Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

So easy.  So cheap.  So delicious.  Not too fatty?  WHAT?!  Let me share :-)

1 box Spice Cake Mix
1 can Pumpkin
However many milk chocolate chips you want.

Mix, cook.  That's IT!  I do 350 degrees for about 18 - 20 minutes.

Also, if you're feeling Harry Potter-y, bake them in a cup cake dish and top them with cream cheese frosting for "Pumpkin Pasties!"  DELICIOUS!  Weight Watchers recommended.  Try it.  I promise you'll love it!

The Perfect Late-Night Snack...

Pop one bag of this...

                                       



And drink some of this...

                                                        



Almost NO calories, absolutely delicious, and give you energy without the caffeine headache!

Chocolate - Banana... Supreme!

So, here's the story.  We had family come up for a big barbecue, and I was in charge of dessert.  So, I decided to make pie!  One Banana Cream Pie, which I already provided the recipe for, and then I thought I'd try a Chocolate Silk Pie!  The Banana Cream turned out great, as always.  Perfectly delicious.  And, well, let me give you the recipe I used for the Chocolate Silk...  Use with caution!

 Chocolate Silk Pie


Chocolate Cookie Crust
12 oz can Evaporated Milk
2 egg yolks
12 oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips
Whipped Cream

Whisk together evaporated milk and egg yolks in medium saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is very hot and thickens slightly; do not boil. Remove from heat; stir in morsels until completely melted and mixture is smooth.

Pour into crust; refrigerate 3 hours or until firm. Top with whipped cream before serving.



So, anyway, it didn't ever thicken as I was stirring it.  But I melted the chocolate chips in it, poured it in the crust, and refrigerated it.  About 2 1/2 hours later I took it out.  To me, it looked like the edges were starting to firm up a bit, but the rest was totally liquid!  But it was time to eat pie.  So I tried just mixing a bunch of whipped cream in it to try and firm it up a bit...  But it was still totally runny.  So, we turned it into chocolate soup!

That white stuff in the bowl is additional whipped cream ;-)  Haha.  I honestly think that if we had just let it sit in the fridge a few hours longer it would have been great.  So, if you wanna try it please do!  And leave comments letting me know how it turned out!  But let me tell you something.  If ever there was a delicious chocolate soup, it was that one!  And then we had the brilliant idea of just using it as a topping for the banana cream pie!

I didn't get the picture til it was already partially eaten.  But, you could totally make it look all elegant and fancy.  And it was SO delicious!  So we all decided that we just created a new recipe!  Chocolate Banana Supreme!  (Instead of cream...  get it?  Sorta?).  Many great things are invented by accident, right?  Anyway, so try to make the chocolate pie, if you dare.  Or, you now have a great recipe for Chocolate Pie Topping!  Enjoy!!! :-)

            

The Perfect Snack... Low Fat!

Dip This...

                                                     

In This.....

                                                           

And love every bite!

Zucchini Bread :-)

So, this year I grew my very first garden!  And the very first thing I got to harvest from it was zucchini!!!!  And they are plentiful and delicious!!!!  So, I made bread :)  And now I will share my recipe with you!

Zucchini Bread


3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini



Mix dry ingredients first, then wet ingredients.  (I made the mistake of mixing them all together...  it took FOREVER to get it all mixed thoroughly!!).  Cook in bread pans at 325 degrees for about an hour.  It should make 2 decent sized loafs.  You can test when it's done by putting a toothpick in the center.  If it comes out with goo, the bread's not done!




recipe courtesy of allrecipes.com, but I left out the nuts!


ENJOY!

Dutch Oven

We went camping this weekend, and it was so much fun!!!  Last night, I cooked up a DELICIOUS dutch oven dinner!  So good!  And super simple.  For you cooking rookies out there, let me tell you how to make the best and easiest dutch oven dinner ever.

Put your choice of meat, vegetables, and seasonings in a dutch oven with some oil and water.  Cook it with coals (on top and bottom of the dutch oven), or just on a camp stove.  Wait til it's cooked all the way through.

That's all :)  Haha, easy, right?!  Let me tell you what I used!


The BEST Dutch Oven dinner ever

Red potatoes, sliced into thirds
Baby carrots
Sliced (not diced) onion
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and Pepper
Garlic Salt
Italian Seasoning
Vegetable Oil and a little bit of Water

Put it all in there, season it to taste, and cook it til it's tender!  It was wonderful!  Try it and enjoy it!

Banana Cream Pie

Banana Cream Pie has always been my favorite.  It is so wonderful.  So I was looking through a cook book for quick n' easy recipes and stumbled upon this one, and jumped for joy!  Take a look:

I made that!  :-)  Woot!  It seriously took like, ten minutes, too.  So easy!  Let me share with you!


BANANA CREAM PIE

1 c. milk
3.4 oz pkg instant vanilla pudding mix
1/2 t. vanilla extract
8 oz container whipped topping
9 inch pie crust
4 bananas, sliced

Combine milk and pudding mix in a large bowl, mix slowly for about 2 minutes so the pudding sets a bit.  Blend in vanilla.  Add 3 cups whipped topping.  Spread one cup of pudding mixture in pie crust; layer with sliced bananas.  Repeat layering with another cup of pudding and remaining bananas, ending with remaining pudding.  Top with remaining whipped topping (I actually just used the spray kind for the top part so I could make it decorative!)  Chill before serving.

Everybody, enjoy!!

Home Made Bread part 2

So I thought I posted that bread post like 4 months ago but I just found it sitting in my drafts!  Dangit! 

What reminded me of it is.....  last night I made a successful homemade bread!!!!!!  My first ever!!!

It is so beautiful.  Here is the recipe:

4 cups warm water
2 T yeast
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 T salt
9 cups flower.

Recipe is thanks to Martha Taylor.  It worked it finally worked!

And, let's be honest.  I am blaming that tiny little excuse for an oven at Aggie Village for the messups.  It cooked SO much better (everything cooks so much better) in my new full size oven!  Woot!  Here's to delicious bread!!!! :-)

Home-Made Bread

Wow it has been a while since I've posted!  Life has been busy and I have to confess, I don't think I've lived up to my goal of two good meals per week.  But I've been close I really have!  So I'm not giving up!!!

Let me tell you about my recent experience with home-made bread.  If anyone tells you bread is easy to make, they are lying!  It is so hard!  I've done it twice.  And both times have been somewhat disastrous.  However, I think I can safely say I know what I did wrong, so the next time I attempt to make bread, it's goin to be AWESOME!

First time I made it, well, look at the picture.

Yeah, I didn't let it rise even close to enough.  So it was all lumpy and thick and gross and took FOREVER to bake all the way through.  It tasted okay, but it dried out really fast and just was not fabulous.  Plus look at those lumps!!


So the second time, I let it rise longer.  And it grew huge!  And I basted some butter over the top of them to make the tops look smoother.  That helped.  However, I was in a hurry...  which is never good when you're cooking.  So I took the bread out of the oven when I thought it was done, and set it on the stove to cool.  I even cut off a corner piece to taste it, thought it was good, so I headed out the door.

When I got home a couple of hours later, the entire middle had caved in and it was total dough inside!  Oiiiiiii.  I was so frustrated.  So I just put it back in the oven!  Hahahaha I know that's a stupid move but at least it would make it not doughy anymore.  Anyway, you can guess how it turned out.  Crust like a crouton, hard, deformed, but kinda squishy on the inside.  It was kind of gross.  I still ate it :)

But I know what to do now!  Rise rise rise.  Rise a lot.  Put it in the pan.  Baste it with butter on the top and smooth it so it doesn't look lumpy and gross when it comes out.  Cook it lower heat for longer time.  Make sure it's done before you let it cool.


Next time I make bread, it's gonna be awesome! :-)

How to make the BEST Pasta Salad you've ever had!

Okay, here goes!  First, you get the crazy curly pasta.  I can't remember what it's called, but here's what it looks like:

Yup, that one.  You can get it at the grocery store, in a bag.

Anyway, then you boil it till it's tender and squishy, salt it and stir it while you boil it, then drain it when it's ready.  Then put it in the fridge until it's cool.

Chop up some Cheddar Cheese into little squares.  Chop some Broccoli.  Chop some Carrots.  Get some cherry or grape tomatoes.  Then add these ingredients to the noodles, mix it all up, and put a whole bunch of Light and Zesty Italian Dressing on it!  It is to DIE for!  Seriously.  The first time my mom made it, I was in Heaven.  And I've loved it ever since.  And it's my favorite thing to make!  It's so easy and, seriously guys, SO delicious :)  Yum!

Beef, Pork, Chicken, Mmmm!

Name that line!  Anyone?  Anyone?  Let me help you: Disney's.... Mulan!  :-)

So here's a poll:  which of those three meats is YOUR favorite?

I grew up on Pork Roast.  We had it every Sunday.  And then we ate chicken with just about everything else.  Then of course there was turkey and ham on the holidays, and the occasional barbecue of hot dogs and hamburgers.

But I realized the other day that none of those things is beef!  Weird!  Of course I have had beef before, but it was not something I grew up with much at all.  Anyway, I went to Lee's the other day to buy a pork roast, and all of their Pork Roasts were ginormous, and I was only cooking for two people.  So I looked over and saw Beef roasts!  I had never had a beef roast before, but decided to try it.

I am converted.  Totally, and fully converted.  Beef roast.  Why did I have such a shortage of beef in my childhood?!  I love it love it love it!  Brock pointed out that it makes sense that I love the beef roast more- at restaurants I always order the steak.  And I love ground beef so much in tacos and soup.  And Roast Beef is hands down my favorite lunch meat on a sandwich.  And hamburgers are just delicious.  Plus, beef is totally healthier than pork.

So there's my story of my conversion to Beef over Pork.  It is so delicious!  And now let me share with you the easiest way to cook a delicious roast!


Crock pot!!

Add some oil and some water, and put the roast in it.

Add a bunch of salt and pepper, and season the whole thing (I like Italian Seasoning the best).

Cook on low for longer time; that helps it cook more evenly.

So delicious!  You can also add red potatoes and carrots in the crock pot with it if you want to make a full meal out of it.  It is so easy and healthy and not very expensive and super tasty!  Bueno!

Don't Forget the Baking Soda!

High Fiber Chocolate Cupcakes.  They're actually really good if you do it right!

I was all excited to make these with Heather and Brock last night.  We pureed the black beans (use that instead of butter so it makes it way healthier), added all the ingredients, and put them in the oven.  Haha, they didn't rise one bit and the texture was awful!  They tasted okay but they were kind of hard and, just not how cupcakes should feel.  So we were all eating them (Brock and Heath ate them reassuringly to be nice hahaha) and then Brock was like, "Did you put Baking Soda in these?  Because that's what makes them rise and gives them the good texture but it doesn't affect the taste."

Haha, Heather and I looked at him all weird because, um, he's the guy!  He shouldn't be the one knowing these things, we should!  So I checked the recipe and sure enough, I had forgotten the Baking Soda!  Oi.  No wonder they were so gross.  Hahaha, word to the wise.  The baking soda is more important than you think!

Chicken Burritos!

I was sitting in my kitchen pondering on what I could possibly make for dinner because I had not planned ahead and didn't want to drive to the grocery store.  So I decided to concoct my own recipe....  Chicken Burritos!

Boil chicken and then dice it.

Make Rice (if you want details on how to do it, see my previous blogpost entitled "How to Make the Perfect Rice") and make sure you include minced onions and salt.
Drain and heat up some black beans.
Mix some canned green peppers in with your cooked rice.
Heat up some Tortillas and put the above ingredients inside them.
Top with shredded cheese and heat up til the cheese melts.

It turned out delicious!  If I did it again, I would have added some lettuce and tomatoes, and put some cheese inside as well as on top.  Here's to inventing new recipes!  Hooray!

Chicken Enchiladas!

Last night's project.  Brock told me this is his very favorite thing that I make, so I feel comfortable bragging a little in saying I ROCK at making Chicken Enchiladas!!!

They are also super easy and they make delicious leftovers!  You've gotta try this recipe!


1 dozen Medium Flour Tortillas
2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup
1 pt Sour Cream

Mixture #1:
1 chicken (or about 5-6 breasts) boiled and diced
1 small can green chilies
3-4 cups shredded colby jack cheese (depending on how cheesy you want it!)

Divide Mixture #1 evenly into tortilla shells and roll up next to each other in a greased 9 x 13 pan.  Mix Sour Cream and Cream of Chicken and spread generously over the top of the tortillas.  Top with more cheese!  Cook 350° 30-40 minutes.  Ready to serve!

Secret time-saving tip:
Canned white chicken breast instead of boiling chicken is WAY faster and easier!  So if you're in a hurry, that's the way to go!

Enjoy!

Take n' Bake

Let me give you some pointers on Papa Murphy's Take n' Bake Pizza so that you don't end up making the same mistake I did.

First of all, if you live in a tiny apartment with a tiny kitchen and a tiny oven, don't try and cook things that don't fit in it.

We bought a delicious Heart-Shaped pizza to enjoy on Valentine's Day and were so excited!  However, it wouldn't quite fit in the oven...  but it was so close!  So I figured I could bend the sides up a bit and they'd just be touching the edges of the oven and be fine.  Bad. Idea.

Five minutes later, we were watching a movie on the couch and started to smell a terrible smell.  I jumped up and our oven was smoking!!!  My first thought was the fire extinguisher as Brock and I both looked at it at the same time.  I rushed to the oven, turned it off, and pulled out the pizza.  Thank goodness- no fire.  Just a lot of smoke and stinky-ness and burnt edges of the pizza.  And then the smoke alarm went off.  So we freaked out again and opened the doors and turned on the fans and were frantically airing out the room.  Then it turned off, and we both burst into laughter.  That's a Valentine's memory we won't soon forget!  It was so funny!

So we transferred the pizza to a cooking sheet.  Brilliant, right?  Haha and cut off the burnt edges, and the pizza was saved :)  And very delicious!  But take this as a word to the wise.  Don't let what you're cooking touch the edges of your tiny oven....  Especially if it's flammable like the paper pizza holder.  :)

How to make the Perfect Rice

Get out the frying pan and put it on the stove.

Chop some onions and sautee them in Corn Oil.

Add the rice and stir it around a bit, letting it fry until it's a light golden color.

Pour in warm water (careful- the steam will attack you!).  You don't need to measure it, just add it.

Cover it completely with a lid or a plastic grocery bag :)

When all the water is gone, test the rice.  If it is too crunchy, add more water and cover it again.

When the rice is the perfect texture (soft and chewy but not too gooey) add a bunch of salt.

Voila!  The perfect rice!

And if you want a real Nicaraguan meal, fry some red beans and add them to the rice.  Mix together...  and you have Gallo Pinto!  The famous meal that all Nicaraguans eat all day every day.  It is SO delicious.  Try it with some sour cream and some chips.  Mmmmm good!

Or, you can make ham fried rice!  Like I did last night!  Scramble some eggs, cut up some ham, add some peas, mix it all together with a bunch of Soy Sauce.  So easy and SO delicious.

Peanut Butter.

I love Peanut Butter so much.  A peanut butter sandwich can just make everything better!  And my favorite jam to go with it is currently Raspberry (Smucker's, of course).  It is so delicious!  However, I also love honey with my peanut butter sandwich.  But if I don't have honey or jam, I'll just eat it plain- peanut butter and bread.  Still delicious.

But sandwiches are not the only thing you can put peanut butter on!  If you want to love peanut butter like I do, try these:

On a Banana
On Apples
With Chocolate (melt it, mix it, freeze it)
On Celery
Mixed with honey for a fruit dip
On crackers (honestly, any kind of crackers!)
With oreos
With vanilla ice cream- blend it for a smoothie!
Have you heard of MUDDIE BUDDIES?
On waffles with maple syrup
On toast
With cheesecake
With Cheerios
Just plain with a spoon!

The possibilities are endless because it is just THAT good!  What is YOUR favorite way to eat peanut butter?

Yogurt.

I think that the "Fat Free" or "Sugar Free" or "Light" yogurt and pudding desserts are the most brilliant food invention ever.  Here's why:

1. Because they are simply delicious.
2. They totally satisfy my dessert cravings because they taste exactly like the desserts!
3. They are only 60 or 100 calories for the whole thing!
4. They're only 50 cents each.
5. You can try a ton of different flavors and so far they've all been delicious!

My favorite: Banana Cream Pie Yogurt.  My Second Favorite: Boston Cream Pie Pudding.

Heaven in a little low calorie cup.  :)

Super Bowl!

Baby Back Ribs, Pork Roast, Chips, Spinach Dip, Sour Patch Kids, Lemon Heads, Dove Chocolate, Rolls, Oreos, Pink Lemonade, Diet Mountain Dew, Friends, Family, Packers win = Best. Superbowl. Sunday. Ever.

Thank you, Katie Taylor, Heather Taylor, Cosy Folsom, Charlie Folsom, Millie Nigh, and Brock S. Taylor :)

I love you all!  Go Packers!!!

Navajo Tacos

I was sitting at home deciding what to make for dinner, and decided to pull out the cook book Martha (my mom-in-law) gave me for Christmas.  In it, I found Grandma's delicious recipe for scones!!!  I had never made them before, but I do remember their delicious taste.  So I decided I would make them, and then make Navajo Tacos!

I will give you the recipe but I have to warn you.  When you are frying the scones, do NOT use a spatula.  Hello!  If you give a girl a spatula while she is frying made-from-scratch scones...... she will splatter oil ALL over herself and her kitchen.  Tongs, people.  Use tongs.  :)

For the scones:

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. shortening (I used margarine)

1 C. milk

3 C. flour

1 Tbsp. yeast

1/4 C. warm water

Dissolve yeast in water.  Add shortening & salt.  Stir.  Add milk and sift in flour.  Mix well.  Let stand 15 minutes.  Knead & Roll 1/2" thick.  Cut and fry in oil.

I put chili, sour cream, and cheese on them.  They're also delicious with lettuce and tomatoes, but I didn't have any of that on hand and it was too cold to go to the store :)  So I just settled for what I had at home.

 

Brilliantly Delicious.

Fruit Juice

So, I went to Nicaragua over the holidays (for those of you who don't know- that's in Central America, not Africa hahaha). It was so amazing and I could write a novel about all the amazing experiences I had there.  But for this post, I just have to tell you- their fruit drinks are to die for!  I had probably 3 a day.  Fresh-squeezed, sugar-sweetened, fruit juice.  It was sooooo good!  I also got to drink out of a real coconut!  The hotel man chopped it down from the tree and chopped it open with a machete.  It was amazing!  And the coconut juice was also delicious :)

On our last day there, I decided this could not be the last time I experienced those beautiful delicious drinks.  But our store bought juices here just do not do them justice.  I had to find a way to do it myself.  So the first thing I bought when we got back home to Logan was....  can you guess?  A Juicer!!!

And I bought oranges.  And I juiced them in the juicer.  And I made orange juice!  And it was delicious!!!  It was not quite as good as the Nicaraguan drinks, but don't worry.  I'll keep practicing, and learn, and master the art of the perfect fruit drink.  Hooray!

This is a fork. This is a spoon.

Have you ever played that game? You sit in a circle, and pass the fork one way and the spoon another way. It goes: "This is a fork." "A what?" "A fork." Then to the next person: "This is a fork." "A what?" "A what? "A what?" "A fork." "A fork." "A fork." etc. The spoon goes the other direction and they keep passing it person to person. It's pretty funny and with lots of people it can get all confusing :)

Anyway, my point of this post is not for that game (even though I love that fabulous game). It is because sometimes, like you can be in that game, I am backwards with forks and spoons. Ask my old roommates, for example. They will tell you that I like to eat my ice cream with a fork. Yup. A fork. And my peanut butter. And occasionally my chocolate pudding (but that doesn't work as well because it's hard to scoop it out of the bottom).

So the other day, I wanted to eat my leftover Cafe Rio. But all the forks were dirty. So I pulled out a spoon. Yup. A spoon. And I ate my burrito with a spoon. And it was delicious! So there's two conclusions we can come to here: I could be crazy and backwards and seriously confused, or I could just really love my food so much that it doesn't matter what utensil I use as long as it gets the job done. Hahaha, I prefer the second option, but take your pick! Give me a fork, and I'll use it like a spoon :)

In the Beginning.

So if any of you knew me at all in my Teenage years, you know that I have a lot of fun in the kitchen. I love to cook, experiment, come up with new recipes, and most of all make lots of messes. Until I fulfilled it in my first year of marriage, I had been working very hard towards my goal to be able to make cookies without spilling all over the floor... Needless to say, it was not my parents' favorite thing when I decided to cook!

But I still did anyway! And I was not good at it at all. Brock will testify to that. He can tell you about my cooking when we first got married :) It was pretty funny. But I have gotten soooooooo much better since then. In fact, I would call myself a fantastic cook! It is one of my joys in life.

As my 2011 New Years Resolution, I set a goal to cook at least 2 good meals every week. Then it would pretty much add up to 4 good meals because there's only two of us at home so we'd have plenty of leftovers!

And I am proud to say that it is now February 1st, and I have kept my resolution so far! Yay! Some of the highlights I've made: Chipotle BBQ Chicken Wings, Ham Fried Rice, Crock Pot Lasagna, White Chicken Chili, and Honey BBQ Ribs. All were brilliant successes and so delicious!

So as I was going about this resolution, I realized that pretty much all of my Facebook Status Posts were about food! First I thought, "How incredibly embarrassing!" But then, I decided it was awesome. And I want to make a blog about food. Oh, and by the way, my name's Aubrey. And here is my blog... about what happens when you give a girl a spatula. ;) Enjoy!