Cherry Coke Crockpot Chicken

This was a fabulous, quick meal that I was able to throw in the crockpot and forget about until supper time. I love that! Since we are on the move a lot, I LOVE my crockpot for ready to eat meals as we walk in the door...

Cherry Coke Crockpot Chicken
(recipe found on pinterest via livinglifeofriley.com)

4 chicken breasts
1 container barbecue sauce
1/2 can cherry coke
1/2 cup brown sugar

Place all ingredients in crockpot and cook on low for 5 hours. Pull out chicken and shred. Place back in crockpot with sauce to cover and serve on your favorite type of bun!

Grilled Shrimp Scampi

Around here we are a hearty bunch! That means that we grill all year round, even if we have to shovel our way across the deck to get to the grill and scrape off the top of it... There's just something about grilled meat that is so fabulous! So, that's the way we cooked this scampi and it was wonderful - a perfect, light meal! Easy and yummy...

Grilled Shrimp Scampi
(recipe found in Taste of Home)

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 pounds uncooked jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined

In a large bowl, whisk the first five ingredients. Add shrimp; toss to coat. Refrigerate, covered, 30 minutes. Thread shrimp onto skewers. Grill, covered, over medium heat or broil 4" from heat 6-8 minutes or until shrimp turn pink, turning once. Serve with rice.

Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls

So, I have never really made cinnamon or caramel rolls from scratch before. Give me dough and my cooking prowess just goes down the drain... I don't know what it is, they turn out yummy but they look super funky! So, I just roll with it and continue to plod along! I think that I have said a few times that the way it is displayed isn't as important to me as how it tastes. These definitely taste fabulous!! Yummy, gooey and full of blueberry goodness... They were a hit at my house, and we even had company here when we had them! :)

Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls
(recipe found on pinterest via www.beantownbaker.com)

dough
2 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
4 cups + 1/2 cup flour
1/2 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1/2 scant teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tablespoon salt

filling
1 pint blueberries
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2-3 teaspoons lemon juice
3/4 cup water

Blueberries for Sprinkling
1 pint blueberries
2 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons flour

Cream Cheese Frosting

For the blueberry filling, combine 1 pint of the blueberries, sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Stir in lemon juice and water. Turn heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until mixture begins to thicken slightly. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

For the dough, mix milk, oil and sugar in a pan. Scald to 150 degrees. Let cool until lukewarm, about 45 minutes. Sprinkle in yeast and let sit. Then add 4 cups flour and stir mixture together. Cover and let sit for one hour.

Add 1/2 C flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir mixture together.

Divide the dough in half. Sprinkle surface generously with flour and form into a rectangle, roll the dough thin, maintaining a rectangular shape. Spread half of the blueberry filling onto the dough. Sprinkle half of the additional blueberries that were for sprinkling on top. Roll the dough toward you. Pinch the seam to seal it. Grease foil cake or pie pans. Cut rolls 3/4 to 1 inch thick and lay in greased pans. Repeat with other half of dough and blueberry filling.

Cover the rolls and let sit for 30 minutes.

Bake at 375 for 15 to 18 minutes.

Generously drizzle frosting over warm rolls after they come out of the oven.

Samoa Popcorn

These took a little bit of work, but are totally worth it! I am a big fan of the samoa cookies that they sell at Girl Scouts time, but didn't realize that there is a knock off kind made by Keebler. Pretty close to the same and pretty tasty! :) They are worth the effort of adding to this recipe! Enjoy!

Somoa Popcorn
(recipe found on pinterest via cookiesandcups.com)

2 bags of light popcorn, popped (or equivalent of 2 bags)
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
12 tablespoons butter, cubed
4 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups sweetened coconut
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1 package samoa Cookies

Pop popcorn and set aside in a large bowl. Put coconut in cold skillet and heat to medium low. It will take 10-15 minutes or so for it to toast up, watch it carefully because once it scorches easily. Once it is a light golden color remove from heat and set aside. Chop cookies into small bit-sized pieces and set aside. On counter or a nearby table line a few sheets of wax paper so you can spread you popcorn onto it when mixing the caramel. You don't have to do this, but it makes it easier. To make the caramel combine the butter, brown sugar, water and corn syrup in a medium saucepan. Whisk ingredients together and bring to a boil. Preheat oven to 200. Boil without stirring for approx 5 minutes until candy thermometer reads 250. If you don't have a candy thermometer, 5 minutes is just about the right amount of time. Remove from heat and immediately whisk in baking soda and vanilla. Pour your caramel over your popcorn and stir until it's all coated. Now pour popcorn onto waxed paper and sprinkle coconut on top of popcorn evenly. (I skipped this step and just spread it out when I put it into the baking pan.) In a large roasting pan or baking sheet bake popcorn in oven for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Now spread you popcorn back onto the wax paper and sprinkle chopped cookies evenly on top. Melt semi-sweet chocolate in microwave until melted, stirring every 30 seconds. Drizzle melted chocolate on top of cookies and popcorn. Let the chocolate set and break apart.

Sugar Cookies

These were some of the most fantastic sugar cookies that I have ever tasted! I was super excited about these because I am always trying to find a good sugar cookie recipe that I can make... Cut-outs never seem to work for me, so I make do with just shaping them into a ball shape! :) These reminded me a little of the yummy Lofthouse cookies that I slobber over every time I see them in the store. Soft and yummy! There is a glaze or frosting that goes on top, but honestly they would have been just as good without!

In the interest of respecting the wishes of the blogger that I found this recipe from, I am not sharing her recipe on my blog, but linking to her blog. I hope you take the time to check it out... They seriously are one of the best sugar cookies that I have tasted! Sorry no picture this time, I must have been too busy gobbling all the cookies down to take time to take a picture! :)

Find the recipe here!

Rainbow Cake In a Jar

I made this fun cakes in a jar for my kids' teachers this year to start the year off. I couldn't post earlier because my daughter just got started and I didn't want to ruin the surprise for her teacher! :) Everyone thought that they were super fun and my kids loved that they got to help make them and eat the extras that we had... This recipe makes 4 jars and I had to make it twice since the boys' meet the teacher night was a couple weeks earlier then my daughters. That meant 2 extra jars each time and the kids were definitely excited about that! I attached a label on the side that read "I'm so LUCKY to have you as my teacher this year!"

Rainbow Cake in a Jar
(recipe found at www.tablespoon.com)

1 white cake mix
1 whipped white frosting
3 egg whites, for cake mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil, for cake mix
1 1/4 cup water, for cake mix
neon food colors
regular food colors
4 (1 quart) wide mouth canning jars
nonstick cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350. Wash canning jars and dry thoroughly. Spray glass jar with cooking spray. Make cake batter according to directions on box. Divide batter evenly between 5 small bowls, approximately 1 cup of batter in each bowl. Add 15 drops of neon pink food coloring to the first bowl. Add 14 drops of regular yellow food coloring to the second bowl. Add 24 drops of regular green food coloring to the third bowl. Add 7 drops of neon blue food coloring to the fourth bowl. Add 8 drops of regular red, 7 drops of regular blue and 3 drops of neon purple food coloring to the fifth bowl. Stir each bowl to blend well. Spoon about 1/4 cup of each color batter into each of the jars. Use a paper towel to wipe any spills or drips from the jars. Place the jars in a glass baking dish and add 1/4" of water to the bottom of the dish. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until cake tops spring back from being touched. Allow cakes to cool completely before frosting. Spread frosting over top of cake and decorate as desired.

No Bake Peanut Butter Bars

As usual, no picture with these treats, since I took them to a night out that we were heading to. Good thing that I brought them out with us though because if they would have been left at my house, I would have eaten everything last one of them... They were so simple to throw together and soooo delicious! But come on, was there any doubt? I mean really, chocolate and peanut butter? No brainer recipe here!

No Bake Peanut Butter Bars
(recipe found on pinterest via www.sixsistersstuff.com)

1 cup butter, melted
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups powdered sugar)
1 cup + 4 tablespoons peanut butter
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

Mix together butter, graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and 1 cup peanut butter in a large bowl until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of a 9×13 pan. In the microwave, melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter, stirring every 30 seconds until melted until smooth. Spread over the peanut butter layer. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares. See what I mean? Another super easy, delicious recipe!