New Years Treats

Champagne Cupcakes

Cookies

This is what my weekend looks like.  Cute outfit not included.

Source

I'll be making these, in order of importance (to me).

Russian teacakes are the reason for the season, in case anyone is wondering.  I make mine with crushed walnuts and roll them in not 2, but 5 coats of powdered sugar.  They are deadly if the sugar is inhaled, but totally worth the risk.  If they're not your favorite, stay away.  No other cookie can really compare to the teacakes, but the lemon bars and peanut butter blossoms accent them nicely.  Next up, the standard chocolate chip cookies.  This is a new recipe for me.  I'm always disappointed by homemade chocolate chip cookies, but I have high hopes for these.  I've never made the chocolate crack cookies, but I don't see how they could possibly be bad.  Definitely worth a try.  Thumbprints are a Christmas staple, like sand tarts.  Unfortunately, I won't be making sand tarts, or anything else that requires rolling.  Ever.  Back to my thumbprints.  I'll be using homemade strawberry and peach jams.  Now these last two, the stump of my Christmas, cookie, tree pyramid.  The oatmeal raisin are my parent's favorite.  I think they taste like forest floor with raisins.  And those weird globs?  Those are butterscotch haystacks.  They were a request by my brother's girlfriend.  I hold no hope for them.  I'm planning to bake double batches of each, maybe a triple batch of the oatmeal raisin.  Oh deary me (and Mom's kitchen).

Sewing and Soup

Tonight I'll be sewing up some stocking stuffers for friends and family and cooking up a yummy batch of soup.  I've been dreaming of this one for awhile now.  Looks like I'll need to bake some bread to go with it.

Stay warm!

Ugly Rainy Day

This

Hunter Boots & Welly Socks, Michael Kors Double Breasted Trench, Totes Bubble Umbrella

plus this chicken chili

makes this day a little more bearable.

Thanksgiving Desserts

Every Thanksgiving, I'm in charge of the pies.  Not that I'm any kind of expert.  I use premade amish crusts that I could never dream of beating and fruit we canned through the summer.  It doesn't get much easier than that.  I usually make 2 pumpkin pies, a pecan pie, cherry crumb, apple crumb, and sometimes, peach crumb.  We're a crumb topping kind of family.  The secret to a great crumb is oatmeal (says me).  If I was going to stray from the norm, I think these look delicious.

Pumpkin Mouse Parfaits

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Apple Cider Donuts

Pumpkin Spice Whoopies

Pumpkin Praline Cheesecake

Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie

Do you make any special desserts for Thanksgiving?

Fried Tacos

This recipe is for my mom.  It's not healthy, but it is delicious.  I should have taken some photos of the process or final product, but I was too busy eating.  Better luck next time.  The pic below is kind of similar, but with flour tortillas and different batter.  Also delicious, I'm sure.

Photo Source: Kitchen Chick

I'm not very good at recipes.  I always just wing it, so these measurements are my best estimates.  Use your own judgement.  I made this the first time in an effort to kill some of the old ingredients in my fridge and as an experiment to improve on hard shell tacos, which always taste a bit stale out of the box.

Ingredients:
Corn Tortillas
1 C Uncooked Rice
1 Large Can Black Beans (1lb, 13 oz)
2 Large Chicken Breast
1 Large Onion, chopped
1 Large Bell Pepper, chopped
1/2 C Salsa
Garlic
Chili Powder
Salt
Shredded Mexican Cheese
Olive Oil

Toppings:
Avocado
Greek Yogurt
Salsa
Cilantro
Hot Sauce

Directions:

Cook your rice and set aside.  We like basmati, which is an Indian rice and great at holding flavor.  I use the 2 cups water to 1 cup rice ratio.  Adding more or less water depending on the consistency I want.

Cook your chicken breast by your preferred method.  I always boil it because I like to use the chicken broth later, and I find it almost impossible to dry out the chicken this way.  Cut into large chunks and shred into bite sized pieces by hand.  Or I think fancy people use 2 forks.

For the Batter - In a large sauce pan fry chopped onions and garlic with olive oil.  Add cooked rice, black beans, chicken, salsa and spices to taste.  Keep stirring until hot.  Add chopped peppers last, mix, turn off heat and set aside.

Put olive oil in a hot fry pan.  I use this beauty and it fits 2 perfectly.  Place the corn tortilla wrapper in the oil and let heat and stiffen, a bit.  (I used the blue corn tortillas, which taste a bit nuttier and are a bit healthier than regular yellow corn tortillas, but both would work the same)  Flip the shell and heat until warm.  Sprinkle shredded cheese on the shell and allow to melt slightly.  Add 2 spoonfuls of batter on one side of the shell.  Top with more shredded cheese.  Bend shell in half and smash with spatula until in the form of a taco.  Fry hard on both sides until all cheese is melted and the shell is crispy.  Eat with avocado/guacamole, salsa, hot sauce, greek yogurt, and cilantro.

You could easily substitute the chicken with ground beef, pork or fish, but I was trying to go healthy.  If only I could give up on cheese and olive oil...

Fall's Sweet Treats Round-up

I've been looking for recipes for some delicious treats to make this fall weather a little warmer.  Pumpkin, apples, a warm drink and lots of sugar should do the trick!

1.  Gingerbread Pumpkin Bars
2.  Apple Pie (In the Apple)
3.  Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
4.  Apple Pie Caramel Apple
5.  Dulce de Leche Cake
6.  Hot Mulled Cider
7.  Pumpkin Granola