Cookie's Crumbles

Cookie's crumbles, morsels and tidbits

February 14, 2012 | 0 Comments

Henry {6 Month Session}

Wow, I can’t believe my nephew is 6 months old already! How the time goes by! Everyone in my family and my extended family has had this cold/flu bug for what seems like the past two months. Poor little Henry has been sick for the past couple weeks with a nasty cold. We tried to get his 6 month pics done last Sunday, but he was definitely not in the mood and we had to give up. But this Sunday went much better. He was such a happy little camper, smiles all the way and very happy for his Aunt Cookie! Love you little Henry Paul. You are such a blessing from God to our family!

January 18, 2012 | 0 Comments

Drunken Chicken and Potatoes – Dutch Oven

I’ve been seeing a lot of recipes lately that call to cook the meal in a Dutch oven. My mom bought me a beautiful red cast iron Dutch oven for Christmas this year. And I’ve decided to try it out today on a modified meal. I found this recipe on Pinterest and it led me to this blog post at Siggy Spice. This is the original recipe and post. My husband does not like pork, so I thought I’d modify it and use chicken breasts. Then I decided to cook it on my stove in my new Dutch oven. I also added a few ingredients that are not in the original recipe, almost like a stew you might make in the crock pot. This was a very easy meal to throw together. Enjoy!

Drunken Chicken and Potatoes:

3 chicken breasts

salt and pepper

1 bottle dark beer (I used Sam Adams Cherry Wheat, just because it’s the only beer I had in the house)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup ketchup

1 cup small carrots

2 lb small russet potatoes (I bought mine from Schwans’, and I believe they might have already been precooked…)

Pour a couple tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of the Dutch oven pan. Heat oil over medium heat. Salt and pepper your chicken breasts to taste and brown in hot oil. Remove from pan and set aside. While chicken is browning, mix beer, brown sugar and ketchup in a bowl. Once you have removed the chicken, deglaze the pan with a little bit of the beer mix. Pour potatoes into the pan, place chicken on top. Add carrots. Pour remaining beer mix over entire contents. Place cover on Dutch oven and turn heat to low. Allow to cook on low heat for about 3-4 hours, depending on if your potatoes are precooked or not. Enjoy!

January 16, 2012 | 1 Comment

Curry Chicken Noodle Soup

I found this recipe in an issue of Cuisine at Home. I have modified it a bit, but my oh my. If you love curry, this soup is for you! I also tried out my new KitchenAid Mixer and dough handle, making some fresh bread to dip into this soup for dinner tonight. Great comfort food for a cold winter night. Enjoy!

Curry Chicken Noodle Soup:

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced red pepper

1 cup diced celery

1 can mushrooms

3 T curry powder

3 T fresh minced ginger

3 T minced jalapeno

2 T minced fresh garlic

2 T olive oil

8 cups low sodium chicken broth

8 oz. Thai noodles

1 can chicken

squirt lime juice, dash of salt and pepper to taste

scallions (optional)

Sweat onion, pepper, celery, mushrooms, curry, ginger, jalapeno, garlic and oil in a large pot over medium-low heat until onion begins to soften. Stir in broth and chicken. Bring soup to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 1-2 hours. About 30 minutes before serving, turn heat back to boiling and add noodles. Cook until done. Return heat to low until ready to serve. Season with salt, pepper and a squirt of lime juice. Sprinkle sliced scallions on top if desired. Enjoy!

January 15, 2012 | 3 Comments

Captain Morgan Cake

I found this recipe in one of my Cooking With Paula Deen magazines. Her recipe actually calls for Kahlua, not Captain Morgan. But I did not have any Kahlua, so I thought I would try it with Captain. It turned out awesome! This is a very easy cake to throw together. Also a great cake for those of you that don’t like frosting. It is rich and delicious. Enjoy!

Captain Morgan Cake:

1 box German chocolate cake mix

1 box chocolate instant pudding mix

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup Captain Morgan Spiced Rum

4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a Bundt pan. In a large bowl, mix cake mix, pudding mix, water, oil, rum and eggs. Beat at medium speed until smooth. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean. Carefully pour hot Captain Topping (recipe below) over the cake. Let stand, in pan, for 4 hours. Invert cake and serve!

Captain Topping:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup Captain Morgan

1/4 cup water

In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring often.

January 12, 2012 | 3 Comments

Annual New Years Day Shoot of my Kids

Every year I do a New Years Day photo shoot of my boys in front of a black background, shirts off. Very simple, yet very fun. I love to get different expressions and see how they’ve grown through the year. I normally do them each individually. I don’t usually try to get a group shot, because it is just so hard to get a nice shot of them all together. But this year they actually sat nice together and let me take a couple shots of them together. I am repainting my kitchen/dining/living room this week and cannot wait to have one of these shots blown up into a huge canvas for the wall. What do you think? Do you have a favorite? Which one should I use this year? Leave your comments!

January 2, 2012 | 1 Comment

Sticky Bun Breakfast Ring

I found this recipe through Pinterest. It originates from the blog All Things Delicious. Check it out, all sorts of yummy stuff there. I am home today with no plans and thought I would try out my new KitchenAid blender that I got for Christmas. I was browsing through my recipes saved on Pinterest and came across this simple, fast and easy recipe. It’s only 8:30am, so what better time to make this breakfast ring. My boys and I love monkey bread, and this is basically a version of that. This was so fast and easy to make. It just might become a new family tradition on Saturday mornings. Enjoy!

Sticky Bun Breakfast Ring:

1 tube grand buttermilk biscuits

3 Tbsp. butter melted

1/2 C. pancake syrup

1/3 C. packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a bundt pan with non-stick spray. Melt butter and stir in the syrup. Set aside. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon and set aside. Pour half the butter into the bundt pan. Sprinkle half the brown sugar mix on top. Arrange your biscuits around the pan, overlapping slightly. Pour remaining butter mix on top. Sprinkle remaining brown sugar mix over. Bake at 375 for approximately 20 minutes until golden brown. Let cool for 1 minute, then invert onto a serving plate. Pure awesomeness! I could have eaten the entire plate of these!

December 21, 2011 | 1 Comment

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

I have been on a mission to find the “perfect” homemade cinnamon roll recipe. I have tried 3 for sure, and none of them would rise. I saw this recipe on Pinterest. That led me to pink-parsley.com. On her blog, it said it was adapted from Beantown Baker, originally from La Fuji Mama. Wherever it came from, it is delicious. My dough actually rose and they taste great! The only thing I did differently was that I placed the rolls in a square baking dish, because they were too big to fit into my cupcake holders. I got two cupcakes to fit and the rest went into the dish. I love the cupcake idea, so next time I will just cut them a little skinnier. And the cream cheese frosting is to die for! Completely awesome!

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes:

1 pkt dry active yeast

1/2 cup white sugar, divided

1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F)

2 eggs, room temperature

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 tsp salt

4 1/2 cups flour

1 cup brown sugar

2 1/2 T cinnamon

1/3 cup butter, melted

8 oz cream cheese, soft

2/3 cup butter, soft

1 – 2 cups powdered sugar

Dissolve yeast and 1/4 cup of the sugar in the warm milk. Let stand for about 10 minutes. Mix in the eggs, butter, salt and other 1/4 cup of sugar. Add flour and mix well until the dough forms a ball. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead about 5-10 times. Place in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise for at least 1 hour in a warm spot. After the dough has doubled in size, turn out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, mix brown sugar and cinnamon. Melt 1/3 cup of butter. Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners and lightly spray over the top of them with cooking spray. Roll dough into a 12×22 inch rectangle. Pour 2/3 cup of melted butter over. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mix. Roll up dough and cut into 24 (or so) rolls. Try to fit the rolls into the cupcake liners. Cover and let rise again for about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake rolls in oven until golden brown, about 10-15 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. To make frosting, mix cream cheese and butter using a blender until mixed. Slowly add the powdered sugar until desired consistency has been reached. YUMMY!

December 21, 2011 | 1 Comment

Elf on a Shelf – Our Version

I’ve seen this Elf on a Shelf idea many years now, but have never felt the need to do it. This year I found a knock-off version of the elf at the local store for $2.50. My twins are 4 years old and sadly need all the help they can get when it comes to making sure Santa doesn’t put them on the naughty list. I know the official Elf comes with a book and a whole story, but our version goes like this: Elffi shows up every morning in a new place, doing something funny and the boys have to find him. Elffi then calls Santa every night to tell him if they are being naughty or nice. I don’t think it has made much of a difference, but they boys are having fun none the less looking for him every morning and laughing at how funny he is. And my oldest son, who doesn’t believe in Santa anymore, still has fun helping me come up with Elffi ideas and setting him up. Here are a few days worth of what Elffi has been up to:

December 15, 2011 | 1 Comment

Goodie Plate Fun

I had a great time yesterday putting together my Christmas goodie plates. This is my second year doing this, and I’m learning something new every year. I had a great friend help me this year, we kind of both brought our ingredients together and worked from my house. This years plates included: buckeyes, spiced rum balls, cookies and cream chocolate truffles, pretzel kisses, cinnamon sugar palmiers and caramel and chocolate covered pretzel rods. We used 10 lbs of chocolate, 300 hershey kisses, 6 lbs of pretzels, 3 lbs of caramel and maybe a few shots of Captain Morgan. The spiced rum balls were by far my favorite. Next year, we are going to start with those (if for no other reason than to start the afternoon of cooking off with a few shots). What I thought would be the easiest and best, the pretzel rods, turned out to be the bane of my existence. Took the longest, was the most work and the ones I did looked terrible. They tasted fine, but were definitely not pretty to look at. My good friend Kristin’s looked great, she had much more patience than I did 🙂 I’m already looking forward to next year! Let me know in the comments section, do you do goodie plates and if so, what do you put on them?

December 12, 2011 | 1 Comment

Balloons and Snow

I had so much fun taking my twin boys out today for an impromptu photo shoot in the woods. I threw on the boys new Christmas outfits, went to the dollar store and bought matching balloons and we headed to a friends house that still had snow on the ground. The boys were so well behaved and they had lots of fun. Winter fun on a sunny day!