Chicken and Biscuit Casserole

So, it's been awhile since I posted, I apologize for that.  I'm furloughed now, so I have some time to catch up.  

Up close...warm and bubbly

My husband and I really enjoyed this...not the healthiest option.  I got the original recipe from an advertisement that says it was from kraftfoods.com.  It would be slightly healthier if you used reduced fat sour cream and cheese and low-fat or fat-free milk.  We scored this recipe 4 out of 5 stars.

 

Chicken and Biscuit Casserole

Ingredients

1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup

3/4 cup Sour Cream, divided

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 pkg. (16 oz.) frozen mixed vegetables, thawed

1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese

1 cup baking mix

3 tbsp milk

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix soup and 1/2 cup sour cream in 8-inch square baking dish. Add chicken, vegetables, and cheese; mix.

2. Place baking mix in medium bowl. Add remaining 1/4 cup sour cream and milk; stir until dough stiffens.

3. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls into 6 mounds over chicken mixture. Bake 35 minute or until biscuits are golden brown and chicken mixture is hot and bubbly.

In Raw Format

And the final product

Amazing Stuffed Dates..Party Food (for One?)

I admit it - these are a total weakness for me. I don't know what it is, but wow! I love Blue Cheese Stuffed Dates Wrapped in Bacon.

So, what's it in?

Stuffed & Wrapped Dates

Ingredients

Bacon (sliced in 3rds)
Dates (Medjool)
Blue Cheese Crumbles

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Slice dates in half, and open them up. Take out the seed in the middle. Pinch off pieces of blue cheese, and place them into the center of the dates. Close the halves of the dates, and wrap a 1/3-slice of bacon around the outside. Secure each one with a toothpick. Arrange in a baking dish or on a baking sheet with sides to catch any grease.
3. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the bacon is crisp. Turn dates over after the first 20 minutes for even cooking

I cannot even explain how good these are. The cheese gets gooey, the dates soft, the bacon has nice crispness.





 And I will admit, it's supposed to be a party food.  But sometimes, I just make them for me. Pull out just about 1/2 dozen dates, and cut up enough bacon for it.  Voila -- all for me. I've also made it with goat cheese - also good. But blue cheese is the best.

I know I should be ashamed, but I LOVE IT!
 
 
 

Strangely Good and Wonderfully Familiar

We had extra fresh cranberries in our freezer, which I had no idea what to do with. I bought cranberries to make potpourri for Christmas, but otherwise I had no idea.

So, I stumbled across this pin from Recipe by Photo and thought the idea was interesting.  So, I borrowed the Boozy Cranberry Recipe and then made two different hoagie recipes - one strangely good and one wonderfully familiar.  We wrapped each one in aluminum foil and heated them for 15 minutes at 450 degrees.

Overall,  my sandwich was good, but very sweet.  And hubby loved his.  So, we'll get it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Strangely Good Cranberry Brie Hoagie

First you have to make the boozy cranberry sauce.

Boozy Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 12-Ounce Bag Fresh Organic Cranberries
• ½ Cup Sugar
• 2 Large Oranges
• 1 Shot Triple Sec

Directions

1. Half the oranges. 
2. In a large mixing bowl add the sugar and juice the orange halves.  
3. Add the Triple Sec and whisk together the juice and sugar mixture so that the sugar is mostly dissolved.
4. Add in the fresh cranberries. Mix the cranberries so they are lightly coated.
5. Place the cranberries in a baking dish or on a shallow cookie sheet.
6. Bake the cranberries at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. When they have wilted, broken open, take them out. 

Sandwich

Ingredients

• Boozy Cranberries
• Brie
• Whole Wheat Hoagie

Directions

1. Layer the cranberries and brie on the whole wheat hoagie.
2. Wrap in aluminum foil.
3. Bake in oven at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes.   

Wonderfully Familiar Sandwich

Ingredients

Deli Ham
Sliced American Cheese
Hoagie

Directions

1. Layer the cranberries and brie on the whole wheat hoagie.
2. Wrap in aluminum foil.
3. Bake in oven at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes.   

Healthy Or Naughty..Your Choice

I wanted to do something a bit different for our last party.  So we did a dessert bar.  And so easy for big gatherings - like Easter...

Main choices - brownie bites, cubed angel food cakes, and sugar cookies

Spreadable Toppings - peanut butter, chocolate butter, caramel sauce, and whipped cream

Other Toppings - orange slices, pomegrantate seeds, apple slices, blackberries, blueberries, sliced strawberries, crushed candy cane, and chocolate chips.

Guests simply make their own dessert bowls up.  Looks good and is easy to do.

Five out of five in our book!!

Apple Topping for Pancakes

Have alot of apples and running out of ways to use them.  I found myself in this spot a few weekends ago.  And I hate for food to go bad.

So, I found this recipe on Pinterest and was intrigued. So, I whipped it together when we had some guests over for breakfast.  They loved it!

 Warm Apple Topping

Ingredients
4 medium apples, peeled and diced into bite sized pieces (any good baking apple will do)
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon maple syrup (optional)
1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. In a small pot over medium heat, mix together the cornstarch and the brown sugar. 
2. Add all of the ingredients except for the butter and  stir to combine. 
3. Bring to a boil and let boil for at least a minute then reduce heat and simmer until apples are tender (about 8 minutes). 
4. Add the butter at the very end and stir to combine.

We gave it a 5 out of 5 stars.  Enjoy.

Wrap Presents to match the Party Theme

We were invited two little boy birthday parties over the past few weeks.  We have some standard gifts that we tend to give - books.  I love books and am a big proponent of the "you can never have too many books" club.  But, I wanted to dress them up a bit.

The first party was a pirate party.  So, I wrapped the box in a brown shopping bag and then used my new Silhouette to create pirates.  I downloaded this little pirate boy.  I had to ungroup the object and then move the parts of the boy onto different files.  I printed three different colors of the boy -- red (for the shirt and smile), beige (for the skin), and black for the rest.  It came out great.  I also created two Xs for the treasure hunt part of the gift.  I  found a treasure chest and printed it out of the beige paper.  I try to send paper through the Silhouette only once and I hate to waste it.

And now for the second party, he had a dinosaur theme.  So, I downloaded some dinosaurs from Silhouette and cut one for each letter of his name.   It came out so cute.  I wrapped it in white craft paper and then added the dinosaurs.

Supposedly, you can run the paper through the printer and put the letters on with the printer.  Then, you run it through the Silhouette and it cuts out the shape.  I haven't perfected that yet, so I hand wrote his name and the from part of the dinosaur.  I then ran the dinosaurs through my sticker maker - and they easily stuck to the paper.

They both came out cute and added a little something to the gifts.

Heart Attacks - My First Silhouette Craft

So my amazing DH bought me a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas - wow, I am a serious fan!! So far, it has been so fun!

First - what's a Silhouette?  Several of my friends asked the same question when I was telling them how excited I was about it.  This is a cutting machine.  Basically it will cut out whatever I ask it to cut out.

So, for my first project, I made Heart Attacks to mail to my grandparents, my friend stationed in Baghdad, and one of my cousins in college. I got a gift card for their on-line shop and downloaded the girl with heart design into my Silhouette.  You can see how the machine cuts out parts.


I then had to take the pieces and glue them together - this created several different girls.

Note: If you are a Silhouette user, I found organizing the designs into separate color files allowed me to get the dresses, hair, etc... in the colors I wanted.  I fill the paper up since it seems each piece of paper can only go through the cutter once.  I ended up with extra pieces, but I just kept them for another day.

Then, I downloaded a cool font off the internet.  I found this font on Pinterest but really you can use any font.  The Silhouette will cut out almost every font - but it helps if it's not too "delicate" - the thinner, the harder it is to remove from the Silhouette mat without damaging it.  (As I said, I am still a beginner).

I then had the Silhouette cut hearts out of tons of different papers - different sizes and styles.  I just downloaded one sheet of heart designs from Silhouette, broke it apart, and then manipulated the hearts to fit.  I used 12x12, 8x10, and 8" squared papers.  Double-sided paper works best for this type of project.

I bought these heart envelopes at my local post office.  Packed it all up and off my "heart attacks" to bring a little cheer to someone's day.

Hug T-Shirt - Bringing Joy to Another

For the holidays, I wanted to make something for my nephew's other grandma.  She had a rough year and I wanted to give her something sentimental.  But I am not the greatest crafter , so I came up with the idea of a "hug t-shirt" - basically what it's like when a child hugs you.

So I had my nephew (her grandson) hug my husband and I traced my nephew's outline - the hands, the face, etc...with chalk.  And then I used puffy paint for the actual outline.  I then added his name to the front of it.

I think it came out cute.  I hope it brings a little joy to her life. 

Crack Bread - And No, We're Not Kidding!

We love this bread - made it several times.

I got this idea from Pinterest.  It's a great recipe from iheartnaptime.  I, however, did some tweaking and below is our cheesy bacon "crack" bread.

And we gave this recipe a 5 out of 5 stars!

Crack Bread

Ingredients

• 1 sourdough loaf of bread
• 1/2 cup basil pesto found near dairy
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese grated
• 1/2 cup Parmesan grated
• 1 tsp italian seasoning

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Slice bread vertically and then again horizontally so that you have one inch squares.
3. Spread basil in between the sliced bread.
4. Combine cheese and seasoning in a medium sized bowl. Place cheese in between each slice.
5. Cover bread with foil and bake on a lined sheet for 8-10 minutes.

Rosemary Bread - Yum

I have been feeling like homemade bread for a couple of days.  But, I don't have great recipes, so of course I checked Pinterest.  This Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread sounded yummy. And we had all the ingredients already in our pantry - no special trip to the store requried.

I ate it with goat cheese...amazing.  My husband just slathered butter on his. And days later, this bread was still soft and good.

Please note this bread has to rise twice!

Rosemary Bread

*Makes 2 loaves (not large - about 6 to 8 inch circles)

INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon instant yeast or 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons dried rosemary, chopped and divided
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Coarse salt for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl (or the bowl of an electric stand mixer if you have one), combine the yeast, sugar and water. If using active dry yeast, let the mixture stand until foaming and bubbly, about 5 minutes. If using instant yeast, proceed with the recipe. 
2. Add two cups of the flour (half of each kind), salt and 1 tablespoon of the chopped rosemary. Mix. 
3. Continue adding flour, gradually, until a soft dough is formed. Judge the dough based on texture and feel versus how much actual flour you’ve had to add based on the recipe. The dough should be slightly tacky to the touch but should hold its shape while still being soft and smooth. Knead the dough by hand or with an electric mixer for 4-5 minutes, adding additional flour only if the dough is overly sticky and not clearing the sides of the bowl.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until doubled in size, approximately 1-2 hours, depending on the warmth of your kitchen. I put mine in the oven - no draft and it's off the counters. 
5. Once doubled, gently deflate the dough and divide in half. Prepare a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper, a silpat liner or lightly grease with cooking spray. 
6. Shape the dough into two smooth, oval shaped loaves and place them on the baking sheet, one on each half of the tray so they have room to rise and bake without touching. Use a brush to slather the melted butter over the top of the loaves. 
7. Continue brushing on the butter until it is gone (the loaves will be well-saturated). Sprinkle the remaining chopped rosemary over the top of the loaves, patting down gently to set into the dough, if needed. 
8. Cover the loaves with lightly greased plastic wrap and let them rise again until puffy and nearly doubled, about an hour (again, the exact time will depend on temperature so judge the dough by how it looks).
9. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly sprinkle coarse salt over the top of the loaves. 
10. Bake the loaves for 18-20 minutes until browned and baked through. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Five out of five stars...amazing bread!

Brie and Jam Pops - Amazingly yummy

These Brie and Jam Pops were outstanding. I highly recommend these for anytime of the day.  We snacked on them for several days.  They are best warm.

Brie and Jam Pops

makes 24 squares (which is only 12 pops)

Ingredients

2 sheets puff pastry, thawed but still cold

1/2 wedge of brie (about 4 ounces), cold

1/3 cup blackberry jam (or any flavor you fancy!)

1 large egg, beaten

splash of milk

coarse sea salt

Directions

1. All-butter, store bought puff pastry  usually comes frozen and folded into thirds.  Use these folded thirds to our advantage by cutting the puff pastry into thirds along the creases.  
2. Cut each panel into four pieces.  They’ll be 2 1/4-inch tall and 3-inches wide.  One sheet of puff pastry will yield 12 rectangles.  Cut each rectangle in half.  You’ll have 24 little rectangles that will create 12 little rectangle pockets.
3. Combine beaten egg and splash of milk.  Brush 12 of the small rectangles with egg wash.  If you’d like to make brie bites on sticks, now is the time!  
4. Place a popsicle stick halfway up the puff pastry and press in gently.  
5. Place a small sliver of brie (rind and all) on top of the egg wash (and stick).  Top with about 1/2 teaspoon of  jam.  Take another square of puff pastry and press between your fingers to make the rectangle slightly bigger.  
6. Place puff pastry on top of the cheese and jam.  Use a fork to press the edges together. The egg wash will act as  glue.  Make sure to seal the edges well by crimping with the fork.  Prick the top lightly with a fork.
7. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Place prepared brie bites on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Brush with egg wash.  Sprinkle with a touch of coarsely ground sea salt. (I forgot this and they were still awesome.)
8. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown. 
9. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.

Brie and Jam Pops

Super Hero Capes - Be Their Hero

I have to show these off.  I made my nephew this amazing two-sided superhero cape.  I followed the directions from here -- Crazy Little Projects. I made one of these -- it took a few hours - maybe 6 all together.  But, that might have been because I had to take the two sides apart and redo it since I didn't measure the center of the cape before the design was attached. I think he loved it.

First, you can get most of the hero symbols from here.  This free, safe font is downloadable to your computer.

Second, follow the Crazy Little Projects tutorial - just be sure to center your design on each side before you sew it together. 

Superhero Symbols for Capes

The Batman Side of the Cape - the yellow material is softer than the felt I used for the capes themselves.

Superman Side of Cape

Superman side of the cape.