greens and chocolate

will you be my bridesmaid? cookies

2012-02-13T21:35:00.001-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day! With love in the air today, I thought I'd share with you how I asked my six bridesmaids to, well, be my bridesmaids!

Since none of my bridesmaids live near me, I wanted to do something creative to ask them. I (obviously) first thought of baking and decided on decorated sugar cookies to 'pop the question'. I used this recipe for the ultimate soft sugar cookie. They're so soft that even one bridesmaid who received them a week after I made them said they were still soft. That's a soft cookie!

And I used this recipe for royal icing. Please excuse my not-so-great piping skills.

Even though a couple of my bridesmaids dug in before realizing I was seriously asking them a question (you know who you are), they were all surprised and excited to get the package.

secret recipe club: white bean chicken chili

2012-02-13T11:00:00.002-06:00

I took last month off from Secret Recipe Club on accident, as I forgot to sign up to participate, so I was excited to get back in it this month. In my usual fashion, I saved it until the last minute...or so I thought. When I went to schedule it to post last Sunday, I found out I was a week too early for my group! So for once I was ahead of the game with the SRC. It ended up working out perfectly as the recipe I chose to make was white bean chicken chili and it was Superbowl Sunday. What goes better with football than chili? Nada!

This month I was assigned to Mostly Food and Crafts, which has a fun combination of recipes and craft ideas. Not only did I have a hard time choosing what to make, but I got lost looking at all of the fun crafts she has made. How cute are these wreaths?!

I chose to make white bean chicken chili because it looked easy and delicious, which was exactly what I needed after a busy Sunday. I made a few changes to Mostly Food and Craft's recipe to make her easy recipe even easier. I used pre-cooked chicken breasts from Trader Joe's which made this chili amazingly quick to whip up, but would still be a fast meal if you cook your own. The original recipe seemed to make quite a bit, so I decreased the amount of chicken and left out a can of the beans, and it still made a ton! I ended up eating it for lunch four days in a row. I also added some cumin because I tend to think cumin makes everything better. We ate the chili topped with cheese and crushed up tortilla chips but I think it would also be yummy with some sliced avocados, sour cream, and cornbread.

White Bean Chicken Chili
recipe adapted from Mostly Food and Crafts

1 tbsp olive oil
1 white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp cumin
pinch cayenne pepper
1 (4 oz) can green chiles
1 (10 oz) cans white beans, drained and rinsed
2 large chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
3 cups chicken broth
1 (16 oz) bag frozen corn
Monterey Jack cheese, for topping
other toppings: sour cream, avocado, tortilla chips

Directions:

In large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook until translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add garlic, spices, and green chiles and cook one more minute.

Add the beans, chicken, broth, and corn. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to simmer and cook 15 minutes.

Top with cheese and other toppings. Enjoy!

peanut butter m&m brownies

2012-02-12T09:59:00.000-06:00

When I buy things that I intend to bake with like caramels, candy, or in this case, peanut butter M&M's, I have to hide them from Marc. I know, I'm mean! But if I don't Marc will get to them before I do and you can't bake much with an empty bag. Usually I don't have to work too hard at hiding them because, like most men, Marc only sees what's right in front of him in the cupboard and refrigerator and anything in the back gets ignored. When the secret gets out that I have a candy stash he usually does his little "I-can't-believe-you-were-hiding-those-from-me!" thing but then gets over it after the goodies come out of the oven.

This time it was no different. When the brownies came out of the oven he forgot all about my sneakiness. These brownies were devoured by us and my co-workers and are now a new favorite. They are fudgey, dense, and incredibly rich, and also have that shiny crust that I love. I suppose the peanut butter M&M's are somewhat optional but they added the Valentine's Day colors and of course the great peanut butter flavor studded throughout the brownies.

Peanut Butter M&M Brownies

recipe from Buns in my Oven

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 1/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 bag peanut butter M&M's

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 9x13" glass baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.

In small saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Stir in sugar and cook an addition 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Don't allow this mixture to boil.

Transfer butter into a large bowl. With a whisk, mix in eggs, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and vanilla extract until well combined. With a spatula, stir in the flour and M&M's until just combined.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Let cool, and enjoy!

slow cooker honey lemon chicken with new potatoes

2012-02-05T21:03:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I feel like meals made in the crock pot can get a bad reputation for being somewhat unrefined. The whole "set and forget" concept where you basically dump a bunch of ingredients in (often including a can of "cream-of-something") and end up with a big pot of soup or casserole doesn't make for the fanciest of meals. I'm usually all for this type of a comfort food meal (minus the "cream-of-something" ingredients) but sometimes I want to come home to a meal that's been cooking all day that is a little bit fancy. A meal that makes me want to break open a bottle of wine on a Wednesday. That's exactly what I got when I made this meal.

I mean, looking at the pictures, would you guess the chicken and potatoes were made in a crock pot? I wouldn't. The chicken thighs get browned on the stovetop (which I did the night before) before getting put in the crock pot on top of the vegetables which gives them a nice crispy skin. The slow cooking of the meat with the lemons makes it incredibly tender and flavorful, along with the potatoes which have a wonderful lemony hint to them. Pretty darn fancy for a Wednesday night dinner, I'd say.

Slow Cooker Honey Lime Chicken with New Potatoes
recipe from Rachael Ray
makes 4 servings

2 tbsp olive oil
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
salt and pepper
1 1/2 lb new potatoes, washed and quartered
1 small onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried thyme, or 5 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked and chopped
2 lemons, thinly sliced
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup water

Directions:

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper, then brown both sides, about 2 minutes each side.

In slow cooker, add potatoes, onion, garlic, thyme, and lemon slices. Season with salt and pepper, then lay the browned chicken on top. Drizzle with honey. Add water, cover, and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6-8 hours. Enjoy!

bacon, leek, and cheddar mini quiches

2012-01-31T20:49:00.000-06:00

So it's official: Marc and I set a date for our wedding! On September 15, 2012 we will be entering marital bliss and living happily ever after. I promise this won't turn into a wedding blog but it is MY blog so I can talk however much wedding talk I want to, mmkay? I'll at least post a recipe with wedding stories, so we'll all be happy.

Since we set the date and booked the venue (a vineyard!) for the ceremony and reception on Saturday, it was fun to share our wedding plans with Marc's family at the baby shower on Sunday. Speaking of which: more mini food to share! The second quiche recipe was centered around the best breakfast meat of all, bacon, and was fancied up with some leeks and good old sharp cheddar cheese.

These were practically gone before I knew it (except that one lonely last mini quiche that no one wanted to snag) and my only regret was that I didn't make more. They were a snap to make the morning of the shower, as we made the egg mixture the day before, then all I had to do the day of was cut out the puff pastry, fill, and bake.

A couple of notes about this recipe: I doubled the amount of egg/half-and-half mixture because when we mixed it together as the original recipe stated, there just didn't seem to be enough. The recipe below is how I made it, and the number of mini quiches you get out of it may differ due to muffin tin sizes. Also, I cut squares out of the puff pastry, but the original recipe suggests using a circle cookie cutter so you have the entire muffin tin perfectly covered. I thought this was a little wasteful, as a lot of the side scraps of puff pastry wouldn't be used. You can do it whatever way you want. Either way, they're tasty!

Bacon, Leek, and Cheddar Mini Quiches
recipe adapted from Fine Cooking
makes about 24 mini quiches

3/4 lb cooked bacon, diced
3 leeks, washed, drained, and white and light green parts sliced
2 cups half and half
1 cup grated Sharp cheddar
4 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
2 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 sheets

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray mini muffin tin with cooking spray. Set aside.

Cook bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat until crispy, or in the oven at 400 degrees for about 18-20 minutes. Transfer bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Reserve 1 tbsp of bacon fat.

In same skillet (or new one if you did oven baked bacon), add 1 tbsp of bacon fat over medium heat. Add the leaks and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5-7 minutes. Let cool.

In large bowl, combine half-and-half, cheese, eggs, egg yolks, thyme, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooled leeks and bacon and stir to combine.

To make the mini muffins, roll out one sheet of thawed puff pastry onto floured surface. Cut roughly 2" squares of puff pastry and press into the mini muffin tins.

Fill each one right to the top of the dough. Bake in preheated oven about 20-25 minutes, until the filling is puffed and the crust is golden brown. Enjoy!

mini spinach and feta quiches

2012-01-29T21:02:00.001-06:00

This weekend we hosted a baby shower for Marc's cousins new little bundle of joy. Little baby Theron was born in November, so we were able to ooh and ahh over him for hours. We decided to do a brunch baby shower and I took it even further and thought to go along with the new "mini" addition to the family, I would do a "mini" theme for the food.

Along with mini muffins, which I will be sharing later this week, I did two types of mini quiches. Oh and when I say "I" did this, I really should be saying "Jan" (my future mother-in-law) did this. We tag-teamed the prep cooking the day before and somehow Jan ended up doing 75% of the work while I lolly-gagged around the kitchen and talked about wedding planning.

We made these spinach and feta mini quiches with the vegetarian of the family in mind but they pleased the meat eaters too. I really loved the combination of the feta with the spinach, and while the original recipe was a "crustless" mini quiche, I think the crust is essential to a good quiche so I simply added a puff pastry crust to the bottom of each mini quiche.

Even if you're not planning a brunch anytime soon, these would be great to make ahead of time, freeze, and then zap in the microwave on weekday mornings.

Mini Spinach and Feta Quiches
adapted from The Quinces and the Peas
makes 18 mini quiches

8 eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 (10 oz) package spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray mini muffin tin with cooking spray. Place thawed puff pastry on floured surface. Cut puff pastry into about 2" squares and fit into mini muffin tin.

In large bowl, mix together the eggs, cream, garlic, nutmeg, and salt. Add the spinach.

Place about 1 tsp of the feta cheese in the bottom of each muffin then top with egg and spinach mixture.

Bake for 25-30 minutes in preheated oven, or until set. Let cool for 5 minutes. Enjoy!

falafel burgers

2012-01-25T21:24:00.001-06:00

A couple of weekends ago Marc and I went up to his parent's cabin for a cross country skiing lesson before we headed to Colorado. You see, his parents gave me a pair of cross country skis for Christmas and with the strange snowless winter Minnesota has had, I haven't been able to learn how to ski yet! Since we had our trip to Colorado coming up, we decided it would be best to head up north for some practice.

Coincidentally one of our good friends Sarah had just bought new cross country skis too, so we invited her and her husband Rob up with us so Sarah and I could learn together. Best decision ever. Not only was it great for me to have someone else to learn this new skill with, but also great for Marc to have other people around to buffer my often very low patience. Plus, Rob and Sarah are fellow lovers of good food, gin and tonics, and Just Dance parties, all of which are key ingredients to a fun weekend.

Among the many topics of conversation, at one point during the weekend Rob mentioned how he was trying to make a habit of watching the news in the morning. On one of the cooking segments, he saw falafel burgers being made, and since he said those two words I haven't been able to get my mind off of them. With all of the trip and engagement excitement, I haven't had much of a chance to cook much, but I made sure falafel burgers were my first meal back in the kitchen.

The burgers turned out to be a delicious meatless meal. The cool yogurt and cucumber tzatziki sauce pairs perfectly with the warm and surprisingly meaty falafel burgers. Another bonus: the falafel isn't fried, making this a healthy, tasty, and filling meal. These burgers would go great with quinoa tabbouleh!

Falafel Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce
adapted from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice
makes 6 burgers

tzatziki:
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup shredded cucumber
1 clove minced garlic
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper, to taste

falafel burgers:
2 (15.5 oz) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 small red onion, diced
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup breadcrumbs, divided
2-4 tbsp olive oil, for pan frying
buns
tomatoes
lettuce

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for tzatziki. Set aside in refrigerator.

For the burgers, in large food processor, add chickpeas, half of the onion, parsley, lemon, cumin, coriander, and salt. Pulse until chickpeas are mostly smooth, scraping bowl occasionally.

Dump mixture into a separate large bowl and add remaining half of onion and 1/3 cup of the breadcrumbs.

Put remaining 1/3 cup of breadcrumbs in a shallow dish.

Form 6 equal-sized patties and dredge both sides in the bread crumbs.

To cook the patties, add half of olive oil to a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Add 3 of the burgers and cook about 4-5 minutes on each side, until lightly brown. Once finished with first batch, add remaining oil and cook remaining 3 patties.

Serve patties on a bun or in a pita with tzatziki sauce and vegetables. Enjoy!

the proposal

2012-01-23T21:29:00.000-06:00

No recipe here today. Lo siento. Today I have something much more exciting to talk about! Usually I interweave stories from vacations into my posts with recipes, but this trip deserves a post of its own. And since the highlight of the trip was too good, too sweet, and too perfect to describe with words, I'll stick to lots of pictures and few words.

Breckenridge, Colorado.

Snowshoein'.

Beautiful day.

The guy I love.

Snowy proposal. So happy.

Happy tears.

Happy couple.

Love in the air.

The end!

chunky tomato pasta sauce

2012-01-18T19:17:00.000-06:00

Yesterday after work Marc and I had a conversation that went something like this:

(me calling Marc)

Marc: "Bob's Java Hut" (this is how he always answers the phone)

Me: "Hey what's up?" (completely ignoring his greeting)

Marc: "What's that you say? You want a latte?" (still hoping to get some response to his alter-latte-making-ego)

Me: "Make it a vanilla latte" (I had to play along a little bit)

Marc: "That'll be ten dollars. Are you on your way home from work?"

Me: "Yep. What are you up to?"

Marc: "I'm about to go running."

Me: "So what should we do for dinner tonight?" (the inevitable, dreaded, and always unanswered question)

Marc: "Well, I was looking through the cabinets and I was thinking maybe we could make some pasta with a tomato sauce and then some cheesy garlic bread."

Me: "Oh really?" (very intrigued at this unusual interest in what we had for dinner)

Marc: "Yeah and I was thinking you could help me cook it"

Me: speechless, and in shock

You see, while Marc loves to eat he doesn't exactly enjoy cooking. Lucky for him, I love to cook (and eat!), so it works out pretty well. Lately, however, I've been giving him a little bit of a hard time for not even trying to cook. I've been doing my best to convince him that it doesn't have to be difficult and complex. As it turns out, he picked out the perfect starter meal to cook with me.

Marc had the idea to make a tomato sauce since we had a can of whole tomatoes in the cabinet. Luckily, we had everything we needed to make an actual pasta sauce. So I showed Marc how to chop the onions (with my handy veggie chopper), mince the garlic, and turn whole tomatoes into diced tomatoes. The basics. He also got to work making his cheesy bread creation while I finished cooking the sauce. It was teamwork in the kitchen at its finest.

This sauce is the perfect example of how simple, every day ingredients can come together to make something wonderful. We had it over angel hair pasta, but you can pair it with your own favorite pasta or whatever you have on hand. Even though we ate it with Marc's cheesy bread, I think it would have also paired nicely with a light salad and some sauteed chicken. But that cooking lesson will be saved for another night.

Chunky Tomato Pasta Sauce

1 tbsp olive oil

1 white onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 (28 oz) can whole tomatoes, with their juices, diced

2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

In large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and saute 5-7 minutes, until translucent. Add garlic and cook one more minute. Add tomatoes, basil, and season with salt and pepper. Cook another 8-10 minutes, or until the tomatoes begin to soften and the sauce is heated through.

Serve with your favorite pasta and top with Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

quick and easy cinnamon rolls

2012-01-16T21:05:00.000-06:00

Weekends at the cabin are made for a few things. Sleeping in, for one. And spending time in the kitchen. And enjoying the outdoors. Which is exactly what we did this weekend. Every second of the weekend was packed and those 2 days I learned how to cross country ski, we cooked yummy food, and danced up a storm playing Just Dance. Solid weekend, I'd say.

Unfortunately, sleeping in wasn't on my agenda for Sunday. When I woke up earlier than I had hoped on Sunday morning, I knew it would be at least an hour before Marc woke up. I decided to take advantage of some kitchen time and make something special for breakfast. Cinnamon rolls immediately popped in my mind but since I really wanted to eat breakfast before noon I didn't think it would be possible.

To my rescue came this "quick and easy" cinnamon roll recipe that uses a buttermilk dough which magically requires no rising. Yep you read that right: no rising. It was a weekend breakfast miracle! The dough comes together quickly and within a half an hour I had these babies popped in the oven, leaving me with another 30 minutes to drink my coffee and enjoy a little more relaxation.

I'm definitely no cinnamon roll connoisseur but these were some of the best homemade rolls I've had. They definitely earned extra points for being so easy but even more points for how good they were. I loved the tender buttermilk biscuit oozing with the gooey cinnamon sugar filling. And of course no cinnamon roll is complete without a sweet and creamy glaze. These cinnamon rolls are weekend indulgence at its finest!

Quick and Easy Cinnamon Rolls

recipe from Leite's Culinaria

for the filling:

1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

4 tbsp granulated sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/8 tsp salt

for the dough:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp sugar

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

6 tbsp butter, melted and cooled, divided use

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

for the glaze:

1 cup confectioners sugar

3-4 tbsp heavy cream or milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Brush a 9" nonstick cake pan with 1 tbsp of melted butter or cooking spray. Set aside.

To make the filling: combine brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and salt in a small bowl. Add 1 tbsp of melted butter and stir with fork or fingers until butter is evenly distributed. Set aside.

To make the dough: whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together buttermilk and 2 tbsp of the melted butter in a measuring cup, then add the liquid to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon or dough hook in an electric mixer, until moisture is absorbed. Transfer to a floured surface and knead until smooth.

Pat the dough into a 12x9" rectangle. Brush with 2 tbsp of melted butter then sprinkle evenly with filling.

Starting at a long side, roll the dough, pressing lightly to form a tight log. Pinch the seam to seal then place the log seam-side down. Cut evenly into 8 pieces.

Place one piece in the center of prepared pan then place remaining rolls around the edge of the pan. Slightly flatten each piece of dough with fingers. Brush the rolls with the remaining 2 tbsp of butter.

Bake in preheated oven for 23-25 minutes, until golden brown. Drizzle with frosting.

To make the frosting: Combine powdered sugar, cream, and vanilla extract until desired consistency. Drizzle over warm cinnamon rolls and eat warm. Enjoy!

israeli couscous, lemon, and spinach soup

2012-01-09T20:14:00.001-06:00

The days when I have dinner cooking in the crock pot are always good days. It's a combination of a sense of freedom, knowing that I don't have to do a minute of cooking that night, and excitement of how the ingredients I put in the crock pot have transformed throughout the day. So this morning when I put the ingredients in my crock pot for a new chili recipe I wanted to try, I was stoked for dinner that night. You can only imagine how disappointed I was when I came home to see that my crock pot had somehow turned off during the day, leaving my chili half-cooked. I mean...what the?! How does that even happen?

Once I got past my major disappointment and silenced my growling stomach with a little snack, I realized I had to figure out what to have for dinner. As I scanned my refrigerator for possibilities, I eyed this soup I made to bring for lunch all week.

It's a perfect lunch soup because it's light and broth based, but full of flavor from the lemon zest and red pepper flakes. Even though I had eaten a bowl earlier for lunch, it was so good that I decided to go for round 2 of the day. I paired mine with a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner but it would also pair perfectly with a chunk of crusty bread or a light salad. To make the soup heartier, you could even add some shredded chicken breast or a can of cannellini beans. However you make it and whatever you pair it with, don't forget the Parmesan cheese on top. Not optional.

Israeli Couscous, Lemon, and Spinach Soup
adapted from Bake Your Day

1 tbsp olive oil
1 white onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried thyme
1 lemon, zested and juiced
3 cups fresh spinach leaves
1 cup Israeli Couscous
6 cups vegetable broth
salt, to taste
Parmesan cheese, for topping

Directions:

In a large pot or Dutch oven, add olive oil. Over medium-high heat, add the onion and garlic and cook for 4 minutes. Add the red pepper flakes, lemon zest, and thyme and cook another 3-4 minutes until the onions are translucent.

Add spinach and couscous and cook for 1 minute. Next, add the broth and lemon juice. Bring to a simmer and let cook for 12-15 minutes, until the couscous is barely tender.

Top with grated Parmesan cheese and enjoy!

crock pot chicken enchilada soup

2012-01-03T20:28:00.001-06:00

I've been trying to write the first sentence for this post for about two hours now. But every time I begin to type I get an incoming Words with Friends play. Or I get the urge to check Twitter. Or Facebook. Or Pinterest. Seriously, what is up with all of this time-sucking technology? Which brings me back to my New Years resolutions/goals for 2012.

After I posted them on my last post, I thought of about 23 more goals I wanted to add, one of which being that I want to read more. Like, actual books. Not blogs. Not Facebook statuses or tweets. Novels. So to put an objective figure on this resolution, my goal is to read one book per month. Twelve books in a year is doable, right? Any book recommendations for me to start with? I'm already 3 days behind!

I figured I need to build up my collection of crock pot recipes since I'll be so busy reading books in addition to keeping up with all of my time-wasting technology. Oh and a new season of the Bachelor started last night. How am I going to find the time to go to work?! Times like these call for seriously simple meals, involving little prep and lots of yummy. While this recipe isn't exactly the type of crock pot recipe where you dump it all in and turn it on for the day, there's only about 10-15 minutes of prep time. There's even less the morning of if you chop your onion and bell pepper the night before. You know, to avoid smelling like onions at work. Unfortunately for my patients I forgot to plan ahead.

This ended up being one of my favorite crock pot recipes yet! I love the flavor from the enchilada sauce, the stringy cheese in every bite, and most of all I loved the cut up tortilla strips in the soup, which got all soft and chewy once they had soaked for a few minutes. You could also top with sour cream, crushed tortilla chips, or sliced avocados for even more added texture.

Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup
adapted from Dainty Chef

3 tbsp unsalted butter
3 tbsp flour
1/2 cup milk
2-3 cups chicken broth (depending on how thick you want it)
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14.5 oz) Rotel diced tomatoes with jalapenos
2 cups frozen corn
1 white onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 (10 oz) can Enchilada sauce
2 large chicken breasts
Monterey Jack cheese
Flour tortilla, cut into small pieces

Directions:

In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Once melted, add flour and keeping stirring until smooth and bubbly. Remove from heat and slowly add milk and 1/2 cup of chicken broth, stirring constantly to keep it smooth. Return it to the heat and bring to a gentle boil and keep on stirring until it thickens.

Once it thickens, remove from heat and slowly add the enchilada sauce and remaining chicken broth until smooth. Set aside.

To the crock pot, add the beans, tomatoes, corn, onion, bell pepper, and chicken breasts. Pour sauce over ingredients, cover, and cook on low heat for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours.

When it's finished cooking, remove the chicken and shred into bite-sized pieces. Add back to soup and mix together. Top with cheese and tortilla strips. Enjoy!

streusel-topped french toast casserole

2012-01-01T20:43:00.000-06:00

Happy 2012 everyone!! Part of me is sad to say goodbye to 2011 because it was such an awesome year. A year filled with a trip to the Dominican Republic, graduating from PT school, an epic road trip with my favorite traveling partner, a big move to Minnesota, and starting a new job. But I have a feeling 2012 is going to be even better.

I've never been one to make New Year's resolutions, mainly because I've always associated resolutions with dieting or quitting a bad habit, and I don't diet or have any habits I'd like to quit. Then a few weeks ago I was thinking about the upcoming new year and I realized I have some room for improvement in my life right now. Maybe I could write some resolutions for positive improvements I want to make. I guess you could say I'm setting goals for 2012, rather than resolutions.

Goals for 2012:
1. Find a new church. Since moving to Saint Paul, I haven't made an attempt to find a church and I definitely want that to change. I have a few on my list that I want to check out and I think this is a good time to start.

2. Learn how to play piano. It's something I've always wanted to do and Marc has one in our apartment, so it's time that I get some use out of it too!

3. Make (and stick to!) a cleaning schedule. I guess you could say I'm not the most cleanly person when it comes to housekeeping. Marc doesn't call me "Hurricane Taylor" for nothing.

4. Blog with intention. I feel like many bloggers get so caught up getting people to "like" them, "follow" them, "stumble upon" them, "pin" them etc. that they lose sight of why they are blogging in the first place. I'll admit, I've gotten caught up in this too. I mean, it's pretty exciting to see that a huge number of people visited my blog that day or that I got a handful of new followers. But I really want to get back to my purpose of blogging, which is to explore the wonderful world of cooking and share it with whoever feels like reading. So instead of worrying about having the newest, most creative dessert in the blog world, I'm simply going to focus on cooking and baking what I want and what sounds good to me.

Which is exactly what I did this morning! Yesterday I picked up a day-old loaf of bread with the intention of using it on New Year's Day morning for either a breakfast egg bake or french toast casserole. Naturally, I woke up craving something sweet so I took advantage of waking up 2 hours before Marc and got started in the kitchen. Now, I've seen quite a few french toast casserole recipes that call for an overnight refrigeration before baking in the morning. Since I didn't plan ahead I used an overnight recipe, crossed my fingers, prayed for a New Year's Day miracle, and skipped the overnight part. Oh and I added a streusel topping. Because everything is better with streusel. Everything.

Guess what? It turned out delicious as ever, even skipping the overnight refrigeration. The benefit of the overnight part is the ease of making breakfast that morning. All you have to do if you make it the night before, is turn the oven on, make the streusel, and toss it in the oven. It doesn't get much better than that on a Sunday morning. Luckily, if you wait until the day of, it's really not much work to put it together.

As you can maybe tell from the picture, I cut the recipe in a quarter and used a teeny tiny baking dish since I was making it just for the two of us. The full recipe would fit in a 9x13" pan but since the main problem with french toast casseroles usually comes from sogginess in the middle, I would recommend baking the casserole in two 8x8" baking dishes instead of one 9x13" to avoid that problem. However, if you want to make it all in one dish, I would add 5-10 minutes to the baking time.

French Toast Casserole with Streusel Topping

for the french toast casserole:
1 loaf crusty french bread
8 eggs
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger

for the topping:
1/2 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter, cold
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
dash of nutmeg (optional)

Directions:

Grease 2 8x8"baking pans with cooking spray. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut loaf of bread into 1" chunks and place in prepared baking pans.

In large bowl, combine eggs, milk, vanilla, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and ginger and whisk well. Pour evenly over 2 pans of bread.

At this point you can let it soak up overnight in the refrigerator to easily pop in the oven the next morning, or you can just go ahead and bake it. If you are going to bake it right away, make the streusel and then following baking instructions. If you are going to refrigerate it overnight, wait until the morning to make the streusel before putting it in the oven.

To make the streusel: combine all streusel ingredients in a food processor and pulse until resembling fine crumbs. Sprinkle over casserole.

If baking it after refrigerating it overnight, let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before putting it in the oven.

Bake for 45-55 minutes in preheated oven, until it puffs up and top is golden brown. If you find the top is browning too quickly, place aluminum foil over the top and finish the baking. Let it sit for 10 minutes before digging in. Enjoy!

top recipes of 2011

2011-12-29T21:03:00.001-06:00

I've seen a bunch of blogs doing "Top 10" posts from 2011, so I thought it would be fun to do the same. One problem: I can't pick just ten recipes! And why limit it? 2011 was one tasty year!

The Savory:

Tortellini Minestrone

Pan Seared Salmon with Yogurt Dill Sauce

Crock Pot Italian Beef Sandwiches

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchilada Casserole

Beer-Marinated Grilled Chicken

Salsa Ranch Burgers

Mango and Black Bean Quinoa Salad

Creamy White Turkey Chili

Quinoa Salad with Butternut Squash, Kale, Dried Cherries, and Blue Cheese

The Sweet:

Avalanche Bars

Salted Peanut Chews

Red Velvet Cream Cheese Swirled Brownies

Mississippi Mud Brownies

Chocolate Pecan Cheesecake Bars

Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Raspberry Cream Sandwich Cookies

S'Mores Rice Krispie Treats

Coffee Cake Muffins

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars with Cream Cheese Glaze

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars

Mint Oreo Truffles

tiramisu bread pudding

2011-12-29T06:37:00.000-06:00

Making an over-the-top dessert is becoming a Christmas tradition for me, and this year was no exception. As if we don't get enough of sugar fix from the toffee, fudge, peanut butter kiss cookies, and sugar cookies right?! 'Tis the season, I suppose!

This year we took on a recipe that was no walk in the park: tiramisu bread pudding. The first part of the dessert involves making the bread pudding. This part isn't too difficult, though it took some time to bake and then let cool completely. Then when it came time to cutting the bread pudding in half it wouldn't come out of the pan as a whole, so we ended up scooping out big chunks of the bread pudding and putting it in a trifle bowl. Still all the yumminess, but maybe a little less eye-appeal. Oh well.

The tiramisu comes together with the tiramisu cream which is made like a traditional custard and is spiked with some rum to make this an especially boozy dessert. I decreased the rum in the recipe I'm posting because we all thought there was just a tad too much. The rum is completely optional, but gives it some great flavor. I bet you could also use rum extract if you'd rather do that. So there ya have it - an involved recipe for sure but amazingly delicious and worth every step!

This recipe also came at good timing because I'm participating in the last week of the Holiday Recipe Club, and mascarpone was one of the ingredients to use!

Tiramisu Bread Pudding

recipe adapted from Spoon or Fork

for the bread pudding:

12 oz bread (I used challah)

2 cups whole milk

1 1/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled

3-6 tbsp dark rum

3 large eggs

4 large egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

6 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

for the tiramisu cream:

1 tbsp dark rum

6 large egg yolks

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

16 oz mascarpone cheese

3/4 cup cold heavy cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

To make the bread pudding: Have a 9x13" baking pan at hand, as well as a roasting pan big enough to hold the baking pan. Spray baking dish with cooking spray. You will bake the bread pudding in a water bath. Line the roasting pan with a double layer of paper towels.

Cut the bread into 1" cubes. If it is not stale, bake in a 350 degree oven on a baking sheet for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and spread into 9x13" baking pan. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, bring the milk and cream to just a boil.

Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, rum, coffee, and sugar in a large bowl. Once the milk and cream mixture comes to a boil, slowly drizzle in 1/4 cup into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. This will temper the eggs so they don't curdle.

Still continuously whisking, slowly pour in the rest of the hot milk. Add the chocolate and whisk in until it is melted and the custard is smooth. Pour this mixture over the bread and press gently with the back of a spatula to help cover it with the liquid.

Pour hot water into the roasting pan halfway up the sides of the baking pan. Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until it is uniformly puffed and a knife comes out clean. Transfer baking pan to a cooling rack and cool to room temperature.

To make the tiramisu cream: Place a heat proof bowl over simmering water. Add the egg yolks and beat at a low speed with a hand mixture until just combined. Add the sugar and salt and beat at medium-high speed until pale yellow, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula once or twice.

Add rum and beat another 20-30 seconds. Add mascarpone and beat at medium speed until no lumps remain, about 45 seconds.

In a separate bowl, beat the cream at a medium speed until frothy, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Increase speed to high and continue to beat until cream holds stiff peaks, about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes longer.

Using a rubber spatula, fold one-third of the whipped cream into mascarpone mixture to light, then gently fold in remaining whipped cream until no white streaks remain.

To assemble: After bread pudding has completely cooled, cut it in half and place it on a plate. Alternately, you can scoop out chunks of 1/2 of the bread pudding and layer in a trifle bowl like I did. Top with 1/2 of the tiramisu cream and sift 1 tbsp of cocoa powder over the top.

Top with the other half of the bread pudding (either in chunks or the other half you cut) then top with the rest of the tiramisu cream and another tablespoon of cocoa powder. Refrigerate 6-24 hours, then serve. Enjoy!

chocolate, peanut butter, and caramel club cracker bars

2011-12-22T20:51:00.000-06:00

I'm heading home tomorrow for some quality time with the fam, and to enjoy a few extra days off from work. I have to say, I'm grateful to be able to have a whole 5 days off from work, but I sure do miss the two week long holiday breaks we got during school. Thinking about how I'll never have a winter break again, I feel like I need to interrupt this blog post to give a little PSA. Here goes: if you're still in school, cherish these times! Sleep in, lounge around, spend time with your friends and family, take your dog for a walk, bake some cookies, and just enjoy your time off. These breaks will soon be gone forever!

All right, now that I've convinced all of my collegiate readers to stay in school as long as possible, onto the bars! These bars are in the same family as my Saltine Toffee, but with a little more pizzaz and a dash of peanut butter sass. They are made with Club Crackers which I love for all of their buttery goodness, and combined with a simple stove top caramel sauce, peanut butter chips, and melted chocolate. Yep...these babies are good! And easy. They are definitely worthy of your previous winter break time.

Chocolate, Peanut Butter, and Caramel Club Cracker Bars

from Picky Palate

45 Club Crackers

2 sticks butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 cup peanut butter chips

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, melted

Directions:

In an 8x8" baking dish that's lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray, place 15 of the Club Crackers. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the peanut butter chips over the crackers.

In medium saucepan, melt butter and brown sugar over medium high hearing, stirring constantly, and boil for 3 minutes, until a bubbly, smooth, and creamy caramel forms. Pour 1/2 cup of caramel over the peanut butter chips. Add another layer of 15 crackers, peanut butter chips, and caramel. Top with final layer of crackers then spread with melted chocolate. Let chill in refrigerator for 20-30 minutes to let caramel and chocolate set up.

Enjoy!

quinoa salad with butternut squash, kale, dried cherries and blue cheese

2011-12-20T21:00:00.000-06:00

Is anyone sick of holiday baking yet?? Yeah, didn't think so. Even so, amidst the pounds of butter and sugar that are being shoved in your face lately, I thought you might appreciate some vegetables. Because if you eat your vegetables, you can have an extra cookie later. It's a written rule, I swear.

It's no secret that I have a love for squash of every type, but I have to say butternut squash is my favorite. In this salad it gets roasted with some onion and kale, which gives it a ton of flavor, along with the bold blue cheese and sweet dried cherries. It makes a great vegetarian side or main dish, and the leftovers only get better every day. If you can't find quinoa, you could also make this salad with couscous or even some barley or wheat berries.

Quinoa Salad with Butternut Squash, Kale, Dried Cherries and Blue Cheese

adapted from The Sweets Life

2 tbsp olive oil
1 small butternut squash, peeled and diced
1 white onion, sliced
3 cups of chopped kale
1 cup uncooked quinoa
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup blue cheese

1/2 cup dried cherries

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Toss 1 tbsp olive oil with butternut squash and onion. Place on baking sheet (I always line mine with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray) and bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, tossing after 20 minutes. With 10 minutes left, place kale on separate baking sheet and cook 10-15 minutes, until it's wilted and a little crispy.

Meanwhile, while squash is baking rinse your quinoa and place in pot with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until quinoa has absorbed all water. Remove from heat and fluff with a fork. Set aside.

Toss quinoa with squash, onions, kale, and balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper, to taste then top with dried cherries and blue cheese.

merry mondays: candy {mint oreo truffles}

2011-12-19T00:01:00.003-06:00

Merry Monday! Can you believe it's already the middle of December and less than a week until Christmas? It's crazy, I tell ya! This week's Merry Monday theme is candy and though I was all stoked to make some peanut brittle, my dreams faded when I couldn't find my candy thermometer.

After my step-sister suggested making cake balls, I thought of the truffles I had seen made with Oreos. These truffles are the type of treat you can fall back on when you need something quick, easy, and extremely tasty to whip up this holiday season. I've seen them made with regular Oreos which I'm sure are delicious, but I really loved the mint version. Especially topped with the crushed candy canes, which added a little crunch and extra peppermint flavor. Definitely a hit!

What candy do you have to share with Merry Mondays? Whether it's a new or old candy recipe, I would love for you share it by linking up your posts at the Link-Up after the recipe!

Mint Oreo Truffles

1 package of Mint Oreos
1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese, at room temperature
1 package of white almond bark
1/2 cup crushed candy canes

Directions:

Place Oreos in a large food processor and pulse until fine crumbs. If you don't have a food processor, you can put them in a large freezer baggie and crush them finely with a rolling pin.

Place Oreo crumbs in large bowl and add cream cheese. Mix until well combined. Roll into tablespoon balls and place on a parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour.

Melt almond bark according to directions. Dip chilled balls into melted bark and place back on baking sheet with lining. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes immediately. Repeat with remaining truffles. Refrigerate another 15-30 minutes, to let almond bark set up. Keep refrigerated until serving. Enjoy!

This was also shared at Crumbs and Chaos' Seasonal Inspirations.

chocolate covered pretzels

2011-12-18T23:55:00.000-06:00

This recipe was submitted by my mom for Merry Mondays candy theme. What a fun and festive holiday candy treat!

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Mini Pretzels
1 lb chocolate (any kind will do) or candy melts
Sprinkles (optional)

Directions:

Melt the chocolate in a microwave or a double boiler

Dip the pretzels in the chocolate. You can do this by submerging the pretzels in the chocolate and then fishing it out with a fork. I would tap the fork against the side of the bowl to let any excess chocolate drip off.

Place the pretzels on a baking sheet lined with wax paper.

Apply sprinkles before the chocolate hardens.

reminder: merry mondays

2011-12-16T07:32:00.000-06:00

Happy Friday everyone! Just a friendly reminder that another Merry Monday is quickly coming and this week's theme is: candy! So don't forget to stop on by on Monday and share your favorite recipes for all things brittle, truffle, bark, fudge, or any other Christmas candy you like to make! Have a great weekend!

holiday recipe club: eggnog cookies

2011-12-15T01:25:00.009-06:00

I'm a total sucker for recipe "clubs" and themed blogging "parties" so when I stumbled upon the Big Fat Baker's Holiday Recipe Club, I jumped at the opportunity to join. The concept is actually pretty to similar to last year's Merry Monday, as Erin from Big Fat Baker gives three ingredient options to use to make a holiday recipe. This week's options were peppermint, eggnog, and gingerbread. Honestly, I wanted to make a recipe for each one! But for the sake of time and my waistline, I didn't.

Since I'd already made a peppermint recipe and Erin requested that our posts be completely new, I picked eggnog. Last year I made cinnamon chip eggnog scones that made me "mmm" out loud so I was excited to try the 'nog again in a baked good. Not surprisingly, I found this recipe from Pinterest (I know, I'm obsessed) and from the rave reviews I knew they would be a great cookie. They turned out great - soft, sweet, and full of eggnog flavor.

Eggnog Cookies with Eggnog Glaze
recipe from Your Cup of Cake

for the cookies:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup (12 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup eggnog
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 egg yolks

for the glaze:
1/4 cup eggnog
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Set aside.

In large bowl with electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter until light, about 3 minutes. Add eggnog, vanilla, and egg yolks and beat until combined.

Add flour mixture and beat on low until just combined. Don't over mix.

Roll dough into 1 tablespoon balls and place on prepared baking sheet 2" apart. Bake in preheated oven 15 to 18 minutes, until edges are slightly golden brown. Let cool on sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack.

To make glaze: mix together egg nog and powdered sugar. Drizzle over completely cooled cookies. Enjoy!

This was also shared at Crumbs and Chaos' Seasonal Inspirations!

the great food blogger cookie swap: red velvet shortbread cookies

2011-12-13T19:04:00.002-06:00

If you're a food blogger and have facebook or Twitter, chances are you have heard about the Great Food Blogger Cookie swap, hosted by Lindsay of Love & Olive Oil and Julie of the little kitchen. There has been buzz about it for over a month, and in the end over 22,000 cookies have been baked and sent across the country. 22,000 cookies! How cool is that?!

While I was excited to make some holiday cookies to send to other bloggers, I have to admit I was even more excited about getting three dozen cookies in the mail from three other bloggers. Since they came on three separate days, it was like opening a present every day!

The first package I received came from the German Foodie, who sent me German Hazelnut Shortbread. She describes these as addictive, and she is definitely right! After tossing back a few of them I had to put them in the freezer so they weren't sitting out, calling for me to eat.

The second package I received came from Krissy at Dainty Chef who sent not only some tasty Chocolate Chip Biscotti, but also Hot Chocolate on a Stick! I love dipping biscotti in hot chocolate, so this was such a fun treat.

My final package came from Everyday Mom, who sent me one of my favorite Christmas cookies: Black Forest Crinkle Cookies. I absolutely loved these chocolatey powdered sugar covered cookies!

For my contribution to the cookie swap, I made Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies. When I saw this recipe on Recipe Girl's website, I knew I had to make them for the swap. They're just so festive looking! I hope my recipients loved them as much as I enjoyed making them!

Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies

makes 20-24 cookies (I doubled this recipe)

from Recipe Girl

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cold, cut into small chunks

1 tbsp red food coloring

3 oz white chocolate, chopped

1 1/2 tsp shortening

sprinkles

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

In food processor, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Cover and pulse until combined. Add butter and red food coloring. Pulse until mixture resembles fine crumbs, then continue to pulse until it begins to clump together.

Scoop dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly until nearly smooth. At this point, you can either roll it out to 1/2" thickness, then cut out dough with a floured cookie cutter or you can roll dough into a log and slice to 1/2" thick cookies. Place cutouts/slices 1" apart onto prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until centers are set. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.

Once cool, melt white chocolate and shortening in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. Once completely melted, dip half of each cookie into the melted chocolate, then top with sprinkles. Let stand on wax paper until set. Enjoy!

This was shared at Crumbs and Chaos' Seasonal Inspirations!

peppermint crunch cocoa krispie treats

2011-12-12T21:14:00.002-06:00

Just a little warning: there's going to be a lot of butter and sugar this week on greens & chocolate.

Definitely leaning more towards the "sinful indulgence" side of this blog.

Starting.....now. First up, these are a festive little treat I made up in my head one night laying in bed. What? You don't lay in bed thinking of what you want to bake? Me either.

The inspiration came from a box of Trader Joe's Candy Cane Jo Jo's that I randomly picked up last week. Then I made some Cocoa Krispie treats with some mint chocolate marshmallows that I found at Target, which were good but I could just tell needed a little more pizazz to them. Enter the Candy Cane Jo Jo's and we have rice krispie treats on Christmas steroids.

Peppermint Crunch Cocoa Krispie Treats

4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 package (10 oz) mini marshmallows
5 cups Cocoa Krispies
14 Mint Oreos (I used Trader Joe's Candy Cane Jo Jo's), roughly chopped
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
15 Andes Mint Peppermint Crunch candies or 1 cup Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips

Directions:

Line 9x13" baking dish with aluminum foil and lightly spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

In large pot, melt butter over medium heat. Once melted, add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Once melted, add the Cocoa Krispies and chopped Oreos and stir until well combined.

Firmly press mixture into prepared pan.

To melt chocolate chips, place them in a microwave safe bowl and microwave in increments of 30 seconds, then transfer to a plastic baggie.

Once chocolate is in plastic baggie, cut the very tip of one corner off, then drizzle half of it over krispie treats. Finally, sprinkle Andes chips over the melted chocolate and lightly press down into the chocolate so they stick. Drizzle remaining chocolate over the chips. Place in refrigerator for about 15 minutes to let the chocolate harden. Cut into squares and enjoy!

This was shared at Crumbs and Chaos' Seasonal Inspirations!

merry mondays: christmas cookies

2011-12-12T07:10:00.003-06:00

Merry Monday everyone! This week's theme is Christmas cookies - who doesn't love cookies?! My cookie recipe for this week is for Potato Chip and Toffee cookies and while it might sound a little odd considering you don't typically find chips in cookies, but I'm tellin' ya they are tasty! The chips and toffee give the cookie that sweet and salty combo that I just love, and the ground pecans give the cookie an underlying nutty taste. They are bound to intrigue and please your friends and family this Christmas season.

So what's your favorite Christmas cookie recipe? Don't forget to add your link at the end of this post!

Potato Chip and Toffee Cookies

adapted from My Baking Addiction

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup crushed potato chips

1/2 cup ground pecans

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup toffee bits

1/2 cup sugar, for rolling the cookies in

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. With mixer on low, add in potato chips, pecans, and vanilla. Stir in flour and mix until just combined. Finally, stir in toffee bits.

Place remaining sugar in small bowl. Make 1 1/2 tbsp dough balls, roll in sugar, then place on prepared baking sheet. Lightly flatten with the bottom of a glass. Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until edges are slightly golden brown. Cookies will firm up while cooling. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack to completely cool.

Enjoy!

chocolate chip peppermint crunch cookies

2011-12-12T07:05:00.001-06:00

This recipe was submitted by my mom for Merry Monday's Christmas cookie theme. They are a festive twist on chocolate chip cookies, stuffed with Peppermint Crunch Junior Mints and topped with candy canes. I can't wait to try them - she promised me she would freeze some for me for when I come home for Christmas!

Chocolate Chip Peppermint Crunch Cookies

recipe from Two Peas in their Pod, made by Taylor's mom

3 3/4 Cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
2 boxes (3.5 ounce) Peppermint Crunch Junior Mints
6 large candy canes, crushed
Sea salt, for sprinkling on cookies

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla until well combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Tuck 1 Peppermint Crunch Junior Mint into about 1 tablespoon of cookie dough. Form into a ball and roll into crushed candy cane pieces. Place cookies on baking sheet and sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until edges just start to turn golden brown. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

secret recipe club: honey apple chicken salad

2011-12-12T07:00:00.000-06:00

After a month off from the Secret Recipe Club, I'm back in action! This month I was assigned to Miz Helen's Country Cottage and had so much fun browsing her blog. Along with her own recipes, she participates in a fun blogging event called "Full Plate Thursday" in which she links up other blog's links with what she "filled her plate with" along with a link-up of what others filled their plate with. It was so fun to look through!

Since I've been on a baking spree the past week, I wanted to fill MY plate with something a little healthier, and this salad sounded perfect. All of the components worked together so well - the dried sour cherries, mozzarella cheese, sunflower seeds, and rosemary honey dressing. Are you wondering about the apples? Well, I was in such a hurry to eat lunch after my Saturday morning workout, that I completely forgot to add the apples! Doh! I kept them in the recipe below because I know they would have been delicious, but I can say the salad was still great without it. Thanks Miz Helen for the great healthy recipe!

Honey Apple Chicken Salad

adapted from Miz Helen's Country Cottage

for the dressing:

1/2 cup honey

3/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

3 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary

for the salad:

4-5 cups fresh spring greens

2 cups shredded or diced chicken breast

2 red delicious apples, sliced thin

1 cup dried cherries, roughly chopped

1 cup shredded Mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup roasted and salted sunflower seeds

Directions:

To make the dressing: combine the honey, apple cider, salt, pepper, and rosemary in a blender. Slowing, while the blender is on, stream in the olive oil until it is thoroughly blended.

In large mixing bowl, add spring greens, chicken, apples, dried cherries, cheese, and sunflower seeds. Drizzle with half of dressing and toss well. Add more dressing to your liking. Enjoy!

tortellini minestrone

2011-12-09T19:52:00.000-06:00

Things you should do this weekend:

1. Hibernate and stay at home. It's too cold to go outside!

2. Except if you still have Christmas shopping to do. Then get out and get 'er done! I'll see ya at the mall.

3. Be a good blogger and bake some cookies for Merry Mondays - Santa is watching.

4. Be naughty and eat all of the cookies you baked. Santa will understand.

5. Make this soup after your cookie craze. It's got lots of good for you stuff!

Adding tortellini to soup is no new thang to me. I did it in my early days of blogging with my Tortellini Tomato Soup and then again in Creamy Butternut Squash Soup with Tortellini which was so good I could barely speak. You just really can't go wrong adding cheese filled pasta to soup. This tortellini soup is based off of Food 52's minestrone soup recipe contest winner and there's no doubt this recipe is a winner. The addition of bacon is genius, as it adds an amazing smoky flavor. But for any vegetarians out there - you can definitely just leave it out and this would be a delicious vegetarian soup as well!

A couple of notes about this recipe - just like any minestrone, the veggies are very adaptable. Want to add green beans? Do it! Hate carrots? Leave 'em out. Another thing is that this soup really thickens up after cooling and being refrigerated, I'm guessing because of the tortellini. I brought the leftovers for lunch every day for a week and just added a little extra water to it before heating it back up. You could also add some more broth if adding water weirds you out.

p.s. Don't forget about this week's Merry Mondays theme: Christmas cookies! It's simple: share some of your favorite Christmas cookies by stopping back on Monday and linking up your blog post or e-mail your recipe and pictures to me at taykad(at)gmail(dot)com.

Tortellini Minestrone

adapted from Food 52

2 tbsp olive oil

2 slices bacon, chopped into small pieces

1 large white onion, diced

1 leek, trimmed and thinly sliced

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

2 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped

2 ribs of celery, chopped

4 cups vegetable broth

1 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans

1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes, with juice

1 tbsp freshly chopped rosemary

1 (10 oz) package of cheese-filled tortellini

3-4 cups of spinach, roughly chopped

Parmesan cheese, for topping

Directions:

Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to large soup pot along with bacon pieces over medium heat. Cook for 2 minutes, or until bacon pieces start to brown.

Add remaining tablespoon of olive oil, along with chopped onion and leeks and saute until softened, about 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Then add carrots and celery and cook another 4-5 minutes.

Add broth, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, and rosemary. Season with salt and pepper. Bring soup to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes.

Add tortellini and let cook another 5-7 minutes, or until they start floating to the top which indicates they are cooked. Finally, add spinach and cook until wilted. Add more salt if needed.

Serve topped with grated Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

homemade sugar scrub

2011-12-07T20:14:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I posted the edible homemade gift-in-a-jar my mom and I made and today I'm posting the other thing we made to fill our plethora of jars: homemade sugar scrub. You know, the yummy smelling exfoliator to scrub off all the yucky from your skin, leaving you soft and smooth.

Making sugar scrub homemade makes is 20 times less expensive and you can customize the scents to whatever kind of essential oil you can find! Plus, you can make one for yourself too...Merry Christmas to you!

Homemade Sugar Scrub

3 cups white sugar
1 cup plus 2 tbsp good quality, non-scented oil (such as olive oil)
30 drops of scented essential oil (if making different scents, use 10 drops per jar)

Directions:

Combine sugar, oil, and essential oil in large bowl. Add to jars and that's it! Decorate jars and enjoy!

homemade peppermint hot cocoa mix

2011-12-06T19:59:00.000-06:00

I mentioned last week that I have been channeling my inner craftiness lately, and to tell you the truth, there's really no end in sight. The crafting madness can't be stopped! Actually, I'm sure after Christmas I'll tame the beast but for now, bring on the crafts. The latest creation: homemade gifts. This idea actually started brewing after a random trip to Ikea with my mom resulting in the purchase of way too many glass jars. We bought them with the purpose of filling them with stuff and giving them as Christmas gifts, but we didn't have any solid ideas of what we were going to fill them with.

Once again, Pinterest came to the rescue. Now the problem wasn't what the heck do we fill these jars with?, but what don't we fill these jars with? Finally, we chose this festive hot cocoa mix, and another (inedible) treat that I'll be posting later this week.

These jars were pretty much a breeze to put together, and the most time consuming part was choosing which font to use for the label. Truthfully, the most important part of assembling these jars is that you have Christmas music playing and a glass of wine nearby. However, if you want more technical tips on how to make homemade gifts in jars, I would highly recommend visiting Maybe Matilda's site which has a great step-by-step tutorial.

This recipe will fill a 1 quart jar, but we used smaller jars, just keeping the ratio of ingredients the same, which is pretty easy with the given measurements.

Peppermint Hot Cocoa Mix
makes 1 quart (32 ounces), 12 servings

1 cup powdered milk
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips
1/2 cup crushed candy canes
miniature marshmallows

Directions:

Layer powdered milk, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, chocolate chips, and candy canes in jars. Top jar with marshmallows until filled.

To make the cocoa: mix contents in a large bowl. Mix 1/3 cup of mix with 1 cup of boiling water. Top with additional marshmallows if you want. And why wouldn't you?

merry mondays: appetizers

2011-12-05T06:38:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the first Merry Monday of 2011! I don't know about where you live, but here in Minnesota it's finally looking a bit like Christmas since we had a few inches of snow fall this weekend. Snow always gets me in the mood for holiday cooking and baking, so it seems fitting to get into the holiday cheer today and share some yummy holiday appetizer recipes!

While I have a ton of fun holiday appetizers, this new one definitely ranks up there as one of the best. My mom and I made this marinated shrimp and artichoke appetizer this weekend and the flavor in it is seriously out of this world! The recipe combines shrimp, olives, tomatoes, artichokes, and feta cheese in a super flavorful dressing, in which the majority of the flavor comes from a packet of garlic and herb dressing mix. Let me just say this: stay away from the mistletoe after eating a spoonful of this stuff. Lotsa garlic, I'm tellin' ya!

This appetizer is a clear winner for the holidays because it's quick to throw together, makes a good size serving, is delicious, and with the green artichokes and red tomatoes, I'd say it's even festive-looking! Oh and another thing - it just gets better and better the longer it sits, so I'd recommend making it the day ahead, which means there is one less thing you have to do on the day of.

So what did you make for Merry Mondays? Whether its a new or old recipe, we would love to see it! To add it to the Merry Monday list just click "Click here to enter" at the end of this post. If you have a great holiday appetizer recipe but don't have a blog, just email your recipe (and pictures if you have them) to me at taykad(at)gmail(dot)com or to Claire at claireamberson(at)gmail(dot)com

Also, while it's not required, it would be reallllly nice of you to spread the holiday cheer and put a link to Merry Mondays on your post with the recipe you posted.

Marinated Shrimp and Artichokes

from Southern Living

makes about 8-10 servings for appetizers

1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley

2 tbsp finely chopped green onion

3 tbsp olive oil

1 (.75 oz) envelope garlic and herb dressing mix

1 lb peeled and deveined, large cooked shrimp

1 (14 oz) can quartered artichoke hearts, drained

1 (6 oz) can large black olives, drained

1 cup halved cherry tomatoes

1 (4 oz) package of crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

In large bowl, whisk together balsamic vinegar, parsley, green onion, olive oil, and dressing mix. Add shrimp, artichoke hearts, olives, tomatoes, and feta cheese and mix well to combine.

Cover and chill for 4-24 hours. Serve with a slotted spoon.

caramelized onion, mushroom, and gruyere tartlets

2011-12-04T23:55:00.003-06:00

This recipe was my mom's contribution for Merry Monday's holiday appetizer theme. Since we hadn't had any holiday parties yet to make appetizers for, we had a little appetizer sampling along with the Marinated Shrimp and Artichoke appetizer for a fun wine & appetizer dinner. While these tartlets gave us somewhat of a hassle, as we over-dethawed the puff pastry and it was sticking to itself, they still came out looking decent and really tasty!

The flakiness of the puff pastry was a great match with the silky caramelized onions and mushrooms. Topped with the Gruyere cheese, these made for a perfect hand-held party appetizer. The only problem I see with these at a party is that they might get cold if they sit out too long. But I doubt they will last long enough to get cold!

Caramelized Onion, Mushroom, and Gruyere Tarlets

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
16 ounces white button mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
½ teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper, to taste
¼ cup white wine (can substitute chicken or vegetable broth)
2 sheets puff pastry (thawed according to directions on package)
1 cup shredded Gruyere cheese (can substitute any variety of Swiss cheese)
1 egg + 1 tablespoon water, beaten together (for the egg wash)
Handful of parsley, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Heat the olive oil in a wide, heavy-bottomed pan over medium-low heat and add the onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to caramelize, about 20 minutes.

Add the butter to the pan. Once melted, add the mushrooms and saute, stirring occasionally, until they are completely soft and all of the liquid evaporates, about 20 minutes.

Add the garlic and the thyme and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add the wine, scraping the bottom of the pan to pull up all of the browned bits, and cook until all of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat.

Unfold the thawed sheets of puff pastry and cut out circles from the dough, placing them evenly spaced on the baking sheets. You could also just cut them as squares. Using a very sharp knife, make four small scores around the perimeter of the dough, about ¼ to ½-inch from the edge.

Top the rounds of puff pastry with a small spoonful of the onion and mushroom mixture, trying to keep the filling within the score marks. Top with the shredded cheese. Brush the edges of the dough rounds with the egg wash.

Bake until the pastry is golden brown, about 15 to 25 minutes. Enjoy!

Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker

menagerie

2011-12-04T23:40:00.000-06:00

This recipe comes from Marc's mom Jan who says that even though it's a tad "retro" it's always an appetizer that people love. Also, if you have any mushroom or olive haters in your family Jan says it's just as good without them.

Menagerie

recipe from Marc's mom, Jan

8 oz shredded Swiss cheese

4 oz mushrooms, sauteed in butter and chopped

1 stick pepperoni, chopped

1/2 small green pepper, chopped

4-5 green onions, chopped

1/4 cup black olives, chopped (or 2 1/2 oz can of chopped black olives.... the easy route)

mayonnaise

Triscuits

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together. Add small amount of mayonnaise...just enough to make the ingredients stick together.

Put 1 tablespoon on top of triscuit. Bake in oven until warm....don't overbake or the cheese just melts away...

reminder: merry mondays!

2011-12-04T09:38:00.000-06:00

Happy Sunday! Just a friendly reminder that tomorrow is the first Merry Monday of the month and the theme is holiday appetizers! There will be a link-up at the bottom of my post tomorrow and you can add any and all of your favorite holiday appetizers - old or new! If you don't have a blog and would like to participate, e-mail me your recipe and a picture if you have one at taykad(at)gmail(dot)com, and I will post it along with mine.

Hope to see you tomorrow!

creamy chicken enchilada casserole

2011-12-01T21:10:00.001-06:00

Sometimes I feel like I'm 25 going on 50. My bedtime has been getting earlier and earlier, I started knitting for fun, and lately I have been doing a lot of crafting. On Friday nights. With a glass of wine. Cool, I know. But really, I'm pretty proud of my new-found craftiness. So far I've duplicated this:

this:

and this:

Yep, I made the sparkly wreath. And Marc loves it.

With all of my crafting going on, I've been finding less and less time to cook. Just kidding. Cooking always trumps crafting. Always. But with Marc working every night at the hospital and never being home when the sun is up making photography impossible, my cooking and blogging have been less than stellar. Have no fear, with a little help from Pinterest and some holiday cheer, I'm feeling all sorts of inspired.

I recently started getting Cooking Light in the mail(thanks mom!), and while this isn't a recipe from the current issue, I saw it on Pinterest awhile ago and have been dying to make it. Now that it's officially cold in Minnesota, I'm leaning more towards soups and casseroles for my comfort food and this seemed to offer me all of the cheesy comfort I could ever want. Cheese = happiness.

Making enchiladas as a casserole makes them even easier to assemble (even though rolling up the tortillas isn't that hard), but if anything it's just a fun way to enjoy the flavors of enchiladas. I prepped the chicken and sauce the night before, so when I came home from working all I had to do was assemble and bake. Marc and I both loved it and it happens to be great as leftovers too.

Creamy Chicken Enchilada Casserole

adapted from Cooking Light

makes 6-8 servings

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 white onion, diced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 (10 oz) can evaporated milk (I used 2%)

2 oz of cream cheese (I used regular but you could probably use light)

1 (4 oz) can of green chiles

1 (10 oz) can of enchilada sauce

1 1/2 cup Monterey Jack cheese

1/2 tsp salt

12 corn tortillas

1/2 cup crushed tortilla chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake chicken breasts in preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size, making sure the juices run clear when cut into. Remove from oven and shred with 2 forks. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and let saute for about 5-7 minutes, until it becomes translucent. Add milk, cream cheese, chiles, enchilada sauce, 1 cup of the cheese, and salt. Stir well until everything is melted together, then add the shredded chicken. Remove from heat.

Spray a 2 quart casserole dish with cooking spray, then place 4 tortillas on the bottom. Spread tortillas with 1 1/2 cup of chicken mixture. Top with 4 more tortillas, then another layer of chicken mixture. Repeat once more, ending with chicken mixture. Top with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese and tortilla chips.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes, then let stand for 10 minutes before cutting. Enjoy!

turtle pumpkin cheesecake + merry mondays!

2011-12-01T00:01:00.000-06:00

It's baaaaaaaaack! What's back, you ask? Merry Mondays is back! For readers who have joined g&c in the past year, Merry Mondays is a fun holiday blog event that I host along with the lovely Claire from Claire Cooks, during which each Monday in December we are featuring different holiday recipes submitted by YOU! Whether or not you have a blog, we would love for everyone to join in on the fun and share their favorite holiday recipes.

Last year each week we featured a different holiday ingredients, but this year we're switching things up and each week will feature a different holiday food theme. Here's the schedule:

December 5: holiday appetizers

December 12: Christmas cookies

December 19: homemade candy

December 26: holiday drinks

That means it starts next Monday! Whether you have already posted a great holiday appetizer, or have one that you are dying to make, we would love for everyone to participate. The more, the merrier! There will definitely be more details to come, but if you are interested in participating in any of the weeks and don't have a blog, please contact me by clicking the "contact" button in my header. If you are participating and have a blog, there will be a linky party you can link up on.

Now, on to this crazy delicious dessert. Before December hits, I wanted to post one last pumpkin recipe. I made this turtle pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving and it terrible. Just kidding. How could a creamy pumpkin cheesecake combined with all of the deliciousness of turtle-ness be terrible?! As you can imagine, it was rich, decadent, and over the top. But it was Thanksgiving and calories didn't count. A fun thing about this cheesecake was how it looked pretty impressive and made it appear like I have some serious cheesecake skills. Here's a little secret: if you can drizzle chocolate and caramel, you too can make an impressive looking cheesecake.

Turtle Pumpkin Cheesecake

adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

makes 9" cheesecake

for the crust:

1 whole package of Oreos

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/3 cup caramel sauce, homemade or store-bought

for the cheesecake:

32 ounces (4 8 oz blocks) cream cheese, at room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin

4 eggs, at room temperature

2 1/2 tbsp heavy cream

1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground allspice

for the topping:

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

caramel sauce

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Wrap a 9-inch springform pan with heavy duty foil around the edges.

To make the crust: pulse Oreos in large food processor or put them in a large plastic baggie and roll them with a rolling pin until fine crumbs. Add melted butter and mix to combine. Press into prepared springform pan and bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle pecans over crust, then drizzle with caramel sauce. Set aside and reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F.

To make the cheesecake: In large bowl with electric mixer, beat cream cheese, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add pumpkin and mix on low. Scrape down sides as needed. Then add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides as needed.

Add heavy cream and vanilla and beat until combined, about 1 minute. Finally, add the spices and salt and mix well to combine. Pour batter into prepared crust.

Place the springform pan in a large roasting pan in which the springform pan will fit and add hot water to pan about halfway up the springform pan. Bake in preheated oven for 60-70 minutes, until the edges are set and the middle still jiggles a little. Keeping the oven door closed, turn off the oven and let the cheesecake cool in oven for 1 hour. After an hour, remove from oven and take springform pan out of waterbath and let cool on a wire rack for 2 hours. Lastly, place in refrigerator and let cool completely for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.

Once cooled completely, sprinkle pecans on top of cheesecake. Place semi-sweet chocolate chips in a plastic baggie and microwave in 20 second intervals until melted. Snip one of the edges off the baggie to drizzle chocolate over pecans. Then drizzle with caramel sauce to your liking. Enjoy!

gnocchi and sausage soup

2011-11-25T21:50:00.000-06:00

I made this soup a few weeks ago, but I've been waiting for the perfect time to share it with you. Until now, I wasn't really sure when that time would be but now it is clear. The leftover turkey is gone, the remaining stuffing is too mushy to eat anymore, and you've polished off the pies. You're craving something comforting yet somewhat healthy to balance out the past two days of indulging, and you don't want to spend much time in the kitchen. That's where this soup comes in.

It's a soup that comes together pretty quickly, involving a little bit of chopping and browning of the meat, with the rest of the ingredients tossed in and slowly simmered to bring together all of the flavors. There are so many great things going on in this soup, from the fluffy gnocchi to the spicy sausage and basil flavored cream broth. You can also play around with the recipe and use kale instead of spinach, or use whatever kind of sausage you prefer: chicken sausage, Italian sausage, turkey sausage, soy chorizo, whatever floats your boat.

Gnocchi and Sausage Soup
recipe adapted from Cinnamon Girl

1 tbsp salted butter or olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb chicken sausage or Italian sausage, removed from casings
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried basil
32 oz chicken broth
1 (14 oz) can Italian diced tomatoes
16 oz gnocchi
3 cups raw spinach, roughly chopped
3/4 cup half and half or heavy cream
Parmesan cheese, for topping

Directions:

In large soup pot, melt butter/oil over medium heat, then add onions and bell pepper. Saute for about 7 minutes, until the onion becomes translucent. Add garlic and cook for one more minute. Remove from pot and place in small bowl. Add sausage to soup pot and cook over medium heat until well done, breaking it apart as it cooks. If you're using pre-cooked chicken sausage, I would just cut into small pieces and cook it until it's heated and a little golden brown.

Drain sausage of any fat and add onion and pepper mixture to sausage, along with the dried basil, chicken broth, and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Over medium heat, bring to a boil and let simmer for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, add gnocchi and spinach, bring to a simmer, and cook until the gnocchi start to float to the top. Check package of gnocchi for cooking time. Finally, add half and half and simmer for another 5 minutes. Finish with Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

happy thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T08:35:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my wonderful readers! Among the long list of things I am thankful for, you are one of them! I am thankful to have my little corner of the web world to create, explore, and share with you my passion for cooking and baking. Thank you for reading!

double peanut butter cookies

2011-11-20T21:42:00.001-06:00

This weekend Marc had to do something no man ever wants to do - go into an arts and craft store with his girlfriend. To buy Christmas decorations, none-the-less. Surprisingly, I think Marc enjoyed it a little more than he'd like for me to admit publicly on my website, but this is my site so I get to say what I want. Really though, he was getting pretty into it. When we first entered the store he was a little sensory-overloaded but before I knew it, he was all "oooh Tay look at this" and "I like the Joy and Noel signs best." It was my dream come true!

That was, until it came to picking out the wreath. We agreed to pick out a plain wreath and then add embellishments to make it our own unique wreath. The problem came when we were choosing which specific embellishments would be used. To give you an idea of how different our ideas were, this was what he wanted the wreath to look like:

On the other hand, this was what I was going for:

Sparkly? Yes. But what's wrong with a little Christmas sparkle?? I did my best to sell the sparkle but he stood his ground with the "simple is better" idea. In the end, neither of us budged. So we agreed to ~~skip the wreath altogether~~ wait until I could go shopping alone and pick a wreath out on my own. Oh the joys of co-habitation.

Although Marc didn't get the wreath he wanted, he did get some pretty tasty cookies. I also brought these to share with my co-workers on Friday and one person claimed they were "the best peanut butter cookie" she has ever tasted. I'm always hesitant to call any recipe "the best" but between you and me, these seriously are the best peanut butter cookies ever.

Not only are they packed with a cup and a half of peanut butter, but there are creamy peanut butter chips studded throughout each cookie along with a little crunch from some chopped peanuts. That's some serious peanut flavor going on! The thing that makes these "the best" for me is their amazing chewy texture. I can't stand when a peanut butter cookie is crumbly and these are anything but that. They would make a great addition to a holiday spread!

Double Peanut Butter Cookies
recipe from Making Life Delicious

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar, plus more for topping
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup peanut butter chips
1/4 cup dry-roasted salted peanuts, chopped

Directions:

In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and stir to combine well. Set aside.

In large bowl with electric mixer, beat together butter and both sugars until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add peanut butter and beat until just combined. Then add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla. Make sure to scrape down the sides so all is combined well.

Slowly add half of the flour mixture and beat until just combined, then add rest of flour mixture and mix until combined. Stir in peanut butter chips and peanuts by hand until incorporated well.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. An hour if you have the time (and patience).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

After refrigeration time, scoop out dough in 2-3 tbsp balls and space about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet. Lightly press down to flatten and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in preheated oven 13-15 minutes, or until edges a slightly golden brown. They probably won't appear to be done in the middle but don't worry - they are done! Let them rest for a couple of minutes on the pan, then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

crock pot southwestern shredded beef

2011-11-16T19:43:00.002-06:00

Pin It

Confession: tonight I drove to yoga and then when I couldn't find a parking spot, I turned around and drove home. Whew! I feel much better to get that off my chest. Before confessing this I felt guilty for a few reasons: 1. I wasted gas/money on my drive over. 2. I probably could have looked harder/drove around longer for a parking space so I could go to the class 3. I didn't even consider parking a few blocks away (but it's getting cold out!) 4. And obviously, I felt guilty for not going to yoga.

To my defense, I've felt kind of icky all day (hellooooo Aunt Flo!) and I already took a spinning class this morning. Also, I was really looking forward to dinner. I just didn't want to wait! What was so tempting that I couldn't wait to have? Leftovers. Exciting, huh? Well when it's leftover crock pot southwestern shredded beef, it is exciting!

I don't eat beef very often, and I'm pretty sure if it weren't for Marc I would basically never cook it for myself. Well thank God for Marc because this shredded beef is really tasty! The recipe starts with a chuck roast, slow cooked with onions, garlic, and lots of spices. After it is fork tender, it is shredded and then southwestern-ized with some more spices, tomatoes, green chiles, and cilantro. We ate ours on a bun topped with shredded cheese, but this meat would also be a great filling for tacos or burritos or if you're nixing the carbs (who are you and why are you here?!) you could have it on top of a salad.

One thing I should point out about this crock pot recipe: there is a little bit of post-crock pot cooking that will take maaaaaybe 20 minutes after you shred the beef. This entails combining the beef with the southwestern flavors and heating it all up so it's nothing major, but I didn't want you do like I typically do and be surprised when you read the directions at the last minute.

Crock Pot Southwestern Shredded Beef
adapted from Better Homes and Garden

3 lb boneless beef chuck roast
2 large white onions
2 cloves garlic
1 (14 ounce) can beef broth
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chiles
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions:

Cut one onion into thin wedges and spread on bottom of a large slow cooker. Add minced garlic, then top with beef.

In a medium bowl, combine the broth, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, thyme, salt, and cayenne pepper. Pour over beef, cover, and cook on low for 11-12 hours. You can also cook it on high for 5-6 hours.

After it's done cooking, remove beef from cooker and shred beef with two forks. Add some of the remaining juice to beef to moisten, and set aside.

Dice remaining onion into small pieces. Add to a large saucepan along with olive oil over medium heat until translucent, about 4-5 minutes. Add shredded beef, undrained tomatoes, cumin, chili powder, and salt. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer uncovered for 5 minutes or until heated through. Stir in cilantro.

Serve on toasted buns or rolls and topped with cheese. Enjoy!

thanksgiving recipe round-up

2011-11-14T20:02:00.001-06:00

Still trying to figure out what to make for Thanksgiving? Have no fear! Today I have a handful of delicious, g&c approved ideas for breakfast, appetizers, side dishes, and desserts for Turkey Day. Enjoy!

Breakfast:
Spiced Pear Walnut Bread

Pumpkin Crumb Coffee Cake

Starbuck's Pumpkin Bread

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Pumpkin Monkey Bread with Salted Maple Glaze

Cranberry Coffee Cake

Appetizers:
Bacon Wrapped Dates

Baked Goat Cheese and Caramelized Onion Dip

Prosciutto and Parmesan Stuffed Mushrooms

Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Dip

Creamy Avocado Dip

Seven Layer Mediterranean Dip

Side Dishes:
Butternut Squash and Sage Risotto

Butternut Squash Gratin with Leeks, Goat Cheese, and Hazelnuts

Butternut Squash and Bacon Macaroni and Cheese

Brussel Sprout Slaw with Mustard Dressing and Pecans

Cornbread Pudding Baked in an Acorn Squash

Caramelized Pear and Blue Cheese Salad

Chopped Autumn Salad with Maple Vinaigrette

Dessert:
No-Crack Maple Pumpkin Cheesecake

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Chewy Molasses Cookies

Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Salted Caramel Sauce

Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Double Crumble Apple Pie

Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte

pumpkin crumb coffee cake

2011-11-13T21:19:00.000-06:00

I've been in the "working world" for a good four months now and I think it will officially hit me that I'm no longer a student when Thanksgiving break rolls around. Let me re-phrase: when the week rolls around that students, not working people, get off from school. Since I'm not taking any time off around Thanksgiving this means no week-long cooking and baking marathon, no traveling, and no Black Friday shopping. Growing up is the pits. Don't feel too bad for me - I will still be able to cook, bake, and spend time with some friends and family, which is really what Thanksgiving is all about, right?

This crumb cake would be a great addition to a Thanksgiving breakfast. Along with some fruit salad, it would be perfectly filling, tiding you over until the big meal. Not to mention, it's only appropriate to fit in as much pumpkin as possible into your Thanksgiving day. You can start your day with this pumpkin breakfast cake and then end it with pumpkin pie. Or maybe you want to save room for pecan pie but still want a little pumpkin on Thanksgiving. Or maybe you want a little festive snack that you can nibble on throughout the day.

Really, there is no wrong reason for baking this coffee cake - it is delicious! The cake is dense, moist, and packed with flavor, but the brown sugar and butter combo in the crumb topping is the best part. It definitely tasted best the day after it was baked, so you can bake it ahead of time - one less thing to worry about on Thanksgiving day!

Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Crumb Topping
adapted from The Noble Pig

for the crumb topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
8 tbsp unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces

for the cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x9" pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

To make the crumb topping: mix together flour, oats, sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Add butter and combine with fingertips until mixture is crumbly. Set aside.

To make the cake: In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. In small bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, oil, vanilla, and milk. Stir into flour mixture until just combined and pour into prepared pan.

Top with prepared crumb topping, lightly pressing into cake batter. Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted 2" from the edge comes out clean. Cool in pan and enjoy!!

recipe round up

2011-11-10T23:57:00.034-06:00

It's been a little quiet over here at greens and chocolate this week, yes? Only a couple of posts and not a whole lot of cooking behind the scenes either. There really isn't one reason for the lack of action in my kitchen, but it's a combination of being busy, Marc not being home much for dinner, and daylight savings! The last one is really getting on my nerves. This week it has gotten dark before I even get home...how am I going to photograph anything I cook for dinner?! Does anyone have any tips or tricks for cooking and blogging during the winter? Help!

Since I've been slacking I'm leaning on some foodie friends for some inspiration. So what have I been drooling over this week?

First up, some Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes from live love pasta. Since some nights sweet potatoes are the star of my dinner (the co-stars are cookies), I could really use some new ways to jazz them up.

When I saw these Herbed Turkey Burgers with Goat Cheese and Cranberry Sauce I had visions of Thanksgiving. These could never replace the real deal, but what a fun meal before or after turkey day!

Speaking of Thanksgiving, how about some Rosemary Garlic Parmesan Biscuits from Skinnytaste to dip in your gravy? I can only imagine how amazing these smell baking in the oven.

I'm always on the look-out for meatless meals that are healthy yet still hearty, and this Chickpea Potpie with Cornbread Topping from Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen looks amazing!

Move over pumpkin cake roll...there's a new cake roll in town. Red Velvet Cake Roll from Mel's Kitchen Cafe already has me thinking of Christmas dessert. Oh who am I kidding? I'll be making this way before Christmas.

Next up: creamy chocolate pudding in 5 minutes from the wicked noodle. For someone who's sweet tooth needs to be satisfied as soon as it starts acting up, this looks like the perfect dessert!

I've been craving peanut butter lately and these peanut butter and toffee cookies from Espresso and Cream look like the perfect fix! Yes, peanut butter is my drug.

And I couldn't have a recipe round-up without some pumpkin! Now, I've seen skillet cookies before but none like this pumpkin chocolate chip skillet cookie from Created by Diane. Topped with ice cream and chocolate sauce?! I'm so there.

Okay, now you can wipe the drool off your chin. Recipe round-up over. Happy Friday!

pumpkin monkey bread with salted maple glaze

2011-11-07T20:29:00.001-06:00

If you were to look through the greens & chocolate recipe index, you might notice that there aren't too many recipes that involve yeast. To be honest, yeast scares me a little. I don't know the difference between the different types of yeast, I don't have a thermometer to tell how warm my water is, and I really don't have the patience to wait around for things to rise two times before they're even baked. So I understand that my readers might have some of the same feelings.

You probably have more patience than I do (especially when I'm hungry), but I'm guessing not much more time in your day to wait for yeast dough to rise. But really, you have to make this pull apart bread. It is to. die. for. Seriously: it's pumpkin spiced yeast dough, rolled in cinnamon sugar and butter. Then after it's baked up all light and fluffy, it's drizzled with a salted maple glaze.

So how do you pull this off with your busy schedule? Here's what you do. After you leisurely roll out of bed on a weekend morning, you make the dough. While waiting for it to rise, do some weekend morning things like drink coffee, read the paper, maybe throw a load of laundry in. Before you know it, it'll be time for the second step in this bread. This is when you break the dough into little dough balls and roll it in butter and cinnamon sugar.

Then you have to let it rise a second time, but during this time you can take the dog for a walk and switch the laundry. Before you know it, it will be time to heat up the oven and bake it! While it's baking you can fry up some bacon, scramble some eggs, and make the maple glaze. Then finally it will be time to eat! So there you have it: I just planned out your Saturday morning. You're welcome.

Pumpkin Pull Apart Bread with Salted Maple Glaze

adapted from Lauren's Latest

For the dough:

1/4 cup warm water (warm to touch, like baby bath water)

1/4 cup warm milk (same temp as water)

1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 large egg, beaten

2 tbsp melted butter, cooled

2/3 cup pure pumpkin puree

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves

2 2/3 to 3 1/3 cups bread flour

For the coating:

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

For the glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

3 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp milk

1/8 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp sea salt

Directions:

In a large stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, stir together milk, water, yeast, and sugar. Let sit for 5-10 minutes to proof the yeast. The mixture should be foamy. If nothing happens, either your yeast is no good or you killed it with too hot of water and milk.

Stir in salt, egg, butter, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and half of the flour and mix well. With mixer on, pour in remaining flour bit by bit until dough pulls away from the sides and is sticky, but when touched doesn't really stick to your hands. For me, this was the entire 3 1/3 cups of flour.

Once you reach this stage, turn mixer on for 4-5 minutes to knead. Lightly grease dough and bowl and cover to rise for 1 hour in a warm, draft-free area.

Lightly grease a bundt pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

Create a coating station by placing the cinnamon and sugar together in a small bowl and melting the butter in another bowl. Punch down the dough and remove from bowl. Cut dough into small pieces, about 1 tablespoon in size. Roll each piece in butter, then coat in cinnamon sugar and place into prepared pan. Repeat until all dough is cut, coated, and in the pan. If there is extra butter or sugar, pour over the top of the dough pieces in the pan.

Cover pan with plastic wrap and let rise another hour in a warm spot in your kitchen.

After one hour of second rising, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake bread for 25 minutes or until the top begins to brown slightly. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes.

While monkey bread is cooling, prepare glaze by mixing together the powdered sugar, maple, syrup, milk, and vanilla in a small bowl until smooth.

After 10 minutes of cooling, turn monkey bread out of pan onto serving plate. Drizzle with glaze and serve immediately. Enjoy!

This was shared at Crumbs and Chaos' Seasonal Inspiration!

frozen caramel pecan bark latte

2011-11-04T17:24:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I received a package in the mail in a Godiva Chocolate box. I thought to myself: What in the world?! Did I win the lottery?! Then I opened it and remembered I signed up to be a Foodbuzz Tastemaker for Godiva's fall inspired coffee's. I had originally thought I could use the coffee to make anything (like, um, cake!) but when reading the instructions more carefully, I realized that I was to use the coffee to create a drink recipe. This definitely turned out to be more of a challenge, but it turned out just as (okay, almost) as tasty as cake!

My next challenge was deciding which flavor to use: Pumpkin Spice or Caramel Pecan Bark. My initial idea was to go with the pumpkin, but after having a sample of each of them brewed, I knew it had to be the Caramel Pecan Bark. This stuff is deeee-lish! Even Marc, who isn't a fan of flavored coffees, admitted it was dang good. I ended up using the coffee to make a blended coffee drink. Or, to all of you Starbucks addicts, a "frappucino" sort of drink. It turned out to be way easier than I expected to.

The fun part about this recipe is that you freeze the mixture in an ice cube tray, so you can have some ready whenever the craving/emergency strikes for caffeine. All I did was combine the brewed coffee with some milk, a tiny bit of heavy cream, and caramel sauce. Simple and divine!

Frozen Caramel Pecan Bark Latte

2 cups milk

2 tbsp heavy cream

1 cup Godiva's Caramel Pecan Bark brewed coffee, at room temperature

2 tbsp caramel sauce (plus additional for topping)

Directions:

In bowl, combine 1 cup milk, cream, coffee, and caramel sauce. Stir well to combine.

Pour into ice cube tray and freeze. Once frozen, remove from freezer and let sit for 10 minutes to let soften a bit. Add remaining 1 cup of milk and cubes of coffee mixture to blender and blend until well combined. Taste test and add more caramel if you prefer a sweeter latte.

Pour into prepared mug/glass/jar and drizzle with additional caramel sauce. Enjoy!

butternut squash and sage risotto

2011-10-30T20:41:00.000-05:00

This summer, I mentioned I was a little bummed about what I was getting from the CSA I joined. The season at the farm I joined had been a little 'off' due to some unexpected frost and then some really really hot weather, resulting in some produce not being available, or very sparse. Granted, this is the risk you take when joining a CSA, but I think I learned that being a part of a CSA just isn't for me. I have to say though, the last 2 weeks of the season were pretty awesome for winter squash lovers like myself. I had two reusable bags worth of squash (that were almost too heavy for me to carry!) which contained more varieties of squash than I even knew existed.

After some internet searching I found out that I had acorn squash, white acorn squash, spaghetti squash, sugar pie pumpkins, delicata squash, carnival squash, kabocha squash, buttercup squash, and butternut squash. As you can imagine, I'm trying to find every and any reason to cook with squash. In addition, to use up as much squash without getting sick of it, I've also been baking, pureeing, and freezing lots of it too.

Last weekend we had some friends over for dinner, and I wanted to make a simple, yet special meal. Simple because it was on a Friday night and I had to work all day, and special because anytime friends come over for dinner it's a special occasion! The first idea that popped in my head was a roasted chicken, and then I remembered a recipe a reader had sent me for cinnamon and chili powder rubbed roasted chicken. I'm not posting it as an entire post since I didn't get a picture of the chicken before we demolished it, but I'm including the recipe, with my adaptations at the bottom of this post. You seriously need to try it...it is so delicious.

To go with the chicken, I picked this risotto, and even though risotto is a time-consuming process it gave me time to chat with Sarah while constantly stirring, and Marc and Andrew got some boy time in. As always, the laborious task of making risotto was definitely worth it, as this turned out delicious! I loved the saltiness from the pancetta, the chunks of caramelized butternut squash, and of course the distinct flavor from the sage. This is a great seasonal fall dish and I would also make a great Thanksgiving side dish. Also, this dish could easily be made vegetarian by omitting the pancetta.

Butternut Squash and Sage Risotto

1 (2-3lb) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and diced

2 tbsp olive oil

6 cups vegetable or chicken broth

2 shallots, thinly diced

2 oz pancetta

4 tbsp salted butter

1 1/2 cups arborio rice

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 tbsp freshly minced sage

1 cup Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss butternut squash in olive oil, then season with salt. Roast in preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, tossing after 20 minutes. Set aside.

Meanwhile, in medium pot, warm chicken broth over low heat.

In large heavy duty saucepan or Dutch oven, heat butter over medium heat. Add shallots and pancetta and saute for 10 minutes.

Add the rice and stir to coat with butter. Add wine and cook for 2 minutes.

Add 1 cup of broth, sage, and 1 tsp of salt, and cook until absorbed, stirring constantly. Continue adding broth, one cup at a time, stirring constantly, until all broth is added. Remove from heat then add Parmesan cheese and butternut squash, mix well, and serve. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Roasted Chicken

1 whole roasting chicken (baking time will vary depending on how big your chicken is)

2 tsp salt

2 tsp white sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp chili powder

1/8 tsp cloves

1/8 tsp ginger

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp allspice

about 2 tbsp honey

Directions:

The night before you plan to roast the chicken, mix all ingredients together, then rub over chicken, massaging it into the skin. Cover chicken and place in refrigerator.

The next day, preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place chicken in roasting pan (or baking dish if you're like me and don't have a roasting pan), drizzle with honey and and bake in oven for 50-60 minutes for a 3 lb chicken, or 75-90 minutes for a 5-6 lb chicken, or until the internal temperature is 180 degrees F. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Slice chicken onto platter and enjoy!