Muddy Buddies

We love to make Muddy Buddies! You can do everything with just a bowl, microwave, and large ziplock bag, which makes this a very kid friendly recipe. Ready to eat in just a few minutes!

Muddy Buddies
chex.com
9 cups Rice Chex™, Corn Chex™ or Chocolate Chex™ cereal (or combination)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1.  Measure cereal and pour into large bowl; set aside.
2. In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on high 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.
3. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

Slow Cooker Pork Chops and Gravy

This is my new Sunday roast recipe. It's just like having roast beef except it's pork and it's makes it's own gravy in the slow cooker! I like to use thick cut boneless pork chops because they shred so nicely. The recipe says to season the chops before putting them in the slow cooker, but I have tried just mixing all seasonings together with the soup and broth and then adding the pork, and it works just fine.

Slow Cooker Pork Chops and Gravy
adapted from thesaltymarshmallow.com
2-3 lbs pork chops, bone-in or out
1 packet Ranch dressing mix
1 packet brown gravy mix
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp pepper
1 10.5oz can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cups beef broth
2 TBSPs cornstarch
2 TBSPs water

1. Season both sides of the pork chops with the ranch dressing mix, garlic powder, and pepper
2. In a large slow cooker whisk together the brown gravy mix, cream of chicken soup, and beef broth. Add the seasoned pork chops to the slow cooker.
3. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 3-4 hours. Remove the pork chops carefully from the slow cooker onto a plate.
4. Strain liquid to remove any remaining chunks and pour into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. While liquid is heating, in small bowl stir together the cornstarch and water. Once the liquid has reached a low boil, add the cornstarch mixture and whisk until gravy thickens. Remove from heat when thickened. Serve over mashed potatoes or rice and garnish with parsley if desired.

Pizza Dough

This is my go to pizza crust recipe. It's adapted from a recipe my brother uses. It makes almost exactly 2 lbs of dough so I usually divide it into 2 balls for 2 large pizzas. We like to grill our pizzas out on the grill at 500 degrees for 5 minutes. We preheat our grill with a pizza stone on it. I roll out the dough on a piece of parchment paper, top with sauce, cheese, and toppings and then transfer it paper and all to the pizza stone with a long handled pizza peel. It's our favorite way to make pizza. You can also bake it in the oven at 450 for about 8-10 min just until the cheese starts to brown. The dough rises for a total of at least 5 1/2 hours, so I usually start making it about 11am for dinner that night. This picture is a double recipe after the first rise, and I'm just getting ready to divide it into balls.

Pizza Dough
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tsps salt
1/4 tsp instant yeast
4 cups flour

1. In a large bowl add warm water and salt. Stir until salt dissolves. Sprinkle yeast on top of the water and let it sit for about a minute. Stir yeast into the water. Add 4 cups of flour and stir with wooden spoon until dough begins to come together. With a little flour on your hands knead the dough in the bowl a few times to create one big mixed lump of dough. Leave the bowl on the counter, uncovered, and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
2. After 20 minutes, remove dough from the bowl and place on floured surface. Knead dough for one minute. The dough should be very smooth. Brush clean large bowl with oil and place the dough into the bowl. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 1 1/2 hours.
3. After rising, remove dough from bowl and place on a floured surface. Cut dough into 2 equal pieces (you can use a scale for this). This should give you 2 one pound portions of dough. Shape pieces into 2 tight balls being careful not to tear the dough. Place the dough balls onto lightly floured dinner plates. Lightly flour the tops and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature for 4-6 hours until ready to use.

 Dough balls ready for 2nd rise. 

Dough balls all finished rising.

Ready to roll out for pizza.

Here's a shot of the crust. Chewy but crispy on the outside.

Coronation Chicken

I've visited England twice and both times I've had coronation chicken. The first time I tried it was 2 years ago in a tea sandwich at the Orangery Restaurant in Kensington Gardens. Just a couple of months ago I had it at a cafe down the street from Rochester Castle and Cathedral. It was served on a baguette. Then 2 days later, I had it again at coaching inn/pub called The Hen and Chicken in Alton. Gavin ordered it as well because he had tried my sandwich and liked it. His was served on a jacket potato (aka baked potato) and my was again on a baguette. I love chicken salad, but this isn't normal chicken salad. For one, it's practically royal. The original recipe was created for Queen Elizabeth's coronation banquet in 1953. The other thing I love about it is the flavor! It's a curried chicken salad with fruit! I looked up a few recipes and decided to make some of my own. I need to say a few things about ingredients. The recipe I based this one off of called for bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts which I have discovered are practically impossible to find, at least in my regular grocery stores. I used boneless, skinless, instead and it worked great. I substituted burgundy cooking wine for red wine, but you could also just use chicken broth. Mango chutney might be hard to find. It'll be in the jam/jelly section. I found mine at Walmart and the recipe used about half the jar. I put the rest in a ziplock bag and froze it for next time. The mango chutney adds a lot of flavor, so don't skip it. Tomato puree is in the canned tomatoes section. My store only had Hunt's brand. I also froze the leftovers of that for next time. I really wanted to add crème fraîche to my coronation chicken. BUT it's hard to find and if you do it's gross stuff in a jar (just like the clotted cream) and is not the same and it's expensive. You can make your own, but that takes pasteurized whipping cream, NOT ultra-pasteurized which is also not carried at the regular grocery store, so I improvised! I bought Mexican Crema because I live in San Antonio and THAT is something that IS carried at my stores and is not expensive. Mexican Crema is Mexican table cream and is comparable to crème fraîche (google it!) but runnier. So I added it last to make my coronation chicken just as creamy as I wanted it to be. 

Coronation Chicken
adapted from a nytimes recipe
3 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 TBSP olive oil
Salt
Pepper
2 TBSPs unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion, diced
½ cup burgundy cooking wine or chicken broth
6 TBSPs mango chutney
¼ cup tomato purée
3 TBSPs curry powder
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 dried bay leaf
1 cup mayonnaise
3 ounces dried apricots, finely chopped (about 15 apricots)
1/2 cup golden raisins (aka sultanas)
1/2 to 1 cup of crème fraîche (OR Mexican crema OR more mayo)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rub chicken on all sides with olive oil, season generously with salt and pepper and arrange on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until cooked through, about 45 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Let chicken cool slightly chop meat into bite-size pieces or shred. Set aside.
2. While chicken is baking, melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the cooking wine, mango chutney, tomato purée, curry powder, lemon juice and bay leaf and bring to a simmer. Continue simmering, stirring occasionally and adjusting heat as necessary, until sauce is thick, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaf. Transfer sauce to a large bowl and let cool to room temperature
3.Once sauce has cooled, add the mayonnaise and stir to combine. Add the cooled chicken, apricots, and the golden raisins, and stir to coat them in the sauce. Stir in 1/2 to 1 cup of crème fraîche (OR Mexican crema OR more mayo) to create desired creaminess. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve on bread for sandwiches or on baked potatoes.

BLT Quiche

I love quiche and love trying different add-ins! It's technically BST, but I'm sticking with the L because it makes more sense. This is my regular quiche recipe with the addition of bacon, spinach, and tomatoes. I used a little chopped fresh spinach from my garden and a few cherry tomatoes halved. I have tried all different kinds of cheese in my quiche and I like using the pizza blend. It has some swiss, which is a typical quiche cheese, but it also has some provolone and mozzarella and I think it works really well. 

BLT Quiche
1 9in. deep dish prepared crust (like Pillsbury crust, or make this Quick Pie Crust)
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups half and half
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, pizza blend 
1/4 cup bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 cups loosely packed spinach, roughly chopped
10-20 cherry tomatoes, halved

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prick bottom and sides of crust with fork. Cover crust with foil, poke a few holes in it, then press it onto the crust. Bake the crust for 8 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until the the crust looks dry but not brown, about 4 minutes more. Remove from the oven; reduce the temperature to 325 degrees.
2. While crust is baking, in a medium bowl combine eggs, half and half, salt, pepper, cheese, bacon, and spinach. Stir to combine. When the crust has finished baking, pour egg mixture into the crust. Top with cherry tomatoes, cut side up.
3. Bake until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. If the edges are browning too quickly, cover them with strips of aluminum foil. Cool 15 minutes then serve.

One Pot Creamy Spinach and Tomato Pasta

I grew spinach in my garden over the winter and spring. I was constantly on the hunt for recipes to incorporate a little spinach. I found this recipe on CookingLight.com and unhealthified it by adding cream. :) You can also leave the cream out. It's an easy and versatile one pot dish. I've added basil and chicken and it's great that way too. The Cooking Light website has a video that I've linked above.

One Pot Creamy Spinach and Tomato Pasta
adapted from cookinglight.com
1 TBSP olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 (14.5-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp dried oregano
8 ounces spaghetti or linguine
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2-1 cup heavy whipping cream
10 ounces fresh spinach
1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (about 1/4 cup)

1. Heat a Dutch oven or large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add oil; swirl to coat.
2. Add onion and garlic to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until onion starts to brown.
3. Add tomatoes, broth, and oregano. Bring to a boil. Add noodles; stir to submerge in liquid.
4. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 7 minutes or until pasta is almost done.
5. Uncover; stir in salt. Add 1/2 cup whipping cream and stir until it thickens. Add 1/2 more if desired.
6. Add spinach in batches, stirring until spinach wilts. Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and serve.

My Note: Leave out whipping cream for a healthier dish.
Chef's Notes from Cooking Light 1: Swap out spaghetti for any short pasta shape, such as elbow macaroni, rotini, or shells. 2: Use fresh grape tomatoes instead, and add fresh herbs. 3: Try adding chopped skinless, boneless chicken thighs, ground beef, or ground turkey for a heartier dish.

Like Levain Bakery - Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

I went on my first trip to NYC last month and had LOTS of yummy food! One of the BEST things I had were the cookies from Levain Bakery. We went to both locations and bought all 4 kinds of their giant $4 cookies. The chocolate chip walnut was my favorite. As soon as I got home, I went through cookie withdrawals. Sooo...I googled a copycat recipe and found this one. Thank you Melissa at Modern Honey for making my at home Levain cookie dreams a reality. She put in lots of work to figure out this recipe and I am reaping the rewards. One recipe makes 8 cookies, so do yourself a favor and double it. They do great in the freezer!

Like Levain Bakery - Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

modernhoney.com
1 cup cold butter cut into small cubes
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp cornstarch
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 cups chocolate chips
2 cups walnuts roughly chopped

1. Preheat oven to 410 degrees. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together cold cubed butter, brown sugar, and sugar for 4 minutes or until creamy.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each one.
4. Stir in flours, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined to avoid over mixing. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.
5. Separate dough into large balls, 5 oz each,  and place on prepared cookie sheet. You will fit 4 cookies on one large cookie sheet. The dough makes 8-10 extra large cookies.
6. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown on the top. Let them rest for at least 10 minutes to set.

Mine on the left, Levain on the right

 Levain Cookie #1

 New Levain Location

Levain Cookie #2

 Original Levain Location