Garlic Breadsticks

1 Tbsp dry yeast
1/2 cups sugar, divided
2 cups warm water
3 Tbsp melted shortening
1 egg, beaten
2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp salt, divided
6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 egg, beaten
2 1/2 Tbsp garlic powder


Dissolve yeast and 1 tsp sugar in warm water in a large bowl, stirring well. Let stand 5 minutes or until bubbly. Add remaining sugar, shortening, 1 egg, 1 tsp salt, and 3 1/2 cups flour; beat at low speed of electric mixer until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.

Place dough in a greased bowl, turning it to grease top. Cover and let rise 1 hour or until doubled in bulk. Punch dough down and let rest 5 minutes.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed 4 to 5 times. Divide dough into 4 equal portions. Divide each portion into 10 pieces. Roll each piece into an 8-inch rope and place on greased baking sheets. Brush top of breadsticks with beaten egg. Sprinkle with remaining salt and garlic powder.

Cover and repeat rising procedure 50 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Chocolate Chunk Brownies

Yea! =) I am terribly excited, as this is my first post on this blog! =)
First, before I do anything, I want to thank Melody and Esther for letting me be an author of this blog. I'm really excited! =D

Now, for the chocolate chunk brownies: this is one of my family's favorite recipes. It is quick, easy, and the result is delicious chocolate brownies... yum!
Here is the step-by-step way to make these amazing brownies!
Disclaimer: I'll be including ten billion pictures. =P Just so you know... I love taking pictures, so I was snapping right and left when I made these. =)

Ingredients:
4 oz of unsweetened chocolate
1 stick of butter (this does not have to be softened, as you will be melting it)
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 teaspoon of salt
3 eggs
3/4 cups of flour
1 cup of bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks (I always use chocolate chips)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 7 by 11 or 8 inch square pan.

2. In a small saucepan, combine the unsweetened chocolate and butter.

To make it easier and faster to melt, cut the butter into chunks, and cut the chocolate ounces in two pieces.
Put on low heat, and stir often. Continue until everything is melted. Make sure there are no tiny chunks of chocolate left, as these can hide themselves easily. ;-)

Once you finish, it should look about like this (doesn't it look amazing? I wanted to eat it =P)


3. Allow the butter/chocolate mixture to cool for a minute or two (this is not necessary, but it is a good idea). Next, add the sugar, vanilla, and salt. I used 1 cup sucanat, and 1/2 cup organic sugar.

Once you're finished stirring, your mixture should look about like this. Mine might look a little bit more "grainy" than yours would look, because organic sugar and sucanat is a little bit more grainy than white sugar.

4. Add your first egg. Stir well. Do not add all three at once, add each egg one at a time, and stir well before adding the next one.

After adding all your eggs, your mixture should look about like this. It shouldn't be soupy, but it should be fairly easy to stir.

5. Next, add your flour to the mixture. I used freshly ground wheat flour, and a tiny bit of King Arthur all-purpose flour. My mom didn't grind quite enough flour. =P (by the way, I know it doesn't look like 3/4 of a cup of flour in the picture, but that is because I had already started stirring a little bit)

After stirring, your mixture should look about like this.

6. Next, comes everyone's favorite part. The chocolate chips. =D I added almost a cup of chocolate chips. It just depends on how many you want. If you want just a few, add about 1/2.

7. Next, pour the batter into the greased pan.

If you need to, lightly, but firmly, hit the side of the pan.

And if you want to make your brownies look pretty, add some chopped nuts on the top. =)

8. Put your brownies in the oven for about 35-40 minutes. If you have a really fast baking oven, like we do, then put it in for 30 minutes. But if your oven is fairly normal, use the regular time, unless you want unbaked brownies. =)
Once they're done, take them out, and let them cool for a little bit.

9. This recipe makes about 16 brownies, depending on how you cut them. It should serve 4 people for about 2 days, if you're like my family. =P
Get some plates, put your nice, moist, delicious brownies on some plates, put some vanilla ice cream on top, pour some milk in some glasses, and give your family a huge treat!
(my dad loves brownies... and he said these things were amazing. He is a brownie expert, so you can trust him =)
Now go and eat those brownies!


So, there you have it!! A quick, easy way to make those mouth-watering brownies.
I hope you enjoy this recipe!! I love making and eating them, and I bet you will too!

Thanks for reading!

~Chef Madison

Chicken Quesadillas

These are really easy and the whole family will like them. (Well, if your family is anything like mine =P)

Prep Time: ~20 min
Cook Time: 10 min

2-1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
2/3 cups salsa
1/3 cup sliced green onions
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano
6 flour tortillas (8 inches)
1/4 cup butter melted
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack or Mozzarella cheese.
Sour cream and guacamole

First, preheat oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a skillet, combine the first six ingredients. Cook, uncovered, over medium heat for 10 minutes or until heated through, stirring occasionally.

Brush on side of tortilla with butter. Spoon 1/3 cup chicken mixture over half of unbuttered side of each tortilla. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup cheese; fold plain side of tortilla over cheese.

Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for ten minutes in preheated oven or until crisp and golden brown. Cut into wedges and serve with sour cream and guacamole.

~Esther

Monster Cookies!

Today was the first time I'd ever made these cookies and wow! They are amazing!!! So, here is the recipe.

First, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Next, in a large bowl, cream together 1 cup butter, 2 cups white sugar, 2 cups packed brown sugar, and 3 cups peanut butter until smooth.

Beat in 6 eggs, two at a time. Then stir in 1 and 1/2 tsp. Corn Syrup, and 1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

Next, mix in 4 tsp baking soda and 9 cups of oats until well blended. Stir in 1/2 pound candy-coated milk chocolate pieces and 1/2 pound semisweet chocolate chips.

Roll dough into 2 inch balls, and place 3 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with a fork. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool on cookie sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.




* Special thanks to Sara H. for the recipe.

Orange Chicken

Prep Time: ~40 minutes
Serves: 4-6


This is a pretty easy Chinese dish that tastes awesome.

First, marinate 2 and 1/2 pounds uncooked chicken with 2 Tbsp. Cornstarch and 2 Tbsp. Soy sauce for 10-15 minutes.
While that is marinating, in a small bowl mix 3/4 Cup orange juice, 6 Tbsp. Oyster sauce, 3 Tbsp. Honey, and 2 Tbsp. Cornstarch together until honey dissolves.
Stir-fry 1 Tbsp. minced Ginger for ten seconds, and leave in pan.
Stir-fry chicken in several batches.
Pour sauce in to chicken, bring to boil and cook until slightly thickened, approximately 20 seconds.
Add 5-6 Tangerines peeled and separated, and 1 can Pineapple chunks and cook for 30 seconds or until warm, not squishy.
Serve sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and on noodles or rice.




Okay, here's a picture of the finished product. Not exactly amazing looking, but we aren't all that good at beautifying our food. It always tastes better than it looks. ;)

The Awesome addition!!!

Okay, I'm really super excited. Esther and I have this amazing friend, Madison. And she is really good with crafts, and cooking and all that kind of stuff. And she was going to start her own cooking blog, but I thought it would be really really fun to do a cooking blog together. So Esther and I invited her to just join ours. So we have a new author. =D I'm so excited to see what she posts on here. Now I get to get new fun recipes by reading the blog too! =D Today has been such a perfect exciting day! Okay, I'm hyper, I'll try to calm down. =P

Springerles

When I make these cookies it's more than just making cookies. It always brings to mind the stories my mom has told about having them when she was growing up. When my mom was young my grandma made them a lot around Christmas time. Then as my grandma got older my mom sorta took over the tradition of making them and every year, all 6 of her brothers and her sister got some for Christmas. My mom did this for a lot of years. Then as time went and my mom had more kids my she sorta stopped making them.

We all love the cookies so this year I decided we had to make them. They take a while to make, but they are a lot of fun.! Hope you enjoy.

First, beat 4 eggs well, add sugar gradually, beating until very thick.

Pour 2 tsp boiling water over 2 Tbsp anise seed. Let sit. Sift together 4 cups of flour and 2 tsp baking pd in a separate bowl. Add anise seed to egg mixture. Then add 1 Tbsp lemon rind. (It should look something like this)

Add flour and baking pd to egg mixture gradually. Form into flat round (hehe, at least somewhat round) pieces. Wrap in wax paper and chill for about an hour. Roll on lightly floured waxed paper. (Sandwiched between 2 sheets) to 1/4 inch thickness.

Use springerle roller like the one above. Cut, let dry 6 to 12 hours.
Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 to 15 minutes or until light brown.











They are rather hard to see, but all the cookies have the cool designs that the roller makes on them.

Random Cooking Tip: When cooking anything, remember the object is to have fun (and tasty food), if you make a mistake laugh, try to fix it,then move on.