You gotta get you some!

It's Tuesday so that means it's time for Tempt My Tummy Tuesday! I also had every intention of participating in DIY Day over at Kimba's Blog but alas, I was too lazy over the weekend and did not get ANY of my projects done but I still think you should check out all of the inspiration over there once you're done visiting all of the yummy goodness over at Lisa's Blogging "neck of the woods".

It's time for me to start thinking about the goodies I want to have ready for the Christmas boxes I send out each year. While I was home trying not to infect anyone a week or two ago, I decided to give this recipe a shot. Let me just say, I was not disappointed!! Holy smokes are these cookies fabulous! I took the extra step of grating just a touch of lemon zest into the frosting and next time I think a touch of lemon zest will go into the dough as well just to see what happens. Try these! You will not regret it!

This recipe comes from Tina over at Mommy's Kitchen. If you're looking for some "foodie inspiration" you really need to check her Blog out!

Old Fashioned Buttermilk Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk

FROSTING:
3 tablespoons butter, softened
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup milk or buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract



In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk and mix well. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.
For the frosting, combine butter, confectioners' sugar, milk or buttermilk and vanilla in a mixing bowl; beat until smooth. Frost the cookies;


Enjoy!!

One of our Fall Fave's!

This Week's Topic
We're doing something a little different this week! Sharing Main Dish Fall Recipes! Anything yummy we can eat for dinner!!!
Soups, Casseroles...

Wonderful idea Lynette! I love all things food and enjoy new recipes. Go take a peek at the other "shared recipes". I'm going to just as soon as I post mine here.

Chicken & Dressing (This is an original recipe from my first mom-in-law. It is a favorite of ours. I always throw in a few extra ingredients like the almonds and the onion or whatever I might have in the fridge that may compliment the flavors.)

Ingredients:
3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
I can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 C sour cream
1 Box Stove Top Stuffing
Diced Onion
Diced Almonds
Salt & Pepper to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 350. Brown the chicken breast on the stove top until cooked through and then dice into bite size chunks. No need to be fancy here. Shredded is fine too. Set the chicken aside while you mix the sauce.
Don't throw away the juice in the pan from browning the chicken. Simply add to it the can of Cream of Mushroom soup, the sour cream, the diced onion & almonds and the salt and pepper. Mix all together and re-add the chicken.
Spread the chicken mixture in a greased pan.
Prepare the Stove Top according to package directions then spread that on top of the chicken mixture.
Bake at 350 for about 30-40 minutes or until bubbly.
Enjoy!

It's Tuesday, September 8 (REALLY?!?! WHERE did the time go!?!?!) and that means it's time for Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays hosted by Lisa and Lana. With the "business" of life a little lot of help trying to figure out "what's for dinner" (Imagine voice of Sam Shepard here saying "what's for dinner", and by the way, Sam Shepard can say ANYTHING he likes in my ear! But I digress...) is a very good thing!

My recipe today is Broccoli Beef Stir Fry. I found this recipe over at Mommy's Kitchen. Forgive my laziness but if you jump on over to see the recipe I won't have to post it here as well. This was SUPER tasty and will be making it's way back to our table again in the near future.

Raisin Bread

This great idea is being hosted by Lisa and Lana. Head over and check out all of the wonderful food ideas. I've gotten some great recipes this way and I'm guessing you might to. Even if you don't want to do the cooking, I'm betting it's gonna make your tummy growl and your mouth water. (Not very lady like, I know. I've been accused of many things but being a lady isn't one of them!)

BSP and I went to a concert in Denver last week and stayed the night. The Hotel we stayed at had a Continental breakfast. If you've ever had the "joy" of breaking bread at a Hotel Breakfast, you know it's nothing to write the relatives about.However, they did have Raisin Bread there and I observed BSP partkaing of the Raisin Bread. My "Ah Ha" lightbulb  came on!(Not to worry, it's an LED light. Very earth friendly)

BSP doesn't eat sweets so I rarely find anything that I can bake for him. Cook, yes. Bake, no. So the minute we got home, I started a batch of Raisin Bread dough.

The verdict from BSP: too heavy to eat more than one piece at a time. In fact, I think he only ever had one piece. However, it was a smashing success with everyone else. Not to worry though. My quest goes on to find the one item I can bake for BSP that he will truly love and turn to me with an "Oh my gosh, you made this for me" adoring look in his eye. Stay tuned.

Raisin Bread

3 to 5 C. Flour
1/2 C Sugar
1 Package yeast
2/1/2 C Warm Water (120-130 degrees)
1/2 C Shortening (I used real butter)
1 Beaten Egg
1 Cup Raisins tossed in a TB flour and TB cinnamon

Soften the yeast in the warm water. I also added the sugar at the same time because the Yeast proofs so much better when it has a food source.

Add in the butter and the egg and slowly add in the flour along with the Raisin mixture. Now here is where I think I went wrong. DON'T overmix the dough and DON'T over add on the flour. A stickier dough here is what you're looking for.

Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover with saran and allow to rise double. Punch down and put in your bread pans and allow to rise again.

Bake at 350 for about an hour or until golden brown.

Makes for great Breakfast toast!

Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Today I am posting the very delicious Chicken Pot Pies with Cream Cheese Crust. I got this recipe from Go check her blog out, I promise you wont be disappointed! I've taken away lots of yummy recipes and plan to use more for Tempt My Tummy Tuesday in the future.


Chicken Pot Pie or Pies


Shell crust:
1-2/3 c. flour
2 t. celery seed (optional)
1- 8 oz. cream cheese, cold
1/3 c. butter, cold
1/4 t. salt


Filling:
1 whole chicken, pulled from bone and chunked
1/3 cup - real butter
1/3 cup - flour
2 t. minced garlic
1/2 t. salt
dash of pepper
1-1/2 cup - warm water
2/3 cup- milk
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 cup- frozen mixed veggies
3 - individual sized tin pie bowls
For the crust combine the flour, cream cheese, and butter in a bowl. Cut in the cold cream cheese and butter until you have a crumbly mixture. Then starting working it with your hands, kneading until you have a ball of dough: On a floured surface, roll out the dough in to a flat square. Take one of your tin bowls and trace and cut an overlapped piece of dough. Place it into the bowl and softly press it into the corners: You will get three servings out of this recipe. roll out a total of 6 squares for 3 bottom crust and 3 top crusts. Or you will get one large pot pie like mine. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in the flour, garlic, and spices till blended. Slowly stir in the warm water, bouillon cubes, and milk. Slowly bring a soft boil and stir constantly for about 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat and add the frozen vegetables (peas, carrots, celery, whichever you prefer!) and chicken. Fill the shells: Put the tops of the crusts over this and seal the edges. You can use a fork to make a fluted edge. Make a criss cross slit in the center: Bake at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. Serve over mashed potatoes or right out of the bowl. If making one large pot pie bake about 30-40 minutes. Watch it carefully so it doesn't get to brown on top.

My Thoughts:

1. I added minced onion to the mixture along with the garlic. We love onion so I thought "why not" and it was a great addition.

2. I made this twice last week, Thursday evening and Saturday evening. Thursday evening I used a pre roasted chicken that I bought from Wal Mart and Saturday I had time to cook my own chicken. I didn't notice any difference between the two but BSP thought the flavor was better with the roasted chicken from Wal Mart.

3.I used a low fat cream cheese on Thursday and on Saturday I did not. I felt that between the butter and the cream cheese there was more than enough fat and I might be able to cut a little bit out of the recipe. Honestly, I liked the low fat cream cheese better. The regular cream cheese made for a much stickier dough so from here on out I will be using the reduced fat cream cheese.

4. Thursday I used all frozen veggies and on Saturday I used fresh. I liked the fresh much better. I steamed carrots and potatos and that was truly amazing!

5. I also did not use disposable tins. I purchased large ramikins from Wal Mart. (They were only 2.98 a piece and I have been intending to purchase some for a long time now so I picked up 4 and will be getting a few more.)

6. I used my food processor to mix the dough which saved mega time.

Finally, a word of warning: this is a very time consuming meal. It takes between an hour to an hour and a half to prepare. But it's SO worth it if you have the time. I plan to make several of these ahead of time and freeze them for later meals. Enjoy!

Be sure to head over to Lisa's blog to see what other's have posted for Tempt My Tummy Tuesday. You might just be inspired to try some of the yummy recipes!