Cream Puffs

I made these Sunday as a sugar free dessert. I made sugar free pudding to put in them, we could choose from butterscotch or chocolate. They were delicious! Yes, they are from a cookbook, but sometimes we don't notice what our cookbooks contain. Hope you all enjoy!

Cream Puffs
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup butter (I used margarine, and some recipes call for shortening instead)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

1. In a medium saucepan combine water, butter, and salt. Bring to boiling. Add flour all at once, stirring vigorously. Cook and stir until mixture forms a ball. Remove from heat. Cool for ten minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well with a wooden spoon after each addition.

2. Drop 12 heaping tablespoons (large tablespoons, not teaspoons, and definitely heaping)onto greased baking sheet. (I used parchment paper instead of greasing my baking sheet.) Bake in a 400 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes until golden. Transfer cream puffs to a wire rack; cool.

3. Cut tops from puffs; remove soft dough from inside. Fill with pudding (and/or whipped cream, if you are not going for sugar free). If desired, sift powdered sugar over tops.

ENJOY!

Tortellini Soup

I got this recipe off of a recipe blog from my ward and made it this week. Trent and I thought it was tasty. And I felt good about eating it, since it has all those tomatoes and spinach in it!

Tortellini Soup

2-15 oz. cans of diced tomatoes
2 cups frozen spinach

8-10 cups chicken broth

1-13 oz. bag tortellini

Combine tomatoes, spinach, and chicken broth in large pot. Bring to boil. Add tortellini, bring back to a boil, and simmer about 10 minutes, until tortellini are cooked.

Pineapple Upside-Down Muffins

Ok, so these aren't really upside-down muffins, but they sure do the trick if you ever catch yourself craving pineapple upside-down cake. You can make this with a box of yellow cake mix, and I'm sure that it works with any other yellow cake from scratch.

1 box of yellow cake mix
can of pineapple (we did crushed, I'm sure tidbits would work, too)
jar of maraschino cherries
butter
brown sugar

Mix the cake up as directed, BUT instead of using just water, mix pineapple juice from the can with water until you have the directed ammount and use that in the mix. Mix in pineapple and cherries (we sliced them in half). You can really use however much you want, but we used about half the can of crushed pineapple and a little over half the jar of cherries. Bake into cupcakes.

Melt a stick of butter and mix brown sugar in. It should not form a paste--that's too much brown sugar. Drizzle brown sugar/butter mixture on top of cupcakes (this is to make up for the fact that you did not bake the cupcakes upside down soaking in a similar brownsugar/butter mixture). Viola! Easy to make, and they go fast!

Buttercream Frosting

This is a great frosting recipe for cakes and decorating. It works great and is very yummy too. That way it can look good AND taste great too.

Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 teaspoon Clear Vanilla (can get anywhere Wilton products are sold)

4 cups Powdered Sugar (that is approx. 1/2 of the 2 lb. package)

2 tablespoons milk

Cream together butter and shortening with electric mixer (make sure your butter is not hard, the best is to leave it out to warm). Then add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. For best, keep in refrigerator until ready to use. In an airtight container, this icing can be stored up to 2 weeks. Re-whip before using. Makes 3 cups. (This recipe can be found in the Wilton 2008 Yearbook, pg. 114)

I have found when mixing in the coloring it is best to use a spatula and do it by hand, if you use the mixer your icing will be whipped too much and be more the consistency of hard cool whip.

those ubiquitous BYU mint brownies

I just pulled this from the BYU Alumni Newsletter. You may already have the recipe or the newsletter, but for those who don't - eat your hearts out!

MAKES ONE 9-BY-13 PAN OF BROWNIES.
PREP AND COOK: 90 min. COOL: 1 hr.
1 c. margarine
1/2 c. cocoa
2 Tbsp. honey
4 eggs
2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped walnuts
12 oz. chocolate icing (Use your own icing recipe or purchase some chocolate frosting. You can also search the Internet for chocolate icing recipes.)

MINT ICING
5 Tbsp. margarine
dash of salt
3 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup
2 1/3 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. mint extract
1-2 drops green food coloring

1. Melt margarine and mix in cocoa. Allow to cool. Add honey, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Add nuts. Pour batter into a greased 9-by-13 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cool.

2. Prepare mint icing: Soften margarine. Add salt, corn syrup, and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add mint extract and food coloring. Mix. Add milk gradually until the consistency is a little thinner than cake frosting.

3. Spread mint icing over brownies. Place brownies in the freezer for a short time to stiffen the icing. Remove from the freezer and carefully add a layer of chocolate icing.

Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore

I love chicken cacciatore, but found the other recipe I tried just a little too labor-intensive for my taste...This one is really simple, and still delicious!

2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken
1 c. chopped onion,
1 1/2 c. sliced mushrooms
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 (6 oz.) cans of tomato paste
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. celery seed
1 bay leaf
1/2 c. chicken broth

Place chicken, onion, mushrooms, salt, and pepper in crock pot. Combine tomato paste, garlic, oregano, basil, celery seed, bay leaf and chicken broth. Pour over chicken. Cook on low for 7-9 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Remove bay leaf.

Notes: I used garlic powder instead of minced garlic, and it worked with the same measurement. I didn't have celery seed, so I omitted it, and that worked too. Also, the original recipe called for 1/4 c. chicken broth. I just happened to have 1/2 c. left over from a different recipe so I used it all, and it still was too thick to "pour" over the chicken, and turned out pastier than I expected. I might try using a whole can of chicken broth next time to make it more saucy, though it was tasty the way it turned out this time too. Also, we ate this with thin spaghetti, but I like chicken cacciatore with rice too.

Saltine Homemade Heath Bars!

So, I was eating tuna and crackers for lunch today, when I saw this recipe on the side of the box of saltines and decided to try it out. And it's great! I'm planning on making a bunch of goodies at Christmas time, and this is definitely going to be one of them!

1 sleeve (35-40) saltine crackers
3/4 -1 c. brown sugar
1 c. butter
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 c. chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 10x15 in. cookie sheet with foil; spray very lightly with cooking spray. Cover cookie sheet with saltines. Boil sugar and butter for 3 minutes. Pour mixture over saltines and spread evenly. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Remove from oven.

Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Let sit 1 minute, then spread melted chips with spatula. Sprinkle nuts over this and press down lightly. Cut on diagonal immediately or cool until firm, then break up. Pieces can be frozen.