Chicken Noodle Soup

Hello, friends!  It's been a minute since I've made a blog post - almost 3 years!  Most of that time, I can blame not having a computer for my lack of posts.  I just felt a push today to get this soup recipe posted on my blog, so here I am.  I found myself coming back to my own blog for recipes I've posted over the years, and I definitely didn't want to lose this one!

Our family has had its first round of seasonal colds.  The only thing that sounded good for days was chicken noodle soup.  I didn't have much energy to make any, but as soon as I started getting my energy back, chicken noodle soup was the only thing on my brain!  I went to my reliable recipe source, Pinterest, and found a recipe that looked exactly like what I was wanting.

You can find the original recipe here @ DamnDelicious.  It has amazing reviews!  Her recipe includes adding dill, and that's a flavor I personally hate, so it was not included in my version.  She also uses bone in chicken breast, and that wasn't even an option at my store.  I prefer to make my own chicken broth using Better Than Bullion chicken flavoring and water, so that was another teensy change I made.  Lastly, I will eat onion and celery if they are "diced" well = pulverized.  I love the flavor they add but I definitely don't like seeing chunks of them floating in my soup :)

This recipe is a WINNER!  It will be on my cold weather menu rotation from now on!  Hope you love it as much as my family did!

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 cups water 
• Better Than Bullion chicken 
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 1/2 pounds bone-less, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 1/2 cups wide egg noodles
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (or bottled if your store is out of lemons like mine was!)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Melt butter in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute.
2. Whisk in chicken stock and bay leaves; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add chicken; simmer, covered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 30-40 minutes. Remove chicken and let cool before dicing into bite-size pieces, discarding bones.
3. Stir in chicken and pasta and cook until tender, about 6-7 minutes.
4. Remove from heat; stir in parsley and lemon juice, season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Serve immediately.

Onion & Celery chopped as little as my chopper would chop :)

Leftovers = my lunch for days! 

Yummy Tenderloin Recipe

I made this tenderloin recipe twice last month and it got rave reviews!  A friend from bible study shared the recipe with me and I'm so glad she did :)

The crunchy bacon was so yummy!

Recipe Source: Jill's Pork Tenderloin from Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients

• 3 pounds Pork Tenderloin (1 Pkg. Of 2 Tenderloins)
• 1 pound Bacon
• ¾ cups Soy Sauce (I used low sodium)
• 1 Tablespoon Dried Minced Onions
• ½ teaspoons Garlic Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Wine Vinegar Or White Vinegar
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 1 dash Pepper
•  ¾ cups Brown Sugar
  

  Directions

  Wrap the tenderloin pieces in bacon. Place in an 8 1/2″ x 11″ pan. Poke holes in meat with a fork.
  Combine rest of ingredients in a small bowl; stir well. Pour marinade over meat. Refrigerate, uncovered, 2 to 3 hours or overnight.
  Bake in a 300 degree oven for three hours. If the bacon burns, you can place foil over top the last hour of baking, but we like crunchy bacon, so I never covered mine. Remove from oven, cut meat into small pieces and allow the meat to soak up the excess juices in the pan.
  
  Once change I made from the original, I took the meat out to slice it, and then thickened the juices in the pan.  There was a lot of bacon grease that cooked out, so I added a few tablespoons of flour and some milk.  I didn't measure anything, and you don't even need to do this step, but I just wanted a little gravy since I made mashed potatoes to go with the tenderloin!
  

Chicken Pot Pie

The best picture I took.... We all dug in and ate, and I realized as I was packaging up leftovers I forgot to take pictures!

I remember having those little frozen chicken pot pies when I was a kid.  I usually picked out the veggies, like most kids do.  They fell off my radar because it wasn't ever one of my favorite meals.  A couple months ago, Kevin said pot pies sounded good.  I knew I could go buy the frozen ones, but what fun is that?  I found several recipes, all with great reviews, and combined a couple to come up with my own recipe.  It's by far one of my favorite things I make, and the family loves it too (although there's still some kids that pick out some veggies!)  I should mention, this is the only time I eat peas :-P

I like to pre-cut and pre-measure all my ingredients before I start. 

I know this looks like a lot of steps and ingredients, but I promise it comes together pretty easily and the end result is SO worth the little bit of work!  You'll also have leftover ingredients and can make my favorite chicken noodle soup! 

Pot Pie Ingredients:
2 chicken breast
6 Tbsp butter
3/4 of a sweet onion, chopped very small
2 small stalks of celery, chopped very small
1/2 tsp salt
sprinkle of pepper
6 Tbsp flour
2 C chicken broth
2/3 C 2% milk
2 medium potatoes (I used red potatoes), pealed and chopped into bite sized pieces (soak in water until ready to use so they don't turn brown!)
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into bites
1 C frozen peas, defrosted
1 C frozen corn, defrosted
Pie Crust  (I use my homemade one because I prefer the taste, recipe below!)
1 egg, beaten

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425*
Place chicken breast in pan, cover with water, and bring to a boil.  It will take about 15 minutes to cook them.  While the chicken cooks, prepare your pot pie filling.
In a large sauce pan, melt the butter.  Once melted, add the celery and onion.  Cook for about 2 minutes.  Next add the salt, pepper, and flour.  Cook 4 minutes.  Next add the chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.  Simmer 8-10 minutes and allow mixture to thicken.  (The chicken should be done by this point.  Remove and cut into bite sized pieces.)  Add the milk to the sauce pan and cook another 4 minutes.
Remove sauce pan from heat.  Drain the water off the potatoes, and add to the sauce pan.  Also add the carrots, peas, corn and chicken breast. 
Pour the filling into a 9x13 pan and set aside while you prepare the pie crust.

Pie crust ingredients:
1/4 C crisco
1/4 C soft butter
1 1/2 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
approx 1/2 cold water (I use a 1 C measure cup, fill it half full of water and add ice cubes to get the water really cold!)
Mix crisco, butter, flour and salt together with a fork or pastry blender until very crumbly.  Add water a little at a time until it holds together but the dough is not sticky.  Feel free to mix with your hands.  Sometimes it's just easier!  Roll gently on a floured pastry cloth (or your counter top, I just think the pastry cloth is easier) until slightly larger than the 9x13 pan.   Gently lift the pie crust and place on top of the pot pie filling.  Tuck extra pie crust into the sides of the pan.  Use a pastry brush, brush beaten egg on top of the pie crust.  This prevents the crust from burning while baking.  Lastly, with a sharp knife, cut X's or slits into the top of the pie crust to allow the pie to vent.

Bake for approx 40-45 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow the pie to cool 10 minutes before serving.  This is the best meal for when it's cold outside!  It's also a great meal to take to someone!  Hope you love it as much as we do! :) 

Cherry Almond Muffins

While trying to figure out my menu for our big Valentine's dinner, I came across this recipe for cherry almond bread.  I instantly fell in love with the pink and red colors, and the more I thought about the flavor combo, the more I couldn't wait to try it!  I actually had Kevin run to Walmart for me (He was already out) so he could get the ingredients and I could make it that night!

Hayden is the big cherry fan at our house.  He loved how it turned out, but I knew it needed some tweaking to make it something more of us liked!

Round two, I made mini muffins instead of small loaves of bread.  I also put the cherries through the food processer instead of using my little chopper from pampered chef!  Some of the kids didn't like the bigger pieces of cherry, so that's why I did that.  You can chop them however you desire!

My little sampler

My iPhone doesn't capture the pretty pink like my regular camera does (like the loaf in the top pic!)

Ingredients:

• 1 c. sugar
• ½ c.canola oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. cherry extract
• 1½ tsp. almond extract
• 2¼ c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 (8 oz.) jar maraschino cherries, chopped, juice reserved
• powdered sugar, for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Grease mini muffin pans; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream sugar and oil; add eggs, vanilla, cherry, and almond extract and beat well. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Measure out ½ cup of the reserved maraschino cherry juice. If juice does not equal ½ cup, add enough water to make up the rest. Alternately add the flour mixture and cherry juice to the sugar mixture until it is just combined. Stir in the chopped cherries.
2. Fill the mini muffin cups 3/4 of the way full. Bake for about 12-13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove muffins to cool completely on a wire rack. Dust tops of bread with powdered sugar, if desired, slice and serve. Makes: 30 mini muffins

These are the perfect little Valentines snacks/treats!  Hope you all enjoy them!

Baking Bug

I have caught the baking bug.  Big Time!  I find myself using all my free time looking for recipes to try.  I go through seasons where I focus my attention on different things.  Some months it's baking, some months it's sewing, some months it's taking pictures. 

You know how it goes when trying new recipes.... they aren't all keepers.  I have tried several lately that I liked, but none of these fell into the category of keepers.  I figured I'd share them with you in case they may be something that looks good to you!

Pina Colada Cookie Cups
I altered this recipe and used mini cupcake pans instead of regular cupcake pans.  The recipe made 24 mini cookie cups.  The other change I made, I topped them with strawberries instead of cherries and pineapple.  I liked them.  The cookie was good and chewy, but none of my kids or husband liked them.  There's a subtle coconut flavor that turned my kids off.  I took them to dinner this weekend and a couple other adults liked them.  I haven't completely written off this recipe, but I'll have to experiment with it more if I want it to become a family favorite!

Southwest Chicken Barley Chili
I made one change to this recipe - the can of diced tomatores, I pureed them.  Other than that, I made this exactly like it was written (for the crockpot).  I made jiffy cornbread to go with the chili, and crumbled it in the soup and thought it was good.  Allie ate it, but none of the other kids did, and Kevin didn't like it. 

(FYI, this was not my picture... I took it from the site because I didn't take any pictures when I made it!)

Sweet Pineapple Casserole
I guess I'm easy to please, because I liked this recipe too, but no one else seemed to care for it.  I had a friend tell me about "pineapple casserole" and how great it was, and I had never heard of it before!  I was so anxious to try it and quickly found a recipe on Pinterest that looked great!  The casserole is sweet (hints the name) and the bread turns out caramelized and chewy.  The pineapple flavor isn't overpowering.  Maybe I didn't pair it with the right meat?   Anyways, I don't know that I'll be remaking it because it went over so poorly at my house, but I'd eat it again if someone else made it!

Chicken Pesto Pasta

I didn't realize how much I loved pesto until I tried Azzip's zip sticks.  They are my favorite!  It got me thinking that I was missing out.  I'd never searched pinterest for "pesto" and when I did, I found so many recipes I wanted to try!

My first recipe to try was an instant family favorite.  Allie had seconds and thirds, Hayden had seconds, Kevin raved about the dinner and even posted about his love for it on instagram! Haha!  I also love finding new recipes I can make in my electic skillet and this one worked perfect!  (Definitely easy to make in a pan on the stove too, so don't let that last sentence make you think you can't make it!)  If you've never bought pesto from the store, it's by the pasta sauces (thanks sis for that tip!)

Original recipe can be found here.  I did a few things different (like increased the noodles a tad, increased the cream and cheese, and nixed the cherry tomatoes {which I'm sure my kids would have loved, but Kevin and I gag at the thought of them}).

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 chicken breasts, sliced into ½-inch strips
• 2 tablespoons garlic, chopped
• ½ tablespoon kosher salt
• ½ tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ¾ grated parmesan cheese
• ¼ cup pesto
• 3 cups (uncooked) mini penne pasta
• Parmesan cheese to garnish

Directions:

Heat the oil in a pan over high heat. Combine the chicken, garlic, salt, and pepper, cooking until chicken is browned.  Start cooking your noodles while you're chicken is cooking.

Then, mix in the heavy cream, parmesan, and pesto, stirring until evenly combined.

Next, bring to a boil and cook until the sauce has reduced, about five to seven minutes.

Toss in the drained pasta, stirring until evenly coated. Remove from heat. To serve, sprinkle parmesan cheese on top!

Snickerdoodle Cookie Recipe

The table cloth, oven mitt, and pot holder all came from Walmart!

I promise I don't just eat cookies all day, but I do frequently search for new food recipes to try.  That usually leads me to finding a new dessert recipe I want to try.  That's how I found this cookie recipe (on Pinterest) and have been thinking about it for a week!  I decided yesterday it was time to see if these cookies were as good as they claimed to be.  And they were, so that's why I'm sharing the recipe with you!
Original recipe can be found here.
I should also mention, if you love snickerdoodles but aren't into baking, Walmart carries a box mix called Krusteaz (I think you just add a stick of butter), and their snickerdoodle cookies are pretty amazing!  They have a flatter/chewy consistency and are so so good.

Ingredients:
1 C unsalted butter, softened
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 C sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
3 1/4 C all purpose flour
(Topping)
1/3 C sugar
1 heaped tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350*
In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add in the egg, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon and mix well.  Add in the cream of tartar, baking soda, and half of the flour mixture and mix on low until combined.  Add in remaining flour and mix again just until combined.

In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon.  Set aside.

Scoop the dough with a cookie scoop, and coat the balls in the cinnamon sugar topping.  Place cookies on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 8-10 mins.  {At 8 minutes, the cookies were still a bit gooey in the middle, but once they cooled, they were a great consistency.  I like mine a bit more done (so we can eat them out of the oven), and I opted to bake mine for 10 minutes.}  Let cool on the cookie sheet a few minutes then transfer to counter to cool completely.

What I like about them:
They are super thick, and soft.  They are good out of the oven and equally as good the next day.  This is a good recipe to make with the kids - they can roll the cookies in the cinnamon and sugar mixture!  The dough doesn't require any refrigerating, so they are pretty quick to make!

The cookie is very thick and soft.  The original recipe calls them chewy, but mine weren't chewy.

Allie's been pretty upset we've eaten or shared all the cookies before she's gotten home from school, so I made sure to pack her (and Hayden) some in their lunches today!

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't know anyone that doesn't love a good chocolate chip cookie.  You are going to love me for this recipe.  Our family's favorite time to eat chocolate chip cookies is right out of the oven.  I judge a cookie by how it taste the next day (if there are any left), not out of the oven (because even a bad cookie is good then).  Let me start by telling you I saw this recipe on my sister's blog and thought the cookies looked great (pretty and thick).  As I stirred up the dough, all my expectations sank because the dough seemed dry, and I figured they'd end up being dry and hard.  Gag.  Clearly, I know nothing about baking science and what determines cookie softness. 

Straight out the oven we were all in love.  Warm, thick, ooey gooey melty chocolate but not overly sweet or salty - just right!  They were fantastic.  I told everyone to eat up because, like I said, my expectations were low for how they'd taste the next day.  When I woke up the next morning (today) I had two things on my brain - 1) How do these chocolate chip cookies taste and 2) Buying a dresser on craigslist.  {I've been on a dresser hunt for about 2 months and have really picky taste, and a small budget, so I couldn't wait to tell the seller I was coming to get it today.  Then the seller tells me the dresser already has a buyer, but if they don't show tomorrow to pick it up, I'm next on the list.  Let's be honest, it's already sold - cue my tears!}  So, on to the good news, the cookies were so great this morning.  Like maybe that's what I had for breakfast because I was eating away my already-sold-dresser sorrows... or maybe because they were still soooo soft and perfect.  The fact is they are now all gone, and the kids and Kevin are going to be majorly disappointed when they get home.

A little heads up, this recipe requires a wee bit of planning.  The butter needs to be room temp (I laid my butter out after breakfast).  Also, the dough gets refrigerated (I made the dough after lunch, and baked it after dinner).  My cookie smarts tell me that refrigerating helps gives them the thick consistency, and also gives the dough time to soak up all those flavors.

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Makes about 28 cookies)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks salted butter, at room temp
3/4 C Domino light brown sugar, packed
1/4 C Domino granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 C all-purpose flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1 C chocolate chips

Directions:
Cream together the butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy (I used my stand mixer).
Add in the egg and cream together.
Mix in the flour, cornstarch, and baking soda.  Mix until combined.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Let the dough rest in the fridge before baking - at least 3 hours.  I went ahead and scooped my dough (using my cookie scoop) into dough balls, then covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated.  If you don't scoop them into balls before refrigerating, the dough is going to be really hard to work with.

After the dough has chilled (mine chilled 4 hours), preheat oven to 350*.  Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper, and bake the cookies 10-11 minutes.  Mine all baked for 11 minutes and that was perfect.  Let them cool on the cookie sheet for a couple minutes before transferring to foil to cool.

Store in air tight container.

Perfect cookie - my nails could use some attention though...

And if you happen to have a dresser like this for sale, that's cheap, let me know!  Isn't it pretty?!  It will take me a few days to get over not getting it! Waaaa

(Kid Friendly) Holiday Punch Recipe

I was looking for a fun, festive drink to make for our Christmas party we had this weekend.  I saw one on Pinterest that looked like it had potential.  The original recipe called for Cranberry juice and Ginger-ale.  I'm not a fan of either, so I substituted!

Ingredients:

1 whole can of pineapple juice (1.36 L)

half of a 3 Liter container of cran-raspberry juice

half a 2 Liter of sprite

cranberries, washed

lime, washed and sliced

Pour together the pineapple juice, cran-raspberry juice and sprite; mix gently.  Add the cranberries and sliced lime. You can also add ice, but if it's not drank right away, it will get watered down.  I'd recommend putting ice in the cups!  (Learn from my mistake!)

I refrigerated my juices and sprite ahead of time so the punch was already cold.  I'd recommend doing that if you have time and fridge space!

We had 15 people at the party (10 adults) and this recipe served us perfectly!  It's very easy to double if you're having a bigger party.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Vanilla Bean Caramels

Are you looking for a fun recipe to try this Christmas?  Put these caramels on that list!  I was emailed the recipe last week and knew I was going to be making them asap! 

My pictures aren't nearly as good as the site I got the recipe from, so if you want to make them, go to her site, read the recipe a time or two, then try to make them.  I've always read that the thermometer shouldn't touch the bottom of the pan, but for me/my pans/my thermometer, it should.  My first batch ended up in the trash and I blame it on my thermometer.  I could smell the sugar mixture burning, but according to the thermometer, I still needed it to raise another 20* before turning the heat down.  My second attempt, I placed the thermometer at the bottom of the pan and my batch turned out perfect!  I'd recommend buying enough ingredients to make it twice the first time in case you have a mishap like I did!

In the original recipe (linked below), she talks about using real vanilla beans or pure vanilla extract, so you'll have to decide which you want to go with.  I went with something in between and used 3/4 Tablespoon of vanilla bean paste, but added it at the very end like she recommends doing with the vanilla extract.  I also didn't add salt to the top of mine.  At the very bottom you'll find the version I used, but read the original recipe first!

Find the recipe here at Mels Kitchen Cafe...

The kids came in the kitchen while I was packaging these and thought it was the coolest thing they'd ever seen.  I let them try them and they were in love.   These little treats will be added to my yearly holiday baking!  I'm planning on doing another batch next week!

I love those little specks of vanilla!

Copied/Pasted from the original with the few changes I made!

 

Ingredients

• 3/4 T vanilla bean paste
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 1/2 cups (18.75 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup water
• 6 tablespoons salted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse, kosher salt

Directions

1. Butter the bottoms and sides (get into the corners, too!) of a 9X9-inch square baking pan. Set aside.
2. Place heavy cream in saucepan. Heat over medium heat until steaming. Remove from heat, cover and let sit (for at least 20 minutes) - go ahead and start making the caramels while the vanilla cream steeps.
3. For the caramels, in a large, heavy-bottomed pot (at least 5- or 6-quarts), stir together the sugar, corn syrup, and water, taking care to not splash the mixture up the sides of the pot.
4. Clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan/make sure it's touching the bottom of the pan.
5. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat WITHOUT STIRRING or moving the pan. Right as it starts to boil, fill a cup with water and use a pastry brush to wash down the sides of the pan so there are no granules of sugar sticking to the sides of the pan (you probably won't need to repeat this after the sides have been well-cleaned).
6. The sugar mixture will bubble and start to darken. If you haven't already, take the vanilla bean pod out of the cream mixture so it's ready to go once you need it.
7. Cook until the mixture registers 325 degrees F on the thermometer, about 25-30 minutes.
8. Slowly and carefully pour the steeped cream mixture into the caramel - it will bubble and produce a lot of steam! Add the butter and salt. The mixture will have expanded during this step but will "fall" back to a lower level as the temperature lowers due to the added ingredients.
9. Stir the caramel with a clean heatproof wooden spoon or spatula (if it's the one you used in the 3rd step, be sure to wash it to avoid introducing sugar granules to the caramel), avoiding scraping the edges of the pan, and continue to cook, stirring constantly and slowly, until the mixture reaches 245 degrees F, about 10-15 minutes (you can go as high as 248 degrees F for a firmer, but still chewy, caramel, and even take it off earlier for a softer caramel; 245 is perfect in my book). Remove from heat, then add in the vanilla bean paste and stir well.
10. Immediately pour the caramel mixture into the prepared pan.
11. Let the caramels cool completely. I use a large, metal spatula to peel the whole slab of caramel out of the pan and onto a cutting board (or parchment paper).
12. Cut into squares using a sharp knife or bench scraper, wrap in wax paper, and store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Pepperoni Pasta

This meal is so easy, and it gets rave reviews from every member of my family!  The kids want seconds and thirds, Kevin loves it leftover for work the next day, and I love that it's a quick meal I can throw together on busy nights!

The recipe came from a magazine at my mom's house many many years ago.  I've changed it a little from the original, so here's how we make it..

Ingredients:

16oz pasta (I use mini penne)

1 package turkey pepperoni (regular pepperoni is too greasy)

3 1/2 C hot water

2 C heavy whipping cream

1 1/2C freshly grated parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

(I use my electric skillet, but I'm sure you could make this on a stove top with a large pan as long as it has a lid!)  In a skillet, add pasta, pepperoni cut in 4ths, and water.  Turn heatt to about 375*, (I'd say that's medium high on a stop top) and cover.  While the pasta is cooking, grate your block of fresh parmesan.  Using fresh parmesan is what makes this recipe so tasty, so don't skip this step!  While grating your cheese, stop one or two times to give the pasta a stir.  It will stick to you skillet if you don't.  After 12-15 mins your pasta should be cooked and all the water absorbed.  Add in the whipping cream, cheese, salt and pepper.  Stir well then serve immediately.  Serve it with a salad to get your veggies :)

The original recipe calls for adding it chopped chilies when you add the cream and cheese, but we prefer it with out them.  If you like things spicy, make that change!

Enjoy!

Chocolate Lava Cakes

This past week, Momma was wanting some chocolate.... ever have that feeling or is it just me?  I had decided I'd make chocolate chip cookies, but was really sad to discover I only had about 1/4 of a bag of chocolate chips left.  I scrapped that idea and tried to come up with something else chocolatey I could make.  Then I remembered chocolate lava cakes and all the recipes I've seen for them.  Usually they make 2-4 small cakes, and I was thinking I probably had enough chocolate to make some!

There's about a million recipes for these cakes, but I went with the one from Pioneer Woman, because I always enjoy her cookin!   I should mention the recipe I've linked with is slightly different than the one I used.  I saw a few different variations of it (some use all bittersweet chocolate, some use 3 egg yolks, etc - but I'm sure the final result of all of them is delicious).

A couple notes... I love how fast this recipe is to whip up.  It literally takes a couple minutes.  You only use one mixing bowl too, and the dish doing hater in me loves that!  I also have these ingredients on hand 99% of the time, so you probably do too!  One thing you may not have are the ramkins, but you can use small glass bowls.  I splurged on some last month when I was on a pot pie kick, and I secretly love I can use them for this recipe too!  I bought mine at TJ Maxx, but you could probably go to any local goodwill/thrift shop and pick you up some too.  Or you could try coffee cups.  I've seen them used before.  I also used my food scale to measure out my 2oz of chocolate.  They are like $10 brand new and I promise you'd use it more than you thought, so add one to your Christmas list!

I haven't figured out how to serve them pretty yet - I always pull the bottom of the cakes off and out comes the chocolate lava!  This one baked 13 mins and it's a little runny for my taste..

Here's the recipe that I made!

Ingredients:

1 stick salted butter
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (approx 1/4C - I used Ghirardelli chocolate chips)
2 ounces semisweet chocolate  (approx 1/4C - I used Ghirardelli chocolate chips)
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
2 whole eggs 

2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Spray four glass cups with baking spray and place on a baking sheet.

Microwave the butter, bittersweet chocolate and semisweet chocolate in a large bowl on high until the butter is melted, about 1 minute. Whisk until the chocolate is also melted. Stir in the sugar until well blended. Whisk in the eggs and egg yolks, then add the vanilla. Stir in the flour. Divide the mixture among the cups.

Bake until the sides are firm and the centers are soft, 15-16 minutes. Let stand 1 minute. Invert on individual plates while warm.  Serve with vanilla ice cream, whip cream, fruit, or whatever your little heart desires.  I love them most with fresh strawberries and whip cream!  They are amazing!

Right out of the oven

This one baked 18 mins and there wasn't much lava...

I made these for the kids this past weekend and they loved them!  (Krissy was busy making strawberry chocolate chip cookies and homemade bread - haha!)

Pumpkin Spice Waffles

Pumpkin Spice Waffle + pecans

Back in July, I taught a preschool cooking class during Art Smarts camp at church.  I made 5 different recipes with the kids, and surprisingly, pumpkin waffles were everyone's favorite!  Let me start by saying I'm sorry I've had this recipe since July and I'm just now sharing it.  Also, I know we are past the pumpkin season, but I promise this recipe is great year around!

During cooking class, I'd write the recipe on the dry erase board so helpers and other teachers could snap a picture of the recipe and use it with their class or make it at home for themselves!  So, it seems only appropriate I share the recipe with you the same way.  

A couple notes:

• The recipe makes 4-5 waffles (if I remember correctly!).  If that seems like too many for you, make them and stick them in the freezer!
• Plug in your waffle iron first.  That should give it time to heat up while you make the batter.  
• Pumpkin Pie Spice is not something I keep on hand, and actually the day we made these during class, I forgot the spice, so I used cinnamon instead.  They were excellent!  So use what you have - don't feel like you need to buy the spice just to make the recipe.  
• The batter will be thick, so you'll need to slightly spread it out in your waffle iron.
• It says 3 minutes cooking time, but each iron is different.  3-5 mintues cooking time may be more accurate!
• Add mix ins!  I've made them with chocolate chips (they don't need syrup if you do them this way!) and pecans and both were so good!

Cute Krissy eating her waffle at church camp!

Perfect and Plain

 

 The chocolate chip version!

Cinnamon Honey Butter

I've waited to share this recipe to make sure I got it just right!  I've made this butter 3 or 4 times and it's a hit!  It's so sweet and cinnamony that it's impossible not to love.  I love it best on homemade bread...  And I think I'm going to make more bread this week to use up the extra butter I have from Allie's party!

Ingredients:
1 C salted butter, softened

1 C powdered sugar

1/8 heaping C honey

2 tsp cinnamon 

Directions:
Put softened butter in stand mixer and beat until whipped (2-3 mins).  Next add in the powdered sugar and mix for 1 minute.  Add in the honey and cinnamon and mix another couple minutes.  Voila!

P.S.  I updated my strawberry butter recipe and it's so uh-maze-ing!  Much sweeter than the first version and you'll not be able to pick a favorite between these two!

Homemade Strawberry Butter

Updated 8/9/16

I love flavored butters.  That cinnamon butter from Texas Roadhouse, the Strawberry butter from Patti's.... they are the highlights when I eat at those restaurants!  This recipe for strawberry butter is super simple!  If you're a bread lover like myself, you'll enjoy this!  It's just a couple ingredients + a few minutes!

(Warm sourdough bread and strawberry butter!)

You'll need:
2 sticks of butter at room temp (I usually use salted, but unsalted is great too)
4-5 fresh strawberries
1 C powdered sugar
1/8 heaping C honey

In a mixer, beat the butter 2-3 minutes until really light and fluffy.  While the butter is mixing, wash and mash your strawberries.  Next, mix in the powdered sugar and beat for 1 minute.  Add the mashed strawberries to the butter and mix another 2 minutes.  The butter turns the prettiest shade of pink :)  Last, add the honey and let it mix 2 more minutes.

I used this wooden tool from Pampered Chef, but you could use anything!

A pretty pink, whipped butter!

We keep ours refrigerated, but it's best when softened!  I'm thinking I may make some end of the year teachers gifts of homemade bread and flavored butter! 
(p.s.  If you don't have a stand mixer and don't have the patience to mix that long with a hand held mixer, you can cut the mix times down and just mix until incorporated.  The most important one is the first step of whipping the butter!)