Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Joe asked me the other day why we never have anything sweet in the house. He says he was asking for his son...riiighht.

I came across this recipe and had wanted to try it so I thought what the heck. The only change I would make is to use a sheet pan instead of a 9x13. I like my bars a little thinner and while I don't think this recipe would have filled up a sheet pan, I think it would have come out thinner than in the 9x13.

Ingredients
Cookie layer
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp salt
1 T cider vinegar
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Cream Cheese layer
8 oz cream cheese (softened)
1/2 sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, mix together the butter, shortening, sugars, vanilla, salt and vinegar. Beat in the egg. Add the the baking soda and flour and beat until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and divide the dough into two equal portions. Set aside.

 

 

In a medium bowl beat the cream the cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. 

 

 

In a 9x13 pan (I used use a sheet pan next time), spread half of the cookie dough mixture evenly across the bottom. I just took scoops of the dough and then spread it out across the bottom of the pan. 

 

 

Spread the cream cheese mixture on the top of the cookie dough.

 

 

 

Flatten the rest of the cookie dough between your hands into circles and then place on top of the cream cheese mixture.  

 

 

Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes, or until the top is brown and cooked through. Once cool, store in the fridge (although I'm not sure why...) Super yummy!! Like its probably a good idea its stored in the fridge so I don't take a bite every time I walk past the kitchen counter.

 

 

Loaded Potato and Chicken Casserole

UPDATE: I made this recipe again and used basically only a drizzle of oil and drained the roasted potatoes - it made a world of difference. If you've tried this recipe already, please try it again with these changes.

I love casseroles because normally they're quick and easy to throw together. This one is a little bit more labor intensive (not much but more than I'm used to) but oh so well worth it.

I made this with some changes to this recipe to suite our tastes - goodbye hot sauce and hello ranch!

Ingredients
8-10 red potatoes (quartered)
1-2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts (cubed, raw)
1/4 or 1/8 cup olive oil (called for 1/3 cup which I did and was way to oily, at least for our tastes)
Drizzle of oil
1 tbs pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs paprika
2 tbs garlic powder
10 tbs ranch dressing (called for 6 of hot sauce - I used ranch - but b/c of less oil next time, this will have to be bumped up)
1 zucchini chopped

Toppings:
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese
1 cup sharp cheddar
1/2 package of bacon (cooked and cooled)
3 diced green onions

Directions
Preheat oven to 475.

Drizzle a little oil over the potatoes. Add pepper, salt, paprika, garlic powder and ranch dressing in a large bowl and toss. Put potatoes in a greased 9x13 pan leaving as much sauce in the bowl as possible. Bake potatoes for 45-60 min until they are nice crispy (be sure to stir every 15 minutes or so).

Once potatoes are done, move the potatoes to a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Wash pan to remove excess oil.

In the bowl, add chicken and zucchini. Cover and put in the fridge.

Cook bacon and let cool. Once cool crumble and store in the fridge. Chop green onions and store those in the fridge.

Place potatoes, chicken and zucchini back in pan and cook for about 10 min. Drain any excess oil. Then top with bacon, cheese and green onions.

Bake about 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Bread

Last fall I came across a recipe for Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread. It is amazing and I can't wait for fall so I can document how I make mine.

So anyway, I was in the mood to bake and I had cream cheese but no pumpkin because its summer (I really only buy it in the fall/winter) but I had frozen blueberries. I came across this recipe for lemon blueberry yogurt loaf and decided to combine the two. I used the loaf recipe from the lemon blueberry (minus the lemon because I didn't have any) and used the filling recipe from the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread recipe.

It made a large loaf and a small loaf. We (read Mateo and Joe) ate the large loaf in one day. I doubt the small loaf will last any longer.

Ingredients
Bread
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup yogurt (I used vanilla)
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup blueberries (I used frozen

Filling
8 oz cream cheese (softened)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp flour
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions
Preaheat oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl combine yogurt, sugar, eggs, vanilla and vegetable oil. Slowly add the dry ingredients from the medium bowl to the large bowl and stir together. Add the blueberries.

In the medium bowl that is now empty, combine cream cheese, sugar, flour, egg and vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Spray two loaf pans with cooking spray. Divide the bread mixture in half and add to the loaf pans. Divide the cream cheese mixture in half and put on top of each loaf batter. Mix in the cream cheese mixture with a knife or spoon. The marbling when using the pumpkin recipe is gorgeous. Can't really tell with this one. :)

Bake until the tops of the loafs are golden - about an hour give or take.

Spaghetti Casserole

I love Pinterest!! I love, love, love, love it! It's a great place to look for recipes, beauty DIY and crafts. Another perk is that I now have more blogs to follow.

Joe loves my spaghetti and I love pasta casseroles for Mateo but Joe does not. When I made this recipe I told Joe specifically, it's for you to feed your son - you don't have to eat it. Imagine my surprise when Joe helped himself and raved about it.

The orignal recipe can be found here. Because I'm lazy (especially in the summer) I try to take as many short cuts as possible. You could add cooked onions, peppers, mushrooms, etc - I just didn't have any on hand. Below is my version.

Ingredients:
1/2 box of spagehtti
1 1/2 jars spagehtti sauce (I used Hunts)
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup parmesean cheese (divided)
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 lb ground beef
1 tsp garlic
1 cup (more or less) French fried onions
Orgeno
Red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.

Brown and drain the ground beef. Cook the pasta noodles al dente and drain. I break the noodles into rougly 2 or 3 inch pieces. Set aside.

Add the sauce, cream cheese, oregno (a couple dashes), red pepper flakes (dash), and garlic to the pan with the beef. Once the cream cheese has melted add 1/4 of the parmesean and then add the noodles.

Spray a 9x13 pan and add the sauce/noodle mixture. Top with mozzarella, the rest of the parmesean and the french fried onions. Bake until the cheese is melted and the onions are browned. You could serve with a salad and some artisan bread...YUM!

Artisan Bread

I (me!!!!) made THIS!

I spend at least $4 or $5 at the store on bread like this. Now I don't have to thanks to this...

A cast iron pot is key. Ceramic should work too. If you don't have either, run (do not walk) and buy one.

I found this recipe on Pinterest and I've made it plain and another batch with smoked gouda and thyme. This is so easy and it's so good. The bread is really good with cheesy baked artichoke dip!

Ingredients
3 cups flour
1 3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp yeast (just buy a jar of yeast and keep it in the freezer instead of the packets - trust me)
1 1/2 cups water
Anything else you want to add (cheese, craisins, citrus zest, herbs)

Directions:
In a large bowl mix together flour, salt, yeast. Add water until everything is combined. The mixture will look sticky - that is good. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit on the counter 12-18 hours. I usually make on a Friday night and bake it Saturday morning.

When ready to bake, heat oven to 450. Once the oven is preheated put the covered pot in the oven and heat up for 30 minutes. While the pot is heating, place dough on a floured surface and shape into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit while the pot is heating.

When pot is heated, plop in the dough and cover. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Then remove cover and bake an additional 5-15 minutes or it may be done - depends on your oven. To test if the bread is done, knock on the bottom of the loaf - it should sound hollow. Let cool and enjoy!

Frozen Hot Chocolate

What is a perfect dessert for hot a summer day?? Frozen hot chocolate sounds good to me. My sister tried it and raved about it so I thought I'd give it a shot while we were in the middle of our heat wave this past week. It was amazing!!

Ingredients
3 tbsp sugar
1 packet hot cocoa mix
2 tbsp butter
1/3 cup white chocolate chips
1/3 cup choclate chips
1 can evaporated milk (divided)
5 cups ice cubes (may need more)
Whipped cream
Chocolate sauce
Chocolate shavings/mini marshmellow bits

Directions:
In a saucepan over low heat melt chocolate chips, butter, sugar and cocoa mix.

Once it has melted, add 1/2 cup of evaporated milk. Stir until mixed well. Cool - I actually put the mixture into the freezer to cool down quicker - I have very little patience for chocolaty goodness.

Once cool, add 2 1/2 cups of ice, 1/2 of the chocolate mixture and 1/2 of what is left of the evaporated milk. Blend until smooth.

Pour into a glass and top with whipped cream and drizzle with chocolate sauce. Next, put your feet up and crank the AC!

Open Face Breakfast Sandwich

I came across this recipe in The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier (pg 12, Make-Ahead Muffin Melts). I love this because you can do all of the prep the night before and the only thing left is to spread the mix on the english muffins in the morning and bake.

Of course, I changed a few things to suit our tastes (less worcestershire/dijon/eggs; more cheese/bacon) and they still turned out delicous and I can't wait to make again.

Ingredients
1 lb bacon
*6 hard boiled eggs (peeled/chopped)
2 cups (or a bit more) shredded colby jack cheese (or whatever your favorite is)
1 cup mayo
1/4-1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 dash worcestershire sauce
6-8 english muffins (halved)
Salt and pepper if needed

Directions:
Hard-boiled eggs:
Put eggs in a sauce pan and add water until they are covered. Cover the pan and bring eggs to a rapid boil (turn the heat on high from the get-go). Remove the pan from the heat (but keep covered) and let sit for 20 min. After 20 minutes, drain the water and put the eggs in a bowl of ice water for 5 minutes. Take them out and let them air dry. Place in fridge until ready to use or eat.
While making the hard boiled eggs, start to fry the bacon to your desired doneness. Let cool, then chop. Once the eggs have cooled, peel and chop them.

In a bowl add one cup of mayo, cheese, eggs, bacon, mustard, garlic powder and worcestershire sauce and mix together. Once this step is done, you can store in the fridge until you're ready to make them. If you're ready now...

Split the english muffins in half and spread the mixture on each half. Top with extra cheese and then pop under the broil for a few minutes. I used the broil setting on our toaster oven and it worked perfectly.

Once cheese is melted - Enjoy!