The Easiest Apple Turnovers EVER!

My husband is a huge fan of anything apple and is especially a fan of his grandmother's apple turnovers. This recipe is super easy to make and pleased him just as much as his own grandmother's famous turnovers! I must say... even though I am not a fan of apple, these were delicious!

Ingredients:
4 Granny Smith Apples
2 Tablespoons of Butter
1 Cup Brown Sugar
2 Teaspoons of Cinnamon
1 Tablespoon of Corn Starch
1 package of frozen Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastries thawed.

1 Cup of Powdered Sugar
1 Tablespoon of Milk
1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

1. Peel, core, and slice the apples thinly. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
3. Add apples and cook for 2 minutes stirring often.
4. Add sugar and cinnamon and cook for another 2 minutes stirring often.
5. Add corn starch and cook for another minute or until sauce thickens. Remove from heat and set aside.
6. Unroll your pastry sheets (there should be two) on to a floured surface. If there is any cracks, repair them by pressing the edges back together with your fingers. Cut each sheet into 4 squares (so you will have 8 squares total).
7. Place a spoon full of the apple mixture in each square and fold two adjacent edges together to form a triangle. If you placed too much mixture in the pastry for it to close, just remove some of the apple mixture. Press the triangle closed with your fingers lightly.
8. Spray two baking sheets with PAM. Place the triangle pastries on the baking sheets about 1 inch apart using a spatula.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees until the pastries have puffed up and are a light golden brown.
10. Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes on pan. Remove from pan using a spatula and let cool on wire racks for another 20 minutes.
11. Mix powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla together well until it forms a slightly runny icing texture. Use a spoon to drizzle the icing over the pasties. Serve immediately or let icing dry for about 20-30 minutes before storing.

Keep in mind this recipe DOES MAKE 8 PASTRIES... my husband just got to one before I could take a picture ;-)

Nothing Like a Hot Yummy Breakfast! Recipe- Sausage Biscuits and Gravy

There is nothing better than a hot cup of coffee on a Saturday or Sunday morning with homemade Sausage Gravy and Biscuits! This recipe has a kick to it! If you are not a fan of heat or spice... omit 1 teaspoon of the cayenne pepper and pepper flakes!

Makes enough for 4 people. Cut in half if you are only cooking for 2.

Ingredients
12 pillsbury frozen biscuits
1lb of ground sausage
2 1/2 table spoons of shortening
1/4 cup of flour
2 table spoons of flour
3 cups of milk
Pepper and Salt to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
2 teaspoons Red Crushed Pepper flakes

1. Cook biscuits according to directions.
2. While biscuits are cooking, cook sausage in a large skillet on the stove over medium to high heat.
3. When sausage is completely cooked, add shortening and allow it to melt. DO NOT DRAIN GREASE
4. Turn heat down to low and add flour.
 *I have 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons of flour in my directions because it takes just a little bit more than 1/4 cup to thicken the gravy up.
5. Add pepper and salt, cayenne pepper, and red crushed pepper flakes. Stir well
6. Add Milk and turn up heat to medium. Bring to a boil for 5-10 minutes stirring often.
7. Cook on low to medium until gravy thickens. Add more pepper if desired.
8. Serve over warm biscuits.

Fall's Most Famous Fruit! APPLES! Recipe- Apple Strudel Muffins

My husband absolutely LOVES apple desserts and loves to have breakfast ready to grab in the morning. An awesome solution? THESE APPLE STRUDEL MUFFINS!

Muffin Ingredients:
2 Cups Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 teaspoons of vanilla
3 cups of apple cut in small pieces. About 1/4 of an inch

Strudel Ingredients
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 tablespoon of room temp butter or margarine

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and place cupcake/muffin cups in cupcake/muffin pan. *This recipe will make 12 muffins.
2. In a medium sized bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
3. In large bowl beat together both sugars and butter until smooth. Add one egg at a time until mixed well. Add Vanilla also.
4. Add dry ingredients just until well mixed.
*Do not over mix! It will prevent them from rising correctly.
5. Gently stir in apples just until combined.
6. In a separate small bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Add butter. Stir until mixture resembles crumbles.
7. Pour muffin mixture into muffin cups. Fill almost to the top.
8. Sprinkle the crumbled strudel mixture on top of muffin mix.
9. Bake for about 20 minutes or until tooth pick inserted in middle comes out clean.
*I suggest watching them closely between 17 minutes and on to ensure that you don't over bake them.
10. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes.
11. Remove and let them cool for the remainder of the time on a wire rack.

The critics this time were my husband and step father. Husband liked them a lot and step father absolutely loved them. I my self am not a big apple person... so for you anti apple people out there... maybe try making a batch with out the apples? I think they would still be delicious that way! 

HAPPY FALL YA'LL! Recipe- Pumpkin Bread

Fall is in full swing and what better to spend a Sunday afternoon than filling the house with the aroma of fresh baked homemade pumpkin bread! This recipe is SUPER easy and SUPER tasty.

Ingredients

1 cup of margarine 

3 cups of sugar

3 eggs

1 tea spoon of vanilla extract

3 cups all purpose flour

1 table spoon of baking powder

1 tea spoon of baking soda

1 table spoon of cinnamon

1/2 tea spoon of all spice

1/2 tea spoon of cloves

1 tea spoon of nutmeg

1 can 15oz can of pure pumpkin
Brown sugar to sprinkle on top

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and spray 2 glass bread baking dishes with cooking spray. Be generous. 

2. Cream the margarine and sugar together until well blended.

3. Add eggs one at a time and blend well. Add vanilla extract

4. Combine all dry ingredients in a separate bowl... mixing well.

5. Add dry mix to wet mix. Blend JUST until mixture is moist. DO NOT OVER BEAT.

6. Add can of pumpkin. Once again, blend until mixture is well mixed. DO NOT OVER BEAT.

7. Add pumpkin mixture to glass bread baking dishes. Fill to about 3/4 of the way up. 

**You may have some left over mix. I baked mine in one glass bread dish and one dark non stick bread pan which is a little bigger than the glass one. In my opinion, this bread baked better in the glass dish. See picture below.

8. Sprinkle some brown sugar on top.

9. Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes. 

**All ovens bake different. It took 55 minutes for my bread to bake. To tell if it is done... poke the middle and sides with a tooth pick. It is ready when tooth pick comes out clean.

10. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack. 

11. Gently invert the bread over the wire rack and let the bread slowly pull away from the glass dish.

12. Gently pick up the bread with both hands and turn back over so the top is up right. Let cool for another 45 minutes and then ENJOY! Don't wrap up until it has completely cooled. I like to keep mine out on the counter at room temp. Putting bread in the fridge can dry it out!

This picture goes along with step #7. The loaf on the left is the one baked in the glass dish... the one of the right is the loaf baked in the dark bread pan. The bread sticked to the bottom of the non stick pan even though I sprayed it also with cooking spray. From now on I will only cook this recipe in glass bread baking dishes.

Tis the season

Have a great week everyone!

First Post! Recipe: Jalapeno Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas

Hello all! My first post is going to be a recipe I tried for dinner tonight. I had never made chicken enchiladas before so this was a new experience for me. What a WONDERFUL ONE! They turned out great! My critic said it was the better than Jose Peppers... but he might be a tad bias since he is my husband ;-). Here is the recipe! Enjoy!

Jalapeno Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas


Ingredients:
1 medium yellow onion
2 jalapenos
2 tbl butter
2 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken 
8 oz cream cheese ROOM TEMP
Salt and Pepper
1 Table Spoon Garlic Powder
1/2 Teaspoon of Paprika
1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne
1/2 Teaspoon of chili powder
1/2 Teaspoon of cumin
8 Flour Tortillas
Large can of green enchilada sauce
8 oz monterey cheese
2 jalapenos


**First step would be to bake your chicken. 2 big pieces of chicken breast should be plenty. Season with 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, salt and pepper. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Let cool. Shred by hand with two forks.


1. Saute onion and jalapenos in butter in large non stick pan over medium heat until soft (about 7-10 minutes). 

2. Remove pan from heat. Add shredded chicken to onion and jalapeño mix. Cube your cream cheese in to smaller pieces and add also.


3. Season mixture with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper, cumin, and paprika.


4. In a 9X13 glass pyrex pan, pour 1/2 of your can of green enchilada sauce to bottom of pan.


5. Evenly distribute mixture between the 8 tortillas. I would say a heaping 1/3 of a cup in each burrito. Add small handful of cheese on top. (Don't use too much... you want enough left to top the enchiladas) 


6. Arrange all enchiladas in pyrex pan on top of enchilada sauce. Pour 1/2 of can of enchilada sauce on top of enchiladas. Top with the remainder of cheese.


7. Bake at 350 for approximately 30 minutes. (Until mixture is hot on inside)


Serve with mexican rice and beans. Enjoy :-)