Peanut Butter Apple Dip

I made this for a Young Women's activity tonight.  We had different kinds of apples with different kinds of dips and this was pretty tasty.  I tweaked it, just a bit, from allrecipes.com

Peanut Butter Apple Dip

Ingredients

• 1 cup peanut butter (heaping)
• ½ - ¾ cup brown sugar

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup milk (plus extra)

Directions

1. Mix peanut butter, brown sugar (start with less and add more to taste), cream cheese, and milk together in a bowl until smooth.  You may need to add more milk, a little at a time, if the consistency is too thick/dry.  Refrigerate until chilled.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2015 Allrecipes.com
Printed From Allrecipes.com 9/16/2015

Chopping Onions

I decided that I wasn't very adept at chopping onions, so I browsed Youtube.  I think this method is great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwRttSfnfcc

Fiesta Chicken

I made this for dinner last week and we really enjoyed it. It smelled so good cooking all day in the crockpot! It's super easy to make and you could keep most of what you need in your food storage, chicken in the freezer and cream cheese in the fridge (that's the one ingredient that might not be readily available...) You can find the Fiesta Ranch mix in with the dry salad dressings. Left overs work really well for lunch the next day too and that always makes me happy!

Fiesta Chicken 

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 packet Fiesta Ranch dip 

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained 

1 can Rotel tomatoes, not drained 

1 can corn, not drained 

8 oz reduced fat cream cheese 

Cooked rice

If desired:

Tortilla or Frito chips 

Avocado, chopped

Sour cream 

Place chicken in a crockpot, top with Fiesta Ranch dip, beans, Rotel and corn.  Cook on low 6-8 hours.  Soften cream cheese.  Pull chicken out and shred.  Add cream cheese to crock pot while you shred the chicken then return chicken to crockpot and mix well. Turn to high and allow cheese to melt - about 10-15.   Stir well. 

Serve over hot rice and top with broken chips, avocado and sour cream - or whatever toppings you like.  

Serves 6-8

Thai Beef Stir-Fry

This recipe is in the Betty Crocker "New Cookbook" but since there are several versions of that book, I figured I'd post the recipe here just in case we don't all have it.  Anyway, this is really good.  It got 4.5 stars from Jeff, 5 stars from Tiernan and 1 trillion stars from Mia!  That's a lot of stars!
The original recipe called for carrots and water chestnuts.  I had originally planned to make beef & broccoli (Chinese) but forgot to buy an ingredient for the sauce so I used the broccoli, along with a small zucchini from the garden, some fresh mushrooms and about 1/2 of a green onion.  I also doubled the sauce since I was using a lot more veggies.  So that's how I've written it up here but feel free to sub any veggies you want and maybe cut the sauce in half if you don't use many veggies.  You could probably substitute chicken or maybe shrimp for the beef.  :)

Thai Beef Stir-Fry

1 pound boneless beef sirloin steak
1 C. beef broth.
4 Tbsp. fish sauce
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 Tbsp. white vinegar
4 tsp packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided
4 tsp finely chopped or grated ginger or 1 tsp ground giner (I recommend the fresh ginger)
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 small heads broccoli, cut into bite size pieces
8 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 small zucchini, halved and sliced
1 green onion, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp grated lemon peel
4 C. hot cooked rice

Trim excess fat from beef.  Cut beef against the grain into thin strips.  (Beef is easier to cut if partially frozen, about 30 minutes.)
Mix broth, fish sauce, cornstarch, vinegar & brown sugar.
Heat wok or large skillet over high heat.  Add 1 Tbsp oil; rotate wok to coat side.  Add beef, ginger and garlic; stir-fry about 3 minutes or until beef is brown.  Remove beef from wok with slotted spoon.
Add 1 Tbsp oil to wok; rotate wok to coat side.  Add broccoli, zucchini, mushrooms and green onions.  Stir-fry about 5 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender.  Stir in beef and broth mixture.  Heat to boiling and stir in lemon peel.  Cook for about 1 minute.
Serve over hot rice.

Adapted from the Betty Crocker New Cookbook

Italian Heroes

These sandwiches are tangy and yummy.  Nice to mix things up.  I did not scoop out most of the soft bread inside the rolls - that's one of my favorite parts!  Also, I didn't refrigerate them - we just at them at room temperature.  I actually toasted some of the bread and we liked it both ways.  I didn't add the onion and I forgot the olives, although I wouldn't be opposed to trying the olives next time.

Italian Heroes

Rated: Submitted By: JCAFELD Photo By: JCAFELD Prep Time: 10 Minutes Ready In: 2 Hours 10 Minutes Servings: 4

"These flavorful sandwiches can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge for later. They are full of flavor and you can vary the ingredients to your taste."

Ingredients:

1 (14 ounce) can marinated artichoke hearts, drained 2 cloves garlic, peeled 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 4 (6 inch) French sandwich rolls 3/4 cup sliced roasted red peppers 2 cups arugula leaves or spring mix

8 ounces thinly sliced hard salami 8 ounces thinly sliced provolone cheese 4 pepperoncini peppers, drained and chopped (optional) 1/2 cup sliced black olives (optional) 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced (optional)

Directions:

1.	In a food processor or blender, combine the artichoke hearts, garlic and olive oil. Process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
2.	Slice the sandwich rolls in half lengthwise, and pull out most of the soft bread from the top and bottom. Spread the artichoke paste onto each side of each roll. Place layers of red peppers, arugula, salami, provolone cheese, pepperoncini, olives and onion into the rolls. Press sandwiches together, and wrap tightly in aluminum foil.
3.	Place sandwiches in the refrigerator, and place something heavy on top. It helps to place a plate on top, then place cans or any weighted containers on top. I used cottage cheese. Chill for up to 3 hours. Unwrap, cut in half and enjoy.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2015 Allrecipes.com

Printed from Allrecipes.com 8/25/2015

Bang Bang Chicken

I could have sworn that I posted this, but I couldn't find it here.  Sorry if it turns out to be a repeat.  It's worth it anyway...

Bang Bang Chicken

Amazingly crisp chicken bites drizzled with sweet chili mayo - so good, you'll want to double or triple the recipe!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil, or more, as needed
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs (do not use regular breadcrumbs)

For the sauce

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 teaspoons Frank's Hot Sauce

Instructions

• To make the sauce, whisk together mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, honey and Frank's Hot Sauce in a small bowl; set aside.
• Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
• In a large bowl, whisk together buttermilk, flour, cornstarch, egg, hot sauce, salt and pepper, to taste.
• Working one at a time, dip chicken into buttermilk mixture, then dredge in Panko, pressing to coat.
• Working in batches, add chicken to the skillet and cook until evenly golden and crispy, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
• Serve immediately, drizzled with sweet chili sauce.

DIY Mascara

Okay, so this is not a food recipe, but I figured I'd share anyway.  I tried making this last week when my mascara ran out and I was really happy with how it turned out.  It doesn't fake or melt off and it lasts all day.  As with most DIY make-up, the initial cost is more, but the ingredients last forever and it's quite cheap overall.
I ended up adding aloe vera gel to get a smooth enough consistency (by the way, this is different from the blue aloe vera you get in the sunscreen section).

DIY Natural Mascara Ingredients:

• 1/4 tsp activated charcoal (this was one capsule for me)
• 1/4 tsp bentonite clay, scant
• 1/8 tsp (about 4 drops) vegetable glycerine
• 1/4 tsp (plus more if needed) aloe vera gel
• 5 drops lavender essential oil

What to Do:

1. Mix all ingredients in a very small bowl until completely smooth.
2. Add more aloe vera gel if needed to get a smooth consistency.
3. Carefully scoop into the medicine dropper with a spatula and slowly squirt into the mascara container (or jar)
4. Alternately, you can add the ingredients directly to the mascara tube and mix with the mascara brush, though it takes a while of mixing to get the ingredients smooth inside the tube.
5. Use as you would regular mascara.