Teriyaki Chicken!

Just tried this recipe last night and decided it was good enough to share! It's super easy and the ingredients are even easier to have on hand!

This sauce takes less than 15 minutes! I got the recipe here but I decided it needed more sugar, go figure! So I adjusted it a bit!

What You'll Need:

2/3 C. Soy Sauce (low sodium)

1/4 C. Honey

1/4 C. Brown Sugar

1/4 C. - 1/2 C. White Sugar (add to taste)

2-4 Garlic Cloves, minced (I always use the pre-minced stuff in the jars; 1 tsp= 1 clove)

1/4 tsp. Ginger

2 tsp. Apple Cider Vinegar

2/3 C. Water

2 Tbs. Cornstarch

1-2 Chicken Breasts

What You're Gonna Do:

In a saucepan cook soy sauce, honey, sugars, garlic, ginger, and vinegar on medium- high heat. In a small bowl mix together the water and cornstarch, then slowly add it to the mixture on the stove. Bring to a boil then simmer for 6-8 minutes. That's it! We poured ours over chicken we threw on the grill! We ate ours with a side of Jasmine Rice and a frozen bag of Stir Fry Veggies! Easy Peasy!

One day I will have to compile a list of all of my go to, favorite, less than 30 minute meals!

Mormon Tiramisu!

I am soooo happy to present this dessert! Darren and I LOVE the smell of coffee, no we don't drink it, BUT we sure LOVE the smell of it! We purposley walk by the coffee isle in the grocery stores and take big, deep wiffs! Weird!? ya, maybe, but that's why ya'll love us! lol.

I searched high and low for a GOOD "mormon" version which didn't include alcohol or coffee but would still taste as close to the real thing as "mormonly" possible. Let's just say I didn't find anything worth testing out. It is an Italian dessert after all and I don't want to drag it through the mud! I knew pretty quickly I'd have to concoct something myself! And I did, and I was SUPER nervous it wouldn't turn out, BUT IT DID! I served it to guests who weren't fans of coffee either, (crazy I know, but I did have a back up dessert if this flopped, which it didn't!) They both loved this dessert and had 2 huge helpings a piece! A word of caution: I've never tried a real tiramisu so I have no idea if this tastes similar but I assume it does, since I tried so hard to get it similar. And even if it's not, it's super delicious!!!!!!!! Also I live in Rexburg so I had no clue where to get lady fingers, but the Nilla wafers were a delicious substitute!

***If you weren't aware, Kahlua is a Coffee Flavored Alcoholic Beverage. Extremeley popular to use when baking such desserts as chocolate cake, fruit dips, tiramisu and nameless others. I used a Kahlua flavored syrup that contains NO ALCOHOL. Also, I couldn't find anything on the bottle or on their website that says they use real coffee to flavor this syrup!***

<------ p.s. I bought this at Sam's Club! And I did not mean to get Sugar Free! Sugar Free worked fine but I usually avoid Sugar Free at all costs, because of the funky after taste Splenda usually leaves. For this recipe I didnt even notice! =D

A classic Tiramisu is made up of 3 layers: Whipped Cream, a Marscarpone Custard layer (I got the recipe from here) and the cookies (traditionally Ladyfingers) soaked in coffee (we will use a hot chocolate with Kahlua syrup)! It sounds more like a Trifle now, doesn't it!? For this recipe I will seperate the ingredients and the directions for each layer! Read ALL of the directions before attempting!

Marscarpone Layer:

6 Egg YOLKS

3/4 c. Sugar

2/3 c. Milk

16 oz, 1 lb Marscarpone Cheese (I found mine at Wal-Mart in the cheese section by the Deli!)

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar. Whisk in the milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture boils. Boil gently for 1 minute, then cool slightly and finally, cover and let sit in the fridge for 1 hour.

After an hour, beat the marscarpone cheese into the custard. (Warning: do NOT taste this stuff alone, it's not that great! And that goes for all of the layers separately! Something happens when they sit together in layers overnight.... MAGIC!)

 

 

Whipped Cream Layer:

1 1/4 c. Heavy Cream

1 tsp. Vanilla

3-4 Tbs. Powdered Sugar

Freeze Bowl and beater for 30 minutes prior, it helps whip up the cream better! Beat the heavy cream until stiff peaks are just about to form, then add the vanilla and powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks do form! Be careful not to over beat or else you will have a thick butter like substance!

Soaked Cookies layer:

2 Boxes of Vanilla Wafers (Next time I want to try Twinkies!)

1+1/2 C. Milk

1/4 c. Cocoa

1/4 c. Sugar

1/8 tsp. Salt

1+1/2 tsp. Vanilla

1/4 c. +2 Tbs. Kahlua Flavoring Syrup (Or coffee flavored or tiramisu flavor! They have it! I've seen it online!)

In a saucepan heat the milk until almost boiling. In a small bowl whisk together the sugar, cocoa and salt. Add the cocoa mixture to the almost boiling milk. Whisk on medium heat until thoroughly incorporated. Take off the heat and add in the vanilla. Pause at this step until you are ready to assemble the tiramisu!

Once the Marscarpone Custard and the Whipped Cream Layer are ready you can pour some of the Vanilla Wafers in an 8x8 pan and pour the chocolate mixture over them. I let mine sit in the mixture for 2-3 minutes. You want them to soak up the flavoring but not make the cookies complete mush. Repeat until all of the cookies have been soaked. (Does this recipe look familiar to you? It's the recipe for Hot Chocolate on the side of the Hershey's Cocoa Box!)

 

Assembly:

Take the soaked wafer cookies and put 3 layers on the bottom of a Trifle bowl.

Add a layer of marscarpone and a whipped cream layer on top of that! Repeat making sure you end with a whipped cream layer on top! Dust with cocoa! (In my trifle bowl I was able to get 3 layers of each!)
THIS NEXT STEP IS IMPORTANT: Refrigerate overnight, or for at least 24 hours so that the flavors can mature!

We ate ours with some homemade hot chocolate! The same recipe that I used to soak the vanilla wafers in! I let the guests choose if they would like some kahlua flavoring in their hot chocolate or not!

And if you are curious, this is what the Marscarpone Cheese packaging looks like! I bought mine at Wal-Mart in the cheese section by the deli, not the cheese section in the back with the cottage cheese, sour cream, cheese sticks etc.!

Brownie Bottom Cupcakes!

Like brownies!? Like cake!? Then you'll love these Brownie Bottom Cupcakes, which I've renamed for this post as Valentine's Day Cupcakes! These are scrumptious! And really you can use any variety of cake mix, with Valentine's coming up I used a Strawberry mix! I also used a Dark Chocolate brownie mix by Ghirardelli! YUM!

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

1 Pkg. Brownie Mix (I used Dark Chocolate by Ghirardelli. It has big chocolate chips in it!)

2 Eggs

1/2 c. Oil

1/4 c. Water

1 Pkg. Cake Mix (I used Strawberry!!!)

2 Tbs. Oil

1+1/3 c. Water

3 Eggs

 

 

 

 

 

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350. In a bowl mix together the bronwie mix, 2 eggs, 1/2 c. oil, and 1/4 c. water, mix until well combined. Set aside.

2. In a seperate bowl mix together cake mix, 2 Tbs. oil, 1+1/3 c. water and 3 eggs until well combined. set aside.

3.Line a cupcake pan with papers. Fill brownie mix 1/3 of the way in the cupcake pans, now add the cake mix until the cupcake pans are 2/3 full.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, top with frosting! I used a vanilla frosting. This is a recipe I've been eyeing for quite awhile and I'm SOOOO excited I finally remembered to use it! YUMMMM!

If you're interested here's the recipe for Fluffy White Frosting, or look below!

Ingredients:

1 c. White Sugar

1/3 c. Water

1/4 tsp. Cream of Tartar

2 Egg Whites

1+1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1/2 c. Powdered Sugar

Directions:

1. In a saucepan stir together sugar, water and cream of tartar. Cook over medium-high heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is bubbly.
2. In a mixing bowl beat the egg whites and vanilla until soft peaks form.
3.Gradually add the cooled sugar mixture while whipping constantly.
4. Now add 1/2 c. powdered sugar and beat the frosting until stiff peaks form. This will take 7-10 minutes.
This frosting is delicious but it's too soft to use with a decorating tip. Yes I tried! I will probably experiment with this frosting a bit more to get it to a consistency to hold it's shape. Enjoy!

Cookie Dough Truffles

Cookie Dough Truffles! Sounds incredible right!? Turns out it's just eggless cookie dough dipped in chocolate with a fancy name. lol. BUT that doesn't make them any less fabulous!

If you've been on the internet recently looking up new recipes, I'm sure you've come across a similar recipe and book marked it for later.  I know I have, with at least 3 different "eggless" cookie dough recipes. Well today I was just a hankerin for something chocolatey, then I remembered this idea. THEN I remembered that I already have an amazing cookie dough recipe! **Light Bulb!** And to make it "eggless" for health reasons, I just **drumroll**** removed the eggs! I know, I'm a GENIUS! Enough, jibber jabber, here's the recipe!

For the Cookie Dough You Will Need:

1 C. Quick Oats

1/2 C. Butter

1/2 C. Sugar

1/2 C. Brown Sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 C. Flour

1/2 tsp. Baking Soda (I don't now if this has any effect on the taste, but I added it anyways.)

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder (ditto to above comment in parenthesis)

1/4 tsp. Salt

Miniature Chocolate Chips (as many as you'd like, Optional)

What You're Gonna Do:

First off, place 1 cup of Quick Oats in a food processor (or blender) until it becomes a fine powder. Set this aside for a bit.

In a bowl cream together 1/2 cup Butter, 1/2 cup Brown Sugar and 1/2 cup White Sugar. Add in the vanilla and stir. In another bowl, whisk together the powdered Quick Oats, 1 cup Flour, 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda, 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder and 1/4 tsp. Salt. Add the dry mixture to the sugar mixture and blend until well combined. Mix in Miniature Chocolate Chips. Roll into small balls, I used a Tablespoon to measure out my dough.

Dip and roll the balls into the chocolate and let them set on wax paper.

I let mine stay in the fridge until I was ready to eat them. I like the chocolate shell to have a fun crunch to it!! Eat and ENJOY!

BBQ Shredded Pork Sandwiches

Quite possibly my very favorite slow cooker recipe! Super easy and extremley delicious! It's also a recipe with no true "rules" or measurements, making it very easy to work with!

I was making this dinner for family and friends so I forgot to take a "finished" picture so all you get is this. But trust me these are AWESOME on Hawaiian King Rolls or some super soft Hamburger Buns!!!

What You'll Need:

2 Lb. Pork Roast

Apple Juice (just enough to cover the roast in the crock pot)

1/4 Cup of Liquid Smoke, I use the Mesquite flavor

BBQ Sauce, I use Sweet baby Rays Original

Canned, Crushed Pineapple

King Hawaiian Rolls, (yes, they are small, BUT these are seriously the best for shredded pork!)

What You're Gonna Do:

In a skillet on medium-high heat, brown the roast on ALL sides.

Put the roast in the crock pot and pour in the

apple juice until it completley covers the roast.

Add in 1/4 cup of Liquid Smoke. Cook on high for 2 hours and then on low for 4-6 hours. Take the roast out of the crock pot and pour out all of the juice.

Shred the roast. (Did you know you can shred pork and chicken with your Kitchenaide mixer!? Just use the paddle attachment. It only takes a few seconds!)

Place the shredded pork back into the crock pot. Add as much BBQ sauce as you'd like to keep the meat moist. Also add in the crushed pineapple, you can add as much as you like! (I usually go lighter on the BBQ Sauce and Crushed Pineapple and instead leave extra on the table so everyone can add as much as they want.)

After adding the BBQ Sauce and Crushed Pineapple I let it sit on high for about 30 minutes to warm it up.

Side Item Ideas: Corn on the Cob, Salad, Fruit Salad, Jello Salads, Cream of Corn, Chips, Grilled Pineapple, *Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts*, Shish Kebobs, etc!

**How to Make Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts**

I make these quite often especially when we're grilling! Super simple! You just take a Whole Water Chestnuts and wrap it in bacon. Use a toothpick to secure the bacon. Then, throw on the grill until the bacon is cooked! Fun, Simple, Delicious!