Holiday Cheer

So the holidays are here! There are lots of great things going on this time of year and we've had lots of fun celebrating Christmas so far this month. This week I decided to do a little Cookie Exchange with a few girls from the ward. It was fun to get together, have dinner, and chat without any kiddos. We had a great time, shared lots of good food, and found some great new recipes. I thought I'd share my favorite just in case you wanted to try something new this holiday season! Thanks Heather for introducing these yummy little treats to me...I will definitely be making them again!

Glazed Cranberry Mini-Cakes

1/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

2 Tablespoons milk

1 egg

1 1/4 cups coarsely chopped fresh cranberries

1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 1 2/3 cup Hershey's Premier White Chips, divided

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease small muffin cups (1 3/4 inches in diameter) or line with paper bake cups.

2. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, egg and vanilla in large bowl until fluffy. Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; gradually blend into butter mixture. Add milk; stir until blended. Stir in cranberries, walnuts and 2/3 cup white chips (reserve remaining chips for glaze). Fill muffin cups 7/8 full with batter.

3. Bake 15 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely. Prepare White Glaze; drizzle over tops of mini-cakes. Refrigerate 10 minutes to set glaze.

White Glaze: Place remaining 1 cup Hershey's Premier White Chips in small microwave-safe bowl; sprinkle 2 tablespoons vegetable oil over chips. Microwave at HIGH (100% power) 30 seconds; stir. If necessary, microwave at HIGH an additional 30 seconds or just until chips are melted when stirred.

WARNING

The recipe I am about to share is highly addictive. Please do not attempt to make this unless A) you have several people to share it with or B) you are willing to throw caution to the wind and eat it all by yourself. I have chosen option B and eaten more Caramel Popcorn in the last few days than I'd like to admit. Please choose wisely.

Caramel Popcorn

1 1/1 cup unpopped popcorn

1 cup Karo syrup

2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla (if desired)

Pop popcorn into VERY LARGE bowl. Mix Karo syrup, brown sugar and butter in a pot and bring to a boil until all ingredients are melted. Add sweetened condensed milk and boil another 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour over popcorn and stir until completely covered. Enjoy!

P.S. Thanks to Heather for sharing this delicious treat with me!!

Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy...

I know some of you out there are fish eaters, and maybe even some of you want to try to be fish eaters but don't have any great recipes. Well, since we are fish eaters, and I mean we eat it on a weekly basis, I thought I'd share a great new fish recipe I just tried last week.




1. Heat Oven to 4oo degrees. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. In a bowl combine 2 Tbs. mayonnaise, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper. (I actually doubled this to make it easier for coat the fish.)

2. Cut 1 pound catfish (or any firm white fish...I used halibut) into chunks, and toss with mayo mixture to coat. Dredge in 2 cups crushed crisp rice cereal, and place on baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes.






Bridger usually always eats a little bit of the fish we are eating, but let me tell you he downed this stuff. We gave him ketchup to dip in and he was in heaven...I used tartar sauce, but let me tell you they didn't need to be dipped in anything, they were delicious!

Snot Bars

So the name doesn't sound all that enticing, but let me tell you these yummy treats go down as one of my favorites. My roommate Mandy shared this recipe with me and it will always be a favorite in the Kaiser family.

1 cup Karo syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

7-8 cups Rice Krispy cereal

1 pkg. chocolate chips

Combine Karo syrup and sugar. Heat until sugar dissolves, but DO NOT BOIL!! Stir in peanut butter. Pour over cereal and mix well. Press into a greased 9x13 pan. Melt chocolate chips and spread over cereal. Cool and then cut. Store covered.

These are delicious warm but very messy!!

A New Twist...

...on an old favorite. So, I must admit that one of my favorite meals as a child, teenager, and now as an adult is Ramen Noodles. Ok, I know they are probably not the most healthy, but boy you just can't beat good ol' fashioned Chicken flavor Ramen, can you??!



Well, when I worked at the Developmental Preschool in Laramie, Doreen, the best cook ever, made a ramen noodle lunch for the kids. As a teacher, I was lucky enough to be able to eat her lunches because we were "modeling" good eating skills to the preschool kids. Within a month of working there I knew to check the lunch menu each week, anticipating the next time she would serve "Oriental Beef Noodle Toss". I loved this meal so much that I had to get her recipe before I left Laramie. I made it the other night and had to share a family favorite with you all.

Hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as I do!!








Oriental Noodle Toss

• 1 lb. Hamburger
• 2 packages Oriental Ramen Noodles
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups frozen veggies(any mix you like)

Brown the hamburger and drain any fat. Season burger with 1 seasoning packet. Set aside. Combine water, vegetables, noodles, and 1 seasoning packet. Bring to a boil and simmer 3 minutes or until noodles are tender. Add burger to the skillet, heat through, and viola!! A heavenly little dinner that your kids, and maybe even you and you hubby will love!!

No Bakes

Last night I was desperate for something sweet. We were out of everything, no ice cream, no cookies, no brownies, no eggs to make cookies or brownies. So in my desperation I decided to make some no bake cookies. I consider myself someone who loves to cook and bake, but these so called no bake cookies are my nemesis. I have tried to make these over the past several years, and to my dismay they never set up right! What the heck...that shouldn't happen, you don't even bake them!! Anyway, I set out to find a new and improved recipe. I frantically searched the internet trying to find a good recipe with some tips on helping them set up. Luckily I found a recipe and it worked!! Yeah, my sweet tooth was curbed and I conquered the no bake cookie fear; two birds with one shot! These things were so good I didn't even get a picture of one!

An Old Favorite

Today I was thinking about a favorite cake my mom and grandma used to make. It's Grandma Shorty's Oatmeal Cake with this delicious brown sugar frosting!! I decided rather than just daydream about it, I better go ahead and make it. So I pulled out my kitchen aid (which by the way was my Grandma Shorty's) and grabbed all the ingredients! It was simple to make and even more delicious than I remembered. My camera batteries died last night so I couldn't get a picture, but here is the recipe.


CAKE

• Mix 1 cup oatmeal with 1 1/2 cups boiling water. Set aside and let cool.
• Mix together
  1 cup sugar 1 cup brown sugar
  1 1/2 cup flour 1 tsp. baking soda
  1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. cinnamon
  1/2 cup oil 2 eggs
• Blend oatmeal mixture into other ingredients. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes. Cover with topping when cooled.

TOPPING

• Bring to a boil
  1 cup brown sugar
  1 cube butter/marg
  2 1/2 Tbl. canned milk or cream
• Stir in
  1 cup coconut flakes
  1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Enjoy!!