Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

It is that fall time of year and pumpkin treats come to mind. I love this recipe and have received many compliments and requests for the recipe, so I hope you have a chance to enjoy it this year too!

1 2/3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tbs pumpkin pie spice
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 cup plain pumpkin
½ cup butter, melted (one stick)
8 oz of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Mix dry ingredients. Blend wet ingredients separately. Pour wet ingredients into dry. Stir only until moistened. Spoon into muffin cups. The batter does not rise a lot while cooking so fill cups about the size you want the muffins. Makes 12 big muffins or 15 small muffins. Original recipe says cook 17-18 minutes but really seems to be more like 20-25, depending on how big you made your muffins.

Another note: The canned plain pumpkin seems to come in two sizes, less than you need or more than you need. I have found that if you double the recipe you can use the whole big can (even though it is technically still more than you need) and they turn out yummy!

Black Bean, Mushroom and Cheese Enchiladas

I was a little leery of this recipe because I am not a fan of mushrooms but Chris likes them so I decided to go for it and just cut up the mushrooms really little. It worked and we really liked them. They were quite flavorful and you never missed the fact that there was no meat-the price of meat being another reason we wanted to try it. I also think that this could be managed in some form from food storage food.

Serves: 4-6
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Approximate cost: $3 per serving, (factor an additional $5 to $7 if pantry staples are needed).

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
8 ounces white mushrooms, stems removed, chopped
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 can (15.5 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (4.5 ounces) diced green chilies
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, plus more for topping
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese, plus more for topping
1/4 cup sour cream, plus more for topping
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
Salt and pepper, to taste
8 large flour tortillas
1 can (10 ounces) enchilada sauce
Cooking spray

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Spray a 9”x13” baking dish with cooking spray, set aside.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion and mushrooms and sauté just until soft, about 5 minutes.
4. Remove from heat, stir in cumin and chili powder. Let cool slightly and stir in the black beans, diced green chilies, Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, sour cream and cilantro. Stir until well blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Divide mixture between the 8 tortillas, placing filling just off center of each tortilla. Roll tortillas into loose cylinders. Place the seam side down in the prepared dish. Pour enchilada sauce over top and sprinkle with additional cheese.
6. Bake until bubbling and lightly browned, 15-20 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with additional sour cream and chopped cilantro.

Remember, black beans, either dried or canned, are inexpensive, nutritious and versatile. They’re low in fat and high in fiber, protein and iron. Just a cup of black beans can provide a good portion of your daily protein and fiber with hardly any fat.

Parmesan Tilapia

Dan's response when I told him we were having Tilapia for dinner: "Ugh. Okay"

Dan's response when he tried his first bite: "This might be the best fish I've ever had!"
(He doesn't eat much fish, though)

This is quick and easy and delicious. I used 4 tilapia fillets and cut this recipe in half.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup softened butter
3 Tbs. mayo (I used fat free Miracle Whip)
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp. dried basil
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 tsp. onion powder
1/8 tsp. salt
2 pounds tilapia fillets

1. Preheat your broiler and place the rack on the 2 setting from the top. Line a pan with foil or grease a broiling pan.
2. Mix together the cheese, butter, mayo, and lemon juice. Then add the basil, pepper, onion powder, and salt. Mix well and set aside.
3. Broil the fillets for 2-3 minutes. Flip them over and broil another 2-3 minutes on the other side. Remove from oven, cover them with the parmesan mixture and broil for 2 more minutes until the topping browns and the fish flakes easily with a fork. Be careful not to overcook.

MUST Cobbler

If you like cobbler, you MUST make this!

And if you think you don't like cobbler, you MUST make this, because you will!


Please forgive the picture. I remembered to take it only after it was almost entirely eaten. Then I zoomed way in with my little camera so it wouldn't be so obvious we almost inhaled it. But now I'm telling you so that defeats the purpose.

Anyway, we pass by this fruit stand (outdoor store, really) on our way to Dallas. I have always wanted to stop and last month we finally did. I bought some beautiful blackberries. And we enjoyed this recipe.

And now I pay my parents to stop when they come down, or I stop myself if I'm the one traveling, for those blackberries. So, so yummy! And I imagine that this would taste great with most stone fruits.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
6 Tbs. cold butter
1/4 cup boiling water
2 Tbs. cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
1 Tbs. lemon juice
4 cups fresh blackberries (frozen would probably work too, just thaw and get rid of the extra liquid)

1. Preheat oven to 400. Line sheet pan with foil.
2. Mix flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter until resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 1/4 boiling water just until mixture is evenly moist.
3. Dissolve cornstarch in cold water. Mix in remaining 1 cup sugar, lemon juice, and blackberries. Transfer to a cast iron skillet (a saucepan works if you don't have one), and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. (If you used a saucepan, now's the time to transfer to a baking dish). Drop the dough onto the berries by spoonfuls. Place skillet on foil lined sheet.
4. Bake 25 minutes in oven until dough is golden brown.

And finally, you MUST serve this warm (hot, even) with vanilla ice cream!

Zucchini Fritters

I found this recipe from Martha. If you happen to search it on her site she recommends a pasta dish that I would recommend avoiding. Olivia appropriately described the taste when she said, "Mom, this tastes like leaves." The fritters, on the other hand were awesome. I say definitely use the optional lemon wedges.


Ingredients

* 1 pound (about 2 medium) zucchini
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest (1 lemon) plus
* 1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges (optional)
* 10 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley, stems removed and leaves finely chopped
* 1 medium clove garlic, peeled and minced
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
* 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 2 to 4 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

1. Using the large holes of a box grater, grate zucchini into a medium bowl. Add the salt, lemon zest, chopped parsley, garlic, pepper, and eggs. Mix well to combine. Slowly add flour, stirring so no lumps form.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat until the oil sizzles when you drop a small amount of zucchini mixture into the pan. Carefully drop about 2 tablespoons zucchini mixture into pan; repeat, spacing fritters a few inches apart.
3. Cook fritters until golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Lower heat to medium. Turn fritters, and continue cooking until golden, 2 to 3 minutes more. Transfer fritters to a plate; set aside in a warm place. Cook remaining zucchini mixture, adding more oil to pan if necessary. Garnish with parsley sprigs and lemon wedges, if desired; serve.

Empanadas and Egg Rolls

Culture Night for Recipe Group yielded a couple of great recipes that I will pass on here because they shouldn't be missed. I have not personally made them yet, just tasted, but I did see them made and I think that even I could do it. That means you for sure can! Both are authentic (which means they are made in oil)! Enjoy!!

Argentine Empanadas

2 lbs ground beef
3/4 TBS Thyme Leaves
3/4 TBS Rosemary Leaves
3/4 TBS Salt
10 sliced Spanish Olives
1/4 cup raisins
4 boiled eggs (chopped)
4 boiled potatoes (chopped into small pieces)

Directions:
1. brown ground beef with spices and raisins
2. add egg and potatoes
3. scoop a table spoon into the tapa (pastry, she does get this from a latin market, rather than a grocery store, they are frozen, I didn't see a name or brand)
4. close the tapa with fingers or fork, but be sure that you do it well-you don't want the oil to seep into the emapanada.
5. fry until golden brown (I didn't see this part but I think she said that when they float to the top of the oil they are done)

Cambodian Egg Rolls
(makes about 25 egg rolls)

1 lb ground pork or turkey
2 T sugar
a dash of salt and pepper
about 5 carrots, grated (the amount of carrots and cabbage is pretty much to taste, her family prefers the carrots to the cabbage so she always does more carrots and less cabbage.)
1-3 cups cabbage (optional)
1/2 onion chopped
clear noodles (she uses bean noodles, these are optional)
egg roll wrappers

Directions:
1. Cook pork in skillet
2. Add sugar, salt, pepper, onion, carrots and cabbage. Cook until tender
3. Place small amount of mixture in the center of the egg roll wrapper and roll according to package directions. Once again, roll tightly so there are no leaks.
4. Moisten tail end with water (some use egg whites but it is not necessary) and stick to egg roll.
5. Fry in hot oil until golden

Malibu Chicken Sandwiches

8-10 buns
3 chicken breasts (grilled), shredded
8-10 slices of ham
8-10 slices of swiss cheese
1/4 cup special mayo (recipe below)

Place chicken on bottom half of bun with ham and swiss cheese on top.
Set on baking sheet with top half of bun and broil until lightly brown
Spread special mayo on top half of bun and serve.

Special mayo:
1/4 cup mayo
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
3 drops of Tabasco sauce
Some freshly ground pepper

I went WAY overboard last time I made these and marinated the chicken breasts and grilled them special (which tasted awesome). The next time you grill just make some extra and stick them in the fridge and then you have the chicken for the sandwiches. The other WAY overboard ticket was the homemade buns, which is totally unnecessary but also tasted unbelievable.

Oh, Mommy! Pork Tenderloin

Pork tenderloin was on sale at the grocery so I snatched some up.

So for Sunday dinner, I cut up a cantaloupe and made Linda's salad. (That should be another post!)

And the tenderloin took longer to cook than I was planning. I had enough time to set it down, take it's picture, and grab my keys to make it to a fireside.

When I got home, I asked Dan, "How was it?" His reply was, "Oh, Mommy!" I couldn't tell if that meant good or bad, but as I made my way to the table and saw that one ENTIRE tenderloin was gone, I knew it meant good.

I tried it and it was!


Oh Mommy Pork Tenderloin

5 Tbs. soy sauce
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 minced garlic cloves
2 tsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. pepper
(2) 1 lb. pork tenderloins

1. Mix all ingredients in a large ziploc bag. Add the meat.
2. Marinate in the fridge for as long as possible. Mine was about 4.5 hours
3. Cook uncovered in a pan sprayed with cooking spray for 25-35 minutes per lb. at 425. Or until it reaches 160 degrees.
4. Let stand for 5 minutes before slicing and serve with the pan drippings.

Buttermilk Pancakes and a Couple of Syrups

Truckstop Buttermilk Pancakes

This makes a crazy amount of pancakes - so have some Ziplock bags handy to freeze the extra. My family will never settle for boxed pancake mix again - these are so yummy! I never used to buy buttermilk, but now it's always on my shopping list.

5 eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

6 Tbsp. butter, melted

5 cups buttermilk

5 cups all-purpose flour

5 tsp. baking powder

5 tsp. baking soda

1 pinch salt

5 Tbsp. sugar

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, melted butter and the buttermilk. Combine the flour, baking powder , baking soda and sugar; stir into the wet ingredients just until blended. Adjust the thickness of the batter to your liking by adding more flour or buttermilk if necessary.

Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto a preheated non-stick griddle and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip and cook until browned on the other side. Plan on a lot of time to make it through all this batter.

Okay, now for some syrup. Just a couple recipes I've found that my family loves. Super simple and so delicious, the Mrs. Butterworth's is just sitting in the back of the pantry.

Cinnamon Cream Syrup

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup water

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1-5 oz. can evaporated milk

In a saucepan, combine the first four ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium heat; boil and stir for 2 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes. Stir in evaporated milk. This would be delicious on vanilla ice cream too!

or...........

Buttermilk Syrup

1 1/2 cups white sugar

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup butter

2 Tbsp. light corn syrup

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. vanilla extract

In a large saucepan (don't try a small - this really gets big!) stir together the sugar, buttermilk, butter, corn syrup and baking soda. Bring to a boil and cook for seven minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. As the syrup cooks, it turns a warm, caramely brown - so good!!!

Creamy Chicken Torilla Soup

This is so quick and easy!

Ingredients:
1-2 cans Rotel (diced tomatoes and green chiles) depending on how spicy you like it.
2 cans (14.5 oz.) Chicken broth
1 can no fat refried beans
1/2 cup corn
2 cups shredded cooked chicken (to make this even quicker I just shred the meat off a rotisserie chicken I buy at the store)
tortilla chips
shredded cheese
sour cream

1. Combine tomatoes and broth in medium saucepan.
2. Stir in beans and corn and bring to a boil.
3. Then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Add chicken and heat through.
5. Top with tortilla chips and serve with cheese and sour cream.

I also like to serve this soup with the torillas you cook at home. They are by the eggs in the refrigerated section at my store. Just cook 'em up, butter 'em, and eat and/or dip in soup.

Yummy!

Spicy Baked Sweet Potato Slices

2-3 sweet potatoes (orange flesh), sliced about 1/8" thick

1-2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. chili powder or cayenne

1 tsp. onion powder

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix olive oil and spices together and drizzle over sweet potatoes and toss together until all the slices are coated. Spread the slices on a large pan lined with aluminum foil (I also used some cooking spray), and bake for 20-30 minutes, turning occasionally.

I found this recipe online after looking for a healthy way to prepare sweet potatoes.

Verdict: Delicious!

A few things to note:

• These did not become crispy. I used about about 1 1/2 Tbsp. of the olive oil, but I don't think that more oil would have equaled more crispiness. I think you could go down to just 1 Tbsp. and be fine - might cut a few more calories, etc.
• I baked mine for the whole 30 minutes and they were perfect - firm enough to hold their shape in a serving dish and stirring around on the baking sheet.
• This spice level would be great for little kids...I wanted more. Next time I will probably double the cumin and chili powder. I think you can play around with it to suit individual tastes. Extra spice could also be added after baking.
• I peeled my sweet potatoes even though the recipe didn't say to. I think I'll leave the skins on when I make this again. More fiber.
• There were a few slices that got a little dark -not charred, but definitely a deep brown. They were just a little bit chewy and by far my favorite part. Yummy! I'll use the broiler for a minute or two next time.
• Sweet Potatoes are VERY good for you! Eat them!
• I seem to have a lot of "next time" thoughts about this recipe - sorry - I've only made it once. It was really really good, so don't think you have to play around around with it to get good results. If you make them and find any other tweaking type things, please put them in your comments!!
• I'm serious about that nutrition thing.
• Also, they said to eat them.

Quick Easy Dressed up Oreos

Sorry this is past the season for candy canes but they taste really good(to my mom and me)Enjoy when you try them. Kieran

Ingredients
Almond bark
Candy canes
Oreos

1. melt 2 squares of Almond bark in the microwave(or stove doesn't matter)
2. Unwrap your candy canes and crush them in a bowl till they are in small little chunks
3.place the bowl of chocolate,crushed candy canes. and Oreos side by side (for an assembly line type thing)
4.dip the Oreos one at a time in the chocolate. covering them half way
5.then dip the chocolate side of the Oreo into the candy canes
6. Set to dry on wax paper(or something of the sort)
7. wait till the chocolate is hard then enjoy

Quick and Easy Pizza Crust

I'm not posting this because it is The Best Pizza Crust Ever. I've never even had any other homemade crust that I know of. I am posting this because it is quick and easy and tastes really good. Way better than Boboli, or whatever that stuff is called and you know exactly what's in it. You can top it with anything you'd like, obviously. The opportunities are endless. One of our faves is BBQ chicken pizza.

Just top with BBQ sauce, cheese, sauteed red onion (or any onion, really) and chicken (diced), and cilantro (if you like that). Mmmm!

Quick and Easy Pizza Crust

1 (.25 oz) package of dry active yeast
1 tsp white sugar
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 cups flour
2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt


1. Preheat oven to 450. In medium bowl dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

2. Stir in flour salt, and oil. Beat until smooth, (I just use a spoon, not a mixer). Let rest for 5 minutes.

3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. (I just press it onto a greased cookie sheet). Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan dusted with cornmeal. Spread with desired toppings and bake in a preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Chocolate Chip Cake

Another tried and true for thirty years.
2 cups All Purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups dairy sour cream
2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees or 325 for a glass pan. Grease 13 x 9-inch pan. In large bowl, combine first nine ingredients. Blend 1 minute at low speed; beat 3 minutes at medium speed. Pour half of batter (about 2 1/2 cups) into greased pan. In small bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle half of sugar mixture and chocolate chips over batter. Repeat with remaining batter, sugar mixture and chocolate chips. Bake 35 to 40 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (High altitude over 3500 feet: Decrease baking powder to 1 teaspoon. Bake at 375 degrees (350 for glass pan) for 30 to 35 minutes. It really makes a difference.) This cake doesn't need frosting.

Oven Stew

I really do enjoy cooking most of the time. I like to fix a nice meal and have everyone ooh and ah and tell me how good it is. Of course, I have had my share of cooking failures. And I'm always looking for new recipes. About 10 years ago I cleaned out my file of recipes that I'd clipped from magazines or brought home from Relief Society. I knew I wouldn't live long enough to try all those recipes. Guess what, I've got a whole new file of recipes to try. I'm a compulsive recipe clipper. And I buy new cookbooks. The problem is that cooking is so daily. I wake up every morning asking myself what I will be fixing for dinner that night. I like things that I can start early in the day and are ready at 5 PM or meals that can be fixed in less than a half hour. I especially like meat that can be grilled. I've tried making monthly meal plans. Or even two weeks. Or one week. And for those of you who do that, I envy you. But I could never make it work. I used to think I was organizationally impaired. But that's too negative. Now I say that I like to be spontaneous and flexible. Anyway, I enjoy cooking, but I love Fridays when the cook (me) has the night off.
There are many variations of this oven stew, but I've been making this for thirty years. It is tried and true.

1 1/2 pounds stew beef
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, sliced 1/4 inch
2 potatoes, cubed
2 ribs celery, sliced 1/2 inch
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons tapioca
2-8 oz. cans tomato sauce
3 cups water
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
Mix all ingredients in a Dutch oven. Cover and bake at 275-300 degrees for 4-5 hours.

Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Quite often I find myself in the same predicament which requires me to come up with dinner, or dessert with whatever I have in the pantry or fridge. We were having some friends over on Sunday night for dinner. Things got away from me on Saturday and I didn't have time to get to the store. So, I figured out dinner, but still wanted to have something for dessert. I found this recipe, and it turned out great. As I was making it, Dan brought up the topic of cake mix vs. scratch cake. I am a huge fan of cake mix, it's easy and delicious. He feels the same and expressed his doubts over this cake from scratch. But later that night as he was cutting his second slice, he said, "Well, this might be better than a mix". So here's the recipe for this dense and moist yellow cake!




Yellow Cake

1 cup butter
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups milk

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 9 inch round pans or one 9x13 pan. (I used two 9" rounds. I trace the pan on paper, cut it out and lay it on the bottom of the pans, just like my Mama taught me. It ensures the cake comes out super easy.)

2. Cream together the butter and the sugar. Then beat in the eggs and the vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together.

4. Alternately add flour and milk to the creamed mixture. Mix well and pour into prepared pans.

5. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (mine took less time than recipe and browned a little on the edges. So just keep half an eye on it.)

I layered the two cakes and frosted with chocolate frosting. This is from the back of the Hershey Cocoa box.

Chocolate Frosting

1 stick butter/margarine
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar (I used a 1/2 cup more)
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Melt butter and stir in cocoa

2. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating on medium speed to spreading consistency. Add more milk if needed. Stir in vanilla. Makes about 2 cups frosting.

So if you're ever in a similar predicament or just want to try a scratch cake, this one'll do ya!

Creamy Italian Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (thawed)
1 envelope dry Italian salad dressing mix
1/2 cup water
1 8 oz. package cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup (undiluted)
1 can mushrooms, stems and pieces, drained

Place chicken in the bottom of the crockpot.
Combine salad dressing mix and water; pour over chicken.
Cover and cook on LOW for 3 hours.

In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and soup until blended. Stir in mushrooms and pour over chicken.

Cook 1 hour longer, or until chicken juices run clear.

Remove chicken, stir sauce to blend everything really well. You can cut the chicken up into small pieces and return to the sauce, or just leave it as whole pieces.

Serve over rice or pasta. I like to use bowtie pasta.

Caramel Brownies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Melt in the microwave:
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 lb. unwrapped caramels

Mix separately:
1 chocolate cake mix
3/4 cup butter or margarine
1/3 cup evaporated milk

Smash 1/2 of the chocolate mixture into a sprayed 9x13 pan. Bake for 8 minutes.

Remove from oven and sprinkle 1 cup chocolate chips over the top and drizzle the caramel mixture on top.

Crumble the rest of the chocolate mixture on top and return to the oven to bake for 20 minutes.

Let cool, cut into bars.

Clone of a Cinnabon

I made these on the Sunday that our church was cancelled because of a fire in the building. They will be forever known as the Cancelled Church Cinnamon Rolls.

It's recipe is divided into three sections - what goes in the bread machine, the cinnamon/sugar/butter topping that gets rolled up in the dough, and the frosting.

Ingredients:
1 cup warm milk
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup margarine, melted
4 1/2 cups bread flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 tsp. bread machine yeast
**********************************
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened
**********************************
1 package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
dash salt

1. Place section one ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle and press start.

2. After cycle is complete, turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Cover, and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and the cinnamon.

3. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread the softened butter and sprinkle evenly with the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

4. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt.

5. After the rolls are out of the oven, turn a cookie sheet over the top of the pan and flip the 9x13 over on top of the cookie sheet - this redistributes the gooey stuff. Spread the frosting on the warm rolls before serving.

Crock pot Chicken A La King

3 frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup frozen or fresh red, yellow, and green pepper strips/dices

1/4 cup diced onion

1 clove of garlic smashed

salt and pepper to taste

Throw all this into a crock pot cook six to 8 hrs on high. Remove breasts and dice--return to sauce.

Serve over biscuits, rice, noodles, etc. I used the frozen pillsbury biscuits in the bag---very easy.

I served picsweet brand steam fresh asian vegetables on the side and they went well together. The original recipe called for adding peas and mushrooms to the crock pot for the last 30 min. or so, but we have a non pea eater in the house so I chose to omit them. If you keep the frozen peppers on hand this is a meal you can fix without going to the store for stuff. If you are starting your pot at breakfast time---frozen breasts work--if it's later--thaw them first.

For Starters

Here is a delicious and super-simple little dessert. Someone brought these to Dan's work during the holidays, he brought home the idea, and we've had them as a little sweet snacker when friends come over.

1 bag of pretzels (shaped like a little square grid, mine were Snyder's Butter Snaps)
1 bag of Rolos
1 bag of pecans (whole or halves)

On a cookie sheet, put your pretzels down first, and then a Rolo on top of each one. Put them under the broiler until the Rolo's look kind of melty. As soon as they come out, push a pecan into each one. Let them set up for a few minutes, or eat them right away!