Reese’s Chewy Chocolate Cookies

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Travis came home this past weekend, so I needed to do some cooking and baking for my poor starving college student! I had an open bag of Reese’s peanut butter chips, so I decided to make the chocolate cookies on the back of the bag.

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The only difference was that I only had one cup of peanut butter chips, rather than the 1 2/3 cup the recipe called for, so I added in 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips. I would do that again, I loved the combination of chips. These cookies sort of poofed up while cooking and then totally flattened out once cool. But they stayed moist and chewy. I think this recipe would be good with some sort of mint chips too! Yum!

Reese’s Chewy Chocolate Cookies
2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 sticks butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup Reese’s peanut butter chips
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Stir together dry ingredients and set aside. Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well. Gradually add flour mixture and mix well. Add chips and mix well.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350* for 8 to 9 minutes. Do not over bake. The cookies will be soft. Let cool slightly before removing to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Cindy

Southern Chicken Casserole

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Southern chicken casserole is a super easy dish that I have been making for several years. A friend had this cookbook of recipes from around the world that she shared with me when we were doing a homeschool project. I happened to find this recipe when I was looking for Chinese food recipes. This is clearly not from China!

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I haven’t made it in awhile, but Travis came home this weekend and I knew he would enjoy it. I have modified the original recipe a bit- the way the recipe was written there is just too much creamy stuff! This is a great make ahead dish and it is perfect for a potluck. It’s a bit of a hassle because you have to cook the chicken and rice first, but after that it comes together quickly.

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Southern Chicken Casserole

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
4 cups cooked rice, cooled
2 cups celery, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 can sliced water chestnuts, chopped
1 cup sour cream
2 cans cream of chicken soup
Salt and pepper to taste
1 package Stove Top stuffing
2 1/2 ounces olive oil

Mix first 8 ingredients. Place into a greased 9 x 13″ pan. Mix stuffing mix with olive oil and pour over the top of the chicken and rice mixture. Cover with foil and bake at 350* for approximately 45 minutes. I keep the casserole covered so the stuffing doesn’t get too brown. You can remove the foil if it doesn’t seem to be getting brown enough for your liking.

Fashion Friday- It’s Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Fall

I know, I know. I’ve talked about it being Fall roughly a million times in recent Fashion Friday history. But! It’s finally starting to feel like Fall- cloudy mornings and cooler air. Despite the weather forecast of it being 80* and sunny by Sunday, I’m enjoying the fall weather while it lasts.

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Our neighbors dropped by a couple of days ago and gave us some gorgeous home-grown pumpkins. We’re feeling festive around here.

Win It Thermal Shirt

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Cute! Love the print on the sleeves.

Alessandria Pendant Necklace

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Mossimo Supply Co. Peplum Top

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This seems like a comfy take on a peplum shirt.

Timex Originals Classic Round

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Both my mom and I have a thing for watches with large faces- in fact, my mom is planning to go to our local jeweler’s soon to have my dad’s watch re-sized to fit her.

I love the simplicity of the face on the watch above, and the color of the band is perfect.

Trip to Panama Dress

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You can’t tell from the picture, but the lighter color on this dress is actually a very light pink.

Fallen Leaves Lace-up Booties

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You’re probably tired of seeing some form of boot on my Fashion Friday posts. I apologize for my obessive nature.

Enjoy the Journey Sweater

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So cute.

Printed Skater Dress

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Pretty and simple.

Greet Your Day Socks

knee high socks

Is it weird that I want a pair of above-the-knee socks? I think that these would be perfect with a dress and boots. Or a skirt and oxfords.

Jordan

Lemon Scones

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My dad requested lemon scones, so I made these for him the other day. These were so yummy. We all agreed that they could have been a bit more lemony, so I modified the recipe a little.

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When I kneaded the dough, I ended up needing to use a lot of flour- the dough was much stickier than I was expecting. So don’t be afraid to very generously flour the surface that you will be working the dough on, and definitely have more flour set aside in case you need it for your hands and the knife that you cut the dough with.

The glaze from this recipe is super good, and there’s a lot of it for only eight scones- yay for that!

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Lemon Scones

Scones:

2 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

3 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1 cup half & half

1 egg yolk, beaten slightly

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Lemon glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons lemon zest

2 tablespoons half & half

 

Preheat oven 400*. Grease a baking sheet and set aside (I used parchment paper, and sprayed the paper, just in case).

Stir the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the lemon zest and toss mixture with your hands.

Cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients and mix until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the half & half, the egg yolk, vanilla, and lemon juice and use a fork to blend the liquid within the well. Then use a wooden spoon to combine all the ingredients, just until the dough holds together.

Scrape the dough onto a (generously) floured surface and then, using floured hands, knead dough gently three or four times to form a ball. Flatten the ball into a disc about 3/4-inch thick, then cut into 8 wedges. Transfer to a baking sheet, leaving at least 1/4-inch between them. Brush the tops lightly with half & half.

Bake the scones until golden brown, about 13-15 minutes. Allow them to cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

While the scones continue to cool, make the glaze. Combine all the ingredients and whisk them until smooth. If necessary, use water to thin the glaze, mixing in a 1/2 teaspoon at a time. When the scones are cooled, drizzle each one generously with glaze.

 

Jordan

Castle- “Always” an Obsession

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Castle is another one of our favorite shows- we were super excited about Season 6, which started about a month ago. Richard Castle, the “ruggedly handsome” mystery writer, and Detective Kate Beckett solve unusual NYPD murder cases with the help of Beckett’s co-workers, Detective Javier Esposito and Detective Kevin Ryan.

The show is more serious then Psych, but there are still a ton of really funny quotes…

  • Castle: Dude, they’re donuts. Either you’re in or you’re out.
  • Castle to Beckett: What I said was not confusing enough for your face to be doing what its doing.
  • Rick Castle: Actually, for a truly Castle-esque theory, it has to be fully thought through.  Kate Beckett: Since when?
  • Ryan: Catholic school is like combat. If you haven’t been there, then you don’t know.
    Esposito: I have been there…in combat.

Jordan