Brown Sugar Fudge

My grandparents love fudge.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that my grandpa lives off the stuff.  Grandma on the other hand has to be very careful about her sugar intake, but she's been known to sneak a piece or two.  They both love chocolate fudge and as you've seen from previous posts, I've had a lot of bad experiences with fudge.  I've finally found a few trusted recipes that I use over and over again, but the problem is, they are all chocolate fudge recipes.  Well that's great if you only want chocolate fudge, but sometimes you just want something different.  This recipe from Taste of Home for Maple Fudge is delicious the way it is, but if you leave out the maple extract and add some corn syrup, it makes a TREMENDOUS brown sugar fudge that is absolutely heavenly.  Either way, give this recipe a try and be prepared to be dazzled by some delicious fudge. 

As a word of warning about fudge, fudge is very touchy, don't be surprised if your first batch (or your 10th) batch isn't perfect.  Some days something as small as the humidity can throw off your fudge.  Just be patient and observant. 

Recipe

1-1/2 teaspoons plus 1/4 cup butter, softened, divided

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup evaporated milk

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Line a 9-in. square pan with foil and grease the foil with 1-1/2 teaspoons butter; set aside.
In a heavy saucepan, combine the brown sugar, milk, corn syrup and remaining butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Bring mixture to a rapid boil (this means that when you stir it, it continues to boil), stirring constantly for 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat. Gradually add confectioners' sugar; mix well.  Immediately spread into prepared pan. Cool. Using foil, lift fudge out of pan. Cut into 1-in. squares. Refrigerate in an airtight container.

Vanilla Peppermint Cookie

Unfortunately I didn't get to make a lot of Christmas cookies this year.  The few cookies that I did get to make I ended up sending overseas to my friend Ken, see Ken's Chocolate, Beer, Bacon cookies.  In that care package I also sent over these festive take on chocolate chip cookies.  I discovered this delicious recipe for puffy chocolate chip cookies from The Food Network and one of my favorite TV chef's Alton Brown.  His recipe for The Puffy chocolate chip cookie has become a staple in my pantry.  So when I was wondering how in the world I could make a cookie that would meld well with the peppermint chips and still have the consistency of a chocolate chip cookie, this cookie immediately came to mind.  Turns out, it was a winner! 

I made the original The Puffy cookie recipe but changed the add ins and the ratio of vanilla. 
Give this cookie a try and you'll be sure to enjoy the hint of vanilla with the refreshing blast of peppermint. 

Recipe

1 cup butter-flavored shortening or butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 1/4 cups flour

1/2  teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups Andes Peppermint baking chips

 

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the shortening, sugar, and brown sugar in the mixer's work bowl, and cream until light and fluffy. In the meantime, combine together the flour, salt, and baking powder and set aside.  Add the eggs  to the creamed mixture. Then add the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and combine well. Stir in the peppermint chips. Chill the dough.  Bake for 13 minutes or until golden brown and puffy.  Remove from the oven and enjoy with a glass of milk for a warm treat with a burst of minty goodness. 

Italian Sausage and Spaghetti Squash dinner

 I saw this recipe in a Taste of Home magazine and I just knew that I had to try it.  I'm normally not a fan of sausage, but there was just something about this recipe that called to me.  I love spaghetti squash and the combination of sausage, beans and zucchini seemed too good to pass up.  I was right!  This recipe is SSSSOOOO good, you definitely need to try it!  I ate it for breakfast a couple of mornings, lunch the same days and finally for dinner and never once did I get tired of it!  In fact, I can hardly wait to get back to school and make this again.   Since I don't like onion or cooked green peppers, I left those out of the recipe. 

Recipe 

1 medium spaghetti squash (3 to 3-1/2 pounds)

1/2 cup water

1 pound bulk sausage

sprinkling of onion powder

1 small zucchini, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 can (15-1/2 ounces) great northern beans, rinsed and drained

1 can of tomato sauce ( I used homemade tomato sauce)

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt

Shredded Parmesan cheese

 

     Pierce holes in the squash.  Microwave for two minutes at a time until the skin of the squash is soft.  Let cool for five minutes and then halve squash lengthwise and discard seeds. Place, cut side up, in an oven-safe dish. Cook at 350 degrees for an hour.
     While the squash is in the oven, brown sausage in a large skillet until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add the onion powder and garlic. Cook for 10 minutes . Add the beans, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, zucchini, and salt. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until heated through.
    When squash is cool enough to handle, use a fork to separate strands; place in a serving dish. Top with sausage mixture. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

This could also be made vegetarian as pointed out by one of my friends using vegetarian chorizo. 

Old School Dessert

My mom had to take a dessert to a potluck and came home with a two large containers of cottage cheese, two of Cool-Whip and two of cherry jello.  I looked at her like she was crazy!  I asked her what she planned on doing with those ingredients and she told me that she was making her dessert.  I thought she was crazy.  Turns out, a teacher at my mom's school had brought it in one day and claimed that it was the newest recipe craze.  My mom thought she was nuts; turns out my grandma used to make it for my mom when she was a child.  The recipe is so easy and tastes so good!  Red 40 and I don't react well together, but I was really craving raspberry so I decided to chance it.  Turns out, in very small quanities it doesn't give me a migraine, so yeah for that! 
With no further ado, here's the recipe and please enjoy!

One container of th Cool - Whip of you choice (fat - free, regular or sugarless)
One container of cottage cheese (also of your choice)
One package of Jello, flavor of your choice

Mix the Cool-Whip, cottage cheese and Jello together.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until the Jello has absorbed and the mixture has set. 
Enjoy!

Ken's Chocolate, Beer, Bacon Cookies

A friend of mine, Ken, was deployed to Afghanistan.  I should mention Ken is a Marine and Marines enjoy beer and bacon.  However, it's really hard to just send beer and bacon overseas.  So I needed some way to get these two things over to Ken without just shipping over a 12 pack and a giant slab of bacon.  So after brainstorming with some friends, I decided that if a picked a dark chocolate stout and combined it with some super crispy bacon, I might be able to make a cookie that wasn't totally disgusting.  I found a recipe online from Betty Crocker but I realized I couldn't garnish them with the chocolate or bacon pieces because they wouldn't stick when I shipped them overseas.  The first batch I made wasn't perfect, so here is the perfected recipe.  I know that they sound weird, but they are actually really good and a guaranteed way to make any man, woman  or bacon lover in your life happy. 

Recipe
6 slices crisply cooked bacon 
1 pouch Betty Crocker® double chocolate chunk cookie mix

1/2 c. butter, softened     

1 egg                                                                                                                             

1/4 c. dark, chocolate, stout beer, the darker the better     

1/4 c. packed brown sugar                                       

1 c. dark chocolate chips                                          

  If you're not going to send these off to Afghanistan, then you can add the ganache, or shiny chocolate coating on top that is on the recipe above, click on the Betty Crocker link. 

Bake the bacon on a rack for 20 to 30 minutes at 400 degrees until it is super crispy.  Let cool. 
Heat oven to 375°F.
Crumble the slices of the cooked bacon into small pieces; place in large bowl. Add cookie mix, butter, egg and 1/4 c. of beer; stir until dough forms.  Scoop the dough into 2-inch balls; place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 11 to 13 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

    Enjoy! 

Pumpkin Dessert Bars

I don't like pumpkin pie, I know that around Thanksgiving that is completely sacrilegious, but the texture is really off putting for me.  I also don't like Jello and pumpkin pie filling reminds me of the texture of Jello.  Yick!  Of course, my family loves pumpkin pie, especially my grandparents, so this year I decided to compromise and make a layered pumpkin bar for dessert.  I had seen people create these kinds of desserts before, but I had never made one for myself.  So I figured, why not?  I'll be honest with you, I got the recipe from Kraft recipes but I changed the topping from pecans to some of the left over gingersnap crust that I had left.  This recipe was great and I'm looking forward to making it for my friends at some point, it's a great pumpkiny treat that doesn't have to be made only at Thanksgiving.

Recipe

25 Ginger snaps, finely crushed (about 1-1/3 cups)

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1-1/2 cups canned pumpkin

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

2 eggs

2 pkg. (3.4 oz. each) Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding

2 cups cold milk

1 tub (8 oz.) Whipped Topping, thawed, divide

Heat oven to 350°F.  Mix cookie crumbs and butter; press onto bottom of 13x9-inch pan. Leave about 2 Tbsp for adding to the top. Bake 10 min.

      Beat cream cheese and sugar with mixer until well blended. Add pumpkin and spices; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating on low speed after each just until blended; pour over crust.

30 min. or until center is almost set. Cool 1 hour.     
Beat pudding mixes and milk in medium bowl with whisk 2 min. Stir in 1 cup whipped topping. Spread over dessert; cover with remaining whipped topping.

 

Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm. Sprinkle with left over ginger snaps before serving.

Lazy Lasagna

    Since my brother wasn't home for Thanksgiving this year until Friday night, we decided to have Thanksgiving on Saturday so that meant that for the rest of us, my mom and grandparents, we needed to have something for Thanksgiving.  Last year we had a mini Thanksgiving dinner and it wasn't such a good idea because by the time we got to the big Thanksgiving meal, we were all tired of turkey.  So this year I threw out the idea of lasagna and surprisingly everyone was on board.  I wanted something cheesy, meaty, and noodley, the essentials for lasagna.  This recipe for Lazy Lasagna was absolutely perfect!   It also makes a perfect week night dinner because it comes together easily and bakes quickly. 

Recipe
1 lb ground beef
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
16 oz of ricotta cheese
2 c. sour cream
8 uncooked lasagna noodles
3 pkgs of sliced mozzarella cheese
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1 c. of water

   Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Brown meat in a large skillet over medium heat.  Drain meat and mix in the spaghetti sauce.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until heated through.  In a separate pan, combine the ricotta cheese and sour cream and blend well. 
   Spoon some of the meat sauce in the bottom of the pan and then layer the noodles over the top of the sauce.  Make sure that the noodles go all the way to the edge of the pan, then cover with the ricotta and sour cream blend.  Layer the mozzarella slices and some of the Parmesan cheese over the ricotta and sour cream mixture.  Add more meat sauce, layer the noodles, then the ricotta mixture, and the finally the mozzarella and Parmesan.  Continue this until you run out meat and sauce, ricotta and sour cream and mozzarella and Parmesan.  This should be about 2 layers in a 9x13 inch pan.  Once you've finished layering the lasagna, lay the mozzarella slices across the top.  Carefully add the cup of water around the edges (this will help the noodles cook) and tightly cover the pan with foil.  Bake for 1 hour or until hot and bubble.  Let stand for 15 minutes and then serve!