Homemade Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies

This recipe is very easy and inexpensive and mimics those wonderfully yummy Girl Scout Thin Mints.

And I'll apologize now for the photos! They were taken with an iphone!

1 BOX of Ritz Crackers

Chocolate of Choice (2-4 squares (or 2 -4 oz)of Almond Bark or Dove Baking Chocolate)

1/4 TSP Peppermint Oil (NOT peppermint extract)

Decorations (In this post I used candy pearls)

Wax Paper

Baking Sheet

Lay your wax paper on a cookie sheet. Melt chocolate. There are lots of ways to melt chocolate. I use a double boiler for my main dipping "background" chocolate and microwave method for my decorative chocolate. Start with 2 oz at a time and add more if you need it less pepperminty.

Dip half of the Ritz cracker in the melted chocolate and tap excess chocolate off very carefully. I dip the front and usually do not worry about dipping the back. That's my personal preference but if you like more chocolate then by all means dunk the entire thing.

Lay them on your wax paper. After dipping, you'll want to decorate while they are still a little melty. Is that a word? Almond bark sets up very quickly so if you use that you may want to dip a few and decorate those before moving on.

For the decorative white I placed a square of almond bark in a freezer bag, microwaved 30 seconds and mushed the bag to make sure it was melted. Mine was melty and perfect. If yours is not then microwave in 20 second intervals. Cut the very tip of the bag and start piping the white chocolate in quick motions back and forth across the cookie. You can also use a piping bag or melt this in a glass container and then put it in the bag...again, a preference thing.

I like to do dark chocolate, milk and white chocolate and decorate them all differently. It makes such a fun little gift. Here they are:

These are white on white w/ candy pearls placed in the swirliest section.

To set any of these up quickly pop them in the freezer for a few minutes before wrapping.

VOILA! Cute. Easy.

Crockpot Potato Soup

I took a recipe from Fix it and Forget it and made it my own. Not on purpose, mainly because I thought I had all the ingredients and didn't so I had to adapt it and it turned out pretty good! You can also add more or less of something and completely omit something and I have found that it turns out different but still pretty good. I try to make mine w/ the least amount of dairy as possibly since I'm dairy intolerant! This is an inexpensive soup to make.

3 Potato, peeled and cubed
1 Cup Instant Mashed Potatoes
2 Leeks, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped (or 1 TSP of Garlic Garlic)
4 chicken bouillon cubes
1 TB Dried Parsley
5 Cups Water
3 TB Butter
1 PKT Lipton Cream of Chicken Soup Mix, Cup of Soup (this can be omitted if you need to but it helps add to the creaminess without adding cream, milk or evaporated milk)

1. Combine all ingredients in a crock pot.
2. Cover. Cook on Low 10-12 hours, or High 3-4 hours.
3. Garnish with chives

Variations: I've added ham or bacon to this. If you want a creamier potato soup then you will add in a cup or so of milk in the last hour of cooking.

Freezer Meal Directions: This freezes up nicely. You can cook it then freeze it or you can prep all the ingredients and quickly bag and freeze it. You do not need to add the water until you cook it. DO NOT let it thaw before cooking. Simply place the frozen items in a crock pot with the 5 Cups of water. If you thaw it your potatoes will turn black!

Piping Icing

My friend Karalee made some cupcakes for the potluck and I frosted. I think piping is getting easier and easier and these turned out too cute not to share! And she's a better picture taker than I am so I had her snap these photos. Here are closeups.

To get the raised middle, you pipe a small a small amount in the center first and then pipe around the cupcake starting w/the outside.

These were my favorites. So cute and fun. For these you pipe a star in the middle and then you just do this all around the cupcake. This seemed to be everyone's favorite.

We couldn't find all her piping gear so we used a ziploc bag, cut a small hole on the end and put the tip inside and taped the outside of the tip to the bag. It worked just fine.

When piping frosting I notice you just need to have a steady hand and consistant pressure. I love how these turned out and will probably never "frost" a cupcake again using just a knife.

QUICK and EASY Taco Soup

This was quick and easy taco soup. It's not my "real" recipe but for the week I didn't have a stove it was a hit and it was easy.

1 lb ground beef , cooked w/taco season

(We had made up tacos before my stove died and so we just used the left over meat from that)

1 can red kidney beans

1 can corn

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

1 small diced onion

Taco fixins

tomato, sour cream, cilantro, cheese, chips, whatever else you put on your tacos

Dump everything but the taco fixins in the crock pot. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high 4-6 hours. Give or take a few. It really just needs heated through. You could omit the onion and/or put it on top of the soup w/the other taco fixins.

This was super simple and didn't require much cooking. I call it my cheating taco soup recipe.

TO FREEZE: Put all ingredients into a freezer bag instead of crock pot. Cook the ground beef and add it in there. TO REHEAT: Place in crock pot or on the stove top in a pan.

Layered Jello Squares

mmmm.....jello.....

Now that I got your attention...

Don't mind the mess on my kitchen island...which is my workstation for all things craft and cooking....so it pretty much looks like this all the time.

Here is the recipe for my layered jello squares. I had two recipes and didn't have the stuff for 1 recipe and the other had mixed reviews so I put them together and made my own. They set up nicely and got rave family reviews.
You'll need:

2 SM PKGS Lime Jello or 1 LG
2 SM PKGS Orange Jello or 1 LG
2 SM PKGS Red Jello or 1 LG
2 Envelopes Knox Unflavored Gelatin or 1 Envelope + 1 SM PKG Lemon Jello
1 CUP Sour Cream (Lite works)
7 CUPS Water

1. Grease 9x13 pan with nonstick. Wipe excess off with a paper towel.


2. Whisk 2 boxes of lime jello with 2 Cup Boiling Water. Place in the 9x13 pan and place pan in the refrigerator. Make sure it's level and let set for 30-45 minutes.


3. While Green Layer is setting, begin making your white layer. It's important to start the next layer as soon as your current layer is setting so that it can cool down in time to be poured on w/out melting the last layer.



4. Whisk 2 Knox unflavored gelatin or 1 Knox and 1 Lemon with 1 Cup boiling water. Then add the sour cream.



5. As soon as the green layer is set, gently pour 1/2 of the white layer on top and let set another 30 minutes. Immediately begin making your orange layer.



6. Whisk 2 Boxes of Orange Jello with 2 Cups boiling water. As soon as the white layer is set and your Orange mix has cooled just enough, pour gently on top of white layer and let set 30-45 minutes.



7. Begin Making your Red Layer. Whisk 2 boxes of Red Jello w/2 Cups Boiling water and let set. Also reheat your white layer for about 20 seconds in the microwave so that you can easily pour it. If it is lumpy it will not pour well and it's difficult to flatten out.



8. Pour the remaining white layer on top of the orange and let set for 30 minutes.



9. Pour the last layer of red down and let set.



10. Once totally set, you can slice into cubes and serve.

Notes:

• I used sugar free jello and lite sour cream.



• Set up times are approximate. You may get away with shortening the time but it's important that it's set up enough between layers so that the layers do not mix. You can test this by touching it lightly. It should just be a little sticky not watery.



• And begin making your next layer as soon as you put the jello back in the fridge to set up.



• You can of course use any color!

Crockpot Salsa Chicken

I love it when dinner turns out to be good and it was by accident. Here is what we did tonight and got rave reviews all around. Even my husband who claims to hate chicken ate a good size portion.

What you need:
4 - 6 Boneless Skinless Rinsed Chicken Breast (Mine were frozen--straight from freezer)
8 oz Salsa (I had about 1/2 a jar of Pace Picante)
1/2 Cup Shredded Pepper Jack and Cheddar Cheese Combined

1. Place chicken in crockpot and pour salsa on top.
2. Cook on high 4-6 hours or until chicken is fork tender and easily shreds.
3. Once the chicken is done, carefully place cheese on top of chicken place lid on top let melt. This took about 5 minues.

I served this with Spanish rice (out of the box-Zataran's brand), sour cream, corn and, jalapeno poppers. Recipe for poppers to follow. Oh and I used the left over poppers mix and through it in the crockpot last minute to make a thicker creamier sauce. But you wouldn't have to do this. This was an afterthought after we started eating.

Jalapeno Poppers

Okay, so I really cheated on these. I have a recipe for them that is pretty easy from The Pioneer Woman but I didn't have all the ingredients for them. I had about 2oz of cream cheese, 4 jalapenos, and cut up a few slices of pepper jack and cheddar cheese.

Slice Jalapenos in half and clean out. Mix cream cheese w/the pepper jack and cheddar. Place inside the halved jalapenos and bake 350 for 30 minutes. They were super easy and delicous. I topped them with a little sour cream after..heck why not add a little more cream?

Note: This meal was completely gluten free. I checked and double checked the rice and couldn't find gluten in it. So, I recommend checking your spanish rice and even your salsa if it's out of a box before just taking my word for it. And of course, if you use blended cheeses you need to check as well because sometimes the already shredded blended cheeses have gluten in them.

This would be a fabulous freezer meal! Just place chicken and salsa in a bag for later. I would shred the cheese and place in another bag so that you had it ready to roll.

Wheat Free Shortcake

I made this recipe adapted from Bobsredmill.com. The only thing I changed was on half of them I put jam inside and folded them over and they tasted sort of like a scone. The texture of wheat free/gluten free products are usually a little grittier but this was pretty good.

2 1/2 Cups Gluten Free Baking Mix (I used Bob's Red Mill)
2 TB Sugar
1/2 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Milk or Water (I used 2% but you could use Rice, Nut or Soy)
1 Egg, Slightly Beaten
Jam (Optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a bowl combine sugar and baking mix.
3. In a separate bowl combine butter, milk and egg.
4. Combine all ingredients til moist.
5. Knead 10 times on a lightly gluten free floured surface. Roll out the dough 3/4" thickness.
6. Place shortcake on greased cookie sheet and bake about 20 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Serve w/your favorite fruit and whipped topping or eat like a biscuit.

I think these could quite possible taste good as a cheese biscuit with herbs and cheddar mixed in. I will try it and if it's good I will post it.

Nutritional Information for 1 Shortcake:
190 calories, 9 grams of fat, 21 NET carbs.

Tater Tot Casserole

This recipe is one of my husbands favorites. In fact, I had never heard of it before until he taught me how to make it. There are lots of variations out there but this is the way Mikey likes it. He doesn't like it with all of the other ingredients, well, maybe once in awhile but heaven forbid anything have more flavor than the basics. Gotta love him.

1 Pound Hamburger (plain or taco style)
1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 Can Cream of Celery Soup (or substitute with Sour Cream)
1 Cup Grated Cheddar Cheese
1 Bag Tater Tots
Season Salt (I use Tastefully Simple Season Salt because it only has 380 mgs of Sodium and a little goes a long way)

1. Brown the hamburger and spread on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
2. Pour both soups over the hamburger.
3. Sprinkle season salt.
4. Top with cheese.
5. Layer Tater Tots.
6. If you are freezing the meal, stop here and put it in a freezable container (preferably aluminum casserole or deep pie pan)
7. Bake 375 Degrees for 25 minutes. The cheese should be melted and the tater tots browned.

Variations: I have seen (and tasted) this made with corn, green beans, bacon and onions. I would try one add-in at a time. Again, Mikey tells me he likes it that way but also says it's too rich for him to have it that way all of the time. I on the other hand have liked it no matter how it's been fixed.

Notes: This meal freezes beautifully! When you are pulling it out of the freezer to cook you will want to let it thaw thoroughly or you will have to bake it for over an hour (sometimes 2). Placing in your refrigerator the day before usually will do the trick and bake as directed up above. If you don't have time to wait you can pop this out of the container and into a glass baking dish and then dethaw in the microwave, just make sure you have the tater tots on top.

Nutritional Information will vary depending on the type of meat, cheese or soups you use. The best way to find calorie counts is just to pop on over to calorieking.com and search for the ingredients.

Cabbage Salsa

Delicious enough that I can eat it until I make myself sick delicious...how much cabbage should one person really eat? Moving on....

1/2 Head cabbage (Optional) or 1 bag of finely chopped cabbage
1 or 2 Large Tomatos
1/2 Large Onion
1/2 Bunch Cilantro
1 Bell Pepper Or Jalapeno (Most recipes call for Jalapeno but if you do not like spicy at all try the Bell Pepper)
1 Lime or Lime Juice
Salt and Pepper to Taste (or garlic salt in place of the salt)

Tip: I think it's good to have about equal parts of each ingredient. Unlike salsa where the tomatos take over. Depending on the size of your vegtables will depend on how much of each you need.

All ingredients need to be finely chopped or shredded. If you have a pampered chef chopper that works well or before those days I used a small food processor. I know that a Magic Bullet or Ninja Master Prep work well too! Or if all else fails and you have the knuckles for it, by all means chop away with a knife.

Mix well. I like to taste test each batch and make sure it tastes right. I don't need much salt but I know others that put a lot of salt in. Other variations I've seen are adding a tiny bit of garlic or garlic salt.

Serve with Tortilla Chips or on top of your favorite Mexican dish and enjoy! This is one of those things that is even better after it's chilled awhile and let all the flavors run together and the cabbage soften up. If you can wait that long to eat it. I know I can't. And you probably don't want to let it sit more than a day or two or it gets soggy. A good excuse to eat it in one day...but again, how much cabbage does a person need in one day?

Passing Down Recipes

The other day I was thinking how I would really of loved to have some of my Mom's favorite recipes. I have a few of her special dessert recipes but hardly any of her regular everyday dinner recipes. How on earth did she gets those pork chops just right? I've never found the exact recipe but something similar. Now that Mom has passed I don't have a way to get the information. Yes, of course, she has cookbooks and written down recipes but she has so many I have no idea where to start or what is really good. When I got married and had children I had to find recipes and ask a lot of questions. Mom was a good cook and I simply just can't compare.

I also thought how much I would love some of my Mother-In-Laws Recipes. So, this prompted me to put together a little project for my kids.

I picked up two of the "cookbook size" binders from Walmart. I will be putting together cookbooks for the kids (or their wives) of all of our favorites. So, now when I print off a recipe I print 3. One for my cookbook and one for each of theirs. This will be something I will probably pass on to them when they move out or get married. I even plan to jot down their own comments and thoughts about the meal.

If I feel creative one of these days I will scrapbook the front and slide it into the front. For now, it will just say "Ayden's Cookbook" and "Mason's Cookbook" until I have more time. I hope that this helps them (and their wives). They may not like all the recipes when they get older but this will save them some time trying to find a tried and true recipe. And I'll get to pass on some of my mom's yummy recipes too!

Oreo Truffles

1 Package Oreo Cookies
1 8 oz Package Cream Cheese, Softened
1 Package Almond Bark

Crush Oreo cookies in the food processor into a fine power. If you do not have one you can put them in a ziploc and use a rolling pin over them.

Place crushed cookies into a bowl along w/the cream cheese. With an egg beater, mix well.

Form cookie mixture into 1" balls and place on a cookie sheet. Chill for 20 minutes.

Melt Almond Bark and dip each truffle into the almond bark and place on a wax lined cookie sheet. A trick to make the balls come off of the dipping form easily is to gently lift them off with a toothpick. It will create less of a puddle and make them look prettier.

Decorate them while the almond bark is still soft and not fully dry. I typically use some of the white chocolate and drizzle on the truffle back and forth. I also use colored crystals, grated chocolate or white chocolate.

Easy Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

These are very simple yet delicious. Easy to whip up for an after dinner snack.

1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg

Mix well with a beater. Roll into balls and then criss cross with a fork. If you wish, you can roll in sugar before baking. Place on baking sheet and bake 325 for 10-15 minutes.

NOTE: The original recipe called for a baking temp of 375 but they kept burning in my oven.