Pecan Pumpkin Dessert

Pecan Pumpkin Dessert

I got this recipe from my Aunt Megan. She made this for Christmas this year and my grandma and me couldn't stop raving about it. This is a different recipe that would be great for different potlucks or events that you have to go to because no one else would have made it!
Enjoy :)









Ingredients:
• 2 Cans (15oz each) solid-pack pumpkin
• 1 can (12oz) evaporated milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 package (18-1/4 ounces) Yellow cake mix
• 1 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 1-1/2 cup chopped pecans
Frosting:
• 1 package (8oz) cream cheese, softened
• 1-1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 carton (12oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions:
Line a 13x9" baking pan with waxed paper and coat the paper with nonstick cooking spray; set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, milk and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan.  Sprinkle with dry cake mix and drizzle with butter. Sprinkle with pecans. Bake at 350º for 1 hour or until golden brown. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Invert onto a large serving platter; carefully remove wax paper. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, confectioners sugar and vanilla until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Frost dessert. Store in refrigerator or freeze.

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Peanut Butter Cheese Ball

Peanut Butter Cheese Ball

Ever since I discovered Peanut Butter when I was a child, we have been inseparable. For Christmas this year I decided I would make this Peanut Butter Cheese Ball to go along with my Mimi's cheese ball (the best I have ever had!). I found this recipe on The Girl Who Ate Everything Blog. It is real simple and easy to make and I suggest making it one day in advance.  I also could not find the Graham Cracker Sticks so I just used regular gram crackers and teddy grahams for dippers!

Ingredients:

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar 
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (not all-natural) 
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar 
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
3/4 cup peanut butter chips
Graham cracker sticks, teddy grahams, and/or apple slices for dipping


Directions:Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until blended.

Spoon onto a large piece of plastic wrap; bring up all four corners and twist tightly forming into a ball shape.

Freeze for 1 hour 30 minutes or until firm enough to keep its shape. Place peanut butter and chocolate chips in flat dish. Remove plastic wrap from ball and roll ball into morsels to completely cover, pressing morsels into the ball if necessary.

Place ball on serving dish; cover and freeze for 2 hours or until almost firm. (Can be made ahead. If frozen overnight, thaw at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before serving.) Serve with graham cracker sticks, teddy grahams, or apple slices for dipping or spreading.

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Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Bread

I was recently given a Christmas gift from my boss and his wife and it was a small loaf of Pumpkin Bread. This was my first time to try pumpkin bread and it was amazing! The best part about this gift was that it came with the recipe from NCOE FCCLA. I thought I would share this with y'all in case you needed to make a Christmas treat to give out.

Ingredients:

4 cups sugar

6 eggs

2 cups mazola oil

2 cups pumpkin

6 cups flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

optional: nuts, raisins, candied fruit

Directions:

Mix together the sugar, eggs and oil. Add dry ingredients and mix well, add nuts, raisins or candied fruit if desired. Pour into 10 greased and floured loaf pans. Fill pans 1/2 full. Bake at 325ºF for 1 hour or until done. Makes 10 loaves.

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My Award Winning "I Love Chili" Recipe

I LOVE CHILI RECIPE!

This is the recipe that I won the Carmi Corn Days Chili Cook Off Taster's Choice and Most Spirit Awards. As you can tell from the picture above I dressed up like I Love Lucy so I decided to name my Chili "I Love Chili". This recipe might look a little scary with all the ingredients but it is simple to make. You can even cut down on the time and buy the frozen chopped onions and pepper mixture and use that instead of the fresh ones. This is a "thick" chili. It reminds me of a mix of Frito pie and chili when you add the Fritos.

Ingredients:
1 pkg (1-3lbs) Lean Ground Beef
1 pkg (1-3lbs) Ground Beef Chuck
1lb Italian Sausage (my secret ingredient)

2 (28oz) cans diced tomatoes with juice
1 (15oz) can of Chili Beans
1 (15oz) can of Mild Chili Beans
1 (15oz) can of Hot Chili Beans
1 (6oz) can tomato paste
1 (6oz) can of Green chilies
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon bacon bits
4 cubes beef bouillon
1/2 cup beer ( I like to use bud light)
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon white sugar (my secret ingredient!)
Bag of Fritos
Package of Cheddar Cheese

Directions:
1. Chop all the vegetables or use the bag of frozen chopped onions & peppers.
2. Brown and crumble the packaged of lean and beef chuck meat  and the Italian sausage all together in a large pan over medium heat.
3. If you have time to let your Chili cook for about 4-6 hrs, use a big crock pot and place the meat and all the other ingredients in the crockpot and mix together. Cook on low for 4-6 hrs. If you need the chili a little sooner, place all the ingredients in a large Chili pot and cook over low-medium heat for 2hrs; let it simmer, stirring occasionally.
4. When ready to eat, top with Fritos and Cheese.

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Jimmy Dean Breakfast Casserole

Jimmy Dean Breakfast Casserole

On Thursday my grandma and I made breakfast for everyone in the office. I decided to go with the classic crock-pot recipe. Make it at night before you go to bed, wake up and it's ready to go. This would be a great recipe for Christmas morning.

Ingredients:
1 pkg (26oz) frozen shredding hash brown potatoes
1 pkg Jimmy Dean® Hearty Original Sausage Crumbles
1 cup (4oz) shredding mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup (2oz) shredding parmesan cheese
1/2 cup julienne cut sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained
6 green onions, sliced
12 eggs
1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Spray a 6 quart slow cooker with cooking spray. Layer 1/3 of the potatoes on the bottom of slow cooker.

2. Top with half of the sausage, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, sun dried tomatoes and green onion. Repeat layering.

3. Beat eggs, milk and pepper in large bowl with a wire whisk until well blended.

4. Pour evenly over potato-sausage mixture.

5. Cook on low setting for 6-8 hours or on high setting for 3-4 hours or until eggs are set.

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Christmas Baking

Christmas Baking

I decided to get into the holiday spirit last night by baking up some new and now loved recipes! Here are the three holiday treats that I baked last night.

Chocolate Fudge S'mores Thumbprints
recipe from How Sweet It Is

Makes about 20 cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature (I put it on the stove top while my oven is warming up)

1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 mini chocolate chips
1/2 batch of marshmallow frosting
1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs, or more if desired

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375ºF. Sift flour, cocoa powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.
In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars until fluffy (scraping the bowl when needed) for about 3-4 minutes. Add egg yolk and vanilla, and beat for another 1-2 minutes until combined. With the mixer on low speed, stir in the flour mixture and gradually increase the speed for the dough to come together, again scraping down the sides to combine. Once batter has come together, fold in chocolate chips.

Roll into balls that are about 1 inch in diameter and set on a baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 5 minutes, remove from oven and gently press your thumb into the center of each cookie, creating a dent. Place the cookies back in the oven and bake for 5-6 more minutes. Remove and let cool completely.

Once cool, use a spoon or butter knife and add 1-2 teaspoons of frosting into the cookies. Top with a hefty sprinkle of graham cracker crumbs. Store in an air-tight container. May be frozen.



Holy Crap These Are Amazing Cookies
recipe from Sticky•Gooey•Creamy•Chewy

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 jar (18 oz ounce) peanut butter, crunchy or smooth (I like creamy.)
6 cups corn flakes
3 oz good quality chocolate of your choice

Directions:
Combine sugar and corn syrup in a medium saucepan. Place over medium-high heat and stir until the mixture comes to a full boil.
Remove from heat and stir in the whole jar of peanut butter. Mix well.

Add corn flakes to a large bowl. Pour peanut butter mixture over corn flakes and mix well, taking care to coat all of the corn flakes.
With a tablespoon or cookie scoop, scoop out and form into 1-2 inch balls, depending on your preference, and place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper.
Put the chocolate in a small bowl and melt in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Stir until melted.
Drizzle the melted chocolate over the cookies.
When cooled, eat these cookies with reckless abandon. Be careful, though. We wouldn't want you to get hurt!

Tip: An easy way to drizzle chocolate is by placing the melted chocolate in a zip lock bag and cutting of the tip of one of the corners. To fill the bag, place the zip lock bag in a coffee cup and then proceed to fill it up!

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Chicken & Four Cheese Tortellini Recipe

Chicken & Four Cheese Tortellini

I am what I like to call Step-Italian because my step dad is Italian. I've always grown up with a love of pasta and all things Italian, tortellini is no exception. This is what I had for dinner last night, except I modified the recipe by not adding the mushrooms, because I don't care for them. Enjoy or should I say piacere! :)

Ingredients:
20 ounces dried cheese-filled tortellini
1/2 cup sliced carrots
1 1/2 cups sugar snap peas, halved crosswise
1 tablespoon margarine or butter
3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1/3 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons snipped fresh oregano or 1-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, crushed
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup milk
1 - 8 ounce package cream cheese or light cream cheese (Neufchatel), cubed and softened
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
1 small red or green sweet pepper, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Slice/Dice all your vegetables and set aside.
2. Dice up the chicken breasts and set aside.
3. Cook tortellini in boiling salted water according to package directions, adding the carrot during the last 5 minutes of cooking and the sugar snap peas during the last 1 minute of cooking; drain and set aside.
4. Meanwhile, heat margarine or butter in a 12-inch skillet. Add chicken and mushrooms, and cook about 5 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove from skillet.
5. Wisk together chicken broth, oregano, flour, garlic salt, and pepper until smooth. Add to skillet along with milk. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly; add cream cheese. Cook and stir until cream cheese is smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon juice. Add pasta mixture, chicken mixture, tomatoes, and sweet pepper. Toss to coat. Turn into an ungreased 13x9x2-inch baking dish or shallow 3-quart casserole.
6. Bake, covered, in a 350 degrees F oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until heated through. Stir mixture and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

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Remake of Cheddar's Cookie Monster

Cheddar's Cookie Monster

Cheddar's restaurant has the most heavenly desserts that I have ever tasted, the Cookie Monster. I found this recipe on The Pink And Blue Blog for a Pan Skillet Cookie, which is essentially the same thing! Enjoy :)

What You'll Need:
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup chocolate chunks



Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in an 8 inch cast iron skillet set over medium-low heat. Stir in sugars and vanilla and remove from heat. Let rest until pan is warm, but no longer very hot, about 5 minutes.

2. Crack an egg onto the butter and sugar mixture, and use a fork to whisk it well into the mixture. Place flour, baking soda, and salt on top, and very carefully stir into the mixture until smooth and well-mixed. Stir in chocolate chunks. Place in the oven for 15 minutes, or until starting to turn golden on the top and around the edges, but soft in the center. Serve with vanilla ice cream. 

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Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken Enchiladas 

After living in Texas for 20 years, I have had a solid relationship with Mexican cuisine. This recipe was something that I just came up with with what I had available in my kitchen. This is a quick 30 min meal.

Ingredients:

3 Chicken Breasts
10 oz can Old El Paso Mild Green Chili Enchilada Sauce
10 oz can Old El Paso Mild (or Medium) Enchilada Sauce
Small can of chopped Old El Paso Green Chilies
1 Yellow Onion (chopped)
1 Green Pepper (chopped)
1 Tomato (chopped)
Tortillas
Cheese
Sour Cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350º
1. Boil Chicken in water for about 10 min or until the chicken is no longer pink.
2. Shred Chicken. An easy way to shred chicken is by using a Kitchen Aid Mixer on speed setting 2.
3. Chop the onion, pepper, and tomato and mix with the two enchilada sauces and the can of green chilies.
4. Mix in the chicken.
5. In a oven-safe pan, place the tortilla down and fill with the mixed ingredients and cheese. Fold over and repeat.
6. Once you fill the pan up, place the remainder of cheese on top of the enchiladas.

You can freeze the left over chicken mixture to have for a second meal another time! Allow the chicken to defrost in the refrigerator for a day before use.

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How to Make Cake Balls

Cake Balls

Cake balls have been taking over the world of baking for the past year because they are like little individual cakes. Cake balls are relatively easy to make, but do require some time. For this example, I am making Red Velvet Cake Balls with white almond bark and cream cheese frosting. I served them on a platter and surrounded them with clear rock candy.

Ingredients:
1 Box of Cake Mix of your Choice (prepared to the directions on the box)
1 Can of Icing (your choice)
1 Package of Almond Bark or Chocolate
Sprinkles or other decorations of your choice.

Directions:
1. Bake the cake according to the cake box.
2. After baking, take the cake out of the oven and let it sit for about 5 min.
3. Take a large fork and start to crumble the cake up and place the crumbles in a medium bowl.
4. Once all the cake is crumbled into small crumbs, mix in the can of frosting.
5. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper.

6. When fully mixed, take a cookie scooper and place the cake balls on the cookie sheet. You might use more than one cookie sheet or plate depending on how big you make the cake balls.
7. Place toothpicks in each cake ball and then freeze overnight.
8. On the next day, it is time to prepare the chocolate or almond bark for dipping. I take a medium sauce pan and fill it half way up with water. Place it on the stovetop and heat until it boils.

9. Remove the pan from the stove and place a pan or a bowl that fits securely in the sauce pan and add your chocolate or almond bark slowly, stirring as it melts. Once the chocolate is melted you can add in more of the almond bark or chocolate. (This is a long process, about 20 min., but it is the best way to not burn the chocolate)

10. Once all the chocolate or almond bark is melted, remove the cake balls from the freezer and dip into the chocolate and place back on the wax paper. This is when you can add some sprinkles or other decorations to the cake balls before they harden.
11. Once all cake balls are dipped and placed back on the wax paper transfer them to the fridge until you are ready to serve them.

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Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff

I work an hour away from where I live. When I get home after work, I usually go to the gym. By the time I get home from the gym it is 7:30ish and I really have no motivation to cook. I use a lot of slow cooker recipes because they are easy for me to do. I put all the ingredients in the crock pot the night before, turn it on in the morning, come home at night and it's ready! This is one of my favorites to make.

Ingredients:
• 2-3 pounds stew meat (I like a lot of meet in mine so I tend to just buy two packs of stew meat)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

• 1 medium yellow onion, diced

• ¼ teaspoon garlic salt

• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

• 1 ½ cups beef broth
• 
1 tablespoon ketchup

• 1/3 cup flour

• 6-7 tablespoons apple juice (or water)
• 
4-8 ounces sliced mushrooms (I leave out the mushrooms cause I don't like them, lol)
• 
1/2 cup light or regular sour cream
• Cooked Egg Noodles


Directions:
1. Place the stew meat, salt, pepper and diced onion in the slow cooker. Stir to mix the seasonings and onion.
2. In a small bowl, combine the garlic salt, Worcestershrie sauce, beef broth and ketchup.
3. Pour over the meat.
4. Cook for 7-9 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high.
5. About 30 minutes before serving, combine the flour and apple juice in a small bowl, mix well. The combination should be thick but still pourable so add a tablespoon of apple juice or water at a time to thin, if needed.
6. Pour the flour mixture into the slow cooker, stir quickly to mix in the combination with the stew meat and juices and to avoid lumps. Add the mushrooms and stir.
7. Cook on high for 30 minutes.
8. Stir in ½ cup sour cream right before serving.
9. Serve over pasta, rice or baked potatoes.

*Freezable Meal: The leftovers of the stroganoff can be frozen. Store the leftovers in a freezer-safe container and then thaw in the refrigerator (usually takes about a day) and reheat over medium-low heat in a saucepan on the stove.

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Individual Apple "Rose" Pies

Individual Apple Rose Pies

I decided to make individual Apple Pies for this year's Thanksgiving as a unique take on my famous Apple Pie.
The thing that I did different this time was instead of just dicing up the apples I decided to peel them. I used a potato peeler to "peel" the apple into thin slices. That way I could form them into a spiral pattern that turns out to look like a rose. For this recipe I doubled the Perfect Pie Crust recipe. If you want a quick version, you can use the store bought pie crust as well. I have altered the recipe from the one that I used a little, because I learned that the apple roses would show more if the caramel sauce was placed in the pie before the apples.

Ingredients:

Perfect Pie Crust Recipe doubled
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon Apple Spice (found in the Spice section of the store)
3-4 Apples

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 425º F
1. Spray the muffin pans with nonstick spray.
2. Roll the dough out on a floured surface. Use a large circular cookie cuter or you can use a glass with a large diameter to cut out the dough. Fill the muffin pans with the dough.
3. Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.
4. Stir in the flour to form a paste.

5. Mix in the sugar, brown sugar, and water and continue to stir until it becomes thicker (3-5 min)
6. Use a tablespoon to scoop the sauce into each of the pie crusts.
7. Use the potato peeler to peel the apples with the skin on.
8. The tricky part is forming the rose petals. You take a slice of the apple and you start to roll it. You want to make sure that you have pieces that have the skin on the top side because that is what gives the roses some definition. You continue to tightly wrap the apples around. This is difficult and frustrating at first, but once you get the hang of it it becomes easier. Once it got to the point where I could no longer keep it together, I placed it in the pie crusts and then placed more apple slices around to continue to create the rose shape.
9. Once you fill the muffin pan, take the apple spice and lightly sprinkle on top of the pies.
10. Bake for 8-10min at 425º then reduce the temperature to 350º and continue to bake for 15-20 min or until the crust turns a golden brown.

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The Perfect Pie Crust

If there is one thing that I would be famous for (according to my family) would be my apple pie! It was requested by my family members that I make an apple pie for Thanksgiving. I am having my mom's Thanksgiving tomorrow and I wanted to go ahead and make the pie crust so that it would be ready in the morning. Here is my recipe for a buttery pie crust. JUST MAKE SURE YOU DON'T EAT ALL THE DOUGH before you bake it! It's tempting, I promise.

The Perfect Pie Crust
Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, chilled and diced
1/4 cup ice water

Directions:

1. Measure out the water and then put it in a cup and in the freezer and allow it to "chill"
2. Place the flour and salt in your mixer. I use a KitchenAid Mixer with the Dough attachment. I believe that the reason most people's pie crust never turns out is because they put too much or too little amount of salt. I believe that I have come up with the perfect amount. Go ahead and turn on the mixer to the lowest setting (1 or 2) and keep it on.

3. Dice up the butter.
4. You are going to want to add the diced butter a little at a time. I usually do 3-4 pieces and then let it mix for 20-30 seconds before I add more. The mixture will start to get clumpy and bunch up on the sides. Use a spatula or a wooden spoon to push the mixture back down.
5. Once all the butter is added, wait until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs before adding the chilled water.
6. Add the chilled water a tablespoon at a time in intervals, so that you don't add too much. Once the dough starts to come together, reduce the amount of water you add until it forms a ball. You might not use all the water, that is okay.
7. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
8. Roll dough out to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Place crust in pie plate. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the pie plate.

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Cheesesteak

Cheesesteak

Thinly sliced rib eye, sautéed onions and bell peppers, loads of cheese, sourdough bread toasted on a hot panini press.

So I have a confession to make. My mom bought me a Hamilton Beach Gourmet Panini Press for Christmas 2 years ago. I have probably used it twice. Usually because I try to limit my carbs and therefore I don't keep bread around and I live by myself so when I would have bread it would go bad before I had a chance to eat it all. I decided to take the Press off from above my refrigerator and experiment with one of my favorite sandwiches: Philly Cheesesteak.


Cheese steak panini, serves 4

1 lb thinly sliced rib eye
1 large onion (sliced)
1 yellow, red, and orange bell pepper (sliced)
1 Tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon black pepper
salt, to taste
1 Tablespoon cream cheese
Slices of Cheddar/Mozzarella
french rolls or sourdough bread (I used sourdough bread)

Heat about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil along with a tablespoon of butter in a medium cast iron skillet on medium high heat.  Start sauteeing onions, once they have soften add bell peppers and add spices and stir.  Cook until brown and nearly caramelized.  Remove vegetables into a bowl and add cream cheese and let it melt/mix it together.

Next, brown the meat by placing a few (about 1-2) slices on the skillet and flipping over after a few seconds and salting slightly along the way.  Don't crowd or allow the slices of meat to overlap.  Keep removing browned meat, adding fresh slices and repeating.  Once all the meat is cooked, slice it up and add one tablespoon of butter to pan and dump meat, onions and peppers back into pan.  Stir around and then turn the stove off.

Turn on your Panini Press and let it warm up. Prepare your bread by spraying it with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter on both sides. Then place the desired amount of cheese slices and the meat and veggie mix on top of the bread.  Either toast the bread and add filling, or place between two slices of sourdough and toast up on a panini press.

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