Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

When I saw this recipe on pinterest, I knew I had to try it.  It was so easy!  Very tasty, no fail, gotta make again breakfast.  This was a winner at the Middleton house by all 4 of us!

Ingredients:
1-2 Cans of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls (depending on how many people there are to eat)
Waffle iron
PAM cooking spray

Directions:
*Plug in your waffle iron and get it warmed up.

*Open up your cinnamon rolls and place them on a plate so you are ready to use them.

*Spray your waffle iron (top and bottom) really, really well with baking spray/oil

*Place one cinnamon roll into the center of the waffle iron and close the lid.

*Let the cinnamon roll cook until the light goes off.  Mine finished a few seconds before the light went off, but each waffle iron is a bit different.  Just keep your eyes on it.  I closed the lid all the way too, squashing them in the waffle maker.

*Open the lid, remove the cinnamon roll waffle, and drizzle with icing or syrup.

Chicken Parmesan With Croutons

I LOVE delicous food.  What I love more than delicious food, is easy to make delicious food.  With two crazy boys who never stop I don't have time to make luxurious meals every single night.  This recipe was both easy, and delicious.  It seriously took less than ten minutes to throw together, and then about 40 minutes to cook.  This is a dish everyone should try!  I truly hit the jackpot with this one!  Oh, there is a video on how to make it at the website I found it on if you are interested: http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2008/02/end-of-chicken-parmesan-as-you-know-it.html

Ingredients:
1-2 Tbsp Olive oil (I used 3 HUGE chicken breasts.  You can use up to about 5 for this dish though)
2 Cloves fresh garlic, minched/chopped/made super small
Dash red pepper flakes
3-5 Chicken breasts
2-3 Cups marinara sauce (aka spaghetti sauce)
1/4 Cup chopped basil.  Fresh is best, but you can just sprinkle dried if you don't have fresh.
2 Cups shredded mozzerella (or any cheese really)
1/2-1 Cup Parmesan cheese
1 (5 oz) Package croutons (I used Garlic and Cheese flavored ones)

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350*F

*Spray down a baking dish with PAM or any kind of non stick spray.

*Put our oil and garlic into your pan and mix.

*Sprinkle red pepper flakes on top of the garlic.

*Place chicken breasts on top.

*Pour marinara sauce on top of the chicken and spread evenly overtop to cover.

*Sprinkle all of the basil on top of the marinara sauce.

*Put half of each of the cheeses on top of the basil.

*Place all of the croutons on top of the cheese.

*Cover the croutons with the rest of the cheeses.

*Bake for 40 mins or so until the chicken is fully cooked.  Let stand 10 mins to finish cooking fully before serving.

Maple Pecans

Every year my parents get thousands of pecans off the pecan trees that line their driveway.  The driveway itself is 1/4 of a mile long, so you can imagine just how many trees there are.  Nick and my Dad spend days collecting the pecans once they are ready.  Dad will drive them across town to a man who cracks them open and will force them through an air shoot to get all the hard shell pieces off of them.  When we get home we then inspect them to make sure they are all okay, and that all of the shells are off.  Sometimes pieces get stuck in the cracks.  The whole process takes a couple of weeks to do, but its fun to know that the desserts we make started in my parents very own front yard.  Then comes the task of trying to figure out what to use all the pecans for :)  I found a recipe online that seemed really fast and easy so I gave it a try.  It was AWESOME!!!  Last weekend we were at Cabela's and they sell candied almonds/cashews/pecans.  For $4.50 per tiny bag.  I didn't buy it because the price is ridiculous.  These tasted exactly the same and cost less than a dollar to make :)  I'm happy, and yes, I will make this many more times!!!

Ingredients:
2 Cups pecans
1/2 Cup Pure maple syrup (just shy of 1/2 cup really...)
Pinch of kosher salt

Directions:
*Preheat your oven to 350*F

*Pour your pecans into a small/medium bowl.

*Pour the syrup on top of the pecans.  I used a full 1/2 cup and it was a little too much.  I would say use a little less.  I had to keep baking mine over and over to get the syrup to harden.  You wouldn't have to do that if you didn't use too much syrup.  The next time I make it I will pour in just enough to lightly cover the pecans.  I had some syrup pooled at the bottom of my bowl and that meant I probably had too much.

*Add a pinch of salt.

*Mix well

*Pour onto parchment paper.  It MUST be parchment paper.  It will stick and not work if you spray down tinfoil.  Parchment paper is that amazing non stick stuff that I keep telling ya'll you need to get :)

*Spread it out some so that the pecans are not clumped together.

*Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.  (Side note: I used too much syrup the first time, so I had to keep baking mine.  When you take it out of your oven it will be bubbling all over the place.  Place it out of the oven to dry.  It doesn't take long to dry, say 10 minutes or so.  Once its dry you will be able to break the pieces off.  If it is still sticky, throw it back in the oven.  I probably had to do my first batch for a total of about 30 minutes because I couldn't get the syrup to fully cook and harden.  It got easier when I put a second piece of parchment paper onto the counter and took the pecans out of the oven and transferred them to the other piece of parchment.  They all hardened really quick then.  This recipe is super easy.  If it doesn't fully harden, cook a few more minutes, and keep doing so.  Really easy, nearly impossible to mess up.  Give it a try!)

Mini Pot Pies

Here is a really easy and super yummy recipe from Bettycrocker.com that I found.  It had many different versions of this recipe, but I did the basic chicken pot pie.  SO good!

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb Chicken breasts
1/2 Cup chopped up onion
1/2 Cup chicken broth
1 Cup frozen vegetable mix
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese

Topping Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Bisquik mix
1/2 Cup milk
2 Eggs

Directions:
*Pre-heat oven to 375*F.

*Spray a pan of 12 muffins down with baking spray.

*In a skillet, heat your oil.

*Add chicken and cook.  (Note: I cooked mine on the grill outside first.  So cook your chicken however you want too).

*Once the chicken is cooked, chop it up into small bite sized pieces.

*Add the onion and chicken broth to the chicken.  Heat to simmering.

*Add frozen vegetables and spices.  Mix well.

*Cook until all liquid is almost gone.  Remove from heat, set aside for 5 minutes.

*In a medium bowl, stir baking ingredients together.

*Pour 1 tablespoon into each of the bottoms of the muffin trays (not much at all).

*Stir the cheese into the chicken mixture.

*Pour about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture on top of the baking mixture in the muffin pans.

*Pour 1 more tablespoon of the baking mixture onto the tops of the chicken mixture.

*Bake 25-30 minutes in the oven (until toothpick in center comes out clean).

*Cool for 5 minutes before using a knife to go around the edges of the muffin tin and loosening up the sides.

Cool a few minutes longer before serving.

Boozed Up Watermelon

So good, worth a try!

Ingredients:
1 Slice of watermelon
1/3 Capful of tequila
Kosher salt

Directions:
*Cut your watermelon into slices.

*Take a fork and poke some holes into the watermelon (be careful not to go all the way through it though).

*I used Jose Cuervo Especial tequila, but you can use any tequila you have.

*Pour some tequila into the bottlles lid/cap.

*Slowly pour about 1/3 of the cap onto the watermelon.  It does NOT take much tequila at all.

*Take your coarse kosher salt and sprinkle it on top.

*Eat it up.  Its amazing.  I don't like tequila and I loved this one!

Baked Cabbage

Dear pinterest, you are killing the cookbook world.  We have a love hate relationship.  I loved you today for this recipe.
Thanks, Krista

Ingredients:

1 Cabbage

4 Slices bacon, cooked (do NOT use bacon bits)

2 tsp Olive oil

4 Tbsp Lemon juice

2 Tbsp Worcesterhire sauce

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

1/2 tsp Ground black pepper

Directions:
*Pre-heat oven to 425*F.

*Cook your bacon.  Then crumble it up.

*Mix your bacon bits, olive oil, lemon juice, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.

*Rinse your cabbage under water.  Remove the yucky leaves from it.

*Cut your cabbage in half.

*I cute each half into 3 triangles.  (So I had 6 total sections of cabbage).

*Cut 6 pieces of tin foil (enough to completely wrap around a section of cabbage).

*Spray the bottom of the tin foil with a bit of baking spray.

*Start to put the marinade you made onto the cabbage.  It is SUPER important to make sure the juices get into the nooks and crannies.

*Once the marinade is on/in it and the bacon is on top, wrap each piece up.

*Place each of the wrapped up cabbages directly in the oven (not on a baking sheet).

*Bake for at least 30 mins.  You want them soft.  If you do 30-35 your should be fine.  Other websites say 20-30 but the insides would not have cooked in mine, and I did 6 pieces versus their 4.

*Keep them wrapped until ready to eat.  Supposedly they heat up in the microwave well the next day too.

Mini Pizza's

Nick told the boys about a recipe he made at a birthday party when he was 7 or 8 years old.  Cooper decided we needed to make them, so here they are.  EASY!

Ingredients:
1 English muffin per person (makes 2 mini pizzas)
1/4 Cup pizza sauce per English muffin
1/4 Cup mozzarella shredded cheese per muffin
Pepperoni, olives, peppers, other pizza toppings...

Directions:
*Cut your English muffins in half.

*Line a baking sheet with tinfoil.

*Pour the pizza sauce over the muffins.

*Place cheese on top of the pizza sauce.

*Put your toppings on top of the cheese.

*On some of the pizza's (one's with lots of toppings) I put an extra set of cheese to make sure they all held.

*Bake at 425*F for 12-14 mins or so (until cheese is melted).

Salsa

I would love to say I didn't get this on pinterest...but  I can't...because I did...and I love it.  I REALLY like this salsa because it tastes like the salsa you would get in a little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant.  My jalapeno should have been stronger, but I will absolutely not change anything next time...okay, who am I kidding?  I might play around with it...  The great news is I will absolutely make this again.  It honestly took me 5 minutes.  Nothing is cooked.  Everything is just thrown in and chopped up.  AMAZING!

Ingredients:
1 (14oz) Can diced tomatoes (with the juice...do not drain)
1 (10 oz) Can Rotel (original or hot)
1/2 Small yellow onion (I did on the small side of a half...)
1 Big garlic clove (must be fresh, not powder)
1 Jalapeno (I will do 2 next time)
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cumin
Small handful cilantro (fresh!!!)
1 lime's juice

Directions:
*Get a food processor or blender out.  Food processor is better, but a blender will work okay too.

*Pour your tomatoes into the processor and mix.  Pour the sauce into a bigger bowl.

*Blend up your rotel next, then place into the bigger bowl with the blended up tomatoes.

*Cut your onion into smaller pieces.  Put it into the food processor and blend.  Pour into big bowl.

*Put your jalapeno, cilanto, and garlic into the food processor and mix it up.  Put into bowl.

*Pour the honey, salt, cumin, and lime juice into the big bowl.  Mix it all up.

*Eat.  SO SO SO Good!

NOTE:  Next time I will either add a second jalapeno (taste test it first.  The one I used today had NO spice to it at all.  SO mild.  I needed a bit more spice.).  If I don't add another jalapeno I will add 1/2 a can of green chili's to it to spice it up.  YUM!

BBQ Cheddar Bacon Chicken

Um, could this recipe's title be any longer?  WOW.  I wish I could shorten it, but I don't know what I would call it.  So we are stuck with the ridiculous long name.  Its good though, so I'm sure you will all forgive me.  AND...it's easy!

Ingredients:
3-4 Chicken breasts (I used small one's, but big one's would be so much better!)
3/4 Cup BBQ sauce
6-8 strips of bacon (2 per chicken breast)
3-4 Slices of Cheddar cheese

Directions:
*Cook your chicken breasts.  You can cook them in a pan on the stove with a bit of oil covered for 20 or so mins (flipping a couple of times), or on the barbeque.  We did ours on the bbq.  Okay, Nick did.

*Line a microwave safe place with a few sheets of paper towels (like 6-8 of them).

*Line your bacon slices up beside each other on the paper towel.

*Cover the bacon with one sheet of paper towel.

*Cook them in the microwave for 9-11 minutes.  I'm  serious, this way makes them SO crunchy for this meal.  You could cook them another way, but I promise it won't be as good.)

*After the bacon is cooked it is 100% crunchy, see:

*Once your chicken breasts are cooked (or baked, or grilled, or pan fried...) rub bbq sauce all over them.  Just drench the chicken!

*Once your chicken is covered in the bbq sauce, put 2 slices of bacon on top of each chicken breast.

*Cover the bacon with a slice of cheddar.

*Pre-heat your oven to broil and cook the cheese/chicken until the cheese melts, or place it back on the bbq for a minute until the cheese melts.

SO EASY!