Candy Cookies

Are you ever at a loss as to what to do with all of your candy from Halloween?

I mean, of course you could just shove it in your mouth every time you walk past the candy bowl...that's what I like to do. But I figured if I magically turned all of that candy into cookies, we could eat half and give the rest away. Or put them in the freezer for later :)

Here is the recipe I used from Sally's Baking Addiction.

Instructions were to chop the baby Butterfingers, but in an effort to save yourself from extra dishes, feel free to use a meat tenderizer. I gave them all two light whacks and they were perfectly crumbly. Oh, also, I used ten instead of eight...rebel yell.

Feel free to make a gooey chewy cookie tower while you're at it.

They turned out melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Please don't take my word for it, you have to try. It's only 6 ingredients. You probably already have them in your cabinet. (Yes, I moonlight as a professional cookie pusher)

The recipe says to use an ungreased cookie sheet, but you will have to grease it or use a sheet of aluminum foil, because these puppies definitely stuck to the ungreased sheet.

Here are a few more recipes using other chocolate candies you might have left over.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Kit Kat Cake (say that five times fast)

Milky Way Chocolate Cookie Crumble Bars

Candy Bar Cookie Bars

Snickers Caramel Apple Salad

Candy Corn Peanut Mallow Bars

100 Grand Cupcakes

Now, if only there was something to do with banana Laffy Taffy. Come back and let me know if you try any!

First Stab at Home Made Pickles

As some of you know, we tilled up a nice sized area this spring at the back of our property for a garden. We filled it with zucchini, carrots, cabbage, purple beans, cucumbers, squash, watermelon, cantaloupe and a ton of pumpkins. I've been neglecting my duties as weed-picker as of late and the garden is looking a little forlorn, but we still have lots of yummy veggies coming out.

Anywhoo, we love pickles! Who doesn't? (If you're saying 'me!', I'm thinking you got dropped on your head as a child).

This spring, I pictured harvesting a bushel of cucumbers every week and making cans upon cans of pickles. Sadly, some of our plants got a disease called downy mildew and didn't produce as nicely as expected.

Easter Brunch with a Twist: {Recipe Round-Up}

I love a good brunch. Fruit, pastries and don't forget the mimosas.

Classics are great when it comes to brunch, but here are some ideas to put a new spin on the tried-and-true oldies.




Laurenda Marie

Avocado Deviled Eggs

The English Kitchen

Cinnamon Roll Croissants

Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice

French Toast Rollups 

Blogilates

Egg Muffins (Paleo)

Cherry On My Sundae

Slow Roasted Waffle Sandwich

Peaches N Cream Blog

Breakfast Pizza

We had breakfast pizzas last year for Mother's Day and they were scrumptious. What are your favorites for brunch?

16 Heart-Shaped Valentine's Day Recipes

Here are sixteen disgustingly adorable recipes for all of your heart-shaped Valentine's day needs.

These were pulled from all over the web, so you should be covered for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and dessert- there's even some vegan and gluten free recipes listed.

Fruit Kabobs     -      Potato Chips Vegan, GF      -      Banana Pancakes      -      Teatime Sandwiches

Sushi Rolls      -     Pepperoni Pizza      -     Shortbread Cookies      -     Wedge Salad

Spinach Ravioli Vegan   -   Chocolate Dipped Pretzels   -   Tomato Orange Soup   -   Roasted Potatoes

Shrimp Burger      -      Cinnamon Rolls      -      Sweet Potato Bisquits Vegan, GF      -      Bacon

I'd love to see pictures if you try any. Last year, I used this recipe to make heart-shaped donuts using Grand Rolls and let me tell you, they were yummy!

Now please excuse me while I go back to my colorful world filled with rainbows, unicorns and heart-shaped food...

Superbowl Recipes

I hate football.

There. I said it. I'm sure it's partly because I don't understand it, but also it seems like such a waste of time.

If they're not walking to their places on the field, they're standing in a circle whispering sweet nothings to each other. Or taking a time out, or yelling things to each other. Then you have to watch the quarterback lick his dirty fingers and wipe them on the little tea towel attached to his belt. When you finally see something awesome like a guy grab someones face mask and throw him to the ground like BOOM...a flag gets thrown and they blow the whistle.

I just cannot follow. On the other hand, I do love to see those big, beautiful Budweiser Clydesdales.  

Honey keeps telling me that I'm going to watch it with him, but I thought of a fabulous way to get out of it. Cooking. If I'm in the kitchen the whole time cooking to fill up his belly, there's no way in heck he'll be complaining that I'm not sitting on the couch with him. 

Here are some delicious game-day recipes from a few of my favorite food bloggers;

Garlic & Herb Oyster Crackers     -     Bacon Wrapped Shrimp     -     Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Toasted Ravioli       -       Buffalo Chicken Wings       -       Sweet Potato Fries

Spicy Barbeque Kielbasa     -     Spinach & Artichoke Dip     -     Chocolate Chip Cookie Cheesecake

Notice that not a lot of these are crock pot recipes. Like I said, it's my goal is to be in the kitchen for the game...the entire game. Mwhuaaahahahaha.

Poor Boy Biscuits

I have been craving stew for a month and a half. No joke. Around Thanksgiving, my mom told me that she had made stew and since then, that's all my tummy has been able to think of.

Problem was, the stew meat was in our freezer in the pole barn. Do you think that I could remember to take it out? I park in there daily. The dog's kennel is attached to the pole barn. Multiple times a day I am in this pole barn.

So my grand plans to have stew simmering in the crock pot all day to enjoy with a fresh, crusty loaf of home made bread hot out of the oven? Well, we improvised :)

I made the quick 3-hour stove top stew using a recipe from The Pioneer Woman, but there's no quick recipe for homemade bread. Our pantry was empty of Jiffy mix and there weren't any Grands in the fridge. What's a girl to do? 

So I tweaked a recipe for Baking Powder Biscuits just a tiny bit and let me tell you, yum. It's a very simple recipe using only five ingredients that are commonly stocked in most pantries; flour, baking soda, salt, shortening and milk.

Unless I know ahead of time that I'm going to be cooking or baking something that calls for milk, I typically don't buy it- I'm more of a fan of almond milk. I have found that a lot of times when recipes call for milk, I can substitute water and there's not much of a problem. Otherwise, equal portions of evaporated milk and water should substitute just fine.

Here's what I did: