Saltine Toffee and The Secret Recipe Club

It's that time once again! The most anticipated day of the month: Reveal Day on The Secret Recipe Club!  Click on over HERE to learn more about the Secret Recipe Club.

My assigned blog this month was Fat Girl Trapped In A Skinny Body.  I was vaguely familiar with at least the title of this blog from the blog hops and Pinterest.  It's a real shame I waited so long to finally spend some time checking it out for myself.  If you don't already, you will soon love Julia!  Her recipes are fabulous and her personality is quite endearing.  If we met on the playground, I'm pretty confident we'd laugh ourselves silly and then walk away as new friends. 

This Saltine Toffee was actually under her Christmas Baking index.  But I figured it was ok for me to make it in February since I didn't technically do any Christmas baking this past year.  I've seen this kind of recipe a few times and everyone always has such wonderful things to say about it. 

Two sticks of butter, y'all :)

So easy and so good! A dangerous combo! I wish I had thought to cut the recipe in half because I ate and ate until I felt sick. Haha!

Saltine Toffee
Recipe from Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body

about 40 saltines (enough to cover the bottom of large cookie sheet)
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped almonds (slivered or sliced work too)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Line a large cookie sheet with tinfoil and spray with non stick spray. Lay the saltines, in a single layer, on the cookie sheet, completely covering the bottom. Set aside.
In a saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar. Once it reaches a boil, let it boil for 3 minutes. Remove it from the heat and immediately pour over the saltines.
Spread evenly with a spatula and bake for 6 minutes. Bake until the entire cookie sheet is bubbling. Remove from the oven and immediately pour the chocolate chips over the hot toffee.
Let the chocolate chips sit for 5 minutes (this melts them) then spread with a rubber spatula.
*The toffee might kinda spread a little with the chocolate, that’s ok. Just do your best to spread the chocolate over the entire surface. Use more chocolate if you want too :)
Sprinkle with chopped almonds and put it in the fridge to speed up the cooling time.
Remove once it is completely cooled and the chocolate is hard. Peel away the tinfoil and break into pieces.

Semi Wordless Wednesday

Shoes!!!!

Did I mention that I had to actually leave my house and go out and get one of those paying job thingees? As it turns out, working in an office requires a whole different wardrobe than, say, being a stay at home mom. Who knew? So, among said new wardrobe are some pretty cute shoes if I do say so myself :)

Recently gracing my closet floor are:

Alex Marie Daniele Mary Jane Pumps in Marine Navy

Vaneli Maxy in Dark Grey Suede

Vaneli Alga



Privo by Clarks Vesper dark grey/eggplant

all photos via Pinterest

Baked Apple Donut Muffins and The Secret Recipe Club

It's that time once again! The most anticipated day of the month: Reveal Day on The Secret Recipe Club!  Click on over HERE to learn more about the Secret Recipe Club.

My assigned blog this month was The Savvy Kitchen. Oh my goodness, talk about a recipe list overload! But in a good way!!  I highly recommend you set aside some time to cruise through Amy's recipe list.  But not when you're hungry; trust me on this one ;) 

I finally decided on her Baked Apple Donut recipe.  I've been wanting to try donut muffins for a long time.  I don't know what my hold up was! I actually picked this one because I wanted something I knew my kids would enjoy, but let me just tell you, this turned out to be one of the best things I've ever made!  And they were so incredibly easy too!  It was a rainy day and my kids were out of the house, and I just so happened to have all the ingredients on hand to make these muffins!  You probably do too.  I checked out the original source of the recipe and saw that Amy had substituted butter for the shortening originally called for, and so I followed her lead. And because I always have butter in my fridge, but I never have shortening.

Do yourself a favor and give these muffins a try. You won't be disappointed!!  And the flavor of the baked apple is PERFECT for this chilly time of year!

Baked Apple Donut Muffins
Recipe from The Savvy Kitchen

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 Tbls baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 cup low-fat milk
1 cup cored and finely diced apples

Topping:
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix the first 5 ingredients with a fork. Add the shortening and mix until the shortening is broken up. Set aside. In another bowl combine the eggs, milk and diced apples. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix until just blended.

Spoon into a greased muffin pan, or use paper liners. Bake 20 – 25 minutes or until muffins are light to medium brown (15-18 minutes for mini-muffins).

While donuts are baking, melt the butter and set aside. Combine 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon in a separate bowl. When the donuts are done and before they have had a chance to cool, dip the tops in butter and then roll them in the cinnamon/sugar mixture.

Christmas Thumbprint Cookies

Now if that doesn't say festive, then I don't know what does!  I saw these holiday cookies the other day on The Freshman Cook, and I knew I was making them the moment I laid eyes on them!  I had signed up to bring treats for the teachers at my son's elementary school, and I thought those teachers would make the perfect guinea pigs since I was dying to make these cookies.  Plus the recipe said it'd make 8 dozen.  Sheesh! I needed someone to share them with.  I didn't actually end up with that many though.

So the day I made these cookies I had quite the discussion going on about the appropriate coloring to use for the icing.  I definitely wanted really bright red and green so that they would scream "Christmas!".  But you know how red icing sometimes tastes like, well, red icing?  Some of it is terrible stuff, isn't it? I wanted to avoid that.  And, through the power of Facebook, I was alerted to Wilton's No Taste red coloring.  I went and bought some and I'm happy to report that it did, in fact, have no taste! :)

The cookie recipe is perfect; I wouldn't change a thing.  And I love the presentation of the icing, but flavor wise it just lacks a little.  I'll have to come up with something, or feel free to shoot your ideas at me, because these are too cute and festive to not make them over and over again!




Christmas Thumbprint Cookies
Recipe from The Freshman Cook

2 cups Butter
1 cup Sugar
4 Egg Yolks
4 teaspoon Vanilla
5 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
Thumbprint Icing 1 cup Confectioners Sugar
1 tablespoon Water
Colors for icing
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Put your butter and your sugar in a mixing bowl. Cream until fluffy. Add your egg yolks and mix in. Add vanilla and mix.

In a seperate bowl, mix your flour and salt.  Add your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients and mix together.

Once your mix is together, start making small 1"-1 1/2" balls of dough. Place the dough balls on your cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. The bottoms will be golden brown. The tops are a little tougher to see, but they will be done if the bottoms are. Immediately after pulling the cookies out of the oven, use the back of a measuring spoon to make a round indention in each cookie. (I actually found it easier to make the indention in the cookie before baking because mine cracked too much when I tried doing it after.  Experiment and see which way works best for you)
For the icing, mix together your confectioners sugar and 1 tablespoon water. If you need more water, add some, but don't make the icing too runny.  Divide the icing into two bowls and add color until you get the color you are looking for.  Use a spoon to fill your cookies with icing.

Crock Pot Turkey Chili

It's Chili weather!  Or is it?  I dunno, around here the temperature swings from summer to winter and back on a weekly basis.  Not that I'm complaining because I will gladly hold off on the full blown arrival of winter for as long as possible!  Fortunately though, it was a decidedly chilly day out when I decided to try this chili recipe.

What do you think about trying out new recipes on guests?  I can't seem to stop myself :)  I made this for a brand new friend.  As in the first time she ever came to my house!  And I didn't warn her until after she had already arrived!  I was nice though; I told her we could order pizza if it didn't work out.  Most of my friends knew me before I started my blog, so I always figure they are fair game for my new food creations.  In fact, I'm pretty sure they expect to be experminted on. 

I have a habit of pinning things on Pinterest just based on the picture alone without checking out the recipe.  This one had me at "turkey".  Because I'm a convert, remember?  The first time I looked at the recipe was when I decided to make it and I needed to put together my shopping list.  It turns out that this is a Weight Watchers recipe.  I'm all about healthy eating and I'm really on board when it tastes as good as this chili!  It was even a hit with my dinner guests.  My friend's 8 yr old son ate three bowls!  Did I mention that our oldest son's are in the same class at school?  And they have the same first name?  And the same date of birth?  As in the exact same month, day, and year?!  I said those boys were destined to become friends!

This recipe is a keeper! Give it a try!!

Crock Pot Turkey Chili
Recipe source: Gina's Skinny Recipes via Pinterest

1.3 lb (20 oz) fat free ground turkey breast
1 small onion, chopped
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (16 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (4.5 oz) can chopped chilies, drained
1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, undrained

1 (15.5 oz) can black beans, undrained

1 (15.5 oz) can small red beans, undrained
2 tbsp chili powder

Directions
Brown

turkey and onion in a medium skillet over medium high heat until cooked through.

Drain

any fat remaining and transfer to crock pot.

Add

the beans, chilies, chickpeas tomatoes, tomato sauce and chili powder mixing well.

Cook

on high 6-8 hours.

One Year Blogiversary

Tis true! I started this blog one year ago today.  Some people have a big birthday bash with cake and really awesome giveaways and stuff like that on their blogiversary.  Sorry, none of that is going on around here today.  Nuh-uh.  My blog has been a little neglected lately (thought I'd mentioned it in case anyone failed to notice).  Then I had the idea that it'd be fun or painful to visit some of the things that have changed over the course of a year.  So here they are for you in a list form.  Enjoy!

THEN:  My boys had just had their 7th and 2nd birthdays
NOW:  My boys recently had their 8th and 3rd birthdays

THEN:  I used a little point and shoot camera that was at least 6 yrs old
NOW:  I have a DSLR, which I love but don't use to it's fullest potential. I guess that's pretty obvious from my photos, huh?  :)

THEN:  I blogged at least 5 days a week
NOW:  I'm lucky to publish a blog post once a week

Ok, those were easy.  Here's the overly sarcastic Kristy that we all know and love. Ahem.

THEN:  I was married
NOW:  I'm divorced

THEN: I lived in the house I loved because I bought it with the intentions of raising my family there
NOW: I live in a rent house 60 miles away, and will have to move again when the lease is up

THEN: I had a gloriously large kitchen with miles of counter space, more cabinet space than a girl like me could possibly need, and a pantry that was the envy of many a woman. You can see the pantry here and the kitchen here
NOW: Counter space is a hot commodity, and I can't find jack.  Oh, and no pantry

THEN: No boyfriend
NOW: Still no boyfriend

And, now, instead of a rambling monologue from me, I give you inspirational words from the source of inspiration itself, Pinterest :)

all photos from Pinterest

(Almost) Vegan Potato Soup and The Secret Recipe Club

It's that time once again! The most anticipated day of the month: Reveal Day on The Secret Recipe Club!  Click on over HERE to learn more about the Secret Recipe Club.

My assigned blog this month was We Heart Vegan.  This was easily my most challenging SRC assignment to date, but that isn't to say it wasn't fun and interesting too! This blog is written by Brittany and Julie, and they have such a wide variety of recipes in their collection.  I'm pretty sure I looked at them all :) 

In the spirit of the SRC challenge, I wanted to try to re-create an actual vegan dish.  Because if you aren't willing to at least try something new and different, then where's all the fun?  This is definitely where the challenging part started.  Many of the recipes called for ingredients that either I wasn't sure what they were, or I didn't want to buy if it was something that I wouldn't use again. 

I finally decided on this potato soup recipe.  My love affair with potatoes has been well documented on this blog of mine.  I'm fairly sure I've never found a way of preparing them that I haven't liked yet.  So I was definitely game for trying out this recipe!  And I even took this picture, lest you think that I would cheat :)

The only reason I titled mine (Almost) Vegan is that I did end up using butter that had dairy in it.  And, if you follow my blog regularly, then you know that I don't have a well stocked spice cabinet.  There seems to be a never ending supply of Italian seasoning in there though, so more often than not, I end up throwing it in, in place of something that I don't have. Yep, that happened here.

So now is the part where everyone is curious what I thought about the vegan dish.  This soup was definitely tasty!  The 8 yr old declared it "a keeper".  I gotta tell ya though, Almond milk smells a little funny at first.  I was slightly concerned initially, but it turned out not to be an issue at all once it was cooked.  The 3 yr old even drank some plain Almond milk.  I wasn't quite as brave ;) 

(Almost) Vegan Potato Soup
Recipe from We Heart Vegan

6 cups vegetable broth

2 cups almond or rice milk, unsweetened original

9 small russet potatoes, diced (and peeled if you’d like)

2 dried bay leaves (I didn't have these)

1 tsp. white (for less of a color change) or black fresh ground pepper

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 Tbsp. shallot, diced

1/2 cup chopped garlic chives

2 Tbsp. Earth Balance butter  (I used Smart Balance, which does contain dairy)

1/2 tsp. thyme (I substituted Italian Seasoning)

1/4 tsp. paprika

Roasted red pepper (garnish) (Negative)

Chopped chives (garnish)

Roux: 1 Tbsp. Earth Balance butter

1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1/2 cup almond or rice milk, unsweetened original

Directions

Bring the broth and milk to a gentle boil and add the diced potatoes and bay leaves.  Let this boil for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork tender.

In a small skillet heat the Earth Balance butter with the salt, pepper, shallot, chives, paprika and thyme.

Cook this until aromatic and sizzling, about 5 minutes over medium heat.

Add the butter and spice mixture to the potatoes and stir to combine.  Let this simmer over low-medium heat until the flavors are fully combined, about another 10-12 minutes.

Using an emersion blender, blend the soup until smooth (or as smooth as you’d like it).

In a small skillet (it can be the same skillet you already used) over medium heat add the butter and flour and stir until completely combined.  Add in the 1/2 cup milk and, while stirring constantly, cook the roux until thickened.

Add the roux to the soup and stir to combine.  The soup will thicken slightly.  If you want an extra thick potato soup: double the roux recipe.  If the consistency of the potato soup is good without the roux… you don’t need to add it!!  Portion the soup into bowl, garnish with the roasted red peppers, chives and a little more pepper and serve.