Chicken Biscuit Bake

Simple. Easy. Filling.

You will need:
1# boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 soup can of milk
Cheese & Garlic Biscuits (a previous post)

Slice chicken breasts most of the way through & place in greased baking pan.
Like this:

In a bowl, whisk together the soups and milk.
Pour over chicken breasts and top with biscuit dough.
It should look something like this:

Bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes or until chicken is cooked completely
(white, no pink, 165-170 degrees)

Ta-da!

Enjoy!

Cheese & Garlic Biscuits (RL Cheddar Bay Biscuit copycat)

We were eating these biscuits long before we ever had a Red Lobster in town. I'm not a fan of seafood, so we never ate there.

And that's alright.

I still prefer this recipe. Not sure where my Mom found this at, but I got it from her... and boy are these delicious!

Cheese and Garlic Biscuits

2 cups buttermilk baking mix (Bisquick, Baker's Corner, whatever you like)

2/3 cup milk

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (Let's face it, I put in almost a full cup. You can never have too much cheese!...)

Combine until soft dough forms. Drop dough by heaping teaspoons on an ungreased cookie sheet (I like to do mine on my pizza stone.)  Bake 8-10 minutes at 450 degrees, until golden brown.

Meanwhile, while those are baking....

Combine:

1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

1/2 tsp garlic salt/powder

Brush above over warm biscuits before removing from cookie sheet. 

Serve warm.

Makes 10-12 biscuits

(I will update with a picture next time I make these... I just wanted to post the recipe so it's available for my Chicken Biscuit Bake post.)

Baked Vodka Chicken Penne

Tonight we wanted a nice meal that would still be easy, so I looked in the pantry & decided a casserole was in order. 

Pictured is everything you'll need:
A box of penne pasta
A can of chunk chicken
A jar of vodka sauce
and mozzarella cheese

Yep, that's it! 

Cook up your pasta, stir in the chicken then the sauce. Top with mozzarella (amount is your choice.)
Bake 20 minutes at 350.

Top with parmesan or parm/romano mix.

Done! 

Enjoy!

Cupcakes Galore! | Salted Caramel & Cookie Dough Frosted Devil's Food

 This will not be a long post, because everything is credited except for the few modifications listed.

A couple of days ago the hubby tells me he has a pot-luck Friday and he signed up for a dessert. 

Yes, he is just now remembering to tell me; 

and no, I do not have the supplies for my Fudge Striped Cookie Salad that he wants to take.

"How about I make cupcakes, because I have everything I need for them?" 

(*Note: I'm currently laughing at how ridiculous that is! 

Find out why in today's post at The "My Life" Project.") 

I started with my Decadent Devil's Food Cupcake recipe and topped them with cookie dough frosting (recipe found at Busy Moms Helper blog) making 1 1/2 proportions on the frosting recipe, which I really didn't need to do, the single recipe would have been more than enough frosting for 24 portions.

Next I doubled my go-to Salted Caramel Buttercream Cupcake recipe from My Frugal Adventures blog with the following modifications: 

I use Hershey's caramel sauce (huge time saver! I really do want to find time to make Chris's sauce.)

I use salted butter instead of unsalted.

I omit the tablespoons of buttermilk (just a straight 1 cup for a double recipe).

I add caramel sauce to the cupcake batter and frosting.

I rolled the frosting into balls & pressed them onto the cupcakes. (Long story short, no piping/pastry bags in the house... sigh. It actually worked out really well!)

Ta-da! The office will have some deliciously rich dessert tomorrow!

Decadent Devil's Food Cupcakes

 

Since we're all snowed in, I decided to do a little baking today. 

Here's the recipe I use for devil's food cupcakes and frosting.

Enjoy!

What you will need: 

 Cupcakes

8 tbsp (1 stick) softened butter (or margarine)

4 large eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup brown sugar (generously packed!)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Frosting

9 oz semisweet chocolate chips

6 tbsp sugar

1 1/3 cup sour cream

Yep, that's it!

 Combine softened butter, eggs & sour cream; then add the dry ingredients.

Makes 24 cupcakes 2/3-3/4 full OR 36 cupcakes 1/2 full.

 They should come out looking beautiful, like this... ;-)

While the cupcakes bake, make your frosting.

Remove cupcakes from pan & cool on rack until room temperature.

Frost by dropping a dollop onto each cupcake. 

You can garnish/top with shaved chocolate before serving if you like.

Store in refrigerator.

Bon appetit!

Zuppa Toscana

I found this posted on Facebook and knew immediately I had to try it!

 I've listed my adjustments below & you can find the Facebook recipe info and another blog recipe image and link at the bottom of this post.

Making my adjustments I found it tasted EXACTLY like Olive Garden!

1 lb. spicy/hot Italian sausages (I use turkey, but have used pork in the past)
3-4 large russet potatoes, chopped with skin left on
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 c. REAL bacon pieces (optional)
4 cloves garlic, minced
32 oz. chicken broth
1 c. kale or Swiss chard, chopped (I use kale because it's a LOT less expensive)
1 c. heavy whipping cream
2 Tbsp flour

Directions
1. Brown sausage links in a sauté pan.
2. Cut links in half lengthwise, then cut slices.
3. Place sausage, chicken broth, garlic, potatoes and onion in slow cooker. Add just enough water to cover the vegetables and meat.
4. Cook on high 4 or 6 hours (until potatoes are soft, I like mine "mushy" soft so I do 6.)

*30 minutes before serving:
5. Mix flour into cream, whisking to removing lumps.
6. Add cream and kale to the crock pot, stir.
7. Cook on high 30 minutes or until broth thickens slightly.

The Facebook recipe has the following differences from mine:

4-6 russet potatoes, chopped
1 full onion, chopped
2 Tbsp minced garlic (about 3-4 cloves)

Cook on high 3-4 hours (low 5-6 hours) until potatoes are soft.

Add salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste.

I apologize that my pictures are a little out of focus- I like my food HOT and it kept steaming up my camera... lol!  Here's a much nicer picture!

You can find the blog post this image came from with recipe variation at this blog link.

Enjoy!!

No Egg Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

Growing up, our favorite part of making cookies was eating the dough. Dad would eat It by mounding tablespoonfuls! My husband has a fit when he catches me sneaking dough when I'm baking. It doesn't bother me, I haven't been sick from dough yet. But in an attempt to get him on my dough bandwagon, I found this "no egg" recipe on Pinterest. (Yes, I find a lot of wonderful recipes on Pinterest!)

Needless to say, I no longer need to make a batch of cookies just to eat dough- this is amazing!


No Egg CCC Dough:

1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
Pinch salt (I used salted butter & omitted the pinch of salt)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

You can find the original post at Baskers Fun Foods.

To all of the "dough-nuts" out there- enjoy!

Fudge Striped Cookie Salad

Yes, I admit, I almost listed this recipe as "Keebler Cookie Salad" because that's the only thing we've ever called it. But it felt a bit like cheating to list this that way when I use any fudge striped cookies I can get my hands on when I make it. So in an attempt to make this recipe a bit more "generic p.c." I've re-dubbed it Fudge Striped Cookie Salad.

This salad has become one of our family's "go-to" staples for pot-lucks and get-togethers. It is great as a side or dessert.

I have no idea where this originally came from, but we love it! In fact, I'm blogging it for you today because my hubby begged me for it last night... So here you go!

Enjoy!!


Fudge Striped Cookie Salad

2 small packages instant vanilla pudding
2 cups buttermilk
16 ounces whipped topping (aka: "Cool Whip") (More can be used for a fluffier salad.)
1/2 package fudge striped cookies (I like my salad "cookier", so I use 3/4 of the package.)

Combine pudding mix and buttermilk. Fold in whipped topping. Crush cookies and fold into salad.

Serves appx 12-16
Serving size: 1/2 cup
Calories per serving: appx 178

Slow Cooker BBQ Cola Chicken

I found this recipe through Pinterest and you can see the original post at: http://www.southernplate.com/2008/08/slow-cooker-coke-chicken-1-on-my-list.html

I followed the recipe exactly and I have to admit, this is the first time I've made a whole chicken and the recipe and directions were so easy my Kindergartener could have done it! (Disclaimer: Obviously he didn't; and if he did, knife and cookware usage would be supervised.)

So here it is:

1 whole chicken (I bought a frozen fryer chicken)
1 onion quartered
1 lemon quartered
1 bottle BBQ sauce
1 can cola (any carbonated sugary beverage should work)

Place chicken in slow cooker, add onion and lemon quarters, cover with bottle of BBQ then top with can of cola.

Cook on high 3-4 hrs to low all day.

How simple is that?!?

Enjoy & happy cooking!!

Chip & Chili Pie

Ok, I know this will not be a recipe for everyone, but it found a special place in our house.
I remember having this growing up and it has become one of my "comfort foods" or an easy casserole when I really don't feel like putting much effort into dinner.  We use to call this "Frito Chili Pie" & it's really very simple.

1 bag corn chips or chili cheese flavored corn chips (we usually use the flavored, but only had regular on hand last night)
1 can chili (with or without beans, I prefer without)
1-1.5 c shredded cheddar

Preheat oven to 350F.
Spread entire bag of chips in a 13x9 pan.

Warm chili in a pan, pour over chips.

Top with cheese (I like a lot, but cover to taste)

Bake appx 20 min or until cheese is melted to your liking.
Serves 4-6

Enjoy!

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

Let's face it- I'm a Pinterest addict!  While perusing the boards one day, I saw this recipe and after reading through the linked blog decided I MUST try these cookies!  After all, who doesn't like chocolate and salted caramel?  Ok, my husband asked me to leave the salt off, he's not a "salted caramel" kind of guy, but he's the exception to the rule.

You can find the original recipe here, but below I have listed the recipe as I have modified it.
Hats off to Sally's Baking Addiction for delivering a chocolate chip cookie recipe that I actually LOVE!
I made these twice with a couple of changes between batches.  I modified the recipe to my taste and baking style in the following ways:
1. I doubled the recipe and used 1.5 bags of chocolate chips- because I don't think you can ever have too many chips in a cookie.  Single recipe amounts listed below.
2. I didn't mix the dry ingredients ahead of time, I just dumped them into the stand mixer as I went.
3. I put in my eggs straight from the fridge, Sally suggests having them at room temperature.
4. Pictured are the cookies with the bits mixed in right after the chips- some cookies did stick to the pan, so I will list the original caramel step as I did it the first time.
5. Apparently my "tablespoonfuls" are larger than most peoples (Mom always had us use the large silverware spoon as a tablespoon when "dropping" batter and the smaller silverware spoon as a teaspoon) so the first batch turned out about the size of my whole hand... Second time around I did my teaspoonful and had a much better portion/cookie size.
6. I left the dough on the counter during cooking as I always do, Sally suggests chilling the dough between batches.
These changes are reflected in the recipe below.

So, here goes- enjoy!

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes 3 dozen

-3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) salted butter, softened-1 cup light brown sugar
-1/2 cup sugar
-2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-1 egg + 1 egg yolk
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3/4 of 11.5 oz bag semi-sweet chips
-16 wrapped caramels cut into 4 or 5 pieces each OR 1/2 bag Kraft caramel bits
-sea salt

Preheat oven to 325*F.

With hand/electric mixer or stand mixer, cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar.
Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.
Add baking soda, then add flour 1/2 cup at a time.  Stir/mix until dough forms.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
DO NOT OVER-MIX DURING ANY STAGE!

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet & press a few pieces/bits of caramel into the tops of the cookies.
Bake 10 minutes (oven variations: 8-11 minutes) or until edges are slightly brown; center should be puffy, soft and slightly moist.
Sprinkle cookies with sea salt immediately after removing from oven.
Cool completely and dig in!