Chick-Fuh-Lay Nuggets and Sauce

I found this recipe on Pinterest and decided to give it a try. I'm sure glad I did because it was sooo good!

For the sauce:
1/2 cup mayo
1 Tbsp. mustard (regular prepared yellow mustard)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. vinegar
2 Tbsp. honey

For the nuggets:
8 chicken tenders or 6 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 powdered sugar
4 tsp. salt
3 tsp. pepper
1 tsp paprika
peanut oil or canola oil for frying (i used canola)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the sauce, mix well and refrigerate.

2. In a large dutch oven or stock pot (I used a milti-cooker), heat up oil over medium high heat to 375 degrees (see not below).

3. While the oil is heating, in a gallon ziploc bag, combine flour, sugar, salt, pepper, and paprika. Seal and shake to combine.

4. throw the chicken pieces into the bag, close it, and shake until all are coated well.

5. Using a slotted spoon, fish out the nuggets and shake off excess flour and place on a clean plate.

6.Before you start frying, prepare a plate by lining sheets of paper towl to drain the nuggets after frying.

7. When ready, place about 10-12 nuggets in the oil and let cook for about 5 min (but it also depends on the size of your nuggets)

8. Remove nuggets from oil with a spider strainer or slotted spoon and set on lined plate to drain. Continue until all nuggets have been cooked.

9. Serve hot with dipping sauce.

SIDE NOTES: If you don't have a thermometer for the oil, you and test the oil by dropping a small piece of chicken or batter into the oil and if it sinks and floats to the top with swift speed, the oil is just right. If it sinks and takes forever to come up to the top, the oil is too cold. If it sizzles and immediately fries up, the oil is too hot.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

• 2-5 pound pot roast (any kind)  
• 1 envelope ranch dressing (dried)
• 1 envelope Italian dressing (dried)
• 1 envelope brown gravy mix
• Potatoes, Carrots, & Onions
• 1 to 1-1/2 cup water

1. If you wanted carrots,  potatoes, & onions in your CrockPot, cut them to your liking and put in the bottom of your CrockPot. 
2. Put Roast on top of vegatables. 
3. Sprinkle all 3 spice envelopes on top. 
4. Add the water. 
5. Cook on LOW for 6-10 hours until tender and veggies cooked through.

This is seriously the best roast I have ever had. It has so much flavor and tastes so yummy. Erik even loved it and that is saying something! This isn't the picture of the actual meal that I made but it is the picture taken from the actual recipe. This is a must try! So delish! 

Five Cheese Ziti

Ziti Sauce

4 cups tomato sauce

2 cups alfredo sauce

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

3 tablespoons fontina cheese, shredded

1 teaspoon garlic pepper seasoning

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Ziti Topping

3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs

3 tablespoons romano cheese, grated

3 tablespoons parmesen cheese, grated

1 tablespoon fresh garlic, chopped

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped (Optional) 

Remaining Ingredients

1 lb dry ziti pasta (penne works too)

1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions: 

PREPARE THE ZITI SAUCE:

Combining all ingredients for the Ziti Sauce in a large bowl; cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

PREPARE THE ZITI TOPPING:

In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the first four ingredients for the Ziti Topping.

Add the garlic, oil, and parsley and mix until thoroughly blended. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

WHEN READY TO PREPARE THE WHOLE DISH:.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 13-by-9-inch baking dish or large casserole with non-stick spray.

Prepare the pasta according to package directions.

Pour 1/2 cup of prepared ziti sauce into the prepared dish, and spread it evenly over the bottom using a spoon.

When pasta has finished cooking, drain the water and pour the hot pasta into the bowl of remaining sauce. Mix thoroughly; pour into the baking dish.

Spread 1 cup of shredded mozzarella over the pasta and sauce mixture.

Top the mozzarella with the prepared Ziti Topping, spreading evenly.

Place pan on center oven rack and bake until top is golden brown and cheese is bubbling, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Remove and serve immediately.

This is a really yummy meal. I made a few changes to the recipe, nothing major, and it still turned out great. The only things I did different was I didn't use the garlic pepper seasoning. I didn't want to buy it for only 1 tsp., and I didn't use the fontina cheese. Again i didn't want to buy it for only 3 tbs. so I substituted Romano cheese since I had it. Other than that i followed the recipe. This recipe is also very saucy. so if you don't like it super saucy maybe add more pasta or not make or use all the sauce.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Okay, so I started a new blog. Not that I'm abandoning this blog, but I saw so many "Mommy" blogs out there and I wanted to try to do one too. So, this is one of my posts on that blog. I haven't shared it with anyone yet. I wanted to just get a bunch of content on there first, because who wants to visit a blog with like 3 posts? Anyway, you should check it out. You guys can even become my first followers.
I have to admit I am so tired of seeing pins all over pinterest claiming to be the best chocolate chip cookies. They can't all be the best, especially because I actually have the best recipe right here in front of me. That's right, I hold in my hands the best recipe for chocolate chip cookies known to man. They are phenomenal. The original recipe comes from Our Best Bites. I have loved almost every single thing I have made using their recipes, but these cookies are, in my opinion, their masterpiece, and maybe also their pizza crust, but that's a post for a different day.
For the most part I like to stick to a recipe. I am not an amazing chef, but I can follow directions really well. The main thing I changed about this recipe was to half the amount of butter and margarine. I have found that by halving the butter I get  more of a puffy shaped cookie instead of a flat cookie. Growing up my mom always made very flat cookies, and while they tasted great and I love my mom, I always wanted the puffy cookies that my friend Cami made. So, half the butter if you want a puffy cookies. I can't tell a difference in taste, and in my mind, it makes eating these cookies almost as healthy as eating an apple.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 C Butter (I used 1/4 C)
1/2 C Margarine (I used 1/4 C)
3/4 C White Sugar
1 C Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 t Vanilla
3 C Flour
3/4 t Salt
3/4 t Baking Soda
12 oz. Chocolate Chips (I usually half this too.)

Cream the butter, margarine, sugars, eggs and vanilla together. In another bowl mix together flour, salt and baking soda, then add to creamed ingredients. Mix together and add chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Let them sit on the pan for just a minute or two after taking them out of the oven, then cool on a wire rack. I usually get about 3 dozen cookies out of this recipe.

*Side note- I have read on several blogs and heard from friends who are much better cooks than I am, that you should use a kitchen scale to measure your ingredients to get more accurate measurements. I'm a little lazy, so I don't often do this. But, I hate measuring our brown sugar and packing it into the cup. I just hate it. So when I am using brown sugar I pull out my kitchen scale, set my mixing bowl on top, tare off the weight of my mixing bowl and then just pour the brown sugar in straight from the bag. 1 Cup Brown Sugar = 7 oz. It is so much easier.

Green Monster Smoothie

I've been wanting to try a green smoothie for a while now but never had the courage to put spinach into a perfectly good smoothie. But when I found this recipe on pinterest it said that It "doesn't taste healthy at all" so i decided to give it a try. I absolutely loved it and you literally cannot taste the spinach at all. So before you just push this aside and decide not to try it, just trust me and give it a try. I had one for breakfast and I wasn't hungry again until 2 when I got off work. It was awesome!

                                                 (Don't mind the mess)

Green Monster Smoothie

1 frozen sliced banana (peel and slice before you freeze or you'll be sorry)

1 Tbsp peanut butter

1/2 cup 0% or fat free vanilla greek yogurt (I use dannon)

1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk 

4 cups spinach (or more, or less)

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth

350 calories, 10 grams fiber, 21 grams protein.

Fruit Dip

My cohort at school is having an end of the year potluck and so I decided to bring fruit and fruit dip. I found this recipe on a blog and I decided to try it since it looked super easy. I figured this would be pretty hard to mess up. It's just 3 ingredients and all you do is mix it together. It turned out amazing!!! I love it. To bad its super unhealthy. It kinda cancels out the healthiness of the fruit you are dipping in it. Oh well. It tastes good and thats all that matters. Super Duper easy!

1- 8oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

1- 7oz. Jar marshmallow creme

1/2 tsp. vanilla

Soften the cream cheese either by leaving it on the counter or microwaving it for 30 seconds on low power. Place all ingredients in a bowl, and with an electric mixer, beat until smooth. Serve with an assortment of fresh fruit. (My favorite is strawberries! Yum!) Makes 2 cups.

P.S. I hate marshmallow but love this dip. So TRY IT!

Homemade Tortillas

The tortillas are not a must make, but they definitely add something delicious to the salad. If you really don't want to make your own tortillas, even though it is super easy, you should at least buy the raw ones from the store and cook them up. They are way better than the precooked ones you can buy.

Flour Tortillas

2 ½ C Flour

¾ t Kosher Salt

¼ C Plus 2 T Shortening

¾ – 1 C Hot Water

Combine flour and salt in a mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add shortening and combine until crumbly.

Slowly add in water. Mix until the dough comes together like play dough. Divide dough into 8-10 balls. Roll out each tortilla as thin as possible and heat in a skillet.