Christmas Cookie Heaven

I love sweets.  I love cookies.  I reeeally love Christmas cookies.  If you put the word "Christmas" in front of the word "cookie" it's instant magic.  Give me an Oreo and call it a Christmas cookie and I'm one happy girl.

I do love and appreciate a new recipe for Christmas cookies and every year I look for new treats to share with family and friends.  I couldn't wait to try out the recipe that Julie from This Gal Cooks sent me for the Christmas cookie swap!

The recipe:

White Chocolate Mint Cookies

Ingredients
1/4 cup of shortening
1/4 cup butter softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 egg, room temp.
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup All purpose flour
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup mint M&M's chopping (use Food processor)

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and shortening with mixer on medium high for about 30 seconds.
2. Add white and brown sugar, baking soda, and mix until combined.
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
4. Gradually beat in the flour.  Mix until well blended.
5. Fold in white chocolate chips and mint M&M's.
6. Drop dough into round tsp size balls onto baking pan lined with parchment paper.
7. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Allow to cool before serving.

Did you notice?  The recipe includes white chocolate chips and Mint M&M's!

This recipe was quick, easy, and absolutely delicious!  I will definitely be making these again before Christmas and probably in the years to come.  It was a perfect blend of white chocolate and mint.

The only thing I needed for an evening of Christmas cheer were these cookies, a cold glass of milk, and my Christmas tree!

So here is what you need to do... bake a batch of these cookies, go sit near your Christmas tree, and read Julie's blog.  You'll be glad you did!

Jalapeño Cheddar Bacon Burger

Looking for something great to make this weekend?

Caleb and I are always up for trying new recipes. Sometimes I even like to think I'm inventive and attempt to create my own recipes. Sometimes the result is yummy {rhubarb compote} {sweet and spicy French toast} {spinach quiche} and sometimes the result is awful... like the eggplant parm episode of 2008... YUCK!

So Tuesday, when I told Caleb I was going to try something new he bravely went along for the ride. I didn't try anything too crazy and the result was one of my better attempts at culinary independence.

Jalapeño Cheddar Buffalo Burgers

Indredients:

1 pound ground buffalo

1 jalapeño pepper

1/2 cup shredded cheddar

1/8 tsp salt

Ground pepper

Garlic Powder

A couple dashes of hot sauce (or more depending on your taste)

Directions:

1. Prepare the grill or preheat a pan to medium high heat.

2. Cook bacon until crisp and set aside to use as a topping.

3. Finely chop pepper and grate cheese if using blocked cheese like I did (I think this tastes better)

4. Mix together all ingredients and form into patties.

5. Cooked until desired "doneness" (is that a word???)

6. Top with bacon and serve on a bun with desired toppings!

They were absolutely delicious!!! And obviously you could substitute ground beef or turkey, but I love that buffalo is low in fat. I served our burgers with an avocado, black bean and corn salad.

Yum!

Quick and Easy Recipe: Rhubarb Topping

I LOVE rhubarb!  My grandmother makes the most amazing rhubarb pie and I think I could eat it every day which is interesting because when cooked down it resembles green snot.  Appetizing, I know, but I wanted to give you fair warning so that its appearance won't deter you from trying this delectable fruit... or vegetable depending on where at in the world you are.  In the United States rhubarb is considered a fruit, but in other countries is often considered a vegetable (just a bit of rhubarb trivia!) :)

Anyway, I'm always trying to think of new ways to eat rhubarb so today I am going to show you how to make a rhubarb topping.  The topping is pretty versatile and really could be considered a type of compote.  I have eaten it on waffles, ice cream, by itself and even on toast.  Mmmm!

This is rhubarb.  It looks like celery, right?  If you take a bite of it raw you will find that it is very sour and its pretty tough.

To make the topping you are going to cut it up similar to how you would clean and cut celery.  When you buy it in the store you will find that some rhubarb is very red and some only has a little bit of red.  I'm not an expert, but I typically go for pieces that have more red on them because one time I read that the red pieces are a little more sweet, but I'm not sure if this is true.

Next, throw them in a saucepan and add 3/4 to 1 cup of sugar.  I used about five medium stalks of rhubarb and 3/4 cup of sugar was plenty for me.  Cook it over medium low heat.  Stir occasionally.

If you are feeling really fancy you can cut up some strawberries to throw in the mix!

Don't be alarmed when the rhubarb starts to break down and look slimy/stringy.

While the rhubarb is cooking... it will take about 15 minutes or so... you can prepare what you will be eating with your rhubarb.  We ate ours over waffles last Sunday and it was AMAZING!  I was feeling lazy so I used a mix.  This one is pretty good.

You know the rhubarb is done when it looks like this.  Mmmmm!!!  Delicious!

It will taste tart even with the sugar and is perfect over a savory waffle.

Sometimes the simple things are the best things!

Quick and Easy Recipe: Glazed Angel Food Cake.

I had my friend Lauren over for dessert, wine, and the finale of Revenge last night.  Does anyone else watch that show?  LOVE IT!  I needed something quick and easy to make for dessert so I decided to try a recipe that I saw on Pinterest.  You can find the recipe here.

Although it only required a few ingredients, I have to say that it was a bit pricey due to the purchase of the Triple Sec which is not something I typically keep on hand.

I liked that it used a store bought angel food cake which was definitely a time-saver and poking the holes and adding the orange liqueur/orange juice mix was a nice touch!  Next time I'm going to add double the amount because I think it would have made it even better.

My only real critique, aside from the cost, was the thickness of the chocolate ganache.  Hindsight is 20/20 and next time I will thin it down a little more with the cream.  

All in all, the recipe was quick, easy, and delicious.  Now that I have the orange liqueur I will definitely make this again.  Caleb loved the ganache and was eating it out of the pan!

Sometimes the simple things are the best things.

Quick and Easy: Ultimate Creamy Grilled Cheese

Okay, here's the scoop.  I am about to tell you how to make the most amazing grilled cheese on the face of the planet.  My beautiful, amazing, fun, mom friend Brittany first made this a few years back and I have been indulging ever since.  You can thank me later...

You only need a few basic ingredients for one grilled cheese:

The Most Amazing Grilled Cheese on the Planet

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 oz. Cream Cheese

A dash of Garlic Powder

A dash (or two) of Seasoned Salt

2 slices of bread

Butter to spread on bread

1. Mix the first four ingredients together in a bowl until blended and assemble sandwich like your everyday run-of-the-mill grilled cheese (oooooh, but this is going to be so much more!!!)

2. Toast in a skillet until golden brown.

3. Enjoy!

I use an iron skillet because I think it makes everything taste better...

This sandwich is amazingly rich, smooth, and cheesy.  I don't even have any other words to add... I can't explain to you how this grilled cheese has changed my life.

Sometimes the simple things are the best things.

Quick and Easy Recipe: Sweet and Spicy French Toast.

Caleb has informed me that these pictures don't look all that appetizing, but I've decided to post this anyway because regardless of what he says, this French toast was amazing!

I love the combination of sweet and spicy together so when I made French toast a few Saturdays ago I decided to try something a little bit different from my regular run-of-the-mill recipe.

Sweet and Spicy French Toast

3 eggs, beaten

1 Tbsp cinnamon (I like a lot)

1/2 to 1 Tbsp. of Cayenne Pepper (depending on how spicy you want the toast)

1/4 cup of sugar

1/2 cup milk

Butter

Bread

Strawberries

Maple Syrup

1. Mix together the eggs, spices, sugar, and milk with a whisk.  Make sure that you mix the eggs, spices, and sugar extra well because it settles very quickly and the sugar will go to the bottom.

2. Melt enough butter to coat the bottom of a skillet over medium heat, dip each side of the bread in the mixture and cook in the skillet until golden brown on both sides.

3. Serve with maple syrup and sliced strawberries.  YUM!

I like to use a cast iron skillet.  I think it makes everything taste better.   :)

Caleb's mom made me this handy little skillet handle cover.  Its one of my favorite things.

Caleb likes to help.

Mmmmmm!

Sometimes the Simple Things are the Best Things!

Quick and Easy Recipe: Baked Eggs in Tomato Cup

I saw this recipe on a blog the other day and I thought it looked like an amazing idea.  I just knew that Caleb would love it.  I had grand plans for an amazing breakfast where we would sit down, have coffee, chat, and ponder the meaning of life (or just watch the news together...), but I totally flubbed up my perfect plan for the perfect breakfast.

Don't you hate it when things don't turn out as planned?!  

Why am I still showing this to you?  I really do think that this would have been amazing if I hadn't gotten side tracked and left it in the oven for about five minutes too long.

The recipe came from The Curvy Carrot and I have plans to try it again.  

This is what it was supposed to look like...

Source: The Curvy Carrot

And here is mine... Ha!  

Just thought you could use a laugh... :)

Quick and Easy: Superbowl Candied Popcorn.

Isn't the Super Bowl exciting?!  This year is even better for myself and all my fellow Hoosiers.  Downtown Indianapolis has been buzzing all week!  I made my way downtown with a friend last night to check out all the festivities... It was such an amazing atmosphere!

Since I'm not one of the lucky few who gets to enjoy the game in person I have been preparing some tasty snacks to take with us to the Super Bowl party we will be attending tonight.  I had seen a recipe on Pinterest for candied popcorn and followed the link back to the Eagle Brand Condensed Milk website.  You only need a few ingredients and it was super easy to make!

Candied Popcorn

Ingredients

Microwave Popcorn

14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk 

1 box Jello

Butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and pop popcorn according to package directions.  Put in bowl and separate out all unpopped kernals.  Thinly coat shallow roasting pan with butter and spread popcorn in single layer.  Set aside.

2. On the stove, mix condensed milk and Jello.  Cook on medium heat until hot and begins to bubble.  Pour mixture over the popcorn.  Gently mix hot mixture into popcorn.

3. Bake popcorn for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes.  Remove from oven and spread out on a piece of lightly buttered foil.  Allow to cool and then break into clusters.

Take a look at the finished product!  I was happy with out bright the color turned out!  This would be also be great for a kids birthday party and think of all the color combinations.  I made two batches so I could have blue and red to match the two teams.

Happy Super Bowl everyone!!!

Quick and Easy : Spinach, Sun Dried Tomato, and Swiss Quiche

I love to cook.  I also love quick and easy.  Caleb and I always make a point to have a good breakfast together on the weekends.  Sometimes I even luck out and get breakfast in bed!  :)

This past Saturday we both woke up really late so breakfast turned into brunch.  I was on call at the hospital so I didn't want to make something that would be a big time commitment so I went with a quiche.  I didn't have a recipe in mind so I decided to make up my own and it turned out to be really great!

Easy Spinach, Sun Dried Tomato, and Swiss Quiche

1 Store Bought Pie Crust

5 eggs

1/4 cup melted butter

1 cup thawed, frozen chopped spinach

1/2 to 1 cup sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup sun dried tomatos

5 slices baby swiss cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Beat the eggs in a medium bowl.  Add in the butter (be sure that the butter is not too hot or it will begin to cook the eggs), spinach, mushrooms, and tomatos.  Stir together well.

3. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and top with cheese slices.  Bake for 30 to 45 minutes.  

I decided to put the cheese on top instead of mixing it into the filling.  This was it was golden brown and I swear I could taste it better than if I would have mixed it in.  This also would have been good with fresh roma tomatos.

We warmed this up on Sunday and it was great in the microwave!

Yum!!

P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wraps and The Godfather.

It was a lazy weekend.  Thats the kind that I like.  We watched not just the first... not just the second... but all three Godfather movies.  I had never seen them. 

The second was my favorite and Al Pacino was quite the looker back in the day!  I'm still not quite as impressed as Caleb who has asked me at least five times, "Don't you think those are the best movies ever?!"

Source: One Frame Per Second

  Saturday evening I cooked knock off P.F. Changs lettuce wraps with my lovely friend Noteka.  You can find the recipe here.  The only thing that I changed was doubling the sauce that you mix into the chicken.  They are AMAZING.  Almost as good as the ones at the restaurant!  The recipe calls for a lot of obscure ingredients that you normally wouldn't keep in the cabinet, but once you have all the things you need it is enough to make the wraps several different times.  Its definitely worth it!

Do I really have to go back to work tomorrow?  The weekend is never long enough!

Sometimes the simple things are the best things.