Sauteed Mushrooms

I am a huge mushroom fan! I love mushrooms any way they are served but they are especially good when sauteed! I eat these all by themselves and they are yum-o-licious!
I saw a trailer for the new movie Julie & Julia and got so excited! You have to watch this trailer! I could swear this was a movie about me, I am Julie Powell! I was once lost and found myself through my cooking! You see, I went from being a child living with my parents to being married and having my own child. There wasn't time for any self exploration or hobbies. So, as you can imagine... as my boys grew older and needed me less and less I became more and more lost. I had no idea what to do in my newly acquired free time. I decided that I needed a hobby, everyone needs a hobby! I've always enjoyed cooking so it seemed natural that I start a cooking blog. I didn't start my cooking blog because I wanted people to read it, I started it for me and my family. As I post recipes I imagine my boys one day making them for their own families! It's like my own personal cooking scrapbook, I love it!

Ingredients
1 pound large white mushrooms, cut into quarters
2/3 cup butter
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Directions
Melt butter in pan over medium heat. Add garlic, mushrooms and Worcestershire sauce. Stir to coat mushrooms. Saute until mushrooms turn brown and start to caramelize, stirring occasionally. Takes approximately 10-15 minutes. Drain excess butter and serve immediately.

Beefy Bean Burritos

For the past 3 weeks I have made these, we store the leftover burritos in the fridge and within a couple days they're gone! Everyone loves these burritos and it is rare that I find a dinner everyone gets excited about and fights over the leftovers! I modify Heidi's Brown Bag Burritos recipe to make these, they really do taste like Taco Bell's Beef and Bean Combo Burritos! I think everyone should make these, total cost is around $6 and they take 15 minutes to make... perfect for the working mom!

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef (I get the leanest I can find)
1 can refried beans
2/3 cup enchilada sauce
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1 1/2 cups shredded colby/jack cheese
10 large flour tortillas

Directions
Brown and drain meat. Add all ingredients, but tortillas. Stir the mixture and heat to a simmer/boil. Put about 1/2 cup of the mixture in each flour tortilla, fold the tortillas into burritos, and serve. Store the extra burritos in a Ziploc in the refrigerator. To reheat the cold burritos microwave them for 30 seconds, flip, 30 seconds. They are just as good reheated as they are fresh!

Piña Colada

I love Piña Coladas! This was our drink of choice for the 4th of July and I will be serving it tonight for our Big Brother kick-off party! We are obsessed with the reality TV show Big Brother on CBS! I don't know if it's really that interesting of a show or if it's because there aren't any other TV shows on during the summer but every July we get excited and tune in to watch what happens. A new season starts tonight, then new episodes will be on every Sunday (7:00 central), Tuesday (8:00 central), and Thursday (7:00 central).

Ingredients
1/8 cup silver/white rum (or 1/8 cup pineapple juice for virgin Piña Colada)
1/3 cup Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut
1/4 cup pineapple juice
1 cup ice

Directions
Put all ingredients in a blender and mix!
The Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut can be hard to find, but it's usually kept with the drink mixers. Here's what it looks like. Abby fell asleep in my shoe while we were playing cards at the kitchen table. She follows us everywhere, isn't she cute!

Szechuan Shrimp

This was an easy recipe that Andrew made all by himself! We really enjoy shrimp, but this was a little too spicy for my taste. At dinner Abbott said "Mom, I think you are an edgetarian". I thought he was trying to say "vegetarian" so I asked him what it meant. He said "you know when you are just at the edge of the cliff before you go over". Ha! I guess he really was trying to call me an "edgetarian". I have no idea what he was implying?! Maybe it's because I've been stressed today so that's his way of telling me I am about to go off the deep end, lol!

Ingredients
12 ounces large shrimp, tails removed
4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup green onions, sliced (we omitted this)
4 garlic cloves, minced

Directions
In a small bowl mix together water, ketchup, soy sauce, cornstarch, honey, crushed red pepper flakes and ginger. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add green onions and garlic. Stir fry for 30 seconds. Add shrimp and toss to coat with oil. Pour in sauce. Heat while sitting until sauce is thick and bubbly.

Cookie Dough Pie

When I saw this recipe on the Big Red Kitchen blog I knew I had to try it! It's just an interesting concept, frozen Chips Ahoy cookies?! Well, this was the easiest dessert I've ever made, it only takes a couple minutes to put together and it really does taste like cookie dough! My first grade niece was able to make this pie all by herself! I think it would be fun to try different cookies like Nutter Butter or Oreo. My sister-in-law tried an Oreo version, she said it was yummy but difficult to cut.

Ingredients
15.25 ounce package Chips Ahoy Cookies- original kind
8 ounces Cool Whip
1-2 cups milk

Directions
Quickly dip cookies in milk, shake off excess liquid, and layer in 9 inch pie plate, breaking cookies to fill any gaps. Once the first layer is complete, top with a thin layer of Cool Whip. Repeat twice more making last layer of Cool Whip a bit thicker. Garnish with chocolate syrup if desired. Place in freezer 2-3 hours before serving and serve frozen. Note- You must dip quickly or your pie will be soggy. Make sure to shake off excess milk as well so that you do not have a puddle of milk in your pie. The final product will be like a soft cookie dough-like consistency. Oh, I almost forgot! We made an addition to our family on Monday... we finally gave in and let Abbott adopt a cat. Abbott named her "Abby" but also calls her "Abby Cat", I think he named her that because it resembles his name. If I would have known cats were this easy I would have adopted one years ago! She fits perfectly in our family, red hair and all!

Taco Pockets and Dip

There are a few foods that scare me to think about making like bread, cinnamon rolls, calzones... ok you caught me; I am terrified of yeast! It just seems so complicated and easy to mess up. So, when looking at the refrigerated cinnamon rolls I saw a long skinny tube called "thin-crust pizza dough". What a great find this was! I've wanted to try making calzones/hot pockets for a long time and this dough works perfectly! The possibilities are endless (and you will see my experiments coming soon) but my first pocket creation had to be Mexican of course, for my pepper bellied boys!

Ingredients
1 pound ground turkey breast
1 packet taco seasoning
1 small block of pepper jack cheese
1/2 cup salsa verde
1 (11-ounce) can refrigerated thin-crust pizza dough
Chips for the dip

Directions
Brown the ground turkey, drain, and add the taco seasoning. Roll the pizza dough out onto your pan with non-stick foil or cooking spray. With a pizza cutter divide the dough into four sections. Spoon the meat onto the dough (about 1/2 a cup) and put a couple cuts of pepper jack cheese on top. Fold the ends of the dough over the meat and cheese. Use a fork to crimp the sides together. When they are all filled, folded, and crimped. Bake at 425 degrees for 12 minutes or until browned. Now while the Taco Pockets are cooking... what to do with the leftover meat in your pan? Add the rest of your cheese and 1/2 a cup of salsa verde. Cook over medium-low heat until everything is melted. Serve this dip with some chips!

Potato Skins

Ok, so it isn't just the skins of the potato, it's the entire potato. Really, why would I waste the inside?! Instead of scooping out the insides I cut the whole potato into slices. These make a great snack but I also serve them as a potato side dish with dinner! Or... serve them with dinner but then continue to snack on them the rest of the night, yikes lol! The boys have abandoned me for a trip to Best Buy so I am watching a great chick flick (Because I Said So with Diane Keaton) and snacking. What is it with guys and Best Buy?!

Ingredients
4 russet potatoes
2 tablespoons oil
Salt and pepper
Colby-jack cheese
Bacon, cooked and diced
Green onions for garnish, optional
Sour cream, optional

Directions
Clean and scrub potatoes well. Slice the potatoes into 1/4" thick slices. Place the slices in a plastic bag with the oil and shake. Place the oiled potato slices on a lightly buttered baking sheet and season each side with salt and pepper. Cook at 375 for 30 minutes. Flip potatoes over and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Remove the pan from oven and place a pinch of cheese and bacon on top of each potato slab. Return the pan to the oven and cook until cheese is melted and bubbly, about 5 minutes. Serve with green onions and sour cream, if desired.

Soft Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies are so much fun to make, and you can't eat a sugar cookie without smiling! Walmart has these amazing packaged sugar cookies by Lofthouse. They are so soft, they melt in your mouth, and they are the first cookie to disappear at potlucks. Have you had them? Well, I found this soft sour cream sugar cookie recipe and thought I would give it a try. I didn't have high expectations and I was a little put off by the sour cream the recipe called for; but, this recipe is an exact match to the Lofthouse packaged cookies! These cookies are AMAZING! So soft and melt in your mouth delicious!

Sugar Cookie Ingredients
1 cup shortening(I use Crisco)
2 cups sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
4 1/2 - 5 cups all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder

Cookie Directions
Mix the shortening, sugar, sour cream, vanilla, and eggs together. Stir 4 1/2 cups flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder together in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix. Now, the dough works best if cooled, so refrigerate the dough (in the bowl no need to cover the bowl) for 45 minutes. Generously flour your counter top and roll out the cookies. I had to flour the dough as well to keep it from sticking to my rolling pin. Cut the cookies, I used the rim of a drinking glass to cut my cookies. I was able to roll and cut 48 cookies total. Make sure you use non-stick foil or butter/flour your pan and bake them at 400 degrees until just barely light golden brown on the bottom, for me this was 9-10 minutes. After cookies have cooled you can frost and decorate.
Butter Cream Frosting Ingredients
2 pound bag powdered sugar (I added an additional cup to get the thicker consistency I wanted)
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
Food coloring, if desired

Frosting Directions
Beat all ingredients together until smooth. Generously frost the sugar cookies! Top with sprinkles for extra fun :-) Now, because I lost a bet... Justin, you are awesome! I never thought you would be able to frost a cookie using two colors, but you did it! You are a supreme decorator, so superb in fact that I think you should do all decorating from now on, lol :-P

Spicy Chicken Pasta

This is a great weeknight dinner! I like that there's a little green leafy vegetable slipped in, Justin said that he liked the bites with spinach better than the bites without! Wow! I also like that everything cooks in one large skillet, it makes clean up a cinch! Which meant we had plenty of time to see Night at the Museum 2 (great family movie) and watch Jon & Kate Plus 8 announce their divorce (which made Abbott cry). Making this pasta reminded me of an awesome stop-motion animation video!

PES gives his unique vision of cooking a spaghetti dinner. He transposes various household items into their humorous counterparts in the kitchen (a clove of garlic becomes a Rubik's cube, dry spaghetti become pick-up sticks). I love watching it!

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
Cajun seasoning
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 can of tomatoes with green chilies, pulsed in a blender to break up the large chunks
A big handful of fresh spinach
1 box of Gemelli pasta(or whatever is you prefer)

Directions
Prepare pasta according to package directions. Sprinkle lots of Cajun seasoning on the chicken breasts and cook them in a large skillet. When the chicken is done take it out of the pan, shred the breasts, and set aside for later. Now pour the olive oil into the same large skillet. Add the minced garlic. Cook over medium-low heat until tender. Add the can of tomatoes with green chilies (remember to mince or pulse it, you want the consistency of salsa). Let the juice cook and reduce. Add butter and flour to the skillet to make a roux. Add milk and stir continuously until it starts to thicken up, if it gets too thick add a little more milk. Add the shredded chicken, Parmesan cheese, and salt to the sauce. Now shake on some more Cajun seasoning, taste the sauce, and shake on some more! If I were to guess I think I used 3-4 teaspoons of Cajun seasoning. When the cheese is melted add the spinach and pasta, cook just until spinach starts to wilt.

Alice Springs Chicken

This is a copycat recipe from Outback Steakhouse. The chicken is marinated in honey mustard then smothered with bacon and cheese. Justin loves honey mustard almost as much as he loves peanut butter and chocolate, so I thought this would make the perfect Father's Day dinner!

Ingredients
1/4 cup spicy brown (or Grey Poupon) mustard
1/4 cup regular yellow mustard
1/2 cup honey
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
8 slices bacon, cooked
1 cup shredded cheese (I've used Cheddar and Colby Jack, both work great)
Salt and Pepper

Directions
Flatten the chicken breasts, to do this I place the chicken between waxed paper and beat it with my rolling pin (yes, it is as much fun as it sounds). In a large Ziploc bag combine the spicy brown mustard, regular mustard, and honey; mix it around in the bag until well combines. Add the flattened chicken breasts to the bag and place in the refrigerator to marinade for 6-24 hours. After marinading the chicken place it in a skillet on medium-high heat to cook. When the chicken is done lay the bacon over it and sprinkle with cheese. Once the cheese is melted you can serve it!