Category: Food

Categories
Food

White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

I’m interrupting my “scheduled” post of photos from last weekend to post the cookie recipe I made last night. This weekend 2 of my favorite current coworkers & I are going to the beach! We’re crashing at my grandparents & we’re so excited for this girl’s weekend. We’d hoped there would be six of us, but due to child care issues & busy weekends, it’ll just be the three of us. Brooke, Holly & Kim, you’ll be missed! We’ll have a drink (or two) for you!

Eileen isn’t a fan of craisins so I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and thought it would work. After I’d put 16 or so cookies on the cookie sheet, I decided craisins would be yummy in the rest so I mixed those in. I tried a craisin-less cookie last night & it was delicious. Husband had a couple with craisins & said they were awesome too.

White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
1 c butter, I softened first
1 c sugar
1 c light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 c oats
2 c white chocolate chips
1/2 c craisins
Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease cookie sheets or use baking mats.
In Kitchenaid mixer, cream butter & sugars until smooth. In separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda, & baking powder & add in the cinnamon (my addition).
Stir in the vanilla & eggs to the sugar. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix until combined. Stir in the oats, white chocolate chips & craisins (also pecans if you wish). Spoon out tablespoon sized cookies on to the sheets.
Bake for 10-12 minutes (took a little more like 13 for me). Cool on wire racks.
Tip from another baker: Cookies best when lightly brown, so set your timer & do not over cook. Someone else said you could use butterscotch chips instead of white chocolate which I think I might try next time as a fun change.

Categories
Everything Else Food

Saturday Couples Shower Menu & Recipes

My parents & 3 other couples hosted a couples shower for Matt & Katie this past Saturday night. Matt & his family have been family friends of ours for over 20 years! My brother is in the wedding & we’re really looking forward to their Oct 4th wedding in Wilmington.
Mom & her friends got together a couple different times to plan the meals & alcohol. The SAH ladies cooked some Friday then Amy T joined Mom & I Saturday.
I was put in charge of making my Oreo Brownies. I also helped with the fruit salad by melon balling, cutting up strawberries, grapes, pineapple (I ate the core!). Amy & Mom steamed shrimp using the Old Bay seasoning recipe. I was the official stirrer of mom’s Cranberry Salad Cole Slaw & I encouraged adding more craisins! (recipe below.) I feel like there was something else, but I’ve forgotten.
I don’t have all the recipes, but here’s approximately the menu.
Appetizers: Hot Corn Dip (version of recipe below), Cherry Tomatoes halved with basil & fresh mozzerella inside with basalmic dip, Chipolte Raspberry Cheese Ball, & Steamed Shrimp.
Dinner: Cranberry Salad Cole Slaw, Potato Salad, Spiral Ham, Curried Fruit Chicken Salad (with Costco Rolls), Fruit Salad, Deviled Eggs.
Dessert: Oreo Brownies, Creme Puffs & Strawberries with chocolate dip.

Cranberry Salad Cole Slaw
Ingredients
4 c coleslaw (1 bag)
1 bunch broccoli
8 slices cooked bacon (we omitted)
1 small chopped purple onion (we used Vilada)
1 c craisins (or more)
1 c mayo
2 tsp red wine vinegar
1/2 c sugar
Optional: silvered almonds or chopped walnuts
Directions
Mix first 5 ingredients in medium-large bowl. Set aside. Mix last 3 ingredients in a large bowl (they’re the dressing). Combine all ingredients just before serving.

Hot Corn Dip
Ingredients
1 (11 oz) can Mexicorn
1 c mayo or sour cream
1/2 c Parmesan shredded cheese
1 c Mexican mix shredded cheese
3 tbsp finely chopped Jalepeno peppers (Mom uses 1 (4 oz) can green chillies)
Directions
Combine and bake for 30 minutes at 350. Serve with scoops.

Curry Fruit Chicken Salad (Jan said she got it from allrecipes.com which is where I found this one but not sure its the same, but its close though)
Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked & diced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/2 small apple, peeled, cored & chopped
1/3 c golden raisins
1/3 c seedless green grapes, halved
1/2 c chopped toasted pecans
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp curry powder
3/4 c mayo
Directions
Combine & stir all ingredients together. Serve & enjoy.

Categories
Food

Strawberry Banana Muffins

I found this recipe from a fellow NC nestie, Katie Loves Paper a couple of weeks ago. I believe she found it from Joy of Cooking. I’d been meaning to make the below banana bread this weekend, but strawberries were on sale at Harris Teeter & we already had all the other ingredients. UPDATE: I added photos. I think these might be the most delicious muffins I’ve made this year. The bananas are a great background flavor. I might add more strawberries next time because they were a great bitesized flavor addition.

Ingredients
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 c light brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 c)
1 c fresh strawberries, cut into bite sized pieces
2 1/4 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Line 12 cup muffin pan with liners or spray with Pam.

In small bowl, melt butter. (I microwaved. Recipe recommends melting in saucepan over stove.)

In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and mashed bananas. Add the melted butter and stir until combined.

In another large bowl, add flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, & cinnamon. Gently fold in the strawberries, making sure they’re coated with flour which will help them from sticking during baking. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture. Stir until just combined. Overstirring can lead to tough muffins.

Divide the batter into the muffin cups. (The recipe says will make 12. I made small muffins & divided into 15 muffin cups.) Bake approximately 20-25 minutes or until toothpick in center comes out clean. Place on wire rack to cool. Enjoy!

Categories
Food

Heathly Banana Bread

If yall don’t know by now, I love bananas & I love sweets! This recipe incorporates both = perfect!! I found this recipe on Elissa’s blog. I thought I’d post it here to remind myself of the ingredient & directions so we could make it this week or weekend. I’ll probably half it though. Thanks for another yummy recipe Elissa!

Low Fat Banana Nut Bread
Ingreidents
7 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 c unsweetened apple sauce
2.5 c unbleached all purpose flour
1.5 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp butter, softened
1 c light brown sugar
4 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 chopped walnuts (optional)
baking spray

Directions
Preheat oven to 325. Grease 2 9×5 loaf pans with spray.
In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda & salt with a wire whisk. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter & sugar with electric mixer. Add egg whites, bananas, apple sauce & vanilla. Beat at medium speed until thick.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add flour mixture & walnuts then blend at low speed until combined. Do not over mix.
Pour into loaf pans & bake on the center rack for 60 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
Let pan cool at least 20 minutes. Recipe says bread should be room temperature before slicing (I see this being a hard step for me to follow!!)

Servings: 26 slices (2 loaves). With nuts: calories 129.2 fat: 4.4g protein: 2.8 fiber: 1.4g WW points: 3. Without nuts: calories: 106.1 fat: 2.1g carbs: 20.2 protein: 2.3, fiber: 1.2g WW points:2.

Categories
Food

Pampered Chef Three Cheese Garden Pizza

I think this is the last of the Pampered Chef recipes posts! But I can’t resist passing on fun new tasty recipes when I find them! I just wish I’d taken a photo or two of them to share with yall.
Again, we’re not huge onion fans at our house, so I’d probably remove those. Hubby’s getting better about eating more vegetarian, but I think he’d be happier if we put ground beef on his half of the pizza.

Ingredients
1 pkg refrigerated pizza crust (used Pillsbury)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
1 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 c grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 small onion, sliced into rings
2 plum tomatoes, sliced
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 c sliced mushrooms

Directions
Preheat oven to 400. Unroll dough onto bottom of lightly greased Large Bar Pan. Gently stretch dough to evenly cover the bottom on the pan. Place oil in small prep bowl. Press garlic into oil; brush envly over dough using basting brush. Bake crust for 7 minutes. Remove from oven.

Meanwhile, place grated cheeses in medium sized bowl. Add Italian seasoning; toss lightly and set aside. Using Mandoline, slice onion & tomatoes using v-shaped blade; slice zucchini with crinkle cut blade. Slice mushrooms with knife.

Sprinkle half of the cheese mixture evenly over the crust; top evenly with onion, zucchini, tomatoes and mushrooms. Sprinkle with remaining cheese mixture. Bake 15-18 minutes or until crust is golden brown; remove from the oven. Cut into squares using pizza cutter. Helps to have small spatula to remove from pan. Yield per the recipe: 6 main dish or 12 appetizer servings.