Blueberry Struessel Muffins with Lemon Glaze

These are super yummy, and very little extra effort to turn into something more than just your regular muffin. I usually use frozen blueberries, but since you can find them at the store right now I used fresh and it made a huge difference, so yummy! Parker must have even enjoyed them because he took a bite out of half of them, little stink! I switched out some of the flour for whole wheat flour and did half brown and half regular sugar (long story of why, but I was trying to heatlhy them up a little and keep them still yummy:) Anyway either way you decide to make them, these are delicious!


1 3/4 cups fresh blueberries
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I did 1 c. white and 2 c. wheat)
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter
--chilled and cut in 1/2" cubes
2 large eggs -- beaten
1 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
---For The Glaze---
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place rack in middle of oven. Combine flour, sugar, and baking powder in large mixing bowl. With pastry cutter or hands mix in butter until it resembles a course meal. Remove 1 c. for struessel topping. At this point I actually added my blueberries into the flour so the blueberries wouldn't dye the whole batter purple, if you don't care then just add the milk and eggs and stir in blueberries and zest. Do not over mix. If you make it like I did, I mixed the milk and eggs in another bowl then added it to the flour along with the zest, again don't over mix. The batter will be slightly lumpy but that's ok. Grease muffin tin and fill each one 2/3 of the way full. Take your reserved flour mixture and add 2 T. melted butter making struessel. Top each muffin with about a teaspoon full. Bake for 20 minutes. In the meantime combine powdered sugar and lemon juice to make glaze. When muffins are done allow to slightly cool and remove from pan and drizzle glaze over muffins.

Sun Dried Tomato and Bacon Chicken

Finally a new recipe worth posting! Actually I've made a few desserts that have turned out really good I just either forgot to take pictures or have been too lazy to post..sorry. Hopefully this will make up for it. This is a super easy and quick dish that's full of flavor so don't procrastinate like me and try it!

Recipe found at thegirlwhoateeverything.blogspot.com

2 slices of bacon
4 chicken breast (I used 2 and cut them in half just to speed the cooking time)
1/4 c. sun-dried tomato vinaigrette dressing
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 T fresh basil, or 1 t. dried basil (just realized I totally forgot this)
2 T. parmesan cheese

If you can allow chicken to marinade in some of the vinaigrette dressing for 4-6 hours.

Cook bacon until crisp, remove from pan and drain on paper towel. Add chicken to pan and brown on each side for about 2 minutes on medium heat. Pour dressing and basil over chicken and allow to cook until done, about 5- 8 minutes (try to keep lid on, it'll cook quicker and keep from spitting grease.) Remove chicken and keep warm. Add tomatoes to remaining dressing and cook until warmed and slightly cooked. Stir in bacon and serve over chicken. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Brooke's Bombshell Brownies

Apparently it's National Chocolate Day, at least that's what Kathy Lee and Hoda said. Don't ask me why I was watching them, but it just happen to be on and that's about all I heard. Anyway, I really was already planning on posting this recipe, but I just thought I could pretend like it was preplanned to post this brownie recipe. Anyway these brownies really are the bomb. I recently made these Red Velvet Brownies with White Chocolate Frosting which were seriously divine, a little rich on the frosting, but yum, and since then have craved another brownie and these seriously hit the spot. Hopefully I'm not the only one with a hankering for brownies and you'll take the time to make these!

Recipe from allrecipe.com

1 cup butter, melted
3 cups white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 and lightly greased 9x13 pan. In a large bowl combine butter, sugar, and vanilla (I did it all by hand, but only because I'm too lazy to pull out my mixer.) Add in eggs one at a time thoroughly mixing in between each egg. In separate bowl whisk together flour, cocoa, and salt. Add flour mixture in a little at a time until completely combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into prepared baking pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/03/red-velvet-brownies-with-white-chocolate-frosting/

Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Sugar Chips

This is my newest dessert addiction, I love love love this! You can use whatever fruit combination you want, but I would suggest to keep it colorful. Anyway this is great for a fun get together, or just for you and your family:)


Fruit Salsa
2 apples, peeled and minced
8 oz. strawberries, minced
8 oz. raspberries, halved (don't be afraid to use frozen, it still taste great)
3 peaches, peeled and chopped
2 kiwis
2 T. sugar (You can also replace the sugars with agave nectar or honey for a healthier and less sweet salsa)
1 T. brown sugar
3 T. any flavor fruit preserve (I used raspberry)

Combine everything in a bowl and allow to refrigerate at least 15 minutes. This will make a medium size bowl, so if your doing it just for your family, I would cut it in half.


Cinnamon Sugar Chips

10 burrito size tortillas
1/4-1/2 c. melted butter
cinnamon and sugar- about 1 c. sugar to 1 t. cinnamon

Spread melted butter one side of tortilla and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. With a pizza cutter, cut tortilla into chip size triangles (I found the easiest way to do this is to cut it into 3 equal size strips and then cut into triangles.) Spread chips, butter side up, on a cookie sheet and cook at 350 for 8-10 minutes until crisp.

Patriotic Dipped Strawberries

Could these be any cuter? I found these at realmomkitchen.com and instantly knew I had to make them. They were so easy, and the best part is you don't have to heat your house up with an oven to make them. These are super fun as a gift or for a family get together. I already made one batch and I've got all the ingredients to make them again, hopefully you'll take the time to try them as well!

1 carton of strawberries
1/2 bag white chocolate chips or white dipping chocolate
blue sugar crystals

The easiest way to make this is to start by washing your strawberries and getting them completely dried. Then melt the white chocolate in small amounts (about 1/4 c. at a time) otherwise it starts to thicken up on you before your done. Dip strawberries in 2/3 of the way with white chocolate, then dip the bottom 1/3 in blue sugar. Place on parchment, silpat, or greased tin foil. Place and fridge for a few minutes, and enjoy!

Taco Salad Bowls

Take any deep dish pan such as a cake pan and fill it up with 1/4 in. water. Take a deep medium, oven safe bowl and cover it with tin foil and place in water. Spray with cooking spray. Then either run the tortilla under the faucet or dip in water, just enough to allow it to get wet and pliable, not saturated. Drape over bowl and kind of shape as needed. Cook at 450 for 4-5 minutes.

Orange Chicken

I almost hesitated to post this one because it uses another random ingredient, but I couldn't resist, it's way too good to not share! I was really impressed with how well this turned out. I just didn't expect it to be so good and it really wasn't as labor intensive as I had thought either. Anyway this was totally a five star meal to me and I will definitely make this one again.

Recipe found at favfamilyrecipes.com

Chicken:
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 1/2 in cubes (I used 2 chicken breasts which was enough for 4 servings.
1 ½ c. flour
1 eggs (beaten)
¼ t. salt
¼ t. pepper
Oil (for frying)

Orange Sauce:
1 c. water
2 Tb. FRESH orange juice
¼ c. FRESH lemon juice
1/3 c. rice vinegar
2 ½ Tb. soy sauce
1 Tb. orange zest
1 c. packed brown sugar
½ t. ginger root, minced (I just used a little powder)
½ t. minced garlic
2 Tb. green onion, chopped
¼ t. red pepper flakes (this doesn't make it hot at all, so if you want more spice add more)
3 Tb. cornstarch
1/4 c. water

Add flour, salt, and pepper and place in shallow dish. In separate bowl add egg. Dip chicken into egg and then roll in flour, repeat until all chicken is coated. Deep fry chicken in fryer or I just used a deep skillet. Cook until no longer pink and golden brown. Remove and set aside. Meanwhile add water, vinegar, lemon juice, orange juice, and soy sauce to small saucepan. Heat through for a few minutes then add brown sugar, orange zest, ginger, garlic, green onion, and red pepper and cook until boiling. In a separate bowl mix water and cornstarch and slowly pour into orange sauce and cook until thickened. Serve sauce over chicken and ENJOY!