Twice Baked Potatoes

I've been making lunches for the guys that my husband works with over the last several Saturdays. One thing they mentioned that they REALLY like are twice baked potatoes. So, this last weekend, I made some for them and I think they turned out Heavenly!!

This recipe comes from one of my mom's closest friends (and my good friend, Amy's mom), Janet. I found the recipe in a ward cookbook my mom gave me several years ago and have loved it ever since! Janet calls them "Jailbreak Potatoes" and I can see why. Anyone would break out of jail for these taters!!

Here's what you'll need:

4 lg. potatoes
2 T. butter, melted
1/2 C. whipping cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. white pepper
1/2 C. shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Scrub and prick each potato. Bake the potatoes for 1 hour or until flaky. Remove from oven and cool slightly. In a large mixing bowl, place butter, cream, salt, pepper, and cheese. Cut an oval of skin off of the tops of each potato and scrape out most of the potato's interior and put into the bowl with the other ingredients.

As you can see, I was making these for a crowd and used more than 4 potatoes.

Whip the potato mixture until smooth. Spoon the mixture back into the skins. Place the stuffed potatoes on a buttered, rimmed baking sheet and bake an additional 15 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

I didn't get an after shot since I whisked them off to Brett's work. But the looked very similar to the picture above, but they had several golden peaks on them. Gorgeous and delicious!! Love them!!!!

B.L.T. w/ A.

I loooooooooooooooooooooove B.L.T.'s!!! I also looooooooooooooooooooove avocados. So, yesterday for lunch, I made B.L.T.'s with avocado and I was in HEAVEN!!!!! It's one of those simple pleasures in life. Enjoy!

Here's what you'll need:

Toasted Multi-Grain bread (or any bread)
cooked bacon slices
washed lettuce leaves
sliced tomato
sliced avocado

Slather your toast on one side with mayo or Miracle Whip. Place bacon on one piece of toast and top with lettuce, tomato, and avocado. If desired, season avocado with a dash or two of salt and pepper. Top with the other piece of toast. Cut in half and devour.

So good!!!

Breakfast Pockets

One Saturday morning, I had an itch to make something new and different for breakfast. After the wheels in my head were turning for a while, I decided to make my own breakfast pockets. It was so much fun to create something new for us.

Here's what you'll need:

10 eggs
1 lb. sausage, cooked & crumbled
2 C. shredded cheese
4 (7.5 oz) tubes refrigerated biscuits

Cook the sausage and set aside. Scramble the eggs and cook in the same pan that you cooked your sausage in, scraping the bottom to get all of the yummy sausage bits in your scrambled eggs. Cook until creamy and still wet. Add sausage and combine. Roll out biscuits into thin circles. Put a mound of the sausage and egg mixture on the center of half of the rolled out biscuits. Sprinkle cheese over the egg mixture. Place another rolled-out biscuit on top and press the edges to seal. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 11-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack and brush with butter. Serve warm. Makes about 20 pockets.

The kids and I really liked these. I also liked that we could just grab some out of the fridge, warm them up, and eat them on the run. But next time I'm going to try them with some country gravy or a cheese sauce to eat with a fork. Yummmmm!!!!

Chocolate Sheet Cake

My sister-in-law, Shannon, introduced me to the Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Sheet Cake, but made with dark chocolate. It's WONDERFUL!!! She made the same recipe, while here visiting, but used regular cocoa powder as the recipe calls for. We all agreed that it's nothing special with regular cocoa. But using dark cocoa really does make it divine!!!!!!

Here's what you'll need:

2 C. flour

2 C. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 C. butter

4 heaping T. dark cocoa

1 C. boiling water

1/2 C. buttermilk

2 beaten eggs

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. In a saucepan, melt the butter then add the dark cocoa. Stir to combine. Add boiling water and boil for 30 seconds, then turn off the heat. Pour over the flour mixture and stir lightly to cool.

In a small bowl, combine the buttermilk, eggs, baking soda, and vanilla and beat well.

(I didn't have any buttermilk on hand, so I just got a little less than a 1/2 cup of milk and added enough vinegar to make a 1/2 cup.)

Beat the buttermilk mixture into the flour/chocolate mixture and pour into a sheet cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

While the cake is baking, make the dark chocolate icing:

1 3/4 sticks (14 T.) butter

4 heaping T. dark cocoa

6 T. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 lb. minus 1/2 C. powdered sugar

1/2 C. chopped pecans, opt.

In a microwavable bowl, melt the butter in the microwave and add the cocoa. Stir to combine. Add the milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Stir together. Add pecans, if desired.

My fork sinks down slowly - it doesn't drop right down and it doesn't stay in place - it sinks down slowly. If yours drops straight down, add a little more powdered sugar. If it's too thick, microwave it or add a little more milk.

It's runny, but allow it to sit and set up slightly until the cake is finished baking and cooled slightly. Pour over warm (not hot) cake.

This is sheer chocolate bliss!!!!!

Chicken Puffs

I'm BACK!!! I'm finally back! And let me just tell you, the two hardest things about having kids are teething and potty training. Lucky for me, I was dealing with BOTH at the same time! But we are through the potty training. It took three long weeks, but she's finally got the hang of it now. THANK GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've also had family visiting and then I was sicker than a dog and then the kids got it too. Good times, I'll tell you what! But now I'm back and I'm so happy to be back!!! So I am dedicating my day to updating. I am so excited cuz I've got LOTS of good recipes for you!

This recipe is my oldest sister's recipe (I've got lots of sisters, 5 in fact and three brothers too). She helped to put together a cookbook recently and I've been cooking out of it this month. But this recipe is one that I've had for years and we LOVE it!! It's usually saved for special occasions like our wedding anniversary, Valentine's Day, or birthdays since they are so good.

I've come to learn that there are actually many names that this recipe has. For instance, these are also known as Chicken Pillows or Chicken Rolls. Different names, but basically the same recipe. Now on to the recipe...

Here's what you'll need:

1 (8oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened

1/4 C. softened butter

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 C. uncooked diced chicken (my mom always cooks hers, but I don't; you can do what you want)

3 cans refrigerated crescent rolls

1-2 C. Italian seasoned bread crumbs

1 can cream of chicken soup

2 C. sour cream

Cream together the cream cheese, butter, garlic salt, salt, and pepper. Add chicken to creamed mixture. Roll out crescent rolls. Place a large Tablespoon or chicken filling in the middle of each roll. Roll crescents until all sides are sealed. Dip each crescent roll into melted butter and then roll in bread crumbs. Place rolls on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden. Mix cream of chicken soup and sour cream in a bowl and heat in the microwave until warmed. Serve over chicken puffs.

Oh boy, do we ever love these!! Try them out!