Sunday, December 30, 2012

Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake


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I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  I sure did.  It was nice having both my kids home for Christmas!  I have gotten spoiled and now they will both have to go back to school.  Are you ready for New Years Eve?  Cally and I have been talking about what we are going to make for New Years Eve.  So far we have decided on Baked Pizza Dip, Nacho Dip, BBQ Wienies and Dried Beef dip.


This is my very Talented niece Marley.  Marley had a Birthday last week.  Happy 11th Birthday Marley!!



The Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake was very rich.  You could not eat a very big piece at one time.  I liked it with whipped Cream on top, like the cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory.

Peanut Butter Cheesecake

1 1/2 Cup graham cracker crumbs
1/3 Cup sugar
3/4 Cup creamy peanut butter
6 Tablespoon butter, melted
filing
24 ounces cream cheese
1 Cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 Cup sugar
3 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 Cup hot fudge topping

In a bowl, combine cracker crumbs, sugar and butter.  Press into the bottom of a 8x8 pan that has had foil placed inside and over lapping the edges of the pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 7-9 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.  In a microwave safe bowl, heat the peanut butter on high for 30 seconds or until softened.  Spread over crust.

In a large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and sour cream until smooth.  Add eggs and beat on low speed just until combined.  Stir in vanilla. Pour over the peanut butter crust.

Bake cheesecake in a 350 degree oven for 55 to 65 minutes or until center is almost set.  Cool on wire rack for 1 hour.

Microwave the hot fudge topping for 30 seconds or until warmed.  Spread over cheesecake.  Garnish with Reese cups.  Refrigerate overnight.  To serve lift the cake out of the pan by the foil.  Remove the foil from the cake and serve with whipped cream if desired
Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas


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This morning we delivered Christmas meals that the German Township Fire Dept provided for members of the community.  Volunteering to deliver meals to people who might not have had a Christmas meal was truly   an uplifting experience.  I am blessed to have a family that cares for others.

Today our county was put under a Blizzard Warning.  We are expecting 6 to 10 inches of snow with high winds.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that we get the snow so we can ride our snowmobiles.  We never even took them off the trailer last year so we are anxious to ride.

Last night we went to the Christmas Eve service at church then the four of us came home to have our Christmas dinner.  We had ham, Miss Polly's perfect potatoes, spiced sweet potatoes, green beans and apple pie.  We ate then opened our gifts that we bought for each other.  We had a lot of fun last night and this is one of the best Christmas Eves ever.


This is the Spiced Sweet Potatoes that we had for dinner.  I love sweet potatoes.  The potatoes have a cinnamon glaze on them with melted marshmallows.  They are super yummy!

Spiced Sweet Potatoes

2 lbs sweet potatoes
1/2 C brown sugar
3 T margarine
3 T water
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
mini marshmallows

Peel and cut potatoes.  Boil potatoes until tender but firm.  Drain potatoes.  Place into a greased 9x13 pan.  In a sauce pan, melt the brown sugar, margarine, water, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Pour the mixture over the sweet potatoes and cover with marshmallows.  Bake in a 350 degree oven until warmed through and marshmallows are slightly brown.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Melted Snowman-Snowgirl Cookies


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My Christmas baking is finished.  Today I made these melted snowman/snowgirl cookies.  I saw these on the internet last year on Truly Custom Cakery and never got around to making them.  I thought they were the cutest cookies I had ever seen.  For iced sugar cookies they were also the easiest sugar cookies I have done.  No need to use a cookie cutter because melted snowman/snowgirls are all out of shape from melting.


I just took a scoop of sugar cookie dough and rolled it out into a circle shape.  Then placed them on the baking sheet to bake.  After cooling I iced them.  You can use your favorite icing recipe to ice these cookies.  It just needs to be a little thin to make it look like it is running over the top of the cookies.  After icing the cookie just place a large marshmallow on top of each cookie.  Before I added more water to my icing to thin it out I took a small amount out and colored it black and orange.  With this black and orange icing I piped eyes, buttons, arms and a nose with a Wilton icing tip #3.  I also used some Wilton snowflake sprinkles to decorate with.

I received an early Christmas present last weekend before I started making my cookies.  If you remember back to this summer I had made a post for cookies and in it I showed you my scraping paddle attachment  that I broke mixing up those cookies.  Well Cally remembered and while she was away at school she had bought me a new scraping paddle and brought it home to me......Luv U Cally!



Last night we were hit with a winter storm here in Ohio.  The really bad part of the storm is the wind gust that are reaching 50 mph.  It looks like we have about 2 inches of snow but the wind is blowing the snow so hard we are having white outs and drifting on the roads.  It started out yesterday as rain so there are roads that are very slick.  I need to finish my shopping and go to the grocery.  Cally and I started out for town and only made it about 5 miles down the road to Lawrenceville.  We did our few errands that were close and came back home.


The first picture is out our back door and the second picture is out the front door.  I did not want to go to far out because the wind was blowing the snow so bad, you can really see the white out in the first picture.

The dough recipe I used for these snowman/snowgirl cookies is my favorite sugar cookie dough recipe.

Snowman/Snowgirl Cookies
source: The Girl who Ate Everything

1 C sour cream

2 C sugar
1 C butter
4 eggs
1 t vanilla extract
6 C flour
3 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine sour cream, sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla.  Beat for 2-3 minutes
Add dry ingredients and mix well.  Let dough chill in fridge for 25 minutes or until firm.
Roll dough out until about 1/4 inch thick and use cookie cutters to make shapes or circles
Bake until light golden brown, about 8-10 minutes (I baked for 8 minutes)
makes about 4 dozen

Icing

source: Taste and Tell

2 3/4 C powdered sugar

2 t vegetable shortening
3 T water
1 T corn syrup
1/2 t vanilla
food coloring and sprinkles

Beat all ingredients well, the icing should be a little stiff.  Spoon out enough icing to pipe the decorations for your snowman/snowgirl cookies.  Add food coloring and stir well


To the remaining icing add about 1 T water to make the icing a little runny.  Spread the icing on the cookies almost to the edge.  Place a marshmallow on top of the cookie for the head and use the orange and black icing to decorate.  May also add additional baking sprinkles to decorate cookies.
Sunday, December 16, 2012

Snowman Cookies


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Cally and I have been busy in the kitchen today.  We made snowman cookies and candy bark.  These snowman cookies are delicious and also very cute.  We decorated them with Mike and Ike and JuJu candies.  The cookies are really soft and the icing is a vanilla butter cream.

Snowman Cookies
source: The Girl who Ate Everything

1 C sour cream

2 C sugar
1 C butter
4 eggs
1 t vanilla extract
6 C flour
3 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees


Combine sour cream, sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla.  Beat for 2-3 minutes


Add dry ingredients and mix well.  Let dough chill in fridge for 25 minutes or until firm.


Roll dough out until about 1/4 inch thick and use cookie cutters to make shapes or circles


Bake until light golden brown, about 8-10 minutes (I baked for 8 minutes)


makes about 4 dozen


Easy Buttercream Frosting

source:  Brown eyed Baker

1 C butter, at room temperature

1 t vanilla
4 C powdered sugar
3 T heavy whipping cream

To make frosting, Cream butter and vanilla.  Slowly add the powdered sugar.  Once smooth and creamy add the heavy whipping cream and beat at medium -high speed for 1 minute until light and fluffy.


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

ZipLoc Bag Omelet


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This is a neat recipe.  You boil it in a ZipLoc freezer bag.  I was given this recipe many years ago by a coworker.  I did not have freezer bags so I just used a regular bag and it worked but it did shrivel up some from the heat.  They are really easy to make, just throw it all in the bag and squish it together, take the air out of the bag and zip it shut.


Billy is home for Christmas and Cally will be home this Friday.  Next week I am on vacation and Cally and I plan on doing a lot of cookie baking........ so stay tuned!

This post is linked to Kelly the Kitchen Kop’s Real Food Wednesday blog carnival

ZipLoc Bag Omelet

No one has to wait for their special omelet.  Write names on a quart-size ZipLoc freezer bag with permanent marker.

Crack 2 eggs into the bag and shake (I squished) and stir to combine. (I also added a splash of milk to mine)

Put out a variety of ingredients such as:  Cheeses, ham, onions, green peppers, tomato, hash browns, sausage, salsa ect....

Add prepared ingredients of choice to bag and shake.  Make sure to get air out of the bag and zip it up

Place bags into rolling, boiling water for exactly 13 minutes.  You can usually cook 6 to 8 omelets in a large pot.

Open the bags and the omelet will roll out easily.  Be prepared for everyone to be amazed and enjoy


Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Skillet Almond Shortbread


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Happy National Cookie Day!  This Skillet Almond Shortbread is amazing.  We love shortbread and I know I have said it before....I LOVE ALMOND FLAVORING.  I saw Trisha Yearwood make this on her cooking show and knew I would be making it.  We have fallen in love with it and I have baked it 3 times in the last week.  It is crunch on the outside and soft and almost doughy on the inside.  It is melt in your mouth good.  Trisha bakes hers in a 10 inch cast iron skillet, I only have a 9 inch cast iron skillet so I just increase the baking time by 7 minutes and it has baked up just fine.


Skillet Almond Shortbread
Trisha Yearwood

1 1/2 Cup plus 2 T sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
2 large eggs
1 1/2 Cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 Cup sliced almonds with skins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a 10 inch cast iron skillet with foil and spray the foil with cooking spray.  In a large mixing bowl, stir 1 1/2 C sugar into the melted butter.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.  Sift the flour and salt into the batter.  Add the flavoring and stir well.  Pour the batter into the skillet.  Top with the sliced almonds and the remaining 2 T sugar.  Bake until slightly brown on top about 35 minutes.  Cool the shortbread in the skillet.  When cool, use the foil to lift the shortbread from the skillet, remove the foil before serving.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas and Cilantro Lime Rice


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We had a great weekend.  The only thing that would have made it better is if Cally would have been home.  Billy has been coming home on the weekends to help at the Knoll Top Tree Farm.  Billy has worked at the tree farm since he turned 16.  A few years back Matt started working at the tree farm with Billy.  They work at the tree farm from 9 am until dark.  So after a long day at the tree farm on Saturday Billy and Matt both came back to the house for dinner.  It has been unseasonable warm around here so we were able to grill out hamburgers on Saturday.


Here are some pictures of Billy and Matt working at the tree farm.  The customer cuts their tree and pulls it up to the barn.  In the picture above our cousin Greg is pulling his tree up to the barn,  Once at the barn the guys will put the tree on the shaker.  It vibrates and shakes the tree so all the loose needles fall off then they put it through the baler which will put a netting around the tree.  Lastly the guys help the customers put the trees in or on the vehicles.


We took our littlest beagle with us Saturday.  He was excited to see Billy.

I saw a recipe on a blog awhile back for Creamy Chicken Enchiladas but when I went back to find it I can not.  So this recipe is what I came up with.  It was really good.  I like that it was baked in whipping cream.  The whipping cream kept them really moist.  The Cilantro Lime Rice tasted just like the rice I have had at Chipotle.  Also on the plate is refried beans with Taco Bell taco sauce and cheese on top.  They taste just like Taco Bells pintos and cheese.

Creamy Chicken Enchiladas

2 C cooked and shredded chicken
1  8oz cream cheese
1 10oz can rotel tomatoes
1/2 C chopped onions
1/2 t garlic powder
oil, for sauteing onions and rotel tomatoes
6 tortillas
1 C whipping Cream
8 oz Monterrey Jack cheese ( I used 4 cheese Mexican)

Saute onions and rotel tomatoes in oil until onions are tender.  Add garlic powder and stir well.  Add the cream cheese and stir until melted.  Lastly add the chicken and mix all together.

Place 1/6 of the mixture on each tortilla and roll up to close.  Place each tortilla in a greased 9x13 pan.  Pour 1 C whipping cream over enchiladas and cover with foil.  Bake in a 350 degree over for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and take off the foil.  Sprinkle the cheese over top of the enchiladas and place them back in the oven until the cheese is melted

Cilantro Lime Rice
Chipotlefan.com

1 Toil
2 t fresh cilantro, chopped fine
1/2 lime
1/2 salt (sea salt)
1 C long grain white rice
2 C water

Saute the rice in oil until almost translucent.  Add water and bring to a boil.  As soon as the water begins to boil, turn the heat down low.  Simmer, covered for 15-20 min or until all water is absorbed.  Turn off heat.  Don't peek.  Leave it covered for 30 minutes. This is what makes it fluffy.  Remove lid, let some of the steam out.  It may be helpful to transfer rice into a mixing bowl for the next step.  Mix salt and lime juice together until salt is dissolved.  Pout it over rice, fluff with a fork.  Sprinkle in cilantro and toss will to evenly coat with cilantro and lime mixture.