Mini Bacon Egg Tarts

I will admit that breakfast is not an easy meal in my house. Most of the time I wake up in the morning with the sole thought of " what am I going to feed her for breakfast?". Additionally I must add that a four year olds mood is never predictable in the morning so I never really know what kind of animal I will be feeding! Well this morning I was prepared. I woke up pretty early with my husband since he went back to work and had a moment to really look through my new cooking light magazine. I came across this recipe and had everything and I had a feeling that if I called them egg flowers she would probably go for it and boy did she. These are really cute and would be great if you have company and need to feed many, on that note you can also make as few as you want. I only made 3 this morning and if you are not making the full recipe think of things this way. Essentially for ever two "cups" you need one egg and one slice of bacon. Since I made three I had a little egg left over and they all got some extra bacon.

Mini Bacon Egg Tarts:

8 slices sandwich bread with crust removed
1/2 cup milk
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 slices smoked bacon, cooked and crumbled (obviously I used more)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Heat oven 425 degrees, lightly spray a muffin pan with cooking spray.
Lightly spray both sides of bread with cooking spray, I know it sounds redundant about spraying everything with cooking spray but I didn't spray myvmuffin wells and they were difficult to get out. Press each bread slice into the cup of a muffin tin. Bake for about 7 minutes or until lightly toasted. Allow to cool slightly.
Reduce oven to 350 degrees
Combine milk and eggs, whisking well. Divide egg mixture evenly among bread cups. Sprinkle crumbled bacon evenly over top of each tart and finally top each with 1 tablespoon of cheese.
Bake for 15 minutes or until set. Enjoy Y'all!

One happy breakfast eater!

Recipe from Cooking Light Magazine Jan/Feb 2012 edition

Christmas Cookies

I know I am a year late on this,hehehe, but I did want to share the Christmas cookies that I made to take to all our family Christmas' this year. This was the first time I have used royal icing because in all honesty it is the first time I have had the time to devote to these cookies. I am really looking forward to Valentines day because I have big plans for some heart shaped royal icing cookies.
If anyone would like a royal icing tutorial I would love to share it just leave me a comment please and I will post another blog with the details.
I honestly am not the drawing art type I am kind of limited to the stick figure but once you start doing these it is easier then it looks and they are SOOOOOO pretty!!

These stars were pretty much made just for Bree and she even wanted them packaged with a red ribbon, but with all those colored sprinkles who wouldn't want one?

Skinny Candied Pecans

Dinner tonight was once again centered around a lean and green approach and I wasn't really in the mood to go all out so why not a salad. One of my favorites is grilled chicken with blue cheese crumbles, diced pears, and candied pecans topped off with a pear vinaigrette. If you take the candies pecans out and don't over do the cheese and dressing this salad doesn't have to many "extra" added calories, but when you take out the pecans there is something missing! This made me think how can I redo these with out losing flavor and really the answer was right in front of me in the form of Splenda. These are great and they had a hard time actually making it to the salad because I wanted to eat them off the pan. These can be stored in an air tight container so if you want to make more then you need and just use them later that totally works. These also go well on just about anything and since they are reduced in calories compared to traditional ones you could put them on just about anything and get away with it right :)

Skinny Candy Pecans:

1 cup pecan pieces
1/4 cup packed Splenda brown sugar
3 tbsp stick margarine
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil.
In a microwave safe mixing bowl melt margarine. Once completely melted add in brown sugar, vanilla, and salt mix together. Add in pecans and stir until completely covered. Pour contents of bowl on to foil lined baking sheet in a single layer (if you pecans are touching that is fine, if they are stacked on top of one another that is not). Put in oven and let cook for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and stir around then place back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Remove and allow to come to room temperature before handling. Once again you can store these in an air tight container and they will last so if you have left overs don't toss because once you try these you will be looking for something else to put them on. Enjoy y'all!
P.S. I was just thinking that this would work for walnuts also.

Lite Chicken Ranch Foil Packs

Happy New Year! I hope you all have had a great first day of what feels like could be a really great year. This year makes me very giddy with excitement because I will be graduating in December. I didn't think I would ever say that, but it is actually going to happen and if this year is anything like the last is I will be crossing that stage in no time. With the New Year comes resolutions and for me I don't make them. I feel I am just setting myself up for failure so I just strive to make every day a great one and do better this year then the last. I know that the most common resolution is loss weight so here is my store and it all ties in to the food in just a minute, promise.

Back in April I went on this fabulous diet called Medifast. It was easy, it was simple, and I lost 40 pounds. When school started in August I was at my goal weight and went to a modified version and hadn't put a single pound back on until that dreaded day in November known as Thanksgiving which led to a few more pounds added on during that dreaded season called Christmas. I will not even lie, being able to eat anything and everything was great and I had a good time while doing it, but I always knew in the back of my mind that I would be paying for it when I got on the scale and this was the case this morning. So here we are New Year and a couple pounds heavier (enough to make those jeans a little too tight) so it’s back to Medifast. I have to wait for my order to come in so I am doing my modified version and making what would be a roundabout version of a lean and green meal for dinner. I saw this recipe on Kraft but when looking at the reviews it didn't do so good so I changed it up a bit and it was really good. The flavors were just right, the chicken was juicy and perfectly cooked and the broccoli topped it off. I will be posting more healthy meals now that I am back at it and I hope you all enjoy!

Chicken Ranch Foil Packs:

4 Large Chicken breast (if they are thick pound them out to make thinner)

1 bag frozen broccoli florets

4 slices turkey bacon

4 Tbsp. lite Ranch dressing

1/2 cup fat free or reduced fat grated cheddar cheese

Salt, Pepper and other chicken spices

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut 4 foil sheets that are large enough to wrap chicken up completely and allows room for heat circulation. In other words you want to have wiggle room for your chicken don't wrap the foil supper tight.

Place one chicken breast on each foil sheet. Season your chicken like you would if you were just going to bake it. I just used garlic and pepper. After this place one (1) tablespoon of ranch dressing over chicken breast. Next you want to sprinkle cheese over the chicken evenly dividing it between each breast. 

Cook your bacon, I am guilty I cook it in the microwave). Crumble one strip of cooked bacon over each chicken breast. Finally top chicken with frozen broccoli. Don't steam the broccoli it will get very mushy if you do. Once again just evenly divide the broccoli between each chicken breast.

Wrap up your chicken using the tenting method. Pulling both sides up and rolling them down and then rolling the ends up. Don't roll the foil all the way down to the chicken only about half way.

Place on baking sheet and cook for 35 minutes. 

Once out of the oven carefully unwrap and serve. Enjoy y'all!

Recipe adapted from kraftfood.com

Chocolate Turtle Cheescake

I am finally back from our cross Texas holiday tour and I can not express how good it feels to be back home. Prior to our take off I sent out messages asking for requests for holiday goodies and by far the easies request I got back was from my father. His response was simply "anything chocolate!" which opened up a world of possibilities, but also let me make this little treat I have had my eye on. Making cheesecakes is something new for me because like other things in the kitchen I was intimidated by worlds like water bath, spring form pan, and almost set. Little did I know that you can make a cheese cake with out a spring form pan and without a water bath and they are pretty darn simple. This cheesecake has a silky texture and the chocolate is not overpowering. The caramel is light enough to let its presence be known and the crust is OMG good!! When making this take into consideration that there are MANY modifications that can be made. Next time I make it I am thinking about doing a chocolate crust and putting caramel on top also just to see how it turns out.


Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake:


Crust:
1 cup honey gram crackers crushed
3 tbs sugar
1/4 cup pecans
1/4 unsalted butter, melted
12 caramels
1 tbs milk


Filling:
2 pkg cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
2 eggs
3 1/2 oz semi-sweet chocolate


Topping
1oz semi-sweet chocolate
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 pecan pieces


Heat oven to 300 degrees.
In a food processor place graham crackers and pecan pieces together and pulse until a uniformed crumble mix is made. If you take the top off and you still have large pieces pulse it some more. It will be kind of a fine mixture but don't worry the butter brings it all back together. In a medium bowl add in sugar and melted butter and mix with a fork until all ingredients are moist. Pour mixture into a 9 inch pie plate pressing mixture to the sides and bottom bring it all the way up to the top of the pan.
In a microwave safe bowl place caramels and milk and microwave for 45 second intervals until completely melted and smooth, pour over crust and manipulate until it covers the whole bottom then set aside.


In a large bowl mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add sour cream and mix well. Add eggs 1 at a time, mixing at low speed until just blended . In a microwave safe bowl melt 3 1/2 oz of semi-sweet chocolate. Stir melted chocolate into cheese cake batter.  Place remaining 1/2 of chocolate into food processor and pulse until you have small chocolate chunks. The size is based on personal preference so go however big or small you like.  Pour chocolate pieces into batter and gently fold until evenly dispersed. 
Grab your crust and pour in batter. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until center is almost set. Allow cheesecake to come to room temperature then refrigerate for 4 hours or over night.
When ready to serve sprinkle pecans and chocolate chips over top of cheesecake. Melt 1 oz of semi-sweet chocolate until smooth. Drizzle melted chocolate over the top of cheesecake. I used a fork but you can simple pour from the bowl if that is easy for you. Refrigerate any left overs, and enjoy y'all!


Recipe adapted from: Kraft Food and Family Spring '09

Merry Christmas

Well Santa stopped at our house last night and left us some great gifts. As crazy as it sounds my husband and I were up before our daughter was! It gave us time to have a cup of coffee and enjoy the silence and truly reflect on what the meaning of today was. After a few minutes I was getting a little antsy and wanted to wake up the child but what crazy mother would do that! So I simply say back and waited and it really wasn't long until the paper was flying and the " oh my goodness" was happening every few minutes.
Today has been an amazing day and regardless of the holiday that you celebrate I hope that in this festive season you have been able to gather with family and enjoy one another.
I have been busy in the kitchen and will be posting several new blogs in the up and coming days. I will also be traveling so there may be a day or two between posts. Just to give you a heads up here is what will be coming your way. I know that some of the recipes might feel seasonal, but with the cold weather they are perfect and can add a little something extra to any meal.

• Apple Pie Cheesecake ( Ridiculously good it has been made 4 times since Thanksgiving!)
• Corn Casserole
• Sugar Cookies with royal icing
• Green bean wraps
• Turtle Cheesecake
• Beef Strudel

Happy Holidays everyone!

Traditional Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have always said that cooking is a labor of love and can truly show someone how you really feel and today that motto has held true. Our 4 year old is a bundle is wild energy! She has been sick and that has kept her inside plus she is doing her own count down to Christmas and is well aware of the limited number of days before the big day. With all this being said she was a piece of work today and might have added a few grey hairs to my husbands head. So once the wild animal had been washed and calmed and put to bed three times; yes three times because she always thinks of things that she forgot to tell us. In her very cute four year old worlds " But momma this is berry important!" I decided that the husband was well deserving of his favorite cookie, chocolate chip. There is nothing fancy about these cookies and only require a few kitchen staples, but the one thing that sets these apart from the rest is that they were cooked will 100% love because he is an amazing father.


Traditional Chocolate Chip Cookies:


1 cup plus 2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
6 Tbsp sugar
6 Tbsp packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
Chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.


In a small bowl mix together flour, baking soda, and salt whisk together and set aside


In another bowl cream together butter, sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy. Add in egg and beat well . Add in vanilla extract. Slowly add in flour mixture until well incorporated.
You will notice there is no measurement for the chocolate chips and the reason for that is you get to decide how much to put in. To be honest I always think any recipe calls for to few and add in additional. So pour away, use the whole bag if that makes you happy because I will be honest I did and they were great. Once you have in the amount of chips that you want gently fold into batter.


Drop cookies a tablespoon at a time on cookie sheet and bake between 9 and 11 minutes or just until golden brown.
I do not care for a crunchy cookie so I baked for 9 minutes and got a gooey soft cookie that stayed soft even after it was cooled.
Allow to cool on baking sheet for about 3 minutes then move to wire rack to completely cool.
Goes best with a very cold glass of milk, enjoy y'all!!