Peanut Butter M&M cookies

We almost always have M&M's in our house.  My girls love their M&M's.  I found a recipe for Rolo Stuffed Peanut butter cookies but figured I should probably try and make my way through our current candy stash before I buy more.  So peanut butter M&M cookies it was.  I have a friend who makes these and stuffs the cookies with snickers.  Oh, the possibilities with peanut butter and chocolate are endless and delicious.  The peanut butter cookie recipe comes from Crazy for Crust, which she slightly adapted from a Crisco recipe.   

This recipe makes about 2 dozen cookies.  You'll need:

• ½ cup softened butter
• ¾ cup peanut butter 
• 1 ¼ cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 2 cups flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• 
  
• A heaping cup of M&M's, or about 24 Rolo candies or bite size snickers, your choice (unwrapped of course)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. 
2. Mix the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla  until just blended. 
3. Then add the egg and beat until incorporated.
4. Combine and whisk the baking soda and flour together in a medium bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just blended.
5. If using M&M's stir them in now and skip to step 5.  If you want to stuff the cookies create a dough ball (roughly the 2 tablespoons worth of dough). Place a candy in the center of each and roll so that the candy is in the center of the dough and does not show. 
6. Place the dough 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. You can make a crisscross patterns on each dough ball if you are stuffing the cookies.
7. Bake the cookies for about 8-9 minutes or just until set. Bottoms will be lightly browned and centers may look a little under baked. Cool the cookies on the sheet for about 2 minutes and then move the to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Baked Potato Soup

12 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
2/3 cup margarine
2/3 cup flour
7 cups milk
4 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 green onions, chopped
1 1/4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper (I added less. Seemed like a lot to me)

Melt margarine in large pot. Whisk in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in milk, whisking constantly until thickened. Stir in potatoes and green onions. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Mix in cheese, sour cream, salt, pepper, and bacon. Allow cheese to melt.

I tried this soup today and everyone loved it, even my kids. It's very creamy and good. Plus it's easy to make with simple ingredients.

Sweet Barbacoa Pork

Stephen voted this top three things I've ever made! Woohoo! It was very, very good! I found it on www.skinnytaste.com and I'll be sure trying other recipes from there! We ate this over rice and black beans, with avocado on top!

Ingredients:

For the Marinade:

• 2.5 lbs pork loin roast, all fat trimmed
• salt and pepper
• garlic powder
• 6 oz Coke zero
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (unpacked)
• 1/4 cup water

Step 2

• 8 oz Coke zero
• 6 oz can sliced green chilies
• 8 oz tomato sauce
• 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp cumin
• 1/8 tsp chipotle chili powder (to taste)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup brown sugar (unpacked)

Directions:

Season pork with salt, pepper and garlic powder and place in the crock pot. Add 6 oz of coke and 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Marinate refrigerated for a few hours or overnight turning meat at least once while marinating.

Remove crock from refrigerator, add water, and cook on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily). Remove pork from crock pot and discard any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork with two forks.

Step two: In the crock pot, combine 8 oz coke, green chilies, tomato sauce, chipotle chile, garlic powder, cumin, chipotle chili powder and remaining brown sugar.

Put shredded pork back in the crock pot and combine with sauce. Adjust salt and pepper to taste, cover and cook on high 1-1/2 hours more.

Sweet Chex Mix

1 Box of Corn or Rice Chex
1 Box of Golden Grahams (or 1/2 of a bag)
4 C. Coconut
1 Bag of Sliced Almonds

2 C. Sugar
2 C. Karo
1 C. Butter
2 tsp. Vanilla

Boil sugar, karo and butter for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour over chex, grahams, coconut, and almonds. Mix well. Pour out on waxed paper and cool completely. Store in a loose fitting container. (an air tight lid will make it go soggy)

Homemade Salsa

Every time I make this it disappears quickly. It is so easy and super yummy

Homemade Salsa
2 (15 oz) cans diced tomatoes
1 can green chiles
1 bunch of cilantro (just the tops)
4-6 green onions
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. lime juice or lemon juice
1 pinch of sugar
2-3 cloves of garlic
In a food processor chop up the cilantro, green onions, and garlic until finely chopped. Add in the green chiles, tomatoes, lemon/lime juice, sugar and salt. Pulse until combined and the desired consistency is reached.
(add a fresh jalapeno to increase heat, add it in with the cilantro to chop it up finely)

Baked Chicken Taquitos

These have become one of our family favorites. They get eaten quickly!! They are great with homemade salsa!


Baked Chicken Taquitos
1 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened
½ C. salsa, red or green
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
½ tsp. onion powder
½ tsp. garlic powder
3 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped
1 green onion, sliced finely
1 C. cheddar or Monterey jack cheese, shredded
10 flour tortillas, taco size or 25-30 small fajita size
2 C. chicken, cooked and shredded
Cooking spray
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. (or line sheet with a silicone mat)
In a medium sized bowl combine first 7 ingredients and mix well. Then add in cilantro and green onion. Add chicken and cheese and stir until incorporated. Heat the flour tortillas in a microwave with a damp paper towel covering them to make them pliable about 45-60 seconds.. Take 2-3 tablespoons of the chicken mixture and place on the lower third of tortilla (use only 1 Tbsp for small tortillas). Keep the mixture about ½ inch from the edge, and roll up tightly. Place seam side down on baking sheet. Continue with all tortillas. Spray tops with cooking spray. Place in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Serve with sour cream, salsa, and guacamole.
From www.dealstomeals.com

Cranberry Chicken

4-5 Chicken Breasts

2 Cans of Whole Cranberry Sauce

1 Packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix

Place all three ingredients in your Crockpot and cook on low for 4-5 hours. Shred the chicken then continue cooking on low until ready to eat. I cooked mine almost all day last time. We like to eat this on tortillas (the ones you cook at home are our favorite) with white rice, black beans, sour cream and cheese. Tomatoes and lettuce are also really good on this as well. This recipe is extremely easy and very good!