Orange Glazed Carrots

These are a great side dish for special meals, or for just any time.

They are super easy, and taste fantastic.

I found the recipe on allrecipes.com  a long time ago, and made them again recently.

They last time I made them, I used fresh clementine juice instead of orange juice, they were AMAZING!!

Orange Glazed Carrots

1 pound baby carrots

1/4 cup orange juice (or clementine)

3 Tablespoons of brown sugar

2 Tablespoons of butter

pinch of salt

Place carrots in a shallow pan and cover with water. Boil until desired tenderness, drain and return to pan.

Pour orange juice, sugar, salt and butter over the top, simmer until sugar and butter are melted.

Sugar Cookie Bars with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Happy Easter from my family to yours!!

Everybody loves a sugar cookie right?

Well I took this recipe that has been made time and time again, and changed it up once I spotted those White Chocolate M & M's on the shelf!!

I am just going to post the links for you to both recipes found here on my blog.

Just make the cookie bars according to recipe. (I used the vanilla version)

Top them with White Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting and M&Ms!!

The kids (and grownups) will love them!!

Happy Easter!!

Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Drunken Gummies

Yee-Haw!!

When my friend, Candi, from The Devilish Dish posted these a while back, it couldn't have 

been at a better time.

You see, we had just been invited to my nephew's 21st birthday party.

I make him oatmeal raisin cookies for his birthday every year, but I wanted to bring a little something along to ring in his new ID!

I just figured I would do jell-o shots, until I saw these!!

Drunken Gummies!!

There really isn't a recipe per say,  and they are quite easy to make...

but the guests gobbled them up!!

I tried to do Swedish Fish and Worms first.

( Dan loves to fish)

But the Swedish fish didn't work like they gummies...at all.

They were basically like if you turned that "DOTS" candy into a glue.

Tasted good...but good luck getting it off of your teeth anytime soon!

So, I dug the worms out and added them to a new dish with bears, and started over.

(oooo the worms had a double "marinade" no wonder they were my favorite! )

Drunken Gummies

Take what ever gummy your little heart desires, and place them in the bottom of a container that seals tight.

Pour vodka over them until they are just covered.

Put the lid on top and give them a little swirl.

Put them in the fridge for 24 hours.

Give them a little flip and swirl whenever you think about it, keeping them evenly coated.

That's it!! 

Beware, they will sneak up on you!!

Irish Soda Bread

Irish Soda Bread

I am on the Food Committee at Church.

(I know, you're surprised, right?)

We belong to St. Patrick's Parish, so every year St. Patrick's Day is a big deal.

They host a dinner at church, and this year they were looking for people to make Irish Soda bread.

I am not much of a bread baker, but I figured I would give it a whirl.

Turns out, I'm either better at it than I thought, or this recipe was just top notch.

(probably the latter...)

 cooling fresh from the oven

When I wasn't sure which recipe to use, I went to Pinterest to see variations of this traditional bread.

I found the recipe that I used at Green Eggs & Spam

I liked that it had a little bit of sugar to add to the sweetness of it, plus raisins.  

I LOVE Raisins!!

Irish Soda Bread

3 cups sifted cake flour

3 Tablespoons of sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup raisins

1 1/3 cup of **buttermilk

(**I didn't have buttermilk so I made my own using the combination of 1 Tablespoon white vinegar to 1 cup of milk, use after it sits for 5 minutes)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9 inch cake pan with parchment paper.

Combine all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.  

Add raisins and buttermilk, and combine. Dough is STICKY.

Turn onto a floured board and knead about 10 times. Don't over knead.

Place dough in lined pan, and score an "X" with a knife in the top.

Bake 60-65 minutes.

Cool and slice.

Eat bread in 1-2 days.  

Bread WILL NOT KEEP.

Pepper Steak

 What a gorgeous site!!

Pepper Steak is a family favorite at our house.  I am sure there are intricate recipes for it, but this one's so darn good, and takes such little time to make!

Makes a great weeknight dinner when life gets busy.

My life is always busy... we have this a lot! ;)

I will share the recipe that I make, it's really a doubled up version, so if you don't have a family of six... plus boyfriend of daughter makes seven, then you can just simply cut the ingredients in half.

Makes great left overs though! 

Pepper Steak

8 minute steaks

flour

salt and pepper

oil

2 cans of Cream of Mushroom soup

2 cans of mushrooms (or fresh if you have them on hand)

2 cans of diced tomatoes

2 Tablespoons of soy sauce

2 teaspoons of beef bouillon granuals or 2 cubes dissolved in 2 cups of water

bell pepper rings (I used one of each, red, green and yellow for this meal)

2 small bags of cooked rice (about 4 cups uncooked)

Dredge minute steaks in flour, salt and pepper.  Place in heated oil in your frying pan, brown them until they are nice and brown on both sides.  I don't use much oil, just enough to get them brown, so there isn't much oil left.  Just that nice crusty part that flakes off.  To the meat add the soup, mushrooms, tomatoes, soy sauce and beef broth.  Combine, cover and simmer, stirring so they don't stick every once in a while.  

I usually cook them about 30-40 minutes.  They will be nice and tender.

For the last 5-7 minutes of simmering, place the peppers on top and cover again.  This way they will be firm when you serve it.

Serve over rice.

Chicken and DORITOS Casserole

Every day when my kids get in the car, the first thing they ask me is 

"what's for dinner?"

I am known to be a smartalec once in a while (ok...so a lot of times)

so yesterday, I said 

"DORITOS!!"

They said sure, Mom...what's really for dinner?

I said...ok, DORITOS Casserole.

They still didn't believe me.

When we got home they saw the bag of Doritos on the counter and it was like

"dang...she really meant it!"

EYE POPPING moment!

Now I am going to tell you, this is REALLY good, and it's REALLY easy, but most certainly not one of those "health conscience" foods.

I did however use as much "fat free" stuff as possible, to try and counteract the bag of crunched up Doritos!

Chicken and Doritos Casserole

1 can refried beans

4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded or cubed

1 (10oz) can of cream of chicken soup

4 cups Mexican shredded cheese

1/2 cup milk

2/3 cup sour cream

1 can Ro-tel tomatoes, drained

1/2 packet of taco seasoning (or use your own!)

1 large bag of Doritos crushed 

Optional Toppings:

Tomatoes

Shredded Lettuce

Sour Cream

Olives

Jalapenos

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

In a small pan, place chicken with a little bit of water and cover.  Cook until chicken is done, and is able to be shredded or cubed.

Spread the refried beans into the bottom of the baking dish, set aside.

In a large bowl combine the soup, milk, sour cream, Ro-tel, 1 1/2 cup of cheese and taco seasoning.  Add chicken, and combine.

Over the bean layer, sprinkle a layer of Doritos.

Top with half of chicken mixture.

Add another layer of Doritos.

Top with the remaining chicken mixture.

Top with remaining cheese and more Doritos.

Cover and bake for 30-35 minutes.

I did bake mine uncovered for the last 5 minutes.  

hot out of the oven!