Butter Brownies

Luckily, this is one of those recipes where you probably have everything in house with the exception of maybe one ingredient. I got this recipe out of my local paper. The baker is also a local blogger come to find out and the recipe is found here.

Ingredients:

1 cup (140 g) all purpose flour 

1/2 tsp baking powder 

1/4 tsp salt 

6 oz white chocolate chips

5 tablespoons unsalted butter 

1/2 cup sugar 

1 egg

1 tsp almond extract 

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 300°F and put parchment paper in your 8x8 square baking dish.   

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside.

In a sauce pan over low heat, add the chocolate, butter & sugar, stir together until melted. Remove from heat & allow to cook slightly. 

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, place the egg & extract & whisk together. Slowly whisk in the cooled chocolate mixture into the egg mixture.  Then, add the flour mixture and continue whisking until combined. 

Using an off set spatula or similar, spread the batter evenly & place in the oven.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow them to cool for at least 1 hour.  Then remove from dish & cut into bars.

 

**The first time I made these they were kind of dry and cakey. LC looked at the recipe and made some changes. So if you see things a little different compared to her original recipe, that's why. He said it was too much egg, and that cooking on a lower temperature would make them less dry. After taking his advice, they came out much better. They were an easy bake especially if you're in a hurry because most of the ingredients are in your pantry. The only thing we lacked was the white chocolate.  

**Also, if you are used to making box brownies, these have a much thicker consistency. I didn't know that brownies from scratch were like that, but now you do too!

MANGO CHEESE BALL 

This is a recipe that I got from my aunt. I have no idea where she got it from. However, it IS good. Even LC liked it which is amazing in and of itself. It's super easy and only 5 ingredients. Can be premade before hand and only add  last two ingredients when you get to where you're going! LC put the toppings on it hence the messiness. He was in a hurry and didn't care. I would have done it better! ha:)


Ingredients: 
a 4 cup bag of cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups of mayo
2 small bags of slivered almonds
chopped green onions (didn't use here, because not sure if people would like onions)
1 bag of real bacon bits
1 jar of mango chutney

Directions:
Take first 4 ingredients and mix together and form into ball.
Then take the jar of chutney** and spread evenly on the cheese ball.
Lastly, cover the ball with the real bacon bits.
My recommendation: Serve with Ritz crackers; we used Carr's water crackers just because that's what we had in the pantry, but a buttery cracker such as Ritz is best with this.

**I used Major Grey's chutney. It's on the condiment aisle at my grocery and not the jam/jelly aisle. It doesn't say Mango chutney, but if you look on the ingredient list on the back you will see mango in it. Kroger is my local grocer.

Oreo Truffles

 **note: mine aren't too pretty, no time to fix. however, i've been reading up on how to make them look pretty. use a teaspoon for rolling in the chocolate or toothpicks/skewers to dip them:)

OREO TRUFFLES

What You Need

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1 pkg.  (16.6 oz.) OREO Cookies, finely crushed (about 4-1/4 cups), divided

2 pkg. (8 squares each) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted

Make It

MIX cream cheese and 3 cups cookie crumbs until well blended.
SHAPE into 48 (1-inch) balls. Dip in melted chocolate; place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet. Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs.(I used Christmas sprinkles instead of cookie crumbs)
REFRIGERATE 1 hour or until firm. Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator. 
**This recipe is from here on Kraft.com. Also, do not use the whole package, LC tried to go ahead and start these for me and he mixed the whole package of Oreos with the cream cheese. You really do need only three cups. The ones he started were crumbly because there wasn't enough cheese to hold it together. I remade them, and the consistency was just like it should be. I keep seeing to use a whole package in the blogosphere, but that didn't work for us.  

South Philly Cheese Steak Mac and Chz!

Ok, so this recipe was pretty easy. I will admit that LC did help me some. This did not take 30 minutes, it took close to an hour. The only reason being that LC had me cook everything on low at times to ensure I didn't burn anything. It's not that it was hard, but for a complete novice like me, it has a lot of things going at once.

South Philly Cheese Steak Mac n' Cheese

by Rachel Ray

Ingredients:

salt

1lb of cavatappi pasta, hollow ridged screws*

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

black pepper

2 large onions, thinly sliced

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 cups milk

3 cups shredded provolone*

1/2 cup beef stock

3/4 lb. thinly sliced deli roast beef, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

Place large pot of water over high heat and bring it to a boil. Salt the water, add the pasta, and cook to al dente. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot. 

While the pasta water is coming to a boil, heat the extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper and cover with a lid or piece of aluminum foil for 2 to 3 minutes to get them going. Remove the lid or foil and continue cooking the onions until tender and lightly caramelized, 12 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

While the onions are caramelizing, melt the butter in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the flour over the melted butter and cook the mixture for about 1 minute, stirring constantly. Whisk the milk into the butter-flour mixture slowly and bring up to a bubble to thicken, about 5 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat, and stir in 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, then season with salt and pepper and reserve. 

Preheat the broiler. 

To the skillet with the onions, add the beef stock and the roast beef. Stir over medium heat just to warm through. 

Add the cheese sauce and the onion-beef mixture to the pot with the drained pasta and toss everything to combine. Return the pasta mixture to the skillet or to a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish* and top with the remaining 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese. Place under broiler until bubbly, 2 to 3 minutes. Garnish with parsley. 

*i used elbow macaroni

* a block of provolone is pricey. we bought a package of sliced provolone and cut into thin strips. worked fine.

*i don't know what she's thinking. this will not fit in a 9 x13. that's why we used the reusable tin.

Cheezit Casserole

I'm not even kidding when I say this is YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY!!! We had a potluck at work, and a guy I work with brought this. He said he used to make it with his grandma when he was a kid.

I guess I should start taking pictures right after it's done. Sorry, this is the leftover tupperware pic.

Ingredients:
 1 pkg of frozen broccoli florets (16 oz.)
1 cup of mayo
2 cups of shredded cheddar
1 can of vegall (mixed vegetables)
1 can of cooked chicken
1 can of cream of mushroom soup (8 oz)
2 cups of crushed cheezits

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. You will need a 13x9 pan. Heat broccoli to 75-80% done in microwave. Chop chicken into smaller pieces. In separate bowl mix mayo, cream of mushroom, veggies, chicken, broccoli, and cheddar. Fold in one cup of cheezits to mixture. Then spread into greased pan. Sprinkle the rest of the cheezits on top. Bake for 35 minutes.

LC really liked this. If you're short on time, this is perfect. Little prep time and goes right in the oven.

Bowtie Lasagna

So, this is how my bowtie lasagna looked:

Ok, so I need to make sure I don't get distracted that way I crumble the meat all the way. Lesson learned!!!
This is what it's supposed to look like:

I mean does anything ever look as good as the model picture? Ha!

LC liked it. I'm not a huge red sauce fan. I don't eat traditional spaghetti, not a big fan of lasagna, etc. I figured this was easy enough for me to start. Here's the recipe from Tasty Kitchen:

Recipe Description

If you’re in the mood for lasagna, but are out of time, try this!

Ingredients

• 1 pound Ground Chuck
• 5 cups Bow Tie Noodles
• 3 cups Spaghetti Sauce (or Pizza Sauce, Whatever You Prefer)
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning (or More, Make It To Your Taste)
• 1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese
• 1/2 cup Sour Cream

Preparation Instructions

Fry ground chuck in small pan. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions.
After noodles are cooked, drain and drizzle with olive oil. Mix in your spaghetti sauce. (I can’t guarantee your results on this, because I’m spoiled; I am a “home canner” and have the BEST sauce on my shelf, a home canned marinara sauce that I use for lots of stuff—pizza, spaghetti, and of course, THIS.)
Add your fried hamburger, seasonings, cheese, and sour cream. Fold together and allow it all to combine and melt together, over low heat, for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
Serve to your family and be prepared to have it disappear before your very eyes.

This was super easy and a fast, quick meal if you're crunched for time. 

Hello!

So, hence the title of this new blog I've created, you can tell I'm no chef. I would say "novice" doesn't even describe the lack of cooking skill I have. I think the term "can't boil water" describes me perfectly:) This is going to be my journey to learn how to cook and its trials and tribulations in between.