Muddy Buddies

Here is the recipe for Chex Muddy Buddies. There was a girl in my Bio class (a looooong time ago) who brought these delicious chocolaty morsels to every "party" that we had--and they were the biggest hit. They're easy to make, and loved by kids and adults alike. Caution: they can be addicting. Exercise proper self-control when consuming this product.

BTW I found the recipe on the back of the cereal box, but it's online as well.

Prep time: 15 min
Start to finish: 15 min
Yield: 18 servings (1/2 cup each)

Ingredients
9 cups Chex cereal (any "flavor")
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions
1. Measure cereal into a large bowl, set aside.
2. In a 1-quart microwaveable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter uncovered for 1-minute, stir. Microwave 30-seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring evenly until coated. Pour into a 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.
3. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag and shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

I just made some of these tonight to pack up in little baggies for school. They make great treats because they're relatively mess-free to eat in the library. ;) And I can exercise portion control by putting just a little bit in each bag.

Better than Cold Stone® Milkshake

I just made the BEST milkshake ever—thanks to my brother-in-law! While down for a visit, he shared with us about his “protein shakes” (a.k.a. glorified milkshakes), and I decided tonight—as odd as the recipe sounded—to give it a try. After all, if it went bad, I could just toss a cup’s worth of milk and ice cream right?

Well, I don’t need to say that the result was astounding! Islands, In-n-out, and Cold Stone, in my humble opinion, have some of the best shakes around (trust me, I was allowed a milkshake every time I got braces on or off, and whenever I had teeth pulled—so I’m a valid authority on milkshakes); but I have never—and I mean NEVER—had a milkshake as good as the one I made tonight.

Basic recipe:
Several scoops ice cream
2 eggs
milk (just enough to make it smooth)

My shake:
Several scoops ice cream
2 eggs
milk (just enough to make it smooth)
+
1-2 spoonfuls chocolate syrup
1-2 scoops peanut butter
Shredded coconut

Blend a couple scoops of ice cream, 2 eggs, and whatever else you want, together until smooth. Add the milk only after you’ve blended everything else—and use it sparingly. I added chocolate syrup, peanut butter, and a scoop of shredded coconut. LR adds a scoop of protein powder to his.

I know: “raw eggs in a milkshake?” I was a bit put off by the recipe too at first, but LK loved the shakes her husband made; and she’s not one to eat raw eggs—except if it involves chocolate-chip cookie dough…but that’s another story. The eggs are responsible for the great texture—not to mention the protein! Did you know that one large egg contains 6.3 grams of protein? So a shake using 2 eggs has 12.6 grams of protein—wow!

I have no idea what the calorie count is on these things, and I really don’t want to. Hey…if it’s got 12.6 grams of protein, who am I to complain?

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving will be here in two days--and with the holiday comes a slew of festive food. Here are two recipes that have Thanksgiving written all over them.

Autumn Tossed Salad--I just love this salad!

Dressing:
½ c lemon juice
½ c sugar
2 tsp. finely chopped onion
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
½ tsp salt
2/3 c vegetable oil
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds

Salad:
1 bundle Romaine lettuce, torn
1 c (4 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese
1 c unsalted cashews
1 medium apple, chopped
1 medium pear, chopped (I might add an additional pear or apple depending on how it looks)
¼ c dried cranberries

Dressing Directions:
In a blender, combine the lemon juice, sugar, onion, mustard, and salt. While processing, gradually add oil in a steady stream. Stir in poppy seeds. Transfer to a small pitcher or bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour, or until chilled.

Salad Directions:
In a large salad bowl, combine the romaine, cheese, cashews, apple, pear, and cranberries. Right before serving, drizzle with dressing and toss to coat.


Pumpkin pie is a holiday staple for most, but if you're like me, there is such a thing as "too much of a good thing." The next recipe is a variant of the traditional pumpkin pie--and guaranteed to be hit wherever you go. The recipe comes from my friend's mom.

Pumpkin Cake-Pie

Crust:
1 box yellow cake mix (reserve 1 cup)
½ stick melted margarine (or butter)
1 egg
Mix together and press into a large 13 x 9 pan.

Filling:
1 large can pumpkin
3 eggs
1 tsp. cinnamon
2/3 cup evaporated milk ¾ cup sugar

Prepare your favorite pumpkin pie filling and pour over cake mixture.

Top Crust:
1 cup cake mix (from above)
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ stick melted margarine (or butter)
¼ - ½ tsp. cinnamon

Mix together and crumble over filling.

Bake: 350* for 50 min. Let cool completely.

Topping:
9 0z. cool whip
3 Tbsp. honey
½ tsp. cinnamon

Mix together and spread over cool cake.

*Very easy, tasty but very impressive!

And if you're feeling stressed by all the preparations, check out this cute e-card for a good laugh (make sure you stay 'till the end and watch the bloopers).

Cinnamon Rolls

Since I've been on a baking hiatus, I decided last week to make some cinnamon rolls for Sunday morning's breakfast. Mmmm did they turn out yummy!



Question: When you make cinnamon rolls, what sugar do you use for the center filling?

a. White sugar
b. Brown sugar
c. Both

What is the difference in the end result of the rolls when the different sugars are used in the filling? There seems to be a difference, but I can't figure out what it is.

Anyway...here's the whole reason you’re reading this.

Cinnamon Rolls

*note* the recipe is meant for use with a bread machine.

These rolls are very good and not overly sweet. About 2/3 of the testers liked them as-is; the others wanted them sweeter. If you want a sweeter bun, make a glaze out of milk and powdered sugar [and a drop of vanilla] to spread over the tops while still warm.

Dough
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp butter
1 egg

2 Tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. salt
3-3 ½ cups all-purpose flour (I used Bread flour because that's all we had)
1 ½ tsp. yeast

Filling
Mix together
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 ½ Tbsp. cinnamon
½ cup raisins--optional

For Brushing
2 Tbsp. melted butter--optional

Remove dough from machine. Roll dough into a rectangle, spread with softened butter, then cinnamon-sugar mixture. Roll dough as a jellyroll and cut into slices about 1 ½ inches wide (dental floss does this well without sealing of the edges). Place each slice in a greased 13 x 9 pan and let rise for 35-40 minutes--or overnight. (I have found that the rolls tend to be softer when they rise and touch each other.) Brush tops lightly with melted butter if desired. Bake in a preheated 400* oven for 15-20 minutes.

Yield: about 12

--Recipe from: The Bread Machine Cookbook by Donna Rathmell German.

Chicken Challenge

Recently, I have been too busy to blog--what with school and work starting and all--but I found some inspiration in a friend's email. We had run into eachother at a conference in July, where she was telling me about a wonderful baked chicken recipe. She emailed it to me, and the rest is history. Now, I haven't actually tried the recipe yet, but it sounds good, I thought I'd share it here.

Ok, so what's the "challenge" part? I'm calling on you to submit your favorite chicken recipes. As I receive submissions, I will post the recipes.

So now to the "meat" of the post...The following recipe was sent to me by MG. She found it on allrecipes.com where it was originally submitted by Gretchen Ramey.

Honey Baked Chicken II

1 (3lb.) whole chicken (cut into pieces) OR bone-in chicken pieces
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup prepared mustard
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. curry powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken in shallow (foil-lined) baking pan, skin side up. Combine melted butter, honey, mustard, salt and curry powder in a bowl and stir well until completely mixed together. Pour mixture over chicken. Bake for 1 1/4 hours (75 minutes) basting every 15 minutes w/ pan drippings, until chicken is nicely browned and tender and juices run clear.

Since this recipe only calls for 1 tsp. of curry powder, you can't tell that much that it has curry in it once it's cooked. Lining the pan with foil really helps with clean-up. It does take a while to bake because you have to baste every 15 minutes but boy, it's worth it! Somehow, the combination of all these ingredients makes for a really good chicken recipe. It's rich but SO yummy! I like to serve it with steamed white rice and steamed veggies on the side.

Mmmm...looking forward to seeing more yummy chickens fly into my inbox.

Tea

What could be more refreshing on a hot and humid day than a glass of iced tea? This afternoon I was craving some iced tea, but we didn't have any already made--and besides, I don't like the (often bitter) taste of most conventional iced teas. Last summer, Mom made some southern sweet iced tea for a group of us that had gone hiking. I loved it! It was sweet, but not too sweet. Today I was wishing we had some of that tea, but I couldn't even find the recipe to make myself some--so I improvised.

Ingredients:
3 c. water
2 Lipton Iced Tea Brew (family sized) bags
1 cup sugar (approx)

Combine water and tea bags in a small saucepan, and bring just to a boil. Boil for a minute or two--not too long or else you'll bring out the tannin [bitter stuff] in the tea. Turn off the heat and let sit for 3 minutes with the lid on. Remove the tea bags--without squeezing them--and add 1 cup sugar, stirring until dissolved. Taste and add more sugar if desired. (I originally put in 1 1/4 cup sugar, and found the result too sweet). This will make a tea concentrate.

To serve: fill a cup with ice, and add the tea concentrate. I added enough ice to effectively dilute the concentrate in a 50-50 ratio. Add more ice if the tea is too strong, less if it's too weak.

Enjoy!

Now all I need is a hammock in the shade.

Addendum: After another batch of tea, I think 1 cup of sugar is still too sweet--even for a concentrate. Instead, start with 1/2 to 2/3 cup suger, and add more if you want it sweeter.

Heavenly Honey-Bran Muffins

Here is a recipe for some finger-lickin' good bran muffins. Who knew that something this yummy could also be good for you?!



Just a word of caution: the muffin batter makes enough for 6 dozen muffins. You can either freeze the extra batter, or halve the recipe. A good resource I have found is this online recipe converter. You can use it to double, triple, halve, sevenths...etc just about any recipe under the sun. Another option is to bake all the muffins up, wrap them individually, and freeze them--just defrost them in the fridge the night before you want to eat them.

Mimi’s Honey-Bran Muffins

2 c. boiling water
6 c. all-bran® cereal, divided
1 c. oil
4 eggs, beaten
3 c. sugar
1 qt. buttermilk
5 c. all purpose flour
5 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
24 oz. apple butter
2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)
2 c. raisins (optional)

Muffin Glaze (enough for 16 muffins)
3 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. dark brown sugar, packed
3 Tbsp shortening
2 Tbsp corn syrup
2 tsp. water

1. Pour boiling water over 2 c. bran cereal. Add oil. Mix and set aside.

2. Mix together beaten eggs, sugar, buttermilk, and the remaining bran—in that order.

3. Sift flour with soda and salt. Combine bran mixtures with flour mixture. Stir in apple butter, walnuts, and raisins.

4. To make the glaze: Melt shortening in a small saucepan. Add the sugars, corn syrup, and water. Simmer for 5 minutes (until slightly thickened [Mom said it “has that caramelized look”]).

5. Grease muffin tins well (really well!!). Distribute about 1 Tbsp. glaze onto bottom and sides of 12 muffin tins with a pastry brush. **I just scooped glaze into the bottom of the tin with a spoon—didn’t even bother brushing the sides.

6. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Immediately invert onto foil or waxed paper to cool.

[NOTE] The "immediately" is an extremely important part. If you allow the muffins to cool in the tins, they will be nearly impossible to remove. They must be dumped out of the tins right away, and allowed to cool on their "tops" (a.k.a. with the sticky side up).

If you're anything like me, these muffins won't last long. In fact, we have some batter in the fridge. I think I'll go bake up a batch of these brown beauties right now.