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Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies

Tags

brownies, Chocolate, chocolate peanut butter, gluten free, peanut butter, truffle

Okay, I’m so sorry to do this to you again! I wanted to get a new recipe up here and originally had planned on doing a cream cheese brownie, but I didn’t have any cream cheese… that would have been kinda tough, huh?? So, I had to settle on what I had on hand and as you know, or will learn to know, I always have peanut butter on hand. So I promise my next post will NOT be peanut butter and chocolate! These are really yummy and super rich and the great thing is you can make them gluten free! Mine, however, were not because I didn’t have gluten free brownies on hand.

Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies
Adapted from Betty Crocker

Brownie

• 1 box of brownie mix (you can use gluten free)
• Eggs, water, oil and applesauce or whatever the box calls for

My box mix called for 2/3 cups of oil so I used half a cup applesauce and the rest oil.

Peanut Butter Filling*

• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (crunchy would work too)
• 1/2 butter, softened
• 2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tsp milk

Topping

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup butter

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the brownie ingredients together until blended and pour into greased pan. You can use a 9×13 inch pan for thinner brownies or 8×8 in for thicker. Bake according to package directions or until an inserted toothpick comes out almost clean. Cool completely.

Beat filling ingredients together until well blended. Spread evenly over the cooled brownies.

In a microwave safe bowl melt chocolate chips and butter for about 30-45 seconds. Mix until smooth. Spread evenly over peanut butter filling. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes or until the chocolate topping has set. Store covered in the refrigerator.

*UPDATE: After making and tasting these I feel that the amount of peanut butter filling was sort of lacking, especially if you used a 9×13 inch pan. That said, I’ve doubled the peanut butter filling recipe, but feel free to use what the original recipe called for by only making half.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

So I don’t know what it is lately, but I’ve been craving peanut butter and chocolate more than usual, which is saying a lot. In fact, on Pinterest I should have a board solely dedicated to PB&C! Too many things fell into place today for me to not make a dessert. For instance, I got off work two hours early. What better to do than bake?! Not to mention I have two large boxes of cake flour that need to be used up. And lastly, I got a birthday present this past week which consisted of four jumbo tips for frosting cupcakes!!! Ohhmygosh you don’t know how hard it has been not to make cupcakes for the past four days. I’ve been wanting jumbo tips to make pretty frosted cupcakes for a loooong time. Anyways, below is the recipe for the chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting I decided to make.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

For the cake
This recipe yielded 36 cupcakes

• 1 stick butter, unsalted and at room temp
• 2 1/4 cups brown sugar, packed
• 3 eggs, room temp
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/4 cup sifted cake flour*
• 1 cup plain, nonfat greek yogurt
• 1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter, brown sugar and eggs until light and fluffy. Add in vanilla, chocolate, baking soda and salt. Next alternate adding the flour and greek yogurt. Beat until smooth. Pour in boiling water and beat until blended, on low speed, being careful not to slosh the hot water all over yourself. The batter will be really thin at this point. Scoop into lined cupcake pans.

*Note: You will need to sift the flour -before- measuring. I sifted about 2 1/2 cups into a large bowl and then spooned the sifted flour into a large measuring bowl equal to 2 1/4 cups.

For the frosting*

• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup butter at room temp
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2-3 Tbsp milk

Cream the peanut butter and butter together. Add vanilla. Mix in powdered sugar about 1/4 cup at a time, so it doesn’t create a powder explosion all over you and your counter. Add milk as needed. I think I used the entire 3 tablespoons.

*Please just note that if you use jumbo tips like I did, you will need to triple your frosting recipe in order to frost all the cupcakes.

Spinach Tortellini Soup

Hello all! Boy, do I love tortellini. It’s super easy to get from the freezer and toss into soups and salads!! Below is a recipe for Spinach Tortellini Soup. You can change up the veggies depending on what you have on hand. I do it all the time!

Spinach Tortellini Soup
Adapted from Allrecipes

• 2 Tbsps olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 onion (I use sweet yellow onion)
• 1 package frozen chopped spinach*
• 1 cup carrots, julienned
• 1 cup mushrooms (white button will do, but I prefer baby bella)
• 1/4 tsp basil
• 4 cans chicken broth
• 1 package cheese tortellini
• Salt & pepper to taste

1. Saute garlic and onion in olive oil.
2. Add broth, veggies and spices, bring to boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Add tortellini and return to boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.

*Note: I find it’s helpful to let the block of chopped spinach float in the chicken broth for a few minutes while cooking, then I’ll remove it and break it into pieces. It’s difficult to break the block if fully frozen and I always forget to leave it out beforehand to thaw a bit.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Tags

c chocolate chips, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, dessert, quaker oats

I hate raisins. I don’t like them by themselves, in cake, in breads and least of all in cookies. I have to be especially careful when picking cookies at an event or a friend’s house because what might appear to be oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips actually have raisins. Yuck. It’s trickery and I don’t like it. However, I do like oatmeal cookies so why not replace the raisins with chocolate chips, right? I mean, everything is better with chocolate. Below is a recipe I just made fresh out of the oven. It’s adapted from the recipe that comes on my Quaker Oats – Old Fashioned Oats container.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

• 1/2 c butter, room temperature (I used unsalted)
• 1/2 brown sugar
• 1/2 white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 c rolled oats
• 1 1/4 c chocolate chips
• 2 Tbs milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars in a stand mixer. Add the egg and vanilla. In a separate mixing bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and oats. Add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix in the milk. Add the chocolate chips. I usually stop my stand mixer and mix the chocolate chips in by hand, but that’s just because my stand mixer doesn’t like chunky ingredients.

Spray a baking sheet with Pam. Drop the dough by spoonfuls onto the baking sheet. Bake for about 12-13 minutes. This will make about 24 cookies.

Triple-Lemon Cheesecake

Tags

cheesecake, crumb mixture, dessert, lemon, lemon cheesecake, lemon curd recipe, triple-lemon cheesecake

Hello again. As I mentioned in my previous post, I made three desserts for easter. Although the lemon cheesecake and carrot cake recipes were not mine and I didn’t adapt them in any way, I thought I would repost the lemon cheesecake on here to share it all with you because it was so fabulous. I found it through Pinterest on With a Grateful Prayer and a Thankful Heart. She even has a wonderful lemon curd recipe that goes on top of the cheesecake. I highly recommend this recipe to everyone who loves cheesecake and lemon.

Triple-Lemon Cheesecake
From With a Grateful Prayer and a Thankful Heart

• 1 ½ c graham cracker crumbs
• 6 Tbs unsalted butter, melted
• 1 c sugar
• 1 Tbs lemon zest
• 3 packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 c sour cream
• 2 Tbs lemon juice, fresh squeezed
• 3 large eggs
• ½ c lemon curd (see Lemon Curd recipe below or use store bought curd)

Position rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350º. Butter the bottom and side of a 9″ springform pan. Have ready a roasting pan. Put on a kettle of water to boil for the water bath. Stir together crumbs and butter with a fork in a medium bowl until combined well. Press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the pan. Bake 8-10 minutes or until crust is set; let cool on a wire rack. Reduce the oven temperature to 325º. Process sugar and zest in a food processor until zest is finely ground. In a medium bowl with an electric mixer, beat cream cheese beginning on low speed & increasing to medium-high, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar mixture, scraping down the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula, continue beating until smooth. Add sour cream, lemon juice; beat until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Wrap the outside of the springform pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil, then pour the filling into the pan; set it in the roasting pan. Place the roasting pan in the oven and carefully pour in enough boiling water into the roasting pan to reach halfway up the side of the springform pan. Bake for 70-75 minutes or until the center is almost set but still slightly jiggly. DO NOT OVERBAKE ~ The cheesecake will firm as it cools. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and let the cheesecake cool in the water bath for 15 minutes. Remove from the bath; let it cool on a wire rack. Remove the foil; refrigerate the cheesecake in its pan, loosely covered, for at least 8 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

Run a table knife around the inside edge of the pan; remove the pan’s side. Spread the lemon curd over the top of the cheesecake. Let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Lemon Curd
From With a Grateful Prayer and a Thankful Heart

• ¾ c sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• ½ c fresh lemon juice
• ½ c butter, melted and slightly cooled
• Grated rind from 2 lemons (about 2 Tbsp)

Whisk together sugar and eggs until smooth. Stir in lemon juice, lemon zest and butter. Cook in the microwave for 3-4 minutes at 1 minute intervals, stirring well after each minute until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon.

RECIPE NOTE: Strain the lemon juice to remove pulp for a silky smooth curd.

The Grape Thing

Tags

brown sugar, cream cheese, grapes, pecans, The Grape Thing

So this past weekend was Easter as you probably are aware and I decided to go crazy with my desserts. I prefer baking to cooking any day. I decided on homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, lemon cheesecake and The Grape Thing. I know what you’re thinking, “The Grape Thing? What’s that?” Well, let me tell you. It is the most amazing dessert/fruit salad ever. Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself. And trust me, when I first saw this at a potluck, I wasn’t about to touch it. It creeped me out. But I promise you, once you make this dish and convince people to try it, they will beg you for it over and over. When I make this, I have to make THREE 9×13 pans of it. One for my husband, one for my dad and one for my grandpa. They will FIGHT over this.

The Grape Thing

• 1 good size bag of purple grapes, seedless
• 1 package cream cheese (you can use light or fat free)
• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 3/4 c chopped pecans

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. On a cookie sheet, spread out brown sugar and pecans. Put in the oven and toast for five minutes.

De-stem and wash the grapes. Let them dry. I usually spread them out on a towel and pat dry. Place dry grapes into a large bowl.

In the microwave, soften the cream cheese for about 30 to 45 seconds in a container. It should be the consistency of frosting – easy to mix over the grapes.

Mix the cream cheese and brown sugar/pecan mixture, then add to the grapes, coating all grapes well.

Spread into a serving dish and enjoy! You can serve immediately or refrigerate for later. It stores well in the refrigerator, however you may notice the cream cheese turns a clear color, which freaks some people out.

Homemade Sloppy Joes

Tags

ground turkey, Homemade sloppy joes, sloppy joes

I will admit that I do love Manwich sloppy joes and making your own sloppy joe sauce can be a little time consuming, but this recipe is totally worth it. I like to use ground turkey instead of ground beef in most of my recipes and this is one recipe I used to convice my hubby that ground turkey can be tasty too!

Homemade Sloppy Joes

1 pound ground turkey or beef
1/2 c chopped bell pepper
1/2 c chopped onion
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp mustard
3/4 c ketchup
3 tsp brown sugar
salt & pepper to taste

Brown the ground turkey or beef, bell pepper and onion over medium heat in a skillet and drain. Stir in the remainder of the ingredients and mix together until well blended. Reduce heat to low and simmer 30 minutes. Serve on an onion bun to finish it off!

Cheddar Bay Biscuits (Red Lobster)

Tags

Biscuit, biscuit mix, Bisquick, Bread, Cheddar bay biscuit, dry white wine, garlic biscuit, garlic salt, mild cheddar cheese, Red Lobster, Red Lobster biscuit, red lobster biscuits

I have a new recipe for you! I know everyone lurves those Red Lobster biscuits, including myself and my hubby, so I just had to make this recipe when I found it at gimmesomeoven.com. I changed a few things about it after reading some of the comments and since I happened to be making asparagus risotto, which required dry white wine, I thought I would add it to the biscuits. They turned out UH-MAY-ZING. Anyways, without further ado, here’s the recipe:

Cheddar Bay Biscuits (Red Lobster copycat recipe) Adapted from Gimme Some Oven!

For the dough:

• 2 cups Bisquick baking mix (You can use buttermilk biscuit mix instead and omit ingredient number 2 below)
• 2 Tbsp buttermilk, room temperature
• 1 cup grated mild cheddar cheese
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 2/3 cup of cold nonfat milk
• Pinch of salt

For the butter sauce:

• 2 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1/2 tsp parsley
• 1/4 tsp garlic salt
• 1 Tbsp dry white wine, room temperature

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Prepare a baking sheet with cooking spray. To save on clean up, cover baking sheet with foil and then spray with cooking spray, if you’d like.

In a large bowl, mix together biscuit mix, buttermilk, cheese, garlic powder and salt.  Add in milk, and stir until well mixed.  (Heads up – the dough will get very sticky!)

With a spoon or with your fingers, shape the dough into biscuit-sized clumps, and drop onto the baking sheet.  (Note that the dough will pretty much hold its shape when baked, so feel free to pat down random peaks in the dough if you’d like them to look more uniform!)

Bake for 10-13 minutes, or until biscuits begin to brown slightly around the edges.

While the biscuits bake, prepare the warm butter mixture by mixing together the melted butter, parsley, garlic salt and dry white wine in a small bowl.  As soon as the biscuits are removed from the oven, brush the biscuits (while they are still on the baking sheet) with the mixture until they are well-coated.

Depending on the size of the biscuits you make, this will make between 12 to 15 biscuits.

Tomato Kielbasa Penne

Tags

cheese tortellini, chopped spinach, kielbasa, kielbasa recipe, polska kielbasa, spinach tortellini soup, tomato kielbasa penne, tortellini recipe, turkey kielbasa, turkey kielbasa recipe

To start out my blog, I’ve got two very delicious recipes to share with you! My favorite meat is polska kielbasa. I switched to turkey a few years ago because it’s got less fat. I’m always looking for new recipes to use kielbasa in and I just so happened to stumble across a recipe on Yummly that I thought sounded yummly (hehe). I changed it up a bit to my liking. The recipe is below. Enjoy!

Tomato Kielbasa Penne
Adapted from Yummly

• 2 Tbsps olive oil
• 1 onion, diced (I used a sweet yellow onion)
• 2 cloves garlic, diced
• 1 package turkey kielbasa
• 1 can diced tomatoes, 14.5 oz (My can had onions and garlic, but plain will work too)
• 1 large green pepper, diced
• 1 can tomato sauce, 8 ozs
• 14 ozs penne pasta
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1/2 pint half & half
• Pepper to taste

1. Cook pasta as directed in separate pot.
2. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add olive oil, onion, garlic, green pepper and kielbasa and cook until onions are tender.
3. Stir in diced tomatoes (drained), tomato sauce, oregano, parsley, half & half and cooked pasta.
4. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes.