Peanut Butter Cookies

Well, I have to trust my husband's cookie expertise since I wasn't able to try them myself. He seemed pleased enough. I'm sending some to work with him in a bit because with him being the only cookie monster in the house I don't want 1/2 a batch of freshly baked goodness to go to waste. Now, my husband came home earlier than expected. I had just finished my cookie photo shoot which was just in time for him to drink the milk and eat the spoonful of peanut butter. He first questioned me... thinking he caught me in some sneaking food ritual or something. Diet (not that I like that word...) or no diet, I don't like milk, and I surely don't like spoonfuls of peanut butter. Yuck. These were really easy but I have to admit, cookie dough that has to be placed in the fridge for 2-3 hours is sort of a pain unless you're on a baking spree and are able to knock out a few things in that time. I'll get on with how to make the cookies now... until next time bloggers, until next time.

Ingredients:
1/2 c. light brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. extra crunchy peanut butter
1/4 c. shortening
1/4 c. softened unsalted butter
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

**1/4 c. extra sugar for rolling

Directions:
Mix first 7 ingredients together until well blended. Then add remaining four dry ingredients. Cover and place in the fridge for 3 hours. Using a cookie dropper, scoop and then roll into round ball with your hands. Roll around in sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Make a criss cross design with a fork. Sprinkle with a little extra sugar if desired. Bake at 375 for 6-8 minutes. Cool on a cookie rack immediately.

Chicken & Cabbage Soup

It's been tough for me trying to find things that fall into no carb categories for recipes. Now, I threw this together and even my husband agreed it was really good! Now, I'll admit, he did try a few spoonfuls, but his tummy is currently filled with a breaded and fried pork chop, baked potato topped with butter, sour cream, and shredded cheddar cheese... and creamed corn. Though I do smell like a fried pork chop, I'm glad there isn't one currently sitting in my stomach! Not that it didn't look delicious, but my jeans might disagree with me tomorrow! Now, this is only the second time I've cooked with cabbage since I've started my... new eating ways. I love cabbage and it's a nice change when you're getting sick of the same old veggies!

Ingredients:
1 large boneless skinless chicken breast
About 8 cups of water (sorry I eyeballed it!)
3 tbsp chicken bouillon
salt and pepper to taste (I go light on the salt because of the bouillon)
Pinch of parsley
1 tsp garlic powder
1 medium onion, sliced
1/3 head of cabbage, sliced

Directions:
Place water in a large pot, heat over medium to allow chicken to cook through. Begin adding your seasonings once water has come to a boil. Remove chicken and slice into desired size. I personally don't like cubed chicken in soup, for whatever reason, so I sliced mine. Feel free to cube your chicken! Add onions and cabbage. Turn heat up to high and allow soup to boil rapidly, covered for 5 minutes. Turn heat down to warm-low, leave covered, and allow all the tastes to simmer together and the onions and cabbage to cook down for 30-40 minutes. Delicious!

For those of you who aren't watching what you eat... I would suggest incorporating potatoes, carrots, and bacon!

Green Olive Dip

Well, here it is. My husband's Grandma T has made this for years I'm told. His Grandpa B has told me (a few times) the story of when my husband and his brother were little. They were making their plates and his brother asks 'is this stuff any good?' with which his grandpa told him 'no' or 'it's terrible'... something along those lines. My husband turns around and goes 'that means it's good, take A LOT!'. Now, if you know all the key players in this story, it always makes me laugh just because I can picture it. Her version typically comes out a bit more smooth, but I didn't have a food processor and ended up having to use a hand chopper for my green olives. I found a lot of really similar recipes online but they all called for quite a bit of mayo, and that didn't seem right. I gave T a call and she led me in the right direction. I doubled the recipe since I was assuming there would be a ton of people, I saw one person touch it the whole time, and threw it out later that night. Well, lesson learned! Anyways, I myself am not a fan of green olives, but I did try it one time and I'll admit, if I liked green olives, I'd LOVE this dip! This is more of a cracker dip than a chip dip, but to each their own! Very rich in taste, but I love the idea of having something different. It just seems like you always see the same dips at parties and such. I like to mix it up... sometimes!

Ingredients:
2 8-oz. pkg. Cream Cheese (room temp. for easier mixing)
4 tbsp. Mayo
1 medium sized jar Green Olives
1-2 tbsp juice from can

Directions:
In a food processor combine all ingredients, chill, and serve with crackers or your choice of something else! If you don't have a food processor like me, use a hand chopper or chop a fine as you can with a hand knife and combine with remaining ingredients. Combine well with spatula and follow remaining directions above!

Deviled Eggs

Well, I know I've been nothing short of absent for... quite awhile now! I had a nice but very long 3 and 1/2 weeks back in Nebraska with family and friends while the husband went off to Fort Leonardwood & Fort Hood for some schooling! I've switched my eating over to very low carbs/high protein, started towards the end of October and here I am still going strong welcoming in December. Now, I'll admit, I've had a few nights where I watched my husband shove his face with pizza or cookies and have had to mentally remind myself 'I love my new jeans, I love my new jeans'! We were thinking about 15 people would attend our Thanksgiving feast, but for various reasons not everyone was able to show up. I cooked A LOT of food. I was satisfied with how everything turned out but it was A LOT of work and I was more than exhausted by the time everyone left the house. Now, I didn't capture pictures of all my amazing food, especially the turkeys, yes, plural. I wish I would have but I was running around like a mad woman trying to finish everything all at the right time and make sure everything was simply delicious. I prepped for twelve hours the day before thanksgiving, yes, twelve. I only managed to remember to capture two things. These eggs, and well, the green olive dip that I figured my husband would appreciate, but didn't touch. That's another story though! Now, these went over quite well, I think they stink, and well, don't like eggs period. But hey, they weren't for me and they did get eaten so that's all that counts!

Ingredients:
18 large eggs
3/4 cup Mayo
Salt & Pepper (to taste)
Paprika (to garnish)
1 tbsp. mustard

Directions:
Place eggs in a single layer in large pot. Cover with water so that water is about 1 1/2 - 2 in. above water. Bring water to boil rapidly for 1 minute. Cover pan and remove from heat. Allow eggs to sit in covered pot for 15 minutes. Gently place eggs in strainer and run cool water over them. While continuing to run cold water, one by one, take the egg and tap it on the counter on the bottom of the egg. There is a small air pocket that allows for an easy starting point to peel. I allow the water to run over the egg while peeling. If the egg is stubborn tap it a few more times around the egg to break up the shell. After all the eggs are peeled, slice in half length wise and pop center of egg into a bowl. Combine mayo, salt & pepper, and mustard to yolk mixture and mix well, breaking up the yolks. Fill large ziploc bag with mixture. Cut the corner as to make your own 'pastry bag'. Fill the hole in each egg halve. Sprinkle paprika on top of each egg to garnish. Whaaaa-la!

Creamy Baked Chicken

Once upon an October night, this master chef made some delicious chicken. Her husband cleared his plate and ate it all up! Now I'm sure you all have lots of questions. What did you make? How did you make it? How did you become the greatest known chef there ever was? Oh, well, I may be getting a little ahead of myself now. We've had a pretty lazy Sunday, ya know, the usual video games, television, movie, and of course a few rounds of UNO! I swear my husband cheats. He magically always has all the 'draw 4' cards! Though, I'd rather have him cheating at UNO than screaming at the television because the Huskers are loosing! We had chili yesterday and not to toot my own horn but, it was pretty delicious... then again, what have I made that isn't?!

We used the yummy chicken gravy for our mashed potatoes! Just an idea!

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1/2 c. milk
1 tbsp. chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a glass baking dish. Place chicken breasts into the mixture and bake for 60-80 minutes at 400F.

M&M Cookies

Mmm. These cookies are amazing! I made these for the first time right when we moved to Georgia. Now, I made these for the second time today, and they turned out just perfect! Since I'm so terribly distracted right now, I'm not going to go into a long drawn out post. Here it is, short and sweet.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. sugar
1 c. packed brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 c. unsalted butter
1/2 c. shortening
1 c. M&Ms

Directions:
Mix flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. Combine white and brown sugar with melted butter and shortening in a seperate bowl. Beat eggs and vanilla into sugar mix. Blend sugar and flour mixes together. Once combined well, add M&Ms and mix again. Using a cookie dropper, place scooped cookies on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 7-9 minutes at 350F. Allow to cool on a cookie rack for a few minutes and whaaaaa-la!

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Ah, blogger babies, I know you've been more than disappointed with the lack of posts lately. I'm attempting to mega-multi-task here. I'm currently attempting to catch up on Dexter, stay tuned into my husband and I's new video game world. That's right I said it. We're healthy addicted to the new Final Fantasy. Anyway, after a lovely trip back home, I had the two weeks of the husband at WLC and now he's off to two more schools. Since he'll be gone for about a month I'm going to spend the month back home for various reasons. I probably won't do much cooking at all while I'm there, so it's just fair warning. I'll try to get you a few posts before then. I got the first steps of this idea from the chicken enchilada recipe from the hub's grandma.

Ingredients:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 slices bacon
1/2 okg. cream cheese
1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 large onion (sliced)

Directions:
Cook bacon until crispy. Set aside on paper towels to remove excess grease. Allow about 2 tbsp. bacon drippings to remain in pan. Place sliced onion in pan and cook down on medium heat. Place cream cheese in pan and cook down until melted. Once combined, add cheddar cheese until stirred together and melted. Slice open the top of the chicken breast and create a pocket. Spoon a generous scoop of cheese mixture into the pocket. Bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes. If you're cooking large chicken breasts it will take longer. I used smaller breasts.