Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies

I've been making things from scratch lately, but had this one cake mix lying around. Instead of cupcakes, I decided to use it unconventionally. And oh man. I'm going to watch for the next sale on cake mix so that I can stock up. And try it with coconut next time.

A tip: Use your stand-mixer unless you have a powerful hand-mixer. My hand-mixer is old and had some trouble with this dough. And it's much too stiff to do by hand. Believe me, I tried.

Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies
From Everyday Food Storage

1 pkg Devils Food Cake Mix
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped nuts (or other add-in)
1 cup chocolate chips (or other add-in)

Pre-heat oven to 350. Beat half of the dry mix, the butter, vanilla and eggs on medium speed until smooth. Stir in remaining cake mix, the nuts and chocolate chips (or other add-ins.) Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes.

Other suggestions for add-ins are chocolate chunks, peanut butter chips, mint chips, crushed peppermint candies, white chocolate chips, toffee bits, coconut, chopped maraschino cherries, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Cauliflower Soup

John is a HUGE soup fan. I love cauliflower. I knew we would both love this one. The boys were the surprise. They gobbled this up. And the whole house smelled delicious.

I made minor changes to the recipe. I doubled the carrots and celery, because yummmm. I swapped heavy cream for the half-and-half. Mostly because that's what I had, but I think it made it creamier. And I let people add the sour cream themselves because I didn't want it. It didn't need it, but the others like it.

Cauliflower Soup
From The Pioneer Woman

1 stick butter
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
1 to 2 heads cauliflower, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh or dried parsley
2 quarts low-sodium chicken broth or stock
2 cups whole milk
6 tablespoons flour
1 cup half & half
2 to 4 teaspoons salt, to taste
1 generous cup sour cream, at room temperature

In a large soup pot or dutch oven, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes, or until it starts to turn brown. Add the carrots and celery and cook an addition couple of minutes. Add cauliflower and parsley and stir to combine. Cover and cook over very low heat for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, pour in chicken stock or broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and allow to simmer.

In a medium saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Mix the flour with the milk and whisk to combine. Add flour-milk mixture slowly to the butter, whisking constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup half & half.

Add mixture to the simmering soup. Allow to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Check seasoning and add more salt or pepper if necessary.

Just before serving, place the sour cream in a serving bowl or soup tureen. Add two to three ladles of hot soup into the tureen and stir to combine with the sour cream. Pour in remaining soup and stir.

Serve immediately.

Caramel Oatmeal Chewies

This really bad picture is of the last two bars. I had to force myself to resist for a minute so that I would be able to show them to you. (They're gone now.) These are addicting. Beware!

My big tip: Don't touch them until they're completely cool! And if you can manage, not until the next day. The firmer they are, the chewier they get. (You can speed this up by sticking them in the fridge once they've cooled.)

Caramel Oatmeal Chewies
From Nestle

1 3/4 cups oats (quick or old-fashioned)
1 3/4 cups flour, divided
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (I left this out)
3/4 cup butter, melted
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup caramel ice cream topping (I really like the Smuckers Special Recipe Butterscotch Caramel)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease bottom of 13x9 pan or pyrex.

Combine oats, 1 1/2 cups flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in butter and mix well. Reserve 1 cup of the oat mixture for the topping. Press the remaining oat mixture into the bottom of the pan.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and nuts. Mix the caramel topping with 1/4 cup flour in a small bowl. (This is easier if you warn up the caramel.) Drizzle over morsels to withing 1/4 inch of the pan edge. (If you get too close, the caramel sticks to the pan and has to be chipped off.) Sprinkle with the reserved oat mixture.

Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack.

Baked Ziti

This has become a staple at our house. We just noticed today that we always have ziti leftovers when Grandpa comes down from Dallas. So we have it at least once a month. This is a great one to throw together any time during the day, and then stick it in the oven just before dinner time.

Baked Ziti
From Martha Stewart

• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 8 ounces ziti rigate (ridged) or other short pasta
• 1 cup part-skim ricotta
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
• 1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella
• 1 jar (24 to 26 ounces) best-quality tomato sauce (about 3 1/2 cups)

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente, according to package instructions; drain and reserve.
2. In a small bowl, combine ricotta, egg, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and half the mozzarella; season with salt and pepper.
3. In the bottom of a shallow 2-quart casserole dish, spread half the tomato sauce. Top with ziti, then ricotta mixture and remaining sauce. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan and remaining mozzarella. Place casserole on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake until top is browned and sauce is bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes.

Ham and Broccoli Quiche

Excuse the poor photo. It's a combination of my horrendous photography skills and a very old camera. Mostly me, though. The best part of the picture is my pie plate. You know you're jealous of how cool it is.

I had so much extra ham from Christmas dinner that we're still finding ways to use it up. This was easier than I expected and is one of my favorite egg dishes. It's so good in fact, that we had to stop ourselves before we polished off the whole thing in one sitting. We being the family, not just me.

Ham and Broccoli Quiche

4 eggs
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1/2 c. light cream
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 c. diced cooked ham
1/2 c. cooked broccoli
1 9" unbaked piecrust

In a medium bowl, beat eggs until fluffy. Add soup and cream; mix well. Sprinkle cheese, meat, and broccoli over unbaked piecrust. Follow with soup mixture.

Bake for 50 minutes at 350°F.

Beef Enchiladas

I've been borrowing pictures from the sites where I found the recipes because my camera battery is dead and the charger has disappeared into the black hole that is our house. This time, the author of the recipe has her pictures in a private flickr folder. Meaning I can't share. They look like enchiladas. I promise.

These enchiladas are so good and meaty. I doubled the recipe and had enough to fill SIX 9x9 pans with six enchiladas each. About 2 hours work for 6 dinners.

Thanks to Alissa for putting this recipe on her site for me to find. Just like her, I steamed my tortillas in the microwave instead of frying. Because I'm lazy. And I had little kids pulling on my legs and climbing on stools to stick their fingers in things. I'm pretty laid back about my kids, but I try not to burn them if I can help it.

Beef Enchiladas
From The Pioneer Woman

THE SAUCE
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 large (28-ounce) can enchilada or red sauce
2 cups chicken broth
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped Cilantro
In a large saucepan over medium heat, add oil and flour and whisk together to make a past, cooking for 1 minute. Pour in other red sauce, chicken broth, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 to 45 minutes.

THE MEAT
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 4-ounce cans diced green chilies
1/2 teaspoon salt

Brown meat with onions in a skillet. Drain off fat. Stir in 2 cans diced green chilies and seasoned salt. Set aside.

TORTILLAS
10 to 14 corn tortillas
½ cup canola oil

Heat canola oil in a small skillet over medium heat. One by one, using tongs, fry tortillas oil until soft, not crisp—about 30 seconds per side. Remove to a paper-towel lined plate. Repeat until all tortillas have been fried.

ASSEMBLY
Sauce (above)
Meat (above)
Tortillas (above)
3 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
½ cup chopped black olives
1 cup chopped green onions
½ cup chopped cilantro

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour ½ cup red sauce in bottom of baking pan. Spread to even out. Dip each tortilla into red sauce, then remove to work surface. Spoon meat, a little grated cheese, a little black olives, and green onions in the center of tortilla. Roll up and place, seam down, in baking pan. Repeat until pan is filled. Pour extra red sauce over enchiladas. Top with remaining cheddar cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes or until bubble. Sprinkle chopped cilantro over enchiladas before serving.

Dutch Apple Pie (using Dehydrated Apples)

This was hands-down the best apple pie I've ever had. It's all about the crumbly topping. When you reheat a slice the next day, the topping melts a little and is AMAZING with ice cream. Love things that are just as good or better the next day. Plus, I didn't have to cut or peel any apples. Yay for less work! Extra bonus, every single ingredient is in my food storage. It's so good to know I could make tasty food, even if I hadn't been to the grocery store in months.

Dutch Apple Pie
From Everyday Food Storage

One pre-made pie crust (I used a roll out one b/c I haven't tackled pie crust yet)

Preheat oven to 350.

Filling:
2 cups dried apples, firmly packed
2 cups boiling water
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
1/2 tbs cinnamon
1 tbsp butter

Add apples to boiling water let set for at least 5 minutes, with the heat still on. Mix together sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Add to apples and continue cooking until thick. STIR CONSTANTLY to prevent scorching. Pour mixture into pie shell and dot with butter.

Topping:
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I used white, but I'm going to try whole wheat next time)
1/4 cup butter

Cut ingredients together until crumbly. (I always find this is easier with your hands than with two knives.) Sprinkle over the apple mixture and bake at 350 for 55 minutes. (Don't forget to cover your crust edges with tin foil once they start to brown. Or cut the edges off before baking like lazy me.)