Frito Chili Pie

Yummy note: Note the chill in the air, and the sweatshirts and jeans are officially out of the closet. Yes, it is chili weather! I used to make a blah, bland chili, aka, meat with tomatoes and beans as my husband would call it. I just couldn't get the seasonings right, until I found the Pioneer Woman's Frito Chili Pie recipe. This recipe rocks, I've made it numerous times since I've first found it. My number one way to eat it is with the Fritos and cheese, but adding corn to this recipe is fantastic, as well as eating this chili on top of noodles or rice. However, you'd like to serve this chili, it is a pretty popular crowd pleaser.

Frito Chili Pie

Recipe from the Pioneer Woman - http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/09/frito-chili-pie/

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef and/or turkey

1 1/2 tsp prepared minced garlic

1 can tomato sauce

1 can roasted (diced) tomatoes with green chilies

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground oregano

1 tbsp ground cumin

2 tbsp chili powder

1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed (If using chili beans with seasonings, I leave the sauce then.)

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

* optional - 1/4 cup masa (corn flour) or regular corn meal

* optional - 1/2 cup warm water

A bag of Frito corn chips

Grated sharp cheddar cheese

* optional - diced onion

Directions:

On the stove, brown the meat in a pan. Then dump the browned meat into your crockpot and add in the prepared garlic, tomato sauce, tomatoes, salt, oregano, cumin, and chili powder.

Cover and turn on crockpot on high for about an hour. Add the drained and rinsed beans, stir and simmer in crockpot for another hour. This next step is optional, if you want, add in the masa and water mix to thicken up your chili and to add another layer of flavor to the chili. Lastly, mix the masa with water, then add to the chili. Stir to combine and simmer for final 30 minutes or so until it has thickened up a bit. Now, it is time to enjoy the chili and serve on top of Fritos chips and garnish with cheese and onion if you wish. Another add-in we’ve been enjoying with this recipe, is if we don’t add in the masa mix, we will often toss in a can of corn into the chili to add more depth to the dish. Enjoy!  

Funnel Cakes

Yummy note: As summer comes to a close, I realized we haven't been to any of those carnivals or community fairs this summer. I mean, I'm not really into it at all, except for well, going and getting the food there. I love the corn dogs, caramel apples, cheese curds, kettle corn, cotton candy, and you know, the deep fried anything. Oh wait, back to the matter at hand... the Secret Recipe Club time!  This month, like many other months, I didn't know where to start. When I began my search for this month's Secret Recipe Club, I really was all over the place with my assigned blogger, No Reason Needed. Carol's site has a mix of family blogging, along with her variety of recipe posts. There were so many great choices that once I began my search, I was torn. My husband wanted the taco dish, I was eyeing the meatloaf as I am always looking for easy and tasty meatloaf recipes.  But I decided to go with what I thought the kids would like too, well, secretly what I was hungry for.. shh..don't tell.. I'd like some of that--> the powdered sugary deep fried goodness.  A recipe that totally reminded me of all of those great feelings of nostalgia of country fairs and festivals would be it. I saw this recipe for funnel cakes, I thought this would be an awesome treat, something I normally wouldn't go crazy and make. I tried churros one time and failed miserably, so I was a little nervous at first. This time around though, in my trusty Le Creuset, I fired up my little pot of oil, and knocked this one out of the park.

Funnel Cakes 

Ingredients: 

1 egg

2/3 cup milk (I used soy milk here.)

2 tbsp white sugar

1 1/4 cups flour 

1 tsp salt 

1 tsp baking powder 

about 2 cups of oil for frying

optional: water, if needed to thin out the batter

Directions: 

In a deep skillet or pan, heat about 2 cups of oil over medium heat until hot while you begin to make the funnel cake batter. Make sure you test the oil later before pouring the batter in. Measure out dry ingredients (sugar, salt, flour, and baking powder) in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, mix the egg and milk together. Once the egg and milk is beaten together, gradually add in your dry ingredients. The batter will become fairly thick. So if needed, add in some additional water to help make the funnel cake batter smooth. Test the heated oil and see if it is ready and make sure it is not too hot. It is is smoking when you do a test drop, turn down the heat a bit and wait.  

Next, pour the batter in a funnel or a large gallon sized baggie. If using the baggie approach, snip off a small corner of it, and begin to squeeze the batter in the hot oil. Squeeze in a web-like pattern, circular pattern until you have reached a desired shape or amount of batter. Fry for about 2-3 minutes, with a flip over halfway. It really doesn't take very long at all, so once they begin to turn puffier and a golden brown, remove the crispy fried goodness from the pan. 

Sprinkle with powdered sugar for the classic funnel cake preparation. Get creative, and check out the other options below to top your funnel cake!   

Note, for the caramel apple version above, I used another No Reason Needed recipe I liked. Carol's fried apple recipe made an amazing gooey, sweet topping. It tasted like a warm apple pie, really it was pretty delicious... 

 

Mongolian Chicken and Caramel Bars

Yummy note:
Decisions, decisions... way too many wonderful recipes to choose from for this month's Secret Recipe Club assignment. My newest assignment for this month's SRC was a blog called Robin, Restored, formally known as Penny Pinching Provisions. Seriously, you must check out this blog and see all of the great ideas, meal plans, and recipes that Robin shares. Originally I thought I wanted to make something with zucchini as I had a few sitting on my kitchen counter just itching to be used. Instead, I stumbled on this caramel bar recipe as I was looking through Robin's zucchini posts! :) This one showed up below on the "you might also like" area and I decided it captured my sweet tooth instantly. Caramel bars with just a few ingredients, seriously, yummy. However, I couldn't stop with just one recipe though, I had to try out the Mongolian Chicken, as well! Wow, my husband thought we had take out as it was so good and it turned out beautifully. Not to mention fairly easy and affordable, too! I love that I had all the ingredients readily available to make this tasty main dish for a quick mid-week meal. I might just have to say that since I've been with the Secret Recipe Club, which is over a year now, I believe this is one of my favorites.
  

Mongolian Chicken 

Ingredients: 

For the Chicken:

1/3 cup canola oil

1 lb chicken, cut up into small pieces

¼ cup cornstarch

For the Sauce:

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp ginger

2 tbsp garlic

½ cup soy sauce

¾ cup brown sugar

Optional: green onions, brown rice, and veggies

Directions: 

Prepare the chicken pieces and cut into smaller bite-sized like pieces. Place chicken into a plastic bag and toss in the cornstarch. Shake the chicken pieces in the cornstarch until they are completely coated. Let them sit for about 10 minutes. While these are resting, start up on the sauce for the chicken.

Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a wok and add in the ginger and garlic and sauté quickly.  Stir in soy sauce and brown sugar. Simmer for about 2-3 minutes or until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside and reserve the sauce for later.

Clean the sauce out of the wok and heat up about a 1/3 cup of oil in the wok. Once it begins to heat up, add in your chicken and begin to sauté. Cook the chicken, probably about 5-7 minutes total, or until the chicken is fully cooked. Pour in the reserved sauce and simmer for a few minutes as the sauce thickens. Add in the chopped green onion to finish the dish. Remove from the heat and serve with rice. I paired it with a simple vegetable dish on the side as well, and it made for a well-rounded meal. 

...and now for dessert! 

Caramel Bars

I followed Robin's recipe and made just a few substitutions to suite our family's needs. For the butter, I used a soy margarine, and for the pecans, I used crushed pretzel chips! This was such a goey, salty, sweet, buttery, and delicious treat to enjoy. 

Ingredients: 
1/2 cup soy margarine
1 cup plus 2 tbps brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup of crushed pretzel chips

Directions: 

In a saucepan, melt margarine and brown sugar until dissolved over medium heat. Cool slightly and pour into a bowl with the egg and vanilla. Stir together and add in the flour and baking powder. Once combined, add in the crushed pretzel chips and pour into a prepared lightly greased 8 x 8 pan. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the edges of the caramel bars start to crisp up. Wait until the bars are cooled and then cut to enjoy!

Dark Cherry Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

Yummy note: It's almost nearing the end of the summer, and I finally got around to stirring up some homemade ice cream for the kids. It is not just any ordinary ice cream, as this particular ice cream is dairy-free! My oldest child would eat ice cream morning, noon, and night if I let her. Sadly, my youngest child never really gets ice cream due to a milk allergy, so I immediately wanted to fix that. He's had fruit sorbets in the past, but it just isn't the same cool creamy yumminess that you get from ice cream. So immediately, I went to my go-to website for dairy-free recipe ideas from Silk. They have some great tips here for cooking and baking with soy milk, so I knew this recipe from Silk was my starting point. I ended up adding in some dark cherries and some dairy-free chocolate pieces to make an amazing combination. The cherry flavor wasn't too overwhelming, but if you are looking for a strong cherry flavored ice cream, you might want to add in a few tablespoons of cherry juice/extract to bump up the flavor. Or perhaps if you are making this for an adult treat, I bet a nice cherry liqueur would be a wonderful addition to this delicious frozen treat.

Dark Cherry Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of soy milk (I used Silk Vanilla)

2 cups of soy creamer (I used Silk Original Creamer)

1 1/2 cups of pitted dark cherries

1/2 cup of agave or sugar

1 vanilla bean

2 tablespoons of arrowroot (or cornstarch)

1/2 cup of dairy-free chocolate chunks
Optional: 1/4 cup of cherry preserves or few tablespoons of cherry liqueur  

*Note: You want to yield about 4 cups total of ice cream mix to put into your ice cream maker.

Directions: 

Pit cherries and cut them into pieces. Place 1/2 cup of vanilla soy milk, a split vanilla bean, creamer, agave, and cherries into a saucepan. (Note: To prepare a split vanilla bean, cut the vanilla bean open and scrape seeds into the saucepan and toss the empty pod into the pan as well to infuse the flavor more.) Heat the mixture on medium heat for about 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to simmer. Stir and remove from the heat. Mix 2 tablespoons of arrowroot into the remaining cold creamer and then whisk into the warm mixture. Cover the pan and let the mixture sit for about 15-20 minutes.

Remove the vanilla bean. This next step is optional- if you want, puree the cherry mixture in a blender to chop up the cherries a bit. Do it to your preference; my kids like the smaller pieces, so I went fairly small, perhaps if you want large chunks of cherries you could just omit this step. Next, chill the mixture completely. This is very important or else the ice cream will not set up properly in your ice cream maker. Process the mix according to your ice cream maker's directions.

While the ice cream is churning, chop up about 1/2 cup of dairy-free chocolate chunks to toss into the ice cream mix. Towards the end of the ice cream processing time, add in your chocolate. You could also add in a flavorful cherry preserve or jam at the end to make ripple ribbons of fruit throughout the ice cream. Enjoy the soft set ice cream immediately, or freeze the ice cream for a few more hours in an air tight container until ready to serve. Makes about one quart of ice cream.

Serve with some fresh fruit!

Garnish with a dairy-free chocolate syrup! 

Want another fun ice cream idea? Use this recipe from Silk, but substitute the Soy Original flavor with the Silk Chocolate flavor! Treat yourself to a frozen chocolaty treat.

Pancake and Sausage Muffins

Yummy note: Seriously, these rock.  I think I saw it before and people called it a “puffin” – basically mini baked pancake muffins!  I’m not sure where I first saw something along these lines, but it is sure genius. Especially when you can bake the sticky gooey sweet syrup right inside the pancake and it doesn't get all over! It is an easy clean up on those busy days! There are a bunch of homemade mix recipes out there, but for our house, pancakes are often a quick meal for us to throw together. Knock yourself out and use a homemade pancake mix if you wish, but the Bisquick worked quick and easy. When we are busy and on the run, the least amount of hassle, the better. Using a premade pancake mix, like Bisquick, it is as easy as 1-2-3 practically to make handheld pancake muffins pretty quick. These are like a meal on the go, when you toss in some precooked sausage or bacon and drizzle in a little syrup. Delicious. Mnnnmnnmn… When I made these, both kids, seriously gobbled down I think atleast 2 muffins. It was a total hit.

Pancake and Sausage Muffins

Ingredients: 

2 cups Bisquick2/3 cup milk (we used soy milk)

2 eggs

about a 1/3 - 1/2 cup of pancake syrup

1 cup of cut up precooked breakfast sausage*

* Could also use various other add-ins instead of the sausage, such as bacon, blueberries, chocolate chips, bananas, etc..) 

Bisquick mix in the pantry is a staple in my kitchen! 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare your muffin To make the process even easier, use a large measuring cup or easy to pour bowl to stir the batter up in.

That way you can just pour the mix directly into the tins. Stir together the pancake mix, with the milk, eggs, and syrup. Mix together and pour in greased muffin pan or pour into cupcake liners. 

Top with already cooked sausage or any other additional add-in you’d like. 

Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until they start to set up and get a little golden brown on top. Remove from pan and serve warm. These little things warm up nicely the next day as leftovers too, if they last that long! :) 

Enjoy with a little butter on top. Best served warm for breakfast, supper, or an anytime treat. 

 

  

Biscoff Graham Cracker Squares

Yummy note: For quite a while, I've seen a bunch of posts using this cookie spread called Biscoff. So a  few months ago, I purchased a jar as I looked a bit into it and realized it was nut and dairy-free! Bonus! That is the perfect combo in our house for the kids. Needless to say, it has since become a staple. My kids love the cookies and the Biscoff Spread. So now I often substitute the Biscoff spread for peanut butter in recipes. So in my cabinet, I had this half package of Biscoff cookies and a jar of Biscoff spread ready to be used... and it was perfect in Vicky's recipe from the blog Avocado and Pesto for Peanut Graham Cracker Squares. I thought that it'd be a nice sweet treat for putting my own yummy twist on it! Vicky from Avocado and Pesto was my luck of the draw for this month's Secret Recipe Club where we get to showcase another blogger's site. Avocado and Pesto had some great recipes like an avocado chickpea pesto salad, a breakfast sandwich with avocados, or peanut butter heath balls!? and the list goes on... Avocado and Pesto just had a site make-over not to long ago, and it looks fantastic, so make sure you check out her updated site! 

Biscoff Graham Cracker Squares

Ingredients: 

1 stick of butter 

1 cup of cookie crumbs - I used about a 1/2 cup of graham crackers and about 1/2 cup of Biscoff cookies crushed to equal 1 cup of crumbs 

1 cup powdered sugar 

1/2 cup Biscoff Spread (or peanut butter) 

Topping: 

2 tbsp Biscoff spread 

3/4 cup chocolate chips 

**Allergy note: I made these dairy-free by substituting the butter with soy margarine and vegan chocolate chips. I also substituted the peanut butter with the Biscoff Spread so that it was nut-free as well. 

Directions: 

Coat a small pan or container (like an 8x8 or 9x9 size) with cooking spray. To make the removal of the squares even better, line it with aluminum foil as Vicky mentioned in her original recipe, but just my luck, I ran out, so I had to just use the spray. It was ok, but I'm sure the foil would have rocked it. Note for next time..

Start by melting the butter and the peanut butter together. Next stir in the powdered sugar and cookie crumbs and mix until it is well combined. Press into your prepared container and chill for about 20-30 minutes until it begins to set up nice. 

Next, prepare your chocolaty topping by melting the chocolate chips and your 2 tablespoons of Biscoff spread together until smooth. Once smooth, pour chocolate topping on top of the cookie crust mixture. Chill until the treats are firm and have set up nicely. Cut into squares and enjoy! 

Sugar Cookie Bars

Yummy note:

Many family gatherings I've taken along some sugar cookies, you know the rolled out and cut into fun shape ones with cute frosting. They have always been hit with everyone of all ages. However, since the kiddos, I've been keeping an eye on recipes that really help cut some time off my preparation or that seem to be easy to do. I had bookmarked this recipe a few years ago and immediately printed it out for future uses. This Sentimental Sunday is about spending time with family and still being able to enjoy a homemade treat without a lot of time devoted to it. Sometimes it is such a pain to have to make the dough, chill and roll sugar cookies out and then not to mention putting the finishing touches on those cookies can take a couple of hours to complete. But with this recipe, it is so easy, yet sooo unbelievably tasty. They stay extremely soft and can even be kept in the freezer for longevity. They are just perfect to share with others, which is my favorite part of baking! This is super nice for a party as it makes about 4 dozen or so bars, perfect ready to share. I don't think there is much more to say about these wonderful cookie bars, other than to just make a batch to enjoy!

Sugar Cookie Bars

recipe found here from My Baking Addiction

Ingredients:

For the cookie bars: 
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2-3 tsp. vanilla extract
5 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda

For the frosting: 
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
5 tbsp. milk
Food coloring (optional)

*Note- I have substituted an equal amount of soy margarine and soy milk in this recipe for the dairy ingredients and still achieved great tasting results for dairy-free options. 

Directions:

To make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large baking sheet, about a 13"x18" sized one. Cream softened butter and sugar in a mixer until light and smooth, about 2 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one until incorporated. Next, blend in the vanilla. In a smaller bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking soda. Then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. 

Spread the cookie dough into the prepared baking sheet and press into an even layer. Note, I had put a layer of aluminium foil on the bottom of the pan as well to have an easier removal of the cookie bar for cutting later. However, you can put the cookie dough directly into the greased pan. Bake only for about 10-15 minutes, or until a light golden brown color. You can test to see if it is done by sticking a toothpick in the center and see if it comes out clean. Let the bars cool completely before applying the frosting.

To make the frosting, beat the butter on medium-high speed in a mixer until smooth, about 1 minute. Blend in the vanilla, salt, and powdered sugar until smooth. Then mix in the milk and add food coloring to tint.  Spread frosting over the cookie bars in the pan. 

At this point, you can freeze the cookie bars or cut into bars and serve.