Valentine's Day Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies

I've noticed that the craze on the web is mixing rainbow colors in baked goods, here is a little twist for Valentine's day.

You'll Need

• 1/2 c & 6 Tbsp butter (melted)
• 1 c sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 c & 3 Tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 c whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• Pink, Blue, and Red food coloring

Steps:

1. In a mixing bowl add: butter, sugar, egg and vanilla and mix well. 

2. Add the dry ingredients to the mixture: all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, salt and baking soda and mix well.

3. Separate the dough equally into three parts.

4. Add color to dough... 10 drops of pink for Pink dough, 12 drops of pink and 2 drops of Blue for Raspberry dough, and then 10 drops of red for Red dough.

5. Place dough in fridge for about an hour.

6. When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

7. Remove dough from fridge and roll each dough color into a big ball.

8. Take all three dough balls and combine them. Roll them together into one big long log so the dough looks almost marbled.

9. Roll dough into long strings and shape them into pinwheels or any shape you prefer. (I don't have any cookie cutters so I made pinwheels).

10. Bake for 10-12 minutes, add sprinkles as soon as they are out of the oven.

Homemade Vanilla

You'll Need:

Two Vanilla Beans
Bottle of Vodka
*For an extra boost - 2 shots of Faretti Biscotti liqueur

Steps:
1. Slice each vanilla bean down the center and then chop each bean into small pieces.

2. Open the vodka bottle and pour out about 1/4 of a cup.

3. Add the vanilla beans and liqueur to the vodka bottle. Close and shake the bottle.

4. Store in a cool, dark place. The longer you let it sit the better the flavor, I let my first batch sit 5 months before I used it.

This is my first batch after one year of sitting... notice the longer it sits the darker it gets.

Roasted Pork Loin

This is a great pork tenderloin recipe, great for Sunday dinners! This is also a good excuse to use my new Ninja and new Prepology knives!

You'll Need:

• 3-4lb Pork Tenderloin
• 4 Tbs Olive Oil
• 1 Lemon - squeeze for juice (you will use all of it)
• 3 Tbs Sage (I used Rubbed Sage) or Fresh Sage
• 2 Tbs Fresh Parsley or dried
• 2  Garlic Cloves
• 1 Tsp Pepper
• 1 Tsp Kosher Salt
• 2 Tbs Honey

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Squeeze your lemon and collect all of the juice and chop your fresh herbs.

3. In a blender, add all of the ingredients except the honey and pork tenderloin. Blend until, well blended... :)

4. In a glass dish, spray with cooking spray then add your pork. With a knife, add a few deep slits on the pork.
5. Brush all of the herb/oil mixture over the pork.

6. Roast for 45 minutes.
7. Brush the honey all over the pork.
8. Roast for another 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 170 degrees.
9. Once pulled from the oven, let the pork "rest" for a bit before cutting.

Boone's Berry Bread

This is a great "anytime" bread recipe.  I came up with this recipe last year while trying to make blueberry bread. During this time, Boone was in his "hop up on the counter and eat EVERYTHING phase". By this time, he had already eaten an entire loaf of beer bread, some crescent rolls filled with bbq roast beef, baked beans, and the occasional piece of cheese. 

Unfortunately for me I had just finished the batter when Boone decided to jump up and try it. After throwing away the Booney licked batter, I had to improvise with what ingredients I had left.

You'll Need:

• 1.5 sticks butter (melted)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup frozen or fresh blackberries (you can use any type of berry)
• 1/2 cup blueberry pie filling
• 2 cups + 1 tbs flour
• 1/2 cup milk

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix the melted butter, sugar, milk and eggs together in a large bowl.
3. Add the dry ingredients to your mixture (2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt) and mix thoroughly.
4. In a ziploc baggie (either quart or gallon size) add 1 tbs flour and the blackberries. Shake baggie until all berries are coated with flour.
5. In the mixture, fold in the blueberry pie filling and fold until batter turns purple.

6. Fold the blackberries into the batter.
7. Place batter in a bread pan and bake for 60-70 minutes depending on the size of your bread pan (the small foil pans take about 60 mins while the larger bread pan takes 70 mins)

Warm You Up Cheesy Broccoli Soup

This is a quick recipe I came up with to get me through the day here at home. We are refusing to turn up the heat so this was a great recipe to warm us up!!

You'll Need:

• 1 can of Evaporated Milk
• 1 bag of frozen broccoli
• 1 can of Cheddar Cheese soup
• 1 can of Cream of Broccoli soup
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1.5 tsp minced onion
• 1-2 tbs of butter (to taste)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Steps:

1. Combine all ingredients except salt and pepper into a pot. Heat to a boil not a roaring boiling, but a quiet boil for about five minutes.

2. Turn down the heat to medium/low and stir occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Cook until broccoli is tender.

Kwille's Loaded Potato Soup

Kwille doesn't cook often, but when he does he goes all out. Last year we created Kwille's Chili recipe which was a winner with our families. This year Kwille decided he wanted to make potato soup, so he found a recipe he liked and together we made a few changes to liven up the recipe.  This goes great with my Honey Wheat Beer Bread.  This also gave me a chance to use my brand new stock pot!

You'll Need:

• 2.5 lbs Potatoes
• Half of a large sweet onion
• 1/2 lb Bacon
• 3 Celery Stalks
• 2 cups Carrots
• 10 cups Water
• 8-10 Bouillon cubes (Chicken flavor)
• 3 Garlic cloves (minced)
• 1.5 tsp Salt
• 1.5 tsp Pepper
• 2 tsp Basil leaves
• 1/2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper 
• 2-3 tsp Hot Sauce
• 1/2 pint Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1 cup Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup butter

Steps:

1. Cook the bacon in a skillet, while the bacon is cooking you can cut up your vegetables.
2. Once the bacon is done, set it aside, you won't need it until later. Add the celery, onion, carrots, and potatoes to a good sized pot.
3. Add the water (we measured 10 - that gave us plenty of water to boil off without drying out any of the vegetables). Boil uncovered until a rolling boil occurs.

4. Add the bouillon cubes, garlic, salt, pepper, basil, crushed red pepper, and hot sauce. Turn the heat down to create a light boil and cover the pot. Boil for 2-3 hours (until potatoes are soft but not mushy).
5. Add bacon, cream, cheese and butter. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Kwille peeling the potatoes.

Honey Wheat Beer Bread

Kwille loves beer, I love carbs (too much). Why not put together the two things we love? So that's what we did with our Honey Wheat Beer Bread.

You'll Need:

• 1.5 cups of wheat flour
• 1.5 cups of white flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (melted)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 12 oz. beer (This is where it gets interesting, Kwille likes to bring home different types of beer. I've tried Bud lite, Michelob, Miller lite, Hamm's, Boulevard, but my favorite is PBR (it just cooks really well and has a good flavor))

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine the two flours, sugar, salt, butter and baking powder in a large bowl.

3. Add the beer and stir until completely mixed.

4. Add the honey (I use Pam on my measuring cup to keep the honey from sticking) and mix.
5. Pour batter into bread pan and bake for 60 minutes

This bread is great with soup and chili.

Strawberry Orange Jello Cookies

This past weekend I needed to make a dessert for a baby shower at work. My killer reading and note taking skills caused this very delicious mistake to occur!

You'll Need:

• 3.5 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1.5 cups butter (softened)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 pkg (4 serving size each) of Jello - any flavor - for this I picked orange and strawberry (you're supposed to get two of the same flavor, but that's where I goofed)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the softened butter and sugar. Add one package of Jello (I added orange) and mix thoroughly. Add egg and vanilla and continue to mix.
3. Add the baking powder and flour gradually to the mixture.

4. On a greased cookie sheet, shape the dough into small mounds. Flatten with a bottom of a glass (I spray Pam on the glass before I flatten - it helps the dough from sticking to the glass).

5. Sprinkle the remaining Jello on the dough (I used Strawberry).
6. Bake for 10-12 min, remove and let cool.

Yields: 3 dozen to 4 dozen cookies depending on your mound size.

With the left over Strawberry Jello, I added it to my morning yogurt to give it some extra flavor.

 

Pumpkin Cookies

Since fall is almost here, I thought it was time to make my pumpkin cookies.  This was the perfect morning to do it - Seven o'clock on a Sunday morning, Kwille and Boone are asleep (Boone has taken over my spot in bed by this point), I make some vanilla biscoti coffee and begin one of my favorite fall traditions.

 

You'll Need:

• 1 stick unsalted butter (melted)
• 1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup canned pure pumpkin puree
• 1 tbs pumpkin pie spice
• 1.5 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 2/3 cup flour
• **Surprise Ingredient (optional) - see below

 

Steps:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2.  In a large bowl, mix together the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth.

3.  To the sugar/butter mixture, add the eggs, vanilla, pumpkin, pumpkin spice, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix thoroughly.

4.  Fold the flour into the mixture.

5.  On two baking sheets, drop 12 mounds of batter on each sheet.

6.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.

7.  Remove and let cool for a few minutes - **Surprise Ingredient - to each cookie add some freshly grated

     nutmeg (gives a boost of flavor)!

Enjoy!

Makes 24 cookies

Herb Chicken with Gnocchi

I discovered Gnocchi at Lydia's a couple of years ago and was instantly hooked. This recipe is great with fresh garlic bread or my honey wheat beer bread.

You'll Need:

2 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I use Pam instead)

4 Chicken Breasts

1/2 cup sliced onion

3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

1/2 cup diced carrots (this is not included in the recipe below since Kwille does not like carrots)

1/2 cup peas (fresh or frozen)

1 cup white wine (I use Beringer)

1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

1/2 tsp dried tarragon

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 tsp or more to taste of herbes de Provence* (see below)

1 package of Gnocchi

Steps:

1. Season the chicken with the salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat the oil (or pam) over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until done.

2. Add the onion and garlic, saute until softened. Add the carrots and salt and pepper to taste.

3. *For the herbs de Provence, if you don't have it (I don't) it's a mixture of different herbs: basil, fenel, lavender, majoram, rosemary, sage, savory and thyme. Out of that list, I rounded up as many spices as I had and mixed about 1/4 tsp of rosemary, basil, majoram, thyme and sage together.

4. Add the herbs de Provence and the wine. Simmer until the wine is reduced by half.

5. Add the chicken broth, reduce the heat and cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. While you're simmering, you can boil the water for the gnocchi.

During this time, I also enjoy some wine...
6. Boil the gnocchi according to package directions, strain and add to the chicken dish along with the peas. Simmer for a couple of minutes.

Here is the finished dish! Enjoy...

    

Summer Trifle

I made this last week for a wedding shower and it turned out really good...Enjoy!

Summer Trifle
Ingredients:

• 36 Nilla Wafers (I used the Reduced Fat Nilla Wafers)
• 2 tbs orange juice
• 8-9 medium sized peaches - sliced
• 1 package of fresh blueberries (smallest plastic package)
• 1 package of fresh raspberries (smallest plastic package)
• 3 cups cold milk
• 2 pkg Sugar Free Vanilla Pudding Mix (4 servings for each pkg)
• 1 tub (8oz) French Vanilla Cool Whip, thawed and divided in half

Steps:

1.  Break the Nilla wafers up into a bowl and sprinkle the orange juice on the wafers. Add the wafers to the bottom of your favorite trifle serving bowl.
2. In a medium bowl, add the dry pudding mix and cold milk. Mix thoroughly and place in the fridge to thicken. (I waited about 15 minutes)
3. Fold 1/2 of the cool whip into the pudding mixture.
4. In your trifle serving bowl, place the peaches, blueberries and raspberries over the wafers.
5. Add the pudding mixture on top of the fruit.
6. On the top of the trifle, add the last 1/2 of the cool whip.
7. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnite.