Homemade Oreo Cookies

It was my sweet husband's birthday yesterday and I made him these delicious and simple cookies to celebrate! I don't remember where I first located this recipe, but it is all over the internet. The picture is courtesy of this site here.

HOMEMADE OREO COOKIES

For the Cookies

1 package devil's food cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 - cup oil (or butter flavored shortening)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Add oil and eggs to cake mix and blend together. Roll dough into balls (a little larger than a quarter). Place on greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on sheet (until warm). Remove cookies from sheet and place on cooling rack.To assemble the cookies, add about a tablespoon of filling into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie similar in size on top of the filling. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.

Cream Cheese Filling Recipe:

1/2 cup butter
1 - (8 oz) block of cream cheese
3-4 cups powdered sugar (depending on desired consistency)
1 - tsp vanilla extract

Cream butter and add cream cheese and mix well. Add powdered sugar slowly until you reach your desired consistency.

*NOTE: I doubled this recipe because we wanted MORE cookies! For half of the cream cheese filling I did half mint and half vanilla extract and used food coloring to make it green. They were gone SUPER fast!

Quesadillas

When all else fails and you are on your last dollar and have barely anything left in your refrigerator at that annoying time of the month when you are between paychecks... there is still hope! Quesadillas to the rescue! Put whatever you want between those tortillas, brush outsides with butter and slap them in a frying pan or on your grill. They cook up super fast and are delicious! We had Mexican style refried beans and cheese in ours. That's all. Dipped in salsa, they are great! You don't have to be fancy to have a great meal!

Picture courtesy of : http://quesadillagrille.com/

Migas

Another dish from Real Mom Kitchen! She has some really great recipes. And this falls into the line of my Mexican kick. We had a really busy day today and Jake and I decided at 10:30 pm that it may be a good idea to eat dinner. This was ready to go and eaten before 11:00. SWEET! It definitely is different from anything I have had before, but I really liked the way the tortillas kind of meshed all of the tastes and textures together. We didn't have cilantro and it still tasted great! Jake really liked it as well!

MIGAS

From Real Mom Kitchen

• 6 large eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 cup salsa
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 5 oz.thick tortilla strips (1 oz. is about 12 strips)
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 1/4 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 3 chopped green onions
• salt and pepper, to taste

1. Saute the green onions in 1 Tbsp of butter over medium heat until they are soft (2-3 minutes). While the onions are cooking, whisk together the eggs and milk.

2. Once the onions are soft, pour the egg mixture over top and let it cook (without stirring) until the edges are “set” (this means cooked/turned solid… ). Once the edges are set, use your spatula to pull the edges in toward the center of the pan, letting the unset/liquid egg flow back onto the surface of the pan. (This is just like making an omelet)Repeat this process until almost all of the egg mixture is set/cooked. Move on to the next step when the egg mixture is still moist and glistening but is mostly cooked. If you cook it until it is dry at this step, your end product will be over cooked and super dry.

3. Pour the salsa on the eggs and gently fold in (be careful not to over stir, you’ll end up with pellet like scrambled eggs). Add the tortilla strips and gently fold in. The tortilla strips will soften and reduce in volume as they are mixed in so don’t worry if your pan seems to be over flowing at first! Just keep folding gently.

Sprinkle the top of your migas with shredded cheese and freshly chopped cilantro. Serve while it is still hot and moist! Makes 4-5 servings.

One Skillet Frittata

This may not be exactly like a frittata, but it is very close. And, VERY delicious! You can add whatever you want to it but this is what we did. It was full of flavor and was even a hit with our little one! And the greatest part is that it only requires one skillet to make and comes together in less than a half hour! We had this for dinner, but it would be excellent for breakfast as well!

ONE SKILLET FRITTATA

2-3 TBSP vegetable oil
2-3 cups shredded frozen hashbrowns
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
8 slices of precooked bacon, sliced in to small pieces
10 eggs
Shredded cheddar cheese
Salsa
Salt, seasoning salt, and Pepper to taste

Heat the oil in skillet on medium high heat; add hashbrowns. Season to taste. Cook hashbrowns until slightly browned. Add chopped bell pepper, onion, and bacon. Mix together by scooping sections of the hashbrown and flipping over. DO NOT push spatula through the hashbrowns as it will cause them to break up and become more mushy. Cook until bacon pieces are limp.

Mix eggs all together in a bowl until mostly blended with desired seasonings. Pour evenly over hashbrown mix. Wait until edges slightly set and then flip over to cook opposite side. When egg is cooked, turn heat down to low and top frittata with cheese. Cover with lid and let sit until cheese is melted. Serve with salsa and sour cream if desired.

Oreo Truffles

I have to attribute my find of these absolutely sinful treats to my best girlfriend, Ashley Cook. We would have her make them for every party we ever had. They are so easy to make and so easy to eat you will WANT to take them to a party so that you don't eat them all yourself. The picture is courtesy of The Sisters' Cafe which is linked on the side of my blog. If you haven't checked out their blog you definitely should. They have some fantastic recipes.

OREO TRUFFLES

1 package Oreos
1 - 8 oz. packet of cream cheese
White or Chocolate Almond Bark

METHOD 1:

Put all the Oreos in a large Ziplock bag and crush them using a rolling pin or large spoon. Make sure there aren’t any large chunks. Add cream cheese to the bag and mix with your hands until well blended. Roll into small balls and place them on a cookie sheet. Place the cookie sheet in freezer for about 30 min. Dip balls in melted almond bark. Store in the freezer until serving.

METHOD 2 (the easier method):

Put all the Oreos into a food processor one by one until they are all chopped into very fine crumbs. Make sure there aren’t any large chunks. Add cream cheese to the food processor and let mix until well blended. Roll into small balls and place them on a cookie sheet. Place the cookie sheet in freezer for about 30 min. Dip balls in melted almond bark. Store in the freezer until serving.

Classic Repeat: Oven-Fried Chicken Chimichangas

I guess I just have really been on a Mexican kick lately. I am glad my husband doesn't mind! This is another classic that we love around here! And it is SUPER easy to make! Don't you just love super easy recipes? I sure do!

http://shaylaskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/01/oven-fried-chicken-chimichangas-spanish.html

Chicken Fajitas!

If you haven't figured out that we love Mexican food by now, you must not have been paying much attention! And let's talk about cheap and easy! The seasoning and veggies I needed for this recipe were cheaper than getting hot dogs and buns! I already had the other ingredients, so although ultimately it is more expensive than hot dogs... wouldn't you want to make the change for a little bit more money? I know we sure would!

CHICKEN FAJITAS

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small strips
1 green bell pepper, sliced
1 onion of choice (red, sweet, yellow, or white), sliced
1 packet of fajita seasoning
Tortillas
Cheese, Sour Cream, Guacomole, or whatever you prefer

These are the directions from the back of the fajita seasoning packet (Western Family brand):

1. In large skillet, heat 1 Tbsp. vegetalbe oil; saute 1 onion sliced and 1 green bell pepper cut into thin strips until tender. Remove from skillet and set aside.
2. In the same skillet, heat 1 Tbsp. oil; brown chicken strips.
3. Add fajita seasoning mix and 1/4 cup water; blend well. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Return vegetables to skillet to heat.
5. Use fresh, warm flour tortilla (8-10"). Place 1/2 cup filling on each tortilla. Serve with fresh salsa, sour cream, and guacomole.

*NOTE: We only used cheese for toppings. The mix is SOOO flavorful, you really don't need much else. If you don't like things to be very strong I would recommend sour cream.

Can of Awesomeness!

If you haven't discovered the simplicity and inexpensiveness of Premium Canned Chicken - discover it! You can buy great chicken at Costco - 6 cans for $10! And the amount of things you can do with it is unbelievable! Here are some of the things we like to do around our house:

BARBECUE CHICKEN SANDWICHES - All you do is mix the chicken with your favorite bbq sauce, a little bit of salt and pepper and WAH-LAH! You have wonderful barbecue chicken to put on bread for sandwiches.

FIESTA CHICKEN  - This is perfect for using up leftovers. I mixed the chicken with a can of green enchilada sauce and the leftover spanish rice (about 1 cup) and corn (about 1/2 - 3/4 cup cooked) we had in our refrigerator. You come up with a great and flavorful Mexican chicken that you can use on top of chips for nachos or wrapped into a tortilla. This made enough that we had it for dinner TWICE in a week.

CHICKEN SALAD - Go simple and mix the chicken with mayonnaise and salt and pepper, or get fancy and cut up some grapes, celery, and slivered almonds in there. Serve on bread, croissants, on top of crackers, or whatever!

These are just a few suggestions for using thissimple chicken. What creative and tasty ways can you come up with?

Classic Repeat - Skillet Enchiladas

We love Mexican food around here! This is a classic dish from Real Mom Kitchen. She has so many great recipes! If you haven't checked out her blog yet make sure you stop by! I have her link on the side of my blog.

SKILLET ENCHILADAS
From Real Mom Kitchen

1/2 to 1 pound ground beef (I use the 1 lb)
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 can (10 ounces) enchilada sauce (red or green)
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons canned chopped green chilies (Sometimes I don't have these and leave them out)
Vegetable oil (I use canola)
8 - 10 corn tortillas
2-1/2 to 3 cups finely shredded cheddar cheese, divided

In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the soup, enchilada sauce, milk and chilies. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, in another skillet, heat 1/4 in. of oil. Dip each tortilla in hot oil for 3 seconds on each side or just until limp; drain on paper towels. When meat mixture has simmered for 20 minutes, top each tortilla with 1/4 cup cheese. Roll up and place over beef mixture, spooning some of mixture over the enchiladas and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover and cook until heated through and cheese is melted, about 5 minutes. Yield: 8- 10 enchiladas.

*I use flour tortillas, cut in ½ instead of corn tortillas. And I used ¼ tsp. of cayenne pepper instead of the chopped green chilies.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

This picture is not the pizza I made. It was gone too fast to take a picture of, plus I was not at home when I made this pizza. The picture is what inspired our creation, is courtesy of Allrecipes.com, and can be found here.

My sister and I spend Wednesday evenings together while our husbands are at work and school. Her husband doesn't like very many things (no creams, for example) so I have had to expand my recipes to fit his taste buds. I had a premade pizza crust sitting in my pantry and so we decided to put together our own BBQ Chicken Pizza. If you are like us, you don't want to spend the money to get specialty cheeses a lot of the time - and gouda fits under the category of a specialty cheese. This was our simple version of a FANTASTIC BBQ Chicken pizza, invented by us. It was super good and was a huge hit with the husbands! Took less than a half hour from start to finish!

BBQ CHICKEN PIZZA

2 chicken breasts, cut into small strips
¼ cup + 2 TBSP Favorite BBQ Sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray’s)
½ - ¾ red pepper, sliced into thin strips
3 green onions, sliced
2 cups American cheese
1 premade pizza crust

In a large frying pan, heat oil on medium high heat. Add chicken pieces. Saute until cooked (about 6 minutes). Remove from heat and mix in a bowl with 2 T barbecue sauce. Set aside.

Spread ¼ cup barbecue sauce on surface of premade pizza crust. Distribute cheese over the sauce and the chicken over the cheese. Place pepper strips and green onions over the chicken pieces. Top with a little bit more cheese.

Bake at 450 for 8 – 10 minutes.

Korean Candy Chicken

This recipe was a huge hit with Jake! He spent the whole meal complimenting my culinary abilities and had two big helpings! It was so delicious and probably the easiest Asian meal I have ever made. I found this new blog (White Lotus Cooks) because of one of my already favorite sites (Mindika Moments). The picture and recipe are courtesy of White Lotus Cooks and can be found here.

Korean Candy Chicken
From http://www.whitelotuscooks.com/
serves 6

2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 4 fillets)
2 eggs
2 cups flour

sweet candy sauce:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
toasted sesame seeds

cooked rice
sliced scallions (optional)

In a pan, pour about two inches of oil and heat on medium heat till hot. Cut chicken on the diagonal into thick strips, about two inches wide. In a bowl, beat eggs. In another container, place flour.

Coat chicken strips in egg mixture first, then generously pat with flour, covering all sides. (I will often give it a couple of coatings) There should be a thick layer of batter on the chicken pieces.

When oil is hot, fry chicken pieces (about 3 minutes on each side) till golden brown. Remove chicken, and let rest on a paper towel to drain the oil.

To make candy sauce, place soy sauce and sugar in a bowl and mix together, about 30 seconds. The sugar will not completely dissolve, but the mixture should be thick, and not grainy. Add sesame seeds and mix to incorporate.

Dip chicken in sauce, covering all sides. Repeat, till all pieces are covered. Serve with rice, drizzle remain sauce over chicken. Garnish with sliced scallions.