BYU Mint Brownies

A few weeks ago, Michele posted this recipe on her blog. I was so excited about it! I made a pan and they are delicious...even better than the real BYU brownies. Maybe it is because of the freshness, maybe it is because I took the time to make them, or maybe it is because I made the mistake of quadrupling the chocolate (I probably should explain... Michele cut her recipe in half and said she doubled the chocolate. At first I thought that she had just doubled the chocolate on her own and didn't put it in the recipe on her blog (I don't know why I thought that). So I decided to double the chocolate too...I realized too late that I had doubled her doubled chocolate. Oh well...it was a mistake I might make again). I was going to take a picture, but we ate them all before I got around to it. :)Here's the recipe:

For the brownie:
1 cup butter (or margarine)
1 cup cocoa (this is doubled...not quadrupled)
2 Tbsp. honey
4 eggs
2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Melt butter and mix in cocoa. Allow to cool. Add honey, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Pour batter into a greased 9x13 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool. Frost with mint icing and place in fridge or freezer for a few minutes to stiffen it up. Then frost with chocolate frosting.

For the mint icing:
4 Tbsp. butter
dash of salt
3-4 Tbsp. milk
2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
2 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
3(ish) drops green food coloring

Soften butter. Add salt, corn syrup, and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Add mint extract and food coloring. Mix. Add milk gradually until the consistency is a little thinner than cake frosting.

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Frosting:
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup Hershey's cocoa
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3-4 Tbsp. milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.

SOURCE: Michele. By way of: The Girl Who Ate Everything, originally from BYU Dining.

Baja Fish Tacos

I have never had fish tacos before so I was a little skeptical about trying this recipe. I wanted to do something different from our typical fish and rice meal. It. was. delicious!!


Here's the recipe (from allrecipes.com):

Prep Time: 20 Min
Cook Time: 10 Min
Ready In: 35 Min

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 (1.25 ounce) package ORTEGA® Taco Seasoning Mix, divided
• 1 pound cod or other white fish fillets, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• *red pepper flakes to taste (my addition)
  
• 1 package (12) ORTEGA® Taco Shells, warmed
  

• Toppings: shredded cabbage, chopped tomato, lime juice, ORTEGA® Thick & Smooth Taco Sauce

Directions

1. COMBINE sour cream, mayonnaise, cilantro and 2 tablespoons seasoning mix in small bowl.
2. COMBINE cod, vegetable oil, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, and remaining seasoning mix in medium bowl; pour into large skillet. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with fork.
3. FILL taco shells with fish mixture. Top with cabbage, tomato and sour cream mixture, lime juice and taco sauce.

Nutritional Information

Makes 6 servings

Amount Per Serving Calories: 427 | Total Fat: 29.2g | Cholesterol: 51mg

Salt and Vinegar Chips

I got this recipe from Elly Says Opa. These were great! I think they could have used a little more vinegar though.

Serves 4
Marth Stewart

1 lb. potatoes, cut into 1/4″ slices
2 cups white vinegar (or enough to cover potatoes)
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
coarse salt and pepper

Make sure vinegar covers potatoes in a medium saucepan, and then bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until just fork tender, about 5 minutes. Let potatoes cool in the vinegar for 30 minutes. Drain well.

Preheat the broiler. Toss the potatoes with oil, salt and pepper. and place in one layer on a broiler-safe pan. Broil until crispy and browned on top, just a few minutes, rotating the pan if necessary. Sprinkle with additional coarse salt before serving.

Candy Cane Popcorn

4 qts. popped corn (can be measured using a 2 qt. pitcher)
2 c. whole nuts
3 c. mini marshmallows
1 1/2 c. spiced gumdrops
1 c. butter
1 1/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Mix popcorn nuts, marshmallows and gumdrops in large mixing bowl. Melt butter in large saucepan, add sugar and corn syrup. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Simmer 3 minutes. Add vanilla. Blend well. Pour over popcorn mixture. Mix well. Let stand 2 minutes to cool. With dampened hands, shape mixture into candy canes, balls, or whatever you would like. Arrange on wax paper to set. Wrap in plastic wrap and store at room temperature. Yields: 9 large servings.

Crockpot Orange Chicken

I found this recipe on the A Year of Slow Cooking Website (I just call her the Crockpot Lady). It was great! I think that I would have preferred it to be a little more spicy and a little less orangey (I think it could be solved by adding either a little bit of water, or less concentrate), but it was great nevertheless!


Orange Chicken

1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken, cut in 2-inch chunks
1/2 cup flour
olive oil, for browning the chicken
1 tablespoon kosher salt (or less)
6 ounces (1/2 can) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed (I'd opt for little-to-no pulp. The pulp can taste a bit bitter when cooked)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons ketchup



The Directions.

Use a 4 quart slow cooker for best results. Dredge the chicken pieces with the flour, and shake off the excess. Go ahead and throw away any remaining flour, we won't need it. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on the stove and brown the chicken on all sides. There is no need to fully cook it, just sear it enough for the flour to stick and get a nice coating.

Plop the chicken pieces into your slow cooker. In a small mixing bowl, combine the orange juice concentrate, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, salt, and ketchup. Taste. If you'd like the chicken to be a bit sweeter, add a touch more sugar. Pour sauce mixture evenly over the chicken, and toss gingerly to coat.

Cover and cook on low for 6 hours, or on high for 3 to 4. Serve over white or brown rice.

DELICIOUS!!

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Our camera really needs to be replaced. The pictures are coming out fuzzy, and the focus is off, and the button used to fix it is broken. Sorry!

These muffins are so good! I found them on Baking Bites. They are light, easy, and delicious!

Apple Cinnamon Muffins
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups diced apple

3 tbsp coarse sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and spices.
In a large bowl, whisk together brown sugar and egg. Whisk in melted butter, vegetable oil and vanilla. Working in two or three additions, alternately stir in flour mixture and buttermilk, ending with an addition of flour and mixing only until no streaks of flour remain visible in the batter. Stir in diced apple.
Divide batter evenly into prepared muffin cups filling each to the top, or slightly over.
In a small bowl, stir together coarse sugar and additional 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon. Sprinkle generously over muffins.
Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean and the top springs back when lightly pressed.
Cool muffins on a wire rack.

Makes 12.

Notes: I didn't add the sugar on top, and they were still delicious. Also, it made about 14 muffins.

BBQ Chicken Bacon Pizza

I stole this from Michele's recipe blog. It was SO Yummy! Thanks Michele!
Barbecue Chicken Bacon Pizza with Caramalized Onions

Makes 2 pizzas*

1/2 recipe bread dough
your favorite barbecue sauce (I used hickory flavored Bullseye)
1 chicken breast
1/2-1 lb. bacon
1 medium onion
mozzarella cheese

Peel onion and cut into thin slices. Heat a little oil in a frying pan, add onion, separating rings, then reduce heat to medium and cook until golden. Place bacon on cooking sheet and bake at 400 for about 12-15 minutes. While bacon is cooking, preheat barbecue grill; cut chicken breast into 3 tenders and coat with barbecue sauce. Grill 3-4 mintues on each side. Let rest and cut into tiny pieces. Remove bacon from oven and blot on paper towels. Crumble or cut into small pieces.

Make bread dough according to recipe, except don't let the dough raise. Use half of the dough for 1 pizza. Roll out dough on a pizza stone; spread barbecue sauce first then layer the chicken, bacon, onions then cheese. Bake at 425 for about 15 minutes. You can do both pizzas at once if you have 2 pans or one at a time, just roll out the second half of the dough after you slide the first pizza off. I actually only make one pizza at a time and just bake the other half of the dough as a loaf of bread. In that case, separate the dough right after it's done mixing and immediately put it in the loaf pan to let it rise for 25 minutes. Bake at 350 for 25minutes.