BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger Pie

A couple weeks ago we had Cheeseburger Pie for dinner.  It wasn't bad, but we found it a little bland.   I decided to try it again with some additions after my husband suggested we add real bacon bits to dish.

You'll need:


1 lb lean meat (we used ground turkey)
1 large onion (I used onion flakes because I hate the texture of onions)
salt
pepper
4 TBS A1 Steak sauce
4 slices pepper jack cheese
1/2 cup baking mix (like Bisquick)
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup real bacon bits
3 TBS BBQ sauce
French's french fried onions

Brown your meat with the onion, when it's finished add the A1 sauce, salt and pepper (to taste).  Put the meat into a greased pie plate and top with cheese.  In a separate bowl mix Bisquick, milk and eggs, pour over meat and cheese.  Top with BBQ sauce, bacon bits and fried onions.  Bake at 400* for 25 minutes. 

Enjoy!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I did start baking for Christmas in the midst of baking for Thanksgiving.  I made a batch of sugar cookies, my favorite sugar cookie recipe can be found at Bake at 350.  I also made a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  I'll put the recipe below.

Want to know how they were?  Just ask him....

While we were sleeping he polished off two dozen of the cookies, then was sick from 5 am-7am and then finally scared us so much the night before Thanksgiving we had to call the Vet at home at about 8 pm.  So, Keisel, I hope the cookies were well worth it.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter softened

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

--cream the above ingredients together--

--add--

2 cup flour

1 cup oats

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1-12 oz. bag chocolate chips

--chill dough, then drop onto cookie sheet--

--Bake 10-12 minutes at 350*--

Holiday Baking

I set a goal for myself that Holiday baking will begin THIS weekend.  How perfect is it that I stumbled upon Sugar & Meringue Holiday Baking Plans today!  I'll be using this to help me prepare for the next couple of weekends and the baking that needs to take place.  I love baking, and it's so nice that everyone else is on the same page as me at this time of the year. 

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Have you ever checked out Recipe Girl?  I was recently on Stumble Upon and came across her Cinnamon Roll Pancakes, and now she has Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Pancakes (my mouth is watering). 

I didn't follow her recipe exactly, but pretty much so.  First of all, I cheated and used a baking mix.  I followed her cinnamon filling recipe  
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
I put the filling into a squeeze bottle to allow for easy pouring into the pancake.

Yes, that is a Steelers toaster in the background...

Delicious!

Honestly you can eat these without adding a thing, Recipe Girl suggests a cream cheese glaze, I had recently made Cake Pops and had extra vanilla frosting in my fridge, so I put it in the microwave for 30 seconds.

And the finished product...

Yummmmmmmmmmmmm!

Sew Neglected

I ventured into my craft room today...One reason why I have completely neglected it for, er, a very long time is because the room, for some reason, is the hottest room in the house.  There is no way it would be tolerable from July-August.  This room has become the place to put "stuff" too.  None the less I went in to tonight and turned on my sewing machine in what seems like ages.  Now, I am no professional sewer by any means.  I would love to be one of those people who can look at a shirt and do a refashion and someday *fingers* crossed look at a piece of fabric and turn it into something amazing.  For now I'll stick to some basics.

I dug out some of the finished projects I actually have.  Now last year at this time I was waiting for my new niece or nephew to grace us with their presence and I was convinced "it" was going to be a she...Well...

This little boy graced our family in January

 

So, here is what I still have in my finished projects box

Onesie with apple print apple, leggings made from socks and a dress refashioned from a tank top.

My new goal is to sew Monday-Thursday for at least half hour...we'll see how this goes!

Two Ingredient Pumpkin Cupcakes

I've been seeing this recipe a lot on the web this year, and it is absolutely genius!  It's incredibly simple and delicious.  To make these pumpkin cupcakes all you need is a cake mix and can of pumpkin!

That's it!  Put them in a bowl and mix 'em up!

Bake at 350* for 20 minutes.  These are delicious without anything else but I did give in to the power of cream cheese frosting and topped them off.

Enjoy!


In other news I took my nephew to see the Lion King in 3D on Saturday.  I remember going to see the Lion King at the theater when it came out the first time!  Where has time gone?  Although the 3D glasses didn't last very long I think he had a good time.

Buffalo Chicken Stromboli

Sorry I didn't take any pictures of this meal, I dove right into when I got home and totally forgot.  Last night we had a "left over" dish.  When I made my Buffalo Chick Jalapeno Poppers I actually used 3 cans of chunked chicken so we had a good amount left.

To make a buffalo chicken stromboli I needed crust, so I made this crust that does not use yeast.  I'm not going to lie, I have NEVER made anything that requires yeast and rising.  When I see recipes that require yeast I normally look the other way because it just seems too time consuming for me.  Maybe someday I will change my mind.

Crust:  2 cups flour
           1 tsp. salt
           2 tsp. baking powder
           2/3 cup water

I actually doubled this recipe to make a stromboli for each us.  You combine all of the ingredients and knead them for about two minutes.  I spread a little olive oil over the crust to prevent the sauce from seeping into the crust, then I put some Ranch dressing and hot sauce on, followed by the buffalo chicken and cheese mixture.
Bake at 425* for 20 minutes.

This dinner had some of my favorite components:  easy, quick and inexpensive!

Enjoy!

Homemade Granola Thins

I love the Nature Valley Granola Thins, one side is coated in chocolate or peanut butter, although these aren't coated they're a cheap alternative!

Ingredients:  2 cups oats
                   1 cup brown sugar
                   1 stick butter
                   1/2 tsp baking soda
                   1 tsp vanilla
Mix all of the ingredients, pat firmly into a 9x13 pan.  Bake at 325* for 18 minutes.  Cut upon removing from the oven then allow them to cool.

Enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Jalapeno Poppers

Today is my family reunion, each year we get together the Sunday before Labor Day and everyone brings a dish to share.  There are always plenty of delicious items and this is what I am taking today.

The recipe is easy, which is always a plus!

You'll need:  15 jalapeno peppers (cut in half and seeds removed)
                    2 cans of chunk chicken breast
                    1/2 stick butter
                    1/2 cup hot sauce
                    1 TBS garlic powder
                    1/2 cup shredded mozzarella 

1.  Melt butter, add in garlic powder (to taste), add hot sauce and chicken (mix well so chicken becomes shredded)
2.  Remove from heat allow to cool 10-15 min.
3.  Mix in cheese
4.  Stuff peppers as seen above
5.  Bake at 350* for 15 min.
6.  Enjoy!

I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Labor Day weekend!

New Header

Hopefully this is just what I needed to get me back into the swing of things.  I've clearly taken a sabbatical from blogging.  There are so many creative ideas churning in my head, fall always does that to me, I can't suppress them any longer!

The Best Burger

My husband and I love a good burger from time to time.  We really don't eat red meat so I made these burgers with ground turkey, the actual burger part can be done however you like it's the toppings that make this one delicious!

For my burgers though I used a whole lb. of ground turkey, 1 cup bread crumbs, 1 egg, 1/4 cup milk, 3 TBS of garlic powder (we really like garlic) and TBS black pepper.  I split it into fours to make 1/4 pounders and put the in the skillet to cook...The grill would have been a better choice but I leave that up to Garrett and he wasn't home for this :(

Then I used French's French Fried Onions

I put these and a dab of BBQ sauce on the burgers

And topped them off with a slice of cheese

They were perfect-o!  I can't wait to have them again!  And talk about easy clean up, one pan!

Enjoy!

More Coupons

Between dinners on Easter Sunday we stopped at CVS to pick of the Dove Men + Care deodorant that was $.99 and they were sold out by 1 PM.  Crazy!  But we made a trip to Wal-Mart and I am so happy I did!

I got everything seen below for $3.50!

Here's how I did it.

The Clairol Natural Instinct was on clearance for $2.00 and I had 4 coupons for $3.00/1 = -$4.00
The Reach floss was $.88 each and I had 2 coupons for $1.00/1 = -$.24
The Degree deodorant was $.97 and I had 1 coupon for $1.00/1 = -$.03

At this point Wal-Mart owed me $4.27, my husband needed socks though so the pack of Fruit of the Loom socks was $7.77 minus my overage equals $3.50 for the whole lot!

After I checked out he said, "it worked?"  I don't think he'll be doubting my couponing obsession any longer!

Cake Pop Success

Have you ever seen Bakerella's Cake Pops?  They're pretty much taking over the world, okay maybe not really but everyone I know who has seen them has fallen head over heals in love with them.  Besides being cute they're absolutely delicious!  Check out Bakerella's site for how to create these yummy treats.

I tried them about a month ago and made them too big so they fell off of the stick, this time though I had great success!

I cut the foam to fit into a plastic container and made two treat baskets to take to each house we went to for Easter.  Besides the pops I made sugar cooks, some were also on pop sticks.

I'm Sorry!

The link to Mom's Need To Know was wrong in my previous post and has been fixed.  Sorry for any problems!

My Couponing Story

I started cutting out coupons when we lived in Pittsburgh and I sucked at it, for a couple of reasons that I will go into here.  I am by no means a pro right now or an "extreme couponer" like that shown on TLC, but I sure am working my way there!  I'm becoming more and more a coupon snob though and thinking "I'm not going to buy that because it'll probably go on sale next week and I have a coupon that can make it really cheap" Probably not a bad thing, but here are some tips I have come across.

#1:  Don't buy it just because you have a coupon -- In Pittsburgh this is what I did, I clipped my coupons then went to the store and bought pretty much everything I had a coupon for.

#2:  Match coupons with sales -- A lot of times the coupon in this weeks insert won't match up with sales this week, but it will in the weeks to follow.  A lot of the Red Plum and Smart Source coupons that came out in January that are set to expire April 30 are being paired with deals right now to be close to next to nothing

#3:  Get more than one insert -- I currently get four inserts, some come to me whole and some come picked over slightly, everything helps though.  This is really bad on my part but I actually don't buy any of the papers those four come from, they're all given to me.  Maybe this is somewhere I could step my game up.

#4:  Utilize coupon sites -- coupons.com is a great one, if you have an iPhone use the GroceryIQ App which allows you to "clip" the coupon, send it to your email and then print from a printer (to continue saving print in grayscale on the economic setting)

#5:  Utilize match-up sites:  The Krazy Coupon Lady was featured on TLC's hit "Extreme Couponing" and lets you in on great information like what store you can match certain coupons with the get items dirt cheap.  Mom's Need To Know I also really like because it offers specific deals for Martin's (Giant) which is where I like to shop.  Also, some of the stores mentioned on The Krazy Coupon Lady are not applicable to where I live.

I went to Wal-Mart to score my haul below for $5.26

4 Nivea Body Washes = $3/each ($12) used 4 $3/1 coupons so all the body wash =
FREE
2 Degree Women's deoderant = $.97/each ($1.94) used 2 $1/1 coupons so they paid me $.06
4  Olay soap 2 packs =$2.48/each ($9.92) used 4 $2/1 coupons so all the soaps = $1.92  ($.48/each)
2 Gain Fabric sheets =$1.87/each ($3.74) used 2 $1/1 coupons so sheets =$1.74 ($.87/each)
Febreeze with Gain = $2.66 used $1/1 coupon so Febreeze = $1.66

Retail total = $29.26
My total = -$.06+$1.92+$1.74+$1.66= $5.26
$24 savings

I think the craziest thing is realizing you can get things for free!  When I saw the price on the shelf was $3 and I had a coupon for $3 I thought there is no way possible, only the crazy ladies on the shows find deals like this, but you can too.  Just keep your eyes open for a sale!

Happy clipping!

iPhone Photo Apps

This post is a little bit different than what I usually do but I had something cute and funny I wanted to share.  Typically when I bake something it's for Sunday dinner that I go to at my parents house every week.  When I bake during the week my parents, my brother his fiance and my one nephew are my taste testers.  My husband too depending on if he "likes sweets" that day.  Yesterday at dinner I took this picture of both of my nephews and I love it so I wanted to share it.  I used an app on my iPhone called "Old Photo Pro".  It's a free app and I think it's just too much fun!

This is the before photo

And after.

The iPhone has a lot of cool photo apps, plus it takes pretty decent photos.  I have Photoshop Express on my phone too, also free that's fun to play around with.

More Drop Cookies

Remember these?  Well I told you there would be more experimenting to come!  Here are chocolate cherry cookies!  Mmmm, they were good.  I followed the recipe from before, this time I used a chocolate cake mix and maraschino cherries  They were fantastic!

Two for One Desserts!

Saturday evening my husband wasn't feeling well, so since I was pretty bored I did some baking.  I had a dozen left-over frozen cookie dough balls so I made a dozen Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes.  I just got my Pampered Chef Medium Scoop and it was the perfect size for the cupcakes!

Note:  The above photo is from Pampered Chef

I still had some batter left over so I drained a can of pineapple (saving the juice) and added it to the mixture.  I beat it with my standing mixer to puree the pineapple.  Then I placed the batter into tiny loaf pans.

I baked them at 350* for 20 minutes and got four of these...

I used the pineapple juice I saved to make a glaze...1/4 cup of powdered sugar and 2 TBS of juice.

They were really moist and yummy...It's been requested by my sampling committee to make full size loafs.

Enjoy!

Pineapple Ice Cream

I had no idea you could make ice cream without an ice cream maker, but you can!

My mom found this recipe on our community website, GoDuBois.  Tomorrow is my dad's birthday so today at our weekly Sunday Dinner we'll have his birthday treat, which will be Strawberry Short Cake, yum!  My mom thought this ice cream would go perfect with it.

What you need

1-20 oz. can crushed pineapple in juice (NOT drained)
1-14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
3 TBS fresh lime juice
1 tsp grated lime peel
2 tsp vanilla extract
4-5 drops yellow food coloring
1 cup heavy cream

Whip cream in a medium bowl with mixer until stiff peaks form (about 12 min)

While that is mixing combine pineapple, milk, lime juice, peel, vanilla and food coloring in a large bowl and mix well.

Once cream is whipped fold into pineapple mixture

Here's a short and sweet video on how to fold if you're unfamiliar with it

Once you're finished pour into a 9x5 loaf pan or 2-quart freezer safe container

Cover and freeze until firm (about 3 hours)

Enjoy!

Ridiculously Easy Cookie Made Your Way

One of my favorite things about working in an office environment is the constant sharing of recipes, here is one that takes the cake, or should I say cookie.

This recipe is so stinking easy and you can get very creative.

1 package of cake mix, any flavor (pudding in the mix cakes will require a 1/2 cup of flour added to them)
1/2 cup of oil
2 eggs
Anything you want to add!

So easy, so many possibilities and a wonderful drop cookie

I only had a pudding in the mix cake mix and same with my mom so I added the 1/2 cup of flour and 2 eggs.  Then I added a can of fruit cocktail, syrup and all (since I had the syrup from the cocktail I left out the oil)
I used my standing mixer which pureed the fruit chunks and oh my what I had was a mouthful of tropical goodness!  They were seriously moist and yummy.

Next time I'd like to add white chocolate chips and some Macadamia nuts.

I imagine I'll be using this recipe a lot in the future with all kinds of new ideas.

Get creative and enjoy!

Potatoes, Chicken, Broccoli and Gravy

I love meals that are inexpensive and easy!  Last night I made this dish and my husbands loved it and said, "I would have mixed this all together anyways if you made this all separate, but it's so much better put together and seasoned."  Er, thanks?  Honestly he's not too hard to please when it comes to food, but I also really enjoyed this.  Try it yourself, let me know what you think!

In a medium skillet I heated 2 TBS of butter and added 5 boneless skinless chicken breast strips.  One decent sized breast would also work.  While they were cooking I added 2 TBS of onion flakes (I cook with onion flakes because I like the flavor onion puts into dished but really despise the texture of onions, I know it's strange, but you could add a small diced onion here)  Once the chicken was cooked through I cut it into 1/2 inch pieces and added 1 1/2 cup of frozen broccoli a 1/4 cup of water and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. 

While it was simmering I made a packet of chicken gravy and then added it to skillet.  I added 2 TBS of paprika for a little more flavor.

I let it simmer again while I made one package of instant mashed potatoes, placed them in the bottom of an 8x8 glass dish and put everything from the skillet on top.

I put it in the oven then and baked it at 350* for 30 min.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Yesterday I made the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes from Kevin & Amanda.  They are even more delicious than they look!  Below is the recipe, I made my cookie dough balls Saturday afternoon and froze them overnight.

For the cookie dough (there are no eggs, so no worries about eating raw dough, YAY!)
2 sticks softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 tbsp milk
1 tbsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips

I filled my cupcakes with 3 TBS of batter and it was a little bit too much, next time I'll put a little less.  You just plop the frozen cookie dough balls in the center and follow the baking directions for your cake mix.

I cheated and went the easy way with a plain yellow cake mix and chocolate frosting, but you can get more creative with your own recipes for cakes and icings or check out what Kevin & Amanda did, maybe some other day I'll be that ambitious!

It may not look like it, but there is a center of ooey gooey cookie dough deliciousness hiding in there!

Bacon Cheeseburger Chicken

There is another blog I have stumbled across that I absolutely adore, you can check it out HERE.  Kevin & Amanda have lots of great things and one thing I tried out last night was their Bacon Cheeseburger Chicken.  It was delicious, I cheated and opted for the bacon bits...it was a Monday night, give me a break, we're lucky we were fed!  My husband loved it because "it was chicken in a new way," he's a chicken fanatic.  Follow the link to check out the recipe and also take a look at their blog.  There are so many good ideas on it that I can't wait to try, like THESE.

Dinner in 20 minutes!

Earlier this week I took some chicken breasts out of the freezer to thaw and one of them was so big I was able to cut it half and we each still had a piece of chicken that was plenty big enough to eat.  Since the other breast was thawed and also a decent size I cubed it and marinated it overnight.

I put the chicken (and all of the excess marinade) in a skillet and heated on medium for about 10 minutes until all of the chicken was cooked through. Once that was done I added a 1/2 cup of water and 1 cup of frozen veggies, turned the heat to low and cooked for another 10 minutes.  Simultaneously I cooked 1 cup of rice which I seasoned with some garlic, pepper and a little chilli powder (we both really like garlic and spicy foods so you may want to alter this to your taste and also to compliment the marinade)  Once everything was done I put the chicken and veggies on top of the rice and voila! Easy dinner!

Cocoa Cupcakes

In November my nephew turned 3, when plans first came up I offered to make him a cupcake cake that went along with his Thomas the Train theme.  I  wanted to make sure on his big day the cake was perfect so I had lots of practice rounds and when I was finished I never wanted to look at another cupcake again!  Well, it's been nearly four months now so I guess I got over it.

This recipe originally came from an All You magazine but I tweaked it here and there.

Here is the original recipe.

My ingredients are basically the same except I used Maxwell House International Cafe Vanilla Caramel Latte Mix instead of Vanilla Extract, I had previously made a batch of cookies with this and really liked the flavor so I tossed it in here too.  And I used white chocolate chips instead of chocolate.

1 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/8  teaspoon  salt
2  large eggs, separated
4  tablespoons  unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2  cup  sugar
1 TBS. Maxwell House International Cafe Vanilla Caramel Latte Mix
1/2  cup  low-fat buttermilk
1/4  cup  white chocolate chips
2  TBS. confectioners' sugar, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. In a bowl, sift flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

2. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat egg whites in a clean, dry bowl until stiff peaks form. Rinse and dry beaters.  (This was really neat and something I have never done before.  When it was finished I had my husband come out and I asked if he knew what it was, he didn't believe me when I told him that all that it was was egg whites!)

3. In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar until light. Add yolks, one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in vanilla. With mixer on medium-low speed, beat in one-third of flour mixture, then half of buttermilk. Repeat, ending with flour.

4. Fold in one-third of egg whites. Fold in remaining whites and chocolate chips.

5. Divide batter among muffin cups; bake until a toothpick inserted into center of a cupcake comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes to rack to cool completely.

 
6. Sift confectioners' sugar over cupcakes, if desired.

Enjoy!