Peppermint Fudge

Happy Holidays!!
I've been thinking about Christmas songs...
Like for the first time.
I've never really paid attention to the lyrics before, and they're actually really good! Next time you sing "O Come All Ye Faithful," or "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," or "Joy to the World," I challenge you to listen to the words. Phrases like "Mild he lays his glory by," and "Come let us adore him," and "He comes to make his blessings flow as far as the curse is found," are deeply beautiful, profound, and heavy.

Alright recipe time.

Chocolate and peppermint are the flavors of this wonderful season, and fudge is a great gift, wrapped in cellophane alongside sugar cookies and candy canes. This recipe is easily one of my new favorite classics because it is incredibly easy, thick and rich, and oh so tasty.
Not to mention it takes all of 3 minutes to make.


Ingredients:
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (14 oz) package semi sweet chocolate chips
1 (10 oz) package Andes mint baking chips
about 3 candy canes to crush for garnish


Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine the chocolate and mint chips.
2. Stir in sweetened condensed milk.
3. Microwave for 3 minutes and stir until smooth. (This is a good time to crush the candy canes)
4. Pour into a 9 x 9 pan (Yeah... I had a round 8" glass dish which worked great! But your fudge gets thicker for every downsize of pan)
5. Sprinkle crushed candy canes atop fudge, let cool, and enjoy.


Thanks to Vanessa from V and Co for the recipe!

Lemon Frozen Yogurt

I am not ashamed to say I love Disney.
I was never really into princesses when I was little (...yeah I know), but I filled that chasm with some of their more adventurous movies.
(In my defense I always loved the ones about animals like 101 Dalmatians and Aristocats and Lion King and Peter Pan and such.)
YET. I will always have a place in my heart for Disney Pixar. I am convinced that their movies are the crown of entertainment. Right next to Veggie Tales. <3
Anyway, I watched Ratatouille and got all inspired and stuff. Not just a desire for a critic-esque taste for good food, French music, travel, and just plain Paris. But Remy inspired me to make something.
But, you know how it goes, you eat dinner during the movie and ruin your appetite. And there's nothing in the house. And you don't want to make a giant proportion of something.
So I made frozen yogurt. Kind of. It was super sugary...


Ingredients:
1/2 cup lowfat vanilla yogurt
1/8 cup sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp lemon juice (to taste)

Directions:
1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.
2. Cover and freeze, stirring every 20-30 minutes until it reaches desired consistency.
3. Go watch a Disney movie.

Thanks to Your Lighter Side, recipe adapted from there.

Barbecue Macaroni

This recipe is pretty self-explanatory. It's macaroni and beef drowning in barbecue sauce.

Which tastes a lot better than it sounds.
And just MIGHT be healthier than cheese-swimming macaroni. Maybe.

Yield about 4-5 servings

Ingredients:

3/4 lb ground beef

14 oz barbecue sauce (I used mostly Lucille's BBQ, with some of my homemade recipe)

14 oz water

6 oz elbow macaroni (uncooked)

Directions:

1. Brown ground beef in a large skillet.

2. Add barbecue sauce and water, stirring well. Bring to a slow simmer.

3. Stir in macaroni and simmer on low, stirring every 5 minutes or so.

4. Cook until macaroni is tender, about 30 minutes.

(You might have to let it sit for a few minutes before eating because in my case there was a lot of excess water)

Thanks to Kathy Sterling from Food.com for the recipe.

HOMEMADE BBQ Sauce!

I am so excited to share this recipe.

Like really stinkin' excited.

This is one of my first made-up recipes. 

Like how legit chefs do it. 

Like taste it and add more and hope for the best.

But the best always comes out 'cause of my street smarts, brah!

Aw.

Yeah.

How did I get this wondrous feeling, you ask? Well, I needed barbecue sauce for my pasta, of course! (Recipe here) No really. You don't do that? 

But I didn't have enough bottled goodness. So I scoured the internet (okay not scoured, but Google only shows one page of search results, right?) and found some tasty-sounding substitutes. 

But alas, I did not have everything they called for.

But I got the gist of what the flavor they were grasping for, so I began to make an educated guess. 

Or a hypothesis. 

Except unlike elementary school science projects, I guessed at the same time as the experiment.

So yeah. Barbecue sauce.

Ingredients:

1 cup ketchup

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 Tbsp mustard

1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

pinch of salt

1/4 tsp lemon juice (Yeah, I know. Weird, right? I thought it was done; it tastes alright without it, and then I saw this in the fridge. SO glad I did. It's too sweet without.)

Directions:

1. Place the ketchup in a bowl and work your way down the list, stirring and adding as you go. Mix until well integrated. (No brown sugar clumps or ribbons of mustard. Ew.)

(Somewhat) Spicy Hawaiian Burgers

What's summer without some grillin'?! And these are chicken with whole wheat buns, so they're on the lighter side, right? (yes I know they're 1/3 lb each... shhh...)
Something else I should mention... Oh yes. I have never attempted chicken burgers. I have never worked with ground chicken. I didn't know there was such a thing. And yet, these turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself!
Now, I know I labeled these spicy, but they aren't necessarily hot. But I'm not complaining-the barbacoa at Chipotle is enough to get my eyes watering. But for you spice-prone folk, I'm sure you could add more paprika and chili powder to spice it to your liking.

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground chicken
1/4 cup less sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp seasoning salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 clove garlic, minced (I accidentally left this out and they turned out great. Either way.)

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp chili powder

6 slices pepper jack cheese (Another reason it wasn't as spicy- they only had regular jack cheese at the deli)

6 pineapple rings or equivalent slices

6 whole wheat hamburger buns (I admit, I doubted these. But they were oh so good.)

Directions:

1. Combine the ground chicken, soy sauce, seasoning salt, cumin, garlic, 1/2 the paprika, and 1/2 the chili powder. Lightly mix with your hands and divide into 6 even balls. Form patties, making them slightly thinner in the middle and sprinkle with remaining paprika and chili powder.

2. Refrigerate about 30 minutes.

3. Preheat the grill to medium heat. Coat grates lightly with oil.

4. Grill burgers about 6 minutes per side. They should flip easily when they are ready to turn. If they want to stick, give them another minute.

5. Top with cheese for the last minute of cooking time to melt.

6. Grill buns and pineapple until grill marks appear. (Both sides for the pineapple)

7. Assemble burgers and enjoy.

Thanks to Jen from Homemade by Holman for the recipe.

Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

Hey hey! Today I have yet another party post!! This is a cream cheese spread/dip that is GREAT with fruit, animal crackers, or graham crackers. I also noticed it kind of tastes like the inside of a white Costco cake, which just happens to be the best part of said cake. So this is definitely a keeper. Not to mention it's really easy.

I personally used this spread to go with a "cake sandwich" bar for my brother's birthday.
(He didn't want the cookie-cutter cake and ice cream for his birthday, if you'll excuse the pun) 
We had pound cake and angel food cake baked in loaf pans and different kinds of toppings and spreads: Nutella, hot fudge, strawberries, blueberries, chocolate chips, cool whip, etc. For such an easy dessert, it turned out super tasty. Any type of build-your-own snack/dessert is a great idea for both picky and hungry crowds. This abstract idea went over surprisingly well! I wish I had pictures :( If I find some I'll post them later.

On to the spread recipe! Nothing is very exact; it's all to taste. I like it like this because it's not an overload of sweet, but if you prefer, you can add more sugar and vanilla if you prefer it sweeter. Let me know if you come up with a good variation! (hmm... maybe add some brown sugar?)


Ingredients:

4 oz cream cheese (about half a package; I used the spreadable kind from Philadelphia so it was easier to stir)
4 oz Cool Whip (about half a normal tub)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Mix it all together, serve with fruit, cake, or anything else, and store in the fridge. (Ooh I wonder if it would be good frozen... Perhaps frozen in between graham crackers...)

BBQ Chopped Salad (Stonefire Grill Taste-a-Like)

I am SO excited to share this recipe with you!! :) It is superfluously tasty and the shopping list fills up your produce drawer. It's on the healthier side and totally great for summer because of the savory barbecue flavors and fresh, sweet veggies.
Plus, Stonefire Grill has an amazing BBQ Chopped Salad and this tastes a lot like it. I highly recommend their establishment.

This recipe is definitely one to save!

Ingredients:
1/2 head iceberg lettuce, chopped
1/2 head romaine lettuce, chopped
1 cup cooked and drained black beans (canned) (Optional. My family's not a fan, so they got left out.)
2 ears fresh corn, cooked and corn kernels removed (I absolutely love fresh corn from the cob and if I would change something about this recipe next time, I would add more, maybe another 1/2 head?)
3/4 cup chopped red cabbage
3/4 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup shredded cheese (Recipe called for Jack, but I only had a Mexican blend in the fridge and it worked fairly well; I would have preferred Jack though. I might add more cheese next time, also)
1 large tomato, chopped (I used about half the tomato, with the rest on the side to add if desired)
about 1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken, tossed with 1 1/2 tsp BBQ sauce (Best part.)
3 Tbsp green onions, chopped
3 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1 cup crumbled tortilla chips/strips
1 cup bottled ranch dressing
2-3 Tbsp bottled BBQ sauce, to taste (I used Lucille's Original and it was great)


Directions:
(The recipe dictates how to do it so it looks nice and fancy, but in the end it'll get mixed up anyway. It's a salad, is the how-to really needed?)

1. Fill a salad bowl with a mixture of chopped lettuces. Place the beans, corn, cabbage, carrots, cheese, and tomato in sections atop lettuce in wedges like a wheel. Pile chicken in center and chill until serving time.
2. Just before serving, sprinkle with green onions, cilantro, and tortilla chips.
3. Toss with ranch mixed with BBQ sauce.

Makes about 5 servings. (Recipe said 8, but 4 people ate almost all of it)


Thanks to Stonefire Grill and Natalie Haughton of the LA Daily News for the recipe!