December SRC - Chocolate Coconut Patties

By the time our reveal for the Secret Recipe Club posts this month, Christmas will have come and gone. I hope that everyone had a joyous holiday!

I was assigned the blog Oh! You Cook to choose a recipe from this month. Dena's blog is full of wonderful recipes! My choice this month was simple - not much more than chocolate and coconut -  but it was just what I was looking for to add to our Christmas treats. If you like Mounds bars, her recipes for Mounds Wannabees is spot on and so delicious! I changed the recipe up just a bit by mixing the chocolate and the coconut together, making patties instead of bars. Either way, the chocolate and coconut is an excellent combination!

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Chocolate Coconut Patties

1 - 14 oz bag  shredded sweetened coconut
8 1/2 tbsp. light corn syrup
1 - 15 oz bag melting chocolate

Line a large baking sheet with wax paper.

Add coconut and corn syrup to a food processor. Pulse 8-10 times, or until corn syrup is evenly distributed and mixture clumps up.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Stir the coconut into the coconut and mix until thoroughly combined.

Shape into patties and lay on the baking sheet to harden. For quicker results, stick the pan into the frig. for 10 minutes.

Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

Makes approx. 45 patties

SRC Group B - Gingerbread Cups

As many of my readers know, I'm a hostess for the Secret Recipe Club. If you don't know what the SRC is all about, take a minute to check it out to see what fun you're missing out on!

There are 4 groups to the Secret Recipe Club and when one of the groups end up with an orphaned blog - a blog who didn't have a recipe chosen from and made for the month - the group hostesses try to jump in and help out. I did just that this month. I was happy to be able to lend a hand to Tina in Group B!

The blog that I baked from is named Six Kilos of Pumpkin. It full of great recipes. I especially enjoyed looking through her dessert recipes. I found the perfect recipe for the holidays...Gingerbread Cuffins with Cream Cheese Icing - nope, Cuffins is not a typo. She describes these treats as a mixture between cupcakes and muffins. After baking them, I can totally understand what she is describing. I decided to stray away from the usual cupcake or muffin this time and instead, I baked the batter in 4 oven-safe cups, perfect single serving desserts. Instead of cream cheese frosting, I'm topping ours with whipped cream. Sorry, no pictures of the whipped cream, we will be eating them for dessert later this evening.

How jealous are you that you can't smell the wonderful scents surrounding me in my little apartment?!?

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas! :)

Gingerbread Cups

original recipe @ Six Kilos of Pumpkin 

1 c plain flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp ground cloves

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

7 tbsp. butter, softened

1/4 cup milk

2 tbsp organic maple agave syrup

1 tsp molasses

Preheat oven to 350C. 

In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients, up to and including the brown sugar. 

Stir in the remaining ingredients and mix for 3 minutes with a hand mixer or until the batter is light and fluffy. 

Spoon the batter into 4 large oven-safe baking cups. Bake for 20 - 23 minutes, until a toothpick stuck into the middle of one cup comes out clean.

Serve warm or bring to room temp and top with whipped cream.

Delicious!

Please take a few minutes to visit Six Kilos of Pumpkin to let her know that she is not alone in bloggy land!

November SRC - Chicken with Rustic Balsamic Tomato Sauce

I can't believe that it's the end of November already! That means that it's time once again for our reveal party for Group D of the Secret Recipe Club.

I was paired with Kathleen's blog, Gonna Want Seconds. I knew from the first couple of minutes of thumbing through her recipes, that I was going to find many, many favorites to try. Her recipe for Chicken with Rustic Balsamic Tomato Sauce is a perfect match for my ways of cooking so I decided that would be my choice for the SRC.

Like Kathleen, I do not peel nor seed tomatoes unless it's absolutely necessary - and then it better be for a worthwhile cause. hahaha! This is a one pan dish so full of flavor. I made a couple of changes - I couldn't find decent plum tomatoes anywhere so I subbed two containers of grape tomatoes, which worked perfectly fine. I also left out the Rosemary because I thought that I had some in my freezer but I didn't and I didn't feel like running back to the store before dinner. I'm sure that the fresh Rosemary would add even more wonderful flavor to this dish. I left out the shallots because my family doesn't care for them. I love balsamic vinegar and the reduction in this recipe is fantastic when cooked with the tomatoes.

I served the chicken over rice but egg noodles would work nicely, too. If you want a lighter meal, serve the chicken with a side salad.

Chicken with Rustic Balsamic Tomato Sauce

4 tsp olive oil-divided
4-5 skinless boneless chicken breast - I used a 2.5 bag
2 tbsp fresh rosemary-chopped - I omitted
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 c. shallots-chopped - I omitted
3 tbps  garlic-minced
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
6 plum tomatoes-diced - I used 2 pints of grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 c.chicken broth
1/4 tsp sugar - I added it
1/4 c. fresh basil-chopped


Heat 2 tsp oil in a large pan.  Sprinkle both sides of chicken with salt and pepper.  Add to skillet and brown on both sides.  Transfer the chicken to a platter.

Add 2 tsp oil to the pan.  Lower the heat and add garlic. Cook about two minutes, stirring often.

Add the vinegar, stirring to scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until the vinegar is almost evaporated.

Stir in the tomatoes, chicken broth and sugar. Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add chicken back to pan, turn to cover with sauce.  Continue cooking until the chicken is cooked through. Stir in basil.

Serve over rice or egg noodles. For a lighter meal, serve the chicken with a side salad.

Here's how you can join us in the Secret Recipe Club!  

SRC - Sausage Pizza Rolls

I'm so excited to be hosting a group for the Secret Recipe Club!

I'm the hostess for Group D, the newest group of the club and today is our reveal day!!
I want to thank Amanda @ Amanda's Cookin for this wonderful opportunity to become
a hostess for this great club!

Even before I was assigned the wonderful blog, The Fantastical Sharing of Recipes, I knew that I would be searching for "snacking" foods instead of a main dish or dessert recipe because my whole family has been down with the flu this month. Yes, unfortunately, we share everything.

The recipe I chose to make was sausage pizza rolls. They were delicious and fit our needs for something hearty enough to fill us up but not weigh us down like a heavy meal. I apologize for the plain Jane pictures but I could barely see straight when we tried this recipe, let alone fancy things up for the picture. Don't judge by the pictures...whip up a batch that contains your favorite pizza toppings! Then you'll see what I'm taking about! YUM! Perfect for eating while lounging on the couch, covered in blankets, while watching Steelers football! (side note: Did ya happen to see that game yesterday?!?)

Ok, back to the sausage pizza rolls.....   This is one of those recipes where I thought "Why didn't I think of that?" Very easy to put together and great for using up bits and pieces of leftovers that's stuck in the frig. Sarah's family prefers pepperoni in their rolls but my family prefers sausage, peppers and onions with the sauce and cheese, so that's what I ran with. Definitely a keeper! Just think of the many pizza combos out there that you could stuff into an egg roll wrapper. :)

Sausage Pizza Rolls

3/4 lb loose hot sausage - if using sause that's
in the casing, remove casings before frying and
crumble into small pieces
1 green pepper, diced into very small pieces
1/3 c. onion, diced into very small pieces
1/3 mushrooms, diced small
mozzarella cheese, finely shredded
pizza or spaghetti sauce
1 pkg. egg roll wrappers
oil for frying
1/4 c. water for wetting egg roll wrappers

Fry sausage until brown and cooked completely through. Drain on paper towel.

Saute green peppers, onions and mushrooms until soft. Drain on paper towel, if necessary.

Into one bowl, stir together the hot sausage, peppers, onions, mushrooms and 1 - 2 cups of sauce - enough to make the mixture wet but not sloppy and soggy.

To assemble:

Lay one egg roll wrapper onto the table. To the middle of each wrapper add approx. 1 tbsp. cheese, then top with 1 - 1 1/2 tbsp sausage and veggie mixture.

If you're not sure how to wrap the egg rolls for frying, there are directions inside the egg roll wrapper package.

Fry in hot oil until browned all over. Drain on paper towels.

Here's another version of egg rolls that I've made...my chicken egg rolls.  This one includes step by step pictures.

I've had another wonderful month of cooking and blogging with the Secret Recipe Club! If you would like to learn how you join in on the fun, click here for more info.!

Secret Recipe Club: Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza Rolls

This might not be a million dollar photo of pizza rolls but I wanted to show you what it looks like to accomplish a project that I have had a fear of trying for a long time - making homemade dough for breads and pizzas. I did it. Here they are in the raw without any pretty plates or fancy tablescapes.

Delicious! (and I made the dough!)

I was very fortunate to receive Babara Bakes for my SRC blog this month. Barbara has a beautiful blog. The pictures jump right out at you, almost demanding you to try each and every recipe. Her step-by-step instructions are easy to follow - which made my challenge of trying something new so much easier. I can handle the bread machine method, but I'm overcome with panic at the thought of trying to make homemade bread by hand. When I found Barbara's recipe for Whole Wheat Pizza Dough & Homemade Pizza Sauce, I bookmarked it and hid it for a few days before making it my final choice. I read through the instructions again and again, making sure I had everything that I needed to make this dough turn out right. The day came to make the pizza dough.... I followed her instructions step by step. Guess what? It wasn't that hard after all. The dough was easy to work with and baked tasted great.

I decided to make pizza rolls from this recipe instead of regular pizza. I added ground sausage, pepperoni, peppers & onion to her homemade pizza sauce. The sauce was fantastic. My whole family overwhelmingly loved the pizza rolls. This recipe is definitely a keeper! These will go over big for Sunday football games and school lunches!

Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza Rolls
adapted from tamiskitchentabletalk: pizza roll ups

1 recipe for whole wheat pizza dough (below)
1 recipe for homemade pizza sauce (below)
3 c. shredded mixed mozzarella and cheddar cheese -
divided into (2) 1 1/2 c. servings
1 cup finely chopped turkey pepperoni - divided into (2) 1/2 c. servings

**Any changes that I've made to the original recipes below from Barbara Bakes, will appear in bold lettering.**

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
from Barbara Bakes

1 cup warm water (between 95º and 115º)
2 Tablespoons honey
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cup bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 US package) instant yeast
2 teaspoons vital wheat gluten
1/2 teaspoon salt

Whisk together the honey, warm water, and oil in a small bowl. The water should be about 95 to 115°. It should feel very warm, but not hot.

Mix 1 cup bread flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour, yeast, wheat gluten, and salt in mixing bowl, using the paddle attachment, mix on low for about 30 seconds.

With the motor running on low, pour in the liquids. Continue mixing until a shaggy dough begins to form. Clean off paddle and switch to dough hook. Mix in the remaining cup of bread flour a little at a time, to make a moderately stiff dough. Adding more or less flour as needed.

Knead for eight minutes. The dough should completely clear the sides. If it is too sticky, add additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing in thoroughly before determining if more flour is needed. If the dough seems too dry, spritz with water from a spray bottle a couple of times, mixing in thoroughly before determining if more water is needed. You’ll find the dough wraps itself around the hook, so every 2 minutes, stop the machine, scrape the dough off the hook, and then continue kneading.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it a few times by hand to be sure it’s tight and elastic. Form the dough into a tight ball.

Wash and dry your mixing bowl then mist it with oil. Place the dough, seam-side down, in the bowl and lightly mist top of dough with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in size — 45 minutes to an hour.

Heat the oven to 375*. 

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into two equal portions. Set one aside and cover with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out.

Lightly flour the table. Using a rolling pin, roll the other portion of dough into a large, thin rectangle. Cover the entire area with sauce (recipe below), leaving a 1/4 in. border all the way around the edges. 

Top with 1/2 c. of turkey pepperoni and sprinkle on 1 1/2 c. of the cheeses. 

Roll up tightly, jelly roll style, starting with one of the short ends. Slice into 12 equal portions.

Lightly spray non-stick cooking spray on a baking sheet. Lay the 12 pizza rolls onto the baking pan in 4 rows of 3 rolls. 

Bake for 20 minutes. Immediately remove the rolls from the baking sheet once they have finished baking to prevent them from sticking to the sheet. 

Repeat with the remaining dough and leftover ingredients

Leftovers can be frozen.

Homemade Pizza Sauce
adapted from Barbara Bakes 

1/2 c. onion, diced very small
1/2 c. green pepper, diced very small
1 c. cooked, crumbled Italian sausage
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1 (28 ounce) can crused tomatoes in rich puree
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

In a small saucepan, sauté onion and green pepper until tender. Add garlic and continue cooking until the garlic is tender. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until sauce reaches desired thickness. Sauce may be refrigerated for up to 1 week.

SRC - Toffee Squares

My mission for this moth from the Secret Recipe Club was to choose a recipe from Nicole's blog, The Cookaholic Wife. Let me just start off by saying that I had such a hard time choosing just one recipe to blog about. Nicole and I seem to enjoy the same types of cooking and food. I started browsing through her blog and within a couple of minutes, I'd picked out four recipes to try.

I settled on baking the Toffee Squares. The recipe looked pretty easy, which was great because I needed a quick dessert for that particular evening and the sound of toffee in a cookie made my mouth water. Nicole mentioned that her bars were a little dry so I made note of her suggestion to use a bigger cookie sheet so that the "bar" part of the cookie baked up thin. The cookies sheet that I used measures 13 1/2 x 18 1/2 and it worked perfectly. I used candied pecans instead of plain pecans and then I drizzled caramel ice cream topping over the top of the bars.

I couldn't wait until evening to eat these delicious little bars so I cut a small square to enjoy just for myself. I have to admit that even after all of the changes that I'd made, the first bite was just ok, nothing special - just like Nicole had described hers to be. I wrapped tin foil around the pan and decided that I would see what my family had to say about them later that night.

I'm not sure what happened between the time that I wrapped the bars and the time that I cut them to serve to my family but whatever it was, was surely a great thing. Now the cookies had softened a bit and the toppings seemed to have melded together. An awesome transformation. The bars were delicious. The nuts were sweet and gave a nice crunch to the bar part of the cookie and the chocolate and caramel topping just melted in my mouth. I'm not the only one who enjoyed these toffee squares, everyone in the house really liked them. They're addictive little suckers. None of them went to waste.

This recipe would work well for picnics, parties, reunions or school bake sales. I'm sure that they would travel well, too, if you like mailing treats.

My changes to the recipe are in bold below.

Toffee Squares
posted @ The Cookaholic Wife

2 sticks butter, room temp
1 c. packed light brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
2 c. flour
2 c. chocolate chips
1 c. glazed pecans, finely chopped
caramel ice cream topping, drizzled to liking

Preheat the oven to 350*.

Cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in the egg, vanilla and flour. Mix until well combined.

Spread the mixture onto a cookie sheet until thin. (I used a 13 1/2 x 18 1/2 sheet)

Bake for 18 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips over top of the baked cookie bar.

Return to the oven for 3 minutes. Remove and spread the melted chocolate over the cookie.

Sprinkle with the chopped pecans. Drizzle the caramel topping over the entire area.

Cool for 10 minutes. Cut into small squares.

** I recommend leaving the toffee squares in the pan and covering them with tin foil.
Leave covered for at least 3 hrs. before serving. Store leftovers covered with tin foil or
in a sealed container. **

If you would like to join us in the Secret Recipe Club, click here to find out more about it!

Amanda, our club leader, has broken our huge club down into smaller groups to allow for easier viewing of all of the recipes and to allow for more comments to be left on everyone's blogs! Each group will post at different times during the month. We love comments, so please take a moment to let us know what you think of our recipes! :)

Secret Recipe Club: Easy Oreo Truffles

I have had such a sweet tooth lately. I decided ahead of time, before receiving my secret blog name, that I would search for something sweet to make for this round of the Secret Recipe Club.

I was totally thrilled to receive A Tale of One Foodie's Culinary Adventures as my secret name. Erin's blog is full of sweet treats with beautiful pictures accompanying her recipes. In fact, her pictures of the Easy Oreo Truffles is what drew me in to my recipe of choice to begin with!

With just 3 ingredients, you can't go wrong making these. It does take a little time if you want them to turn out as beautiful as Erin's did. Mine didn't look quite as nice but they are still pretty. One thing is for sure...these little gems are rich and chocolaty and absolutely delicious. I have 4 more recipes from Erin's blog bookmarked for me to add to my menus this summer!

Easy Oreo Truffles
original recipe from Kraft 
my version adapted from A Tale of One Foodie's Culinary Adventures

1 regular-sized pkg of Oreos
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
16 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted
toppings: sprinkles, nuts or crushed Oreos

Add entire package of Oreos to a large food processor. Chop until the Oreos turn into coarse crumbs. Reserve 1/3 cup of crumbs for the topping on the truffles.

Add cream cheese to the cookie crumbs. Process until the crumbs and cream cheese are blended together.

Roll the mixture into 1 inch balls and place on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Once the baking sheet if full, stick it into the freezer for 5-8 minutes (or you could stick the tray into the frig for a while longer). This step makes dipping the truffles so much easier. I tried dipping them without freezing them and the balls fell apart in the chocolate.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler on the stove or by melting it in the microwave. Dip each truffle one by one, laying each one back onto the wax paper lined tray. Immediately sprinkle the candies or crushed Oreos on top of the truffles.

Refrigerate the truffles on the tray for at least 1 hour. Store in a tightly sealed container. For maximum flavor, refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

MMM! A prefect choice for those sweet tooth cravings.

I've enjoyed another month in the Secret Recipe Club. If you would like to join us, here's what you need to know.

May Secret Recipe Club: Strawberry Mascarpone Ice Cream

It's strawberry time here in NC. When I decided to participate in this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was hoping that my secret blogging buddy would have a strawberry recipe on her/his blog that would draw me in and convince me to make it.

I was in luck! I was matched up with Ruchi @ Ruchi's Simply Food. She has a delicious recipe for Strawberry Mascarpone Ice Cream that I just had to try. Her ice cream recipe has just a handful of ingredients and she made it into a no churn recipe.

I made a few changes to the recipe, plus I used my ice cream maker to make it smooth and cold. I did need to convert her recipe amounts. Once I converted the amounts, I rounded everything up for ease and also so that I didn't have bits of everything left over. The results were delicious. A thick and creamy strawberry ice cream that my whole family loved. Excellent in a dish or a cone!

You can view her original recipe here.

Here's my version:

Strawberry Mascarpone Ice Cream

14 ounces strawberry, diced into small chunks
1/2 c. powdered sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
8 ounces homemade mascarpone cheese* - recipe below
8 ounces heavy cream
1/2 c. powdered sugar - I added this to make the cream a bit sweeter

Mix chopped berries, powdered sugar and lemon juice together and set aside.

Using a hand mixer, mix together Mascarpone cheese* and heavy cream.

Mix in extra 1/2 c. of powdered sugar.

Mix in strawberries.

Pour mixture into the frozen bowl of an ice cream maker.

Process according to manufacture's directions until ice cream is thick and creamy.

Serve in bowls or ice cream cones or freeze until ready to eat.The consistency will change from smooth and creamy to a hard ice cream texture if frozen. It is delicious either way.

To make homemade Mascarpone Cheese:

8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 c. heavy cream
2 1/2 tbsp. sour cream

Mix together until smooth and creamy

If you would like to join us in the Secret Recipe Club, here's what you need to know.

Enjoy our blog hop! Comments are welcomed!

Linking to:

It's Berry Season! Gooseberry Patch

The Secret Recipe Club - Pumpkin Pie Snickerdoodle Bars

I'm participating in a new blogging challenge called The Secret Recipe Club. My friend, Amanda, from Amanda's Cookin' is the host. The object of this challenge is that each blogger is assigned the name of one of the other participating blogs. You then pick any recipe from that blog and make it. You don't reveal whose blog that you have until the round up on the chosen date. Click here to find out how you can join in on the fun!

My secret blog for this month was Megan's Cookin'. Megan has a beautiful blog with so many delicious recipes posted on it. I chose bake her Pumpkin Pie Snickerdoodle Bars. I actually made these at the beginning of the month for my husband's birthday. I knew that they would go over big because love sweet pumpkin desserts. When you bite into the bars, it really is like eating a slice of pumpkin pie only in bar form. Very moist and delicious with lots of pumpkin flavor.

The only changes that I made were to add more pumpkin pie spice to the filling and more spices to the topping. I omitted the white chocolate drizzle topping. I topped the bars with whipped cream.

Pumpkin Pie Snickerdoodle Bars
adapted from Megan's Cookin'

Snickerdoodle Layer

3 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. butter, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tbls. vanilla

Pumpkin Pie Layer

1 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. white sugar
1/2 c. butter, at room temperature
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 c. canned pumpkin

Topping

4 tbsp. white sugar
2 tsp.cinnamon
1/2  tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Assembly:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Lightly grease a 9×13 inch pan and lay a piece of parchment paper across the pan, so that it extends the pan slightly. Don't skip using the parchment paper. It makes removing the bars from the pan so very easy.

To make snickerdoodle layer:

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.

Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan (mixture will be thick and cookiebatter-ish.)

To make pumpkin pie filling:

In a mixer bowl (you can use the same one you used to make the snickerdoodle batter) with a paddle attachment, mix together butter and sugar.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well combined. This layer will be less thick and more pourable. Pour over the snickerdoodle layer, smoothing out the top.

To make the topping:

Combine white sugar and cinnamon in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the batter.

Baking:

Bake for 33-40 minutes (maybe more depending on your oven) or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan comes out clean.

Let the bars cool completely (about an hour). They will deflate a bit and remain a bit pie-like on the top layer. The bars that are closer to the edges of the pan will be more firm.

Use the parchment paper to lift the bars out of the pan. Place on a cutting board and cut into bars.

Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

Store in a covered container.