cooking

A Yummy Frozen Treat: Frozen Banana and Nutella Bites

May 16, 2012 By mommyofamonster

Today over at ChiquitaMoms.com, I am sharing a super simple recipe that you and the kids will absolutely LOVE: Frozen Banana and Nutella Bites.

These little pieces of heaven are so yummy and I can’t make enough of them – the kids ask for them every morning!

What is great about this recipe is you could switch up the fruit or even use peanut or almond butter. I am going to continue to experiment and if you have any suggestions on what else would work, I’d love for you to leave me a comment and let me know.

So head over to read how simple Frozen Banana and Nutella Bites are to make!

Filed Under: chiquita moms, cooking, recipes

It’s National Oatmeal Cookie Day! My Favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

April 30, 2012 By mommyofamonster 3 Comments

Cookies.

Who doesn’t love a good cookie?

Who doesn’t love a good oatmeal cookie, preferably with raisins?

Did you know there’s a real holiday celebrating oatmeal cookies? Yep, there is one, and it’s today! Happy National Oatmeal Cookie Day!

Last month, I introduced you to a recipe I finally accomplished making (Etouffee) and also introduced you to the new Quaker Oatmeal Cookies. So I thought it would be a good time to introduce you to my favorite Oatmeal Raisin cookie recipe (it’s Jason’s favorite cookie).

But before I do that, why not share some fun facts about the Oatmeal Cookie with you?

Did You Know…

That the Oatmeal Cookie was originally invented in the late 1800s during Rome’s attempts to conquer England?
Oatmeal cookies are the secondmost popular cookie. I’ll give you one guess about the first.
Oatmeal cookies have heart health benefits [from oats]. More than 37 studieshave shown that eating oatmeal daily as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may help reduce the risk of heart disease.
Seventy-five percentof U.S. households have oatmeal in their cupboard. We do…what about you?
Americans consume roughly 2 billion cookiesa year although some reports will say about 300 cookies per person a year.
After more than 100 years after the first Quaker Oatmeal Cookie recipe appears on packaging, Quaker finally makes two new and delicious kinds of oatmeal cookies.

Those new cookies are the yummy new Quaker Oatmeal Cookies that you might have seen on the shelves at your local grocery store recently. If you haven’t tried them yet, you are missing out! Why not run out and buy some for National Oatmeal Cookie Day?!

But maybe you would rather make your own. You would still be celebrating National Oatmeal Cookie Day, right? You can never go wrong with the Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookie recipe that you find on the Quaker Oats box. Those are the cookies that Jason covets.

But my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe has chocolate chips in it too! Here’s the recipe for my favorite cookie.

Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/4 cups Quaker Oatmeal
6 ounces chocolate chips (I use dark chocolate, but you can use any that you’d like)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (2 ounce) Hershey Bars (grated)
1 large egg, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup chopped nuts (Your choice, optional. I don’t add nuts because Jason and the kids don’t like them, but if I did, I’d choose walnuts)
Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

Measure oatmeal and blend in a blender to a fine powder.

Cream the butter and both sugars. Add egg and vanilla.

Mix together the flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder and soda. Add the sugar mixture. Next, add the chocolate chips, grated Hershey Bar and nuts.

Refrigerate the dough for about 10-15 minutes to get it nice and cold. Then roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes until golden brown.

This recipe makes two dozen of the best cookies you will ever eat! Enjoy!

And if you love Oatmeal Cookies, check out the Quaker cookie recipes on their site. I can’t wait to try them all out! And don’t forget to like Quaker Oats on Facebook and followe Quaker Oats on Twitter, too!

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Quaker. The opinions and text are all mine. And yes, I really love Quaker cookies!

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Filed Under: cooking, recipes

Texas Caviar: The Ultimate Side Dish -OR- Appetizer!

April 26, 2012 By mommyofamonster 3 Comments

Last weekend, my sister kicked off the Spring/Summer season with the first official barbeque/pool party of the year. She grilled carne asada (or marinated steak if you have no idea what that is) and everybody else brought all the side dishes and appetizers. I decided to bring Texas Caviar aka Cowboy Caviar aka Black Bean Salad aka Texas Salsa. Whatever you wanna call it, it is GOOD!

Now I meant it to be eaten as an appetizer – you scoop it onto tortilla chips and it’s perfect. What ended up happening was that people were eating it like a side dish…like a cold bean salad! I got lots of compliments on it, and so I thought I’d share it with you.

The original recipe was for the Best Ever Texas Caviar Recipe (allrecipes.com)…I of course made it my own. Here’s mine…

Texas Caviar Recipe

Ingredients

2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 (15 ounce) cans pinto beans, rinsed and drained
2 (15 ounce) cans white corn (shoe peg corn, white corn or sweet corn), rinsed and drained
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chiles (medium heat), undrained
1 jalapeno chile pepper, seeded and finely chopped (optional, and I kept a few of the seeds in for some zip)
1 red bell pepper – cored, seeded and finely chopped
1 green bell pepper – cored, seeded and finely chopped
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 bunch cilantro leaves, finely chopped
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. sugar (optional)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions

Mix the black beans, pinto beans, white corn, green chiles, jalapeno pepper, red and green bell peppers, red onion, and cilantro together in a large bowl. The longer the salad sits, the better the flavors marry together. Serve it nice & cold!

Now you could serve it just like that, but the dressing really gives it some more pizzazz. To make the dressing, stir the vinegar, oil, sugar, and garlic powder together in a small bowl. Pour dressing over bean mixture, and toss to mix evenly.

What is your favorite summer recipe?

Filed Under: cooking, recipes

What’s For Dinner Tonight? How About Chicken And Rice Bake!

April 12, 2012 By mommyofamonster 2 Comments

It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of quick and easy chicken recipes…most of the time I have chicken on hand and it’s so versatile that you can do just about anything with it. I celebrated a birthday last month, and was delighted to receive a card from Jason’s Aunt Donna (hi Donna!) with a bunch of her favorite recipes included! To me sharing recipes and passing them between families is so important, and I know that one day I’ll be handing most of these recipes down to my kids too.

One of the recipes included was for a Chicken and Rice. I read through the ingredients, surprised that I had them all, and read quickly through the instructions. Super easy and you just throw it all in the oven. Dinner’s on the table an hour later. Bam! It wasn’t until I got to the end of the instructions that I noticed a small note: From Mellie 1993.

This made the recipe even more special; Mellie is Jason’s mom and she passed away a year after we were married. So thank you again Donna, for sharing this recipe with me. Jason said he remembered it from when he was a kid.

I did tweak the recipe a little bit, and I’ll note where I did.

Chicken and Rice

Ingredients

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can Cream of Celery soup
2 envelopes Lipton Onion soup mix
1 cup white wine, chicken broth or water
4-6 boneless chicken breasts (I cut the chicken into small pieces since I have to cut it all up for the kids)
1 cup white rice
3-1/2 cups boiling water
1/2 cube butter

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken in an ungreased casserole dish. Mix the cream soups and one envelope of onion soup mix together. Pour mixture over chicken. Put in the oven and bake for a total of 1 hour.

In another casserole dish, pour the boiling water over the rice and second envelope of onion soup mix. Top with the butter. Cover. Put in the oven and bake for a total of 45 minutes (I put the rice in after the chicken had cooked for 15 minutes).

Variations:
I think chicken, pork or turkey would be yummy with this dish! As for the rice, my family loves Rice-A-Roni’s Broccoli Au Gratin, which I used in place of the white rice & second envelope of onion soup mix. It came out really well! I also think the chicken would do well in a crockpot on low for 4 hours or so. Microwave some white rice and serve the chicken over the top of it!

If you try this recipe, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Enjoy!

Filed Under: cooking, recipes

Chicken & Sausage Etouffee Recipe: Sometimes The Extra Work Is Worth It!

April 6, 2012 By mommyofamonster 5 Comments

Earlier this week, I told you that I made chicken and sausage etouffee, and what an accomplishment it was for me. It wasn’t easy to make – I had to stir a roux for 20+ minutes. I am not a patient person, and this was waaaayyy too long to be stirring anything.

That being said, sometimes putting the extra love and effort into something is worth it. My husband asked me twice to make this, and I didn’t realize how long it would take. But if you like etouffee, you know it’s good etouffee is hard to come by – if you follow this recipe, you’ll be happy with the results. Trust me.

So here is the recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Ingredients

3/4 cup canola oil (no canola oil? Use whatever oil you have, but canola oil is recommended)
3/4 cup flour
2 ribs celery, finely chopped
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped
2 tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp dried basil or several fresh basil leaves finely chopped
1/2 tsp dried thyme
3 cups chicken stock
4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into 1 inch pieces (I used chicken breasts)
1 lb. andouille sausage, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/2 inch thick pieces
6 large scallions thinly sliced
Cooked white rice

Directions

Heat oil in a 6 quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat until it begins to smoke. Add flour, whisking constantly, and cook for 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium and cook, whisking constantly, until roux is the color of milk chocolate, about 12–15 minutes.

Add celery, onions, and peppers, and cook, stirring constantly, until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in salt, cayenne, black pepper, basil, and thyme, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute more. Add 2 cups chicken stock, and bring to a boil; cook until thickened, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat butter in a 12 inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, and cook, turning once, until lightly browned, 4–6 minutes; transfer chicken and butter to Dutch oven. Pour remaining chicken stock into skillet, stir to scrape up any browned bits, and then pour into Dutch oven along with andouille; cook, stirring occasionally, until thick and chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes more. Remove pan from heat, stir in scallions, and serve étouffée with riceThis

This recipe makes 8 servings. You can half it and it works just fine. I have no idea where Jason found this recipe, but it is worth every minute of roux stirring!

Don’t forget to check out my current giveaways! There’s a prize package including a Pajanimals DVD and The Sleepeasy Solution book from Sprout and a variety of Quaker cookie flavors and a $75 Visa gift card!