Honey-Dijon Chicken ////////// Oreo Stuffed Cookies

So I've been trying several new recipes recently, but not all of them have turned out well. There was a broccoli gratin recipe that I tried that ended up being a soupy mess. So needless to say, I will not be posting that one, even though I'm sure it was just something that I didn't do right.

But I do have a few recipes that did turn out pretty well, so here are those ones at least. After making my cookies and cream cookies the other week, I decided to try making the Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies. I have to say that they were delicious, but they turned out HUGE! I've never made cookies this big before! The whole batch ended up just being twelve cookies! It got super messy trying to make these cookies, so honestly I'm surprised they turned out decent, but I suppose all that matters is that they were delicious.

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2 sticks softened butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 oz bag chocolate chips
1 pkg. Oreo cookies

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars together with a mixer until well combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt and baking soda.  Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined. To help keep the dough from spreading too much during baking, put the dough in the refrigerator for a few minutes first. It also makes it easier to shape them into cookies.
3. Using a cookie scoop take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of an Oreo Cookie.  Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of Oreo cookie.  Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until Oreo cookie is enclosed with dough.  Place onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and bake cookies 9-13 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Just look at these monsters!

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Tonight for dinner, I actually tried two different things: Honey-Dijon Chicken Tenders and Zucchini Rice. It turned out delicious other than the fact that my rice didn't completely absorb all of the water when it was cooking. The rice and the chicken still went together really well and was surprisingly easy to make. Here are the recipes for both.

Honey-Dijon Chicken

Ingredients:

1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. paprika
3 tbsp. butter, melted
heaping 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. honey
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced vertically into strips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a large baking sheet and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, Dijon mustard and honey; whisk until well combined.
3. Place the chicken strips into the mustard-butter mixture, then into the breadcrumbs. Coat evenly. Place onto the baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the zucchini rice...

Zucchini Rice

Ingredients:

1 cup long-grain white rice
1 medium zucchini, coarsely grated
3 tbsp. butter
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Cook rice according to package directions. Remove from heat, add butter and sprinkle zucchini over the rice. Cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork. Salt and pepper, to taste.

2. Serve immediately with the chicken tenders, or with your own favorite main course.

Cookies and Cream Cookies!

We ended up having a "date night" over at Shawn and Leslie's house on Friday, so I was trying to pick a dessert for it that I would have time to make after work before I headed over to their house. I had found this recipe that seemed like the perfect cookie hybrid: oreos and chocolate chip cookies. I figured I couldn't go wrong with them, and they turned out delicious! The recipe didn't make a huge batch of cookies, so we actually ended up (shamefully) finishing the whole batch though. They had a subtle crunch to them with the crushed oreo pieces and the gooeyness that makes chocolate chip cookies so good. It's hard to top a chocolate chip cookie, but I think they may have topped the classic by taking them to the next level. My next recipe that I want to try out now is the oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookie though, so I'm excited to try those as well.

Cookies and Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 stick softened butter

6 Tablespoons sugar
6 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ¼ cup flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
11 broken pieces Oreo Cookies
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter, and sugars until well combined. Add egg and vanilla until mixed well.

2. Place flour, baking soda and salt into a large bowl, stir to combine. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients then stir in oreos and chocolate chips until just combined.

3. With a medium cookie scoop, scoop onto baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until cooked, but still soft. Let cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Fresh Broccoli Salad

I've been trying to get some new ideas for some easy lunches that I can bring to work. Since I've been eating a lot of Ramen and frozen pizzas for lunch recently, I was also looking for something a little lighter and healthier to kind of get away from the processed foods for a little bit. So I found this recipe for broccoli salad, but it's a little different than broccoli salads that I've had before in that it doesn't have the mayo/salad dressing coating. This recipe is a little lighter, and for having raw broccoli in it, I thought it was pretty yummy! It was pretty quick and easy to make and pretty healthy too!

Broccoli Salad

Ingredients:

6 C fresh, uncooked broccoli florets
1/2 C thinly sliced green onions
1/2 C craisinets or dried cherries
1/4 C sunflower seeds
4 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled (I used Oscar Meyer pre-cooked bacon - even easier!)
Dressing:
3 Tbsp canola oil
3 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar (in the Asian aisle at the store)
2 Tbsp sugar

Directions:
Mix together the dressing ingredients and pour over salad ingredients and mix it all together well.  Keep the salad in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve it.  If it is going to be in the refrigerator for awhile, wait to add the sunflower seeds and bacon so they don’t get soft and soggy!

Mini Egg Frittatas and Red Velvet Cookies

Well, this is my first post to start this year, and since I didn't get to try a new recipe last week, I already made two for this week!

Last night, we had breakfast for dinner and I made mini egg frittatas with potatoes o'brien. They were super easy and the serving size was perfect for just me and D.J. The fun thing with these is that you can add anything you want to them and be able to switch it up. They may not look super appealing in the pictures, but they were super yummy!

Mini Egg Frittatas

Makes 6 mini frittatas

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs
• 1/4 cup half-and-half
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• Assorted mix-ins like shredded cheese, diced vegetables, and cooked and chopped bacon, ham, or sausage (I used shredded cheddar cheese, diced onion, chopped bacon)
• Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Instructions

1. Heat your oven to 350º F and coat a 6-cup muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, and salt in a medium bowl, then evenly distribute the egg mixture among the muffin cups.
3. Add about 2 tablespoons of mix-ins to each cup, then sprinkle on a bit of Parmesan cheese, if you like.
4. Bake the frittatas until they are puffy and the edges are golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. If necessary, run a butter knife around the edge of each one to loosen them before removing them from the pan.

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D.J. and I have a family get together to go to on Sunday and I've been trying to figure out what dessert to make for it. D.J.'s aunt had recently told me about this super yummy recipe for cookies that were made with cake mix, and I've been wanting to experiment with it by using different kinds of cake mixes. The original cookies were absolutely delicious and were made with regular yellow cake mix. Here is the original recipe:

"Melt in Your Mouth" Toffee Pecan Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 box yellow cake mix

2 large eggs

1 tbsp water

1 8 oz. bag Heath toffee bits

1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped

Directions:

 

1. Preheat oven to 350*F.

2. Mix butter, add cake mix, eggs & water. Mix well.

3. Add toffee bits and pecans, mix by hand.

4. Spoon onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes

5. Transfer to cooling rack.

Now, last night I decided to follow the same recipe, except I used red velvet cake mix and substituted the toffee bits and pecans with white chocolate chips. They turned out really yummy so I'm thinking about making them again for our Sunday get together...

Red Velvet Cake Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 box red velvet cake mix

2 large eggs

1 tbsp water

1 bag white chocolate chips (I used a 12 oz. bag)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F.

2. Mix butter, add cake mix, eggs & water. Mix well.

3. Add white chocolate chips, mix by hand.

4. Spoon onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes

5. Transfer to cooling rack.

I may cook them an extra minute or two next time though because they were still a little soft in the middle... but they were still delicious!

So far, I'm off to a good start to my year of baking!