Christmas Cookies

This weekend, my boyfriend and I started a new tradition by baking Christmas cookies together.  Although our kitchen was quite the mess afterwords, it was fun and we ended up with some great cookies!  So today I'm sharing a classic recipe for Peanut Butter Blossoms, and a recipe that was new to me, for Candy Cane Cookies.  

Here are the recipes; each yields two dozen cookies.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Ingredients:

1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 stick butter, softened to room temperature
24 Hershey kisses 

Instructions:

In a mixer, cream together the peanut butter, butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it is creamy.  Next, add in the egg and vanilla and mix all of this together.  Now, add the flour, salt, and baking soda.  Mix slowly until all of the dry ingredients are incorporated and the dough is thoroughly blended.  Form the dough into balls, and place onto a baking sheet.  Bake these at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.  While they are baking, unwrap all of the Hershey kisses.  When the cookies come out of the oven, press one of the Hershey kisses into the center of each one of the cookies.  Enjoy!

 

Candy Cane Cookies

Ingredients:

1 egg
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. red food coloring
1 tsp. peppermint extract (optional; you can also use almond extract instead)
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla 
2 sticks butter, softened to room temperature 
 
Instructions:

Cream together the butter and sugar in a mixer.  When it's smooth, add the egg and vanilla.  Traditionally these cookies are made with a peppermint flavor, but you can opt to use almond extract instead if peppermint isn't your favorite flavor.  You can also leave out either flavor and have a really wonderful sugary and buttery cookie instead.  After adding the egg and vanilla, if you are using the peppermint or almond extract, add it in now, and mix everything together.  Once it's mixed well, add the flour and salt and mix slowly until everything is incorporated.  Once the dough is done, you are going to take half of it and flatten it into a circle and then wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.  With the other half of the dough still in your mixing bowl, add the red food coloring and mix it in until your dough is a bright red color.  Now, press this dough into a circle as well and wrap in plastic wrap, and then place this in the fridge.  Leave the dough in the fridge for about an hour.  Once it's been an hour, take your dough out of the fridge and get ready for the fun part.  You can either roll the dough out and cut each circle of dough into 24 strips of equal size.  Or, you can pinch the dough into pieces of equal size, which is what I did.  Once you have the strips or the pieces ready, you are going to roll each one and then twist together a red piece with a regular dough piece and form them into candy cane shapes.  Lay all of these onto baking sheets and bake at 350 degrees for about 12-14 minutes, or until the ends of the candy canes start to look golden brown.  These are done!  Enjoy them with a mug of hot cocoa or coffee, or even just a glass of milk.  

Here are the circles of dough prior to being refrigerated.

This is what the cookies looked like before being put into the oven.

The finished product!

Can't wait to enjoy these with a hot cup of cocoa!

 

Enjoy!!!

Chicken Lazone

This recipe for chicken lazone is one that I found on Pinterest, and then I tweaked it to make it more suitable to my taste.  This dish was a huge hit and it was even a success with my boyfriend, who is a very picky eater.  Not bad for trying out a new recipe!

Ingredients:

1 lb. of chicken breast or tenders  (boneless & skinless)
1/4 stick of butter
1/2 tbsp. chili powder
1/2 tbsp. garlic powder
1/4 tbsp. salt
Pinch of pepper
1/2 tsp. ground oregano(optional)

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)  
1/3 cup of heavy cream
1/2 lb. of pasta (I chose to use linguine - you can choose whatever noodle style you like)

 Instructions:

Add half of the butter to a pan and bring to medium heat. Meanwhile, cut the chicken into strips. Then put the chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper into a bowl, and toss the chicken pieces into the spices to cover them. Now, add the chicken to the pan, and cook for about four minutes on each side. When the chicken is cooked, take it out of the pan and set it aside. Then turn the heat down a bit, and add the rest of the butter to the same pan you cooked the chicken in. Once melted, add the heavy cream. Let this simmer while you boil the pasta. The cream sauce should simmer for about seven to ten minutes, and you should stir it occasionally. The cream and butter will mix with the spices that were on the chicken, and make a simple but creamy sauce. When the pasta is done, pour some of the cream sauce over it, add the chicken, and then garnish with a bit of extra oregano and red pepper flakes if you'd like.

Enjoy!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

In the spirit of football season, I decided to make some game day foods since we are watching the Patriots game.  So I made my buttermilk fried chicken wings and tried a new recipe for spinach artichoke dip!  It was amazingly good and so easy.  It's a crock pot recipe, which of course are my favorite since you toss in the ingredients and then let it do its thing until you're ready to eat.

Here's my recipe:

Ingredients:
10 oz. Frozen spinach, thawed
8 oz. Cream cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup grated parmesan
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can/jar artichokes (not marinated)

Instructions:
In the crock pot, add all of the cheeses and cream cheese, then toss in the minced garlic.  Before you add the spinach, make sure that you've broken it up a bit with a fork to make sure its not in large chunks, and then add that to the crock pot.  Lastly, drain the water out of the can or jar of artichokes, and then dice them into small pieces, and add it to the crock pot.  Give this all a stir and then cook on high for two hours.  Half way through, open the lid and stir everything again.

Enjoy!!!

This Fall's Brussel Sprout Harvest

Last Fall I posted pictures of our first ever harvest of brussel sprouts, and that time has come again!  Ever since my Mom and I became obsessed with roasted brussels, we wanted to see if they would grow well in the garden, and they do!  The interesting thing about this vegetable is that you can't pick them until it gets colder.  Typically, you wait until after the first frost of the season but it's been cold enough at night that we thought we would harvest some and see how they taste.  

 Today we picked one stalk of them, with many more stalks left in the garden.  Here's what we got:

To recap our easy recipe for cooking these on the stovetop...

Add 2 tbsp. of olive oil to a saucepan, with 2 cloves of crushed garlic.  When this heats up and the garlic is sizzling, add the brussel sprouts (first you will rinse them and chop each one in half.)  Then, add a good sprinkle of coarse salt, pepper, and the juice of half a lemon.  Let the brussels roast until the edges gets crispy and golden brown.  Enjoy!
 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Blondies

I've been away from the blog for a bit, but I'm back with a new pumpkin-inspired recipe!  It's finally autumn again, and I'm always determined to try new seasonal recipes.  These blondie bars are easy to make, and they are a wonderful treat for a snack or a dessert. 

Here is my recipe:

Ingredients: 

2 cups flour
1/2 tbsp. nutmeg
1/2 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temp.
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened, canned pumpkin
12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions: 

In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar together.  When it is smooth, add in the egg and vanilla extract.  Now, add the pumpkin puree and mix everything together until well-combined.  Add in the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt, and mix on a low speed until everything is mixed.  Now, fold in the chocolate chips.  The batter will be like a stiff cookie batter at this point.  Spread the mixture into a greased pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. 

*yields 24 bars* 

Homemade Lavender Hand Scrub

The Turtle's Kitchen is more than just recipes for great meals - I'm all about making things at home and doing DIY projects.  Today I'm sharing something that my Mom made: homemade lavender hand & foot scrub!  This is so easy to make, with only three ingredients.  It smells great, and can be used to exfoliate the hands and feet.  The olive oil makes your hands and feet feel smooth, and the lavender has a calming scent.  I love learning how to make things like this at home, because it saves money but it's also fun.

Here's the simple way to make your own body scrub...

Ingredients:

1 cup olive oil
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup dried lavender

Instructions:

Place the olive oil and lavender into a sauce pan.  Heat this until the mixture is warm.  Place the salt into a separate dish or bowl.  Pour the oil mixture over the salt, and mix it well until everything is incorporated together.  Now, you can put this mixture into jars and store it just like that.  Enjoy this homemade scrub!

 

 

Here are the ingredients and jars, ready to go.

Here is the lavender and olive oil mixture being warmed up.

This is the mixture being combined with the salt.

Here's the finished product!

Homemade Chicken Lo Mein

The theme of my blog lately has been Asian cuisine.  I've gotten really excited about testing out so many different Asian dishes, and everyone who has tried my concoctions has been impressed!


So in keeping with the theme, today's recipe is homemade chicken lo mein.  This is another crockpot recipe, but you can easily cook this on the stovetop if you don't want to use the crockpot.  This meal is really versatile, because you can make it with chicken, beef, or shrimp, and you can throw in any vegetables you have on hand.

I used carrots, onions, and celery for my lo mein vegetables, but feel free to toss in anything you want.  As for the noodles - I was able to find lo mein noodles at the grocery store, but if you have trouble, you can use a thick spaghetti noodle, chow mein noodles, or even egg noodles.


Ingredients:


Part 1:

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast
2 tsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 tsp. corn starch

Part 2:

1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp. oyster flavored sauce
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. honey
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 tsp. of red pepper flakes 
1 large carrot, peeled and diced 
1/4 white onion, diced
1 large celery stalk, diced  
2 cloves garlic, minced

Part 3:

2 tbsp. corn starch
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp. soy sauce
8 oz. lo mein noodles  

*yields 4 servings*


Instructions:

First, dice the boneless chicken into small pieces.  Into the crockpot, put everything from "step 1" and stir it around so that the chicken is coated in the sauce mixture.  Cook this on high in the crockpot for 1 hour.  Halfway through, stir it around to make sure the chicken is being cooked evenly.

When that hour is up, you are going to toss in everything from "step 2."  Make sure the veggies you are using are diced into small pieces, and mix together all of the wet ingredients for the sauce in a bowl before pouring it in.  Once it's all in, stir it around.  Cook on high for 1 hour.

15 minutes before that is done, boil the noodles on the stovetop and drain as usual.  Now, mix together the corn starch and water, and pour it into the crockpot along with the cooked noodles.  Add in the extra soy sauce.  Stir well, and let this cook for about 10 more minutes.

It is ready to serve.  I served this lo mein with my homemade pork fried rice (see my last blog post for the recipe.)  Enjoy!