Frosted Cake Brownies

I grew up making these brownies with my mom and have no idea where the recipe came from. I LOVE chewy brownies, but these are not of the chewy variety. They are delicious, cake-like and perfect with a glass of milk.
What you need:
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup (1 cube) margarine or butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
vanilla
3/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
dash salt
nuts (if desired)

Set oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together butter and sugar. Mix in eggs, then a splash of vanilla. Stir in Flour, baking powder and salt. Finally, mix in cocoa powder, then nuts if desired (may add these on top of icing instead).
Bake in greased 8X8 pan at 350 for 20 minutes.
Cool, then ice.

Icing:
powdered sugar (I use about 1/2 box)
cocoa powder (a few spoonfuls)
Water
Add water to get just to a pouring consistency. Pour over cooled brownies and let set. Cut and enjoy!
Cover any leftover brownies.

5x7 Folded Card

Swirl Christmas Card

Add one photo or multiple to your Christmas cards this season.

View the entire collection of cards.

Sour cream enchiladas

I have a couple enchilada recipes that I use and rotate. This is my newest and is so easy (and tasty).
1 1/2 lb - 2 lb chicken breasts
Taco seasoning
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup of sour cream (I usually use a little more though)
1 can of Rotel
8 flour tortillas (I think I use the soft taco size)
1 cup cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350
Cut chicken into bite sized pieces, brown, and season. (I actually cook the chicken in the crockpot and shred it)
Mix cream of chicken soup with sour cream.
Add 2 Tbsp of sour cream/soup mixture to chicken.
Add Rotel to chicken.
Add just enough of sour cream/soup mixture to cover bottom of 9X13 casserole dish.
Fill tortillas with chicken, roll and place into casserole dish.
Top enchiladas with remaining sour cream/soup mixture.
Top w/cheese.
Bake for 20 min or until cheese is melted and starting to bubble @ 350.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chocolate Mints (mint patties)

I haven't made these in a few years, so I thought I'd make them this year. SO yummy.

Filling:
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp mint flavoring
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Mix all together. Form little patties (I make them about 1 inch size) and place on wax paper. I recommend refrigerating them for a bit. It will make it easier to cover them with chocolate.

Topping:
1 pkg choco chips (I use semi-sweet. Milk or dark would be good too)
1/3 bar of paraffin wax

Melt chocolate chips and wax in double boiler (I just do it directly over the stove on REALLY low heat and stir constantly so it doesn't burn).
Dip each mint and let cool/harden.
You can cheat and just pour the chocolate over each mint, but it won't cover the bottom that way and it will not be as pretty.

Enjoy.

Easy Roll Sugar Cookies

It's christmas time!! Time to start making all of those christmas candies and cookies!! I have tried a LOT of sugar cookie recipes and have finally found my favorite one! This one is quick and easy and you don't have to refrigerate the dough! I always hated that part. And cold dough is not easy to work with.

1 cup butter (soften to room temp)
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder

Mix all ingredients together (I usually only need to use about 2 1/2 cups flour, not the full 3). Roll to 1/8 inch thickness.
I have learned to put parchment paper down, put a ball of dough on it, then put a piece of saran wrap on top of that. No more flour mess on the counter and dough sticking to the rolling pin. If only my mom knew this trick, we probably would've made sugar cookies a lot more (and we already made them quite a bit, we just had a HUGE mess to clean up!).
Cut out the shapes you want (after you remove the saran wrap), then remove the dough from between your cookie shapes. Then, slide the parchment paper onto a cookie sheet.
Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Cool, then frost.

We'll be frosting ours in the morning and I will share a frosting recipe and some pictures!

BBQ Beef (or turkey) cups

I have found a few versions of these and wanted to try them (I like barbecue sauce). Again, I don't eat beef, so I made them with ground turkey. I made my recipe a little smaller because there are only 3 of us, but it makes more if you use all the biscuits in the can and a whole pound of beef or turkey. We enjoyed them, even if the 3 year old only ate the cheese off the top.

1/2 lb ground turkey (or beef)
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
1 can pillsbury rolls (I used the grands jr flaky layers because it's what I had on hand)
Shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Spray cupcake tin with cooking spray.
Brown ground beef or turkey, drain fat.
Mix in brown sugar and bbq sauce.
Stretch/flatten rolls and press into cupcake tins (so they form a little cup).
Fill with meat mixture.
Bake for about 10 minutes (or until biscuits are golden). Sprinkle cheese on top and return to oven for 2 more minutes.
Enjoy!
The pioneer woman makes these and also shares a picture if you'd like to see! http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/main-courses/barbecue-beef-cups-2/

Tater Tot Casserole!

I keep hearing about this casserole, so I had to try it. All the recipes I found were different, so I adapted it to what I had on hand and what we like. It was SO good, much better than it sounds!

3/4 lb ground turkey (can use beef, I just don't eat beef)
salt, pepper, onion powder
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 can milk
tator tots
shredded cheddar cheese

Brown the meat and season. Add the soup mix and milk and pour all into a pan (I used a 9X9 square pan). Top with frozen tator tots and bake in oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes (until tator tots are golden brown).
Top with cheese and put back in oven until melted.
Yummy goodness! Even my picky 3 year old ate it (and she usually doesn't want to try anything)!
This will definitely go on our menu rotation!