Copyright

©Life of a Foodie and Her Family 2008-2013, Lynn Tabor

Pinterest

10/31/2013

10/30/2013

Brown Sugar Spiced Chicken

Yep another Pinterest idea.  You can find the original recipe at Rachel Shultz

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon garlic powder
Salt & pepper

Pour brown sugar, paprika, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper into a plastic bag. Add chicken breasts and seal. Shake to coat chicken.  Keep in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Arrange chicken breasts on a foil lined baking sheet. Bake for 20-23 minutes or until no longer pink.


I had this with some Zima Tomatoes, English Cucumber slices, Roasted Red Pepper Hummus and the Orzo with Roasted Chickpeas.

Orzo with Roasted Chickpeas

I pinned this recipe recently and you can find the original at Garnish with a Lemon.

1½ cups dried orzo
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained, rinsed and patted dry
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp garlic powder
3 – 4 tablespoons dried parsley
4 ounces Feta Cheese (or more to taste), crumbled
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Prepare orzo according to package directions. Drain. Rinse with cold water if not serving immediately.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine 1 tablespoon olive oil, cumin, chili powder, cayenne, and ¼ teaspoon salt in a medium bowl.

Add chickpeas and stir to combine. Spread coated chickpeas on a baking sheet and roast for 25-35 minutes, until they are golden and crunchy. Remove from oven and let cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining olive oil, lemon juice, garlic powder and parsley. Add the orzo and chickpeas beans and stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Gently fold in the Feta Cheese.

Serve warm, cold or at room temperature.


 This was really good and even better this morning.

10/29/2013

Chewy Coconut Cookies

Here is another Pinteres Cookie recipe for our Alpha Class.  It also comes from Tracey's Culinary Adventures.

**Note this does not make a big batch of cookies.  If you look at the measurements and compare it to a typical chocolate chip cookie dough for instance, you will notice that it is approx half of that.  Just a little heads up.

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg and then the vanilla. With the mixer on low, gradually add the dry ingredients, beating just until combined. Stir in the white chocolate chips and coconut until evenly distributed.

Using a small cookie scoop portion the batter onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart. Bake for about 9 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are set. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks and let the cookies cool for a few minutes then remove the cookies to the wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the rest of the cookie dough.


I think I liked these best out of the recipes that I tried today.  When I make them again, I am certainly going to double the recipe and make a normal size batch of cookies.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

Here is another recipe from Pinterest that I made for our Alpha Class.  You can find the original recipe at Tracey's Culinary Adventures.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup M&Ms

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt togetherIn the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg and then the vanilla. With the mixer on low, gradually add the dry ingredients, beating just until combined.

Using a small cookie scoop (mine measures about 1 1/2 inches across), portion the batter onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart and press and M&M onto the dough. Bake for about 8 minutes.

Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks and let the cookies cool for a few minutes then remove the cookies to the wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the rest of the dough.







**Note this does not make a big batch of cookies.  If you look at the measurements and compare it to a typical chocolate chip cookie dough for instance, you will notice that it is approx half of that.  Just a little heads up.

Candy Corn and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Well it looks like Tuesday will be a cookie baking day.  I made these for dessert for my church's Alpha Class.  You can find the original at Averie Cooks.

1/2 cup unsalted butter, soften
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cream or half-and-half
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons corn starch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups candy corn I used a mix of regular and chocolate.(10 to 11 ounces)
1 cup white chocolate chips

To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large bowl and electric hand mixer), cream together the first 5 ingredients (through vanilla) on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the next 5 ingredients (through optional salt), and mix on low speed until just incorporated, about 1 minute; don't overmix.

Add the candy corn, white chocolate chips, and mix until just incorporated.

Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form heaping mounds (I made 20). Place mounds on a parchment lined cookie sheet, flatten mounds slightly, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter. (I totally skipped this step by accident)

Preheat oven to 350 F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart and bake for about 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set, even if slightly under baked, pale and glossy in the center.

Do not over bake because cookies will firm up as they cool. Baking longer than 10 minutes could result in cookies with overly browned undersides. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet  for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooking. Cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 4 months.



10/28/2013

Greek Salad Cups

This recipe just kind of popped into my head since I had some leftover chopped tomatoes, olives, marinated cubed Feta and Fillo Cups.

Place a few cubes of marinated Feta, Kalamata Olive and Tomato in each Fillo Cup.  You could also add a slice of Greek Pepper (pepperoncini)




These also were great!  You could also try it with different flavored Feta, like a Sundried Tomato.

Hummus Cups with Tomato and Cucumber

Yep another recipe from Pinterest.  You can find the original recipe at Inspired Taste.  I really don't like the premade pizza dough from a tube.

So again I went with the Athen's Fillo Shells.  I think I bought Sweetbay out last weekend.

Everything made with the Fillo cups must be served immediately or they start to soften.  I chopped everything ahead of time and had them in Ziploc containers in the fridge.  So assembly went very quick.


2 packages (15 shells in each package)
3/4 cup  hummus (I used two different kinds, one Roasted Red Pepper and the other classic)
1/2 cup diced cucumber
6 or 7 cherry tomatoes, quartered

Fill each Fillo cup with a heaping teaspoon of hummus, and then top with a few pieces of cucumber and a tomato quarter.





Again, I didn't get a picture of them Saturday night so I recreated them yesterday.  These also were so good.  I liked that I used the two different kinds of hummus.  I made two plain and one with the Roasted Red Pepper.  Of course you can use what ever flavors that you like.

Caprese Phyllo Cups

By now you must know how much I love Pinterest....Here is a cute little appetizer that I pinned for our Cruising for Murder party.

You can find the original at Give me some oven.

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 (15-count) package mini phyllo cups
15 grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
4 ounces fresh mozzarella, diced
4 large fresh basil leaves, cut into a chiffonade

In a small saucepan boil the balsamic vinegar over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 5 minutes, or until reduced by half. Remove from heat and allow to cool.  It should be nice and syrupy. 

Portion the tomatoes, mozzarella and fresh basil between the phyllo cups. Drizzle with the reduced balsamic vinegar. Serve immediately.






Since I forgot to take pictures on Saturday, I recreated them yesterday.  These were sooooooo good!  I probably could have eaten a dozen of them.

10/24/2013

Chocolate Cookies with White Chocolate/Candy Corn M&M's

This was the final cookie I made for Alpha.  I kind of used a couple recipes and came up with this.  I bought White Chocolate Candy Corn M&M's at Walmart.  The first thing I noticed when I opened the package is that they are bigger than regular M&M's.

1 cup butter, softened
 2 cups white sugar
 2 eggs
 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
 2 cups all-purpose flour
 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
 1 teaspoon baking soda
 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 bag White Chocolate Candy Corn M&M's (9.90 oz)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Fold in the M&M's. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are set. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.



I think these were Miss V's favorites.  I also like these version of the M&M's in this.  I also have some Mint M&M's that are stashed in the pantry.  I might whip up a batch after school for her.  She had a very hard night last night.  Her little hamster, Severus Snape passed away and she is heartbroken.

Gooey S'Mores Cookies

I spotted these a long time ago on Pinterest and pinned it.  I also bought a container of the marshmallows, but somehow they disappeared.  Ok...Miss V snitched them.  I was upset that I could not find them again at Walmart.  The other day I was at Target and just happened to look up and there they were!  Woo hoo, I bought 3 containers of them and instructed my little assistant that she could NOT eat them.

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (7 full graham cracker sheets)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup Mini Hershey’s Kisses (or chocolate chips/chunks)
1 cup Jet Puffed Mallow Bits
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes.


Meanwhile, use a food processor or blender to crush 7 graham cracker sheets into 3/4 cup fine crumbs. In a separate bowl, whisk together the graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix on low speed until the dough just comes together. Add the chocolate and marshmallows and stir to combine.


Place 1.5 tablespoon sized scoops of dough onto the prepared cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.


Makes 2 dozen cookies


I also have seen people say that they were a bit to dry and crumbly.  So I only used 1/2 cup of cracker crumbs and that seemed to be a little better.



They also were a hit last night and I let Miss V take home one or two.

Hershey Hug Pretzels

So I figured that I would make another sweet treat for Alpha and found this on Pinterest.  You can find the original recipe at Barefoot and Baking.

Waffle Square Pretzels
Hershey Hugs, unwrapped
Candy Corn

Preheat oven to 350.

Lay out a few handfuls of pretzels on a cookie sheet.

Place a Hershey Hug on each pretzel and bake for 2 1/2 minutes.

Remove from oven and quickly place a candy corn on each Hershey Hug and press lightly.

Place cookie sheet in the fridge to let the Hershey Hug harden about 20 minutes.

Place on a festive platter and enjoy!


Again sorry for the picture, I didn't take any with my camera.  I completely spaced.  So this was snapped after dessert and there were only a handful left.  The definitely were a hit!

Caramel Stuffed Pumpkin Cookies - needs lots of time in the fridge

So this week, I baked a few different kinds of cookies to bring to our Church's Alpha Class.  I spotted this recipe on Pinterest and you can find the original recipe at Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice.

Just a heads up, this recipe needs lots of planning ahead and time in the fridge before baking.  Knowing this, I started these cookies first.


1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1  1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
1/3 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1  1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons + 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (14 ounce) bag Kraft Caramels, I unwrapped about 30 and needed only 29.

Line one cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer beat the butter and 1 cup sugar together on medium speed 2 minutes. Add the pumpkin and vanilla beat on low 2 more minutes.

In a small bowl whisk together the flour, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, cloves, ginger, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add to the sugar mixture and beat on low just until combined. Refrigerate for approx 30 minutes. (In my case I made another batch of cookies while this batch chilled)

Scoop up very slightly rounded tablespoons of the dough, stick a caramel in the center and roll into a ball. Set on one of the parchment lined cookie sheets and do no let them touch. Repeat until all the cookie dough is used up. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight. (again, I made another couple batches of cookies.)

When ready to bake preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk the remaining 1/2 cup sugar with 2 tablespoons cinnamon in a wide, shallow bowl. (This was way to much Cinnamon Sugar mix.  I have a lot left over.)

Working in batches, roll the cookies in the cinnamon sugar and bake 2 inches apart for 14 minutes. Refrigerate the unbaked cookies in between batches.

I pulled the parchment off the baking sheets with the cookies still on them and let them cool on a wire rack.


Sorry about the picture, I forgot to take one with my camera so this was taken with a cell phone.  

Now....the cookies tasted great and the caramel does harden up.  I think it would be perfect if they were warmed about bout 5 seconds in the microwave right before serving.  That way the caramel would get gooey again.

10/18/2013

Chess Club Cupcakes

A friend asked if I could make a snack for the Chess Club at school and of course I said sure!  I looked around for Chess Club snacks and really didn't find much.

So I thought about cupcakes with Black & White Checkerboard liners, white and yellow frosting with little chocolate paw prints.  The school mascot is the Lion and the school colors are purple and gold.

My Butter Cream frosting: (this will easily frost 24 cupcakes, I doubled it and had a lot left over this time)
6 Cups Powdered Sugar
4 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
2 tsp vanilla extract
A little milk


Whisk butter in your stand mixer until smooth.  Add 1 cup of powdered sugar and mix to combine, repeat until all the sugar is incorporated.  Add the vanilla and a dash of milk.  Whisk on high for approximately three minutes until light and fluffy.


Sorry about the picture quality...I forgot to take pics with my regular camera these are just from my phone.

So I made two dozen dark chocolate and two dozen French Vanilla

 White buttercream
 Not a great picture, but inside the piping bag are two other bags.  One with white butter cream and the other with a light yellow butter cream.






They were a hit with the Chess Club.

10/10/2013

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

To go along with the previous post, I make a giant cookie cake  and used a 13 inch pizza pan.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup shortening
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 bag semi sweet regular or miniature size chocolate chips (2 cups)

Preheat oven to 300° F. Line a large (13 inch) round pizza pan with a circle of parchment or non-stick foil or spray well with cooking spray.

Mix flour, baking soda and salt together; set aside.

Cream shortening and both sugars by hand or with an electric mixer. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. 

When well mixed, add flour mixture and stir until blended Fold in chocolate chips.

Put all the dough in the pan and press it down until it reaches the rim and is flat.

Bake on center rack for 35 - 40 minutes or until cookie is golden around edges and appears set.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then gently slide it off to a wire rack.

Decorate.




  




For the frosting here is what I did:

4 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
5 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Gel food coloring

Combine all ingredients except food coloring in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth and stiff, 4-5 minutes. Stir in food coloring and pipe onto cake.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake times two

Last week at Miss V's school was Back to Football Friday and everyone was encouraged to wear an NFL jersey, t-shirt or homemade t-shirt.  The class with the highest participation would win a homemade cookie cake.

Well....when I received all the forms back from the teachers we had two classes that had 100% of the students wearing shirts and one class that had 99%.  The two smaller classes have 12 students each and the other class had 24.  So I figured I would make two regular sized cookie cakes for the smaller classes.

I did a lot of pinning and research.  I ended up buying the Wilton Giant Cookie Pan at Hobby Lobby with my 40% coupon.

So this morning I went to making, baking and decorating the cookie cakes and the students will be able to enjoy them tomorrow at lunch.  (I do have a nut free/gluten free alternative for those students)



1/2 cup butter or butter flavored shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar packed
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. 

Spray pan with vegetable pan spray. 

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter with sugars. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt; mix well. 

Stir in chocolate chips. 

Spread dough into prepared pan with spatula. 

Bake 15-20 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool on rack for 5 minutes. 

Remove from pan. Cool then decorate.









For the frosting here is what I did:

4 cups confectioners sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
5 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Gel food coloring

Combine all ingredients except food coloring in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth and stiff, 4-5 minutes. Stir in food coloring and pipe onto cake.