Sugar Cookies (inspired from Our Best Bites)

 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg 
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
• 3 cups all purpose flour lightly spoon into measuring cup and level, do not scoop flour. 
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• Cream butter, coconut oil, and sugar until light and fluffy- about 2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add in egg and extract and mix.
• Add flour and dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix just until completely combined.  Your dough may at first look crumbly, but keep mixing and it will quickly turn into a soft cohesive dough. If needed, use a wooden spoon to finish mixing and keep a nice soft dough-don’t over mix.
• Place dough onto parchment paper and make into a log shape. Roll up into parchment paper, enclosing ends as well so that the dough doesn’t dry out (you could wrap the parchment paper in plastic wrap).
• Place in refrigerator for about an hour. Pull out and slice cookies 1/4”-3/8” thick. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven when dough looks cooked/not doughy or shiny, but isn’t brown.

Christmas Dinner

For our Christmas dinner, I wanted something that I could prep the day before and then bake. I thought about many different things, but narrowed it down to a form of chicken cordon blue. That is one of my husbands favorite food items and we used to get a delicious version that was served on rice with this yummy sauce at this nice cafeteria. But that cafeteria closed and though we have tried different versions, nothing is ever the creamy delicious flavor of all the items that I was looking for. So I made up my own recipe after looking at several ideas online. I wanted to go casserole style to simplify things. I also needed to make it gluten free. I originally thought I would bake it with the rice for more simplicity, but I was worried the rice would absorb too much liquid and it wouldn't be the creaminess that I was wanting.

So I determined to bake the rice separately. Baking rice is one of my favorite ways to prepare rice-no overflowing mess, no extra appliance just for rice, and it always turns out so good-I do add more water than what most recipes state and I always add butter and salt and often coconut oil when I bake rice. I have found that it always takes longer to bake than what recipes online state, so keep that in mind when baking rice-maybe it's just my oven or where I live-who knows.

For baked rice, measure out your rice and put in baking dish (nor more than 4 cups for a 9x13 pan). Then add 1/2 tsp salt for each cup of rice-I often do part of the salt as kosher, pink, or some of my own seasoned salt. Then add 1/2-1 TBLS butter per cup of rice. For your water or liquid (you can do a broth or part broth), double the measurement of rice, and boil it (I usually do this in the microwave) and then pour over everything in the baking dish. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 35-45 minutes at 375 degrees. Let rest for 5-10 minutes after pulling it out of the oven. If you like a more sticky rice, do the longer time and let it rest longer. If you like less sticky, lean towards the shorter time and remove the foil and fluff with a fork.

Baked Rice Recipe: (~9 cups rice)

• 3 cups rice
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2-1 tsp kosher, sea, or pink salt 
• 3 TBLS butter
• 6 cups boiling water

Creamy Chicken Cordon Blue

• slice up 1/2-1 cube of butter into bottom of baking dish, then place
• 2-3 lbs chicken breasts, sliced into 1" pieces over the butter. Sprinkle chicken with Ed's Seasoned Salt (or a mixture of salts and peppers and some garlic powder) then sprinkle on
• 1-2 lbs of chunks of thick sliced ham to cover the chicken decently (I used a ham steak, but you could use leftover ham if you have it) then sprinkle on
• 2-3 cups shredded swiss cheese (more if you want more of a sharp cheese flavor)
• 2-3 cups Mexican blend cheese (or another cheese of your choice, like colby jack)
• whisk together 1 cup sour cream, 2 cups chicken broth, 1 cup milk, 1-2 tsps Ed's Seasoned Salt (or a mixture of salts, peppers and some garlic powder)
• Top with 2-4 cups crushed corn flakes (you could toss the corn flakes with some melted butter first if desired). If you aren't going for a gluten free option, you could use a box stuffing for the topping.

Cover with foil and bake for 50-60 minutes at 350. Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes.

For the actual dinner, we started with a wedge salad for an appetizer (when I pulled out the rice and main dish we served up salad while those items sat to rest a cool for a bit). For a wedge salad, you slice iceberg lettuce into wedges and then have toppings ready to put on top. I sliced up tomatoes, red peppers, red onion, avocado, and then had bacon bits, croutons, Eds Seasoned Salt, and ranch dressing. It was fun and super yummy!

For a side dish I made this delicious and super easy 

Raspberry Pretzel Jello.

I made Garlic Pull-Aparts the day of-I suppose I could have tried making them the day before, but they are pretty easy to make and so delicious fresh and warm.

For a vegetable, I made Baked Broccoli, a dish that we love that we often add potatoes and carrots to. It's very versatile. It's best to steam the broccoli for a few minutes first. While broccoli is steaming, whisk together:

• 2-4 TBLS olive oil 
• 1-2 TBLS ranch dressing powder
• 1-2 tsps of Ed's Seasoned Salt (or just a mix of salts and peppers). 

The amounts depend on how much broccoli you are doing or if you are adding potatoes to it as well (and if you add potatoes, first just whisk with the potatoes, bake them for about 15 minutes, then add in the broccoli so that it doesn't burn). Toss onto steamed broccoli and set in baking dish. Bake for 20-30 minutes at 375. If you didn't steam the broccoli first, then cover with foil for the first 20 minutes and add 15-20 minutes to your time.

I also made Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots.

• 1 1/2-2 lbs carrots, peeled and sliced, set aside while you whisk in frying pan the following:
• 2 TBLS butter
• 2-3 TBLS brown sugar
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp parsley flakes or 1 TBLS fresh parsley 

Toss in the carrots and stir fry for 3-5 minutes. Then place in baking dish and bake for 25-35 minutes at 375. Cover with foil for the first half, then stir and remove foil for the second half.

I have a pan that has 2 divided sections and I place the broccoli after steaming and tossing with oil mixture in one section. Then I placed the carrots after stir-frying for a few minutes in the other section. I covered the pan with foil and placed it in the fridge. Then I baked them the following day-a little longer since they were cold.

Christmas Breakfast

We had delicious Christmas meals this year, and I decided I would just type it up! I prepped everything the day before so it would be easy to put together on Christmas. 

For Breakfast, I made a delicious overnight French toast. I have made those many times, but this one had a cinnamon topping that really set it off! It was inspired by this recipe, https://kitchenfunwithmy3sons.com/easy-overnight-french-toast/ 

I changed some things and that is what I have posted here.

Overnight French toast 

Ingredients: 

1 loaf french bread or thick texas toast 

10 eggs 

2 cups milk 

1/2 cup sour cream 

3 Tbsp granulated sugar 

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 

1 teaspoon salt (half of it kosher salt) 

Cinnamon Crunch Topping 

1/2 stick butter softened or melted 

1/2 cup dark brown sugar packed 

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 

Optional-chopped pecans (or maybe in half of it, or sprinkle them on top after spreading the topping) 

Instructions:

Prepare a 9"x13" baking dish by coating the entire inside of the dish with butter or cooking spray. Set aside. Slice the French bread, about 1-inch thick. Arrange slices in your prepared baking dish in rows, overlapping the slices. Or cut into cubes and sprinkle into pan. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk eggs. Add milk, sour cream, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Whisk until well combined. Pour the egg mixture over the bread slices, making sure they are covered evenly. Spoon some of the mixture in between the slices making sure all the slices are completely covered. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight. 

The next day, preheat oven to 350°F. Meanwhile, carefully flip each piece of bread over to make sure everything is nice and coated with the mixture. 

Make the Topping: 

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix to combine. Spoon the topping on top of the prepared bread slices. Then spread evenly over the bread (like you are icing a cake). You can also spread some of the mixture in between the slices to make sure the entire slice is covered (if you prefer). Bake for 40-45 minutes (no need to cover with foil), until puffed and lightly golden. I sliced up strawberries and added a little sugar and set that in the fridge to pull out when the french toast was ready. Then I enjoyed it with the strawberries, whip cream, and sprinkled some cinnamon on top. It was DELICIOUS!

Garlic Pull-Aparts

The instructions here are a little off in the bottom of the first paragraph where is says, “starting with the shortest side”-that is incorrect unless you want really fat rolls. Rather, roll the rectangle up on the longest side so it looks like cinnamon rolls before you slice them. Then cut into 3/4”-1” sections using kitchen scissors, but don’t cut all the way through. Some day I’ll take pics as I make them so you can see the steps.

That being said, I usually add some garlic to the actual cream cheese and parmesan mixture-I don't necessarily measure or follow this recipe exactly, but this is the general idea.

 

 

Carrot Soup

We often add way more carrots and veggies-this is more of a guideline. We substitute cornstarch for flour for a gluten free option-cut the amount in half for cornstarch. 

Graham Fingers

3 packs graham crackers broken, not crushed (start by taking out 2 or 3 whole crackers, otherwise too dry)
2 cubes of butter melted
1 1/4 cups sugar (we mix it part white and brown: 3/4 white, 1/2 brown)
1/2 cup heaping of cocoa powder (can adjust more or less to taste)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla

Break up graham crackers one more break than the partitions in the cracker.
Melt butter in microwave (so you're not adding the egg to a hot pan/boiling butter and frying it). Put melted butter, brown sugar, cocoa powder, eggs, and salt in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil while stirring with a whisk. Boil 1 minute only--stirring constantly during boiling to avoid scorching.
Remove from heat. Add vanilla.
Pour over broken graham crackers. Stir and pour onto buttered cookie sheet. Press down with wax paper. Using a rubber scraper, clean off excess chocolate mixture adhered to wax paper and spread on top of pressed graham fingers so there are no dry spots of crackers.

Coconut Cream Pie

Mix together:
1/3 cup sifted flour or 1/4 cup cornstarch
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Gradually add to 2 cups of scalded milk

Cook until it boils and thickens, stirring constantly so edges don't burn

Whisk small amount with:
3 eggs

Cook 1 more minute

Take off heat and add:
2 TBS butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
1-2 cups toasted sweetened coconut flakes

Pour in 1 9" pie crust

French Lemon Bars

Cream together:
3/4 cup cold butter
1/3 cup powdered sugar

Cut in:
1 1/2 cup sifted flour

Pat into 9x13 pan
Bake 20 minutes @ 350 until set, but not brown

Beat 3 eggs

Add:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 TBS flour
3 TBS lemon juice

Pour lemon mixture over crust
Return to oven for 20 more minutes

Let cool
Dust with powered sugar

Pecan Pie

I love the idea of pecan pie because I love pecans and I love caramel and nuts and pie crust, so really, pecan pie should be delicious! But the problem is that it is not. It is generally too sugary and lacking in pecans/pecan flavor. So I think I have found a few simple solutions to make delicious pecan pie :)

In a saucepan combine the following ingredients:
1 cube butter (you can get away with 3/4 cube)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar and I mean brown sugar, not the off brand white sugar with molasses stuff that most of the public think is brown sugar-though that will work.
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup water
Melt butter and mix together until smooth.  Remove from heat.
Whisk together
3 eggs
If the sugar/butter mixture is fairly hot, temper the eggs (whisk some sugar/butter mixture into the eggs so the eggs don't cook from the high heat of the sugar mixture) and then whisk into the butter/sugar mixture.
Mix in:
2-3 tsps vanilla
1/2-1 tsp salt
The above 2 ingredients are really to taste. The salt is one of the solutions to helping the pecan pie not be too sweet.  Start with the smaller portion and taste. Then add more if you want.
Chop a ton of pecans! 3-4 large handfuls-about
2-3 cups pecans (before chopping). 
This is the real solution-finely chopped pecans. If you want some large or whole pieces, that's fine, do that as well, but if you want a pecan pie, not a brown sugar pie, you will need to add finely chopped pecans.
Add pecans to raw pie crust. Pour butter/sugar mixture over the pecans. Cover the edge of the crust with strips of tinfoil otherwise it will burn.  Bake at 350° for 25 minutes and then remove tinfoil edges. Then bake for 20-25 minutes more.
Enjoy your delicious pecan pie!

Pepper Steak

**Warning**
This recipe is estimates.  It is very flexible and written out based on memory from making it.  

1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1-2 lbs steak (could use London broil as well)
1-2 Tbls butter or oil (unless there is plenty of fat on your meat)
1 sliced or chopped onion
2-4 green peppers, cleaned out and cut into large pieces
3-5 beef bullion cubes

Mix together flour, salt, & pepper.  Sprinkle onto meat and pound into meat, getting it all around the meat.  In a large skillet or fry pan (with a lid), heat oil and brown steak.  Add onion and saute for a few minutes.  Cover with water and add bullion cubes.  Bring to biol and simmer for 30 minutes to an hour.  Add large chunks of green pepper.  Let continue to simmer until green peppers are cooked through and soft (another 30 minutes-1 hour).  Pull meat out and blend with immersion blender or take liquid out of pan along with pepper chunks and blend.  Then return with meat.  Add any remaining flour mixture to thicken.  Add more flour if needed (I would add this when I blended to prevent any flour chunks).  Salt & Pepper to taste.

Serve over cooked rice.

And the following is my favorite, favorite, favorite way to cook rice!!  I LOVE it!  And I LOVE the brown rice I get from our Costco.  It is delicious!

Baked Brown Rice 
3 cups brown rice
5 1/2 cups HOT water
1 Tbls butter
1 tsp salt

Add ingredients to a 9"x 13" pan.  Cover tightly with tinfoil.  Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.  Remove from oven and fluff with fork.  Let sit 5 minutes before serving.

Slow Cooker Cheesy Broccoli Chicken & Rice

I got this recipe from theprettybee.com

I'm going to try it out today, if it is good, I will leave it up, if it is not so good, I will delete it. I'm hoping it's good!

PREP TIME

10 mins

COOK TIME

4 hours

TOTAL TIME

4 hours 10 mins

 

A classic comfort food, cheesy broccoli chicken rice, made gluten free and dairy free.

Author: The Pretty Bee

Recipe type: Slow Cooker

Serves: 8

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1½ pounds chicken breasts, cut into large chunks
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup uncooked long grain rice (white or brown, your choice)
• 1 32 ounce box chicken broth
• 1¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅓ teaspoon pepper
• 2 cups of chopped broccoli
• 1¼ cup Daiya dairy free cheddar cheese (use regular cheese if you are not dairy free)

METHOD

1. Put the olive oil, chopped onion, and garlic in the bottom of the slow cooker.
2. Add the chicken breast pieces, salt, pepper, and rice.
3. Pour ⅔ of the container of broth on top. Stir.
4. Put lid on the slow cooker and turn it on high. Cook for four hours on high.
5. After two hours, check to make sure there is still enough liquid inside. If not, add some more warmed up broth.
6. A half an hour before it is done, add the chopped broccoli and stir. Add more warm broth if needed.
7. Cook for another half an hour until broccoli is bright green and tender.
8. Add the Daiya cheese and stir until melted. Season with more salt and pepper if desired.
9. Serve immediately.

Soda Pop Biscuits

4 Cups Bisquick mix
1 cup Sourcream
1 cup lemon/lime soda such as sprite, 7-up or any off-brands
1/2 cup butter

Melt butter in 9x13 casserole pan.
Cut sour cream into Bisquick mix at you would shortening into flour.
Add lemon/lime soda and stir together.  Dump onto floured surface.  Pat to be about 3/4" thick and cut into biscuits.  Place biscuits into the melted butter in the pan.

I generally shape the pile of dough into a 9x13" rectangle.  Then I just make 4 parallell cuts through the dough, and then 2 long cuts, creating 15 squares.  Then I place them into the melted butter in the 9x13" pan.  This keeps my dough light and fluffy.  You end up with square biscuits, but that doesn't really matter to me.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

*If you don't have Bisquick (which I generally don't) you can make it from scratch.
Homemade Bisquick Mix:
4 cups flour
2 TBLS baking powder
2 tsp salt
Mix together.
Cut in 2/3 cup shortening

You can double the recipe and have enough for 2 batches.

Store in fridge for up to 4 months.

Chicken Fajitas Ole' & Homemade Flour Tortillas

2 Tbls oil
2 large onions chopped
3 stalks chopped celery
2 green peppers, chopped

1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder 
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp paprika

1-2 cups chopped chicken (depending on what you have and how meaty you want it)

2 tomatoes
1 can green chilis (or 1-2 chopped anaheim peppers)
1/2 cup chopped olives

*Keep in mind that the vegetables and amounts are variable.  You can add other peppers, more or less of something and it will likely still be delicious!

1/4 cup water

2 cups grated cheese
20 flour tortillas (homemade option below are delicious)
1/4 cup green onions
1/4 cup fresh parsley

Heat oil in pan.  Saute green pepper, onion, and celery.  Add chicken & spices and stir fry.  Add tomatoes, green chilies and olives. Cook for a few minutes. Add 1/4 cup water and turn heat down to medium low. Cook 3-4 minutes.
Spoon into tortillas, sprinkle with cheese and roll up tortillas.  Place in baking dish.  Sprinkle with green onions, parsley, and remainder of cheese.
Cover with foil and bake in oven 300 degrees for 15 minutes.  Serve with guacamole, sour cream, & salsa.

Crock Pot Option:
**for this option, use 2-4 raw, skinless, boneless chicken breasts**
Add all ingredients from oil to the water in crock pot.
Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low 5-6 hours.
About 30 minutes to an hour before serving, pull out chicken and shred or shred directly into mixture. Stir into mixture to simmer another 15-30 minutes before simmering.  You can have people build their own or bake it all in the oven in the tortillas.  Both options are yummy.

Homemade Flour Tortillas:
5 cups flour
1 1/2 TBLS baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup shortening
1 1/2-2 cups HOT water

Mis together dry ingredients.  Cut in shortening.  Stir in water and do not overmix.  Roll out on a floured surface and fry on griddle or fry pan-no oil needed for frying.

Dad's Amazing Hot Chocolate Recipe

I titled this as "Hot Chocolate" because Hot Cocoa doesn't actually quite say it right.  This is amazing and only for true chocolate lovers-meaning real chocolate-not fake chocolate, but real, delicious, good quality chocolate!  And I love it with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream in it (I love ice-cream-chocolate ice-cream or chocolate smothered ice-cream-so of course, I would love a scoop of ice-cream in my hot cocoa-or better known as hot chocolate.

I am just pasting the recipe the way my dad sent it to me-I added several more shakes of salt though because I love salt and how it really brings out the flavor.

Jims Hot Cocoa:

2 parts water

1 part cocoa powder

1 part brown sugar (start with less - easy to add more later)

small dash of salt

Bring to low boil stirring constantly, add large dash of baking soda (e.g. 1/16 tsp for half cup cocoa), keep stirring until fizzing stops and bad smell dissipates (you're getting rid of the acid).

Remove from heat, add:

2 parts semi-sweet choc chips (e.g. regular Nestle)

1 part darker choc chips (or French Vanilla disks)

(You can vary that, e.g. use 1 part semi-sweet, 1 part milk chocolate chips).

Stir in until thoroughly blended, then return to medium heat and start adding milk by small amounts at first, blending in after each addition.  Some cream is nice if you have some.  Initially add milk slowly enough that the mixture stays warm & keeps the chocolate melted.

Keep adding milk until it tastes about right (usually I stop right after I've added just a little too much).  Add vanilla. Add sugar if needed (especially if you started with half the expected amount).

If too sweet, adding milk can reduces sweetness some.

All of this is very approximate.

Ice-cream Cake Roll

This is a chocolate cake roll with ice-cream as the filling.  I generally use mint chocolate chip ice-cream, but have used other flavors as well.  This recipe is not for the faint at heart.  I have no ideas how many times I have made this cake.  Coming from a large family, we all kind of took over a certain type of dessert and got good at it.  And when it needed to be made, we were the one to make our particular specialty.  This cake is my particular specialty in my family.  I started cooking at a fairly young age and my dad taught me how to make this cake.  We often made desserts together on Sunday afternoons.  He taught me a lot of my dessert specialities-good memories that I hope to pass on to my own kids. I have made this cake almost every time it was needed/wanted since then-even after being married.  Two of my brothers always had this cake for their birthdays.  As our family grew and we became adults with kids, I altered the recipe to make double and triple batches.  My husband and one of my children love this cake, so it is now a tradition in our home to on certain birthdays.  It really is super delicious!!  The original recipe came from the classic "Better Homes and Gardens" cookbook.  I have changed a few things-mostly added more cocoa powder and made the size larger to curtail it to our family.

To make 1 large cake roll:
1/2 cup flour
1/3-1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/3 tsp baking soda
Sift the above ingredients together and set aside.
6 egg yolks
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
In a medium mixing bowl beat egg yolks and vanilla with electric mixer on high speed for 5 minutes or until thick and lemon colored. Gradually add the 1/2 cup sugar, beating on high until the sugar is dissolved.
6 egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
In a large mixing bowl beat egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form.  If you are using the same beaters-wash them thoroughly!  If you get any yolk into the whites, they will not fluff up. Gradually add the 3/4 cup sugar, beating until stiff peaks form, but not too stiff.  Essentially, the egg whites should look like whipped cream.

Fold egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture-gently (not with the mixer-a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon would be great).

Gradually sprinkle the dry mixture over the egg mixtures and fold in gently, just until it is all combined.  Spread batter evenly into a greased/floured cookie sheet (15x10x1 pan).

Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.  Immediately loosen the edges of the pan with a knife. When the pan is cool enough to touch, but still pretty warm, turn cake onto a clean dishtowel that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar.  Gently roll up the towel to help the cake form.  Let cool.  

1 container of mint chocolate chip ice-cream
Soften ice-cream until you can spread the ice-cream (stir it until it is softened and ready to spread).  Unroll cake and gently spread ice-cream on it.  Re-roll cake and immediately place in freezer to harden.  This cake is delicious no matter how you eat it, but my favorite way is to serve it with chocolate sauce-I just love chocolate!!

To make 2 large cake rolls:  
(this is a little more tricky as you really need a large bowl for the whites and mixing is a little harder-you have been warned)
1 cup flour
3/4-1 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
Sift the above ingredients together and set aside.
12 eggs yolks
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar
In a medium mixing bowl beat egg yolks and vanilla with electric mixer on high speed for 5 minutes or until thick and lemon colored. Gradually add the 1/2 cup sugar, beating on high until the sugar is dissolved.
12 egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
In a very large mixing bowl beat egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form.  If you are using the same beaters-wash them thoroughly!  If you get any yolk into the whites, they will not fluff up. Gradually add the 3/4 cup sugar, beating until stiff peaks form, but not too stiff.  Essentially, the egg whites should look like whipped cream.

Fold egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture-gently (not with the mixer-a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon would be great).

Gradually sprinkle the dry mixture over the egg mixtures and fold in gently, just until it is all combined.  Spread batter evenly into a greased/floured cookie sheet (15x10x1 pan).

Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.  Immediately loosen the edges of the pan with a knife. When the pan is cool enough to touch, but still pretty warm, turn cake onto a clean dishtowel that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar.  Gently roll up the towel to help the cake form.  Let cool. 

1 gallon of mint chocolate chip ice-cream
Soften ice-cream until you can spread the ice-cream (stir it until it is softened and ready to spread).  Unroll cake and gently spread ice-cream on it.  Re-roll cake and immediately place in freezer to harden.  This cake is delicious no matter how you eat it, but my favorite way is to serve it with chocolate sauce-I just love chocolate!!

Magic Cookie Bars

After posting homemade sweetened condensed milk, I figured I ought to add the recipe that inspired it in the first place!  So here is one of my husband's all time favorite desserts, and fortunately it's one of my favorites too! 

Magic Cookie Bars
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 TBLS sugar
1-1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (pecans are my favorite-though my husband doesn't like nuts, so half of the batch has nuts and half doesn't)
1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk (or 3/4 -1 cup of homemade sweetened condensed milk)

In 9x13 pan melt butter.  Add cracker crumbs and sugar-stirring together with a fork and then pressing down for your crust.  Top crust evenly with chocolate chips, nuts, & coconut.  Pour milk evenly on top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. 

Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk

I wanted to make one of my husband's favorite treats-"Magic Cookie Bars", but as usual did not have one of the key ingredients-Sweetened Condensed Milk.  I am just too cheap to keep that on hand especially since it is not a need, but always a desire for a yummier desire that isn't good for the waistline.
I went searching-I figure if it is sold at a store, it had to be made from scratch at some point.  What I didn't know is that it would be so incredibly simple and very delicious!  I will never buy the can again!

Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/4 cup boiling water
3 TBLS butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup powdered milk

Using an electric mixer or a small blender (I use my magic bullet), blend together water, sugar, butter, and vanilla.  Add powdered milk and blend until thickish.  If there are leftovers, they are good in the fridge for at least 2 weeks (I won't admit how long I had the leftovers and then made chocolate sauce with them-oh man that was yummy too!).

Homemade Spaghettios

Yup, that's what I mean-homemade spaghettios-those nasty fake pasta things in a can that are actually quite gross.  My kids LOVE them and I don't buy them anymore.  I only ever bought them a few times on sale or they had them at their Grandmas house with other cousins that loved them.  So it was my sons night to help me make dinner.  He wanted to make spaghettios-so I went on a search for a recipe.  I found several and liked 2 recipes-things from both.  So I came up with my own and. . . it was delicious!  I not only had seconds, but third helpings (we must realize that my first helping was very small in anticipation that I wouldn't care for this meal).  We also didn't use little round "o"  pasta, but instead found this alphabet letters pasta at Winco-likely intended for soups because it is very small in size, but it worked out great actually, I mean how can you go wrong with a meal made for kids and alphabet letters?

Homemade Spaghettios
15 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 can of water (using the tomato sauce can-rinsing out all the tomato while adding the water)
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder (or 2 minced garlic cloves)
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chili powder (or red pepper flakes)
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4-1/2 tsp pepper
1 TBLS butter
1 can V-8 (totally optional-just to add more nutrition and good flavor-I only did this when I re-heated the leftovers and it was delicious)
1-2 cups cheese (whatever kinds you want to use-I used about 1/4 cup parmesaen (the real kind that you actually grate, you could use the other kind, but it will be grainy), and 1 1/2 cups mozzerella because I had some I needed to use) 
1-1 1/2 cups dry pasta (cook while making the sauce)

Mix all the ingredients except cheese and pasta together.  If you don't have all the ingredients, you are probably fine-it will likely taste better than the canned stuff no matter what.  The sauce should taste strong to you because once you add the pasta it will tone down the flavor quite a bit.
While sauce is heating up, cook dry pasta according to package directions.  Bring tomato mixture to a simmer and then slowly add cheese.  Add cooked pasta until desired amount (we like a lot of pasta-so if you want it more saucy, probably stick with 1 cup of pasta).  Serve and enjoy!

Eds Hearty Chili

This chili recipe is variable, of course-isn't that partly what chili is (throw in what you have)?  I really like the flavors of this chili.  My husband hates chili, but he really enjoys this-so that's a big plus!  I don't always make it exactly the same, but it always has a good flavor!

2 TBLS oil or butter or bacon or sausage grease (could be a combination of these-the bacon or sausage grease is of course totally optional, but it gives it a more hearty, man loved flavor)
1/2-1 onion, chopped (I like a lot of onion)
3-6 cloves garlic, minced (I like a LOT of garlic too!)
Saute the onion and garlic in the oil.
Add:
up to 1 lb of bacon, hamburger, or chicken or any meat that you would like, if you have it (I often don't have any meat and I love this just with the beans-so I go either way on this quite often though bacon is my favorite-I usually only do half of a package of bacon-just enough to get some good bacon flavor in there-this is the way to get a man that doesn't really care for chili to love it-add bacon)
2 cans kidney beans

If you did not add meat, for sure add more beans, if you added meat, 2 cans is enough, but you can throw in more if you want to:   Add 1-2 cans any other beans that you want to add (black, pinto, white, more kidney)

Add 1 can of beef broth or 2 cubes of beef broth and 2 cups of water.

Let simmer for a bit to soak into beans a little more and dissolve the beef broths cubes.

Add 2 cans diced tomatoes-fire-roasted are really good (or do 1 diced and 1 tomato sauce-which is what I often do because my hubby prefers no chunks of tomatoes-I have also added a fresh garden tomato or two to get that great fresh garden tomato flavor.

Add to taste, but approximately for mild flavor follow below-for a more spicy flavor 1 1/2 to 2 x's the spices:
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp-1 TBLS chili powder (Start with 1, it's pretty spicy with just 1)
1 tsp of chipolte powder (I often haven't had this, but it does add a nice flavor if you have it)
1 TBLS cocoa powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 TBLS brown sugar

I sometimes add 1 cup of frozen corn, depending on if I have it, and my mood.

Stir together and let the spices soak in while simmering.  You can pretty much eat it at any time or let it simmer for a long time.  I like to stir in some greek yogurt, spinach, and nacho chips when I eat it and it is delicious!!  You can sprinkle cheese, sour cream, or whatever you like on top!

Breakfast Casserole

There are probably hundreds, if not thousands of recipes for a breakfast casserole.  I love breakfast, I love bacon, I love sausage; basically, I love a lumberjack style breakfast.  So here is a pretty good breakfast casserole and you can change things around if you like too!  It really doesn't matter that much-you can't really hurt it!  Oh, and we have this as a dinner too!

6 slices bread, cubed (could also do hash browns either mixed in or substituted)
8-16 oz. bacon or sausage, cooked (depending how much you want, have, whatever)
2 cups cheese
6 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
1 tsp dry mustard (or since I never remember to buy dry mustard, I use 1 TBS mustard-hotdog type (or whatever kind of mustard you want would probably be just fine))
2-4 drops tabasco sauce
a few shakes of pepper 
several shakes of salt

Grease a 9x13 casserole dish.  Spread the cubed bread/hash browns on the bottom.  Sprinkle with chopped up cooked bacon or sausage.  Sprinkle with cheese.
Mix together the rest of the ingredients and pour over the bread/meat/cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes.
YUM!  YUM!  YUM!