If I was trying to impress a man...

I would make the meal that I made tonight.  It's the kind of food that I feel like would impress a man. :) The Pioneer Woman is a genius. She really is. Marlboro man must eat amazing every night! I made the ranch style chicken and boy was it yummy! I was kind of impressed with myself actually...I mean it was just THAT good. I wish I had taken a picture of it when I finished making it, but of course I forgot. For dessert I made homemade blackberry cobbler. Yes, be jealous of the meal we had last night. Here are the recipes.


RANCH STYLE CHICKEN (Copy and pasted from HERE)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Dijon Mustard
• 1/2 cup Honey
• 1/2 whole (juice Of) Lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon Paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• Crushed Red Pepper (optional To Taste)
• 6 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 1 pound Thick Cut Bacon
• Bacon Grease
• Sharp Cheddar Cheese, to taste
• Canola Oil

Preparation Instructions

To begin, make the marinade. In a large bowl mix together ½ cup Dijon or country/grainy mustard with ½ cup honey, juice of ½ lemon, ½ teaspoon paprika, and ½ teaspoon salt and whisk until smooth. Sprinkle in some crushed red pepper flakes or cayenne if you like things a little spicy. Set aside.

Next, rinse the chicken breasts, place between two sheets of waxed paper and pound to around ½ to ¾ inch thick with a mallet. Next, add the chicken to the bowl with the marinade, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 1 to 3 hours.

While the chicken marinates, fry up some bacon. When finished cooking, reserve ¼ cup of the bacon grease and clean out the skillet.

When the chicken is done marinating, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove the chicken from the fridge and pour off excess marinade. Heat half of the reserved bacon grease with an equal quantity of Canola Oil in the clean skillet over medium-high heat. When the grease is nice and hot add two or three pieces of chicken to it. Cook until brownish/blackish, about 1 to 1 ½ minutes per side. Remove chicken to a large baking sheet. If cooking many pieces of chicken, repeat skillet process and remove finished chicken to baking sheet. Place chicken in preheated oven and cook for about 10 minutes. Remove from over.

Lay a few pieces of bacon over each chicken breast. Sprinkle shredded sharp cheddar cheese over the top of the chicken as generously as you like. Return pan to oven for an additional five minutes until cheese is melted and bacon is sizzling. Serve immediately.

Now, here is a pic of my yummy blackberry cobbler! We got these blackeberries from the backyard since we have wild ones that grow every year. Yum!

I used a Betty Crocker recipe for this and you can find that one RIGHT HERE. It was delicious and sweet and juicy and I could go on forever, but I won't. :)

Let me know if you try these recipes!!

Coconut Pancakes

Yesterday I wanted to make pancakes for breakfast. I was just going to make plain jane boring
pancakes, but then I saw that I had a bag of coconut in the freezer when the brilliant idea hit me. COCONUT PANCAKES! Yes, I know they sound delicious. They really are! I searched really fast on my phone for a recipe and I found THIS recipe from Served with Love. I didn't follow the recipe exactly, so I will give you my version. :) Also, when I make pancakes I don't really measure, so I will do my best to make it accurate.

Ingredients
1 1/2 C flour
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 C 2% milk (more if too thick)
1 egg
1 TBSP sugar (original called for 2, but with the sweetened condensed milk, it wasn't needed)
1 TBSP baking powder
dash of salt
1/2 cup shredded coconut ( i used sweetened)

Sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Stir in sugar and coconut.

Whisk egg with the sweetened condensed milk and 2% milk. Add to dry ingredients and beat until smooth. If too thick, add a little more 2% milk.

Now, cook your pancakes. :) I think this made about 12 smaller pancakes for me.

No syrup is needed, but because I am a little obsessed with sweetened condensed milk, I drizzled a little on the top and threw on a little shredded coconut. I wish I had gotten a picture, but take me word for it. They were beautiful and delicious!

ENJOY!

Some Pumpkin recipes for your enjoyment :)

Yesterday I made quite the fall meal! A roast in the crock pot, pumpkin mac & cheese (yes you read that right), creamed corn, and pumpkin, bacon, carmelized onion muffins. Now, before you say eww or gross to any of these, let me tell you about them!!! Oh and I made homemade pumpkin puree, which is waht I used in these recipes.

The Pumpkin Mac & Cheese was a recipe I found off of Food Gawkers. It looked so good and Murray loves mac & cheese so much I just had to try it!! The recipe came from THIS blog. Lauren is the name of the girl at this blog and she has some great recipes. Her recipe called for nutmeg and cayenne pepper, but I can't stand nutmeg and I didn't want the pepper so Murray could eat it. I added cinnamon instead, and it was amazing. Here is my slightly altered version of her recipe that I used:

8oz penne (or whatever you prefer) pasta, cooked according to box
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup whole milk
2 oz cream cheese
1 cup cheddar cheese
3/4 cup colby jack cheese
a few dashes of cinnamon

-Whisk together milk and pumpkin over medium heat.
-Add in cheese and whisk until all melted. reduce heat to low.
-Stir in cinnamon until mixed.
-Add pasta, stir. Let stand if not thick enough. Serve and enjoy! :)

Now for the muffins, oh man. They were delicious! It smelled so good cooking! They came from THIS blog. Now, it's in French and it has a translator on the site. BUT, just to make to make it easy on you, I'll post the recipe right here! :)

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp dried thyme ( I omitted this)
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• Pinch of salt
• 2 medium onions, chopped (I used half on one, but it could have used more)
• 1 tsp tablespoons butter
• 3 slices bacon, chopped
• ⅔ cup milk
• 1 tsp table vinegar
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• 1 cup pumpkin
• Pumpkin seeds 'sweet' n spicy "(optional)

In a small bowl, pour the milk and vinegar and let stand for at least 30 minutes, set aside.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and herbs and set aside.
In a skillet, heat butter over medium heat and will break down the onion and bacon together, for about fifteen minutes.
Transfer into a large bowl.
Add the reserved milk curd, oil, maple syrup and pumpkin puree and mix well.
Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until moistened (do not overmix!).
Complete all 12 holes of a muffin pan lined with boxes of previously paper or lightly buttered, this unit each muffin and sprinkle a few pumpkin seeds 'sweet' n spicy "if desired.
Bake on center rack at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean.
* Makes a dozen large muffins.

And today, I made Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with a cream cheese icing, but they are from an old Betty crocker recipe book so I'll have to type it out when I get a chance! Enjoy!!!! :)

Hit me...

with your favorite cupcake and brownie recipes!!! I've been in a baking mood and I am in need of some new creative recipes!!!! In fact, you can post your favorite recipes of any kind!!! I just want some new things to try! :) Thanks!!!

30 Day Journal- Day 21

 

Day 1 - Your Favorite Song
Day 2 - Your Favorite Movie
Day 3 - Your Favorite Television Program
Day 4 - Your Favorite Book
Day 5 - Your Favorite Quote
Day 6 - 20 of my favorite things
Day 7 - A photo that makes you happy
Day 8 - A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 9 - A photo you took
Day 10 - A photo taken over 10 years ago of you
Day 11 - A photo of you recently
Day 12 - Something you are OCD about
Day 13 - A fictional book
Day 14 - A non-fictional book
Day 15 - your dream house
Day 16 - A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 - An art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)
Day 18 - My wedding/future wedding/past wedding
Day 19 - A talent of yours
Day 20 - A hobby of yours
Day 21 - A recipe
Day 22 - A website
Day 23 - A YouTube video
Day 24 - Where I live
Day 25 - Your day, in great detail
Day 26 - Your week, in great detail
Day 27 - My worst habit
Day 28 - Whats in my handbag/purse
Day 29 - Hopes,Dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 - A dream for the future

 

Yesterday I found a little recipe for something called Boo Cups. They are simple, cute, and delicious!!! Perfect for Halloween!!!

 

 What you'll need:

2 pkg. (3.9 oz. each) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding

3-1/4 cups  cold milk

1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

20   OREO Cookies, crushed (about 2 cups), divided

30 Miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips 

 

How to do it:

BEAT pudding mixes and milk in large bowl with whisk 2 min. Stir in half each of the COOL WHIP and cookie crumbs.

SPOON 1 Tbsp. of the remaining crumbs into each of 15 (6-oz.) plastic cups. Cover with layers of pudding mixture and remaining crumbs.

DROP remaining COOL WHIP by spoonfuls onto desserts to resemble ghosts. Add chocolate chips for the eyes.

PS- In the crumbs I mixed into the pudding and cool whip, I added some of the chocolate chips :)

These were so yummy!! Murray loved them too :)

Happy Wednesday!

30 Day Journal- 19 & 20

 

Day 1 - Your Favorite Song
Day 2 - Your Favorite Movie
Day 3 - Your Favorite Television Program
Day 4 - Your Favorite Book
Day 5 - Your Favorite Quote
Day 6 - 20 of my favorite things
Day 7 - A photo that makes you happy
Day 8 - A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 9 - A photo you took
Day 10 - A photo taken over 10 years ago of you
Day 11 - A photo of you recently
Day 12 - Something you are OCD about
Day 13 - A fictional book
Day 14 - A non-fictional book
Day 15 - your dream house
Day 16 - A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 - An art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)
Day 18 - My wedding/future wedding/past wedding
Day 19 - A talent of yours
Day 20 - A hobby of yours
Day 21 - A recipe
Day 22 - A website
Day 23 - A YouTube video
Day 24 - Where I live
Day 25 - Your day, in great detail
Day 26 - Your week, in great detail
Day 27 - My worst habit
Day 28 - Whats in my handbag/purse
Day 29 - Hopes,Dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 - A dream for the future

 

Since  I missed yesterday, I'll post two in one today! I guess it's a good thing I am posting a double one, because they are actually the same thing. I would have to say I am a pretty good cook. Not always, but more time than not my recipes turn out. I love looking up new recipes online and in cookbooks. I'm pretty obsessed with this website Foodgawker because it has amazing recipes linked to other blogs and it shows pictures! Check it out!  

Lasagna Cupcakes = ehh...

They were ok I suppose. I didn't even take a picture of them because they weren't very pretty. But, this is what they are supposed to look like.

They might have been better if I used the wonton wrappers like it called for, but I used phyllo dough. Here's the recipe if you wanna check it out.

Lasagna Cupcakes on Framed.

Hot Fudge Sundae Cupcake

Yes it's a long name... but boy is it yummy!!!! Let me back up and tell you the whole story though!!!

As you all read in my last post, I threw a bachelorette party last Thursday. I wanted to have a few snacks and of course i went to Joy the baker's website for inspiration!!! When I saw this recipe I just KNEW I had to make the yummy looking Hot Fudge Sundae cupcakes. I had the recipe and I thought I had all the ingredients... but the recipe called for all purpose flour and I only had self rising. So I looked online for how to use one instead of the other and tried... but I failed miserably. This was the outcome.

They were hard as rocks and the middles sank to the bottom on every one!!! So my mom went and bought me a bag of all-purpose and I re-did my recipe. This time I was successful!!! This is the finished product.

They were supposed to have cherries on top, but alas, Walmart was OUT of cherries. Yes, I am just as shocked as you!!!

Here's my sweet friend Emily modeling with one.

They were extremely yummy! Check out the recipe HERE.

This is why...

I LOVE blogging!

I find recipes for yummy goodness on blogs like this.
These are S'mores marshmallows. The original recipe calls for them to be on a stick, but why go through the extra step when it's just for us here at home? :) They are DELICIOUS!!! If you click the link above it will give you the recipe.

I've found this website called Foodgawker and there are SO many things on there I want to try. I'm getting a little obsessed looking at all these blogs.

What are your favorite recipe blogs? Or your favorite recipes in general?

Old friends and cupcakes!

Sorry for no posts the past couple days... Murray had a fever and I didn't take time to post since I was tending to my baby. She seems to be feeling better now, not that she really acted like she felt bad in the first place. So besides from playing with her I haven't done too much. Oh yeah, except make awesome cupcakes on Thursday! They were so yummy, especially the icing! I really wanted to just lick the whole bowl!!!!

Yes, they are Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcakes, complete with Reese's on top! YUMMO!!!!! This is yet another recipe I got from Joy the Baker's website. She's amazing! You really should check her out!!

Tonight I get to go see an old friend get married... Am I really old enough to say old friend??? WAHHH! Hard to believe! But still exciting at the same time! After the wedding I am off to a Pampered Chef party with some yummy things to try and awesome stuff to buy (and yes, I know that rhymes!). Sleepover with the girls (Nicole, Sarah, Tammi, Tammy, Mom, Emily, and Murray!) after that, so it's going to be a long night, but super fun!

<3 bri

oh shoutout to Whispering Writer. Funniest blog you will ever read!!!!! Check her out!

Little pieces of heaven!

YUMMO! I made these Smores brownies for dessert tonight... wow. They were really rich, so you can't eat alot at once, but they were so delicious! I saw a picture of them on another blog so I looked up the recipe on Joy the Baker's website... So enjoy and let me know what you think!

bri <3