Over the Top Cookies

No, they really are over the top! But that's not why they're called that. Apparently there's a cookie shop in Salt Lake called Over the Top Cookies and this is a copycat of one of their cookies. I've never had the original version, but I do know these are good. Better than good! Light, crispy outside, soft, gooey inside...not to mention they're quite a bit bigger than normal cookies. I know. Perfect cookie, right?

We tried them with both Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and M&Ms and I liked the M&Ms a lot better. Both are yummy, though.


Over the Top Cookies

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup peanut butter

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cup milk chocolate chip

M&Ms (medium-sized bag should work) OR other candy bar, chopped into bite-sized pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine butter, sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, eggs, and vanilla. Sift baking soda, salt, and flour together, then add to peanut butter mixture. Mix in chocolate chips.

Using an ice-cream scoop or large tablespoon, scoop dough. Press dough with palm of hand until slightly flattened. Cook for 12 minutes.

Remove cookies from oven and lightly press candy into tops of cookies. Return to oven for 2 more minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 2 more minutes before moving to cooling rack.

Original recipe from here.

Chicken Noodle Soup

I have really been slacking off on this recipe-posting thing! I'm hoping to do better in the coming months. It is officially the holiday season, after all. And that means one thing...GOOD FOOD!

This recipe is my go-to recipe for fast homemade chicken noodle soup. It's really, really simple (and that's how we do things around here!) but really good. I'm sure there's fancier versions out there, but I'm all for throwing a few ingredients in the Crock Pot to get the job done.

This recipe comes from my 101 Things To Do With a Slow Cooker book, but I've adjusted it - mostly because the full recipe doesn't actually fit in my slow cooker. This feeds the four of us perfectly, though, with leftovers.


Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup

3 cups hot water
1 Tbsp. instant chicken bouillon granules
1 large can (46 oz.) or 3 (14 oz.) cans chicken broth
1 1/2 cups cooked chicken
1 tsp. salt
15 baby carrots, cut in thirds
2 stalks celery, diced
3 cups egg noodles, uncooked

Combine all ingredients except egg noodles in greased slow cooker. Cover and cook on low heat 4-6 hours. 15-20 minutes before serving, stir in egg noodles. Cover and cook on low heat until soft. Do not overcook or noodles will be mushy!

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Up until recently, I've been one of those people who thinks sweet potatoes (and yams) are for Thanksgiving dinner only. Not anymore! This recipe was SO good. And simple, which is always a plus in my book. And did I mention healthy? The only downside is that they smell like cinnamon rolls while they're cooking away in the oven. My husband was a little disappointed when he peeked and realized they were just potatoes. :)

The recipe idea came from Pinterest, and the actual site I got the recipe from is here.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size cubes
2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp of brown sugar (more if you want it sweeter)
1 tsp of ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp of ground nutmeg
Pinch of ground ginger
Salt, to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a small baking dish with cooking spray. Peel and dice the sweet potatoes into bite-size cubes and place in the baking dish. Melt butter in the microwave and pour over the potatoes along with the olive oil, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt. Add more sugar or cinnamon if desired. Toss to coat evenly.
Bake for 60 minutes. Stir potatoes once or twice to ensure they cook evenly.

Potato-Chip Chicken

Yes, you read that right. Potato chips. And chicken. It may sound a little weird, but it's goooo-oood. I love a good crunch to my chicken sometimes and potato chips are the perfect solution. And if you're thinking this sounds like a really fatty, unhealthy meal...well, you may be right. :) It could be worse, though. At least we didn't fry the chicken!

The other unique thing about this recipe is the dipping sauce. Maybe it's just me, but I thought it sounded like a random assortment of ingredients. But once again...turns out really good. (Promise.) It's basically just a creamy honey-mustard sauce. 

So break out the potato chips, people!



Potato-Chip Chicken

1 cup mayo

1/4 cup honey

2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

2 Tbsp. creamy peanut butter

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into strips (I just used chicken tenders, since I had them on hand)

1 1/2 cups finely crushed potato chips

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix mayo, honey, mustard, and peanut butter. Remove 1/2 cup of mixture; set remaining aside.

Dip chicken in mayo mixture first, coating thoroughly, then coat with crushed chips. Place on greased cookie sheet. (I suggest laying down a piece of tin foil, then spraying it. Cleaning up burned-on chicken is never fun.)

Bake for 7-9 minutes. Turn chicken and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve with remaining dipping sauce.

Raspberry Crisp

Mmm...raspberries. I love raspberries, especially as a fruit filling in pies and such. When raspberries went on sale at our grocery store, we immediately bought a flat. Most of those beauties were used to make raspberry jam (which is a must-have around here - my family loves it), but there were three containers left over. Just enough to make Pioneer Woman's raspberry crisp.

It's a simple recipe - crisps aren't anything fancy - but oh my, was it good! Especially topped with icy-cold vanilla ice cream. Rave reviews all around!


Raspberry Crisp

2 1/2 cups raspberries
1 Tbsp (heaping) corn starch
2/3 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup oats
1/4 cup pecans, chopped (optional)
Dash of salt
6 Tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine rinsed raspberries, corn starch, sugar, and vanilla. Stir and set aside.

In a separate bowl (or food processor) combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, oats, pecans (optional), dash of salt, and butter pieces. Cut together with a pastry cutter (or pulse in food processor) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Add berry mixture to a small baking dish or pie pan. Sprinkle topping mixture all over the top. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until topping is golden brown.

Allow to sit for ten minutes before serving. Scoop out with a spoon and top with sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

McD's Frozen Strawberry Lemonade

The homemade version, of course.

We discovered McDonald's frozen strawberry lemonade a few weeks back and both my husband and I have been completely hooked. I mean, have you tried those things?! Lemonade perfection! I'm normally not a big McDonald's fan, but they really scored big with this one in my book.

But, of course, heavenly lemonade doesn't come free. $1.80 (for a small) doesn't sound like much, but like I said...we've kind of been hooked and our "lemonade trips" have started to add up. So I set out to discover if a homemade version really could measure up. I basically followed this recipe, with a few changes. The Smuckers strawberry sauce I got ended up being chunky. I'm not the type who likes big chunks in my drink (and the McD's version definitely doesn't have chunks), so I adapted by throwing a few spoonfuls in the food processor and blending it. PERFECT strawberry smoothness.

I don't usually take pictures of my ingredients, but in this case I thought it might be helpful to see exactly what brands I used:

Frozen Strawberry Lemonade

3 cups Tropicana's Simply Lemonade (or make your own!)

3-4 heaping Tbsp. Smuckers strawberry topping, pureed in food processor

Pour lemonade in an ice cream maker and pack with rock salt/ice according to manufacturer's directions. Allow to run for 15-20 minutes or until desired consistency is reached.

To assemble, pour 1-2 tablespoons of strawberry sauce in bottom of each cup. Add frozen lemonade on top. Serve.

Spinach Mandarin Poppy Seed Salad

The recipe may be stolen, but the picture is by yours truly (as are all my other pictures). See? I'm not ALL thief. :)

I haven't been in much of a "cooking new recipes" mood lately. It's summer - I'd rather play than spend an hour slaving in the kitchen before dinner!

So I'm (once again) presenting another one of my favorite recipes I've gleaned from the Our Best Bites cookbook. I know it's easy to just go get it from there, but at least this way, I may point someone (and by that I mean the two people that read this blog) to the easiness and yumminess that is this salad.

Our family is small (three of us that eat big-people food), so I pretty much halved everything in the recipe below. The original makes 8-10 side dish servings. I also substituted chopped up mini cucumbers for avocados since my hubs doesn't like avocados. Like I said, it was really easy to throw together (especially if you just cook the bacon in the microwave), and tasted just like I expect summer foods to taste. Sweet. Tangy. Crisp. Light. Perfect. :)


Spinach Mandarin Poppy Seed Salad

8 ounces (1/2 bag) baby spinach
1/2-1 head Romaine lettuce, chopped
1/2 thinly sliced medium red onion
1 large avocado, cubed
8 oz. mozzarella or Swiss cheese, shredded
1 (12-oz.) package bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 (12-oz.) can Mandarin oranges, drained
Poppy seed dressing, to taste (I made it from scratch, but it would be just as easy to buy a bottle of the pre-made stuff)

Combine all ingredients except dressing in a large bowl. When ready to serve, toss with desired amount of salad dressing and serve immediately.

If you anticipate leftovers, just let your eaters dress their own salads because the dressing will make the greens wilt.