Dipped Gingersnaps

I love these Gingersnaps dipped in white chocolate! This recipe adds crushed peppermint candy cane in the white chocolate which I think would add a fun little "zing". These might just be the cookies we leave out for Santa in just a couple days!!

Kiss Pies

Aren't these so cute? I haven't tried them yet but they look delicious! And so easy, using just two ingredients! From Picky Palate

"Holiday Christmas Buns"

is what they call this delectable looking thing over at The Sisters Cafe

Caramel Popcorn

I love me some good homemade stuff! From The Sisters Cafe

Peppermint Brownies

Oh man...don't these look divine!? From Our Best Bites

Watermelon Lemonade

YUM! Watermelons and lemons=delish! I especially like the idea of draining out just the juice of the watermelon so you don't get the weird texture as you drink :) From brown paper packages

4th of July fun

My FAVORITE holiday! And some fun treats to go along with it
From Sisters Stuff And Living Locurto

Lemon Shrimp Linguine

I have been so bad at updating this blog :( Lack of motivation and energy I guess... But here's a SUPER SUPER easy and delicious recipe if you like shrimp, which we do. I have no real recipe because it's so easy. Here's my simple instructions.

Melt butter and a little bit of olive oil in a saute pan (non-stick preferably). Add some garlic, about 2-3 cloves depending on the size of clove and your like for garlic. Saute for just a minute, but be careful because it burns super easy and burned garlic has a nasty taste. Add a bunch of shrimp. (I always buy those rings that come with the cocktail sauce, but only when on sale otherwise they're SUPER expensive. Soak in cold water for 5 minutes and they'll be thawed.) Add shrimp to the pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add as much fresh lemon juice as you like, I usually do a full lemon. Stir all together and make sure the shrimp is well coated.

Add to the pan whatever pasta you like after you cook it. We usually do just angel hair cuz it cooks the fastest. Stir all together and there you have it! SERIOUSLY like 6-7 minutes. Try it. It's so so good. Serve it with some steamed veggies and buttered toast and you have a super yummy super fast meal!

Falafels! YUM!

oooo...I CAN'T WAIT to try this recipe! I lived in Israel when I was younger and also took a trip back just a few years ago and have had many, many falafels. They are truly one of my favorite foods! I'll document how it goes once I've made this recipe from The Sister's Cafe.

Caramel Popcorn

There are so many recipes out there for caramel popcorn, but this one My Kitchen Cafe claims to be the best one. Can't wait to try it out!

*Makes 2 large bowls of caramel popcorn

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups sugar
1 cup powdered vanilla whey protein (found in any health food aisle from Wal-mart to your everyday grocery store)
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup water

In a medium saucepan, combine the above ingredients and cook over medium heat until the mixture barely comes to a slow boil. It should still look very light in color. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the following ingredients:

1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda

Pour the caramel mixture over two large bowls of popped corn (about 1 cup unpopped kernels that have been air popped) and mix to combine.

Jerk Chicken Dinner

First of all let me just say how much I love the blog that I got this recipe from: Eat it up. Britney happens to be my long-time Gringo girl from Rexburg and she's just awesome. This is one of her many delicious dishes and is one of my top 3 dinners right now. Thanks Brit!

Ingredients:

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

3/4 teaspoon allspice

3/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

6 chicken breasts

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 large sweet potato, or two medium

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup lime juice

2 teaspoons cornstarch

sliced green onion, optional

Instant rice, brown or white

1. Heat oven to 375. Spray a 2 quart baking dish with cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix salt, pumpkin pie spice, allspice, thyme, and chili powder. Rub mixture on all sides of chicken. In a non-stick skillet heat to med-high and cook chicken for 2-3 minutes per side, until brown.
2. In the baking dish layer sweet potato and beans. Top with browned chicken. In a small bowl, mix honey, lime juice, and cornstarch. Add to skillet. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Pour over chicken, beans, and potatoes.
3. Bake 35-45 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked all the way through and chicken is cooked through. Serve over rice and sprinkle with green onions.

Candy Bar/ Symphony Brownies

Found on Tried and True Yummy Recipes

2 boxes(9x13 pan size) brownie mixes
3 large hershey or symphony candy bars -the blue symphony are the best

Mix the brownie mixes according to the package directions. Pour half of the batter into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Unwrap the large candy bars and place over the brownie batter then pour the remaining batter over the candy bars and smooth out. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until done. Be careful because it is very easy to undercook these.

Chocolate Turtle Cookes

Originally from Cook's Country, found on My Kitchen Cafe

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg, separated, plus 1 egg white
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans, chopped fine
14 soft caramel candies
3 tablespoons heavy cream

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat liners. Combine flour, cocoa, and salt in bowl. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg yolk, milk, and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture until just combined. Refrigerate dough until firm, at least 1 hour.

Whisk egg white(s) in another bowl until frothy. Place pecans in another bowl. One at a time, roll dough into 1-inch balls, dip in egg whites, then roll in pecans. Place balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Using teaspoon measure, make indentation in center of each ball. Bake until set, 10 to12 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking.

Meanwhile, microwave caramels and cream in bowl, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Once cookies are removed from oven, gently press existing indentations with teaspoon measure. Fill each with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon caramel mixture. Cool 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack and cool completely.

Ice Cream Brownie pie

Ingredients:

1 boxed low fat brownie mix
1 half gallon of 1/2 fat ice cream (I like Edy's or Dryers)
hot fudge or chocolate syrup
nuts (optional)

Directions:

1.Make brownies according to package.
2. Spray springform pan or just use a 9x13 or 8x8 dish. Add brownie batter and bake according to box direction. Let cool completely in pan. (I used a round cake pan. However, using a whole box of brownies filled the entire pan so I ended up cutting the top half off with a big serrated knife. Using only half the brownies was perfect. And I let it cool a little but not completely)
3. Let ice cream sit on counter for 10 minutes or so to soften. Spoon ice cream onto cooked brownie. (I LOVE hot fudge so before the ice cream I did a layer of fudge on top of the brownie and sprinkled some peanuts on top of that.)
4. Drizzle fudge or chocolate sauce on top. (and more nuts) Place in freezer for at least 4 hours.
5. Open springform pan and cut. Use thin spatula to lift servings.

No Bake Cheesecake

Found on Cooking Stuff

9" graham cracker crust

8 oz softened cream cheese
15oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla

Beat cream cheese until fluffy, mix in everything else. Fill the crust evenly, cover it with plastic wrap and chill for at least 3-4 hours. Serve with the topping of your choice. It will keep, covered in the fridge, for at least 4 days. I can't say for sure past that as I've never seen one last any longer.

A delicious little HEALTHY treat

Found this concoction recently online and I truly love it. The perfect ratio of sweet to salty, with believe it or not NO SUGAR! (that is if you use real dried cranberries).

Ingredients:
Almonds
Sunflower seeds
Pumpkin Seeds
Raisins
Dried Cranberries

*I don't measure anything, but just throw it together and in the amount that I like. I tend to do quite a bit of cranberries and not many almonds. That's just what suits my fancy :)

And the best part:

The Little Man likes it!!!!
which means it was a success

Heart Shaped Cinnamon Rolls

It's a little late now to do these for Love Day, but it's a super cute idea to document anyway! Found on Poppies at play

Chef Salad

This is one of my favorite meals, and for some reason we don't have it that often. I just forget about it I guess. It's just a plain and simple Chef Salad! There are so many different varieties and so many things you can put on it! This time we did bell peppers (red, orange and yellow), hard boiled egg, celery, carrots, avocado, tomato, black beans and some yummy grilled chicken from a previous dinner. You can also do broccoli, corn, pears, mandarin oranges, apples, strawberries, cheese, and SO MUCH MORE! The sky is the limit!

Our "love bowls"

So I saw this SUPER CUTE idea on Love, Actually which is an awesome, blog all about love :) Cher provides so many fun, cheap ideas to do and this was one of my favorites. I have named them love bowls and naturally we had them yesterday for dessert.
Yes, these are balloons. They serve as the mold. You just dip them in chocolate, chill them, pop the balloon and WALLA!
You have a chocolate bowl!
Because of poor planning on my part I couldn't do a beautiful arrangement of vanilla ice cream with thin fudge stripes and a bunch of raspberries on top as I would've liked, but this worked out just fine.
And the best part: HE LOVED THEM!

Black Bean Salad

I love beans and peppers so this salad hits the spot for me every time! It looks quite summery, but you can find the ingredients pretty much all year round. It's so good! Has a subtle vinegar taste which I also love. 1 can (I do 2 because I love them) black beans, rinsed and drained

1 c. corn
1-3 c. chopped bell pepper (I've used all colors-green, red, yellow, orange)
1/4 c. chopped parsley

Dressing:
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
2 Tbl. olive oil
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 clove garlice, minced (or about 1 tsp. garlic powder)
2 tsp. sugar

Combine salad ingredients and toss with whisked dressing ingredients

ENJOY!

DELICIOUS Gingered Carrots

I am one who loves a good ol' plain steamed veggie like carrots, broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash etc. with a little S&P for a side dish. We have one of those probably 4 times a week for dinner. But every once in a while I come across a more elaborate veggie dish that is healthy and delicious. And here is my very favorite one. It comes from my Grandma and is seriously SO SO good! It's such a unique taste that you wouldn't expect, and as a bonus it fill your home with an amazingly pleasant aroma.

6 chopped green onions (I use whatever I have on hand which is usually yellow or brown)
8 carrots, sliced thinly lengthwise
1 c. celery, diced
2 Tbl. brown sugar
1 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. salt

Put carrots and onions in a 9x13 inch pan. Combine the rest of the ingredients first and then add to the pan. Add 1/2 c. water. Bake at 450 degrees for 50 min. I usually stir it 2-3 times to make sure everything stays evenly moist.

I'm being serious, you've GOT to try these. You won't be sorry!

Ask my 19 month old son who won't come NEAR any type of veggie. He LOVES them! (probably because of the sugar, but you could leave it out and they would still be really good)

Homemade Gummi Bears

Fun fun fun! Skip to my Lou says all you need is flavored gelatin, unflavored gelatin, molds, and water! I bet the kids would LOVE these!