Weeknight Paella

This was tasty! We have leftovers, and I anticipate that after it has been sitting overnight, it'll be even better!

I doubled the recipe below, because I had a full pound of shrimp and chorizo.

Weeknight Paella

(...and a cookie for dessert, by way of Cooking This and That)

2/3 cups yellow rice (Goya)

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small shallot, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined

1/2 pound chorizo, sliced

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons chicken broth

1 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

1/3 cup frozen peas

Directions

- Heat olive oil in large saute pan over medium-high heat

- Add rice and cook until it begins to toast, about 1-2 minutes

- Add shallot and garlic and continue to saute until garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute

- Add shrimp, chorizo, and broth

- Cover pan tightly and reduce heat to medium-low

- Cook for 18 minutes

- Remove lid, add parsley and peas and cook until heated through

- Continue cooking uncovered until all liquid is absorbed.

It's a Ziploc Meal

Ziploc isn't a sponsor for me or anything, but after the meal I made Friday night, they could've been! I used the zip-top bags to save me some dishes in the end. I love doing that on Fridays, especially, because it means I get to relax after dinner!

Baked Cornflake Chicken Fingers and Roasted Potatoes

Chicken Fingers

1-1.5 lbs. chicken tenders, or boneless skinless breasts cut into tenders (My pack of tenders had 10 in it)

1 cup flour

seasoning you like (I use garlic salt, onion powder and black pepper)

1/2 stick melted butter

4-5 cups crushed cornflakes (make sure you crush them to oblivion -- they'll stick better)

Directions

- Mix flour and seasonings in a zip top bag and add chicken pieces; toss to coat

- Put cornflakes in a zip top bag and crush completely with a rolling pin or meat mallet. If you have a food processor, that would be awesome too

- Place melted butter in a shallow dish for dipping

- Place crushed cornflakes in another shallow dish (I use pie plates for both)
- Shake excess flour off of tenders, and dip in butter to coat, then dip in cornflakes, pressing to make sure they stick to the chicken

- Place on a foil-lined baking sheet lightly sprayed with cooking spray

- Bake chicken at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes

- Serve

Roasted Potatoes

4-6 baking potatoes

2 tsp olive oil

garlic powder

onion powder

black pepper

Directions

- Thinly slice the potatoes (about 1/4" thick) and place in a zip top bag

- Add olive oil and seasonings; toss to coat potatoes

- Spread potatoes out on a foil-lined baking sheet sprayed lightly with cooking spray

- Cook at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes

- Remove from oven; can eat as is, or sprinkle cheddar cheese over them and let it melt

Stuffed French Toast with Strawberries

Last Friday, DH showed me an ad for a restaurant on the other side of town and said it was a shame we had to go over there to get delicious stuffed french toast (they were advertising it).

I told him we didn't; we could have it at home! We had homemade bread leftover, so I picked up some cream cheese and strawberries.

Stuffed French Toast with Strawberries

(Me)

For strawberries:

1 qt. strawberries, sliced

2-4 tbsp sugar

- Mix sugar and strawberries and place in the fridge. I like to do this the night before, so there is plenty of delicious strawberry juice for on the french toast

For the french toast:

4-6 slices of bread (can make more if you have more people to feed)

5-6 eggs

3/4 cup of milk

sprinkling of cinnamon

1 tsp of vanilla

Directions

- Mix the eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla together and place in a shallow dish(like a pie plate)

- Heat your griddle or skillet for medium heat
- Soak your slices of bread; taking care to leave them in long enough that they're completely saturated

- Cook each slice as your space permits (obviously a griddle cooks more at once than a skillet!)

The important stuffing part:

1 8oz block of cream cheese, room temperature (low fat is fine. it's what i used)

Directions

- Gently blend the cream cheese so that it is light and fluffy and easier to spread

- As your toast slices come off the griddle/skillet, slather one piece with cream cheese, and sandwich it with another piece of french toast

- Drizzle strawberry juice and strawberries over top

- If you're not ravenous by this point, you can add powdered sugar or whipped cream, but we didn't make it that far!

I'd say each person only needs one of these sandwiches. I couldn't even finish mine!

Pistachio Salad

Alright..it really doesn't photograph well. Especially at 9pm at night as leftovers.

This is definately an old-timey recipe, but it's a nice, light-feeling dessert on a hot night.

I love it, and I don't even LIKE actual pistachios!

Pistachio Salad

(No idea..family recipe?)

1-20 oz. can crushed pineapple

1-3.4 oz. box instant pistachio pudding

1- 8 or 9 oz. (I can't remember which it is?) Cool Whip

1 cup mini marshmallows

Directions

- Mix pistachio pudding mix with pineapple and juices in bowl

- Add marshmallows and cool whip; stir until completely blended; spoon into a container to store in fridge

- Refrigerate until set; about 3 hours; serve.

- Makes approx. a 9"x9" pan of salad

Broccoli Slaw

I made this slaw to take to work with me for lunch. I halved the recipe since it was just for me, but below is the full recipe.

It was very tasty, and really brought back memories because of the ramen noodles! (I ate a lot of ramen in college. I think most people do?)

This is best day-of and next day. After that the noodles start to lose their crunch and it isn't quite as good.

Broccoli Slaw

(Paula Deen)

2 bags (3-ounce) Ramen Noodle Soup in Oriental (other flavors will work, too)
3/4 stick butter
1/4 cup slivered almonds
2 bags (12-ounce) bags broccoli cole slaw (in the bagged salad section of the grocery store)
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
Chopped green onions, for garnish

Dressing Mix:
3/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup brown or white sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 ramen noodle seasoning packet

Directions
- Put the ramen noodles in a bag and crush them with a rolling pin while melting butter in a large skillet over low/medium heat.

- Add the crushed noodles and slivered almonds to the skillet and saute, stirring occasionally (keep temperature at low/medium heat).

- Meanwhile, whisk together all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.

- Place the shredded broccoli into bowl and toss with the noodles, almonds, and sunflower seeds. - Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat.

- Garnish with chopped green onions.

"Ben-chiladas"

These "enchiladas" have been floating around on a lot of the blogs I read, and EVERYONE has enjoyed them!

We gave them a shot as well, and found them to be delicious. They reeeeeeeeeally aren't enchiladas...I'm not sure they have a single authentic ingredient...but they're still amazing.

This recipe also makes a lot more food than it looks. We had ben-chiladas for dinner three times, and poor DH ate some for lunches as well! We enjoyed them plain the first night, but found on subsequent re-heating nights that the filling kind of congeals...so we added some canned enchilada sauce to our leftovers and it was delicious all over again!

To reheat, Annie recommends 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes

Ben-chiladas

(Annie's Eats)

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

8 oz. reduced fat sour cream

8 oz. ranch salad dressing

flour tortillas (10-15)

jar of salsa (i used fresh)

shredded mexican cheese blend (as much as you want...anywhere from 2-4 cups!)

Directions

- Cook chicken breasts by preferred method, set aside to cool. When cool, shred or cube chicken (I skipped this step by baking my chicken and shredding it a few days before I made them)

- In a large mixing bowl, combine half the sour cream, and half the ranch dressing

- In a small bowl, combine the rest of the sour cream and the rest of the ranch dressing

- Stir both until well combined, then add shredded or cubed chicken to the large mixing bowl and mix well

- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F, and grease a 9"x13" pan (and possibly another, smaller pan if needed -- it was needed for us)

- Take 1 tortilla and top with a little less than 1 tbsp of the sauce from the small bowl; spreading over the tortillas in an even layer

- Add some of the chicken mixture to the center of the tortilla, and top with salsa and cheese to taste

- Roll up the tortilla and place it seam-side down in your prepared baking dish

- Repeat until all ingredients are used up (Mine made 12 bursting-at-the-seams enchiladas on 10" tortillas with 4 chicken breasts)

- Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes (30 for a crispier tortilla)

- Allow to cool a few minutes before serving

Grilled Baby Red Potatoes with Herbs

This is pretty simple, but so delicious....

Grilled Baby Red Potatoes with Herbs

(Mrs Sac's Purple Kitchen)

8 baby red potatoes, washed and cut into 1/4" to 1/2" slices

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/8 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tbsp coarsly chopped fresh parsley

Directions

- In a bowl, toss potatoes with olive oil, pepper, and garlic salt

- Spray a sheet of tin foil with olive oil or cooking spray, and spread the potatoes into thin layers (2-3 potatoes thick)

- Add any additional seasonings you enjoy, and fold up the tin foil, making a little packet on all sides

- Grill over medium heat, carefully flipping over once

- Cook for about 15-20 minutes

- Remove from grill and add fresh parsley before serving

Spicy Honey Chicken

The picture above is DH's handiwork...or rather, DHGM (Dear Husband-Grill Master) as he's been requested to be called on my blog :)

I got this one from Leigh -- her recipes are always fantastic!

Since DHGM finally, FINALLY was able to buy a grill (he's so happy!), I included a lot of grill-friendly recipes in this week.

This chicken can be done inside, under the broiler, or outside, on the grill. I love those flexible recipes!

Spicy Honey Chicken

(your home based mom)

*Note: You can change the "spicy" aspect of this recipe by how much cayenne pepper you put in!)

8 boneless, skinless, chicken thighs (I used chicken thighs, but bone in, and some leftover boneless breasts)

Rub:

2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Glaze:

6 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

Directions

- Combine the first six, 'rub' ingredients in a bowl and mix well

- Clean excess fat from chicken pieces and add pieces to bowl of spices, rubbing to coat

- Brush grill surface lightly with olive oil, and grill chicken for a few minutes on each side, until cooked through

- Combine honey and vinegar in a small bowl, stirring until well combined

- Brush mixture onto chicken (both sides) in the final moments of grilling

- Since the glaze is sugar-based, you'l need to turn the heat down so your chicken doesn't burn; leave it on the grill a fw moments to caramelize

- You can also use these steps inside, under your broiler

Strawberry Cream Dessert

Sometimes, DH sees recipes, and brings them home to me to try. Since it's difficult to get him to tell me what he'd like me to make more of sometimes, I usually make anything he brings home as a request.

This was one of his requests, taken from a local 'free' newspaper called The Merchandiser. All the while I was making it, it sort of reminded me of my strawberry pretzel salad...I guess it was the use of jello and fruit.

There's a lot of 'processed' foods in this, but oh well. I'm far from a purist.

Strawberry Cream Dessert

(Local newspaper)

*Note from the recipe: This cool and elegant dessert will serve a crowd. You could use the chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreos), for the crust if you'd like, but I think the golden variety is really nice.

30 Golden Vanilla Sandwich Cookies (Golden Oreos)

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 (6 oz.) package Strawberry Jell-O

1 3/4 cups boiling water
1 (6 oz.) can pineapple-orange juice (DH and I had a conversation that they USED to sell these 6 oz. cans of juice similarly to how they sell mango and pineapple juice in the ethnic sections nowadays. I had no luck finding these little cans, so I just bought myself a 64-oz. Dole Orange-Pineapple juice in the OJ section, and had tons left over for drinking/smoothies)

1/2 cup cold water

2 cups mashed or pureed strawberries (about 3 cups if you're using whole berries)

1 (8 oz.) tub of Cool Whip, thawed

Directions

- Crush the sandwich cookies by placing in a heavy-duty plastic zip bag and pounding with a rolling pin (I would think a food process would do this much easier/faster/cleaner)

- Place crumbs in a 9"x13" glass baking dish and pour melted butter over it.

- Mix well with a fork, and press the buttered crumbs into the bottom of the pan. Set aside

- In a large bowl (seriously...use a HUGE BOWL), combine gelatin with the boiling water, and stir until the gelatin mixture completely dissolves.

- Add the pineapple-orange juice, and the cold water, and stir well. Add the strawberry puree and mix.

- Refrigerate until the mixture becomes a bit thicker (about 10-15 minutes)

- Using a wire whisk, stir the thawed Cool Whip into the mixture until smooth

- Chill in the refrigerator for another 10-20 minutes, or until the mixture thickens a bit more but is not set

- Pour over the crumb crust in the baking dish, cover, and chill for 4 hours or until set

- Dessert can also be frozen

- Serves 12-16

Tuna Ball

This is a 'different' twist on a tuna dip or spread. It's very tasty, and a little different.

It's good as a sandwich, or, on small slices of baguette, or tortilla chips (I like it best on tortilla chips)

Thanks for this one, dear co-worker-of-mine, Margaret!

Tuna Ball

(Margaret)

1 large can of tuna, drained

1 small can of tuna, drained

1 8oz. bar of cream cheese, softened

1/2 tsp tabasco sauce (can use frank's)

1 tsp minced onion

2 tbsp parsley

2 tbsp chili sauce

Directions

- In a large bowl, blend together. If desired, form into a ball for serving and refrigerate

- Serve with baguette, or tortilla chips, or anything else you'd eat with tuna!

"Primanti Bros" Style Cole Slaw

I found this copycat recipe in a file -- it's supposed to be a 'copycat' of the Pittsburgh restaurant Primanti Brothers cole slaw.

It's actually pretty close. I'd say cut back on the oil (it's a bit much) but otherwise, on a sandwich, it DEFINATELY tastes like primanti!

We served it on pulled pork this time -- very tasty!

(Sorry, no pictures..we gobbled it up!)


"Primanti Bros" Style Cole Slaw
(SomeOldCookbookICan'tRemember)

1 head green cabbage, shredded
1 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
6 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons oil (don't use olive oil...the flavor would be too strong)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
- Combine the shredded cabbage and onions in a bowl
- In a pot, dissolve the sugar into the vinegar and oil over low heat; add the salt and pepper and cool completely
- When cool, pour over the cabbage mixture and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving

Saucy Baked Chicken

This recipe was quite tasty -- we enjoyed it immensely served over pasta tossed with olive oil.

We'll make this one again!

Saucy Baked Chicken

(Lauren's Kitchen)

4-6 chicken cutlets (I used 3 chicken breasts I had left in the freezer)
1 medium onion, sliced
8 ounces sliced white mushrooms
1/4 cup olive oil
1 and 1/2 cups chicken broth
4 TBSP all purpose flour
2 TBSP lemon juice
2 TBSP balsamic vinegar
1 and 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Directions

- Preheat oven to 450.Pour oil into a casserole dish.

- Add chicken, onion and mushrooms, turning to coat with oil.

- Bake 5 minutes; turn chicken over and stir vegetables.

- Bake an additional 5 minutes.

- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk flour into chicken broth.

- Add vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper, stirring well.

- When chicken has cooked for 10 minutes, add broth mixture to casserole dish, cover with foil and bake 10 minutes.

- Remove foil; stir vegetables and bake, uncovered, until sauce bubbles and is slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.

- Heat broiler. Turn chicken over. Place dish 6 inches from heat and broil until chicken just starts to turn golden, about 3-5 minutes.

- Serve immediately.

Cafe Rio Pork

*Ignore the pot it's in -- I had DH remove it from the crockpot early, and was just heating it up on the stovetop!

I've never been to Utah. I'd never even heard of Cafe Rio until I started reading LeighAnne's blog.

But she talked about how delicious their food was so often, that when she finally posted a recipe for the pork they serve at the restaurant, I decided I had to try it (and the fact that it was a crockpot meal with only 3 ingredients didn't hurt either!)

This pork is the most amazing and delicious pork I think I've ever eaten. It's good plain, on salads, in quesedillas, in tacos, in burritos, on nachos -- just about anything you can think of.

This pork is THAT good.

Now, admittedly, I'm not really a pork-in-my-mexican-food kind of girl. I know its relatively common in REAL mexican, but I tend to stick to chicken and beef in my kind.

No longer. Now, it's this pork or nothing!

I honestly can't wait to make it again!!

Cafe Rio Pork

(your home based mom)

1-2 lb. pork tenderloin (I used just a standard pork roast. Really, it doesn't matter what you use -- the crockpot will make the meat juicy and tender anyway)
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups fresh salsa

Directions
- Mix sugar and salsa, pour over pork.

- Cook in crock pot for 8 hrs. on low.

- When done shred with two forks and return to juice in crock pot and allow liquid to absorb.

- Serve with tortillas and all the fixins!

Baked Corn Dogs

I thought these were a bit of a let-down, but I'm posting them anyway because I think they have potential -- just with a different corn bread covering.

I think I'd use the cornbread recipe I love, rather than this one. You'll probably have to lessen the amount of liquid in the cornbread recipe so it sticks to the hot dogs, but I found the recipe below to be a bit bland for my tastes.

It's still a fun idea, and I'd like to try making them again!

Baked Corn Dogs

(Laura's Home Cookin' - adapted from Martha Stewart)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting the hot dogs)
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2/3 cup milk
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
4 precooked turkey hot dogs (I used the real deal, old fashioned hot dogs in casing. mmm)

Directions

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

- Spray a cooking sheet with cooking spray, set aside.

- In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

- Make a hole in the center and then add milk, eggs, and oil. Mix well.
- Dust hot dogs with flour.

- Coat hot dogs with corn meal mixture (it helps to do this with popsicle sticks). Bake until golden, 20 minutes.

- Serve with ketchup if desired.

Parmesan Ranch Chicken

This was tasty, but I didn't feel like the ranch or parmesan flavors really came through -- it tasted mostly like butter and cornflakes (which, by the way, is a HEAVENLY combination).

I only had the parm in the green can -- so I'm thinking next time I'll try this with more ranch mix, and fresh parmesan.

Even if it didn't taste exactly like I thought it would, it was still incredibly tasty and the chicken was VERY juicy.

I served it with mashed potatoes and green beans.

Even made great leftovers!

Parmesan Ranch Chicken

(Kara's Kitchen Creations)

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 cup crushed corn flakes

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1 Tbsp dry ranch dressing mix

2-3 Tbsp melted butter

Directions

- Rinse chicken breasts and set aside.

- Combine corn flakes, cheese, and dressing mix in a shallow container.

- Dip chicken in butter, then in crumb mixture.

- Place on greased cookie sheet.

- Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes or till juices run clear.

Crockpot Orange-Apricot Pork Chops

I got this recipe from A Year of Crockpotting -- I'm always looking for crockpot meals we actually like, because they're super-convienent when DH or I have an evening work meeting or a busy schedule.

Unfortunately, I think I find more duds than recipes I like ;(

This recipe isn't a dud, per se, which is why I'm still writing about it. If you really like cinnamon, cloves, and ginger, you'll probably like this dish.

I, on the other hand, continually forget that I HATE cinnamon, cloves, and ginger, unless apple cider is involved.

Alas, we weren't big fans of this -- but I still think you should try it if you like the flavors above.

Crockpot Orange-Apricot Pork Chops

(A Year of Crockpotting)

6 pork chops (I used 4 large boneless ones)

1 cup apricot jam

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (I cut this down to 1/4 -- felt 1/2 was too much)

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1 (11-ounce) can mandarin oranges (and juice!)

Directions

- Put pork chops into your crockpot.

- In a small bowl, combine jam, brown sugar, and spices.

- Spoon over pork chops.

- Add the entire can of mandarin oranges evenly over the top.

- Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours, or on high for about 4.

- Serve with rice to soak up the yummy juice.

Chicken DaVinci

I nabbed this recipe from my friend Chera -- she blogs, but since it's sort of a family blog, I won't link it here for her privacy.

This was tasty -- very much like a sausage sandwich with peppers and onions...except over pasta. with chicken. :-)

Nice and quick as well!

Chicken DaVinci

(Chera)

16 oz. pasta, cooked according to directions.

Drain and toss in bowl with 2 T. olive oil.

1 lb. Chicken, cubed

3 italian sausage links, cut into 1/2" pieces (I assume hot or sweet is fine here...)

1 red onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

10-12 mushrooms, quartered

2 cloves garlic, minced

- Saute chicken and sausage in 2 T. olive oil for 5 minutes.

- Remove from pan, drain drippings.

- Add a little more oil and saute veggies.

- Add garlic when veggies are almost done.

- Add chicken and sausage back to pan to mingle flavors.

- Serve with noodles and season with salt, pepper, and Parmesan and/or Romano cheese.

- Enjoy!

(Chera says don't forgo the Parmesan cheese -- it really makes the dish (as evidenced by this picture I took of DH's plate after he added half a container of parm to it.)

Crockpot Ranch Pork Chops

Apologies for no pictures! It isn't a particularly photogenic, anyway...lol

These were actually really delicious. However, definately NOT low fat. I think you could tweak the recipe, though, to make it a little more figure friendly...



We'll be making these again! It's a great recipe when you've got that lonely set of pork chops in the fridge or freezer and can't figure out what to do with them.



My only comments are that a)you really don't NEED the full 8 ounces of cream cheese. My leftover 4 oz. was fine. and b) Even with thinning out the sauce before I cooked it, I found myself adding a little more milk at the end of cooking, because I thought the sauce was still a little thick.



Crockpot Ranch Pork Chops

(A mixture of Picky Palate and La Fuji Mama's recipes)



1 can Cream of Chicken soup

3-8 ounces of cream cheese (this depends on your preference. I had 4 oz. left from a previous recipe, so I just added that instead of the full 8 oz)

1 packet (0.4-oz.) of Ranch dressing mix

4 Tbsp. butter

4-5 pork chops



Directions

- Put butter and cream cheese in a bowl, and microwave for 1-2 minutes to soften the cream cheese and melt the butter

- Add cream of chicken soup and Ranch dressing mix and mix until ingredients are somewhat blended together (it's okay if it's a bit chunky)

- At this point if you desire a thinner sauce, add 1/2 cup of milk and mix (I did this because I wanted more of a gravy consistency)

- Place pork chops in bottom of crockpot and pour mixture over the top

- Cook, covered, on high for 5 to 6 hours (or on low for 7 to 8 hours), until the meat is tender and easily pulls away from the bone or breaks apart

- (The edges may start to get very brown towards the end of cooking time--don't worry, that's normal!)

- Serve over rice.

Southwestern Potatoes

These were amazingly delicious! And so easy! We actually had them 3 times this week, we liked them so much LOL

They're definately being added to the "side dish" rotation, since I always have the ingredients on hand.

Southwestern Potatoes

(Delicious Meliscious)

package bacon bits (real ones not "bacon flavored") -- I omitted these

2 unpeeled large potatoes, scrubbed

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 cup barbeque sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I used sharp cheddar)

1/2 cup sour cream (optional, for dipping) -- I omitted

Directions

- Line 2 large baking sheets with foil, and spray lightly with cooking spray (Melissa doesn't reccommend this, but the first time my potatoes stuck to the foil. the cooking spray helped)

- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Farenheit

- Cut potatoes into 1/4" slices

- Toss the potatoes, olive oil, garlic salt, and pepper in a large ziplock bag to coat the potatoes

- Arrange potatoes in a single layer on the baking sheets and bake until slightly browned (about 15-20 minutes)

- Brush with barbeque sauce, then top with the shredded cheddar cheese (and bacon bits if you use them)

- Bake until the cheese melts, about 3-5 minutes more

- Top or dip with sour cream if desired

Almond Sandwich Cookies

I made these as a little Valentine's Day treat for my co-workers. Mmmm..they're delicious.


I could've sat down with a glass of milk and ate the entire batch!! I'll definately be making these again.

I made them per the instructions this time (using the pre-made sugar cookie dough), but I'd like to try making them with a homemade sugar cookie dough recipe next time. Biggest reason being that the recipe claims this makes 7 1/2 dozen sandwich cookies. Uh...I got more like 2.5 dozen.

Almond Sandwich Cookies

(Pillsbury)

Cookies

1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookies

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 tablespoon granulated sugar (I used large granule sugar instead)

Filling

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

4 teaspoons milk (I actually needed a smidge more...)

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 drop red food coloring (I used 2 -- and use whatever color you want!)

Directions

- Heat oven to 350 degrees F

- Break up the cookie dough into a large bowl and stir or knead in additional flour and almond extract until well blended (I just used my Kitchenaid mixer with the paddle)

- Shape dough into 1/2" balls and place balls 1" apart on ungreased cookie sheets

- Press bottom f glass dipped in granulated sugar on each ball until 1/4" thick; prick the top of each cookie with a fork (I ended up rolling the balls in the sugar and then proceeding -- my sugar wouldn't stick to my glass)

- Bake 6-8 minutes, until set but not brown. Cool 1 minute then remove from the cookie sheet to a cooling rack and cool completely (about 20 minutes)

- To make the icing, beat filling ingredients together with an electric mixer on low speed until smooth and creamy. Spread about 1 teaspoon (this seemed like a lot for a 1/2" cookie...) on the bottoms of half the cookies, then top each with another cookie, bottom side down. Press gently.

- Store in the refrigerator; remove 15-20 minutes before serving for optimal flavor.