S'more Cookies

I had these at a missionary farewell, made by Bonnie Rosdahl. They are amazing!!

2/3 cup margarine

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon milk

1 1/2 cups flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups chocolate chips
Graham Crackers

Heat oven to 375. Mix margarine and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add milk and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients. - add to wet ingredients. on low until just blended. Fold in chocolate chips. Place 1/4 of a graham cracker for each cookie onto an un-greased cookie sheet.(I always end up cutting about 1/2 inch off the length of each cracker to ensure complete cookie coverage:) Drop walnut size balls of dough unto the center of each cracker. Bake for 7 min. then place half of a large marshmallow on top of each cookie, gently pushing it down. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Let cool on the counter for a couple of minutes before transferring to a cooking rack. After the cookie is completely cool, put frosting into Ziploc bag, clip corner and squeeze onto each cookie.  I use the chocolate frosting recipe on the back of the Hershey cocoa can.

Pineapple Salsa Chicken

If you like fruit salsas you'll love this dinner from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. 

4-6 chicken breasts

1 can black beans, drained rinsed

1 can white beans, drained rinsed

1 20 oz can crushed pineapple

1 cup Salsa

Put all ingredients in your crock pot. Cook on low for 6 hours. Shred chicken. Serve on tortillas with your favorite toppings. Sour cream, cheese, cilantro etc. serves 8

I cut this recipe in half. It still made a lot. I only had an 8 oz can of pineapple chunks. I drained it and threw it in the food processor for a quick buzz to make it crushed. 

Trav loves spicy food so I used half medium and half mild salsa. Turned out the perfect heat and sweet mix. 

I saved the other half cans of beans to make burritos and quesadillas for lunch tomorrow. Yum!! 

Triple Chocolate Oreo Cookies

Recipe found from Two Peas and their Pod. 

1 c butter, room temp 

1 c sugar

1 c brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs 

2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda 

1/4 t salt

3/4 c Dutch process cocoa is the best or regular if its all you have. 

1 c white chips

1 c chocolate chips

1 c Oreos chunked

Mix butter, sugars together. Add in eggs one at a time then vanilla. Mix until fluffy. Sift together dry ingredients add to wet. Stir in all the chocolate chunks. 

Bake at 350 for 8 minutes. 

Let them be slightly under cooked so they're fudge and soft like a chunky brownie. So super yummy. 

Mexican Stuffed Shells

Certainly will make them again. We served them with chips, salsa and the easy black bean dip also on this site. With a little fruit salad or green salad. You're good to go. Yummy!!

• Next time, I'll make the cumin 1 T and add cilantro and fresh lime juice. Leave out the chicken and cut the recipe in half. Although making the entire batch will give you a freezer meal for another day. 
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Recipe from busy at home blog. 

• 4 cups chicken breast, cooked and chopped
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 6 green onions, diced
• 1/2 each of red, green, yellow, & orange bell peppers (or 2 whole bell peppers of your choice), diced
• 3 (8 oz.) blocks cream cheese, softened (not melted)
• 2 cans diced tomatoes with chiles (don't drain) (Rotel or store brand, either works)
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 cup of picante sauce
• 38 large pasta shells, cooked al dente

1. Cook pasta shells in well salted, boiling water until al dente (still have a little bite to them) If you cook them too long, they will be difficult to stuff, plus they will have additional cooking time, once they are stuffed. Drain the pasta and set aside while you make the filling.
2. Cook, drain and dice enough chicken breast to make 4 cups. I always have homemade chicken stock and pre-cooked diced chicken bagged in my freezer. You could use canned chicken broth if you prefer.
3. To make the filling, mix diced chicken, drained black beans, green onions, diced peppers, and cumin in a large mixing bowl. Thoroughly incorporate all the ingredients.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the cream cheese, chicken stock and undrained tomatoes with chiles. When thoroughly combined, pour it over the chicken mixture and mix well. (If you have trouble incorporating the cream cheese and tomatoes, you can heat it slightly in the microwave.)
5. Spread 3/4 c. picante sauce in the bottom of a large baking pan. (I used 13x18x2, but I’m guessing that two 9×13′s would also work.) Reserve the final 1/4 cup, for later.
6. Using a spoon, or your fingers, fill each of your cooked and cooled pasta shells, setting them into the picante covered pan. Continue until all shells are filled and arranged in the pan.
7. When the pan is full, drizzle the shells with the remaining 1/4 cup of picante and then sprinkle with the shredded cheddar cheese.
8. Cover the baking pan tightly with foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

The Best Vanilla Frosting

The best VANILLA frosting :) 

Recipe from Our Best Bites. Check out their site for full photos and instructions. 

Isn't she a beauty? This vanilla is the companion of the best chocolate. It's fantastic!

This recipe only makes enough for 12 cupcakes. You'll most likely need to double it. Unless you follow my lead and do a half and half. 

3 T flour

1/2 c milk

1/2 c butter

1/2 c sugar

1 t vanilla

Whisk flour and milk in a sauce pan. Turn on med heat. Whisk constantly. Boil until it becomes a paste. You'll need to switch to a rubber scraper to make sure you get out the lumps. 

Place pan in the fridge and stir until the mixture is completely cool. 

In an electric mixer with the whisk attachment. Whip butter and sugar together. Add in vanilla and COOLED flour paste. 

Whip for 6-8 minutes. You have to make sure the sugar is completely dissolved. Take a pinch and test it to see if there are any grains rubbed in your fingers. Or on your tongue. 

It will become and light fluffy cloud. 

Totally worth the work. Not even that much work really. It comes together quicker than you think. It's waaaay better than the overly sweet, butter creams we're used to. 

The Best Chocolate Frosting

Recipe from Our Best Bites. Check out their site for detailed pictures and instructions. 

The best chocolate frosting!

2/3 c granulated sugar

1/3 c flour

3-6T cocoa (depends on how rich you want it. Start small and add more if needed) 

1 c milk

1 c butter, room temp 

1 c melted chocolate chips

Melt chocolate chips. Let sit at room temp. 

Mix sugar, flour and cocoa together in a sauce pan. Whisk in milk. Turn on med heat. Boil for 1-3 minutes. Stirring constantly. Until it becomes a paste. 

Remove from heat. Put the pan in fridge or freezer. Stir every so often so that it cools faster and doesn't form a crusty top. 

In a mixer with the whisk attachment whip butter. Add in the COOLED (no heat at all) chocolate mixture. Beat for a few minutes. Add in the melted COOLED chocolate chips. Beat again for a minute or two. Until its all combined becomes a chocolate cloud of heaven. Frost cakes! 

**I only made a half batch. I didn't need that much for my project. A full batch will frost 24 cupcakes. 

**I used 3T of cocoa in my small half batch. I have expensive, delicious, high quality cocoa. Dutch processed. Highly recommend!! It results in a deep fudgey dark chocolate frosting. So I did not need to add the chocolate chips. Make sure you add in a bit more sugar to make up for the sweetness the chips would have added. 

This is such an amazing frosting. Travis says, this is what clouds must taste like in heaven.

If you're going to take the time to make and frost a cake. You can take the time to make this frosting. The chocolate mixture cools in 10 min or less. It's totally worth the work!! 

Make sure you make it the day you serve for the best results. 

Pork carnitas

Recipe is from Cooks Illustrated. 

It might look like a lot of work but it couldn't be easier. It is so delicious!! So moist and tender. Heaven! 

4 pound boneless pork butt, fat trimmed and cut into 2 inch cubes

1 1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp ground cumin

1 onion, peeled and halved

2 bay leaves

1 tsp dried oregano

2 Tb fresh lime juice

2 C water

1 medium orange, juiced and keep the spent halves

1.  Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat to 300 degrees.  Combine all the ingredients in a large Dutch oven, including the spent orange halves and juice.  Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, uncovered.  Once it simmers, cover pot and transfer it to the oven.  Cook until the meat falls apart when prodded with a fork, about 2 hours.

2.  Remove the pot from the oven and turn on the broiler.  Use a slotted spoon to remove the meat from the pan and place it on a large foil-lined jelly roll pan.  Remove and discard everything from the pot except for the cooking liquid.  Place pot over high heat on the stove and boil until thick and syrupy, about 20 minutes.  You should have about 1 C of liquid remaining when it is finished.

3.  While the liquid is reducing, use two forks to pull each cube of pork into three equal sized pieces.  Once the liquid has become a syrup, gently fold in the pieces of pork into the pot.  Try not to break up the pork any further.  Taste and add additional salt and pepper. 

4.  Spread the pork back onto the foil lined pan and evenly spread the meat around so there is a single layer of meat.  Place the jelly roll pan on the lower middle rack of the oven and broil until the top of the meat is well browned and edges are slightly crisp, about 5 to 8 minutes.  Using a wide metal spatula, flip the pieces of meat and broil the other side until well browned and edges are slightly crisp, 5 to 8 minutes.  Serve immediately in a tortilla with all your favorite toppings.