Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

Oh my friends, this is a GREAT recipe if you are looking for a beautiful cookie that is also tasty!  If you want to step outside the box for Christmas cookies, this would be a great one!

What I used:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 can cherry pie filling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). 
Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Add the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and stir until smooth. Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls about the size of a walnut (larger if desired). Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press center of each ball with thumb. 
 Spoon one cherry from can of pie filling into indentation in cookie.  Take your chocolate chips and melt down.  Add a little of the pie filling mixture (excluding cherries) and add to chocolate. Mix well.
Spoon about 1 teaspoon of mixture over each cherry and spread to cover cherry. 
Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.

Strawberry Coconut Balls

Do you have a favorite food that as soon as you bite into it it takes you back to your childhood?  I have several recipes that do that to me and this is one of them.  My mom would make these when we were kids and would stick them in the freezer and oh, as soon as you took a bite YUM-O is all I can say!  Give 'em a try they are super easy and bursting with flavor!

What I used:
1 can sweetened condensed milk.
1  14 oz. bag of coconut
1  3oz. box of jello

Mix all the ingredients together and roll into balls.  The mixture will be sticky, but I used a little bit of flour on my hands to help with that.  You could also spray a little non-stick cooking spray on your hands to help instead.  Place on cookie sheet lined with wax paper and stick in the fridge.  Once the balls are little more firm put them in a container or freezer bag placing wax paper between layers and freeze.
Enjoy and be sure too keep them at least in the fridge.  

Rolled up lasagna

This is a GREAT recipe to make when you have company.  It is one of those recipes that can easily be added to for having extra people over.  It is lasagna with a twist!

What I used:
1lb ground beef
10 lasagna noodles, uncooked
1 jar green pepper and mushroom spaghetti sauce
1 package cream cheese, softned
1 1/4 cup cheese, shredded

Get your water boiling for your pasta and start browning your beef.  Once your water is ready add pasta and let cook until softened. 
Once meat is browned add 1/2 of sauce and all of cream cheese.  Cook until creamy.
In a glass baking dish, spray with non-stick cooking spray and spread just a small amount of sauce from jar into bottom of dish.  Once pasta is cooked and cooled a bit lay out each noodle and spread enough meat mixture onto each noodle to cover the noodle, top with a small amount of cheese and roll up.  Place in baking dish and once all the noodles are rolled up and placed in dish, top with remaining sauce and cheese.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 20 min.  Remove foil and cook a remaining 10 minutes. 
Before being cooked this is what it would look like.

The finished product.....Sooooooo yummy!

Midwest Chicken legs!

This recipe is SOO scrumptious and though it involves a bit more work than if you had to plop these legs in the oven, I must admit, it does keep your house cooler by cooking them on the stove.  Living in the desert that is a deal breaker for me :)  Keeping the oven turned off on hot summer days is always welcome!

What I used:
4 chicken legs
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. garlic
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
3/4 cup bbq sauce
1 Tbsp. veggie oil

In a large resealable plastic bag add your flour, garlic and red pepper.  Add chicken legs and after sealing bag shake to coat. 













Pour oil into skillet and turn stove onto med-high.  Place chicken legs in oil and cook.

Turning once to brown both sides

Once chicken is browned, add bbq. sauce and turn to med-low and cover.  Cook for 25-30 min. or until cooked through turning chicken once.














The end result is chicken that is bursting with flavor and incredibly juicy!

Chicken Mushroom Melts

Sunday and Wednesday are busy days in our household so I am always looking for quick and tasty meals for those days!  Something that doesn't take long to make but  something that won't make me lose any flavor.  These open faced sandwiches are SO delicious!  The soy sauce mixed with the garlic just really brings out an amazing taste!  You must give it a try!  You will not be sorry you did!

What I used:
1/2 loaf of French bread, sliced thinly
1 boneless skinless chicken breast, chopped into very small pieces
1 can mushrooms
2 tsp. soy sauce
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
butter and garlic powder for bread
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
Shredded Cheese

Pour your oil in the skillet and add your chicken and mushrooms

Cook for about 5 minutes then add soy sauce

In the meantime butter your sliced bread and add garlic powder, enough to taste and place in the oven set to high broil.  Be sure to keep an eye on the bread because it will not take long to bake.

Once your mushrooms and chicken are cooked add the heavy whipping cream and stir together.  Do not boil.  Cook on low heat until sauce is a little thicker.

Spoon mixture onto bread slices and top with cheese.  Pop in the oven for a minute or two longer to melt the cheese.

So delicious!!!  It tasted even better than it looks!

Mandarin Pork Chops

This recipe is simply tasty!  I don't know if you are a fan of fruit in your hot meals, I know some people aren't, but if you do enjoy it, this would be a great recipe to try! 

What I used:
4 boneless pork chops (4 oz. each)
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. prepared mustard
Sprinkling of salt and pepper
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp. butter

Drain your oranges but reserve the juice and set aside.

Mix together cornstarch and 3 Tbsp. of juice.  Save the rest of the juice, you will use it later.

Mix together next 7 ingredients and rest of juice.

Get our butter melting in your skillet turned to med-high heat

Add chops and cook turning once













Now add your ketchup mixture and cook with chops until pork chops are cooked through. (About 10 more min.)













Remove pork chops and add cornstarch mixture and oranges.  This sauce will thicken quickly so you must stir constantly.

Voila, another GREAT tasting meal!  The sauce tastes really great over rice as well.

From our table to yours, bon appetite!

Breakfast fries

I love to make my husband breakfast in bed especially on his day off.  He usually leaves the house by 7:30-7:45 most days so I don't get to make him breakfast in bed too often.  Well, I was inspired to add something new to the mix this time around.  I made him these breakfast fries that were SO good and incredibly simple to make!

What I used:
2 med. russet potatoes, cubed
3 tbsp. butter
salt, pepper, seasoned salt to taste

Wash your potatoes and cube them.

Get your butter in your skillet and start melting it on med-high heat

Add potatoes

Add seasonings

Cover and cook for 10 min.

Remove lid and continue cooking for an additional 10 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through. Stirring frequently.

The finished product.....I promise you, your taste buds will thank you!

From our table to yours, bon appetite!

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

Since my husband is a youth pastor I am constantly trying to come up with new recipes for breakfast for our teenagers!  For the most part they aren't terribly picky, but I LOVE to have variety!  I usually make their breakfast the night before since our Sunday mornings are ALWAYS crazy busy!  This recipe was one I found off of allrecipes.com and I followed it to a "t" so I can't take any credit at all, accept that I made this :)

What the recipe called for:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
•  
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 and grease 9x13 pan.
Mix together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large bowl add butter,

and sugar, mix

Add eggs,

Vanilla

and sour cream. Mix well.

Add flour mixture to large bowl.  Your batter will be thick, it should look like this.

In a separate bowl mix together chocolate chips, sugar and cinnamon

Take half of batter and spread in cake pan.  Add chips, sugar and cinnamon mixture on top.  Repeat layer.

Bake for 20 min. or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Now doesn't that look yummy?

From our table to yours, bon appetite!

My husband the chef pt. 2

My husband would never think of fixing a meal without a piece of meat on the menu :)  He is your typical "meat and potoatoes" kinda guy, and I don't mind at all!  This steak recipe was FAB-U-LOUS!!  It not only tasted great but the presentation he put together was divine :)

What he used:
4 beef tender chuck steaks
3 Tbsp butter, divided  (melt 2 tbsp.)
1 tsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. parsley
2 tsp. garlic powder
Salt and pepper to season

Steak...it's what's for dinner :)

Get your butter melting in your skillet.  Salt and pepper your steak then add your steak to the skillet.

Be sure to cook on both sides.  You can cook your steak as long or as little as you wish....as long as it is cooked.  My hubby enjoys his steak still mooing, as I call it.  I like it more of a med-well.

 Mix your sauce together

Once your steak is cooked to your liking, remove from pan and slice














Drizzle sauce over top

Finished product..... DELICIOUS!  I can't tell you how great this steak (and meal!) was!  My amazing man did a wonderful job! He even set the table and lit the candles.  Our home is "G" rated so we had apple juice in our wine glasses :)  It was a wonderful evening together :)

From our table to yours, bon appetite!

My husband the chef pt. 1

My husband is quite the chef!  He enjoys cooking and I love that he enjoys helping me out!  He made me a candlelight dinner the other day and it was SO GOOD!!  One of the things he made was a spicy bbq potato wedges.  MMMMMM....MMMMM!!!

What he used:
4 Russett potatoes, sliced and diced into wedges
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. chili powder
2 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. seasoned salt
salt and pepper, sprinkled on top

Preheat oven to 450.
Slice and dice your potatoes into wedges.  If you are not going to be able to cook your potatoes right away, it is always a good idea to keep them in water so they do not turn an unattractive gray color.

Spread potatoes out onto a greased baking pan.

Use a baster to put butter on potatoes then repeat with honey

Add your seasonings (quite honestly, he didn't really measure everything out, he just sprinkled the seasonings on until they were coated well.)

This is what it should look like once everything is on the potatoes

Pop these babies in the oven for 25-30 min.
SO GOOD!  I used a honey mustard as a dipping sauce and it was just delicious!  

From our table to yours, bon appetite!