Mexican Marshmallows

I've been in the kitchen a bit the past couple of days and as a result have a couple of recipes for y'all! Don't worry I have two separate recipes one for salsa and one for marshmallows! Unless you are completely disgusting daring and want to eat them together! ;)

Alright. First for the salsa. A week ago Monday, Megan brought some homemade salsa to TFC for our snack. It was de.li.cious! Immediately I asked for the recipe, and Chris agreed this was necessary. It is uber simple, uber delicious, and uber customizable--trifecta!

Here's the original recipe with my adaptations:
"Fresh" salsa
Combine the following ingredients in a large bowl:
     1 can whole kernel corn
     1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
     1 can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
     1 pepper [red, green, whateve], diced
     1 red onion, diced [I only used 1/2 an large onion.]
     1 tomato, diced [I used 2 cans of diced tomatoes, drained.]
     1 c. cilatro [I used maybe 1/4 c. because cilatro makes me gag leaves a funny taste in the back of my mouth.]

Mix the following ingredients in a separate bowl and then add to large bowl:
     1 Tablespoon sugar
     1 pkg. Good Seasons Italian dressing, prepared OR 3 Teaspoons Italian Seasoning, 3 Tablespoons Vinegar, and 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
     2 teaspoons chili powder

Feel free to adjust ingredients to your preferences.

Colorful = Ah.mazing.

 Enjoy! It's best if you put it in the fridge for a bit to let the flavors marinate but totally not necessary if you can't hold yourself back! It makes a pretty large portion unless your name is Chris or Rachel, then it only makes a 2-person portion! ;)

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Marshmallows
Switching gears, awhile ago I came across a recipe for marshmallows. I'm not sure if it was on Pinterest or from blog hopping, but nevertheless, it perked my interest. Marshmallows are one of those things that if I really thought about it of course I knew there had to be a homemade method, but I guess I really never thought about it. [Very similar to when I put together that pumpkin pies were made from the same thing as jack o'lanterns. Don't judge. That revolution was in late high school...at least.]

We had all the ingredients on hand except geletin and I kept forgetting to get that at the grocery, so finally this weekend I remembered and took my hand at making marshmallows. The recipe I found uses beer so they have a bit of a malty-taste, but even non-beer drinkers aka me won't be turned off by that ingredient as it's not a strong flavor! I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the mallows, so I followed the suggestion of the recipe I followed and ended up dipping them in chocolate and putting some crushed pretzles atop. Again, don't judge, just try! :)

So without further ado, here's the recipe for Chocolate Covered Beer Marshmallows.

Beer Marshmallows
makes one 9 x 13 pan of marshmallows

2 tablespoons + 2 1/2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin or 3 1/2 packets of Knox
1 cup cold, flat* beer, divided in two
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites [Make sure you have these before you start or your husband will have to run to the store and be your Mallow Hero! Not that that is from experience. :S]
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups dark chocolate morsels
2 cups milk chocolate morsels
pretzels, crushed

*Note: To flatten the beer, you can take the cap off the bottle and leave open overnight. Or if you don't want to plan ahead you can do what I did and pour beer into a bowl and use a whisk to remove some carbonation.*

Generously spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray and sprinkle on powdered sugar to cover and coat. Set aside. In the bowl of your electric mixer with a whisk attachment, pour 1/2 cup cold beer and 3 1/2 packs of gelatin. Gently mixed with a spoon once, then let sit while you make the sugar mixture.

In a large-ish pot [I know that's real specific, but the original recipe called for a medium pot and that wasn't big enough for me and I had to switch over mid-recipe] combine sugar, remaining beer, syrup and salt. Heat over low heat and whisk until sugar is dissolved, about 3-5 minutes. Turn heat up to medium and let sugar come to a boil. Note: It will bubble up even though you used flat beer so keep your eyes on it or it'll overflow! Let it boil for 8-12 minutes, until it reaches 240 degrees (use a candy thermometer). The mixture may appear to be a lightish brown color depending on the beer you use, but your mallows will still be white.

Once mixture is at 240 degrees F, turn off heat and gently pour it in the mixing bowl with  the gelatin with the mixer on low speed. Once all of the sugar has been added, turn the mixer to high and beat for for 6-8 minutes. It will grow in size and be white and fluffy.

About 3-4 minutes in, add the egg whites to a separate bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. It's easiest if you have a hand mixer to use for this or else you'll have to take off the mallow-covered whisk, clean it or put on another one and then switch out your mixing bowl. It'd be sticky, messy to say the least. Once stiff peaks are formed, add egg whites and vanilla extract to the sugar/gelatin mixture and beat until just combined.

It's always important to taste test.
Don't worry the blue spatula didn't make another appearance
with the mallows once it touched out lips!
My momma taught me right!

Pour marshmallow mix into the 9 x 13 pan. Possibly an impossibly sticky task. :) Get as much as you can from the bowl and then spray a spatula with non-stick spray and smooth, if necessary. Dust powdered sugar on top and let sit to firm up for 3-5 hours.

Once firm, you may be able to turn the pan upside down on a cutting board to release marshmallow rectangle. I wasn't quite able to do such so I cut the mallows in the pan and then removed them in "strips" to remove much more easily. Cut them into pieces of whatever size you like.

Melt chocolate chips in microwave [or however you prefer] and in a separate bowl put crushed pretzels. Using a fork, toothpick or corncob poker holders :), coat marshmallows in chocolate then sprinkle with or roll in pretzel crumbs. Let sit at room temperature until chocolate hardens.

Enjoy! Marshmallows can be stored in an airtight container for 1-2 weeks.

[Recipe Taken from How Sweet It Is here.]

Have you tried any new recipes worth sharing lately?!

P.S. Now that I retyped this recipe, I realized that I used too much beer. 1 cup does not equal 12 ounces. Duh, math teacher! They still turned out well but now thinking about it it makes sense why they weren't as firm as I thought they should be! Guess I'll just have to make 'em again!

Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Caution: This post is actually not about Ainsley! I know it's hard to believe since all posts in the past 4 weeks have solely been about her. This one is about another one of my favorite things: food! :)

So I have a friend who is a baking goddess. She makes delicious food, period, but her desserts are absolutely lovely! This past Saturday, Chris, Ains and I as well as another couple went over to her house for socializing the Buckeye's game. We made homemade pizza from garlicy, cheesy bread to "regular" pizza with all kinds of toppings and then also a dessert pizza--apple streusel! It was all very good. Later she offered some cupcakes that she had made for another occasion. Yes, please! I chose to indulge in a cookie dough cupcake, complete with a chunk of cookie dough in the middle! Yum! Yum! Sara definitely has a knack for cupcakes!

So that was my inspiration for making some cupcakes of my own. And what kind of cupcakes would I make, you ask? Of course that would be chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes! These weren't "from scratch" but close enough to be much more than the funfetti bakery that I usual stick to! ;) [Isn't there a cooking show about taking boxed items and doctoring them up a bit for a nice/delicious touch?! That's what this is!]

So for the cupcakes, I used a regular box of white cake mix and instead of following the directions on the back, I doctored it up a it based on this website's suggestions. [Note: I was originally drawn to this site because of their free fonts and other blog design suggestions, so check them out!] Without going to the site, you can make a doctored up version of any cake mix by adding the following to the cake mix:

1 sm. box of instant pudding, just the powder DON'T prepare it [I used vanilla.]
1 c. sour cream
1 c. vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

They also suggestion 2 c. of mini chocolate chips, but that was for chocolate cake so I skipped that suggestion.

Doctoring up ingredients!

You think mix everything together to make a thick batter [stir in the chocolate chips at the very end] and then bake. You can use the timing on the cake mix box as a suggestion. It was accurate for cupcakes. :)

So I scooped the batter into cupcake liners about half full [at first I put in more but it overflowed a bit after the cookie dough and baking. I then put a chunk of frozen chocolate chip cookie dough in each cupcake. It's important to use frozen cookie dough so that the dough doesn't bake along with the batter.

Chris helping putting in the frozen
cookie dough chunks.

I then put a teensy bit of batter on the cookie dough so it would be completely concealed. [I didn't do this at first either, but as a result I think the heat of the oven got to the cookie dough and baked it a bit which caused it to "cave in" a bit. This resulted in filling the cave with frosting to it didn't look funny. I guess that's not a bad thing. :) ]

Pre-baked goodness.

Speaking of frosting, for chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes, I had to make some cookie dough frosting. I used this site's recipe for cookie dough buttercream. It was pretty easy to make and according to Chris, it was what almost made the cupcake. Note that the butter needs to be at room temperature. So you'll need to set this out before you make the cupcakes so you don't have to wait as long. Or you can take a break to breastfeed your demanding 4-week old. It takes about the same time! If you choose the latter make sure you have a great husband to take out the baked cupcakes when that untimely timer goes off. :)

Cookie Dough Butter Cream

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 c. light brown sugar, packed
3.5 c confectioners'/powdered sugar
1 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. milk
2.5 tsp. vanilla extract

To make it, beat the butter and brown sugar until creamy. It takes a couple minutes. Mix in the powdered sugar until smooth. Then beat in the flour and salt. Finally mix in the milk and vanilla until it's all smooth and blended. Top your cooled cupcakes!

Final product, in awful lighting!

After the frosting was made and the cupcakes were cooled, I topped the cupcakes and then I put a few chocolate chips for the aesthetic appeal. After they were all iced and topped, Chris and I each enjoyed one with lots of milk! Chris said they were really good, and I thought they were good as well! Not as good as Sara's but that will take a lot more practicing. ;)

My handsome taste-tester.

Even though I wasn't responsible for snacks last night at TFC--I mistakenly thought I was Sunday night which was a reason that I made them--I still took them along for the leaders and our hostess home family. If I didn't, Goal #16 would never be accomplished. No one seemed to mind my little mistake and I even received a text from a leader about ten minutes after leaving that read, "Those cupcakes are AWESOME!! ;)" And my parents didn't seem to have a problem enjoying them as well. Not bad "payment" for watching Ainsley while we were at TFC, I'm sure!

So try them out! And check out Sara's blog for some to drool over delicious recipes!

#3 Cook 2 meals a week every week for 8 weeks.

I am not "a cook". Yes, I cook. And sometimes I cook well, but overall I would not consider myself "a cook" as some would. I don't have a natural-knack for it--which I think I am learning isn't so natural at all. I think a lot of it has to do with the way one is raised. Growing up, we ate at home a lot, but I didn't spend much time in the kitchen. Furthermore, what I did observe [that I recall] my parents cooking in the kitchen wasn't too much homemade-from-scratch kind of cooking. It seems as if Chris had more of this growing up, which is why I think he's more "natural" at cooking.

So with that lil' background, the reason for goal #3 to cook 2 meals a week every week for 8 weeks came from a desire to be a better cook and not rely on Chris to be the creative one--or simply the one in general--in the kitchen.


Week 1:
Ricardo Meet Luigi: We have a decent amount of free/dirt cheap boxed pasta in the pantry thanks to couponing and I like Mexican “stuff”, so in trying to come up with something to make I combined these two things. As a result we get Mexican Meet Italian or as I liked to label it, Ricardo Meet Luigi. [Chris has a habit of making up names for created foods, so I wanted to be a part of this as well. This habit is something he picked up in the Massie kitchen growing up as well!]
This "sauce" consisted of browned hamburger, a jar of salsa, and some whole kernel corn and then it topped a bed of spaghetti noodles. I also heated up some refried beans [I really like these, more than is healthy for our marriage ;)] and topped that with cheese. It was a little different, but good!

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Ricardo Meet Luigi with Refried Beans
It kind of looks like a pile of poorly digested vomit,
but I promise it didn't taste as such!!

 Beef & Vegetable Kabobs: For my second meal of the week, I made kabobs. I haphazardly marinated some beef chunks and then combined them with bell peppers, grape tomatoes, and potatoes before putting them on the grill. Something I learned this time around with kabobs, if you boil the potatoes a bit before grilling, they are much better [I like them softer rather than "crunchier".]


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I made enough to feed a small country in Africa...
Sadly we finished them off between the two three of us! :)

Week 2:
Taco Tostadas: Using the leftover meat from Ricardo Meet Luigi and adding a bit more meat to it, I generously spread refried beans and the meat concoction on tortilla shells, then after baking them for a bit in the oven, we topped them with our favorite taco toppings. My choice: lettuce, cheese, salsa, and of course sour cream! Although this was pretty much the only thing I ate that day, excluding popsicles, one was enough to fill up my belly. I thought for sure Chris would want two, but he actually only had one too. I always forget how easily one can load up homemade Mexican fixins', my burritos/tacos never close and I always have to end up eating them with a fork!

Chicken Roll-ups: Really this was something that I made as a part of my ten freezer meals prior to baby's arrival, but nevertheless, they were delish and I will be making them again. These were a shredded chicken, cream cheese, mozzarella cheese mixture with some salt, pepper, and other spices rolled up inside of crescent rolls.  Simple and yummy!


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Chicken Roll-ups, pre-baked.

Week 3:
Chicken Alfredo over Mini-Penne
Luckily for me, I didn't say that I had to made two meals from scratch per week for this goal. This meal was definitely not from scratch! As my dad would rebuttal, "but I scratched while I made it! Doesn't that count for something?!" :) Anyways, after softball this week, we had some Alfredo from a jar that we added some sliced chicken breast to. We also had some mix veggies and garlic toast. Pretty tasty. Pretty simple.

Chicken Salad on Hawaiian Rolls
I got this recipe from a friend after a baby shower because it was so tasty! It didn't turn out as well as at the shower, but it was quite good. We ate it with some fresh fruit so it made quite the refreshing summer lunch!

Week 4:
Pizza Pudgy Pies On our camping trip for Chris' belated birthday surprise, I made our supper of pizza pudgy pies. As previously mentioned on that post, all carbon aside, they were pretty tasty!

Green Beans & Fried Zucchini Also for the first time this week our garden is producing edible vegetation! Chris has been watching it like a hawk and happily reported that it was time to enjoy the fruits vegetables of his labor! For supper one night we had both green beans as well as zucchini. At Chris' house, the common way to cook up fresh green beans in the summer is to fry up some bacon, add the green beans and a can of mushrooms. The first time I heard this, I thought it sounded gross, but it was quite enjoyable! We didn't have any bacon and I'm not good at frying it anyways--I always burn it!--so we made due with other foods we already had. For this meal, I put a little EVOO in the pan with chopped up garlic and onion. Then I added a ton of green beans and some diced red peppers. It was quite good, and less artery clogging than the bacon... although I look forward to that meal as well this summer!

The fried zucchini was just how momma makes it, largely in part because that's the only way I know how to cook fresh zucchini! Sliced up, dipped in egg and battered with a simply flour/seasoned salt combination. Yum, yum! All in all this was delicious summer time veggie plate!



Week 5: Grilling out Not having cooked beef in awhile, we picked some up at the store tonight and decided to grill out for supper! The beef wasn't the highest quality and so it was a bit chewy--blech! The good part of the meal was some grilled veggies--sliced potatoes, mushrooms, minced garlic, a little onion, and some mesquite seasoning. Whenever making veggies, it looks like I make way too many, but we never fail to eat tem all. :)


Pita Pizzas Grilling again, because that means less dishes, we layered some veggies--onions, red peppers, and mushrooms on pizza sauce-covered pita bread. Topped with plenty of cheese and popped on the grill. Yum! Yum! 


Week 6: Sloppy Freds Everyone knows what Sloppy Joes are, but Chris' family eats what are called Sloppy Freds. [His family creatively makes up names for the foods they make.] Sloppy Freds are pretty much sloppy joes but without the red sauce-guck. In my family we'd call this "Maid-Rite meat", to each his own. Anyways for lunch I browned up a bit of burger, added some diced onions and peppers, stuffed it in a pita bread and topped with cheese. Chris liked it, success.

Chicken Salad Sandwiches & Cucumber Sandwiches Thursday of this week, I hosted a Lia Sophia party [which I really enjoyed and if anyone is interested in having one, let me know and I'll hook you up with a great consultant!], so I had to make some goodies. In addition to making someone ice cream sandwiches, we also chowed on Chicken Salad sandwiches and cucumber sandwiches. I don't like cucumber so I didn't try any of those, but mom said they were good. A couple asked for the Chicken Salad recipe, so it was well enjoyed as well.

Week 7: Ziti and Green Beans With spending time with our niece and nephew, of course we had to feed the kids! So as Chris chased them around the house, I prepared supper. We had mini-ziti [Sondra wasn't about to try the colorful vegetable enriched spaghetti I had originally planned on making!] with sauce doctored up with tomatoes from our garden. I also cooked the last batch of green beans from the garden for our veggie for the night. It was a little difficult explaining why the green beans looked "funny" to Sondra, but she eventually trusted us that they were edible!

Pancakes, Scrambled Eggs, and Sausages The next morning I actually made food again. We don't usually cook breakfast on a Friday morn, but I knew the kids would want to eat and so I used it as an excuse to have something more than just cereal or oatmeal. I was planning on making pancakes and sausages because I knew Sondra liked both and Stu, well he'd eat whatever! As I was cooking though, Sondra said, "Uh, can you make eggs for me?!" Of course! That's what I was planning on making all along. :S Really though it was no big deal and so I scrambled up some eggs for her. The four of us enjoyed breakfast--after more explanation as to why my scrambled eggs had brown stuff on them--before Chris had to head out to work.


Week 8: Spaghetti, Grilled Veggies & Chocolate Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread I wasn't sure if I was going to count this meal since Chris technically made the spaghetti and the homemade white sauce to go with it, but I figured since I made half the meal [grilled veggies--zucchini and tomatoes from the garden and sliced potatoes] and dessert, it counts! It was a pretty simple meal and quite delicious. The chocolate chocolate chip zucchini bread was also my final recipe for another goal. So dessert was definitely a win-win.

Sweet Corn & Fried Zucchini The final meal for this goal was sweet corn and fried zucchini with sweet tea. Talk about a perfect summer meal! I cooked up 6 ears of corn and was planning on frying the rest of the zucchini from last night's grilling and bread. Little did I realize, Mister packed the zucchini for his lunch today--seriously who eats that raw?! :)--so there wasn't much left to cook tonight. That ended up being okay though since Chris only ate one ear of corn! I didn't even know that was possible! So I just had to be a piggy take one for the team and eat the remaining five ears. Only downfall: only having enough sour cream for the first and the last ear!

There you have it! I was intentionally in the kitchen at least two times a week making a meal for us! Goal accomplished!


Now I'm off to the doctor for some hopefully good news/progress! :)

Goal #4: Make a new recipe 1 time a week for 8 weeks.

Here we are with another food goal accomplished. Below is a list of the 8 recipes that I have tried out over the last 8 weeks. My reasoning for this goal was that I wanted to simply try something new. Profound, huh?! It's easy to make what I already know how to make and I tend to be a from the box kind of gal, so this broadened my horizons and made me make, and try, new things! At the very end of the post you can find all of the recipes, or you can click on the links from each week.

Week 1: I kicked off this goal the week that I made my ten freezer meals, so there's no need to pick just one recipe, since I made 6 new ones that day! I tried the following new recipes: Chicken Roll-ups, "Chicken" Parmesan Meatloaf, BBQ Chicken Pasta, Chicken Spaghetti, Meatballs, and Chicken & Black Bean Enchiladas! [You can go to the ten freezer meals post if you are interested in any of those recipes.]

Week 2: Buffalo Chicken Dip I overpurchased when it came to the amount of chicken that I thought it would take to make all the recipes for my freezer meals. As a result, I used some of that chicken to make Buffalo Chicken Dip. This ended up being a freezer item as well because the evening that I decided to make it, Chris was going out to eat with a friend and I was attending a girls' night. I did try a bite of it though and it tasted like I've had at a friend's before, so I'd say success. I am not a fan of Frank's Red Hot mainly because of the taste, not really the spice, but if you like Frank's, this is a good/easy recipe to make!

Week 3: Chicken Salad After attending a baby shower and enjoying some delicious chicken salad, I quickly requested the recipe. Using the last chicken breast I had, I made this refreshing summer sandwich! I'll post the recipe at the very end of this post, but I'll also tell you want I did differently. :) First off, it was for Chris and I for lunch, so I didn't quite  need 15-20 servings so I approximated all the ingredients by 1/3. I had one chicken breast and a few free tuna pouches [thank you couponing] so after shredding up the chicken, I added 3 of the pouches. Chicken of the Land? Chicken of the Sea? What's the diff?! I also didn't use any celery. Overall it didn't turn out quite as well as Kathy's but food cooked by other's is always better! ;)

Chicken Salad on Hawaiian Rolls
And some fresh fruit for the summer day!

Week 4: Frozen Yogurt Bars I thought that this would be a healthier alternative to ice cream, but after pouring in the can of sweetened condensed milk, I'm not so sure. I made some adaptations to this recipe as well. Unbeknownst to me, Chris had finished off the blueberry yogurt the morning I was going to make these, so I actually just used vanilla yogurt for both layers. [I dyed the one layer blue just for fun.] Also instead of using Trix cereal, I used fresh blueberries. [That's the healthier alternative right?!] End result: Chris liked them, I did not. He can eat the rest, I'll stick to my ice cream! :)

Week 5: For this week's recipe, I gained inspiration from a friend's blog. You see, she had this post and they looked scrumptious! After inviting my parents over after their Wednesday night church service to help eat the rest of the peach pie I made, and then discovering that the peach pie was beginning to go bad, I had to come up with an alternative dessert! So I resorted to Sara's ice cream sandwich suggestion. I mean I had all but the ice cream in a prism so it was like it was meant to be! Anyways, it's a good thing that I didn't say that I would successfully make a new recipe every week for 8 weeks because this wasn't successful. After 2 batches of ginormous and flat cookies, I realized that I was melting the butter and not just softening it! Who knew there was a difference?! Not me until after I consulted my good ol' Betty Crocker cookbook!

It was a little late to "Learn with Betty"!

After throwing Batch #2 away and borrowing an egg from a neighbor friend, I resorted to a box of good ol' brownie mix that I made into cookies! It worked and tasted good, so I was glad! I also used Neapolitan [which I just learned last year wasn't "Napoleon"] ice cream so we had a variety of vanilla/strawberry and vanilla/chocolate sandwiches. So despite the awful looking homemade cookies, this worked out well and is a yummy cool treat!  

An intentionally huge cookie for Chris!
The only one with strawberry, vanilla and chocolate
ice cream!

Week 6: Cinnamon Pita Chips with Apple Salsa
This week I just needed something to make. It was the end of the week and with only 2 weeks remaining for this goal, I didn't want to have to start over! Although I have thoroughly enjoyed making, and enjoying, various desserts recently, I really didn't want another dessert sitting around the house to indulge in and result in it sitting on my hips for the next 5 years! So I was on a mission to find something very easy recipe and if I would've made true apple/fruit salsa, it would've been a pretty healthy snack as well! :)

Cinnamon Sugar Pita Chips with
non-homemade Apple Salsa

Week 7: No-Bake Chewy Granola Bars
Again not wanting a typical dessert sitting around and after Chris' suggestion of making granola bars last week, I decided that's what I'd do this week. I recognize that granola bars aren't the healthiest as it's some sort of sugary goodness that holds all the healthiness together, but when I eat them, I think that I'm eating healthy. It's the thought that counts anyways right?! This was a super easy recipe that I will be making again soon! [Likely before this post is even published!!] The adaptations that I made was that I used oats instead of granola and instead of using rice cereal, I used a combination of soy nuts, flax seed, and sunflower seeds. Oh yeah, and a added a big ol' dollop of peanut butter! I have read elsewhere that as long as you keep the proportion of dry ingredients to wet ingredients the same as the recipe calls for, you can do some swapping out!

The first row has raisins [for Chris] & chocolate
but the others just have chocolate [for me!].

Week 8: Chocolate Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
For my final recipe try out to accomplish this goal, I decided to go with Chocolate Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread [which is so much easier to spell than to write. Seriously, who made up the spelling for zucchini?!] Last night when Mister went out to tend to the garden, he returned with two big ol' zucchini, and a few tomatoes, but I didn't think Tomato Zucchini Bread sounded too good! Just recently I saw a recipe on my college roommate's blog for this and her's looked delicious so I figured it was worth a shot! So following the directions on her blog--except I used all wheat flour instead of part all-purpose, part whole wheat because wheat is all we had--and considering half a loaf is gone and it was baked less than 24 hours ago, I'd say it was a success. What wasn't a success is that I finished off the milk that evening for supper!

At this point I was a little nervous.
The liquid mixture looked a little too much
like The Hulk's snot...

But it turned out beautifully!
Served up on my grandma's dish!

There you have it, my attempt at a new recipe each week for 8 weeks!

Recipes:
[Sorry about some of the formatting, I just did some copying and pasting and aren't savvy enough to figure out all the glitches!]
Buffalo Chicken Dip

2-10 oz cans chunk chicken, drained
2-8 oz packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup Ranch dressing
3/4 cup red hot sauce
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Heat chicken and red hot until heated through. Stir in cream cheese and Ranch dressing. Cook, stirring until well blended and warm. Mix in half the cheddar cheese and transfer mixture to a slow cooker.Sprinkle of the remaining cheese over top, cover, and cook on low setting until hot and bubbly. Serve with crackers or tortilla chips.

Chicken Salad Recipe:
3 lb. cooked chicken salad
1 lb. seedless grapes
1 c. pecans, halved
1 c. diced celery
1 c. fresh dill
1 1/2 c. sour cream
1 1/2 c. mayonnaise
Salt & Pepper

Mix all ingredients together and chill.
Makes about 15-20 servings.

Frozen Yogurt Bars

1 can (14 oz sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
2 containers (6 oz each) Yoplait Key Lime Pie yogurt
2 containers (6 oz. each0 Yoplait Strawberry yogurt
1 cup Trix cereal

Line 8x4-inch loaf pan with foil, leaving edges of foil hanging over sides of pan. Divide condensed milk evenly between 2 medium bowls. Stir Key lime pie yogurt into 1 bowl. Stir strawberry yogurt into remaining bowl.

Spread Key lime pie mixture into foil-lined loaf pan. Sprinkle with cereal. Gently spoon and spread strawberry mixture on top. Freeze at least 8 hours until firm.

To serve, use foil to lift frozen loaf from pan. Pull back foil and remove. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes to soften slightly. Cut into eight 1-inch slices. Serve immediately.

Pita Chips
Ingredients
3 large pita pockets
3 T. brown sugar
3 T. melted vegan butter such as Earth Balance (or regular butter if you prefer)
2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Grease foil with a light coating of olive oil.

Cut pita pockets into triangles and then separate them where they are still connected to the other half.
Place triangles on cookie sheet (what used to be the inside of the pita should be facing up).
Using a brush, coat each triangle with the melted butter.
Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over triangles. (You can also mix the sugar and cinnamon into the butter and brush it all on together if you like.)
Place in oven and bake for 6-8 minutes depending on thickness of pita bread. You might want to do a couple of test triangles first to see what the right length of time is for your bread and oven. Going one minute too long will cause them to burn.
Let cool and enjoy!


Chewy No Bake Granola Bars
Ingredients:

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

2 cups granola, such as Back to Nature brand

1 cup rice cereal, such as Rice Krispies

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup thin pretzel sticks

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar with the honey and butter. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat.

Add the granola, rice cereal, raisins and pretzels to the saucepan and fold the ingredients to evenly coat with the sauce. Transfer the granola mixture to a 9-by-13-inch ungreased baking pan and press firmly to evenly fill. Gently press the chocolate chips onto the top of the granola. Let the granola mixture set in the refrigerator until firm, about 15 minutes, then cut into 2 1/4-by 3-inch bars.


Chocolate Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

-3 eggs
-1 cup vegetable Oil
-2 cupsGranulated Sugar
-1 TablespoonVanilla
-2 cups Shredded Zucchini
-1 ½ cups All-purpose Flour
-1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
-½ cupBaking Cocoa
-1 teaspoon Salt
-1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
-¼ teaspoons Baking Powder
-1 teaspoon Baking Soda
-1 cup Chocolate Chips

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla. Stir in zucchini. In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and add it to the zucchini/egg mixture. Mix well. Pour into 2 well-greased loaf pans. Bake at 350F for 1 hour or until bread tests done.

Easy as Pie

I'm crossing another goal off the ol' list, and oddly enough it's another food goal. [It seems like those are the only goals I'm checking off right now, but that will soon changed this weekend, so hold tight.

Goal Accomplished: 7. Make a pie from scratch.

When I ran to the grocery store to pick up some odds and ends for this weekend, I decided to go ahead and get some on-sale-peaches to make my first ever pie from scratch. I almost bought pie filling, but decided that's cheating a bit.

I started out making the crust using a recipe in a Betty Crocker cookbook and did great with that until I got to the last ingredient: buttercream. Crap. I don't even know what that is, let alone have it in my house. Luckily for me, on the back cover there's a list of ways to make emergency substitutions. For buttercream it said to add lemon juice or vinegar to milk and let it sit for 5 minutes, then use as buttercream. End result: buttercream must be synonymous for chunky milk. :S

Crust was done and rolled our so I began cutting up the peaches [I also found the peach pie recipe in the same Betty Crocker cookbook.] Peaches are one of those fruits that I can't really figure out. Trying to slice them up and easily remove them from the pit is nearly impossible for me. I've only successfully done this twice! After staring at the peach and trying to figure out if you are supposed to peel them for a pie, I finally got all the peaches sliced up, and peeled. :) Only two slices fell to casualties flying across the kitchen as I battled the pits!

Crust ready & peaches sliced.

After completing the filling and spooning it on the crust, I made a lattice top and popped it into the oven. Forty-five minutes later and with twelve minutes to spare before I needed to be at spin class, my first ever [peach] pie made from scratch was complete.

Baked & Ready to Indulge!

Now I must wait until Chris gets home from work so we can try enjoy a slice a la mode!