Peaunut-Butter-Cup-Stuffed Ginger Cookies

Peaunut-Butter-Cup-Stuffed Ginger Cookies

ingredients

• 3 cups flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 2 teaspoons ground ginger

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 2 sticks  (8 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 1/4 cup light brown sugar

• 1 egg

• 1/3 cup molasses

• 36 miniature peanut butter cups, such as Reeses, chilled

• Confectioners sugar, for rolling

directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Whisk in the ginger, cinnamon, pepper and salt.
2. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar on high speed until smooth, light and fluffy, 2 minutes. Beat in the egg for 30 seconds, then mix in the molasses. Scrape down the bowl. Add the flour mixture in 2 batches, mixing on low speed until just combined. Turn out the dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Using the wrap to help, form the dough into a disk and seal tightly. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour or up to 1 day.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees . Line 3 cookie sheets with parchment. Working with 1 tbsp. of dough at a time, mold the dough around each peanut butter cup to enclose completely. Place 12 dough balls on each of the prepared pans. Bake until the tops are just set and slightly cracked, 12 to 14 minutes. Using a spatula, transfer the cookies to a rack to cool for 5 minutes.
4. Roll the cookies in the confectioners sugar, then return to the rack to cool completely. Roll the cookies in the confectioners sugar again before serving.

Crockpot Chicken and Noodle Soup

Crockpot Chicken and Noodle Soup

Chicken and Noodle Soup
5 cups of chicken broth (boxed or can is fine)
One 10.75 oz can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup onions, chopped fine
1/2 cup celery, chopped fine
1/2 cup carrots, chopped fine
1/2 cup green onions, sliced
One 15 oz can of whole kernel corn, drained
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 1/2 cup Egg noodles - we used brown rice vermicelli noodles that worked amazingly well!
2 cups cooked chicken chopped or 2 cans canned cooked chicken - we used 3 chicken breasts

Add everything but the noodles and cooked chicken to the crock pot on Low for 5-6 hours, the last hour turn on High, and add noodles and chicken.
- See more at: http://www.creativelydomestic.com/2010/10/guest-post-crockpot-chicken-and-noodle.html#sthash.mptJ6hck.dpuf

Easy Baked Chicken Dinner and Vegetables

Easy Baked Chicken Dinner and Vegetables

We cook almost every night and sometimes I am just not "feeling" it and need something easy to cook? As the guy from the new movie "We're The Millers" would say, "know what I'm sayin'?" Side note: We saw that movie last night, it was hilarious! Highly recommend it! Anyway, yes, this is our go-to easy chicken dinner!

This would also be great to bring over for a family who may have their hands full and could use the friendly help. 

Easy Baked Chicken Dinner and Vegetables

Ingredients:

Package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Green Vegetables of your choice (I used broccoli and carrots, have done this before with green beans, even canned veggies! )
Potatoes (I use the red potatoes)
1 stick of butter
1 package of Italian Dressing Mix (I used zesty Italian)
Foil

Directions:
1.) Place chicken breasts in center of a 9x13 baking dish
2.) Cube the potatoes and place on one side, place vegetables on other side
3.) Sprinkle packet of Italian dressing over chicken and vegetables
4.) Melt butter and pour on top
5.) Cover with foil and back at 350 degrees for 1 hour

The Smells of the Season

The Smells of the Season

Holiday Stove Top Potpourri Mix

• one whole orange or just the orange peel
• 1/2 cup cranberries
• 1 Tbsp. whole cloves
• 3 sticks of cinnamon or a small handful of small pieces of cinnamon
• a bit of grated nutmeg if desired

Quarter the orange.  Put all the ingredients into a saucepan.  Fill pan with water.  Place on the stove on the smallest burner, on the lowest setting.  Refill water as needed.

REESE'S Peanut Butter Bark Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 packages (4 oz. each) HERSHEY'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Baking Bar, broken into pieces
• 1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) REESE'S Peanut Butter Chips

• 1 tablespoon shortening
• 1/2 cup roasted peanuts or toasted almonds, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Cover cookie sheet or tray with wax paper.

2. Place chocolate in medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at MEDIUM (50%) 1 minute; stir. If necessary, microwave at MEDIUM an additional 15 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating, until chocolate is melted and smooth when stirred.

3. Immediately place peanut butter chips and shortening in second microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at MEDIUM 1 minute; stir. If necessary, microwave at MEDIUM an additional 15 seconds at a time, stirring after each heating, until chips are melted and mixture is smooth when stirred; stir in peanuts.

4. Alternately spoon above mixtures onto prepared tray; swirl with knife for marbled effect. Gently tap tray on countertop to even out thickness of mixture. Refrigerate about 1 hour or until firm. Break into pieces. Store in cool, dry place. About 1 pound candy.

* To toast almonds: Heat oven to 350°F. Spread almonds in thin layer in shallow baking pan. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until light golden brown; cool.

Gingerbread Doughnuts with Maple Ginger Glaze

Vegan Gingerbread Doughnuts with Maple Ginger Glaze

Vegan Gingerbread Doughnuts
Ingredients
1 3/4 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
pinch of all spice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup oil
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup lukewarm water

Directions
Preheat oven to 375F and grease a doughnut pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt) and mix them up until they're blended together nicely.

Make three wells in dry ingredients, and pour the oil, vinegar, and vanilla into each well separately. Pour the water over everything and mix it all together with a fork, whisk, or whatever you've got around. This batter really isn't picky.


Scoop the batter into each doughnut well, about 2/3 full, and bake for 10-13 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then remove to a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Maple Ginger Glaze
Ingredients
1 cup icing sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1-2 tablespoons water (if needed)

Directions
Combine the icing sugar, syrup, and ginger in a small bowl. Whisk until well combined. Add water, one teaspoon at a time, until it's smooth and glossy, but not too runny.

Dip each cooled doughnut, one at a time, into the glaze to cover one half. Set on a wire rack and repeat with each doughnut until all of them are glazed and delicious.

Eat! Eat now!

Beef and Broccoli Clean Eating and YUMMY!

Beef and Broccoli Clean Eating

(SERVES 2)
1 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic chopped
2 tsp ginger, chopped
1/2 cup yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 small bunch broccoli florets in small pieces
12 oz flank or skirt steak, thinly sliced
1 lime, juiced
1/2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp low sodium soy sauce
2 tsp cornstarch

1. Heat a large saute pan or wok to medium heat. Add olive oil and beef and cook for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown. Scoop meat out of the pan and keep warm.
2. Add garlic and ginger to pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Add yellow onion, broccoli, 14 cup of water, sesame oil, soy sauce. Cook 6-8 minutes or until broccoli is bright green.
3. Add cooked beef back to pan and season with soy sauce.
4. Mix 1/2 cup of water with cornstarch and add to pan. Bring to a boil. Add lime juice. Serve with brown rice and hot sauce if desired.

Nutrition Facts (per serving): 385 calories, 38 g protein, 10 g carbs, 20 g fat, 4 g fiber, 2 g sugar, 250 mg sodium

FAT FACT
Certain saturated fats do increase levels of LDL (bad) cholersterol, but research confirms that the type of saturated fat found in beef does not raise LDL cholersterol levels.

**** We did NOT use the cornstarch and it was still a delicious sauce! We used an inside round piece of meat instead of flank steak. 

Crockpot Chicken Veggie Soup

So we just threw in any veggies we had, 3 frozen chicken breasts and some broth and put it on high for an hour and low for 5-6 hours. Once it was ready, Mitch cut the chicken up and added it back to the soup. We also cooked some brown rice vermicelli noodles (for all of 2 minutes in boiling water) and added those in too. You can get the noodles at Walmart OR bulk barn for 1.60$.

What we used:
3 large frozen chicken breasts
1 liter of chicken broth
1 can cream of chicken soup (half fat)
1 can of yellow beans - drained
3 stalks of celery
1 cup of frozen peas
1/2 onion
1 bag of the 'ready to steam' broccoli, carrot, cauliflower mix - just chopped into pieces
1 packet of onion soup mix
some oregano, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder
the brown rice vermicelli noodles

It wasn't very soup-y so you may need to add more broth

Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup

Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup
Chicken and Noodle Soup 
5 cups of chicken broth (boxed or can is fine) 
One 10.75 oz can cream of chicken soup 
1/2 cup onions, chopped fine 
1/2 cup celery, chopped fine 
1/2 cup carrots, chopped fine 
1/2 cup green onions, sliced 
One 15 oz can of whole kernel corn, 
drained Salt and Pepper to taste 
1 1/2 cup Egg noodles
 2 cups cooked chicken chopped or 2 cans canned cooked chicken 

Add everything but the noodles and cooked chicken to the crock pot on Low for 5-6 hours, the last hour turn on High, and add noodles and chicken. - See more at: http://www.creativelydomestic.com/2010/10/guest-post-crockpot-chicken-and-noodle.html#sthash.RmUohpKv.dpuf

We actually didn't want egg noodles because they have wheat and Mitch can only have rice as a carb so we found these awesome rice vermicelli noodles. They are sooooo yummy and they are sooooo easy to cook! You drop them in boiling water for 2 minutes and they're done!!!! So we threw everything in the crockpot (even 3  frozen chicken breasts) and had it on high for 1 hour and then low for about 5-6 hours. An hour before we were eating, Mitch took the chicken out, cut it up and then put it back in. Once we were ready to eat, we cooked the noodles and just added what we wanted to the our own bowls. I don't know how well they would freeze so we decided to just freeze the soup sans noodles. 

Smores on a Stick MINIS!

Yesterday I made MINI smores on a stick.
I used:
a bag of mini marshmallows
a 4 pack of jersey milk chocolate bars
a box of Walmart brand graham cracker teddy bears
toothpicks
chocolate chips for melting/dipping
sprinkles to make them festive!

Here's what you I did:
Got a microwave safe plate.
Put about 15 graham teddy bears on it (face down).
Put one square of the jersey milk on the bear (with the word facing up - the indent holds the marshmallow in nicely).
Put one mini marshmallow on the chocolate.
Stick the plate in the microwave (carefully - they like to slide around) and microwave for about 20-30 seconds. The marshmallows seem to puff right up.
Remove the plate, put another teddy bear on top of the marshmallow and push down so it squishes. It is awesome if the chocolate is a little melted because it will stick to the bear better.
Once the smore is made, transfer to a wax paper lined cookie sheet and stick the toothpick in the marshmallow. (If you want to dip their feet instead of their head later, put the stick in the head side)
Once your little smore bear army is done, stick them in the freezer on the cookie sheet for 30 minutes (longer is fine too).
After they are frozen, pull the them out of the freezer, melt some chocolate chips in a good dipping glass, (I melted mine in the microwave - some recipes say to add shortening to the chips to thin it out but I didn't want to), and dip your bears.
If you want to add sprinkles, do it while they are still wet.
If one of the bears is not stuck, use the chocolate chip mixture as glue to attach it back on.
Once they are dipped, put them back on a wax paper lined sheet and freeze them or put them in the fridge until 30 minutes to an hour before serving.


I did make LARGE ones of these last year if you just check for SMORES on a stick back in August.

Pumpkin Spice Muffins HEALTHY

Pumpkin Spice Muffins HEALTHY
These are AMAZING and only 2 points plus each on WW!

Skinny Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Yield: 24 servings

Serving size: 1 muffin

Ingredients

• 1 box Ducan Hines Spice Cake Mix (dry cake mix only)
• 4 oz unsweetened applesauce
• 1 - 15 oz can Libby's Pumpkin
• 2 Tbsp walnuts, chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line or spray two 12-count muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a large stand-up mixer or a bowl with a hand-held mixer, mix together dry cake mix, applesauce, and canned pumpkin.
3. Mix for 2-3 minutes, until mixed well and fluffy.
4. Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, spoon equal amounts of cake mix into the muffin tins.
5. Sprinkle walnuts on top of each muffin before baking.
6. Bake muffins for 18-20 minutes until edges are golden brown.
7. Remember oven times may vary, so watch muffins closely.

Nutrition Info and Tips

Per Serving (1 muffin):

Calories: 96

Fat: 1g

Carbohydrates: 18g

Fiber: 1g

Protein: 0g

Sugars: 11g

Sodium: 136mg

Vitamin A: 53%

Vitamin C: 0%

Calcium: 4%

Iron: 3%

WWP+: 2 points

Collaborative Classroom Canvas

Every homeroom in our school had to make a collaborative art canvas. Every student had to be a part of the canvas and they will be hung around our school for the year and then auctioned off to parents. This is what my class did. 3 more kids still need to add their hand.

Pumpkin Pie - Healthy and Gluten Free

This recipe makes an awesome pumpkin pie that is crust-less (so flour-less) and actually healthy. Using a 9" pie plate, 1/6 of the pie is only 67 calories!!!!!! Everyone at our thanksgiving dinner agreed that it had the same flavor as the real thing.
Here is my recipe:
2 cups canned pumpkin
2 cups water
1 cup low fat milk powder
egg substitute equal to 2 eggs (I used 1/4 cup of egg whites)
3/4 cup brown sugar substitute (I used brown sugar splenda)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp all spice (I omitted this one this year and increased the others as some people don't like the taste of allspice)
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Mix all the ingredients (I used my amazing stand mixer although you don't need to, everything mixes well).
Grease your 9" glass pie pan and pour the mixture in. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour (until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean).

1/6 of the pie is 67 calories, 0 fat, 3g fiber and 1 WW points plus.

Pumpkin Fluff Dip

Pumpkin Fluff Dip
I made this for our Thanksgiving yesterday and it was a huge hit. I served it with teddy graham crackers and apples (for people watching their calories like me). I'm curious to find other things I can use for dippers too.
The recipe says to use 16oz of cool whip which is actually more than a tub, but I just used a tub anyways, I also used fat free jello vanilla pudding, the pumpkin it called for and played with the spices because I didn't have pumpkin pie spice. I used cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves (way more heavy on the cinnamon than anything else).

Boiled Raisin Cookies

Boiled Raisin Cookies
I remember when us grand kids went to my Grandparents house, my grandma always had boiled raisin cookies in the red Tupperware container. When she moved into a home, I was lucky enough to get the Tupperware but unfortunately never saw her recipe for these cookies. The day before her funeral, I felt the need to find a worthy recipe and make these cookies for the family. I was told I did a pretty good job! One suggestion is to heat the oven to 350 not 400 as the batter is very wet and my first batch was a little too dark brown on the bottom (ironically enough, so were my Grandmas!)

Pumpkin Frozen Yogurt!!!!

Pumpkin Frozen Yogurt!!!
4 ingredients!!
1 cup of fat free vanilla yogurt (we didn't have fat free so I used my activia vanilla yogurt)
1 cup of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 TBSP sugar (unfortunately stevia doesn't work :( )
.5 tsp cinnamon
.25 tsp ginger
.25 tsp all spice
.25 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves

If you use full fat yogurt the WHOLE batch is 9 points!!!!! If you use fat free, it's only 7 points!!!!! It's soooo yummy and spicy!
The pic below was taken after a ate a lot of it and after it melted!

My Dad's Awesome Spaghetti Sauce

Spaghetti Sauce

2 lbs hamburger

1 med. onion finely chopped

1 or 2 peppers (green or red - red is sweeter)

2 or 3 cans of sliced mushrooms

3 - 540 ml cans of diced tomatoes

2 or 3 small cans of tomato paste (or more if you want thick sauce)

Season to taste (italian spice, salt, pepper)

 

Brown meat with onions; drain

 

Mix everything together.  Simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally for at least 2 hours.  Or, can simmer in oven at 325 for a couple of hours stirring occasionally.   Or could use crook pot on low for approx. 6 hours. 

 

Will start out thick but will get thinner as it cooks.

My Dad's Yummy Hamburger Soup

Hamburger soup

*this recipe almost filled Mitch's 2 gallon crock pot! - I took a pic while it was cooking to show how full the pot was.

1.5 lb. hamburger ( I used extra lean)

1 med onion finely chopped

1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes

3 cans of beef consomme (approx. 1 litre)

1 soup can of tomato soup

8 tbsp of pearl barley

4 carrots diced

3 celery stalks chopped

Salt, pepper, parsley and thyme to taste  (my Dad just buys an Italian Seasoning mix and use it for everything  - instead of getting a bunch of separate spices)

I added oregano too.

Brown meat with onions; drain

Mix everything together.  Simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally for at least 2 hours. 

Or, can simmer in oven at 325 for a couple of hours stirring occasionally.   

Or could use crook pot on low for approx. 6 hours.

*I used the crockpot this time as it was way easier! 

Following this recipe, the WHOLE pot is 57 weight watcher points plus so if you divide into 10 portions, it'd be about 6 points.