Crock Pot Chicken

This is one of Cameron's favorite recipes, and it is super simple to make.  I mean, who doesn't love crock pot meals!?!?  I think I brought it to the "Favorite Foods" dinner a few years ago.  

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture to go with it so you will have to use your imagination.  And, I am not sure where the recipe came from originally.  This is one I got from my mama when I got married.

Crock Pot Chicken

Ingredients:

8 Chicken Breasts
1 Stick of Butter
1 Pkg of Dry Italian Dressing Mix
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 8 oz. Pkg of Cream Cheese

Directions:

Place the chicken and the butter into the crock pot.  Sprinkle with the entire package of Italian dressing mix.  Cook on low for 7 hours or 3-4 on high (depending on how big your chicken breasts are).  Half an hour before serving, melt the cream cheese and cream of chicken soup in the microwave, and add to the crock pot.  Mix well, and continue cooking for 30 more minutes.  Serve the delicious contents of the crock pot over rice.

Chocolate Mint Chip Cookies

This is a recipe I got from Megan Bradley's blog, Confessions of a Bake-a-holic.  She is always posting delcious recipes that are both sweet and savory!  If you like Asian food or salmon, you definately need to try her Soy Noodle Salmon Stir Fry.  It was AMAZING!!  I added a button with a direct link to her blog in the left column. 

These are also the cookies I brought to our cookie swap.  I didn't use the red crunchy peppermint chips though.....I used green mint chips I found a Winco.

Chocolate Cookies with Mint Crunch Chips

By: Megan Bradley

Taken from: TheBradleyKitchen.blogspot.com

1 chocolate cake mix
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 c oil
2 eggs
1 cup Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips (if you can't find them, any minty chips will work)

Preheat oven to 375.
Mix together cake mix, sugar, oil and eggs. Stir in chips. Drop dough balls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool.

Egg Nog Pound Cake

Eggnog Pound Cake Recipe

Recipe adapted from one by Flo Braker

Taken from Simplerecipes.com

Ingredients

Cake:

• 1/2 cup dried currants, raisins or cranberries
• 2 Tbsp dark rum or water
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 cup eggnog mixed with 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp grated orange zest

Glaze:

• 3 Tbsp orange juice
• 1 Tbsp dark rum
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar

Directions:

• Soak currants in rum in a small bowl for 15 minutes.
• Adjust rack to lower third of oven. Preheat the oven to 325°F (350°F if the pan doesn't have a dark finish). Butter a 9 to 10 inch bundt pan (original recipe calls for a Festive Cake Pan).
• Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter until creamy, 30-45 seconds. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape bowl with a rubber spatula occasionally as needed. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.
• At very low speed, add dry ingredients in 4 additions, alternating with eggnog (begin and end with dry ingredients). Scrape bowl occasionally. Gently fold in orange zest, currants and any remaining rum.
• Spoon batter into pan; spread evenly. Bake 55-65 minutes, or until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center and pulls away from the sides of the pan. You can also use a long toothpick or thin bamboo skewer and insert into the thickest part of the cake. If it comes out clean, it's done.
• Remove from oven and cool upright in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes.
• Prepare glaze by blending together sugar, orange juice, and rum.
• Invert cake onto a rack, over a sheet of waxed paper. Use a pastry brush to brush the surface of the cake with the glaze. Cool completely before serving.

Notes from the website:

Baked at convection setting I used a 325 degree oven. I've made mini cakes from this recipe and got 12 plus a mini loaf pan. I also found out that eggnog can be frozen if you don't have time to bake the cake and the eggnog is in danger of going sour.

Ricotta Orange Pound Cake

The holiday season is all about giving, and for me that means giving the gift of a delicious treat! 

This is one of my new holiday favs!! 

Ricotta Orange Pound Cake

By:  Giada De Laurentiis

(taken from Foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more to grease the baking pan
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups whole-milk ricotta cheese
• 1 1/2 cups plus 1 table spoon granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 orange, zested
• 2 tablespoons amaretto Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan with butter. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir to blend.

Using a mixer, cream the butter, ricotta and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the machine running, add the eggs 1 at a time. Add the vanilla, orange zest and amaretto until combined. Add the dry ingredients, a small amount at a time, until just incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean and the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. To wrap, return to the pan and dust with confectioners' sugar.

Photograph by Gemma Comas