Caramel Apple Cookies

During the prime time holiday season last October through December I was always seeing recipes involving cookies stuffed with caramels.  I'm not all about taking the time to roll out dough and actually wrap it around candy, so I usually adapt those recipes into something a bit quicker.  Unfortunately I was never able to find chip sized caramel pieces.  Add the grand opening of the new Meijer in town and welcome in bags of premium caramel bits for baking!  Woohoo!  Can't you just feel my excitement through the computer screen?!?!  I snagged a couple bags a few weekends ago and below is the first recipe I've tried.

Caramel Apple Cookies
(adapted from this  recipe)

1 cup butter - softened
1 cup Domino light (sugar & stevia blend)
1/2 tsp salt
1 box (7.4oz) Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Original Drink Mix - all 10 packets (can be found near the hot chocolate mixes)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 cups all purpose flour
1 bag (11oz) + 1/3 cup Kraft Premium Caramel Bits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees & line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, combine softened butter, sugar, salt, and cider mix.  Mix until light and fluffly.  Add in both eggs, vanilla extract, baking soda, cinnamon, and baking powder, mixing until well incorporated.  Gradually add in the 3 cups of flour, blending well.  Finally add in the caramel bits until just combined.

Drop dough in tablespoon sized balls onto the lined baking sheet.  Bake 12-14 minutes until the cookie bottoms barely begin to brown.  Let cool on baking for several minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.  Makes over five dozen cookies.

These cookies are fabulous: more taste than a sugar cookie but not as heavy as a chocolatey cookie.  I will definitely be baking these again during the cozy fall season!

Crown Brewing Company

As you know, Carl and I are steadily working our way all around the local breweries.  Fortunately, I don't think we will ever run out of places to try since there are so many in the Chicago, Northwest Indiana, and Southwestern Michigan areas. 

Crown Brewing Company hosted the beer festival I blogged about here, so I'd known for awhile that I wanted to head out to Crown Point and try a whole flight full of their beers.  My gut feeling did not lie.  Crown Brewing is definitely one of my favorites around! 

My flight consisted of Crown Blue, Crown Brown, Weizenhammer Weiss, Industrial Porter, Raspberry Creme Java Porter, and Plead the 5th Anniversary Imperial Red Ale.  Crown Blue was a very light blueberry that is definitely a summer beer.  I also really enjoyed the Crown Brown because unlike other brews that boast a nutty, caramel flavor, I could actually taste both flavors impeccably well.  The industrial porter was very smooth, much smoother in fact than my normal stout picks.  And my absolute favorite was the wonderfully delicious Raspberry Creme Java Porter.  It is so good.  You can smell the hint of raspberry the second your glass is raised and it has an incredibly smooth finish for a porter.  I added to our growing growler collection (SunKing, Figure 8, etc.) and landed one of these to go.  I can't like 'em all, so naturally I was not a fan of the red ale; it really came off as more of an IPA taste to me.  With that said, I can't believe I thoroughly enjoyed five out of the six beers I sampled, so we will definitely be returning to Crown Brewing.

As a side note, they are in the same building as Carriage Court Pizza, so you can enjoy some carbs to soak up the good beer.  I recommend the margherita pizza, but skip the beer cheese appetizer (not the best we've had.)

Overall, I definitely recommend trying this place; I'm ranking it right up there with my Three Floyds review.  Enjoy & let me know which beer is your fav!

S'mores Graham Krispies

Say hello to the chocolately goodness of the S'mores Graham Krispie.  While I've tried several variations of several s'mores cookie recipes and been left disappointed and unsatisfied, this recipe certainly takes the cake.  It's a fabulous and true-to-taste combination that will definitely give you the s'more taste you're looking for!

S'mores Graham Krispies

4 tbs butter
1 bag (10oz) mini marshmallows
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
6 cups Golden Grahams cereal
1 1/4 cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Melt butter over low heat.  Add in marshmallows and continue to melt.  Once marshmallows are melted, stir in vanilla extract and remove once fully combined.  Pour over cereal, begin mixing, add in 1 cup of the chocolate chips and continue to mix until evenly coated.  Using a spatula, press into a greased 13x9 cake pan.  Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate chips over the top and press into the mixture.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before cutting and serving.  Enjoy that campfire taste!

Baked & Crispy Coconut Chicken

We've been trying to stay healthy lately since it's swim suit season, of course.  In order to do this, we make ourselves sit down on Sundays and plan dinner for the week.  Otherwise it's way too easy to grab a bite out!  This week we tried several new recipes and this coconut chicken is by far one of my favorite dinners that Carl has ever cooked up!!

Baked & Crispy Coconut Chicken
(originally found here)

12 thin sliced chicken tenders (ours came as a 6 pack which we cut in half)
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp table salt
3/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

Chop the coconut the flakes until they are roughly a similar size to the bread crumbs.  Combine with bread crumbs and all of the spices.  Mix well to make sure all the ingredients have blended together.  Place the flour in a separate dish, and in another dish crack both eggs and beat lightly.

One chicken tender at a time, dredge in flour, dip in egg, and coat in coconut/bread crumb mixture.  Press the mixture into the chicken and make sure it is well coated.  Place the tenders on your baking sheet and lightly drizzle with olive oil.  Bake for 20 minutes or until the juices run clear.  Make sure not to overcook!  The coconut/bread crumb mixture will be lightly crisped and golden.

Sweet & Spicy Apricot Dipping Sauce
1/2 cup sugar free apricot preserve
1 tbs rice wine vinegar
3/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Mix all ingredients together until they are well incorporated and use as a yummy dipping sauce for the chicken!

Like I mentioned above, this has been one of our favorite recipe finds yet so enjoy and let me know what you think!!

 

Monogram Love

I'm sure you've seen my new monogrammed cup posted on my Instagram & Facebook pages and it comes with quite exciting news.  One of my favorite crafty ladies (who also happened to be one of my beautiful bridesmaids) finally started a shop of her own!!  Check out Initial It Gifts' page here and I promise you will not be disappointed. 

I'm beyond excited for Brittany & this new adventure!  I was lucky enough to enjoy her craftiness during my wedding planning days and all throughout my time spent in North Carolina.  Brittany was kind enough to etch all of our glass beer boots to personalize our groomsmen gifts and one of our wedding gifts was a monogrammed plate (with my new last name initial!!)  Last year I got a wine glass decorated with wedding colors & a cute "K" as well, so as you can see I have shared in her monogram love for several years.  Brittany & her cute shop, Initials It Gifts, can monogram anything and everything!  I'm excited to see what great ideas the shop will continue to come up with.  As for me, I can't wait to enjoy my new monogrammed cup this week on the lake for 4th of July!  Cheers!

Jillian Review: Kickbox FastFix

www.barnesandnoble.com

I know I'm a little late to the party on this one (it was released early 2012) buuuut I finally bought the Jillian Michaels: Kickbox FastFix DVD!  This one has three 20 minute kickboxing workouts.  I assume you can do all three at once if you really want a hard core workout, but since I do these during my lunch hour at our office gym, I'm doing one at a time. 

Naturally I couldn't wait to try my shiny new Jillian DVD, so I squeezed Workout 1 in today even with a crazy schedule.  Coincidentally, this workout is legitimately 20 minutes including the warm up and cool down so it's perfect for those days when you want to get your heart rate going but you don't want to be sweating for hours.  With that said, even though it is a mere 20 minutes, it's definitely a great total body workout - arms incorporated with punching sequences, legs used with lots of great kicking motions, and core continuously engaged.  Let's be serious - Jillian even managed to throw suicide sprints into the mix...did you expect anything less?!

I can't wait to try Workout 2 & 3; this seems like it will climb to one of my top favorite JM DVDs.  Do you love it too?!

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Last August, I made this great side salad that Carl and I swore we couldn't wait to try doctored up as a main course.  Fast forward 10 months and we finally got around to trying it!  I must say, it was even better as dinner.

Buffalo Chicken Pasta Salad - the dinner version

1 box Ronzoni Smart Taste 2.5x the fiber pasta
1 large red onion
5 stalks celery
3 cans cooked chunk chicken
1 bottle Franks Red Hot Wings buffalo sauce
1 bottle Walden Farms zero calorie bleu cheese dressing

Boil noodles according to directions on box.

While noodles are boiling, chop onion and celery.  Combine chopped onion, chopped celery stalks, and chicken chunks in a large bowl.  Pour about half of each dressing jar into the bowl and mix well.  After draining the cooked noodles, place in bowl, cover with the remaining dressing, and stir until the mixture is well incorporated.  You can either enjoy now or refrigerate and enjoy later!  Like I mentioned in the first post, the dish is spicier if you serve it warm right away - so dig in if you love that zing!