Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter chips

1 (6oz) pkg. chocolate covered peanut butter cups, cut into eights (Reese's peanut butter cups cut up chunky)

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa and baking soda. Stir into the peanut mixture. Mix in the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and peanut butter cups. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. (Or, you could roll them into balls if you prefer a more uniform look.)

Bake for 13 minutes and then remove from oven and allow cookies to rest on cookie sheet for an additional five minutes before removing them. Enjoy!

***I also didn't put in the Reese's peanut butter cups this time because I was trying to cut back slightly on the intensity of the flavor. They still tasted awesome!

BYU Mint Brownies

photo courtesy of BYU Magazine

These are the best brownies I have ever tasted! They taste exactly like BYU's brownies! So good. The recipe says to bake at 350 for 25 minutes. I had to let them bake for 40 minutes in my oven. So gooey and yummy!

1 cup margarine
1/2 cup cocoa
2 tbsp honey
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped walnuts

1. Melt margarine and mix in cocoa. Allow to cool.
2. Add honey, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Mix well and add nuts.
4. Pour batter into greased 9 x 13 pan.
5. Bake for 25-40 minutes or until knife comes out clean.
6. LET COOL COMPLETELY.

Prepare Mint Icing:

5 tbsp room temp margarine
dash of salt
1 tbsp light corn syrup
2 1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp mint extract
2-3 drops green food coloring
3 tbsp milk

Mix margarine, salt, corn syrup and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add mint extract and food coloring and mix. Add milk gradually until the consistency is a little thinner than cake frosting.

Prepare Chocolate Frosting:

1/2 cup margarine
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup milk
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Spread mint icing over the brownies. Place brownies in the freezer for a short time to stiffen the icing. Remove from the freezer and carefully add a layer of chocolate frosting (I used store frosting).

Smothered Chicken

Smothered Chicken

4 boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts
4 Bacon strips, cooked crisp and chopped (use turkey bacon to keep this meal light)
1 cup BBQ sauce
2 Roma Tomato's diced
2 Green Onions, diced
1/3 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded
SaltPepper

Salt and pepper the chicken breasts and then bake in the oven for about 20 minute at 350 degrees OR grill the chicken breasts... I like to use my Foreman Grill in the winter. Smother the chicken breasts with BBQ Sauce on both sides and return to oven for about 3-5 minutes, until breasts are cooked through. Evenly top each chicken breast with the crisp bacon and cheese, broil for 30-60 seconds under the broiler to melt the cheese. Top the chicken breasts with the chopped tomato and green onions. You can even cook and dice the chicken, then serve in a salad. Enjoy!

Cream Cheese "Chicken" Soup

Adapted from Melanie's

*Warning*

This recipe will make you weep. Seriously.

I am not sure what it is about this recipe that makes is soooo yummy. Maybe it's the comfort food aspect of it. I don't know. But this is one of the best tasting soups I have ever encountered. We eat this at least 3 times a week. Yup. Seriously.

This recipe calls for chicken, yet I don't add it any more. After my dad had major surgery, his diet was temporarily limited to softer foods, which included chicken. I search one of my favorite recipe blogs, at My Kitchen Cafe, for all things chicken and found this gem. I quadrupled the cooking time on the veggies to make them softer for my dad. In doing this, I inadvertently made the potato the star of the show. The potatoes started to fall apart, making this taste like a yummy comfort food potato soup from childhood's past. Yum. So, just remember that this recipe does call for chicken. You can invite it...or not.

We are having this again tonight. I will take a picture and pass it along!

4 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
chicken broth, from a can, or from the cooking chicken (I have used a combo of both)
1 medium onion
1 TBSP butter
large handful baby carrots, sliced small
4-5 potatoes, diced
4 TBSP flour
1 cup milk
1 8 0z pkg cream cheese, softened to room temperature
salt and pepper

In your soup pot, saute the onion in the butter, until the onions become translucent (about 5 minutes). Put diced veggies in pot and just cover with chicken broth. Let this simmer. Melanie has them simmer for 10 minutes, until soft. I let them simmer for about 40 minutes, until mushy. However, with the longer simmer time, I do have to add a little more broth along the way, due to evaporation.

When veggies are cooked to desired softness, mix the flour and the milk in a separate bowl, then add to the soup, for thickening. At this point, you add the chicken, and the cream cheese, broken into small bits. Let melt and heat through. Add salt and pepper to taste, and VIOLA! Easy, fast, and sooooooo delicious! Happy Eating! Thanks, Melanie!

Seven Layer Dip

• 1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning mix
• 1 (16 ounce) can refried beans
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened (neufchatel- 1/3 of the fat)
• 8 ounces sour cream (light)
• 1 (16 ounce) jar salsa
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1 avacado, chopped
• 1 small head iceberg lettuce, shredded
• 1 (6 ounce) can sliced black olives, drained
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (I used colby jack)

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, blend the taco seasoning mix and refried beans. Spread the mixture onto a large serving platter.
2. Mix the sour cream and cream cheese in a medium bowl. Spread over the refried beans.
3. Top the layers with salsa. Place a layer of tomato, avacado and lettuce over the salsa, and top with Cheddar cheese. Garnish with black olives.

Perfect Pancake Batter

Shall we change up the recipe?

Here is the most perfect batter for pancakes! I never really liked pancakes because we always used waffle batter to make them. Since we have discovered this recipe, we are addicted to pancakes! I literally crave them now!

2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
8 tbsp melted butter or margarine

1. Mix dry ingredients in deep bowl.
2. Mix wet ingredients and add to dry ingredients, stirring only enough to mix.
3. Allow batter to rest for 20-30 minutes. This is key!
4. Spray griddle with non stick spray and cook on medium heat. Makes 12-16 pancakes. This recipe can easily be cut in half for smaller families.

Batter is somewhat thick - that's what makes these so good when you cook them. You can add a small amount of milk if needed.

Rice Pilaf

From Your Homebased mom

Rice Pilaf

1 C uncooked rice (I use a long grain)

1/2 C vermicelli (real skinny spaghetti)

1/3 cube/stick butter

1 can chicken broth adding enough water to make 2 cups

1 tsp minced onion

1 tsp salt or I prefer 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp Lawry’s seasoning salt

In a pan melt butter and brown the broken up vermicelli. Stir often as this will burn easily. Cook until the noodles are well browned. Add chicken broth, onions and salt and bring to a boil. Add rice and stir once. Cover and simmer slowly until cooked through (15-20 minutes)

Serves four but is easily doubled

Cheesy Chicken

So here’s our favorite – Cheesy Chicken! From "Homebasedmom" blog

Cheesy Chicken

8 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Sauce:

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/3 can beef broth

1/3 C Parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp poultry seasoning

1/4 tsp pepper

1 Tbsp parsley flakes

Mix sauce ingredients together.

1/3 cube/stick of butter, melted

2 oz. whole cashews

1 lb. grated Monterey Jack cheese

Melt butter in 9 x 13 dish. I used my heavy roasting pan. Lay chicken over butter. Cover with 3/4 of sauce.

Bake 1 hour at 325. Add rest of sauce and cashews. Top with cheese. Turn oven off. Leave in oven for 5 more minutes.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

4 Chicken Breast halves
2 15 oz cans stewed tomatoes
2 15 oz cans black beans
1 can salsa
4 oz. can chopped green chilles
1 14 1/2 oz. can tomato sauce
1 bag tortilla chips
2 or more cups grated cheese

Combine all ingredients except chips and cheese in large slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 8 hours. Just before serving remove chicken breast and slice into bite sized pieces (or shred). Stir back into the soup. To serve, put a handful of chips in each soup bowl. Ladle soup over chips. Top with cheese and sour cream is optional.

We just had this soup at Kathy and Seth Little's. Kathy's sister in law gave her this recipe! YUM

Italian Sausage Bake

YUM YUM!

Ingredients:
one package of spiral noodles
1 lb. of Italian sausage, (cooked, chopped)
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
1/2 of a green bell pepper
1/2 of a red bell pepper
a lot of mozzarella cheese

instructions:
preheat oven to 350. & grease 13x9 pan
cook noodles according to package
cook sausage and peppers together until cooked thru.
in mixing bowl, mix drained noodles, sausage, peppers, & spaghetti sauce.
Pour into greased pan, and top with lots of mozzarella cheese.
Bake for 20 min.


VERY EASY, VERY CHEAP, VERY GOOD!
Even my toddler loved it!