Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe is courtesy of Misty Stratton. Danielle brought them to Young Women's one night and they were to die for!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 Cups Flour
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 Cup Butter or Margarine, softened (I used butter flavored Crisco for my first batch)
1/4 Cup Sugar
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 3.5oz Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix
2 eggs
1 12oz Package Mint Chocolate Chips (Wal-Mart doesn't have just the plain green ones, but they do have the Andes Mint chips. I found the green mint ones at Harmons)
1 Cup nuts (optional)

Combine flour and baking soda and set aside. Cream butter, sugars, vanilla, and pudding in bowl. Beat in eggs and gradually add flour mixture. Stir in mint chips and drop onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

You can use any variety of pudding and chips. Maybe Vanilla Pudding and Butterscotch chips will be my next experiment!

Recipe Request

I have never made a roast in a crock pot before. I would like to try it this weekend. (Let's hear it for 9AM church!) Would you please share with me your recipes, techniques, tips, anything you may have to help me with this new task? I appreciate it.

Cranberry Pear Cake

This picture doesn't have the sauce on it yet. And I used the same recipe but filled three 8x8 disposable pans instead of one 9x13.

Cranberry Pear Cake

2 c flour

2 c sugar

2 eggs

2 t baking soda

1 large can pears, with juice, mashed

1 bag cranberries

Combine all ingredients. I like to add everything except the cranberries and then use my hand mixer, which effectively mashes the pears, then stir in the cranberries with a wooden spoon. Pour the batter into a greased 9x13. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. (My mom swears hers bakes in 40 minutes, but mine always takes infinitely longer.) Do a toothpick test to be certain it is done.

Sauce:

3/4 c cream

1 c sugar

3/4 c butter

1 t pure vanilla extract

Combine in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.

Drizzle (liberally) over individual pieces of cake and top with a hefty dollop of freshly-whipped cream.

Coconut Bread

Hi Ladies!

Thanks, Kelly, for sending me the invite to contribute. You all have very yummy recipes which I cannot wait to try. As an introduction, I'll share a recipe that I've recently discovered. Maybe all of you have experienced the decadence of Coconut Bread many, many times, but it is fairly new to me. My college buddy, Anne Jackman, shared this recipe with me.

Baking this bread makes your whole house smell like a coconut cream pie. That alone would be enough except that the taste is divine. So moist and sweet. The clouds part and angels sing when you taste the buttery glaze. Are you salivating yet?

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

Bread-
2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 tsp coconut extract
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup shredded coconut

Glaze- (Optional, and this makes a liberal amount of glaze, fyi)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp coconut extract

Preheat oven to 325. Lightly grease two 9x5 bread pans.

In a large bowl, mix together sugar and oil. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each one. Add coconut extract.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Stir flour mixture into egg mixture alternately with buttermilk and shredded coconut. Pour into prepared bread pans.

Bake in preheated oven 60-75 minutes until crust is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

To make glaze mix together sugar, water and butter in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and add coconut extract. Pour over loaves while both bread and glaze are still warm. Sprinkle with additional shredded coconut as a garnish, if desired.

The best Chicken Soft Tacos.....ever!

So y'all have probably heard about the Food Nanny, Liz Edmonds. www.thefoodnanny.com. She has lots of simple recipes, and everything she makes is delicious! She has a great idea of having a certain type of food on each night of the week. I need to practice that more. I'm excited to watch her new show, starting in February of 2010 on BYUTV.
So she made these on Good Things Utah one day. I have to tell you, they are the tastiest chicken soft tacos I've ever had! There are just a few simple natural ingredients. They're pretty healthy too! The butter is the only semi-bad thing. So here it is:

2 Tbsp. Butter or Margarine
2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (although the recipe calls for Canola Oil for frying, I just use EVOO.)
2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 of a small onion, chopped
2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
2 vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Salt, Ground Black Pepper, Garlic Salt
Corn Tortillas




Heat the butter and oil in skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken and onions and cook and stir until the onions are soft and the chicken is tender and no longer pink. Add the garlic and cook about 1 minute more.



Decrease the heat to low and stir in the tomato and cilantro. Add water or chicken broth if the mixture seems too dry. Season generously with salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Continue cooking about 2 more minutes. Serve w/ corn tortillas, and top with cheese, lettuce, sour cream, fresh spinach, fresh salsa, or whatever you'd like. Although I never need to top them with anything. They are always moist and delicious straight out of the pan. Enjoy!!

Stuffed Potatoes

This is a great recipe for any leftover baked potatoes. When I bake potatoes for a meal I will throw in a couple extra and plan on making these that week. Plus, this is the only way Dallin will eat a baked potato.
When the potatoes are baked, cut in half and dig out all the potato, reserving the skinMash the potatoes the way you like them. I like to add sour cream, it makes them really creamy. When they are smooth, I add garlic salt, salt, pepper and a little parsley flake.

Spoon the mashed potatoes into the skins and top with cheese. (sidenote: two seconds after this picture I dropped the pan upside down in the oven! I no longer have fingerprints)

Bake at 350 until heated through, about 20 minutes. They are a little worse for the wear because of their fall, but delicious.

This is our main dish and I usually serve with cottage cheese, fruit, and a vegetable.

Spudnuts

We started a new tradition making doughnuts this year! The batch is huge, I am not sure how many dozen....but you should half or third the recipe if you are only making it for your family. They turned out yummy, so I thought I would share.

Spudnuts
7 pks dry yeast
3/4 cup water
1 cup + 1 TBS sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 TBS salt
4 beaten eggs
2 cups mashed potatoes (we made the ones from the box)
1 qt. scalded milk, cooled
15 cups flour

1/2 batch fit in my Kitchen Aid Mixer.

Dissolve yeast in 3/4 cup lukewarm water with 1 TBS. sugar. Cream shortening and sugar. Add salt, eggs, and mashed potatoes (no lumps). Mix in yeast mixture and milk alternately with the flour. Let rise until doubled(about 1 hour), roll out on floured surface 1/2 inch thick and cut with donut cutter (or a cup and a smaller circle). Place on greased wax paper. Let rise again until doubled(about 1 hour).

Frosting
12 cups powdered sugar
1 1/3 cup milk
3 tsp. vanilla

Mix and adjust until somewhere in between runny and thick. Put in a shallow bowl for dipping.

Heat oil to 375 in an electric skillet pan. Fry raised doughnuts in oil. Place on paper towels to cool a bit and drip. While still warm, dip doughnuts in the frosting on both sides. Place on cooling rack (with pan beneath). Enjoy warm or cool.