Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 Yellow Cake Mix
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
2/3 C Chocolate Chips
1 cube soften butter
2 eggs
1/2 c chopped nuts (optional)

Mix Cake Mix with Butter, vanilla, and eggs till smooth. Then add Chocolate Chips and nuts.

Bake at 350 10-12 minutes

These are so good and so easy! Your family will love them!

Baked Potato Soup

I use the recipe from www.allrecipes.com  look for Baked Potato Soup I.

I did this for 3 people.  You can go to their website and change the number of servings to change the amounts in the ingredients.

• 6 slices bacon
• 1/3 cup margarine
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3-1/2 cups milk
• 2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium heat until browned. Drain, crumble, and set aside.
2. In a stock pot or Dutch oven, melt the margarine over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth. Gradually stir in milk, whisking constantly until thickened. Stir in potatoes and onions. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.
3. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Mix in bacon, cheese, sour cream, salt, and pepper. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until cheese is melted. 

This was absolutely delicious!

Lion House Chicken

Ingredients:

• 10 to 12 8-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 2 cups ground bread crumbs
• 4 cups favorite stuffing mix
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 cups mayonnaise
• 1/3 cup Dijon mustard

Method:

Lay whole chicken breast flat on baking sheet. Coat with bread crumbs. Prepare your favorite stuffing with mushrooms and butter. Portion stuffing mixture into 10 to 12 equal parts. Put Stuffing on one half of each chicken breast; fold over and secure with toothpicks. Bake 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Makes 10 to 12 servings. To make sause, mix honey, mayonnaise, and mustard together in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat warmed through. Top each cooked chicken breast with sauce before serving.

Helpful Roll Tips Always add the flour gradually and keep the dough as soft as you can handle.
Don't feel you have to use the entire amount of flour listed in the recipe -- add only enough flour to make a manageable dough.
A soft dough will produce a lighter roll.
Brush the top of the rolls with butter when they are first taken from the oven.

Very Berry Pie from the Lion House

On the Windowsill
Hopkin’s recent pie book, Lion House Pies, is filled with scrumptious pies for all times of the year—from the summery Tropical Isle Pie to the perennial favorite Coconut Cream Pie. Try this Very Berry Pie (Hopkin’s absolute favorite Lion House Product) to add some festive color to your winter spread.

Pastry for two 9-inch double-crust pies
1 (16-ounce) bag frozen boysenberries, thawed
1 (8-ounce) bag frozen blueberries, thawed
1 (8-ounce) bag frozen raspberries, thawed
1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup cornstarch

Roll out pastry for 2 bottom crusts and line 2 pie pans. Roll out pastry for 2 top crusts; fold each in half and cut three ½-inch slits through both layers of both crusts, then set aside. Pour thawed berries and all their juices into a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, mix sugar, salt, and cornstarch and pour on top of berries. Mix well with rubber spatula.
Fill crusts. Moisten edge of pie crust with water. Add top crust and seal. Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 375 degrees F for 45 to 50 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes 2 pies.

Chef's Secrets from LDS Living article on the Lion House

Chef’s Secrets
Bread
    •    During the rising stage, never let the bowl become more than comfortably warm to the hand.
    •    When making wheat bread, add 1/8 to ¼ teaspoon of ginger; you’ll get more volume from the yeast.
    •    When freezing unbaked bread, add 1/3 to ½ more yeast.
    •    For a crustier crust, spritz water in the over after putting your loaves in.

Piecrust
    •    The biggest problem is overmixing (when you start trying to roll it, it won’t roll). When crust is overmixed, you just have to start over.
    •    Another problem is not adding enough liquid, which will make dough dry, crack when rolled, and fall apart when transferred to a pan. To fix, ball it up, add more liquid, and gently work it in (to avoid overmixing).
    •    If dough is too soft: refrigerate dough disc (about 1 ½” high and formed into a flat circle) for 10-15 minutes until a little firmer. Don’t feel the need to refrigerate for much longer.
    •    When making pies, bake 6-10 and freeze them. If company drops by, reheat in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Voila! Instant dessert!

Meyer Lemon Pound Cake

I got this off of www.dessarts.com

So this post is a little overdue. Last week I posted some links I found for desserts containingMeyer lemons.  I had a lot of trouble trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my Meyer lemons. So, of course, I went back to my first instinct which was to make a pound cake. As I was reading other food blogs this week, I came across a beautiful vanilla bundt cake fromSweetapolita. It was a simple recipe with an elegant result. I then realized that sometimes keeping it simple is the best answer. A nice slice of this simple poundcake made up for the dreary New York weather that has taken over this week.

I chose Martha Stewart’s glazed lemon pound cake recipe but used Meyer lemons instead or regular lemons. Since Meyer lemons are not as tart, I doubled the amount of zest and juice in her recipe. It all worked out nicely since the added liquid from the juice compensated for the 1/2 egg that I left out.

Doubling the amount of lemon in this recipe did not really produce as  strong of a taste as I thought.  If you really want that lemon flavor to stand out, I suggest adding some lemon extract. I did not mind the subtle orange/lemon taste of the cake. The cake itself is not overly sweet either. I thought the white chocolate glaze gives this cake just the right amount of added sweetness.

The top of the cake is garnished with Meyer lemon chips.  I will hopefully be  posting how to make these chips soon.

Recipe (Adapted from Martha Stewart)
makes 1 loaf (9 by  5  inch pan)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan
3/8 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
Zest of 2 lemons, finely grated
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan by coating with butter and dusting with flour. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl.  Mix the buttermilk, zest and lemon juice in a small bowl and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the flour mixture in three parts alternately with the liquid mixture and beat until just smooth. Pour the mixture into the pan and bake for 50 -60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If the top is browning too quickly cover it with a foil tent. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove and cool completely.

White Chocolate Glaze (from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook)

3/4 cup confectioners sugar

2 Tbs milk

2 1/2 oz white chocolate (melted and cooled)

Whisk together the sugar and milk. It should be the consistency of thin sour cream. Add the white chocolate and stir. If it is too thick add milk a teaspoon at a time. If it is too thin add sugar. Use immediately.

Apple Muffins

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
1/2 cup milk

2-3 apples

1 1/2 cup flour
2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
1/2 tspn cinnamon

Mix dry ingredients  in bowl.  Add liquids and grated apples.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.