Pinterest Test: Pecan Crescent Cookies

Pinterest Test: Pecan Crescent Cookies

My Grandma is finally learning how to use Pinterest, so of course she has about a billion recipes that she wants to try and this is one of them. We decided that our first Pinterest Test was going to be a cookie, and this is how they turned out!

Recipe: 
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup softened butter
1 cup ground pecans
2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract

1. Mix butter until creamy then add the flour, 1/2 cup of  confectioners sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and almond extract.
2. Mix well then refrigerate covered for 30mins.
3. Preheat oven to 375°F
4. Shape into crescents and bake for 12-15 mins.
5. When cool enough to handle roll the warm cookies in the remaining confectioners sugar.

The dough was super easy to make - although it did have to sit and rest for 30mins after it was made. I also accidentally dumped like 3x the amount of almond extract in it than your supposed too - whoops! They came out super good though, and they even were probably the favorite cookie this year. Everyone grabbed a these first out of the 6 cookie types we made, so I'd definitely consider this one a hit!

See the pin here.

See the original cookie recipe.

Happy New Year!
Twitter & Bloglovin & Facebook & Instagram & Tumblr

Grandma's Recipe: M&M Cookies

Grandma's Recipe: M&M Cookies

This is the recipe for just basic M&M cookies that you can whip up super quick. The recipe I was given literally just says 'M&M cookies' the baking time and the ingredients - no instructions. So I'll give you some!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups M&M's

Preheat the oven to 350 F and combine the shortening, brown sugar, sugar, and vanilla extract into a mixing bowl. Beat until creamy. Add eggs and beat again.

In a measuring cup measure out your flour, baking soda, and salt. Add slowly to the mixture until it's all added and mix until 'dough-like' (do not over-mix it!). Measure out your M&M's and dump them into your dough. Using a baking spatula fold the m&m's into your dough. On a greased cookie sheet place your dough in whatever size cookies you wanna make (I usually make about teaspoon sized cookies). 

Pop 'em in the oven for about 10 minutes, you want them to be a yummy golden color.

Viola! You've got delicious M&M cookies!

(PS This is the original recipe I got sent...)

Happy Holidaze!

Twitter & Bloglovin & Facebook & Instagram & Tumblr

Recipe: Cinnamon Monkey Bread

Recipe: Cinnamon Monkey Bread

I absolutely love monkey bread and it is so super quick and easy to bake that I just had to share with you this recipe! It is literally like 5 quick and easy steps.

What you'll need: 1 fluted tube pan (12 cup), plastic storage food bag, and something to grease the pan with.

Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
2-3 teaspoons cinnamon

2 cans Pillsbury Grands Original biscuits (theses are the ones I prefer to use, but choose the ones you like!)
1 stick melted butter or margarine
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F and lightly grease the pan with a shortening or cooking spray (I use Pam) and in a large plastic bag mix the granulated sugar and cinnamon.
2. Start to melt your butter if you haven't already and then open biscuit tubes and cut each biscuit in quarters, toss in bag to thoroughly coat each biscuit in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Arrange pieces in the pan.
3. Mix the brown sugar and melted butter (this is why you should melt the butter while doing the above step) and pour over the biscuit pieces.
4. Bake for about 28-32 mins or until they are golden brown and no longer doughy in the center (use a toothpick or fork). Let it cool in the pan for a few mins and then turn it upside down onto your serving dish! Cut or pull-apart to serve while its still warm.

Stalk me?

Twitter & Bloglovin & Facebook & Instagram & Tumblr

Recipe: Crockpot Stuffed Peppers

Recipe: Crockpot Stuffed Peppers

I got a crockpot for christmas last year, and have been absolutely in love with it since I got it. I'm always on the hunt for new recipes that I can make in my crockpot, and this is the perfect recipe to make in it. On the plus side - it's super simple to make and I always have leftovers!

This is my grandma's recipe - so there are no real measurements. She always told me "go with what looks good" and well, it turns out delicious every time so she must've done something right! (Or this recipe is bomb proof)

Recipe:
Ingredients:
Ground Beef
Green peppers
Egg(s)
Garlic Salt
Salt
Pepper
Canned Tomato Soup
Instant Rice

Directions:
Depending on how many and how big your green peppers are is how much ground beef you should buy. I bought three medium sized peppers and needed a pound and a half of ground beef. I opted for lean ground beef as it creates less 'juice'.

1. Combine ground beef, egg, and instant rice in a bowl. Add as much garlic salt, pepper, and salt as you like.
2. Mix the above together using either your hands or a baking spatula. (for 1.5 lbs GB I needed to use 2 large eggs) Eggs act as the 'glue' that holds it all together, so add another egg if you need more 'glue'.
3. Core green peppers, leaving just the hollow shell. (no seeds!)
4. Take meat mixture and stuff the pepper until it reaches the top.
5. Put canned tomato soup on the bottom of the crock pot, place peppers inside, then top with another can of tomato soup. Then add one can of water.
6. Put the top on your crock pot and set it to low/10 hrs. *
7. Go about your daily business - and then come home to a delicious meal!

If the sauce is too watery for your taste, add a little cornstarch until you get the desired consistency/thickness. This can also be made on the stove, on a low simmer for 2 hours with the lid on a pot. I just find it easier to cook in the crockpot.

*Please note, I make this around 8am and don't get home until 6pm. This time can be shortened to as little as two hours on the stove.

Stalk me?

Twitter & Bloglovin & Facebook & Instagram & Tumblr

New Recipe: Classic Chicken Parmesan

New Recipe: Classic Chicken Parmesan

This is a new recipe I'm going to be trying sometime this month! My fiance has been asking for some chicken parm for quite some time, so when I ran across this recipe at my local Publix I figured I'd give it a try.

My grocery store has a ton of these recipes in little stands all over the store - and they are almost always delicious. I picked one up for Jalapeno turkey burgers and that recipe has practically become a staple in my house. We eat it at least once every two weeks! If you'd like to try it here is the link: Southwest-style Turkey Burgers (so good - I promise!)

Either way, I saw this recipe and just decided to pick it up right on the spot. Chris is excited to give it a go and I think it will be delicious! (ya know, if I can cook it correctly)

The recipe itself looks pretty easy - and I probably won't be making the honey cheese rolls. If I want to make some rolls I'll make those Red Lobster cheesy biscuits.

I found the link to this recipe online as well: Classic Chicken Parmesan & Honey Cheese Rolls.

As always - if I cook this I promise to take lots of pictures of me struggling in the kitchen and the end result. The last time I tried a recipe from Facebook it turned out really good. Maybe I'll make this New Recipe a monthly thing where I try and cook new stuff every month!

Stalk me? (via social media)

Twitter & Bloglovin & Facebook & Instagram & Tumblr

New Recipe: Easy Roast Chicken (Update)

New Recipe: Easy Roast Chicken (Update)

Hey guys! Remember that recipe I posted approx. 2 weeks ago? Ya know, This one.

See I'm glad you remembered! But I actually cooked it this past weekend, and I wanted to give you guys an update on the end results!

Yes, I did actually cook this.

The prep overall was pretty easy - unfreeze chicken boobies (because I didn't want to cook a whole chicken) - preheat oven - toss together the sauce - put in oven for 50mins. Done.

So this the the prepped result:

Lets note some changes I made to the recipe: For onesies I doubled the marinade. I also used bone in chicken breasts. This type of chicken is preferred in my house so it was a simple decision. I also used a lot of green onion. I prefer it, I cook with it a lot, and it gave the chicken more green color because my local grocery had no fresh parsley. (it was late by the time I got there) Otherwise, the recipe was literally the same.

-- approx 50 mins later --

Ta daaaaa! *ding*

It looked absolutely delicious - and trust me, it was. The chicken was cooked perfectly and was moist but so very tender at the same time. 
The skin and the marinade gave the chicken and delicious flavoring and it wasn't too much or too little. It was just the right amount for the monster sized chicken breasts that I had purchased. (literally this was the only one there and they was ridiculously big)

As a side dish I ended up making yellow rice. Originally I was going to make mac and cheese, but yellow rice was much simpler and I could leave it cook during the last 20mins while I was prepping the table and getting everything ready for dinner.

Things I would do differently:
Next time I would like to actually try the parsley on the chicken - I'll just have to go to the store earlier in the day before the parsley all gets bought! I also would like to try this with the chicken marinating overnight and then cooking it the next day. While the skin and everything touching the marinade tasted good - the chicken itself hadn't soaked up much flavor. So it still tasted like regular old white chicken meat.

Overall I would count this recipe a success. The boys seriously enjoyed it and so did I. I will definitely be making this again - probably in the near future!

Did you guys try this recipe? Or were you waiting to see how it came out for me?
Check out the recipe right here on the blog. Let me know if you try it out and how it goes!

Stalk me?

Twitter & Bloglovin & Facebook & Instagram & Tumblr

New Recipe: Easy Roast Chicken

Recipe: Easy Roast Chicken

I found this recipe on facebook while I was scrolling one day: Recipe

It looks absolutely delicious! I've really been enjoying cooking lately - and since I just got a new slow cooker I've been digging through the internet (mainly pinterest) for recipes to use with it. This isn't one of them but those will be next.

Photo By: AlwaysButter.com

As of recently I've really been looking into different recipes for chicken that I can bake vs. fry or stir fry. The boys and I have been eating so much of the same thing that I want to change things up a bit. Baked chicken isn't much of a change - but the flavors and the recipe are something different that definitely need to be tried.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 whole free-range or corn fed chicken, broken down into 8 pieces (aka a value pack of chicken at the grocery store - skin on and bone-in)

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp light brown sugar

2 tbsp red wing vinegar

3 tbsp olive oil

4 green onions, chopped

2 gloves of garlic, minced

Fresh parsley

Salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 (or 475 in my case because my oven is 50 degrees off)

2. In a large baking dish - combine marinade and toss with chicken. Season it well.

3. Place chicken pieces skin side up and roast for 30 minutes until it begins to brown. Then remove and baste with marinade. Flip pieces and bake a remaining 10mins or until chicken is cooked.

4. Garnish with lots of fresh parsley.

Picture updates when this is baked!

Stalk me?

Twitter & Bloglovin & Facebook & Instagram & Tumblr