Lemon Crackle Cookies

These are SO yummy, especially if you love lemon like I love lemon.  I got this recipe from laurenslatest.com (the same place the pizza bread came from).  I froze half the batch of dough to bake for later:

Ingredients:
½ cup butter (1 stick), softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
Zest from one small lemon
Juice from one small lemon
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking powder
⅛ teaspoon baking soda
1-½ cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice.  Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 8-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

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Pizza Bread

I've been craving pizza lately. The thing is, I don't really like pizza sauce... so, really, I'm just craving bread and cheese.  Well, I came across this recipe on Pinterest, and decided to mesh it with my Healthy ATK pizza crust to satisfy the craving. 

Final verdict: delicious cheesy bread and a ready-to-go crust in the freezer! You can either make two loaves of bread, two 14" pizza crusts, or one of each - both would freeze well, also.

Ingredients:

2 cups bread flour
2 cups whole-wheat flour
2 1/4 tsps. instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 tsps. salt
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees)

(For bread, you will also need cheese and herb butter)

Directions:

Pulse the bread flour, whole wheat flour, yeast, and salt in the food processor until combined.  With the processor running, pour the oil, then the water, through the feed tube and process until a rough ball forms, 30 to 40 seconds.

Let the dough rest for 2 minutes, then process for 30 seconds longer.  If the dough is sticky and clings to the blade, add 1/4 cup more bread flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse to incorporate.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead it into a smooth, round ball.  Place the dough in a large, lightly greased bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap.  Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Punch dough down and separate dough into two balls.  To freeze pizza dough, as I did, simply wrap one ball tightly in plastic wrap and put in a freezer bag for up to one month.  Let the frozen dough thaw on the counter for 2 to 3 hours or overnight in the fridge before using.

For the bread:


Shape one ball of dough into a long baguette.  I twist mine as directed so that it holds its shape better.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Once warm, place bread in oven and reduce heat to 350 degrees.  Bake for 20 minutes.  While its baking, melt some butter (I used less than half a stick for one loaf) with a clove of garlic, some salt and italian herb seasoning (about 1/2 to 1 tsp of each) and slice your choice of cheese (I used about 8-10 slices of cheddar, and sprinkled with parmesan).  Brush the loaf with half of the butter, then return to the oven for 5-7 minutes or until top is golden brown.  Let bread cool for 15 minutes, then, slice into 1" slices diagonally about 3/4 of the way down.  Brush the remaining butter into slices and then tuck in the cheese slices.  Bake for about 3-5 more minutes, until the cheese is melted.  Serve immediately!

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Mama 'Blicky's Easy Cookies

Easy.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line cookie sheet with tin foil

Place saltine crackers on sheet in rows to cover bottom

Bring to a boil over medium heat 1 1\2 sticks butter and 1 cup brown sugar

Boil for 5-7 min or the "hard crack" stage on a candy thermometer)

This is the toughest part if you don't have a candy thermometer, cause every stove is a little different, if it starts to smell like its burning take it off. 

Pour butter and brown sugar mixture over the saltines and spread evenly

Place sheet in 350 degree oven for 5 min

Take out of oven

Pour 1\2 of a 10-12oz choc chip package and 1\2 of a 10-12oz peanut butter chip package (or however much you desire) over the cookie sheet mixture. 

Then spread evenly with a knife as it softens and melts (takes a min or two to melt before you can spread it)

Refrigerate 1 hr and break into chunks

And ENJOY!!!  

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Four Cheese Veggie Lasagna

Photo from allrecipes.com

This was an experiment to use up some stray vegetables and random tubs of ricotta and pesto. I personally loved it. The husbands reaction was as it always is with meatless dinners: "it's interesting." Give it a try! Try original recipe calls for pumpkin, eggplant, and fresh tomatoes instead of squash, bell pepper and canned tomatoes. Use what you'd like!

Ingredients:
1 small butternut squash, peeled and diced
1 green bell pepper, sliced into 1/2 inch rings
1 can diced tomatoes
1 pint ricotta cheese
9 ounces crumbled feta cheese
1 7-oz container pesto
2 eggs, beaten
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp Italian herb seasoning
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
9 oven ready lasagna noodles
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

 Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place pumpkin on a baking sheet and roast in oven until browned and tender, about 30 minutes. Place green pepper rings on baking sheet in oven for last 15 minutes of pumpkin time; cook until tender.

In a medium bowl, stir together ricotta, feta, pesto, eggs, salt and pepper until well mixed. Fold roasted pumpkin into ricotta mixture.

Spoon half of the tomato sauce into a 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle with italian herb seasoning. Lay three lasagna noodles over the sauce. Arrange a single layer of green pepper slices over pasta and top with half the ricotta mixture. Cover with three more noodles. Spread the diced tomatoes evenly over the noodles and spoon the remaining half the ricotta mixture over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with half the mozzarella. Top with remaining three noodles. Pour remaining tomato sauce over all and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan. Bake in preheated oven 30 to 40 minutes, until golden and bubbly.

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How to stretch chickens for $10.

Not physically, of course.  I would know the first thing about stretching chickens - as much as I would like eggs, and some day hopefully will have chickens so I can have eggs, I'm pretty sure I will refuse to touch them, at any cost.  I don't think that chickens need stretching anyways... they do it themselves when they get up after laying some eggs.  Okay, enough. It's the end of a long day, and I'm starting to turn into a pumpkin.  So sad it's not pumpkin season anymore...

Sheesh. Yes, we're talking about chicken here. So here's the deal:  did you know that buying whole chicken is ridiculously cheaper than buying chicken breasts, or any other form of chicken?  It is. At Winco the other day, boneless skinless chicken breast was going for $4.99/lb.  Right next to it, whole chickens were $.99/lb. Crazy, I know.

What's crazier is that usually I buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts, even though I'm fully aware of the price difference, and the ease of cooking whole chickens.

The craziest thing, is that I finally remembered how easy it is, saved myself some bucks, and bought the whole chicken.

And made 2 different dishes.

Double-batches.

That serve 8-10 people each.

And still have left over meat for sandwiches.

Crazy.

Oh, and not to mention, I used the left over bones to make 8 quarts of chicken broth.

2 chickens, $10, and a little bit of time in the kitchen, and I've got myself a fishes and loaves situation.

Okay, so I'm done rambling, and we're going to get down to the bottom of this.  I'll tell you how to cook the chicken, you can choose what you want to do with it.  I made freezer meals for some friends in need, and used one for pan for dinner this week of Chicken and Dumplings and Layered Chicken Enchiladas.  Both freeze very well.

So, first, you want to make sure you have a big roasting pan.  To cook 2 birds at once, they need to not be too cramped; they can touch, but just make sure they're not too squished.  You'll also want a large u-rack.  If you don't have a roasting rack, just make your own out of a bed of quartered onions and chunks of carrots.  Works fantastic.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  To prep the birds:
1. Remove the innards (This is extremely disgusting, and I have to close my eyes and think happy thoughts, otherwise I think about how I'm digging inside a chicken and grabbing its heart and liver and such... gross. Just get in there, get the job done, and get out.)

2. Pat them dry with a paper towel

3. For each chicken, mix 2 Tablespoons of softened butter with 1 Tbsp. fresh tarragon, parsley, or chives, 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper.  I know some of you may not like the idea of using so much butter (Total it will be 6 Tbsp.), but Test Kitchen says its extremely important for keeping the chicken from drying out in the oven.

4. Rub 1 Tbsp. of the butter mixture under the skin on each breast.  I did this by using a spoon, then holding my hand over the skin and pulling the spoon out. I squished it all around; this kept my from getting my hands buttery and having them under the skin of the chicken. I find that gross too.

5.  Brush each chicken with 1 Tbsp. melted butter.  Add 2 cups of water to the bottom of the roasting pan.

6.  Roast for 40 minutes.  Increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees, rotate the pan, and roast until internal temperature (on an instant read thermometer) reads 170 degrees, about 30 minutes longer.

7.  Tip the pan so that the juice from the cavity runs into the roasting pan.  Let rest for 20 minutes on cutting board before carving.  I'm sure there's a pretty way of carving, but since I knew I was using the meat as shredded bits, I just ripped the thing apart like a scavenger.  It got the job done.

Aren't they pretty?  I was able to get about 12 cups of meat off of these.

** To make chicken broth, put each carcass/bones in a large stock pot (so two pots), fill with water, add in large chunks of carrots, celery, and onion.  Season with large spices such as thyme, sage, bay leaves, etc.  Let simmer for at least 5 hours (We did ours on med-low overnight). Discard everything, skim off the fat, then freeze in quart-sized ziploc bags.

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Cake Batter Truffles

These require no words. Just eat.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. flour
1 c. yellow cake mix
1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c. white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. milk

Coating:
16 oz. white chocolate chips
4 Tbsp. yellow cake mix

Directions:
Beat together butter and sugar until combined.  Add cake mix, flour, salt, and vanilla, and mix thoroughly.  Add 3 Tbsp. of milk or more to make a dough consistency. (I used 4 Tbsp, and then let my KitchenAid run for a few minutes to form the dough).  Add sprinkles if desired.  Roll dough into 1" balls and place on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet.  Chill in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

While dough is chilling, melt white chocolate until smooth (I used the microwave and stirred every 30 seconds; took about 1 1/2 minutes).  Mix in cake mix until incorporated completed.  Using a fork, dip the truffles into the melted chocolate and shake off any excess.  Place truffles back on cookie sheet and let harden.  Makes about 24-30 truffles.

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Chocolate Chai Cupcakes

recipe from shape.com

Perfectly moist.

Perfectly chocolaty.

Perfectly chai.

Perfectly vegan.

You read that right... vegan! I wouldn't go so far as to say these are "healthy", but they are vegan, and no one would know if I didn't tell them.  Mac's response was "oh, yeah, these are definitely a keeper."  He ate four.  Perfectly perfect.

Ingredients:

Cupakes:

1 cup almond milk

1 tsp. apple cide vinegar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

Frosting:

1/2 c. vegan margarine (okay, I cheated and used butter... but if you don't care about being vegan, then its okay)

3-4 cups powdered sugar (I used close to 4)

2 chai tea bags

2 Tbsp. boiling water

2 Tbsp. almond milk

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

For the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix the vinegar and almond milk and let sit for five minutes.  Meanwhile, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond milk/vinegar, oil, sugar, and vanilla.  Add to the dry ingredients and mix until combined.  Pour into greased/lined cupcake pan and bake for 15-25 minutes, or until springy.  Let cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, steep the tea in the 2 tbsp. boiling water for 10 minutes.  Discard tea bags and add in the almond milk.  In a large bowl, beat butter until soft and creamy.  Add the tea/milk, powdered sugar, and cinnamon to the butter and beat for 10 minutes until very light and fluffy.  Add more powdered sugar as desired for taste.  Sprinkle frosted cupcakes with cinnamon.

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