Homemade Oreos

This is another family favorite and I can never seem to make enough of these. While making these for a church activity yesterday afternoon, I heard many grumbles of disappointment from my family that all of these cookies would be going with us. This is worth doubling the recipe to either have more to share, or to freeze/save for later. At first I thought these sounded really complicated to make, but they are not and the frosting in the middle is REALLLLY good. This is a crowd pleaser for kids and adults alike. I've brought these to different get togethers and at one family get together in particular my grandmother offered her compliments and asked for the recipe which is about the highest seal of approval you can get in our family. You can also make these "mini" sized if you're trying to stretch the batch a little more. I would highly recommend chilling the dough before baking and also the recipe says to pipe the cream filling onto the cookies which is great, but if you're like me and more low maintenance, I just plop some on one cookie with a spoon and the press the other cookie on top of it until it is evenly sandwiched. Easy right?

The recipe I use is from Smitten Kitchen and if you click on their link you can read the full post relating to the recipe. Enjoy!

Homemade Oreos

Adapted from Retro Desserts, Wayne Brachman

**Let’s talk about the sugar for a minute, shall we? This is a sweet cookie. A good, sweet cookie. Yet, if you think of an actual Oreos, the wafers are fairly un-sweet and actually on the slightly salty side, which contrasts with the super-sweetness of the filling bringing harmony, happiness, yada yada. If you want your cookie closer to that original, you can take out a full half-cup of the sugar. If you want to make the cookie by itself (as I did a while back for ice cream sandwiches), go ahead and use the full amount.

Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies

For the chocolate wafers:
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar [see recipe note]
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg


For the filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract


1.Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375°F.

2.In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.

3.Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

4.To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

5.To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream. Dunk generously in a large glass of milk.

Frozen Peanut Butter Bars

Nine out of ten times, if our family is picking out a candy bar that we like to eat, it's usually  Reece's Peanut Butter Cups. We are big fans of the chocolate peanut butter combo. I've loved them since I was a kid and always will. So I was thrilled when a while back, someone posted on our family web page a simple and delicious recipe for Frozen Peanut Butter Bars. I had to try them out, and boy oh boy did I open up Pandora's box when I did. It is kind of embarrassing to admit that I may have eaten about half the pan by myself. They were just too tempting! Now I make sure to share them with friends and neighbors when I make a big batch because a little of these babies goes a long way. This is a definite keeper and a handy go-to recipe that has become one of our family favorites and is a very close stand in when we are craving some Reece's. I love it because I would always put my Reece's in the fridge to get cold, I liked them better that way so this is the perfect recipe for me!

It also meets all my criteria for a user friendly recipe:

*Uses ingredients you always have on hand, no fancy things you have to run to the store for.

*Makes enough for the whole family, with some to spare for friends and neighbors

*No complicated steps

*Can be stored and portioned easily.

Frozen Peanut Butter Bars Recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine
2 cups peanut butter - creamy or chunky
2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
2 cups chocolate chips, semi-sweet or milk chocolate
1/3 cup milk

Directions:
In a large saucepan, melt butter/margarine and peanut butter together over low/medium heat. Mix well. Remove from heat. Add graham cracker crumbs and powdered sugar, mixing well. Spread peanut butter mixture in a jelly roll pan (for thinner bars), or 9x13 pan (for thicker bars). Chill. When the peanut butter layer is firm, melt chocolate chips with milk over low heat. Spread over chilled peanut butter mixture. Chill again.

You can leave them in the pan or cut them into serving size bars. You can wrap them individually or freeze in layers in a large rigid container or gallon sized zip-loc freezer bags -- separate layers with wax paper so they don't freeze/stick together. Then freeze.

Eat straight from freezer, or thaw slightly. You can also keep the whole pan in the fridge if they are going to be eaten right away.

*I usually line the pan with wax paper before spreading the peanut butter mixture in the pan, it just makes it easier to slice and pop them out of the pan that way. You can use a 50/50 mixture of semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips or just whatever you have on hand. They are good no matter what.

P.S. I forgot to add that these are a great warm weather treat because they won't heat up your house to make them. I love that.

Bread Bowls

Yesterday was such an awfully cold and windy day that  some super cozy comfort food like clam chowder was definitely what we needed -- it was a day to make lemonade out of lemons.  I thought instead of just clam chowder I'd do something cool to go with it. I love clam chowder, but it's just not the same without serving it in a warm bread bowl. That's our favorite way to eat it. So I decided I would try and make my own. Traditionally, bread bowls are made using a sour dough recipe. I just used the simple french bread recipe I have, rolled the dough into four small balls for the bowls, (not the gigantic ones you usually get when you eat out) and then I made a small little loaf of bread for the kids with the extra dough. After baking I let them cool just enough to be able to handle them. To serve, I cut the tops off and buttered them to serve alongside the hollowed out bowls filled with chowder. To hollow them out I just ran a knife a little bit from the edge all the way around and then the middle all came out mostly in one big chunk which was pretty yummy to eat as well. They turned out great. Riley said that was the best bread he's ever had (probably because it was all soaked up in chowder.) I guess I should have acted like they were much harder to make so he would have been even more impressed. :) This was just one more of those "duh" moments for me, like why hadn't I tried this before? I make french bread all of the time.

I'm glad I attempted to try this out and I'll be doing it a lot more often with other soups and things. The bread held up really well and didn't get overly soggy. It was very fun and very easy.

I'm happy there were leftovers for my lunch today because after running this morning I was STARVING! MMmmmm........

If you don't already have a french bread recipe you like, here is the really easy generic one I use:

French Bread:
2 T yeast
2 1/2 cups warm water
2 T sugar
1 T salt
7 cups flour (not approximate, I kind of eyeball the last cup until it's the right consistency)

(I use my stand mixer and this usually makes 2 big loaves)
Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Add salt and 2 cups of the flour. Mix well. Add the rest of the flour cup by cup making sure it doesn't get too dry (sometimes you can add a little bit of water to it if it is) and knead for about 5 minutes. Let rise for about 30-45 minutes. Grease cookies sheets. Punch down the bread and knead for another minute on a floured surface. Divide dough into whatever sizes are needed at this time. Let rest 10 minutes. (I usually just skip that part). Roll into ropes pinching ends under and then place on cookie sheet. Let raise until doubled (about 30 minutes). Place a pan of hot water on the lower shelf of the oven. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until the bread gives a hollow sound when it is tapped.

New Recipe

Last night for dinner I made these Spinach Lasagna Rolls from one of my favorite new blogs, Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes.

This recipe met all three of my criteria for an A+ meal:

*Easy

*Healthy

*Delicious

My family isn't a big fan of spinach and they still ate it. I also loved that they were in perfect portioned sizes which were much easier to serve.

I really enjoy this recipe blog. I literally spent hours scrolling through the recipe ideas and getting some good motivation to try them out. One of my favorites from her blog is the Diet Soda Cake which I mentioned in my post on Valentine's Day. It is so good, I love using it for cupcakes which can be easily portioned.

In the past I've found that most low calorie recipes are pretty tasteless and bland, but Gina is an excellent cook and I am impressed by what she comes up with. She also gives the WW information for each recipe so there is no guessing - it is extremely helpful.

St. Patrick's Day Treat

I don't usually do much in way of celebrating St. Patrick's Day, but I conceded that since I am married to an Irishman, I should do something. Because I have a family of picky eaters, I decided to play it safe and make something sweet - green cupcakes with sprinkles on top.

These cupcakes are a bit deceiving. They look like regular cupcakes from the outside -

-and then when you take a bite into the middle............

A bright green surprise!

I just used a regular yellow cake mix and added green food coloring to it. When they bake up the outside turns a golden brown like it normally would. I didn't have any green sprinkles so I just took some large white sugar sprinkles and tossed them around with some green food coloring. Couldn't have been easier.

I've already had one little leprechaun devour one...........

Here is an old Irish blessing for you:

"If God sends you down a stony path, may he give you strong shoes."

Happy St. Patty's Day

Backstory with Recipes

So I guess I should give a little more information about the dinner that made Riley fall in love with me. [Actually, the way he tells it, he knew he was going to marry me from the moment he met me, but this meal sealed the deal. I guess I will have to have him write his own version of how things happened. ] Now you would think it was some magnificently hard gourmet dinner, but that is not my style or Riley's style. I am a fan of down home comfort food cooking. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy branching out and going a little fu-fu every now and again, but really it's the basics done right that are my favorite. I made him fried chicken, mashed potatoes, pan gravy and biscuits. Simple right? This is seriously one of those bribery meals you can pull out. Need the garage cleaned out or the bathroom painted? This will do the trick.

For a lot of dishes I cook, I pretty much make it up as I go. I don't have "real" recipes, just a lot of eyeballing this and a dash of that and a pinch or two of something else. It's basically just trial and error and until it's just right the way my family likes it and sometimes those turn out to be the best dishes.

I wish I could have taken some pictures of our dinner last night, but with two crying babies, two older rambunctious kids, and a starving husband it totally slipped my mind. But I will say there was not a lot a whole lot of talking around the dinner table, just lots of happy eating sounds. Even Kendle my picky eater was devouring her chicken like it was going to escape off her plate if she didn't gobble it down.

Sarah's Fried Chicken
4 chicken breasts cut in half (You can leave them whole, I just do it for time's sake because they cook faster and they are smaller portions for the kids.)
3 eggs
Oil
Flour
Garlic Powder
Seasoned Salt
Regular Salt
Pepper

Heat the oil over medium heat about 350 degrees. Do not fill the pot more than half full with the oil. You do not want it too hot, that will burn the outside of the chicken and not cook the middle. To check if it's ready, I stick the handle of a wooden spoon in and if it bubbles and sizzles around it it's ready.

In a shallow dish or pan (I use tin pie plates) mix together about 3/4 cup flour (add more if you need it) a couple of big dashes of Garlic Powder, Seasoned Salt, and Pepper to your own tastes.

In a medium sized bowl beat the eggs.

Season the chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Set up everything assembly line style on the counter near the stove. Dip the seasoned chicken in the egg and coat on both sides. Then immediately coat in flour mixture. Make sure to get an even coating on both sides. Place in hot oil and cook until nice and brown (I don't have an approximate time, just until it looks done).

Remove and place on paper towels to soak up some of the excess oil. To keep the chicken crispy while finishing the batch, I will place them on a cookie sheet in a slightly warmed oven.

Pan Gravy
[Trust me, this recipe is not for the faint of heart or if you are counting calories. Of course all things in moderation right?]

Drain off almost all of the oil from the pan used for frying the chicken. Leave just a small coating of oil and the bits and pieces left over from the chicken at the bottom of the pan. That's the good stuff. Over low - medium heat add in a tablespoon or two of flour and start mixing and scraping up all of the stuff from the bottom of the pan with a wire whisk. You want it to be smooth and stirrable. Keep whisking until it has browned a bit. You want to get rid of the flour flavor. Then slowly add in a little bit of milk at a time until you get the desired consistency. You don't want it to be pasty and lumpy. Keep whisking and stirring until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste - it needs to have flavor. If it starts getting too thick again, add in a little more milk and whisk until smooth again.

You also have to serve these yummy biscuits with this meal:

Baking Powder Biscuits

2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder (you can add a bit more depending on your preference)
3/4 tsp. salt
5 T shortening
3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large bowl mix dry ingredients together. Cut in shortening until mixture is crumbly and in little pea sized pieces. Add milk a little at a time until a ball forms and dough pulls away from the sides (not too sticky). Roll out on floured surface and cut into biscuits ( I would err on the thick side depending on your preference). If desired brush tops with butter, and then bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Do not over bake these. You want them to be soft and flaky.

My family seriously thinks I am the queen of the world when I make this. Well at least during dinner anyways.

*And don't forget the mashed potatoes!*

Freezer Meals

I'm trying to do a little planning ahead for the next few months and thinking I could save some time by preparing some meals now. I'm just imagining how crazy that 4:00 -5:30 dinner hour stretch is going to become in the next few months and trying to salvage some sanity now while I still have some. So I'm looking for some good freezer meal recipes - anything that still tastes good after being kept in the freezer and is easy to reheat. I have not tried much of this style of cooking, but thought I might give it a go since I was going to pre-cook some chicken and hamburger and have it ready to go in the freezer for some quick meals anyways. I've found a few recipes that sound promising on the internet, but it's always better to get tried and true ones from people you know.

So if you have any yummy recipes for the freezer - share away! Or even if you don't, just tell me what your favorite quick meal to cook for your family is. *Quick as in you have a 2 1/2 year old pulling on your leg and zooming cars around your feet, and two babies waiting for someone to come feed-change-hold them.

Near Perfect Weekend

Here are a few things that had me in a good mood all weekend long:

*Cooler/rainy/crisp weather made it feel like fall had arrived

*Soccer games in the cool breeze

*Made these donuts - they were SO yummy

*Windows open to air out the house

*General Conference

*Make your own mini-pizzas and root beer floats

*Relaxing with a good book

*Hot chocolate

*Staying in comfy clothes

*Being in my cozy little house with the people I love

What would have made it perfect? Sleep. I'm not getting much of it these days. Regardless, it was a nearly ideal way to spend time with my little family. Weekends like this don't come along very often with the hustle and bustle of life, and it was good to slow down and really take the time to make every moment count.

Summer Recipes

My zucchini plant has been growing like a large monster this summer and I've been making zucchini bread like it's going out of style. I just made another batch on Tuesday, and still have more grated zucchini waiting in my fridge to make about six more loaves. Kendle loves the stuff and eats it about as fast as I can make it. I've been stowing the extra loaves in the freezer to pull out at a later time. The batch I made on Tuesday was pumpkin zucchini bread and I think I like that the best. I just have a thing for pumpkin flavored breads, cookies, cakes, etc.....

I used this recipe and thought it turned out pretty well. I added a little more zucchini to mine though (just because I had so much to use up). This makes a really moist yummy bread:

Pumpkin Zucchini Bread
3 eggs lightly beaten
2 cups sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup shredded zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

*Directions: In a mixing bowl combine eggs and sugar. Add pumpkin, butter and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and gradually add to pumpkin mixture and mix well. Stir in zucchini and nuts. Pour into two greased and floured 9-in x 5-in x 3-in. loaf pans ( I used one of my bigger loaf pans and two really small ones). Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until breads test done. Cool in pans 10 minutes and then remove to wire cooling rack.


I've also been anticipating getting some rhubarb from my mom so I can try out this recipe my Aunt Alaina posted on our family web page for Rhubarb Custard Cake:


Rhubarb Custard Cake
White cake mix
3-4 cups rhubarb mixed with 1 1/2 cups sugar
1 pint heavy whipping cream

*Directions: Make cake mix according to directions on box and put in a greased 13x15 pan (if you don't have a pan that size you can adjust this to use a different size). Sprinkle the rhubarb/sugar over the cake mix.Pour the pint of cream over the top - don't mix it in. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until lightly brown on top and cake is pulling away from the edges.

Another family member on the web page commented that they also tried this with peaches and it was equally delicious.

Do you have anything yummy you've been making this summer?