Frosted Holiday Mint M&M Brownies

by penji1

Frosted Holiday Mint M&M Brownies

We had our annual Christmas Bunco/Potluck dinner this week and of course I signed up to bring dessert so here is a quick, easy and delicious holiday dessert from “i heart nap time”.

1 box brownie mix plus ingredients to make brownies

1 bag milk chocolate chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Holiday Mint M&Ms

1  Make brownies as directed on box and let cool.

2  Make frosting by combining milk and chips in a small pot and cooking over low heat, stirring constantly, until melted then pour over brownies.

3  Sprinkle M&Ms over frosting.  Let set before cutting.

Chunky Tomato Soup

by penji1

Chunky Tomato Soup

It is so cold here!  Yesterday it was like 16 degrees and I am not happy about it so dinner yesterday was this yummy soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, nothing like a little comfort food to pick you up.  The recipe comes from a great little cookbook I have called “Betty Crocker Soups and Stews”.  Super easy and super yummy, two of my favorite things.

2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)

2 carrots, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)

(I also added 1 onion, chopped)

2 (28 oz each) cans Italian style tomatoes, undrained

2 cups water

1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 (14 oz each) cans chicken broth (or vegetable broth for vegan)

1  In large pot, heat oil over medium high heat.  Cook garlic, celery and carrots (and onion, if using) in oil 5 – 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until carrots are crisp tender.

2  Stir in tomatoes then water, basil, pepper and broth.  Heat to boiling then reduce to low.

3  Cover and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Chewy Granola Energy Bars

by penji1

Chewy Granola Energy Bars

Next up for Hunter, some homemade granola bars.  This recipe comes from a blog called “Jo and Sue”.  I didn’t try one of these either but I did munch on the crumbs left in the pan after cutting and they were surprisingly good, better than store bought that’s for sure!

2 1/2 cups quick rolled oats

1/2 cup Rice Krispies

1/4 cup coconut

1/2 cup mini M&M’s, chocolate chips or butterscotch chips

1/2 cup chopped peanuts, pecans or walnuts

other optional mix ins – chopped caramels, craisins, raisins, dried fruit

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon ground flax (didn’t have this so just left it out)

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1  Preheat oven to 350.  Spray 9 x 9″ pan with cooking spray.

2  Mix all ingredients together in large bowl until well combined.

3  Press into prepared pan.  Bake 18 – 20 minutes, until golden brown.

4  Cool 5 minutes and then score into bars.  (They say not to omit this step or it will be really hard to cut them into bars after they are set.)  Let set completely and then cut into bars.

Banana Nut Muffins

by penji1

Banana Nut Muffins

My nephew Hunter has been here for the weekend visiting us and I wanted to send him back to the dorms with some food so first up are these muffins so he has a breakfast snack.  The recipe comes from the “Food Network” website.  I haven’t tried one as I’m sending them all home with Hunter but he had one last night and said they were good.

2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 overripe bananas (I only had 3 but it seemed to be fine)

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup pecans, chopped (I used walnuts instead)

1  Preheat oven to 375 and lightly butter muffin tin or line with paper liners.

2  Combine flour, baking soda and salt in large bowl.  Mash 2 of bananas with fork in small bowl so they still have some texture.  With wire whisk, whip remaining bananas and sugar together for 3 minutes.  Add melted butter, eggs and vanilla and beat well, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.  Mix in dry ingredients just until incorporated.  Fold in nuts and mashed bananas.  Spoon or scoop batter into muffin tins to fill about halfway.  Give them a rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out.

3  Bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean, about 18 – 20 minutes.  Let cool for a few minutes before removing from pan.

I got about 1 1/2 dozen muffins from this recipe.

Chocolate Ganache Tart

by penji1

Chocolate Ganache Tart

And the final dessert, #3, from the Johnson family Thanksgiving of 2013 and this, of course, was my favorite!  It is another Martha Stewart recipe and despite how pretty it looks and how delicious it tasted, is still pretty easy to make.

3 tablespoons slivered blanched almonds

6 tablespoons sugar

1 1/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons grated orange or lemon zest, optional (I left this out)

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1  Preheat oven to 350.  Make dough:  In food processor, pulse almonds until finely ground.  Add sugar, flour, zest and salt and pulse until combined.  Add butter, pulsing until coarse crumbs form with no large butter lumps (dough should clump together when squeezed with fingers).

2  Immediately transfer dough to 9″ tart pan with removable bottom.  Using a measuring cup, evenly press dough in bottom and up sides of pan.

3  Bake in center of oven until golden brown and firm to the touch, about 20 minutes.  Let cool on wire rack completely, about 1 hour.

4  Make ganache:  Place chocolate in large bowl.  Bring cream to a boil then pour over chocolate.  Stir until smooth and creamy then mix in vanilla.

5  Pour chocolate mixture into center of cooled tart shell.  Let stand until set, about 2 hours or chill for 1 hour.

(I garnished the top with some more almonds and some melted white chocolate and then served with a dollop of Cool Whip.)

Snickers Caramel Apple Salad

by penji1

Snickers Caramel Apple Salad

Dessert #2, I liked this one a lot more than I thought I was going to, it was like eating a caramel apple in a bowl covered in cream, yum!  It comes from the blog “Chef in Training”.

6 regular size Snickers candy Bars

4 medium apples (she used Red Delicious, I used Granny Smith)

1 (5.1 oz) package vanilla instant pudding mix

1/2 cup milk

1 (16 oz) tub Cool Whip, thawed

1/2 cup caramel ice cream topping

1  Whisk vanilla pudding packet, milk and Cool Whip together until well combined.

2  Chop up apples and Snickers bars into bite size pieces.

3  Stir chopped apples and Snickers into pudding mixture.

4  Drizzle with caramel ice cream topping.

5  Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

Cranberry Cobbler

by penji1

Cranberry Cobbler

Dessert #1 for the Johnson family feast!  This one comes from Martha Stewart.  It was really easy to make and Bob liked it a lot which is great because I pretty much made it for him!

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted plus more for pan

1 1/4 cups cranberries, partially thawed if frozen

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided

1 cup flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1  Preheat oven to 350.  Butter a 10″ cast iron skillet.  (I baked mine in a stoneware oval dish and used cooking spray.)  Stir together cranberries and 2 tablespoons sugar.  Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and remaining 3/4 cup sugar in large bowl.  In another bowl, whisk together milk and egg and then whisk in butter.  Whisk milk mixture into flour mixture until combined.

2  Pour batter into skillet and scatter cranberries on top.  Bake until center springs back when lightly touched, about 25 – 30 minutes.  Let cool 15 minutes before serving or let sit at room temperature, up to 8 hours.

Artichoke Parmesan Sourdough Stuffing

by penji1

Artichoke Parmesan Sourdough Stuffing

I think this was my new favorite recipe this year, everyone else loved it too.  I think it will probably be the stuffing from now on for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It comes from a blog called “Our Best Bites”.

1 pound mushrooms, cleaned, ends trimmed and sliced or chopped (I hate mushrooms so I left these out)

1 tablespoon butter

2 onions, (3/4 pound total), chopped

1 cup diced celery (since I left out the mushrooms I added more celery)

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 – 2 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 (1 pound) loaf sourdough bread, cut into 1/2″ cubes

2 (6 oz each) jars marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 teaspoons poultry seasoning

1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh Rosemary leaves or 3/4 teaspoon dried

salt and pepper

1 egg, lightly beaten

1  Cook mushrooms, butter, onions, celery and garlic over high heat, stirring often, until vegetables are tender and lightly browned, about 10 minutes.  Pour into large bowl.  Pour 2 cups broth in bowl and add bread, artichokes, Parmesan, seasoning and Rosemary and mix well.  Add salt and pepper and more broth if desired then add beaten egg and mix into stuffing.

2  Preheat oven to 350.  Spoon stuffing into 9 x 13″ pan.  For moister stuffing, cover with foil and for crusty stuffing, leave uncovered.  Bake until hot or lightly browned, about 50 minutes.

Bacon – Garlic Mashed Potatoes

by penji1

Bacon Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Finally finding a few minutes to sit down and blog about our Thanksgiving dinner.  I usually do a mix of old and new for the holidays and this year was no exception, although I did all new desserts!  So here is the first new recipe tried out at the Johnson family Thanksgiving feast of 2013 and it was a hit, not too different from traditional mashed potatoes but a nice subtle twist.  It comes from the “My Recipes” website.

10 garlic cloves, crushed

3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1″ pieces (we like to leave the skins on)

1 cup whole milk, warmed

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

salt and pepper

6 slices bacon (we did a whole package, go big or go home!)

1  Place garlic and potatoes in a large pot and covered with salted water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium high and cook until very soft, about 30 minutes.  Drain well and return to pot.  Stir over medium heat 1 – 2 minutes to dry.  Mash with potato masher.  Stir in 3/4 cup warmed milk and butter, adding more milk if needed.  Season well with salt and pepper.  Keep warm.

2  Cook bacon until crisp.  Chop into small pieces and sprinkle over potatoes just before serving.  (Next time we were all talking about sprinkling some cheddar cheese over the potatoes along with the bacon.)

Reese’s Turkeys

by penji1

Reese's Turkeys

Made these yesterday for the Young Women at church as their Thanksgiving treat.  They are so cute and were super easy to put together.  The idea comes from a blog called “Mom on Timeout”.

large Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, for how ever many turkeys you want to make (I bought 2 snack size bags of these, there were around 14 in each bag)

small Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, same amount as large (one bag was enough to cover the 28 large ones)

bag of Reese’s Pieces

package of candy eyes (I found them at Michaels)

melted chocolate, to use as “glue” (I used chocolate candy melts)

1  Unwrap all peanut butter cups.

2  Melt about 1/2 cup chocolate chips or candy melts in small microwave safe bowl in 30 second intervals, stirring after each 30, until smooth.  Pour melted chocolate into ziploc sandwich bag, seal bag and snip the corner off of one end of the bag.

3  Attach small peanut butter cup to large cup along one edge with melted chocolate.  “Glue” 2 candy eyes on small cup and then glue one orange Reese’s Piece so that it sticks out away from cup for the nose.  Next attach 5 Reese’s Pieces, 3 yellow and 2 orange, along the top of the turkey, above his head, for the feathers.