Kettle Corn Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Roasted pumpkin seeds are always a fun tradition in October. Every year I always want to just throw everything away after we finish carving the pumpkins, but I just can't bring myself to do it! So this year we tried out a new recipe for the seeds. I am one who prefers sweet and salty over savory, so this recipe was a hit for me! And so far everyone has really loved these seeds, so much so, that certain family members are contemplating buying another pumpkin just for the seeds!

Ingredients:

2 cups pumpkin seeds

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet well with cooking spray. (If you're like me and hate the clean up, then I suggest putting down some foil and then spraying that. Clean up was a snap!)

2. Rinse your pumpkin seeds. In a bowl, combine seeds, oil, sugar and salt. Mix until seeds are well coated.

3. Spread the seeds on your lined and sprayed pan.

4. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Stir about every 10 minutes. They are done when they get a nice golden color.

5. When they are done cooking, take them out of the oven and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes. This is really just so you can touch them with your fingers and not give yourself some nice looking burns!

6. When cooled enough to the touch, spread the seeds on a piece of wax paper. They will be kind of stuck together, so just separate the seeds.

7. Sprinkle additional salt on the seeds. Let cool completely and enjoy!

This is a very easy recipe. And I found that the extra salt at the end really added a lot to the flavor of the seeds. We also use kosher salt in our cooking. We really like the flavor and texture, but I am sure that regular table salt would work just fine! We hope you enjoy them as much as we have!

Texas Trash Warm Bean Dip

This delicious dip quickly became one of our favorite Mexican appetizers!  Interestingly enough, it just happened to pop up on one of the facebook recipe pages Aaron follows, so we decided to try it.  It is DELISH!  If you like it spicy, feel free to add a can of chopped green chiles to the mixture, or substitute spicy jalapeno refried beans for the regular.  :-)

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
2 cans (16 ounces each) refried beans
1 packet (1/4 cup) taco seasoning
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix cream cheese and sour cream together in a large bowl.  Stir in refried beans until combined.  Stir in taco seasoning.

Spray a 9x13 baking dish wih nonstick cooking spray, and spread mixture evenly in pan.  Sprinkle both cheeses over the top.  Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until cheese is melted and slightly browned around edges.  Serve with tortilla chips.   

Million Dollar Spaghetti

Love this recipe! So delicious and easy! Try it for yourself you won't be disappointed!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. of Ground Beef
• 1 can of Spaghetti Sauce
• 8 oz of Cream Cheese
• 1/4 cup of Sour Cream
• 1/2 lb. of Cottage Cheese
• Whole Stick of Butter
• 8 oz. of Noodles
• Bag of Sharp Chedder Cheese (I don't always have this on hand so I just use what I have, which is normal cheese that my kids like to eat!)

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Boil your noodles. Once they are cooked, drain them and set aside. While the noodles are boiling, Mix up the cream cheese, sour cream and cottage cheese with a blender (or in your mixer). Make sure that it is mixed really well.
2. Cook your meat. Once it is browned, drain it. Pour spaghetti sauce over the meat.
3. Take a few slices of butter and put that in the bottom of your casserole pan.
4. Layer HALF of your noodles into the pan. Next, Spread the cheese mixture over the noodles. Then put the other half of your noodles on top and put a few more slices of butter on the noodles.
5. Now pour the red sauce on top and spread that out. Place it in your oven and cook for 30 minutes.
6. After 30 minutes, take out the spaghetti and top it with cheese. Then put it back into the oven for another 15 minutes.
7. Enjoy!!

source: http://ashleykaitlin.blogspot.com

Andrea's Chocolate Chip Muffins

While visiting Southern California during spring break, we visited overnight with Aaron's Sister Andrea.  She is an AMAZING baker.  She always has something delicious for us to try, and these muffins are no exception.  She made them for a take-a-long snack for us when we went to Disneyland, and our girls loved them!

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup milk
1 cup chocolate chips

Mix together brown sugar, butter and egg until fluffy.  Add flour, salt, baking soda, and milk.  mix just until combined (don't overmix).  Stir in chocolate chips.  Spoon into paper lined cupcake pans and sprinkle each muffin with additional chocolate chips, if desired.  Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. 

Yield:  12-18 muffins, depending on size. 

Classic Waffles

Aaron and I have been really into making things from scratch around here lately. So we have been making waffles from scratch. I love them a lot. It took the kids a couple tries to really get used to them after we switched from that boxed stuff, but now they love it too!

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons White sugar
2 eggs - separated
2 cups milk
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. preheat waffle iron to desired temperature.

2. In a bowl, separate the eggs. In the bowl with the yolks add all your ingredients and mix well. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Add to the batter and fold in.

3. Ladle the batter into your waffle iron. Cook the waffles until golden and crisp. Serve immediately.



source: www.allrecipes.com

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

We love Chinese food at our house, and this is an excellent way to satisfy our craving right in our own kitchen, without pricey takout!  We usually serve this with Heather's Fried Rice, and egg rolls or potstickers from Costco.  It takes a bit of extra time and planning ahead to prepare, but it is sure worth every bite!

Chicken:
3-4 skinless, boneless, chicken breasts
salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil

Sweet and Sour Sauce:
3/4 cup sugar
4 Tbsp. ketchup
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp garlic salt

Preaheat oven to 325.  Rinse chicken breasts in water and cut into bite-sized cubes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Dip chicken into the cornstarch to coat and then dip in eggs.  Heat the 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet and cook chicken until browned but not cooked through.  Place browned chicken in a greased 9x13 baking dish.  Whisk sauce ingredients together in a bowl and pour evenly over the chicken.  Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, gently stirring chicken every 15 minutes.

Mile High Biscuits

This morning we wanted to make Biscuits and Gravy for our Saturday breakfast.  Usually, we just break out the Bisquick and make our biscuits.  It works fine, but Heather had found this recipe online this week and wanted to try it.  We are SO glad we did!  They are incredibly flaky, tender, and SO much better than from any mix we have ever tried!  Enjoy!

3 cups flour (can use 1/2 white flour and 1/2 wheat flour if desired)
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup buttermilk (you can also substitute 'homemade' buttermilk- 3/4 cup milk + 2 Tablespoons lemon juice- which is what we did.  They still turn out amazing).  Feel free to also use our tip using buttermilk powder!
1 egg
1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 425 Degrees.  Using a pastry blender or two knives, combine flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, and butter until crumbly.  Mix in buttermilk, egg, and just enough water to make a workable dough  Mix the dough until it is just barely combined (DON'T OVERMIX!)  Roll the dough to 1 inch thickness on a floured cutting board.  Cut with a 2 inch biscuit cutter (or circle cookie cutter, or round glass)  Place biscuits on a greased baking sheet, touching one another, and bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.  Makes about 12-15 biscuits, depending on size and thickness.

TIPS FOR AWESOME BISCUITS:

1. ONLY hand mix your dough!  Don't bother with your fancy Bosch or Kitchen-Aid mixer on this recipe.  Go old school.  If you use your mixer, your dough will become too dry.
2. Don't over mix!  The best way to mix the dough is with a pastry blender or two knives, cutting the dough back and forth.  This method takes a bit longer, but will ensure the perfect biscuit.  You want little pieces of butter throughout your dough.  This is the secret to light and flaky biscuits!
3. Keep your dough fairly thick (1 to 1-1/2 inches).  A tall and thick biscuit is much better than a thin and hard one.  Keeping it thick will ensure a soft, chewy, delicious biscuit. 

Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce

We love with a capital L-O-V-E the Alfredo sauce at Olive Garden! It is just so addicting. So we decided it was high time we search for a similar recipe. What we found was the actual recipe straight from Olive Garden! We couldn't believe it! So we made it, then we made it again, and so on and so forth. It was delish! Clearly we can't make this all the time, but if we could afford the calories we would probably have this a lot! We've had it with homemade bread sticks and we've had it over pasta. Either way, you are going to love it!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup imported Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup imported Romano cheese, grated
6 egg yolks from fresh jumbo eggs (I only ever have large eggs so that is what I use)
Salt and black pepper to taste

Procedures:

• Heat milk and cream in a heavy bottom saucepan until it begins to simmer. Turn off heat. Slowly whip in cheese, then remove from heat.
• Place egg yolks in a separate bowl and slowly whip in a portion of the hot milk and cream mixture. Slowly add egg yolk mixture back into remaining cream mixture. Place back on very low heat and continually stir until simmering. Take sauce off heat so it thickens (This will increase temperature of egg yolks, known as tempering).
• Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Serve over your favorite pasta.

source: http://www.olivegarden.com/Recipes/Sauces/Alfredo-Sauce/

Chex Scotcheroos

These bars are INSANELY good.  We took them to a friend's house for game night, and everybody had thirds and fourths.  Be prepared to give out the recipe!


6 cups Rice or Corn Chex
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups butterscotch chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Grease a large round bowl and pour the cereal in. Set aside. Grease a 9x13 inch pan. Set aside.
In a pan on the stove, combine the corn syrup and sugar. Stir over medium high heat until it comes to a boil. Immediately remove from heat and stir in 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter. Immediately pour this mixture over the cereal and fold in. Pour into the 9x13 pan.
In a microwaveable 4 cup measuring cup (or other microwave save dish) combine the butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, 1/2 cup of peanut butter, and vanilla. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring very well after each interval, until it is completely melted and smooth. It should take about 1 minute and 30 seconds. Pour over the bars. Allow to cool completely at room temperature before cutting.

Cheese Ball

Everybody tends to break out their favorite cheese ball recipe during the holidays.  This is our favorite version, from our friend Sarah Feil.

1- 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup finely grated cheddar cheese
3 green onions, finely chopped
4 to 5 black olives, chopped, or 1 small can chopped olives, drained
garlic powder, to taste
chopped walnuts

Beat cream cheese and butter together until combined.  Fold in remaining ingredients except walnuts.  Form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm.  Just before serving, unwrap ball and roll in chopped walnuts to coat.  Serve with your favorite crackers and/or fresh vegetables. 

April's Pancakes

Lately, Heather and I have tried to cook from scratch a little bit more.  It does take a tad bit more time, but it isn't too bad if you plan ahead just a little bit.  We realized that it was expensive buying all different kinds of convenience foods and mixes to make things, when we really had all the from-scratch ingredients on hand anyway.  Not only does cooking from scratch save money, but also makes you feel like you're eating a little bit healthier too, with less preservatives, additives, salt, etc.  Heather's sister April introduced us to these pancakes.  They are SO easy, and now we can push the cart directly past the Krusteaz pancake mix at Costco with confidence.  Also, this recipe makes about a dozen pancakes, which is PERFECT for our family.  No more wasted leftover pancakes!

1-1/2 cups flour (feel free to use whole wheat flour!)
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2 Tablespoons oil
2 eggs, separated
1-1/2 cups milk

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, oil, egg yolks, and milk.  With an electric hand beater (or exceptionally strong arm) beat egg whites in small bowl until soft peaks form.  Gently fold egg whites into batter.  Pour batter by 1/4 cup-fuls onto hot greased griddle. 

Makes about 12 pancakes

Cranberry-Cashew-White Chocolate Chip Cookies

We first had these cookies last Christmas at Heather's Parent's house.  They are SO delicious!  And yes, we give you permission to call these "healthy" cookies, because they have fruit in them!

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 package (10-12 ounces) white baking chips
1 cup chopped cashews
1 cup dried cranberries

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla. 

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well.  Stir in the chips, cashews, and cranberries. 

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.  Bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove to wire racks to cool.

Yield:  4-1/2 dozen

Source:  Taste of Home Annual Recipes 2012

Waldorf Salad

We like this classic salad because it combines Aaron's two favorite flavors: apples and cinnamon.  Delicious and fresh any time of year, we especially love it in the fall when apples are at their peak.

6 Cups diced apples
1 Cup chopped celery
1 Cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 Cup mayonnaise
6 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 Cup heavy whipping cream

In a large bowl, combine apples, celery, and nuts.  In a small bowl, whisk mayonnaise, sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon until well combined.  Whip cream with an electric mixer until soft peaks form; fold into mayonnaise mixture to form a creamy dressing.  Pour dressing over apple mixture and stir until well coated.  Chill at least 1 hour before serving. 

12 servings.

Source:  allrecipes.com

School Lunch Peanut Butter Bars

Really I can't say enough about these cookies. They are just awesome and a regular thing at our house. Especially when we have company over for dessert. We hope that you enjoy them just as much as we do. Especially if you happen to be a peanut butter and chocolate loving fool like me!

Ingredients

Cookie:
1 1/2 cup Flour
1 1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
3/4 cup Butter
3/4 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1 1/2 cup Creamy Peanut Butter (divided)
2 Eggs
1 1/2 cup Quick Oats

Frosting:
1/2 cup Butter
3 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
2 tablespoons Cocoa Powder
1/4 cup Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a small mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugars, 3/4 cup peanut butter, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add dry ingredients, just until incorporated. Stir in oats and spread mixture onto a greased 11x15 jelly roll pan (cookie sheet).

3. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes.

4. Whip the remaining 3/4 cup peanut butter until it becomes lighter colored and fluffy. Carefully spread the whipped peanut butter over the cookie.

5. Time to make the frosting! Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the milk and cocoa powder. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Heat just until boiling. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Then gradually add the powdered sugar. Stir until thickened. Pour over the peanut butter and gently spread over the cookie.

6. Cool completely and slice into bars.

Chocolate Eclair Torte

Everybody loves Chocolate Eclairs, right?  However, making the vanilla custard filling and chocolate ganache from scratch and messily filling pastries can be time consuming and delicate work.  Well, here's a recipe that has all the eclair flavor (with a few handy shortcuts) in an easy to make cake!  We hope you love it as much as we do!

1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
3 cups cold milk
2 packages (3.4 oz. each) instant vanilla pudding mix
1 carton (12 oz.) Cool Whip, thawed
2 to 4 Tablespoons chocolate syrup

In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the water, butter and salt to a boil.  Add flour all at once and stir until a smooth ball forms.  Remove from heat; let stand for 5 minutes.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Continue beating until mixture is smooth and shiny.

Spread mixture into a greased 9x13 baking pan.  Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.  Cool completely on a wire rack.  If desired, remove puff from pan and place on a serving platter. 

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy.  Add the milk and pudding mix; beat until smooth.  Spread over puff; refrigerate for 20 minutes.  Spread with the Cool Whip; refrigerate.  Drizzle with chocolate syrup just before serving.  Refrigerate leftovers.  Serves 12. 

Source:  Taste of Home Most Requested Recipes

Homemade Wendy's Frosties

Discovered from a fellow food blogger, we have made this recipe twice in the past week.  For us, that is really saying something!  With several 100 degree days already this summer, we now find ourselves stockpiling our freezer with cool whip and our pantry with sweetened condensed milk to make this over and over again.  No need to get the kids in the blistering car and waste the gas to head to Wendy's. . . whip this three-ingredient version up at home for mere pennies compared to what the drive-thru would cost!  Enjoy!  

NOTE:  We don't have a giant sized ice cream freezer.  We have a small countertop Cuisinart one.  This recipe was most likely designed for a larger ice cream maker.  If you have one, great.  If not, we just cut this recipe in half, and it fits our ice cream maker perfectly.

1 14-oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 12-oz tub Cool Whip
1 Gallon Chocolate Milk

Combine sweetened Condensed milk and Cool Whip in large bowl.  Pour into Ice Cream Maker and add Chocolate Milk until it reaches the fill line.  Turn on Ice Cream Maker and let freeze.  AMAZING. 

Summer Cool-Down Treat: Homemade Fudgesicles

Looking for an easy, two ingredient way to beat the heat?  Look no further!  This is one of our favorite discoveries from good ol' Pinterest!

1/3 cup Nutella
1 Cup Milk

Place Nutella and milk in a blender, and blend until smooth.  Pour into popsicle molds and freeze.  That's it!  Depending upon the size of your molds, this makes anywhere from 4-6 fudgesicles.

Traditional Haws Family "Sugar n' Cinnamon Cereal"

In my (Aaron's) family, there has always been a tradition:  "Sugar n' Cinnamon cereal."  It is a simple concoction consisting of Cream of Wheat, sugar, and cinnamon, spread on a plate.  My mom loved Cream of Wheat when she was little, and so my Grandma would make it often.  However, my mom didn't like that it took forever to cool.  So, my genius Grandma spread it on a plate so it would cool faster.  Thus the tradition was born!  My mom made it for me, and I loved sprinkling cinnamon and sugar over the whole thing.  The sugar melts into this yummy liquid "goo" over the surface, and it is sooooo good!  You just simply eat the cereal in a "spiral" starting from the outside because it cools faster on the edges.  I love the fact that I have now passed this tradition on to our kids!  So, the next time you make plain Cream of Wheat, try it this way!  It just may become your new favorite!  :-)

Lemon Blueberry Bread

Krista Lyons, a colleague of mine in the MBA program at Boise State University, shared her AMAZING bread recipe with me.  This moist, decadent lemon bread studded with blueberries is drizzled with a quick homemade syrup at the end which gives it a little extra lemony "punch."  She would often make this batter into muffins and bring them to our late-night accounting study groups.  You may need to double this recipe because I guarantee you'll devour the first loaf in no time.  This recipe is DELICIOUS!  Thanks, Krista, for sharing!!!

BREAD:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
Grated Zest of 1 medium lemon
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup fresh blueberries* (I would actually increase this to about 1/3 cup - delicious!)


LEMON SYRUP:
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Grated Zest of 1 medium Lemon

Preheat oven to 350, and spray a loaf pan (could use mini loaf pans or muffin tins also - adjust bake time accordingly) with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bown, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until fluffy.  Add the lemon zest and buttermilk, beating until smooth.  On low speed, blend in the dry ingredients until just combined, careful not to overmix.  Gently fold in the blueberries with a spoon until just mixed.

Spoon batter into prepared pan(s), smoothing the top.  Bake for about 1 hour, or until tester comes out clean.

While bread is baking, stir sugar and lemon juice together in small bowl until sugar is dissolved, then set aside.  When the bread is done, immediately turn out onto a large piece of foil, or onto a cooling rack with wax paper or foil underneath.  With a toothpick, pierce the top of the bread in several places.  Re-stir the lemon syrup mixture and then slowly drizzle over warm bread.  Sprinkle the top with the grated zest, and let cool completely before slicing.


*To help prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the loaf, dust them with a bit of flour before adding to batter.


Yield:  1 loaf

Reese's Chewy Chocolate Cookies

I love peanut butter. I love chocolate. So what better than these delicious bars. They were so perfect to make with the kids on a rainy day. It kept them busy and they both loved helping. I think they love to consume more than help, but I am OK with that too! We made these into bars only in the interest of time. But these would be awesome cookies too! I know what you will say when you see the amount of butter that is in these, and I will admit that I was a smidge taken aback by the amount. But it definitely keeps them moist and delicious!

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) butter, or margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 2/3 cups (10 oz pkg.) Peanut butter chips

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in peanut butter chips.
3. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 9 minutes. (Do not over bake; cookies will be soft. They will puff while baking and flatten while cooling.) Cool slightly, remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Makes about 4 1/2 dozen cookies.

Pan Recipe: Spread batter in greased 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1 inch jelly roll pan (cookie sheet). Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until set. Cool completely in pan on wire rack; cut into bars. Makes about 4 dozen bars.