Brussels Sprouts

My husband has three vegetables that he REALLY loves: Brussels sprouts, asparagus, and spinach... so we eat a lot of them. I love a lot of vegetables... not really picky.

I have fallen in love with roasted Brussels sprouts... and they're very easy to prepare! This is the recipe I have used so far... with some tweaks.

First,  preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash the sprouts and then cut off the rough stem ends and tear off any yellow leaves. Put the cleaned-up sprouts in a ziploc bag. Pour in some olive oil and then salt and pepper them. Close the bag (VERY important) and then shake. shake. shake. Sometimes I also add some parmesan cheese. Yum!

Put them on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast for 35-40 minutes. Here's the catch: you have to shake them every five (or so) minutes so they get evenly browned. It's worth it :)

Enjoy! :)

best brownies ever... continued :)

I'm at that stage in my life where it seems ALL of my friends either are pregnant, have just had a baby, or they really want to have a baby. While I do love babies, I'm enjoying being able to give the child back to their mama at the end of a few minutes ;)

Anyways, a few weeks ago, a friend of mine had a beautiful baby boy, David, and I brought her & her husband dinner and these brownies. Both her and her husband agreed they were the best brownies ever... so yummy. So I had to make them again for her... and I decided to actually document it.

The best part is that you mix everything together in ONE pot and then pour it into a baking pan and GO. Love it.

Step one: melt the butter!

Step two: Stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat in cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder.

Step three: Pour into pan. I chopped up some left over Christmas candy and threw that in. Just for kicks :) I used Snickers, Baby Ruth... and some Butterfingers.

And the icing is a snap to put together. Melt the butter a little bit in the microwave and then mix everything else in. YUMMO.

Ingredients:

Brownies

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1//2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder

Frosting:

• 3 tbsp. butter (a little melty)
• 3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8x8 pan.
2. In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat in cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder. Pour into greased pan. 
3. Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when stuck in the center.
4. While the brownies are baking, combine all frosting ingredients and pour over brownies after they've cooled about 10 minutes (still warm!)

the perfect snack.

In my head, going to Grandma's house means lots of good things: family, Dutch Blitz, bowling, being cozy, and lots of food. My grandma makes these pretzels for us when we go to her house, and my mom has started to make them... and now I've started to make them.

They are my favorite. Although, they're not the healthiest. I probably only have them two or three times a year... but I can definitely see it becoming more often. They are SO yummy... and SO simple.

Don't go all Paula Deen on me. I don't eat like this everyday. I wish I did... but I don't.

You just melt butter and stir in onion soup mix.

Mix the pretzels in!

Bake and done! :)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups of butter (that's 2 1/2 sticks, people.)
• 1 envelope onion soup mix
• 16 ounces of chunky pretzels (I use sourdough pieces)

Instructions:

• In a big pot, melt the butter.
• Stir in the soup mix.
• When that's blended, I put 1/3 of the pretzels in at a time, stirring until they're coated, and then taking them out and putting them into a 13x9 Pyrex pan 
• If you have any butter mixture left, pour it over the pretzels
• Bake at 250 degrees for an hour and a half, stirring every 15 minutes. Eat a piece every time you 'stir' :)

one of my better ideas

Another thing we do when we go to Grandma's is go to farm markets... Since I was little (long before AJ came along), she would take us to local orchards or farms to buy produce and other goods. I love that. I can't wait to do that with my kiddos.

My grandma lives in south-central PA right on the border of Maryland. I swear they have the BEST peaches and apples there. AMAZING. 

There are also lots of little farm markets around her house... she lives in an amazing little chunk of America... anyway, sorry... off my platform. I find all these amazing things at these markets: every-flavor gummy you can imagine (PARADISE.), apple cider donuts, snack mixes, homemade honeys and jams, and random stuff like ice cream sandwich cookies?

cover that in Nutella, and I'll take it!

This is one of the best ideas ever:

carmelita bars

I think I've mentioned before that there are several blogs I check daily for yummy ideas, and Brown Eyed Baker is definitely one. A few weeks ago, she posted this recipe for oatmeal carmelita bars... Doesn't that sound DELISH?

I had to make them. I actually had to make a double batch.

The doubled recipe means: 4 cups flour, 3 cups brown sugar, and 4 cups of oats... Imagine me stuffing that in my KitchenAid mixer, praying it doesn't explode. It didn't... just got a little messy ;) My mixer's a champ.

butter and sugar making friends :)

more flour! Yikes!

here's where we got REALLY messy... add the oatmeal and hope for the best :)

They were SO good. I'm not going to post the recipe, because you can go directly to her site... but here's the final push for you to try these:

How can you resist? 

I brought these to several gatherings, and they were a hit every time. So many different flavors... such a good combination :)

breakfast strata

College was an incredible experience. I LOVE being married and having a real job... and a house! But, I sincerely enjoyed college and wouldn't trade that experience for anything.

Anyways, I was part of THE most amazing sorority ever, Theta Alpha Pi... and my roommate/sorority sister 3/4 years out of college (Hayley) threw me an amazing bridal shower in April of our senior year. 

Hayley had every girl write out one of their favorite recipes and then she put them all into a cute photo album as a gift for me. To be honest, I forget I have these recipes a lot.

For example, when we went to the Outer Banks with Kara (another sister) and her husband this past summer, we had this amazing pasta casserole and I asked her for the recipe. She told me that I already had it in my bridal shower collection. That was embarrassing.

Anyway, last week, I was looking through all of my cookbooks and came across the collection of recipes. I found this recipe for breakfast strata from a dear friend, Hannah, who just got married herself! 

It was SO easy and SO yummy. And there are SO many variations I can't wait to try. This is what I used:

First thing I did was put half of the sausage in a skillet and started to saute that to get it nice and browned. 

Then, I sprayed an 8x8 pan with cooking spray and then laid four pieces of crust-less bread in the bottom of the pan. 

After the sausage cooks, add in the mustard. Sprinkle that over the bread. Shred some cheese (I used cheddar) and put that over the sausage. SMELLS AMAZING :)

Beat eggs, milk, half and half, and pepper together. Pour that mixture over the cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. Eat it immediately... it was delicious! I modified Hannah's recipe because it's just AJ and me. We ate most of it and then enjoyed the rest the next day.

Ingredients:

• 4 slices bread (no crusts!)
• 1/2 pound breakfast sausage, cooked and crumbled
• 1/2 tsp. mustard
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup half and half
• dash of pepper

Instructions:

• Place bread in a greased 8x8 pan.
• Saute sausage until brown. Drain if needed.
• Stir in mustard and then sprinkle sausage/mustard mixture over bread. Sprinkle cheese over sausage!
• Beat eggs, milk, half&half, and pepper in separate bowl and then pour over cheese. 
• Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. 
• Cut into squares and enjoy :)

Thanks Hannah! We loved it :)

pecan pie bars

Pecan pie is my husband's favorite dessert (close tie with pineapple upside down cake... which I have yet to master)... and this recipe for pecan pie bars is heavenly!

Sandy's Pecan Pie Bars
Makes 12 bars

• Butter-flavored cooking spray
• 24 pecan shortbread cookies (such as Pecan Sandies)
• 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, divided use
• 1¼ cups packed dark brown sugar
• ⅓ cup light-colored ("white") corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons whipping cream
• 2 cups pecans, chopped
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preliminaries: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Make cookie base: Pulse cookies in food processor until crumbs. Cut 1 stick (½ cup) butter into pieces, and pulse with crumbs until together they form a mass. Lightly pat mixture into the prepared baking pan. Bake 15 minutes and cool completely on a wire rack. Leave oven on.

Make the topping: In a medium saucepan, combine the remaining ½ cup butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and whipping cream. Cook and stir over medium heat, until boiling. Let boil 1 minute, and remove from heat. Stir in pecans and vanilla.

Final baking: Pour pecan mixture over the cooled base. Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes or until bubbling.

Presentation: Cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into bars, and serve.

Source: Adapted from "Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Desserts 2," (SLSH Enterprises Inc., 2008).

coconut macaroons

Coconut macaroons are SO easy. And... with my experience... really impress people. It's kind of funny. I can spend hours (literally.) on a recipe and people won't really comment on it... and then I spend like 10 minutes whipping up (haha!) coconut macaroons and people swoon. WHAT?!

This is the recipe I used:

Mix all of the dry ingredients together... I just used a spoon. Don't maul it. 

Then you stir in the wet ingredients... again, just stir. Don't mix it like a crazy lady.

And everything is so happy together!

Grab a tablespoon and scoop onto a greased cookie sheet. They can be close together, because they really don't spread at all.

Bake for 18-20 minutes in a 325 degree oven... until the bottoms of the cookies are getting golden!

And then...if you want to get really fancy, melt some chocolate and drizzle!

Yes, I ate one right after drizzling. Judge not.

They are SO easy and SO good.

cookie party!

We've got the sweetest neighbors ever that live across the street... and they just happen to have four of the sweetest little girls I've ever met. We had them over for a cookie party right before Christmas, and it was super fun.

We made hot cocoa and ate LOTS of cookies.

best brownies ever..

I think I've mentioned before my husband does not like chocolate. So... that pretty much messes me all up. I love chocolate. I made these brownies a few nights ago on a whim... and (drum roll, please!) my husband LOVED them... like ate more than half the pan LOVED. Make themmmmmmm!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-brownies/detail.aspx

assorted Christmas...

Man, I fell off the wagon again. Sorry... I wasn't even that busy over Christmas. It was very relaxing... and refreshing.

This Christmas...

We received a card addressed to our cats... from my in-laws cat. Best Christmas card EVER.

I was inspired by my mama to make these pretzel turtles. Problem is: I only had chocolate graham pretzels. Does that count as a problem? I guess not. So I improvised... and ran out of Rolos as well... so used some candy cane kisses. YUM!

before baking...

So melty... and so yummy!

Also, before we left for Christmas break, my students left me some sweet notes... they are the best!

I have the coolest job ever.

Christmas gifts

I've got some amazing parents this year that volunteer in my classroom. I wanted to put something together for them as a thank-you.. and I just happened to be making caramel corn for one of my book clubs:

after baking

I found these super cute gift bags at World Market (the best store ever.... tied with Target)... and put a tag on them that says, "Thank you for popping into PES so often!"