Peanut Butter Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich

This recipe comes from Three Many Cooks. I actually made these for someone that just had a baby and I have no idea if they turned out good or not.

Here's the dough before you let them settle in the freezer. I think I made the cookies too big because the recipe says it serves 10-12 and I made 6 complete sandwiches.

I let the cookies completely cool before I started to assemble. Although staring at them does not seem to make them cool faster.

Then all you do is assemble and either serve or freeze.

Here's the original recipe. Enjoy.
*****
Makes 10 to 12 sandwiches

1/2 cup all-purpose bleached flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons butter, melted until warm but not hot
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup roasted peanuts, chopped coarse, plus extra for sandwiches
1 pint vanilla or chocolate ice cream
Miniature chocolate chips

Mix flour and baking soda in a small bowl; set aside. Mix butter, peanut butter and brown sugar in a medium bowl until smooth. Mix egg and vanilla in a small bowl. Add to peanut butter mixture; beat with a rubber spatula until smooth. Add flour mixture and peanuts; stir until well combined.

Form dough into 2-tablespoon balls and scoop onto a plastic wrap-rimmed baking sheet. Freeze until solid, about 30 minutes.

When ready to bake cookies, adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Working 6 or 7 dough balls at a time, arrange them on a parchment- or silpat-lined cookie sheet. Bake until cookies are golden, but not dark brown, about 15 minutes. Let stand on cookie sheet to firm up, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Meanwhile, form ice cream into generous 2-tablespoon balls; set in freezer until ready to assemble.

To assemble, set an ice cream ball on each of half the cookies; cap with remaining cookies and press to make a sandwich.

Roll each ice cream sandwich in peanuts or chocolate chips; return to freezer until ready to serve.

P-Dub's Butttermilk Chicken Tenders

Best chicken tenders I've ever had. Easy and delicious. That Pioneer Woman knows what she's doing.  

 My exception to her recipe was one part Cavenders and one part Tony's instead of Lawry's.

If you are a chicken tender fan, you MUST try this recipe!  Serve it with some homemade Cane's sauce and your night will be perfect.

Ingredients

• 1 package Chicken Breasts, Cut Into Strips (sometimes Called "tenders" Or "strips")
• Buttermilk
• 1-½ cup Flour
• 2 teaspoons (to 3 Teaspoons) Lawry's Seasoning Salt (or Spices Of Your Choosing)
• Vegetable Oil

Preparation Instructions

Start by rinsing and drying your chicken strips. Next, in a bowl submerge the chicken strips in buttermilk for 15 to 20 minutes (or longer if you’d like).

In another bowl combine about 1 ½ cups flour and 2 to 3 teaspoons of Lawry’s Seasoning Salt (or other seasonings if you prefer). Mix this together well. Next, add about ¼ to ½ cup of buttermilk into the flour mixture and stir lightly with a fork as you add it.

Heat about 1 inch of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-low to medium heat.

Remove a few of the buttermilk-soaked strips and place them in the flour mixture, turning them over to coat them thoroughly. Place them on a plate. Continue coating chicken strips until they are all ready to cook.
When the oil is sufficiently heated, begin cooking the strips a few at a time. Cook them for about a minute and a half or so on each side. When golden and crispy, remove them to a paper towel-lined plate.

Spinach Cream Cheese Crescents

Ingredients:
1 small frozen package chopped spinach
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese
1 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 package refrigerated crescent rolls



1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Defrost frozen spinach, drain well. Place in bowl.

2. Place cream cheese out of wrapper in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds, and then add to spinach. Set aside.

3. In medium pan, melt butter in medium high heat. Add onions, saute until translucent. Drain on paper towel.


4. Add onion, Italian seasoning, and garlic to spinach cream cheese mixture. Mix all ingredients well. Place in refrigerator.

5. Take out your roll of crescent rolls. Lay each one out flat. Take your spinach mixture out of the refrigerator. Spoon tablespoon sized mixture onto the middle of each crescent roll. Fold each side up until completely covered over mixture. (I rolled out half the can and then applied the mixture because I wanted small finger foods)


6. Bake in oven for about 12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Photos Courtesy of Amanda, food photography extraordinaire:

Breakfast Casserole for two

I love breakfast casserole, but sometimes it will feed the masses and leftover casserole just isn't the same.  Here's a way to feed 1 or 2 people and not have half a pan left to throw away.

3 slices of bread cubed
3 eggs
4-5 tbs milk
1/2 cup cooked ham diced (or breakfast sausage)
2 dash of Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 tsp dry mustard
Salt & Pepper to taste

*Note, I baked the casserole in a six muffin pan.

Combine all the ingredients (minus the bread) and mix well.  Place a few cubes of bread in each muffin cup. Evenly distribute the rest of the ingredients. Muffin cups will be at least 3/4 full. Bake on 350 for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm.

Caesar Pasta Salad

This recipe caught my eye on New Year’s Eve. I had some leftover romaine lettuce to entertain, so why not?! I had most of the ingredients on hand with the exception of anchovies and penne pasta, so I made a dash to the grocery store. After I weaved in and out of people buying buggies full of booze, I was able to take my loot home.

Just before the cooking began, I hopped online to get the exact recipe. You see, the original recipe was from the Today Show video segment with a local New York chef. All I could find was the video with no direct recipe, so I was forced to brave this one on my own.

I put on my penne pasta to boil.

While the pasta was boiling, I started to chop the garlic and shallot. This is my first time cooking with a shallot, so naturally I was a little nervous.

Put the garlic, shallot, and red pepper flakes in a pan and combine with a little chicken stock and anchovy paste.

Once that cooked for a few minutes, turn off the heat. I’m not sure why but the chef said turning off the heat would maintain the integrity of the fats. And who would want to get rid of the fat?!

Throw in your butter and toss.

The next step is to add your romaine lettuce.

Then throw it in a bowl and toss with the Parmesan cheese.

And taste it. Several times.

Although it looked really pretty and smelled great, I knew Ben would not eat these two things combined. He has food combination anxiety. So I separated the lettuce from the pasta and honestly I think it turned out better.

The lettuce had the sauce. The pasta had the sauce.

Served with a steak and voila!

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 can chicken stock
2 cups penne pasta (uncooked)
3 tbs butter
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic
1 shallot
1 tsp anchovy paste (or the real things)
Pepper to taste

Boill your pasta, drain and set aside. Combine garlic, shallot, red pepper flakes, anchovy paste, and chicken stock. Heat on medium to high to let the ingredients marinate. Toss in the penne pasta and turn off the heat.  Add your butter and combine. Then add your romaine lettuce and toss. Transfer to your serving dish, add Parmesan cheese and combine. Serve warm.

Oven Roasted Fries

Ben and I enjoyed a New Year's Eve dinner-in which consisted of chicken tenders and french fries.  The chicken tenders were something to desire and the oven roasted fries were perfect. I'll post the chicken tender recipe later.

2 large Idaho potatoes (I sliced mine pretty thin)
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp Garlic powder
1 tsp Chili powder
2 cloves garlic (minced)

Combine olive oil and other ingredients in a large bag and mix well. Toss in the potatoes until they are evenly coated. Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Make sure to flip the fries half way thru.

Note: I baked the fries on a cookie sheet covered in foil for easy clean-up:)

They make the house smell delicious and the taste is amazing!