White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

I posted ages ago about these white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. 

I made them again last week for a dinner party we hosted and I seriously forgot how darn good these cookies are!!  So I thought it deserved another blog post!  I like to share the yumminess!  And I kind of like to feel like I’m not the only one breaking “resolutions” and abandoning “goals” if ya catch my drift!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 well beaten egg
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 pkg. white chocolate chips
• chopped macadamia nuts

Directions:

1. Soften the butter slightly
2. Cream the sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, & butter
3. Add the egg & mix thoroughly
4. Add flour & baking soda & mix
5. Add white chocolate chips & chopped nuts.  Mix well.
6. Roll into 1” balls and place on a nonstick cookie sheet.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-10 minutes.
8. Cool on a cooling rack.

Um….seriously so yummy!

And just for fun, I whipped up a little 4x6 recipe card for ya!  Just right click & save!

Now, go forth & bake some epic cookies!

I am linking up to many of these great parties:

M: DIY Showoff Project Parade, Metamorphosis Monday, Made by You Mondays, Just Something I Whipped Up, Today’s Creative Blog, Making Monday Marvelous, Polly Want A Crafter T: Get Your Craft On, Tip Junkie, Home Stories A to Z, Homework, A Bowl Full Of Lemons W: Uncommon, Oopsey Daisy, Uncommon, Twin Dragonfly Designs, Creative Spark , Not Just A Housewife Th: 36th Avenue, Just A Girl, Gluesticks, House of Hepworths, Every Creative Endeavor F: My Repurposed Life, Sassy Sites, I’m Lovin’ It, Remodelaholic’s Anonymous, Frugal Friday, Fingerprints On The Fridge, Feature Yourself Friday, Pity Party, Weekend Wrap-Up, Weekend Bloggy Reading S:  Positively Splendid, I Heart Naptime, Be Different, Act Normal  Su:  Under The Table & Dreaming, Remodelaholic, Homemaker On A Dime

Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken

 

I have been pinning some really great recipes lately, but haven’t really been trying any of them out!  I finally decided to pick one and try it out for dinner!

I chose this recipe of baked sweet and sour chicken.  I love me some sweet and sour chicken so I thought this would be the perfect dinner!

I have to say…..it was quite tasty!!  It turned out great and was really yummy!

Here’s how you make it:

For the chicken coating:

• 2-4 boneless chicken breasts
• salt + pepper
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup canola oil

For the sweet and sour sauce:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 tbs ketchup
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tsp garlic salt

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.  Wash your chicken breasts and pat dry.  Cut the breasts into cubes.  Season with some salt and pepper.  Dip the chicken in the cornstarch, then in the eggs.  Heat the oil in a large skillet.  Once the oil is hot, place your chicken in the skillet and cook until browned, but not cooked all the way through.  Place the chicken in a greased 9x13 baking dish.  Mix all of the ingredients for the sweet and sour sauce and pour evenly over the chicken.  Bake for about an hour, turning the chicken every 15-20 minutes. 

There are just a couple things I would do differently next time I make it.  First, I would add about a 1/4 cup of brown sugar to the sauce mixture to give it a little bit extra “sweetness”.  I would also make a little extra sauce to pour over the chicken at the end after it is done cooking!

So that’s it!  Pretty easy peasy!

OH…..I also made a pecan pie for dessert.  This is like my 4th or 5th attempt at making a pecan pie.  I keep doing something wrong.  I’ve used different recipes and everything.  It always turns out really soupy in the middle!!  The filling doesn’t ever “gel”.  Does that make sense?  What am I doing wrong?  This time I followed this recipe.  HELP!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

I am linking up to many of these great parties:

M: DIY Showoff Project Parade, Metamorphosis Monday, Made by You Mondays, Just Something I Whipped Up, Today’s Creative Blog, Making Monday Marvelous, Polly Want A Crafter T: Get Your Craft On, Tip Junkie, Home Stories A to Z, Homework W: Passionately Artistic, Twin Dragonfly Designs, Creative Spark @ Clean & Scentsible, Not Just A Housewife Th: 36th Avenue, Just A Girl, Gluesticks, House of Hepworths, Every Creative Endeavor F: Sassy Sites, I’m Lovin’ It, Remodelaholic’s Anonymous, Frugal Friday, Friday Fun Finds, Feature Yourself Friday, Pity Party, Weekend Wrap-Up, Weekend Bloggy Reading S:  I Heart Naptime, Be Different, Act Normal, A Little Lovely,  Su:  Under The Table & Dreaming, Remodelaholic, Homemaker On A Dime

[IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m494/amynwaller/sig.jpg[/IMG]

Crockpot Lemon Herb Chicken

This is seriously the best chicken!!  And it is SO easy!  Here’s how ya do it:

Ingredients:

 

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts or fillets

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1 heaping tbsp McCormick Lemon Herb seasoning

Lemon juice (optional)

How to make:

Place your chicken in the crockpot and turn the temperature to low.

Pour the cream of chicken soup in a medium sized bowl (you might want to do 2 cans of soup if you are cooking 4-5 or more pieces of chicken).

Add a heaping tbsp of the Lemon Herb seasoning to the soup.

 

I also add about a tbsp of lemon juice just to add to that lemon-y flavor!

Add a 1/2 soup can of water to the mixture (1 whole soup can of water if you are cooking 4-5 or more pieces of chicken).

Stir the soup mixture until well blended.

Pour the mixture over your chicken in the crockpot.

Put the lid on and walk away for 6 hours. 

Come back in 6 hours and serve the chicken over some of Uncle Ben’s Long Grain & Wild Rice with some fresh green beans and you’ve got the best meal ever!

This chicken is so YUMMY and so tender.  It just falls off your fork.  I usually drizzle the extra juice from the crockpot over my chicken.

I love finding new recipes to cook for my family.  I always kind of feel like I cook the same things over and over.  Do you have any recipes that you love?  Please share!

I am linking up to many of these great parties:

M: DIY Showoff Project Parade, Metamorphosis Monday, Made by You Mondays, Just Something I Whipped Up, Today’s Creative Blog

T: Get Your Craft On

W: Passionately Artistic, Twin Dragonfly Designs

Th: Just A Girl, Gluesticks, House of Hepworths

F: Sassy Sites, I’m Lovin’ It, Remodelaholic’s Anonymous

S:  I Heart Naptime, Weekend Wrap-Up, Be Different, Act Normal, A Little Lovely

Su:  Under The Table & Dreaming, Remodelaholic

Red Velvet Yummy Goodness

Ok, so our friend Lindsey inspired my friend Brittany & I to get the Cake Pop book from Bakerella.  Yes, we each had to get our own! 

 

                                            {via}

We went over to Lindsey’s for an Orient Expressed trunk show and she had made these fabulous cake pops.  They were delish!  Cake pops are the new “in” thing, I guess.  If you do a Google Image search for cake pops, you will find so much inspiration.  I have been “pinning” some cake pops on Pinterest.  I need to pin some more!

Anywho, Brittany and I started off small.  Baby steps, people!  We started with some red velvet cake balls.  We didn’t even bother with the sticks, yet.  Hah!  Here’s how ya do it:

                                             {via}

What you’ll need:

• 1 box cake mix (we used red velvet)
• 1 container of store bought frosting (we used cream cheese frosting)
• large mixing bowl
• 9x13 cake pan
• wax paper
• a couple baking sheets
• deep, microwave safe bowl
• small ziploc bag
• light cocoa/milk chocolate candy melts
• white candy melts

How to make:

1. Bake your cake according to the directions on the box
2. Allow cake to cool completely after it is finished baking
3. When cake is cooled, crumble the entire cake finely into a bowl (you might want to run a fork through the cake after you’ve crumbled it just to make sure it’s extra crumble-y)  :-)
4. Add about 3/4 of the container of store bought cream cheese frosting to the crumbled cake (this is where it gets messy)
5. With your hands, work the frosting into the cake thoroughly.  The mixture should be moist enough to roll into balls & hold the round shape.
6. Once the frosting is worked in well, proceed to roll the mixture into small balls (about 1.5” balls) and place them on a cookie sheet that is covered with wax paper
7. Place the cookie sheet in your freezer.  You’ll need to freeze the balls for a little while so they can become firm.  They will become firm after about 15-30 minutes.  You want them firm, but not frozen.
8. Next, melt your light cocoa candy melts in a deep, microwave safe bowl
9. Use a large spoon to dip your red velvet balls into the melted chocolate
10. Place the balls back on cookie sheet with wax paper & allow them to dry
11. Once the chocolate is dry, melt some white candy melts.
12. Pour the melted white chocolate in a ziploc bag.  Snip a TINY hole in the corner of the ziploc bag.
13. Drizzle the white chocolate over the red velvet chocolate balls & allow the white chocolate to dry.
14. We put ours in the fridge to chill for a while and they were DELICIOUS!!! 

Um….they are so yummy.  Let me go ahead and give you fair warning…..once you pop you can’t stop!!!  They are seriously addicting. 

If you end up making some, let me know how they turned out.  Of course, you can always add the sticks before you dip them in the chocolate (just make sure you have some floral foam to stick them in so they can dry upright).

Enjoy!

Amy

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Ok, so a friend gave me this recipe this summer.  From the first time I made these cookies, I was in love.  They are soooooo yummy!  I’m not usually a fan of nuts in my desserts, but these cookies are amazing!  I made them at Christmastime for my family, and they were gone by the end of the night.  I made them on Sunday for the Super Bowl party as well and we had a couple left over (I doubled the batch).  So, here’s the recipe:

{source}

1. Gather up your ingredients

2.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3.  Soften butter slightly.

4.  Cream the sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and butter. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.

5.  Add flour and baking soda. {FYI: Add anywhere from 1/2- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda. The more you add the fluffier the cookies will be. I prefer to add the minimum for a gooey cookie.} Mix ingredients well.

6.  Add white chocolate chips. I use almost a 12 oz bag. Also add chopped nuts at this point. Mix well.

7.  Bake at 350 9-10 minutes.

The key to these cookies is to remove them from the oven when they still look undercooked. When you can just see the edges beginning to get brown is the right time to remove them from the oven. Let them sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before you try to remove them.

These cookies are seriously so yummy!  Let me know if you make them and how they turned out! 

Amy