Nutella Cookies

Recipe & picture from BiteClubBeats

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup Nutella
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

2. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In another medium bowl combine the butter, chocolate hazelnut spread, sugar, and brown sugar. Using a stand mixer, cream the ingredients together.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and stir until just combined. Refrigerate dough for at least one hour.

4. Using a tablespoon measure, spoon out the cookie dough onto a cookie sheet, spacing the mounds about 4 inches apart. Use the tines of a fork to flatten the cookie dough. Bake until golden around the edges, about 10 to 13 minutes. Let cool briefly, then use a spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack and let cool.

I went looking for this recipe after my hubby and I had a Nutella chocolate chip skillet at Biaggi's. It was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.  I was a little apprehensive of the amount of butter in the recipe, but curiosity got the best of me and I had to try it. Right off the bat the batter tasted so close to what we had at the restaurant. Next it was obvious that 10-13 minutes will turn your cookie into crisps. I personally have never been one for crispy cookies. I like them cooked, but gooey in the middle. The skillet cookie we had was this way. Once I tweaked the cooking time they came out more moist. However once they cooled off they lost their gooey-ness. So unless you can and want to eat them straight out of the oven with a small scoop of ice cream on them. . .you will want to keep looking for a Nutella cookie recipe.

Christmas Card Edition 1

These are a few examples of Christmas cards I have made with my digital scrapbooking software.I can recreate almost any design you can find online, and it is so much more personal. I will also do a baby announcement post as well as a birthday invite post. . Stay tuned.

Tomato Basil Soup

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 heaping Tbsp. minced garlic
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 cups half and half
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. chicken base*
• 2 (28 oz.) cans diced tomatoes
• 1 cup tomato puree
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. dried basil about 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves and chop
• 1/2 tsp. pepper more if needed TT
• 1/2 tsp. salt more if needed TT
• milk if needed to thin to desired consistency

Instructions

1. Melt butter in saucepan. Once melted add garlic and sauté for a minute or two. Stir in flour and make a roux.
2. Once roux is formed, slowly pour in half and half, stirring as you pour. Stir consistently until it begins to thicken.
3. Stir in chicken base, diced tomatoes, tomato puree, sugar, basil, pepper and salt. Stir until heated through. If needed add milk to soup to thin it out to desired consistency

 *Chicken Base is like a paste version of chicken broth/bullion. It is more concentrated that broth. Here is the kind/brand I use.  You can easily find either this or other brands at your grocery store.

I could not wait to try this recipe. I already have a tomato basil soup recipe, but felt like it was missing the mark a little. Sadly this recipe as is also misses that mark. I will explain. First off the recipe calls for diced tomatoes. I didn't want chunks of tomato in my soup so I threw the tomatoes in my food processor, and made them nice and smooth! They had a different flavor & texture than the tomato puree so I would still you both.

My next issue is the amount of garlic. 2 HEAPING tablespoons of minced garlic. I made this recipe basically as it was to see if I liked it. There were bits of garlic in every bite. Understandably this made my husband kindly ask me not to make this again. I am however determined to get this recipe the way I like it because the foundation is good. Next time I will omit the mince garlic, and add garlic powder instead.

The good things about this recipe are the texture(minus the garlic) and the taste. Nice and creamy without being too tomato-ey?! One thing that can be over done is the seasoning. Basil can very quickly become over bearing. The amount of basil in this recipe was perfect. I coupled this with another favorite recipe of mine. It is tried and true. Even if you don't make the soup. . try this recipe.

Ham and Cheese Roll

*I use Rhodes rolls instead of the frozen bread dough. I used about 10 of the texas-sized rolls. Mmmm.

Honey Sesame Chicken

I love to try new recipes. Some turn out great, others my husband kindly asks me to never make again. It's fun. I've had my eye on this recipe for awhile and finally got around to making it.

 Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken
Recipe adapted from: Baby Center

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (thighs would be fine too)
Salt and pepper
1 cup honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (could also use olive oil or canola oil)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional - doesn't really add heat, just adds more flavor)
4 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 6 Tablespoons water
Sesame seeds

Directions:
Season both sides of chicken with lightly with salt and pepper, put into crock pot. In a small bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, garlic and pepper flakes. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours, or just until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from crock pot, leave sauce. Dissolve 4 teaspoons of cornstarch in 6 tablespoons of water and pour into crock pot. Stir to combine with sauce. Replace lid and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes or until slightly thickened. Cut chicken into bite size pieces, then return to pot and toss with sauce before serving. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve over rice or noodles.

*You can also sprinkle more red pepper flakes on top if you want more heat.

I omitted the red pepper flakes because one of my kids think ketchup is spicy. I also accidentally forgot to add the soy sauce. It still turned out really good.  More sweet, and not as Asian as I was expecting.

 

 

Fried Rice

 recipe adapted from The Mattinglys

I have always wanted a good fried rice recipe, and an excuse to make it. I got both. I didn't have all the seasoning that The Mattinglys said they put in their fried rice, but it still turned out really good.

This recipe does not have any measurements. Just a little of this and a little of that. Totally changeable.

Ingredients

Basmati rice - made in advance, chilled in fridge

Veggies - we used:

Green onion

Carrots

Ham - cut up

Eggs

Oil - we used olive and sesame seed

Soy Sauce

Get the pan hot with some oil, add veggies and saute

Once ready move all the veggies and meat to the side of the pan. Add eggs and move them around chop into pieces. Add rice, toss. Add flavorings. We just added soy sauce a little bit more sesame seed oil.

You are done!

I finished off the sesame chicken with some sesame seeds, and added a pot sticker. It all went really well together.

Scrapbook paper wall art

If you are anything like me you get bored with your wall decor ever now and then. I love scrapbook paper. Ever since switching to digital scrapbook I have no use for real scrapbook paper. Which is unfortunate because there are some really cute papers. This is a great solution for that problem. And you will all love it because it is super cheap to make. I found the frames at the dollar store, and added some cute paper. Done. That easy. It can be switched out all the time, and matches the colors in whatever room you put them in. 

This is in the hallway leading to my room. You can't really tell from the picture but the tree paper is a sage green, and the paper on the other end is dark brown. I cut the vinyl and put it right on the wall, and then just put a frame over it. Very simple, elegant, and customizable.

These last two pictures are in my half bathroom. The whole bathroom is black and sage green. I could never find the right decor for it, so I made it myself.

Piñata

When my oldest started having friend birthday parties I bought him a piñata. Those things are crazy expensive cardboard. After that I decided to try to make my own. YouTube offered a few tutorials, and tips. Here is my experience.
Step 1. Cover area with paper, or just wing it like I did. I wasn't too worried about getting it on my craft table.
Step 2. Blow up balloon as big as you want.
Step 3. Mix water(1 cup) and flour(2 cups)
Step 4. Cut strips of newspaper, or in our case thrifty nickel ads. :) The size is not important. You can cut perfect strips, but it won't matter.
Step 5. Let each later dry. Not completely, but a little.
Step 6. Cover the balloon at least 3-4 times with paper.
Step 7. Once done covering balloon with paper, let it dry overnight.
Step 8. Pop balloon and carefully pull away from the sides. You should just come right out.

Step 9. Decorate your piñata. I used streamers and a glue stick.

Step 10. I lined the piñata with the streamer, and then cut uneven strips to make it fray.

Step 11. Bask in your awesomeness! I printed off the Hot Wheels label, and tied a bunch of streamers together and hot glued them to the bottom. It was a big hit.

Time off

Wow, I really took some time off. I hope all your holidays were amazing, and hopefully you all escaped the plague that seemed to hit our house and everyone else we could see. I am working on a few posts. A few crafts, and a few recipes. I am really excited about them so make sure to keep checking back. To those that continued to visit the site while I was away. Thank you!