Single Serve Chocolate Chip Cookies

Single Serve Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is quite simply one of my favorite desserts!  I love chocolate chip cookies.  But I don't always want to make a whole batch (they tempt me too much!) so this single serve is perfect.  It tastes more cake like than cookie to me but it is amazing!  Especially with some ice cream. 

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 drops of vanilla
pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons chocolate chips

Directions:
In a bowl, mix together the butter, sugars, vanilla, and egg yolk.  Add in the flour and salt.  Mix until combined.  Add in the chocolate chips.  Put the dough into a small microwaveable bowl or ramekin.  Microwave for 45-60 seconds or until cookie looks done.  Best served warm


By: My Happy Place

Breakfast Casserole

Breakfast Casserole

This is a super simple breakfast casserole.  I love the combination of crescent rolls, cheese, eggs, and sausage!  It's perfect to take to breakfast potlucks (I take it to MOPS!) or for when company comes.  If my sweet hubby liked eggs, we'd have it for dinner on our breakfast for dinner nights! 

Ingredients:
1 package crescent rolls
1 lb mild sausage, browned and drained
6 eggs, beaten
2 cups shredded Colby jack cheese (a combo with pepper jack is also very good!)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350*F.  Spray 9X13 pan with cooking spray.  Roll out the crescent rolls in the pan.  Top with an even layer of browned and drained sausage.  Pour in beaten egg.  Top with cheese.  Bake at 350*F for 30 minutes until puffy and golden brown. 


By: Kevin and Amanda

Microwave Popcorn

Microwave Popcorn

Super easy and quick way to get your popcorn fix!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup popcorn
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Dump the popcorn into a brown paper lunch sack and top with the oil and salt.  Fold the top of the bag over twice then shake it to coat the kernels with the oil and salt.  Place the bag on a plate or a paper towel, then microwave it on high for 1.5 minutes; listen to the popcorn pop and stop the microwave when you hear 4-5 seconds between kernels popping. 

Pour in a bowl.  Top with melted butter if desired.


By: Baby Savers

Cute Display/Decorating Tips

This page is just a collection of some cute display or decorating tips.

Rainbow Fruit Kabobs

Pita Bread

Pita Bread

Just another thing that is better homemade!  Great for sandwiches or dipped in hummus.

Ingredients:
3 cups flour, plus more as needed if dough is sticky
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar or honey
1 packet instant yeast
1 1/4 cups water, at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:
Mix the yeast in with the flour, salt, and sugar.  Add the olive oil and water and stir together.  I use my kitchen aid with the dough hook.  Once it is  mixed into a ball, knead with dough hook on low speed for about 10 minutes.  Add flour as necessary to reach a tacky but not sticky ball of dough. 
When you are done kneading the dough, place it in a bowl lightly coated with cooking spray, rolling ball of dough around until it is all coated.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let rise about 90 minutes, or until doubled in size.
When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down and divide it into 8 equal pieces.  Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel and let them rest for 20 minutes. 
While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 450*F.  If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to preheat as well.  If you do not have a baking stone, turn a cookie sheet upside down and place it on the middle rack of the oven while it is preheating.  This will be the surface on which you bake your pitas.
After the dough has relaxed for 20 minutes, spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there.  Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough.  you should be able to roll it out to between 1/8"-1/4" thick, 6 inches in diameter. 
Place disks on a lightly greased baking sheet or parchment paper and let rise, uncovered until barely doubled in thickness, about 30-45 minutes. 
Open the oven and place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface.  They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes. 


By: Annie's Eats

Breakfast cupcakes

Breakfast Cupcakes

These are like mini frittatas!  Perfect combination of hash browns, bacon, eggs, and cheese!  One of my favorite breakfasts!  And great for on the go or little toddlers. 

Ingredients:
1 bag (20 oz) shredded hash brown potatoes (thawed)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
6 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
3/4 cup crumbled crisply cooked bacon
3/4 cup shredded cheese (we like Colby jack or pepper jack or a combo)

Directions:
Heat oven to 400*F. Place foil cupcake liner in each of 12 regular size muffin cups.  Spray with cooking spray.  In a large bowl, mix potatoes, oil, salt and pepper.  Divide evenly among cups and press lightly.  Bake 45-55 minutes until golden brown.
In medium bowl, beat eggs and milk.  Stir in bacon and cheese.  Firmly press potatoes in muffin cups.  Top each with slightly less than 1/4 cup egg mixture.  Bake 13-16 minutes or until knife inserted in center of egg comes out clean.  Cool 5 minutes.  Serve with salsa if desired. 


By: Betty Crocker

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

A sweet friend brought these yummy cookies over!  They are perfect for Fall.  Moist, chewy pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!  How could you go wrong with these!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350*F. Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Cream butter, gradually add sugars, beating until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, mix well.  Alternate additions of dry ingredients and pumpkin, mixing well after each addition.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop in rounded balls onto greased cookie sheet.  Bake 15 minutes or until firm and lightly browned. 


By: Carly Jones

Homemade Crackers Recipe

Homemade Crackers

This is an awesome recipe for homemade crackers, similar to Ritz!  Pretty simple and without all the processed stuff from the store bought crackers.  My daughter loves to snack on Ritz crackers, esp. with peanut butter, so I'm happy to have a healthier recipe!

Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon + another 1/4 teaspoon salt for topping
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter + 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/3 cup water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400*F.  Put the flour, baking powder, sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt in the mini food processor (double the recipe for a regular sized food processor).  Pulse to combine.  Add cold butter a few small pats at a time and pulse to combine.  Add vegetable oil and pulse to combine.  Add water a little bit at a time and pulse to combine after each addition.  The dough should start to form a ball.  Roll dough out as thin as you can.  Use cookie cutters to cut the dough out.  Poke holes in the dough in any pattern you like.  The holes help the crackers to bake correctly.  Bake the crackers on a parchment sheet lined baking sheet for 10 minutes or until crackers just begin to brown.  While the crackers are baking, melt the remaining butter and mix in the remaining salt (add more or less per your personal tastes).  As soon as you remove the crackers form the oven, brush them with the salty butter.  Cool and enjoy!


By: Cupcake Project

Homemade Croutons

Homemade Croutons

This recipe is great and super simple!  Just save the ends of your bread loaves.  And you can make fresh, delicious croutons to add to salads and soups! 

Ingredients:
day old French bread (approx. 1/2 loaf, I love using my homemade French bread!)
olive oil (approx. 1/4 cup oil per 1/2 loaf)
salt & pepper to taste
Optional: seasonings of your choice  - I like Italian so I do some parmesan cheese, garlic, Italian seasoning (basil, oregano, thyme)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350*F.  Using a bread knife, cut the bread into 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch cubes.  Make your cuts as similar as possible to help them bake evenly.  In a large bowl, toss bread cubes with enough olive oil to lightly coat.  Add the salt, pepper and your seasonings.  Once cubes are evenly and lightly coated, pour bread onto a baking pan lined with aluminum foil.  Bake bread in oven for 20-30 minutes until bread is golden and very crunchy.  Toss cubes several times during baking.  Store in a plastic container or bag for up to two weeks unrefrigerated.


By: A Sweet Pea Chef

Frozen Yogurt Dots

 

Frozen Yogurt Dots

All my recipes can't be about me and Jim.  These are the perfect treat for my sweet toddler!  And so easy to make!  Frozen, creamy deliciousness!

All you have to do is pick your favorite flavored yogurt and spoon it into a pastry bag (a ziplock bag with a hole cut in the corner works great too!).  Squeeze the yogurt onto a cookie sheet.  Place cookie sheet in freezer.  It should take less than an hour to freeze.  They need to be stored in the freezer or they melt quickly. 

By: One Good Thing

Mint Chocolate Cookies

Mint Chocolate Cookies

These cookies are perfect for those mint lovers you know!  Filled with Andes mints and dark chocolate and mint chips (special holiday chocolate chips), these have a perfect combination of smooth chocolate and zingy mint!  My husband loves them and says they taste like the amazing Girl Scouts Thin Mints!  So fun to find a special treat he loves!

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup Hersheys Dark Chocolate and Mint chocolate chips
1 cup chopped Andes Mints

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350* F.  Grease cookie sheets.  In a large bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg, then stir in vanilla.  Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture.  Mix in the chocolate chips.  Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.  Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

If you haven't noticed already, one of my favorite things for recipes is to try to make a homemade version of something we traditionally buy store bought.  I think it's healthier and tastes much better.  So, here is the recipe for homemade chocolate syrup.  It tastes good and is super easy!  It is great over ice cream! 

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup water
dash of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
In a small saucepan, add sugar, cocoa and salt.  Whisk together gently.  Add water.  Bring mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Reduce heat and cook for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Cool.  Store in the refrigerator.   


By: One Good Thing

Roasted Zucchini and Carrots

Roasted Zucchini and Carrots

We are trying very hard as a family to up our veggie intake.  Most of the time, we just heat up some frozen veggies to have with dinner.  We are all a little picky about which vegetables we like (Jim likes broccoli, green beans, peas and corn; I like spinach, zucchini, mushrooms, lettuce, green beans, peas, carrots, and corn).  I was so happy to find this recipe that makes some of my favorite veggies taste even better!  They are delicious roasted and so easy!  This at least helps me get my veggies in :)

Ingredients:
olive oil
salt & pepper
zucchini & carrots (other veggies are good this way too!)
seasoning

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425*F.  Cut veggies into 3 inch sticks, making sure they are even in thickness.  Line a baking pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.  Lightly toss the veggies with a tablespoon of olive oil and your seasonings.  Season with salt and pepper and your other favorite seasoning blend (seasoning salt, Italian seasoning, paprika, cumin, cayenne, are all good choices).  Spread seasoned veggies on the lined tray and roast for about 20 minutes, tossing halfway through, until golden and slightly browned at the edges.


By:   Voracious Vander