Homemade Tarter Sauce

We had fish for supper tonight and I did not have any tarter sauce so I just whipped up my own and Adam said it was great!! I am sorry i really don't like any tarter sauce but it was very simple to make and Adam could not believe I made it. I hope you try it and enjoy!!I

Tarter Sauce
Ingredients

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish
• 1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Mix togerther in a bowl and serve!!! it taste better if you can make it a little ahead of time... the favors can blend.

Sugar Cookie Bars

I made these on Sunday for a family reunion and I will tell you I wanted to leave them at home so we could have them all to ourselfs or maybe just me.... This recipe is a little differnt than a previous recipe I have posted and I have to say I like these better.  I cut the edges off and then put these on a platter to make them look pretty.. and bonus we got to eat the edges before we left.  I would recommend them to anyone and if you make them I would be happy to  try one to make sure they taste good.... I mean anything to help someone out right????

http://highheelsandgrills.blogspot.com/2012/08/sugar-cookie-bars.html
Sugar Cookie Bars

Ingredients:

Cookies:

• 2-1/2 cups bread flour (or all-purpose flour is fine)
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1-1/2 Tbsp. sour cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup half and half
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• Pinch of salt
• Several drops of food coloring (optional)

Directions:

1. COOKIES: Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. (The longer you beat it, the fluffier your cookies will be.)
4. Add egg and combine well.
5. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix until completely blended.
6. Slowly add the flour mixture and stir until well combined.
7. Gently press the batter into the greased baking dish and spread out with hands. (If you butter your hands, this will help with the stickiness.)
8. Bake 17-20 minutes, or until edges become lightly golden.
9. Set aside to cool completely.
10. FROSTING: In a medium bowl, cream together butter, powdered sugar, and half and half until light and fluffy.
11. Stir in vanilla and salt, combine well.
12. Add food coloring until desired color.
13. Frost your cooled cookie bars evenly.
14. Cut into squares and serve.

Olive Garden Breadsticks!

I made these tonight and they were amazing!  They were very easy to make and well worth it!! You should make them ASAP!  Enjoy!

Olive Garden Breadsticks

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups very warm water

1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)

4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon salt

Garlic Butter topping:

1/2 stick unsalted butter

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon table salt

Directions:

In a large bowl, dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water and allow to sit for 10 minutes, covered. Mixture

should be frothy.

In the bowl of your stand mixer or medium-sized bowl, combine flour and salt. Add yeast mixture and

melted butter to flour mixture.

Mix with dough hook attachment on stand mixer or stir with a wooden spoon until fully combined.

Knead dough for a few minutes just until dough is smooth and elastic.

Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray.

Pull off pieces of dough and roll out into strips.

The first few times I made this, I pulled off way too much dough for each breadstick. So pull off smaller size

pieces than you would think you'd need. Remember these are going to double in size!

Cover the dough with plastic wrap sprayed with nonstick spray (so dough doesn't stick to it from the inside)

or cover with a clean kitchen towel and put in a warm place to rise. I like to preheat my oven to 150F

degrees, then turn it off. I’ll put the breasticks in there to rise because it is a nice, warm & draft free area.

Once they have doubled in size (about an hour), remove sheet from oven and preheat oven up to 400F

degrees.

Once it has reached temperature, take plastic wrap off of breadsticks and put in the oven to bake.

While they are baking, make butter topping.

Microwave butter until melted and add garlic powder and salt, stir until combined.

After 6 or 7 minutes, brush the bread sticks with half the butter mixture. Then continue to bake for another

6-7 minutes. Immediately upon removal from the oven, brush the other half of the butter on the sticks.

http://www.thecountrycook.net/2011/08/garlic-breadstickstwo-ways.html

Pumpkin Crunch

I made this over the weekend and my family loved it. They loved it more with some Breyers vanilla ice cream. I thought it had a little too much nuts I would have used less but my husband said there is no such thing as too much nuts. Also all 3 of kids ate it and thats saying a lot, my 2 year old is going through a very picky stage... lucky me :) I hope you enjoy!

http://www.thepickyapple.com/blog/2008/11/22/pumpkin-crunch-cake/

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
• 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (the original recipe called for 1/2 cup)
• 1 cup butter, melted

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom of 9 x 13″ pan. Mix pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Pour mixture into greased pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix over pumpkin mixture and top with pecans. Drizzle melted butter over pecans. Bake 50-55 minutes.

Iced Coffee...yumm...

I make this iced coffee all the time..... I just make a batch of strong coffee and let it cool and then finish with the instructions.  I will aslo use different flavors of creamer too... with 3 kids and two of them being 2 and 3 I need this often...  and one of them being 9 too :)

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/06/perfect-iced-coffee/  Perfect Iced Coffee... My fav..

Ingredients

• 1 pound Ground Coffee (good, Rich Roast)
• 8 quarts Cold Water
• Half-and-half (healthy Splash Per Serving)
• Sweetened Condensed Milk (2-3 Tablespoons Per Serving)
• Note: Can Use Skim Milk, 2% Milk, Whole Milk, Sugar, Artificial Sweeteners, Syrups...adapt To Your Liking!

Preparation Instructions

(Adapted from Imbibe Magazine)
In a large container, mix ground coffee with water. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature eight hours or overnight.
Line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set over a pitcher or other container. Pour coffee/water mixture through the strainer, allowing all liquid to run through. Discard grounds.
Place coffee liquid in the fridge and allow to cool. Use as needed.
To make iced coffee, pack a glass full of ice cubes. Fill glass 2/3 full with coffee liquid. Add healthy splash of half-and-half. Add 2-3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk (can use plain sugar instead) and stir to combine. Taste and adjust half-and-half and/or sweetened condensed milk as needed.

Posted by Ree on June 12 2011

 

1st day of school teachers gift!!

I will be making this today for my daughter Lily to take to school for her teacher.  Tomorrow is the first day of 4th grade for her and I always send an apple for her teacher but this is a jazzed up apple idea!!!  I think this will be a BIG hit!!

http://joandsue.blogspot.ca/2012/06/apple-with-caramel-cream-cheese-dip.html

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes!

Here is another out of this world recipe!  These cupcakes are so wonderful. I am making them for a cake walk and I know they will be one of the first to go... Just looking at them makes my mouth water. This woman also has many other great recipes, check out her web page.

http://www.recipegirl.com/2012/04/09/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-cupcakes/

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Yield: 1 dozen cupcakes

Prep Time: 45 min + freeze time

Cook Time: 25 min

Ingredients:

COOKIE DOUGH FILLING:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips
CUPCAKES:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
COOKIE DOUGH FROSTING:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
GARNISH:
additional mini chocolate chips
12 mini Chips Ahoy cookies

Directions:

1. Prepare the cookie dough filling (see *Tips below): In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to stir together the butter, sugars, milk and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients and the chocolate chips. Refrigerate for 15 to 30 minutes, or until the cookie dough is firm. Scoop out dough in 2 tablespoon scoops and place it on a cookie sheet. Freeze until firm, at least 30 minutes.
2. Prepare the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with 12 liners. Place the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda and salt in a blender. Blend to combine. Add the water, oil, egg and vanilla. Blend to combine, scraping down the sides as needed a couple of times until all is well mixed. Divide the batter between the 12 cupcake liners. Drop a ball of frozen chocolate chip cookie dough into the center of each cupcake. If you would like the cookie dough to bake up slightly, keep the top visible as pictured in the post. If you'd like to keep the cookie dough somewhat raw, push it to the bottom of the cupcake wrapper, making sure that the batter comes up and over the dough.
3. Bake the cupcakes for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cupcake portion of the cupcake (not tested through the center where the dough is), comes out fairly clean. Cool the cupcakes completely before adding the frosting.
4. Prepare the frosting: In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the butter and sugars until smooth and creamy. Mix in the flour, milk and vanilla and continue to mix until all is well combined.
5. Assemble: Frost cupcakes with a knife or scoop the frosting into a piping bag and pipe it on decoratively. Sprinkle mini chips on top and garnish with a small chocolate chip cookie.

Tips:

*You don't necessarily have to melt the butter and refrigerate the dough before scooping. The melted butter just helps the sugar dissolve a bit more so you don't have that grainy texture in the cookie dough. It is necessary to freeze it though.