Mint chocolate chip cookies

For the St. Patrick's day potluck at work, I tried out Tidy Mom's Mint Chocolate Chip cookies.  I don't often try to bake cookies without my good friend, indie over at Girlie Review (who blogs about cosmetics but is an excellent cook), but it is time to branch out.

My baking skills are improving.  I have realized over the years that baking really is an art form and I hope one day to become proficient at it.  I'm (at times) a bit slap dash with my cooking and I often try to change recipes without thinking through the chemistry of it - which is why baking can be a dangerous area for me.  (For example, don't try to make dirt cake with all fat free ingredients unless you just want a big pile of goop. LOL)  This time the cookies turned out great!  I'd definitely recommend this recipe.

Ingredients

    1 pouch Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
    1/2 cup butter, softened
    1/2 teaspoon mint extract
    1 egg
    green food color
    1 cup creme de menthe baking chips
    1 cup dark chocolate chips

Ingridients edit:  
 I used milk chocolate chips because I'm not overly fond of dark chocolate.  I used less than 1 cup of each kind of chips.  About 3/4 cup.  I thought a whole cup seemed like a lot and I think they turned out great that way.

Instructions

Heat oven to 350°. In large bowl, stir in cookie mix, butter, mint extract, food color and the egg.  Stir in creme de menthe baking chips and chocolate chips.
   

    Put dough 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until set. Let them cool for a few minutes before removing to wire rack. (I baked them for exactly 8 minutes and they were perfect!)  Here they are packed in tupperware to take to work.  Yum!

I really like the sugar cookies mixed with chocolate chips.  I think I will try to make them again without the mint added in.  Very tasty!

Bird's Nest Breakfast Cups

This is a Pinterest find and the original recipe is here.  These require a little prep time up front but taste awesome and are great if you are having guests for breakfast.  I really should have people over for breakfast more often now that I have all these great recipes!  Also, my son seems to be more agreeable to hanging out in the kitchen first thing in the morning than when I'm trying to make things at night these days.

Ingredients:

1 24 oz. bag of shredded hash browns
1 tsp salt (They called for 2 tsp but it was a little too salty for us and I LOVE salt.)
1 tsp pepper
2 tbs oil (I use olive oil)
1/3 cup shredded cheddar
Bacon bits or 8=10 pieces of cooked bacon, crumbled
Eggs
Extra shredded cheddar
Muffin tin  ( I used 2 muffin tins: a 12 cup muffin tin (shown below) and a 6 cup muffin tin.)

 

Take your bag of hash browns and mix in the salt, pepper, oil and 1/3 cup shredded cheese.

Grease the muffin tin.  (I used Pam Olive Oil Spray.)  Divide the mixture into each cup in muffin tin. 

(I had some of this mixture left over so I put it back in the freezer for another day.)

Bake hash browns at 425 degrees for 15-18 minutes.  I was expecting them to be browned, but they were just cooked, but still light colored. You could probably cook them for a bit longer, but make sure you check on them so they aren't burned. - FYI.
Take them out and lower the temp of the oven to 350 degrees.

The original recipe calls for cracking an egg into each cup, but that seemed like a lot to me so I took about half the amount of eggs, whisked them up and put some into each cup.

Then top with bacon pieces and a sprinkle of cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 13-16 minutes (or until the eggs are as firm as you like them).
Slide a knife along the edges to remove from pan when cooled.

Note:  As you can see above, I used an ancient muffin tin to make this but I also used a newer, nicer one as well (not pictured).  It was a little hard to get them out of this muffin tin, but the nicer, nonstick ones popped out very easily.

These were really tasty and pretty easy.  Except for the fact that they were a little too salty, I would definitely make them again!

Jambalaya & Cheddar Biscuits

I have only tried to make Jambalaya once and it was from a Zataran's mix a long time ago.  Last night was the first time I'd tried to make it from scratch.  My dad used to make it all the time when I was a kid.  I probably should have asked him for his recipe.  That would have been smarter, but I didn't.  Nothing like starting from scratch when you don't have to. LOL. I do have a couple of his that I will be posting soon.  Anyway, I started with this recipe and then altered it.

Ingredients

• Sausage, sliced into rounds (I used pork & turkey sausage)
• Boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces (I used 4 chicken breasts)
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes (I used the kind with oregano & basil)
• 1/2 a can of tamato sauce (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 1/2 cups uncooked white rice

I started out sauteing the chicken (since it would take the longest) along with the garlic in a little bit of Olive Oil.

I made minute rice in another pot and set it aside.  When the chicken was done, I tossed it in with the rice, which was done, and added the drained can of tomatoes.  I turned the rice back on low and mixed in the dry ingredients (pepper, salt, red pepper, worcestershire sauce).

I sliced up the sausge and put it in the frying pan, flipping it occassionally while I chopped up the two celery stalks and put them in the frying pan with the sausage.  When the sausage was done, I added it in to the rice mixture using a slotted spoon so the grease stayed behind in the frying pan.  I mixed it all up and added a little tomato sauce to calm down the spice when I thought it needed it.  That part is optional.

Here's the finished product still in the pot.  YUM!

My little one did not have any. :)

While cooking the chicken, I started making the Cheddar Biscuits, which was a Pinterest find.  (There was no original link.  I don't know where the recipe came from but after googling it, I found this, which might be the original location.  The picture sure looks suspiciously similiar.

Anyway, here's the recipe:

2 c. Bisquick

2/3 c. milk

1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese

1/2 c. melted butter

1/4 tsp. garlic salt

Mix Bisquick, milk and cheddar until a soft ball forms.  Drop by balls onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake at 450 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

Mix butter and garlic while biscuits are baking it.  Brush it on the biscuits while they are hot and still on the baking pan. I did a couple of layers of the mixture.

This meal was SO good.  We loved the biscuits and it was good to have bread with a spicy meal.  (We usually don't eat bread with meals just because of the additional calories.)  I will definitely make this again!

Picture Coasters

This is a very quick and easy craft!  The original blogger suggested using paint samples which would work nicely.  I'm sure that any picture or cardstock would work well.  It's super cheap to make as well.  The tiles are like 20 cents or something.  The most expensive part is the two different kinds of mod podge, which were probably $12 or so.

All you need is tiles, Mod Podge, spray acrylic, a picture, and cork or felt.

This was the first time that the previous blogger used Mod Podge and it was my first time too!  It works pretty well.  First you cut the picture down to the size of the tile and then use a layer of Mod Podge to apply the picture to the tile.   Then paint over the picture with a few layers of Mod Podge.  Let the Mod Podge dry between each layer.

I did two layers of painting Mod Podge and one layer of spraying on the clear acrylic sealer.  After it dried, it looked like this.  It's a little shiny and you can see the glue a little in certain light, but all in all, it looks pretty good.

I flipped it over and added on the felt pieces.  The ones I bought had a peel off sticker to make it easier.

Done!  

This was a pretty quick and easy craft.  I think I might make a couple for my son's two grandmothers, but first I want to test it to see what happens if you spill water and coffee on it.  I'll have to update once I try that out.

The original source is here.

Sausage and Cheese Crescent Squares

Sausage and Cheese Crescent Squares original recipe is here.  I'm always looking for tasty recipes that are easy to make, tasty and not absolutely horrible for my family.  This is a great recipe to use if you're having guests over.  Even before I made it, I figured that I could make it lot healthier, so I cut out half the cheese and substituted turkey sausage for regular sausage.  It really turned out great!

INGREDIENTS
2  cans (8 oz each) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
1 lb spicy or mild bulk pork sausage  
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (8 oz)

Ingredient edits: I used Turkey crumbles.  Less fat and less work because they are already cooked. 
I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese and only used 1/2 the package until of the whole. I think if I make it again, I will use regular cream cheese.  It might just be in my head, but I felt like I could taste the difference between the lower fat and the real kind.  I cut the shredded cheese amount in half too.

I opened both cans of crescent rolls before I remembered to take the picture, but I had one that wasn't too destroyed before I snapped the shot. LOL


DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 375°F. 2
Unroll 1 can of dough into 2 long rectangles.
Place in ungreased 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish; press over bottom

In 12-inch skillet, cook sausage over medium heat, stirring frequently, until brown. Remove sausage from skillet and drain drippings. To same skillet, add cream cheese. Cook over low heat until melted. Add cooked sausage; stir to coat. Spoon evenly over crust in baking dish.  Because I used turkey crumbles which did not need to be fried, I just heated up the cream cheese and then stirred them together.  So much easier.

Sprinkle with cheese. (Even with the cheese cut in half, there was plenty to go around.)

Unroll second can of dough on work surface. Press to form 13x9-inch rectangle; firmly press perforations to seal. Carefully place over cheese.

Bake 21 to 26 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 15 minutes. Cut into small squares.

Pretty tasty!

Overnight French Toast

Another recipe via Pinterest, Overnight French Toast turned out wonderfully!  The original source is here.  This is delicious and easy!  I love that I could make it the night before and in the morning, I popped it in the oven and was able to do other things before my guests arrived.

Ingredients
1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 loaf French Bread
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Powdered sugar for sprinkling

The original recipe called for Texas Toast but I couldn't find any, so I used French bread, which I think probably worked better.  I used half the amount of brown sugar (the recipe called for 1 cup) and I think next time I'll use half the butter.

1. Melt butter in microwave & add brown sugar....stir till mixed.
2. Pour butter/sugar mix into bottom of 9 x 13 pan....spread around

3. Beat eggs, milk, & vanilla
4. Lay single layer of French Bread in pan
5. Spoon 1/2 of egg mixture on bread layer
6. Add 2nd layer of Texas Toast
7. Spoon on remaining egg mixture

8. Cover & chill in fridge overnight
9. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes
10. Sprinkle with powdered sugar

11. Serve with warm maple syrup

This turned out SO GOOD.  I will definitely make it again. :)  My spectator agrees!

Fruit Fail

So I decided to try out this too good to be true dehydrated Strawberry recipe from Pinterest.  The idea is to bake Strawberries at a low temperature for about three hours and you'll end up with something wonderful!

Um...not so much.

I took a lovely bunch of Strawberries:

Rinsed them, cut them up and placed them on a lightly sprayed pan (Olive Oil Pam).  It said to salt & pepper them, but that did not sound good at all, so I skipped that step.

They started out like this:

And ended up like this:

It's not even close to the wonderful picture showed.  So...I tried again.  I thought, well, maybe spraying the pan was bad and salting is the key step.  Um...no again.

I started out with this: (Note how I only used a couple of Strawberries this time.)

And I ended up with this:

It definitely dried them out, in a yucky, slimy sort of way.  I'm not all that upset about this, mostly because I thought this experience was a waste of Strawberries to begin with.  It's possible that my oven (which is very old) isn't running at the right temps anymore, but I'm pretty sure that's not it.

Don't waste your time with this one.  I took them out of the oven the second time and set them on top to cool off so I could throw them away and my husband came in chewing one with a disgusted look on his face.  I don't know why he tried them, but that expression said it all.