If I had to pick ONE recipe that was always my favorite growing up, it would have to be these Cocoa Krispy Treats that I’m about to share with you. Seriously – these are the BEST things ever made. When I was a little girl I always wanted to help my Great Aunts (my Grandmother’s sisters) cook and bake. My Aunt Cub would come visit from Ohio and I’d go to my Aunt Peg’s house and help them out when I wasn’t busy raiding her M&M candy dish. I have fond memories of sitting on the green carpet in front of Aunt Peg’s sink stirring the chocolate to coat the Peanut Butter Balls that we’d make. [Read more...]
{Family Favorite} Cocoa Krispy Treats
June 25, 2012 by 8 Comments
Homemade Granola Bars
February 24, 2012 by 2 Comments
So as I was browsing on Pinterest I came across a recipe for some Homemade Granola Bars. I thought they looked pretty good and I had everything on hand so I figured why not trying making them? I knew I would be the only one eating them since the Mister isn’t into Peanut Butter like I am (Don’t ask – I don’t know what is wrong with him!). I threw a few in the freezer so we’ll see how they keep that way!
[Adapted from this recipe]
INGREDIENTS
- 2 ½ cups Rice Krispies
- 2 cups Oats
- ¼ cup Mini Chocolate Chips [optional]
- ½ cup Honey
- ⅓ cup Brown Sugar
- ½ cup Peanut Butter
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
INSTRUCTIONS
Line a 9 x 13 baking dish with wax paper. If you’d like chocolate on your bars you can spread some chocolate chips on the bottom of the dish.
Please note: The chocolate chips will melt a bit. I don’t think I’ll add them in the next time. I didn’t feel like they really added that much to the bars.
Place honey and brown sugar in a medium sauce pan. Heat the mixture over medium heat until it boils; stir constantly. Once it begins to boil, remove from heat.
Stir in the Peanut Butter and the Vanilla until it’s well blended.
Pour your peanut butter & sugar mixture over your dry ingredients. You want to quickly blend the two together until they are well combined. I thought this was the most challenging part! since the larger bowl I would normally use was being occupied!
Press your granola mixture into your prepared dish. I used a sheet of wax paper spread the granola evenly and to compact it down. Set the pan aside to cool completely. Once they are cooled, cut the bars and wrap individually!
I thought these bars were pretty good! I definitely like them better than the ones (Quaker, etc) you buy from the grocery store. I think the next time I would cut the Rice Krispies down a 1/2 cup (and use 2 cups). I felt like they could be a bit moister. If you look at the original recipe you will see they add a few more ingredients in there, but I didn’t want to add those items. And like I mentioned before the next time I’d leave the chocolate chips out.
If you want some chocolate with your granola bar you could always melt some chocolate chips and lightly coat one side of the granola bar with the chocolate. That would probably look prettier than the melted globs of mini chocolate chips. It wasn’t all that pretty so I didn’t take a picture of that side! 
I’m sure you could also change up the flavors a bit to suit your tastes. Imagine Nutella in place of the Peanut Butter?! Oh the possibilities are endless…
Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken
February 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Ever since I got my new Wolfgang Puck Multi-Cooker that you can brown/sear in, I’ve been in heaven. That thing is wonderful! I love that I don’t have to dirty any extra dishes. Everything can be made in 1 pot! I don’t have to pour anything into a saucepan so that I can thicken it on the stove. I can do it right in the crock pot. I’ve definitely been using my crock pot more because of this. So this recipe is AWESOME if you have a Multi-Cooker, but if you don’t you can still make it in a regular crock pot.
A friend posted a recipe for Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken on Pinterest and it sounded wonderful! I knew I needed to add it to my long list of recipes to try. And what made it even better is that I had everything on hand to make it already. Don’t you love that?
(Adapted from Six Sisters Stuff)
INGREDIENTS
- 2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Salt and pepper
- 1 cup honey
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 6 tablespoons water
- Sesame seeds (Penzeys, of course!)
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat crock pot to the sear setting if you have a Multi-Cooker. If you don’t, you can skip the browning step OR you can brown the chicken in a pan on the stove. That’s totally up to you. Season both sides of chicken lightly with salt and pepper. Add in 1 tablespoon of Sesame Oil. Brown the chicken.
In a small bowl, combine honey, soy sauce, onion, ketchup, oil and garlic. Pour over chicken.
Cook on low for about 4 hours or just until chicken is cooked through.
Remove chicken from crock pot. Turn the crock pot setting to “Sear” and let it heat up. Shred the chicken.
Dissolve 4 teaspoons of cornstarch in 6 tablespoons of water and pour into crock pot. Stir to combine with sauce. It should thicken up pretty quickly. If you don’t have a crock pot that will heat up quickly to allow you to thicken the sauce, you can try one of two things. Once you add in the cornstarch mixture you could replace the lid and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes or until slightly thickened (I would think that it would take longer than 10 minutes, but this is what they had in the Six Sisters Stuff recipe so I’m guessing it works?); OR you could transfer the sauce to a saucepan and thicken it that way. It’s totally up to you. As you can see below, the sauce is bubbling away and thickening very nicely.
After the sauce has thickened, add the shredded chicken back into the crock pot and toss with the sauce before serving.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve over rice or noodles.
MY NOTES
As usual I usually change or tweak a few things. So this is the part where I tell you what changes I made from the original recipe I saw. To start, I used 2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken because I wanted leftovers! This worked out well because we got a few more days out of this meal. Perfect for lunch!
Since I used my handy dandy Multi-Cooker, I decided to brown the chicken first. So what I did was I put 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in the crock pot and browned the chicken in that. I did not use the 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil that the recipe called for. I thought the sesame oil gave it some great flavor. If I wasn’t going to brown the chicken first I probably wouldn’t even add in the oil.
I’m usually a “double the sauce” kind of girl when it comes to recipe. I feel that some recipes skimp on the sauce. But not this one! There is no reason at all to to double the sauce – you get plenty, trust me!
Instead of serving the chicken in chunks, I decided to shred it. I thought this was a great idea – the sauce gets mixed in and it’s nice and sticky – goes well with the rice!
And we don’t like heat, so I didn’t add in the red pepper flakes. But if you like heat I’m sure you can add in however much you want!
5 Ingredient Friday: Chicken with Fresh Cranberries
December 2, 2011 by 1 Comment
This week we have a super easy 5 Ingredient Friday dish! I took some chicken breasts out of the freeze one morning before working with no clue what I was going to do with them that night for dinner. Over the course of the day I remembered that I still had some fresh cranberries in my refrigerator, so I set out to come up with something to make using those. Then I remembered that I had a few oranges leftover, so I knew this was going to be a delicious dish! Check out what’s in my Chicken with Fresh Cranberries…
- 1 lb of Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
- 1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
- Salt & Pepper
- 1/4 cup of Orange Juice
- 2 cups of Fresh Cranberries
- 1 cup of Brown Sugar
In a small saucepan, combine the cranberries, brown sugar and orange juice. Cook over medium heat until the cranberries start to burst, about 15 minutes. Reduce heat to low and let it simmer for another 15 minutes or so. It should thicken up very nicely. Remove from the heat and let it cool a bit.
Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Coat a large frying pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. Brown the chicken breasts, making sure they are cooked on both sides.
Cooled Cranberries
Place the chicken breasts on a serving plate and spoon some of the cranberries over top. Serve!
5 Ingredient Friday: Cranberry Sauce with a Kick
November 4, 2011 by Leave a Comment
I grew up eating the Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce. I’ve always been a big fan of it, because it’s all that I knew. My Mom used to run a knife around the edge so that the Cranberry Sauce would come perfectly, with the can indent around it and all. My Aunt used to make a Cranberry Relish during the holidays and I used to turn my nose up at it which was typical. I grew up being a very picky eater. I’m still picky to an extent, but it’s not quite as bad. The last couple weeks of my CSA, we got Fresh Cranberries. I didn’t know what to make with them, so I decided that I should try to make some real Cranberry Sauce. Not that canned jellied kind. So I was looking at some recipes, but nothing really jumped out at me. So I decided to put a bunch of ideas from the recipes together to see how it would turn out. And it’s done in 5 Ingredients!
- 12 oz fresh Cranberries, washed
- 1/2 cup packed Brown Sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated Sugar
- 1 cup Orange Juice (about 3-4 oranges) + zest of 1 Orange
- 2 Tablespoons Brandy
Juice the oranges and pour the orange juice into a pot.
Add in the Brown Sugar, Sugar, and Orange Zest.
Add in the Cranberries.
Bring to a boil over medium heat, and then reduce to a simmer.
Let it simmer for about 10 minutes. The Cranberries will burst, but some will stay whole.
Remove from the Heat.
Stir in the Brandy and set aside to cool. Refrigerate.
I will say that the Brandy gave it a bit of a kick! I could really taste it. If you’d rather not have such a strong Brandy taste, I’d suggest putting the Brandy in with the Orange Juice and letting it cook out a bit. Since I added it in at the end it’s a bit more potent. But I was pretty happy with how it turned out! I think a little bit of Grand Marnier would have really been good, but I didn’t have any on hand. I was happy with this recipe though! It had just enough sweetness to it.
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