A Dinner is in Order!

It has been a while, my dears! So without further adieu, here is a recipe I found on the Betty Crocker app for the iPod Touch. We had the help of our lovely assistant, Bunky.

Cheddar-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

We doubled the recipe because we had more than 4 people, but you can use however much you need.

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Wash chicken and slice in halves, long ways

3. Slice cheese and roll inside chicken pieces and place fold-side down in greased casserole dish.

4. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top. (We also added Emeril Lagasse's Original Essence, which was so good!)

5. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes (or until chicken is fully cooked).

6. Sprinkle with fresh, chopped cilantro and let cool for 5 minutes.

The cheese leaked out a bit, but it was still delicious!

Now, for a side dish, we decided to try and make Teriyaki green beans. I didn't get this recipe anywhere, we just sort of winged it.


Teriyaki Green Beans
Ingredients:
Fresh green beans (however many you want)
Teriyaki sauce
Garlic salt

1. Wash and trim green beans.

2. Add 3 tbs. of cooking oil to a large skillet.

3. Add green beans and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
 

4. Add Teriyaki sauce until all the beans are coated (more or less, if you like.)

5. Sprinkle on as much garlic salt as you would like.

6. Continue cooking over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Everyone really enjoyed these recipes! It is definitely a winner! Hence the chicken dinner ;)
Happy fall everyone! I'm sure we'll have some halloween-inspired recipes up soon!
Cheerio!

Homemade Pizza

You find yourself up late at night, as we often do, and start to get a hankering for a nice, warm, cheesy pizza. Sounds wonderful, right? 

Until you realize that your favorite pizza supplier, your back-up pizza supplier and even your back-up back-up pizza supplier are all closed for the night. 

You don't want to wait, you're hungry now.

What's a girl to do?

Homemade Pizza

Arnold Artisan Ovens Flatbread (Savory Herb and Original)
1-2 cans Hunt's tomato sauce
Ranch Dressing
Perdue Short Cuts pre-cooked chicken strips (Grilled Chicken Breast)
deli ham slices
1 bag pepperoni
1 bag shredded cheese

Set the oven to 350 degrees. 

Place 4 flatbread crusts on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Select your sauce. Spread evenly over crust. 

We used both Ranch dressing and tomato sauce.

Sprinkle each pizza with cheese. 

We used a Mexican blend of shredded cheese.

Select your toppings. We used various combinations on our pizzas.

Be adventurous :)

Bake for 10 minutes.

Ranch Dressing, Cheese & Chicken Pizza

Tomato, Cheese & Pepperoni Pizza

Tomato, Cheese, Ham & Pepperoni Pizza

Tomato, Cheese, Chicken & Pepperoni Pizza

Enjoy!

Cottoncandy & Applelicious Swirl Poppers and A Quest

Okay so by now you've probably come to the conclusion that we're nothing but big kids at heart (which is entirely true) but if you haven't, then don't fret because after this post you surely will. 

We were completely overexcited to try these new Swirl Poppers push pops and decided to make a video review of them. 

Cottoncandy and Applelicious flavored Swirl Poppers

This is an update, after eating the push pops we noticed a strange side-effect...

particularly around the mouth region.

What video review would be complete without a quest?! That's a rhetorical question, of course!

Therefore, since we're all in agreement (not counting your opinion amidst our own), we decided to take a perilous journey back into the basement to seek out Christa's missing cell phone.

P.S. (For legal reasons I felt I must say this) My dog's name is, in fact, NOT Carl, it's Todd but it pisses him off endlessly when we call him the wrong name and of course that's funny to us.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Tarts

This recipe is yet another from the beloved Sweet Baking App. I told you we'd be using it a lot. It can be found under the "Desserts" tab on the main screen. However, this light, delicious recipe could easily be prepared for breakfast or an afternoon snack.

Strawberry Tarts 

12 slices sandwich bread
10 strawberries
2 Tablespoon melted butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup water
1 Tablespoon lemon juice

We altered the filling recipe by adding another ingredient. 

1 package cream cheese
1 (7 ounce) tub of marshmallow creme 

For the Tart Shells 

Set the oven to 350 degrees. 

Roll out the sandwich bread to 1/8 inch thick. With a cookie cutter placed in the center of each slice, cut out shapes.

Using a brush, coat one side of the bread cut-outs with melted butter.

Slightly press each cut-out into the sections of a muffin pan to form the tart.

Bake until brown, about 10 minutes.

For the Syrup 

Heat sugar, lemon juice and water together in a saucepan, over medium heat, until sugar dissolves. Stirring constantly, bring to a boil then continue to boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. 

Wash, remove leaves and chop strawberries. 

...The perfect strawberry...

Mix with syrup mixture. 

For the Filling 

In a separate bowl, mix together the tub of marshmallow creme and cream cheese. 

Stir with a fork until smooth and combined.

Spread a little bit of filling inside the tart shells.

Top each tart with the strawberry mixture.

We formed an "assembly line" to help this process go faster. 

Can you spot our Food Enthusiast begging for a taste?

Note: We found that by using the syrup, the tart shells quickly became soggy. While they were delicious they were also very runny and messy to eat. Instead of using the syrup recipe we advise mixing the chopped strawberries with 3 tablespoons of sugar. Simply follow the rest of the recipe as normal.

Enjoy!

Twining's of London Black Tea Variety Pack

Moseying down the aisles of our nearest Safeway we happened upon this box of perfectly assorted teas. Being avid, scratch that, obsessive tea drinkers and British enthusiasts, nothing grabs our attention faster than "London" and "Tea" in the same sentence. So naturally, we had to give this assortment a try.

Twining's of London Black Tea Variety Pack

Contains:
(5 bags per flavour)
- Lady Grey Tea
- Earl Grey Tea
- Irish Breakfast Tea
- English Breakfast Tea

We boiled a pot of water on the stove, picked two intriguing looking packets and set to work steeping.

We then ladled the tea into two separate mugs to share so that we could get a taste of each.

...It's harder than it looks, you wouldn't believe the mess...

After a bit of counter-mopping, we tried the two separate flavors and decided to share our thoughts and feelings on them. The last two will be saved for another date in the close future, when our bladders aren't nearly so full perhaps. 

Lady Grey Tea 

Strength (Light Tea): 2 / 5

Box Description:

"Fine black tea perfectly balanced with the citrus fruit flavors of bergamot, orange and lemon.

Our Description:

"The Lady Grey tea was a very light tea, it did not get very dark when we steeped it. We really liked this tea, it was very fruity. We added three teaspoons of sugar, and one teaspoon of honey. This made it sweet, but did not overpower the flavor of the tea. It's a very smooth and easy to drink tea. We give it five stars! Good show, Twinings!" 

Irish Breakfast Tea

Strength (Robust Tea): 4 / 5

Box Description:


"Fine black tea expertly blended to deliver a full-bodied tea with a robust taste and hearty aroma."


Our Description: 


" In contrast to the Lady Grey tea we picked a tea on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. The Irish Breakfast tea quickly became very dark as we steeped it. Again, we added three teaspoons of sugar, and one teaspoon of honey. This complimented the deep, rustic taste of the tea, sweetening it enough without compromising the flavor at all. 'Robust' is definitely a word that comes to mind when drinking this tea and defines it almost perfectly. We give it 4 stars! Cheers! "

Hazelnut Coffee-mate Coffee Cake

We discovered this recipe on www.coffee-mate.com under the "Desserts" tab. Being avid lovers and self-proclaimed addicted users of Coffee-mate we knew we had to give it a try. You can use any flavor of Coffee-mate for this cake. We used Hazelnut, but feel free to pick your favorite :)

Hazelnut Coffee-mate Coffee Cake

For the Cake

2/3 cup warm water
1/3 cup NESTLÉ COFFEE-MATE Powdered Coffee Creamer (we chose Hazelnut)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 large egg

For the Crumb Topping

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (we decided against these)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces

For the Cake

Whisk together water and Coffee-mate in a small bowl. 

...Umm, we had a little trouble pouring out the Coffee-mate...

In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and butter and beat by hand or with a mixer until flour is coated with butter. Stir in the egg, then gradually stir in the Coffee-mate mixture. Set aside.

...Or simply throw it on the floor, like we did...

For the Crumb Topping 

Combine sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter in a bowl and mix until crumbs are formed.

Spoon half of the cake batter into a greased 9-inch square baking pan. 

Sprinkle half of the crumb topping over batter. 

Spoon remaining batter over crumb topping. 

Then sprinkle remaining crumb topping on top...once again.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes before cutting.

Enjoy!


Here's our reaction to our creation :)