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Christmas Crackle Cookies #Recipe

December 22, 2016 by bargainhound Leave a Comment



crackles

Christmas Crackle Cookies

I haven’t made these in a while, and I always get requests for the same ol’ same ol’ cookies at the holidays, and it just gets so boring!  So, I decided this year, I’m making some new recipes, and trying out a few new ones.   This one isn’t new, but it’s a great recipe, and these cookies are always a big hit.  As they bake, they crack open, which is why they are called crackles.

To make these, you will need:

  • 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/3 cups light-brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • Granulated sugar and Confectioners’ sugar, for rolling

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Chop chocolate into small bits, and melt over medium heat in a heatproof bowl or in the top of a double boiler set over a pan of simmering water. Set aside to cool. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
  2. Cream butter and light-brown sugar in the bowl of a mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Add cooled melted chocolate. With mixer on low speed, alternate adding dry ingredients and milk until just combined. Divide dough into quarters, wrap with plastic, and chill in the refrigerator until firm, about 2 hours. I usually make the dough a day ahead and leave them in the fridge overnight.
  3. Using your hands, roll a small scoop of dough into a ball and roll in granulated sugar, and then confectioners’ sugar to coat heavily and completely. (You may just want to cut the dough into small squares first, so you don’t have to handle them very much. The chocolate melts in your hands VERY quickly and these become messy). Place cookies 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until cookies have flattened and sugar splits, 11 to 13 minutes.
  4. Slide parchment onto wire rack to let cookies cool completely.

As always, these were a huge hit for Christmas! And these cookies are SO delicious! And did I mention how pretty and festive they look?


Filed Under: Recipes

DIY recipe for Home Made After-Dinner Butter Mints! So easy!

December 20, 2016 by bargainhound Leave a Comment



butter-mints1

I absolutely love after-dinner butter mints.  There’s a restaurant in my home town that has a big jar of them on the hostess stand, with a scoop so you can scoop some out on your way out. It takes all my will power not to just empty the entire jar into my handbag 😀

If you love Richardson’s after-dinner mints, you are going to go crazy over these, because they taste exactly the same!  And the best part is, they are so easy, and take very few ingredients.  And they are no-bake!

All you need is:

  • 2 cups powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar)
  • 1/4 tsp peppermint extract
  • 2 Tbsp butter
  • 1/16 tsp salt
  • 2 to 4 tsp water
  • Food coloring, optional

butter-mints2

First, put your salt and powdered sugar in your food processor, and pulse a few times to make sure there’s no lumps.  Then add your butter.  I sliced my butter into thin slices, so it would disperse evenly.  Pulse again, until it’s all mixed in.  Add your water, start with 2 tsp, and keep pulsing until it turns into a dough like texture.  Add water by the 1/2 tsp until you have the correct consistency.  You won’t want it too wet!  You can add your food coloring now if you’d like, too.  If you are doing multiple colors though, wait until the next step.

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When it’s at the right consistency (like play doh), dump the mixture onto some parchment paper.

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Split the dough into 4 sections.  If you did not add food coloring yet, you can do so now. You can put a few drops of your coloring in each section, and knead the dough until it’s all colored through.

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Start with one section, take a chunk off and roll it out into a thin strip.   Set aside.

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Roll out all your dough into strips.

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Using a pizza cutter, cut through all the strips to make about 1/2″ pieces.

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The BF came in to sneak a few pieces!

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When you are done, you’ll have a big pile of after dinner mints pieces!   It would be best to let them sit out for a couple of days, so they can harden, but I have yet to see a batch make it to 2 days.

butter-mints10

These taste exactly like Richardson’s mints.  They are creamy, buttery, and oh so delicious!

These can be made for any occasion.  Just adding different food coloring, you can have red & green for Christmas, blue or pink for baby shower, green for St. Patty’s Day, pastel colors for Easter, and so on!  Everyone will be so impressed with these mints, they will think these took you hours to make!

butter-mints11

Use red & green coloring for Christmas colored mints, red or pink for Valentine’s Day, green for St. Patrick’s day and so on!

They are great for any occasion!

Enjoy!

 


Filed Under: DIY, Recipes

Easiest and most delicious home made bread #recipe!

July 19, 2016 by bargainhound Leave a Comment



bread20

If you are looking for a DELICIOUS and easy home made bread recipe, search no more.  This is it!  I have made this bread countless times over the last year and it is AMAZING.   And, it’s so cheap to make, too!

Ingredients you will need: 

  • 3 Cups All-purpose flour
  • 1 3/4 Teaspoon Salt
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
  • 1 1/2 Cups Water (slightly warmer than room temperature)

Directions:

Mix the flour, salt and yeast together in a bowl.   It’s very important you do this prior to adding water.

bread2

When the dry ingredients are combined, add the water, and mix with a fork or spatula until it’s all mixed together well.  It will be sticky!

Add plastic wrap over the top of the bowl, and let sit on your counter for 12-18 hours.  It will rise during this time!

I actually made 2 batches, so I had a bowl for each one.

bread4

Photo-bombed by Molly!

I let it sit for 17.5 hours.  It rose quite a bit by the next morning!

bread5

Next, place your cast iron pot in the oven, and preheat both to 450º.  Do NOT add the dough yet!

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I hope my mom doesn’t plan on getting her pot back 🙂

 

While your oven and pot are being preheated, flour your work surface and hands really well. (I like to place aluminum foil on my counter for easy clean up).  Form the dough into a ball.  Don’t knead it, just form it with your hands into a ball.

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Once your oven and cast iron pot are both preheated to 450º, remove them carefully from the oven and remove the lid.

Pick up your ball of dough and drop it into the pot.  Make sure the ball of dough is floured all around – you will NOT need to grease your pot.

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Place the lid back on, and place it back in your oven.  Bake for 30 minutes.

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After 30 minutes are up, remove the lid from the pot, and bake for another 15 minutes.  This will give your bread a crispy crust!

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So close….!!!

After the 15 minutes are up, carefully remove the pot from the oven.

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If you are like me, you will oooh and ahhh over it’s beauty.  Seriously.  A loaf of hand made, fresh bread has never looked so beautiful.

 

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What does the inside look like? It’s a dense bread with lots of “nooks and crannies”.

bread18

 

Quite honestly, this bread is perfection.

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We IMMEDIATELY sliced ourselves a slice and buttered them.  You know what?  This is the BEST BREAD I’VE EVER TASTED.   Chris’s words were, “you really out-did yourself this time, babe!”  haha!  It’s a thick, dense bread, and it is SO crispy on the outside – ALL the way around, and very soft on the inside.

I FINALLY have found a home made bread that knocks my socks off.  A bread that is post-worthy!  And it’s SO EASY!

We go through a lot of bread in our house.  Sandwiches, french toast, grilled cheese, BLT’s, toast, etc – do you know how much bread is?!  We pay $2.68 for a tiny loaf of white sliced bread at the store!

This bread comes out to about 30¢ a loaf.  And sorry, but there is NO comparison.

Remember when I said I made 2 loaves?  This is how my 2nd one came out:

bread22

And, I already have another batch of dough rising on the counter to make a 3rd loaf for tomorrow.  I’m going to slice them up and freeze them!  I will never buy store bought bread again!

Oh, and a special thanks to my mom for letting me “borrow” this cast iron pot.  And by “borrow”, I mean “give”.  I don’t think she’ll ever see this pot again.  LOL!

More of my recipes:

Home Made Bread
Home Made Butter
Perfect French Toast
Inside-Out Grilled Cheese
3-ingredient Fajitas

How to peel eggs
DIY Taco Shells
Manwich Pockets
Chicken Scaloppine
Parm Stuffed Artichokes


Filed Under: Recipes

Magic Mill Pressure Cooker #Review #presssurecookermagic

April 30, 2016 by bargainhound Leave a Comment



magicmill1

I can’t tell you how much I love my kitchen appliances. And one of my very favorites is my Pressure Cooker.  I’ve had two other pressure cookers that were both 6 qt in size.  The one I recently received to review is by Magic Mill and is 8 qt in size.   I can’t tell you how anxious I was to use this one!

magicmill2

There are SO many things I love about this Magic Mill pressure cooker.

Pros:

  • Has a stainless steel bowl.  My previous ones were both non-stick and are completely scratched up.
  • So roomy!  You’d be surprised how much food you can fit into an 8 qt!
  • Comes with accessories and an EXTRA rubber gasket! (If you knew the nightmare I went through trying to get an extra one for my Cook’s Essentials pressure cooker, you would understand my excitement!)
  • Has lots of settings for anything you would need to cook in this cooker.
  • Can be used as a slow cooker.

Cons:

  • I wish I could just choose a low/med/high setting with my time selection.

If you watch my video, you can see how this works, and as a bonus you can see the recipe for my grandma’s incredibly awesome home made chicken soup.  She used to cook it for hours on the stove, and I can make it in 35 minutes in my Magic Mill pressure cooker!

Disclaimer:  I received a sample product for free or at a discount in exchange for my honest review.  All comments and opinions are my own.


Filed Under: Product Reviews, Recipes

Health, Easy, Delicious #recipe for Spinach & Pork Chop Soup!

February 2, 2016 by bargainhound Leave a Comment



spinach1

My grandma was a genius in the kitchen.  She was known for being able to make the most delicious meals out of just a few ingredients.  This is one of the dishes she used to make quite often, and like so many of her others, one of my very favorites.  This is also one of the easiest recipes to make, too.

This is pretty much all you’ll need.  I have 2 large tubs of baby spinach and 2 bags of spinach (I bought the bags because they were out of the tubs).  Spinach wilts down to almost nothing, so you need a lot.  You’ll need some pork chops, a small onion, oil, salt/pepper and water.  That’s it!

spinach13

You will also need a large pot.  Add some oil to the bottom, just enough to coat the bottom of the pan.  Grandma always used olive oil, but I love cooking with coconut oil.

spinach2

Next, cut up your onion into tiny pieces.  I only used half of an onion, because it was pretty large.  I like to finely chop mine with my Kuuk onion chopper.

spinach3

Once your oil gets hot, pour the onions into your pan, and let them fry for a few minutes.

spinach4

spinach5

I usually buy thin pork chops, but the store only had thick ones, so I sliced them in half to make them thinner.

spinach6

Once your onions have been cooking for a few minutes, add your pork chops.  Cook them on both sides until they are cooked through.

spinach7

Once your pork chops are all cooked, add  half of your spinach to the pan, and then fill the pan about 1/3 of the way with water.  You don’t want to add too much water because the spinach wilts down very quickly and your broth will be too watery.

spinach8

Add some salt, give it a stir, loosening the pork chops from the bottom of the pan, and then add the rest of your spinach.

My pan is actually quite large, and you can see that the uncooked spinach fills the pan right up to the top.

spinach9

Give it another stir and add a little more salt.   Leave it on high heat for 15 minutes.

This is what all that spinach wilts down to!

spinach12

After 15 minutes on high heat, turn it down to a simmer, and let it simmer for about an hour.  Keep stirring occasionally.

When it’s done, just pour into a bowl and enjoy.  The pork chops will be so tender, and the spinach and broth just takes on the most delicious flavor.  Chris enjoys it so much, he even drinks the broth when he’s done.  This is an excellent way to add more green vegetables to your diet, too!   Healthy, easy and delicious.

grandma cooking

Four years ago today, my grandma passed away.  I’m guessing she’s looking down at me, seeing me sharing her recipes with the world and she probably feels like a celebrity, with her recipes on the “little tv” (what she used to call my computer monitors, lol)  Grandma was the most adorable, loving woman, and I miss her SO much!

Thank you, Grandma, for sharing your recipes and so much more with me!   Love and miss you always ♥ ♥


Filed Under: Recipes

#Recipe for my grandma’s delicious Lentil Soup!

January 31, 2016 by bargainhound Leave a Comment



lentil soup banner

I’ve shared a lot of my grandma’s recipes on my blog. Being her only granddaughter, I spent so much time with my grandma, and she showed me how to make some of the most amazing dishes.  There were two recipes I always loved that she made, but never learned how to make them. And the older I get, the more I miss these recipes.  My mom was making grandma’s “peas & macaroni” dish the other day and I told her how I missed grandma’s spinach soup, and lentil soup.  As we were talking, my mom was going through her “cookbook” (all handwritten in a spiral notebook) and she found these recipes!!

I was so happy I almost cried!!

Today, I made this recipe – grandma’s lentil soup – and this was my first time making it, and it turned out awesome.  It tasted just like grandma’s!   Here’s the recipe:

First, you’ll need a bag (1lb) of lentils.  Grandma always used brown lentils, but our grocery store only had green lentils, which are actually even better for you – so that’s what I made.

Pour them into a bowl, sort through and make sure you pick out any bad ones, give them a good rinse, and then place in a bowl with lots of cold water to soak overnight.  Make sure you use a large bowl with lots of water – these absorb the water and will easily double in size.

lentils2

The next morning, pour them in a colander, and give them another good rinse.

lentils1

Pour them into a large pot with plenty of water, add salt, and boil for an hour or until the lentils are tender (when they are soft when you squish them).  If you are using brown or red lentils, they may take less time – the green ones take the longest.  Once they are tender, remove from heat, and pour them into a colander to strain again.

In another large, 5-quart pot, fill about 2/3 full with water.  If you have a hambone, add that to it (to flavor the water).  You can also use some bacon, or pork salt.  Or, you can use Goya’s Ham Flavored Concentrate.  I picked up a box at our local Walmart Supercenter.  It was in their Goya food section.   If you go this route, add 3 packets of the ham flavored concentrate to the water.  Stir, add a little salt, and let the water come to a boil.

  lentils3

While your pot of flavored water is coming to a boil, cut up an onion (I like to finely chop mine with my Kuuk onion chopper).  Get your frying pan, and add a few tablespoons of oil – grandma always used olive oil, but I prefer coconut oil.   Let the oil heat up, and then add your cut up onions.  Let the onions cook in the oil for a minute or two.  Then, add your lentils that you have in your colander.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Fry them, stirring regularly, for about 15 minutes.

lentils4

After they are done being cooking in the frying pan for about 15 minutes, pour the lentils into your water that’s flavored with either ham concentrate or ham bone.  (Remove ham bone if going this route).

Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes.

lentils6

Pour the lentils over rice – and enjoy!  I know it sounds like a lot of steps, but it will be so worth it!  Like I said, I made this for the first time today and couldn’t believe how good it was.  And Chris LOVED it!  I was so afraid it wouldn’t taste like grandma’s, but it truly did!  The lentils made a LOT of soup, too, so Chris and I both will be having that for lunch throughout the week.

This is a very inexpensive meal to make, and a little goes a long way!  Grandma was known for making the most delicious meals out of just a few ingredients.  If you try this recipe, please let me know how yours turned out!

lentils5


Filed Under: Recipes

How to make home made Almond Milk!

August 2, 2015 by bargainhound 2 Comments



almond milk

On occasion we buy Almond milk from the store.  Personally, I don’t drink milk, so it doesn’t matter what kind we buy.  I only use milk in recipes, and I do have it with cereal, but that’s the extent of my milk consuming.    Chris on the other hand, drinks it all the time.

We haven’t bought Almond milk in a while though, and my mom recently sent me a link on how to make it, and it looked so easy, I just had to give it a try. We always have almonds in the house, so I figured I would try my hand at making almond milk.

First, you need 1 cup of almonds, and you need to soak them in water for 4-6 hours.  You can leave the skins on, but soaking them releases the toxic enzymes that you really don’t want to drink.

almondmilk1

After they have soaked for at least 4-6 hours, give them a thorough rinse, and discard the water you soaked them in.

 

almondmilk2

Place the almonds (you can leave the skin on) in your blender, mixer or food processor. (I used a food processor) and add 4 cups of cold water.   Then, mix away.  The water will turn a milky white color, like this:

almondmilk4

Mix for maybe 2-3 minutes, depending on the mixer.  For a Vitamix it will probably only take a minute.  You really want the almonds to break up and get chopped into small pieces.   You can add more water if you like a thinner consistency, or you can use less if you prefer thicker milk.

Optional: You can add 1 tablespoon of vanilla, and 1 tablespoon of honey or 4 dates at this point, to sweeten your milk if you would like.  Feel free to experiment! 

In a large bowl, place your cheesecloth or nut milk bag in it, so you can pour the almond milk when it’s done mixing.  I don’t yet have a nut milk bag, so I’m using cheesecloth right now. But a nut milk bag is in my very near future!

almondmilk3

When you are done and you have what looks like almond milk, pour this whole mixture into your cheesecloth or nut milk bag.

almondmilk5

Then, squeeze the cheesecloth repeatedly until you can’t get any more milk out of it.  The almond pulp will remain in your cheesecloth or nut bag.  Don’t throw this away!

almond1

Then, pour the milk into your container.  This recipe makes approx. 4 cups of Almond milk.

almondmilk6

Place it in the fridge to keep cold, and make sure you use it up within 4-5 days, MAX.   There are no preservatives in this milk, so it does not last as long as milk you buy in the stores.  You can use this milk as a replacement for dairy milk in pretty much any recipe. You would use the same amount of almond milk as you would dairy milk.

almond milk

Enjoy!

PS.  Not sure what to do with your ground up almond pulp?  Dry it out in your dehydrator or oven at a low temp until it is FULLY dried out, and then place it in your food processor and grind it up.  You now have almond flour!  You’re welcome. 🙂

 

 


Filed Under: DIY, Recipes

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As a young girl, I would help my mom cut and organize coupons, and help her shop. As a kid, it was like a game. I watched her organize and mail in tons of rebates and watched her stockpiles grow.
Now as an adult, I follow in her footsteps. I love to coupon, save money, mail in rebates, and find deals wherever I can! And sometimes, the best money saving deals are in the form of DIY projects that you can do with your own two hands!
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