White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

This was another recipe that came across my Facebook news feed and I thought they looked absolutely delightful.  I recently purchased a big bag of dried cranberries from some local Mennonites and have been wondering what I was going to do with them.  This was just the perfect recipe to throw some in to!  One of the things I loved the most about this recipe was that you didn't need two bowls like you often do when you make cookies, it all got thrown into my kitchen-aid. 
I baked these for our local group of missionaries, I hope they enjoy them.  I'd like to say I tasted them but my husband greedily took the one I had left for myself with him when he went to work.  I will have to make another batch soon and take better pictures and stash a few for myself!

 

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
Original recipe found here:

Ingredients

• 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• ⅛ tsp ground ginger
• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• 1 cup (5 oz) dried cranberries
• 1 (12-oz) bag white chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl with an electric mixer) combine sugars and butter. Beat ingredients until they are light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Leave mixer on and add eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, salt and slowly sprinkle baking soda in. Once ingredients are well combined, turn mixer to low and add flour. Mix until just combined. Add dried cranberries and white chocolate chips. Mix to combine (or fold in if you prefer).
3. Using a 1 tablespoon scooper or heaping teaspoon full drop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets.
4. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
5. Serve and enjoy!

Dutch Oven Chicken and Dumplings

 

 We are a huge Boy Scout family and one of the things we love the most about being in Scouting for over a decade now is the opportunity we have had to learn how to cook in a dutch oven.  Kevin recently went on a road trip to Georgia and along the way stumbled across the huge Lodge Factory Store and called me giddy like a young school boy.  He came back with a few more cast iron pieces to add to our already growing collection and also the desire to cook more with the dutch ovens.  Since he's been back (two weeks) we have cooked a lot with dutch ovens.  It's so easy and fun and what's better than the smell of charcoal and amazing food on a crisp, fall evening?  Here is one of our favorite dishes to make.

 Dutch Oven Chicken & Dumplings


Ingredients

• 3 cans chicken broth (about 6 cups)
• 3 celery stalks
• 6 carrots
• 1 medium onion
• 2 tbsp dried parsley
• ½ tsp pepper
• 2 cups cooked, chopped chicken (sometimes I use rotisserie chicken you can buy at grocery stores, I just caution that you may need to use low sodium broth if you do, otherwise you may have a very salty dish).
• 2 cups flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions

1. Prepare your charcoal, you will need 18-25 depending on the size of your dutch oven.
2. Put the broth in the dutch oven.
3. Add the vegetables.
4. Add the chicken, parsley, and pepper.
5. Place the dutch oven on approximately15 charcoal brickets, placing 10 or so on the lid and bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
6. Simmer for at least 30 minutes.
7. Put the flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl.
8. Add the milk and oil to the dry ingredients and stir until a stiff dough forms.
9. Drop the dough by spoonfuls onto the broth mixture. Don’t stir.
10. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Try not to peek too often!
11. Season with salt and pepper if necessary.

Creamy and Spicy Corn Soup

I should have pulled out my good camera and taken a pic but I didn't, sorry!

Facebook is apparently the place to share recipes.  My feed is constantly flooded with recipes and occasionally I'll try one.  Our weather here in Missouri is finally cooling off and today actually felt like fall!  I saw this recipe yesterday and decided today would be a good day to try it out.  I had everything at my house and whipped it up.  I have to say I was quite pleased with it.  Because it's a "healthy" recipe, it isn't heavy and it has a very refreshing taste.  It's so simple to make.  I didn't fancy it up with any garnishes and still enjoyed it!

Creamy and Spicy Corn Soup
(original recipe posted here)

Ingredients

• 5 ears fresh sweet corn
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 a medium yukon gold potato, chopped
• 2-3 cups vegetable stock (the more stock you add, the thinner your soup will be) I actually used half vegetable stock and half chicken stock
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1.5 tsp chili powder
• A pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions

Cut the onion, potato, and trim the corn kernels off the 5 ears of corn.

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, saute for 5 minutes until the onion is translucent. Add the potato and broth, bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are very soft – about 10 minutes. Then add the fresh corn and cook through for a couple minutes more.

Add a bit more vegetable broth if your soup mixture looks too thick. Add all of your spices (cumin, chili powder, cayenne, black pepper). Then puree with an immersion/hand blender, or with a regular blender/food processor.

Top with a variety of toppings: cilantro, tomatoes, fresh corn, crushed corn chips, avocado, or anything else you can think of! Enjoy!

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken

Buffalo Chicken lettuce wraps with pineapple fried rice

This is seriously the easiest recipe ever!  It's probably why I never blogged it before.  All of my boys love this and so do many of their friends!


Crockpot Buffalo Chicken

1 bag of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or whatever other piece you want, my husband used chicken thighs in Korea)
1 bottle of Frank's RedHot Buffalo Wing Sauce
2 T butter

Place breasts in crockpot (I usually just throw them in frozen), pour bottle of wing sauce over chicken, turn crockpot on low and cook for 6-8 hours.  The chicken will be so tender it shouldn't take much to shred, we usually do it right in the crockpot.  During last 30 minutes to hour of cooking, throw in the butter to create creaminess. 

That's it!  Sometimes we serve on a bun and have chicken sandwiches.  Sometimes we just eat it alone or turn it in to lettuce wraps.  This can be eaten warm or cold. 

Enjoy!

Chicken Enchilada Pasta

This recipe was a Pinterest find from months ago and I finally got around to making it today for lunch.  It was delicious!  We will definitely be making this again.  It didn't take much time at all and I love that I didn't have to double the recipe, it made plenty for the family and we still had leftovers.  The original recipe was posted here.

CHICKEN ENCHILADA PASTA

2-3 chicken breasts, cooked & shredded

2 tbsp. olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 medium onion, diced

1 {4 oz.} can diced green chiles

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. cumin

2 {10 oz.} cans green chili enchilada sauce

2/3 cups red enchilada sauce

2 cups shredded cheese (use whatever you like, mozzarella or cheddar & jack, whatever makes you happy!)

1 cup sour cream

Penne pasta

Cook chicken, drain, and shred.  Meanwhile boil pasta according to package and chop the veggies. Heat the olive oil in a deep skillet and cook onions for about 3-5 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Add cooked chicken, green chiles, cumin, chili powder, salt, & enchilada sauces.  Let sauce simmer for about 8-10 minutes.

Add cheese and stir until the cheese is melted and heated through.  Remove pan from heat and toss in the sour cream.  Stir until sour cream is well mixed and heated through (you do not need to put back on heat, the sauce is warm enough that it will heat up the sour cream without curdling and still stay warm enough to serve).

Drain pasta & return to pot.  Pour sauce over pasta and mix well.   

You can garnish it with whatever you want or eat it alone, it's still delicious!

The boys gave it a big thumbs up!

Shrimp & Garlic Pasta

 Back when we were getting ready to move from Fort Knox, KY to Fort Hood, TX one of our friends from our church ward invited us to dinner at his house.  He fed us a fabulous meal that looked somewhat complex.  When I asked him for the recipe, I was amazed at how remarkably simple it was.

*Note, it's not really an exact science with this recipe, adjust as needed for the amount of people you are feeding.

Shrimp and Garlic Pasta

2 packages (one package serves about two people) - Creamy Garlic Shells (Knorr Italian Sides)  
Large or Jumbo - deveined, uncooked shrimp (about 6 per person)
*1/2 cup fresh cilantro
*1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes

Prepare garlic shells according to package.  While that is cooking, soak shrimp in warm water to thaw if frozen or simply rinse and drain.  Chop cilantro and tomatoes, set aside.

When shells are done cooking, put in microwave safe bowl, add shrimp, cilantro and tomatoes.  Cook in microwave for about 5 minutes, being careful to not overcook shrimp so they become rubbery.

*you can adjust the measurement of cilantro and tomatoes depending on how much you like of either.  I tend to add more tomato and less cilantro since I'm not a big cilantro fan.  I also usually use 4 packages of the shells for my family and maybe adjust the cilantro and tomatoes by 1/4 to 1/3 cup, not exactly doubling and the flavor is still there.

Serve with salad and garlic bread!  This meal takes about 30 minutes total to make and it is delicious!

Caramel Toffee Dip

I forgot to take a picture of the dip BEFORE I let a group of teen girls attack!

 I am pretty sure that this is the recipe one of my sweet friend's gave me a couple years ago after she brought it to one of our Army unit events.  It was SOOOO good.  Tonight I was in charge of an activity for a small group of girls in our youth group at church.  I wanted to bring them a treat and wanted it to be somewhat healthy.  I decided to cut up apples and then canceled out the healthy with this AMAZING dip.  It's so easy to make and so yummy!

Caramel Toffee Dip

• 1 8oz cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup heath toffee bits

Combine the cream cheese and brown sugar.  Add vanilla and mix until smooth.  Mix in toffee bits.  Serve with apple wedges!