Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Ginger Cookies

Last November I got my latest edition of Rachel Ray’s magazine and decided to try to make these for Eric’s family Thanksgiving dinner while visiting Oregon so his sister and I started baking these and IF you read the entire recipe through and understand it (I did not at first but didn’t realize this until I was mid-recipe) they are pretty easy to make. There really isn’t much you can change in this recipe and everyone will enjoy them at least that’s what the family said. Enjoy!

’til next time,

Crys

36 SERVINGS PREP: 1 HR(PLUS CHILLING) BAKE: 30 MINS

Ingredients

• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks  (8 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 36 miniature peanut butter cups, such as Reeses, chilled
• Confectioners sugar, for rolling

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Whisk in the ginger, cinnamon, pepper and salt.
2. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar on high speed until smooth, light and fluffy, 2 minutes. Beat in the egg for 30 seconds, then mix in the molasses. Scrape down the bowl. Add the flour mixture in 2 batches, mixing on low speed until just combined. Turn out the dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Using the wrap to help, form the dough into a disk and seal tightly. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour or up to 1 day.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees . Line 3 cookie sheets with parchment. Working with 1 tbsp. of dough at a time, mold the dough around each peanut butter cup to enclose completely. Place 12 dough balls on each of the prepared pans. Bake until the tops are just set and slightly cracked, 12 to 14 minutes. Using a spatula, transfer the cookies to a rack to cool for 5 minutes.
4. Roll the cookies in the confectioners sugar, then return to the rack to cool completely. Roll the cookies in the confectioners sugar again before serving.

Read More: http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/dessert-recipes/peaunut-butter-cup-stuffed-ginger-cookies

Marinara sauce

I’m about to share a staple that should be in your kitchen at all times! I’ve made the original recipe mine so I can’t even remember where I even found it or anything.

I make a big batch of this sauce and I use it with a ton of things it’s so versatile. Spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, lasagna sauce, insert any Italian dish here.

I also change up the spices I use from time to time to give it a change in taste so it’s really easy to spice it to your liking. It’s not only easy to make but you will see its cheaper than jarred sauce in the store. I also will make hamburger meat and mix in the sauce so when I’m ready to make spaghetti I just need to make noodles and heat up sauce. Enjoy!

’til next time,

Crys

Ingredients:
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1/3 cup of diced onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup white wine (anything cheap works and can be reused for batch after batch just re-cork)
3-4 garlic cloves
Handful of fresh parsley (you can also use dried Italian seasonings)
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp cayenne

Place tomatoes, tomato paste, whole garlic cloves, spices and parsley in food processor (if you have a small processor do in batches overfilling will cause a disastrous mess) and pulse until you get the consistency that you like (some like chunky and some like thin sauce). Heat oil in pot and place onions and and sautée 3-4 minutes then place the sauce mix in pot (be careful because it will splatter if pan is hot so have a splatter shield of some kind handy. Add 1/2 cup white wine reduce heat to med-low and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes. Once you’re done let it cool completely an place in mason jars and either freeze or put in fridge.

Frozen Breakfast Burritos

Ever wish on those mornings you are in a rush to get the kids to school, get to work or running errands you could find the time cook a home cooked breakfast for you, your kids or hubby/wife?

I found this gem of a recipe on Pinterest and decided I must try it since Eric is a huge fan of breakfast burritos. I’ve taken the concept of this recipe and completely made it mine by not only simplifying it but adding/taking away things that work for our taste.

The recipe calls for 2 pounds of red potatoes cut up and cooked and while this would be the complete home made way to do it, it is time consuming and dirty’s up extra dishes that really aren’t necessary. I can usually find the store brand frozen O’Brien potatoes for not much more than a bag of potatoes and it cuts down the time to chop, prep and cook the potatoes and uses one pan and utensil. Also, it calls for sausage, ham and bacon and really all of those meats are great if you like them and aren’t budget conscious but I have found added the bacon plus a little extra is more than enough and we don’t miss the rest of the meat it calls for.

These little yummies have gotten the most requests out of anything I’ve ever cooked Eric digs them and even decides to get in and help make them and clean up the mess they make. Oh..WARNING: they do require a lot of dishes so be prepared for cleaning.

’til next time,

Crys

Ingredients:

1 lb breakfast sausage
1 lb bacon
1 cup chopped ham
2 pound of red potatoes, cubed into bite size pieces
16 oz cheese (any kind you like)
24 soft taco tortillas (I used flour)
12 eggs, extra large
1/2 c milk
1/3 c olive oil
1 tsp each: Emeril’s Seasoning, Seasoning Salt or any seasoning you prefer
salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Cook bacon. (see my post on How To Bake Bacon)

2. Brown the sausage.

3. Fry up the ham.

4. Preheat oven to 450.

5. Dry cubed potatoes with a towel to eliminate any extra water.

6. Toss the potatoes with 1/3 c olive oil, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper. Use additional seasoning (such as Emeril’s or Seasoning Salt) if desired.

7. Roast for 30 minutes until golden brown. Start checking at 20 minutes.

8. Wisk 12 eggs and 1/2 c milk in a bowl until well combined.

9. Heat a large skillet with nonstick cooking spray (or melt 1 Tbls butter) over medium heat.

10. Spray skillet and add egg mixture.

11. Cook eggs,stirring occasionally until eggs are set.

12. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

13. Place 5-10 tortillas on a plate.

14. Cover with a wet paper towel.

15. Heat in microwave for 30 seconds at 50% power.

16. This should be your last step. Heat the tortillas in batches.

17. Set up an assembly line with all the ingredients.

18. Place the tortillas on a large baking sheet or cutting board,.

19. Build your burritos:
– cheese
– eggs
– potatoes
– meat

20. Fold in the sides of the tortilla.

21. Roll burrito up.

22. Pat firmly on top of the burrito making sure the seam is on the bottom.

23. Make sure the burrito is tightly rolled.

Let’s freeze these burritos:

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Place burritos on the sheet, seam side down.

3. Press down on the burritos again lightly making sure that the edges are tucked in.

4. Place baking sheet in the freezer for an hour to flash freeze the burritos.

5. Remove from freezer and wrap burritos in plastic wrap individually.

6. Place in a ziploc bag.

7. I ended up with 24 burritos.

To heat the burritos:
1. Remove plastic wrap.
2. Wrap burrito in wet paper towel.
3. Heat for 3 minutes on 50% power.
4. Serve with fresh salsa – yummy!

Read More: http://www.momontimeout.com/2011/08/breakfast-burrito-bonanza.html

Adobo Chicken

Adobo chicken has to be one of the easiest and cheapest recipes that I’ve ever made! Chicken thighs you can usually find in the family pack for maybe $5 or $6 and while this recipe calls for 8 thighs I only use 4 but keep the rest of the recipe the same (we like to have the sauce it’s cooked in left over to pour on top of it) so what I usually do is freeze the rest of the pack of the chicken in 4 thigh packs and just take out of freezer on the days I want to be “lazy” domestic chick and thaw while I’m at work. It’s also good to keep the ingredients for this on hand when you’re watching your budget.

Another thing I can say is for some reason I always forget to add the bay leaf to the recipe. I’ve probably remembered it once the first time I made it but I can say that I don’t miss the flavor from it since there are a lot of strong flavors already in the recipe so if you don’t already have bay leaves in your cabinet I wouldn’t say you need to spend the extra money for them just for this recipe.

’til next time,

Crys

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 8 bone-in chicken thighs, skinned
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons water
• 3 tablespoons white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cups hot cooked long-grain rice

Instructions:

1. 1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; sauté 4 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from pan. Add onion to pan; sauté 3 minutes. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute, stirring frequently.
2. 2. Return chicken to pan. Add soy sauce and next 5 ingredients (through bay leaf); bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; cover and cook 12 minutes. Uncover and cook 20 minutes or until chicken is done and sauce thickens. Discard bay leaf. Serve over rice.

Read More: http://www.cookinglight.com/m/food/top-rated-recipes/best-budget-recipes-00412000074866/page23.html

Copycat Bourbon Street Chicken

The bourbon street chicken has become a common dish in my house. At first I was a little afraid to make this because it seems to have a lot sugar in it with the brown sugar plus the sugar from the apple juice since I’m not a fan of overly sweet food as a main meal, but I was wrong. 

It’s easy to make and really inexpensive and I’ll tell you it’s really good! I bought a bottle of apple juice for the first time I cooked it and I’m still using the juice on the recipe like 2 months late and I still have almost half left! The main investment in the whole dish after you buy the original ingredients will be the chicken. I have modified the dish by adding steamed vegetables. I just buy a bag of frozen stir fry veggies and keep on hand and add to it. I’ve found it prevents me from eating a lot of rice. 

’til next time,

Crys

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds bonless skinless chicken breast
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 garlic clove; crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon ginger grated
• 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch; (if thick sauce desired)

Instructions:

Heat oil in a large skillet.

Add chicken pieces and cook until lightly browned.

Remove chicken.

Add remaining ingredients, heating over medium heat until well blended and dissolved.

Add chicken and bring to a hard boil.

Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes uncovered.

Serve over hot rice.

Read More: http://www.bigoven.com/recipe/201809/Bourbon-Street-Chicken

www.pepperplate.com

I wanted to share this site with everyone because I’ve grown to love it. Basically with pepperplate you can save recipes, create shopping lists and use the meal planner.

It’s free to create an account and has an app for both iPhone and iPad and I bet they have one for android too.

This is great most importantly for being able to remember everything on your list. Have you ever taken the time to create a shopping list and left it at home?? Drives me nuts! This will help with issues like that! It syncs on all devices so you can create the list on your computer and pull it up on your phone and vise versa. The website/app is worth testing out!

’til next time,

Crys

 

BLT Bites

At our most recent potluck at work I decided to bring something a little different since it was more of a luncheon for co-workers that were getting married soon. The BLT bites I thought would make a simple easy to grab appetizer that would be easy to make.

I did a test run first because I’m not a fan of tomatoes and just wanted to see if it would be something I wanted to “put my name on” the test runs was a hit! Eric ate those things like they were candy. In the recipe below you’ll see that the major work is scooping out the inside of the cherry tomato. I found that it was easier to take the handle of a small spoon or another utensil and scoop out that way, you’ll also have an issue with the piece of flesh that runs down the center of the inside of the tomato so if you have small fingers you’ll need to get down and dirty inside there and pull it out. Depending on the size of party you’re attending the scooping out the insides can be time consuming so be aware of the time to prep plus chill.

Another tip I can suggest is if you have a food processor take your bacon and pulse it a few times in there so it will get fine, way easier than chopping. From experience the bacon is easier to work with in the recipe almost cooked to the point of being burnt (trust me it won’t mess with the flavor unless of course you do burn it 🙂 ).

I don’t have a photo of my own to share but I have posted one from the original site the photo is on. P.S. I got many compliments on the taste of these little beauties 🙂

’til next time,

Crys

Ingredients

• 16 to 20 cherry tomatoes
• 1 pound sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup chopped green onions
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley

Directions

• Cut a thin slice off of each tomato top. Scoop out and discard pulp. Invert the tomatoes on a paper towel to drain.
• In a small bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Spoon into tomatoes. Refrigerate for several hours. Yield: 16-20 appetizer servings.

Nutritional Facts1 serving (1 each) equals 113 calories, 10 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 11 mg cholesterol, 206 mg sodium, 1 g carbohydrate, trace fiber, 3 g protein.

Read More:  http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/BLT-Bites#.T4eLgZFMG6q.pinterest

Simple Ice Cream – No ice cream maker required

Okay so for my first post I’m going to talk about my most recent venture. Yesterday I saw a recipe on Pinterest that claimed this was the best homemade ice cream that was super simple and only 3 ingredients. First, the ingredients are heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla extract. I thought simple enough! And for the most part it is. I went to the store to grab the ingredients I thought for 3 ingredients this would be pretty inexpensive, I was kind of wrong. The 3 ingredients cost around $15 but then I decided that I should add a little something to the vanilla ice cream because I have a picky ice cream eater in the house so I got some reeses chips that cost around $4 so I’m roughly $20 in this ice cream making adventure and I get home to start making it.

Obviously, with only 3 ingredients it’s super simple to measure and pour out the ingredients in the mixing bowl and start mixing! I’m not sophisticated enough yet to get a fancy schmancy stand mixer so I got out my trusty old Betty Crocker hand mixer and got to mixing. The recipe says that it takes about 3-5 minutes to mix to firm hard peaks…WRONG. With my trusty old hand mixer I found myself going past 5 minutes, 8 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes and FINALLY at 20 minutes I had the firm peaks forming. Once I was done with the forever mixing I added 1 cup reeses chips and then sprinkled a few on top and put in the freezer…in about 8 hours you will have easy ice cream….good luck at trying to wait and NOT test it…we failed miserably at this as we went in every few hours to “check” on it to see if it was forming properly LOL After this short adventure I will say today when I got home by George I had ice cream and it’s really tasty.

It’s a rich, thick  creamy ice cream that is NOT for the person that’s watching what they eat. Below is the recipe and personal photo. I’d suggest you can pretty much add anything to this recipe just as I did such as M&M’s, crushed candy bar, chocolate syrup, fruit, etc. Verdict is still out about whether or not the cost to make the ice cream is worth the effort when you can buy ice cream at the store for around 3 or 4 dollars depending on the brand.

Ingredients

• 2 cup(s) heavy cream
• 1 can(s) (14-ounce) sweetened condensed milk
• 1.5 teaspoon(s) pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the heavy cream, condensed milk, and vanilla in a large bowl until thick, stiff peaks form, 3 to 5 minutes.
2. Transfer the mixture to a loaf pan or freezer-safe container, cover and freeze until firm, at least 8 hours and up to 2 weeks.

Nutritional Information
(per serving) makes 12 servings

Calories	246
Total Fat	18g
Saturated Fat	11g
Cholesterol	66mg
Sodium	57mg
Total Carbohydrate	19g
Dietary Fiber	0
Sugars	—
Protein	3g
Calcium	—

Read more: http://www.womansday.com/recipefinder/vanilla-ice-cream-recipe-wdy0812

Hello world!

Hello! After getting many questions about the recipes I try and requests for ideas of meals to cook I’ve decided it’s about time that I start a blog that highlights recipes and gives my spins and thoughts on them. I am by no means a chef and don’t claim to cook but I can follow a recipe and add/take away when necessary 🙂 I claim no ownership of the recipes unless noted and hope that I can help with the overwhelming feeling you may get when you log on to sites such as Pinterest, Food.com, Allrecipes.com, etc. by providing recipes that the everyday person might enjoy and can AFFORD! Please feel free to ask, request and share your thoughts/opinions as well!!