Butter Toffee

My daughter got this recipe off of the Pioneer Woman's website. Heath and Skor bars happen to be my favorite candy bars so this was definitely a favorite of mine. Soo yummy. My picture is after they were a couple days old, they actually looked a lot more appetizing in real life. No matter how hard I tried to resist overindulging in these, I could not. Yum!

Ingredients:
16 oz butter, melted
16 oz. granulated sugar
3 oz. fluid water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
16 oz chopped topping (nuts, candy canes, sea salt)
24 oz, weight tempered dark chocolate for coating, melted *need a candy thermometer

Directions:
Combine butter, sugar, water, and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook over moderate heat, stirring gently, until candy thermometer registers 298 degrees. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla until well combined. Pour the mixture onto a silicone baking mat or good parchment paper. Use a heatproof rubber spatula to offset spatula to spread quickly before the toffee sets. Spread thin. Allow toffee to cool completely. Blot to remove excess oil from the surface. Coat surface with half of the melted chocolate and immediately sprinkle with topping. When chocolate has totally set, carefully flip over and coate the other side with the rest of the chocolate. Sprinkle o topping. Allow to set, then break into bite-size pieces. Store in airtight container.

Hawaiian Chicken Bowl

I found this recipe on On my Menu (and stole her picture too :) It was a hit at my house. It was one of those rare meals that everyone loved. Surprisingly they even all tried it with the ranch and loved the ranch dressing on top. Besides tasting good, I loved that it was soo simple to make and put together.

Ingredients:

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple

1 bottle (16 oz) barbecue sauce

4-6 cups rice, cooked

Steamed broccoli

Ranch dressing

Directions:

Place meat in 3 1/2-5 quart slow cooker. Combine pineapple and barbecue sauce and pour over meat. Cook on high heat for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours. Layer in bowls: rice, chicken, broccoli, and a little ranch dressing. Makes 4-6 servings.

Vegetable Potstickers

Ingredients:
1 red onion sliced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 cup sliced shiitake mushrooms
1 cup white cabbage, shredded
1 cup carrots, shredded
1 cup chopped garlic chives or chives
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 package round dumpling skins, also called gyoza (preferably twin dragon brand) Salt to taste
Canola oil

Directions
In a wok or large saute pan, add a little oil and saute onions and ginger. Add the mushrooms and stir. Add the cabbage, carrots and chives. Season. When mixture is soft, place in colander to drain. Add the sesame oil and cilantro when mixture is cooled. Check for seasoning. Using the gyoza skins, make half moon dumplings keeping the bottom flat. In a hot non-stick pan, coat with oil and place dumplings. When bottom gets brown, add 1/4 cup of water and immediately cover. This will steam the dumplings. Carefully watch the dumplings and completely evaporate the water so that the bottom gets crispy again and sticks to the pot. Serve with dipping sauce. SPICY SOY DIPPING SAUCE:
1/3 cup thin soy sauce
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup sliced scallions
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Combine all.

Strawberry Shortcake

I had these at a friends house and immediately fell in love. This is my new favorite strawberry shortcake recipe. These little shortcakes are soo good and soo easy to make. My daughter took a shortcake to school to eat as her snack without any toppings, she liked them so much.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
3 TB sugar
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
3/8 tsp salt
1 cup heavy cream
1 qt strawberries
1/3 cup sugar
more cream for whipping (at least 1 cup to serve 6, probably more)

Directions:
Grease baking sheet with spray. Preheat oven to 450. Whisk together flour, 3 Tb sugar, baking powder and salt. Whisk in cream to make soft dough (the dough is really sticky, it will clump your whisk, I just use my hands to mix). Drop dough in 6 mounds and flatten to 2 1/2 - 3 inches in diameter. Sprinkle tops with sugar. Place in oven and immediately reduce heat to 425. Cook 15-17 min (10 was enough for me--so be sure to check). Cool on racks 5 min to 2 hours. Crush 1/3 of the strawberries in food processor (or use potato masher) with 1/3 cup sugar. Slice remaining berries and stir into crushed berries. Let stand at room temp for at least 20 min. Berries can be made up to 4 hours ahead and refrigerated. Whip cream into soft peaks, sweeten and add a little vanilla. Split shortcakes in half horizontally. Spoon 1/2 the strawberry mixture on bottoms, then replace tops. Spoon remaining berries over tops and add spoonfuls of whipped cream. Enjoy!

Beef Pot Pie

Ingredients:
1 leftover pot roast, chopped up into bite size pieces
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 potatoes, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 onion, diced
1 tsp minced garlic
2 carrots, sliced
3/4 cup frozen peas
2 packages brown gravy mix
2 cups water
1/2 tsp marjorum
1/2 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste
2 9 inch pie crusts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425. Place chopped up vegetables (onion, celery, potatoes, carrots) into frying pan with oil. Cook until onion is translucent. Add 2 brown gravy mixes, 2 cups of water, and frozen peas. Cover and let simmer until potatoes and carrots are cooked through. Add the chopped up pot roast. Add marjorum, thyme, salt and pepper and mix through. Let simmer until everything is heated through (won't take long). Place pie crust in pie pan. Add in the pot pie filling and top with pie crust. Follow directions for pie crust but I cooked this for 20 minutes at 425

Donut Muffins

These muffins were super delicious. They are basically cinnamon muffins made in a mini muffin pan. My daughter got the recipe off of allrecipes.

Ingredients

1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup margarine, melted
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup margarine, melted
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 24 mini-muffin cups.
Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup margarine, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Stir in the milk, then mix in the baking powder and flour until just combined. Fill the prepared mini muffin cups about half full.
Bake in the preheated oven until the tops are lightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes.
While muffins are baking, place 1/4 cup of melted margarine in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together 1/2 cup of sugar with the cinnamon. Remove muffins from their cups, dip each muffin in the melted margarine, and roll in the sugar-cinnamon mixture. Let cool and serve.

Bean Salad

Ingredients:
1 can corn
1 can kidney beans
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can white beans
1 can pinto beans
Or any other types of beans you like
3 stalks of celery, chopped
3 carrots, chopped or shredded
bundle of parsley, chopped
bottle of balsamic dressing, any type

Rinse beans. Mix all ingredients together. Enjoy!