Key Lime Pie Cupcakes

So, a friend of mine brought some of these babies over to our house.. I took a bite of one and I was in heaven! I ended up eating my husbands too.. he is not big on sweets, so he was ok with it. :) Anyway, I got the recipe from my friend and also found out what book it was in. 101 gourmet cupcakes in 10 minutes. I went out and bought it! A lot of the cupcakes sound so yummy in it! I made these and took them to a family get together this weekend.. A lot of my family asked for me to post the recipe. I don't have a photo but I'll try to get one next time I make them because I KNOW there will be a next time!


(had to top with green sugar sprinkles because the grocery store I went to didn't have any limes.. how crazy?!)
Key Lime Pie Cupcakes

1 box white cake mix
3 eggs
1 cup half and half
6 Tbsp key lime juice (I just used fresh lime juice)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 recipe whipped cream
4 Tbsp grated lime peel for garnish

Mix together cake mix, eggs, half and half and 3 TBSP lime juice. Pour 1-2 TBSP batter into each paper liner. In separate bowl, mix sweetened condensed milk and the rest of the lime juice. Evenly divide lime milk into batter filled cups. Top with remaining batter filling 3/4 full.
Bake at 350 for 15-18 mins or until cake springs back when touched lightly. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.
Frost with whipped cream and garnish with lime peel.

Whipped Cream
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Pour cream into large mixing bowl and start mixing at low speed. Gradually increase speed until cream thickens and soft peaks form. Turn off mixer and add sugar. Start slowly again and beat until stiff peaks form. The stiffer the cream, the easier it is to frost. keep refrigerated.

Grilled Chicken Tacos

So, I don't have a photo for this.. we eat it up too fast! My husband bought this marinade and grilled us some chicken the day I got home from the hospital. IT WAS SO GOOD! I loved it up.. as I was eating it, I thought.. you know this would make excellent tacos.. my husband agreed so a few nights later we made it again and turned it into tacos. Oh man! So good! My sister-in-law was staying with us at the time and she told me she was taking me home with her because they were the best tacos she had ever had. I agree! I would have never bought this flavor of marinade.. so I'm glad my husband did. Our pantry is now stocked with several bottles of the stuff because it's on sale at Macey's for 3 for $5 right now. Yummy Yummy stuff!

Grilled Chicken Taco's

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts (or however many you think your family will need)
1/2 bottle Lawry's Havana garlic and lime marinade
Flour tortillas (get the uncooked ones.. it's the only way)
cheddar cheese
lettuce
tomato
avocado
sour cream

Marinade chicken in Lawry's marinade for 30 mins or overnight. Grill chicken until done, dice chicken into bite size pieces. Prepare tacos using chicken meat and toppings of your choice.

Easy dinner.. and SO YUMMY! Lawry's is not paying me for this post either.. but I wish they were.. with the marinade! hehe.

Brownie Bites with fluffy peanut butter frosting

One word... HEAVEN! First of all, I LOVE brownies. Probably my choice of desert. But.. I also HATE IT when people call a cake a brownie.. brownies are CHEWY not cake! Anyways, these are super simple and actually just made from a box of brownie mix. The frosting though.. HEAVENLY! I had a bit left over and well.. I was sucking the left overs out of my icing bag, but don't tell. ;) I got this recipe from the same place as the cheddar biscuits. You might see alot from her blog on mine.

Brownie Bites with fluffly peanut butter frosting
from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Brownie Bites

1 boxed brownie mix (I think chocolate cupcakes would be yummy too)

1 cup Reeses Peanut Butter chips (optional)

Peanut Butter Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3 tablespoons milk, or as needed

2 cups confectioners' sugar

Make brownie mix according to package directions. Add peanut butter chips if desired. Pour into paper lined mini muffin pans filling each cup about 3/4 full. Bake 14-18 minutes at 350 degrees or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool.

Place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer. Gradually mix in the sugar, and when it starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable. Beat for at least 3 minutes for it to get good and fluffy. Frost brownie bites with frosting. Pipe the frosting with a star tip if you are feeling fancy!

Wow it's been a while...

Sorry! I haven't really had the desire to cook and post about it lately. Usually by the time I get dinner ready I am exhausted. Just come and see all the dishes that still need done. :) Anyways, I was so excited when I found this recipe for cheddar bay biscuits on The Girl who ate everything. They are suppose to taste just like the ones at Red Lobster. Now, I actually am not a HUGE fan of fish.. but my husband is. One time he dragged me there against my will.. and I tried these guys. OH MAN! I am somewhat willing to go with him now because of these babies. So yummy! It's been a while since I've been to red lobster.. but these were awesome and SUPER easy! I think they will be made often in our house. I would suggest using the heart healthy bisquick as the normal stuff is loaded with trans fat.

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Biscuits:

2 1/2 cups Bisquick

4 Tbsp cold butter

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

3/4 cup milk

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Butter Glaze:

3 Tbsp butter

1/2 tsp garlic powder

3/4 tsp dried parsley flakes

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease or line one cookie sheet with parchment; set aside.

Combine Bisquick with cold butter in a medium bowl using a pastry cutter (I just used 2 forks). Don't worry about mixing too thoroughly; there will be small chunks of butter in the mix about the size of peas. Add cheddar cheese, milk, and garlic powder. Mix by hand until combined, but don't over mix.

Drop 1/4 cup portions of the dough onto the lightly greased or parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 13-15 minutes in preheated oven until the tops of the biscuits begin to turn light brown.

While the biscuits are baking, melt butter is a small bowl in the microwave. Stir in garlic powder and dried parsley flakes. Use a brush to spread the garlic butter over the tops of all the biscuits. Sprinkle a little kosher salt on the freshly coated biscuits. Makes one dozen.

Check out her blog The Girl who ate everything. Let's just say, you might see several of her recipes on my blog in the future!

Garden Vegetable and Chicken Skillet

My mom and I went to the taste of home cooking show last year and you get a year subscription with your ticket. I picked the normal taste of home magazine and she decided to get simple and delicious then we would swap recipes. Well, I was looking at her current issue of simple and delicious and became extremely jealous!! I wish I had chosen that one, I wanted to try almost every recipe in the issue!! Luckily, I have found out that since I'm a Taste of Home subscriber I have access to Simple and Delicious online. YAY! Anyways, this was one of the recipes. The photo in the magazine looked so yummy, I couldn't help but try it. I was a little nervous about having so few ingredients that it wouldn't pack a flavor punch... but it was YUMMY! I did use 3 cloves of garlic instead of 1 because I like garlic. I also could not seem to locate my thyme spice. The only thing I could think to substitute was poultry seasoning. It was still very yummy. We even had a guest at dinner and they raved about it. Give it a try, pretty darn healthy too! We will be making this often!


Garden Vegetable and Chicken Skillet
from Simple and Delicious.

• 1-1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 medium yellow summer squash, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 cups fresh baby spinach
• 1 garlic clove, minced (I used 3 instead because I love me some garlic)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup uncooked instant brown rice
• 1-1/4 cups water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• In a large skillet, saute the chicken, squash, onion and carrot in butter for 5-6 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink; drain. Add the spinach, garlic, salt, thyme and pepper; cook 2 minutes longer.
• Stir in rice and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until rice is tender. Stir in lemon juice. Yield: 4 servings.

Tomato Tortellini Soup

I got this recipe out of the recent Taste of Home magazine. I thought it looked easy, tasty and something a little different from our normal. I halved the recipe because it served 10 people but when I put in half the amount of tortellini I felt it wasn't hearty enough for me, so I ended up using the whole package. I also felt it was lacking just a little in flavor, so I think next time I make it I will add more seasonings, I would recommend just adding to your taste. This is the recipe halved, so if you can double it if you want. I also made homemade bread sticks.. I got the recipe from My Kitchen Cafe. If you would like it you can go here. They were very yummy!


Tomato Tortellini Soup (5-6 servings)

1 package frozen cheese tortellini (or you could use fresh, frozen is just cheaper)
1 can healthy request tomato soup, undiluted
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup milk
1 cup half and half
1/4 cup chopped oil-packed sun dried tomatoes
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan (I had this yummy Parmesan mix I found at walmart in the bagged shredded cheese section.. it was SO GOOD!)
Additional shredded Parmesan, optional

Cook tortellini according to package directions. Meanwhile, In a dutch oven, combine the soup, broth, milk, cream, tomatoes and seasonings. Heat through, stirring frequently. Drain tortellini; carefully add to soup. Stir in cheese. Sprinkle each serving with additional cheese if desired.

Amish Baked Oatmeal

So, I know this blog is dinner for dollars.. but today I am all about breakfast for dollars. hehe. I guess you could eat this for dinner if you wanted to. I was going to wait until I got some fresh fruit to photograph this dish because well.. there's just not much to it! Wanted to give it some color.. but it's so yummy, I decided to photograph it when I made it for breakfast this morning. This is more like eating an oatmeal cookie for breakfast than eating plain old oatmeal. It crisps up nicely in the oven giving it a bit of crunch. It is so rich, you probably won't want to add any more sugar to it when it's done. Fresh fruit is super yummy in it though. It's even good reheated for 30 seconds to a 1 minute in the microwave the next day. Yum!


Amish Baked Oatmeal
(from the taste of home)

1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
warm milk
fresh fruit, optional

Combine first 8 ingredients; mix well. Spread evenly in a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes(I go to 30 minutes, I like it crispy) or until edges are golden brown. Immediately spoon into bowls and add warm milk. Top with fresh fruit if desired.

Yield: 6 servings

A dinner recipe coming soon!