So it’s been a while

I know, I know…I’ve been a very, very bad blogger but honestly I was totally immersed in a 3 month long project that I loved dearly and took up the majority of the very limited free time that I have.  But the project has been completed and the torch has been passed so “I’M BAAAAAAAAACKKKKK!”
I’ve missed my twitter friends, my Facebook friends and most importantly I’ve missed my blog.  So I am back nice and fresh with a recipe that is perfect for this up coming weekend (there is some sort of game or something going on right?) or really any time you get a craving for some chicken wings that will knock your socks off!!!

They are fast and easy but take a little bit of pre planning for the marinating time but other than that they are perfect for a busy weeknight meal…Thanks @aggieskitchen for a great recipe!
Ranch Chicken Wings (from Aggie’s Kitchen, with slight seasoning changes)
Ingredients:
2 lbs chicken wings
1 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp dry lemon pepper seasoning salt
2 cloves of minced garlic
1/2 tsp dry dill seasoning (Or look for a seasoning called “It’s A Dilly” which has it all)
Dry Ranch Dressing Packet
Fresh Ground Pepper
Combine oil, lemon pepper seasoning, garlic and dill seasoning in bowl. Pour over chicken wings and let marinate for 4-6 hours.
Place wings in an oven pan covered w/foil and sprinkle liberally with Dry Ranch Dressing packet and fresh ground pepper….cook 425 degree for about 35-40 minutes. You may want to broil them for a few minutes to brown them right up…But watch them closely! Serve with Ranch dressing and cut celery.

Cookies We Love: Galletas con Chochitos (Mexican Butter Cookies with Sprinkles)

It’s cookie baking time once again and this year I am lucky enough to bake with the same special group of baker’s that I have baked with in the past!  So excited!!! 

Special thanks to Courtney of Coco Cooks for organizing us again this year!

It’s cookie baking time once again and this year I am lucky enough to bake with the same special group of baker’s that I have baked with in the past!  So excited!!! 

This year's challenge will feature a minimum of four types of cookies, spread out over four weeks ~ all chosen from Saveur's Smart Cookies: Favorite Holiday Treats From Around the World feature. As in years past, each of us will choose our cookies at random, independently from one another. We may post the same cookies on the same weeks, or we may all post something different. In any case, it will be fun to see everyone's take on the same set of recipes. I know I'm looking forward to it!

Who's involved in this completely fabulous baking group? Here's a complete list:

• Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes
• Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
• Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook
• Judy of No Fear Entertaining
• Kelly of Sass & Veracity
• Michelle of Big Black Dog
• RJ of Flamingo Musings
• Tiffany of The Nesting Project
• Courtney of Coco Cooks
• Sandy of At the Baker's Bench

Be sure to visit each of these blogs weekly and see what the other baking bloggers are up to!

My very late cookies for this week are…

Galletas con Chochitos (Mexican Butter Cookies with Sprinkles)

These are so cute and we all loved them!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 cup sugar
8 tbsp. unsalted butter,
   softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract, preferably
   Mexican
3 egg yolks
1 egg white, lightly beaten
Multicolored sprinkles, for
   decorating

Directions:

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. In a mixer, beat together sugar, butter, and vanilla until fluffy. Add yolks one at a time; beat. Add dry ingredients; mix. Roll dough into a 12"-long cylinder. Cut cylinder into 3 pieces; roll each into a 12"-long cylinder. Cut each cylinder into twelve 1"-long pieces. Roll each into a ball; transfer to a lined baking sheet. Flatten each into a small disk; using your finger, poke a hole in center of each disk. Chill for 1 hour. Heat oven to 300°. Brush each ring with egg white; dip into sprinkles to coat. Return to baking sheets; bake for 15 minutes. Let cool.

MAKES 3 DOZEN

Cookies We Love: Caramel Crumb Bars

It’s cookie baking time once again and this year I am lucky enough to bake with the same special group of baker’s that I have baked with in the past! So excited!!!

Special thanks to Courtney of Coco Cooks for organizing us again this year!

It’s cookie baking time once again and this year I am lucky enough to bake with the same special group of baker’s that I have baked with in the past! So excited!!!

This year's challenge will feature a minimum of four types of cookies, spread out over four weeks ~ all chosen from Saveur's Smart Cookies: Favorite Holiday Treats From Around the World feature. As in years past, each of us will choose our cookies at random, independently from one another. We may post the same cookies on the same weeks, or we may all post something different. In any case, it will be fun to see everyone's take on the same set of recipes. I know I'm looking forward to it!

Who's involved in this completely fabulous baking group? Here's a complete list:

• Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes
• Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
• Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook
• Judy of No Fear Entertaining
• Kelly of Sass & Veracity
• Michelle of Big Black Dog
• RJ of Flamingo Musings
• Tiffany of The Nesting Project
• Courtney of Coco Cooks
• Sandy of At the Baker's Bench

Be sure to visit each of these blogs weekly and see what the other baking bloggers are up to!

For my first and very late cookie I decided to make the quickest one I could find. Lucky for me it was fast and delicious too…

Caramel Crumb Bars

In New Zealand, these shortbread bars are actually baked throughout the year, but the sheer extravagance of their double-layered topping,rich caramel and a crumbly butter streusel,makes them a perfect holiday treat.

This recipe uses butter. Lots and lots of rich delicious butter and did I mention they are fast to make?

More to come…

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I am thankful for each and every one of you…

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Pumpkin Spice Granola Bars

So I have been kinda MIA for the month right?  Not going to bore you with the details but I have been busy.  Really, really busy.  But now my Mom is here.  For the winter.  And I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.  You know how we all wish for an extra set of hands to help out?  I finally have them!
Anyway, I have fallen in love with these granola bars and really needed to take a second to post them. 
My friend Maria of Two Peas and Their Pod posted these one morning a while back and I made them that same day…for the first time.  I have made them so often since then that I no longer need a recipe.  They are a hit and my kids love them!

Pumpkin Spice Granola Bars (Two Peas and Their Pod)
Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup pumpkin puree
¼ cup applesauce
¼ cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8 by 8 baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk oats, spices, and salt together. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk brown sugar, pumpkin, applesauce, honey, and vanilla extract until smooth. Pour over oats and stir well, until all of the oats are moist. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Evenly press oat mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. The pumpkin keeps the bars moist, so make sure they are golden and set-you don’t want them to be under baked. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
5. Using a sharp knife, cut into bars. Remove from pan and let cool completely.
***I have changed nothing with this recipe except to add mini chocolate chips sometimes and to bake them a bit longer.  Maria has a new oven and I think it may work a bit better than mine…

Halloween Cupcakes

My computer has another virus so it's been at the Doctors...for a very long time. I was hoping I would have it back before the end of the #GreatHallowTweet but that isn't going to happen so this is going to be short and sweet...

This event is the brain child of Renee from Flamingo Musings. The widget on the side bar show everyone who is playing and makes it easy for you to “hop” from one participating blog to the next! So from October 25th to the 31st, just click on any of these links and hop from blog to blog. Fun! Frolic! Mayhem! From ghoulish recipes to please monsters of all ages, to general insanity, make the rounds everyday to see what new surprises might be lurking around that dark corner. You know - the one with the broken streetlight and creepy shadows? BWAHAHAHAHA!


So I totally cheated on these and used a boxed mix for these cupcakes. You can pretty much do what ever type or flavor that you would like. I did make the frosting. Just a simple white frosting.

White Frosting for Cupcakes or Cakes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 to 3 Tbsp. milk

Directions

Beat butter with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until creamy.
Gradually beat in sugar until smooth.
Beat in vanilla and 2 Tbsp. milk, adding additional milk, if necessary, for desired consistency.

***These were a huge hit at the girl's Halloween Parties this year. Simple but really Halloweenish!

Pumpkin Seeds…that’s why we carve pumpkins right?

Another post for the #GreatHallowTweet!  This is the brain child of Renee from Flamingo Musings.  The widget on the side bar show everyone who is playing and makes it easy for you to “hop” from one participating blog to the next!  So from October 25th to the 31st, just click on any of these links and hop from blog to blog. Fun! Frolic! Mayhem! From ghoulish recipes to please monsters of all ages, to general insanity, make the rounds everyday to see what new surprises might be lurking around that dark corner. You know - the one with the broken streetlight and creepy shadows? BWAHAHAHAHA!

In out house on of the favorite things about Halloween is being able to carve the pumpkins.  Great scary faces, some silly, sometimes we even make them sad…but really our goal is the pumpkin seeds.  We LOVE the seeds.  Roasted up nice and crispy with a spicy and salty seasoning blend…

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Preheat oven to 425F

Ingredients:

1/2 stick of butter (melted)
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp white pepper
pinch cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp smoked paprika

Directions:

• Mix and stir in cleaned and dried pumpkin seeds and place on a baking sheet.
• Place in the oven and stir every 5-7 minutes or until brown and crisp.