Pretzel Crusted Caramel and Chocolate Brownie Cups

Pretzel Crusted Caramel and Chocolate Brownie

Adapted from: My Favorite Recipes

**Check out her recipe, because she uses a cake mix, has alot more crusted topping which I think would be better and her top is a little different**

1 brownie mix - make as per instructions on box

Pretzel Crumble:

1/4 cup butter, melted

2TB brown sugar

1 cup crushed pretzels

**If I were doing this again, I would for sure double this part

Caramel:

1/3 bag of caramels

milk as needed for consistency

In a large bowl, make the cake mix as instructed on box. Scoop batter 2/3 full into muffin tin. In a seperate bowl, mix together the ingredients for the pretzel crumble. Scoop evenly on top of the brownie mixture. (The runny part is good. It gets crusty as it cooks.) Pat down lightly. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. Meanwhile melt caramel and milk until creamy and soft. Immediately after taking the cups out of the oven, drizzle caramel over top. Let cool. Take out of pan and serve.

(I took the cups out of the pan right away before I drizzled the caramel, but it was very difficult to get them out. If I did it again, I would take a sharp knife and loosen the edges of each one, then let them sit for a little bit, probably at least 15 minutes, then try to take them out. At that point, I would then drizzle the caramel over top.)

This recipe should make 36 if you use a mini muffin pan. When I mad this, I made 24 mini cups, and with the extra, I made 6 in a regular muffin pan for my family.

Cheeseburger Soup

**This recipe comes from my friend Jennifer who posted it in our church cookbook. The only difference I did was that I don't make a white sauce with the butter, flour and milk. I omit the butter, and just blend milk and flour together. It is still delicious. It tastes alot like potato cheese soup, but with meat and some added flavor from the basil and parsley.**

½ lb ground beef

1TB butter

¾ cup shredded carrots or sliced carrots

¼ cup chopped onion

¾ cup diced celery

1 tsp dried parsley flakes

1 tsp dried basil

2 cans chicken broth

4 cups diced and peeled potatoes

¼ cup flour

½ tsp pepper

¼ tsp salt

2 cups milk

8oz Velveeta cheese – cubed

In a 3qt stock pan, brown ground beef. Drain fat, and remove meat from pan. Set aside.

In the same pan, melt the butter, and sauté the carrots, onion, and celery, basil and parsley for 5-10 minutes. Add broth, potatoes and beef. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes until potatoes are tender.

In a blender mix the flour, salt, pepper and milk together. Blend until smooth.

Return the heat on the stove to high, and pour this mixture into the vegetable mixture. Stir until thickened. Add cheese cubes. Let it sit for about 10 minutes or until cheese is completely melted. Stir and then serve.

Snicker Apple Salad

**This is my SECOND most requested salad, next to the Potato salad. This is so yummy and a total kid pleaser! It also deserved it's own post. :)**

Apple Snicker Salad

**This salad disappears QUICKLY at all functions**
3 Apples. I usually use a mix of golden and red
3-4 snickers candy bars
1/2 - 1 stick cream cheese
1/2 cup - 1 cup powdered sugar
1 8oz cool whip

Cut up apples in to small cubes.

Cut up Candybar into small cubes (I usually do 4 long slices down the length of the candybar and then cut small cubes going the opposite way). Then place the apple and snickers a medium - large sized bowl ***LATELY, I HAVE JUST BEEN FREEZING MY CANDYBARS, AND THEN PLACE THEM IN A BAGGIE AND HIT THEM WITH A MALLOT. SO MUCH EASIER THAN CUTTING!***

Blend the cream cheese and powdered sugar together. Fold in the cool whip. Pour this into the bowl with the apples and the snickers. Stir until well blended.

Chill in fridge until ready to serve.

Potato Salad

**This is one of my most asked for recipes. It is already on this blog in a post for 4th of July salads, I believe, but it is so good that it deserved it's own post. All my friends and family ask for me to bring this to parties. My mom has made this salad since I was young and it is the ONLY potato salad that I will ever eat. All the others have some kind of bitter flavor that isn't enjoyable to me.**

Potato Salad
You could always add celery and/or onion if you want too
3 medium to large Russet Potatoes (I like to use red potatoes and just keep the skin on them, but you have to use more potatoes because they are smaller)
1 dozen eggs
2 single packets, or 1 side of the double packet "Buttermilk Recipe" ranch packets
(MUST BE PACKET THAT SAYS BUTTERMILK RECIPE)
1-2 cups Mayonaise

Boil the potatoes until cooked through. Cook the eggs until hard boiled. Cut the potatoes and eggs in to cubes. Place in a large bowl. Sprinkle Ranch packet dressing on to the potatoes and eggs. Stir well. Now add mayonaise until the desired consistency.

Chocolate Molten Lava Cake

**This is my sister in law Amanda's favorite dessert from Chili's restaurant. I have been wanting to make it for her, but have always thought it would be too hard or time consuming. I found this recipe on The Pioneer Woman and it tastes just like it came from the restaurant! It is also SO SO SO SIMPLE to make. I can't believe I was kind of afraid to make it before today.**

4 oz "Bakers" semi sweet baking chocolate

1/2 cup butter

1 cup powdered sugar

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

6 TB flour

(Serves 4)

6oz "Bakers" semi sweet baking chocolate

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

9 TB flour

(Serves 6)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray Ramekin or custard dishes with no stick spray really well. Place them on a cookie sheet.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a large glass dish. Whisk until mixture is melted and smooth.

Add powdered sugar. Mix well. Add eggs and egg yolks. Whisk together until completely blended. Stir in flour.

Divide evenly among the ramekin or custard dishes.

Bake at 425 degrees. Bake 13-15 minute.

Invert cakes onto a plate by placing plate over ramekin and then inverting onto the plate.

Top with whipped cream or ice cream. If you are using ice cream, squirt some "chocolate hard shell" over top.

Easy Chicken

**My mom used to make a dish called Easy Chicken growing up. When I got the recipe from her, I could never seem to make it right. It never turned out. You would sprinkle the onion soup mix in the bottom of your baking dish, pour the uncooked rice over that, then lay the chicken breasts on top. Then you would pour chicken broth over the top and bake. For some reason, my chicken was always dry and my rice was always mushy. So, I was pretty happy when I found this recipe on Foods, Friends and fun blog. This was a much simpler way of achieving the same flavors, but with moist chicken and non-mushy rice. **

**I used 4 frozen chicken breasts and halfed this recipe. We served it over brown rice.**

Easy Chicken

Chicken Breasts or thighs

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

1 pkg Lipton onion soup mix

Lay your chicken breasts on bottom of your crock pot. Pour canned soup over top of chicken and sprinkle the onion soup mix over top. Cover and let cook in your crock pot on low 4 hours. (Times may vary depending on your crock pot)

Serve over rice or noodles.

**If you want to make this and you don't have a crock pot or you don't have 4 hours, just combine all your ingredients in a large saucepan or stock pot pan. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to a simmer. Let it simmer until the chicken is cooked through. It will probably be close to an hour to be finished.**

White Taco Casserole

**This is a recipe that my husbands Grandmother used to make. I didn't know about it until my sister-in-law introduced it to us after we went over there one night around dinner time. It is very simple to make, especially for those with busy households.**

(I made 1/2 this recipe in a 1.5 quart round baking dish. It easily served 4+)

White Taco Casserole

1 lb ground beef

1 4oz can green chiles

2 10oz cans cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup

2 cups milk

1 bag Fritos (my sister in law likes to use the Frito Scoops)

3-4 cups grated cheddar cheese

Brown ground beef in a skillet. Drain and set aside. Mix cans of soup with milk and chiles.

In a round, deep dish casserole dish or in a 9x13 layer half of the meat, soup, fritos and cheese. Repeat layers one more time. Cover with foil.

Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes COVERED, then remove foil and bake another 5-10 minutes.

Creamy Ranch Chicken

**This is one of those super easy family meals. My family really enjoyed these. This recipe is all over the internet as RANCH HOUSE PORK CHOPS, but I didn't have pork chops, and I don't know what Ranch House means, so I am calling it Creamy Ranch Chicken. As I was online this morning, I got the idea from Chef In Training. Check out her page. She has some yummy looking stuff.**

Creamy Ranch Chicken

4 Chicken breasts (Mine were 5oz each)

1 10oz can Cream of Chicken soup (I would think cream of mushroom would work too)

1 packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing

Mix together soup and ranch packet. Lay Chicken in a crock pot and pour soup over top. Cook on low for about 4 hours.

***I did not make this in the crock pot. I put the chicken in a covered saucepan, poured the soup mix over the top, put it on the stove and heated until it started to bubble. I turned the chicken over, and then turned the burner to simmer. It simmered for about 30 minutes.***

Parmesan Garlic Potatoes

I served this over instant potatoes. I added 1 tsp minced garlic and about 1/4 cup parmesan cheese at the same time I added the potato flakes to the water mixture. You could always do homemade potatoes and then add the garlic and parmesan. Yum.

Roasted Bone-in Chicken Breasts

I originally thought of is as a post under the "good idea" category, but it can also make a delicious dinner idea so that's a double-duty post for you!

I've posted before about prepping chicken & freezing it until you're ready to use it. It saves time all around, for sure.

But recently, I've found it's more cost-effective and MUCH easier to buy the bone-in-breasts and roast them. After they cool, I cube & shred & freeze some delicious chicken. The chicken tastes so much better when it's roasted first!



So before the holiday season gets TOO busy for you, find a sale (bone-in breasts were on sale for $1.00/pound here recently), roast & prep some chicken for your freezer.

You'll be ready for those busy-busy holiday nights and you'll have chicken all ready to bring a yummy dinner to a holiday party too!

Double-bonus: These are great straight out of the oven, paired with a salad & some cornbread, for example - they're a perfect, quick dinner. AND/OR - allow chicken breasts to cool, place in Tupperware & save for a quick lunch the next day.

Enjoy!


Roasted Bone-in Chicken Breasts

Bone-in chicken breasts
Olive oil
Salt & pepper

• Preheat oven to 375*F.



• Line baking pan(s) - not a cookie sheet! - with heavy duty foil, if desired. (It makes clean-up a breeze!)



• Trim excess fat and skin from chicken breasts. (I bake mine skinless, but it's up to you.)



• Place chicken breasts about 2" apart in the baking pan. Rub chicken breasts with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt & pepper.



• Bake 35-40 minutes, or until cooked through.



• Serve, if making dinner.



• OR - Set aside until cool enough to handle, if you'll be shredding or cubing.



• After chicken breasts have cooled a bit, remove meat from the bones (you can use the bones to make a delicious homemade chicken broth!). Shred/cube chicken.



• Place in freezer bag(s) in desired quantities.



• Freeze for up to 3 months.

NOTE: 6 bone-in chicken breasts will give you 4-6 cups of cubed chicken.

Scones - Starbucks' Pumpkin and Chocolate Chip

We're deep into hot cocoa weather here in Utah and there's nothing better with a cup of hot cocoa than a scone. Yummm!!!

The Starbucks' Pumpkin Scone recipe came from recipegirl.com, the Chocolate Chip Scone recipe was adapted by me from a few recipes I had in my recipe book. They're both amazing!

The Starbucks' Pumpkin Scone tastes just like the ones they carry at my local Starbucks, but they don't cost $4 and they're fresh from your oven. Awesome.

They only take about 10 minutes to make and about 10-15 to bake and you'll have a plate full of deliciousness - ENJOY!!




Starbucks' Pumpkin Scones
Makes 12 scones

For the scones:
2 cups all-purpose flour
7 Tblsp granulated sugar
1 Tblsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
6 Tblsp cold butter - must be COLD, not room temp
1/2 cup canned pumpkin - 100% pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling
3 Tblsp half-and-half (or 2 Tblsp heavy whipping cream + 1 Tblsp milk)
1 large egg

For the powdered sugar glaze:
1 cup + 1 Tblsp powdered sugar
2 Tblsp milk

For the spiced glaze:
1 cup + 3 Tblsp powdered sugar
2 T milk
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
Pinch of ground ginger
Pinch of ground cloves

Preheat oven to 425*F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves & ginger in a large bowl. Use a fork (I used a whisk & a pastry cutter) to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter are obvious; set aside.

** This process is not immediate. Be patient & thorough. It's totally worth it! **

In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, half-and-half, and egg until thoroughly mixed. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients, and form the dough into a ball.

Pat out dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle, about 3 times as long as it is wide. Use a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width, making 3 equal portions.

Cut each of the portions in an X pattern (into 4 pieces) so you end up with a total of 2 triangular pieces of dough. Place on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until light brown. Remove from baking sheet to a wire rack to cool.

Mix the powdered sugar and milk together until smooth to make plain powdered sugar glaze. When scones are cool, use a brush to spread plain glaze over the top of each scone.

While powdered sugar glaze is firming on scones, combine all the ingredients for the spiced glaze. Drizzle spiced glaze over each scone. Allow icing to dry before serving (about an hour).

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Scones

Makes 8 scones

2 cups Bisquick - I used the Heart Healthy style

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream + about 2 Tblsp more for brushing on scones

3 Tblsp granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

Additional or decorative sugar

Preheat oven to 425*F. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. (I lined mine with foil first).

Stir Bisquick mix, chocolate chips, 1/3 cup whipping cream, 3 Tblsp sugar, the egg & vanilla in a medium bowl until soft dough forms. (I needed an additional teaspoon of whipping cream so my dough would stick together. You do not want this dough wet though. It is very dry & crumbly.)

Pat dough into 8-inch circle on cookie sheet. (If dough is sticky, dip fingers in Bisquick mix.) Brush circle with additional whipping cream; sprinkle with additional or decorative sugar.

Cut into 8 wedges with a long knife or pizza cutter, but do not separate.

Bake about 12 minutes or until golden brown. Carefully separate scones. If possible, serve warm.

EVEN EASIER:

Make it even easier by making drop scones. Heat oven to 400*F. Drop dough into 8 mounds onto greased cookie sheet; pat slightly to flatten. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. If making the pumpkin scones, brush & drizzle glazes after scones have cooled on a wire rack.

Meat Lasagne

**This is a great recipe with the taste of Lasagne, but without all the added calories. It also does not have any pasta so it is low carb. This came from Sandy at Light Recipes.**

Meat Lasagne

Ingredients:

1 lb ground turkey or beef

1 can Italian flavored diced tomatoes

¼ tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

Cheese filling:

½ cup Part Skim reduced fat Ricotta Cheese

1 ½ cups Mozarella cheese – DIVIDED

3 TB parmesan cheese

2 TB Egg beaters

¼ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1/8 tsp pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brown ground turkey or beef in a skillet. Add the tomatoes and seasonings. Simmer for 2 minutes. Pour into an 8x8 baking dish.

In a separate bowl, add all the ingredients for the the cheese filling. (only use ¾ cup mozzarella cheese at this point) Stir well and spread over the meat mixture. Now sprinkle remaining mozzarella cheese over top.

Bake for 35 minutes until the top becomes bubbly.

Serves 4

Low Carb Pizza - Cauliflower Pizza

**This is a recipe where if you are really wanting pizza, but are watching your weight, it will fill that craving without the guilt!!! It DOES stick though even with spray, so I started using the no stick foil which has helped, a silpat may work, or parchment paper also. **

Cauliflower Pizza

Crust:

1 cup raw cauliflower grated or just chopped up smaller

1/4 cup egg beaters

1/4 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese or mexican cheese blend

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp basil

Topping:

1/4 cup low carb pizza sauce or pureed diced tomatoes (I just use pizza sauce)

1/4 cup mozarella cheese

1/4 cup lean italian turkey sausage, turkey pepperoni, vegetarian sausage crumbles

1/4 cup chopped up peppers, mushrooms etc..

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place non stick foil on cookie sheet. Combine cauliflower, egg beaters, cheese, garlic powder and basil into a blender. Blend until smooth. If you grate the cauliflower, you could just mix this well instead. Pour onto the foil and create a circle crust. The thinner the mixture the less chance of it being soggy. Bake for 30 minutes. Carefully flip the pizza crust over. (remember that it does stick so be careful while loosening it from the foil). Bake an additional 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and place all ingredients on top of pizza. Place back in the oven for about 10-15 minutes.

Makes 1 pizza

Healthy Versions of Chili

**Here are 3 recipes of different versions of Chili for those that are watching their weight or want some lower sodium recipes. Each of them are recipes that I really like**

Turkey Chili

1 lb ground turkey

2 cups water

2 packets HERBOX sodium free Chicken bouillon

5 fresh tomatoes diced up (I use 2 cans no salt added diced tomatoes)

5 green onions diced

1 garlic clove

½ TB chili powder

½ tsp cumin

½ tsp paprika

½ tsp mortons lite salt

½ tsp pepper

Brown turkey bresast in a large skillet. Add to a large saucepan with remaining ingredients. Stir to combine all ingredients. Bring chili to a boil and then simmer over medium heat for 30-45 minutes. (If you use canned tomatoes, you don’t need to simmer as long)

Serves 3-4

Chili

1 lb ground beef

5 green onions diced

1 garlic clove

1 TB chili powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp oregano

dash of red pepper flakes

2 cans no salt added diced tomatoes

3 cups water

3 packets HERBOX sodium free Beef bouillon

Brown Ground beef in a large skillet. Add to a large saucepan with remaining ingredients. Stir to combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil and then simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes.

Serves 4

Mexican Chili

1 lb lean ground turkey or beef

¼ cup and ½ cup reduced fat Mexican blend cheese

1 cans diced tomatoes with green chiles

6 tsp low sodium taco seasoning

3 wedges Laughing Cow Queso Fresco and Chipotle Light cheese

Brown ground beef in a skillet. Add to a medium saucepan. Add ¼ cup Mexican cheese, diced tomatoes, taco seasoning and 3 wedges of cheese. Stir and heat to boiling. Serve with remaining cheese sprinkled over top.

Classic Mac-n-Cheese

Creamy, cheesy, comforting - SO delicious! Our family loves mac-n-cheese. :)

I've posted a few recipes before, but this one was the cheesiest & yummiest (according to my family). It will be out go-to mac-n-cheese from now on.

This is not a low-cal recipe! But every once-in-awhile, it's nice to just load up on some cheesy-ness, right?

We really enjoyed the chicken & apple sausages I served with this mac-n-cheese!! Their low-cal, no trans fat, stats almost made up for the carb overload that is mac-n-cheese. LOL!

Go to the end of the post if you want to see what kind we had.

Enjoy!

Classic Mac-n-Cheese
Makes 1 2-quart serving dish - should serve about 8 people

Prep: 10 mins Cook time: 25 mins

1 box (1 lb) elbow macaroni (or penne)
1 1/4 lb shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
3 Tblsp butter
3 Tblsp all-purpose flour
2 cups milk (you can use evaporated or powdered, reconstituted to equal 2 cups)
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper or paprika, if you don't like it spicy

Optional breadcrumb topping:
2 Tblsp butter
1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 350*F. Coat an oven-safe baking dish with nonstick cooking spray & set aside.

Cook macaroni according to package directions, drain & set aside.

In a large bowl, toss together cheddar and Parmesan. Set aside.



In a large pot (I used a dutch oven), melt butter over medium heat.

Whisk in flour, onion powder, salt & cayenne or paprika until smooth and bubbly.

In a thin, constant stream, whisk in milk until smooth.

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring often or constantly, if possible.




Reduce heat & simmer 3 minutes.

Remove from heat; whisk in 2 1/2 cups of the cheese mixture. (This will be hard to whisk at first, but dig in & whisk hard until it's smooth & all the cheese is melted in.)

Dump cooked macaroni into the cheese sauce; stir until well combined.





Spoon half of the cheesy macaroni into prepared baking dish.

Sprinkle with a generous cup of the cheddar/Parmesan cheeses.

Spoon remaining cheesy macaroni into the baking dish (over the top of the cheese).

Sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese.

The next step is optional:

In a medium skillet, melt 2 Tblsp of butter with 1/2 cup breadcrumbs.

Cook & stir until butter is melted & breadcrumbs just begin to turn golden brown.

Sprinkle cooked breadcrumbs over the top of the mac-n-cheese is the baking dish.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350*F.

Remove from oven & serve hot! Enjoy!


NOTE:
If you didn't use the breadcrumbs & you'd like the top of your mac-n-cheese to be lightly browned, put the baking dish under the broiler for 2-3 minutes before serving.

YUMMMMM!!!



We served this mac-n-cheese with chicken & apple sausage and a side of steamed broccoli.

The sausage we used was:

I bought it with a Buy-1-Get-1-Free coupon, but they're regularly about $3.75/pkg at my grocery store.

I've been wanting to try them because they're chicken (not pork, which I can't eat), they have no trans fats, and the apple sounded yummy.

The had a terrific snap as we cut through them and they were SO juicy! The apple could've been stronger, in my opinion, but my family had no complaints. Just "yum" noises all around the table. :)

I cooked them on a grill pan on my stovetop. You can microwave them or cook them in a skillet with a bit of water, but the grill sounded yummiest to me.

I'm getting no compensation from Johnsonville for this post - just wanted to share something we'd tried and loved.

Spiced Pumpkin Sippers

The chill of Fall is creeping into the air these days & warm, cozy foods are on our menu. Our treats are changing too - from Summer's cool treats to the belly-warming treats of Fall. It's one of my favorite times of year!

I found this treat on The Farm Chicks' blog. I made it this weekend and it's going to be a struggle not to make it every single day! SO yummy!!

A nice change from traditional hot chocolate & so perfect for Fall!!

Enjoy!

The Farm Chicks' Spiced Pumpkin Sippers

Serves 4-6

4 cups whole milk

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Add all ingredients to a saucepan & whisk together thoroughly.

Whisk occasionally, over medium heat, until hot.

Ladle into mugs. Top with softly whipped cream & sprinkle with nutmeg. Serve hot.

Notes & Tips:

If you prefer a less-sweet drink, you can reduce the sugar by half.

These sippers are a great drink to serve to guests. To ease the work at party time, prepare the recipe in advance and refrigerate until ready to use.

Keep a crockpot full of the mixture to serve warm throughout your gathering.

Or, drink it one cupful at a time, simply reheating in the microwave.