Cookies and Cream Oreo Bark

This may be one of the easiest treats I’ve ever made!  Two ingredients = Perfect, stress-free Christmas treat!

Ingredients:
10 oz Ghirardelli white chocolate chips
15 regular size Oreos, chopped
3 regular size Oreos for topping, finely chopped

1.  Place chocolate in a double boiler and melt, stirring continuously, over low heat.  If you don’t have a double boiler (like me) you can melt the chocolate in a small saucepan.  Just be very, VERY careful!  Once chocolate has melted completely, transfer to a heat proof bowl.  Cool for 5 minutes.

2.  While chocolate cools, line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper.  Leave at least a 1″ overhang on each side.

3.  Add chopped Oreos to cooled chocolate and mix.  Pour mixture into prepared pan and smooth out the top using a spatula.  Sprinkle the finely chopped Oreos on top.

4.  Chill the bark in the fridge until chocolate becomes solid.  When ready, hold the overhang pieces of parchment paper and carefully lift the bark out.  Split bark into pieces with a fork.  Enjoy!

Source: Bakers Royal

* To save on time you could easily melt the chocolate in the microwave!
* Next time I make these I won’t chop up my Oreos so much…my bark looks a little too gray.

Grilled Steak with Herbs

I fell madly in love with Alice Waters’ The Art of Simple Food the moment I laid eyes on it. Even though it is sometimes a little pricey, I love to work in her wholesome, organic recipes where possible. A good friend of mine who lives in California was able to dine at her restaurant, Chez Panisse, last fall for her birthday and scored me an autographed copy of her 2nd cookbook, In the Green Kitchen, which I have spent equal time poring over.
One of my favorite recipes shows up in both of these books with very little variation. Try it the next time you’re grilling steaks and you’ll never go back to store-bought marinades or rubs again.

Mix together and rub into the steak:
3 Tbsp mixed chopped herbs such as rosemary, thyme, oregano, savory or marjoram (I like to use at least 3 different herbs – more if I have them)
2 cloves of garlic, peeled or finely chopped (or minced)
1 1/2 tsp coarse/ Kosher salt
1 tsp fresh-ground black-pepper
Drizzle with:
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Let the steak sit for 1 hour at room temperature before grilling. My husband is the grill-master and likes to sear each side (for the cute little grill marks), then turn off the middle burners on our gas grill (where the steaks are lying) leaving on only the side burners to keep it warm enough to just barely cook. He likes a lot of pink and I’m convinced that’s the best way to enjoy steak.

Source(s): In The Green Kitchen and The Art of Simple Food (both by Alice Waters)

Cookbook Nook: THRIVE Cookbook

How many of you are overly-whelmed when you think about purchasing/organizing/rotating/eating your food storage?  I am.  Believe me.  I have purchased several books, including Food Storage for the Clueless, in an attempt to get up-close and personal with my preparedness and really get my head around it.  Well…still working on that.  However, I have found a few ways to help ME.  One is, I got on the Q program with Shelf Reliance’s THRIVE foods.  I get an automatic shipment each month and they figure out what I need and just ship it.  Anyway, you can find out more about that HERE.  I recently ordered their new cookbook which is fully titled “THRIVE Cookbook: Food That Fits Your Lifestyle.”  I like the sound of that don’t you?
  I have only used a couple of the recipes so far, but we like them!  They taste good.  They taste normal.  I am looking forward to preparing many more dishes from this book and using…yes USING..my food storage. 

STUFFED PEPPERS!!

(For Cooking Channel fans, Kelsey Nixon is very involved with THRIVE foods and has included several signature recipes in this book.)

Triple “Grilled” Cheese

This is a twist on an old favorite and very easy. This is baked instead of grilled on French, Italian, or homemade Sweet Potato Bread. No butter is used, making it lower in fat. Baking also gives a light crispiness throughout the bread coupled with the blend of the three cheeses – this is Yummy!

Ingredients;
2 Loaves French Bread cut in half horizontally
Garlic Powder (optional)
8 slices cheddar cheese
3/4 cup shredded (not powdered) Parmesan Cheese
1 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1. Place cut bread halves on cookie sheet
2. Lightly sprinkle halves with garlic powder
3. Place 4 slices of cheddar cheese on one side of each set of halves
4. Sprinkle Parmesan Cheese on opposite side of each set of halves
5. Sprinkle Mozzarella Cheese on top of Parmesan Cheese
7. Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes depending on how crispy you like your bread
8. Remove from oven, place halves together, and cut in desired lengths – Enjoy!

Source: A Jennie original

Butter Crescent Rolls

Look at this picture…what else do I have to say?

1 -1/2 cups of milk
3/4 cup +1 TBSP sugar
1 egg
1 TBSP salt
2 TBSP yeast
2 cups of warm water
about 9-10 cups of flour
at least 1 cup of butter

Scald 1-1/2 cups of milk, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup of butter, in a microwave safe bowl, for about 2 minutes. Cutting the butter into pieces helps it melt faster. There will probably be some little cubes of butter still floating in the hot mixture, they will melt.

Add yeast to this hot mixture, but it will be too hot to just dump the yeast straight in (it would kill it). To cool it down add 1 egg and 1 TBSP of salt, and leave it to cool for a couple of minutes. OR just let it cool for a while as the yeast mixture rises! Meanwhile, in a measuring cup dissolve 2 TBSP of yeast in 2 cups of warm water and 1 TBSP of sugar. Let it sit for a couple of minutes until it is bubbly. You can stir in 1-2 cups of flour to the milk/butter mixture to cool it down further. Make sure your milk mixture is just warm, not boiling and add the yeast mixture!

Using a fork or wooden spoon, gradually stir in 9-10 cups of flour. Remember to fluff your flour. Either sift it or take a whisk through it to lighten it, that way its not so dense when you go to scoop and measure. I would recommend only adding 2 cups at time and stirring in between. These rolls turn out so much better when they are mixed by hand. AT the end the dough will be dense and sticky, and may be hard to stir, you can use your hands to incorporate the rest of the flour if needed. Be sure not to add too much flour. Then smooth the dough out and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave it in a warm place and let it rise.

Cover your working space with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Dump your dough out and divide it into 4 balls. Try to make them even, but they don’t have to be perfect. Using one ball of dough at a time: roll the dough into a circle on a floured counter. Once it is rolled out spread the top with soft butter from edge to edge. You will use about 2 TBSP per circle of dough.

Cut the dough into quarters using a pizza cutter. Then cut each quarter into 3 pieces. You should end up with 12 triangles from each circle of dough. Roll each triangle starting with the wide end. Tuck the tail of the triangle under the roll and place it on the buttered cookie sheet. You will make 3 rows, with 8 rolls per row. This will give you 24 rolls per pan. Two balls of dough will fill 1 pan. You will get a total of 48 rolls.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the pans of rolls in a warm to let them rise. DON’T let them rise to long or get to big..they will dry out in the baking! (This is key to this roll recipe!) Once they are touching and full in size, cook (one pan at a time) in the oven till they are golden brown. About 10-15 minutes. Keep a close eye on your first pan to get the right time for the second.

While they are still hot and fresh out of the oven run a stick of butter over the tops of the rolls for a delicious buttery glaze.

recipe : howdoesshe.com

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

This recipe won the LDS Living Cookie Recipe Contest. I love the chewiness. Next time I make it though I think I will add more lemon juice and zest so that the cookies really pack a punch!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 t. vanilla
1 egg
1 t. lemon zest
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. baking powder
1/8 t. baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease light colored baking sheets with non-stick spray and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again.

3. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly.

4. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

5. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte (not melty or shiny). Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

*If using a non-stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.

Source: Lauren Brennan

Pineapple Casserole


I’m going to go ahead and prepare you-this is an odd combination of ingredients. In fact, when I was told about it and told what was in it, the only reason that I even tried it was so that I wouldn’t hurt the person’s feelings. Boy was I surprised! It was good.

Pineapple Casserole

2 large cans pineapple tidbits
(1 can drained, 1 can not drained)
2 cups grated cheese
6 tablespoons flour
1 cup sugar
Ritz Crackers (about 30), crumbled
1 Stick butter or margarine, melted

1-Mix together the pineapple, grated cheese, flour, and sugar.
2-Put into a greased 9×13 pan.
3-Mix the crumbled Ritz crackers with the melted butter.
4-Cover pineapple mixture with the Ritz mixture.
5-Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

*Don’t over-bake-the pineapple will get mushy.

Source: Patti Branham

best served warm.
don’t overcook it or the pineapple will get too mushy.

Italian Oven-Fried Chicken


This take on parmesan crusted chicken comes out wonderfully juicy every time. It is delicious on it’s own or on a bed of pasta and marinara sauce. Use bone-in chicken thighs, or go boneless and skinless, it works well with both. Just mind the cooking time for boneless.

Serves: 4-6
Ingredients:
1/2 C. margarine or butter
1 garlic clove, minced
1 C. dry bread crumbs
1/4 C. grated parmesan cheese
1/2 C. finely chopped almonds
2 T. chopped fresh parsley (or dry)
1 tsp. thyme leaves
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
6 chicken thighs
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. In a 13×9 inch pan, melt margarine/butter with garlic.
2. In a medium bowl combine bread crumbs, cheese, almonds, parsley, thyme, salt, and pepper; mix well.
3. Dip chicken pieces in garlic butter, then coat with crumb mixture on all sides. (use the “shake n’ bake method….Ziploc bags work great!)
4. Place skin side up in pan containing garlic butter. Bake at 400 degrees for *1 hour or until chicken is tender, basting occasionally with pan drippings.
*If you are using boneless, skinless chicken thighs, bake for 40 minutes.
Source: My collection of old family recipes

Christmas Spirit

I am so excited that my turn to share a message with you falls on the first Sunday of December! We love Christmas! This time of the year is, with out a doubt, the most demanding for our family. My husband is a District Manager for a retail company and this requires him to travel a lot, and around Christmas his schedule gets worse! It can be exhuasting for him, and us, because we miss him. Things like this and other demands this time of year can, if you let them, really make you lose the “Christmas Spirit”. We don’t want that to happen! So, when we are together we try to make it count.

We love our families and naturally want to give them everything we can. But, the most important thing we can give, is our time and to teach our children about Christ. “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins” (2 Ne. 25:26).

This year, let’s not get bogged down with shopping and going and coming. Let’s remember the real reason for this Christmas season…our Savior’s birth. Merry Christmas!

Easy-Peezy Chicken Salad

This recipe is here for you if you ever need to make an appetizer in a flash!

Ingredients (all to taste):

canned chicken breast, drained
dill salad cubes
mayonnaise
kosher salt (or regular)
pepper
1. Mix all ingredients together! You can serve with crackers but it’s also good as a sandwich.
Note–careful not to add too much salt as there is already salt in the pickles.
Source: my old boss, Lynn Burleson, had her husband make this at our request for several work events. It’s so good that I was disappointed when it didn’t show at one!