Brown Sugar Muffins

Brown Sugar Muffins were a muffin I remember my mom making to go with Sunday dinners when she didn't have time to do her delicious home made rolls. Our family loved them! (She always had to double the batch for our large family) Tonight I made them to go with our Sunday dinner (which we always have with my Brother- and Sister-in-law and their kids) they were a hit just like they always were at mom's table.

Brown Sugar Muffins

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup nuts

Mix together, do not over stir! The batter should be lumpy. Bake at 350 until golden brown 15 minutes -/+ depending on muffin size. Mini muffins 10-12 minutes.

Single batch made 12 regular size muffins and 12 mini-muffins.

Skillet Lasagna

I got this recipe idea from http://reliefsocietycookers.blogspot.com/search/label/Beef who gave the credit to http://sistersstuff.blogspot.com I modified it to our liking so if you want the original recipe check out sisters stuff.

It was quick, simple, and tasty! It was a hit with my kids! Which makes many recipes winners. I was happy that I happened to have cottage cheese on hand this week. We will be making this again. It is as delicious as Lasagna, to me, without all the labor and time.

Skillet Lasagna

1 pound ground beef (browning with salt and pepper)

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove minced garlic

1 (14-15 oz can) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 1/2 cups water

1 (8-ounce can) tomato sauce

2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes

1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

3/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1 teaspoon salt (3/4 teaspoon because I salt and peppered the meat as it was browning)

3 cups bow tie pasta, uncooked

1 cup cottage cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In large skillet, brown beef with onions and garlic; drain. Add tomatoes, water, tomato sauce, parsley, basil, oregano, and salt. Mix well.

Stir in uncooked pasta. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat; cover, simmer for 20 minutes or until pasta is tender, stirring once.

Stir in cottage cheese. Cover with and Parmesan cheese, and sprinkle in basil and pepper to taste if desired. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

St. Patrick's Day Fun- Eating the Rainbow and More

I kicked off the week trying to be better at making the holidays fun for my kids. I always remember my mom decorating for each and every holiday. I on the other hand decorate very little for all the holidays except for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and CHRISTMAS and even at it's bet it is minimal. So in an effort to make St. Patrick's Day fun I helped my boys create their own little leprechaun traps. Hoping we will trap him and get loads of gold! They are so excited they are counting down like it is Christmas or something. It has just gone to prove to me that making holidays fun is a big deal to kids--I just hope they will remember it. :-) It has been a fun week trying to make up answers for all their leprechaun questions.

So today for fun we made 'Taste of Rainbow" cupcakes from familyfun.com The kids had a blast. If you enlist yourself in this project be prepared to spend some time. They are not your quick toss it in the pan cupcakes. (I doubled the cake mixes because I thought if I am going to do it I am going to make it worth my time!--Maybe that is why it took so long! ;-))

The fun part for my boys was being able to help stir each small batch of food coloring batter that I had waiting for them and seeing what color they turned into.

Here they are helping me fill the cupcake liners--by reminding me which color comes next.

Hughie just enjoyed being able to lick everything we were done with clean.

The End RESULTS: A CUTE Edible RAINBOW

Taste of Rainbow

White Cake mix (18.25 oz box)--or double it! ;-)

Food Coloring (red, blue, green, and yellow)

Baking cups (White ones allow you to see the rainbow through them)

Whipping Cream (optional)

Prepare your favorite white cake mix, then divide the batter evenly into 6 bowls. place in liners in the following order (Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red).

Bake according to recipe directions. Remove the paper and wrapper, and if you like, top each cupcake with a whipping cream cloud.

Food coloring

Purple -- 9 red and 6 blue drops

Blue-- 12 drops

Green--12 drops

Yellow--12 drops

Orange--12 yellow and 4 red drops

Red --18 drops

Enjoy the delight on your kids faces as they eat their way to the end of the rainbow!

Lemon Pepper Chicken Sandwich-Pioneer Woman

I am now almost at the 14 week mark of my pregnancy and boy food just isn't appealing to me--in the sense that nothing every sounds good to me, but once I have buckled down and made it food always taste good (for the most part). All the recipes we've been trying are not doing it for us and so I haven't felt like I have posted something yummy in a while. So it they have made it on the blog in the last few months it is because they tasted good, were quick to make, and that more than just my self enjoyed how it tastes. If there is anyone out there with some great recipes they would be willing to share I am SO INTERESTED in hearing about them. I am in a rut and feel stuck in the mud. I really could use some ideas of what has worked for others lately. I go on my favorite food blogs and nothing even appeals to me very often, but it all looks good-- this seems wacky to me.

Anywhooooo, I did go searching for something last night because I was so at a total loss as to what to make for dinner (it was just after 4 pm and the kids were getting hungry). So my friend Aubrey had told me of some great recipes she had been trying off Pioneer Woman's blog so I started there. I ended up trying this chicken sandwich and it was quick, easy, and tasty! I didn't really care for the name she gave it Marlboro Man's Favorite sandwich #2 so I named it differently.

Lemon Pepper Chicken Sandwich

1/2 lb Peppered Bacon

Chicken Breast/Tenders *

Cheese

Hamburger Buns or Kaiser Rolls

Fry the 1/2 lb. bacon in the pan to desired doneness (Extra crispy for me!) CAREFULLY, Pour off the grease and return 1 Tablespoon of grease back to the pan. (I didn't have peppered so I just sprinkled some pepper on top of my raw bacon before cooking it--work fine.) Then generously cover both sides of Chicken with Lemon Pepper seasoning. (I was a little timid on this fearing it might make it peppery hot for my kids, but I can honestly say be generous with it.) Get oil nice and hot again then add your chicken pieces. Cook until no longer pink. While Chicken is just finishing the last few minutes of its cooking, place strips of bacon on top if each piece of chicken (or a couple depending on the meats size). Add your sliced cheese over the top. Then cover pan with lid to help the cheese melt.

Remove Chicken from pan and place on buns, and serve!

I always love tomatoes on my sandwiches so we added that as our own twist. I also thought it need a small amount of mayo to help the bun not be so dry. It was a great sandwich and we will make it again.

* Chicken (Pioneer Woman used 2 Breast. I need it to feed more than to people so I used 7 Chicken Tenders from Costco.) Pound them out into a 1/2-inch flat piece.

Grilled Mahi Mahi, Rice Pilaf, Veggie Medley

This was a simple throw together dinner with items we have on hand. I used the Lion House Recipe for the Rice Pilaf and the Vegetable Medley. My little family ate it with no complaints.

Rice Pilaf

2 Tablespoons butter or margarine

1 cup uncooked rice

1/2 cup minced onion

1/2 cup minced celery

3 cups hot chicken broth

2 Tablespoons chopped parsley

1/2 cup slivered almonds

Melt butter in hot frying pan. Add rice, onion, and celery; stir and cook until slightly brown. Add chicken broth. Cover and simmer on low heat until moisture has been absorbed and rice is tender. Add parsley and almonds just before serving. Toss lightly. Makes 8 half-cup servings.

Vegetable Medley

2 medium carrots (again I always add more because my kids love them)

3 small zucchini

3 ribs celery

Water

2 Tablespoons butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Peel carrots; was and clean zucchini and celery. Slice vegetables diagonally. Place 1/4 inch water and butter in saucepan and bring to a boil. Add carrots and simmer covered for 4 minutes. Add celery and simmer an additional 2 minutes. Add zucchini and continue cooking for an additional 5 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender-crisp. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve at once, retaining remaining liquid in serving dish.

Makes 4 servings. (These servings seem really big!)

Mahi Mahi

Nothing to it! Thaw, Olive oil both sides, Salt and pepper to your liking and toss it on the grill!

Easy Chicken and Dumplings

This recipe was a huge hit with my little family. I loved it! It really hit the spot for me. Chicken Noodle soups are a major comfort food though aren't they? And comfort food always please everyone it seems--at least they are at our home.

This is sure to be a kid friendly meal. It was gobbled down by my two year old as fast as I could keep it cooled down for him. Cameron stated, "Mom, I love the noodles!" and this morning Quin said to Jack. "Dad we had the yummiest soup last night you have to try it!" So I guess if kids understood the rating system this would be a 4-5 star for us! When Jack at it at midnight he commented that it was good. He too loved the noodle. When I told him what it was he said, "Oh so I guess it isn't that good for us huh?" To which I replies, "It is okay we don't eat refrigerated biscuits all that often!"

I was glad I tried this recipe before the weather gets to nice and it is not appealing to have soups anymore. I got this recipe from January 2010 Southern Living magazine p 127.

Easy Chicken and Dumplings

1 (32 oz) container low-sodium chicken broth (I used closer to 5 cups of broth)

3 cups shredded cooked chicken (about 1 1/2 lbs. I used chicken tenders. Salt and peppered while cooking. They suggested a deli-roasted chicken yields about 3 cups of meat)

1 (10 3/4 oz) can reduced-fat cream of chicken soup

1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1 (10.2 oz can) refrigerated jumbo butter milk biscuits --I am sure you could stir up your own biscuits and it would work fine, but doesn't make the recipe EASY ;-) or quick!

2 Carrots, diced (I used 3-4)

3 celery ribs, diced

Bring first 4 ingredients to a boil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Increase heat to medium high; return to a low boil.

Place biscuits on a lightly floured surface. Roll or pat each biscuit to 1/8-inch thickness; cut into 1/2-inch wide strips. Drop strips, one at a time, into boiling broth mixture. Add carrots and celery. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent dumplings from sticking.

ENJOY!

Yet another Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe tried

We have many chocolate chip recipes and to many favorites already. There is just nothing like a warm chocolate chip straight from the oven is there? We liked the lightness of this dough and thought we would try to use up some of our orange peel chocolates for a fun mix-in. It worked great and was a big hit!

I got this recipe out of the inside of my parchment paper box.

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened (I used butter flavored Crisco)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 package (12 oz) milk or dark chocolate chips. We did 1/2 cup each of dark, milk, and orange peel chocolates.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper, set aside.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

Beat butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together in a large bowl, with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

Add flour mixture gradually to butter mixture and beat until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by spoonful of desired size onto lined parchment cookie sheets.

Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until lightly browned.

**I personally prefer an almost under baked cookie so I went for 13 minutes the first pan. Once the pan is hot drop it to 12 minutes. I feel like this allows the cookies to stay softer longer. I also remove them from the oven and allow to cool on the pan for 1 minute before removing to allow the bottom a little more browning time.