Butternut and Apple Harvest Soup

Justin found this recipe online and whipped it up for dinner last night!  I thought it was fabulous!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 large leeks (white and pale green parts only), chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large potato, peeled and cubed
• 2 cups cubed butternut squash
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4-inch thick
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 1/4 cup dry white wine (optional)
• 1/2 cup light cream
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons chopped chives

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in leeks and onions, and cook until the onion softens and turns translucent, about 5 minutes. Add potato, squash, carrots, apple, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are soft, about 20 minutes.
2. Carefully puree the soup in batches in a blender, or use a stick blender to puree the soup right in the pot. Once the soup has been pureed, return it to the pot and stir in wine and cream. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper; simmer gently for 5 minutes. Ladle into bowls and garnish with chopped chives.

Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies

My favorite recipe blog has done it again!  They've provided me with another fabulous recipe that I know I 'm going to be using over and over again!  This time it's a cookie recipe!  When I saw this post on the chocolate gingerbread shaped skeleton/mummy cookies I knew I had to try it!  So today my second grader's class gets to make mummies for a Halloween treat during their Halloween party.  But, because I couldn't take cookies to school that had not been properly taste-tested, I've already eaten a sufficient number of cookies to be able to say that these chocolate cookies a delish!  And super simple to whip up too!  I got 24 gingerbread men out of one batch of cookie dough, because I wasn't quite sure if that was enough (dang big classes at our school), I made a second batch and made a few extra gingerbread men then put the rest of the dough in the freezer for another day.  Hopefully it freezes well!

Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies
Recipe slightly modified by Our Best Bites from Cookie Craft via Bake @ 350
Ingredients:
2 & 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. cocoa powder (dutch-process or natural works)
1 cup (2 sticks) regular salted butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla


Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment or a silicone baking mat if you have either of those.
Cream together the butter and sugar until light an fluffy (1-2 full minutes). Beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined.
Whisk flour and cocoa powder together and then slowly add to the butter mixture by spoonfuls with mixer at low speed. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl as needed.
Lightly dust rolling surface with coco powder or flour or a mixture of both.  (I use cocoa powder).  Roll dough about 1/4 inch thick.  It helps to roll soft dough in between sheets of plastic wrap or parchment and then place them in the fridge for about 15 minutes (or the freezer for 5-10) until firm.
Cut out shapes and place on baking sheets.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, until set.  Sometimes it’s hard to tell with chocolate cookies when they are done, so just watch for the dough to not look “wet” anymore and the edges should be holding their shape nicely.
Let cookies cool for 2-3 minutes and then use a spatula to place them on a cooling rack.

Muffins that Taste Like Donuts

Cake donuts are some of my favorite treats and this recipe tastes very similar.  I found this yummy recipe on a blog somewhere.  I finally got around to mixing them up a week or so ago and the kids loved them--so did I.  We'll definitely be making these over and over!  Oh...I would be happy if I could have muffins for breakfast everyday!

Muffins:
1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk

Topping:
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
2-3 tsp. of cinnamon


Combine flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.Combine oil, sugar, egg, and milk. Add dry ingredients to wet and stir til just combined.  Spray muffin tins or use cupcake liners and evenly distribute batter between 12 spots. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a bowl.  Combine sugar and cinnamon in another bowl.  Remove muffins when done and shake from pan while still hot.  Dip muffins in butter, then in the cinnamon sugar.  Let cool a bit then eat and enjoy!

French Bread or Buns

I'm in love with this easy bread recipe from my Our Best Bites cookbook!  I've been making it to eat with BBQ chicken sandwiches this summer and they taste great together!


French Bread, Hoagies, and Buns

1 Tbsp. yeast

1 1/2 c. warm water

1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

4-5 1/2 c. flour

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 egg, separated

2 Tbsp. cold water

Go to OurBestBites.com for the instructions!  My only notes are that I don't let it rise anywhere near the amount of time mentioned in their instructions.  Every time I've tried, it's fallen when I put it in the oven and that does not make for great bread.  So I just let it rise in a warm place until it has risen to a bit more than double each time. Secondly, I don't think I've ever come close to using the 5 1/2 cups of flour.  My dough is usually just past sticky at about 4-4 1/2 cups, so be careful and add the flour slowly.  Finally, I can get a lot of hamburger buns out of this recipe.  Anywhere from 12-24 depending on the size.  24 is great for kids and just a cute little sized sandwich.  Bigger works great for adults with bigger appetites. I have yet to try to make a loaf of French bread with this recipe.  Maybe I'll try that next!

Shredded BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Who would have known that I would be such a BBQ chicken lover?  But I am after trying this yummy chicken!  I love this easy and yummy recipe for BBQ chicken sandwiches.  I also LOVE that it makes a lot of chicken and I can have leftovers for lunch the following day and still have enough to freeze some for dinner another day.

5-6 lbs. of chicken
1 12 oz. bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce (my husband likes more!)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Italian dressing
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 large yellow onion, diced
2-3 tsp. oregano

Put all ingredients in the crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours.  Remove chicken and shred.  Return chicken to sauce and cook for at least one hour before eating.  Serve on your favorite buns.  I like to make my own buns using this recipe!  YUM!

Cafe Rio Chicken

We had a little Cafe Rio style Primary dinner this week and I was in charge of the chicken.  I looked around a bit for a good recipe and nearly every one I found was the same, so I gave a it a try.  It turned out delicious and I'll definitely be making it again.

The original recipe is:
1 small (8oz.) Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. cumin
3 garlic cloves, minced
5 lbs. chicken

Chili powder makes me nervous (I don't like my food spicy hot) so the first thing I did was decrease the chili powder. And you can really hardly ever go wrong with a nice diced onion so I threw that in just for good measure.  I didn't feel like the Italian dressing added enough flavor, so I ended up sprinkling part of a pack of dry Italian dressing seasoning in as well. Throw in a little salt and pepper and it was ready. The ingredients I used ended up being more like this:


1 small (8oz.) Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. cumin
4 garlic cloves, minced (I LOVE that pre-minced stuff you can buy at the grocery store)
1 yellow onion diced
5 lbs. chicken
1 packet dry Italian dressing
Salt and Pepper to taste

Put the chicken in a crockpot.  Cover with dressing, diced onion, and spices.  Cook on high for 4 hours.  An hour before eating, remove chicken breasts from juices and shred in a separate bowl. Some people have good luck with two forks, but I love to use my hand-mixer for this.  It works best if each chicken breast is cut into thirds or fouths, then just turn the mixer on low speed and watch how easily the chicken shreds.  Be sure to taste it and add more seasonings as needed.  I threw in part of  my dry dressing packet, added a little garlic powder, and some more salt and pepper.  Let the shredded chicken soak in the spices and juices for an hour before serving.

Zucchinni Fries

Our Best Bites is one of my very favorite recipe blogs.  Those talented ladies are always cooking up something delicious.  I saw this on their site a while ago and finally got around to trying it this summer.  YUMMY!  This recipe is definitely a keeper.  My only advice: don't bother with cutting all that zucchini into little fry sized strips, just cut into thin rounds instead.  This greatly reduces the somewhat time consuming process of dipping the zucchini pieces first in the egg then in the crumb mixture.

Baked Zucchini Fries
Recipe adapted by Our Best Bites from Aggie’s Kitchen

About 1 lb. zucchini
1/2 c. Italian-seasoned panko bread crumbs
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese (the crumbly stuff, not shreds)
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

Combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Set aside.

Whisk 2 eggs together in a shallow pie plate and set aside.

Cut the ends off the zucchini and then cut the zucchini in half so you have two short, stubby pieces. Set one piece on its end and cut it in half lengthwise. Cut that half in half, making 2 planks. Repeat with the remaining halves (so you’ll get 16 planks per zucchini).

Stack 2 planks on top of each other and cut into strips. Thicker strips will yield “meatier” fries with more zucchini flavor while thin strips will be crispy and taste virtually nothing like zucchini. When all the fries are cut, blot the pieces with a paper towel.

Working with a small handful at a time, dip the zucchini sticks in the egg, shake them to remove any excess, and then roll them in about 2-3 tablespoons of bread crumbs at a time, adding more as needed; you just don’t want to work with all the bread crumbs at once because they’ll soak up moisture from the egg and won’t stick to the zucchini. Place the coated strips on the prepared baking sheet and repeat until all the zucchini strips have been coated.

Bake for 10-12 minutes in the prepared oven then remove from oven, flip the fries, and bake for another 10-12 minutes or until the zucchini is not soggy and the coating is crisp and golden brown. Serve immediately with Pizza Sauce or Buttermilk Ranch Dressing. Serves 6-8 as a side dish.

Caramelized Green Beans

I haven't really been loving green beans for the last few years since one of my dear babies was born--until I found this recipe that is! I LOVE these green beans, but will probably never eat those nasty canned ones again if I can help it. Justin bought me the Our Best Bites cookbook for Mother's Day and that's where I found this delicious recipe. I've copied the recipe from their site, but you'll have to click recipe title below to go to their site and get all of their instructions.

Caramelized Green Beans

By Our Best Bites

1 lb. (actually, just a little bit more…maybe 1 1/8 lb.) fresh green beans
1/2 lb. bacon
1/2 red onion, sliced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
olive oil
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
Lots of freshly-ground pepper

My note: This recipe really is easy, especially if you leave out the bacon as I always do. I'm sure they're delicious with it, but I just never have bacon on hand and these beans are seriously good without it!

Crepes

This is our new favorite Sunday afternoon lunch recipe. With our church at 9:00 a.m. this year, we're lucky to get a bowl of cereal or toast before we run out the door. So we save our big yummy breakfast for lunch and this is by far our favorite. Even Justin, who isn't really into breakfast foods at lunch or dinner time, thinks this is delicious! We like to eat our crepes filled with whipped cream and fresh berries and other fruit! Plus, this is fun to eat because it reminds Justin and I of the yummy crepes we ate in Paris last summer!

Basic Crepes
Recipe by Our Best Bites

2 eggs
2 Tbs canola oil
3 Tbs sugar (omit if making savory crepes)
1 C flour
1 1/3 C milk

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend on low speed until combined, or whisk by hand until there are no lumps.

Heat a non-stick skillet to medium-high heat. Hold pan with one hand while you pour the batter with the other hand. Twirl the pan in a circular motion pouring just enough batter to coat the bottom of the pan. Place on cooking surface and cook until edges are set and you can easily run a rubber spatula around the edge of the pan, 30 seconds. Flip crepe and cook an additional 15-20 seconds. Remove crepe from pan and either keep warm in the oven or cool to room temperature.

Fill with your choice of savory (meat, cheese, vegetable) or sweet (pudding, mousse, pastry cream, fruit) filling. Top sweet crepes with with Strawberry Sauce, Buttermilk Caramel Syrup, Hot Fudge, or just a dusting of powdered sugar and sweetened whipped cream.

Unfilled crepes can be stacked between sheets of waxed paper and refrigerated or frozen. To thaw, leave at room temperature.

Makes 12-14 8″ crepes

Dessert for a Crowd

Gosh, I wish I could remember which fabulous food blog I found this on, but I don't. I made it this weekend though and it was delicious and oh so easy!

• 1 white cake mix (plus ingredient to make the cake mix)
• 2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 (12oz) container of cool whip
• fruit topping *** see not below for options

1. Mix cake mix according to the package. Spray the bottom on a 13x18 jelly roll pan.
2. Pour batter into pan and spread evenly.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Let cool completely.
4. With a mixer, blend cream cheese and powdered sugar together. Add cool whip and beat until smooth and creamy.
5. Spread mixture on top of cooled cake.
6. Cut into pieces and serve with fruit topping.

Options for fruit topping

• canned pie filling
• danish dessert prepared according to fruit sauce directions with fresh fruit mix in
• Macerated strawberries (see directions below)
• any berry sauce recipe you like (I have a few on my site)
• or raspberry (blackberries would work too) sauce (see directions below)

To macerate the strawberries, place hulled and sliced berries in a bowl and sprinkle with granulated white sugar about 2 tablespoons per pint. Let the berries and sugar macerate at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

For the raspberry sauce you need 2-3 pkgs of frozen raspberries (the kind in heavy syrup is what I have used, but ). In a sauce pan, mix berries with 1/2 cup sugar and enough cornstarch (like 1 Tbp cornstarch) to thicken sauce to desired consistency. Heat until sauce is just bubbly and thickened. Let cool.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

A friend made this for dinner at bunco and I loved it! It's super easy to make and when I make it, I split the ingredients into two 8x8 pans so I have one to eat and one to freeze. Then I have a great fast dinner later too.

5-6 chicken breasts, boiled and shredded or cut into chunks
white American cheese (regular or Swiss flavored)
thin slices of ham (lunch meat works great)
real Swiss cheese, sliced
1 cube of butter
1 box of chicken stuffing

Boil and shred chicken breasts then cover the bottom of the either a 9x13 pan or two 8x8 pans with the chicken meat. Place slices of American cheese over the chicken. Next layer the ham on top of the cheese. Then layer the Swiss cheese on top of the ham. You don't have to go overboard with the cheese, but you'll want to make sure the meat is covered completely. Finally mix 1 box of dry stuff with 1 cube of melted butter and sprinkle over top of the entire casserole. Bake on 350 for 20-25 min.

Texas Sheetcake

I made this last weekend and remembered how fast, easy, and yummy it is! I found this recipe on realmomkitchen.blogspot.com. I've halved the amount of cinnamon here.

2 sticks butter or margarine
1 cup water
4 heaping tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

Grease a 15x10 inch jelly roll pan. Bring 2 sticks butter, water and 4 tablespoons cocoa to a boil in a large saucepan. While still hot, remove from heat and add to 2 cups flour and 2 cups white sugar. Mix well. Add in eggs, cinnamon, buttermilk, baking soda, and vanilla. Do not mix too long.
Pour batter into greased 15x10 inch jelly roll pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

Icing
1/2 cup butter
4 heaping tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons water
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (if desired)

Bring 1/2 cup butter or margarine, 4 tablespoons cocoa, 3 tablespoons water, and 3 tablespoons milk to a boil. Remove from heat. While still hot, add confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and nuts. Beat well. Ice cake while icing is still hot.