Tag: Recipe

Fruit Pizza

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I wish I could take credit for this delicious recipe, but I can’t. A friend of mine at work brought this into the office the other day and it was so amazing that I could hardly wait to make it myself. It’s super easy, inexpensive to make, and you can alter the recipe to include all your favorite fruits!

I chose strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries, but whatever is in season at the time would be fine. The possibilities are endless!

Ingredients:

  • Sugar cookie dough (make your own or take the easy route and buy the prepackaged kind like I did)
  • Vanilla
  • Powdered sugar
  • 8oz cream cheese (room temperature)
  • Whatever fruit you’d like to use as topping

Instructions:

  • First, preheat your oven to whatever the directions say on the back of your sugar cookie package. You are going to follow the baking instructions on the package.
  • I sprayed my pan with cooking spray so the cookie sticking was not an issue, but next time I will use parchment paper instead of spray just so that is is easier to transfer onto the serving platter.
  • Place the dough on the pan and use your hands to flatten it into a flat, round shape that resembles a large cookie (or pizza dough!).
  • Follow instructions for cooking time on the package, and remove when it is a golden brown.
  • Let the cookie cool completely.
  • Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla to taste. There are really no specific amounts, just add more powdered sugar and vanilla until you reach a taste you like.
  • After you transfer to a platter or whatever you’re going to use to serve it on, spread the mixture of cream cheese/powdered sugar/vanilla in a thin layer on top.
  • Scatter your fruit on top and serve chilled.

Mama’s “Tater Chip” Chicken

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When I was growing up, this was one of my Mama’s go-to recipes for week night dinners, and now that I have my own kitchen, I can see why! It’s so fast, easy, and delicious! The prep time is only about 10 minutes, and the chicken only has to bake for 25 minutes, so it’s perfect if you’re tying to hurry and get dinner on the table.

Ingredients:

  • 1 bag of sour cream and onion potato chips
  • mayonnaise
  • boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins (how ever many you’d like)

Note: You don’t have to use sour cream and onion chips. This recipe is also great with Ranch Doritos chips, or really anything flavorful.

Directions:

  • First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  • Next, line a cookie sheet with tin foil (which makes for super easy clean up).
  • Put the sour cream and onion potato chips in a gallon size ziploc bag and pound with your fist until they are completely crushed.
  • Spoon some mayonnaise onto a plate and drag your thawed chicken through it.
  • Next, one at a time, drop the mayonnaise coated chicken into the ziploc bag and shake until they are completely covered in crushed potato chips.
  • Your pan should look something like this when you’re putting it in the oven:IMG_3277
  • Bake at 350 for 25 minutes and your chicken should be a delicious golden brown. The flavors of the potato chips seep down into the chicken and the mayonnaise makes it so tender and juicy. YUM! Seriously, this will be your new favorite chicken dish. Try it!

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No-Bake Peanut Butter Pie

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My husband’s favorite dessert of all time is peanut butter pie, so it was only fitting that I find a recipe early on in our marriage that he loves so I can make it for him through the years. I hope I’m making this same pie for him when we’re in our 80’s, partly because I think he’s the dreamiest, and partly because this pie is just that good.

Ingredients:

  • 1 graham cracker crust (you could make your own, but I didn’t)
  • 1 (8 oz) block of cream cheese (at room temperature)
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 cup (creamy) peanut butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 8 oz frozen whipped topping
  • Chopped Reese’s cups (I used about 6) for topping 

Directions:

  • First, make sure that your cream cheese is at room temperature. This is very important to avoid lumps.
  • Next, using your mixer, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar until well blended.
  • Add the peanut butter and vanilla to the mixer until all 4 ingredients are well blended.

  • Then, remove the bowl from the mixer and gently fold in the whipped topping, being careful not to deflate it too much, but still making sure it is well incorporated into the mixture.

  • Using a spoon or rubber spatula, transfer the fluffy mixture into the pie crust and top with chopped Reese’s cups.
  • Freeze for one hour, then refrigerate until just before serving.

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Zucchini Taco Boats

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I was so pleasantly surprised by this recipe. These bad boys are GOOD (and knowing they’re a healthy alternative to tacos makes them even yummier!).

Ingredients:

  • 3 large zucchinis, cut in half lengthwise
  • 1/2 cup mild salsa
  • 1 lb. of lean ground turkey
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. chili powder
  • 1 tsp. paprika
  • 1/2 tsp. oregano
  • 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
  • 3 tbsp chopped bell peppers
  • 4 oz. can tomato sauce
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 cup shredded cheese

Directions:

  • First, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and cover the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish with the 1/2 cup salsa.
  • After cutting the zucchini in half lengthwise, use a spoon or melon baller (if you’re super fancy) to hollow them out, leaving about 1/4 inch so they keep their shape.
  • Chop some of the zucchini filling and squeeze excess water with a paper towel. You should have 3/4 cup, which you’ll add to the cooked turkey meat. You can just discard the rest of the zucchini filling, or save it to use for another recipe!
  • Drop the zucchini halves into salted boiling water for one minute, then place in the baking dish on top of the salsa.
  • In a large skillet, brown the turkey, breaking it up as it cooks. When it is no longer pink, add your onions, peppers, water, tomato paste, 3/4 cup zucchini filling, and spices. Let simmer for about 15 minutes.
  • Using a spoon, fill the hollowed zucchini boats and top with cheese.
  • Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes.

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  • Serve immediately. I recommend topping with sour cream and chopped scallions or cilantro.

What do I love most about zucchini boats? They are so easy to change up for a totally different taste. You can find two other zucchini boat recipes I’m just dying to try here and here.

Mini Omelette Muffins

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I made these little cuties for the first time this past weekend for our monthly women’s brunch at church, and was so pleased with how they turned out. They could easily be prepared the night before.

Ingredients:

  • Cooked, crumbled bacon
  • Shredded cheese
  • Diced peppers
  • Diced onions
  • Anything else you like in your omelettes: sausage, mushrooms, spinach, ham, tomatoes, etc.
  • 11 eggs
  • Salsa as a topping (optional)

Instructions:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  • Cook bacon (or whatever meat you choose)
  • Spray cups of muffin pan (I used cupcake liners and regretted it because the muffins stuck to the paper)
  • After dicing your peppers, onions, mushrooms, cheese, or whatever mix-ins you choose, add them to the meat and distribute into the cups of your muffin pan
  • Crack 11 (large) eggs and mix well in a bowl with salt and pepper
  • Pour eggs over the mix-ins in each cup so that they are a little over half-way full
  • Bake for 18-20 minutes and serve immediately

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Chicken Tetrazzini (in a fort!)

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Last night, I surprised my husband with a new recipe and a blanket fort in our living room. The look on his face was priceless, and it was so much fun eating dinner together in this cozy little candle-lit fort. We might just never grow up! Being his bride is the most fun I’ve ever had.

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I had never made chicken tetrazzini before, but I was very pleased with the way it came out and the leftovers I had for lunch today were just as good if not better!

Ingredients:

  • 16 oz. fettuccine noodles
  • 1/2 cup butter (plus more for buttering the baking dish and for your water when boiling noodles)
  • Chicken breasts or tenderloins (boiled or grilled)
  • 2 cans of cream of chicken soup
  • 2 cups of sour cream
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
  • 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions:

  • First, preheat oven to 300 degrees
  • Boil and drain your noodles
  • Then, cook chicken however you’d like. The original recipe I used said to boil 4 chicken breasts, but I grilled about 10 small chicken tenderloins and pulled them apart with a fork
  • Next, put butter, both cans of cream of chicken soup, sour cream, salt, pepper, and white wine in a bowl and mix it all together
  • Add cooked, shredded chicken to this mixture
  • Fold cooked, drained noodles into the mixture
  • Slice several pieces of butter and place on bottom of 9×13 baking dish, then spoon in the mixture
  • Sprinkle both the parmesan and mozzarella cheese on top
  • Cover with tin foil, bake 45 minutes
  • Uncover and bake for 15 more minutes

Nutter Butter Truffles

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Aren’t these truffles just adorable? I whipped them up a few nights ago and could hardly wait to share the recipe. They are so easy to make and you only need 4 simple ingredients. For a girl on the go like me, you can’t beat that!

Ingredients:

  • One package of Nutter Butter cookies
  • One block of cream cheese
  • White chocolate (I use the kind that comes in the microwave ready tray, which is super convenient, but you could also go the old-fashioned route and pull out your double boiler)
  • 1/4 cup peanut butter

Instructions:

  • First, put the Nutter Butter cookies in a gallon size Ziploc bag. Use a rolling pin to crush the cookies, until fine crumbs are formed. Or, if you’re super fancy you could use a food processor.
  • Then, in a mixer, combine the Nutter Butter crumbs with the whole block of cream cheese. If your cream cheese is at room temperature, it will be too sticky to form into balls easily, so cold cream cheese works better for this recipe.
  • Once it has reached a thick, creamy consistency, begin rolling the Nutter Butter and cream cheese mixture into one inch balls and set aside.
  • Melt your chocolate. It’s easiest to do this in 30 second intervals, stirring each time to evenly distribute the heat.
  • Next, cover your Nutter Butter balls in the melted white chocolate. I usually use a spoon to lower the ball into the chocolate, which makes it easier to spin it around so that it is completely covered.
  • After allowing the white chocolate to dry completely, melt the peanut butter and use a spoon to drizzle it over the truffles.

Viola! Peanut butter goodness that all ages are sure to enjoy!

“Cute as Pie” Cupcakes

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These cupcakes are sure to be a hit for any occasion. After all, who can resist a cupcake that looks like a miniature pie?

My darling husband sorted through an eight pound bag of M&M’s to separate the greens, blues, and reds. What a guy!

I made four dozen cupcakes, half yellow cake and half chocolate. I researched ways to improve boxed cake mix, and was pleasantly surprised with the results I got from the recipe I tried. The back of the box instructs you to add (to the cake mix) one cup of water, 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, and three eggs. However, if you add four eggs (instead of three), one cup of melted butter that has rested until room temperature (instead of oil), and one cup of milk (instead of water), it makes a remarkable difference. I was afraid the mixture would not be thick enough, but it was just fine. Follow the baking instructions on the back of the box for time and temperature.

Next, comes the homemade buttercream frosting (YUM). The trick here is making sure you’ve let your butter sit out all day, so that it’s room temperature. Mix one box of powdered sugar and three tablespoons of cocoa with a whisk, then, in the mixer, add the stick of softened butter. For four dozen cupcakes, I doubled this recipe.

With my M&M’s separated and after letting my cupcakes cool completely, I began to spread a thin layer of homemade buttercream frosting over the tops of my cupcakes, and immediately covered the top in one color of M&M’s, with the “M” facing down.

Lastly, after filling a piping bag with the buttercream and choosing a flat tip, I iced the top of the cupcakes over the M&M’s, creating the appearance of “lattice.”

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Don’t worry about the little imperfections, they really just make it look more like an actual pie. These little cuties are so much fun, and sure to be a favorite for all ages!

Million Dollar Baked Spaghetti

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Preheat oven to 350

What you need:

  • ½-3/4 lb. ground beef (I use the frozen kind that comes in the tube from Aldi)
  • 1 jar of spaghetti sauce (I use the prego in a jar, the Meat kind is good or the Garlic Herb, or if you have the homemade kind)
  • 8 oz cream cheese (softened, I let mine sit out all day)
  • ¼ cup sour cream
  • ½ cup parmesan cheese
  • Splash of milk
  • Whole stick butter
  • Box of spaghetti noodles
  • Shredded Cheddar Cheese

What you do:

  • First, brown and drain the hamburger meat
  • Add the spaghetti sauce to the drained meat
  • While the meat and sauce is simmering, boil your spaghetti noodles
  • While your noodles are boiling, use your mixer to mix the cream cheese, sour cream, parmesan cheese, and splash of milk. You want to add just enough milk to make the mixture creamy and a little bit spreadable
  • Next, cut half of the stick of butter into small pieces and set the pieces all over the bottom of your 9×13 baking dish
  • Put half of the drained noodles on top of the butter
  • Spread the sour cream/cream cheese/parmesan cheese/milk mixture on top of the noodles
  • Then, put the other half of the drained noodles on top of that mixture
  • Use the rest of the stick of butter to cut into small pieces and set the pieces all over that layer of noodles
  • Once you’ve done that, put the spaghetti sauce and meat mixture on top, and make sure to spread it all over the top
  • Bake for 25 minutes, sprinkle as much cheddar cheese on top as you want, and bake for another 10 minutes.
  • Serve immediately (although it’s great leftover all week)