Crockpot BBQ Beer Chicken

The crockpot...  I have a love/hate relationship with this kitchen appliance.  I love it because you can get something started in it before leaving for work, and you come home to a home smelling like something delicious ready to be consumed.  But I hate it because preparing a meal in it requires planning.  You generally can't just "throw it in the crockpot" 2 hours before dinner time.  Which is why I end up eating cereal for dinner.  A lot.  But there are rare occasions that I plan and prepare...

Crockpot BBQ Beer Chicken
Ingredients

• 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 6 large)
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 8 oz of beer (something more in the amber color)
• 32 oz of barbecue sauce

Instructions

1. Season chicken with onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper.
2. Add to crockpot, then add beer and 24 ounces of the barbecue sauce.
3. Cook on low for 8 hours, tossing once or twice if desired.  
4. After 8 hours, shred and add remaining barbecue sauce.  
5. Serve as desired.

Notes

• "Thinner" the barbecue sauce works better than thicker sauce.  If you choose to use a thicker sauce, you may want to add a little more beer (or liquid) in order for the sauce not to burn and thicken on the edges. 
• Can substitute ginger ale, chicken stock, or even water for the beer.
• This makes a lot of chicken.  Freeze in freezer container for later.

How Sweet Eats

Roasted Red Potatoes

There was this one time, I needed to make a side dish for dinner with friends and I wanted something fairly easy and healthy.  So I looked up on Weight Watcher's website for an idea, and came across a recipe for Roasted Fingerling Potatoes.  I opted to substitute the fingerlings for red.  Why?  Because they're easier to find and less expensive.  Either way, they were good!

Roasted Fingerling Red Potatoes
Yields about 1/2 cup per serving, serves 4; PointsPlus 2

Ingredients

• 12 oz. uncooked potatoes, fingerling red, well-scrubbed, sliced in half lenghtwise quarters
•  1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup canned chicken broth, divided
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, (plus extra for garnish)
• 1/8 tsp salt, or to taste
• 1/8 tsp black pepper, or to taste

Instructions

1.  Preheat oven to 400F.
2. In a small roasting pan, combine potatoes, garlic, and 1/4 cup broth, rosemary, salt, and pepper.
3. Roast for 15 minutes (broth will evaporate); add remaining broth, flip potatoes and roast for 15 minutes more.

Limon Potato Chip Cookies

This one time, when I had 1/2 a bag of limon potato chip crumbs, I got a wild hair and decided to use them in baking.  I remember hearing/reading/trying? somewhere once chocolate chip cookies with potato chips. So...lime, chocolate, cookies, chips.  Why not?  They were good, but could have used a little more lime flavor. 

Potato Chip Cookies
Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups wavy potato chips (limon flavored if you're me)
• 1/2 cup wavy potato chips for tops of cookies
• 2 cups mini chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Beat butter, sugars, and vanilla.  Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Add one egg at a time mixing thoroughly.  Stir in chocolate chips and potato chips.  Place 2 tablespoons of dough on parchment lined baking sheets and press a potato chip piece into the top of each.
2. Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes.

Recipe by Created by Diane

www.createdby-diane.com/2012/05/potato-chip-cookie.html

Espresso Chocolate Cupcakes

I got to be a surprise for Kevin's Mom's birthday.  She knew that Kevin and Audra were going to join the family for lunch, but she didn't know that I was going to join as well.  So for her birthday I made cupcakes.  Decadent, rich, chocolatey cupcakes.  Like, you need a big glass of milk to go with it.  OMG were they good.  And rich.  And chocolatey.

Espresso Chocolate Cupcakes
(please forgive me, I had to convert the amount from the metric system)
1/3 cup butter (75g)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour (3 dl)
.42 cup cocoa powder (1 dl)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1.05 cup sugar (2.5 dl)
1 large egg
.42 cup hot strong coffee (1 dl)
.63 cup buttermilk (1.5 dl)

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Line a cupcake tin with 12 cupcake liners.
2. Melt the butter, add vanilla and let it cool.
3. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and sugar into a large bowl.
4. Lightly whip the egg together with the buttermilk.
5. Mix coffee with butter.  Add all liquid ingredients to the dry ones and mix until batter is smooth but liquidy.
6. Divide between cupcake liners, filling no more than 2/3 full.
7. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a tester comes out almost clean.

Espresso Chocolate Frosting
200g 70% dark chocolate
1 1/4 cup butter, softened (300g)
1.5 cup powdered sugar (3.5 dl)
.63 cup cocoa powder (1.5 dl)
2 tbsp espresso
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Melt chocolate in a double boiler and leave to cool.
2. Whip butter until white and fluffy.  Gradually add powdered sugar and cocoa powder and mix until smooth.
3. Add the melted chocolate and whip until well incorporated.
4. Add espresso and vanilla, and mix until frosting is smooth and fluffy.

I'm gonna be honest, this recipe is hand written.  So I don't remember where I got it.  But kudos to them!

Jalapeno Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms

Long, long ago I had a party.  On New Years Eve.  Please forgive the tardiness of this recipe.

Jalapeno Bacon Stuffed Mushrooms
Ingredients:
12 whole mushrooms, large
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1 tbs butter
3 slices thick cut bacon, chopped
1 whole jalapeno, minced
1/4 cup diced yellow onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 oz. cream cheese
2 oz shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, combine the panko bread crumbs with the melted butter.  Toss until evenly coated.  Set aside.
2. Heat the oven to 350F.
3. Carefully clean and stem the mushrooms.  Set the caps on a small baking sheet.
4. Chop the stems and set aside.
5. In a small pan over medium heat, cook the chopped bacon until crisp.  Add the chopped vegetables and mushroom stems and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside to cool slightly.
6. In a medium bowl, mix the shredded cheese with the cream cheese until well combined.  Add the warm vegetable mixture and mix well.
7. Divide the filling evenly between the mushrooms.  Top with the buttered panko mixture.
8. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the mushrooms are tender and the topping is golden brown.

Comments:

• I used turkey bacon.  I do not recommend that.
• Cheese and cream cheese were both reduced fat.

Tasty Kitchen

(cheater) Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting

When you're in a pinch, you're in a pinch and you make it work.  In this case, it did!

The Perfect Cupcake Recipe (using a box mix)
Ingredients:
1 box mix (any flavor, but get the good kind - Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker)
3 large eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted (use butter, not margarine!)
1 cup of water

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Melt the butter in the microwave.
3. Add cake mix, eggs, and water to the butter in large bowl.
4. Mix on low for 1 minute.  Then mix on high for 1 minute.  You will be amazed that your batter is nice and thick and creamy - not thin and runny like it is when you follow the box instructions.
5. Fill cupcake papers (tip: use an ice cream scooper, one scoop is just the right amount per cupcake!)
6. Pop them in the oven for 20 minutes.
7. Let cool.

Salted Caramel Frosting
Ingredients:
2 sticks butter at room temperature
8 ounces of cream cheese
3-4 cups sifted powdered sugar

Instructions:

1. 1 cup salted caramel (recipe in above frosting link)
2. Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed until creamy.
3. Add 2 cups of the powdered sugar into the butter/cream cheese mixture and beat to combine.
4. Add 1 cup of the salted caramel and beat to combine. 
5. Add additional powdered sugar until the frosting is the sweetness and consistency you desire.

Comments:

• I didn't have time to make the salted caramel for the frosting, so I used Trader Joe's Fleur del Sel caramel sauce.

Recipes from Tidy Mom and Kimberly Taylor Images

Taco Pasta Salad

Where do you go to find your recipes these days?  Seriously, does anyone use allrecipes.com anymore?  I don't.  My recipes search engine is Pinterest (<-- follow me!).  I am a totaly Pinterest-a-holic!  And I openly, freely admit it.  So when it came to needing to make a side dish to take to a BBQ that's where I went to search.  And I found this Taco Pasta Salad recipe.  Sounded good to me!

Taco Salad Pasta

Ingredients:
1 lb pasta (recommend something smallish)
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (10 oz) pkg frozen corn
2-3 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
8 oz shredded Mexican-blend cheese
1 1/2 cup fresh salsa
1/2 cup sliced black olives
1/2 cup olive oil
3-4 tbs lime juice
1 tbs cumin
1-2 tsp chili powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
freshly ground salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 avocado, diced (optional)

Directions:

1. Cook the pasta al dente according to package instructions.  Drain, rinse with cold water, and set aside.
2. In a large bowl (or 2 medium bowls), combine the black beans, corn, tomatoes, salsa, olives, and cheese.  Once pasta is cooled, stir in and mix to combine.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, garlic, cumin, and chili powder. Pour over pasta salad and mix well.  Stir in cilantro and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Just before serving, dice the avocado and carefully stir into salad.

Comments:

• For the salsa, I used pico de gallo
• I omitted the avocado, because I didn't have one.
• I used reduced fat cheese. 

Recipe from The Sweet Life

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes

Many, MANY months ago my brother had a birthday.  We all planned to get together for dinner to celebrate.  But instead of sharing a silly little scoop of ice cream between 8 people, I offered to make cupcakes.  And in my family we have a tradition of making "party in your mouth cake", aka funfetti to the rest of y'all.  But this year I decided to make homemade party in your mouth cupcakes!

Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes
makes 12 cupcakes


1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 whole eggs
1 tbs vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup assorted brightly colored sprinkles, plus more for top of frosting

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Cream butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.
3. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.  Add half of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.  Add the milk.  Once mixed, add remaining dry ingredients.  Fold in assorted sprinkles.
4. Pour into cupcake tins and fill 2/3 of the way full.  Bake for 18-20 minutes.  Let cool, then frost.

Vanilla Buttercream
2 sticks of butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tbs vanilla extract
1 tbs of milk, if needed

1. Cream butter in the bowl of an electric mixture until completely smooth and creamy.  With the mixer on low speed, add in powdered sugar slowly.  Gradually increase mixer speed and add vanilla, then beat for 2-3 minutes, scraping down sides and bottom of the bowl.  If frosting is too thick, and milk 1 tsp at a time until desired consistency is reached.  If its too thin, add sugar gradually until it thickens.  Frost cupcakes and top with sprinkles.

And boy were they good!

Recipe from the ever fabulous How Sweet It Is

Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

 Sometime ago, I think it was in ... late February?  I don't know.  But my parents and Kaitlin were gone to Arizona to pick up the new boat.  So I was a little lonely.  But Kevin and his roommates were having a yard sale.  So I thought I'd be nice and make them some donuts to munch on.


By the way, go get yourself a donut pan asap!

I found this recipe on www.bunsinmyoven.com and decided they sounded good. Needless to say, they were a hit at the yard sale.

Baked Donuts
Ingredients
for the donuts:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup buttermilk (or make your own with milk and vinegar)
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs butter, melted

for the topping:
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbs cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325F degrees.  Lightly spray a donut pan with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt.
3. In a small bowl, beat together the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and melted butter until well combined.
4. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
5. Fill your donut pan 3/4 full and bake for 8-10 minutes or until the donuts spring back when touched.  Allow to cool slightly before removing from the pan.
6. To make the topping, mix together the sugars and cinnamon in a small bowl.
7. Dunk each donut into the melted butter to completely coat and then swirl around in the cinnamon sugar to coat.

Bun In My Oven

Mississippi Sin

We're going way back in time.  Here's one of the dishes I made for my New Year's Eve party...

Mississippi Sin

Ingredients:
16 oz sour cream
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 c cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 c chopped ham
1 green onion, chopped
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
salt
pepper
French bread loaf

Instructions:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients, except French bread; stirring until well blended.
2. Cut a thin slice from top of bread loaf; set slice aside.  Using a gentle sawing motion, cut a vertically to, but no through, bottom of the loaf, 1/2" from the edge, to cut out center of bread.  Lift out center of loaf.  Fill hollowed bread loaf with the dip.  Wrap loaf with foil.
3. Bake dip at 350F for 1 hour.  Serve with reserved bread cubes, crackers, or potato chips.

Adjustments:

• Most likely, I used fat free sour cream
• And 1/3 less fat cream cheese.
• I had Canadian bacon on hand, so I used that instead of ham.

Source:   Plain Chicken

Balsamic Lemon Chicken

What can I say, my tree was FULL of lemons.  So I picked a bucket full.  Squeezed them.  And froze the juice in cubes.

Since I've got lemon juice coming out of my ears freezer, I've been on the look out for recipes to use it up.  And not just desserty type recipes.  This chicken recipe was really good.  Nice and balsamicy and lemony.

Balsamic Lemon Chicken
Serves 4

Ingredients:
8 pieces chicken (legs and thighs, skin on, bone in)
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 whole lemons, zested, 1 juiced and the other cut into wedges
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp canola oil
4 tbsp unsalted butter

Instructions:

1. Prick the chicken pieces all over with a fork and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the balsamic vinegar with have of the lemon zest, salt, and pepper.  Add the chicken and turn to coat.  Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
3. Mix the sugar with the remaining lemon zest in a small bowl and set aside.
4. Preheat the oven to 400F.
5. Heat the oil in a large oven-save skillet over medium-high heat until very hot, about 2 minutes.  Melt 2 tbsp of the butter, and place chicken skin side down in the pan along with the remaining marinade.  Cook until the chicken is browned on one side, 3-4 minutes, and then flip each piece over and cook 1 more minute.  Sprinkle the lemon sugar over the chicken and transfer skillet to oven.  Roast until chicken is completely cooked through and a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 165F, about 25 minutes.
6. Remove chicken from oven.  Cut remaining 2 tbsp of butter into small pieces and scatter around chicken.  Pour the lemon juice over everything.  Once the butter is melted, serve the pan sauce drizzled over the chicken and lemon wedges on the side.

Adjustments:

• I don't tend to have bone in skin on chicken in my house, so I used chicken breasts.  BI-SO probably would have give it a different flavor.
• I used more juice, i think 2 lemons worth. 

Source:  Tasty Kitchen, Balsamic Lemon Chicken

Champagne Limoncello Cocktail

I.love.pinterest!  If you're not a member and want to be one, leave a comment with your email and I'll send you an invite.  If you are a member, you should follow me!  Anyways, I find a bunch of cool recipes and crafts and inspiration and home stuff on pinterest.  And some of the stuff I've actually tried.  Really it's only like 0.5% of things I've pinned I've tried, but that's a start!  So it's about time I share the recipes I've tried.  Like this one...

Don't mind the fancy "champagne glass"

Champagne Limoncello Cocktails
Ingredients:
8 (3x1/2") lemon rind strips
8 tbsp Limoncello (lemon flavored liqueur)
4 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 (750ml) bottle brut Champagne, chilled

Instructions:
Roll up each strip of lemon rind; place 1 in each of 8 champagne flutes.  Add 1 tbsp liqueur and 1/2 tsp juice to each glass.  Divide champagne evenly among glasses.  Serve immediately.

Alterations:
I didn't bother with the lemon rind bit.

Optional:
Rim each glass with sugar - rub a cut lemon wedge on the rim of the glass, and roll in sugar.

This drink paired well with our post egg hunt egg salad sandwiches on Easter.  Let's just say, I had a gigantic bottle of brut, and it was all gone by the time lunch was over.

Champagne Limoncello Cocktails, myrecipes.com

(the accidental) Coconut Caramel Cookies

For my New Year's Eve party I thought it would be fun to make Samoa Bark, but instead of shortbread cookies I thought I'd use graham crackers.  Because I had them.  Well, probably a bad idea.  The coconut caramel mixture didn't want to stick to the graham crackers at all.  So, the CC topping came off and ended up being a "no bake coconut caramel cookie".  And they were a hit!  To get the real Samoa Bark recipe, click the link above.  For the flubbed up recipe keep reading...

Ingredients:
14 oz bag of caramels
3 cups sweetened flaked coconut
2 tbsp water
2 oz semi-sweet chocolate for drizzling

Instructions:

1. Line a baking sheet with foil.  Set aside.
2. In a non-stick skillet on medium-low heat, toast your coconut, stirring occasionally. This will take about 10 minutes or so, but be watchful because once it starts to brown it happens quickly and you don't want to burn the coconut!  When the coconut is toasted, set aside.
3. Meanwhile, unwrap all your caramels and place them in a medium saucepan along with 2 tbsp water over medium-low heat.
4. Stirring continuously until the caramel has JUST melted.  You don't want to over heat the caramel, as it will make it hard.  Immediately fold in your toasted coconut.
5. Spread of plop caramel mixture onto foil.
6. Melt your 2 oz chocolate using whatever melting process you prefer and drizzle over the top of the caramel/coconut.
7. Put in freezer for 5 minutes to set the chocolate.
8. Cut, or remove from foil, and enjoy!

Coffee Chocolate Cupcake with Irish Cream Frosting

 I made these cupcakes for Christmas this year, and they were a huge success!  And easy too!

Cupcakes:
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup buttermilk
3 heaping tbsp cocoa
1 stick butter
1/2 cup coffee
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in room-temperature buttermilk.  In a saucepan, melt butter and cocoa together at a low temperature.  When smooth, add coffee.  In a separate bowl, sift together sugar, flour, and salt.  Add cocoa mixture and egg and mix at low speed.  Add buttermilk mixture and vanilla and beat until smooth.  Bake at 350F for 20 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting:
1 stick butter
4 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup irish cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp milk
2 tbsp coffee

Beat ingredients together until smooth.  Spread on cupcakes.

And what do you do with the bowl when you're done...?

Lick it of course!

Source: Ming Makes Cupcakes, #24

Corn Dog Muffins

Fast easy finger food!  And yes, the corn dog muffin does taste like a normal corn dog, less the fried calories.

Ingredients:
2 (8.5 oz) packages corn bread mix
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c milk
9 whole hot dogs, diced
1 c grated cheddar cheese
condiments

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.  Lightly grease mini muffin tins.
2. In a large bowl, stir together cornbread mix and brown sugar.  In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and milk, and then stir into dry mixture until moistened.  Mix in hot dogs and cheese.
3. Spoon a good tablespoonful into muffin tins, making sure you get some hot dog in each spoonful.
4. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.  Let cool for about 10-15 minutes in the pan before removing.  For easy removal, cut around outsides of the muffins, then tip upside down onto a large cutting board and urge the muffins out using a knife to tap the bottoms of the muffin tins.  The should slide right out.
5. Serve warm with desired condiments.

Tips:

• Alternately, you can use your favorite cornbread mix, follow the instructions on the box, add in 1 cup of cheddar cheese and mix in chopped hot dogs too.  If your favorite cornbread mix doesn't have a sweet element to it, add in 2 tbsp brown sugar.  (This is good if your cornbread mix only calls for water = less calories!)
• You can use paper liners if you'd like.
• I used turkey dogs.  Yum!
• I also added a can of diced green chiles to one of the 2 batches!
• Can also freeze muffins for later use.  Takes only a minute or 2 to thaw in microwave.

Recipe from www.recipegirl.com

Zucchini Bread

It's that time of the year when zucchini is everywhere and it's super inexpensive.  And well, I love zucchini.  So why not try to make a few different zucchini bread recipes?


I made 2 recipes.  This one and this healthier one.  They were both very yummy!  And I've got more zucchini to use up.

What's YOUR favorite zucchini recipe?

Zippy's Chili

Saturday was a day of spontaneity for me.  Spontaneously in the morning it was decided that the next day, Sunday, I would have a yard sale at my house with a friend (my house because no permits required).  Then in the evening as we were taking about going to Hawaii in October it was spontaneously decided that we were going to make chili, Zippy's Chili.  Zippy's is a Hawaiian fast food place (or something like that) and they have some famous chili or something.  Kevin has had it before when someone he knew had it flown in and delivered to him.  So he found a recipe, we went to the store, and away we went.  Oh, and it was insisted that we make a double batch.  Cra-zy!  But we had fun! :)

WANDA'S COPYCAT CHILI

4 teaspoons vegetable oil 

1 pound lean ground beef (71 percent beef or more) 

1 onion, very finely chopped 

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce 

1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, pureed, with liquid 

1 (15-ounce) can red kidney beans, with liquid 

2 teaspoons chili powder 

1 tablespoon beef base (Minor's, Better Than Bouillon) or 2 bouillon cubes 

1 tablespoon brown sugar 

1 teaspoon garlic salt 

1/2 cup mayonnaise

In a Dutch oven or large, heavy-bottomed pot, heat 2 teaspoons vegetable oil and brown beef; break up beef into its smallest components. Pour into bowl and reserve. Heat remaining vegetable oil and fry onion over medium heat, until limp and golden. Transfer beef to pot along with pureed tomato sauce, pinto beans, red kidney beans, chili powder, beef base, brown sugar and garlic salt. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to medium or medium-low and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in mayonnaise and heat through. Taste and correct seasonings.
Serves 4-6.
Per serving: 480 calories, 28 g fat, 6 g saturated fat, 70 mg cholesterol, greater than 1300 mg sodium, 28 g carbohydrate, 8 g fiber, 7 g sugar, 28 g protein

recipe from Honolulu Advertiser

So here's my verdict...

• It's not bad.
• The fact that it has mayo in it throws me off big time.  I.do.not.like.mayonnaise (unless it's in egg salad sandwiches)
• It's not thick like chili that I'm used to.

Here's what I would do differently (aka healthify it)...

• Less oil, 4 tsps was not needed.
• Ground turkey.  Why not?
• Maybe a little tomato paste would help thicken it...?
• 2 cans of kidney beans for more fiber and to bulk it up.
• Substitute for mayo...?  Ummm... maybe a little bit of reduced fat cream cheese...?

So what's your favorite chili recipe?

Layered Mud Pie

Ingredients:
4 oz, baker's semi-sweet chocolate
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 pkg pie crust (store bought or make your own)
1/2 cup pecans (or nut of choice)
2 cups milk
2 pkg chocolate pudding mix, 3 oz boxes
1 tub cool whip (8 oz tub)

Instructions:

1. Melt the chocolate in microwave.  Make sure to stir it every 30 seconds or so, so that it doesn't scorch.  When melted, mix the chocolate and condensed milk in a bowl.
2. Put your pie crust into a pie plate.  Then, pour chocolate mixture into your prepared crust and sprinkle with nuts.
3. Beat milk and pudding mix, spoon 1 1/2 cups of the mixture over the nut layer; mix half of the tub of cool whip with remaining pudding and spread onto pie.
4. Top with remaining cool whip and refrigerate 3 hours.

Notes:

• I love sweetened condensed milk.  I could eat it with a spoon.  Oh wait, I do.
• Instructions don't say to, but your pie crust should be baked, not raw.
• 1% milk was used.  Slightly healthy.
• I had a bunch of hodge podge pudding mixes in the little 1.5 oz packages, so I used 4 of them. Oh, and they were all the fat free (or is it sugar free) kinds.
• I got lots of raves about this pie.

Holiday Breakfast Casserole

A while back for our Tuesday Night Dinner group we decided to do "Breakfast for Dinner".  My favorite!  So I made a breakfast casserole.  You know, one of those that you make the night before and let set in the fridge?  The recipe was found on a Sunday morning paper insert, that I then altered a little.

Ingredients:
12 oz. breakfast sausage (bulk or links)*
6 English muffins, cut into 1" cubes**
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup (4 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup (4 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup red pepper, chopped
12 eggs
2 cups milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup bacon bits

Instructions:

1. Cook sausage according to package directions.  Cool slightly.  If links, cut into 1/4" slices.
2. In a greased 9x13" baking dish, layer half the English muffin cubes and half the cooked sausage.  Repeat layers.  Drizzle with butter and top with cheese, onion, and red pepper.
3. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, milk, salt and pepper.  Pour over casserole.  Sprinkle with bacon.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.
4. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.  Uncover and bake at 350F for 45-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  Let stand 5 minutes.  Makes 12 servings.

Alterations:

• *I'm cheap frugal and bought bulk sausage instead of links.
• **I'm cheap frugal and bought white bread instead of English muffins.
• For one of the casseroles (I made 2), after the sausage was cooked I added some sliced mushrooms and sauteed them a little.

Brownies (homemade from scratch!)

When I make brownies, I pull out the box.  Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, etc. I don't discriminate.  But then in February I was tasked with making brownies for an event.  Brownies from an old church cookbook.  They didn't have box mixes back then.  So I had to make it from scratch.  And I did.  They were good too.  Not that I doubted myself.

Ingredients:
1/4 lb butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup nuts

Instructions: (exactly as they were written out...)
(Very good to double recipe).  Mix together and pour into a greased pan.  Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.  FROSTING:  Melt chocolate chips (as many as desired) and coat on top for frosting.

Notes:

• I didn't do the frosting.  Frosting brownies never works for me.  You know the paper thin flaky top that forms when the brownies are cooled?  Yea, frosting pulls that stuff up.
• I probably doubled the recipe.  Honestly I can't remember.
• Nuts - they don't belong in brownies.  But since the recipe called for them I put them in.  Pecans I think.  I don't know.  Whatever my mom had in her freezer since I didn't have any.