Salted Caramel Chocoate Cookies

Ingredients
* 1 cup butter
* 1 1/2 cups white sugar
* 2 eggs
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup Kraft caramel bits, or cut caramels
* 1/2 cup chocolate chips
* coarse sea salt

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. In large bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
3. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended.
4. Mix in the caramel bits and chocolate chips.
5. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets. Press each cookie down slightly to flatten, then sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt.
6. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.'

Notes
8 minutes  was perfect in my oven.  These can be a little tough to remove if the caramel has melted onto the parchment and gets onto your spatula.  Keep cleaning it off so as to aid your taking the cookies off the baking sheets.  I could not find the caramel bits, to I used kitchen shears to cut up some normal Kraft caramels to use in the recipe.  Also, the sea salt seemed to have dissolved into the cookies during the baking time, so when they came out of the oven, I added one last pinch!  Be warned...these are very chocolatey!  I used Special Dark cocoa powder, and really enjoyed the flavor.

May 12, 2012

Whoops!  Another Saturday posting...next week I hope to be back on track with a Friday posting!

This week flew by!  Ryan was in Europe on business for much of it, and as I expected, we didn't try out any new dinner recipes. We did make one new recipe, and it was a keeper, but I can't post it yet! I forgot to take a photo before we ate them all! My dear friend introduced me to a terribly irresistible dessert called two-tone brownies.  Next time I make them I will photograph them.  In a nutshell, they are your favorite brownie recipe (homemade or boxed) "frosted" with egg-free raw cookie dough!  Oh my...  I promise to post the recipe when I take a photograph!

We did make a discovery this week when it comes to Taco Bugers - using ground turkey instead of ground beef tasted fabulous!  So, if you only have ground turkey, or even ground chicken, on hand and you still are in the mood for taco burgers, go for it! 

I already have two recipes planned for this week.  As you know, I have a fear of yeast that I am slowly overcoming, and these two recipes will hopefully contribute to higher confidence levels in that area!  Ever thought about making English muffins?  I hadn't even really thought it possible, but then I saw a recipe in a book published in 1980.  So hint hint...English muffins is one of the recipes on the list.  You'll just have to wait for next week to find out the other.  If it flops, I will still let you know what it was...but keep your fingers crossed for a keeper!

May 5, 2012

The kids had off from school on Friday, and then Hannah had an evening soccer game, so publishing the blog fell to the bottom of the priority list.  Here it is, one day late, but as they say, better late then never!!!

This week we only tried one new dinner, but it was a hit!  Both the salmon preparation and the accompanying creamy dill sauce were voted keepers.

I love dill!  This recipe wasn't clear if you needed fresh dill or dried dill. I couldn't bring myself to buy a whole bunch a dill without any additional recipes waiting in the wings for it, so I went with dried from my cupboard.  (If you use fresh, let me know how it is   - it would probably be even better!)  The creamy dill sauce was delicious with the fish, and you might even be able to use it as a dipping sauce with crackers or pretzels. 

This coming week Ryan will be out of town, so I am not sure how many new recipes we'll be trying.  I know the kids have asked for breakfast for dinner (always a big hit), tacos, spaghetti...nothing too fancy, but dinners they all love.  So, we'll see if we try anything this week, and if we do, if any are keepers!

New Recipes
Salmon with Creamy Dill Sauce

Salmon with Creamy Dill Sauce

Ingredients for Salmon
* 1 salmon fillet (about 2 pounds) 
* 1 teaspoon onion powder 
* 1 small onion, sliced and separated into rings 
* 6 lemon slices 
* 1/4 cup butter, cubed

Ingredients for  Dill Sauce 
* 1/3 cup sour cream 
* 1/3 cup mayonnaise 
* 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion 
* 1 teaspoon lemon juice 
* 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish 
* 3/4 teaspoon dill weed 
* 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt 
* Pepper to taste

Directions  
1. Line a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan with heavy-duty foil, grease lightly. Place salmon skin side down on foil. Sprinkle with lemon-pepper and onion salt. Top with onion and lemon. Dot with butter. Fold foil around salmon; seal tightly.
2. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Open foil carefully, allowing steam to escape. Broil 4-6 in. from the heat for and additional 8-12 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. 
3. Combine the sauce ingredients until smooth. Serve with salmon. 

Notes
We used a few individual pieces of salmon instead of one large piece and it worked well.  All the salmon loves in our house enjoyed this salmon and sauce!

April 27, 2012

We find ourselves at the end of the week again!!!  This week we only tried one new recipe, but everyone enjoyed it!  We also made an old favorite, so I've included that here as well.  I didn't plan it, but both are slow cooker meals, so if you have some busy nights ahead, perhaps you'll want to give one of these a try!

Crock Pot Jambalaya has been a favorite of ours, and I have shared this recipe with different friends over the years.  It is fairly spicy if you use the ingredients as listed, so keep this in mind when you are preparing it for your family.  I enjoy the level of heat, I don't think it is too spicy, but you might want to scale back that cayenne until you try it.

The slow cooker meal that worked out this week was a whole chicken in the slow cooker.  I hadn't done that before, and at the end of the cooking time it was really falling apart - to the point that it was a bit tough to remove from the crock!  But cooking it as a whole chicken helped the "juiciness" factor - we sometimes find chicken in the slow cooker to be a bit dry.  I also cooked it breast side down to ensure the breast meat was in the cooking liquid the entire time.  The recipe called for 8 hours on low, but we took it out at 7.5 hours, and you could probably take it out a little earlier too if your timing worked out.

Enjoy!


Tried and True
Crock Pot Jambalaya

New Recipe
Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

Crock Pot Jambalaya

Ingredients 
* 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained 
* 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) beef or chicken broth 
* 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste 
* 2 medium green peppers, chopped 
* 1 medium onion, chopped 
* 3 celery ribs, chopped 
* 5 garlic cloves, minced 
* 3 tsp dried parsley flakes 
* 2 tsp dried basil 
* 1-1/2 tsp dried oregano 
* 1-1/4 tsp salt 
* 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 
* 1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce 
* 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes 
* 1 lb smoked sausage, halved and cut into 1/4-inch slices 
* 1/2 lb uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined 
* Hot cooked rice

Directions 
1. In a 5-qt. slow cooker, combine the tomatoes, broth and tomato paste. Stir in the green peppers, onion, celery, garlic and seasonings. Stir in chicken and sausage.
2. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours or until chicken is no longer pink. Stir in shrimp. Cover and cook 15-30 minutes longer or until shrimp turn pink.
3. Serve with rice.

Notes
 Even the kids love this!!!  This is pretty spicy as written, so you could leave out the cayenne pepper if you think your family will want to kick the heat level down.  We also used chicken andouille sausage and it worked great.

Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken

Ingredients 

*1 (3-5 pound) whole chicken, skin removed 

* 1 cup chicken broth 

* 2/3 cup soy sauce 

* 1/3 cup olive oil 

* 1/2 cup honey 

* 2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 

* 4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar 

* 4 teaspoons lemon juice 

* 2 teaspoon sesame oil 

* 4 tablespoons minced garlic

Directions

 

1. Remove skin from chicken, and empty inner cavity of contents within. Pat chicken dry with a paper towel, and place inside the slow cooker. 

2. In a bowl, stir together the chicken broth, soy sauce, olive oil, honey, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, sesame oil, and minced garlic. Pour mixture over chicken, and cover. 

3. Cook chicken on low setting for 8 hours, or 4 hours on high setting. 

Notes

We found this to be a decently moist chicken dish for having been cooked in the slow cooker.  I only removed the skin on the breast meat and drumsticks, and I cooked it breast side down.  I only cooked it for a little over 7 hours, and it was fine.  We served it with our favorite side dish/vegetable cauliflower rice!!! A few of us used soy sauce on the chicken and cauliflower rice, but you can add whatever you want.