Peanut Butter Pie from Fiddlehead

Crust:
2 Oreo crusts or other graham cracker crust

Ganache:
1/4 Cup heavy cream
2 oz semisweet chocolate chips

Filling:
5 oz cream cheese
1 1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 smooth peanut butter
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups chilled heavy cream

1. Prepare Ganache: Bring 1/4 cup heavy cream to a boil in a small pan over medium-high heat, or microwave for 2 minutes (careful if boils over quickly) and pose over chocolate chips. Whisk together until smooth. Pour into pie shell and spread evenly over bottom. Refrigerate.

2. Prepare Filling: In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer set on high, whip cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add milk, peanut butter, and vanilla. Beat until well mixes.

3. In a separate bowl, whip chilled cream until stiff and fold into peanut butter mixture. Spoon gently into chilled crust and smooth out. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

4. Garnish with chocolate shavings, crushed peanuts, whipped cream, or extra ganache and serve.

Shrimp Scampi

1 TBS. Olive Oil
1/4 cup Chicken Broth
4 Garlic Cloves, minced or 1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/4 cup Clam Juice
Salt and Pepper
2 Lbs. Extra Large Shrimp, peeled
4 TBS. Cold, Unsalted Butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 TBS. Lemon Juice
2 TBS. Chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Heat oil, then add garlic. Cook for 30 seconds. Add chicken broth, clam juice, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp pepper; bring to a boil. Add shrimp, cover and cook until shrimp are slightly translucent; about 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, stir, cover and cook until shrimp are just cooked through, about 2 minutes. Put shrimp aside. Bring sauce to a boil until reduced by half, about 1 minute. Whisk in butter 1 piece at a time; stir in lemon juice and parsley. Pour mixture over shrimp. Serve over hot spaghetti noodles. Serve 4 to 6.

Chicken Tortellini Soup

2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 package 3 cheese tortellini (frozen or fresh)
2 cans chicken broth
1 can Italian seasoned stewed tomatoes
Any veggies you want to add. I usually add: peas, carrots, zucchini (corn, celery, etc is good too)
Italian seasonings
Parmesean cheese

In a large pot, add 2 cans chicken broth and can of stewed tomatoes; do not drain juice. (cut up tomatoes if they are too big). Bring to boil. Add tortellini to cook in broth. While tortellini is cooking, prepare veggies. (I like to steam all my veggies first before I put them in the soup for time purposes. You can also cook the veggies in the broth.) Add veggies and shredded chicken once the tortellini is ready. Simmer for about 5 minutes, or until all veggies are completely cooked and everything warmed. Add any Italian seasons to taste, and sprinkle parmesean cheese on top. Serve Hot with rolls or croissants.

Homemade Oreos

Cookies:
1 pkg devil's food cake mix
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cube margarine, melted
Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/3 cup margarine
3 oz cream cheese
3 cups powdered sugar, divided
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 T light cream or milk
Preheat oven to 350. Prepare cookies; mix together cake mix, egg and melted margarine. Form into balls the size of walnut and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 7 to 10 minutes. Prepare filling: Cream margarine and cream cheese; gradually add 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar blended well. Beat in vanilla, remaining sugar, and enough cream to make filling spreading consistency. Spread filling between cooled cookies and enjoy!

These are very yummy. I like to double them for more to share.

Lets get together!

So this thursday we will be making strawberry jam at my house. Plan between 1:30-2:00. Just let me know if you can make it and I will let you know what to bring

Sizzling Summer Chicken Fajitas

1 TBS. Olive Oil
2 TBS. Lemon Juice
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Chili Powder
1 tsp. ground cumin (optional)
1/2 cup Fresh Cilantro, chopped
4 Chicken Breasts
1/2 of a Green Bell Pepper, cut into sticks
1/2 of an Onion, cut into sticks
Tortillas
Cheese
Sour Cream
Tomatoes

1. Combine olive oil, lemon juice, salt, chili powder, cumin, and cilantro in a zippered plastic bag. Add chicken breasts and shake gently to coat with the mixture. Marinate in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
2. In a large frying pan saute up the onions and green peppers.
3. Either grill up the chicken or just cook it in the frying pan. I use the same frying pan so that the onions and peppers get the marinade on them.
4. Slice the chicken into diagonal strips.
5. Place some chicken, onions and peppers on a tortilla and add some garnishes and enjoy.

Quick Chicken Parmesan

Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/4 lbs)
salt and pepper
1 T Olive oil
1 1/2 cups pasta sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add chicken and cook on both sides about 5 to 7 minutes, depending on thickness.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low. Spoon pasta sauce over chicken and simmer for additional 3 minutes. Sprinkle mozzarella, cover, and cook for an additional 2 minutes, or until cheese is melted and gooey. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese.

When I made it I put extra sauce in the pan and had spaghetti noodles with it. Also salad goes great with it or rolls.

Cream Cheese Chicken

This is a yummy and very easy recipe to make.

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts cubed
1 cube butter
1 pkg dry Italian Salad dressing mix
Put in crockpot and cook on high on low for 3 hours
Watch, it cooks fast
Then turn on high for 1 hour
1/2 hour before serving add:
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
Serve over rice

Made-Over Meatloaf

This is not your run of the mill meatloaf. It is delicious-and I don't even really like meatloaf. So easy, too!

Made-Over Meatloaf

2 eggs (beaten)
2 lb. lean ground beef
1 pkg. Stove Top Stuffing (dry)
1 c. water
1/2 c. bbq sauce (Famous Dave's Rich and Sassy is the very best!)

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl until well combined. Grease a large cookie sheet and shape mixture into two loaves (like french bread loaves). Bake 45-60 minutes at 350 degrees or to an internal temp of 165 degrees (until it is not pink inside at all). Approximately 10 minutes before it is done, remove it from the oven and spread approximately 1/4 c. more bbq sauce over the top of each loaf. Place back in the oven for about 10 more minutes.
Delicious served with mashed potatoes.

Labels

Remember when you're typing a new post to enter in a clear label for what you're writing about(ex: dessert, main dish, off topic, etc). I say this just because the labels will appear on the sidebar, so that one day if you wanted to look at all the beef recipes people have posted about, you could click on that and see only those recipes. I have added a few general labels, you can add what you want. Also, you can label it as more than one thing, for example: A steak recipe you can label it as a main dish and a beef recipe.

Main Dish-Crockpot Cranberry Chicken

Yeah! Im excited for this! Since Im not the best cook, I will start out with the easiest recipe I know that Chris and I just love. (Amy has tried this one already too :) )
And just to warn you, the recipe ingredients dont sound that great, but it really turns out yummy.

Thawed Chicken Breasts (however many you desire)
1 packet Lipton Onion Soup Mix
1 can whole cranberry sauce (brand doesn't matter)
1 small bottle Russian Salad Dressing
Cooked White Rice

Mix packet of Onion Soup mix, whole cranberry sauce and full bottle of Russian Salad dressing in medium bowl until blended. Place thawed chicken breasts in crockpot, cover with cranberry sauce mix. Cook on High for 4-6 hours or until chicken is cooked through. (Chicken will turn color of sauce, but....it makes it yummy :)
Serve hot over cooked white rice.

Here we go and Steak Marinade

So we have been talking about getting together to teach each other our strengths and improve our weaknesses in cooking. I have started the blog, so from here you can post:
-Recipes that you enjoy and would like to share
-Questions about cooking/baking
-Requests for certain recipes
-OR anything else you would like ;)

We will get together and teach each other how to do what we do best. Once I have heard from everyone we can start teaching. Also, if you can think of anyone else you think would be interested, let me know so I can invite them. If you have questions you can e-mail me or just comment. I'll start by sharing a yummy recipe that we tried the other night:

Ultimate Grilled Steak

1/2 cup A.1. Original Steak Sauce
1/2 cup Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
2 small cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano leaves
2 steaks

Mix first 4 ingredients. Pour 3/4 into ziplock bag(reserve remaining marinade to serve with steak), add steaks. Marinade for at least 30 min. Cook steaks to desired doneness and serve with reserved marinade.

*I only made 1/2 recipe of the marinade and it was plenty for 2 steaks.