The Weekday Chef – Page 2 – Featuring Chef Pattie

Rice Krispie Pops

Here’s my Rice Crispie Treat Pops…with M and Ms

Want to make a fun treat for summer backyard BBQs? This twist on the Rice Crispie Treat is so easy yet packs more of a punch for a kid’s party. They just have a WOW factor! The recipe is easy too.

Here’s how I made my cool Rice Krispie Treat POPS

Heat up 1/2 a stick of butter with a 10 oz. bag of marshmallows in
a pan on the stove or in the microwave.

Then when it is white and melty mix in 6 cups of Kelloggs Rice Crispies

I looked on the rice crispy website for some creative things to do with rice crispy treats. I followed their recipe which is HERE at the Kelloggs website.
They had some cute pops using colorful Popsicle sticks. But I was out of them.

I poured all but about 3 cups into a 9 x 9 buttered pan and topped with M & Ms…yum!
Rice Crispie Treats!

Then I melted 1/3 cup of white candy melt discs in the microwave for 1 minute

Then I buttered my hands and formed the rest into 4 balls. Then I dipped the ends of them into the melted white chocolate and sprinkled the colorful toppers on as well as some M & Ms for my Rice Crispie Treat Pops.

The M and Ms kept sliding off the balls….It may have been the slippery butter! So
I pressed them into the white candy melts before they hardened…NOT easy to do!

I didn’t have any Popsicle sticks so I cut some BBQ skewers and curled some ribbons and tied them on.

Then I poked the wooden skewers into those cute Rice Crispie Treat Balls and here
they are with their curly ribbons decorating them!

Then I had to sit back and taste-test my Rice Crispie Treats …..they were yummo!

My granddaughters LOVED them! Who can resist anything with M and Ms? Hmm…..?

Rice Crispie Treat Pops. Do them for the next family gathering with kids.

My older granddaughter said, “These are delicious!” So cute! They loved my little rice crispie treat pops. I love them! 😀

Eight is Great! Fun Birthday Parties

Eight is Great! Marisa turned 8 years old! Woo Hoo!

My Granddaughter Marisa’s birthday and baptism celebration! Eight is Great!

Marisa and I at her Baptism.

Dessert table at the luncheon party for Marisa Belle. I made a little heart Bundt cake just for her!

I have a few of these pretty heart individual bundt cake pans. I made chocolate cupcakes and then used the bundt with the leftover batter.

Then I frosted them with cream cheese icing.

This is the recipe I use for any chocolate cakes I bake. It is from All Recipes.com. This recipe has cream cheese and a pudding mix in it and mini chocolate chips. It is dense, rich and wonderful with cream cheese icing. It also has 4500 reviews with almost 5 stars. That is a good recommendations people!
HERE is the link. You will not find a better chocolate cake recipe. It uses a boxed mix. My favorite boxed mix is Betty Crocker Supermoist Chocolate Fudge.

My favorite boxed cake mix. I just doctor it up a little with sour cream and a pudding mix.

Cream Cheese Icing – I use a brick of cream cheese, a cube of butter, a few cups of powdered sugar and a little lemon juice for flavoring.

Cream Cheese Icing
1 cube butter (1/2 cup)
1 brick of room temperature cream cheese
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 -3 cups of powdered sugar
milk to the desired consistency

Eight is Great! And a birthday party is too!

Little Miss Marisa is my sweet first grandchild. I love her so.

Birthday cupcakes made with homemade cream cheese icing, sprinkles and jelly beans, and little suckers as toppers.

My friend Aimee Ferre made this cute flag and I bought it at one of her sweet boutiques. I will use it when each of my grandkiddos turns eight!

Eight is Great! It is a milestone birthday in the LDS church because it is the year you can get baptized too.

Tiff ser ed chicken salad sandwiches on pretzel rolls. They were SUPER YUMMY! I love those rolls. Get them at Costco. They are a little pricey though, I think they are around 6 bucks a package.

Gary baptized his little girl. It was very tender to see. I love all these peeps!

This is the first party Tiffany has had in her new home. It has the greatest kitchen with a huge marble island. I love it!

Veggies and dip.

Fruit platter. Make some of that yummy marshmallow fluff dip to go with the fruit.

I put little suckers into each of the cupcakes for the kiddos.

I forgot to take pictures of Marisa opening gifts. But she got this really cute gift from my son and daughter-in-law Devin and Caitlin. It was a tiny tiny silver necklace that had an 8. I just LOVED it! How clever is that? I got her jewelry too; a pearl necklace and earrings. She got lots of cool loot.

I loved the entire day. Milestone Happy Days are so fun to spend with family. Yes they are.

Strawberry Pie with Jello Glaze

I made some Strawberry Pie for my daughter and daughter-in-law for a Mother’s Day gift today (it’s a day late but they won’t care…..cuz it is so good it’s criminal! I use Jello for the easy glaze!

Fresh Strawberry Pie with Jello Glaze…don’t ya want a bite? Yes, you do!

I love fresh strawberries and I had a ton I got from the market for $3.75 for a 2 pound package! What a deal!! So I bought 2 of them and made 2 strawberry pies! This recipe is so easy and it was deeeeeeelish. You make the glaze with jello! It is SOOOOOO easy peasy.

I’m gonna do some in peach as soon as they are in season.

Peaches from my tree last year were so yummy. It is just now filled with pink flowery blossoms!

Well, not as pretty as this little Peach at her Spring dance recital!

Here is Miss Megan being her cute, little, joyful self after the recital. So cute!

I like to make my pie crust with real butter. It just tastes better to me, like a yummy crescent cookie. So try your crust with butter to see if you like it too.

PIE CRUST INGREDIENTS…..
I used 1 cube butter,
cut in 1 1/3 cup of flour.
Add 1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons ice water
(I add ice cubes to the water…it just works better to have COLD water!)

The glaze is easy..just jello mixed with sugar water and cornstarch…

Then I like to whisk it up mold it into a ball and roll it out on a large zip lock baggie. It just makes life easier and I was out of waxed paper. 😀 I rolled it out so it was about 1/2 inch bigger all around than the pie tin layed over it. Then I cut around it.

I rolled it out onto the gallon size baggie…you could use waxed paper too.

cuttin’ around the upside down tin…1/2 inch bigger for the cute edging…

It’s so easy to flip the pie crust into the pan and peel off the baggie…then toss it!

Making the beautiful edging is my fav part. Just pinch between your left thumb and your right thumb and forefinger to make the pointy peaks around your pie crust edge. Or opposite if you are a lefty.

Don’t forget to poke forkholes in the butter pie crust…then bake at 475 for 8-10 minutes.

While the crust was baking I did the glaze and cut off the tops of the strawberries and washed and dried them. The glaze is super easy.

Strawberry Glaze Ingredients and Directions
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup of water
2 tablespoons cornstarch Mix first 3 ingredients….

Put it in a saucepan on the stove till it is smooth and when it is bubbling….boil for about 2 minutes. Then take it off the heat.

Add 1 small 3 oz. strawberry jello into the thickening syrup.
Whisk it for a minute till it is dissolved and then put it in the fridge for 15 minutes to cool.

Boil the syrup for about 2 minutes….It’s a little bit thick…

Take it off the stove and toss in the small box of jello….

Then arrange the yummy strawberries with the pointy side up in the cooled pie shell. By the time I had the green tops cut off and them washed and dried, the glaze was cool! Pour the glaze over the top, coating each of the top strawberries. Then pop it into the fridge for a 1/2 hour until set.

Here’s my glaze before I refrigerated it for 15 minutes….

It was delicious because the top of the crust was still crunchy cookie tasting. I hate pie crust that is all soggy Ug! So we ate that baby up so fast!!! It was gone by morning. Yum is all I can say. But I wish I had made 2 of em.

Who says you can’t have a piece of Fresh Strawberry Pie for breakfast…NOT ME!

I’ll be dreaming of this Strawberry Pie for awhile……mmmmm good!

Blueberry Crumble Muffins

Yesterday I felt like using some of my frozen blueberries I got from Costco last week. And I wanted to make a special treat for the secretaries at work for secretaries day. So I got up and made a yummy sausage and egg and hash brown casserole for us and put that in the oven. Then I mixed up this wonderful Blueberry Crumble Muffin recipe for the secretaries. Well, and us too if I’m being honest…. I’ve eaten 3 of them already!

-Blueberry Crumble Muffins are my lastest wicked good sweet-treat!

This recipe was rated really high on All Recipes.com. It had over 4000 ratings at an average of 4.7 out of 5 points. So you know it’s a keeper. I get lots of compliments on these blueberry muffins when I make them. I add some sour cream and vanilla to mine which will make all your baked goods taste richer. Try these Blueberry Crumble Muffins tonight! Or make them this weekend for Mother’s Day and give your mom a sweet surprise!

This is what your Blueberry Crumble Muffins look like before baking. I would add even more of the crumble on top next time. I loved the taste and texture of the baked crumble.

BLUEBERRY CRUMBLE MUFFINS Adapted from To Die For Blueberry Muffins at All Recipes.com
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup sour cream
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (I put the batter in each muffin paper, then add about 8 blueberries so batter won’t turn blue)
1 teaspoon vanilla
CRUMBLE TOPPING – mix in a small bowl
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
Mix up crumble. Put a few tablespoons on each muffin top. Bake at 400 for 20 to 25 minutes until just a bit golden on top. Cool and enjoy. Makes 12 regular sized muffins or about 8 large muffins.

Blueberry Crumble Muffins….These are sinfully delicious. And they are fast and easy to whip up. They go so fast you’ll need a double batch if you have a family! Enjoy!

Easy French Bread Baguettes

And here they are, hot out of the oven! French Baguettes are light and crispy!

Awhile back I went to a great cooking class and listened to a master cook and teacher named
“The Food Nanny”. She was just delightful and fun to listen to. She had so many food stories I could have listened to for hours. Here is her book. It is less than $20.00 on Amazon.
ck out her book, she has such a great meal plan to help families eat dinner together and stay close!

I didn’t have my purse with me so I didn’t get an autographed copy of it! DARN! But I DID get her to take a picture with me, when I told her I had a food blog. Isn’t she cute?

She’s a mom and a grandma too! (and she loves being a grandma best!)

She made pizza dough and french baguettes both in under an hour….

Anyway, she gave us all this fantastic recipe for French Baguettes! It takes literally 5 minutes to make. She showed us this cool baguette pan too. I ran right over after the lunch class and bought one at Spoons and Spice….. my fav cooking gadget store. They are having a huge moving sale, so if you are in the Salt Lake City area check it out at Spoons and Spice.

They had so many french bread pans to choose from and they were surprisingly CHEAP!

My finished french breads…..Don’t they look great? They are crunch on the
outside and soft in the inside…perfect to my taste…..

French Baguette recipe….totally easy and seriously yummy!

Then I went to work. A half hour later here were my baguettes. They taste just like a crusty french bread should. And no fat! She gave us all kinds of tips about meal planning that I thought were fabulous! In a nutshell here is her plan….

Sunday is traditional day…roast beef, chicken, those kinds of things.
Monday is Comfort food…chili, mac and cheese, easy stuff like casseroles….
Tuesday is Italian night….she does all her pastas here…she has tons of varieties….
Wednesday is Meatless night….soups, salads, fish, or breakfast for dinner, waffles, french toast, pancakes, bacon, etc.
Thursday is Mexican Night. Tacos, Enchiladas, mexican casseroles, burritos etc.
Friday is Pizza night and all the kids invite their friends over for her out of this world pizza varieties.
Saturday is Grill night. They do a lot of hamburgers or chicken on the grill.

Doesn’t that sound fabulous and fun? I thought so too. Gotta give that plan a try. The thing she stressed, that I really liked was how she said it kept her family together while her husband flew planes in the military and later for an airline. He was gone a lot. She was like a single parent. And dinner around the table every night added structure to her day and a bonding with her kids. They still all come back for Pizza night. She has many gourmet types of pizza as you can imagine. Her favorite is arugula, fresh mozzerella, cherry tomatoes and olive oil on thin crust. I’ll do that on a later post.

Yeast mixed with warm water and sugar…..let it foam up a bit…..

Then add the flour and salt and mix up with warm water….a little at a time until it is a nice ball….Then knead
for a minute on the counter….

Here are mine kinda kneaded and waiting to be put into the pan….took 5 minutes to make and roll!

I went over to Spoons and Spice to see if I could find a “Baguette Pan”

HERE is a page full of coupons to Spoons and Spice. It’s a really fun place to browse around if you are a foodie like me.

Anyway it looks cool….it’s 2 long u shaped pans for breads….

The food nanny makes this bread and gives it away for people’s birthdays and special occasions. What a great gift idea and so quick. Who wouldn’t love some hot french bread homemade by you?

Here’s the Baguette pan. It was only $5.99 at Spoons and Spice! Or check these out!

Recipe for French Baguettes… SO EASY!
1/2 Cup Warm Water
1 1/2 Tablespoons Yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/4 cups flour add a cup at a time
Add up to one cup warm water to get perfect consistency

Mix up first 3 ingredients in a small bowl and let sit for 2 or 3 minutes. (sugar feeds yeast so let it set awhile) Then in a separate bowl add salt and flour and add it to wet mixture, and then add the (up to 1 cup) warm water. Mix and then knead for a minute. Roll out in 2 loaves and lay them on greased baguette pan and let rest for 15 minutes under a towel (it will rise a bit). Then bake 450 for 15 minutes or until golden colored. This whole french bread takes about 35 minutes total to make and bake.

So here they are before the 15 minutes rising time…..Both have their own tube to sit in….

And here they are after the 15 minutes rising time….I put a line down the middle of each with
a sharp knife just before popping in the oven….it will look just like french bread when it has been baked!

Wha la! Ready for a hot 450 degree oven for about 15 minutes….watch it the last minute or so…..

And here they are, hot out of the oven! French Baguettes are light and crispy!

Well, they are just plain DEEE-LISH! That’s what they are! I sent one down to my friend Lauri down the street. Spread the lovin!
Then Spread some REAL butter and dig in! mmmm….Yummy!

Fresh Veggie Platter for Spring

I was feeling my creativity too on Easter Sunday. I made this cool veggie and dip platter shaped like a spring scene. It was great with a ranch dip.

I 2 fresh broccoli spears, a bag of carrot chips, a bunch of radishes, grape tomatoes and cucumbers. I had a half of a bell pepper I used up too. It was easy to lay it all out.

Just slice up all the above veggies and use celery as the “stalks” of the plant scene. The radishes are the little red and white flower petals.

I had Mango salsa and tortilla and pretzel chips for all of the dips and dipsters!

It was a guilt free and easy fresh veggie platter for our last day of Spring Break.

Use half greek yogurt for some of the sour cream in your ranch dip to save some calories too. Yummy and guilt free snack I’m going to enjoy all week.

I cut a few sprigs off of my apple tree today and put them in vases around the house. Aren’t they pretty? They smell wonderful too. Now I have tulips sprouting AND flowering trees to remind me it is now Spring!

Easter Bunny Cupcakes

We had a lot of fun yesterday having our family over for dinner and egg hunting and making Easter Egg Cupcakes.

With these Easter Bunny Cupcakes, the ears are a large marshmallow cut on the diagonal and dipped in colored sugars.

My youngest granddaughter decorating her Easter cupcake. You GO GIRL!

Easter Cupcakes using colored coconut and jelly beans. The chicky beak is made from a fruit roll up.

Cute little Bunny and Chick cupcakes. We also made little “nests” using coconut and jelly beans.

I had 5 of my 6 grandkiddos there for Pin the tail on the bunny, and some bubble blowing too.

We just had them close their eyes and they were pretty good about keeping them closed while they tried to find the bunny’s behind.

Here we are adding the “tails” to the Pin the tail on the bunny. Megan was the winner! Yay. I found a freebie HERE at partydelights.

I loved watching the daddies help their youngest kiddos hunt for the eggs. It made me tear up a little. sniff…

My oldest son and his youngest daughter. It is neat to see him being a daddy.

And my son in law is also a great dad. Here he is with his youngest and my only grandson.

And I got a GREAT picture of all my grandkiddos after collecting all the eggs.

Here are my two youngest grandkids hunting together. Aren’t they sweet?

“Hey I think I’ve got more than you do. You better get busy dude!”

And I loved seeing the kids hunting for eggs, playing games, creating and loving it. We are all artists. The kids love to be artistic and create beautiful things. It gives them a sense of pride to create, no matter how old they are.

Coloring eggs is a yearly tradition in our family. We have always done it. And it is now the next generation carrying on the tradition for the 3rd generation. Traditions are great things to develop in your family.

These were my oldest granddaughter’s eggs.

And her sister’s eggs too.

I’m enjoying the last days of my Spring break. I think I’ll go eat a cupcake now. 😀

Farfalle with Lemon Garlic Alfredo Sauce

I love to eat pasta. I’m a pasta nut. I love the many different kinds of sauces I can make to go on it. And best of all; everybody in my family likes it too. It is sometimes hard to get little kids to like a new recipe. But if you feed them bowtie pasta, with this cheesy sauce, they will love it, I promise! I had my grandkids living with me for 2 months while their new house was being built, and they all loved it! And they were ages 7, 6 and 2. Farfalle Pasta with Lemon Garlic Alfredo Sauce

This dish has a light alfredo sauce with a hint of lemon. I usually put either spinach or broccoli florets in it with tomato and top it with Parmesan cheese. It is pretty easy and takes about 15 minutes total.
I add carrots, chicken, tomatoes and spinach to my Farfalle Pasta with Lemon Garlic Alfredo Sauce.

DIRECTIONS FOR PASTA WITH LEMON-GARLIC ALFREDO SAUCE

Boil your favorite kind of pasta in salted water. I usually throw the 2 chicken breasts in first and boil them if I don’t have any grilled or rotisserie chicken. Boil the chicken for 6 minutes or so and cut them in fourths halfway through boiling, to be sure they cook through. Then add the pasta. I added a cup of baby carrots to mine at the same time. But I steam my broccoli in another pot. Cook until tender.

A good Alfredo Cream sauce has butter, cream and Parmesan Cheese basically.

While that is cooking, mix 1/4 to 1/2 cube of butter with 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup creme. Add a few shakes of Garlic Salt (My favorite is Johnny’s from Costco). Then add 1/4 cup of sour creme. If you like lots of sauce double this. It is kind of evenly 3 parts butter and cream and I usually put in a dollop of sour cream just to make it creamier. Then shake on 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese and about then the pasta should be done. Add some French Bread and a side salad if you have a crowd.

Cut the chicken pieces into bite sized pieces, and then just spoon out the pasta with a large slotted spoon into the bowl with all the cream and cheese. The carrots go in too and then the spinach chopped up. I use just a handfull of spinach, like 1/2 cup. Toss lightly. Add the juice from about 1/3 a lemon. It is about 1 1/4 tablespoons.

Add seasoning salt (Again, I like Johnnys). Add pepper and parsley flakes. Add the steamed broccoli or fresh, chopped spinach last while tossing. It is also good with some additional Parmesan cheese sprinkled over each serving.

INGREDIENTS FOR FARFALLE WITH LEMON GARLIC ALFREDO SAUCE

A package of your favorite pasta (farfalle, fettucine, etc.) boiled and drained
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup cream
1/4 cup sour cream (a dollop or two)
1 1/4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese (plus extra per serving if desired)
1 cup baby carrots
1/2 cup fresh spinach OR 3/4 cup steamed broccoli florets
2 chicken breasts diced up into bite sized pieces
1/3 cup of grape tomatoes (put in just before serving)
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon Johnny’s garlic seasoning (shake some on and then taste)
A few shakes of parsley flakes for color Pepper to taste

It is a full meal and if you want less calories just skimp on the sauce or water it down with milk instead of sour cream. It is yummy and filling. I serve it with french bread and fruit. It is one of our family’s favorites.
Pasta with Lemon Garlic Alfredo Sauce is a great weeknight meal.

Soft Homemade Pretzels

I love those to get one of those soft pretzels from the Pretzel Shack in the mall. Their soft pretzel bites and pretzel dogs (mini pigs in a blanket) are soooooo yummy I had to try to make some at home!

Here’s my yummy soft pretzels!

They took some time but were easy to make, and VERY light and soft.

I found a Homemade Pretzels recipe that would be great for a March Madness treat for the men who are glued to the bigscreen T.V. It is from Smitten Kitchen HERE. She adapted her recipe from Martha Stewart’s.

Then I looked at 3 more recipes and read comments for about an hour. Then I looked up recipes on the Food Network and All Recipes.com. I chose this recipe because of all the positive comments. It is from the FOOD NETWORK. It is Alton Brown’s recipe and there was also a video. The link is HERE.

Then I watched a few you tubes on pretzel making and Martha Stewart had a video too. Those are THE BEST ways to learn how to cook something! You tube videos!! I adapted this one after making it. My recipe has a little more sugar and less salt. And I did not bake mine as long. I like them lighter and soft, not hard on the outside so I added DOUGH ENHANCER POWDER.

My dough mixed up and ready to cover…..

DIRECTIONS FOR SOFT PRETZELS
Start by Mixing the warm water and sugar and then sprinkle on the yeast packet. Let it sit until it is foamy. They call that “proofing” the yeast, it will take 5 minutes. Then add the salt and melted butter and put your dough hook on your mixmaster. Add a cup of flour to start.

Add the rest of the flour and some dough enhancer. Knead for a few minutes.

The Dough Enhancer makes bread softer and doughier. You can get it from Bosch bread making supply store. They were easy and yummy and kinda fun!

Soft Pretzels (my recipe adapted from Alton Brown)
1 package instant dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 Tablespoons melted BUTTER
1 teaspoon dough enhancer (optional for softer pretzels)
4 1/4 cups all purpose flour
Mix, knead, let rise for an hour, then roll out and make your pretzels. Place on parchment paper on cookie sheets and bake for 6 to 7 minutes at 425 degrees.

Now we are ready to roll the pretzel dough out…..it has puffed up quite a bit….

Always use less flour to start on any bread recipe. Then slowly add in by cupfuls. This dough was smooth, not really very sticky at all.

Then place dough ball in an oiled pan and cover for an hour to let it rise. Then I rolled it out on my surface. Make a big rectangle shape. My dough was about 1/2 inch thick, maybe a little less.

I rolled pretzel dough into a rectangle…..

Get your pizza cutter and cut the dough down the middle, then 2 more times to make 4 sections. Then cut each section into 3 or 5 strips, depending upon how large or small you want your pretzels.

Cut Soft Pretzel Dough into 4 sections with a pizza cutter, and then cut each section into 5 skinny strips….to make 20 pretzels.

If it is for a party I recommend the 5 strips. This will give you 20 good, 3 inch bite sized pretzels. If you do the larger (palm sized thick pretzels) 3 strips will make 12 big and soft 5 inch pretzels.

Here were my ingredients….and my cute new RACHEL RAY PAN! It is oval, and orange, with a soft, rubber handle and with a pour spout. SO CUTE right? I love her stuff! I got it on sale at J. C. Pennys! Only $15 bucks and I had a 20% off coupon if I opened a charge (yes I’m a sucker for a coupon!).

(Mix a bath of 5 cups hot water to 1/3 cup baking soda in a deep fry pan. Set on warm on stove for after pretzels are made and formed.)

I mixed up the baking soda and water hot bath….left it on low on the stove and then formed my pretzels….

They take less than a minute each in the hot water bath…just like a bagel!

I played with my dough making all kinds of shapes….it would be so fun for kids to do too!

Roll it, flip it twice around, then turn each end up and pinch…

To roll them I made a long snake, 12 to 16 inches long, and then make make a loop, then twist it once again and take the tails and flip them up to the round loop and press them down. Then I turned each one over.

Soft Pretzels. That’s it!

Then drop them in the baking soda and hot water bath….just for like 45 seconds each…

Pick pretzels up with a slotted spoon and place on a cookie sheet with parchment paper on it..

More playing with soft pretzel dough….lol…..

Oh boy is this fun! I got about 3 cookie sheets full…About 20 pretzels….

Top each pretzel with a sprinkle of kosher salt before baking. (not much, or too salty!)

Sprinkled on the salt….

Then ready to bake!

Bake in 425 oven for 5 1/2 to 71/2 minutes. Watch them as each oven is a little different. My top shelf cooked them faster than my bottom shelf too, so I had an extra minute on the lower shelf of pretzels.

Here they are just hot out of the oven….soft and yummy….If you like them hard on the outside just do an egg wash and cook them a bit longer in the oven…they will have a stiffer, smooth and chewy outside…..

Add the melted butter on with a silicone brush….

When they come out of the oven brush them with melted butter and a silicone brush. EAT! They are lightly crisp on the outside and buttery chewy inside. Yummy! The hubs loved them! He loves anything salty.

Oh yeah….that’s what I’m talkin about! I brought them to my classroom the next day
for our little cast party….we are doing 4 little fairy tale plays….I brought O.J. to go with them…yum!

Dip them in chili, mustard,light cream cheese with raspberry homemade jam, or cinnamon and sugar or just plain. Next time I’ll try putting a 1/4 slice of hot dog inside each one and make pretzel dogs! That would go great with mustard…. mmmm………

Little Smokies Hash Browns

Little Smokies Hash Browns for breakfast today. Yummy-licious!

I love hash browns. I love going out to breakfast and getting pancakes and hash browns. They are my favorites! But today I just stayed home and made my own breakfast skillet creation; Hash Browns with Peppers and Little Smokies.
Little Smokies Hash Browns

Ore Ida Potatoes O’Brien is the start of a yummy skillet breakfast.

I start with the Potatoes O’Brien. They are cubed hash browns with onions and peppers. Then I added a handful of Little Smokies sliced up. I put them in a hot skillet with some olive oil and fried them up for 5 minutes. Lastly I added a few slices of fresh avocado

I added some fresh, sliced pears, strawberries and mini oranges called CUTIES and toast. It was a yummy breakfast. I love fresh fruit now that we have so many in season.

It was a yummy breakfast. The hubs even thought so too!