Menu Plan Monday!

So in an effort to get a little more organized, I will be posting what I will be serving my family during the week. I don't like being held to having certain things on certain days because I often change my mind depending on what we want or how tired I am.

This is being linked up to Menu Plan Monday on Org Junkie!

Monday-- I know we are having Honey Soy Baked Chicken Thighs. My husband is off tonight and these are already marinating!

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday: I will pick between:

Fish and Fries
Breakfast for Dinner
Spicy Bean Burritos
Fire Roasted Tomato Soup and Cheese Toast

Peanut Butter Brownie Pie

So does anyone out there love Trader Joe's as much as I do? I get bored sometimes on my lunch breaks and love just to go and "shop" and look and one day my boredom found this:

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Spread.
It was not as peanut buttery as I expected but I also wasn't buying it for an actual spread.
I wanted to buy it for this pie. I had this pie starred for a few weeks and really wanted to see what it would be like with this spread.

I adapted this recipe a little bit as the original does call for a boxed brownie mix but I didn't have any so I just made a brownie. Obviously, you can do what you want!

Peanut Butter Brownie Pie

recipe inspired by this recipe on What's Cookin Chicago

brownie(adapted from this recipe on Baking Junkie)

1 deep dish pie frozen pie shell (or homemade if you prefer)

2 eggs

Pinch of salt

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

⅓ cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 stick margarine

½ cup all purpose flour

 1  container of Trader Joe's Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Spread, softened (or 8 oz. cream cheese)

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup powdered sugar

1 half pint of heavy cream, whipped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together eggs and salt until light and frothy. Add in sugar and mix well. Add vanilla. In a microwave safe bowl melt together the margarine and chocolate chips (approximately 30 seconds). Add chocolate to egg mixture while mixer is running. Mix in flour just until combined. Pour into thawed pie shell.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, covering edge of crust with strips of foil after 10 to 15 minutes, until crust is golden brown and center of brownie is set. Cool slightly, about 20 minutes. Refrigerate 1 hour or until completely cooled.

In medium bowl, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Fold in whipped heavy cream. Spread mixture over brownie. Sprinkle with peanuts and chocolate chips. Refrigerate 30 minutes before serving. Store covered in refrigerator.

Don't forget to enter my CSN giveaway! It ends this weekend!!!

What's Baking : February

Dunne, from With a Cherry on Top, picked the theme for February and she picked "Baked with Love." I loved this theme as I am cooking all the time but the one thing my boys ask for the most is "Fresh Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies" (Cameron's exact words!)

Chocolate Chip Cookies is the first recipe I ever made and I started baking them at the ripe old age of 7. I was in Girl Scouts and we had made a cookbook and I've been in love with cooking and baking ever since. Of course, at first I baked for my daddy and he loved everything I made. Slowly that love of baking became a side job as I was baking things that my godparents needed for their catering business.

Since I finally have a kitchen of my own, I've been testing out different recipes and I have finally found

THE ONE. Alice from Sweet Savory Life says that these are the BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER and I would have to agree.

  

Alice’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

(adapted from this recipe on Savory Sweet Life)

Makes approx. 45-48 cookies using a sm-med 2tbl. cookie scoop

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup (2 sticks)  salted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups (12 oz) all-purpose flour *If at all possible, please weigh the flour
• 3/4 tsp. smallish-medium coarse sea salt *please do not use table salt, the sea salt gives the cookies a nice flavor and hints of texture. If you only have table salt, use 1/2 tsp. *When using sea salt, you will get small crunchy flecks of salt when you bite into the cookie.  If you do not like this taste, go with 1/2 teaspoon of table salt.
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips  *I realized grocery stores sell bags of chocolate chips in 12 oz bags but this recipe really needs every last chip. Otherwise you’ll get cookies with only a few chips in each one and this recipe requires lots of chocolate to bulk the cookie up.  You’ll need about 1 1/2 bags.

 (These are Alice's exact directions and I've followed them 3 times and even my coworkers say these are the best chocolate chip cookies!)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it is nice and fluffy (approx. 3 minutes on medium-high speed on a K-5). Add both eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes.  Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour until cookie batter is fully incorporated.  Finally add chocolate chips until well distributed.  The cookie batter should be somewhat thick.  Drop about 2 tablespoons of dough or use a medium cookie scoop and plop the batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are nice and golden brown. Remove from heat and allow the cookies to stay on the cookie sheet for an additional 2 minutes.  Pick up the parchment paper with the cookies still on top and transfer to a cool non-porous surface.  Allow the cookies to cool on the paper for at least 3 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Friendly Wednesday!

I know I'm always looking for new things to read! Hope to meet new people!

30 by 30: Creme Brulee

 Do you ever remember the first time you taste something and remember how good it was?

I am that way about Creme Brulee. In fact, I even remember the exact room (the test kitchen in the Jesse Harris- Home Ec Building at the University of Tennessee) where I first tasted this lovely dessert. It wasn't until many years later that I would get to have it again but my heart as always been with this dessert. It will always be my first choice at my husband's restaurant  and now that I can make it at home -- I don't want to think about the weight gain!

I know that some people say that you can brulee the sugar by using a broiler but I just can't see it being done. I burn toast in the broiler so I really don't want to screw something like this up :). I received a torch for my birthday last year and it was really fun using it! I halfed this recipe and ended up with 2 6 oz. and 4 4 oz. dishes so it does make a lot even halfed.

 

 Creme Brulee

adapted from this recipe  by Alton Brown

Ingredients

• 1 quart heavy cream
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 1 cup vanilla sugar, divided
• 6 large egg yolks
• 2 quarts hot water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Place the cream, vanilla bean and its pulp into a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean and reserve for another use.

In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar and the egg yolks until well blended and it just starts to lighten in color. Add the cream a little at a time, stirring continually. Pour the liquid into 6 (7 to 8-ounce) ramekins. Place the ramekins into a  roasting pan. Pour hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake just until the creme brulee is set, but still trembling in the center, approximately 40 to 45 minutes.

Remove the ramekins from the roasting pan and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.

Remove the creme brulee from the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes prior to browning the sugar on top. Using a torch, melt the sugar and form a crispy top. Allow the creme brulee to sit for at least 5 minutes before serving. (Turbinado sugar is the best for getting a crisp top in my opinion.)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

This pie reminds me of a pie that my mom makes. But her pie is Kentucky Derby pie and sometimes she would make it with nuts and sometimes she would make it without. When you and your friends have braces and want something super sweet, My mom made the day my freshman year with her Kentucky Derby Pie without nuts! I think every one of my friends got that pie as a present that year!

This pie was exactly like eating a Chocolate chip cookie in pie form which is almost better!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Recipe from Our Best Bites

1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust, homemade or store-bought.

2 large eggs

1/2 C flour ( I used all purpose)

1/2 C white granulated sugar

1/2 C packed brown sugar

3/4 C real butter, softened (1 1/2 sticks)

1 C chocolate chips (semi-sweet or dark works best, you might find milk too sweet)

1 C chopped pecans (you are welcome to make it without nuts)

Preheat oven to 325° F.

Beat eggs in large mixer bowl on high speed until foamy. Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts and spoon into  unbaked pie shell.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between edge and center comes out clean. (I thought mine was done at 45 minutes because it was really brown but it wasn't done on the inside yet but when it's cooking it smells so good!) Cool on wire rack or serve slightly warmed.  Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.


Also Linked to Family, Friendly Fridays at Mommie Cooks

Wordless Wednesday

Chicken and Corn Chili

You know what. I am admitting something right now:

I didn't try this after I made it.

Eek! I know. Horrible.

You see I am saving it for dinner tonight.

I did something Sunday I haven't done in a long time and that was cook about 3 meals for the week so we  (I) wouldn't have to worry about what's for dinner when we finally get home at 6 pm.

I am super excited to try it though and I did get a taste of it. I am excited about the corn and chicken and the beans and also that I am making cornbread to go with it. It did taste like a true chili what bite I got of it but we will see tonight!


UPDATE!!! 2/21/2011

So This soup actually set in my fridge for 3 days and we finally ate it and it was sooooo good! Everyone gave it 2 thumbs up! Baby Cole included! Now I didn't rinse or drain my beans. I don't know why I just don't or ever do so I've changed the recipe to show that. I also think that it does need to sit for a few days because it did get better!

Chicken and Corn Chili

printable recipe

2  tablespoons  olive oil

1    large onion, chopped

1    green bell pepper, cored and chopped

1  teaspoon  ground cumin

1/2  teaspoon  ground coriander

1/2  teaspoon  chili powder

1  can (14.5 ounces)  low-sodium chicken broth

1  can (14.5 ounces)  diced tomatoes

1 1/4  pounds  boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1  box (10 ounces)  frozen corn, thawed

2  cans (15 ounces each)  cannellini beans

3/4  teaspoon  salt

  Shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add onion and green pepper. Cook, stirring for 5 minutes. Stir in cumin, coriander and chili powder.

2. Stir in chicken broth and tomatoes. Bring to a simmer. Add chicken. Cover and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

3. Stir corn, beans and salt into pot. Heat through. Spoon into bowls and top with shredded cheese.

recipe adapted from this recipe from Family Circle February 2011 Magazine

Come join Soup-a-Palooza with TidyMom and Dine and Dish sponsored by Bush’s Beans, Hip Hostess, Pillsbury and Westminster Crackers

Black Magic Cake

Happy Valentine's Day!

I think this could be labled as the BEST chocolate cake ever. I know that that is saying a lot but I think it could be said.

I've never been one to make a true homemade chocolate cake. Its just not something I do. I am known for making this chocolate cake. Many of my co-workers request it for their birthdays and it's what I got for my birthday last year. I can't believe I've waited so long to make something that was so good!

I'm not a coffee drinker but always heard that coffee brings out the taste of chocolate and it is true! My family loved this cake and hopefully my co-workers today will too!

I was being lazy and didn't want to make the whipped frosting that Emily had put with her cake so I created a chocolate buttercream of my own to put with this cake.

Black Magic Cake
printable recipe

1 3/4 cups cake flour*

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup dark cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup oil

2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup strongly brewed coffee**

* So I didn't want to go buy any cake flour and found that you can substitute by adding 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to each cup of flour used. Some reviews on it (allrecipes.com) were mixed but I found that this was a great substitution.

** Coffee. Oh Coffee. I'm not a coffee drinker at all. I keep Folgers packets at my house for when my mom visits and I just used 2 of them to create the coffee for this.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13x9-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powders, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together oil and sugar until fluffy - about 1 minute. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined - about 2 minutes. Beat in buttermilk and coffee until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined.

Pour batter into greased pan (will be thin). Bake 35-40 minutes or until cake is well risen and no longer wobbles. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Chocolate Frosting

1 stick of unsalted butter,softened

1/2 cup dark cocoa

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar,sifted

Combine all ingrdients together and mix well. I just dump it all into my Kitchen Aid mixer and let it do the work.

recipe adapted from this recipe on Sugar Plum


Linked to Mouthwatering Mondays on A Southern Fairytale and Tasty Tuesday on Beauty and Bedlam

Great Meals Winner!

There were 14 great entries and the winner (drawn by random.org) was

#12!! 

"This is Meredith and I love to make asparagus sauted in olive oil garlic and onions its amazing with some steak cooked medium rare (they are the little steaks that cook in 2 minutes) and some new mashed potatoes....... this is one of my favorite weeknight dinners and my fam loves it"

Meredith is our winner! 

I have contacted Meredith and she has claimed her prize! Congratulations to her!

Cookie Dough Dip

If I could have gotten away with eating all of this last night, I would have!

With pretzels!

I normally bake a lot but just because of time I haven't this week. I wanted to make something sweet and WOW! I'm in total love!

Even my husband really liked it! He was surprised at how good it tasted and asked me what was in it. He never really questions what I make but just goes with the flow. If there is something that he wants though, he lets me know!

Cookie Dough Dip

 adapted from this recipe on How Sweet It Is 

makes about 1 1/2 cups
(printable recipe)

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 8-ounce block of cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cups chocolate chips

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar and whisk until sugar dissolves and mixture starts to bubble. Whisk in vanilla and set aside to cool.

Cream together cream cheese and powdered sugar for one minute. With mixer on low speed, add in brown sugar and butter mixture. Mix until combined. Add the chocolate chips either by adding them in the mixer to break them up or just fold them into the mixture.

Garnish with chopped chocolate.

Serve with fruit, cookies, crackers, or pretzels.

Linked to Family Friendly Fridays

I'm Lovin It Fridays

Baked Zucchini Fries

So a good friend of mine (also gave me the recipe for these muffins), asked me for the recipe for these!

I am always looking for different side dishes because I get tired of having the same thing all the time. I loved fried zucchini and I think I almost liked these fries more than the fried zucchini. You can't find fried zucchini very much and sometimes I crave it! I also like to introduce the boys to different vegetables and this was a fun way of doing that. We served these fries when we made the French Dip Sandwiches. We served them with marinara sauce on the side but that is our personal preference.

 

Baked Zucchini Fries

adapted from this recipe on Two Peas and Their Pod

3 medium zucchini, sliced into skinny sticks

2 large egg whites, beaten

1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs

2 T grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp. italian seasoning

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 425°.

In a small bowl, beat egg whites with a fork until frothy.

Put the breadcrumbs, basil, oregano, garlic powder and cheese on a plate and mix  together well.

Dip the zucchini sticks in the egg whites and then into the bread crumb mixture, make sure all sides get coated well. Place the sticks onto a greased baking sheet.

Bake at 425° for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and a little crispy. Turn over the fries half way through. Serve warm.

Great Deals on Great Meals! Giveaway!

If your house is anything like mine, getting dinner on the table can sometimes be the hardest thing to do in my day! I've got 2 boys who will eat anything and 1 who is super picky! Not only that but the baby has been put on a dairy free diet so we've been having to work around that too!



Starting February 10th through 16th. Publix has some great Savings on some of our favorite brands. During the event, visit GreatDealsOnGreatMeals.com to download $9.50 in coupons (valid 2/10 – 2/23) and find delicious meal ideas for any time of the day.





From breakfast to dessert, Great Deals on Great Meals can help you find simple meal solutions that will make your family and your budget smile!

There are some really great coupons on Great Deal on Great Meals and also some great recipes! I can't wait until Thursday and see what great deals I can get with them!

Giveaway time!!!!

One of my readers will get the chance to score some of their own great deals on great meals thanks to a $25 Publix gift card!

Entry is simple! You just need to answer the question below by leaving a comment on this site!

What is your favorite weeknight dinner?

Giveaway will end on February 12th and winner will be emailed.

Disclosure: MyBlogSpark & General Mills provided me with information as well as a gift card for me and my winners.  All comments and opinions are my own!

Guest Posting!

Happy Monday Everyone!!

I am Guest Posting today over at Mangoes and Chutney!

P.S. I  have the recipe for this dessert up over there! Come check it out!

Super Bowl!!!

I wasn't really planning on making anything (My husband only thinks that the PATRIOTS are the only NFL team around!) but I figured we will be watching it so might as well :)

Here's what I am making!!

Ham and Cheese Sliders 

Pretzel Bites

Chips and Salsa and Dip

Chocolate Cookie Dough Dip

So what are you making?

Ultimate Reeses Cheesecake Brownies

My husband LOVES Reeses Cups. No better yet he could probably eat his weight in them and still want more!

I remember seeing these brownies on the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies and knew that I wanted to make this for his birthday this year.

I guess guys think differently about birthdays compared to females, because he looks at his birthday as just another day but I still wanted to make something special for him that would be a special treat! These didn't last long in our house! In fact, half the pan was gone the night of his birthday!

I loved how easy this recipe was and I loved the cheesecake in the brownie. Next time I will probably add more reeses cups!!! I used an entire bag of the miniatures but I think it needed more!

Ultimate Reeses Cheesecake Brownie Bars

(adapted from this recipe on Inside BruCrew Life)

1 pkg. brownie mix

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese

2 tbsp. butter, softened

1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

1 tbsp. cornstarch

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

Reeses candy bars and Reeses pieces candy

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix brownie mix according to package. Spread in greased 9x13 pan. Chop up as many Reeses candy bars as you think best for your taste.  Beat cream cheese, butter and cornstarch until fluffy.This will take about two minutes with a hand mixer. Beat in milk, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in your chopped candy bars. Spoon cheesecake batter on top of the brownie batter. I swirled them together to create a more brownie like bar.  Bake 40-45 minutes. Cool. Cut into bars and drizzle with peanut butter and chocolate candy melts and sprinkle Reeses pieces on top of that. (This will need to be refrigerated because of the cheesecake.)

  

  Family Friendly Friday

 

Linked to Mommie Cooks!-

30 by 30: Frost the Perfect Cupcake

Here are my perfect cupcakes! These were for Cole's First Birthday! I studied for days on Wilton's Cake Decorating Site on how to make the swirls and even though they aren't perfect, they work for me!

30 by 30: Arroz Con Leche

I'm slowly getting things I want to make marked off of my 30 by 30 list.

Considering it is now February and my birthday is in June, I really hope that I am able to get it done!

(yes, i know there are 5 more things to be added to it but that's ok too!)

Arroz con leche (rice with milk) or rice pudding as some of us would call it. I personally like the stuff. Warm. No raisins please. and Yes I know I am weird. and How I didn't even notice until now that the picture is up against our siding which is almost the same color. But that's ok too. Everything is a learning process. I loved this rice pudding and loved the cinnamon

This got on my list because it was the first thing I *starred* in my google reader.

(Again, refer to the weird thing!)

I don't know where I had been when I finally learned about this lovely invention (of google reader) and I really have a love/hate relationship with the person that did because I now have over 180 *starred* items. Some of them I know will never get *unstarred* and I'm ok with that.

(and in real life I say OK a lot!) :)

Arroz Con Leche

(recipe adapted from this recipe on Smitten Kitchen- She also has some awesome notes from readers on her site which you may want to read if you make this!)

1 cup long-grain white rice

2 cinnamon sticks

2 strips of lemon or orange zest (I used 2 pieces of orange peel)

3 whole cloves or a tiny pinch of ground cloves

4 cups water

1 egg

3 cups whole milk

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Soak the rice, cinnamon sticks, lemon or orange zest and whole or powdered cloves in the water in a heavy saucepan for 1 hour. (I ended up taking a trip to Target and Hobby Lobby and mine soaked for about 3 hours but it was just fine!)

After soaking, bring the rice mixture to a boil on high heat, uncovered. When it starts to boil, lower the heat to medium and cook for 10 to 12 more minutes or until water is almost evaporated.

While rice is cooking, beat the egg in a bowl. Add the milk and stir well to mix. Add the egg mixture, condensed milk, salt, vanilla extract and raisins, if using, to the rice and cook over medium-low heat, stirring carefully, until it thickens slightly or until desired consistency about 25 to 35 minutes