Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Olive Garden Breadsticks

I made these bread sticks with dinner tonight. They were really good and really did taste like Olive Garden Bread sticks. They didn't get as golden brown as I would like but they were still vey yummy.

Olive Garden Bread sticks

Dough:
1 1/2 cups hot water
2 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs yeast
1 Tbs salt
2 Tbs butter, softened
4-5 Cups flour

Topping:
3 Tbs butter melted
sea salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder

For the dough, pour the water into a stand mixer with the sugar and yeast, let that sit and froth for about 10 minutes. Add salt, butter, and 2 cups of flour. Mix the dough on low. Add the rest of the flour a half cup at a time, until dough scrapes the sides of the bowl clean. Mix the dough about 5 minutes on medium speed, until its soft and easy to work with. Roll the dough out into a long log, spray a knife with cooking spray and cut the dough into 12-14 pieces. Roll those pieces into long snakes. Spray 2 large cookie sheets with cooking spray, and lay the bread sticks out leaving about 2 inches between each one. Place them in the oven with the temperature turned to 170 degrees. Let them rise for about 15 minutes, or until doubled in size. Once risen, brush them with the 1 1/2 T of melted butter and sprinkle them with salt. Return them to the oven and heat to 400 degrees. Once it's preheated to 400 degrees bake them for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. While they are baking combine the rest of the melted butter with 1/4 t garlic powder. When the bread sticks are golden brown, remove them from the oven and brush them with the butter/garlic mixture.

Friday, December 16, 2011

These are so Yummy!

I do make a pretty mean Chocolate Chip Cookie. It is hard to not eat one when they come out of the oven and they are still warm. The recipe is posted below. The recipe makes hundreds of cookies and the half recipe makes a lot of cookies. Be prepared to bake. I can only make a 1/2 a batch at a time because that's all my mixer can handle. Also I use Milk Chocolate Chips and not semi-sweet. Mainly because I do not like semi-sweet chocolate chips. I am a little selfish when I bake my cookies but that's what make them unlike anyone else's cookies.

Amish Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

3 cup vegetable oil
3 cup white sugar
3 cup brown sugar
8 eggs
4 tsp salt
4 tsp baking soda
4 tsp water
4 tsp vanilla
10 cup all purpose flour
6 cup chocolate chips

Steps

Preheat oven to 375. Cream oil and sugars. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and water. In separate bowl combine dry ingredients. Slowly add to the rest of the mixture. Add chocolate chips. Drop by the tablespoon onto a greased baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until slightly golden brown.

*Also, you can add pecans, walnuts, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, etc if you would like! Be creative- you have lots of dough to work with!

Amish Chocolate Chip Cookies (Half Recipe)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp water
2 tsp vanilla
5 cup all purpose flour
3 cup chocolate chips

Steps

Preheat oven to 375. Cream oil and sugars. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and water. In separate bowl combine dry ingredients. Slowly add to the rest of the mixture. Add chocolate chips. Drop by the tablespoon onto a greased baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until slightly golden brown.

*Also, you can add pecans, walnuts, white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, etc if you would like! Be creative- you have lots of dough to work with!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Mini Deep Dish Pizzas

Mini Deep Dish Pizza! YUM! pillsbury pizza crust from the grocery- press it into the cupcake pan and then spooned in tomato sauce, topped with cheese and then peperoni-- SOO easy!
Eli made these on Saturday when I was sick. They were so yummy! Everyone loved them except Ellie. She is so finicky about her food. I believe they were relatively easy to do. You should gee them a try, they make a great Saturday afternoon lunch or a great party food. But of course you can use any toppings you like. We made some that were like breadstick pizza. Mine were sausage and mushroom. I think Eli used sausage and green olives for his.

Four Cheese Baked Ziti

I made this last week, it was really good! But it was AMAZING the next day. It was super easy to make. I served it with some Parmesan encrusted Chicken breasts and green beans.

Four-Cheese Baked Ziti Recipe

Four-Cheese Baked Ziti RecipePhoto by: Taste of HomeFour-Cheese Baked Ziti RecipeRating 4

84% would make again

This pasta dish, made with Alfredo sauce, is deliciously different from typical tomato-based recipes. Extra cheesy, it goes together quickly and is always popular at potlucks.

This recipe is:

Contest Winning


12
  • 8 Servings
  • Prep: 20 min. Bake: 30 min.
203050

Ingredients

  • 1 package (16 ounces) ziti or small tube pasta
  • 2 cartons (10 ounces each) refrigerated Alfredo sauce
  • 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 carton (15 ounces) ricotta cheese
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
  • 1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
  • 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
  • 1-3/4 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions

  • Cook ziti according to package directions; drain and return to the pan. Stir in Alfredo sauce and sour cream. Spoon half into a lightly greased 3-qt. baking dish.
  • In a small bowl, combine the eggs, ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese and parsley; spread over pasta. Top with remaining pasta mixture; sprinkle with mozzarella and remaining Parmesan.
  • Cover and bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a thermometer reads 160°. Uncover; bake 5-10 minutes longer or until bubbly. Yield: 8 servings.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Chicken Enchilada Soup

I am going to keep you all from having to experience what I did today by not posting the recipe for today's soup.
Today was Chicken Enchilada Soup and well the smell was so overwhelming. Then I tasted it and there was no taste. It wasn't just blan it was void of taste.
But the recipe says to add velveeta before you serve it. So we did and that kind of brought all the flavors together and wasn't horrible but def. not a soup I would make again. I also added some Tostitos Hint of jalapeƱo chips. It added a unique flavor. It wasn't too bad.

It must not have been too bad because everyone ate 2 bowls of it.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Peppermint Bark

Eli made Peppermint Bark tonight while I drove around looking for cookie sheets. I hope it's yummy. It is currently cooling in the fridge.


Peppermint Bark
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Prep Time:5 minInactive Prep Time:45 minCook Time:10 min
Level:
Easy
Serves:
about 2 pounds of candy

Ingredients
Crushed candy canes, to yield 1 cup
2 pounds white chocolate
Peppermint flavorings, optional
Directions
Place candy canes in a plastic bag and hammer into 1/4-inch chunks or smaller. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Combine candy cane chunks with chocolate (add peppermint flavoring at this point if desired.) Pour mixture onto a cookie sheet layered with parchment or waxed paper and place in the refrigerator for 45 minutes or until firm. Remove from cookie sheet and break into pieces (like peanut brittle.)

Update this is SO AMAZING!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

The Lady's Chicken Noodle Soup

Well the verdict is in and it was a success. So much of a success that there were no leftovers. Here is the recipe:
The Lady’s Chicken Noodle Soup
From Paula's Home Cooking
Servings: 8 to 10 servings
Prep Time: 25 min
Cook Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients
4 bay leaves
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 teaspoon Paula Deen Lemon Pepper Seasoning
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 2 1/2 to 3-pound fryer (chicken), cut up
1 1/2 to 2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
3 1/2 quart water kosher salt and pepper to taste

For Step 2:
2 cups sliced carrots
2 cups sliced celery, with leafy green tops
2 1/2 cups uncooked egg noodles
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
3/4 cup heavy cream (optional)
1/3 cup cooking sherry
1 cup sliced mushrooms Fresh parsley
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
Paula Deen Seasoned Salt to taste 
freshly ground black pepper to taste
crusty french bread, for serving

 Directions For the stock:
add all ingredients to a soup pot. Cook until chicken is tender, about 35 to 45 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and set aside to cool. Remove and discard bay leaves and onion. You should have approximately 3 quarts of stock. When chicken is cool enough to touch, pick bones clean, discarding bones, skin, and cartilage. Set chicken aside.

For the soup:
bring stock back to a boil, add carrots, and cook for 3 minutes. Add celery and continue to cook for 5 to 10 minutes. Add egg noodles and cook according to directions on package. When noodles are done, add chicken, mushrooms, parsley, sherry and rosemary. Add Parmesan and cream, if using. Cook for another 2 minutes. Adjust seasoning, if needed, by adding seasoning salt and pepper. Enjoy along with a nice hot crusty loaf of French bread.
Recipe Courtesy of Paula Deen

 I didn't go things quite the way she suggested.
Firstly I started with 3 cans of broth and 3 cans of water.
I used onion flakes instead of chopping up an onion.
I used frozen pre cooked diced Chicken.
I didn't have Lemon Pepper like I thought, but I did have Lime Pepper.
Because I added 3 cans of water I didn't add the 3 1/2 qt. water.
Because I was trying to cater to my kids I didn't use carrots or celery. They wouldn't eat it anyways so next time I will add it in.
I didn't have any fresh Parsley.
I did use the Parmesan and Heavy cream.
I didn't add mushrooms because Eli doesn't like them.

This is going to become a Ruggles family repeat. It would even be great for company coming over and it was so easy!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

The Best Crock Pot Potato Soup

Because of my recent addiction to Pinterest I have been finding tons of soups that I want to try. So I decided to try a new soup a week until I run out of new ones to try.
This weeks Soup is The Best Crockpot Potato Soup. Here's the Recipe:
5lbs. Potatoes, peeled and coursely chopped
1 sm. onion
8 oz. cream cheese; softened
3-14.5 oz. cans reduced sodium chicken broth
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 tsp. pepper
Garnishes:
crisp bacon; crumbled
shredded cheddar cheese
sour cream
sliced scallions

Put potatoes & onion in crockpot
Combine the cream cheese, chicken broth, cream of chicken soup & the pepper.
Add this mix to the crockpot
Cover and cook on Low for 8-10 hours or on High 4-5 hours.
After cooking time, mash the potatoes if you want the soup to be thicker.
Ladle into bowls and garnish with a dollop of sour cream and the cheese & bacon. Sprinkle with scallions.


It was quite yummy! Here's a pic:

Thursday, March 3, 2011

In need of an AMAZING cookie?

Search no more. This is the most amazing cookie!
Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Marshmallow Pudding Cookies
I only made one batch last night and I didn't get pics. But head my warning make sure you use parchment paper as the recipe says. I will be making more as soon as I go to the store and buy parchment paper. I think these are a cookie you could dream about.

Changing things up a bit.

I have decided to change things up here on the blog. This is where I will be posting all the yummy's that I make. Check back, I will be posting one here in a bit.