Double Frosted Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies are SO delicious! However, they are extremely rich and will require several glasses of milk with them ;). They are very good without the frosting too so if you require 2 cookies, I'd probably leave the frosting off.

Ingredients:
Cookies:
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups peanut butter
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 Tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup peanut butter chips)

Peanut Butter Frosting:
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup powdered sugar
4 Tablespoons milk

Chocolate Frosting:
4 Tablespoons (1/2 stick) margarine
5 Tablespoons milk
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
powdered sugar

Directions:
For Cookies:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl combine butter and peanut butter and beat until mixture is light and fluffy. Add sugars and mix until well combined. Add eggs and mix until the mixture is well combined and light in color. Add milk and vanilla, mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix until flour is incorporated, but there are still large spots of flour in the dough. Add chocolate/peanut butter chips and mix until well combined. Let cookie dough sit for 20 minutes so it can firm up a bit.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10 minutes. Leave the cookies on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes after baking to allow them to cool and firm up slightly before placing on a cooling rack.

For Peanut Butter Frosting:
Mix all ingredients until smooth. Frost cooled cookies.

For Chocolate Frosting:
Bring margarine, cocoa, and milk to a boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla and powdered sugar until frosting is desired consistency. After cookies are cooled and frosted with peanut butter frosting, frost with chocolate frosting for the final layer.

Helpful Hints:
You can use any combination of chips you want. You can use all chocolate, all peanut butter, half and half, etc. I just like to use half and half.

These cookies are SO much better cooled. Usually I love warm cookies right from the oven, but these ones are much better when they've cooled a bit.

The frosting recipes only frosted about half or a little more than half of my cookies. However, that was completely fine because the frosted cookies are incredibly rich and don't freeze nearly as well.

To frost my cookies I just put the frosting in a zip lock bag and cut the very tip of one of the corners. That way I can just squeeze it out all nice and neat and I don't have to go buy special frosting items.

Soft & Chewy Double Chocolate Cookies

This is my new favorite chocolate cookie! These will definately take care of any chocolate craving you may have.

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
16 ounces semisweet Baker's baking chocolate, chopped
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) butter, softened to room temperature
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside. In a small bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla lightly with a fork; set aside.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave (50% power for 2 minutes, then stir and microwave in 20 second intervals until chocolate is melted – be careful not to overheat).

Beat the butter at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 5 seconds. Beat in the sugars until combined; the mixture will look granular. Reduce the speed to low and gradually beat in the egg mixture until incorporated, about 45 seconds. Add the chocolate in a steady stream and beat until combined. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

With the mixer at low speed, add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the chocolate chips. Do not overbeat. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until the consistency is fudge-like, about 30 minutes.

Adjust the oven racks to the upper and lower-middle positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 sheets with parchment paper (cookies will stick if only using a greased baking sheet). Roll the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place them on the cookie sheets, spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake about 9 - 10 minutes, rotating baking sheets halfway through baking time (until the edges of the cookies have just begun to set but the centers are still very soft) Cool the cookies on the sheets about 5 minutes or until set and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Helpful Hints:
* You may be tempted to cook the cookies for a little longer, DON'T DO IT!! They will set up more as they cool.

* Do not substitute chocolate chips for the Baker's baking chocolate because chocolate chips melt differently so the cookies won't be the same.

* Milk chocolate chips are a great substitute for the semi sweet chocolate chips. That's what I had and they tasted great!

* I don't like shaping the balls of dough with my hands and constantly having to wash them so I use a cookie scoop which worked perfectly! I just used a heaping scoop for each cookie and they were the perfect size.

French Bread Rolls

I made these rolls to use with our meatball subs. They were so yummy! So much better than store bought subs. I did attempt to make them into subs, however, next time I will just make rolls because a roll is a much better serving size and if needed you can have two!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour, give or take a few tablespoons

Directions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, let the yeast proof in the warm water and sugar for about 3-5 minutes until it is foamy and bubbly. Combine the oil, salt and 2 cups of the flour. Begin mixing and continue to add the rest of the flour gradually until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Judge the dough not by the amount of flour called for in the recipe but in how the dough feels. The dough should be soft and smooth but still slightly tacky to the touch.

Knead the dough in the stand mixer until it is very smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Lightly spray a large bowl with cooking spray and place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl with lightly greased plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until it has doubled (this usually takes about an hour).

Lightly punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly greased countertop. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and form the dough into round balls. Place the rolls on a lightly greased baking sheet about an inch apart. Cover the rolls with lightly greased plastic wrap (don't pin the plastic wrap under the baking sheet or the rolls will flatten while rising). Let the rolls rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 12-14 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through.

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

My sister in law loves Red Velvet cake and so for her birthday I thought I would attempt to make one. I looked all over for a good recipe, but so many of them called for a LOT of oil, so I of course just ended up using the one from Mel's Kitchen Cafe, where I get most of my recipes for yummy desserts. I did make some slight changes after reading several reviews on different websites. I am just going to put my changes on here, but the link above should take you to the original. This cake was so yummy, I will definately make this again! Don't mind the not so great phone pics.

Ingredients:
Cake:
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 (1-oz.) bottle red food coloring
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup lowfat sour cream
1/4 cup canola oil
4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Frosting:
4 ounces lowfat (neufchatel) cream cheese
1/4 cup lowfat Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar (or until desired stiffness)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat 2 round 9 inch cake pans (or a 9X13-inch pan) with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a liquid measuring cup, whisk buttermilk and vanilla together. In a small bowl, mix together cocoa, food coloring, and a little bit of the buttermilk mixture (about 1-3 Tablespoons) to form a paste.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat sour cream, oil, butter and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl. Add the cocoa mixture and mix well. Mix in 2 1/2 cups flour, baking powder and salt until just combined. Add the buttermilk mixture and mix again, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in the remaining flour until just combined.

In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda until mixture fizzes then quickly fold into batter. Scrape the batter into the prepared pans and tap on the countertop to burst any air bubbles. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 25 to 35 minutes. Don’t overbake or the cake will be dry. Set on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the frosting, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat together cream cheese, yogurt, butter and vanilla until well combined and smooth. Slowly mix in powdered sugar. When the cake is completely cooled, spread the frosting over the cake, cut into pieces and serve. If not serving right away, store the cake in the refrigerator until ready to eat.

Helpful Hints:
I used about 5 - 6 cups of powdered sugar in my frosting. I made a layered cake instead of a sheet cake so I needed the frosting a little more stiff to be able to hold the cake together. Since I was adding so much sugar, I also added a pinch of salt.

When I was reading reviews of the different recipes I was considering making, many people said when they didn't make the paste with the cocoa they had chocolate swirls in their cake, which is why I chose to do it that way. I had no chocolate swirls, so it was a success!

Meatball Subs

I like to use this french bread roll recipe for my subs instead of store bought subs/rolls. Homemade is so much better!

Ingredients:
French bread subs
1 1/2 cups flour in a shallow baking dish

For the meatballs:
1 cup unseasoned bread crumbs or crushed saltines
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan or mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup low-sodium beef broth
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 teaspoons dried basil
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
2 pounds ground beef or ground turkey

For the sauce:
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon sugar (this helps cut the acidity of the tomatoes)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
In a large bowl, mix all of the meatball ingredients together EXCEPT the meat. Let the mixture sit for 10-15 minutes so the breadcrumbs/crackers can soak up the liquid a little bit. Add the meat and mix well with your hands until all the ingredients are combined.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly grease the foil. Form golf ball-sized meatballs and dredge them in the flour until lightly coated. Place the meatballs on the baking sheet about one inch apart. Bake for 20 -25 minutes until the meatballs are completely cooked through.

When the meatballs come out of the oven, let them sit for about 15 minutes. Gently scrape off any fat and place the meatballs in a 9X13-inch baking dish (or similar size). Pour the hot tomato sauce over the meatballs.

For the sauce, combine the sauce ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a low simmer. Simmer for 10-15 minutes on low. Keep warm until the meatballs are finished baking.

To assemble the sandwiches, slice buns in half. (If desired, lay the buns flat open on a baking sheet and top one side with cheese – toast in the oven for 4-5 minutes at 400 degrees until the buns are toasted and cheese is melted.) Place 3-4 meatballs on each bun and top with desired amount of sauce. Serve immediately with lots of napkins.

Helpful Hints:
Next time I will make the meatballs a little smaller and I won't dredge them in the flour. Maybe I just don't know how to dredge them, but some of the meatballs had a little flour remaining on them which I didn't like.

If meatballs are prepared earlier, reheat by placing the meatballs in the pot with the simmering sauce and let them warm up together.

To freeze them, place them unbaked on a baking sheet in the freezer. Once frozen, place in a freezer-safe ziploc bags. Bake them (without thawing first), adding 6-7 minutes to the baking time. Or freeze after baked by placing them in a freezer-safe ziploc bag and when ready to eat, reheat them in the simmering sauce until they are warmed through.

Baked Manicotti

I got this recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. It is quite delicious! This is a meal that I am going to make ahead and freeze in smaller amounts next time because we had TONS of leftovers. We had it for dinner and then lunch the next 3 days and we still had some left that went to waste.

Ingredients:
Tomato Sauce:
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (in juice)
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 medium cloves garlic, finely minced
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dried basil

Cheese Filling and Pasta:
3 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
4 ounces grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 cups)
8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese (about 2 cups)
2 large eggs , lightly beaten
¾ teaspoon table salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves (or 2 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil (or 1 teaspoon dried basil)
16 no-boil lasagna noodles (Barilla brand)

Directions:
1 - Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees.

2 - Heat oil, garlic, and pepper flakes (if using) in large saucepan over medium heat until fragrant but not brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, basil and 1/2 teaspoon salt and simmer until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes.

3 - In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, 1 cup Parmesan chese, mozzarella cheese, eggs, salt, pepper, and herbs; set aside.

4 - To assemble, pour 1 inch boiling water into 13 by 9-inch baking dish, then add noodles one at a time. Let noodles soak until pliable, about 5 minutes, separating noodles with tip of sharp knife to prevent sticking. Remove noodles from water and place in single layer on clean kitchen towels; discard water in baking dish and dry baking dish.

5 - Spread bottom of baking dish evenly with 1½ cups sauce. Using soupspoon, spread ¼ cup cheese mixture evenly onto bottom three-quarters of each noodle (with short side facing you), leaving top quarter of noodle exposed. Roll into tube shape and arrange in baking dish seam side down. (You should be able to fit 8 manicotti in each row, allowing all 16 to fit in the dish). Top evenly with remaining sauce, making certain that pasta is completely covered.

6 - Cover manicotti with aluminum foil. Bake until bubbling, about 40 minutes, then remove foil. Sprinkle manicotti evenly with remaining 1 cup Parmesan. Bake until cheese is browned and bubbly, about 6-7 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 15 minutes before serving.

Helpful Hints:
The manicotti can be prepared right up until the baking step then covered with a sheet of parchment paper, wrapped in aluminum foil, and refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month. (If frozen, thaw the manicotti in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days.) To bake, remove the parchment, replace the aluminum foil, and increase baking time to 1 to 1¼ hours.

I substituted cottage cheese for the ricotta cheese because it was on sale and it tasted delicious!

Crockpot Chicken & Gravy

This is a Sunday favorite of mine that my mom made regularly growing up. It's such an easy meal for Sunday's, or really any day, because it can be cooking while we're at church or while we're at work.

Ingredients:
6 chicken tenders
1 can (10 ¾ oz.) Campbell's Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can (10 ¾ oz.) Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 package beefy onion soup mix
Water

Directions:
Mix soups and beefy onion package together in crockpot. Add water until consistency is a little thicker than you want your gravy (gravy will thin a little as it cooks). Add chicken tenders to soup mixture in crockpot. Cook on low setting for 5 - 6 hours.

Helpful Hints:
After putting one of the cans of soup in the crockpot, I like to fill the can ¾ full of water and mix the beefy onion soup mix with the water. Using a strainer, I will drain out most of the onions so there are not so many in the gravy.

The cooking time will depend on how hot your crockpot cooks. I like to cook it for about 5-6 hours because my crockpot cooks hot so cooking it longer burns a little of the gravy on the sides.

This gravy is delicious on rice or mashed potatos.