Snickerdoodle Coffeecake Muffin

Behold.... perhaps the best muffin to come out of my kitchen.

I saw a recipe, decided to tweak it and try it, and this is the result. It's the flavor of a snickerdoodle with the texture of a coffeecake in the form of a muffin. It is yummmmy.

And I am here to share it with you, my lovelies.

{Snickerdoodle Coffecake Muffins}

Cream together:

1 stick softened margarine

1 stick softened unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp almond extract

2 eggs

In a separate bowl combine:

2 1/4 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 tsp salt

Have ready:

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup buttermilk (which can be nearly a 1/4 cup of regular milk with a Tablespoon or so of lemon juice or vinegar

After you have done the creamed mixture, add in 1/2 the dry mixture and blend well.

Blend in the sour cream and buttermilk.

Then blend in the rest of the flour mixture.

In a shallow, wide dish (like a square gladware), mix 3/4 cup sugar and 2 T cinnamon.

Using a 1/4 cup scoop (such as the Pampered Chef Large Scoop), scoop a ball of batter/dough and roll it around in the cinnamon sugar mixture. I found the plop, shake shake shake, roll-over method to work well.

Place coated batter/dough ball into a lined muffin cup. You must use cupcake liners for this. 'Tis a delicate muffin, and it will be happiest in a cupcake liner.

After you've coated all your dough and placed in liners, sprinkle leftover cinnamon/sugar mixture over the top.

Bake at 350 for about 18 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

This is one fabulous muffin. See...it not only tastes like a Snickerdoodle...it looks like one on top too! But it really has the texture of a coffee cake, or so I think.

You really need to try this. And if you're trying to eat sensibly...the recipe makes about 20...so take some to a neighbor :)

Yum.

Meatball Calzones-easy!

I decided to make Meatball Calzones last night, and kind of winged it as far as recipes go. I wanted easy-to-use, convenient items and I wanted it to be yummy.

Here's how I did it. I mixed up a batch of Pioneer Woman's pizza crust, which you can find here. I did this about 3:30 in the afternoon before the After-School-Witching-Hour began, and to give it a good hour to rise. If you don't want to make crust from scratch, I'm sure a tube of the refrigerated stuff would be fine.

Once the dough is ready, roll it out into a big rectangle on a floured surface and cut into smaller rectangles of your choice. I got about six good-sized Calzone/Pizza Pockets out of this recipe of dough.

I said I was all about convenience, so I used frozen meatballs. I buy the big bag of walmart brand Italian style meatballs to have on hand. Heat however many you need in the microwave, I did about six per Calzone. This is basically to thaw them out.

Place meatballs on one side of each rectangle. Sprinkle with garlic powder and onion powder. Sprinkle a liberal amount of cheese...mozzarella...colby jack....either is fine. Fold the naked half over onto the topping half and pinch closed all the way around. Place on sprayed cookie sheet.

Once all your calzones are on the cookie sheet, whisk an egg white with some italian seasoning, and brush the tops. This will make them a pretty golden brown. Bake in preheated 450 degree oven until nice and golden brown on top.

Serve with a side of spaghetti sauce (from a jar is fine! That's what I did). Gobble them up.

The easier-to-read version (I don't know how to make a 'printable' on here?! Hmmm).

Pizza dough

Frozen meatballs

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

Shredded Cheese

Italian Seasoning

Egg White

Roll dough. Cut into rectangles. Place meatballs, powders, and shredded cheese on half of each rectangle, and then fold over and pinch shut. Brush tops with the egg white/italian seasoning mix. Bake at 450 till golden brown. Serve with marinara.

Sugar Free Baked Oatmeal

Today, I made the first baked-good I have EVER made that doesn't have sugar.

At least from what I can recall.

Now, you know I don't have anything against sugar. I'm actually a big fan. I am a cakechic after all.

But I saw this recipe on Pinterest for individual baked oatmeals, and thought 'hmm. that might be a good breakfast item for my terrible breakfast eaters." I happened to have everything on hand, so decided to give them a whirl today.


Here is the family review on them:
Hannah loved them. (i did put choc chips in them).
Brooke thought they were okay but a little weird.
Matt agreed with Brooke.
I thought that you really had to convince your brain that these are NOT a muffin and therefore are not quite the texture as a muffin and if you convince your brain that they are baked oatmeal, they are pretty good.

I would definately rather eat one of these than a bowl of oatmeal any day of the year.

Are they yummier than a granola bar...no. Are they healthier than a granola bar...yes!!

If you follow the link to the recipe, I'll tell you what I did different. I don't have Stevia so I used a little over a 1/2 cup of honey. And I don't have flax seeds or flax seed meal, so I just left that out.

And I baked them a little extra...just try to get past that oatmeal texture a little bit! Otherwise, I followed the recipe as I found it.

Did I mention they are SUGAR FREE.

Give it a try! What have you made from Pinterest lately that you thought was good?!?!

Oh How Pinteresting Wednesday

I'd say it's been a quiet week but that's never the case around here. It has just been an "I don't know what to blog about today" kind of week.

It has been a little quieter than usual which is nice. My brain as always is on overdrive though. Always so many things I need/want/would love to do.

I dreamt in list-form the other night. Isn't that crazy?

Threat of the week for the soon-to-be-four year old "If you don't stop ____________, then you are NOT going to get a booster seat when your birthday comes!!!" She is so ready for a big girl booster seat in the car instead of her carseat. It's the biggest threat I can make right now.

Speaking of little girls, pray for Sydney Austin to come home. This family goes to our old church, and no one has heard from their 16 year old since Monday at 3p when she was seen getting into a green van by the high school in Haysville. Assumed she is a runaway. Like the FB page, spread the word, and PRAY for her to come home. I can't imagine what they are going through.

SO....It's Wednesday and time for Oh So Pinteresting link-up at the Vintage Apple. I don't have a lot to share this week because my laptop died on me and that was where I did my pinterest time. On the couch, after the kids went to bed, watching stuff on the DVR with the hubster. Oh well. Here's what I've got:

Love this take on famous lines from Disney:

Making these Taco Cupcakes tonight, will let you know how they turn out!

These are gorgeous and I'm sure they will be great this summer! Can't find the original link but the note on pinterest said to pour capri suns into popsicle molds then add in fresh fruits.

And I pinned this picture onto my board called "that which has no category" just because I thought it was darn cute!!

(source)

Friday musings...and a blonde recipe

My brain is all over the place today. Do you have days like that? I think it is more the norm for me than not. Here are some random ramblings from my brain to you....

I wrote up my 'bio' today for the website of the travel agency I work under. Part of it said "I got to service millionaires while their planes were being fixed." The guy doing the website seemed to think it was hysterical...me 'servicing' millionaires. Naughty, naughty boy. Funny, and mildly embarassing.

I spent 10 minutes yesterday looking for the yeast for the cinnamon rolls that I was making. I knew I had bought some.... and found it laying right in the middle of the island in the kitchen. 10 minutes gone...can you say 'burning candle at both ends?'

I had Chipotle for dinner, and my tummy is not thrilled about that. Bummer dude.

I'm trying to figure out what to do for the girls for their little Valentine gifts. I don't want to go overboard, with Christmas just past, and birthdays right around the corner. I also hate most of those gifts you find in the Valentine aisle...Lord knows we do not need any valentine stuffed animals, or pillows, or toys, or trinkets. I like useful, not cluttering little gifts. Any ideas?

I'm itching to go to the new casino. I know it's nothing fabulous, but hey, I can get there a lot cheaper than I can get to Vegas!

My laptop seems to have died and I don't know if I can resurrect it. It's several years old, and usually getting it even looked at runs about $100. I'd almost rather just put that money towards a new laptop. I gotta tell ya, the death of the laptop is cramping my Pinterest style in a major way.

Do blondes have more fun? I'm not so sure about that...but I can tell you, these Blonde Brownies were fun to make with Hannah and funner to eat. This recipe is a good base recipe for Blonde bars of any sort. We put chocolate chips in ours, but I think they'd be divine with some Heath bits in them too. In the past 36 hours I've made a 1/2 batch of cinnamon rolls (for a customer), homemade noodles for chicken/noodles, biscuits, cookies to take to Brooke's class, and these here Blondies. Good thing I hit the treadmill this week (and did my first 5K ever--well, my first treadmill 5K!).

Have a great weekend! Make some Blondies!

In large bowl, beat together 1/2 cup margarine (softened), 1 cup brown sugar, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla.

Stir in 1+1/3 cup flour, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt. Add in 1 cup of goodie of your choice...nuts, chocolate chips, heath bits, etc.

Bake in greased 9" square pan at 350 for about 25 minutes.

Eat one. Just one today. It's all about control, people!

Or eat two, and then go work out!

Chicken Enchiladas

Consider this a belated Christmas gift. Today I bring to you my recipe for Chicken Enchiladas. They are fabulous. I've been told they are 'restaurant quality'. You will love them.

(disclaimer, some of these pics were taken when I was experimenting with my regular recipe...so follow my text and not necessarily what you see in the pic!).

You will need:

1/2 a diced onion

3 to 4 T. butter or margarine

Shredded chicken

Salsa

8 oz cream cheese

1 can cream of chicken soup

Shredded cheese (I use cheddar or a montjack blend)

Flour tortillas

Melt butter in large skillet. Saute onion until tender. Add in about 4 cups shredded chicken (a rotisserie chicken is handy for this!), a block of cream cheese, and about 3/4 cup salsa. Heat till cream cheese is melted and it is all well blended.

(You see in this pic below I had shredded cheese in the meat mixture. Didn't like that as well as my original recipe, so don't put shredded cheese in the meat mixture).

Warm your tortillas in the microwave so they are a little easier to work with. Put 2 serving-spoonfuls of meat mixture down the middle of a tortilla, roll tight, and place in a greased baking pan. I usually get about 6 or 7 tortillas in a 9" square pan with this recipe.

Leaving a bit of the meat mixture in the pan, stir in the can of cream chicken soup and another cup of salsa and heat till well mixed. Pour over enchiladas.

Sprinkle with some red pepper for a little color and flavor. These are NOT spicy enchiladas, so if you really want some kick, you could put some of this in your meat mixture too.

Cover pan with foil and bake in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

If you took your 'nice mommy' medication, while the enchiladas are cooking, you can make some quesadillas for your picky three year old. To do so, you may have needed to think ahead and set aside a wee bit of that rotisserie chicken. Toss a tortilla in a sprayed pan, sprinkle with chicken and shredded cheese, top with another tortilla. Once lightly browned on one side, flip it over. Press down a few times during the cooking process with a spatula. I do have a quesadilla maker but if I'm just making one, this is much easier.

Remove foil from enchiladas and cover with about 2 cups of shredded cheese. Return to oven, uncovered, until cheese is melted.

We usually eat this with corn, and chips and salsa. These are fabulous enchiladas.

If you make them for a friend who just had a baby or is having a rough time, they will feel loved. You can make them up and put them in a foil pan, then all they have to do is throw them in the oven.

We had hotdogs for dinner tonight, and just posting this made me hungry!

Hope you had a great Christmas!

A recipe-- Fried Rice

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I figured I'd share a recipe today. Is it for your Thanksgiving repetoire? Nope. Because if you haven't figured out what you're doing by now, just order out from a local restaurant.

THIS is... Fried Rice. Super fab fried rice. As in, those expensive fancy restaurants where the guy cooks all the stuff right in front of you has got nothing on me, fried rice. Save yourself some moola, and make this instead.

Cast of characters:

Brown rice (or white if you prefer, but let's have a little health included here!), frozen peas/carrots, onion, eggs, butter, oil, and soy sauce.

Begin by melting 1/2 a stick of butter (or margarine) in a big skillet with about 2 T. of oil. Keep in mind though, that I'm using the amount of rice that came from the 'six servings' directions on the side of the box.

Once your butter is melted, put in 1/2 of a finely chopped onion. I like yellow. If you want to be like {Sumo} then put in about 3 minced garlic cloves, but keep an eye on it, it cooks fast. Once the onions/garlic have started to brown, dump in your rice.

Stir well. You want each piece of rice to have touched that oil/butter mixture. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 6 minutes. Then push all the rice over to one side of the skillet.

Crack yer two eggs into the skillet.

Scramble them up good. Super good.

Once the eggs are cooked, stir the eggs/rice all together. Add 2 cups of rinsed frozen peas and carrots.

Then, stir in 1/2 cup of soy sauce. Yes I said a 1/2 cup. Don't plan on wearing your wedding ring tomorrow because your fingers will be all puffed up from all that sodium.

Turn the heat down, put the lid on until the peas and carrots are hot.

This is one happy pan. It goes great with the (vietnamese) neighbors' awesome eggrolls that they give us at Christmas.

It also goes great with this Teriyaki Chicken. (Bonus recipe; marinate chicken breasts in a blend of 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup soy sauce, a few dashes of cinnamon, a few dashes of ginger). Grill. So yum.

Have a wonderful pre-Thanksgiving day! I'm heading into the kitchen with my little sous chefs. Pray for me.

2nd Post of the Day?!?! Soft Pretzel Bites

I've lost track of where I am on the Worthwhile Challenge recipes, but I'm still trying to post them! Look at this-- 2nd post of the day! I had to post this, because it's a darn good recipe.

My friend Jodi has been on a cooking kick lately. Which benefits me because she likes to post her recipes to facebook and she has discovered some fun food sites that I have not discovered before.

Recently she posted a link to a recipe for Soft Pretzel Bites. I can't find the link she got it from, so I'm just recapping it from my experience making them today! These are ADDICTIVE. And their main ingredient is one of my freezer staples - Rhoades Texas Rolls. I use them for lots of things!

Before we begin...check out my white-trash window in my kitchen. Yep, the blind broke the other day and we haven't fixed it yet. We're so awesome.


This recipe is easy peesey. The hardest part is waiting. Thaw out some Rhoades Texas Rolls, and cut into fourths. Allow them to rise until double in size on a greased cookie sheet.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. And I don't mean get the water hot, I mean get it boiling. Toss your dough balls in about a dozen at a time and boil them for about 1 minute, turning to make sure that all the sides get boiled. This is where you're bringing in that chewy factor. Using a slotted spoon, set them on a paper towel lined sheet/plate.

Here's what they look like boiled. Nothing too exciting.

Once you've got them all boiled, spread them out on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and brush them with melted butter.

Now, you can choose your own adventure, or split the batch in half. You can mix some cinnamon and sugar in a gladware and toss four or five of the buttered balls in at a time, put the lid on, and shake it if you want a sweet treat. You can get fancy and make an icing glaze to dip them in (melted butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, bit of milk). Here's that yummy goodness.

OR if you are wanting savory, you can sprinkle them with a mixture of parmesan/garlic powder/italian seasoning. SO good. Would be good dipped in spaghetti sauce too. Brooke LOVED these, she's a savory kind of girl. Hannah LOVED the cinnamon ones, she's a sweet kind of girl. Matt and I loved them BOTH. SOOO good.

You should totally make these.

Seven recipes Worthwhile Challenge #33-#39!

I'm SEVEN weeks behind on posting newly-tried recipes? Really? SEVEN WEEKS? how did that happen?


Hmmmm.... about 7 weeks ago, school started. Perhaps that is what happened! Is anyone else still trying to get their school-schedule groove on? Because my routine is strikingly....routineless!

Well. excuses excuses.... here are SEVEN recipes to get me caught up.


I discovered the Crock Pot Girls page on facebook, and the first recipe I tried was Slow Cooker Chocolate Lava Cake. It needs to be done in a big crockpot, one of those oval ones. And you should NOT leave it in the crockpot overnight because you don't feel like washing it. According to Matt, if left overnight, it's puke worthy stinky. However, hot and fresh out of the crockpot with some whipped cream on it...totally good. Here's that recipe: Mix one package of Devil's food cake mix with three eggs, 1/3 cup oil, and 1 2/3 cup water. pour into greased crockpot. Mix one small chocolate pudding mix with 2 cups milk and pour over cake mix. Sprinkle with 1 bag of chocolate chips. cook on high about 2.5-3 hours.



Around the time school was starting, my friend Chuck was celebrating his birthday in Pennsylvania. I wanted to send him a cake, but haven't figured that whole shipping cakes thing out, so I sent him some chocolate cake in a jar. I followed this recipe.... and while it was yummy, I didn't think it was quite as fabulous as my usual chocolate cake. He'll have to come visit us to get that! I also sent him a icing bag full of buttercream icing and a baggie of sprinkles :)



I have cooked more than desserts around here.... I made this Cheeseburger Pie and did NOT really like it. NOT a keeper in our house. I even made the meat layer more sloppy-joe-ish and still didn't think the dish had enough pizzaz.



A recipe/meal long forgotten is Beef and noodles. I make homemade chicken and noodles all the time, but rarely do beef. I put 1 lb of kabob meat (any kind of roast cut into cubes would work) in a crockpot with 1 can cream of chicken, one can of cream of mushroom, salt, pepper, about 1/2 cup water and a beef bouillon cube. Let that cook for several hours, then shred the beef and return to the sauce. Serve over buttered noodles. 'Twas good!

The other night I had it in my head to make "Oreo Brownies." Took my favorite brownie recipe (take yours), chopped up about a dozen oreos and bake as normal. Let cool completely, then serve with a dollop of buttercream and some crushed oreos on top. It was yummy. You probably want a buttercream recipe.... butter...vanilla....powdered sugar....bit of milk. Cream. butter cream. for the most part. :)

Last night I had some chicken breasts to work with. Started out making chicken parmesan but decided I wasn't really in the mood for that. Ended up doing breaded chicken cutlets with baked beans instead. Pound your chicken out (in a big ziploc bag) to even it out and help it cook up quicker. Dredge in flour, shake off excess. Dip in whisked egg. Dredge in panko bread crumbs. Fry up in an skillet with some oil and butter. I ate mine with 57 Sauce (my favorite condiment), Matt and the girls dipped theirs in ranch. If I wanted to be unhealthier, I could have made a gravy and called it chicken fried chicken. I love working with Panko Bread Crumbs, because they really give a good crunch.

Is that seven yet? No? One more? Finally, about a month ago, we were in a big strawberry kick in this house. I made a yummy strawberry glaze with some strawberries I was trying to use up while they were at their peak. We had it on ice cream, I put it on pancakes for Brooke, we had it on cake. Muy deliciouso. I used this recipe for that.

Whew. Caught up. I told ya i'd still be cooking...just haven't been blogging. I'm trying to get my routine going on. really I am.

Have you tried any new recipes lately?

Worthwhile Challenge #32

After this I'm all caught up on the Challenge. Thank you for loving me thru my slackerdom. I don't think it's lack of doing the challenge (new recipe each week), it's been the lack of posting about it!!!

#32-- Southwest Chicken Pasta. Quick and Easy.
1) cook and drain about a 1/2 box of pasta. I used ditalini for this, but any small-ish pasta would be fine.
2) While that is cooking, cut 2-3 chicken breasts (depending on how well-endowed the chickens was) into bite size pieces and cook in a large skillet until done.
3). To the chicken, add 1 cup salsa, 1 can cream of chicken soup, and 1 to 2 Tbs taco seasoning (add to your preferences). After heated thru, put in the cooked pasta and a whole bunch of cheese. Get it all hot and melty.
4). Serve with corn. Its actually good all mixed together (with the corn) too, so you could put the corn right in the casserole. That being said, you could probaby put some blackbeans in there too...but I have found that blackbeans in cooked dishes does have a wonky effect on how well the leftovers taste.
5). Enjoy. This was definately a 30 minute meal or less. Went together super quick and easy, and it is something I always have all the ingredients on hand for. Two thumbs up from everyone but Hannah...who just wanted to eat the grapes out of the fruit salad I served with it!

Worthwhile Challenge #30 and #31

I tried two new recipes this week.

One I like to call Crack Toffee. Because it's addictive like crack. Super simple, about five ingredients, and so good. Beware, you may find yourself eating the entire pan. Here's the link:

Crack Toffee

The other thing I tried was a Ranch Pasta salad. I didn't have the tomatoes, black olives, or green onions. And I didn't measure the ranch. Had I done all those things, this would be a really good recipe. Without those things, and with too much ranch, it was a little salty and a little boring. Follow the recipe on this one, and you will like it. If you're a ranch person!

Bacon Ranch Pasta

Have a great day!

Worthwhile Challenge week #27 - It's HOT out there

It's hot hot hot here.

Is it hot hot hot there? hot hot hot sucks for a baker. Baking for customers has been quiet the last week or two, which is actually okay when you look at the temps. But that doesn't mean my Texas-sized sweet tooth has gone anywhere.

Here's our forecast. Notice that the time on this picture is 8:05p.m. and it is still 102 degrees. Suck suck suck.



So what do you do when it's this friggin hot? Well, you stay inside and watch movies.

You go to the pool. Here is me travelling incognito...wearing a hat is not my usual thing. For the record, hats are hot. not as in sexy. as in, make your forehead sweat.


And if it's 100+ degrees, you have a sweet tooth the size of Texas, you find no-bake recipes. I've made a few batches of no-bake cookies the last few weeks. Decided it was time to try something else.

Enter this week's Worthwhile Challenge Recipe: No Bake Peanut Butter bars. I googled that, and after reading a few recipes, made my own concoction.

Here you go:
Grease a 9x13 pan.

In a mixing bowl, blend 1 and 1/4 cups chunky peanut butter with 3/4 cup butter or margarine.
Mix in 1 cup of powdered sugar. Set aside.

The main recipe I was looking at called for graham cracker crumbs. They were not sounding good to me, so I decided to grind up some oatmeal instead.

Quick-oats straight outta the box just looked too big for what the bottom layer was supposed to be. Put three cups of oats in a blender


and pulse till it looks like this:


dump the ground oats into the butter/peanut butter mixture with another cup of powdered sugar and one cup of chocolate chips (I used minis).

Here's what it looked like mixed up.


Press into pan.

In a clean bowl, microwave 3/4 cup peanut butter and 1.5 cups chocolate chips for 30 seconds. Stir and nuke another 30 seconds. Should be well melted by then. Spread on top of crust layer:


then put in the fridge to chill for about 45 minutes, until the chocolate layer is set up.

Go chill for awhile...read a good book, read my blog, play with a 9-week old puppy who needs a bath, has popsicle on his fur from cleaning up after a three year old, and who does not want to sit still for a picture.

After the furball settles down, or you finish reading my blog, or whatever it is you do while your bars are chilling....go cut yourself one, put it on a plate, and get a glass of milk.

these bars were a little messy to eat....fork is optional...but they were good. they were no bake, they had peanut butter and chocolate, and they hit the spot. Would I rather make cookies or cake or brownies? Probably...but these certainly do the trick when you are sitting in the national 'heat advisory' zone!

Stay cool, friends!

Worthwhile Challenge Week 25 and 26!

I didn't get ANYTHING accomplished last week except our trip to Iowa and getting the new member of the family settled in! I might have made a new recipe but I cannot honestly remember it! So today I am giving you a double!

First up, Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches. I've been having a hankering for them for awhile now. I decided to ask my philly friend, Chuck, how to make them.

Say hi to chuck!


My tools for this project were my big electric griddle thingy (that is usually only used for pancakes), and this big metal pampered chef spatula. That way I could continue chopping the meat while cooking, etc.



First step was going to the local grocery store that has a meat counter. So I went to Dillons. I picked out a package of Ribeye steaks (the cut Chuck suggested). Then I went to find the nice meat man and asked him to slice them up super thin for cheesesteaks. I had chosen a package of two large-ish steaks. He sliced it up, rewrapped it, and i was off to the checkout.

I took a vidalia onion and sliced it super-thin. I took a moment to wish that I had not sold my pchef Mandolin slicer so many years ago. It would be very handy for this. Turned the griddle on and got it good and hot. Butter toasted some hoagie buns. Then I put about 1/2 a stick of butter on the griddle and got it melted, and I threw on the meat. I ended up only using one of the steaks and froze the rest. One steak made three decent sized sandwiches. As the meat cooked, I salt and peppered it, and threw the onions on. Stirred and chopped while it was cooking to your desired doneness. I am a fan of no-pink. Many people do peppers in their cheesesteaks..but not us! Matt thought some grilled mushrooms would have been a nice addition.

This is the meat about half done:

Warming the bun back up a bit before I topped it off.

Now when the meat is to your likeness, put several slices of provolone cheese on top. Apparently true Philly folk use Cheesewhiz and slather it on the buns, but Chuck said provolone, so that's what I did. Let it melt. (I helped it along by putting a large skillet lid over it to trap in the heat/steam.

Scoop a spatula full onto your spatula, set it on your bottom bun, put the top bun on and hold the meat in place while you slide that spatula out. (That was my Diners, DriveIns and Drives move there).

The finished product; fabulousness.

A great dish to go with this is a pasta salad. Years ago...probably 8 years...I made little cookbook of recipes that I had a bunch of friends contribute. I made copies for everyone. My friend Nicola recently moved and emailed me to see if I had a recipe from the book, because she had misplaced it in the move. I thought, "if this recipe is so good that Nic has been using it for 8 years and would ask me for it, I think I will try it!". It never really sounded good to me before.

Very simple. Cook and drain 16oz of penne pasta, pour 1/2 cup vegetable oil over it in a large bowl. In a blender, put in 1 cup white vinegar, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 Tbs parsley flakes, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp yellow mustard (not dried), 1 small onion and one peeled medium cucumber. Blend all in a blender until smooth and pour over pasta. Marinate over night and stir occassionally. Add black olives, chopped tomatoes....veggies of your choice really. I did carrots and tomatoes and it was good. Broccoli would be good too! The nice thing about this dish is that it is not Mayonnaise based so it would be nice for a potluck!

Enjoy my friends!

Worthwhile Challenge Week#24 - Spanish Rice

Needed a quick, easy, small meal the other night. It was like a jillion degrees outside and we'd had a big lunch, so dinner was kind of an afterthought... It was also close to grocery day meaning we did not have much in the house.

Enter this:

I always have some of these in my cupboard of varying flavors. Makes for a great, easy yummy side dish. That night, I discovered on the back an easy main dish. Easy spanish skillet (or something like that). I've since of course thrown the package away so this recipe I will be winging it, but if you go buy this rice, chances are the recipe is on the back!

Brown one pound of hamburger in large skillet and drain grease.

Add in 1.5 cups water and bring to a boil.

Stir in one can of corn (undrained) and the rice package.

Bring back to a boil, then simmer, uncovered, until the rice is tender and most of the liquid is cooked off. Stir in 1/2 cup shredded cheese until melted. Top with more shredded cheese. Eat it up!

Matt, Brooke and I liked it considering the fact that it was a quick, easy, mostly packaged food. Hannah had spaghetti-os. :)

Worthwhile Challenge week #23 - Crockpot Enchiladas

I heart facebook.

It keeps me in touch with friends near and far, it allows me to share my random thoughts here and there, and it gets me feedback from others in a quick way.

Take, for instance, my post the other day: "It's grocery shopping day and I have no idea what to cook this week? Any ideas?"

And the result of comments from a few friends led to me making Crockpot Chicken Enchiladas.

Jamie said: Put frozen chicken breasts in a crockpot with 1 cup white corn, 1 can drained/rinsed blackbeans, and a cup of salsa. Cook on high 4-5 hours, add some cheese, and serve over rice.

Then Libby said: I do this too but put cream of mushroom soup and sour cream in as well. We put it in tortillas for burritos.

I got to thinking that this really was sounding a lot like my regular enchilada filling, so this is how I did it (or how I am telling you I did it, because it's the final recipe I decided upon after that evening).

In a crockpot, put in some chicken breasts, corn, rinsed/drained blackbeans, and some salsa. Cook on high, and shred chicken when it is shreddable. put in a block of cream cheese, and once it melts, stir well, add in some shredded cheese (cheddar or the mexican mix stuff). Serve in soft tortillas.

Just like chicken enchiladas without the baking in the oven thing and therefore without the sauce on top. I love meals that I can throw together and not worry about later in the day. I've been kind of in "lazy cook" mode!

Worthwhile Challenge Week 21 & 22

I get to play catch-up every now and then, right? I'm still recovering from vacation!! (Which, the next installment of our trip recap will come soon!).


I owe you a recipe from vaca week, and one from this past week! I did actually try some new cookies shortly after we got back from vacation... I was itching to bake.


I am not really a fan of plain chocolate chip cookies...I always make PeanutButter Chocolate Chip ones. I think plain ones are boring. But on our cruise, they serve some very yummy, very large chocolate chip cookies. I'm bound and determined to figure out how to duplicate them. So right after we got back from our trip, I made some plain chocolate chip cookies. I used this recipe from allrecipes.com because it was the 2nd best rated one. They were good, but they weren't the same as the ships.


On Friday we had friends over for dinner and I made Beef Barbeque. In our Fish Extender exchange on the ship, I rec'd a little recipe book of one of the girls' favorite recipes. This might be one of the best meat recipes I've ever done!! I'm going to give you the recipe the way it reads, and then will go on from there:

4 pounds beef stew meat (I used brisket)
1 large can crushed tomatoes
2 chopped onions
1/2 tsp chili powder
1.5 tsp salt
Dash of pepper
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup white vinegar (I used cider vinegar, that's all i had)
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
Dash of tabasco
Water, adding a bit at a time as needed to keep moist and from getting too thick.
Combine in large saucepan on stovetop. Simmer UNCOVERED on low 5-6 hours or until beef is shredding. Mixture is thick.

I thought I'd put this in the crockpot. However, turns out that the crockpot needs a lid on to really make much progress.... and this recipe really needs the lid off so it can thicken up, etc. So while it started in the crockpot, it did end up on the stove as directed the last two hours, then I shredded it and put it back in the crockpot and poured the sauce over it to keep warm until dinner. I served on butter-toasted buns.

Fabulous yummy. I cut the brisket up into large chunks so it would cook a little faster.


This is post#300....!!! So it's time for a giveaway. I'm not sure what though yet, so stay tuned! We'll start the giveaway out with the next vacation recap.

Worthwhile Challenge Week #19-Apple Biscuits

Whew! Things have been busy in the Worthwhile Moments household! last weekend was busy with cake orders, all the usual life stuff, starting to get things organized for our upcoming vacation, and all that good stuff.

We are in serious countdown mode around here....to the end of school and to summer vaca. The weather has been wacky but we have spent as much time outside in the evenings as we can.

I've not been in the mood to cook much of anything. Not sure if it's just that there's so many other things I'd rather occupy my time with, or the changing of the seasons, or what.

Pioneer Woman posted this recipe on her page sometime last week, and I knew I had to try it. I like all things apple and all things biscuit. I think she calls it by a different name, and the original recipe used pineapple but both PW and myself used apples instead because that's what we had on hand.

But I'm calling them Apple Biscuits. Click here for the link to PW's post of the recipe... you have to scroll down a little ways in the post.

Here is my product freshly flipped out of the cake pan onto a plate:

And here is my serving with a healthy blob of home-made whipped cream. I had some heavy whipping cream to use up, and so I did!

These were pretty good. Not overly sweet like a cobbler or crisp, and I think the whipped cream is a MUST. I don't know that I could eat the entire biscuit part without the whipped cream. (I'd eat the top half of the biscuits with the apple/caramel stuff on it!). Kinda like pumpkin pie, every bite must have some cool-whip/whipped cream on it. But they were good, and easy!

Enjoy!

Worthwhile Challenge Week 18-Fruit Cobbler

I'm running a little behing on recipe posts, this is actually the one for last week.

I was pre-menstrual, and had tried this at my MILs, and damn near ate the whole pan.

Yes, I am going to Zumba this morning.

Anyways, EASY YUMMY Fruit Cobbler. Where it says "fruit of your choice" you can put in fresh fruit, canned (drained) fruit, even pie filling. I used the Dole Peaches (in the plastic jars) and it was wonderful.

Melt 1 stick of margarine in a 9x13 pan. Mix together 1 c. flour, 1 cup sugar, 1.5 tsp baking powder and 3/4 cup milk. Pour over margarine. Carefully add fruit of your choice. Sprinkle another one cup of sugar over all. Bake at 350 for about an hour. Great served with a little blob of cool whip.

SO YUMMY! Enjoy!

Worthwhile Challenge week 17- Simple and Easy

Here's one that is sure to be a winner with the kids. Seriously easy but actually quite yummy.


Taco-Mac Bake.


Make a box of Macaroni and Cheese according to directions. Then stir in 3/4 cup of sour cream.


Make up a batch of taco seasoned ground beef. I just use the McCormick or Taco Bell seasoning packs.


Layer in a square pan: macaroni, taco meat, shredded cheese. Repeat.


A hit with the kiddos!!


I've got another little something I might share with you later this week that also falls into the seriously simple category, but the girls are playing in the backyard, so I better go keep at least one eye on them!

Worthwhile Challenge Week 16 - Breakfast casserole

If I had been thinking, I would have posted this recipe before Easter morning so you all could try it for your Easter brunch too. Now I guess you will have to try it some other morning!


I was on brunch duty today. My goal was to make it simple, and not have a ton of food or a ton of leftovers. I made a Baked French Toast (the kind you make up the night before....I thought it was a little too custardy though), a fruit salad, Pineapple Dole Whip Floats, and Good Morning Sunshine breakfast casserole.


I loved the breakfast casserole. You can find it here. (Susan Mallery, by the way, is an author of romance novels that I just love. And apparently she likes to cook, because she puts recipes on her blog). For my version of this casserole, I used a pound of crumbled sausage, but you can probably use whatever meat you want (bacon, sausage, ham). Give it a try the next time you have a hankering for brunch!