No Bake Cereal Cookies

I got this recipe from a family friend years ago, and I had almost forgotten about it.  So, when I found it again this week, I just had to make some.  They're a sweet and gooey treat and perfect for when you don't want to heat up your kitchen by turning on the oven.

The original recipe uses corn flakes, but I didn't have any so I decided to use Honey Bunches of Oats w/ Almonds.  I think they turned out great!  These would probably be good with any kind of flake or mixed cereal that you like.

 

No Bake Cereal Cookies

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup corn syrup
• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 t. vanilla
• 3 cups cereal (Honey Bunches of Oats or corn flakes)
• 1 cup old fashioned oats

Directions:

1. Measure cereal and oats into large bowl.
2. Combine sugar, corn syrup and peanut butter in saucepan.  Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute.
3. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
4. Pour syrup over the corn flakes and oatmeal; Stir to combine.
5. Drop by spoon onto greased cookie sheets (or silicon mat) to cool. Do not use waxed paper. The cookies will stick. 

Makes about 2 dozen

Of course, on a hot day you will be tempted to store these in the refrigerator.  That's fine, but you will want to bring them to room temperature before attempting to eat them.  They will be a bit hard!  Trust me, they're better when they're all ooey gooey and chewy.

Enjoy!

Honey Lemon Chicken with Garlic and Rosemary

It's time again for  Secret Recipe Club (Secret Recipe Club) reveal!  My secret blog assignment this month was The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch.  I have really enjoyed Shelby's blog since I first found it through SRC, so I was very excited to have the chance to choose and share a recipe.  I am especially in love with that blog header because those cinnamon rolls look amazing!  (I actually made a variation of one of her SRC recipes once - Apple Filled Cinnamon Rolls)

As with all SRC assignments, the hardest part is narrowing it down and deciding which recipe to try.  Here are just a few of the other recipes that caught my eye:

• Thai Peanut Chicken and Noodles
• Garlicky Scrambled Eggs with Chickpeas and Cilantro
• Coconut Crunch Cookies

I eventually chose this one, which looks and smells so good even before you cook it.  (Yep, definitely worthy of a raw meat pic!)

Honey Lemon Chicken with Garlic and Rosemary
from The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch

Ingredients:

• 3 lemons
• 4 T butter
• leaves stripped from 4 rosemary stalks
• 3 T honey
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Chicken pieces (I used 1 breast and 2 leg quarters)
• 6 medium potatoes peeled and cut into chunks

Directions:

1.  Gently melt the butter in a small saucepan; add the juice squeezed from two of the lemons, garlic, honey and rosemary.  Season with salt and pepper.
2. Arrange chicken in a shallow baking dish.  Place the potatoes around the chicken and drizzle the lemony butter over the potatoes and chicken, turning them so they are evenly coated. Cut the third lemon into wedges and add to the pan with the chicken and potatoes.
3. Bake at 350° for one hour or until chicken juices run clear and potatoes are golden.  Stir twice during baking time.

Enjoy!

Seriously, this smelled so good!  From the time I melted together the honey lemon garlic rosemary butter, to the time it came out of the oven.  If only it had tasted as good as it smelled.  It was good, but the flavor of the lemons kind of took over.  We wanted to taste all the flavors we were smelling.

So, next time, I'm cutting the lemons down and maybe using 1 lemon in the sauce - or maybe just 1/2 of a lemon.  I'll definitely keep the lemon wedges in, though.  They bake down and fall apart, and taste amazing when you suck what's left of the lemon off of the rind.  The chicken was really good and moist, and the potatoes were cooked perfectly, so I'd say this recipe is a keeper.  If you really like a lot of lemon flavor, then go ahead and use the 3 lemons.  Otherwise, use a bit less lemon, and I think it will be absolutely perfect.
 

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Creamy Turkey Enchiladas

It's time again for  Secret Recipe Club (Secret Recipe Club) reveal!  My secret blog assignment this month was Jessie Weaver the Vanderbilt Wife. Jessie is a Tennessee wife and mother who leads a crazy, busy life - but then, who wouldn't with three little kids?  Check out this 'day in the life' post if you don't believe me.  I'm pretty sure we've all been there!

Somehow, amidst the fun of raising those adorable children, Jessie still finds time to cook and post some great recipes.  Whether the kids will eat them or not is another thing altogether.  Me?  I found plenty I wanted to try, including Slow Cooker Taco Soup, Easy Pineapple Chicken, and Cranberry Nutmeg Breakfast Cake.

I finally decided to make these enchiladas, and they were a big hit!  My parents were visiting, so we had them for dinner last weekend - twice!  And the leftovers were just as good as the first time around.  I will definitely be making these again.

Creamy Turkey Enchiladas
 adapted from Jessie Weaver

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked, shredded turkey (or chicken)
• 1/2 c. diced onion
• 8 flour tortillas (6 or 8-inch)
• 8 oz. salsa
• 1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
• 4 T butter
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 4 T flour
• 1 1/3 c. water
• 4 oz. diced green chiles
• 2/3 c. sour cream

Directions:

1. Saute onions until tender, then add shredded turkey or chicken and cook for a few minutes. Stir in salsa and heat through.
2. Divide chicken mixture into tortillas and top each with 1 T cheese. Roll the tortillas up and place them seam down in 13x9" baking dish.
3. In saucepan, melt butter with bouillon cube, then whisk in flour. Stir in water. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly, then stir in chiles. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream. Pour the sauce over rolled enchiladas in baking dish.
4. Cook at 350° for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake an additional 5 minutes or so, or until cheese is melted.

Jessie's recipe can also be made with 1 lb. ground beef instead of the turkey or chicken.  Just brown the beef with the onions and drain any fat before adding the salsa.  I used turkey because that's what I had in my freezer, and I pretty much use chicken and turkey interchangeably, so either would be good.  The sauce on top is what really makes these special - so creamy and good! - and it's really simple to make.

Thanks, Jessie, for sharing your family recipe.  My family loved it!

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Get 30% off at Plated.com - Fresh Ingredients Delivered

Do you watch Shark Tank?  This past Friday there was a company called plated on the show.  Plated is a service that will deliver fresh, locally grown ingredients right to your front door, along with a full-color, easy-to-follow recipe card so that you can turn those ingredients into a delicious home-cooked meal in 30 to 40 minutes.

On the show, most of the Sharks didn't really seem to get it. They asked questions like, "Why would someone want to order food that they still had to cook?" and, "Someone who cooks can just go to the grocery store."  Personally, I think it's a great idea.  I think there are a lot of people who would like to be able to provide delicious and healthy home-cooked meals for their families, but they just don't know where or how to start.  It can't get easier than having all the ingredients delivered straight to your door along with step-by-step directions.

And, as far as the people who cook just going to the grocery store, I'm sure you've seen this:  (or, if you haven't - now you have!)

I do cook, and I do go to the grocery store, but I've been browsing through the menus available for delivery in my area next week, and there are some amazing-looking dishes.  Sometimes the hardest thing about fixing dinner is deciding what to have for dinner.  Plated has full-color pictures along with a list of everything they will send for each dish, and all you have to do is choose the ones that look good to you.

A lot of these menus include ingredients I don't ordinarily buy, so this would be a good way to try something new, without ending up with a whole lot of extra stuff I won't know what to do with - like when I buy eggplant.  I always end up buying it and then letting it go to waste because I don't know what to do with it.  The ingredients for the plated.com meals are packed fresh and pre-portioned to cut back on waste.

So, I can see this service being very handy for both people who want to start cooking at home and for those of us who do cook but want to try something new, perhaps for a special occasion.  The meals cost $15/plate (or $12/plate with a membership) with a minimum 4 plate order, so they're not exactly cheap, but they really don't cost more than going out to a restaurant - and they're fresh and home-cooked.

Be sure to check it out and see what they have for you.  For a limited time, save 30% off your order at plated.com by using the code SharkPlated30 at checkout - through 4/18/14. 

Chicken Cottage Pie

It's time again for  Secret Recipe Club (Secret Recipe Club) reveal!  My secret blog assignment this month was Chit Chat Chomp, an amazing blog written by Leigh who lives in Melbourne, Australia.  Her blog is full of amazing recipes and gorgeous photos of all of them.  Leigh calls herself an amateur photographer, but they look pretty professional to me!  I wanted to try everything on her blog.  Once again I started making a list:

• Chili Chicken with Hummus
• Asparagus Tart 
• Cranberry and Chocolate Biscuits - because, of course, I'm drawn to anything cranberry
• Chunky Apple Cinnamon Muffins w/ Crumb Topping - apples in the topping!
• Dark Chocolate and Orange Muffins

And there were many more!

Of course, since Leigh is a child of English parents who lives in Australia, I needed to convert some of the measurements.  How much is 160g flour? I admit, I've let something like that keep me from trying some of the recipes I've found online, but this time I looked up some recipe conversions.  (Well, that was simple!)

Chicken Cottage Pie

adapted from Chit Chat Chomp 

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut in chunks (about 8 oz.)
• 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
• fresh spinach (I didn't measure)
• 1 T dried parsley
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup sweet corn (frozen or canned)
• 1/2 cup creme fraiche (I used sour cream)
• 2 T butter

Directions:

1. Boil potatoes in lightly salted water until tender.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large fry pan and cook onion and chicken over a medium-high heat for 6-8 minutes, until the onion is soft and the chicken is starting to brown.  Add the mushrooms and spinach and cook until spinach starts to wilt.  Season with dried parsley and salt & pepper.
3. Pour in the stock and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.  Stir in the corn and sour cream.  Season with additional salt & pepper if needed.
4. When potatoes are cooked, drain and mash them with the butter (or extra sour cream or creme fraiche) Season with salt and pepper.
5. Heat oven to 400° F.  Spoon the chicken mixture into a medium baking dish; top with the mashed potatoes, sprinkle with a bit of additional parsley, and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.

The chicken and corn mixture was soupier than I was expecting when I put it in the baking dish, and the potatoes were quite thick on top.  Then, the oven worked its magic, and they baked together into this perfectly creamy delicious dish that my husband and I both loved.

When I decided to make this particular recipe, I had to look up Cottage Pie, too. Leigh says this is not the sort of cottage pie her mum would make, which would be "an Irish or British meat pie cooked with beef mince and has a crust made from mashed potato" - and certainly not chicken.  Or corn.  Well, this one has both, and I added some mushrooms and spinach too, just because, and it is yummy.  Definitely comfort food.

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