BBQ Chicken in Cornbread Cups

These are much better than the picture makes me them look.  Trust me!

This morning on the Food Network every episode was about superbowl food.  These cornbread cups filled with BBQ chicken is from Paula Deen (see her recipe here).  I didn't follow her recipe exactly, but took what I remembered from the show and made them from that. 

• 1 box Jiffy Cornbread Mix (and the stuff to make it)
• 1-2 chicken breasts
• BBQ sauce
• Sweet Pickles

Mix the cornbread according to the directions on the box and bake in a mini cupcake pan.  I made my first pan without cupcake liners, but it was very difficult to get them out, so I strongly suggest the cupcake liners.  I baked mine at 400 degrees for 12 minutes and they were perfect. 

 Once they come out you will need to smash the centers in so that a cornbread cup is created.  It's easier to smash them in while they are warm.  Be sure to only smash the centers, not the edges so that you will have a cup to hold the chicken in.  The cupcake liners really help keep everything together at this point. 

I used chicken breast I had in the freezer, but on the show they used a rotisserie chicken, or you could also used canned chicken.  Chop it up into tiny pieces and mix in some bbq sauce to taste.  Spoon the chicken into the cornbread cups and top with sweet pickles. 

I ate one warm and one cold...good both ways, although I recommend eating them warm.  This recipe was so easy and quick.  I was able to cook the chicken, mix it with bbq sauce, and cut up the pickles all while the mini cornbreads were baking.  I think next time I'll try mixing some cheese into the cornbread before baking it, because cheese makes everything better!

Tomato Cheese Garlic Toast

Asiago Cheese Loaf

Troy and I love this asiago cheese bread from Walmart.  We splurge every once in a while and get a loaf of it when we go to the "big" Walmart that is a little further away from home.  We like it as garlic toast with butter, garlic salt, and some parmasean cheese.  It also makes a super indulgent grilled cheese sandwich with a slice of pepperjack in the middle. 

I am always looking for new ways to use this bread and as I looked around the kitchen today I came up with the following delicious lunch.

The bread is topped with a little bit of garlic butter, a slice of provolone cheese, sliced tomato, and brushed with a bit of olive oil to help the cheese get nice and crispy.  I put it under the broiler until the cheese started to bubble and turn brown.  I really had no idea what to expect, and had very little hope that Troy would like it (there's no meat!), but boy oh boy was it good!  Troy couldn't stop raving about how great it was and that is saying something because he probably would never have eaten that if I had presented another option. 

In fact it was so good that we ate it all before I got a chance to take a picture of the finished product.  I sprinkled a little parmesan cheese over the top of mine because it reminded me of mini pizza's and well, I just really like parmesan cheese. We will definitly be making this one again!

Homemade Ice Cream

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 pints whipping cream

1 pkg instant pudding (flavor of your choice)

Milk

Mix all ingredients (except milk) together and pour into your ice cream freezer.  Pour in milk until the liquid reaches the "fill" line.  Make the ice cream according the directions on your freezer.  We use a 4 quart ice cream freezer. 

We like to use white chocolate or cheesecake pudding mix in our ice cream.  The pudding gives it a creamier flavor and is (in my opinion) the most important ingredient. 

This ice cream is best when it's served right away.  I love it soft and creamy before it's had time to set up all the way.  These pictures are of what the ice cream looks like after it's been in the freezer for a couple days and is now "hard serve" ice cream (that softens up quickly). 

Here it is on top of a warm chocolate chip cookie bar and topped with chocolate syrup.  

Taco Soup

We have a crazy amount of love for rotel in our house so anything that uses the spicy canned tomatoes is a winner around here.  Here is our recipe for taco soup, a winter time favorite in our house.  

1 can black beans

1 can rotel

1 can cheddar cheese

1 can mexicorn

1 can tomato paste

1 pkg taco seasoning

1 lb ground turkey

Cook the turkey in the frying pan and then mix all ingredients into a crock pot.  It is ready to eat as soon as it's warm, but we love to let it sit in the crock pot all day, making the house smell yummy, and letting those flavors blend a little more. 

We like to top it with tortilla chips, sour cream, shredded cheese, and taco sauce after dishing it into bowls.  The chips with a hint of lime are good, as are the flavored tortilla strips, but plain tortilla chips are good too (for those that can't handle the heat). 

This recipe serves 4 with pretty good size servings.  We will make it into 2 very filling meals for the two of us.  I've also made a double batch and divided it up into several bowls to be frozen.  Nothing easier than pulling it out of the freezer and popping it into the crock pot before leaving for work. 

There are versions of this recipe all over the internet, so if you don't like this one you can easily find another one to try. 

Shelly has renamed this "taco chili" because it is so chunky and thick, and I do agree that is probably a better title.  If you prefer yours to be more soup like leave out the tomato paste, or substitute it with tomato sauce.

Pumpkin Dip

8 oz cream cheese, softened

15 oz can of pumpkin

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp pumpkin spice

The recipe calls for 1/2 tsp of pumpkin spice, but that was not even close to enough for me.  I stopped measuring and just started dumping the pumpkin spice, and some cinnamon, until it satisfied my own taste buds.  I also added a small splash of almond extract, just because I love the stuff and can't get enough of it!

Recommended dippers are apples, graham crackers, ginger snaps, or vanilla wafers.  I bet it would be good on a bagel too!

Pumpkin Spice Pancakes

I'm not really sure you can count this is a "recipe", but I love it so much that I'm blogging it so that I will never forget about these pancakes.  I love pancakes because they are sweet, easy, and cheap.  I can't think of any meal that cost less to make than pancakes and that is why we eat them often when our budget it tight.  Including the creamer ($1.50) the cost of all the ingredients is right around $4.00 and I can make many many pancake dinners for the 2 of us with one box of pancake mix.  

Our pancakes are almost always flavored with whatever I have in the kitchen.  I usually add a little bit of vanilla or (mmmmmmm) almond extract.  Since we do not drink a lot of coffee I rarely have liquid creamers in the fridge, but on those special occassions that I splurge and buy flavored creamers we have some mighty good pancakes!

These pancakes are flavored with Pumpkin Spice creamer from Coffee Mate.  I just substitue some of the water with creamer until I get the taste I'm looking for.  There is no measuring at all when it comes to pancakes!  I just dump stuff together until it looks good.  I would guess I used about 2 tablespoons of creamer to make these 6 small pancakes.  You can use powdered creamer too, but the liquid creamer gives it a richer flavor (and usually comes in a wider variety of flavors). 

What an easy way to turn regular pancakes into "gourmet" pancakes!!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 1/2 cups butter
• 4 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 large can pumpkin
• 3 tsp vanilla
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 3 tsp baking soda
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 3 tsp nutmeg
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 7 1/2 cups flour
• 1 (12oz) bag mini chocolate chips



Mix the butter, sugar, eggs, and pumpin for a few minutes. 

Add the baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg and mix until well incorporated. 

Add the flour a few cups at a time and slowly mix so that it doesn't go flying everywhere!  The batter will be very stiff and you may have to finish mixing it by hand if it becomes too hard on your mixer. 

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop by spoonfuls on a greased cookie sheet.  The cookies will not spread out during baking so you can place them close together on the pan.  I would normally bake 12 cookies a time on my cookie sheet and I was baking aprox 30 at a time of these cookies.

Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. 

This makes about 12 dozen cookies, so you will have plenty to share! 

I got this recipe from my mom.  She uses shortening, but I didn't have any so I replaced it with butter.  I can't tell a difference in the cookies, so feel free to use which ever you prefer.  These are one of my all time favorite cookies because they are so moist; however they are not for everyone.  They never lasted long at our house growing up (even though it makes 7 dozen), but they are not always a hit with outsiders.  Some people love them and some people hate them (those people just don't realize a what a good cookie taste like).  If you like pumpkin pie and chocolate chips I think you will like these cookies. 

They are a moist cake like cookie that I think is a perfect fit for a fall day.