"FEED A COLD..."

I don't know why but the combo of cold weather and my stuffy head has prompted me to do a Bake-A-Thon over the last couple of days. Here are two I found on Pintrest. I'm addicted to this site and still an "outsider" (requested an invite but still no word)....probably a good thing because I'm sure I'd spend even more time browsing through everyone's craftiness.

Reese Peanut Butter Banana Bread:

You can use any Banana Bread Recipe and simply add in an 8 oz bag of miniature PB cups then bake at 350 for an hour. I followed her recipe cuz she added PB to her Banana Bread in addition to the PB cups.

www.cookiesandcups.com

Good -YES!

Cinnamon Roll Cake:

Back to Feeding my cold this recipe calls for 3 sticks of butter...no it's not Paula Deen. I couple of the comments said they made this recipe but cut down on the butter. I mean you can if you want, but I say GO FOR IT - The site is www.cookinupnorth.com 

Cake:

3 c flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 c sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 c milk

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 c butter, melted

Topping:

1 c butter, softened

1 c brown sugar

2 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp cinnamon

Mix everything together except for the butter. Slowly stir in the melted butter and pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Then mix all the topping ingredients together until well combined. The recipe says to "drop" this evenly over the batter, but its really thick so I spooned it out into 2 long lines and then swirl into your batter with a knife...will look like a cinnamon roll. Bake at 350 for 28-32 min. They use a glaze, but I think cream cheese frosting would be better more like a cinnamon roll. Best out of the oven but still good snacking cake.

Chicken Stroganoff

So it has started to really look like winter around here. Snow is falling and it is cold! Rudy is an expert at building fires so we have had some cozy dinners lately. On Thursday I wanted something cozy for dinner and thought about stroganoff. I have made this several ways with thin steak, ground beef and now with ground chicken. I have to say that I thought it turned out pretty good and with the exception of the mushrooms, both girls ate it up.

Chicken Stroganoff:

1lb ground chicken ( I was originally going to just use chicken breast that I cut up, but the ground was on sale)

1 yellow onion

1 container of baby portabello mushrooms

1-2 teaspoons of dijon mustard

1-2 teaspoons worchestershire sauce

1 cup chicken stock

1 80z container sour cream

1 package egg noodles

Brown chicken with a little bit of olive oil. Remove from pan, then brown onions and mushrooms. Add chicken back to the pan and add the mustard and worchestershire sauce. Add chicken stock and let simmer for 15 min. This is when you can start the water for the noodles. When the noodles are cooked, add the sour cream to the chicken pan and warm through.

The debate in our house is whether you mix it all together or spoon the chicken mixture over the noodles.

We had some french bread to complete the dinner, although in hindsight I should have made a veg too.

On another note, I have to work the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of Christmas so I am looking for some things that I can make for the family to they don't starve. I was thinking Lasagna for Christmas but any other ideas are welcome.

Appetizers

We had a great Thanksgiving and I was sad to see the weekend end...

Eli has the pics from Thanksgiving and I would say overall dinner was delish, but I personally liked our appetizers best so in an effort to provide more recipes... here they are. Eli will have to double check and make sure I didn't forget anything because she actually made it.

Smoked Gouda pimento cheese
1 c. mayo
8 oz cream cheese -soft
2 c. shredded smoked Gouda cheese
1/4 c. grated onion
1 small jar pimento

Pulse everything in the food processor until desired consistency. Check for seasoning and chill to allow flavors to marry. Serve with celery or crackers. Or like I did spread it on bread really thick and devour.

Bacon bark  -Its a good thing Eli looked up the recipe al la Sunny Anderson because we had to send the boys for several ingredients I didn't have

2 bags pecans
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 Tb maple syrup
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Black pepper -to taste
1 tsp paprika or smoked paprika
pinch of salt
2 # crispy bacon

Combine everything in a bowl and coat nuts
Bake in 350 oven about 12-15 minutes until nutty and sugars caramelize
Allow to cool and blot off excess oil
Break up with hands and add 1 c. dried cranberries and 1/2 c. chocolate chips
Be surprised how much everyone will love this.

And on a side note...I think we should track our favorite recipes from this blog for the year and publish a book!!!