No Bake Chocolate Cookies - Version 2

I love no back chocolate cookies - yum!  You know the ones you make on the stove top then put in the fridge?  Yeah, we all like them.  The only problem is that they have peanut butter in them so Dad and Becky can't have them which is pretty sad really.  I was trying to decide what you might be able to use in place of peanut butter that would make them ok for everyone and it hit me - the thing that is the answer to most of life's important questions - Nutella!  Duh.  Why hadn't I thought of this before?  So, I whipped up a batch to see if it would really work.  It did.  And it might even be an improvement on the original recipe.  (Although I still love the original and will enjoy those any time!)

See, they even look the same:

So next time you make these you might consider swapping out Nutella for the peanut butter.  Mmmm, mmm!

Monique's Rolls

My sister-in-law, Monique, always brings these rolls to family functions and we all look forward to them.  Jeremy and I were talking about how good they sounded and it finally dawned on me that I could ask her for the recipe haha!  She normally rolls them into crescent shapes, but I just do round rolls with them.  I really like that this recipe uses some food storage items too!

Monique's Rolls

2 c. warm water

2/3 c. instant dry milk

1/2 c. butter or margarine, softened

1 Tbl. dry yeast

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. instant dry potatoes (pearls or flakes)

1 1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs

Flour - enough for a soft dough (about 6-7 c.)

Mix together in the order given.  Knead for about 8 minutes or mix in stand mixer for several minutes.  Let rise 1 time.  Punch down and turn out on a floured board.  Divide in 2 and roll into a 10 in. circle.  Brush with butter or margarine.  Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 16 triangles.  Starting at the wide end, roll up in crescent roll fashion.  Place on greased baking sheet with the point on the bottom.  Cover well with plastic wrap and freeze until ready to use.  Remove from the freezer about 3 hours before you wish to bake them.  Makes about 3 dozen.  Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Brush with butter after baking.

 If you are making the rolls and baking that same day, after you roll them out and place on cookie sheet cover with plastic wrap or towel and let rise to double the size then bake.

**To make into circle rolls, divide dough into two portions and roll into rectangle onto floured surface.  Cut each dough rectangle into 12 pieces with pizza cutter and roll each piece into a ball.  Place in two 9x13 pans and let rise.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

These pancakes are healthy and very tasty!  I used a hand blender to mix the wet ingredients so I didn't really have any sweet potato chunks.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• ¾ cups whole wheat flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/4 cups mashed or pureed cooked sweet potatoes
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
  

Preparation:

Sift dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Combine remaining ingredients; add to flour mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Drop by 1/4 cups onto hot greased griddle or skillet and fry, turning once, until browned on both sides.

Honey Lime London Broil

This was a yummy marinade for London Broil.  It probably would've been even better had I let it marinate for the full 24 hours.  But, tonight our London broil only got 30 minutes to marinate.  Hey - that's pretty good!  : )

Honey-Lime London Broil

2 Lbs London Broil
1/4 C. Honey
3 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1 Tbsp. Soy sauce
1 Tbsp. Olive oil
1/4 C. Lime juice
3 Cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. Onion powder

Measure the honey into a 2-cup measuring cup.  Microwave on high for 30 seconds.  Add the remaining ingredients and whisk to blend.  Place meat in a large resealable bag, pour the marinaded over the meat and seal the bag.  Refrigerate for 24 hours, turning occasionally.  Broil 7-10 minutes per side for medium rare, or to desired doneness.  Let rest 15 minutes before slicing.  Slice across the grain and serve. 

Recipe from a card I picked up at Sprouts

Cinnamon Popcorn

This stuff is addictive! It is certainly Cameron's new favorite. He had a hard time sharing with anyone.

Cinnamon Popcorn
4 qts. popped popcorn (about 1/2 c. kernels)
3/4 c. butter
2/3 c. sugar
1 T. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 300.
Place popcorn in a large bowl. Combine the butter, sugar and cinnamon in a small pot and melt together, stirring to blend. Pour over popcorn. Stir to coat, or put the lid on and shake it up.
Transfer to 2 greased 15x10x1-inch baking pans. Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Store in airtight container.

Altered slightly from allrecipes.com

Zucchini Cakes

Do you have any zucchini left? If you do, you should really try these. They are so good! They were made as a vegetarian alternative to crab cakes. You can either fry or bake these. I opted for baking because me and frying aren't the best of friends. And it takes way longer.
The original recipe recommends using fresh bread crumbs from a baguette (blended up into crumbs). I didn't have a baguette on hand so I used regular breadcrumbs from a container.
I also mixed up a little variation of tartar sauce - mayonnaise, dill pickle relish, garlic powder, dill, and lemon juice. Just start with a little and add things a little at a time until it tastes good to you. Or make up your own sauce.

Zucchini Cakes
3 c. coarsely grated zucchini
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. breadcrumbs
1 egg
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 c. finely diced bell pepper (using orange or red adds a nice color - like fake crab!)
1 1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1 T. mayonnaise or plain yogurt
1 tsp. Dijon or spicy brown mustard
small dash of cayenne pepper, or more to taste
2 T. oil
1 tsp. butter

Place grated zucchini in a colander; sprinkle with salt and let stand 30 minutes. Press with paper towels to remove as much liquid as possible. Zucchini should be fairly dry, and you should end up with about 2 cups. Place zucchini and remaining ingredients (except oil and butter) in a bowl. Mix well.

To prepare for frying: Form into 8 patties the size of crab cakes. Chill. Heat oil and butter in skillet. Add patties to skillet and cook on both sides until browned. Drain on paper towels.

To prepare for baking: Form the mixture into small (1-inch) patties and put on a greased baking sheet. (I think it was easier to form them on the sheet rather than in my hand). Chill. Melt butter and mix it with the oil. Brush the tops of the patties and bake at 450 until lightly browned.
(I accidentally baked them at 400 for around 15 minutes, so it should take less time than that.)

Serve with your sauce.

Adapted slightly from Relish Magazine

Raspberry-Lime Dip

This dip is super delish! And bonus! It's healthy and not fattening. I wish I had discovered it earlier in the summer since the days of delicious fruit are numbered now. We ate this with bananas, raspberries, strawberries and grapes.

Raspberry-Lime Dip

1 C fresh or frozen unsweetened raspberries, thawed and drained
1 1/4 C fat-free vanilla Greek yogurt
1/3 C packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp lime juice
1/2 tsp grated lime peel
Assorted fresh fruit

Place raspberries in a food processor or blender; cover and process until smooth. In a large bowl, whisk yogurt, brown sugar, lime juice, lime peel and raspberry puree until well blended.  Chill until serving.

Serve with fruit.

Restaurant Style Salsa

This is just for Carrie! Salsa that doesn't have big chunks, but is blended well so that you can just get a little flavor on your chip instead of all those chunks. :) But, don't worry, there's still plenty of substance if you use your chip to scoop some up too. 
The secret to the flavor in this recipe is a French (ha ha!) spice blend - Fines Herbes. I know it's available in the Spice Islands brand, but I'm not sure which other brands.

Restaurant Style Salsa
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 small can stewed tomatoes
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. Fines Herbes
1/4 tsp. oregano flakes
1 tsp. ground cumin OR fresh cilantro (to taste)
salt, optional

Combine all together in a bowl. If you're using cilantro, you don't have to chop it first and you can add the stems too. Blend to desired consistency. An immersion blender works great for this recipe.

Cookie Dough Frosting

Huh? It's true - this frosting really tastes like chocolate chip cookie dough. I used it on a dense yellow cake with chocolate chips in it, but I think the cake would be better without the chocolate chips, that way they aren't competing with the frosting.
Be warned - the frosting is extremely sweet so I don't think you need tons of it. But I'm sure there are those who would disagree!

Cookie Dough Frosting
1 cup Butter, Softened
¾ cups Brown Sugar
¼ teaspoons Kosher Salt (or regular)
4 cups Powdered Sugar
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
up to 2 Tablespoons Evaporated Milk (could probably do whole milk)
1 cup Mini Chocolate Chips

Beat butter, brown sugar and salt for about 3 minutes until fully combined. Beat in powdered sugar, vanilla and 1 T. milk. Continue to beat  until fluffy, adding more milk if needed. Add chocolate chips.

Recipe slightly modified from Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen Blog

Pesto Tortellini Soup

This is a yummy and super quick soup recipe.  I used a broccoli, cauliflower and carrot mix for my veggies.  I also didn't measure my pesto... I had some frozen in ice cube tray portions and I used two cubes worth of pesto.

Pesto Tortellini Soup

1/2 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp butter
5 C chicken broth
1 (9 oz) pkg cheese tortellini
2 C frozen mixed veggies
1/4 C prepared pesto

In stockpot, melt butter over medium heat and saute onion until soft.  Add garlic and saute until fragrant.  Add chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Add tortellini and boil until almost done.  Add vegetables and pesto and simmer until heated through.  Garnish with Parmesan cheese.

Easier Bavarian Cream

I found an easier Bavarian Cream recipe that is really tasty.  This worked well for a cake filling and it would also be tasty with fresh fruit or in eclairs or cream puffs.  Or in crepes. : )

Easy Bavarian Cream

8 oz cream cheese, softened

2 (3.5 oz) packages instant pudding mix

3/4 cup milk

12 oz Cool Whip, thawed

 

Mix together cream cheese and dry pudding mix on medium speed.

With the mixer running at medium speed, slowly add the milk.  Continue to beat at medium speed for a minute or two, or until lumps have smoothed out.

Fold in (or mix on low) the Cool Whip.

Enjoy!

 

Recipe from cakecentral.com

Raspberry Sauce

I had some leftover Bavarian cream from a cake that I made, so I made crepes for breakfast.  And I decided the perfect accompaniment would be raspberry sauce so I used the one from my old crepes cookbook.  It was rather tasty!  We also diced up some fresh peaches to go in the crepes....a great combo, peach and raspberry.  : )

Raspberry Sauce

1 10-oz. package frozen raspberries, thawed
Cranberry juice
1/3 C. sugar
4 tsp. cornstarch
dash salt
2 Tbsp. butter
2 tsp. lemon juice

Drain berries; reserve syrup.*  Add cranberry juice to syrup to make 1 1/2 cups.  Add the syrup-juice mixture, sugar and salt to pan.  Bring to a simmer.  Mix cornstarch with about 2 tablespoons of cranberry juice until smooth.  Stir into sauce and bring back to a simmer; allow sauce to simmer until it has thickened.  Add butter and lemon juice and stir until butter is melted.  Serve immediately or chill and serve cold.  You can also strain out the seeds if you prefer. 
*I didn't have any syrup in my frozen raspberries, so I only used cranberry juice, and I probably used about 3/4 to 1 cup of juice. 

Round Steak Sauerbraten

This is pretty tasty.  I just used canned round steak and it worked really well.

Round Steak Sauerbraten

1 1/2 cups thin cut round steak, cooked and cubed or sliced into strips
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 envelopes dry brown gravy mix
4 C water
2 Tbsp onion powder
1/4 C brown sugar
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 bay leaves
1 tsp salt
ground black pepper to taste

Mix water and gravy mix in a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Add remaining ingredients and reduce heat to low.  Allow to simmer for 1 hour.  Remove bay leaves before serving.

Serve over egg noodles or ziti noodles.

Creamy Calamari Fettuccine

This is actually my own creation!  I didn't have anything planned for dinner, and we had some calamari in the freezer, which always sounds good.  : )  So I made this up as I went along.  You can use any color bell peppers that you like, or add other veggies if you want.

Creamy Calamari Fettuccine

4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 pound Calamari, sliced into 1/2 -inch thick rings
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 orange bell pepper, chopped
1 small carrot, thickly sliced
1 14-oz. can chicken broth
1 12-oz. can evaporated milk
1/4 C. flour
2 tsp. dried parsley (or more, to taste)
Tabasco sauce to taste
Lemon juice, to taste
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 pound fettuccine, cooked and drained.
Parmesan cheese, optional

Drizzle the olive oil into a large sauce pan or skillet.  Add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently until the garlic is fragrant.  Add the carrot and cook for another minute.  Add the bell peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender.  Pour the chicken broth into the pan and bring to a simmer.  Add the sliced calamari. 
In a small bowl, whisk some of the evaporated milk with the flour until smooth.  Add the milk-flour mixture to the pan and stir, and then add the remaining milk and the parsley.  Cook until the calamari is opaque and the sauce is thickened.  Add the Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper and the lemon juice, to taste. 
Serve immediately over cooked fettuccine noodles.  Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.