My Moms Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

This is a family favorite. This is a quick, easy and amazing meal. My husband and the babies love the recipe too. I can't lose!!! This is a meal my mom handed down to me. She made this when I was little. I omitted a few ingredients, because my husband hates mayo and cream of chicken.
This is great...Try it!

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

1 1/2 lbs. shredded chicken (Bake on 350 with salt and pepper until easily shreds)
1 Chicken Stuffing (follow the directions on the back) 1 lb broccoli (steamed), cut bit size pieces
1/4 cp. mayo
1 can of cream of chicken
2 cps. Cheddar cheese
1 cp. panko
4 TB butter
1. Put the shredded chicken at the bottom of the casserole dish. Add the stuffing (follow cooked by following directions on the box). Add the broccoli, mayo and cream of chicken. Add the broccoli mix as a third layer. Top with the cheese and panko. Dot with butter.
2. Bake on 350 until bubbly. About 30-45 minutes.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread with a Twist

I love Heavenly Housewife @ http://www.donutstodelirium.com/. She shared a recipe for Cinnamon Swirl Bread. I made it once and posted it below. Well, I was craving it again and decide to recreate the recipe but add a streusel topping. Wow! What a breakfast with a hot cup of coffee. THANK YOU HH!!!

You can find the recipe on her site. I added a streusel topping which was:

1 stick of COLD butter

1 cup flour

1/2 cp brown sugar

1/2 cp. sugar

1. I combined them in the food processor until it was crumbly. The size of peas.

It is so awesome. I also used cake flour and AP flour. It turned out almost like coffee cake.

Enjoy!!!

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Butterfinger Cookies. OH MY!

Okay! I will come clean! I LOVE baking!I love baking even MORE with my girls in the kitchen. Alex loves to break eggs, sift flour and breaking the butterfingers into bit sized pieces..BUT most of all she loved the mixing spoons when we where done cooking! I remember when my mom was in the kitchen and my twin and I loved the beaters! It was the one thing we looked forward to when she was in the kitchen. I must admit, my passion for cooking and the kitchen has come from my mother. My mom made everything from scratch and loved being a SAHM and making great dinners for her family of six. I want to pass on that passion on to my baby girls.

Anyway, these cookies are above and beyond what any words could describe. I suggest to try the recipe. AMAZING...ENJOY!!

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Butterfinger Cookies

2 sticks of softened butter

3/4 cp. peanut butter

1 1/2 cps. of sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 cps. flour

1/2 cp. cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

3 Butterfingers (the Regular sized bars) candy bars chopped

1. Cream together the butter, pb, sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda.

2. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Fold in the butterfingers.

3. I added a heaping tablespoon for each cookie onto a pan. Baked on 350 for 8-10 minutes. I pulled them out when they were a little soft. They hardened as they cooled.

SO YUMMY!!!!!

Butterfinger Ice Cream for the Girls

My girls went to the DQ for the first time two weeks ago while we were on a mini vacation. Alex loved the Butterfingers blizzard!!! I recreated it for them!!! You will be surprised at how much this tastes like the DQ.

If you are wondering why there is no eggs......I tried eggs and my hubby hated it last month. To be honest, it taste really good without the eggs.

Needless to say, my girls love it! They could not get enough. My littlest Bailey was trying to get her fingers in Alex's bowl the entire time she was eating. Alex was an awesome big sis and shared. The bowl was licked clean 5 minutes later.

Hope you enjoy.

Butterfinger Ice Cream

2 1/2 cps. of heavy cream

2 cps. whole milk

1 cp. sugar

2 tsp. of vanilla

3 cps. diced butterfingers

1. I mixed the cream, milk, sugar and vanilla in a separate bowl then I add it to my ice cream maker. I churn in for about 30-35 minutes.

2. When it is done I add the butterfingers fold it in and put it in the freezer for a few hours. OR you can serve it right away. It tastes JUST like a blizzard/

Homemade Pizza Pockets for My Baby

My baby Alexandra loves pizza pockets! It is her fav. and asks for them everyday. I decided to create my own. This was really simple and not to mention, way better for her. My husband loved them and devoured most of them. He thought they would be an amazing app. for a party or a dinner party.

They turned out crunchy, light and flavorful. I tried a few different things. I tried using one wonton wrapper per pizza pocket but that caused a small amount of filling. I decided to use two wonton wrappers per pizza pocket and it was perfect. It was almost like a fried ravioli, but with pizza filling. I served it with homemade pizza sauce.

The inside of the pizza pocket was filled with a simple filling: mozzarella, provolone and peperoni.

Anyway, just try it for your kiddos. It is soooo simple and they will love you for it. Alex actually hugged me. I think my hubby wanted to too. He loved the Pizza Pockets. It is funny that the simple things are what they love the most.

Pizza Pockets for Alex

1 package of wonton wrappers

1 bag of Sargento Provolone and Mozzarella cheese mix

1 bag of peporoni

Egg Wash

2 eggs

2 TB of water

1 quart of oil

1. Layout the wonton wrappers a few at a time add 2-3 slices of peporoni and then top it with cheese. Egg wash around the edges and lay a second wonton wrapper on top. Press around the edges with a fork.

2. Heat oil to 350. (I just put med-high heat and test it.) When the oil is ready add the pizza pockets 3-4 at a time.

3. When brown remove and toss on some parm cheese.

ENJOY

Blueberry and Cherry Crumble

My husband and daughter made the humming sound as they ate this. Do you know what I mean? When you take every bit you uncontrollably make the mmmh sound. It is one of my fav. things to hear.
I served it straight from the oven with a big dollop of homemade whip cream. YUMMY.
I rant about fresh produce from the farmers market and this dessert and dinner is all fresh fruit and veggies from there. I love the farmers market. AND I REALLY LOVE HOMEMADE CHERRY AND BLUEBERRY CRUMBLE!!!!!!!

Yes! I am crazy! I pitted about 200 cherries and my fingers are still discolored. It was worth it.....But I am not sure if I will try to pit all the fresh cherries again.

I added 1/2cp of sugar to the already cut cherries and I would continually toss with each batch of freshly cut cherries.

Cherry and Blueberry Crumble

3cps. cherries

1 cps. blueberries

3 heaping TB of flour

1 1/4 cp sugar(If you already added 1/2 cp to the cut cherries add that to this amount of sugar)

1. Toss all of the above together and put in the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan.

THE CRUMBLE

1 1/2 cp. flour

1 1/2 cp. oatmeal

1cp. brown sugar

1/2 cp. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 stick of cold butter

3/4 cp. of shortening

2. I threw all of this in the food processor and processed until about dime sized. I then put it right on top of the cherries. This makes a lot of crunch, but I love lots of crunch

Bake on 375 for about 40 minutes.

While it is cooking....whip up some homemade whip cream.

1 cp. of heavy cream

1/4 cp of sugar

Beat until it is thick....MAKE SURE you do not over beat it. It will turn into butter.

YUMMY....ENJOY

Beef Tamales:

The Beef Tamale!

THE BEEF MIXTURE

2lb sirloin cut in cubes

1 Red onion,diced

3 garlic cloves, diced

1 jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

2 tsp. hot chilli powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

1 1/2 cp water

couple of dashes of hot sauce

1. Brown the onions. 5 minutes. Add the garlic. 2 min. Add the peppers. 2min. Add the meat and peppers, salt, water and hot sauce. Cook in the oven on 350 for 2-2 1/2 hrs. (when it easily shreds)

2. During this time soak the corn husks. Soak them as along as possible.
The Masa

3 cps. of corn meal

1tb butter, melted

2 tsp. veg oil

1 cp. of the beef broth from the shredded beef (strain beef from the broth..Use that broth)

1 cp. of water

couple dashes of hot sauce

salt and pepper

Mix all together until it forms a wet dough.

Press the dough into the corn husks into a rectangle form. Roll by meeting the masa, so the beef is completely surrounded by the the masa. It is easier then you think. Then tuck both ends and set into a steamer. Roll the Rest and then steam for about 15- 20 min. It depends on how your steamer works. I took one of the tamales out and tried the tamale.

This turned out really wonderful. I served this with rice and my homemade salsa. (Below) When I researched tamales a few months ago when I first made tamales it is favored with breakfast. Which I also served tamales with fried eggs and hot sauce. (Which is my fav. SO YUMMY)

I hope everyone enjoys this. Do not be afraid by the steps. It is easier then you think and so worth it.