Crockpot Italian Chicken

I tried this crock pot recipe and it was a winner with my whole family! Here is the recipe:
Put 4 chicken breasts in the bottom of your crock pot. Sprinkle with salt and pepper on each side. Pour 2 cans of Cream of Chicken soup over chicken. Cut 1 bar of cream cheese into small cubes and put on top of soup. Sprinkle with a packet of zesty italian salad dressing seasoning. Cook on low for at least 4 hours (I've had it go as long as 10 and it was still yummy). Shred chicken and serve, with sauce made, over pasta or rice.

Here is the original pin:

Source: homeiswheretheholmansare.blogspot.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Restaurant Style Filet Mignon

Usually for Valentine's Day each year, I made cheese and chocolate fondue. This year, I decided to try something different after seeing this pin. I'm so happy I did!

The recipe:
Restaurant Style Filet Mignon

2 8 ounce filet mignons
4 teaspoons kosher salt
4 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
1 stick butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon thyme, chopped
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
Take 1/2 stick of butter, softened, and mix well with the peeled, chopped garlic, the chopped herbs, and the lemon zest. Form into a log and refrigerate. Generously season the filet’s with salt and pepper, approximately 1 teaspoon of seasoning per side.

Heat the remainder of the butter (1/2 stick) and the olive oil in a cast iron skillet to a screaming hot temperature. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Sear the filets in a screaming hot pan for about 2-3 minutes per side, or until a nice brown crust has formed. While the steak is searing, continue to spoon the residual butter in the pan on top of the meat while it’s cooking. Once both sides are seared, place in the center of the oven for about 6-8 minutes, depending upon how thick your steak is. In the last minute of cooking, take the log of compound butter and slice a nice thick piece to place on top.

Your steak will be ready when it is approximately 135 degrees in the center, or when you push lightly on the top center of the steak and it gently and slowly bounces back. (Note, this is medium rare kids. Some people don’t like to eat cows while they are mooing, so clearly you can cook longer if your afraid of the pink.)

*** The filets I used were larger than what this recipe called for. I had to cook them for about double the time in the oven to get them medium rare. But I just kept adding more butter, so that's ok! I did have 1/2 of the butter left over so I decided to melt it into the fresh green beans I steamed while cooking the meat. Super yummy! 2 nights after I made this my husband and I went out to dinner. I couldn't resist and ordered the filet mignon. I must say (and my husband agreed) mine turned out so much better! I hope the meat goes on sale again soon so I can make this again! ***

Here is the original pin:

Source: whitsamusebouche.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Crayon hearts

I feel like my kids get so much candy on Valentine's Day when I saw this alternative I was so excited!  I had the silicon heart mold already.  I went to the dollar store and was able to buy 30+ crayons for $1.  1 box of crayons filled 20 of the heart molds.
I must say the most tedious part was pealing the paper off the crayons.  That did take a while.  And then I was able to just break the crayons to fit into the mold.  No need to cut.  The pin says to bake at 230 for 15 minutes.  At the 15 minute mark, mine were barely melted.  I pulled one batch out at 20 minutes.  It wasn't completely melted but it was kind of cool be cause there were parts of the crayon you can still tell are crayons.  The next batch I did I took out at around 25 minutes and they were completely melted.  These made great crayons as well.
For my daughter's class (1st grade) I had her draw her classmates a card that we taped the crayons too.  For my son's class (1 1/2 - 2 year olds) I put his in a lollypop bag and sealed it with a label.
Here is what I did for my sons class:



Here is the pin:

Source: dayanatuna.tumblr.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Peanut Butter Oreo Cookie Cupcakes

I saw these cupcakes and knew I just had to try them.  Lucky for my daughter (ok me) it was right around her birthday.  I decided to make them for her class.  They were a hit!  I told the kids there was a surprise in the cupcake.  One of the boys shouted out "do you know there's an oreo in here?"  So cute!  And they truly were easy to make.

Peanut Butter Oreo Cookie Cupcakes

1 package Oreos
1 package mini peanut butter cups
1 chocolate cake mix or recipe*
Your favorite frosting

Preheat the oven to 350.  Line muffin tins with paper liners (my recipe made about 28 cupcakes - there is space being taken by the cookie.  If you use white liners, you can see the oreo logo through the paper - the kids seemed to think that was cool!). Place an oreo in the bottom of each cup.  Prepare the chocolate cake recipe (see below for my trick to making a super moist cupcake).  Pour batter into each cup until it is 2/3 full.  Bake cupcakes for 8 minutes.  Then take them out of the oven and push a mini peanut butter cup into the batter, you want the narrow part to go in first and try to get the peanut butter cup flush with the top of the batter, but this is not necessary.  Cook for 10 more minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

To make any cupcake recipe extra moist - add 1 package of instant pudding, an extra egg and 1/4 cup extra of oil.  I use vanilla or butterscotch pudding for vanilla cake recipes and chocolate pudding for chocolate cakes.

Here is how my cupcakes turned out:

Here is the pin:

Source: melssweetlife.wordpress.com via Kristen on Pinterest

A failed pin - homemade fruit snacks

I saw a pin for homemade fruit snacks.  I thought it was a great idea!  I bought all the ingredients, followed the directions and they did not turn out at all.  I used cran-grape juice.  They turned out rubbery (I could barely chew through them) and flavorless.  My first failed pin.

The original pin:

Source: mommysavers.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Sugar Scrubs

This was the best $3.99 I spent this holiday season.  I made 6 of the 24 recipes and gave them to my kids teachers for Christmas gifts and to my female relatives on Christmas.  The recipes were super easy to follow and everyone LOVED them!  I can't wait to make more of the summery flavors when the weather gets warmer.
At Michael's, I found glass jars for $1.00.  I used Avery labels 8163 to print the titles for the jars.  I think I was able to make most of these for under $3.00 each.  On Amazon, I found these adorable wooden spoons that I tied to each jar to help scoop out the sugar scrub.  It made the jars look so cute!  http://www.amazon.com/BambooImportsMN-Small-Bamboo-Spice-Spoons/dp/B004FW32BI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1334466407&sr=8-3
I also bought some small jars and a basket that held 6 of the small jars and made some gifts with all 6 flavors of scrub in them.  These are going to make great birthday gifts this year!!!




Here is the original pin:

Source: tatertotsandjello.com via Kristen on Pinterest

Reese peanutbutter cup cookies

These are going to be a new staple in my Christmas cookie platters!  So easy to make and super yummy.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.

Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well. Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball, smaller side down. Cool and carefully remove from pan.

Here is the original pin:

Source: images.search.yahoo.com via Kristen on Pinterest