Jalapeno Chicken & Rice Bake

This recipe is easy an thing to whip up and it was delicious!  It was a little different for us to try adding some jalapeno into our meal, but it wasn’t as spicy as I thought it would be.  Try it out!

• 2 cups of cooked white rice
• 2 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped (I buy Purdue frozen grilled cubed pieces)
• 8 oz package of shredded colby jack cheese
• 12 oz can evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 jalapeno, diced
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 2 T butter, melted

Preheat your oven to 350^o and lightly grease a 2 quart baking dish.  Add rice, chicken, cheese, milk, onion, cilantro, jalapeno, eggs, and butter.  Mix everything up really well.  Bake un-covered for 40 – 50 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

FTLP ~ Apple Week ~ Crock Pot Applesauce

To finish up our apple week, I would like to leave you with a delicious Pinterest-found treat.  This recipe for Crock-Pot Apple Sauce is so delicious, easy, and HEALTHY!  Gina at SkinnyTaste makes it so simple to have delicious home-made applesauce.  This was a hit with the hubs, and used up a ton of our apples! :0)

I followed Gina’s recipe on SkinnyTaste pretty close.  I did add one extra spoonful of brown sugar to sweeten things up since I used a lot of tart apples.  I also used ground cinnamon instead of a cinnamon stick (which is where my dark color is coming from).  Head over to SkinnyTaste for the recipe and give it a try just in time for fall!

Apple Week ~ Simple Apple Crisp

Welcome back to day four of Apple Week. We are spending the week sharing many of the recipes we made from all of our Apple Farm Pickings.

Today I want to share a super yummy apple cobbler/crisp recipe with you.  I started by picking out the prettiest of my tart apples, peeling, coring, and slicing them very thin on the mandolin.

Then I started layering…

1.  Combine 1 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and a dash of salt, then sprinkle it over the apples.

2.  Drizzle apples with 1/4 cup of water.

3.  Combine 1 box of yellow cake mix, 3/4 cup oats, 1/3 cup butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, then sprinkle it over the apples.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 – 50 minutes, or until your topping is browned. 

I suggest you serve it warm with some vanilla ice cream on top!

Apple Week ~ Crock Pot Cinnamon Apple Butter

Welcome back to day three of Apple Week.  We are spending the week sharing many of the recipes we made from all of our Apple Farm Pickings.

Today I am going to share the yummy yummy crock pot cinnamon apple butter! 

We started by washing our apples really good (using the method described here).

Then I diced, and cored, and diced, and cored, and diced…but did NOT peel…8 apples. I filled up my crock-pot with all my diced apples.

Then I covered my apples with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves, and 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg.  I wish you had smell-a-vision right now!

Then I took some of the most delicious apple cider, which we bought at the apple farm, and poured three cups over the apples.  They should be covered, but not swimming.  Then I set the crock-pot to low and let it do it’s job overnight (12 – 15 hours).  The next morning I put the apple mixture in the blender and processed until smooth.

Here are a couple of things to take note of:

1.  If the apple cutter is still a little watery after processing, you can put it into a pot and cook over medium heat for 10 – 15 minutes until thickened.

2.  Store the apple butter in the fridge in an air-tight container.

3.  The apple butter will stay fresh for 3 – 4 weeks.

I used a coffee filter and a label I printed off to add a couple finishing touches to my super delicious jar of homemade crock pot cinnamon apple butter.

Apple Week ~ Apple Dog Cookies

Of course we had to  use our apples to make a sweet little recipe for our two favorite furry critters.  I did a quick little search on Pinterest and found this perfect recipe on 17Apart.  I think it was meant to be because the reasoning for her dog cookies was her “recent trip to the apple orchard”…how funny….so was mine! 

Before we started making our cookies, we had to take a moment to play ball in the backyard, in the amazing fall weather!

I just love those girls!!!  They are so sweet together!  Now back to the cookies…

I mixed up my dough just as directed on the 17Apart blog recipe.  The only thing I changed was that I cut my apples on the mandolin to save time.  Then I rolled out the dough and cut out my dog cookie shapes. 

I used parchment paper on my cookie sheet and it worked beautifully, the cookies came right off and there was no clean up!  Also, these cookies don’t expand at all, so you can pack them on the sheet!

The cookies turned out beautifully!!!  They actually even smelled pretty good, thank goodness they were cut into the shape of a dog bone, or I think Hubs may have eaten one!

So now comes the real test….and they passed!!  The girls devoured them!  Look at Harley’s sweet little tongue peeking out while she waited patiently for me to snap a quick picture. :0)

And Willow sat so nicely, showing off her “leave-it”skills, but trust me, as soon as I uttered the words “Okay” there wasn’t a crumb left!

And just because I love this face so much….I am going to leave you with one more sweet picture of my favorite chocolate horse. :0)

Apple Week ~ Apple Cobbler Cookies

Three weeks ago we had a blast picking tons of apples at B.J. Reece Apple Farm in the North Georgia Mountains.  I had a blast all month making all my apple recipes and I am so excited to share them with you all this week during….

My first recipe to share with you was a HUGE hit!  This was the very first thing we made with our apple pickin’s and we came back and made it again the next week! 

I found this recipe for Apple Cobbler Cookies on Emma’s Food Coma Blog.  They were super simple to make and turned out as delicious as promised.  They were so soft and chewy (just the way I like my cookies) and Hubs said, “they taste like fall”.  Yes!! 

I had these out when my sweet grandparents came to visit and they complimented on how delicious they were too!  Hubs even offered to make them for a school gathering the next week and he didn’t come home with even a crumb left!  If you have an extra apple on hand, you absolutely MUST give these a try!

Collegiate Doggy-Wear

Do you remember these super cute pups modeling for me on opening day of college football?

They looked so good in their University of Georgia Doggy-Wear, and I thought I would show you how I whipped these up for the girls just in time for game day.

I started by cutting out some UGA “G”s from some wash cloths I had in our guest bath downstairs. 

Then I took some fabric I had left over from my UGA wreath and sewed it, right-sides-together, in a triangular shape.  I just eye-balled the size, there was no rhyme or reason to my measurements.

I turned the fabric right side out through a small hole I left in the top corner.  Then I sewed on the red “G”. 

I folded over the top edge and sewed it down, leaving enough room to slide a collar through.  Then I trimmed off the edges.

Hubs hates when I do anything “girly” for the dogs, but I just couldn’t help putting a subtle bow on their game-day clothes.  I figured they would only wear it on game-days so it wouldn’t hurt anyone.

 

Finally, I slid their collars through and they fit the girls perfectly!  I think they look great, and they only took me about 30 minutes to make the both of them.

And the added bonus is that I think the girls really like them!

Chocolate Waffle Cookies

You know those days when you are tearing through every cabinet and pantry in your house looking for something chocolate…you think you might just DIE if you don’t get some chocolate RIGHT NOW!  (Well, ladies I know you know what I am talking about )

So I had a must-eat-chocolate-now-nom-nom kind of moment and went hunting the internet for a recipe that I already had all the ingredients for.  I came across this recipe for Chocolate Waffle Cookies on the Yummy-Healthy-Easy blog and decided it was perfect for many reasons:

1. I had all the ingredients on hand.
2. It only made a few.  Hubs doesn’t eat chocolate, so I didn’t want 3 dozen cookies hanging around all week that I had to eat.
3. You make them in the waffle iron, so they are ready FAST.

And…I found this out after I cooked them…they are super moist, and stay that way for a few days.  This makes for a super delicious cookie!

I give these two thumbs up and even made a second batch half way through the   week.  If you like chocolate, you will love these!

Peanut Butter Banana Waffles

This was a little breakfast surprise for the hubs.  We try to make a good hearty homemade breakfast on the weekends, and usually Hubs is the one cooking.  This time I wanted to make him something yummy!  These turned out so delicious and froze really good too, so we had some to last us through the week as well.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 2 T sugar
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 2 bananas, sliced
• syrup of our choice

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a blender, process the butter and peanut butter until smooth. 

Add buttermilk and eggs, then blend well.  Add to flour mixture, stirring until just combined.  Heat waffle iron and brush with extra melted butter. 

Pour in 1/2 – 3/4 cup of batter (I used a Belgium waffle maker so I used 1 cup of batter for each waffle).  Cook until golden brown and serve with banana slices and syrup.

You can wrap any remaining waffles in plastic wrap and freeze them for up to one month.

Pork Chops with a Mushroom Cream Sauce

I am trying to incorporate white meat into our routine as much as possible.  Hubs loves mushrooms so we gave this recipe a try.  Me…yuck!  Hubs…keep this one!  You can try it out and decide for yourself.

Ingredients:

• 4 Boneless Pork Chops
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/4 t pepper
• 1 T vegetable oil
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup red cooking wine
• 1 envelope dry onion soup mix
• 16 oz fresh mushrooms, chopped
• 1/4 cup whipping cream

Sprinkle the pork chops with salt and pepper.  Cook in hot oil 2 minutes per side, until browned.  Add orange juice, red wine, soup mix and mushrooms, then bring it to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat so it simmers for 15 minutes.  Take out the pork chops and keep them warm. 

Stir whipping cream into the sauce that is left, cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly for 5 minutes, or until thickened.  Serve sauce over the pork chops. 

PupCakes Doggy Approved Cupcakes

When I saw this pin on Pinterest, I couldn’t resist.  I followed the pin over to Courtney’s blog, Pizzazzrie.  You absolutely must go check out her recipe for Pupcakes and see her pics of her super cute pup, Henry.

I followed Courtney’s recipe exactly and it made the most wonderful 6 pupcakes ever!  At least I assume they were wonderful because all the dogs that ate one scarfed it down so quick I almost couldn’t get a picture!

Because you should definitely only feed your dogs pupcakes for a special occasion, Willow and Harley shared their leftover pupcakes with their neighborhood friends too.