Ranch Pasta with Chicken and Bacon

My dad loves to ice fish. I mean LOVES it. During the cold Minnesota winter, he takes a lot of trips up north, or wherever the fish are biting, and brings his fish house up there for a few days. So he left for another trip yesterday but before he left I wanted to make something good. I wasn't really sure what. I was going to make up something but I kinda gave up so I found this. It is really easy and really really good!! Even my dad said it was good- he never says that! So enjoy and subscribe, comment, and share!! Merry (late) Christmas!!

Ranch Pasta with Chicken and Bacon

8-16 oz of Penne pasta (Penne holds the sauce the best but others will work)
1 T of butter
1 T flour
1-2 T Ranch dressing dry mix (the recipe said to but it can get overpowering)

2 cups milk
1 cup cheddar cheese
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
6 slices of cooked bacon, chopped

Cook pasta according to directions and drain. Set aside.

Melt butter over medium heat in medium saucepan big enough to fit pasta (or use the same pot). Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in milk. Continue to cook until sauce thickens and stir occasionally. Stir in dressing mix and cheese and stir until cheese has melted and mixed with sauce. This will take awhile so be patient. Add in pasta, chicken, and bacon. Stir to mix and serve!!

Recipe from: Plain Chicken

Gluten-Free Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Has anyone else noticed an increases in gluten-free diets lately? I have. I recently have had a friend and a cousin go gluten-free and many students at my school. I made these cookies for a treat for the dance team because my friend, Katelyn, is on the team and I wanted to make something safe for her and the whole team devoured them! EVERYONE loved them-not just my friend! I am kind of glad that Katelyn went gluten-free- it has challenged me to expand my knowledge of gluten-free food! So, look for more gluten-free recipes on my blog! Also, very, very, very sorry for my month of no posts... School kinda prevented me from being able to do anything but now that I am done with my super hard classes I will be on here more so please subscribe to get my updates!! And happy (late) Thanksgiving!!

Gluten-Free Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

1/2 cup vegetable oil
4oz unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled a bit
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
2 cups Gluten Free flour mix
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Mix oil, chocolate, sugar, and vanilla together. Mix in eggs one at a time. Sift together the flour,baking powder and salt. Stir into chocolate mixture.

Place in the refrigerator for at least a few hours- this helps the dough be less gooey while shaping it.

Shape into 2 in balls and roll in powdered sugar. Place the dough balls onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Push the balls down a little bit to help flatten. Bake at 350 F for about 12 minutes.

Recipe from: Living, Loving, Laughing, & Creating Everyday

Caramel Stuffed Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

Fall is finally here! Time for sweaters, boots, scarves, hot chocolate, and... PUMPKIN RECIPES! These are amazing... I found the recipe on Pinterest and it was fairly easy. It took a while to make but it is soo worth it... Yummy. The are super soft and the caramel is great! Although, the caramel I use got hard after the were taken out of the oven so next time I made it without the caramel and they turned out perfectly. So the caramel is optional and if you would like to omit, just don't add in the caramels when rolling the dough. Make sure to leave your comments and sign up for e-mails!!

Caramel Stuffed Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 + 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided

1/3 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons + 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 (14 ounce) bag Kraft Caramels (unwrap about 30 of them)

Cream together the butter and 1 cup of sugar until smooth and creamy. Mix in vanilla and pumpkin until blended.

In another bowl, mix together flour, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, baking powder, and baking soda. Gradually mix into pumpkin mixture. Refrigerate for 30 min.

After refrigeration  scoop up about a tablespoon of dough, place the caramel in the middle and roll the dough into balls. Place onto a flat plate or cookie sheet. They can be close but cannot touch. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 F. Whisk together 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon in a shallow, wide bowl.

Roll each ball of dough in the cinnamon sugar and place on a cookie sheet about 2 inches apart from one another. Refrigerate leftover dough until next batch. Bake cookies for 14 minutes.

Leave on pan to cool for about 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. Store in a airtight container when completely cooled.

7 -Layer Bars

So last weekend, I had a bonfire with some of my friends and I made my cookie dough dip and they all loved it! It was a fun night. Most people just hang out or do whatever normal teenagers do at bonfires, not us though! I had an old Barbie guitar my grandma gave me for Christmas one year and it happened that 2 of my friends know who to play...So we sang songs around the campfire including the year's most annoying song: The Fox Song. The guys were mostly the ones dancing and singing which made it even more funny. Great night I'll tell ya! Well I also made these 7-layer bars, which is actually only 6 but who's really counting? I am working on turning this into a dip similar to my cookie dough dip so if you like this recipe comment and remind me to work on it! Also new this week, 1,000 page views!! It actually doesn't sound like that big of an accomplishment but I'm pretty excited! Now if I get 2,500 page views and 20 e-mail subscribers, I will make a facebook page, so subscribe and tell your friends!! Thanks so much for the outstanding support!

7-layer Bars

1 stick butter

1 cup graham crackers, crushed

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup coconut, shredded

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. While it is preheating, place butter the pan you will be using and place in the oven to melt it.

Once melted, take out. Press graham crackers firmly onto the pan. Make sure the bottom of the pan is completely covered. add the chocolate chips, coconut. Pour sweetened condensed milk over it. Add butterscotch chips. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Chocolate Pudding Confetti Cookies

I love cookies. It goes without saying that I do. But cookies and sprinkles are delish! I found this recipe on pinterest and changed it a little bit to fit what I like, I am a selfish baker I know. She had quite the names for these: Crayon cookies, color collision cookies, and unicorn patties. When I made this  recipe, I forgot to check to see if we even had vanilla pudding: we didn't. So since I like chocolate, these became chocolate pudding cookies. These are great to have kids help with but hands will get messy! Make sure to sign up for e-mails and comment about how your baking went!! 

Chocolate Pudding Confetti Cookies

• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 pkg instant pudding (I used chocolate but you can probably use can kind)
• A lot of sprinkles- I used the waxy kind but you can use almost any kind!

Beat butter and sugar until fluffy; gently beat in eggs. 

Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and vanilla pudding mix in a separate bowl. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet. Stir in vanilla. 

Shape the dough into 1-2 in balls and roll them in the sprinkles and place on an ungreased baking sheet about 2 in apart. Press your thumb into them a little to assure the will flatten.

Bake at 350 degrees for 9-10 minutes.

*Recipe from Sweet Bella Roos

Skinny Spaghetti

I found this recipe on Pintrest (shocker) and what I found was that it's a great recipe for like a week night. Its takes like 15 min and it's quite healthy too! Its just as good leftover as it is at first. Yummo! What I like to pair it with is Schwans Italian bread that you throw in the microwave for like a minute. Its a pretty simple (but delicous) meal. There is no real recipe so you can decide how much of each ingredient you want to use! Also, please comment on recipies you liked, loved, or got lost in, I am happy to help! And please please PLEASE sign up for e-mail notifications on the right hand side of the home page!

Skinny Spaghetti

Spaghetti, cooked according to package

Olive oil

Breadcrumbs

Melted butter

Lemon juice

Parsley

Parmesan cheese (Usually I would hate grated but this recipe is better with grated:)

Minced garlic or garlic powder

Salt

Pepper

Toss all ingredients together

Brownie Cookies

Being a young teenager is hard. I don't have my license so I can't go anywhere but even if I could, I don't have any money. So when Christmas comes around, I for one don't know hat to get my friends and if I did, I couldn't go to buy it. So last year, I started giving them stuff like cookies and bars. One of my friends really liked brownies and I was still obsessed with making everything into a cookie so this is what I made. The were delicious and it made a ton! Also, make sure you sign up for e-mail subscriptions on the home screen on the right side!!

Brownie Cookies

1/2 cup butter

4 (1 oz) squares of unsweetened chocolate, chopped

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 baking powder

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 t vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees

In a saucepan, combine butter, unsweetened chocolate, and 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate chips. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until butter and chocolate are completely melted and smooth. Set aside to cool to room temp.

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

In the bowl of electric mixer beat together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and gradually add the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Make sure to scrape down the sides to mix fully. 

Add the chocolate mixture and beat well stir in remaining chocolate chips.

Scoop batter in tablespoons of dough and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet about 1" apart Bake for 10 min. Allow cookies to rest on cookie sheet more 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

*Recipe from Erica's Sweet Tooth

An Emerging Epidemic: Food Allergies in America

Here is the show I was talking about a few weeks ago. It was very good and I recommend everyone watches it. It talks about the research that is being done and how little information there is on this disease. There are a some good examples of people living with multiple food allergies. I love this video and I am probably going to make all my friends watch it. Its worth watching because before you know it, someone you know will most likely have an allergy. It offers many tips on how to cope with it and shows you that it doesn't have to be the end of the world. Please watch this!! For video, click here.

Garlic Bread stuffed with Baked Spaghetti

My cousin, Sam told me about this recipe. He said he finally started making supper and this is what he started with! After he told me about it I quickly went to google to make it myself. This recipe is a simpler recipe so you can add your own variations. It seems like a lot of food, but my family of 4 can gobble it up without leftovers! 

Garlic Bread Stuffed with Spaghetti

1 Loaf Rhodes™ Bread Dough or 12 Rhodes™ Dinner Rolls, thawed to room temperature*

6 ounces spaghetti, cooked

1 cup thick spaghetti sauce

1 cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded (Also can use Romano and mozzarella)

1 egg white, beaten

Parmesan cheese

Parsley flakes

On the counter, lightly sprayed with nonstick cooking spray or wax paper (which makes it easier to move to the pan), roll out bread dough into a 12 x16 in rectangle. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 10-15 min.

Cook spaghetti according to package instructions. Drain and let cool slightly.

Remove wrap from dough. Place spaghetti lengthwise in a 4-inch strip down center of dough. Top with sauce and cheese. 

 Make cuts 1 1/2-inches apart on long sides of dough to within 1/2-inch of filling. Begin braid by folding top and bottom strips toward filling. Then braid strips left over right, right over left. Finish by pulling last strip over and tucking under braid.

Brush the braided dough with egg and sprinkle with Parmesan and parsley. Bake at 350°F 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly and slice to serve.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

Two years ago, if you asked me if I wanted cheesecake, I would have said no way! and made a face. Now if you ask me, its YES! I love cheesecake and these bars were the first time I made it myself. I just started goggling and found this awesome recipe. It's two of my favorite things combined into one. The worst part is that after you bake it, you can't eat it right away. It's suppose to be cooled. So its a bummer when it comes out of the oven and the smell is enough to make you drool.It is a very popular recipe at get togethers or just for yourself !

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

Crust:

1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers

5 T butter, melted

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Filling:

10 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg at room temperature

1 t vanilla

Cookie Dough:

5 T butter, softened

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

3 T sugar

1 t

dash of salt

1 cup of chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 9x9 baking pan with foil leaving extra foil over the edges, spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together graham crackers and butter, until crackers are moistened. Then stir in chocolate chips. Press into the bottom of prepared pan and bake for 6 minutes, or until set. Remove and set onto a cooling rack. Decrease oven to 325 F.

In a larger bowl,beat cream cheese and sugar together on low until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla until just blended. Pour into prepared pan.

In the same bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt on medium until blended. Beat in flour until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop tsp. of dough into the filling. Bake for 30-35 min or until top is dry and looks set when gently shaken.Cool until not hot then place in refrigerator until cool. Cut and eat! Refrigerate leftovers. 

* Optional: Drizzle 1/4 of melted chocolate chips on bars after finished cooking.

Rice Krispy Chicken

This is a good recipe, one of my favorites. We used to make it all the time. Chicken, butter, and a little crunch, you just can't go wrong! We would make it with sliced potatoes with butter, salt, and cheese. It was my favorite dish as a child. It was in an old magazine, Taste of Home. Its old-timey but aren't Grandma's recipes always the best?

Rice Krispy Chicken

1 1/2 cups crushed Rice Krispies
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 T. flour
1/2 t salt
1/4 t thyme
1/4 t. poultry seasoning
4-6 servings of chicken breast, thawed.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Place butter in a shallow dish and in a separate dish combine flour, rice krispies, and seasonings together. Dip the chicken breast in the butter then dry ingredients making sure the entire breast is coated. Then place in a large, greased, casserole dish. Bake for 20-25 min.

More on Food Allergies

Sorry, no recipe today folks. But, I would like to share with you more about my allergy. Most people think that food allergies aren't that serious but those people...are WRONG! All allergies can be severe. I have two big pet peeves that just make me so angry. One is when I go out to restaurants and ask the waitress what oil they fry in and if my meal is okay and they answer with: "I think..." No. You can't think. You have to KNOW! It's a life or death situation. Just find out! Ugh...so annoying. This summer, when I went down to Tennessee with my family, the people were SO good about my allergy."Yeah, the owner has the same allergy!" or "I do, too!". It was really nice! The other thing that is super annoying is when people threaten me. "I'm gonna shove peanut butter on your face if you don't do what I want." Those people....enough said.

There will be a documentary on the discovery channel about food allergies and how they are serious and they are a problem. I recommend you watch even though I know many won't. Here is a link with more:
http://www.foodallergy.org/emerging-epidemic#.UifpRzasim4

Cookie Dough Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

I love cookie dough and chocolate. Like, a lot. Its not hard to tell, haha. So every time I get the chance to make dessert, it usually involves one of these 2 items. When I saw this recipe, I was a little nervous to try it. It does look difficult! But when they came out of the oven perfectly, I knew that it was one of those recipes I was going to make all the time! I brought them to a BBQ this summer, and they were a big hit! The best part? No need to mess with frosting!!

Cookie Dough Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

Filling:

8 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, softened 
1/3 cup sugar 
1 egg 
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cupcake:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

2/3 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups water

2/3 cups vegetable oil

2 Tbsp white vinegar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin tins (24) with cupcake liners.

To prepare filling- Beat all ingredients except chocolate chips together until smooth and creamy. Stir in chocolate chips.

To prepare cupcakes- Stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.  Add the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla.  Beat for 3 minutes. 

Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full with muffin batter. In each cup, spoon about 1 T. of filling and drop into middle. Bake for 20-25 min or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Let cool for 5 min in pans. Use a fork to lift out of muffin tin and onto cooling rack. Cool completely before serving.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin Tops

At our house, we usually have bananas that get really brown and then nobody will eat them. So usually I would make banana bread, muffins, or bars but last year I had this obsession with cookies so I googled a banana cookie recipe and found this one. The thing is though, they were more like muffin tops than cookies so I renamed them. This recipe doesn't make much, but they are so good!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin Tops

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup ripe, mashed banana

1/2 t vanilla

1 t. baking powder

1 cup flour

1/4 t salt

1/8 t baking soda

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugar together until creamy. Beat in vanilla, banana, and egg. 

In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Gradually beat into banana mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. 

Drop by tablespoon 2 in apart on a sprayed baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 min. Let cool for 2 min before moving muffin tops to a cooling rack.

Zucchini Bread

So like I said earlier in the week, we have a ton of zucchini just sitting around at our house. So yesterday I made 6 loaves of zucchini bread. I found a good, easy recipe online. It's also kinda healthy because instead of butter it uses applesauce...I know what your thinking "wouldn't that make it apple bread...?" No. I was skeptical when I started this recipe but it is AMAZING and there are a ton of different variations to it!

Zucchini Bread*

Makes: 2 loaves

3 cups flour

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 T. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1 cup applesauce

2 eggs

2 t. vanilla

1 cup grated zucchini

Preheat oven to 375.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, both sugars, baking powder, and baking soda. Then add the applesauce, eggs, and vanilla and mix well. Once combined, add zucchini and mix.

Spray 2 loaf pans and split the batter between the 2 of them. Bake for 40-45 min or until it passes the tooth pick test. Wait until cooled to removed from pan.

* Variations:

Add 1 cup of mini chocolate chips with zucchini

Add 1-2 mashed bananas with applesauce (Warning: I have not tried this yet..)

After 15 minutes of baking, top with 1/2-1 cup of coconut (Haven't perfected this one yet)

Comment any other variations that you try!! :)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

This is one of my all time favorite things. I love cookies, both cooked and raw. I know its not healthy to eat it raw so now I eat this. It taste just like cookie dough. Most people will eat this with graham crackers, nilla wafers, or pretzels. I eat it with a spoon. That's how good it is.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

1 stick butter

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 8oz pack of cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup mini chocolate chips

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in brown sugar until dissolved. Once mixture starts to bubble, add vanilla, remove from heat, and cool slightly. 

In a bowl of a stand mixture with paddle attachment (or use a hand mixer), beat cream cheese and powdered sugar together on low for 1 minute then medium until smooth. Slowly pour butter mixture into cream cheese mixture with mixer on low. Make sure to scrap the side down with a rubber scrapper. Cool for a few minutes. Then stir in chocolate chips. Serve with nilla wafers, graham crackers, pretzels, or spoons. and enjoy!!

Red Velvet Cake Mix Puppy Chow

Before I found this recipe, I had never had Puppy Chow. I couldn't. I am allergic to all nuts: peanuts, walnuts, cashews, almonds, everything. But the thing is, I am actually glad. I am glad because that is why I started baking. I would go to Christmas parties and birthday parties and just stare at the food I couldn't eat, mostly desserts. So then I started making my own desserts. I never thought that Puppy Chow would be so good but YUMMY! I love this recipe and I hope you do to! I found this recipe here.

Red Velvet Puppy Chow*

5 cups Rice Chex

1 cup Red Velvet Cake Mix

1/2 cup Powdered Sugar

3/4 cup White Chocolate Chips

1/4 cup Chocolate Chips or Baking Melts

Measure out the Chex and place in a large bowl.

Measure out the cake mix and sugar and place in a large plastic bag or bowl with cover.

On the stove or in the microwave, melt both chocolates together. Make sure to keep stirring so the chocolate doesn't burn. Once it is done, pour into the cereal and stir well. It may seem difficult but that is normal.

Once chocolate is stirred in, pour mix into the cake mix mixture and seal/cover and SHAKE!! Once all pieces are coated, Pour onto wax paper to cool. Once cooled, put in a big bowl  and EAT!!

* Recipe found at http://www.yourcupofcake.com/2013/01/red-velvet-puppy-chow.html

Summer Veggie Pasta

Hello Everyone!
As you can probably figure out from my bio...I am really new to this. I have never had my own blog before and lately I really wanted to start one about food and all the recipes I have made. So here is my first one and I hope you enjoy it.

So in the small town that I live in, there is a small farmer's market on Saturdays and Wednesdays. My mother is the kind that goes to the store to get "a few things" and comes back with an entire cart of stuff, so it came natural to her to "check out the farmer's market" and come back with a ton of stuff including zucchini, summer squash, cucumber, green peppers, tomatoes, bread, and of course kolakies. And of course all of that expires. So when we got home, I got started: zucchini bread, casserole, more zucchini bread.

Then, on we went to a friend's bonfire, and they had zucchini to give us. So the other night I made up a very simple recipe using the ingredients we had. It's fast and easy with only a few ingredients! Here it is:

Summer Veggie Pasta

1-2 medium zucchini

1 medium summer squash

3 T. olive oil

2 cups diced chicken (I used frozen)

Pepper and Salt

 1/2 box of bow tie pasta noodles

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish*

Cook the pasta as directed on the box. When finished, drain and put in a large bowl.

Meanwhile, slice zucchini and summer squash into circles. Then, quarter each slice (some may have to be cut more than into quarters). In a fry pan, saute them on medium with 2 T. of olive oil until tender, about 10 min.

Fry the diced chicken with 1 T. of olive oil. When almost done, sprinkle with salt and pepper to season. You can also season with other seasoning such as chili powder.

When the veggies and chicken are done, add to bowl with pasta along with the cheese, and toss until mixed. Serve and top with more cheese.

Refrigerate leftovers. Can be reheated or eaten cold without chicken.

*Parmesan can be substituted or combined with Asiago and/or Romano.