Caramel Apple Cider Cookies

Thank You Mother Nature!! I've been begging for sunny days with temperatures in the 60's. The last two days, she has answered my request. Yesterday, however, was spent doing what any gardener must always do on the first sunny day of mid-fall, cleaning out the flower beds. I spent yesterday morning completing the work on the blanket chest I've been refinishing and the afternoon doing the garden work, so I decided today was going to be a "just relax, do a little baking and enjoy the weather" kind of day.

I found the recipe for these cookies, midsummer and saved it for a perfect Autumn day like today. I mean really, does anything scream Autumn more than caramel apples, cider and cookies? Whomever the person was that decided to combine all three into one masterpiece should be awarded a Nobel Prize...GENIUS!

As always, we're going to start by preheating the oven.  Perhaps you can wait a little bit as these do require a little extra prep time but there are times when I feel I could walk to the bakery and back before my oven reaches temperature.  Either way, we're going to need our oven to be 350 degrees!

There's a whole list of ingredients we're going to be getting to here in a moment but I know you can't wait to find out what ingredients make the magic of caramel apple cider. It's not glitter or unicorns or fairy dust!

It's Spiced Cider instant drink mix and Kraft Caramels!!!  BLISS!!!

In a medium bowl, wisk together 3 cups of flour, 1 tsp of baking soda, 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1 tsp of cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large bowl, using your electric mixer, cream together 1 cup of unsalted butter (2 sticks), 1 cup of Sugar and all ten envelopes of the spiced cider drink mix. Once you get it nice and creamy, add 2 eggs (one at a time) and continue to mix until it's nice and fluffy. Now add in 1 tsp of vanilla! Now it's time to slowly add in your flour mixture. I started mixing with a wooden spoon but by the second addition of the dry mixture, I decided it was easier to mix it by hand...literally...I got my hands right in that bowl and mixed it up with my fingers. (After I washed them of course).

The hardest part of this entire recipe comes now! Unwrapping your caramels without eating them!! If you're as lucky as I was Kraft kindly will put 49 caramels in your bag and you'll only need 48 for the cookies since the recipe yields about 4 dozen cookies, that will leave you one for a warmup treat while you're waiting for the cookies to bake.

Next roll about 2 Tbsp of dough into a ball and then lightly flatten it in the palm of your hand. Now lightly press one caramel into the center.

Pull the dough up around the caramel until it's completely covered and then roll it back into a ball and place them onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet (you can use silpat if you have it). You don't want to use just a greased cookie sheet or foil as the caramel can stick to it and you definitely don't want to use wax paper!  Place your uncooked cookies about 3 inches apart so they have room to spread out without sticking together!

Bake them for 12-14 minutes. Just until they begin to crisp around the edges. Be careful not to overcook them as the caramel will burn on the bottom. 

After removing your cookies from the oven, slide the whole sheet of parchment paper off of your baking sheet, right onto the counter. After they have cooled enough to firm up, peel them off the parchment paper and flip them over to let them finish cooling upside down. I moved my upside down cookies to a cooling rack so they wouldn't sweat on my granite countertop. 

Now, I'll be honest, the person who claims this recipe makes 4 dozen cookies must be the same person that declared one small pack of Reese Cups to be two servings. I got 3 dozen medium sized cookies out of the recipe but that was quite alright by me, as it left 12 more unwrapped caramels that needed to be eaten. 

We're lucky enough to have neighbors just as wonky as we are, whom we enjoy very much. They were kind enough to invite us to dinner this evening, so that's one dozen less that will be sitting here tempting me to eat them all. Quite frankly I think he saw my post on Facebook about trying out a new cookie recipe since the invite came across my text messages within minutes! LOL

Be sure you serve your cookies with a nice cup of hot tea, coffee or apple cider because that caramel in the middle does have a tendency to stick to your teeth a bit. But hey isn't that one of the things we love about caramel??  I know for sure that this flavor combination is one of the things I love about Fall! Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 cup softened butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1  7.4 oz. box Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink Mix (Do NOT buy Sugar Free)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 14 oz. bag Kraft Caramels 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

Using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream butter, sugar, and all ten packs of apple cider mix until fluffy. About three minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, beat until fluffy and add the vanilla to the butter mixture. 

Add flour mixture to creamy mixture in 3 small portions and mix thoroughly.

Roll about 2 tablespoons of dough into a ball (refrigerating the dough for about an hour makes this easier but is not required). Lightly flatten into the palm of your hand, add unwrapped caramel, wrap dough around caramel and return it to a ball shape.

Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet about 3" apart. Bake in 350 degree oven for 12-14 minutes until slightly crispy around the edges.

Slide parchment paper onto counter and allow cookies to cool until they are firm enough to turn them over. Allow cookies to finish cooling upside down on a baking rack.

DIY Sofa Table

For a boy who grew up in the country, I can't picture myself living anywhere but Downtown. I love city life and all the conveniences that come with it. The advantages do come with tradeoffs though. One being space. Don't get me wrong, our home is plenty big at just over 2100 sq ft but the individual spaces in the house tend to be narrow and smaller.  I'm typically not big on furniture placement on a room's perimeter but after several  rearrangements it's just what works the best for us to maximize our space.

Our new sofa is 44 inches deep, perfect for snuggling back in a corner of the cushions with a good book, movie or football game and nesting the day away.  However, since I hate "end tables" even more than furniture around a room's perimeter, I found myself in a pinch on where to put the lamps for reading and where to set my beverage.  I needed a ledge, just a small one right behind the sofa that was easily reachable when I was all tucked in.  Since we are on a budget with this remodel, I decided I'd just build one myself. Shockingly it was super easy.

I measured the length of my sofa and then reduced that by 2 inches on each end so it would tuck right in behind, then I measured the height from the floor to just shy of the top of the sofa back. Did you know that most of the big box home improvement stores will cut your wood to size for you free of charge? Take advantage of that! I purchased 1x8 finished pine and had the urban lumberjack cut it. One board to the length I needed and then had another piece cut into 3 pieces matching the height I needed (My measurement minus 1" since I was putting an inch thick board on top of them). Measure twice, cut once is the rule but I like measure once have someone else cut it so it's right even better.  Then I found an 8' length of 1x2 and had him cut it into eight pieces the exact width of the top board for support braces. Since lumber is never a true size, a 1x8 is really only about 7 7/8" wide make sure they use your top board to cut your brace pieces.

Forgive my lack of skills in graphics creation but I thought this would be the easiest way to show construction. I screwed the 1x2 pieces to the top and bottom inside of the two end pieces and on both sides top and bottom of the center support. This enabled them to stand. Then with assistance I laid my top board across the three supports (legs if you will), making sure the center support was centered and the end pieces were flush. Shooting 3 screws through the top board into the top of each support making sure to countersink them a bit. Then I went over the entire piece filling wood putty in on top of the scews and filling in any cracks or seams. Remember it's going to be between the sofa and the wall and primarily out of view so you don't have to go for perfection here.  After the wood putty dries, sand the entire piece with some fine sandpaper to smooth all your surface. Choose a stain color or you can paint it if you wish and finish your piece.

Here's a few more photos of mine:

Once you place the piece behind the sofa, you really don't see it from most angles in the room. Here is what mine looks like when you are standing in the middle of the room:

And then a reverse a view from the picture at the top:

While it's certainly not a piece you would find in an expensive furniture store, it's sturdy and does the job it needs to do without being an eyesore. The best part........my total cost of materials was $45 dollars and it took about 30 minutes to build and about 30 minutes to apply the 3 coats of stain. For a very small investment of time and money, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out!

Pumpkin Crunch Dump Cake

Mother Nature has not been giving me the sunny cool crisp days that make Autumn my favorite season. Waking up to yet another gray, cold, wet day, I was beginning to get a bit frustrated with Fall. Then I remembered I still had the joys of layering my clothing and eating the amazing foods of this time of the year.

I had a recipe for a pumpkin crunch dump cake and decided it was exactly what I needed to put a little of the Autumn that I love into my day. This one does require a bit more effort than your typical dump cake but it is so worth it.

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Be sure this is your first step because chances are you're going to be done mixing up your cake before the oven is ready!  

In a large bowl mix 15 ounces of canned pumpkin with a 12oz can of evaporated milk, 4 eggs, 1 and a half cups of sugar, 2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice and 1 tsp of salt. You can use your hand mixer or an electric mixer just long enough to combine the ingredients well. Pour the pumpkin mixture into a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish.

Now just like all other dump cakes, we're going to add one dry cake mix. For this cake we use a yellow cake mix and sprinkle it all over the top of the pumpkin mixture and then pat it down a bit. Now you have a nice smooth service to sprinkle with some chopped pecans.

Melt 2 sticks of unsalted butter or margarine and drizzle all over the top of your cake.

Wasn't that quick? Hopefully your oven got to 350 degrees in time because you're ready for this sweet creation to be baked. 60-80 minutes or until finished. My oven finished it perfectly in 70 minutes.

Let it cool for at least 30 minutes to finish setting. The result is a bit hard to describe. It's not like a pumpkin pie but it's not really like a cake. It's sort of like the texture of a bread pudding. What's not hard to describe is the flavor, delicious without being overly sweet. It's pure bliss, like Autumn on a plate. You know when you put on your loved ones oversized shirt, or wrap up in your favorite blanket and it's just like being wrapped up in warm arms that say "welcome home"? Well this cake is that good! Think I'm hyping a bit too much? Try it for yourself and you'll see I'm not exaggerating!

Ingredients
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon salt
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup margarine, melted
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Direction

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease one 9x13 inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Mix well, and spread into the prepared pan.
Sprinkle cake mix over the top of the pumpkin mixture, and pat down. Sprinkle chopped pecans evenly over the cake mix, then drizzle with melted margarine.
Bake for 60 to 80 minutes, or until done. Top with whipped topping when ready to serve.

Crockpot Salsa Chicken

I've decided to start thinking of my crockpot as my personal chef.  I mean really, I give it a few ingredients and walk away only to return later that day to find dinner all ready to serve. Sounds like a chef to me.

Today, it only took 5 ingredients to get a fantastic dinner. Boneless chicken breasts, a can of cream of chicken soup, a jar of salsa, a packet of taco seasoning and a cup of sour cream.  The result was a creamy, spicy treat that when piled high on a bun with a side of seasoned fries made for a wonderful casual dinner. It doesn't have to be just for sandwiches though. It would be equally delicious atop some rice, a great filler for chicken tacos or layered across some tortillas for some mind blowing spicy chicken nachos.

Stir together one can of cream of chicken soup, 1 jar of salsa (I used Pace Medium) and 1 packet of taco seasoning in the bottom of your crockpot.

Next place 3 or 4 boneless chicken breasts into the mixture making sure to spoon some of the mixture over the top of your chicken breasts to cover them  nicely.  Set it on low, put the lid on it, slide it to the back of the counter and let it cook for about 4 1/2 hours.

Remove the chicken breasts from the crockpot to a cutting board. Using two forks shred the chicken. Mine literally just fell apart and only took about 2 minutes to shred up.  Return your shredded chicken to the crockpot, add in 1 cup of sour cream, stir it up until it's thoroughly mixed and cook for another 30 minutes.

The hardest part about this dish is deciding how you want to serve it. Our sandwiches were amazing but we'd like to hear what you choose to do with it!!

Ingredients:

1.5lbs boneless chicken breasts

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 jar salsa

1 packet of taco seasoning

1 cup sour cream

Mix soup, salsa and taco seasoning in crockpot, add in chicken breasts covering them with  mixture. Cook 4.5 hours. Remove chicken breasts to cutting board and shred them. Return to crockpot along with 1 cup of sour cream. Stir thoroughly and cook for 30 more minutes.

Crockpot Pot Roast

This is hands down the easiest pot roast recipe ever. So simple that it caused a debate about whether or not it was really cooking.  Last month I made the recipe for the first time and shared it on Facebook. One of my friends posted a comment stating "it sounds delicious and simple enough for even me to cook, IF I cooked". After a little prodding, she tried it for herself and was amazed at how well it turned out.  As a morning radio show host, she took the to the airwaves the next morning to share the recipe with her listeners.  Her male co-host replied that if you're just adding a handful of simple ingredients to a crockpot and letting it sit, "you're not really cooking".  The overwhelming consensus at the end of the debate was "if you start with raw food and end up with cooked food then it's COOKING".  I myself will admit that's it's really so easy that come dinner time I barely feel like I cooked and I'm quite alright with that. 

One roast, three little packets and a bit of water, yep that's all it takes!!  Place your roast in your crockpot.  In a small bowl mix one packet of Brown Gravy mix, one packet of Ranch Dressing mix and one packet of Italian Dressing mix with a half cup of water. Stir it well and dump it over your roast. Place the lid on the crockpot, turn it on low, slide it to the back of your counter and forget it about for 7-8 hours.  About thirty minutes before dinner time, I added in a jar of mushroom slices.  The roast is tender and the au jus is absolutely wonderful.  I can assure you the results far outweigh the effort. Give it a try for yourself!

Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers

Love Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches but watching your carb count?  You're going to love these!  I'm always on the lookout for healthier recipes to add into the mix. We both love our guilty pleasure meals and our desserts so it is helpful to find a balance in the diet.

Our 2 little pepper plants put out a nice little crop of peppers late in the season. "Little" being the keyword. I kept waiting for them to get bigger but they decided they were done growing and it was time to pick them and find a use for them. Not a big challenge as we love peppers.

A few months back I had copied a recipe for a different twist on stuffed peppers that called for 2 large bell peppers but I didn't see why our crop of little fellas wouldn't suffice, so I picked up the ingredients on the last shopping trip.  Sitting on the patio enjoying last evening's crisp sunny backdrop for dinner, I was glad that I did.  

Slice your peppers in half lengthwise, remove the ribs and seeds and line each pepper with a piece of Provolone cheese.

In a large skillet, saute mushrooms, onions, and garlic in butter and olive oil until caramelized (About 20-25 minutes) then add in deli counter roast beef cut into thin strips and cook an additional 5-10 minutes.

Spoon the meat and veggie mixture into your cheese-lined pepper halves. Fill them nice and full until they border overflowing! Top each one with another slice of Provolone and bake them 15-20 minutes on a foil-lined baking sheet in a 400 degree oven. 

You want your cheese lightly browned and your pepper tender. The result is all the great taste of a Cheesesteak Sandwich without all the carbs that come with that hoagie roll!  

We just made this our meal but they would make a great appetizer or snack also!

INGREDIENTS

8 oz. Thinly Sliced Roast Beef

8 Slices Provolone Cheese

2 Large Green Bell Peppers

1 Medium Sweet Onion

6 oz. Baby Bella Mushrooms

2 Tbs. Butter

2 Tbs. Olive Oil

1 Tbs. Garlic - Minced

Salt and Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Slice peppers in half lengthwise, remove ribs and seeds.

Slice onions and mushrooms.  Saute over medium heat with butter, olive oil, minced garlic and a little salt and pepper.  Saute until onions and mushroom are nice and caramelized.  About 25-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400*

Slice roast beef into thin strips and add to the onion/mushroom mixture.  Allow to cook 5-10 minutes

Line the inside of each pepper with a slice of provolone cheese. 

Fill each pepper with meat mixture until they are nearly overflowing.

Top each pepper with another slice of provolone cheese.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the cheese on top is golden brown. 

Serve and Enjoy!!

Makes 4 servings -  6 net carbs per serving!!!

Taco Soup

Last week I sat down to look at the 10 day forecast and what I'm sure made some cringe gave me a bit of a thrill.  Autumn was peeking around the corner to let us know it's on the way.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Summer but living in the city where it's always 10-15 degrees hotter than other places, this summer was a cooker. Weather definitely affects my appetite and my cravings. Try as I might, I just can't bring myself to eat soup when it's hot outside.  When I saw that today's forecast was highs in the 60's and lows in the 40's with a chance of rain, I knew my favorite season was on the way and it was time to welcome back "soup weather".  In our house I'm not the soup chef. That title rightfully belongs to my better half.  He's a magician at creating his own stocks from the previous night's dinner protein and always seems to know just what vegetables and herbs will make the perfect soup.  I do, however, rival him when it comes to chili.  

This summer I ran across some "Fall Soup" recipes, one of which was a "Taco Soup".  It sounded interesting at first glance but after going over the recipe it kind of sounded like a watered down chili, which didn't sound appetizing at all.  The concept was a good one and with a little tweaking it just might be an addition to our soup menu.  The original recipe was quite simple and I wanted to keep that aspect while bringing it more in line of a soup and not a subpar chili.  The reaction at the dinner table from the master himself was very positive so I bring you my version of a Taco Soup.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs of ground beef

1 large onion chopped

2 10oz cans of Beef Consomme

2 15oz cans of kidney beans

1 15oz can of corn

2 10oz cans of Ro-Tel Orignial Diced Tomatoes w/ Green Chiles

1 1/2 cups of water

1 packet Taco Seasoning

1 packet of Ranch Dressing Mix

In a large skillet brown your beef and onion together until fully cooked. (That's about the only effort required for this soup beyond opening cans). Drain beef mixture and dump into a 6 quart stock pot.  Add in all other ingredients, no need to drain just open them up and dump them in. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes.

I served mine with a some tortilla chips and a spoonful of sour cream but go ahead and get creative with your favorite add-ins and ENJOY!!

Pizza Balls

I came on to write this post today and realized that "Wow, it's been 2 weeks since we've shared anything with our readers".  I traveled  home a few weeks ago to visit family and attend the local county fair. It's really something special, the largest county fair in the country that is only eclipsed in size by a few state fairs. It's an event that is just woven into the DNA of all who grew up there. The one time a year that the locals get to show off the hard work they put into their livestock, gardens, baking, sewing, quilting, art, photography, you name, it's there. As a youngster I had no use for the "Commercial Exhibits" but as an adult I run for those exhibit halls to see what was the newest kitchen gadget, cookware, gardening tool etc that was being demo'd.  The high anticipation of finding a new toy for my cooking and running back here to blog and tell you all about it was met with disappointment. NOTHING, nothing new at all and not much in those halls at all worth perusing made the trip through them brief.  It wasn't a total loss, however, because it just gave me more time to spend with my family.  Because you see, the Canfield Fair is a "family event" for me. Aunts and Uncles, cousins galore, sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews all there just as they all have been from the time they were in a stroller. Each as different and unique as the next, each having chosen different career paths, different cities to call home and different hobbies to occupy their time but all the same when it comes to the fair. All "home" and all "family".

A return to my home was a reminder for me of the self-imposed chaos in my house. A new sofa coming in three weeks and a total home makeover to be tackled. Every room is getting a new paint color, a new wall unit being built into the living room, hardwood floors that need a cleaning and a facelift and lots of things to be sorted and removed. I'll be posting soon on some of those projects and the how-to's of them. But alas, yesterday was Sunday and that meant "football" and "game day food".  My cousin Cathy had shared a recipe for pizza balls with me a few months back. I tried it and they caused quite a bit of stir with some of my facebook friends asking for the recipe. I held back because I knew there were some things I wanted to try to improve on these already great little treats.  One thing that didn't need improvement was the simplicity.  So easy that after the kids or that special person in your life goes nuts over them they can make it themselves. The original recipe called for a colby or cheddar cheese and I thought mozzarella would make them more "pizza-y" and trying to keep them a little more healthy I used turkey pepperoni, which if we're honest just doesn't have that much flavor.  I'm glad I held out until I made the changes because this time they were spot on and the perfect football meal.

To start, preheat your oven to 425 and grease a 9 x 13 baking dish.  Next we're going to prepare our ingredients so it's just assembly after that.  Cut a block of mozzarella cheese into 30 little cubes, fill a bowl with pepperoni slices (you're going to need 120 of them) and pop open 3 tubes of Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits.

To assemble, flatten a biscuit with the palm of your hand. (I've found doing this on a styrofoam plate works nicely and they are easily removable).  In the center of your flattened biscuit stack 2 slices of pepperoni, one cube of cheese and then two more slices of pepperoni.

Now just simply pull all your edges up together to hide all that yumminess inside a ball.

After you've gotten it all wrapped up, place it in your prepared baking dish with your pinched side down. Continue until you have all 30 balls placed in your dish.  Then beat one egg and brush the top of each ball and sprinkle them with garlic powder, Italian Seasoning and Parmesan cheese.

Once they bake in your preheated oven for 18-20 minutes they puff up into wonderful golden brown balls filled with gooey goodness ready to be dipped into some warm pizza sauce and munch away play by play.

Having friends over for the game? Assemble them ahead of time, cover them and leave them in the refrigerator until you're ready to pop them in the oven.  They are very filling 4 or 5 per serving easily feeds 6 or 7 guests.

Ingredients:

3 tubes of Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits

1 block of Mozzarella Cheese

120 slices of pepperoni

1 jar of pizza sauce for dipping

1 egg  for brushing the tops

Garlic powder, Italian Seasoning and Parmesan Cheese

Assemble balls, place in greased 9x13 baking dish, brush with beaten egg, sprinkle tops with garlic powder, Italian Seasoning and Parmesan Cheese and bake for 18-20 minutes at 425 degrees.

Warm pizza sauce for dipping and enjoy!

Black Forest Dump Cake

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I'm well into my mid-forties and only recently discovered this sweet creation called a "Dump Cake".  While I enjoy my sweets, I've always been more of a "cook" than a "baker".  Cooking, for the most part, doesn't have to be exact. You can add a little broth, a pinch of this, a dash of that and adjust as you go along until you have the exact flavor you're looking for. Baking requires a little more precision. Exact measurements and strictly following the directions. Once it's in the oven there isn't a whole lot of adjusting you can do. Also, I've always found baking to be a lot more time consuming with a much bigger mess to clean up in the kitchen after your delectable makes it's way into the oven. Then I learned about the Dump Cake.  Given it's name since you basically just dump the ingredients into a baking dish and let them do all the work. "That can't possibly work", I said. Lo and behold, it does work and thus was born the sibling to my method of quick cooking. "Semi-Homemade" meet your baby brother, "Lazy Baking"!

Step 1: Grab 2 cans of your favorite pie filling. I'm sure a cooked down fresh fruit will work the same but remember we're going for lazy baking here! Simply dump them into a 9x13 baking dish. You don't even have to grease the dish. But you do have to spread it out evenly over the bottom of the dish.

Step 2:  Take one box of cake mix, your choice. Preferably something that compliments the pie filling you chose. Again just dump that on top of your pie filling and spread it out so your fruit filling is completely covered. Nope don't mix the cake according to directions on box. Just dump the dry mix on!

Step 3:  Cut a stick and a half of butter into pats and place them from end to end of your dish on top of the cake mix.

Put that in a 350 degree oven and bake it for an hour. Let it cool a bit and be amazed that the butter and juice from your pie filling turned that dry cake mix into a crunchy, gooey, cobbleresque cake! It's really great when you serve it up warm!

Seems everywhere I go lately I keep seeing "Chocolate Cherry". Ice cream, brownies, even a paint color! That put me in the mood to try a Black Forest Dump Cake and I'm glad I followed my gut and gave this a shot!

BLACK FOREST DUMP CAKE

2 cans of cherry pie filling

1 box of Betty Crocker Super Moist Triple Fudge Cake Mix

3/4 cup of butter (1 1/2 sticks cut into pats)

Preheat oven to 350

Dump cherry pie filling into bottom of 9x13 baking dish and spread evenly

Dump  dry Triple Fudge cake mix on top of pie filling and spread to completely cover the pie filling.

Evenly space your butter pats on top of the dry cake mix

Bake 45-60 minutes. (My oven usually takes right around the 55 minute mark)

Let cool slightly and serve. A little vanilla ice cream compliments this one nicely if you want to indulge.

Chicken Crescent Squares

What to do with that leftover chicken? I know, it's not a question that we have to ask in this house very often either.  The times we have fried or rotisserie chicken (homemade or carryout) there's always some leftover. Now granted, like everyone else we both pop open that refrigerator door and grab a cold drumstick as a snack the next day. Unfortunately we both have our favorite "parts", so there's some left sitting there. I found this great recipe for Chicken Crescent Squares that is super easy and gives new life to the leftovers.

They are delish, so you don't have to wait until you have leftovers to try them. I buy the Tyson precooked chicken strips or diced chicken all the time to have on hand for a quick salad and it will work just as well. The croutons are usually present for the salads also! The best thing is they are very light! 

My thought while eating these the first time was "Wow, this would make a great dish to serve at a lunch with friends, simple, tasty and light" but that hasn't stopped them from becoming part of our regular dinner rotation!

Chicken Crescent Squares

1 (3 oz) package cream cheese, softened
3 Tbsp butter, melted and divided
2 cup chopped cooked chicken
2 Tbsp milk
1/8 tsp pepper
1 can refrigerated crescent rolls
3/4 cup seasoned croutons, crushed

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine cream cheese and 2 Tbsp butter; stir in chicken, milk and pepper. Set aside.

Unroll crescent dough, separating into 4 rectangles; press perforations to seal. Spoon 1/4 of chicken mixture into center of each rectangle; bring corners of each rectangle together over chicken mixture, and twist gently to seal.

Brush packets with remaining 1 tablespoon of melted butter (I just pick mine up and dunk them in the melted butter), dredge in crushed croutons and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

ENJOY!!

Margarita Cake With Pretzel Crust

Margaritas and summertime go together for me just like Peanut Butter & Jelly. Does everybody  have drinks they like only in certain seasons or I'm just weird like that?  Since I'm a social drinker who loves to get together with friends for a drink or two, I rarely have a cocktail at home throughout the week (save for an occasional glass of wine with dinner).  I will admit, however, that some days the weather just puts me in the mood for a nip of something special. Sunny days can do that to me and make me crave a margarita, so when I saw this Betty Crocker recipe for a Margarita Cake I knew it was something I was going to whip up on a sunny day that I didn't have to go to work.  Given the fact that we've had sunny days a plenty this summer I purchased the ingredients on my last shopping trip and planned ahead to make this one.  I usually purchase our local store label to save a few bucks but admit that I did show respect to Betty Crocker by purchasing their brand since they kindly shared the recipe with me. My final verdict on this cake is a "thumbs up"! The margarita flavor isn't as intense as I thought it might be but I found that to be a good thing. Overall the cake is very light in texture and flavor and turned out to be just the right amount of "sweet" after a spicy meal of those Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches I posted about!

Ingredients

Crust

1 1/2

cups coarsely crushed pretzels

1/2

cup sugar

1/2

cup butter or margarine, melted

Cake

1

box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix

3/4

cup bottled nonalcoholic margarita mix

1/2

cup water

1/3

cup vegetable oil

1

tablespoon grated lime peel

3

egg whites

Topping

1

container (8 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed

Additional grated lime peel, if desired

1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Grease bottom only and lightly flour 13x9-inch pan, or spray bottom with baking spray with flour. In medium bowl, mix crust ingredients. Sprinkle evenly on bottom of pan; press gently.

2.  In large bowl, beat cake ingredients with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour batter over crust. 

3. Bake 34 to 39 minutes or until light golden brown and top springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool completely, about 2 hours. Frost with whipped topping; sprinkle with additional lime peel. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.

This put a whole new meaning to "after dinner drink" and it really hit the spot! Try it!