Crunchy Peanut Butter Mix

by penji1

Oh my gosh, is this stuff ever addicting!  I made it this afternoon and set the bowl on the counter, which was a huge mistake because every time we walk by it, we grab a little more so much more in fact that neither of us even wanted dinner!  So consider yourself warned!  It is a Betty Crocker recipe ; I just love that Betty!

4 cups Golden Grahams cereal

2 cups Cocoa Puffs cereal

2 cups thin pretzel sticks

1 cup candy coated peanut butter candies

1 cup dry roasted peanuts

10 oz white chocolate baking bars or squares, chopped (I used a bag of white chocolate chips)

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1  In large bowl, mix cereals, pretzels, candies and peanuts and set aside.

2  Microwave chocolate and butter on high for 1 minute, stirring once, until melted and chocolate is smooth.  Pour over cereal mixture, stirring until evenly coated.

3  In large resealable plastic bag, toss 1/2 of cereal mixture with 1/4 cup powdered sugar until evenly coated.  Spread on wax paper to cool.  Repeat with remaining cereal mixture and powdered sugar.  Store tightly covered at room temperature.

Parmesan Chicken with Bow Ties

by penji1

This recipe comes from the April 27, 2012 issue of “All You” magazine and it was dinner tonight and it was terrific!

12 oz bow tie pasta

salt and pepper

2 cups small broccoli florets

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts, skin and bone removed, cut into 1/2″ pieces

1 small onion, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup canned petite diced tomatoes, drained (I used the whole can and didn’t drain it)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1  Cook pasta in boiling salted water until al dente, about 10 minutes, or as label directs; add broccoli for final 3 minutes.  Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid.  (I did not reserve any cooking liquid but used the juice in the diced tomatoes instead.)  Toss pasta and broccoli with 1 tablespoon olive oil (left this out, unnecessary calories in my opinion!).

2  Warm remaining oil in skillet over medium high heat.  (Left this out too and sprayed the skillet with Pam Olive Oil instead.)  Add chicken, onion and garlic, sprinkle with salt and pepper; saute 5 minutes.  Add tomatoes; saute 2 minutes.  Toss in pasta, broccoli, Parmesan and 1/2 cup cooking liquid.  Add more liquid if dry.

Savannah Tailgater Chili

by penji1

This recipe comes from the October 2011 issue of the Food Network magazine and is a Deen Brothers recipe (Paula Deen’s sons).  It was really good last night and I’m sure that it will be even better today as soups, stews and chilis are almost always better the second day.

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 pounds ground beef

salt and pepper

1 medium onion, diced (about 1 cup)

1 small green bell pepper, seeded and diced (about 1/2 cup) (I left this out)

2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped (or pressed with your garlic press)

1/4 cup chili powder, plus more to taste

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

3 (15 oz) cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed (I like kidney beans but don’t love them so I did 1 can of kidney beans, 1 can of pinto beans and 1 can of black beans instead)

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes

1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce

1 (10 oz) bag frozen corn kernels

sour cream, grated cheddar cheese for serving (I also had Fritos out for serving)

1  Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in large pot over medium high heat (I left out the oil, I don’t thing you need to cook hamburger in olive oil, just extra calories to me).  Brown ground beef, breaking it up with a fork, until cooked through, 7 – 8 minutes.  Season beef with 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer beef to a paper towel lined plate or bowl.

2  Heat remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in pot (I just cooked the onion and garlic in the hamburger grease).  Add onion, bell pepper and garlic and saute until softened, about 5 minutes.  (Drain any leftover grease.)  Stir in chili powder, oregano and cumin and cook for 1 minute more.

3  Return beef to pot.  Stir in beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, corn, 1 1/2 cups water and 2 teaspoons salt.  Simmer 30 – 45 minutes.  Taste and add more chili powder, if desired.

4  Ladle chili into serving bowls and top with sour cream, cheese and Fritos, if desired!

Boston Market Cornbread

by penji1

Usually I make chili and cornbread on Halloween but Courtney and her fiance Jaren might have to work on Halloween so she asked if I would make it early so we had it for dinner last night.  Decided to try both a new cornbread recipe and a new chili recipe (see next post) and they both came out great.  I also decided to do corn muffins instead of a pan of cornbread and this recipe made 3 dozen muffins so seriously if you live near me and have a craving for some corn muffins, stop on by and I’ll give them away to whoever shows up until they’re gone!  (I’m totally serious here people!)  This recipe comes from a blog called “The Sisters Dish” and was really easy and really delicious!  The batter ended up being very fluffy so I filled the muffin pans too full using a regular amount for muffins so if you decide to make muffins, use a little less batter than you usually would for each one so that they don’t overflow.

version #1:

1 box Jiffy cornbread mix

1 box Jiffy yellow cake mix

OR

version #2

2 boxes Jiffy cornbread mix

1 box Duncan Hines Butter Golden cake mix

(this is the version I made)

Mix all boxes according to package directions separately (if doing 2 cornbread mixes, those can be mixed together) so mix cake mix in one bowl and cornbread in another bowl and then combine both batters together.  For version #1 (both Jiffy mixes), bake in an 8 x 8″ baking pan and for version #2, bake in a 9 x 13″ pan, spraying pans with cooking spray.  Bake at 350 until done, approximately 30 minutes.  Test with a toothpick to check if done.

Melted Witches

by penji1

Here is my last treat from yesterday – Melted Witches!  This idea came from a blog called “Party Frosting” but she got the idea from a blog called “Confessions of a Cookbook Queen” so I’ve given you both links, your choice!  I made these for the Young Women at church.  One of the other ladies bought these cute little containers to put a Halloween gift in for each girl so I volunteered to fill them up.  I put some candies and a bag of bunny crackers and some of the Reeses Peanut Butter Cookie Cups and Halloween Pretzel Treats in them and then topped it off with these adorable Melted Witches.

First, make brooms and hats:

Make the hats with a Hershey Kiss and a half of an Oreo.  Put the filling side of the cookie down and stick the Kiss to the top with a bit of melted almond bark or candy melts (I used a dab of Nutella).

For the brooms, all you need are pretzel sticks and Laffy Taffy (or mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups like I used).  Flatten the taffy and cut it in half horizontally.  Cut fringe into the bottom 2/3 with sharp scissors and wrap the unfringed part around the pretzel stick.  (Or just stick a pretzel into a mini peanut butter cup by first using the sharp end of a bamboo skewer to poke a hole in the cup and then poking pretzel stick into the hole.)

Line a large baking sheet with wax paper.  Melt some green candy melts and some dark chocolate candy melts (separately) in your microwave according to package directions.  You won’t need much of the dark chocolate, just enough to do a small spoonful per witch.  She melted an entire bag of green and had enough to do about 2 dozen witches (I got about 15 with my bag of green) so use that to decide how much to melt.

Spoon some green candy on the wax paper and spread into a circle with spoon.  Spoon a small amount of chocolate over the green and swirl with a knife (I used a bamboo skewer).  Place 1 hat and 1 broom on each melted witch.  Place pan in fridge to set.

Here they are packaged up and ready to go.  Her packaging was much cuter than mine so be sure and check it out on her blog.

And here they are in their cute containers, ready to go home with the Young Women.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Chocolate Mustaches

by penji1

Courtney and I were at Michaels one day and she saw this candy mold and got all excited about it so we bought it and then when we got home I just put it away and we forgot all about it but then yesterday when I was in party mode I remembered it for some reason and decided to surprise her with some chocolate mustaches!  They are so easy to make as are most molded chocolates.  I had a bag of dark chocolate candy melts so you just melt those in the microwave at 30 second intervals, it doesn’t take long so watch carefully.  Then, using a smaller size spoon, carefully spoon the chocolate into whatever mold you are using, being careful not to overfill.  When the molds are almost full, tap the mold tray carefully on the counter several times to release any air bubbles and settle chocolate.  Place a lollipop stick into the groove in the well of each mold and twist carefully until covered in chocolate so that the stick will set into the candy, then place in refrigerator until set, about 15 – 20 minutes.  Remove from fridge and invert over paper towel, twisting mold gently to release candies which should just pop out.  Repeat process until out of chocolate!

Here are Courtney and Jaren with their chocolate mustaches although Jaren ate half of his before I got the picture!

And here is the party treat tray ready to go!  The “Happy Halloween” banner in the background is a Pinterest idea as were some of the treats too.

And, last but not least, here is my pumpkin, which is also another idea from Pinterest.  I hate carving pumpkins, too messy and slimy so I opted to decorate instead and leave all the guts untouched!  🙂

Reeses Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

by penji1

Here is a super simple and super delicious Halloween treat idea that everyone will love.  I don’t want to say that I invented these but I just took the idea and simplified it.

1 bag Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookie mix plus ingredients to make cookies

1 bag mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

1 bag candy corn

Preheat oven to 325.  Spray wells of mini muffin pan with Pam for Baking.  Mix cookie dough according to package directions.  Using mini scoop or small spoon, scoop a small ball of dough into each well of muffin pan.  Bake at 325 for 8 – 10 minutes.  Immediately upon removing pan from oven, press 1 unwrapped mini Reeses into center of each cookie then press 1 candy corn onto top of each peanut butter cup.  Let sit in pan for 10 – 15 minutes before removing.

Here is another version using Icing Decorations from Peppermint Place:

img_7797

Reeses Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

So cute!!

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Halloween Pretzel Treats

by penji1

 

Yesterday was a great day!  I spent almost the whole day in the kitchen getting creative making Halloween treats and then last night we had a family party with my husband Bob, my son Zach, my daughter Courtney and her fiance Jaren where we ordered pizza, ate treats and carved pumpkins!  So here is the first of a couple of posts with the party treats that I made.  The idea for these came from Pinterest but I can’t give you the link because they said it contains spam or some other inappropriate content so I’ll just tell you how I did it.

1 bag square pretzels (I found the square ones in the Snyders brand)

1 bag Hersheys Hugs (the black and white Kisses)

1 bag candy corn

Preheat oven to 250.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place pretzels on baking sheet.  Top each pretzel with an unwrapped Hug.  Place in oven for about 5 minutes or until Hugs are starting to melt.  Remove from oven and immediately squish a candy corn carefully into the top of each softened Hug.  Let sit until set or put in refrigerator until set.

 

Canned Biscuit Dough Donuts and Holes

by penji1

Made these for breakfast this morning and they truly could not be any easier or tastier!  YUMMY!  (And for those of you who live near a WinCo grocery store, they couldn’t be any cheaper either with the biscuits on sale for .98 a tube!)  The recipe comes from the Food Network website from Paula Deen.  She gives a recipe for icing but this time around I just did the cinnamon and sugar topping which made them taste like a cross between a donut and a churro, win win people!

peanut oil, for frying (I used vegetable oil)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup sugar

2 cups powdered sugar, divided

5 tablespoons milk, divided

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup cocoa

2 cans large buttermilk biscuits (I bought Pillsbury Grands)

colored sprinkles

chocolate sprinkles

1  Heat 2″ oil in large pot or Dutch oven to 350.  (I used my electric skillet or frying pan which worked great.)

2  In a shallow bowl, stir together the cinnamon and sugar and set aside.  (I combined them in a paper lunch sack instead.)  For the vanilla icing, in a small bowl, whisk together 1 cup of powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla and set aside.  For the chocolate icing, in another small bowl, whisk together 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa and 3 tablespoons milk and set aside.

3  Lay out the biscuits on a cutting board and with a 1 1/2″ round cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out a hole from the middle of each biscuit.  Fry biscuits in hot oil until golden and then flip with tongs to fry the other side.  You can even fry the donut holes (why wouldn’t you?).  Drain on paper towels and then toss in cinnamon sugar mixture (I put 1 donut in the paper sack at a time and then tossed gently until well coated) or ice and decorate with sprinkles.  (You could also put some powdered sugar in another lunch sack and toss the donuts in that too.)

Halloween Ghost Cupcakes

by penji1

Here’s a cute and pretty easy Halloween cupcake idea from the Ladies Home Journal website.  These are for the Neighborhood Halloween party tomorrow night.

18 standard size cupcakes (I ended up with about 34 cupcakes, I used the “White Almond Sour Cream” cake recipe using a white cake mix and vanilla flavoring and then I dyed the batter orange just for fun)

1 (16 oz) container chocolate frosting or homemade chocolate frosting (I used Pillsbury)

cornstarch

approx 1 1/2 pounds white fondant (you can get this at most craft stores like Michaels)

18 (or as many cupcakes as you end up with) sphere lollipops, like Dum Dums (I bought mini Tootsie Pops)

1 tube black decorator icing (or you can use mini chocolate chips for the eyes, like I did)

1. Frost cupcakes and set aside. Lightly dust work surface with cornstarch and roll fondant out in a thin layer then cut into 18 1 1/2″ rounds and 18 4″ rounds with cookie cutters or biscuit cutters. Knead scraps together and reroll, as necessary.

2. Insert the stick of an unwrapped lollipop into a block of Styrofoam (or half a potato or apple) to hold it steady (or just hold it in one hand!). Place one 1 1/2″ fondant round over lollipop and pinch to close around pop. Then place larger fondant round over the smaller one, pleating to make a ghost shape. Repeat for all lollipops. Place a ghost in the center of each cupcake by inserting the stick into the cake. Pipe black eyes on each (or just poke pointy ends of mini chips into the fondant).