Butter Pecan Fudge

This is one of our favorite Christmas Candies- an alternative to traditional Chocolate fudge. It's Butter Pecan Fudge (without the Pecan's in this picture). My kids are funny about nuts so I make some with nuts and some without.

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup pecan halves, toasted, and coarsely chopped

In a heavy saucepan, combine the butter, sugars, cream and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly!!!! Boil for 5 minutes (set a timer and sit there and stir, stir, stir!!)
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Stir in the powdered sugar and nuts. Spread in a square baking pan and refridgerate until hard. Cut into squares.

Cookie Dough Truffles

Here is an easy Christmas Candy that your kids can help make, more importantly they are really yummy. As far as a dipping candy, these are the easiest ones I've ever made so that is a plus too.

Filling:
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1 can Sweetened Condensed milk
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 cup minature semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (that is if your kids will eat nuts)

1 1/2 pounds chocolate candy coating for dipping

Cream butter, brown sugar until fluffy. Add flour, milk and vanilla- mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts. Shape into balls; place on waxed paper lined baking sheets and refrigerate for 1-2 hours until firm.

Melt the chocolate coating in batches in the microwave. If you've never dipped chocolates, melt it for 1 minute first and then 30 sec. intervals until it is smooth, stiring in between. Dip balls in and place on wax paper lined baking sheets. Refridgerate until hard. Store in air tight container in the fridge.

Happy Candy Making!!

Soft Gingersnap Cookies

I can't take credit for this recipe but I wanted to share it. My awesome friend Heather Wagstaff (who I have quoted the Texas Caviar recipe in here as well) gave me this recipe. My kids and Brady LOVE these cookies. They need NO adjustments from me- so here's the recipe. Thanks Heather!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wet Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter (a note on this- don't substitue margarine, they just don't turn out the same)

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1 egg

Dry Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp ginger

1 tsp Baking Soda

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp salt

Mix Wet ingredients together, mix dry ingredients together. Mix dry into the wet. Roll into balls, roll into sugar

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Do Not Overbake!!!

Ham & Cheese- Shells & Trees

This is throw together poor man's food, but it's an absolute kid favorite at our house. I mostly make it when Brady is out of town and don't feel like making a big production for dinner. It's got your carbs, protein, and veggies all in one dish and the kids gobble it up. It's not really a "RECIPE" but it's just an idea that I'm throwing out there that is very kid friendly (unless your kids won't eat broccoli, but maybe they will in this dish).

3/4 box Shells pasta, cooked and drained (small shells, medium shells, or just "shells", but not large or Jumbo shells)
1 cup cooked broccoli chopped up
Ham, chopped (how ever much you want really)
1 jar Bertolli Alfredo sauce.
a little salt & pepper to taste.

Combined it all- kind of like a gullosh. My kids really love this. Brady even eats this great.

Chicken Stroganoff

This is one of our favoite dishes. It is so good!!! A new twist on traditional stoganoff. You can even use leftover roast chicken or turkey (good for the upcoming season).

4 bacon strips
1 lb chicken, cut up
1 med. onion
2 cloves garlic
1 pkg fresh mushrooms (the original recipe calls for 2 cans mushrooms drained, but I detest canned mushrooms.)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp paprika
pepper to taste
1 cup sour cream
2 TBSP flour

In a skillet (I use my big electric skillet for cooking the entire recipe) cook bacon until crisp. Remove to paper towels and drain some of the drippings, reserving 2 tbsp, set bacon aside. When cool enough to touch, cut up into small pieces Cook the chicken, onion, garlic, and mushrooms until chicken is no longer pink. Add the broth, salt, paprika, pepper and bacon back in. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Combine flour and sour cream until smooth; add to the skillet. Bring to boil, cook and stir for 1 minutes or until thickened. Serve over egg noodles or rice, whichever is your families preference.

Easy To Freeze:
Freeze leftovers or freeze a whole batch for a busy day. Another time saver is to buy a roast chicken (already cooked) and remove it from the bone and chop it up.

Texas Caviar

I got this great dip recipe from my awesome friend Heather Wagstaff here in Fayetteville. I'm not a huge tortilla chip fan, but I'll gorge myself on them with this dip. It is so good and makes a great party dip or game day appetizer.

1 can black beans
1 can black eyed peas (or white beans, I have had a hard time finding black eyed peas sometimes)
1 can corn or 1 cup frozen corn thawed
4-6 roma tomatoes chopped and seeded
2 avocados chopped
1/4 cup chopped red onion (or 2-3 green onions chopped)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Italian dressing to taste
Lime juice to taste

Enjoy!! Thanks Heather! My family loves this one. My girls even eat this one on chips!

Italian Wedding Soup

As I said in my last post, I love soups; especially this time of year. This is the first time I tried this one and Kayla and Brady loved it. Savannah was not a big fan of it, but she had been really sick and not eating anything well so I don't hold it against her. It wasn't very hard either (well, at least my version of it, and if you're familiar with my recipes thus far, you know I like to change them up).

The actual recipe call for making you meatballs from scratch, which I would gladly do if I had 2 more hands to make them with and hold the baby who likes to whine at my feet when I make dinner. I actually used the frozen meatballs from Sam's Club and they turned out great. I just threw them in the pot of boiling soup frozen and it was so easy. I'll provide the meatball recipe for those who feel so inclined to make them from scratch.

2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. bulk Italian sausage

In a large bowl, combine eggs and bread crumbs. Crumble meats over mixture; mix well. Shape into 3/4 in balls. Place meatballs on a greased rack in a foil-lined jelly rolls baking pan. Bake at 250 for 15-18 min.

Soup recipe

3 medium carrots, sliced
3 celery ribs, diced
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 1/2 tsp olive oil
4 cans (14 1/2 oz) chicken broth
2 cans beef broth (14 1/2 oz
1 cup frozen spinach leaves
1/4 cup minced fresh basil ( or about 1 tsp dried)
1 envelope onion soup mix
4 1/2 tsp ketchup
1/2 tsp dried thyme
3 bay leaves
1 1/2 cups uncooked penne pasta

Saute onions, carrots, celery, garlic in oil until tender. Sitr in broths, spinach, basil, soup mix, ketchup, thyme and bay leaves. Bring Soup to a boil. Reduce heat, add meatballs and pasta and cook for 13-15 min or until pasta is tender. Discard bay leaves.

Birdnest Soup

It's fall and that means SOUP time!! I love soups and this is my all time FAVORITE soup. A little background on the soup: I got the original recipie from my friend Megan Eborn (thanks Megan) and have altered it to our families liking. I have shared it with a few families here in Arkansas and it has become their families favorite soup. I finally made it again when my parents were here so I'd have a picture to show. However, the picture doesn't do it justice. I should have taken one in just a bowl and not the stockpot. It's a fabulous soup non the less.

1 medium onion, chopped
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 TBSP olive oil
1 15oz can Itailian Style Stewed Tomatoes
6 cups chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1 tsp oregano
salt & pepper to taste
1 15 oz can White Northern Beans
1 15oz can Black Beans
2 chicken breasts cooked and cubed, or 4-5 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 cups medium shell pasta

Add the onion, garlic and oil- saute. Add the tomatoes (my husband and kids don't like chunks of tomatoes so I pop the can of tomatoes in the blender for a few spins and blend it up smooth), I use the blender to measure 6 cups of water so I wash out all the blended up tomatoes and then add 6 tsp of chicken boullion granules. Add the bay leaves, oregano and salt and pepper. Add the beans. (If you use chicken thighs, you can pop them into the pot now too, take them out before you add the pasta, let it cool enough to handle so you can cut it up and add it back to the pot after the pasta is cooked.) Let the pot low boil with the lid on for 10 minutes. Add the shells and cook until tender. Add your chicken and remove the bay leaves.
Serve with warm cresent rolls

Just a note about how the soup got it's name. I used to call it Italian Pasta and Bean Soup (kind of long for a 4 year old). When Kayla was 4, she decided that the shells looked like birdnests with little eggs in them (the beans get stuck in the shells). She started calling it Birdnest Soup- so we have stuck with it. It's cute. My girls love this soup and it hearty and good for you. Hope you enjoy it this fall!!

Easy to Freeze:
Freeze leftovers for a busy day. Thaw and reheat.

Fruit Pizza

Sorry for the lack of recipie posts. I'm not sure if many people even look at this blog though. I haven't been very good at taking pictures of my dinners lately. I've been busy and sometimes they consist of grilled cheese or breakfast for dinner.

Here is a simple and fun kid recipie that we have made to take to parties or just for Family Fun Night (see my recent post on my blog). Kids love to make this because you can decorate it with any fruit you want in any kind of way. Kids love to eat it too.

Dough: 1 pkg. Refridgerator Sugar Cookie Dough
Sauce: 1 8 oz. package Cream Cheese and 1/3 cup sugar, we like to color it pink with a few drops of food coloring. Or you can leave it white and top the cream cheese with Strawberry Cool whip like in the bottom picture.
Toppings: Any fruit you want (probably best with fresh fruit: strawberries, blueberries, peaches, kiwi)

Have fun!

Mmmmm Pizza!!

I love this pizza recipie because it's different from the norm' and it's got lots of hidden spinach in it. This kids love it and we gobble this up in one night. Plus, it's so easy and fast to put together and bake!

Chicken Alfredo Pizza
1 pizza crust, any way you like to do it: make your own or buy one prepared. I use the prepared ones in the package
Beretolli Alfredo Sauce. Open a jar and use however much you like on your pizza.
1 Chicken breast cooked and cubed
Fresh spinach leaves, chopped up small. Use however much you like
Shredded Mozzerella Cheese
Shredded Parmesan Cheese (not the stuff in the can)
After you've assembled you pizza I like to sprinkle it with a little salt, pepper, garlic salt, and Italian Seasoning (the kind with basil, oregeno, and stuff like that in it)

Cook according to the package directions on the pizza crust. Usually 450 for 10-12 minutes.
Enjoy!!

Mom's Famous Meat Pie

I have to give credit where credit is due. This was a family favorite all growing up and continues to be a favorite in my family too. My Mom said that the original recipie actually cam from my Aunt Diane Behiling and that she got it from a Crisco can (is that true Diane?) I think my recipie could be altered since the original but this is the way I do it. You were originally supposed to make the crust from scratch (using the Crisco) but I'm all abou the Pillbury Dough Boy doing the hard work for me when it comes to pie crust. Just open the box, cut open the package and unroll!!

1 Pillbury Refridgerated Pie Crust
1 lb. Ground Beef
1 small onion chopped or 1/4 cup dehydrated onions
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 TBSP Sugar
1 tsp Oregeno
1 can drained Green Beans
1 can Tomato Soup

Brown hamburger and drain. Add onions, salt, pepper, sugar, oregeno and stir in. Add beans and soup. Pour in pie crust and top with 2nd pie crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes with a square of tinfoil covering the top. Remove tinfoil after 20 minutes and cook for 15-20 minutes longer (checking regularly for crust to be browned
My kids love this one!!

Apricot Chicken

I got this recipie from a friend in college and then found it in one of those ancient Emery County cookbooks. So, I guess it's an oldy but a goody. I mostly like it because it is so easy and it is easy to have the ingredients in the pantry on hand for those nights when you're not sure what to have for dinner. It puts together quickly and cooks fast.

4-6 chicken breasts
1 cup apricot jam
1 cup Catalina dressing
1 envelope onion soup mix

Mix all ingredients and pour over chicken in a casserole pan. Cook 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

I always serve this with Lemon Rice Pillaf; an old favorite from my mom. Here's the recipie for that too:

3 1/2 cups water
2 cups Long Grain Rice
4 heaping tsp. Chicken Boullion Granules (or 5 or 6 cubes)
3 TBSP. Lemon Juice
2 TBSP margarine

Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil for 10 min. Cover and turn stove off. Let rice fully cook.

Raspberry Cream Trifle

This is one of my very favorite recipies of all time!! I always get requests for this recipie everytime I make for an occasion. It's easy and SOOOOO delicious. The girls fight to lick the bowl- it's a physical fight too.

1 Angel Food Cake bar (the rectangle kind, not round)
1 can sweetened condensed milk, chilled
1 cup cold water
1 tsp almond extract
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
2 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped
1 package frozen raspberries, thawed and drained
~1/4 cup raspberry jam (you can really use however much you want

Cut the angel food cake bar into small cubes
Combine the milk, water, and extract together and mix well. Add the pudding, mix and set in fridge until soft set. Fold in whipped whipping cream. Layer cake cubes, cream, little more than half of the raspberries, and jam. Layer cake, cream and rest of raspberries.

This is best fresh. It doesn't keep well for very long because the cake cubes can get pretty soggy. We like to eat the leftovers for breakfast- just so it doesn't go bad (he he he).

Hope you like it as much as we do

Chicken Rollups

This recipie is one of my family favorites. In fact, it is Kayla's favorite food. She asked for this for her birthday dinner- she asks for me to make this every year on her birthday. It is so versital too. It's nearly impossible to mess up (that is unless you burn it

2 chicken breasts cooked and cut up into small pieces or shredded
4 oz cream cheese (you can even use lite cream cheese or it is really good with chive & onion cream cheese
*if you use plain cream cheese it is good to add a little flavor to the filling by adding salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder to your liking
1 pkg Refrigerator cresent rolls ( I always use the reduced fat ones)
Unroll them into rectangles(2 cresent rolls hooked together). Pinch the seam together and cut in half to make a square. Put about a tablespoon of filling into the center and fold up sides and pinch. Place on a cookie sheet

Cook at 375 for ~10-15 min. (check on them regularly- they'll be light brown when finished)

You can serve them with gravy over the top. The kids usually don't like the gravy, but Brady & I do. The gravy is just a can of Cream of Chicken soup undiluted warmed up.

The original recipie called for dipping the uncooked rollups in melted butter and then dipping them in Italian Bread crumbs. I stopped doing that because it was so messy and time consuming and they tasted great without it. Besides, the girls like to pick them up with their hands and eat them since they don't like the gravy on them and the bread crumbs would make a mess. You can do that if you like.

Another great variation to this recipie is to use leftover Thanksgiving turkey for the chicken and use leftover turkey gravy over the top. It's a great way to use up that enormous amount of turkey leftover (however, there's not usually much gravy left at our house).

What's 4 Breakfast?..... Blueberry Nutmeg Muffins

1 stick butter or margarine

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 bag frozen blueberries or one pint fresh (really, you can use as many or as little blueberries as you please)

Topping:
1 TBSP Sugar

1/4 tsp nutmeg

Mix butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time until well blended. Stir in milk and vanilla. Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder and add to the creamed mixture just until moistened. Fold in blueberries.

Fill paper lined muffin cups 2/3 full. Combine sugar and nutmeg and sprinkle on top of each muffin. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

Parmesan Garlic Chicken

4-6 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
1/2 cup Gated Parmesan Cheese
1 envelope Italian Salad Dressing Mix
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

Combined all ingredients (except chicken) and blend. Dip both sides of chicken breasts in. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

*A variation of this recipie is to pour a bottle of your favorite spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a casserole dish, lay the dipped chicken over the sauce and cover with Mozzerella cheese. Serve with noodles for an easy Chicken Parmesan recipie.

I love this recipie because it is so easy and you can have the ingredients in the pantry all the time for a quick I don't know "what's for dinner" night. You can serve it alone with other sides or as the Chicken Parmesan recipie. Hope you like it.

I Love To Cook/ Alfredo Sauce

First and foremost, I love good food!! I love to cook and I love to try new recipies and change them around. But most of all, I love to share those recipies with friends and family. Since I have been blogging and sharing pictures and stories with friends and family, I thought it would be fun to have a blog to share my favorite recipies; What's For Dinner???? Try it, comment about it, change it to fit your family, it would even be great to have other bloggers post their great recipies. Make a great dinner, take a picture, post the recipie!!


Easy Alfredo Sauce
-Audrey Cox

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) Margarine or Butter
2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
2 TBSP Cream Cheese
3/4-1 cup Grated Parmasen Cheese
1 tsp Garlic Powder

Combine butter, cream, and cream cheese in a saucepan until melted and heated through. Whisk in Parmasen Cheese and garlic powder. Simmer on stove for 20 min or until thickened. (The cream cheese is what helps this sauce become thick so if you skimp on it, it will be runny. Also, Heavy cream versus regular cream makes a difference in the thickness.)
Serve over noodles. I like to add shredded cooked chicken to the sauce. Enjoy!!