Best Ever Soft and Chewy Snickerdoodles

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

1 Preheat oven to 350°F.
2 Mix butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar and eggs thoroughly in a large bowl.
3 Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.
4 Blend dry ingredients into butter mixture.
5 Chill dough, and chill an ungreased cookie sheet for about 10-15 minutes in the fridge.
6 Meanwhile, mix 3 tablespoons sugar, and 3 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl.
7 Scoop 1 inch globs of dough into the sugar/ cinnamon mixture.
8 Coat by gently rolling balls of dough in the sugar mixture.
9 Place on chilled ungreased cookie sheet, and bake 10 minutes.
10 Remove from pan immediately.

Roast Turkey

1, 10-12 lb Turkey (thawed)
1 stick room temp (softened) butter
1 bag poultry fresh herb mix (there will be rosemary, sage and thyme in it)
1 lemon
1 onion
Salt
Pepper

Preheat the oven to 325

Wash and PAT DRY the whole turkey, cavity, under the skin and on the skin. (if you take your hand and run it between the muscle and skin it should separate easily.) (as DRY as you can get with paper towels).Season the whole bird, inside and out with salt and pepper. Take a few stems of each fresh herb. take the leaves of the herbs and chop up really fine. Mix the chopped herbs with the butter. Rub the butter all over the cavity, under the skin (hence drying under the skin, it still can be hard so I just put chunks under the skin if I can't get it to rub) and all over the outside of the bird.
Quarter the lemon, and onion. Tie the rest of the herbs stems together with string. Stuff the Lemon, onion and herb bundle in the cavity of the turkey.
I roast my turkey in a roasting pan on a rack so the heat can move all around the turkey.

Tent the turkey with foil. Roast for 2 hours (add 15 min extra for every lb more than 12 lbs) Remove the foil, crank the heat to 425 and roast for another hour or until the thermometer reads 165 at thigh meat. Foil again if it's browning to fast.

Let rest for 10 or so min to let juices redistribute.

Sweet Potato/Pumpkin Souffle

filling:
3 C. cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
1 C. Sugar (I normally don't use sugar with sweet potatoes, and I use only 1/2 cup for pumpkin)
2 eggs
1/2 c. milk
1/2 t. salt
1 t. vanilla

Topping:
1 C. Brown Sugar
1/2 c. flour
1 c. chopped nuts
1/2 stick room temp butter

Combine filling and pour into buttered pan. Crumble combined topping over top.
Bake at 400 for 30-40 min.

Scones or Maple Bars

Soften:
2 yeast cakes
1 c. warm water
Add:
1 c. scalded milk
6 t. shortening
1/2 c. sugar
Soften shortening in hot milk and add sugar.
3 well beaten eggs (2 for 1/2 batch)
6 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
Add salt to flour and add to milk, yeast, & eggs. Beat with a spoon or mixer, dough will be soft. Let rise once then roll and cut into diamond shape. Let rise & fry in deep fat.
Makes about 50.
Takes 2 hours to make.

homemade chicken nuggets

Fun for a super casual meal! And I loved them with bbq sauce. This is how I like chicken nuggets!!! I want to make a TON and freeze them for quick lunches...we will see how ambitious I get someday.

3 big chicken breasts

wet mix:
2 eggs
Splash Milk
1/2 t. salt
pepper
dashes garlic powder
dashes dill
2-3 splashes franks hot sacue


1-2 cups flour
1 - 1/2 t. salt
Pepper
1 - 1/2t. garlic powder
dashes dried onion (wish I had onion powder)
dashes dill (don't over due it)
about 1/2-1 tsp powder sugar (I know, weird. a few recipes called for it..don't know why, but it turned out so so good that I will probably do it again.)

Let chicken bits soak in egg mixture for 15 or so min. Fry in canola oil until golden brown.

Japanese Pumpkin - Kabocha

Ingredients:

1 pound pumpkin
To boil pumpkin:
1 1/2 cups dashi (bonito fish stalk - dashi) or chicken stock
2 1/2 TBS. sugar
1 1/2 TBS. soysauce
1 TBS mirin (sweet rice wine)

Preparation, Cooking and Serving

1. Cut pumpkin in half, remove seeds and wash. Cut into 2-inch squares. Slice off skin here and there to give surface a mottled look and to enable flavor of broth to seep in.
2. Put pumpkin skin side down into saucepan, add dash, sugar and mirin. Cover and boil 7 to 8 minutes over medium heat. After 4 to 5 minutes, turn pieces over gently one by one.
3. Add soy sauce and continue to boil 7 to 8 minutes more, or until tender, turning over once while boiling. Do not overcook.
4. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Teriyaki Chicken, Fish, or Meat

Ingredients:
chicken, fish or meat

Teriyaki sauce:
2 TBS. sugar
4 TBS. sake or dry white wine
6 TBS. mirin (sweet rice wine for cooking)
12 TBS. soy sauce

Preparation:

1. Mix ingredients for teriyaki sauce thoroughly until sugar dissolves.
2. Marinate fish in sauce for 10 minutes, turning over occasionally. Drain before cooking.

Cooking:

1. If grilling chicken, meat, or fish, grill as is. If frying, heat frying pan well with oil over medium heat, and sauté fish for 2 to 3 minutes, or until slightly browned. Turn fish over gently, taking care not to break them up. Saute' 2 minutes more, then drain off excess oil. For frying meat and chicken, sauté to desired wellness on each side.
2. Add teriyaki sauce left over from marinating, and cook until fish and meat ware well-coated, or for 1 to 2 minutes.

Serve chicken, meat, or fish hot with watercress and grated white radish at the side. To make the radish, peel white radish and grate. Drain but do not press out water. If desired, pour remaining sauce from the frying on top of chicken, meat, or fish.

Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake

CRUST

1/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup crispy crushed gingersnaps
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon


FILLING

1 cup whipping cream, unwhipped
24 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ginger powder
1/2 teaspoon clove
1/3 cup pecan halves

Directions:

1
Set oven to 350 degrees (300 degrees for convection-bake oven).
2
Prepare a 10-inch springform pan.
3
To make the crust; in a bowl place the melted butter with graham cracker crumbs, crushed gingersnaps, brown sugar and cinnamon; mix with a fork until combined.
4
Line bottom and side with parchment paper or wax paper, then spray with nonstick spray.
5
Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan.
6
For the filling; pour the whipping cream into a medium bowl and beat just until soft peaks form; refrigerate until ready to use.
7
In a bowl beat the cream cheese with electric mixer until fluffy; gradually add in sugar, beating well until combined.
8
Add in eggs one at a time and beat the mixture until fluffy.
9
Stir in pumpkin puree, ginger, cinnamon and cloves.
10
Remove the whipped cream from the refrigerator and lightly whisk to reblend.
11
Using a spatula or a flat spoon fold in the whipped cream into the cream cheese-pumpkin mixture.
12
Pour the mixture into preapred crust.
13
Wrap one continuous sheet of heavy foil around the springform pan then press firmly against the pan.
14
Place the wrapped pan in a baking pan and fill with hot water to halfway up the spring form pan.
15
Bake for 60-70 minutes.
16
Cool the cheesecake to room temperature, the chill for at least 5 hours or until the cake is thoroughly chilled.
17
Remove the sides of the springform pan.
18
Just before serving place the pecan halves on top of the cheescake in a ring around the edges.

Print This Recipe

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/the-cheesecake-factorys-pumpkin-ginger-cheesecake-197011#ixzz1e0E0elj0

Poppy Seed Chicken

OK so this recipe is not like an amazing healthy meal. It is just the “normal busy day cant think of what to make for dinner but I have chicken and Ritz crackers” meal…Not to mention it really is not healthy at all...So it is what it is. This is the second recipe I have tried for this meal and I like this one a lot better! The little man loved it so that’s always a plus. We had it over rice with a salad and some peas. Its just a nice easy meal.

recipe from: The Girl Who Ate Everything

5 cups chicken breasts, cooked and cubed(I did about 5 Breasts but the were kind of small and I only got like 3 1/2 cups so I didn't use all of my sauce just because I didn't want it to feel like we were just eating a bowl of sauce with a few chicken pieces here and there. So next time I will just make sure to do more chicken.

1 cup sour cream(I only had like 3/4 c sour cream but had plain Greek yogurt so I topped off the cup with that)

2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup

2 cups crushed Ritz crackers (about 1 1/2 rolls of crackers)

1/2 cup melted butter

1 T poppy seeds

1 tsp Worchestire sauce

1 tsp celery salt

1 tsp minced garlic

1 T lemon juice

1/4 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Boil raw chicken breasts with salt and pepper until done. I like to boil it with half an onion cut into large chunks to give it more flavor. Let chicken cool slightly and cut into one inch cubes. Place cubed chicken in a 9X13 casserole dish.

Stir together the condensed soup and sour cream. Stir in the worchestire, celery salt, garlic, lemon juice, and pepper to the soup and sour cream mixture. Pour over the chicken.

In a separate bowl, stir together the crushed crackers, poppy seeds and melted butter. Sprinkle over the chicken and sauce.

Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top of the casserole is browned and the sauce is bubbly.

"Thai" peanut noodle salad

Loved this!! my girls even loved it, didn't complain once! (which is a rarity)
*Dressing From Our Best Bites

1/2 pkg Linguini noodles

Veggies:you could do any. this is what I had in my fridge that needed to be used
thinly sliced cabbage (lots!)
shredded carrot
diced red bell pepper
2 green onions
1/2 head broccoli

1 Chicken breast: marinated for 15 or so min in dressing (below) and grilled and chopped

Dressing:
1/3 C peanut butter
1 lime, juiced and zested
2 1/2 t sesame oil
1 T seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 T soy sauce
3 T honey
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 T minced ginger
1/2 C roughly chopped cilantro (stems and all)
1/2 C vegetable oil
1/4 t kosher salt
2-3 t sriracha chili sauce
2-4 T water

Toss and serve. we had ours warm but you could do this cold too I'm sure!

Apple Muffins

Adapted from "The Girl who ate everything"

just under 1 cup of sugar (I would do 3/4 next time. the original called for 2 cups)
2 eggs
1/2 c. apple sauce
1/2 c. canola oil
1 T. vanilla

1 1/2 c. unbleached flour
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour(slightly sifted)
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon

3 apples shredded
Brown sugar for top

whisk wet ingredients and add the dry. (the batter will be really thick) then stir in apples. sprinkle brown sugar on top.

Bake at 350 for 20 min.

pumpkin muffins

*from the cilantropist who adapted from smitten kitchen

1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
1 cup granulated sugar ( I did 1/2 cup)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice ( I don't own pumpkin pie spice so I just added a dash of nutmeg and cloves and allspice)
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and grease the cups of a mini muffin tin very well.


In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, all spices, baking soda and salt. Then whisk in the flour until the batter is just smooth.


Divide the batter among the greased muffin cups, filling each one just a bit more than 3/4 full. Sprinkle the top of each mini muffin with a bit of turbinado sugar and bake in a preheated oven for about 10-14 minutes, or until they are golden brown, and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Watch them and check them often, because they go from still wet in the inside to fully baked in just a matter of minutes. Mine were the most moist at about 12 minutes.


Cool the mini muffins on a rack until cool enough to handle, and then remove them to cool fully. Eat immediately or store muffins in an airtight container and keep refrigerated if storing longer.

Pumpkin Chocolate Shake

1 cup plain soymilk
1/3 c. pure pumpkin puree
1/2 t. cinnamon
dash nutmeg
1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder
1 1/2 t. coco powder
a small handfull of frozen banana pieces
4-5 ice cubes

blend up!

Canning Salsa

PS on Feb 26, 2012. I do not like this recipe for canning. it got to lemony tasting. but it was so so good as fresh, so use it as fresh and I will continue on my hunt for a good canning recipe


14 c. diced roma tomatoes
2 c. diced long green peppers (I did anahime and yellow wax)
1 jalapeno finely diced
2 1/2 c. chopped onions
5 cloves garlic
1 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 T. salt
pepper
dash dried oregano
dash dried parsley
1/4 c. cilantro

Dice tomatoes and try to drain off as much liquid as you can. as it sits you may want to keep pouring off the liquid. put drained tomatoes in a large pot with all ingredients except oregano, parsley and cilantro.

Bring mixture to boil then turn down to simmer for 10 min. then add the other spices and simmer another 10 - 20 min depending on your preference for how thick/how cooked you want it.

Pour into pint jars and boil in a water bath for 25 min.

This makes 9 pints of Salsa!