White Chocolate Popcorn

No picture due to the fact I got a little lax watching my white chocolate and had a problem with it seizing. I do it in the microwave in a glass bowl, microwaving for 30 second intervals, stirring in between. Then as it starts to melt, I drop it down to 15 seconds, stirring in between until it is melted (it doesn't take to long). But I kept doing 30 seconds until it resembled a crumbly mess. So don't do what I did. Either watch it careful OR use a double boiler. And remember to check all utensils and bowl for moisture, because that will also cause the chocolate to seize.

I did attempt to mix it in to my popcorn anyway, and the flavor was definitely there. I am not a huge white chocolate fan, but my daughter loved it. I think next time I would try it with chocolate and maybe even drizzle a little white chocolate over the top before putting into the fridge.

Everyone who tried this recipe on a board I frequent gave it rave reviews and said that everyone cleans them out quickly when the take it places.

Krispie White Chocolate Popcorn

A bag of movie theatre style microwave popcorn popped
1 bag white chocolate chips
2 Tablespoons peanut butter
1-2 cups of rice krispies
1/2-1cup cup chopped pecans

Pour popcorn in bowl and check for unpopped kernals. Don't want anyone breaking their teeth. Now melt one bag white chocolate chips until smooth and creamy, add the 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. Pour some of the white chocolate over the popcorn. Then layer in some rice krispies and pecans and stir. Pour more white chocolate over mixture, then the rest of the rice krispies and pecans and stir. Pour rest of chocolate over mixture. Do this quickly so the white chocolate mixture doesn't harden.

The purpose of layering is to keep the rice krispies and pecans from falling to the bottom. If you layer the ingredients, they are better incorporated and are more thoroughly coated.

Spread mixture on cookie sheet covered with wax paper and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes or so (too long in the fridge makes the popcorn chewy!!!) Keeps 2-3 days in a sealed container.

One thing that makes this so yummy is the rice krispies. There is a the lovely flavor of the white chocolate (peanut butter is so slight you really don't notice it), the buttery popcorn and the crunch of the rice krispies. Great textures and a tastey treat.

This would be a yummy neighbor gift for Christmas. Just put in a cute food bag or container with a fun note and deliver.

Pressed Sugar Cookies

Here is a different take on the sugar cookie. I like them because you get the sugar cookie taste without having to roll them out, making a mess of your whole kitchen. Plus these are very tastey.

I use to press them down with a glass dipped in sugar, and then I got a cookie stamp similar to the sunshine on the left, but my cookie stamp no longer resembles a sunshine since it was disfigured in a brawl with the disposal.



You have probably seen these stamps, but didn't realize how cool they were and how much you needed one. Now you have an excuse to go buy one... or you can just be the unexciting mom, and use the bottom of a glass. By the way, those are the same kind of moms that drop you off at school with their hair pulled up in a clip and in their bathrobe. Oh wait, I do that all the time.

This orginated from my friend Jeri. We love this recipe and these cookies always get gobbled up. I also like that if you want to get fancy, you can use colored sugar (just put sugar in a jar with a few drops of food color and shake). So color them to match the holidays or event. On to the recipe!!!



Sugar Cookies

1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. powdered sugar
1 c. margarine
1 c. oil
2 eggs
4 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla

Cream margarine and sugars until smooth. Add vanilla, oil and eggs. Mix again until blended. Combine dry ingredients and slowy add to creamed mixture. When combine, take about a teaspoonful and roll into a ball. Roll in sugar and put on cookie sheet. When cookie sheet is full, go back with your cookie stamp (or boring glass), dip in sugar and press each cookie down.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

These cookies are soft (thus all the 2 kinds of sugar and the margarine and oil). Give them a try and let me know how they turned out!

Mexican Chicken Chowder

Not sure where this originated, but I got it from my Mom. So, speak up if this is yours.

As we head into cold weather season, I think warm fires and soups. This one is a winner with everyone in my family. It has a very creamy texture, which comes from the cream and cheese with a hint of spice from the chilies, cumin and hot sauce. Very rich and delicious.

Mexican Chicken Chowder

1 1/2 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bit size pieces (or I use my canned chicken)

1/2 cup chopped, onion

1 clove of garlic, minced

3 tablespoons butter

2 cubes chicken boullion

1 cup water

3/4 teaspoon ground cumin

2 cups half and half cream

2 cups shredded Monterery Jack cheese

1 (14.75 oz) can cream style corn

1 (4 oz) can green chilies, diced

1 dash hot pepper sauce (optional)

1 tomato, chopped

fresh cilantro (garnish)

sour cream

In dutch oven (or pot) brown chicken in butter adding the onion and garlic part way through. Cook until chicken is no longer pink and onion begins to turn transluscent. Dissolve boullion in hot water and pour in pan. Season with cumin, cover and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes.

Add half and half cream, cheese, corn, chilies and hot pepper sauce. Cook, stirring frequently until cheese is melted and it is all mixed together well. Stir in tomato and serve in a bowl with cilantro garnish. Can add some sour cream, tortiall chips and avocado on top.

Canning Chicken

My sister emailed me a great deal on fresh, hormone free chicken for 1.48 a lb. They are only doing delivery to Washington, Oregon and Idaho right now.

Here is the link...

Zaycon Foods

My mom, some friends and I got together last spring and canned chicken for the first time. It went amazingly well. I was always a little nervous about using a pressure cooker, but after reading the directions and doing it once, found it pretty easy.

I had thought that I posted the canning chicken directions on this website and then realized I posted it on my Mark and Lorri blog. So here is a link if you are interested in buying a 40 lb box of chicken and are not sure what to do with it.

Mark and Lorri Blog on canning chicken

I also just want to add.. it is great on a busy day, being able to grab a bottle of chicken I canned myself (so I know what is in it) and make a casserole, soup, enchiladas and so on, in half the time. I highly recommend you giving this a try if you haven't. Here is a picture of the finished product. We did pork with a sauce and chicken with just a little salt.



Any questions... please feel free to comment and I will check back and answer what I can.

Buttlermilk Syrup - YUM!

Oh my goodness! What a wondeful way to start out the day. I was actually looking for a German Pancake recipe and stumbled upon the syrup. I know my sisters have talked about how good buttlermilk syrup can be, but have never made/tried it myself. Can I just say... it was delicious. All my kids and my husband couldn't say enough good things about it. You want to just take a spoon and eat it out of the pan. But considering it has 1 cube of butter, how could it not be wonderful.



Buttermilk Syrup

1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup butter (or 1 cube)
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a saucepan (us one bigger than you think because the syrup will foam up from the baking soda), combine the first five syrup ingredients; bring to a boil. Boil for 7 minutes (I stirred mine periodically so it wouln't burn). Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and pour over anything you would regular syrup... pancakes, waffles, german pancakes etc.

Like I mentioned, the syrup foams, so use a bigger pan that you think. I didn't have buttermilk so I poured about 1 tablespoon of vinegar in 1 cup or regular milk and let it sit for a few minutes. Then used 3/4 of a cup of that. As the syrup boils (on low temp) it will start to turn a lovely carmel brown and when it cools slightly, will thicken up.

I served mine with German Pancakes aka Puff Pancakes. So I thought I would include that recipe too.

German Pancakes
6 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put butter in 9 X 13 pan and place in oven just until butter melts. Mean while, place eggs, flour, milk and salt in blender; cover and process until smooth. Pour batter in 9 X 13 pan with melted butter. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes. Serve with buttermilk syrup, powder sugar or regular syrup.

Crockpot Tortilla Soup

Fall has arrived! What goes better with Fall than warm soup. So I am sharing this easy, yummy soup that you can cook in your crockpot all day, that will make your house smell good.



Crockpot Tortilla Soup

1.5 lbs chicken breast cooked/shredded (I put them in with the rest of the soup ingredients whole and frozen, let them cook and shred at the end of the cooking day... much easier.
1 15 oz. can tomatoes
1 10 oz. can enchilada sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
1 4 oz. can green chiles, chopped
1 clove garlic, mined
2 cups water
1 14.5 oz can chicken broth
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf
1 10 oz. package frozen corn
fresh bunch of cilantro
vegetable oil
corn tortillas
shredded cheese
fresh avacado

Throw all items except cliantro, vegetable oil, corn tortillas, shredded cheese and avacado in crockpot and cook all day. After cooking, shred chicken breasts if place in whole.

Preheat ove to 400 degrees, brush tortillas with vegetable oil, cut into strips and spread on baking sheet, crisp in ove until golden and crunchy.

Serve soup with crisp tortilla strips, chopped fresh cilantro, shredded cheese and fresh cubed avacado. We also make cheese quesadillas to go along the side with salsa/sour cream.

Notes from recipe owner: This recipe is very easy and good. I often double the recipe and place the other half in the freezer to eat at a later meal. My children also don't like chucnks so I puree the green chilies and tomatoes in the blender and add that to the soup and use onion flakes instead.

Gingersnap Cookies and Pumpkin Dip

We are headed into the holidays, which usually means parties, and taking treats to share. We scour through our recipe boxes and the internet looking for something "new", but good. Since we will be sharing with our friends. If you like pumpkin flavor, then this is a winner. Plus it makes a very pretty presentation and is also something different.

I put the pumpkin dip in a pretty dish on a platter and surround it with the gingersnaps. Make your gingersnaps smaller so you don't have to worry about people double dipping. If you are in a hurry, Costoc sells a big tub of gingersnap cookies which are yummy, and a decent price. You can also buy those wafer thing gingersnap cookies at Safeway. They can be slightly expensive though.

Pumpkin Cream Chees Dip

4 cups powder sugar
2 8 oz. packages cream cheese
1 30 oz. can pumpkin pie filling mix
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger

Beat Sugar with cream cheese and then add everything else and whip until fluffy and combined. Pour into a bowl.

Mom's Ginger Snaps (from allrecipes.com)

1 c packed brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/3 cup white sugar for decoration

Preheat ove to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, oil, molasses, and egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger; stir into the molasses mixture. Roll dough into 1 1/4" balls. Roll each ball in white sugar before placing 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in preheated oven, or until center is firm. Cool on wire racks.

We cut the pumpkin dip recipe in half. It makes a quit a bit. I think I would also cut out 1 cup of powder sugar and then add that back in at the end until it was the desired sweetness.
We made our ginger snaps smaller and cooked them a little less time because of the size. I wanted a one dipper size to prevent people from double dipping (which would happen with a larger cookie). Hope you enjoy.