Nuts and Coco-nuts!

Oh Nuts, has such great quality nuts, and I get excited to use them every year.  This year I was able to get some coconut and some pecans (2 of my favorites, YUM!), and had a few recipes in mind to try out with them.  Both recipes are quick, easy, and festive!  Looking for some nuts or candies or dried fruits this baking season (or any baking season), head on over to Oh Nuts! and pick some up!

Our first recipe comes from Rachel Shultz.  It is a Pumpkin Crisp. I made this just after Thanksgiving, and it was REALLY good.  It has a nice crumb topping that when combined with the pecans, is really fantastic!

Peanut Butter Nutella Cookies

Umm, wow, it has been 2 months almost since my last post.  Whoops!  Don't think I haven't been cooking!  I have got a bunch of things to post about!  But first off, these little gems.  Who doesn't love the combination of Peanut Butter and Nutella?  I love to eat Peanut Butter and Nutella smeared on a banana.  Seriously divine.  These cookies were yummy and soft!  Very tasty (as my 3 year old would say!)

Found here

Energy Bites

Verde Chicken Mexican Lasagna

Found this one a few months back, and it was a keeper!  (Although, I used medium spice salsa, and that is a big no-no with my other half.  So next time I will sacrifice and use mild :) ).  It was easy-of course, most of the things I try and post about are- and very flavorful!

Found on: LDS Living

Drop Sugar Cookies

 The claim on these was that they tasted like Subway's Sugar cookies.  And since I LOVE all of Subway's cookies, I decided to give it a shot.  The hubs says they tasted similar to a snicker doodle without the cinnamon.  I likes them.  They were quick and easy and tasted good for a few days-until they were all gone!  

found on: CJaneinthekitchen

Chicago Style Pizza

12 years ago (or so), I was in Chicago on a school trip and tried a bite of Chicago Style Pizza.  One bite.  Can't tell you where I had it, but I had it.  And I have been wanting it ever since.  Craving it.  I have NEEDED it.  And there have been other recipes I have seen, but this was the only one I had seen that looked about right, and the directions seemed like it would taste right.  You make your own crust and sauce.  And yes!  It was so close!  It was such a good substitute!  I don't mind substitutes.  I don;t think you could ever exactly replicate a restaurants dish-but I think you can come close.  Have you ever had this pizza?  Do you love it as much as me?

(The recipe is cut in half, so if you have more than 2 or 3 people eating, I would double it and make 2, or however many you need)-ps, the directions may make this pizza seem a little daunting, but I didn't find it too difficult to execute.

Crockpot Chicken Enchilada Soup

This is a GREAT Crockpot recipe!  It was a hit here!!!

Dainty Chef

Chick-Fil-a Chicken Sandwhich

Hello Pinterest!!!  We are Chick-Fil-a lovers here in Georgia.  When I found this recipe, I knew I needed to try it.  I was pretty good!  And it turned out pretty well!!!  I think the next time I will make it I will let it marinate in Pickle juice for maybe 15-20 min.  So if you try this recipe, try the juice!

found on : fromaway

Crusty Rustic Bread

This bread turned out soo much better than I was expecting!  I was skeptical at first, because you don't knead it, and it was just so foreign to not do much too the dough.  But I went with it, and the results were A-MAZING.  Soo chewy, and the crust is just perfect-though mine didn't turn out as crusty as I was expecting.  It was so easy, and you can make lots of dough, and it will last for up to 2 weeks in the fridge!  Which means you can keep baking more loaves each week!  This is a recipe I will 100% keep coming back to. 

Found Here

Pesto Chicken

I had forgotten how much I liked Pesto until I made this.  I really like Pesto.  It is so yummy, so flavorful!!!  We paired this chicken with some smooth and creamy mashed potatoes, and had a great meal!!!  And there is only 3 ingredients (minus salt and pepper)!

Found on: Kayln's Kitchen

Monster Cookies

I had these years ago and have craved them ever since.  Then, about a month and a half ago, I discovered them at Target, and started buying one for "the kids" while we shopped.  Then, earlier this week, low and behold, I found it on Pinterest!!!  And woohoo, it is about time!  These are sooo wonderful!  I love peanut butter, oats, and chocolate, so I love these cookies!

Yummy Chicken (Cafe Rio) and Cilantro Lime Rice

 When I first put this chicken together, I was nervous.  It calls for some Italian dressing and some ranch seasoning.  I was nervous that it would taste too much like dressing.  I was wrong.  Incredibly wrong.  This chicken is my new favorite chicken.  It is so versatile too.  Throw it in a casserole, in burritos, or have it in a salad like I did.  Really good.  I also paired mine with Cilantro lime rice.  Oooo I love that stuff.  I am a big cilantro, and lime fan, so it was a hit with me!!!!

Crock Pot Tamales

Can you believe this is the only picture I got!?  I love tamales.  Like seriously love them.  I have had a recipe for them for years now and have never gotten around to making them because I don't have a steamer.  So I googled if  you can make them in the crock pot, and Ahhh (angels singing), you can!!  I would suggest getting crock pot bags or the bags that you cook turkeys in and put the tamales in that because mine got a little dark on the bottom layer and to the sides, but nothing that changes the taste, the husk suffered the brunt of it. (I also have a broken lid on both of my crock pots, so my crock pots are ghetto anyway).  These were oh o incredible.  I made enough to stick some in the freezer for future use!!!  And as a tip, make sure you pick out the larger corn husk pieces to use for your tamales. I found mine at Walmart.  I looked at a few other stores first and couldn't find them.  But they were in the international section of Walmart.  I know the directions seem like a lot, but they aren't too bad.  You don't have to prepare the meat the night before if you would rather do it the day of.  But it is nice to get it out of the way.  

A new Spaghetti

I love spaghetti, and my kids love spaghetti...however, my other half does not like it so much.  He will eat it, but isn't a big saucy meal fan.  But since he is gone most evenings I make it anyway :).  This is a new recipe I found is more of a spaghetti  bolognese -which I love.  It is supposed to be part of the Paleo diet (I have no idea what that is) and the author suggests using spaghetti squash (which I want to try out), but I just used it with everyday noodles!!!

Taco Bake

 This one surprised me.  To be honest, I didn't have high hopes for it, but it spiked my interest enough to make it.  It turned out really good.  The crescent rolls and Doritos gave it a different taste so it stood out amongst to the vast world of taco dishes.

Spinach Chicken Lasagna Rolls

I love Pinterest.  Who doesn't?  We try 1 or 2 things a week that I find on it.  This just happens to be one of them.  Ooo it was good.  And a nice new recipe to throw into the mix.  I made some changes from the original recipe to fit our taste, and it turned out great!

Crock Pot Chicken Cordon Bleu

I saw this recipe on Pinterest and knew we had to try it.  After I ad served some up and took a bite, I absolutely knew I had to share it with ya'll.  So as I went to reach for my camera, I realized it had no battery.....and pictures rarely look good the next day, so I whipped out my phone. Hence the crappy picture.  And please look past our ghetto paper plates.  Just know that this recipe is AMAZING.  I did make a few minor, like seriously minor, changes (dare I say improvements?  Ha!  It's all a matter of opinion right?), and I will list those to the side in ( ).

Found on: Chef in Training and Allrecipes

Strawberry Cupcakes with White Chocolate Buttercream frosting

I found this cake recipe at apronofgrace. But it called for Cream Cheese frosting, and I am not cream cheese's biggest fan, so that led me to smells-like-home which has a recipe for white chocolate buttercream, and I felt like the two would pair perfectly.  And boy did they ever!  These cupcakes were divine!  My husband even said they were amazing without being asked how he liked them! Mine didn't turn out (color wise) quite like they did over at apron of grace because I didn't have enough red food coloring, but the taste was perfection!  Someone even asked if they came from a box, that, to me, and is a great compliment!

Easy Petits Fours

I love Petits Fours.  Any other little cake lovers out there!?  I have attempted to make these before and it was an epic fail.  So then I stumbled upon these on Pinterest at iambaker and decided to give them a go.  There are just 3 ingredients (if you are choosing to make your own fondant, and the creativity is limitless when it comes to decorating.  I made these yesterday for Valentine's day and only had time to cover 3 cakes (Oreo cakesters.  Easy, right?).  They were a gift to my hot Valentine.  We dropped a few off for him at work with some cupcakes!