Candy Cane Punch

Recipe found on Pinterest.  Originally from Taste of Home. 

My mom and I made this punch for our annual Christmas Eve party.  My picture is definitely not as pretty as the Taste of Home picture, but the punch was definitely just as delicious.  I'm sure of that.  This will be a traditional drink on Christmas Eve from here on out! 

Ingredients

• 2 jars (10 ounces each) strawberry jelly
• 2 liters lemon-lime soda, divided
• 2 quarts peppermint stick ice cream
• Miniature candy canes, optional

Directions

• In a large saucepan, melt jelly with 2 cups soda.
•  Chill the jelly mixture and remaining soda. 
• Just before serving, place 6 cups ice cream in a 
• punch bowl.
•  Gently stir in jelly mixture. 
• Add remaining soda. Add remaining ice cream by scoopfuls. 
• Garnish with candy canes if desired. 
• Yield: 3-1/2 quarts. 
• 
  

10

Zesty Chicken & Pasta

Recipe courtesy of Kraft Foods

A delicious and healthy dinner.  

what you need

1 pkg. (8 oz.) fusilli pasta, uncooked (I used whole wheat penne)

1/2 cup  KRAFT Light House Italian Dressing, divided

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 cups  small broccoli florets

1 large red pepper, chopped

1 small  onion, thinly sliced

1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

1/4 cup  KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

make it

COOK pasta as directed on package, omitting salt.

MEANWHILE, heat 1/4 cup dressing in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook and stir 5 min. or until done. Add vegetables and parsley; cook 5 min. or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.

DRAIN pasta; toss with chicken mixture and remaining dressing. Top with cheese.

Nutella Cookies

This recipe comes from Tasty Kitchen.  I LOVE Nutella.  I add it to my cream of wheat, love it on bananas, etc.  When I found this recipe with so few ingredients, I had to give it a try.  I made Nutella cookies last year, but these are much better!  You'll definitely want to add these to your Christmas cookie platters! 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Nutella
• ½ cups Sugar
• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• 1 whole Egg

Preparation Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Blend all ingedients together well. Form into 1″ balls. Place on a cookie sheet. Press down firmly with the bottom of a glass. Bake 7-8 minutes or until set. Cool.

Hot Chocolate Rice Krispie Treats

Thank you to Pinterest for another fabulous sweet treat!  I love making rice krispie treats for my class.  They are very easy to make and take no time at all.  A few weeks back I saw hot chocolate rice krispie treats on Pinterest.  I decided to give them a go for our Polar Express movie day.  I didn't follow a recipe, I just winged it.  

I followed the directions on the box for regular rice krispie treats.  When the marshmallows were melted, I added a packed of hot chocolate.  I mixed the hot chocolate with the melted marshmallows.

   

Then I poured in the 6 cups of rice krispie treats.  After the marshmallows were mixed with the rice krispies, I added another half of bag of mini marshmallows.  I lightly mixed these in because I didn't want them to melt.  I packed them into a well greased 13x9 baking dish and pushed it down with the bottom of a glass.  After they were cool, I cut them into pieces.  They were a hit with my students.  Enjoy! 

Pampered Chef- Chocolate Peppermint Cups

While at Target at the beginning of December I came across peppermint icing.  I love peppermint and was eager to try this new (to me) icing.  I'm obsessed with making these little bite sized cups for all gatherings (you may remember the red velvet, halloween, or snickerdoodle).  They are so quick to make and so very easy.  I actually make them at all of my Pampered Chef shows.  Knowing you can't go wrong with a peppermint/ chocolate combination, I decided to use chocolate cake mix to create these bites.  The peppermint icing isn't too strong and paired perfectly with the cake mix to create a one bite dessert that I couldn't stop eating!  ENOY! 

Ingredients: 

Chocolate Cake Mix

1 egg

1/2  cup (or 1 stick) melted butter

1 tub of Peppermint Frosting 

Mini Tart Shaper 

2-3 Candy Canes

Directions: 

1. Melt your butter, add the cake mix and then the egg and mix together in the classic batter bowl. 

2. Once you get your  dough, simply scoop it into a greased mini muffin pan. using the small scoop.  

3. Bake at 350* for 8-10 min (until light brown)

4. When your cups come out of the oven they will be slightly brown, spray your mini tart shaper with cooking spray to help them not stick and press down the center of each cup. 

5. Once all the tops are pressed down, move the bites to a cooling rack.

6. Once the cups have cooled, fill with peppermint frosting using the easy accent decorator.   

7.  Using the food chopper, chop the candy canes into small pieces

8.  Sprinkle the candy cane pieces on top of the icing.  

ENJOY!

*Use any cake mix and frosting combination for a variety of sweet treats!

Yields: 30 bites 

Pringles Containers Cookie Jars

I'm always looking for creative and inexpensive ways to package gifts (especially cookies) over the holidays.  A while back, I saw these Pringles containers turned cookie containers on Pinterest.  I knew they would come in handy over the holidays. So, for the past few months I've been buying and eating Pringles when they go on sale.  I was able to save a few containers for gifts this season. I rinsed out the containers a few weeks before I used them. After that, I just used one sheet of scrapbook paper for each container.  They had to be trimmed down a little.  I just measured the length of the container and used a paper cutter to cut it evenly. From there, I glued the paper to the container, wrapped the rest of the paper around and glued the other side down.  To finish it off, I just added a little bit of ribbon.  If I had more time, I would have attached a little gift tag. I love how they turned out and will definitely be saving them next year as well! 

The Best Christmas Cookie Ever!

With my cookie exchange party around the corner, I was on the search for the perfect cookie recipe.  I was looking for something that others would be interested in recreating.  Something that didn't have a million ingredients and did have ingredients that could easily be found in the stores.  Of course I did my searching on Pinterest.  And as soon as I saw the title for this cookie (the best Christmas cookie ever)...I knew I found it. I made them the morning of the exchange and they were actually really easy to make.  The cookies did turn out a little smaller than I would have liked, but I wouldn't have had enough if I made them bigger.  They were a hit at the cookie exchange.  Everyone said they looked like santa hats =-).  They even won the most creative cookie award.  These are a must make this holiday season! 

White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread Cookies 

ingredients

• 1/2
  cup maraschino cherries, drained and finely chopped
• 2 1/2
  cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2
  cup sugar
• 1
  cup cold butter
• 12
  ounces white chocolate baking squares with cocoa butter, finely chopped
• 1/2
  teaspoon almond extract
• 2
  drops red food coloring (optional)
• 2
  teaspoons shortening
• White nonpareils and/or red edible glitter (optional)

directions

1.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spread cherries on paper towels to drain well.

2.

In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in drained cherries and 4 ounces (2/3 cup) of the chopped chocolate. Stir in almond extract and, if desired, food coloring. Knead mixture until it forms a smooth ball.

3.

Shape dough into 3/4-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Using the bottom of a drinking glass dipped in sugar, flatten balls to 1-1/2-inch rounds.

4.

Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until centers are set. Cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.

5.

In a small saucepan, combine remaining 8 ounces white chocolate and the shortening. Cook and stir over low heat until melted. Dip half of each cookie into chocolate, allowing excess to drip off. If desired, roll dipped edge in nonpareils and/or edible glitter. Place cookies on waxed paper until chocolate is set. Makes about 60.