Seasoned Red Potatoes

We had these for Easter dinner and they were delish.  I (of course) couldn't just do them the way the recipe instructs, so I added a bit more olive oil (didn't want them to be too dry) and some dried parsley.  I also had bigger red potatoes, so I cut each one into 5-6 large pieces.

Ingredients

• 12 to 14 small red potatoes
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions

• Peel a strip from around each potato. Place potatoes in an ungreased 3-qt. baking dish. In a small bowl, combine the oil, butter and seasonings; drizzle over potatoes.
• Bake, uncovered, at 350°, for 50-55 minutes or until tender, stirring every 15 minutes. Yield: 6 servings.

Recipe found HERE.

Homemade Oreos

These are sooo good!

Homemade Oreos

2 boxes of Devil Food cake mix
1 1/2 cups Crisco
4 eggs

Combined all ingredients together and mix until well blended. Roll dough into little balls ( about the size of a quarter) and place on cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 7-8 minutes. Let cool.

Filling

3 cups powder sugar
4 oz soften cream cheese
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter (melted)

Combine all ingredients and beat well. It’s always fun to use a little food coloring in the filling to make these a festive treat!

After the cookies have cooled, put the filling into the middle of two cookies and squish together until you have a Oreo!!! Repeat and enjoy!

Cream Cheese Frosting

this is a recipe I found on allrecipes.com and we've used many times and love. This is if you want a REALLY cream cheese taste. (I do!) Just use one pkg. of cream cheese for a sweeter frosting.

Ingredients

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

Twice Baked Potatoes

{Image from ThePioneerWoman.com}
Making these to go with dinner tonight. MMMmmm. Find the recipe HERE. We of course did not add the green onion, but I'm wishing we would have added heaps of garlic. You should definitely make them - they're very easy.

Butterfinger Cookies

I found this one on Allrecipes.com because I had some leftover butterfinger candies from Halloween. It is REALLY good! Peanut Butter cookies kicked up a notch!

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
5 butter finger candy bars = approx. 15 mini bars, crushed

Combine butter, sugars, egg, pb, and vanilla - mix well. Add flour, soda and salt. Mix in crushed butter fingers. I also added about a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. (I thought about 8 minutes was plenty.)

Enjoy!!

Whey Carmel Corn

Whey Carmel Corn by Jill Conklin

3 air popper batches of popped corn
1 c. butter
2 c. granulated sugar
¾ c. powdered whey
½ c. karo syrup (light corn syrup)
¼ c. water
½ t. baking soda

Put popped corn in a large brown paper bag.

Melt butter in a large glass bowl in microwave. Stir in sugar, whey, karo, and water. Stir well to combine. Microwave on high 4 minutes, stir mixture and cook 1 more minute. Stir again and cook 30 seconds, stir and cook 30 seconds. Add soda and stir well, adding the soda will cause the mixture to foam up.

Pour syrup over popped corn in bag. Stir with a large wooden spoon, spatula, etc. Place bag in microwave and cook for 2 minutes, take bag out and stir; cook 1 minute more.

Remove bag from microwave, tear open, and let cool on counter.

If you want to color the corn or flavor it, add before stirring in the soda.

Make sure you use a large glass bowl. As the syrup cooks, it will bubble up, and if your bowl isn’t large enough, you will have a big mess.

Jill Conklin is in my ward and demoed this at our last Halloween RS Activity. It's more like a candy coating on your popcorn, not really carmel-y, but VERY good!

Dill/Ranch Chex Snack Mix

SNACK MIX - recipe by Jill Conklin

1- 14 oz. box corn chex
2- 12.8 oz. boxes rice chex
1- 10 oz. bag oyster crackers
12 oz. mini pretzels
1- envelope Ranch dressing & seasoning mix**
1 T. garlic powder
3 T. dill weed
¾ C. oil

Dump both types of chex cereal, oyster crackers, and pretzels into a large brown paper bag. Stir well to mix. Sprinkle dressing mix, garlic powder, and dill weed over, and stir well to mix again. Gradually pour oil over all, and once again stir to mix well. Fold bag down, and microwave for 2 minutes, stir, microwave 2 minutes more, stir and microwave one last time for 1 minute. Dump contents of bag out onto counter to cool.

**Make sure that you get the pkg. that says dressing & seasoning, it is the one that just has you add milk, not any mayonnaise.

The sizes of boxes and bags listed above are just an approximation. You can add more or less of anything depending on your taste. I have also added mixed nuts in the past. You just may need to increase or decrease your oil depending on the amount of dry ingredients.

Jill Conklin is in my ward and demoed this recipe at our ward's Halloween RS activity. Very tasty!

German Raw Apple Cake

German Raw Apple Cake - from Holtzinger Fruit

2 1/4 cups flour
2 large eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sour milk (1 tsp vinegar + 1 cup milk)
2 cups peeled & thinly sliced apples

Topping:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, eggs, brown sugar, white sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, shortening and sour milk. Mix until well blended. Fold in apples.
Pour the batter into a greased 12x9 cake pan.
To prepare the topping, combine all ingredients and mix to blend. Sprinkle over the cake batter.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Makes 12 servings.

We got this recipe out of a 2008 Costco cookbook, called In the Kitchen The Costco Way. It has a very coffee cake-like taste and texture. Very good! We'll be making this one more often and adding it to our favorite recipes list.

Bob subbed wheat flour for the white and didn't add the nuts to the topping. We topped with Cool Whip Free.

Scarecrow Crunch

Found this fun recipe here. I think this would be a fun treat to share!

Scarecrow Crunch

4 cups crunchy oatmeal cereal squares

4 cups tiny twist pretzels

1 (22-oz) bag autumn mix honey candy

2 cups peanut butter candy in crunchy shell

2 (6-oz) boxes carmel popcorn with nuts

1 (6.6-oz) bag chocolate graham baked snacks

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Serve as desired.

Pears in Pastry Shells with Carmel Sauce

{image and recipe from www.potsandpins.com}

These are sooo good! Go here for the yummy recipe.

I could not find pastry shells so I used phyllo shells - I also used a sugar-free carmel sauce. YUM!

Oreo Balls

I cannot remember where I found this one, but when I do - I'll add the link to this post.

Oreo Balls

8 oz cream cheese

1 pkg Oreos, crumbled

chocolate candy coating

Crush Oreos with food processor (I used my blender). In med. bowl mix with cream cheese. Roll into balls and lay on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Freeze for 15-20 minutes. Melt chocolate (can thin with a little shortening if too thick). Set out another piece of wax paper, dip balls in chocolate. Let dry.

These are very very yummy. I served these at Mylie's 1st birthday party, but made them look like little cupcakes. I used a candy mold that looks like a mini Reeses peanut butter cup and filled it just less than half way with melted chocolate almond bark. Then I made the Oreo balls, and instead of candy coating them, I pushed them down into the candy mold just until the chocolate came up to the top of the mold. Then I put them in the freezer for a few (or 5) minutes until hardened. They popped out of the molds pretty easily. Once they were all ready, I melted some PINK candy melts and dipped the top part of the Oreo balls in - to coat the top like frosting. I sprinkled some medium clear-ish sugar sprinkles on top while still wet. I've also seen a mini red hot or M&M put on top like a cherry.

Almond Chicken and Rice

adapted from Fall 09 Kraft Food & Family magazine

Almond Chicken & Rice

4 small boneless skinless chicken halves (or 1 lb)

1/4 cup Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian with Parmesan dressing & marinade

1 1/4 cups fat-free reduced sodium chicken broth

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

2 cups cut carrots

1 cup instant brown rice, cooked according to package directions

1/4 cup sliced almonds, divided

Cook chicken in 2 Tbsp. dressing in large nonstick skillet on medium heat 4 minutes on each side or until evenly browned.

Stir in broth, garlic powder and remaining dressing; bring to a boil. Cover; simmer 5 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove chicken; cover to keep warm.

Add carrots to skillet; cook, uncovered, 3 minutes or until soft. Stir in rice and 3 Tbsp. nuts. Serve chicken over rice; top with remaining nuts.

(The original recipe called for Kraft Tuscan House Italian dressing and marinade, but I couldn't find it. The one I used was way yummy and Braden even asked for 2nds on the chicken which he NEVER does. The original recipe also called for broccoli and white rice.)

Easy Hot Fudge Sauce

I found this recipe at one of my favorite recipe sites - allrecipes.com I love this site because you can easily change the size of the recipe with their handy serving calculator. I also love that there are such great reviews under each recipe where people will say if they changed anything about the recipe or not. For this recipe, every review said that it was perfect as-is.

Hot Fudge Sauce

Priscilla Weaver

1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk

4 1-oz squares semi-sweet chocolate

2 Tbsp. butter (no substitutes)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

In a heavy saucepan, combine the milk, chocolate, and butter. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until chocolate is melted. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Let sit until thickened a bit. Pour over ice cream!

Cherry Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Cherry BBQ sauce

I found this recipe here by Nan Slaughter and it is AMAZINGLY yummy! Very different from the normal pork sandwiches with regular BBQ sauce.

Cherry Bomb Pork Sandwiches with Cherry BBQ Sauce

To Make Pork Roast:

1 3 to 4 lb. pork roast (Boston Butt or Pork Shoulder)

1 package (6 oz.) Dried Cherries

1 yellow onion, sliced

2 Wild Cherry Juice Drink Boxes (6.75 oz.) (No sugar added, 100% juice blend)

8 Sandwich buns

To Make BBQ Sauce:

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup fresh cherries, pitted

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

freshly ground pepper to taste

Put pork roast in a large crock pot; cover with cherry juice. Add onions and dried cherries. Put on lid and cook on high for 5 hours. After 5 hours, drain juices from crock. Using forks, shred the roast. Make BBQ sauce.
In a medium-size pan on medium-high heat, add all of the BBQ sauce ingredients. Stir well. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Using an immersion blender, blend up the sauce, or carefully pour the sauce into a regular blender and puree. Pour the pureed sauce over the shredded pork, stir with a fork until all is mixed. Replace lid and continue cooking for an additional hour. Place pork on sandwich buns and stand back because they'll come a runnin! Total cooking time: 6 hours. Serves 8.

Chocolate Pecan Toffee Bars

I found this recipe and picture on a blog I read and thought it looked worthy of sharing here (maybe for a future girls' night out??)

Chocolate Pecan Toffee Bars
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 egg
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup toffee bits



In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and brown sugar until well blended. Cut in butter using a pastry blender or your fingers until it resembles course crumbs. Whisk the egg and add to the flour mixture, mix well. stir in 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate chips and the pecans. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the mixture. Press the remaining crumbs into a greased 9X13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the hot crust. Top with the toffee bits. Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture and the 1/2 cup of chocolate chips evenly over the top. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until set and golden brown. Cool completely and cut into bars.

Monte Cristo Sandwiches

a family favorte from Pampered Chef - Casual Cooking cookbook.

2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
8 slices thick bread
8 slices swiss cheese
6 ounces thinly sliced deli ham or turkey or combination of both
1 tbsp butter or margarine
powdered sugar
1/2 cup strawberry jam

1. In small bowl, combine eggs and milk; whisk until smooth. Pour egg mixture into shallow bowl. Dip one side of 4 bread slices in egg mixture. place bread, egg side down, on large cutting board.
2. For each sandwich, place 1 cheese slice on bread. Top with 1 1/2 ounces ham and additional cheese slice. Dip one side of remaining bread slices in egg mixture; top sandwiches, egg side up.
3. Melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Cook sandwiches about 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. To serve, sprinkle sandwiches with powdered sugar, if desired. Serve with strawberry jam for dipping.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

2-1/2 lb. Potatoes, peeled, quartered
4 ea. Cloves garlic, minced
1 tub (8oz) cream cheese spread
1 T Butter or margarine
1 t Salt

Cook potatoes and garlic in boiling water in large covered saucepan 20min. or until potatoes are tender; drain.

Beat with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.

Add remaining ingredients; beat until well blended.

(I substituted chive & onion cream cheese spread)

Curried Chicken Crepes

Got this recipe from a booklet that came with my crepe maker.

1 ea. batch crepes(about 16)
4 T butter or margarine
1 ea. medium onion, chopped
1 c finely diced celery
2 T Flour
1/2 t Salt
1/4 t Pepper
2 t Curry Powder
1 c Chicken Broth
3 c Diced Cooked Chicken
1/2 c Sour or Heavy Cream

Preheat oven to 375 F. Melt butter in large skillet; add onion and celery and saute until just tender-crisp. Stir in flour and seasonings and cook 5 min. Add broth and bring to a simmer until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in chicken and cream. Place 1-2 heaping tablespoons of mixture across center of each crepe. Roll and place seam side down in buttered 13 x 9 baking pan. Brush or drizzle with melted butter. Bake 20-25 min. or until hot and bubbling.

Maple Porkchops

1/3 c Maple Syrup
1 T Spicy Brown Mustard
1/4 t Salt
1/4 t Pepper
1/4 c Bread Crumbs
4 ea. Pork loin Cutlets
2 t Olive Oil
1/2 c Apple Cider(or juice)
2 ea. Medium Golden Delicious or Granny Smith Apples(cored and cut into 16 wedges)

In a small bowl, stir together the maple syrup, mustard, salt, and pepper. Set aside. Place bread crumbs in a large Ziploc bag, add pork and shake to coat the pork.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the pork and cook it 2min. on each side or until golden brown. Add the cider and apples. Bring it to a boil then reduce the heat and let simmer uncovered 5-7 min. or until pork is done.Stir in maple syrup mixture.

Cook 5 min. more or until sauce is thick.

Bobbie's Cheese Ball

recipe given to us by someone at Bob's work. We've made this several times and everyone loves it.

1 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 of a 13oz can crushed pineapple, drained well
2 Tbsp. minced green pepper
1 Tbsp. minced fresh onion
1 1/2 tsp seasoning salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Mix all ingredients, reserving 1/4 cup nuts. Chill one hour then roll into ball and roll in remaining 1/4 cup nuts. Serve with crackers.