Rootbeer and Chocolate

I think I will be serving these Monday.   HERE is the recipe.  I found this really fun blog that I will be checking out more often.  How sweet it is.

Root Beer Floats
serves 2
2 cups vanilla ice cream
2 bottles of root beer
Scoop equal amounts of ice cream into two glasses. Top with a bit of hot fudge, then pour in root beer. Drizzle a little more hot fudge over top. Devour. Die. Go to heaven.

Homemade Hot Fudge
1 cup sugar
1 cup cocoa
2 tablespoons flour
pinch of salt
1 cup boiling water or scalding milk
1 tablespoon of butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Combine sugar, cocoa, salt, and flour in a bowl or pot over a double boiler. Bring water or milk to a boil. Gradually add hot liquid to sugar mixture. Stir constantly until mixture thickens.
Once it has reached the desired thickness, remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Serve immediately if you would like a thinner sauce, or let it sit at room temperature for an hour to thicken. Store in the refrigerator.

Purse Tutorial

Found this cute purse HERE.  My girls are wanting a purse. 

Brownies...

Well I found a yummy website that really is awesome.  Finecooking.com  I think.  Here is the brownie recipe I tried tonight and it really turned out yummy. 

I doubled it and put it in a 9x13 pan.

6 oz unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
2 oz (2/3c.)  cocoa
1 2/3 c. sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. flour
4 oz chopped chocolate (3/4 c.)
2 oz (1/2c.) nuts

350'- butter a 8" pyrex pan

Melt butter in pan.  Take off heat and add cocoa, wisk til smooth.  Add the sugar and salt, wisk til smooth.  Add 1 egg and wisk just til blended.  Add vanilla and other egg and wisk just til blended.  Sprinkle flour on top of mixture and stir with a rubber spatula just til blended.  Add chocolate and fold in.  Scrape into pan.  Sprinkle nuts on top. 

Bake 33-38 minutes. 
Transfer to cool rack and let cool completely. 

Makes 12 brownies. 

Without frosting they are worth 8 weight watcher points, with frosting they are 10 points. 

I left out the nuts and for the chocolate I added 1 3/4 c milk chocolate chips. 

This recipe gets an A in my mind.

Light and Dark Yummy Bars

I too love things made from cake mixes.  These kind of reminded me of a hello dolly.  These look kid friendly also.  Found the recipe HERE

Faux Burger...

I found this idea HERE.  Oh how I could bite into one of these right now.  We will be making these this summer. 

Ruffle skirt

I found this really cute skirt tutorial.  I am having more time to sew.  This one will be fun.

HERE

sundress...

I am needing a project.  I don't want to forget where I saw this cute sundress.

HERE is the pattern

Pico De Gallo & Guacamole

Thanks Ree for posting this recipe HERE.

■FOR THE PICO DE GALLO:

■5 whole Plum (roma) Tomatoes
■½ whole Large (or 1 Small) Onion
■3 whole Jalapeno Peppers
■Cilantro
■Lime Juice
■Salt To Taste

Chop jalapenos, tomatoes and onions into a very small dice. (Leave seeds in your jalapenos for a hotter pico). Adjust amount of jalapenos to your preferred temperature. Next, chop up a nice-sized bunch of cilantro. Just remove and discard the long leafless stems before chopping. No need to remove the leaves from the stems completely. Place all of these ingredients together in a bowl and give it a good stir.

Squeeze the juice of half of one lime into the bowl. Add salt to taste and stir again.

■FOR THE GUACAMOLE:

■3 whole Avocados
■Pico De Gallo
■Lime Juice
■Salt To Taste

Guacamole:

Start with buttery-soft avocados. Halve them lengthwise and remove the pits. Next, with a spoon scrape the “meat” out onto a large plate. Next, with the bottom of a clean cup (or with a fork) mash the avocados, making sure to leave it relatively chunky. Add just a couple of shakes of salt to taste. Next, add a generous helping of Pico de Gallo. Fold together. Lastly squeeze the juice of half of a lime over the top. Give it one last stir.

Mexican Layered Dip

Thanks Ree for posting this yumminess Here

This has such a fun twist on it with the beans, and different cheese.  I love it. 

Ingredients


■1 can Refried Beans
■Tabasco Sauce, To Taste
■1 can Diced Green Chilies
■Ground Cumin, to taste
■¾ cups Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
■1 cup Sour Cream
■1 cup Guacamole
■¾ cups Monterey Jack Cheese
■1 can Black Olives
■1 cup Pico De Gallo

Preparation Instructions

Begin by throwing the refried beans into a small pan over medium-low heat. Add several dashes of Tabasco sauce and a small can of (undrained) diced green chilies. Stir well. Next, sprinkle a little bit of ground Cumin.
Spread the beans on the bottom of a glass bowl or high-sided dish. Over this sprinkle the sharp cheddar. Next, plop your sour cream. And spread it into a single layer, being careful not to disturb the cheese underneath.
The next layer is the guacamole. Spread it over the sour cream. Follow this with a layer of Monterey Jack Cheese and a nice sprinkling of chopped black olives.
Lastly, place a generous layer of Pico de Gallo. You can also, if you have the gumption for it, sprinkle some diced jalapenos over top.

Enjoy!

Garlic Bread Seasoning

Garlic Bread Seasoning


1/2 c. powdered Parmesan cheese
2 tsp. Kosher salt
2 Tbsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. basil
2 tsp. marjoram
2 tsp. parsley
Combine ingredients in a jar (preferably one with a sprinkle top) and shake. Well, don't shake until you've put the lid on, but I assume most of you are smart enough to figure that out! :)
Sprinkle on top of breadsticks or combine 1 1/2 Tbsp. seasoning with 1/2 c. of softened real butter and spread on a loaf of French bread (cut in 1/2 lengthwise). Wrap in foil and bake at 375 until butter's melted. If you want, you could also pop it open-faced under the broiler for a few minutes so it gets brownish and crispy.

Cheesy Garlic Bread Swirls

Cheesy Garlic Bread Swirls
Recipe by Our Best Bites

French Bread Dough:
1 Tbsp. yeast
1 1/2 c. warm water
1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
4-5 1/2 c. flour
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 egg yolk

Garlic Butter:
1/2 c. (1 stick) of real butter, no substitutions
1 1/2 Tbsp. garlic bread seasoning
Shredded mozzarella cheese

Combine yeast, water, and sugar in large mixing bowl and allow to stand 10 minutes or until bubbly. Add salt, vegetable oil, and egg yolk (set white aside for later) and combine. Add 3 c. flour and mix well until combined. Add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough that barely sticks to your finger. Knead, either by hand or in mixer (my personal and very lazy choice) for another 2-3 minutes. Cover and allow to rise 1 hour.
While dough is rising, combine butter and garlic bread seasoning. Set aside.

Now...here's a little trick I've been using a lot lately. I really, really hate cleaning up flour on my work surface after I've been working with dough, but I obviously have to use SOMETHING to keep it from sticking. If you spray a little non-stick cooking spray on your work surface and your rolling pin, your dough won't stick and clean-up is super easy!

Anyway, roll your rough into a rectangle that's about 18-20 inches by 6 inches. Smear garlic butter over the entire surface of the dough and then sprinkle with cheese.
Roll up jelly-roll style and then use dental floss to cut into 12 equal slices. Of course, I kind of forgot to take pictures of this whole process, but if what I'm saying makes no sense, check out the orange roll recipe to see what I'm talking about. Place each slice in a muffin tin. Cover with a clean cloth. Preheat oven to 350 and allow rolls to rise while the oven is heating.

When the oven is ready, bake for 18-22 minutes.

You're going to need to keep a CLOSE eye on these puppies during the last 10 minutes or so--once you notice the cheese getting brown, place a sheet of aluminum foil over the rolls (you don't need to press it down or anything, just lay it on top). This will keep the cheese from burning, although it will get pretty brown on top. It's okay, though, because the insides are still all ooey-gooey. 

Put a cookie sheet under pans so the butter doesn't drip out and cause smoke everywhere.

Triple Layer Oreo/Peanut Butter Snickers Bars

Thanks to Cookies and Cups for this yummy recipe:  You can find the original recipe Here. 
I revised mine just a bit.  I have had some peanut butter snickers sitting around and have been dying to make something with them, so incorporated them into these bars. Plus I hate trying to melt white chocolate, so I used milk chocolate on top, but you are more than welcome to use white chocolate on top.

Triple Chocolate Oreo/Peanut Butter Snicker Bars


1 16.6 pkg of Oreo cookies
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
3 or 4 peanut butter snickers, chopped

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips, melted

Preheat the oven to 325°
Line a 9 x 13 pan with foil (shiny side down) and spray with non-stick spray.
Set aside 8 Oreo cookies.
Crush the remaining Oreos with either your food processor or in a ziplock bag with a rolling pin.
When the Oreos are crushed transfer them into a medium bowl and add you salt and melted butter, stirring to combine.  Press your Oreo mixture into your prepared pan.
Chop your remaining 8 Oreos into coarse pieces and set aside.
In a double boiler (a bowl fitted over a pan of boiling water) add your sweetened condensed milk, the semi-sweet chips, the milk chips and the vanilla. Stir until all melty.
(OR you could do this in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until melted)
Remove from heat
Pour your melted chocolate mixture over the Oreo crust.
Sprinkle the mini chocolate chips, the Oreo cookies chunks and the snickers over the top of the filling.
Press down gently into the chocolate topping.
Bake for 20-22 minutes in preheated oven.
Cool pan on a wire rack for approx 1 hour.
Melt the white chocolate chips
Drizzle the white chocolate over the top of the bars.
Chill in refrigerator until completely cooled, an hour or two.
Make sure they are completely cooled, otherwise they are a bit mushy...still delicious, but hard to cut.
When ready to serve, using the foil remove from the pan and cut into squares

Chicken Milano

CHICKEN MILANO LIKE JOHNNY CARINOS

FOR THE FETTUCCINE ALFREDO:

1 lb dried fettuccine (cooked according to package, don't forget a handful of kosher salt in the water)
5 1/2 tbsp butter
2 cups heavy (whipping) cream
1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese
2 healthy pinches of fresh ground nutmeg
salt and pepper, to taste (I didn't add any)
(I added 1/2 c. gorganzola cheese-it is like a blue cheese-to mine, and I just added my cheese to my cream and let it all get bubbly and thick.)

Melt the butter in a large skillet, whisk in cream and nutmeg, bring to just simmering then turn heat down just to keep warm.
When pasta is done, (don't pour out pasta water) use a pasta fork and add pasta to cream sauce. Add Parmesan cheese and stir till well combined. keep warm (you may need to spoon a little pasta water in to thin the sauce when plating).

FOR THE CHICKEN:
8 THIN chicken breast halves (you can get the "special thin" at wal mart)
salt and pepper and meat tenderizer
fresh basil leaves(I can't get these in my area so I used a tube of basil blend from the produce section of my local grocery store)
thin sliced black forest ham
smoked provolone cheese slices
butter and olive oil, equal parts to saute the chicken.
Season your chicken with the salt pepper and tenderizer (leave off if your worried about msg). You can do this right before you cook or a few hours before and let the seasoning really work on the chicken. I season early in the day and cover and put in fridge and then bring to room temp before I cook it.

Heat butter and olive oil in a large skillet and cook your chicken in batches till golden brown and cooked through (don't overcook!) Transfer chicken to baking sheet, top each chicken with a basil leaf (or brush with the basil blend (I prefer this) then top with a slice of ham and a slice of cheese and run under the broiler till the cheese melts,
Serve over pasta.