Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bakes

 

 

Ingredients: Butter, sugar, milk, cocoa powder, peanut butter, vanilla and oats.

Combine butter, sugar, milk and cocoa powder. Mix and boil for 3 minutes.

Boiling

After boiling for 3 minutes remove from heat and mix in peanut butter, vanilla and oats. 

Mixing in oats

Everything mixed together.

 

Scoop out into cookie shapes. (Or spread in a 8x8 pan). Let cool and harden. Enjoy.

This is the Potus' favorite cookie/treat in the world.

 

Finished product.

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup peanut butter

3 cups oatmeal

 

DIRECTIONS:

Mix together first 4 ingredients and bring to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and mix in vanilla, peanut butter and oats.

Spoon onto tinfoil or into an 8x8 pan. Let cool completely. Enjoy!

 

Let me know if you have any questions! Thanks!

Whole Roast Chicken and Vegetables With Pan Gravy

There is something so comforting about roasting a whole chicken. I'm not quite sure what it is, but I love it. It can be intimidating if you've never done it before, but seriously, its SO easy. It's pretty much fool proof. I like everything about it. It's inexpensive and there are many things you can get out of one bird. I always have left over meat that I can shred and use in a second dinner. I use the carcass for my homemade chicken stock and the latest companion for my roasted chicken has been pan gravy. WHYYYY have I not been doing this my whole life??? It's one of those examples of not doing something just because I hadn't done it before. Well, I cannot tell you how much I was missing out. This pan gravy was SO GOOD and deceptively EASY! 

 

There are a couple of helpful tips in getting an out of this world bird. First, brining is the way to go, for sure. Brining just means soaking the chicken in a mixture of salt water. It makes your chicken INCREDIBLY moist and juicy, it adds flavor and also speeds up your cooking time a bit. Second, be sure to use a fat on the outside of your chicken. It doesn't really matter which fat you choose... I believe I've used them all at one point or another. Each has their different qualities and tastes, but don't get hung up on that, just pick one or a combination of a couple and try it out. You'll know what you prefer after experimenting. I usually use olive oil. Works great for me :) But again, any one or combo of fats works...vegetable oil, olive oil, butter, coconut oil, shortening... whatever you have handy will do the trick. The oil serves a couple of purposes. One, it will make it easy for your spices to stick on the chicken. And two, it gives the bird a nice tasty crispy layer. Yum. OK, lastly, you'll want to decide if your want to stuff the inside of your chicken or not. I really don't ever do this. Mainly because I usually don't have anything on hand I'd want to use to stuff a chicken. And honestly it doesn't make that big of a difference in taste in my opinion. 

 

A good rule of thumb for cooking time is as follows. a 3-5 lb bird needs to cook at 350° for 1 1/4 to

1 1/2 hours.  A 6-8 lb bird needs to cook at 350° for 1 1/2 - 2 1/4 hours. An 8-12 lb bird needs to cook at 375° for 2 1/4 - 3 hours. They all need to reach an internal temperate of 165° - 170°. Keep in mind that if you're stuffing your bird, you'll need to lengthen the cooking time by about a half hour.

Let's get to it.

 

First you'll want to take your chicken out of the package. Remove any giblets or neck or anything that comes inside. Rinse chicken in cold water.

Prepare the brine. The ratio you want is roughly 1 cup of salt for every gallon of water. You can add herbs or lemons here if you want. I usually just stick to the salt water.

 

Dissolve the salt into the water.

Put the chicken into the brine and let in sit in it for at least 2 hours. Not more than 8 hours. Remember to keep the chicken refrigerated.

 

Here are the vegetable sides that I chose to roast with the chicken. Onion, carrots and potatoes. (you can use really ANY vegetable here. Last time I used Brussels sprouts and they were delicious. Most of the time I like to use mushrooms too... I just use what I have on hand.)

Cut into bite sizes pieces. Drizzle a little oil and salt and pepper.

Take chicken out of brine. Allow to air dry for about 20-30 minutes.

Mix spices in bowl.

 

Rub olive oil (or fat of your choice) and then spices on chicken. Add vegetables around the chicken in the pan. Place in preheated oven and bake at 350° for 1 1/2 hours. (My chicken was 6 lbs)

This is what mine looked like after about an hour. You can periodically stir the vegetables for more even roasting. (I didn't because I forgot)

And here's what it looked like after an hour and a half... make sure to use a thermometer to get the internal temperature. It should be at least 165° before you take it out. It will continue to cook as it rests and the temperature should reach 180°.

Move  your chicken and vegetables to an extra pan or cutting board to rest.

Put your roasting pan with drippings directly onto a burner. Bring the juices to a simmer over medium high heat. Cook, scraping up the browned bits, until liquid thickens. (about 10 minutes)

Here's my "better than bullion" that I'm using instead of my real chicken stock.

 (I usually have homemade chicken stock on hand, but this works just fine too.)

This is what the drippings look like after thickening.

Stir or whisk in flour and cook while stirring, about 1 minute.

Should look like this after 1 minute.

 

Gradually whisk in stock and water.

Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until gravy thickens. Should be about 5-8 minutes.

The finished product.

 

Terrible picture, but I was too hungry to make it look nice :)

 

Whole Roasted Chicken Recipe

1 5-6 lb whole chicken

1 cup kosher salt (for brine)

Cold water

Various vegetables

2-3 Tablespoons Olive oil (or fat of choice)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

 

Gravy

Roasting pan with chicken drippings

1/2 cup flour

2 1/2 chicken stock

1 cup water

salt

pepper

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

FOR THE BRINE:

Unwrap chicken and remove giblets and neck from cavity. Rinse with cold water. Prepare the brine by dissolving kosher salt into water. Submerge chicken in the brine and allow to soak for 2-8 hours. Remember to keep refrigerated.

ROASTING:

About an hour before roasting, take the chicken out of the brine and rinse with cold water. Allow to air dry for 20-30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350°. Cut the vegetables and drizzle with a little oil. Season vegetables with salt and pepper. Stuff the chicken if you choose. Mix spices in a bowl. Rub the chicken with oil and then rub the spice mixture on top. Put in preheated oven and roast for 1 1/2 hours or until skin is golden and crispy and internal temperature reaches 165°. Remove chicken and vegetables from pan and place in a extra pan or on a cutting board to rest.

GRAVY:

While chicken rests put roasting pan on burner and heat juices and bring to a simmer over medium high heat. Cook, scrapping up browned bits until liquid thickens. (about 10 minutes). Add flour and cook, while stirring, until blended. (about 1 minute) Gradually whisk in stock and water. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until gravy thickens. (about 5-8 minutes). Season with salt and pepper and serve over chicken or mashed potatoes. Enjoy!!!

 

Thanks for stopping by :)

 I'm always happy to hear your feedback or answer any questions you have!

 

 

The World's Best Minestrone...Seriously.

This is one of my favorite recipes. It's so easy and it tastes AMAZING! I've been making this recipe for about 12 years. I adapted it from a minestrone recipe I found on a website all those years ago. Definitely one in my permanent rotation.

 

 



Here are the ingredients. Sausage, onion, garlic, chicken broth, tomatoes, chick peas, kidney beans, carrots, spinach, pasta, basil and marjoram. (Green beans are really good in this too. Mr. T. has a serious issue with green beans, so I leave them out for him.)

 

 

Chop onion and mice garlic.Brown the sausage with the onion and garlic. After cooked through, drain and return to pot.

 

 

Slice carrots. Stir in all of the remaining ingredients.

 

 

Here's what it looks like after adding kidney beans.

 

 

And chick peas.

 

 

And carrots and tomatoes. (Hand squished)

 

 

Everything is in! Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until pasta is tender.

 

 

 

 All done! That's it! SO EASY! Serve with garlic bread or French bread and enjoy!

 

 

Seriously, SO delicious!!!

 

 

 

 

 

INGREDIENTS

1lb sausage

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and chopped

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

5 C. chicken broth

1 30 oz. can of chopped tomatoes, undrained (I always just use whole because that's what I keep in my pantry and then I squish them with my hands)

1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans (chick peas), undrained

1 15 oz. can of kidney beans, undrained (I usually use dark, but I only had light in my pantry this time. Either one works.)

1 C. small shell pasts (I only had elbows today, but I prefer the shells. You can substitute any small pasta.)

1 10 oz. package of frozen spinach, thawed

1 1/2 C. frozen green beans, thawed (I leave them out these days)

1 1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram

 

 

Note* If you'd like to make it spicy you can use spicy Italian sausage and add some red pepper flakes to taste.

 

DIRECTIONS

Heat sausage, onion and garlic in stock pot over med high heat. Brown sausage and cook through. Drain and return to pot.

Stir in remaining ingredients.

Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium and simmer until pasta is tender.

ENJOY!!!

 

 

 



 

Fruit Leather

 

FRUIT LEATHER

 

An astronomical amount of fruit leather is consumed on a daily basis at my house. I make big batches about 3 times a week. I usually make strawberry, but you can pretty much use ANY fruit you'd like. Experiment and see what your favorite is! It's always good to have a stash of these around for a healthy snack/treat, and since you are the one making them you control the sugar content!

 

 

Here are the starting ingredients. I get my strawberries and apples at Sam's club in 5 lb bags. gotta love buying in bulk.

 

Peel and cut up the apples. Make sure you have a big enough pot! 

 

Add strawberries.

 

Heat over medium heat.

 

 

You can add a sweetener if you choose. When I use a sweetener I choose agave nectar. Tasty. Most of the time I just leave it out. The apples and berries are sweet enough as it is.

 

If I use sweetener, I also add a bit of lemon juice. It adds a good balance.

 

Cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes.

 

After 20 minutes turn down heat and simmer on low for about another 20 minutes.

 

What it should look like when you're done cooking.

 

Let it cool for a bit and then put into a blender. (Can I just say that I LOVE my ninja?! )

 

Blend until smooth. I make such large quantities that I have to do this in two batches.

 

Mix all of the blended batches in a bowl to ensure the same consistency. 

 

Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap. (make sure the pan has sides so the fruit mixture doesn't run). pour some of the mixture onto the baking sheet. Smooth it out to an even consistency. You may need to play around with the thickness to find the right one that's your favorite. I do mine pretty thick, so they end up cooking a little longer. Place in heated to the lowest temperature possible. Mine goes down to 170°. Cook for around 6 hours. All ovens and pans are different, so just keep your eye on it and test it out.

 

 

After about 3 hours.

 

 

After about 6 hours. The sides are done, but the middle is not. Peel off the parts that are dry and put the rest back in the oven. Keep you eye on it and take it out when it's done.

 

The dry sides :)

 

Store in an airtight container. TASTY!

 

 

RECIPE

5 lbs of apples (any kind really)

2 1/2 lbs strawberries (or any other type of fruit)

1/4 cup of agave (optional)(or any type of sweetener that you like) You can adjust this to your liking

splash of lemon juice (optional)

 

Peel and cut the apples into pieces. Put apples and strawberries in a pot. Add Agave and lemon juice if you choose to use them.  (You could also add some cinnamon or other spices). Cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for about another 20 minutes. Let mixture cool. Place cooled fruit in blender and blend until smooth and consistent.  Line two baking sheets with plastic wrap. Pour about a quarter of fruit mixture in pan and spread until you have an even layer. Repeat with second pan. Store remaining fruit mixture in an airtight container and refrigerate. Make a second batch with the remaining fruit mixture after the first batch is done. It will keep in the fridge or up to a week. Cook in your oven set on the lowest possible setting (Mine goes down to 170°) for about 6 hours. After the first 4 hours check around every half hour so as not to over cook. You may need to cook it longer depending on how thick you made it. Your fruit leather will be ready when it is slightly sticky to the touch. It may look like it's not quite ready, but it will be. Be careful not to over cook or it will become crunchy. This might take a couple of tries to get just right, but don't give up, it is MORE than worth it!!! Store in an airtight container and enjoy!

   

You can also use a dehydrator to dry these. Just follow your manufacturers instructions. I have a dehydrator, but I don't have the fruit leather trays. I'm gonna order some on amazon.

 

Let me know if you have any questions, and I'll do my best to answer them! Also, I'd love to hear how yours turn out! Thanks for stopping by!