Spicy Turkey Meatballs

Now, now. Don't start freaking out because I mentioned the word "turkey" right next to meatballs. You have no idea what you're missing. My mom introduced me to these. She said "let's make these turkey meatballs" and I seriously thought...no thanks, but we made them anyway. As we were mixing the meat and spices I was thinking they were going to be bland, dry and gross. Boy was I wrong. These were OUT OF THIS WORLD!!! I LOVED them! They were tender, flavorful and juicy....and healthy. Go figure. We made a double batch and froze half of them for future quick dinners. Genius. Give them a try...especially with the spaghetti and white sauce with smoked Gouda cheese - absolutely delicious!

Meatballs:
2 lbs ground turkey
1/3 cup chopped onion
2 cloves minced garlic
2 eggs (you can just use egg whites here as a healthier option - just add 1 T skim milk with them)
2 t chili powder
1/4 cup dried bread crumbs (you can use ground up garbanzo beans here for a healthier option)
1 T dried parsley
1 t black pepper
1/2 t salt

1 lb spaghetti (use whole wheat pasta here for a healthier option)
1 8oz package low fat cream cheese
2 cups milk
4 oz smoked Gouda cheese, grated

For the meatballs, mix all ingredients together and form into 1-1 1/2 inch balls and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

Cook spaghetti according to package directions. In a large skillet or large saucepan, melt cream cheese over low heat. After melted, add milk and whisk until smooth, bubbly and thick. Add half of the cheese to the mixture and stir until melted. Add spaghetti to the sauce. Plate spaghetti topped with meatballs and extra Gouda cheese.

*We also made a marinara sauce (for my dad...the baby) and it was ABSOLUTELY delicious mixing the red sauce with the white!! Try it...you won't be disappointed.

Butterfinger Cookies

Butterfinger has to be one of my favorite candy bars of all time. So, naturally, when I found this recipe I knew we were meant for each other! It has the beautiful taste of a peanut butter cookie with the crispity crunch of the Butterfinger chunks. And...some chunks caramelized and became ooey, gooey goodness. If you like peanut butter cookies, THESE are the cookies for you! When you first bake them they might seem like they are underdone and extremely soft, but don't fetter...after they cool they firm up.

1 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
1 stick butter
4 eggs
3 running over teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups chunky peanut butter
2 cups flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
20 ounces Butterfingers, chopped up into large chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla in mixer. Add peanut butter and mix. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt. Add to peanut butter mixture and mix until blended. Fold in Butterfingers.

Bake on greased cookie sheet for about 9-12 minutes (I cooked them the full 12 minutes in my oven.)

* From Confessions of a Cookbook Queen...by the way my new favorite dessert site...you are going to probably be seeing A LOT of desserts from this one!

4th of July Cake

Such a simple, light and delicious cake! Happy 4th!

1 French Vanilla box cake mix
1 recipe cream cheese frosting (found here)
1 tub whipped cream
raspberries
blueberries
1 strawberry
Red and Blue food coloring gels

Mix cake according to package directions. Divide batter in half. Color one bowl full of batter red and the other blue. Pour into 2 prepared 8 inch round cake pans. Bake according to package directions.

Make cream cheese frosting according to recipe above. Fold in whipped cream to make a light and fluffy frosting. Layer cooled cakes with frosting and then frost entire cake. Garnish with berries. Enjoy your holiday!!!

Chicken Bakes

And we're back!!!

With all this business of having a baby, moving, and being low on the funds, I've lost myself in the mix. My identity was cooking...now I'm just surviving. Till yesterday. I FINALLY got the urge and desire to start cooking again. Let me just say...it feels GREAT!!! And lucky for you I'm starting it off with a bang...which means you're going to have to hit the gym...

If you've ever been to Costco, you know what these are. They serve them in the food court there and also in the freezer section. They are VERY delicious! I saw on Justin cousin, Jen's, blog that they made them. I immediately went on the hunt for the "secret" recipe. I'm not exactly sure if these are the same - ingredient for ingredient - but they sure tasted like it! My dad was even raving about them and he doesn't stray much from his basic meat and potato meals. And don't tell anyone, but I sneaked in a little whole wheat flour cause I was a little low on white flour. Nobody noticed and I didn't tell! HAHA!! Jokes on them...

I'm also sure that the dough they use at Costco is the absolute best, but I don't have the funds and live about 40 minutes from one now...not so convenient. So I have a go-to recipe for all of my pizza doughs that is just awesome (don't forget that I added that whole wheat flour and it was delish...definitely a trick I will be using often in the future.)

Double recipe of my homemade pizza dough found here

Cooked, diced chicken (I used rotisserie chicken ironically from Costco)
Ceasar salad dressing (make sure it's a quality kind...I've had a lot of crap in my day)
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 bunch green onions, diced
Crumbled bacon (I just used a small bag of real crumbled bacon for ease)
Parmesan cheese

Divide dough into 8 equal pieces. Marinate the chicken in some Cesar dressing, just enough to cover each piece...not drenched.

Roll out 1 dough ball into a 11x5 rectangle. Spread about 1 teaspoon of Cesar dressing on the dough. Sprinkle marinated chicken evenly over top. Top with both cheeses, green onions and bacon to your liking. Roll the 5 inch side over the ingredients into a tight roll.

Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet. Top with another teaspoon of Cesar dressing and then sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Makes 8 chicken bakes. (If you think you don't need this many...don't be silly - make them all. They are a cinch to freeze and make the perfect quick and easy go-to lunch or dinner for the manly folk...and the child folk)

*From recipezaar.com

Honey Wheat Bread

I've been making this bread for years now and don't know why it's taken me so long to put in on here!! It's the best, most delicious bread I've ever had. I LOVE it. Bryce loves it. My other half loves it. Doesn't it look just delicious cooling on the railing of the porch? Let me just say yesterday when I made these I was feeling like such a home-maker. You know...yeast, rising dough, fresh warm bread...that'll do it to ya.

I got this recipe from my cousin, Jenna, years ago. She made it and I ate it. Then I bugged her daily till I got it. She found it on allrecipes.com (which also is a favorite of mine.) The thing that's so wonderful about it is you use half whole wheat flour and half white. This tactic must be used to trick the people eating it. It's got the whole wheat goodness, but the look and texture of a white bread. GENIUS!! I also like how it doesn't use any white sugar, just honey. The flavor is phenomenal! Just try it...it's so easy. If I can do it - you can too...seriously.

3 cups warm water (about 110 degrees F)
2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
1/3 cup honey
5 cups bread flour
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon salt
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons butter, melted

In a large bowl, mix warm water, yeast, and 1/3 cup honey. Add 5 cups white bread flour, and stir to combine. Let set for 30 minutes, or until big and bubbly. (A little trick I use in situations where I don't have a nice warm porch is I turn the microwave on for 1 minute with nothing in there. Then I open it and put the dough in there for a warm place to rise. I also will turn my oven on and when it gets to about 150 degrees, I turn it off. Then I put the dough in there to rise. Both ways work like a charm!)

Mix in 3 tablespoons melted butter, 1/3 cup honey, and salt. Stir in 2 cups whole wheat flour. Flour a flat surface and knead with whole wheat flour until not real sticky - just pulling away from the counter, but still sticky to touch. This may take an additional 2 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the surface of the dough. Cover with a dishtowel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled.

Punch down, and divide into 3 loaves. Place in greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pans, and allow to rise until dough has topped the pans by one inch.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes; do not overbake. Lightly brush the tops of loaves with 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine when done to prevent crust from getting hard. Cool completely

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

These are just the perfect definition of Summer! After I made these I realized that I probably could have just made a french vanilla cake and added lemon juice and zest and it would be just as good or even better. Also, the original recipe called for a strawberry buttercream frosting, but after seeing how involved it was I opted to just use my own strawberry cream cheese frosting and it was delicious. Either way, the combination of lemon with strawberry is just awesome!!

3 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
3 Tbsp lemon zest (from 3 lemons)
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (from 1-1.5 lemons)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
Strawberry Cream Cheese frosting, recipe follows

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare muffin tin by either spraying with baking spray or lining with paper liners.

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside. Cream butter and sugar on a high until pale, light, and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly before adding the next one. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Turn mixer to the low, and add the dry ingredients in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk in two batches. Mix only until just incorporated.

Fill each muffin cup ~3/4 full. Bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer shows only moist crumbs attached, rotating the pans at the halfway point. Allow cupcakes to cool completely in the pans before removing.

Yields: 24 cupcakes

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1 t vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup strawberry feezer jam (homemade is the best way to go, but if you don't have it, you can get it at any grocery store)

Cream cream cheese and butter until there are no lumps. Add vanilla and powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add jam and beat again until well incorporated.

*Cupcakes from Dinner and Dessert

Chocolate Cream Cheese Toffee Bars

I saw these when I was watching the Food Network and knew I needed to make them! They are so easy because you use already prepared everything pretty much. In the original recipe she used only 2 toffee bars, but I upped it to 4 because it didn't seem like enough. She also used toasted almonds on top, but we're not much of the nut type, so I left them out. These are absolutely divine! I think it's my new favorite dessert by far. The proportions are so perfect...with the cream cheese, chocolate and cookie. The toffee bar is so perfectly crunchy too!! LOVE THEM!!

1 pound refrigerated sugar cookie dough
4 toffee bars, chopped (I used Heath bars)
1/2 t vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (8oz) cream cheese, room temperature

Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a 8x8-inch nonstick baking pan with vegetable cooking spray. Lay a 6 by 18-inch piece of parchment paper in the pan, allowing the excess paper to overhang the sides. Spray the parchment paper lightly with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine the cookie dough, 1/2 of the chopped chocolate-toffee candy pieces and vanilla extract. Using damp fingers, gently press the dough into the prepared pan. Using the tines of a fork, prick the dough all over. Bake for about 20 minutes until the crust is lightly browned. Cool for 15 minutes.

Place the chocolate chip in a medium bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until the chocolate has melted. Cool the chocolate mixture for 10 minutes. Whisk in the cream cheese until the mixture is smooth. Using a spatula, spread the chocolate mixture over the cooled crust. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate-toffee candy pieces over the chocolate mixture. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours until the chocolate layer is firm.

Peel off the parchment paper and cut into 1 1/2 by 2-inch bars. Serve at room temperature.

*From the Food Network