{Homemade Colored Sugar}

My daughter Brooke and I were getting ready to make a recipe from one of her cookbooks. The recipe called for colored sugar crystals of which I had none. I remembered seeing a Pin that was about DIY colored sugar on Pinterest. I found the Pin and followed the directions from the site Mom On Timeout. Glad I stumbled across this clever idea and it's a great way to say money, helped me save $5 on our recipe. Plus it was quick and easy. Visit her blog she has lots of great tips and recipes.

 Add sugar & food coloring to a Ziploc bag and Shake. Be amazed at how easy!

 The reaction Brooke had was Great, she enjoyed this project!

This was a fun, hope you enjoyed & don't forget to check out Mom on Timeout. 

Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo Wand Cookies

This Easter the bunny brought my daughter Brooke a cookbook called, "Disney Princess Cupcakes and More". It's such a cute book with simple recipes that little kids could help with. Now, most of the book is made with pre-made dough and other items, but if you wanted you could make it your own. I loved this project with Brooke she read the recipe to me word for word. If you have a little girl who loves any Disney Princess, this is a fun project that would give you that much needed Mother/Daughter time. Have fun Baking and May all your baking Dreams Come True! 

What Ya'll Need:
1 16 oz. pkg. Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1/4-1/2 cups of All purpose flour
48 pretzel sticks (2 1/2 inches long)
Star shaped cookie cutter
*Colored decorating icing, Colored sugar or Edible Glitter and Gold/Silver Dragess

Directions:
Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, break up cookie dough. Stir or knead in 1/4 cup of the flour until well blended. Sprinkle flour onto work surface; coat all sides of dough with flour. With rolling pin, roll out dough 1/8 inch thick, adding additional flour as needed to prevent sticking. Use a 2-inch star-shaped cookie cutter, cut out stars. Place pretzels 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Then gently place a star on top of pretzel. Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes. Spread icing on to cookies, sprinkle with sugar and place dragess in points of stars. Let stand until set and have a magical treat!

**Cooking Tip: We homemade the color sugar. I found a pin on Pinterest. The site was Mom on Timout I followed the directions and worked perfect (I used granulated sugar) Also when placing the stars on the pretzel line the cut at bottom on pretzel then place cookie you want it to be even on pretzel so star is straight.

Snickers Cookies

This recipe was done with my daughter Brooke, she loves to help me cook. Anytime I start baking she pulls up a chair and says, "What can I do?" So no matter how small the task I find something she can do. I remember what it was like getting to help my mom and grandmother, so I want to same for Brooke. We decided to make cookies together and she wanted chocolate chip. So, I decided to try one of the recipes I found on Pinterest. I'm so glad I did because I found my go to recipe for most any cookie base you'd need for a chocolate based cookie. If you'd like to see the original recipe for the chocolate chip cookies go to Apple-A-Day.

 Inside of the cookies are so yum! My husband loves snickers and said these are a win.

Snickers Cookie

What You Need:

3/4 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened

1/4 c. granulated sugar

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. all purpose flour

2 tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

* Bite Size Snickers Candies

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars then add the egg and vanilla and blend in. *Mix in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Then add in the Snickers candy pieces. Using a standard-sized cookie scoop or tablespoon, drop dough onto a prepared baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges. I cooked mine for 9 minutes. Let them cool on the sheet for about a minute then remove to a cooling rack and cool for five more minutes.

**Cooking Tip: I cut the bite size pieces in to fours, then keep in a bowl and placed them in to freezer until I was ready to use them so that they do not melt. It also made it easy to mix in the cookie dough. I did this step first so that I wouldn't be rushing in middle of making cookies.  

Zesty Goulash

I recently made my simple Zesty Goulash. When I make this meal I think of my childhood. My mother made this for us all the time. This meal can be made in so many different ways. If you haven't ever tried goulash give this dish a whirl. 

Zesty Goulash 

What Ya'll Need:

1 lb. Ground Beef
1 lb. bag of Macaroni noodles
1 10 oz. can Rotel (original) undrained

1 15 oz. can of Hunts Tomato Sauce

1 8 oz. can Hunts Tomato Sauce Basil, Garlic and Oregano
1 tbsp. Garlic

1 tbsp. Black Pepper

1 tbsp. Salt

Shredded Cheese (mozzarella, colby, pepper jack) for topping

Directions: 

Cook ground beef, onion and garlic. Drain, add pasta sauces, rotel, salt. Allow to come to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 15 minutes. Cook the macaroni until pasta is tender, drain. Mix the beef mixture with the macaroni. Warm together on medium low heat another 10 minutes. then serve warm and enjoy!

Pizza Dip

Now here is a recipe I would have never imagined would not only be so good but so pleasing! Pizza Dip is a recipe I original seen on Pinterest, I'm not sure who's the original person who came up with this idea but I'm happy they did. I took a look at a few recipes and seen what some people were adding or not. So I just realized it was all based on you the taster. I knew this recipe would just end up with things my husband and I like. The result was Yummy and something I would do again.

This is pre-cook and layered with all the goodies!

 We had homemade bread with our pizza dip, but chips or crackers would be good to.

What ya'll Need:
2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. McCormick California Style Garlic Powder(such good flavor) 
2 cups Kraft Natural Italian Five Cheese Shredded Cheese
14 oz. Classico Traditional Pizza Sauce
Toppings: Bell Pepper, Pepperoni, Hamburger, Sausage, Canadian Bacon.

Directions: 
In a bowl: mix together softened cream cheese and garlic powder. Spread on bottom of 13x9. Spread as much pizza sauce u want I used the whole jar. Then layer cheese, toppings and a little more cheese. Bake in oven at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Remove let cool 2-3 minutes and enjoy!

**Cooking Tip: Use any topping or cheese you want. We just happen to like bell pepper, pepperoni and Canadian bacon. This time I made it I didn't slice the pepperoni, but next time I will dice it smaller.

Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

Chicken is always a good choice to my family and me. It's something you can put in almost any dish. So of course chicken spaghetti is something that we like to eat. I originally posted this recipe almost over two years ago but I needed to update since there are many versions of chicken spaghetti that can be found. I have to say I like a lot of them. It's easy to change the noodle or cheese you use as well as the cream you put in it. I just really enjoy the flavors that my recipe has so my family requests it every time. I don't mind trying new things but when something is good, why change it!

What Y'all Need..
3-4 large Boneless Chicken Breasts or Rotisserie Chicken
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can Cheddar Cheese Soup or Fiesta Nacho Cheese Soup(for s kick)
1 can (10 ounce) Rotel Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies
3/4 cup of Milk (we use 2%)
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tsp. Pepper
1 tbsp. Butter (we use I can't believe it's not Butter)
2 cups Shredded cheese, (we use Mexican Blend)
8-12 ounces Spaghetti Noodles(or your favorite), cooked and drained


Directions:
If using rotisserie pull all chicken meat apart and place to side. If using breast cut up chicken into bite size pieces. In a large skillet add chicken, butter, salt and pepper. Cook over medium-high heat until chicken is no longer pink. Stir in soups, milk and rotel until combined and it's a slight bubble then add cheese stirring constantly until the cheese melts. Once sauce is ready add to noodles mix well. Let sit 2-5 mins then serve. Top with extra cheese, We do!

Cooking Tip** While the chicken and sauce is cooking. I boil the noodles as well. So I can mix and serve right away. Also if you want to say time you could always use pre-cooked breast meat.

Mexican Meatloaf

I love a great rice dish. I could eat rice everyday. So, when my mother In-law Linda made her Mexican Meatloaf it was an instant favorite of mine. It's one of those dishes that you can serve with a veggie and have a complete meal. Give this recipe a try you won't be disappointed!

  Mexican Meatloaf cooked and ready to enjoy!

Mexican Meatloaf

What You Need:

1 lb of Ground Beef
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 16oz Jar of Picante Sauce
2 tsp. of diced Jalapeno 
6 cups of cooked rice (2 uncooked=six)
2 cups of Shredded Cheese (Mexican style is really good)
2 cups of Fritos, Crushed (optional) 

Directions:
in a large skillet brown meat then drain; return to pan. Add cooked rice, soups, jalapeno and salsa to meat and stir till combined. Pour into a 9x13 dish and top with cheese. Cook at 375 degrees for 20 minutes add the crushed Fritos and bake another 5-10 minutes. Remove and let sit for 2-5 mins then serve.

**Cooking Note: My mother in-law adds a can of mushrooms and a can of green chilies. I didn't add them this time because I did not have them on hand. 

This makes 8 one cup servings!

  

Roasted Salsa Verde

As I have noted before my husband is a lover of all salsa's that are "Green." Brian asked for me to make some salsa since he was in a mood for it. He wanted me to try and make it like one of his favorite which is from a restaurant called Rosa's Mexican Cafe. I was able to come across a recipe online tried it and the recipe was spot on and was very good. It's simple enough to make and if you love green sauce and want to try something new. It's kind of sweet and has heat at the same time. Hope you enjoy as much as we did.

Salsa Verde

What Ya'll Need:

14  Tomatillos
2 Jalapeno pepper
1 Serrano pepper
3 Unpeeled garlic cloves
6 tbsp. Diced white onion
3/4 cup Cilantro
2 tbsp. Lime juice
1 tsp. Salt

Directions:
Remove husks and wash tomatillos. Cut peppers in half and remove seeds. Place tomatillos, peppers and unpeeled garlic cloves onto a pan with sides. Place into the oven, cook 15-20 minutes until the tomatillos are roasted and the peppers are slightly charred on all sides. During cook time make sure to rotate tomatillos, peppers and garlic at least once. Remove from oven and add the tomatillos, peppers and juices to a food processor as well as the onions, cilantro, lime juice and salt. Peel the garlic and discard the skins, add them to blender and pulse 5-10 times or until the salsa has come together how you would like. Serve salsa warm, at room temperature or cold.

**Cooking Tips: When roasting salsa, if you want more charred last five mins turn on broiler to high and cook five minutes longer. 

{Mama Rita's Quick} Chicken & Dumplings

My mom's cooking is so first-rate. One of my favorites is her chicken & dumplings, I could eat them anytime. It was a slightly cold day in Texas a few days ago and I wanted my mom's chicken & dumplings. Nice way to always warm up so I decided to make them myself. I followed her recipe and they came out delicious. I just wish she was with me so that she could have shared in the goodness.

{Mama Rita's Quick} Chicken & Dumplings

What You Need:

3 Chicken Breast (you can use dark meats as well)
6 Cups Chicken Broth
4 ct. Pillsbury Buttermilk Biscuits Value Pack 7.5 oz
1 tbsp. Garlic Powder
1 cup flour
Salt and Pepper for taste

Directions:
In a large pot add chicken broth put on a medium heat, cut chicken breast in half so that they are in 6 slices add to the broth and cook for about 20-25 mins. Once chicken is done remove from broth and pull apart or cut up in to bit size pieces. While the chicken cooks, open the cans of biscuits, tear each biscuit in to three sections and roll them flour and set aside. Make sure you have a good amount of flour on the biscuits so they don't stick to each other. The flour helps the sauce thicken so don't worry about having to much flour. Add, the biscuits two at a time to broth and pushing down with a spoon in the broth do this till all the biscuits are in broth then add the chicken salt, pepper and garlic powder; cook 10-15 mins. Stir during cook time so that the chicken and dumplings don't stick to the bottom. This makes about 8-10, 1 cup servings.

*Now if you want to make the dumplings instead of using canned biscuits here is my recipe for them.

What you Need:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons of butter(salted)
1 cup of milk

Directions:
Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter in using fork or fingers(I use fingers) Add milk little at time(1/4 cup), stirring between batches until it forms a ball of dough. Place dough on floured work area, using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough out thin(add more flour as needed don't want area to be sticky). Once it's thinned out Using a pizza cutter or knife, cut either strips or squares out(I do squares). When your cutting make sure each dumpling has flour on it so they don't stick together( the flour also helps thicken the sauce). Once u place in pan cook at least 10-15 mins..

**Cooking Note: If you want more dumplings just add two more cans of biscuits. If you add more I would suggest adding 1/2 cup water to the mix to keep enough juice.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

It's Thanksgiving and I'm ready for all the pumpkin flavored recipes I can make. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I love cooking meals for my family so this time of gather is the best. I seen the recipe for Pumpkin Spice Cookies in Taste of Home cooking magazine. This was a great recipe that I will be making again and again. I made them for a party at my husbands work and sent all the cookies with him thinking maybe there would have been some left over. But the dish came home empty, my husband said that everyone liked them. If you like pumpkin spice you will enjoy this recipe. I can't wait for my family to try them.

What Ya'll Need:

1 bag of Hersey's Pumpkin Spice flavor Kisses

1 Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix Pouch 17.5 oz.

1/2 tbsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice

1/2 tbsp. Nutmeg

Pumpkin Spice Coating:
3 tbsp. Granulated Sugar
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice

What to Do:
Place the cookie mix in a bowl and add everything package says including pumpkin pie spice and nutmeg mix well. Take cookie dough and round in to a ball then dip it in the pumpkin spice coating and place on cookie sheet. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Remove and place one Hersey's kiss on top and let cool then eat and enjoy!

**Cooking Note: These were made with a cookie mix but could easily be made with a homemade sugar cookie recipe.