Pinterest recipe reviews

I started a new board on Pinterest today.  It's recipes that I've tried and I detail whether they worked or not.  Check it out here.  

Crispy Cheddar Chicken

(Please excuse the blank "What's Cookin' " post that's been up for 3 days.  I started it and then quit, but I exercised yesterday and now I have more energy today!)

Source: jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com via Heather on Pinterest

So here's what we hope to have for dinner tonight.  We have lots of chicken!


And here's a quote from the recipe author's blog 'cause I think its hilarious (and so true!):

Speaking of my children...the other day we were watching a cooking show on The Food Network

and one of my kids said...

"Hey Mom, you like to cook. 

Why don't you be the cooker on that show?"

My response?

"I'm pretty sure The Food Network frowns upon cookers who use cream of chicken soup. I think I'm out."

Cinnamon Roll Cake

Have you ever wanted the deliciousness of frosted cinnamon rolls without all the time and work?  Let me introduce you to my new favorite cake, the Cinnamon Roll Cake.  Absolutely delicious.

Source: cookinupnorth.blogspot.com via Heather on Pinterest

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Found this on Pinterest.  It is awesome.  Made two and stuck one in the freezer.

Source: alittlebitcrunchyalittlebitrock.blogspot.com via Heather on Pinterest

(Click on the source for the recipe.)

Best Breadmaker Bread Recipe

We got a breadmaker for a wedding gift when we got married and we used it for about 6 years, but when we moved and I got a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, I didn't have room for the breadmaker so I got rid of it (I had never found a really good recipe that I liked).  But now that I have a pantry (which I love!), I have room to store a breadmaker.  I picked one up for 5 bucks at Goodwill last week and yesterday I made the BEST white bread in the breadmaker.  Here's the recipe:

White Bread For The Bread Machine

From allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 cups bread flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

Toss it all in the bread machine and 3 hours later, you've got bread!

The only issue we had with this bread was that Chris thought it was too sweet.  But it was the airiest, tenderest bread machine bread I've ever made.

Also, I found white whole wheat flour at Meijer yesterday.

I'm going to try it with this bread recipe and make it a bit healthier.

Twice-baked potatoes (No oven version!)

I found this recipe on $5 dinners and thought it was a genius idea, especially with the heat wave we had the last week where I totally avoided the oven. I LOVED using the crockpot to bake potatoes. Here's the potatoes cooling after they came out of the crockpot:
I followed the recipe from $5 Dinners, except I mixed the cheese in with the filling instead of sprinkling it on top. I saved some out for our dinner and froze the rest. We just heated the potatoes on the grill and they tasted great! The outsides aren't crispy like oven-baked twice baked potatoes, but these worked better for the kids anyway. Hopefully the frozen ones will taste great too.

Ice Blended Mocha

Ice-Blended Mocha (From good(CHEAP)eats)

serves one

1/2 cup strong coffee
1 cup crushed ice
1/2 cup half and half
2 – 3 Tablespoons chocolate syrup

In the bowl of a blender, combine all the ingredients. Blend until smooth and frothy. Serve immediately.

This was so good! And much cheaper than Starbucks!

Homemade Vanilla Yogurt (in the crockpot!)

Here's my yogurt recipe. It is by no means perfect, but its a good jumping off point. I've made yogurt 3x and each time I make it I tweak something. From what I've read, it takes some practice to get your yogurt to where you want it in terms of consistency and taste. I've gathered my recipe from various sources. One of the best is here (crockpot version). There are lots of other recipes that call for boiling the milk on the stove to some exact temperature, etc, etc. Here's one here. I found the crockpot way really easy for me and only one pot to clean! So here's what I do:

Homemade Vanilla Yogurt

1. Pour 8 cups of milk into crockpot and mix in 1/2 cup of sugar and 1+ tablespoons of vanilla. (I've used whole and skim and I don't see a difference in consistency so I'm sticking with skim.) Cook on low for two and a half hours. (Can add 1-2 packets of unflavored gelatin or dry milk to help thicken yogurt.)
2. Turn crockpot off and let the yogurt cool for 3 hours. (I think this is where I have problems. You have to cool the milk to 105-110 F before adding the starter yogurt. I'm not sure I'm getting it cool enough. I may try the next batch with a thermometer.) Let me stress that this is an essential step. I accidently skipped it once and ended up with sour smelling milk the next morning, not yogurt. :-)
3. Remove 2 cups of warm milk from the crockpot and whisk 1/2 cup of starter yogurt in. (I use Dannon All Natural.) Dump mixture into the crockpot and stir.
4. Cover crockpot and wrap with a large beach towel and let it sit for 8-12 hours. You will have yogurt after that!
5. If the yogurt is too runny for you, here's what I did. I lined a colander with coffee filters and placed it over a large bowl and dumped the yogurt into the colander. I let it sit in the fridge for about 12 hours and came back to thick yogurt. (I'm told its like Greek yogurt consistency.) I'm going to cut the draining time next time because it was a little too thick. By the way, the stuff you drain out is called whey and I guess its good for you. Some people add it to smoothies, etc.
You can also add fruit to your yogurt to make different flavors. Just be aware that it will make the yogurt thinner.

Cost:
A 32 oz container of yogurt is $2.99. A half gallon of milk will cost you about $1.50. You will use 1/8 of the yogurt so about 40 cents worth. Your cost to make about 60 oz of yogurt is less than $2. Less if you get the yogurt and milk on sale. So its definitely a money saver if your family likes yogurt.

Edit: Right after I wrote this I went to strain the rest of my yogurt, but it was already thick! I had added two packets of unflavored gelatin with the milk in step 1 and it must have thickened more as it cooled in the fridge. I had excluded this because previously I had used 1 packet of gelatin and it hadn't worked, but I guess 2 packets did the trick! I plan on trying to thicken my next batches of yogurt with dry milk because I think this will be cheaper than gelatin in the long run.

White Texas Sheet Cake

Pic from allrecipes.com

So yummy! I made this cake with the frosting recipe below.

Buttercream Frosting (from PCS Grandmother's Kitchen cookbook, vol. 3)

4 c powdered sugar

1/4 c butter, softened

1/4 c Crisco (I used another 1/4 c butter.)

1/4 c milk

1 t vanilla

1/4 t almond extract (I think this is what made the frosting so great!)

Beat powdered sugar, butter, milk and extracts at low speed until well-blended. At med speed, beat until light and fluffy.

Since I've been making all these yummy treats lately, I've been eating too many of them so I challenged myself not to eat any cookies, cake, etc until our camping trip in June (hello, I'm not passing up smores!). I haven't even gotten through one day and its hard (especially with this leftover cake sitting on the counter!), but I'm thinking it'll get easier as I train myself not to reach for sweets. Heading to the grocery store tonight to pick up some healthier options.

Granola bars

I was looking for a bit healthier treat for our family and found this recipe.

Here's my adaptation based on some of the comments:

Gobble Up Granola Snacks (my version)

2 1/2 c crispy rice cereal

1 1/2 c old fashioned oats (you can use quick-cooking also)

1/2 c ground flax seed

1/2 c raisins (or a combo of raisins, nuts, coconut, chocolate chips, etc.)

2/3 c packed brown sugar

2/3 c honey

2/3 c crunchy peanut butter

1 t vanilla

1/4 t salt

1. Stir together rice cereal, oats, flax seed and raisins. Set aside. Grease a 9x13 pan.

2. Combine br sugar and honey in microwave safe bowl. Microwave for ~1 minute or until just boiling. Stir in pb and vanilla until smooth. Pour over oat mixture and mix very well. Make sure everything is coated well.

3. Press into prepared pan using plastic wrap. Refrigerate until set and able to cut into bars or squares.

I individually wrapped a bunch for Chris to take to work and stored the rest in a tupperware in the fridge.

I grew up and now I like chicken salad

Have you ever been to a baby or bridal shower and had a gluey chicken mixture on a soggy croissant that's being passed as chicken salad? *shudder* I used to detest chicken salad. For one thing, it always seemed to be made with all dark meat that tasted too... chickeny. Oh and don't forget the fear of crunching down on a bone. So I always bypassed the chicken salad. That is, until a few weeks ago when my cousin Caylee made some delicious chicken salad for her soon to be sister's bridal shower. It was delicious! Caylee used this recipe as the basis of her salad. I used some from that recipe and some from this recipe to make MY chicken salad recipe. So here goes!

Chicken Salad

(I'd say this makes enough for about 4 people, but I wasn't too exact on measurements.)

1 1/2 cups chopped white meat chicken (post about how I cook chicken coming soon)

about 1 cup red grapes, halved (dried cranberries are awesome too)

1 finely chopped celery stalk

4-5 chopped green onions

a couple tablespoons of chopped red pepper

1/2 c of chopped pecans

1 T lemon juice

1T brown sugar

a dollop of mayo (1/4 cup?)

a dollop of plain yogurt (1/4 cup?)

some dry dill

salt

ground pepper

This is probably obvious, but you need to mix all of the above together. :-) PW says to let the mixture sit in the refrigerator for a few hours to let the flavors marinate. I would do that, but I'm a bit too impatient, so I ate it as soon as I finished and it was still good.

So, don't be afraid of chicken salad anymore. In the words of Rachel Ray, "Yummo!"

Bangers and Mash

Not sure how this recipe got its name, but it was pretty tasty!

Bangers and Mash

Ingredients:

3 lb Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered (I did about 1 1/2 lb)

salt and pepper

4 T butter

1 c milk

3 T Dijon mustard

1 1/2 lb cooked chicken or turkey sausage links (I used 1 lb of smoked sausage)

1 T oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 T flour

1 1/2 c chicken broth

1. Cook potatoes in a large pot with water until tender. Drain, return potatoes to pot, mash with butter, milk, mustard, salt and pepper. Keep warm.

2. Prick sausages all over with a fork. Warm oil in a skillet over med-high heat and brown sausages on both sides. Remove to a plate.

3. Add onion to skillet and saute until softened, about 3 min. Add flour and saute one minute. Slowly stir in broth and cook until sauce has thickened (mine didn't thicken much). Return sausages to skillet, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer until sausages are warmed through. Slice and serve over potatoes with extra mustard for dipping.

This was quite good and a very cheap meal considering I paid $1.45 for the sausage and 50 cents for the potatoes. Throw in a few large carrots and homemade applesauce (free) and this meal definitely came in under $5!

Recipe from April 2011 All You magazine

Salad for lunch

Here's what I made for lunch yesterday:

It was really yummy and it made me feel like I was eating healthy. :-)

Ingredients:

Romaine and Boston lettuce

toasted almonds

mandarin oranges

Oscar Mayer chicken (I got this for $1 at Meijer this week)

provolone cheese

I drizzled the above with honey poppyseed dressing from my Joy cookbook:

1/4 cup honey

3 tablespoons cider vinegar (or other fruit vinegar)

1 small shallot, minced (I used some onion flakes)

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (I used spicy mustard)

1 teaspoon poppy seed

salt, to taste

pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons olive oil

*Whisk all ingredients together or shake in jar.

My mother-in-law gives this cookbook to all her daughters/daughters-in-law when they get married and I appreciate it more and more every time I use it. Good, quality recipes.

Recipes of Late

Cheddar Onion Biscuits

I made these tonight to go with our spaghetti since I am out of yeast and can't make bread. They were fabulous! Similar to Red Lobster biscuits, but no garlic.

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Strawberry Bread (recipe from What's Cookin' in Kalamazoo)

2(10 oz) packages of frozen strawberries, thawed (I used about 4 cups and drained some of the liquid)

4 eggs

1 1/4 veg oil

3 c. flour

2 c. sugar

3 t cinnamon

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

Grease and flour 2 (5x9 in) loaf pans. Combine all ingredients; stir by hand until well blended. Pour into pans and bake for 1 hr at 350. Let stand 10-20 minutes in the pan (This is crucial! I didn't wait on the first pan and I made a big mess.) before removing from pan.

Excellent bread! Very moist and unique strawberry flavor.

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Chocolate Whoopies (from TOH)

Ingredients

• 1 package (18-1/4 ounces) chocolate cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 
  FILLING:
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 
  GARNISH:
• 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, eggs, oil and vanilla; beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Beat on medium for 2 minutes.
• Drop by 2 tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 15-18 minutes or until edges are set. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
• For filling, in a small saucepan, combine the sugar, flour and salt. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in chocolate chips until melted. Cool completely.
• In a large bowl, beat the shortening and butter until fluffy. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla.
• Spread chocolate filling on the bottoms of half of the cookies, about 2 tablespoons on each; top with remaining cookies. Roll sides in miniature chocolate chips for garnish. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: about 1 dozen.

Super yummy!

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Chunky Veggie Dip

Veggies I used~Green pepper, red pepper, celery, sweet onion, and cucumber (made it a little runny). Served with whole wheat Ritz crackers for a yummy snack.

5 Minute Artisan Bread

Image from food.com

So I've seen this recipe floating around and I was really skeptical. Bread that takes only 5 minutes? No way. Bread needs to take a really long time, make a huge mess of the kitchen, and give you sore arms from kneading so much. But, I really wanted some homemade bread for dinner the other night and thought I'd give it a try. And I wish I had tried it months ago! It really does take 5 minutes to whip up, plus it makes enough for 4 loaves and keeps in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. It was an airy loaf of bread that the boys gulped down. Definitely going in my book of 'keeper' recipes.

Here's the recipe I used.

Edit: Here's a pic of my bread. Bummer I ran out of yeast last week. It would go great with our spaghetti tonight!

Homemade Oreos

Image from My Baking Addiction

Try these. Very simple to make. Don't taste a thing like Oreos. Much better. I gave Joel one this afternoon. When he finished, he said, "More." Mommy said, "No more." Joel: "A couple?" My usual response when he wants more raisins, crackers, etc, is just a couple. Guess he caught on to that one.

PW's Meatballs with Pineapple and Pepper

I'm hungry and this sounds really good right now. Thinking about making it for the church potluck on Wednesday. Good idea or not??

Photo from PW

Chocolate Mint Brownies

Here's a recipe for a quick treat to bring to holiday parties.

Chocolate Mint Brownies

Make one 13x9 package of brownie mix as directed.

Filling:

4 T butter, softened

2 c powdered sugar

3 T milk

1 t peppermint extract

4 drops green food coloring

Beat filling ingredients together and spread on cooled brownies. Place in the refrigerator to harden.

Glaze:

2/3 c chocolate chips

3 T butter

Melt chocolate chips and butter for about 1 min in microwave. Mix until smooth and spread over mint filling. Chill to harden. Enjoy!

Adapted from here.

Cinnamon Bread

Image and recipe from © Happy Little Homemaker 2008-2010

So, so good. Make it. ASAP. And omit the raisins if you're funny about things like that in your bread like some members of my family are. :-)

Oh, and its very good with gobs of butter or gobs of this icing.

Notable Recipes of Late

Here's a few links to some good recipes I've tried lately:

Supreme Strawberry Topping~I made this with 2 cups of frozen strawberries and added a little cornstarch water to thicken it and then put it on top of my no-bake cheesecake. Yum!

Chocolate Frosting~Put this on chocolate cake a few weeks ago. I love how it turns out smooth. I have another recipe that I use because I love the taste, but it turns out a bit grainy. This is perfectly smooth and tastes great too (and super easy!).

Crusty French Bread~I found this recipe when reading Rachel's menu plan. I skip the egg yolk brushed on top and rub butter on it after I take it out of the oven. I place the loaves on a cooling rack and lightly cover until cool. We had this with pea soup this week and it was delicious. The cat liked it too, she climbed on the counter and destroyed a loaf! The cat will be moving to Grandpa's barn soon.