Apple Streusel Bars

Okay, so maybe I'm a bit addicted to www.ourbestbites.com. It must be, cause the last few recipes that I've posted here are all from there!

Even better, this recipe is SUPER easy, and you probably have all the ingredients at hand.

Seriously, these are so yummy. A friend of mine brought some over to me, and I HAD to know the recipe. Of course, it was from ourbestbites.com!

SWEET PASTRY:

2 c. flour

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. real butter, softened (no substitutions!)

1 egg, beaten

APPLE FILLING:

1/2 c. white sugar
1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
4 c. (about 4 medium) sliced, peeled baking apples (I used Gala, and instead of slicing, I chopped them up with my Pampered Chef food chopper)

GLAZE:
2 c. powdered sugar
About 3 Tbsp. milk (whole milk is best)
1 tsp. almond extract

To prepare crust, mix flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives until you have pea-sized crumbles. Gently mix in beaten egg.

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Gently pat about 2/3 of the crumb mixture onto the bottom of the dish. Preheat oven to 350 and set aside.

To prepare apple filling, combine flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Toss with apples and spread apples out on prepared crust. Sprinkle reserved crust mixture over apples evenly and bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes. When finished, allow to cool completely.

To prepare glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, almond extract, and enough milk to achieve desired consistency. Drizzle glaze over cooled pastry and allow to harden (you can place it in the freezer to hurry things along). Cut into bars and serve.

You'd better have someone to share these with, cause otherwise you'll eat the whole pan!

Baked Potato Casserole

I love twice-baked potatoes but have never actually made them. I found this recipe for potato casserole, which is basically just the easy version of twice-baked potatoes, in casserole-form (with my additions in italics).

Baked Potato Casserole (from simplifysupper.com)

6 Small baking potatoes *I used 3 regular russet potatoes
.75 cup cottage cheese *I don't like cottage cheese, so I did 1/2 cottage cheese, 1/2 cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup sour cream *I used fat free and it worked just fine
1/2 cup cheddar or favorite mixed cheeses *I used cheddar and monterey jack
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika, optional

Scrub potatoes with a brush and pat dry. Pierce with a fork and cover each individual potato with aluminum foil, matte side facing out. Bake at 425 40 to 60 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Allow to cool slightly until they are cool enough to handle. Cut potatoes into 1/2 inch cubes. Then add cottage cheese, sour cream, garlic salt, and paprika. Mix well and add to a greased casserole dish. Add shredded cheese to top. Bake uncovered at 325 for about 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and golden.


It was delicious! When I showed my sister the recipe, she suggested using cream-of-whatever soup instead of cottage cheese (we both dislike cottage cheese - guess it runs in the pants!). Of course cottage cheese is slightly better for you than creamed soups, so I just decided to mix the 2 on a whim. You could still see the cottage cheese in the casserole but you couldn't taste it. And my husband suggested adding a little more sour cream because "sour cream is good on potatoes." (It was really good just how it was, but more sour cream probably wouldn't hurt either.)

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Yum yum! I tried yet another recipe from www.OurBestBites.com, and it was GREAT!

Dough
1 T active dry yeast (1 package)
1/2 C warm water (105 degr F--I did the scientific warm tap water method)
4 1/2 C all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
1/4 C sugar
1/2 C (1 stick) real butter at room temp

Filling
1/2 C (1 stick) real butter at room temp
3/4 C packed brown sugar
1 T cinnamon

Glaze
1 C powdered sugar
2 T butter, melted
2 T milk or cream
1 t vanilla extract

In the bowl of a stand mixer, sprinkle the yeast over the water, allow to bloom for a few minutes, then whisk until smooth. Whisk in 1/2 C of the flour. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand in a warm spot for about 30 min.

Add the eggs, sugar, butter, and remaining 4 cups flour to the yeast mixture. Fit the mixer with the dough hook and knead on medium speed until smooth 10-12 minutes (I did it MUCH shorter). Add a bit more flour to reduce stickiness if needed.

Cover with plastic wrap, set in a warm spot and let rise until doubled, about 2 hours.

While dough is rising, prepare filling. Take 2 T of the stick of butter and set aside. Beat remaining butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon together until combined and slightly fluffy, about 1 minute.

Butter a 9*13 baking dish. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface. Roll out into a rectangle about 15*10 in. Spread filling onto dough and roll up lenght-wise.

Use string or dental floss to score and cut the dough into rolls (didn't work for me, I just used a sharp knife). You can make 12 smaller rolls, 10 medium ones, or 8 large. Place cut side up in baking dish. Melt the reserved 2 T butter and brush on top of rolls. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight (Or, I assume, bake immediately!).

The next morning remove from fridge and let rise until half again as high, about 1 hour. While rising mix glaze ingredients until combined. Preheat the oven to 350. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Spread the glaze over warm rolls and serve!!!

Chicken Pot Pie

Another recipe I tried from www.ourbestbites.com!!! It turned out wonderful. I also had plenty of filling left over, it wouldn't all fit in one pan, so plan on making 4 pie crusts. I put my pot pie in a small 8*8 casserole dish instead of a pie pan, and used a little bit of leftover pie crust to cover a small individual dish (that turned out great!).
Like they suggested on the website, you can make one (or two) larger chicken pot pies, or make several individual-sized ones by using prep bowls or anything small that you can put in the oven. For those little pies, you only need to cover it with a crust (you don't need to put any lining the bowl), so you'd save on crust there. It is also GREAT to freeze and reheat later! Or to take as a lunch!

Ingredients:
2 unbaked pie crusts
1 lb leftover chicken, chopped (you can use any kind of chicken really)
1 12-16 oz bag of mixed veggies, thawed
1 onion, minced
butter
5 medium potatoes (red), diced (I used regular potatoes, worked just fine)
2 cans of cream of chicken soup (or see the homemade recipe below)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add potatoes and boil until tender.
3. Meanwhile, heat +/- 1 tbs butter in a medium skillet. Saute the onion (and I put in my chopped raw chicken as well) until translucent and fragrant.
4. In a mixing bowl, combine cream of chicken soup, chicken, veggies, onion and potatoes. Season to taste.
5. Place 1 pie crust on the bottom of a pie plate, add filling, top w/ other crust. Crimp the edges and cut vent holes on top.
6. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 40-45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Allow to stand a few minutes before serving.

Serves 6-8. Enjoy!

Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup

Have you ever run out of cream of chicken soup when you bake a casserole or make chicken pot pie? Well, I made this last night for our chicken pot pie cause I didn't have any canned stuff, and it turned out WONDERFUL! And soooooo easy!
I got this recipe off www.ourbestbites.com, great website.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c chicken broth
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp parsley
dash of paprika
1 1/2 c milk, divided
3/4 c flour

Instructions:

1. In a medium-sized saucepan, bring chicken broth, seasonings and 1/2 c of the milk to a boil.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the remaining 1 cup of milk and the flour.
3. Add to boiling mixture and whisk briskly until mixture thickens (shouldn't take long at all, mine was done almost immediately).
4. Cook until desired consistency is reached, keeping in mind that it will continue to thicken as it stands.

Makes the equivalent of 2 cans of condensed cream of chicken soup!

.:Holiday Baking:.

Here's what I made this year:

** Homemade Thin Mints **

I've already done a tutorial/recipe for these before on my other blog (probably put them on here, too!), so just check out the link. They are super easy and really quite tasty!

** Peppermint Bark **

I used the recipe and directions found over at The Idea Room.

12 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (you could also use baking chips, bark, etc.)

1 pound white chocolate (I just used one bag of white chocolate chips - close enough to a pound!)

Candy canes

Peppermint extract

Pre-heat your oven to 250.

Line your cookie sheet with foil and spray it. (She used a 9x13 dish, which I'll talk about later in the post.)

Cover the lining evenly with your semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Bake for about 5 minutes or until they look melted.

Use a spatula to spread out your chocolate evenly. Place in the fridge to harden.

You can melt your white chocolate however you want. I always brave the microwave! I melted my chips for about 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between intervals.

Add your peppermint extract (to taste).

Pour over your hardened chocolate, and spread evenly - and quickly! It starts to harden up quickly!

Sprinkle your crushed up candy canes over the top. Place in fridge to harden.

Remove the foil from the cookie sheet and shake off the excess candy. Cut your bark however you'd like.

Sooo....I didn't do so well with my first batch of bark. I didn't spread my white chocolate quickly enough, so not a lot of candy stuck to it. (As you can see!) I decided to give it another try doing it with 9x13 dishes.

This worked great. I also put my candy in a strainer and let the powder go through into my melted white chocolate, along with the peppermint extract. I like the look and the taste this gave my bark. Then the larger pieces are what I sprinkled on top.

Now, I had a problem with both of my batches. When I cut the bark, almost always my two layers of chocolate would separate. I know the white layer alone will taste delicious, and I also know that people can just hold the two layers together as they eat it. But why would it not stick together??? Can someone help me out? I was so frustrated that I about swore off ever making bark again!

** Chocolate Candy Cane Whoopie Pies:.

My mom posted this recipe on her blog a week or two ago, and I decided to put my own spin on it.

I decided to make cake mix cookies instead of cookies from scratch. Call me lazy if you want (I also used canned frosting!) but I also really love cake mix cookies.

So here's what you need:

Cake mix

1/2 c. oil

2 eggs

frosting

crushed candy canes

peppermint extract

Andes baking bits (optional)

Pre- heat your oven to 350.

Mix your cake mix, oil, and eggs.

Stir in your baking bits. (I LOVE these candy cane bits!)

Put scoops of dough on your cookie sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Let your cookies cool completely before adding frosting!

I mixed peppermint extract and red food coloring into my canned vanilla frosting. I just add extract to taste.

Frost one cookie and then roll the edges in the crushed candy canes. My mom's recipe says to frost the cookie and place the other cookie on top to make a sandwich before rolling the edges, but I found it easier to roll the edges before the second cookie was added.

Add your other cookie on top.

DONE! And delicious!

I also made another batch with just regular Andes baking bits - not the candy cane ones, but the chocolate and mint ones. For those, I used chocolate frosting instead of the peppermint frosting, and still rolled the edges in candy canes. Yum!

Chicken, Spinach, Mushroom Quesadillas

These turned out to be quite delicious and simple! All you need is tortillas, chicken (I boiled mine and shredded it), cheese, mushrooms, spinach leaves, and tomatoes (opt.)

Combine all of the ingredients into the tortilla.

And then I used my george foreman to grill them. Yum in the tum!