• Brown Butter Snickerdoodles

    March 30, 2014 Author: Rachel
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    If you love snickerdoodles, you will LOVE these brown butter snickerdoodles!!!  Yes, they are that good, and I don’t think I’ve ever tasted a better snickerdoodle.  Warning: these cookies will be requested by everyone and will be devoured quickly! 🙂

    Recipe from Ambitious Kitchen.

    Ingredients:

    • 2 1/2 c. AP flour
    • 1 tsp. baking soda
    • 2 tsp. cream of tartar
    • 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
    • 1/2 tsp. sea salt
    • 1 c. unsalted butter, sliced
    • 1 1/4 c. brown sugar
    • 1/2 c. granulated sugar
    • 1 large egg
    • 1 egg yolk
    • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
    • 1 TBSP plain Greek yogurt
    • Rolling cookies:
    • 1/4 c. granulated sugar
    • 2 tsp. ground cinnamon

    Instructions:

    1. In a medium bowl, Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
    2. To brown the butter, heat a thick-bottomed skillet on medium heat. Add the sliced butter, whisking frequently. Continue to cook the butter until melted. The butter will start to foam and browned specks will begin to form at the bottom of the pan. The butter should have a nutty aroma. Watch the butter carefully because it can go from brown to burnt quickly. Remove butter from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
    3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the brown butter and sugars. Mix until blended and smooth. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt and mix until combined. Slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
    4. Form the dough in a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. You can chill the dough overnight.
    5. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Measure about 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into balls.
    6. In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar. Roll the balls in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place dough balls on a large baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Make sure the cookies are about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle the cookie tops with sea salt.
    7. Bake the cookies 8-10 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. The centers will still be soft. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes, or until set. Transfer cookies to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.

    Brown Butter Snickerdoodles:

    5star

  • Baked Honey Chicken

    March 30, 2014 Author: Rachel
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    OMG this baked honey chicken is sooooo good!!!!!!!  Like serve to company good.  Like tastes better than takeout good.  Everyone loves it!

    Serve with hot rice or with Fried Rice.

    Recipe from The Recipe Critic.

    Ingredients:

    • 4 chicken breasts, cut up
    • 1 c. cornstarch
    • 3 eggs
    • salt and pepper
    • ¼ c. oil
    • Sauce:
    • ¾ c. honey
    • ¾ c. soy sauce
    • ½ c. ketchup
    • ½ c. brown sugar
    • ½ c. rice wine vinegar
    • 1 tsp. sesame oil
    • 1 tsp. minced garlic
    • 1 TBSP cornstarch

    Directions:

    1. Preheat oven to 325*. Cut chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and season with salt and pepper.
    2. In 2 separate bowls, place cornstarch and slightly beaten eggs. Dip chicken into cornstarch then coat in egg mixture.
    3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook chicken until browned. Place the chicken in a 9 x 13 greased baking dish.
    4. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, minced garlic, and cornstarch. Pour over chicken and bake for 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
    5. I stirred the chicken every 15 minutes so that it coated them in the sauce.

    Baked Honey Chicken:

    5star

  • Ellie’s Lasagna

    March 30, 2014 Author: Rachel
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    Steve and I both love lasagna and baked ziti.  Sadly, our children are less than thrilled with either option, so I never make it.  We were at a team dinner (pot luck style) and Ellie said she “loved Coach Anita’s curly lasagna.”  Ellie proclaiming that she “loves” anything pasta is a miracle, so as soon as I got home I emailed Coach Anita for her recipe.

    We discovered that both kids love spiral pasta, and they don’t like baked pasta if it’s too cheesy.  Score!

    Ellie ate it up the first night, but the leftovers went untouched. Sigh. At least she ate it the first night.

    Ingredients:

    • 16 oz. spiral pasta
    • 1 onion, chopped
    • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
    • 8 oz. – 16 oz. sausage (depending on how much meat you like)
    • 45 oz. jar of pasta sauce
    • 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
    • 8 oz. ricotta
    • 8 oz. shredded mozzarella

    Directions:

    1. Preheat oven to 350*
    2. Cook pasta (under cook it because it will continue cooking in the oven).
    3. Saute the onion, then add the garlic; then add the sausage and cook through.
    4. Add 1/2 of the jar of sauce to the skillet with the sausage and add the Italian seasoning, and stir to combine; then add the pasta and mix to combine.
    5. In a 9/13 baking dish, add 1/2 of the remaining sauce to the bottom of the dish; then add the pasta mixture to the baking dish; dollop spoonfuls of ricotta into pockets throughout the casserole; then top with the remaining sauce.
    6. Cover with foil (if you like crunchy top noodles don’t cover) and bake for 30-40 minutes, until bubbly. At the end of cooking add the mozzarella cheese and return the dish to the oven but turn the oven off and let the cheese melt.

    Ellie’s Lasagna:

    5star

  • Chicken Posole

    March 30, 2014 Author: Rachel
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    This Posole is so easy to make and so good.  Ellie, the pickiest of pickiest eaters ate this dish and she proclaimed it delicious and 5 star worthy!  Wow!!  She did ask “what is that mushy vegetable?”  I told her corn because she “tried” hominy a few days ago and said she didn’t like it, but she liked the “corn” in the Posole.  So in our house we had chicken and corn soup. 😉

    Prepared once again in October, 2018 and this soup was loved by all!

    Recipe adapted from Cooking Light, April 2014

    Ingredients:

    • 10 canned tomatillos or 1.5 lb. fresh dark green tomatillos (about 14 +/-)
    • 1 bunch of cilantro
    • 2 tsp. ground cumin
    • 2 tsp. dried oregano
    • 1 tsp. black pepper
    • 1 TBSP olive oil
    • 1 c. chopped onion
    • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
    • 3 chicken breast halves, cut up in bite size pieces
    • 6-7 c. chicken broth
    • 2 cans hominy, drained
    • Limes, quartered
    • Serve with roasted poblanos and cilantro, optional

    Directions:

    1. If using fresh tomatillos, boil them until they turn color (dark green to army green) and soften; combine tomatillos through black pepper in food processor, and process until almost smooth.
    2. Heat a soup pot oven over medium high heat.  Add oil to pan; swirl to coat.  Add onion and cook for 4 minutes; then add garlic and saute for 30 seconds.
    3. Add the chicken and saute until the outside of the chicken is no longer pink.
    4. Add the tomatillo mixture, broth, and hominy and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is cooked through.
    5. Serve with limes.

    Chicken Posole:

    5star