place first 5 ingredients in a large bowl and work in the shortening, lard, or butter with a pastry cutter then pour in the milk. Drop biscuits are all about the extra milk.

Spoon biscuit dough into a lightly greased pan or onto a baking sheet. I used my large cookie scoop to drop them into little round balls into my cute little casserole dish.

Bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes. These biscuits are moist, so they take a little longer to bake. Your actual bake time will vary depending on the size you make your biscuits and even the type of pan used. Always keep an eye on biscuits while they’re baking!

*Recipe makes one dozen biscuits.

These were delicious!! Even my BF liked them :) If you haven't visited Suzanne yet, you should check her out. She has delicious recipes and fun farm animals :)

Cheers!

Roasted Tomato (Sauce)

I like to make my own tomato sauce. It delicious, versatile and I like that I know what's in it. Here is my crude version of Val's recipe:

Roasted Tomato (Sauce)

a bunch of fresh tomatoes - enough to cut up and cover the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan

EVOO - a tew TBSPs to toss the tomatoes in

Italian herbs - to toss on the tomatoes

Preheat oven to 400*. Cut up the tomatoes and toss them in the EVOO. Don't bother taking the skins off. Sprinkle Italian herbs to taste. Bake in oven for about 40 minutes. Start checking on it when your kitchen starts to smell awesome :). You can use them as is in soups or other dishes. Or you can VERY CAREFULLY run them through a blender and make it into a sauce. Or you can even make your own soup. Next time tomatoes are in season, I'll do this and then can some of the sauce. It's really up to you :)

Cheers!

Kitty Hat

Another sewing project.... My other hat was getting a bit worn so I made this:

Isn't it adorable!! And the fleece is soooo soft and warm :)

Cheers!

Baklava

Hi everyone! I just realized that I hadn't posted a recipe in a while.... so I'm going to get caught up on all my recipe postings from the past few months. For a holiday potluck at work, it was requested that I make my baklava. My supervisors love this stuff :) I grew up with a lot of greek food so I used that history and this recipe and modified it to make my own version. So here it is:

Baklava

1 lb phyllo pastry, thawed if frozen

1 cup butter, melted at room temp

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

3-4 cups chopped walnuts

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup honey

1 tbsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C). Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch pan.
2. Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon and 1/4 c sugar. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cut whole stack in half to fit pan. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 - 8 sheets deep.
3. Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.
4. Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
5. Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. Serve in cupcake papers. This freezes well. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.

Cheers!