Sugar Gems

These are my favorite sugar cookie to make.  You don't have to roll them out and cut them.  You just scoop them, roll them in sugar, and smash them a little bit.  Everyone who eats these just raves about them, so I am not alone in my addiction.  I usually make a cream cheese frosting to put on top, but I've made them with chocolate frosting too.  Both are really good.

Sugar Gems

from melskitchencafe.com

Cream together:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup sugar
1 cup oil
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Add:
5 cups flour
1 tsp cream of tarter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Mix all ingredients well. Roll into golf size balls and roll in some granulated sugar. Flatten with bottom of glass dipped in sugar. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Bake until just starting to crack.  Don't let them get brown.  Cool and frost with frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 block cream cheese
1 stick butter
lots of powdered sugar
vanilla flavoring


Cream together the cream cheese and butter.  Whip it for a little while.  Add powdered sugar and some vanilla flavoring until it tastes the way you like it.  I usually do about 2 tsp vanilla and half a bag of powdered sugar.

White Chicken Enchilada Bake

This recipe was from The Pioneer Woman, but I kind of changed it to fit us a little better.

White Chicken Enchilada Bake

2 cups shredded chicken
2 cups chicken broth
1 Tbsp oil
10 or so flour tortillas
1 large onion, diced
6-8 large roasted green chilies, diced
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 cups heavy cream
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup sour cream
2 1/2 cups monterey jack cheese, grated
salt and pepper

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat.  Add onions and saute for 1 minute.  Add chicken, half the green chilies, and 1/2 tsp paprika.  Stir together.  Add 1/2 cup chicken broth and stir.  Add cream and stir, allowing mixture to bubble and get hot.  Turn off heat and set aside.

In separate skillet, melt butter and add flour.  Whisk together and cook over medium heat for 1 minute.  Pour in remaining chicken broth.  Whisk together and cook for another minute.  Stir in the other half of the chilies.  Reduce heat and stir in sour cream.  Add 1 1/2 cups grated cheese and stir to melt.  Add 1/2 tsp paprika.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

To assemble, spoon a little bit of the sauce in the bottom of a 9X13 baking dish.  Put 1/2 chicken on top. Add a layer of tortilla.  Add 1/3 sauce.  Add 1/2 chicken.  Layer tortilla.  Pour remaining sauce over the top.  Top with extra cheese.  Bake for about 35 minutes at 350 degrees.  Let it set for about 15 minutes before serving.

Pizza Pasta

Pizza Pasta

1 lb pasta of choice
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 jars spaghetti sauce
2 pkgs spaghetti sauce mix
8 oz cubed pepperoni, or mini pepperoni slices
2-3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
salt, pepper
2 Tbsp oil

Brown up the cubed pepperoni, or mini pepperoni slices, in the oil.  Add the onion and bell pepper and saute for 3 or 4 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook another minute.  Add the spaghetti sauce and sauce mixes.  Season the sauce with salt and pepper.  Cook on low while you cook up the pasta.  Boil the pasta until mostly cooked but so it still has a bite to it.  Drain.

In a 9X13 baking dish, pour 1/3 of the sauce in the bottom.  Put 1/2 the noodles on top.  Top with mozzarella cheese.  Add another 1/3 of sauce, 1/2 noodles, 1/3 sauce, and the rest of the cheese.  Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees.  Broil for a few minutes at the end to brown up the cheese a little bit.  Let it rest for about 10-15 minutes before serving.

S'mores Cookies

I made these for a BBQ on Labor Day.  They were delicious.  That's all I have to say.  The kids really love them because they have marshmallows and chocolate AND they are on a cookie.

S'Mores Cookies
Adapted from jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com

1 1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
6 T butter, melted
1 T sugar
dash salt

1 C butter, softened
2 C brown sugar
2 eggs
2 T milk
2 t vanilla
1 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
3 1/2 C flour
2 1/2 C milk chocolate chips
 
24 large marshmallows
4 small 1.55 oz Hershey bars  
  
 
 To your graham cracker crumbs add 6 T melted butter,1 T sugar and a dash of salt.  Stir and  set the crumbly mixture aside. 

Place your softened butter and brown sugar into a large mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed until the ingredients are nicely creamed together, about 2 minutes.   Add your eggs, milk and vanilla and mix for another 2 minutes. In a separate bowl combine your baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour. Add it to your creamed mixture and mix until combined.  Toss in your chocolate chips and mix yet again, just until the chips are evenly distributed.  Grab your graham cracker crumbs and pour them into the cookie dough. Using a wooden spoon, or your hands smash them into the cookie dough. 


 Roll the dough into 2 inch balls, place them on a lightly sprayed cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 6 minutes, or just until the cookies begin to crack. While your cookies are in the oven, cut the large marshmallows in half. Press a marshmallow piece into the center of each hot cookie. Return the sheet to the oven and bake for about 1 1/2 more minutes allowing the marshmallows to puff up and get all wonderful and delicious. Remove the sheet from the oven. Let the cookies sit for about 2 minutes, then press one Hershey bar piece into the center of the marshmallow. Remove the cookies from the sheet and allow them to finish cooling on a wire rack. 

   

Pumpkin Bread

I made this pumpkin bread yesterday and it is officially my favorite recipe.  The kids really love it too.  Originally it was supposed to have chocolate chips in it, but I left them out.  I am "trying" to be healthy.  Kind of.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

adapted from melskitchencafe.com

*Note: This bread tastes best when it has cooled completely for a few hours and tastes even better the next day.

*Makes 2 (9X5-inch loaves) or 3 (8X4-inch loaves)

2 ½ cups white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

3 cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups pumpkin puree (not pie filling)

1 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

2/3 cup water

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 9x5-inch loaf pans or three 8x4-inch loaf pans.

In a large bowl, mix flours, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together canned pumpkin, oil, eggs and 2/3 cup water until well combined and stir into dry ingredients, just until the dry ingredients are moistened and no dry streaks remain. Stir in chocolate chips, if using. Pour batter in prepared pans.

Bake the bread for 60 to 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the bread from the oven and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Run a knife gently around the edge of the bread and turn the bread out, right side up, onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here is the one and only recipe I use for chocolate chip cookies.  It is the best recipe I've found.  It makes a million cookies, even after I eat half of the dough.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c. shortening
1 c. margarine
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
4-5 cups flour (depending on how the dough feels)
1 pkg chocolate chips

Cream shortening, margarine, and sugars together.  Add the eggs, one at a time.  Add the vanilla.  Add dry ingredients.  With the flour, I usually end up needing about 4 1/3 cups but sometimes I need a little more or less.  The dough shouldn't be crumbly or runny.  It needs to be thick enough to stay in a shape but not so thick that it crumbles to pieces.  Add in the chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Drop the cookie dough on a cookie sheet (no need to grease it because of the copious amounts of shortening and margarine in the dough...)  Make them as big or small as you like.  I use a cookie scoop that is about 2 Tbsp per cookie.  Bake for about 8 minutes, give or take.  Do not let them over bake.  Take them out before they get brown all around.  Let them cool for a minute and then move them to the counter or a wire rack, if you feel the need to be fancy.

Caramel Popcorn

This is hands down the best caramel popcorn recipe I have ever had.  Julie, my sister, made it for us to eat while we watched the fireworks on the 4th of July and I could have eaten every single drop and not shared at all.  It stays soft and gooey.  Oh.... it is just so so good.

It is delicious.

2 C. Brown sugar
1/2 C. corn syrup
1 C. Butter
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3 bags microwave popcorn

Pop the popcorn and put it on a greased cookie sheet.  Get all of the kernels off the bottom of the pan.  Set aside and wait for the gooey delicious caramel.

Melt butter, sugar, syrup and salt, stirring constantly until it boils. Boil without stirring for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir soda and vanilla completely into mixture. Pour over popped popcorn. Double the batch because you will eat at least half of it before you share with anyone.