Delicious White Chicken Chili

This morning Christy at The Girl Who Ate Everything posted a delightful looking recipe for white chicken chili. I decided that I just HAD to make it for dinner tonight! Not only was it SUPER easy but it was also SUPER yummy!! The only differences between Christy's recipe and what I did was exchange Great Northern beans for Garbanzo beans, exchange Monterrey Jack cheese for Mexican cheese, and skip the Tabasco sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil(EVOO)
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 3 (15-1/2 ounces) cans Garbanzo beans
• 2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
• 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chiles, drained
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican cheese
• (optional) Tabasco sauce

Super Simple Steps:

1. Saute chopped onion in olive oil.
2. Add broth, beans, chicken, chiles, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, and pepper.
3. Simmer (stirring occasionally) for 30 minutes.
4. Add sour cream and cheese. Mix until cheese is melted
5. Serve and Enjoy! :)

Yields 6-8 servings.

Note: This picture of my bowl of soup does NOT do it justice!! :)

Enjoy :)

Triple Chocolate Cake Bread

I saw a recipe for a chocolate bread a few weeks ago. I love anything chocolate and this seemed different than your typical chocolate cake so I saved the recipe on my browser for the perfect craving-filled day. The original recipe was enough to make 4 mini loaves. I halved the recipe (which is what I've given you below) to make one regular loaf.

I want to start with a picture of my final product:

Overall it was pretty good. The bread was a little on the dry side(though that could easily be fixed with some more applesauce). I'm not completely sure if I will make it again at this point. I'd like to try other chocolate bread recipes (so if you have a good one feel free to share!). My personal favorite part of this recipe was the chocolate glaze. I had a lot of the glaze left over so I put it in the fridge. After a day it was fudge!! Yum!!! I really want to make some fudge now (I'm drooling).

Anywho....here is the recipe for one loaf!

Ingredients for bread:

• 3/4 cups miniature semisweet chocolate chips, divided
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Ingredients for glaze (I made the full amount of glaze recommended for 4 mini loaves in case I wanted more...you could truly 1/2 this as well if you please):

• 1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 to 3 tablespoons half-and-half cream
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch salt

Instructions:

1. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips; set aside to cool.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Add egg and cooled chocolate; mix well.

4. Add applesauce and vanilla; set aside.

5. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well.

6. Stir in the remaining chocolate chips.
7. Spoon into greased bread pan.
8. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
9. Cool for 10 minutes before removing to wire racks.

10. For glaze, melt chocolate chips and butter in a small heavy saucepan; stir in cream.
11. Remove from the heat; stir in confectioners' sugar, vanilla and salt.
12. Drizzle over warm breads. Cool completely.

Enjoy!

Pudding Parfait

This weekend the hubby and I had a couple of friends over for dinner and dessert! It was so fun just sitting, relaxing, and catching up with the M's. It took me a little while to figure out what I wanted to make for dessert. I would run ideas past Ryan and he didn't seem overly thrilled about most of them. He can be a little picky and is like me in the sense that he has to be in the mood for certain foods. Eventually I decided to make mini cannolis. Yum! I was super excited...until I talked with my mom about the recipe I chose. Ultimately, I changed my mind and decided to make some chocolate pudding parfaits. They were super simple and super yummy!

I used JELL-O Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix (follow the directions on the package). I then took 1/2 of the pudding and folded Cool Whip into it.  I took 4 wine glasses out and dusted the bottom of the glasses with crushed Oreo's. I then layered pudding, pudding/Cool Whip mix, pudding, and pudding Cool Whip mix on top of the bottom layer of crushed Oreo's. I topped them off with a dollop of Cool Whip and garnished it with more crushed Oreo's. Yum!

Do you have a go-to dessert for when friends come over? I don't but I am always open to new ideas! :)

Sunday Brunch: Fluffy Pancakes

Sunday's are perfect for relaxing with a late brunch. That is exactly what the hubby and I did this past weekend. I found a simple recipe for pancakes on allrecipes.com. I was curious to see how the pancakes would turn out because they had one very suspicious ingredient (white vinegar), but they ended up being delicious!

They original recipe (on the website) makes 4 servings. I reduced the recipe to make 3 servings; though I truly could have upped it to four servings to feed the two of us.

Ingredients (for 3 servings):

• 1/2 cup and 1 Tbl milk
• 1 Tbl and 1-1/2 tsp white vinegar
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbl and 1-1/2 tsp white sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 egg
• 1 Tbl and 1-1/2 tsp butter, melted
• Cooking Spray (**I cooked the pancakes in our non-stick skillet and thus did not use any cooking spray. It worked perfectly.)

Directions:

1. Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to "sour".
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. 
3. Whisk egg and butter into "soured" milk. 
4. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.
5. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupfuls of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

These pancakes were the last of the batter...hence their tiny stature!

 
These pancakes (as I said before) were delicious! They were light and fluffy, and they are both quick and easy to make. I would highly recommend them!

Scrumptious Pretzel Bites

I love cinnamon sugar pretzels. It is very difficult for me to walk past an Auntie Anne's and not buy some! I found a remedy. I recently found this on Pinterest. It looked super simple and super delicious! (I was right!) The original recipe called for Texas size Rhodes rolls but I substituted in Walmart brand buttermilk rolls. Here goes...

Makes enough for 2 people to have a generous snack. :)

Ingredients (base pretzels):

1 pkg Walmart buttermilk biscuits
Water
2 Tbl spoons melted butter
Cooking Spray

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Rip biscuits in half and form into balls. Place onto plate.
3. Boil a pan of water.
4. Gently toss dough balls into boiling water for about 45 seconds.
5. Use slotted spoon to remove puffed up dough balls from water.
6. Place onto a pan lined with a dish towel and paper towels over that. Let cool.
7. Place cooled balls onto greased pan. And place in oven.
8. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

**Make cinnamon sugar mixture to taste (LOTS of sugar--not a ton of cinnamon...apprx 1/2 cup of sugar to 2 tsps cinnamon).
                                                                        --OR--
**Make Parmesan/garlic/Sea Salt mixture to taste (LOTS of Parmesan cheese--some garlic powder and sea salt). 

9. Brush melted butter over baked bites.
10. Roll bites into either cinnamon or Parmesan mixture. 

I do recommend making a dip for the cinnamon sugar bites (what can I say, I'm a sugar addict!).

Sugar Dip:

1 Tbl melted butter
1Tbl milk
1 Tsp Vanilla
3/4 cup powdered sugar

1. Mix together.
2. Dip bites and enjoy! :)

In these pictures the Parmesan ones were gone and the cinnamon ones were almost gone. Oh my goodness, Ryan and I enjoyed these SO much! Delightful! :) I highly recommend them! :)

Buckeyes

Okay, one more post for tonight! I am waiting for my love to come home. He's been working out of state all day. I know he had a rough day, so I decided to whip up a little surprise for him (he better not see this before he gets his surprise because that would mean he is reading his phone while driving....that's a big no no!) Anyway, he LOVES buckeyes. I haven't made them for a while...probably about a year (at least it seems that way). After work I went to the store and bought a couple of the ingredients I was not sure we would have enough of at home, and then headed home to chocolate-y, peanut buttery goodness! I found the recipe here on AllRecipes.com. They are super simple.

Ingredients

Makes 5 dozen  

• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons shortening

Directions

1. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and confectioners' sugar with hands to form a smooth stiff dough. Shape into balls using 2 teaspoons of dough for each ball. Place on prepared pan, and refrigerate.
3. Melt shortening and chocolate together in a metal bowl over a pan of lightly simmering water. Stir occasionally until smooth, and remove from heat.
4. Remove balls from refrigerator. Insert a wooden toothpick into a ball, and dip into melted chocolate. Return to wax paper, chocolate side down, and remove toothpick. Repeat with remaining balls. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set.

Results???

Chocolate and peanut butter...how can you go wrong?? Yum!! I hope he enjoys them! :)
 

Chicken Basil Pesto Panini

Tonight I decided to cook up a little something different for the hubby and me. For some reason I was craving a panini. I love paninis. I'm not sure why...I think it's the grilled sandwich aspect. Anyway, I decided that I would attempt to whip up some sort of chicken basil pesto panini. I figured it couldn't be that difficult. I was right. I had fun and my paninis were a hit! :) Ryan and I both loved them! They were delicious! :) Here's what I did to make just enough for the two of us....

I bought a mini (8 inch) loaf of french bread.

Basil Pesto

• 1/4 cup fresh basil
• Just under 1 Tbl extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• Pinch  of salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

I blended the above ingredients in my mini magic bullet.

Panini

• Basil pesto (above)
• French bread, sliced in half
• Grilled chicken breast slices
• Smoked provolone cheese
• Butter
• EVOO

1. Grill the chicken slices in a little bit of EVOO.
2. Spread the basil pesto on both halves of the french bread. 
3. Put grilled chicken slices on the bottom half of the french bread.
4. Cover with three slices of smoked provolone cheese. 
5. Close the sandwich. 
6. Butter the outer edges of both top and bottom of the sandwich.
7. Place sandwich top down on the frying pan and firmly press the panini press down on top of the sandwich.
8. Cook until underside is light golden brown.
9. Flip sandwich over and again firmly press panini press on the sandwich. 
10. Cook until light golden brown. 
11. Remove panini from pan. 
12. Cut panini in half. 
13. Serve and enjoy!!

Here are a few pictures of the process! :)

Add Grilled Chicken Slices

Add Smoked Provolone

Press Firmly

Panini Press

Bottom Golden Brown

Top Golden Brown

Delicious finished product!

P.S. I now have over 1,000 views!! Thanks for checking out my blog! :) I'd love for ya'll to say hello! :)

Delicious Pumpkin Brown Butter Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting

First and foremost, this recipe is DELICIOUS. I received rave reviews from everyone at our cookout this past weekend. Second, you need to plan on setting some time away to make these! I have a habit of seeing something and wanting to make it on a whim. I begin before reading through the instructions and at times this puts me in a mild predicament. For example, I began making these cupcakes at 5:00 on Saturday evening (our guests were to arrive around 6pm). Normal cupcakes take 5-10 minutes to put together and about 20-25 minutes to bake. After making frosting and applying it to the cupcakes, an hour should be plenty of time for the whole process. I ended up working on this recipe for about an hour and a 1/2! The frosting took (by far) the LONGEST portion of active time. I worked on the frosting for 40-45 minutes and by the time it was done I didn't have enough time to frost the cupcakes in a pretty, decorative manner. I ended up just slapping the frosting on with a knife. Admittedly, the cupcakes were NOT pretty...but they were delicious! :) I found the recipe on Sprinkle Bakes. If you like pumpkin desserts and baking I would highly recommend this recipe! The frosting was especially yummy. It reminded me of the cinnamon honey butter from Texas Roadhouse!

Pumpkin Brown Butter Cupcakes 

with Cinnamon Frosting

Yield:  About 24 cupcakes                                                                                                            

 

Cake:

¾ cup unsalted butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

3 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. salt

¼ tsp. allspice

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 ½ cups pumpkin puree

3 large eggs

½ cup sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake tins with papers.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Cook, swirling the pan occasionally until the butter turns golden brown. Pour the browned butter into a small bowl and let stand until cool but not solidified.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt and allspice.  Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk 1 ½ cups of pumpkin puree with the granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and sour cream until well combined.  Stir in the flour mixture until just combined.  Whisk in the browned butter until well blended.  
5. Divide batter between cupcake liners.  Fill them about half full.
6. Bake cupcakes for 20-25 minutes, or until they spring back when pressed in the middle.

Cinnamon Frosting 
From Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, soft but cool, cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cinnamon

1. In a medium saucepan, whisk the sugar and flour together. Add the milk and heavy cream and cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally until the mixture comes to a boil and has thickened, about 20 minutes.
2. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed until cool. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter; beat until thoroughly incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and cinnamon and continue mixing until combined. If the frosting is too soft, transfer the bowl to the refrigerator to chill slightly, and then beat again until it is the proper consistency. If the frosting is too firm, place the bowl over a pot of simmering water and beat with a wooden spoon until it is the proper consistency.

The final product? Under my improperly planned time constraint...not pretty...but again SOOO YUMMY! :)

Enjoy! :)

Homemade Autumn "Oreos"

As stated earlier, I made some homemade "Oreos" today. They came out pretty well! I first saw the recipe on Pinterest. It actually came from My Kitchen Addiction. They were time-consuming but super easy. I almost didn't finish making them because the dough was so yummy! :) I wanted to eat it all. I practiced a little self-control and stopped eating the dough so I would have something baked to share with Ryan later. :)

Cookie Recipe:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup dutch process cocoa powder (any cocoa powder will do)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Frosting Recipe:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons half and half
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 3 – 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, whisked to remove any lumps

Cookie Directions:
1. Beat butter and sugar on Medium until light and fluffly.
2. Mix in egg and vanilla.
3. In separate bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. 
4. Gradually mix in cocoa mixture on lowest speed until dry ingredients are just mixed in.
5. Divide dough in half. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate to chill for 1 hour.
6. After the hour of chill time, set oven to 350 degrees (Fahrenheit).
7. Roll the dough out over flour and cut an even number of cookies using whatever cookie cutter you wish.
8. Place cutouts on prepared tray (I used wax paper) and bake for 12 minutes (I only baked mine for 9 minutes).

Frosting Directions:

1. Combine butter, vanilla, half and half, and salt.
2. Slowly whisk in powdered sugar. (I colored my frosting orange in honor of fall!)
3. Scoop frosting into piping bag and pipe onto the bottom of 1 cookie.
4. Place second cookie on top of frosting (bottom of cookie on top of frosting) to create cookie sandwich.
5. Enjoy! :)

Delicious! :) Dip in milk and savor the flavor. ;)

Chocolate Cream Pie

          My wonderful husband and I just celebrated his 26th birthday. I told him that we could go out for dinner to the restaurant of his choosing OR that I would cook him whatever his heart desired from dinner through dessert. He requested that I cook his favorite chicken (a little ranch chicken recipe we love), a side of mashed potatoes, and a chocolate cream pie for dessert.

          After much internet perusing I came across a recipe with far too many positive reviews to pass up (Epicurious.com). Though the start to finish process took longer than I originally anticipated it was well worth the finished product.

          Sorry for the picture's poor quality. I took it on my iphone not thinking I would share it with anyone but my mom. Anyhow, this is my finished product. I did use a store bought, frozen crust. The chocolate filling and whipped cream I made from scratch with love for my babe. :) Here is the recipe as presented on the Epicurious website:

For filling

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 large egg yolks
• 3 cups whole milk
• 5 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), melted
• 2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

For topping

• 3/4 cup chilled heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon sugar

The only thing I changed was the chocolate I used. I only had semi-sweet chocolate in my cupboards and thus used 7oz of semi-sweet in place of the 5oz of bittersweet and 2oz of unsweetened. The finished product was still delicious! The hubby (and everyone else who got a bite) loved it. :)

Here is a little snapshot of my lovely little family!

The handsome "little puppy" is our sweet pit bull Petey (cutest dog ever!)! The handsome guy on the right is my hubby. :)