chocolate apricot almond bars

these chocolate apricot almond bars are my go to cookie this holiday season. originally found here, i love them with apricot preserves & sliced dried apricots. easy to make ahead & keep in the fridge until party time.

ingredients:

• 1 tube refrigerated sugar cookie dough
• 1 jar apricot preserves, about 8oz
• 1/4 cup dried apricots, sliced
• 1/2 slivered almonds
• 3/4 semisweet chocolate chips for drizzling

preparation:

preheat the oven to 350.  on parchment paper, roll out the sugar cookie dough to approximately 1/4" thick, ~9"x12".  place the parchment paper & dough on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for ~21 mins until slightly more done than soft/chewy (the cookie will absorb the preserves and soften with time). when cooled, spread the preserves on the cookie and drizzle apricots, almonds and melted chocolate. (i melt my chocolate in 15 second intervals in a glass bowl in the microwave, stirring all the time.) let the chocolate harden and cool in the fridge before slicing. store in the fridge in an airtight container. hope you enjoy!  

kalimotxo

td concocted our new favorite cocktail after hearing the spaniards serve something similar, wine + cola with plenty of ice.  sounds... interesting?  terrible?  it's actually awesome and it's called kalimotxo.  also called rioja libre or cuba libre de pobre, poor man's cuba libre :)  one version calls for a splash of blackberry liquor.  *a great way to use up a so-so bottle of wine!  

salad suppers

what's your go-to meal?  i think for us it's salad.

no matter the season, no matter the toddler meltdown, i can usually manage to throw a bunch of stuff in a bowl and toss it together with a simple vinaigrette. typically a squeezed lemon + good healthy drizzle of olive oil and s&p is standard, sometimes i toss in grated parm, chives, a little garlic, what have you, vigorously whisk to emulsify the dressing, then grab a big stainless steal bowl and layer greens, veggies {chopped fresh or steamed/sauteed & left over from the night before} toasted nuts, seeds, canned beans, quinoa, orzo, berries, crumbled cheeses, deli meats, even chopped pickles, *whatever i can find* and tada, dinner :) 

we've hardly met a combo we don't like.  plus it's a colorful way to get lots of variety in our diet and even emory (22 months) says yummy!  how good is arugula by the way.  growing some now and love the peppery kick. so thankful my family loves salads.

french bistro

sometimes i just need puff pastry in my tummy.  it's flaky buttery goodness calls out to me from our freezer.  plus, it makes the most insane 'frenchy sandwich' with on-hand ingredients {fun for lunch, to take as an appetizer, or as an easy dinner during the week} in just 25 mins, if you've let it defrost in the fridge ahead of time, of course.  eat it piping hot or even at room temp like many a french bistro might serve.  we do it with sauteed broccoli & fresh fruit.  i might be kidding myself that broccoli cancels out puff pastry. 

here's ina's famous recipe, which we've enjoyed lots of different ways including the above pictured version with cheddar jack, roasted turkey, spicy mustard & green onion from our garden.  a simple egg wash and grated parmesean + garlic salt on top, cut some slits in the top to let it vent while baking, and into the oven at 450 for 25 mins.... uh-mazing.

snapshots

my sous chefs

life with 2 under 2 has been an adventure :) we still cook all the time & love hanging out in our kitchen, which has become an extension of the nursery with a playhut, em's toddler table for crafts & tea parties, grey's bouncy chair and french doors to the great outdoors...  emory is forever pulling out bowls, silverware, muffin tins for pretend baking... we just don't get around to posting food pics lately.  

so, in an effort to not lose track of this blog all together (since i tend to update this blog if i have any free time), i'm going to begin posting quick unedited iphone pics {maybe i'll add a fun instagram filter} to help me remember recipes, good ones & ones-in-need-of-tweaking. this is really more for me than anyone who might stumble upon merrymousse, but that's ok... as always, if you do happen to stop by, you're welcome to leave a comment or share your recipe tips, i'd love it :)  

*more to come... the little ones are waking up... pancakes & one-eyed sailors on this rainy saturday morning!  happy eating to you & yours!

Tangy Tater Salad

If you're looking for a new twist on an old favorite, try this: Sunny Anderson's Tangy Tater Salad.  Delicious!  The bacon, jalapenos and splashy white wine vinegar make it sweet & sour, and you'll never miss the mayo.  Hope you enjoy!

*A little something extra: based on reviews I read, I also opted for a little less sugar.  I don't think we missed it. i also used an extra slice or 2 of bacon and fresh chives as extra garnish goodness.

Crock Pot Oldie: Salsa Chicken

I really need to crack out the crock pot more often - millions of moms can't be wrong, right? 

This morning I looked at our plans for a busy day and thought ugh, what to make for dinner... I pulled out 4 frozen chicken breasts and thawed them (mostly) while adding a giant red onion, about 10 cloves of garlic (thanks to my large Costco bag), 2 cans of black beans and ~32 oz salsa (also thanks to our standard 66oz Costco salsa jar... Troy loves that stuff) into our crock pot and the house already smells amazing.

Dozens of online recipes for salsa chicken recommend corn, but we happen to be out, and/or taco seasoning, but then again, lots of reviews swear by just chicken & salsa.  So, here's to hoping it really is yummy.  We'll let ya know in 8-10 hours :)

Here's a pic so far, about 5 mins into cooking the recommended 8-10 hours on low:

INGREDIENTS / PREPARATION:

*Google for yourself and pick which recipe suits your on-hand ingredients.

. . . We'll check back with the finished result tonight . . .

*and here it is*

 

I shredded the chicken about 30 mins before serving and slid it back into the salsa sauce  to soak up the juices - it shredded beautifully, soooo tender.  I also happened to add a can of stewed tomatoes, for funsies.

I'd say try serving this with sliced avocado, jack cheese, sour cream, tortillas, in a taco shell or over brown rice.  We enjoyed ours over a bowl of healthy & nutty quinoa.  The leftovers could be a great base for chicken tortilla soup.  What a way to spread out 4 chicken breasts, too... this made tons of food.

My verdict?  I thought this was very easy, affordable and one less thing to think about at 6pm when emory needs to eat/get a bath, etc.  I will be breaking out the crock pot again soon :)

Flaming Cupcakes

Aren't these little flame-filled strawberry chocolate cupcakes to die for?  I love the drama!  My friend Katie sent me this recipe link and at first I thought, how perfect for Emory's first birthday ~ so festive!  but then I thought hmm, fire & booze, maybe Em's a little young for that... tempting though... I heart sprinklebakes.com.

PW's Blackberry Cobbler

I just love the Pioneer Woman, don't you?  I found this "Betsy's Cobbler" recipe in her first cookbook and then googled it now to add here, and wow - what lovely pictures she took!  Check out her recipe and step by step directions here. 

*Doesn't her cobbler look de-licious?  You can ignore my pics or use them as validation that if you try this, yours will turn out amazing, too - just 5 ingredients, so simple... yum.  And of course you could do this with blueberries, peaches, raspberries, whatever your heart desires.

up close & personal

Directions straight from the PW's website:

Ingredients

• 1 stick Butter
• 1-¼ cup Sugar
• 1 cup Self-Rising Flour
• 1 cup Milk
• 2 cups Blackberries (frozen Or Fresh)

Preparation Instructions

Melt butter in a microwavable dish. Pour 1 cup of sugar and flour into a mixing bowl, whisking in milk. Mix well. Then, pour in melted butter and whisk it all well together. Butter a baking dish.  Now rinse and pat dry the blackberries. Pour the batter into the buttered baking dish. Sprinkle blackberries over the top of the batter; distributing evenly. Sprinkle ¼ cup sugar over the top.  Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until golden and bubbly. If you desire, sprinkle an additional teaspoon of sugar over the cobbler 10 minutes before it’s done.

*And check out this link if you're like me and you don't keep self-rising flour in your pantry.  You can turn your All Purpose into self-rising super easily!

Let's make this again, because it was really yummy the first time...
here we are round 2 with more blackberries... pre-oven:

 and warm & delicious post-oven:

BBC&A Salad with Caramelized Onions & Grilled Chicken

Bacon, Blue Cheese & Apple Spinach Salad

Mmm, a simple salad to put together and who doesn't love the combo of blue cheese, apple, caramelized onions & bacon.  You could change up the ingredients based on what you have on hand.  I'm sure some toasted pecans or avocado would have been lovely.  Here's what I used:

Ingredients:

• 4 cups fresh spinach
• 1 apple, cut into chunks
• 1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 3 slices bacon
• 2 grilled chicken breasts cut into chunks
• 3T red wine vinegar
• olive oil
• salt & pepper
• *optional, toasted pecans, avocado chunks :)

Preparation:

In a mixing bowl, pile fresh spinach, apple chunks, blue cheese crumbles and chunks of grilled rosemary chicken.  (Prepare the chicken however you like.  I used: balsamic, extra virgin olive oil, garlic salt, kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper, dash of red pepper flakes, 2T dried rosemary for my chicken marinade), here's another possibility.)  Season salad with fresh black pepper and kosher salt.  Set aside. 

Cut 3 strips of bacon into 1/2" pieces.  In a skillet, cook the bacon rendering the fat, over medium to medium high heat.  Remove the cooked bacon and set aside on a paper towel.  Saute thinly sliced red onion in the bacon goodness.  Add 3T red wine vinegar and fresh cracked black pepper, creating a nice vinaigrette, and voila :) drizzle over your salad and enjoy!  The warm vin wilts the spinach in a nice kind of way, don't forget to top with your bacon crumbles.

Carrot Cake Cakeballs

Every time I make these, I get compliments.  

(Did I just type that, so cake-ballsy of me.)  But it's true.  And I can say that because I did not come up with the original cakeball, I merely imitated it and made it a cherished member of my family.

The carrot cake cuties pictured above are just a holiday version of these.  Sub in carrot cake mix and dip in white chocolate.  A piece of cake.  ball.   (te-hee)

*Thanks Bakerella for posting the original!

Confetti Carrots with Fresh Dill

How cute are these carrots from our garden :)

and here they are all glossied up with butter & fresh dill!

Blah, winter.  Even in Dallas it gets pretty ridiculously cold (we just had a week of the teens).  All my cute veggies froze, EXCEPT these rock star carrots.  So I probably should have let them live and carry on their stellar genes, but instead I picked them and we ate them.  And they were delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 bundle of fresh carrots
• splash of chicken stock
• a couple of pats of butter
• a handful of fresh dill
• kosher salt & pepper

Preparation:

Rinse and peel the carrots.  If they're baby carrots, you don't have to peel too much, as they should be nice and tender.  Trim back the greens (which I've heard you can eat fresh, chopped up just like parsley atop a nice salad).  Saute with a splash of chicken stock and a couple of pats of butter until fork tender (a couple of mins).  Wilt in fresh dill, season with kosher salt & pepper and enjoy.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Now that I sit down and look at this picture, I'm not sure it looks all that appetizing, but these were actually pretty tasty!  We stuff chicken breasts with all kinds of things pretty often though, so this post is more about an easy idea than the exact recipe.  Since this was a while ago, I'm ad-libbing it here anyway :)

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 cups fresh spinach
• 1/2 cup feta
• 1/4 sun dried tomatoes
• olive oil, salt & pepper
• optional, Italian bread crumbs 
• optional, bacon :)

Preparation:

Pre-heat oven to 375.  Chop spinach and sun dried tomatoes and combine with feta in a bowl.  Butterfly chicken breasts, being careful not to cut all the way through.  (If you do, no biggie, it will still taste good.) Spoon spinach/tomato/feta mixture into the chicken pockets.  *Optional, wrap the chicken breasts in bacon.  Drizzle olive oil and rub all over chicken.  Season well with salt & pepper.  *Optional, sprinkle Italian bread crumbs atop for some fun crunch.  Place in a baking dish and cover.  Cook for ~45 mins or until the chicken is completely cooked through.

Try stuffing with roasted red peppers, olives, sauteed onion, garlic, ham, swiss, apples, more bacon... the options are endless.

Prosciutto-wrapped Asparagus

Mmm... easy & pretty, who doesn't love a savory bundle of asparagus, boursin & prosciutto?   Feels healthy!  Tastes like bacon :)  Make ahead for a cocktail party or serve with brunch.

Ingredients:

• 3 bundles of fresh asparagus for ~15 bundles, can scale to your liking
• 1 package of yummy creamy boursin cheese
• ~15 slices of prosciutto
• olive oil, splash of chicken stock, salt & pepper to taste

Preparation:

Rinse and trim your asparagus.  I'm in agreement with these guys that the snap trick doesn't always work, and you may end up wasting too much of the good green stalk.  Just use your judgment.  It's not rocket science.  

Saute the asparagus in a little olive oil & a nice splash of chicken stock (or however you prefer to prepare it to a crisp bright green). *This only takes a couple of seconds!  Feel free to shock in an ice water bath to stop the cooking if you're afraid you'll overcook, otherwise I simply toss them in the pan til bright green (seriously, it happens fast) and then I lay them on a sheet pan to cool.  Season with kosher salt & pepper.

Take ~5 stalks and smear a nice teaspoon's worth of boursin in the middle of the bundle and wrap in a slice of prosciutto.  Stack the bundles on a serving dish and serve warm or room temp even.  Hope you enjoy!

Paula's Pumpkin Trifle

I've been snapping pictures here & there of food for some time now, telling myself I'd get around to posting them eventually (post-baby, when I do blog, I tend to write about my cutie patootie instead of food)... well, when I finally sat down to go through some food pics, I found this Paula Deen Pumpkin Trifle from Thanksgiving 2009!  Ha, told ya I was behind... I do remember it was pretty darn good though, so here it is...  xoxo to the lovely Paula Deen :)

*My version pictured above has notes in blue: 

Ingredients:

• 2 (14-ounce) packages gingerbread mix *too much work, I bought 2 loaves of pumpkin bread from the bakery!
• 1 (5.1-ounce) box cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix
• 1 (30-ounce) can pumpkin pie filling
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon
• 1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping *I did make my own whipped cream, 1 pint of heavy whipping cream plus 2T powdered sugar and a splash of vanilla... yum
• 1/2 cup gingersnaps, optional *not optional, the crunch is so good!

Preparation:

Bake the gingerbread according to the package directions; cool completely. *or do what I did and buy cake already made :) Meanwhile, prepare the pudding and set aside to cool. Stir the pumpkin pie filling, sugar, and cardamom into the pudding. Crumble 1 batch of gingerbread into the bottom of a large, pretty bowl. Pour 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the gingerbread, then add a layer of whipped topping. Repeat with the remaining gingerbread, pudding, and whipped topping. Sprinkle of the top with crushed gingersnaps, if desired. Refrigerate overnight. Trifle can be layered in a punch bowl.

Stuffed Peppers

I'm very behind in blogging and so I don't remember exactly how I did these (sorry), but the general idea of a stuffed pepper was easy & pretty tasty and we'll definitely try them again. Ha, granted they'll be different next time based on what we have on hand :)  Have I mentioned I stink at following recipes?

Back in the day, I took a college drawing class, and we had to buy a green bell pepper and draw it for 10 weeks as it turned from green to red, then slowly wrinkled and quickly collapsed & decayed.  It was amazing and actually very beautiful to watch it age.  Even when it was rotten, the skins peeled back to reveal thousands of seeds ready to carry on and give birth to new life. 

Hehe, it's dorky but I've loved the shape and colors of peppers ever since.  So, I couldn't pass up a bag of 6 red bells from Costco while shopping the other day :)  I went ahead and made them all and we enjoyed them for dinner, and then the following day for lunch as leftovers. 

Ingredients:

• 6 red bell peppers
  (*sounds like a lot but I had a bag of them I wanted to use up!  If you only have 2 or so on hand, just use your judgement and make less of the stuffing, knowing there's no exact science to pepper-prepping)
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 3 stalks & leaves celery
• 1/2 red onion
• ~1/3 cup of diced sun dried tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat orzo
• 1 cup fresh baby spinach
• ~1/2 cup feta
• ~1/3 cup Italian bread crumbs
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350.  Core and remove the insides of your bell peppers and cut the bottoms flat (removing as little as possible) so that the peppers will "sit up right" in a baking dish.  Dice up your veggies and saute until soft in olive oil.  Meanwhile, prepare your orzo (or other rice/pasta).  Fold the prepared pasta into the veggie mixture adding the bread crumbs, spinach and feta until you reach your desired consistency of pepper filling. 

Then, fill your peppers and fit them side by side in a baking dish. (cute!) Drizzle with olive oil and bake at 350 for ~20 mins until the peppers are softened.  *Hint, you may want to rub them in olive oil and season lightly with salt & pepper before filling & baking.  I didn't do this, but may try this next time just to give them a bit more flavor.  *Here are a couple of pics from the pepper process:

Sauteing the veggies & canned tomatoes in olive oil


adding whole wheat orzo, Italian bread crumbs, feta and fresh baby spinach

stuffed peppers, ready for some oven lovin'

*Drats, we pulled them out and ate them up before I got an "after the oven-lovin'" picture, but they looked basically the same, just a little more cooked through... next time kalamata olives, capers, the add-ins are endless!

Paula's Butterscotch Dip



Easy and good for a crowd with lots of 'dippers', Paula's Butterscotch Dip is a new fav of mine :)  We used marshmellows, pretzels, dried apricots, granny smith apples, red grapes, strawberries and Pirouette wafer cookis as our 'dippers.'

*Caution: I halved her recipe (hers is below) and still had tons left over, so consider that if you try it.

Ingredients:

• 2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
• 2 (12-ounce) bags butterscotch morsels
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon vanilla flavoring

Preparation:

Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, transfer to a bowl and serve with fresh fruit.

Orzo Salad with Roasted Garlic & Dijon Dressing

Another salad?  yes, but salads are good for you and this one has a bit of a kick with a pan roasted garlic & Dijon mustard dressing :)  Warning: the vinaigrette is strong, but we really enjoyed it.  We love easy salads like this during the week because they're flavorful, healthy and work well for lunch leftovers the next day.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat orzo
• 1 cup chopped broccoli
• 1/2 cup shredded carrots
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1 cup halved grape tomatoes
• 2 cups chopped fresh spinach or romaine
• 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

For the vinaigrette:

• ~6 garlic cloves (recipe calls for 10, I used less.)
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2T red wine vinegar (*could add lemon juice instead or in addition to)
• 1T Dijon mustard
• salt & pepper
• grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

For the vinaigrette:  In a small skillet, combine the garlic cloves and the oil. Over a low heat, caramelize the garlic until browned and soft, about 20 minutes. Transfer garlic cloves to a blender or food processor. Add the vinegar and mustard. Blend until smooth. With the motor running, slowly pour in the reserved garlic oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Cook orzo pasta al dente.  Whisk vinaigrette ingredients together. Toss veggies and cooked pasta with dressing.

Huevos Rancheros

Huevos Rancheros are yummy and they're especially nice with fresh salsa & black been puree.  Layered in cute little ramekins and they look pretty for brunch (or Brinner in our case).  Here's the recipe I loosely followed... Huevos Rancheros with Black Bean Puree.

... and a peek inside

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Mmm, Roasted Red Pepper soup :)  Use this recipe if you happen to have everything it calls for on hand, but also don't be scared to add/substitue veggies per your preference.  For instance, I added a couple stalks of celery, and lots of fresh basil before blitzing with an emersion blender (you can also use your blender or food processor).  We didn't have a potato on hand, and some reviewers suggested a splash of cream at the end, or butter.  The freeing thing is it's just soup - there are a thousand ways to make soup :)  *The mascarpone was lovely, though, and we ate way more croutons than pictured here!