Chocolate for the Holidays

This time of year is one of my favorite times of year. Yes, it's cold out and I prefer summer, but I love the holidays. Mostly I love the holidays because I get to see family and friends that I don't get to see very often. But I also love the holidays for all the goodies (maybe my waistline hates me for it, but I can't resist). I found two recipe ideas on pinterest that I wanted to give a try. Both were very delicious so I wanted to share: Chocolate Crinkle Cookies (these babies are like brownies in cookie form) and Chocolate Dipped S'mores.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Ingredients
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
powdered sugar for rolling

Directions
1. Combine sugar, oil, and cocoa in a large bowl. Beat until well blended.
2. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add to coca mixture, beating well.

4. Cover and refrigerate dough until it's firm enough to handle. You can place it in the freezer if you want it to firm up quicker. (I put my dough in the freezer for 10-15 minutes and it was ready to bake)
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease cookie sheet (or use silpat)
6. Roll dough into 1 inch balls, then roll them in powdered sugar. Place on a cookie sheet about two inches apart from each other. 

7. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

Chocolate Dipped S'mores

Ingredients
2/3 of the graham crackers from 1 box
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 bag of marshmallows
Sprinkles

Directions
1. Cover cookie sheet in foil and heat oven to 400.
2. Break graham crackers in half or into quarters (whatever you prefer)
3. Place graham crackers on cookie sheet. Place a marshmallow on half of the graham crackers. Place chocolate chips (about 6 per half graham cracker) on the other half of the graham crackers on the cookie sheet.

4. Place cookie sheet in oven at 400 for 3-5 minutes (monitor very closely). Remove when marshmallows have gotten bigger and have started to brown very lightly and the chocolate chips are just starting to melt.
5. Remove cookie sheet from oven and place chocolate half on top of marshmallow half.

6. Melt remaining chocolate chips in microwave. Heat in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments, stirring each time. Dip s'mores in melted chocolate and place on parchment paper to dry. Add sprinkles if desired before the chocolate has hardened.

7. Let the chocolate harden and enjoy.

Tip: Adjust quantities of ingredients for the s'mores as desired based on the number you want to make.


Credit for the chocolate crinkle cookies goes to Chef in Training. Credit for the chocolate dipped s'mores idea goes to Tip Junkie.

Grilled Cheese with Avocado and Chicken

I was hoping I would have a recipe to share with Thanksgiving leftovers, but my family finished them off already! We didn't have much to start with...apparently we were all really hungry on Thanksgiving :). So instead, I'll share this really quick lunch or dinner idea--I had some leftover chicken in the fridge that I wanted to use and I found avocados at the store that looked delicious. So I decided to combine them both into this delicious grilled cheese sandwich.


Ingredients
2 slices wheat bread
2 slices provolone cheese
Half an avocado, sliced
Half a cooked chicken breast, sliced
1 tsp butter

Directions
1. Butter one side of each slice of bread. Place one slice on a skillet, butter side down and set the other slice aside. 
2. Slice chicken breast into this slices. Slice avocado into wedges. 
3. Place one slice of provolone on the bread slice in the skillet. Layer chicken slices and avocado slices on top. Add the next slice of provolone followed by the second slice of bread.

1st slice of break with cheese slice, chicken, and avocado

4. Grill each side of the sandwich in the skillet over medium heat until each side is golden brown and the cheese is melted.
5. Slice in half and enjoy the warm and delicious sandwich.

Potato Chowder

Every year when the weather gets colder, I end up making a lot of soup...it tastes good, helps warm me up, and makes for great leftovers. Potato Chowder is one easy and delicious soup recipe I got from my mom. And I just made that today. Here's the recipe, I recommend giving it a try:

Ingredients
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups sliced carrots
1 can (8 oz or 15 oz) whole kernel corn, drained
1 cup sliced celery
1/2 tsp thyme
Dash of pepper
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
2 cups grated cheddar cheese

Directions
1. Combine potatoes and broth in large soup pot with tight-fitting lid. Bring to boil, then simmer until tender (about 10 minutes). 
2. Use fork to slightly mash up potatoes. You don't have to mash them up a lot, just break them apart a little.
3. Stir in carrots, corn, celery, and thyme. Cover and simmer until veggies are tender (about 15 minutes).

4. In a separate bowl, stir together milk and flour. Then add milk and flour mixture to the rest of the ingredients. Stir in cheese. A little bit of the cheese can be set aside to sprinkle on top of the soup; bacon bits are also good on top :).

Now serve and enjoy! 

Credit to my mom for sharing this recipe with my mom.

Pumpkin Cookies and Cupcakes

With the leaves changing colors and Halloween coming up I felt like trying out some pumpkin desserts. I didn't have any recipes so I checked out one of my favorite blogs, skinnytaste and tried out these two recipes: Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Chocolate Glaze and Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting. Everyone who tried these really liked them. The cookies especially were a big hit. Check out the recipes below:

Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients
4 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp pumpkin spice
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

For the chocolate glaze:
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 Tbsp milk
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheet with silicone mat.
2. In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add egg, beat well. Mix in pumpkin, buttermilk, and vanilla.
3. In another bowl, combine flour, spice, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Gradually add to pumpkin mixture. Mix well.
4. Drop by round tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart onto silicone lined baking sheet. Bake 12-14 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire rack.

5. For the glaze: Whisk the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, milk, vanilla, and salt in a bowl. Place in a ziplock bag. Seal the bag and but the point off of one corner and drizzle onto cookies.

Tip: Don't feel like buying buttermilk for just one recipe, use this alternative.


Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
Betty Crocker Golden Vanilla or French Vanilla Super Moist Cake Mix
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 cup water

For the cream cheese frosting:
8 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese softened
1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
5 Tbsp packed brown sugar

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake wrappers.
2. Combine cake mix and pumpkin spice in a large bowl. Add pumpkin puree and water. Mix for about 2 minutes.
3. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake about 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

4. For the frosting, combine the cream cheese, pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and brown sugar until smooth. Use a spatula to put the icing on the cupcakes.

Tip: These cupcakes are good enough without the frosting if you're looking for something more muffin-like rather than cake-like.


Credit goes to skinnytaste for both these delicious recipes.

Chili

Well I think the weather has officially indicated that it's fall now...personally I'm a much bigger summer person, but I do love the food that comes with fall: apples, corn, warm soup...the list goes on. With the weather getting colder, I was in the mood for something warm. And that something ended up being chili. This recipe is really easy (just takes 10-15 minutes of prep), and it makes some great leftovers...always a plus :)

Ingredients
1 to 1.5 lbs ground beef or ground turkey, browned and drained
1 can of dark red kidney beans, drained
1 can of light red kidney beans, drained
1 can of black beans, drained
1 can of pinto beans, drained
2 cans of stewed or diced tomatoes
1 small can of tomato paste
1 Tbsp chili powder
Tabasco sauce, to taste

Directions
1. Brown the meat in a big pot (a stockpot for example). 
2. After the meat is browned and drained, add the remaining ingredients. After adding all the ingredients, fill one of the tomato cans with water and add that to the pot. 
3. Stir all the ingredients together and let simmer for 30 minutes. You can simmer for longer than this if you like; the longer it simmers, the more flavorful it becomes. 

4. After simmering for 30 minutes, do a taste test and add any additional chili powder and/or Tabasco sauce to your liking.

Emily's Thoughts
The great thing about this recipe is that it's flexible and you can easily adjust it based on your taste. For example, I'm not a huge spice person, but I like a little Tabasco sauce in there, so I add some until it's spicy enough for me. Also, sometimes I like to add veggies to my chili. You can really add whatever you want, but I've used corn, carrots, zucchini, and green peppers in the past.

Some people like their chili plain, but personally I recommend serving yours over elbow macaroni, with cheese sprinkled on top, and a dollop of sour cream to top it off. 

Also, being that you're using a lot of canned items in this recipe, I recommend looking for low sodium beans at the store.


Now give this simple and easy recipe and enjoy it as the leaves and temperatures start to change this fall!