Ok...too much junk!

Happy Friday!  I do realize I have been posting a lot of junk food lately.  Probably too much.  What you should know is that I don't necessarily keep everything I make.  I like to give away the brownies, cookies, or pie as treats to family and friends.  If I don't get rid of it that way I bring whatever it is into work.  When you work in a big company there is always someone who wants to gobble up what you bring!  No matter what it is!

Well the other night we decided to have a nice dinner of chicken, rice, and green beans.  I decided I wanted to try something like shake n bake and found this recipe from TastyKitchen.com.

Homemade Shake N Bake.
Ingredients:

• 2 cups Flour
• 2 Tablespoons Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Celery Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Pepper
• 2 Tablespoons Dry Mustard
• 4 Tablespoons Paprika
• 2 Tablespoons Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon Ginger
• ½ teaspoons Thyme
• ½ teaspoons Sweet Basil
• ½ teaspoons Oregano

I did half of everything since this makes so much.  Blend or mix well then place in zip lock bag.  Line 13x9 baking dish with foil.  Cut fat off chicken, rinse, and shake and place in baking dish.  I baked the chicken at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

There will be lots of "shake n bake" left over.  The recipe said you can freeze it and use it whenever.  So...that is what we are doing.

White Chocolate Chocolate Cookies

This is the backwards chocolate chip cookie. 

I think I have turned my husband into a cookie monster.  He likes having cookies in the cookie jar and our cookie jar has been empty lately.  So, I decided to fill the cookie jar!  He asked me "what kind are you making?"  I said probably chocolate chip cookies well I made the reverse of chocolate chip cookies.  I found the recipe on allrecipes.com.  This is one of my favorite sites for recipes.

Here is the recipe White Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream butter and sugars until creamy and then add eggs.  In a separate bowl mix cocoa, flour, and baking soda.  Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture and then fold in white chocolate chips.  Bake for 8-10 minutes. 

They were very yummy!  I love white chocolate! ♥

Oriental Stir Fry

One of my favorite cook books is 5 Ingredients or Less Cookbook.  I found the Easy Oriental Stir Fry recipe I tried it right away.  This has become a favorite of my husband's and my son! 

Ingredients:
1 1/4 lb Hamburger (I used ground pork or turkey usually)
1 16 oz package of stir fry vegetables
2 packages of oriental ramen noodle
3 TBLS green onion
1/2 tsp ginger

Brown the meat in a frying pan (I added minced onion, little bit of salt, and pepper).  Once the meat is browned put aside in a bowl.  In same frying pan add 2 cups of water, stir fry vegetables, broken up ramen noodles, and the ramen seasoning.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat and cover for 3 minutes.  Add meat, green onion, and ginger into the pan and serve. 

Very simple and easy...I love this recipe and it makes for a easy night afterward with not many dishes!

Ice Cream Sundae Brownies

Happy Friday!  Woohoo the weekend is almost here!  Last night we went over to my husband's cousin's place for dinner.  I brought desert.

I found these delectable brownies from PickyPalate's blog.  The recipe was so easy and oh so delicious!  I gave most of the brownies away in fear I would eat them all.  Here is the recipe she posted Ice Cream Sundae Brownies.

Ingredients:
1 family size box of brownie mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup of favorite ice cream (we used Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Cup)
1/4 cup hot fudge chilled

Preheat oven to 350 degree.  Mix with electric mixer brownie mix, eggs, and canola oil until thick.  Add chocolate chips, ice cream, and fudge continue to mix.  Batter will be thick.  Line 13x9 baking dish with foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Pour batter into dish and bake 40-50 minutes.  Let brownies completely cool before cutting them!

Lukas helped make them! He got to lick the spoon once we were done...or "taste the spoon" as he called it.

Kid Sized Pizzas

Last week Lukas was sick and didn't feel well at all.  He had a double ear infection along with some teething.  My husband and I decided to keep him home a couple of days.  We usually take turns when it comes to taking time off with him.  Well the day I was home with him we had mini kid sized pizzas!

Pizza is one of Lukas's favorites so before I remembered to take a picture he had already gobbled up half the mini pizza!  He ate two of these and I am amazed at how much he can eat sometimes.  The recipe called for sausage, but I didn't put any meat in them.  Lukas eats cheese pizza the best...super easy and satisfying for my toddler!!!  That white stuff on the plate is ranch dressing.  He dips his pizza in ranch dressing like his mommy.

Recipe orignally from Taste of Home
Ingredients:
6 English Muffins (I used whole wheat hamburger buns.)
2 cups or more of pizza sauce (I used left over spaghetti sauce from the fridge.)
1 or more cups of mozzarella cheese
sprinkle with garlic salt and itailian seasoning
(add any of your favorite toppings)  ♥

Spread sauce on muffins and top with cheese.  Sprinkle with seasoning.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until cheese melts.  I usually bake until cheese starts to melt and then broil on high for 1 or 2 minutes.

It was actually pretty tasty and Lukas approved!

French Silk Pie

My very most favorite pie is French Silk Pie!  I found this recipe on Dinner's For a Year and Beyond's blog and I had to make it.  The pie crust recipe is from Pionner Woman Cook's cookbook.

French Silk recipe here at this link French Silk Yumminess!  My little man loved it, and my husband was pretty impressed too!  This was my very first pie crust I made from scratch and the french silk part was actually really easy.  So great!!!

The Perfect Sugar Cookie

Last week I made The Perfect Sugar Cookie from Dinners for A Year and Beyond's blog.  This cookie is great!  My little guy and I made these and they were very easy.  I did put my dough in the fridge for a couple days until I had time to make it, but they turned out so great even that way!

We did the fall/halloween themed sugar cookies (above), a snickerdoodle sugar cookie (below), and a sugar cookie dipped in chocolate almond bark (way down below).  The snickerdoodle sugar cookie was rolled in sugar and cinnamon and well the chocolate almond bark cookie was well...you guessed it dipped in chocolate.

The flirty snickerdoodle sugar cookie. ;)

The chocolate almond bark cookie surrounded by my little guy's cars.

Ummm...I love cookies!  In moderation that is! ♥

Food and Calories

There is one thing I really look at on labels and recipes that have them is the nutrition information.  I don't count calories per say, but I do try to pick lower calorie foods and recipes.  Not all recipes I pick have a lower calorie count, but if I do my best to pick healthier meals for myself and my family it makes me feel a lot better about feeding it to them.

On http://allrecipes.com most recipes come with the nutrition information.  Even cookies have the nutrition information!  Not many sites will show you what the nutrition information is for what you are making, but there are some sites that you can use to find out.  This site is on www.fitwatch.com and it's a Recipe Analyzer.  It helps you find out how many calories and other nutrition information are in the recipe you are going to make.

Lukas helps in the Kitchen

My little man has been helping me in the kitchen lately.  He loves to stir whatever I have going on.  The picture above is him and I making cupcakes.  Cupcakes are one of his favorites plus they are fun to make!  We used a simple Betty Crocker box recipe.

After we were done scooping the batter into the cups, he needed to taste test the batter.  Of course.  He must have learned this from me.

Baking with kids is fun!  Plus you can use it as a learning experience for them.  Talk about colors, and teaching them the different ingredients.  It really is so much fun!  I didn't take a picture of it, but he has a dish towel wrapped around his waist as a apron.

The fall cupcakes we made were fun and he got to decorate some of them.  Complete with lots of frosting and sprinkles!  He kept making noises like "ummm" while he was eating it!

These cupcakes are really easy, but I do have a recipe I usually follow instead of the box version.  Here is the link to homemade chocolate cupcakes.

Pumpkin Carving Templates

We are starting to get ready for Halloween around our house.  This next week we will be getting some pumpkins and carving them.  My husband and I love Halloween!  One of our favorite times of the year!

I was over at Allrecipes.com and I found these neat pumpkin templates!  Check them out!  I printed out the Grin, Kitty, and the Death face templates.

Pumpkin Templates

Stuffed Chicken with Crash Hot Potatoes

I apologize...I have no pictures again for this!  We ate it far too fast!  However, that usually means it's delicious when that happens.  Right?!  Go with me on this...no pictures means we gobbled it up in record time.  I wish I would have taken some pictures though the chicken and potatoes turned out wonderfully!

When I was looking at the Budget Bites blog I found a yummy looking chicken I wanted to try.  I had made something like this before, but it was chicken cordon blue.  Beth from Budget Bites made this with pepperoni, but I used ham instead of pepperoni.  Here is the recipe for the Stuffed Chicken Breasts.  My Mother in Law and Father in Law both loved them too!  They came over for dinner. ♥

The Crash Hot Potatoes also turned out to be really great.  The recipe is from Ree Drummond's The Pioneer Woman Cooks website.  I also just bought her cook book The Pioneer Woman Cooks Recipes from an accidental country girl!  I totally love it!  I must admit though, I do transform her recipes into some healthier versions.  She does use a lot of butter! 

Anyway, we also had green beans for good measure.  Lukas won't eat them, but he at least put them in his mouth to taste them.  I used about a tablespoon of Tastefully Simple's Garlic Garlic on the green beans and they are always a hit!

Blog Name Change!

I changed the name of this blog.  Mostly because Super Recipe Girl didn't mean anything to me.  I love to look up recipes and make them, but I don't create them.

I felt like SpicyArtichoke fit because I used this name when I used to online game.  She was my little chick that hid in the shadows and would kill other players.  I have mentioned before I am a computer nerd...right?

Well this name feels like it fits better.  Not like I am going to hide in the shadows and kill people kind of way.  In a kind of way that I have used this name and I am comfortable with it.  It makes me happy to see it!  So it's staying!

White Cheese Chicken Lasanga

A few weeks ago I made this for supper.  Also I think this blog has turned into...'What ate for supper'.  That seems to be the only thing I cook lately.  I haven't had time to bake any goodies or treats, but I have to make supper so it's the only time I get to try something different.  Breakfast and lunch my husband and I eat while at work (nothing really to note) and Lukas eats breakfast and lunch at daycare.

So yeah...this is what we had for supper the other night.  It was really good and didn't take long to put it together at all.  I got the recipe from AllRecipes.com.  White Cheese Chicken Lasagna.

Fast Italian Sandwiches

Tonight I needed to make something fast and we are on a tight budget this week.  So this is what I came up with.  Fast Italian Sandwiches...not toddler approved, well not by my toddler anyway.

Ingredients:
4 Breaded Chicken Patties
1 cup Spaghetti Sauce
1 can mushrooms
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 cup cheddar cheese
4 sandwich buns

Prep:
Spray frying pan with Pam and cook chicken patties on medium.  Sprinkle patties with Italian seasoning and garlic salt.  Flip and sprinkle with seasonings again.  On the last flip take the 1 cup sauce and distribute over chicken patties.  Sprinkle both cheeses over the sauce and then top with mushrooms and cover.  Let cheese melt and then put on buns. 

They are yummy.  I didn't get to take pictures we were way too hungry!!!  They were great though!

Poor Man's Stir Fry

We got lazy last week and didn't get to the store.  I didn't have any meat in our freezer besides chicken nuggets, and I had an abundance of ramen noodle.  So I used Chinese Noodles recipe from Cheeky Kitchen and also made some Chicken nuggets and diced them up to throw them into the noodles. 

When I cooked the chicken nuggets I slowly heated them in a skillet with some sesame oil, garlic, and ginger.  My whole family enjoyed the cheap and easy recipe!