Andes Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies

I seriously love these. Ever since Halloween ended I've been scouring the stores waiting for the Andes Peppermint Crunch thins (apparently you can buy them in baking chips too) to show up. I finally hit the jackpot at Target and loaded up. I think I'll have to buy some more before the Christmas season ends. I seriously crave these cookies all year round.

Andes Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips (or the mints diced up)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the butter and brown sugar in a bowl and cream together with a mixer. Then add the egg and vanilla.

In another bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix together then slowly add to the wet mixture. Mix in the chocolate chips and Andes peppermints.

Spoon onto cookie sheet and bake for 6-7 minutes (or until the edges are brown).

Crockpot Thai Yellow Curry

I love it when I find a good crockpot recipe. I've been thinking over all my favorite recipes lately and trying to make them into crockpot recipes. It's just so easy and simple, and it makes your house smell amazing for the whole day.

And this curry was now exception. My house smelled unbelievable all day, and by dinnertime I was so hungry. I'm happy to report that this tasted as good as it smelled. The leftovers were gobbled up quickly and I was left wanting more. So now I am sharing this wonderful recipe with you, you're welcome!

Oh, and if you're ever looking for a good website for yummy recipes try Everyday Reading. I haven't tried a recipe she's recommended and not loved it.

Crockpot Thai Yellow Curry
Adapted from Everyday Reading

2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

3 Tablespoons red curry paste

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk

1 1/2 cups vegetable or chicken broth

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

2 Tablespoons fish sauce

1 lime, juiced

2 teaspoons brown sugar

Cilantro for garnish, optional

Rice, for serving

Place the chicken in a crockpot and add curry paste, curry powder, coconut milk, and broth. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. About 30 minutes before serving (around the time you're starting the rice), shred the chicken, then whisk the cornstarch together with the fish sauce and lime juice until smooth, and pour into crockpot. Add sugar, stir to combine, and let cook for 30 more minutes, until sauce is thickened (add more cornstarch if you want it even thicker).

Serve over rice.

Melissa's Roasted Veggie Kale Pasta Sauce

My sister was raving about this pasta sauce she came up with. I had her type up the recipe so I could share it with all of you. Enjoy.

Hey everyone I just thought I would share with you how great my dinner was tonight! My son is a very picky eater and so I have been trying to come up with foods that are jammed packed with what he needs to be heathy because I am lucky to get 6 spoonfuls in my boy. Sometimes it's even nothing! So I made him a homemade spaghetti sauce with kale in it and a bunch of other veggies. Both my son and my husband (who is also a bit picky) liked this alot. It was a hit in our house.

Melissa's Roasted Veggie Pasta Sauce

Ingredients:

About 3 1/2-4lbs of tomatoes (I used Roma tomatoes and tomatoes out of my greenhouse)

4 garlic cloves peeled

2 small onions (I used yellow onions out of my garden)

1 large red or orange pepper

I also used 2 small green peppers from my green house

1 medium sized zucchini

1 packed tbsp fresh oregano

1 tsp salt

 1 tsp sugar

3 packed cups of kale

1 lb of cooked hamburger

2 cans of tomato paste (try one first and go by your taste)

about 2 cups shredded parmesan 

Directions:
Drizzle olive oil all over a large cookie sheet. Quarter the tomatoes, garlic, onions, peppers, and zucchini and spread it all over the pan. Drizzle more olive oil over top of everything and top with pepper. Put it in an oven at 450 degrees for around 35-45 minutes. All the veggies will look soft and have blistered skins.

Take the veggies out of the oven and wait until they are cool enough to handle. Peel the skin off the tomatoes and put everything in the food processor and blend it up really well. Add the kale and oregano. If you are unsure about the taste of kale just add one cup at a time and taste it in between. 

Put it all in a large pot, add the salt, sugar, tomato paste, and cooked hamburger. Bring it to a boil then reduce the heat. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently. 

Serve over pasta and enjoy.

Lime Chicken Tacos

Have I ever mentioned how much I like easy dinners? Because I really, really do. Especially since Summer started teething again and Brian has been putting in long hours at the school. Seriously, if this keeps on much longer I don't know what I'm going to do. Brian "diagnosed" me with late stage mommy disease this morning, and I informed him that my body was starting to shut down. It's been a rough go.

But, on a brighter note, recipes like these allow me to conserve energy and put good food on the table. And I can never resist a good taco. So if you're low on energy but needing something yummy, try this.

Lime Chicken Tacos
Adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
Juice of 1 lime
1 tbs chili powder
2 cups corn
1 cup chunky salsa
shredded cheese
tortillas
optional: sour cream, cilantro

Directions:
Throw the chicken breasts, lime juice, and chili powder into a crock pot. Cook on high for 5-6 hours, or on low for 10 hours.

After it's cooked, shred the chicken with 2 forks. It should shred really easily if the chicken is cooked enough. Add the salsa and corn and cook for another 30 minutes.

Once everything is heated through, serve on tortillas topped with cheese.

Top with cilantro and sour cream and enjoy!

Healthy Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

I've been doing a 21 Day Cleanse for the past 10 days. And can I just say, it has not been very fun. I started it because I have eaten SO badly over the summer and I felt like my body just needed a reset. It did work for me, but last week while I was cutting out bread, dairy, meat, and sugar, I was having major withdrawal symptoms. I even woke up one morning last week weak and trembling. I was really emotional, and felt like a failure for wanting to quit. I've always been thin and never had to diet before so this was a new experience for me! This week has been a lot better. I don't crave the sugar and milk as much. But I still really want a nice, cheesy panini. Or a coke and a cheeseburger from McDonalds McDonalds always have the best cokes, they are coke geniuses! And please don't judge me on my love of McDonalds cheeseburgers. They are one of my (many) weaknesses.
The food on the cleanse didn't really work for me. It was sort of bland, with way to much kale involved. My mum doesn't mind kale so this wasn't a big deal for her, but I really can't take it. So this week I've been making up my own recipes using the same basic rules and having a much better time of it. I wanted to share with you the recipe I made last night. It has probably been the best thing I've eaten these past 2 weeks and it doesn't actually contain Spaghetti or meat.

Healthy Spaghetti & Meat Sauce

Ingredients:
1 Spaghetti Squash
1/4 - 1/2 cup cook quinoa
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1 clove garlic
1/2 onion
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the squash in half, clean out the seeds, and place cut side down on a baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Dice the onion and cook them in a large saucepan with the oil until transparent.

Meanwhile, combine the tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, thyme, and oregano in a food processor. Blend them up. Once the onions are done, pour this into the pan. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes.

Once the squash is finished, take a fork and scrape out the squash. It will come out looking like noodles.

Top with quinoa and tomato sauce and bon apetit!

P.S. Linking up with Recipe Swap Hop

Raspberry Crisp

Wahoo! A post that doesn't involve me apologizing and promising to post again soon. And it's a good one. Involving dessert!

I love raspberries, anytime I see a dessert on pinterest involving raspberries I pin it. And when I saw this recipe for raspberry crisp, from the Pioneer Woman, not only did I pin it...I made it! And it did not disappoint. It was so good. And so so easy. I ate leftovers for breakfast all week. I mean, as long as there is fruit it's ok to eat for breakfast, right? That's what I thought. Please run out and grab the ingredients for this as soon as possible. There might be a chance that you have the ingredients in your kitchen already, that's how simple it is.

Raspberry Crisp

Source: The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups Raspberries
1 Tablespoon (Heaping) Cornstarch
2/3 cups Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 cup All-purpose Flour
1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/3 cup Oats
1/4 cup Pecans, Chopped
Dash Of Salt
3/4 sticks Butter, Cut Into Small Pieces
Whipped Cream Or Vanilla Ice Cream, For Serving

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine (rinsed) raspberries, corn starch, 2/3 cups sugar, and vanilla. Stir and set aside.

In a separate bowl (or food processor) combine flour, 1/4 cup sugar, brown sugar, oats, pecans, dash of salt, and butter pieces. Cut together with a pastry cutter (or pulse in food processor) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add berry mixture to a small baking dish or pie pan. Sprinkle topping mixture all over the top. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until topping is golden brown.

Allow to sit for ten minutes before serving. Scoop out with a spoon and top with sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

My Favorite Chili

Is it just me or is chili a summer food? For some reason summer and chili go hand-in-hand with me. It was below 90 degrees yesterday so I figured I'd better take my (possibly only) chance and cook some up. I love chili. The only thing that makes it better is corn bread. I've been seeing a pin flying around lately with a chili topped cornbread waffle and I thought I'd give it a go. It turned out great. Not needing to turn on my oven was awesome, the waffle iron cooked it really quick, and Logan thought it was so cool eating a waffle with his soup. Win-win-win! A full cornbread waffle is a little more cornbread then I can handle with my chili, so we just halved them. 

I thought I'd share with you all my favorite recipe. I am a hard core chili lover so I'm not overly discriminating. Even if it has mushrooms in it (gag) I will still devour it. My best friend hates chili so I always make it a point to let her know when I eat it. So, Renee, this post is for you!

My Favorite Chili
This is basically just a "throw it all in" recipe. So change it up anyway you like!

Ingredients:
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1 lb beef (or turkey or any protein you want to substitute here, I'm sure quinoa would even go well with this)
2 bell peppers (mix and match, I usually do 1 red 1 green)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can kidney beans
2 tbs chili powder
1 tbs cumin
salt to taste
cheese, cilantro, sour cream, or whatever you want to garnish it with

Directions:
Dice onion and mince garlic. Throw it in a pan with a bit of oil and cook for a minute or two on medium-high heat. Add the beef and cook until brown.

Meanwhile, dice the bell peppers. Once the beef is browned throw the peppers in. Cook for 2 minutes then add the spices and cook until fragrant, just a minute or two.

Add the kidney beans and tomatoes and stir everything together. Put a lid on it and let it simmer for 20 minutes.

Garnish it any way you like and enjoy.

Bacon Jam: How to eat it.

I cannot stop eating this stuff! I seriously have eaten way to much and the only thing that is going to stop me is it running out. I've had a few people ask me what I use it for so I thought I would post some of the sandwiches and snacks I've tried it with.

One of my (many) sandwiches.

Another one of my current food obsessions is goat cheese. All the sandwiches I made this week were with goat cheese. But I'm sure any nice, melty cheese would be great with the bacon jam. My favorite combination I've made so far was:

• Sourdough bread
• turkey
• goat cheese
• bacon jam
• thin layer of mayo
• put it all together and grill it on the stove or in a panini press

I have also tried shredded chicken and ham. Both are great. Really, with bacon jam, a sandwich cannot go wrong. Just get some bread and put together whatever sounds good. If you think it would taste good with bacon, then just spread a little bacon jam on it.

How do you like my staging? I am seriously the worst photographer ever. Please do not judge my snacks by my pictures!

I made this snack this morning and then went and hid up in my bedroom to eat it. No little hands to try and steal it from me. I used cheddar cheese on the left and Laughing Cow Creamy Swiss cheese on the right. I plopped some bacon jam on there and was in heaven. The Creamy Swiss crackers were divine. Logan and I love to just eat cracker with it but topping it off with the bacon jam brought it to a whole new level. 

So that's what I've been eating all week. I'm sure it would be great just as a dip for crackers as well. And now for the question, What have you done with your bacon jam?

Bacon Jam

So I've had some mixed reviews about this, surprisingly quite a few negative. I mean, c'mon, bacon! I've been wanting to try these chocolate chip bacon cookies that I pinned a while back but I've been too afraid. Maybe I'll have to do that today. But I dare you to give this Bacon Jam a try. If you like bacon I know you wont be disappointed. It is so, so good. I had never even heard of it until a couple weeks ago but I'm so glad I gave it a shot. It's basically a bacon spread that you can put on a sandwich or use as a dip. How can you go wrong with that? You can't, you just can't.

As I was googling and pinteresting recipes for this I quickly realized that most recipes call for coffee in them. I was feeling a little weird about using coffee* and was debating weather I should just give up on bacon jam all together when I came across this recipe. No coffee! Just decaffeinated herbal tea. Perfect. The flavor of this stuff is phenomenal. I just can't explain to you how much I love it. Please go make it yourself so you can share the delight with me.

Bacon Jam without Coffee

Source: Kitchen Corners

1 lbs bacon, cut crosswise into 1" pieces 
2 medium yellow onions, diced small  
1/3 cup cider vinegar 
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar 
1/2 cup pure maple syrup 
3/4 cup Sweet & Spicy tea from Good Earth (I couldn't find this brand so I just used Celestial brand Mandarin Orange Spice Decaffeinated Herbal Tea.)

1. Cook bacon over med-high heat until fat is rendered and slightly browned.
2. Transfer bacon to paper towels to drain.
3. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from skillet and add onions, cook until onions are translucent. Add vinegar, brown sugar, syrup, and tea and bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up browned bits from skillet.
4. Add bacon and stir to combine.
5. Transfer mixture to 6qt slow cooker and cook on high, uncovered until liquid is syrupy--about 4 hours.
6. Transfer to food processor; pulse until coarsely chopped.
7. Let cool, then refrigerate in airtight containers up to 4 weeks.

*For those of you who don't know, I am LDS (or Mormon as we are commonly referred to) and we are counseled not to drink coffee. For more information about our beliefs click here.

Chickpea & Roasted Carrot Pasta Salad

Hope you all had an awesome Fourth. Ours was super busy but also really fun. We spent most of Friday trying to recuperate from the holiday and loss of sleep. My brain still feels a little foggy while I'm trying to write this. So I apologize in advance for anything that doesn't quite make sense, blame it on the Founding Fathers.

We were invited over to a friends house for dinner before fireworks on Thursday and they asked us to bring a salad. I had made this recipe for dinner the night before and since I really didn't want to go grocery shopping I decided to try and morph it in to a salad. Well, the experiment was a success and now I am sharing it with all of you.

I love taking a recipe and making it my own. It gives me a sense of accomplishment.

Oh, and can I say, I think cumin might be my favorite spice. And roasted cumin seeds? Genius!

I know these pictures probably look pretty rookie but I (being the amateur photographer) was very pleased with my work. Photographing food is so hard!

Chickpea & Roasted Carrot Pasta Salad

Dressing: 2 teaspoon minced garlic 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 4 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar 2 teaspoon Dijon mustard 2 teaspoon cumin seeds (or 1 1/2 tsp cumin) 1 teaspoon honey pinch of cayenne pepper 1/2 cup olive oil Salad: 2 cups chickpeas (15-oz can), rinsed and drained* 1/2 pound carrots, peeled and chopped 1 chicken breast, uncooked 1/2 lb your favorite pasta 6 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled 2 teaspoons cumin seeds 2 Tablespoons coconut oil 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste 1 cup cashew pieces heaping 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large serving bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients except the olive oil. While whisking constantly, pour the oil in as a steady stream until combined. Add chickpeas and toss well. Set aside. On a rimmed cookie sheet, toss the carrots, chicken breast, garlic, cumin, and oil until well-combined. Sprinkle evenly with the salt. Roast, until carrots are fork-tender and chicken is cooked through, about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the garlic from the pan and chop them into very small pieces. Shred the chicken. Add the garlic, chicken, carrots and any pan juices to the chickpeas and stir to combine. Cool slightly, then add the remaining ingredients, seasoning with salt to taste. Serve warm or at room temperature.

*You can also use dry chickpeas. Just soak them over night and simmer them for 1 1/2 to 2 hours before adding them.

Thai Quinoa Bowl

I'm back from my blogging hiatus. My parents have been in town, Brian got out of school for the summer, and I guess I was just a little tired of blogging after blogging everyday for 21 days straight. I thought I would come back from my break with a recipe that I made recently and absolutely loved. Like, head-over-heels in love. I found it on Everyday Reading, one of the blogs I follow, and it has really made me trust her judgment in food.

I was especially excited about this recipe because it allowed me to dive in to my giant bag of quinoa that I bought on a whim one day, thinking I was going to be a big quinoa eater. I like the idea of it, and how healthy it is, but I've just been having trouble finding recipes I love. I'll put this one in the archives and continue my search for more quinoa recipes.

The point of this post, go home and make this and maybe even run down to Costco and buy a giant bag of quinoa. You'll love this recipe that much!

Photo credit: Everyday Reading

Thai Quinoa Bowl

Source: Everyday Reading

1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
1 3/4 cups water
2-3 carrots, diced
2 green onions, chopped
2 red, orange, or yellow bell peppers
1/2 cup chopped peanuts (salted or unsalted)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Dressing:
3 teaspoons peanut butter
6 Tablespoons sweet Thai chili sauce (I sometimes do half sweet and sour sauce)
3 Tablespoons rice vinegar
3 Tablespoon canned coconut milk
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 garlic cloves
3 Tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

In a saucepan, combine the quinoa, water and diced carrots. Bring to a boil, then stir once, cover and let cook on very-low for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit another couple of minutes, then fluff with a fork.

Meanwhile, prepare the dressing. Melt peanut butter in the microwave or over the stove and then whisk together with all other dressing ingredients.

Put the green onions, peppers, peanuts, and cilantro in a large mixing bowl. Add the quinoa/carrot mix when it's done, pour the dressing over the top and mix until the dressing is evenly coating the whole mixture.

Serve warm or cold.

(Add shredded chicken if you're so inclined. This non-vegan won't be offended).