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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Fudge

Posted in Cooking, tagged Buns In My Oven, Candy, Chocolate, Fudge, Pinterest on May 25, 2013| 8 Comments »

Since I didn’t get to make any candy last Christmas, I decided that it didn’t have to be a holiday to make it. Why not make fudge any old time of the year? This recipe from Buns In My Oven that I found on Pinterest looked so yummy that I decided to try it.

I usually like the classic fudges the best such as chocolate pecan and peanut butter, but I have to say that this one is right up there with them. Of course, being chocolate-flavored helped a little! The only problem I had was that my chocolate chips wanted to melt a little in the warm mixture and Ms. Buns’ has perfect little chips in each piece. Thankfully, it didn’t hurt the taste, just the appearance a little.

For the cookie dough:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons half and half
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

For the fudge:
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup butter
pinch of salt
1/3 cup half and half
4-5 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Line an 8×8” baking dish with foil leaving a little overhang and spray with non-stick spray.

For the cookie cough: beat the butter and white sugar until they are light and fluffy which takes about 3 minutes. Add the brown sugar, vanilla, salt and half & half and combine. Stir in the flour and set aside.

Now make the fudge base:

Combine the brown sugar, butter, salt, and half and half in a medium saucepan over low-medium heat. Warm and stir until the butter is melted and the brown sugar is dissolved.

Remove from the heat and slowly add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Stir in the vanilla and then stir in the cookie dough. Mix in the chips and spread it in the prepared baking pan.

Chill for at least 3 hours. It was a little humid when I made mine so it took more time to set up. Cut into small pieces and enjoy!

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Beef Stew With Noodles

Posted in Cooking, tagged Beef, Beef Stew with Noodles, Cooking, Egg Noodles, Martha Stewart, Pinterest on April 20, 2013| 10 Comments »

A couple of weeks ago, I was searching for something new to cook for Sunday dinner. Where did I go? Straight to my “recipes to make” Pinterest board, of course. I had pinned this a while back, but had not had the chance to make it so this was my choice of the day.

The original version is from Martha Stewart, but I tweaked this just a little to suit our tastes.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 pounds boneless beef chuck, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Kosher salt and ground pepper

1 medium onion, sliced lengthwise

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

45 oz. beef broth

1/2 pound carrots, cut into 1-inch chunks

2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch dice

1 bay leaf

2 cups egg noodles

Please ignore the red wine vinegar in the photo…I didn’t use it.

In a large pot, heat oil over high. Season the beef cubes with salt & pepper. Cook until seared and brown on all sides, about 6 minutes.

Reduce the heat to medium. Add onion and season with salt and pepper. Cook until onion begins to soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour until beef and onion are coated and cook 1 to 2 minutes. Watch it closely so the flour doesn’t burn. Add broth and 3 cups water, stirring and scraping up browned bits. Add the bay leaf. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer and cook until beef is tender, about 25 minutes.

Now it is time to add the carrots and potatoes and cook until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. Add noodles and cook until tender, about 8 minutes.

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Mexican Hamburger Soup

Posted in Cooking, tagged Cooking, Easy Natural Food, Main, mexican hamburger soup, Pinterest, Soup on March 9, 2013| 5 Comments »

February was soup month for me, specifically hamburger soups. I have been eyeing this recipe for a while and finally had a chance to try it out. I found it on Pinterest (of course) and it was pinned from Easy Natural Food. The name of the site says it all…this recipe was simple and natural and yummy. I didn’t have any hot sauce to perk up my mild salsa so next time, I will get a spicier salsa. I also added just a little salt and black pepper for a flavor boost as well.

2 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 cup diced onion

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 lb. ground beef

2-3 ribs celery, chopped

1 medium/large carrot, sliced

1 cup corn (I used canned.)

16 oz. jar salsa

3 cups beef or vegetable stock

2 tbsp. tomato paste

Salt & pepper to taste

Over medium heat in a large pot, heat the oil and then add the onion and garlic. Cook until the onion is soft, but not browned. Add the ground beef and cook until it is no longer pink. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer for about 30 minutes. Enjoy!

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Hamburger Soup

Posted in Cooking, tagged Cooking, Hamburger Soup, Main, Pinterest, Simply Klassic, Soup on February 23, 2013| 17 Comments »

I love to try new soup recipes, especially when the weather is cold. Soup just warms the body and soul. This is a quick and simple, but filling, soup from Simply Klassic which I found on Pinterest.

Even though I don’t have kids, I think this would be a very kid-friendly meal with some cheese and crackers or cornbread on the side.

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 tbsp. minced garlic

1 lb. ground beef

salt & pepper to taste

1 can condensed tomato soup, plus 1 can water

28 oz. beef broth (I used vegetable since I was out of beef.)

1 small can corn (I used Mexicorn.)

2 cups uncooked pasta of your choice

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion has softened. Add the beef and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the meat is no longer pink.

Add the rest of the ingredients except the pasta. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat to medium. Add the pasta and cook until al dente.

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Thoughtful Thursday-State Of The Blog Address

Posted in My Thoughts, tagged blogging, My Thoughts, Pinterest, Print Friendly, Wordpress on February 21, 2013|

Since the President gives the country a State Of The Union address and our governor gives a State Of The Commonwealth address, I thought I would give my own version, The State Of The Blog address. As of March 9th, 2013, I have been blogging for 4 years at this little site. When I look back at some of those first posts, I will chuckle at myself and realize how far I have come in my writing and photography skills. I am still not the greatest, but at least I have improved. While my dad was in the hospital and rehab facility for weeks these past few months, I worried that I would have to give up blogging for a while since there wasn’t much free time. Thankfully he is now at home and doing great so back to blogging I go, very happily I might add.

This is my creative outlet. The cooking of the food, the photographing of the food, and, finally, writing about all of it brings me joy. This is kind of like my alter-ego and it is a place I can go express myself and write about what I want to write about.

Since this is definitely not my full-time job (hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?), I try to keep my hobby as inexpensive as possible. The most expensive thing I have bought for blogging is a new camera, but we use that for many other things. I have purchased a few bowls, plates, and pretty dishtowels to use as props, but that is about it. I love to look at other blogs that are professionally designed with all kinds of buttons and gadgets, but didn’t want to pay for it. Enter my amazing husband, C!

A few weeks ago, I needed to learn how to enter HTML code into a blog post using Windows Live Writer (another great FREE product). While C showed me how to do it, he asked if there was anything else I wanted to add. YES!!! Many blogs had “Pin It” buttons so readers could “pin” their posts and I wanted one. We did a little searching on the WordPress site and found by going to “Settings” and “Sharing”, we could make those buttons a reality. Now at the bottom of every post, there is a Pinterest, Print, Twitter and Email buttons. Love it!

Speaking of the print option, this is due to another freebie that C knew about call Print Friendly. Just go to their site and click on “website button” at the top right and you, too, can have a print option on your site. I really like it because it pulls the photos to one side so all of the text is together and that makes it much easier to read as an actual recipe. Also, you can hover your mouse over sections and delete them so they won’t print and empty your ink cartridge. Genius, I say, just genius.

I also added a “Follow Me on Pinterest” button right under my “About Me” info on the right hand side of the page. I love Pinterest so please follow me and see all of the stuff I may never get around to doing or buying. Ha!

If you are new to this space, thanks for stopping by and I hope you return many times. If you are a regular reader, thank you from the bottom of my heart! I love doing this and if only one person gets enjoyment out of besides me, then it is completely worth it.

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Cookies & Cream Bars

Posted in Cooking, tagged Baking, Chocolate Cake Mix, Chocolate Chips, Cooking, Oreos, Picky Palate, Pinterest on January 26, 2013| 7 Comments »

This is the first sweet treat I got to make after my dad got out of the hospital. The need to bake hit me and this recipe looked like a winner! A little goes a long way so you will get plenty of bars out of one pan.

I found this on Pinterest posted by Picky Palate and Ms. Picky Palate always has tasty treat to try!

1 chocolate cake mix

1 stick butter, softened

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

14 Oreo cookies, broken into bite sized pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13×9” baking dish with foil and spray the foil with nonstick spray. Combine the cake mix, butter and egg together. I used my hands to do this and it is MESSY! If you wear rings while cooking, take them off. Put the dough into the baking dish and pat out evenly.

Top this with the broken cookie pieces then pour the milk over the whole thing.

Bake for 23-25 minutes or until cooked through. Cool for about 5 minutes then removed from pan and peel off the foil. Cool completely; cut and enjoy!

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Posted in Cooking, tagged Baking, Bundt cake, Cake, Chocolate, Chocolate Chips, Cooking, Peanut Butter, Pinterest, The Big Green Bowl, Yellow cake mix on January 19, 2013| 22 Comments »

I am a sucker for semi-homemade Bundt cakes using a cake mix as a base. I have posted about three such cakes in the past: chocolate chip Bundt cake, moist caramel apple cake, and chocolate Bundt cake. I found this new version on Pinterest from the blog The Big Green Bowl and knew I had to try it.

This is really tasty and, like most Bundt cakes, is better the day after it is baked. The Big Green Bowl used a peanut butter glaze on hers, but also included a recipe for a chocolate glaze so I went all out and used BOTH glazes.

For the cake:

1 pkg. yellow cake mix

1 cup milk

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

1 cup chocolate chips

For the peanut butter glaze:

1/4 cup cream peanut butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup milk, more or less

For the chocolate glaze:

2 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a Bundt pan by spraying with Baker’s Joy (best stuff ever) or grease and flour.

Beat all cake ingredients except the chocolate chips for two minutes at medium speed. Stir in chips. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then remove and let cool completely.

For the chocolate glaze:

Melt the butter in a small pan over low heat. Add the cocoa and cream. Cook and stir for about two minutes or until the mixture thickens. Do not boil. Remove from the heat and whisk in the vanilla and powdered sugar until smooth. Pour over the cake and let cool.

For the peanut butter glaze:

Whisk all the ingredients together. You may add a little more sugar or milk to get the desired consistency. Pour over the cake and allow to set up. Slice and enjoy!

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Baked S’mores

Posted in Cooking, tagged Baked Perfection, Baked S'mores, Baking, Chocolate, Marshmallow, Pinterest on November 24, 2012| 13 Comments »

I really like s’mores, but we are not really into campfires too much so I was delighted to find this baked version. The recipe originates from Baked Perfection, but I, of course, found it on Pinterest and saved it for later. Later finally came and these bars are so ooey, gooey good! Hurry to the store and pick up the ingredients because these are awesome.

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (approximately 7 full graham crackers)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 super-sized (5 oz.) dark chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s)(I didn’t check my bar size so I ended up with HUGE chocolate bars, but don’t worry because the extra didn’t go to waste.)
1 1/2 cups marshmallow crème/fluff (not melted marshmallows

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 8×8 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla.

Whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan.

Then layer the chocolate over the cookie dough…

THEN layer the marshmallow crème over the chocolate and top that off with the remaining cookie dough. You will probably have to carefully work the dough over the crème to have complete coverage.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Let cool completely and then try to keep from eating the whole pan by yourself. It will be hard to do, I promise. As you can tell by the photo below, I didn’t let mine cool quite enough before cutting into it. Oh, well…

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Vanilla Frozen Yogurt

Posted in Cooking, tagged Cooking, Frozen Yogurt, Pinterest on July 21, 2012| 5 Comments »

When I received an ice cream maker and dairy free ice cream recipe book for my birthday last year, I was thrilled. Since then, many experiments have happened with that little piece of equipment and most of them have been successes. As I have written on here before, I am lactose intolerant, but I can eat cheese and yogurt without any problems. Knowing that, I went on a search for a frozen yogurt recipe and found this one on Pinterest, of course. It was pinned from the website 101cookbooks.com.

The site says this yogurt rivals Pinkberry yogurt. I can’t claim that because there are no Pinkberry stores anywhere close to me, but this is some good frozen yogurt. It is sweet but still has that tang of yogurt that I really like. One note about the recipe: it calls to strain the yogurt before freezing it. I didn’t because there wasn’t enough time and it still turned out great.

3 cups plain or Greek yogurt

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix together all 3 ingredients in a large bowl until the sugar is dissolved.

Refrigerate the mixture for one hour then process in your ice cream maker according to instructions. That’s it! Easy, peasy!

This was some awesome stuff with the deep dish cookie pie. Don’t worry because that recipe will be here next Saturday. Come on back now!

Please join me at Miz Helen’s Country Cottage for Full Plate Thursday.

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