White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies

Im so in love with these cookies! Probably in my top three! Super easy and so worth it! The only thing that I do different from this recipe is instead of 1 1/4 cup or flour I do 1 1/2 cup! They turn out a lot better if I do. I give this recipe a 9 out of 10!

Beef and Broccoli

This recipe just looked so yummy!!! Which must be why I made it because I don't usually choose beef and broccoli but this recipe just wasn't too shabby and supper easy to make! Give it a try! Recipe here.  

Another Banana Bread Recipe...

This loaf I made sure was cooked before I took it out! My co-workers loved it. I just cant wait to try the other recipe again so they can try it because I'm telling you it was really good! Anyway this recipe I would say is your typical banana bread recipe, still good but pretty average. The only thing I didnt different was add nuts :) Recipe here.

Lemon Ricotta Pasta

On a scale of 1-10 I would rate this recipe at like a 6 or 7, It wasn't my fav but it also wasn't too bad! Which might be my own fault, I may have added too much lemon on accident so it was pretty lemony so we ate ours with french bread and that seemed to help! I would say give it a try! We aren't big pepper eaters so I left those out and I also didn't put as much spinach as it called for cuz it just seemed like too much. Find it here!

3 Ingredient Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

I'll be honest I was a little worried this recipe wasn't going to turn out very well but it surprised me by turning out really well! Sorry I didn't take a picture. Any salsa and taco seasoning mix will do so you can experiment with flavor! I love it and love how easy it is! You will not regret trying this recipe! Enjoy! 

Ranch Pasta Salad

This recipe makes a lot of pasta...so if there are only two of you I would cut the recipe in half. We are still eating this salad and I made it over a week ago! Its a good recipe and one that you can pretty much add whatever you want! I added olives because what is a pasta salad without olives?! Next time I make this recipe I will 86 the peppers and the yogurt and just use all mayo. (I don't use miracle whip because I think its nasty!) Recipe here!

Cinnamon Crumb Banana Bread

So we all know I like to bake, so when bananas go "bad" at work I like to take them home and try out new recipes and then take the spoils back to work. This one has a tragic ending but I will most definitely be trying it again! This is what happened....

I followed the recipe the way I was supposed to, put it in the oven for the time I was supposed to and then did a toothpick test, (which doesn't usually lead me astray) for some reason the toothpick came out clean so I assumed it was done. After it had cooled for a while Dallen helped me take it out so it could cool...we set it on the cooling rack and then we watched as the top sunk....right out the bottom of the bread and on to the counter. It was not cooked at all in the middle, I mean it was literally pure batter! I was so disappointed! So we decided we might as well try the crust and this is where the story gets even more sad...we both thought it was really good...and we don't even like banana bread all that much!!! Dallen even said I should save the recipe. He also told me I should put this fail on the blog because "people love that sort of thing" ha ha. So I hope you enjoyed my fail, one of many. I do recommend this recipe just cook it longer than I did! You can find it here!

Chewy Granola Bars

I had a request for my granola bars, which really aren't mine but its okay! I ABSOLUTELY love these granola bars! They are simply the best! They are easy and you can just add whatever you want to them, cater them to your taste! 

 I like to double the recipe and bake them on a cookie sheet. You can never have too many granola bars. Also just a word to the wise; These should be sticky, do not add more flour! So miss Allison, here it is! Enjoy! 

Easy Fettucine Alfredo

8 oz fettucine noodles
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. salt
dash of pepper
2 tsp. parsley

 1. Cook noodles according to package. Drain and keep warm.
 2. In a medium-sized saucepan, heat butter and whipping cream over low heat, just until melted. Stir    
to blend.
 3. Stir in cheese, salt and pepper.
 4. Pour sauce over hot noodles. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve!

I LOVE LOVE this recipe!!! It's super delicious and super easy! Its one of my new favorites! I recommend storing the sauce and noodles separately. 

Ranch Roasted Potatoes

2 pounds red potatoes, washed and quartered
1/4 cup vegetable or olive oil
1 (1-ounce) packet dry Ranch dressing mix

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Cover a baking sheet with foil and set aside. Place potatoes in a resealable plastic bag and add oil. Toss to coat completely and add dry salad dressing mix to the bag. Toss once again to coat potatoes in dressing mix. Bake on prepared baking sheet 35 minutes, or until potatoes are brown and crisp.
Makes 6 servings!

We also liked this recipe a lot. It was crazy easy. We thought they almost tasted like potato wedges. Next time I think I would add just a little season salt to add a little more flavor!

Baked Buffalo Wings

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
20 chicken wings
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup hot pepper sauce (for example, Franks RedHot sauce)
Ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing, for dipping.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and lightly grease with cooking spray. Place flour, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and salt into a resealable plastic bag and shake to mix. Make sure chicken wings are completely dry and add them to the bag. Seal bag and toss until wings are well coated with flour mixture.

Place wings onto prepared baking sheet and place in refrigerator. Chill at least 1 hour to prevent wings from getting soggy. (For faster preparation, place wings in the freezer about 20 min)

Whisk together melted butter and hot sauce in a small bowl. Dip wings into butter mixture, and place back on baking sheet. Bake about 45 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink in the center and is crispy on the outside. The internal temperature should reach 165 degrees F. Rotate wings halfway through cooking time so they cook evenly.

Serve with your favorite dips or eat plain-they are delicious either way!
Makes 20 wings.

We really liked this recipe but they weren't really very hot. So if you like the flavor of buffalo wings without the heat these were made for you! We ate them with carrots and ranch! I have a picture of my cute husband enjoying these but I've been forbidden to post it…men. ;)

Rosemary Roast Chicken

The third little pig has arrived! So a Personal Progress experience I had to do was to cook meals for my family for two weeks, and of course the last two weeks that I had to accomplish this experience was the last two weeks of play practice/performances so I only had about an hour and a half to make dinner so, here is a really super simple chicken recipe that turned out to be way better than I thought it would.

Lemon 1, Juiced
Olive Oil 1/4 cup
Dijon Mustard 3 tablespoons
6 Chicken Pieces
FRESH Rosemary 2 tablespoons
Salt 1/4 teaspoon
Pepper 1 pinch


Put the chicken into a baking pan (closer together for juicier meat) mix lemon juice, oil, mustard, and pour over chicken, then sprinkle the salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary on top. You can let the chicken marinade for and hour or so in the fridge if desired (but it's still good either way) Cook at 400 for 45-50 minutes.

I also mixed just whatever I felt like into the marinade, some different spices and BBQ sauce.

WARNING: Don't use dried Rosemary!! They will have no flavor and it will be like trying to eat little twigs on your chicken. You don't even have to have rosemary honestly.

Hamburger Buns

I am seriously the worst at taking pictures so what you see here isn't the finished product but pretty much what they looked like right before they went into the oven. Ive never made hamburger buns before but Dallen and I thought they turned out really well! They were so soft but not so soft they stick to the roof of your mouth, they really were perfect! I will be using this recipe again. Next time I think I'll add a little wheat flour to it! Recipe here!

Banana Muffins

I work at a hotel and with it being the slower season sometimes the food goes bad and they can't put bananas out that have spots on them (whatever…) So I took some home and made some banana muffins. You can find the recipe here. 

They turned out pretty good, I'm not a huge banana fan but they taste like banana muffins lol! You can be expecting more banana recipes from me :) 

Cobbler

So I found this recipe for cobbler on Pinterest. It was blueberry, which I love. I tried it and really like how simple the recipe is, plus it's delicious. I've actually made it 3-4 times. The last time I made it though I thought I'd try switching out the blueberries for apples. It turned out great as well...the only change I made was a little more fruit than the recipe called for and a teaspoon of cinnamon.

The photo isn't the best, but I'm all about pictures with recipes. :)

Oh, another note I use regular granulated sugar for the 'dough' and turbinado sugar for sprinkling on the top...I like the texture.

You can find the recipe here.

Skillet Scalloped Potatoes

The Church was giving out 50 lb. bags of potatoes so Dallen and I have a lot of potatoes…so I've been looking up new recipes that use potatoes! Found this one here! It didn't turn out too bad, next time I'd add more cheese and maybe chicken or mushrooms! Its pretty easy and quick and as you can see I didn't do it exactly the way they did; no skillet and its not round, so for each layer I just changed the direction I laid the potatoes out! Oh yeah... Ive also never heard of Gruyere cheese so I looked up substitutions and used Swiss! 

French Toast Sticks

The 10th was mine and Dallens 2 month anniversary (monumental accomplishment, I know lol.) which we didn't really get to be together for so we decided to celebrate on Saturday and I figured what better way to celebrate than having french toast for breakfast with orange juice! Once again I found the recipe on pinterest! I have never made the egg mix the way they did but it turned out really well and although the sticks are fun next time Id just use a whole piece! 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ok, so who doesn't know how to make chocolate chip cookies right?!?…well apparently there are lots of different ways to make them, I found this recipe on pinterest, here. I thought it was odd it asked for cream cheese but they turned out really good! So good I decided I should take some to Relief 

Society so Dallen and I wouldn't eat them all!

They are really soft and fluffy! It called for corn starch which I also thought was strange and didn't have any on hand so I just didn't use any and they turned out just fine! 

Risotto

 This stuff is so good, I love it! I have to admit I was kinda surprised it turned out so well! While you are cooking it, it doesn't look very appetizing but don't worry once you add the cheese it starts to look the way it should!

Risotto is a side-dish and although it is quite good alone I think it should probably be eaten with some sort of meat. We went for chicken! I enlisted Dallen to help to me and he did a great job with the chicken! We just happened to have half a lemon in our fridge so we had lemon chicken! It was tasty!

This is my first time making Risotto (but not my last :)) and although we had it plain I think its one of those dishes you can pretty much add whatever you want to it; corn, broccoli, mushrooms, carrots…whatever floats your boat really! It did call for parsley and although we didn't have any fresh parsley my grandma gave us a lovely spice rack that just so happened to have dried parsley so we added that later. I'm not really sure it adds any flavor as it just makes it look pretty. Also it only calls for 1 cup of Parmesan cheese but the bag was a 1 1/2 C. so I just used it all! 

Simple Parmesan Risotto -By the Food Nanny

5 cups chicken broth
4 tbs butter (divided)
11/2 cups finely chopped onion
11/2 cups arborio rice
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
Salt and ground black pepper
2 tbs chopped fresh italian parsley
Shaved parmesan cheese

1. Bring the broth to boiling in a medium saucepan. Decrease the heat to low and cover the pan.

2. Melt 2 tbs of the butter in a heavy large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onion; cook and stir until very tender but not brown, about 10 min. Increase the heat to medium. Add the rice and stir for 1 min.

3. Add 11/2 cups of the hot broth. Boil gently until the broth is absorbed, stirring frequently. Add another 1 cup broth; stir until broth is absorbed. Add the remaining 2 1/2 cups broth, 1/2 cup at a time, allowing the broth to be absorbed before adding more. Stir frequently until the rice is tender and the mixture is creamy, about 20 min.

4.Stir in the remaining 2 Tbs butter and the grated parmesan. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a serving bowl. Sprinkle with the parsley and shaved parmesan.

Loaded Nachos!

I don't know if this really counts as a recipe but I seriously LOVE these nachos! My family always just had normal nachos with cheese and salsa…and then I started dating Dallen and his mom made these for dinner one night. They are so so so good! 

Loaded Nachos 
-Chips, whatever kind you like.
-Sour Cream
-Cheese, I use the Fiesta mix.
-Salsa, also whatever kind you like.
-Refried beans or chili. (We've been using chili because Dallen made enough to feed an army and we are trying to get rid of it but personally I like the chili more anyway)

You really can put whatever you like on them…olives, peppers, etc.

  Put all ingredients on a plate and put it in the microwave until the cheese melts. Except the sour cream…that goes on last! Enjoy!