Kami's Donut Muffins

Well, folks, Coach Coombs has done it again. Melissa passed this recipe of Kami's on to me since Kami is the most domestic person I know/best baker of all time, I knew they'd be good. I made these little bites of delicious for a work potluck tomorrow and suffice it to say, I may have to make a new batch before work in the morning. I made them in a mini muffin pan and they're just so easy to pop in my mouth! These suckers are like crack.

Oh hello, worst iPhone picture of all time.

Melissa made these for her sister's shower the other day and I can just imagine how perfect they were. They're just the perfect little food for a brunch. I am having to talk myself out of walking back in to the kitchen right now...

Muffins that Taste Like Doughnuts
1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup white sugar
1 whole egg
3/4 cup milk

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Combine oil, egg, sugar and milk. Add dry ingredients. Stir ONLY to just combine. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, melt butter in bowl. Combine sugar with cinnamon. Take muffins out while still hot, dip top of muffin in butter then cinnamon/sugar mixture. Let cool.

Shannon's "To Die For" Brownies

Whoah baby. These bad boys are good. Especially if you're in the mood for chocolate, which I am. I snatched this recipe from Shannon's blog and then I cursed her for making this recipe known to me. I made a pan today to take with dinner to a friend who just had a baby and I'm afraid much of the pan isn't making it over there today. I just wish I had vanilla ice cream to complete this sinful treat.

To Die For Brownies

1 cup butter

1/2 cup cocoa

2 TBS. honey

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cup flour

1/2 TBS baking powder

1/2 t. salt

1 t. vanilla (I add more)

Melt butter in micro and then mix in the cocoa. Add in the rest of the ingredients. Grease a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.

Chocolate Frosting

5 TBS butter

dash of salt

3 TBS milk

1/3 cup cocoa

1 TBS corn syrup

2 1/3 cup powdered sugar

1/2 t. vanilla

Paula Deen's Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

I recently discovered that Paula Deen is on at the exact same time I eat my egg beaters with Vlasic pickles every morning (that's a different post.) I love Paula. I wish she was my grandma. I especially love her because most of her recipes are SO easy. Just how I like them!

I needed to make some treats for Preston's home teachees tonight and I remembered watching Paula make these on an episode from last week. The recipe looked easy enough so I gave it a try. Yum. My recommendation? Twelve minutes is about two minutes too long. At least in my oven. The first batch was a little dry but once I shortened the cooking time they were perfect. Especially with milk!


Ingredients

* 1 (8-ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature
* 1 stick butter, at room temperature
* 1 egg
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 (18-ounce) box moist chocolate cake mix
* Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey." Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Balsamic Asparagus Chicken

Have you ever had the Chicken Madeira at Cheesecake Factory? This recipe is nearly identical. SO. GOOD. We tried it out for Sunday dinner tonight and it did not disappoint. The sauce is so delish. Preston made the mashed potatoes to go with it and I couldn't believe how good they were. His response? "Just because I don't cook doesn't mean I can't cook." Noted.


(Excuse the stinky iPhone picture.)

This recipe is super easy, although it does require juggling a few different things at one time. Let's be honest, if I can do it, anyone can. Also, you could probably make this recipe a whole lot healthier by using fat free cheese but hey, it's Sunday, we only cook like this once a week.

Enjoy!


4 chicken breasts

Marinade:
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar (I used Wishbone Balsamic Vinaigrette because it was WAY cheaper than straight Balsamic Vinegar.)
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsp brown sugar
pepper to taste

Sauce:
2 TBLS vegetable oil
2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1 can (about 2 cups) beef broth
1 TBLS butter

Topping:
12 asparagus spears
4 slices provolone cheese
4 slices of mozzarella cheese

Place chicken between 2 pieces of Saran wrap and pound until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Place chicken in a Ziploc bag. Combine marinade ingredients and pour in the bag. Squeeze all the air out of the bag and refrigerate for about 2 hours. About 20 min before chicken is done marinating, heat oil in large skillet. Add mushrooms and saute for a couple minutes. Add remaining sauce ingredients, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer for about 30 min or until sauce thickens and reduces to about 1/4 of its original volume (when it is done, the sauce should be dark brown in color).

While the sauce is simmering, place chicken in a lightly greased glass dish and bake 400 degrees for 15-20 min (or until cooked through). While chicken is baking, prepare the asparagus. Bring a saucepan, filled 1/2 way with salted water, to a boil. Toss in asparagus and boil for about 4 min. Quickly remove asparagus and drop in an ice-water bath. Remove chicken from the oven (when it's finished) and layer on one slice of provolone cheese, a few asparagus spears, then one slice of mozzarella (I grated mine instead) on each piece of chicken. Set the oven to broil and broil about 3 min or until cheese is melted and starts to brown a little. Right before serving, spoon some of the sauce over each piece of chicken.

Coconut Chex MIx

At first I didn't think I would like this mix because of the coconut...but it is so good!! I could eat the whole mix by myself!

In a large bowl mix:

1 bag coconut

1bag slivered almonds

12 cups Chex cereal

· I usually do 6 cups rice Chex and 6 cups corn Chex but you can also use wheat Chex or honey nut Chex

In a sauce pan place:

1 -1/3 cup sugar

1 -1/3 cup light Karo

1 cup butter

1 tsp. vanilla

Melt and boil for 2 min. Pour boiled mixture over dry ingredients and stir altogether. Pour and spread mixture out on wax paper and let sit to cool about 30 minutes. Tightly cover to keep moist.

I added mini M&M's to the mix! Love the chocolate, but you might want to wait and add the M&M's till the mixture has cooled off a bit!

Garlic Chicken Pasta

We had the missionaries over for dinner the other night and I decided to try this recipe out on them. It's always a little dicey trying a new recipe on people other than immediately family but it was a WIN-NER. It made quite a bit too. We were a little worried that it wouldn't be enough but we fed 6 adults just fine. Preston thought it was a little too spicy (I might have gone a little heavy on the black pepper) but I like it spicy!

We had it with corn bread and a salad. Dee-lish!

• 16 oz. Farfalle (bow-tie) Pasta
• 1 c Heavy whipping cream
• 3-4 chicken breasts halves-boneless, skinless
• Spoonful of crushed garlic (approx 3-4 cloves)
• 1 TBS black pepper
• 1/2 c butter
• 1 lb bacon
• 1/2 c shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 bottle of Lawry's mesquite with lime juice marinade

Crock pot chicken with marinade on low for 6 hours-shred and set aside

Cook bacon and crumble

About 1/2 hour before serving, boil the pasta.

In a small saucepan melt butter, add garlic, whipping cream, pepper, parm cheese and crumbled bacon. Whisk together on low for 3-4 minutes.

In a large bowl pour sauce over cooked, drained pasta, add chicken and stir.

Sprinkle parm cheese on top!

Steak and Noodles

My friend, Alisa, posted this recipe on her blog and I knew it wold be something Preston would like. He's all about steak and mushrooms. We made it tonight and it was super delicious and perfect for this chilly Huntington Beach night! We had it over egg noodles but I think it would awesome over rice too.

Steak & Noodles
1 lb. of steak, cut into small strips
1/2 lb. chopped mushrooms
3 T. chopped onion
Dash of salt and pepper
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 oz. sour cream
1 tsp. Lawry's seasoning salt
1 T. parsley

Saute' steak, mushrooms and onion in 1/4 cup of butter. Cook until steak is done and tender. Stir in rest of ingredients. Simmer for 15 minutes. Serve over noodles.

Chocolate Butterscotch Oatmeal Bars

Oh man. These are officially my new favorite dessert. I could eat the whole stinkin pan. Almost did.

I had been meaning to try these for over a year and finally made them for a friend's birthday yesterday. Oh my. These babies changed my life. I know they don't look like much but I promise, they're amazing. They don't even sound like something I would go crazy for but I did. And do. And will forever! YUM!

2 cups of melted butter
2 1/4 c. of brown sugar
3 cups of Quaker oats
3 cups of flour
1 1/2 tsp of salt
1 1/2 tsp of vanilla


Mix all ingredients and spread half of the mixture out on a cookie sheet. (I used a 9x13 pan and they were perfect!) Bake at 350 for 8 min.

Then combine :
1 jar of butterscotch (I only had a jar of caramel on hand so that's what I used.)
2 Tbls of flour


Pour on top of baked oatmeal mixture then add 1 cup of chocolate chips and 1 cup of butterscotch chips and put evenly on top of mixture. Crumble remaining oatmeal mixture on top and bake for 15-20 min.

When they come out of the oven they will completely fall apart so wait and make sure they're completely cooled before you cut into them. I waited an hour and the first piece I cut was still really crumbly so I put them in the fridge for another hour and they reached perfection!

P.S. We dropped them off at our friend's house last night and her sister (also a friend!) was there and texted me within ten minutes to say they were delish and she needed the recipe stat. And in our neighborhood (which is comprised of 50 percent of our ward,) there are some seriously delish treats being made so you know these are good if they made the cut ;)