White Chocolate Oatmeal Bars

White Chocolate Oatmeal Bars adapted from Unknown source
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinammon
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla or grated peel of one orange
3 cups quick cooking oats
2 cups butterscotch chips

Directions:  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Combine flour, baking soda, and cinammon in small bowl.  Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla in large bowl.  Gradually beat in flour mixture.  Stir in oats and butterscotch chips.  Spread dough into greased 15x10 inch pan.  Bake for 18-20 minutes or until very lightly browned.

Modifications:
-I used 2 packages of brown sugar oats.
-I used white chocolate chips instead of butterscotch.

Here's what I started with:

Here's how I did it:

#1 I preheated the oven to 375 degrees.

#2 I mixed together the flour, baking soda and cinnamon.

#3 In a separate bowl, I beat the butter, eggs, brown and white sugar.

#4 I slowly added in the flour mixture.

#5 I stirred in the oats.

#6 I stirred in the white chocolate chips.

#7 I spread the mixture out onto a cookie sheet.

#8 Into the oven for about 20 minutes.

The Finished Product:

Review:

Let's make one thing clear up front.  I am not a baker.  I have a lot of respect for those of you out there who bake cookies and pies and cakes.  It is just way too much of a precise science for me and I'm more of a "taste it and see if I need more of xx" kind of girl.

Having said all of that, I have seen so many Facebook and blog posts recently about people doing their Christmas baking that I decided to give it a whirl.  I had all of these ingredients on hand.

I didn't have the right pan to cook these bars in but the cookie sheet worked out ok.  I was afraid to use a 9x13 baking dish because I thought it would have been too deep.

Bottom line . . . these bars are great!  You could easily substitute regular dark chocolate chips or use the butterscotch chips that the recipe calls for.  The little packets of oatmeal worked out great, too.

Kanin said, "These are perfect.  Crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle."  I guess that it endorsement enough.

Hope you enjoy!
April

Bruschetta Chicken

Bruschetta Chicken from So Are You To Me
1 1/2lbs chicken, cubed
1 (15oz) can diced tomatoes
3 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese
1 (6oz) box chicken flavored dry bread stuffing
1 tsp salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning

Directions:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. 

Toss the cubed chicken with the salt, pepper, and garlic, in a large bowl. Place the chicken in a layer into the bottom of the baking dish. Stir together tomatoes, 1 ½ C cheese, and stuffing mix in a large bowl; set aside to soften.


Sprinkle 1 ½ C cheese on top of the chicken, then sprinkle with the Italian seasoning. Spread the softened stuffing mixture on top. Top with remaining ½ C cheese.

Bake uncovered until the chicken cubes have turned white and are no longer pink in the center, about 30 minutes.

Here's what I started with:

Here's how I did it:

#1 Preheated the oven to 350 degrees.

#2 Since I used frozen chicken breasts, I defrosted them and then cut them into cubes.

#3 I sprinkled the chicken with the salt, pepper and garlic powder and mixed it really well.

#4 I spread the chicken out into a greased 9x13 pan.

#5 In a separate bowl, I opened up a can of diced tomatoes and added the cheese and the stuffing.  Mixed it together and set it aside.

#6 I sprinkled cheese over the chicken. 

#7 I sprinkled the Italian seasoning over the cheese.

#8 Next, I spread the stuffing mixture over the cheese and chicken and then covered it with more cheese.

#9 Into the oven for about 35 minutes.

The Finished Product:

Review:

I have made a dish similar to this before but just used Italian bread crumbs.  I think using the stuffing mixture really added to the flavor and texture.  The bread crumbs really crunched up on top but they soaked up the sweated out tomato juices in the under layer. 

I used 3 large frozen chicken breasts and cut them into 1 inch cubes.  There seemed to be an ample amount of chicken and each scoop contained 2-3 pieces. 

The only thing I would change is to use a little less garlic powder or use more chicken to spread it out a bit.  Even with this bold garlic flavor, my 18-month-old chowed down! 

Hope you enjoy!

April

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Cheddar Bay Biscuits (Red Lobster Biscuits) from Telly's Tasty Tidbits
2 cups Bisquick mix
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar
2/3 cup milk
2 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon garlic salt

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine Bisquick, garlic powder and cheese in a medium bowl. Stir in milk until just combined. Using a cookie scoop place drops of dough onto cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the butter. Stir in parsley and garlic salt. When the timer goes off after 10 minutes, brush the butter mixture onto the biscuits. Bake for an additional 5 minutes, or until golden brown.

Optional: Before serving, brush biscuits with additional butter mixture.

Source: Pennies on a Platter

Here's what I started with:

Here's how I did it:

#1 I preheated the oven to 400 degrees.

#2 I measured out 2 cups of Bisquick.

#3 I added 1/2 tsp of garlic powder and 1 1/2 cups of cheddar cheese.

#4 I mixed it together and then added 2/3 cups of milk and combined it together.

#5 I then spooned it out with an ice cream scoop onto a baking sheet.

#6 Into the oven for 10 minutes.

#7 While the biscuits were baking, I melted 2T of butter then added parlsey and garlic salt.

#8 At exactly 10 minutes, I spread the melted butter all over the biscuits and then put them back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

The Finished Product:

Review:

OMG!  These are Amazing!!  If you like the Red Lobster biscuits then I suggest you don't even make these because you are going to want to eat the entire batch.

Cheesy, salty, buttery, soft on the inside and crusty on the outside.  If I closed my eyes and added a fishy smell, I would swear that I was eating at a Red Lobster.  They are outstandin.

The ONLY thing I would change is instead of adding 1 full teaspoon of garlic salt to the melted butter I think I would only add 1/2 teaspoon.  They were a little salty.  Also, I made HUGE biscuits and probably should have made them a little smaller (but the flavor was not affected at all).  If you were to use a cookie dough scooper then you probably could get a good 12-16 biscuits out of this mix.

We will absolutely have these again!  I served these with Mom's Stew.

Hope you enjoy!

April

Tasty Tuesday

Today I am participating in Tasty Tuesdays sponsored by For the Love of Blogs.  If you are new to the site and have a recipe for me, please post it in the comments and when I make it I will link it back to your site!

Thakns for stopping by!

Product Review: Tyson Slow Cooker Creations Beef Roast with Vegetables

Tyson's Slow Cooker Beef Creations Beef Roast with Vegetables

Here's how I did it:

#1 Placed the roast into a 9x13 baking dish.  Preheated the oven to 350 degrees per instructions.

#2 Mixed the provided seasoning bag with 1 cup of water.

#3 Poured the seasoning over the roast.

#4 Cut open the packaged vegetables. 

#4 Cut the potatoes into quarters.

#5 Cut apart the onions.

#6 Added the vegetables to the meat.

#7 Covered with tin foil and cooked for 4 hours.

The Finished Product:

Review:

I picked up this roast beef at Wal-Mart over the weekend.  It cost $12.95 for a 3.9lb roast with vegetables. 

While this roast could never come cloes to my Mom's Roast, I think that it is actually quite good and definitely something to use either while in a pinch or on a budget.  A 3-4lb roast would got $10-12 by itself and then if you have to buy the vegetables, as well, you are probably looking at $16-17 for the one meal.  Now, with a family of 5 I think that $17 for a meal is rather good but if you have really small children or are single, I can understand not wanting to shell out that much money.

The seasoning has great flavor to it.  Although the package says to add 1 cup of water, I think that it should be at least 1 1/2 cups.  One of the best parts about a roast is the juice and after cooking for 4 hours there was hardly any juice left.  Growing up my mom would always serve biscuits with her roast and if I had biscuits tonight there would have been no juice to sop up.

I was really impressed with the freshness and color of the vegetables.  When I cut open the vaccum-sealed bag, I could not believe how red and pretty the small potatoes were. 

The package says that there are 8 servings but if your family eats roast like mine does then I would say you are more likely to get 1 1/2 servings per person.  This amount of meat may last, though, if you serve two or three sides or if you have non-meat eaters in your family.

The first time that I used this product I cooked it in my crockpot for about 6-7 hours.  It was a little more tender after cooking for that long but cooking in the oven did not chagne the flavor.

Overall, I would defnitely recommend this product.  The vegetables were fresh, the meat did not have ton of fat on it but just enough to add flavor and the seasoning was spot on.

Creamy Taco Mac

Creamy Taco Mac adapted from Telly's Tasty Tidbits
1 1/4 lb. ground meat (I used 1 lb. ground turkey, 1/4 lb. ground beef as that's what I had)
8 oz. dry pasta + 1 cup reserved pasta water
1 can (14.5 oz.) petite diced tomatoes
4 Tbsp. mild taco seasoning
3 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
S & P
Cheddar Cheese to taste

Directions:  Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook pasta per directions. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water.  Over medium heat, brown meat until no longer pink. Drain and add taco seasoning and diced tomatoes. Allow to simmer over low heat for 5 minutes. Add cooked pasta, reserved water, cream cheese and sour cream. Stir until cheese and cream is incorporated and melted. Simmer over low heat about 3 minutes. Season with S & P as desired. Top off with desired amount of cheddar cheese.

Modifications:
-I used the whole package of taco seasoning.

Here's what I started with:

Here's how I did it:

#1  I put the noodles in boiling water and cooked them according to the package.  I also browned the hamburger meat.

#2 Once the beef was browned, I added a package of taco seasoning.

#3 I added a can of diced tomatoes.

#4 After the noodles were cooked, I drained them and added them to the ground beef.

#5 Next, came 1/2 of a block of light cream cheese and 1/2 cup of sour cream.  Mix altogether.

The Finished Product:

Review:

Super easy to make and very kid-friendly.  I had all of these things on hand and it is great to make in a hurry.

I do wish that there would have been a little more flavor to it, though.  I kept contemplating what else I could add to it or trying to think of what it was that my taste buds were missing but I could never figure it out.  A make-at-home Hamburger Helper style meal.

Hope you enjoy!

April

***(3 Stars)--This dish was ok.