Foodie Friday-Valentines Peanut Butter Blossoms

These cookies were a year in the making... I saw the idea on Pinterest last year and had every intention of making them, I even bought the heart shaped peanut butter cups.  But life was rather hectic and crazy last year and it just never got done.  

Now that life has settled back into a semi-normal schedule I have been able to cook and bake a lot more so these were going to get done for sure.  You make them just like you would regular peanut butter blossoms but substitute a heart shaped candy in place of the kiss.  I used Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for an extra peanut buttery taste but these would also be great with a heart shaped Dove chocolate.

Foodie Friday- Italian Baked Potatoes

We didn't really get a Christmas dinner this year.  On Christmas Eve is when we celebrated with family and I gorged on homemade pizza and cookies at the first house and pigs in a blanket at the second house.  On Christmas Day we had a nice breakfast before the kids went with their dad then I pretty much hung out on the couch for most of the day.  We cooked a few frozen pizzas at some point and went to be early.  While this was all my idea and I enjoyed just loafing on Christmas Day I still kinda wanted a nice dinner.  So we bought a ham and had a late Christmas/New Years dinner on New Years day.  I was going to make ham, bread, and homemade scalloped potatoes but then I saw this random photo/recipe post on Facebook last week for these amazing looking potatoes and mad them instead.

The post said for you to bake the potatoes at 375 covered for an hour and a half or something of the sort but I couldn't do that since I was baking a ham at 275 and only have one oven.  So I improvised...

I first boiled my potatoes

Once they were cool I cut them almost all the way through into slices but not quite.

 I put them in a greased cast iron skillet (I'm sure any pan will do)

Sprinkled them with garlic salt and an Italian dressing mix

Placed small slabs of butter all around

Added some shredded parmesan cheese...

 

Then broiled them to perfection.

 

Then we ate them all and they were good!

Sorry I can't find the original Facebook post I adapted these from.  If anyone knows please let me know in the comments so I can give credit where credit is due!

Foodie Friday- Four Ingredient Christmas Cookies

 

Ahh Christmas baking... I'm not sure why I do it every year or I guess I should say why I overdo it every year.  I really just need to find one or two signature cookies and just make those but no, I always have to try out new recipes each year.  And not just one it's usually two or three.  

These cookies were made using a new recipe.  These cookies just might be one of those signature recipes I mentioned.  These were so good and so easy.  Four ingredients, a ten minute prep time, easy peasy!  I actually feel like a cheater of some sort because these were so easy.  

I followed the recipe for the most part except I made one tiny change.  Well it was kind of a big change since I think this is what took these cookies from good to over the top.  Instead of using regular M&M's I used Peppermint M&M's. Now these cookies were more than holiday ready just in looks, they taste like Christmas.  If you aren't a fan of peppermint feel free to use the plain M&M's or sub in your favorite style since I'm sure any of them would work (mmm now I am imagining peanut butter M&M's).  

Recipe found at Bombshell Bling

Foodie Friday- Peppermint Bark

Who knew that making your own peppermint bark could be so easy?!?! You pay a premium price for a tiny bit of it in the store!  For the same price and about 20 minutes you can make a whole tray of it at home.

You will need 1 bag chocolate chips, I used dark chocolate.

1 bag of white chocolate chips

Candy canes or peppermints

1 tsp Peppermint Extract

 In a microwave safe bowl melt your chocolate chips.  I usually put them in for 45 seconds, stir them then keep putting them back in for 30 second intervals until melted and smooth.

Spread on a parchment lined pan and stick in the fridge for 10 minutes

While the chocolate is getting hard in the fridge use a food processor to chop up the peppermints into bits.  If you don't have a food processor you can stick them in a back and go over them with a rolling pin.

Next follow the same steps listed above to melt the white chocolate chips and stir in 1 tsp peppermint extract when it's melted and smooth.

Spread the white chocolate over the refrigerated dark chocolate.  Don't worry if it gets a little melty and the two mix.  Still tastes good in the end.  Sprinkle with the chopped peppermint for garnish and gently press them into the melted chocolate.

 

Stick the pan back in the fridge to get hard then break into pieces to share.

 

Super easy and a perfect hostess  or neighbor gift! 

Foodie Friday- Slow Cooker Applesauce

Applesauce is a bit of a lunchbox staple in our house.  The kids eat it, like it, and its easy to toss those little prepackaged cups in there.  But, really who knew that making your own applesauce would be so easy??  Seriously easy.  I had eyed some slow cooker recipes for jam and applesauce on Pinterest before but hemmed and hawed about trying them.  I thought that somewhere in there would be some crazy steps that turn something that looks easy into a pain.  I was wrong.  Making applesauce with no added sugar and no preservatives will take a total of 15 minutes of effort.

First you want to take your apples, I used 4 Fuji apples, skin them and remove the core.  Cut it into chunks and toss them in the crock pot.  Add two tablespoons of water and stir a bit.  I added a few dashes of cinnamon to mine but you don't have to if you don't like it.

 

Turn your slow cooker on low and cook for 4 hours.

Take the lid off and mash for a minute then put the results in a jar.

 

There you are done.  Wasn't that easy??

Foodie Friday-Homemade Twix Bars

 

We have some new neighbors that moved in a few weeks ago.  There are three new kids in the neighborhood and one of them is a boy who Landon has been getting along with famously!  

I like to welcome new neighbors/friends with a homemade treat.  It also gives me and excuse to try out a new recipe.  Win win in my book.

I have been wanting to try these homemade Twix bars for a while now but have been putting off doing much baking because it's been so hot and my life has been more hectic than usual the past 3-4 months.  So when the new neighbors moved in I decided now was the perfect time to try it.  

These bars come together really easily even though they take a while since you have to wait for things to cool down between layers.  The end result was very tasty even though for some reason my caramel layer didn't want to stay attached to my crust!  

I think my favorite part was the crust.  It reminded me of those butter cookies you can find around the holidays.  I think I could have just eaten the whole pan of crust all by itself and been happy.  Ohh or maybe just the crust dipped in chocolate, or with marshmallow.... I think I need to incorporate this into future recipes somehow!  

You can find the recipe at Color Me Meg and give these a go.  Or you can just make the crust, I won't judge.

Foodie Friday- Garlic Chicken

I am not sure if this was a recipe fail or if it was a real winner.... 

I found a recipe on Pinterest for this garlic chicken that looked amazing and simple.  I have made oven fried chicken before and it turned out great.  This recipe was basically the same except with garlic.  I followed the recipe and marinated my chicken in eggs and garlic, breaded it, then put it in the pan to bake.  I cooked it for the specified time and then flipped it.  I continued to cook it and when it was supposed to have been ready it wasn't.  Now I am sure the chicken was cooked through but the breading was not crisp and golden brown.  It was a soggy mess... 

Not appealing in the least.  So I ended up heating up some oil and frying the chicken on my stove top to get it nice and brown.  I am glad I was able to salvage the meal because it was VERY tasty!!!

See the pesto potatoes from last week  peeking at you??

3 eggs beaten

1 Tbsp minced garlic.  You can use more or less depending on your tastes

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 8 tenders

3/4 Cup oil

1 cup Panko bread crumbs

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 Tbsp garlic powder

1/2 Tbsp salt

1 Tbsp pepper

Marinate the chicken in the eggs and minced garlic for at least 4 hours

Pour oil in the pan and place in the oven while preheating to 450

Mix remaining ingredients in a large bowl or pan and mix

Dredge the chicken through the bread crumbs  and place on a clean plate

Take the pan out of the oven and place the chicken in

**The oil will be VERY hot**

Put the pan back in the oven and bake for 30 minutes

Flip the chicken and bake for another 30 minutes or until juices run clear

The breading should be nice and golden and crispy!  

If you prefer you can also heat the oil in a large cast iron or other pan and fry the chicken on your stove top.  The cooking time will vary when doing it this way so make sure you test and make sure it's cooked all the way through.

Recipe adapted from Favorite Family Recipes

Foodie Friday-Pesto Potatoes

As you can see I am no food blogger

 I don't take fancy pictures of the food I make, I take pictures of it on my plate before I eat it!  So please disregard my crappy photography and instead just try this recipe!

It's another one that I found floating around on Pinterest and since I just happened to have some Trader Joe's Pesto in the fridge so I made it to go with Sunday dinner.

 

 Sundays are my relaxing days and I don't really want to think about or make a huge elaborate meal but at the same time I want to put something nice on the table since I technically have the time to do it.  What usually happens is I make something that I can prep in the morning then just have to toss in the oven or on the grill when we are ready to eat.  I also like to find recipes that look and taste fancy but are actually really simple like these potatoes.

For this one you will need:

3-4 Potatoes.  I used Russet but I think these would work with any kind

3/4 Cup Pesto

Grated Parmesan Cheese

Preheat the oven to 450

Spray a prepared pan with non stick spray

Cut the potatoes into cubes

Toss the potatoes and pesto together in a sealed plastic bag until coated

Spread on pan

Sprinkle with cheese

Bake for 25-30 minutes

Make sure to use lots of non stick spray, I thought I had but these really stuck to the pan and it was pain to get them off!

Original Recipe from Six Sisters Stuff

Foodie Friday-Bacon Pancakes

If you have a Pinterest account or Facebook page chances are you have seen a picture of these Bacon pancakes floating around.  I have been wanting to try them for about two years now.  This week we actually had some leftover bacon and I thought I would finally whip up a batch of these special pancakes and see how they are. 

No special recipe just pour out your batter, put your pre-cooked slice of bacon on top and cook like you would any old pancake. 

 

I didn't even reheat the bacon since it heated up and browned up even more while on the griddle.  Add some butter and syrup and you are on your way to yummy breakfast!

 

 Bacon, especially maple bacon really does make everything better!

Foodie Friday-Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

My kids have been asking me to make some banana bread for a while now.  I think they quit eating the bananas we had at home so I would be forced to make a loaf.  Thinking about banana bread brings to mind all the times my mom made it when I was quite small.  This was really special since (sorry mom) she's not much of a cook.  To me banana bread is a classic comfort foods that tastes so good warm with a bit of butter on it. 

Since I like to try new recipes I went through all my bread pins to see if I had anything pinned that looked good.  Up popped a recipe for Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread.  Umm what?  Yes please! 

The bread is just as easy to make as regular banana bread.  The cinnamon and sugar kick up the flavor quite a bit making this more of a dessert bread than a snacking bread.  My son actually said it was the best bread he has ever had!

 

 

So if you have a few brown bananas laying around you should give this bread a try.  You won't regret it!

Recipe from Lovin' From the Oven

Foodie Friday-Sesame Noodles

 

We enjoy making homemade lettuce wraps at home but I am sometimes left wanting something else on my plate.  I am not much of a white rice eater so these noodles were a must try.  They came together very quickly and I had just about everything I needed already at home except for the sesame oil. I just subbed in some regular oil and it worked out fine.  The recipe does call for a small amount of Sriracha and you can definitely add more if you prefer things to be a bit spicier.  Our house is split with half thinking the spicier the better and the other half being weenies.  So to be nice I followed the recipe and then just added more Sriracha to my own wraps and noodles. 

If you want to make the lettuce wraps you can try one of the recipes that I have used before or of you are short on time just pick up a bag of lettuce wrap mix in the aisle that sells the Asian food in your local store.  

Recipes:

Lettuce Wraps

Lettuce Wraps 2.0

Sesame Noodles

Foodie Friday-Oven Baked Fajita's

 

I like most people am busy.  I work full time, have two kids to wrangle, and my mom is very ill.  So I am always running between work, the hospital (or my moms house depending on where she is), and home.  I am stretched pretty thin most days so dinner tends to be the last thing on my mind.  Honestly 5-6 years ago this wouldn't have been a problem since I would have just hit up a drive thru and called it good.  These days I am a bit more educated about what I put in front of my family to eat and what I put in my body.  Now that's not to say that we organic grass fed whatever all the time or that we don't order pizza anymore we just try to make better choices overall.  This is also much cheaper than eating fake food every day....

That being said, quick, easy, and tasty are what I am looking for in a dinner recipe.  This fit the bill.  I love me some chicken fajita's but I HATE using that store bought spice packet to make them.  I have no idea who decided that is what fajita's taste like cause they are WRONG!  This though, this comes pretty close to what you would get in a restaurant and it's so easy to throw together and toss in the oven.  While you may not have all the ingredients in your pantry you can get them at any grocery store along with some tortillas, cheese, and whatever other toppings you like.  The chicken turns out nice and juicy and is very flavorful.  This will definitely be making another appearance on my dinner table!

Recipe from Six Sisters Stuff

Foodie Friday-Oven Fried Chicken Wings

 

Wings? Yes please!  I LOVE chicken wings!  I like them on the bone, extra crispy, and spicy!!  When I saw this recipe for baked wings on Pinterest looking all golden brown and yummy I knew I had to try it!  Now don't go thinking that these are healthy baked wings cause they aren't!  They are breaded and cooked in butter.  Lots of butter. 

As usual I didn't follow the recipe exactly.  Since I didn't happen to have curry powder and I wanted my wings to have more kick I made my own breading.  I used flour, garlic powder, chili powder, salt, pepper.  Coated them and baked them per the directions. 

Mine didn't seem to turn out as brown and crispy as the ones shown on the blog but they were still okay.  A bit buttery.  Well I suppose that is to be expected since they are cooked in butter!  Next time I may try using vegetable oil instead.

You can find the original recipe and directions at FOODLOVERR

Foodie Friday (0n Thursday) Pistachio Cherry Meltaway Cookies

 

 The annual cookie exchange that my family does each year is upon us!  For some reason I always feel the need to try something new rather than just making the same thing year after year.  I am not sure if this is a good thing or not...

Well this year after going to Pinterest (of course) and looking through all my cookie pins I found these.  Sounds interesting.. Looks easy enough.... Let's try it!

These were actually pretty easy to whip up and they cook up nicely.  They have a good flavor and remind me a lot of the cherry blossoms that I love so much.  The pistachio isn't super strong and the cherry really helps to sweeten things up.

Making a double batch yielded just over 60 cookies making it perfect for a cookie swap.

If you want to give it a try cause you have a swap coming up or just cause you like cookies you can get the recipe from I Heart Naptime

Foodie Friday: Snickerdoodle Bread

 

Ahh the neighbor gifts.  We are very lucky to live in a neighborhood where we know and get along with almost all of our neighbors.  We have a neighborhood watch and all get together a few times a year to eat, drink, and chat.  In fact we do this almost weekly with a few of our neighbors.  To show my appreciation for them I like to give them a little something each year around the holidays.  Money is usually tight so I always have to think out of the box for something that in inexpensive but thoughtful.  This year I decided there isn't anything more thoughtful then home baked goodies.  

I scoured Pinterest for ideas on something that wouldn't take me days to make since I have eight neighbors and found this bread.  It's simple recipe that you can find at Kathie Cooks.  I did have a bit of trouble finding the cinnamon chips but lucked out at the third store I tried.  I used a mini loaf pan which makes four loaves at time and baked them per the recipe.  Man oh man my house smelled good!  Then I wrapped them up and let the kids make the deliveries.  

Since I still have a bag of cinnamon chips I think I will make a few more loaves to bring to work and for my own family to eat.

Foodie Friday-DIY Peanut Butter

I found a recipe for homemade peanut butter somewhere on the world wide web and really wanted to try it out.  The only problem was I didn't have a food processor which was a required tool.  Lucky for me I got a really nice one for Christmas!  

It's really easy to make and tastes pretty good!  So all you do is put the peanuts of your choice and a bit of sugar in the food processor.  Then turn that sucker on.  At first you think that nothing is happening and it's just making a fine peanut dust like in the picture below.....

 

But just keep going!  Eventually you will see it start to actually form into a nice smooth peanut butter.  Since we prefer ours to be creamy rather than crunchy I let it go for quite a while. 

 

In order to test it out, I put it all in an almost empty peanut butter jar that we had.  I wanted the kids to try without knowing it was homemade and see how it was received. 

Well since there were no complaints I think it was a winner!  So all natural peanut butter without all the preservatives in about 10 minutes at home is a win in my book!

Foodie Friday-Mocha Angel Food Cake

This recipe is for a light fluffy angel food cake with a bit of a twist.  It's mocha flavored!  I first had this cake when I was 11 or 12 and my step-grandma made it.  I wanted to devour that entire cake.  For some reason I haven't made very often if ever at all.  I was telling a co-worker about it and promised to whip one up sometime. Well since it was her birthday I decided I make it and bring it to the office to share. I have seen recipes online for making it from scratch but I cheated and used a box mix which makes it super simple to make.

 It's funny how the frosting looks almost exactly like the batter!  The original cake I had also had toasted almonds on it and was actually frosted. Since I was bringing it to work and I don't have anything to transport a cake I ended up cutting it into slices and putting the frosting in a container.

 

It's an easy recipe and one that seems to be a hit with everyone who tries it.

For the cake:

1 box angel food cake mix

1 1/4 cup cold coffee

1 Tbsp cocoa

Mix the cake mix and cocoa together then add the coffee and mix till nice and fluffy.

Pour into angel food cake pan and bake according to the package directions.

For the frosting:

1 tub Cool Whip

Cocoa

Blend Cool Whip with 1 Tbsp cocoa.  Taste and add more if needed.

Garnish with toasted almonds

Foodie Friday-Cheater Banana Bread

 

I made some cheater banana bread from a recipe I found via Pinterest.  It calls for cake mix rather than the usual flour etc.  It was a quick way to make the bread and it turned out pretty good.  It is a bit sweeter than usual and I'm sure it's not very healthy but still tasty.  The recipe made this one large loaf and 4 mini loaves which went out to the neighbors.  Well one got gobbled up by the kids and I pretty much straight out of the oven....

The recipe was adapted from one found on Betty Crocker

Foodie Friday-Andes Mint Fudge

 

Mmmm Andes Mints.  I love those little suckers.  It was always a treat to get one after eating at the Olive Garden.  So trying this fudge out was a no brainer!  I made it for the family cookie exchange this year.  It was super easy to make, made enough for everyone, and tasted just like the little mints!  

I used the recipe found at Sally's Baking Addiction.  I followed all the directions except I didn't have shortening so I used a bit of vegetable oil in it's place.

Enjoy!

Foodie Friday-Summer Pasta Salad

 

I made this super yummy and fresh tasting pasta salad for a family potluck over the weekend. I know it's technically fall but here in the South it still feels like summer!  Trust me I am READY for some real fall weather.  This salad is really easy to make and really tastes light and fresh.  I found the recipe at Budget Bytes and had to do a little tweaking.  I used a smaller pasta, steamed my veggies before adding them, and didn't have any oregano so I added some grated Parmesan cheese instead. 

 I made the salad the day before so the flavors could mingle but for some reason you couldn't really taste the vinaigrette.  Next time I am going to double that portion of the recipe.