Magic Brownie Bars

Hello Dollies, Seven Layer Bars, Magic Bars, these delights have many names and all of them delicious.  This is my take on this old favorite, and it’s super quick and easy to put together as it starts with a brownie mix of your choice.  Actually, all of the ingredients used to build these bars can be individualized.  I used three types of chips, but you could use just one, two, or even use more than three!  Have fun and make them taste like magic!

Magic Brownie Bars
1 family size brownie mix
1+1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup crushed graham crackers
1 cup coarsely chopped & toasted pecans
2/3 cup each semi-sweet morsels, butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups coconut nut
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line a 13×9 pan with parchment or foil, so that edges extend on sides of pan.
Toast pecans in 350 degree oven for 7-8 minutes, toss with 1 tablespoon melted butter and sprinkle on 1/4 teaspoon salt; set aside.
Mix brownie mix, melted butter, and egg together to make a stiff dough; press into bottom of prepared baking pan.
Layer the following ingredients onto brownie bottom: graham cracker crumbs, pecans, semi-sweet morsels, butterscotch chips, and white chocolate chips, and coconut.
Pour entire can of sweetened condensed milk over top.
Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.
Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes, remove from pan, and cut into squares.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL???

We’re HUGE football fans!  Football season seems like it just started! (where does the time go?) And yet the final playoff games are here. And you know what that means – it’s time for tailgating again, serious football food and game day buffets.


Bring over your best appetizers and your biggest appetite and oh don’t forget the Brewskis to go with it all.  

Tailgating Time will be posted every Sunday at noon and open all week for you to add your football favorites. We’ll play each and every week until Superbowl Sunday and then have a big party. I can’t wait to see what you’ll be bringing!  We’ll host a big Superbowl party here at OUR KrAzY kitchen.
It’s Tailgating Time!
HOSTED BY: 
Martha at Seaside Simplicity
Tamy at 3 sides of Crazy 
Lyndsey at Tiny Skillet 
Would you like to be a host of Tailgating Time too? 

Leave a comment here with your email, at OUR KrAzY kitchen or with Martha over at Seaside Simplicity so we can send you the code and add you to the host list – more exposure, more links, more football food and more fun!!

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL???

We’re HUGE football fans!  Football season seems like it just started! (where does the time go?) And yet the final playoff games are here. And you know what that means – it’s time for tailgating again, serious football food and game day buffets.


Bring over your best appetizers and your biggest appetite and oh don’t forget the Brewskis to go with it all.  

Tailgating Time will be posted every Sunday at noon and open all week for you to add your football favorites. We’ll play each and every week until Superbowl Sunday and then have a big party. I can’t wait to see what you’ll be bringing!  We’ll host a big Superbowl party here at OUR KrAzY kitchen.
It’s Tailgating Time!
HOSTED BY: 
Martha at Seaside Simplicity
Tamy at 3 sides of Crazy 
Lyndsey at Tiny Skillet 
Would you like to be a host of Tailgating Time too? 
Leave a comment here with your email, at OUR KrAzY kitchen or with Martha over at Seaside Simplicity so we can send you the code and add you to the host list – more exposure, more links, more football food and more fun!!

Teriyaki BBQ Beef or Chicken with Broccoli Noodle Bowls

Last week we had an amazing Chinese-inspired dish at our house so I thought I would try another Chinese dish this week.  This is the epitome of being a home cook in that I just used what I had and I improvised.

Teriyaki BBQ Beef or Chicken with Broccoli Noodle Bowls adapted from Rachel Ray
For the BBQ Sauce
1/2 cup beef or chicken stock
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce or low sodium teriyaki sauce
1/3 cup honey or agave syrup
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 palmful coarse black pepper
1 1-inch piece of ginger root, peeled
For the steak or chicken, veggies and spaghetti:
1 cup frozen shelled edamame
3/4 pound flank steak or boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 bundle broccolini or 1 small head broccoli
Salt
1 pound whole wheat or whole grain spaghetti
2 tablespoons vegetable oil or peanut oil
4 scallions, very thinly sliced on an angle
Directions:  Place the ingredients for the barbecue sauce in a small pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes to thicken and concentrate the flavor a little. Remove the ginger root.
Place a large pot of water on the stove to boil.  Pour a cup of edamame from the freezer into a bowl to defrost. Add the meat to the freezer to firm up, about 15 minutes.
Trim the broccolini or broccoli and cut into 2-inch pieces. Add salt to the boiling water and cook the broccolini or broccoli to tender-crisp, 5 minutes. Remove the broccolini with a spider or slotted spoon and drain well. Drop the pasta into the water and cook to al dente.
Remove the meat from the freezer and slice it very thinly on an angle, against the grain if you’re using beef.
Heat the oil, a turn of the pan, in a large skillet or wok over high heat until smoking. Add the meat and stir fry until brown. Add the edamame and broccolini or broccoli and pour in the sauce. Drain the pasta and toss into the skillet to combine.
Serve in bowls topped with scallions.
Modifications:
-I just used a bag of stir-fry veggies instead of cutting up broccoli/edamame.
Here is what you’ll need:
Put all of the “wet” ingredients into a saucepan.  Let it come to a boil and then turned down to a simmer.  Put some water on to boil for the pasta.
Chop up 3 cloves of garlic.
Cut about a 1 inch piece of ginger root, peel it, and throw it in with the wet ingredients.
Throw the garlic and ginger root in.  Add the pasta to the boiling water.

Thinly slice beef, on the grain.

Cut up some scallions or green onions.

After about 20 minutes, pull the ginger root out of the sauce.

Put the canola oil in a wok or pan and get hot.  Add the beef until brown.
Add the vegetables.
Add the sauce.
Drain the spaghetti and then add to the pan.
Here’s what you’ll end up with:
Another successful dish!  The honey really adds to the teriyaki sauce and we actually loved the diversity of the frozen stir-fry vegetables rather than just broccoli and edamame.  

PAN SEARED CHICKEN BREAST with APRICOT RUM GLAZE

PAN SEARED CHICKEN BREAST with APRICOT RUM GLAZE
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons butter
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons rum
1/4 cup white wine
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup apricot pineapple jam
8-12 dried apricots, finely sliced
salt and pepper to taste

  • Melt butter in a large skillet.
  • Salt and pepper both sides of chicken pieces.
  • Brown chicken, turning once, until cooked through – about 4-5 minutes per side.
  • Remove from skillet and keep warm.
  • Reduce heat and add onion, sauteing until tender.
  • Add apricots, rum, wine, lemon juice and vinegar, simmering until reduced by half.
  • Add jam, blend well and simmer to desired consistency.
  • Serve over chicken and white rice with fresh kiwi.

SMOTHERED BBQ CHOPS

Hi there, Tamy from Classic Good Eats Thursday here covering for Kris who is way under the weather.  I hope you all like it.  We loved this recipe that I adapted from the Flavor section of the local newspaper.  Be sure and stop by my food blog, Always Eat On The Good China for other tasty recipes.

SMOTHERED BBQ CHOPS
2 + 2  tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup BBQ sauce
4 3/4 inch bone-in pork chops
2 small red onions, thinly sliced
2 carrots, thinly sliced on an angle
1/3 pound green beans, trimmed and cut
1/3 pound sugar snap peas, trimmed
1 1/2 cups long grain white rice
1 lemon, thinly sliced (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  • In a large skillet heat butter on medium high.
  • Sprinkle paprika, salt and pepper on both sides of pork chops.
  • Brown pork chops on both sides until browned (5-6 minutes).
  • Transfer to a plate.
  • Add remaining butter and onion to skillet and saute until tender.
  • With a slotted spoon remove onions to a small bowl.
  • Add carrots, beans, parsley and peas to skillet sauteing a few minutes.
  • Add rice and broth.  Heat to boiling.
  • Move rice mixture to baking dish sprayed with PURE.
  • Layer pork chops over rice mixture.
  • Layer lemons over pork chops.
  • Spoon onions over lemons.
  • Spread BBQ sauce over all.
  • Cover and bake 30 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

SMOTHERED BBQ CHOPS

SMOTHERED BBQ CHOPS
2 + 2  tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup BBQ sauce
4 3/4 inch bone-in pork chops
2 small red onions, thinly sliced
2 carrots, thinly sliced on an angle
1/3 pound green beans, trimmed and cut
1/3 pound sugar snap peas, trimmed
1 1/2 cups long grain white rice
1 lemon, thinly sliced (optional)
minced parsley
salt and pepper to taste

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  • In a large skillet heat butter on medium high.
  • Sprinkle paprika, salt and pepper on both sides of pork chops.
  • Brown pork chops on both sides until browned (5-6 minutes).
  • Transfer to a plate.
  • Add remaining butter and onion to skillet and saute until tender.
  • With a slotted spoon remove onions to a small bowl.
  • Add carrots, beans, parsley and peas to skillet sauteing a few minutes.
  • Add rice and broth.  Heat to boiling.
  • Move rice mixture to baking dish sprayed with PURE.
  • Layer pork chops over rice mixture.
  • Layer lemons over pork chops.
  • Spoon onions over lemons.
  • Spread BBQ sauce over all.
  • Cover and bake 30 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

Fire Day Friday: Vegetable Burritos

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, I made a recipe for vegetable burritos that came from a recipe pamphlet from RoTel. Okay, carbon dating and fossil records show it was actually just over 15 years ago.

We loved it back then and thought it was an impressive recipe. That was back when I was just learning to cook for Alexis and my new family. Tonight we dragged this one out of the archives and upgraded it to how we would have made it now compared to back then.

Fire Roasted Vegetable Burritos with Cilantro/Roasted Pepper Queso

Source: NibbleMeThis

1 cup long grain rice
2 ea vidalia spring onions (green onions if you can’t get them)
1 ea red bell pepper
1 ea poblano or cubanelle chile
1 ea cherry pepper
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cups cheddar cheese, freshly shredded
1 ea serrano pepper, finely diced (skip if you want mild, double if you want hot)
1 cup refried beans
1 cup salsa
6 ea flour tortillas (mission sized burrito tortillas)
6 oz Mexican Dipping Cheese (We get El Viajero brand)
4 oz milk
1/4 cup cilantro

Start your grill to direct high heat at about 500f (skip if using your broiler and oven)

Cook your rice according to directions.

Grill the green onions just enough to get a slight browning on them (about 1 min a side). Fire roast or broil your peppers until blackened on all sides. The fire roasting brings out the best of the veggies.


Don’t be afraid that they are “too charred”. That makes them easier to peel and won’t affect the final flavor. This one wasn’t done enough yet, just to give you an idea.


Place the peppers in a plastic zip top bag, they’ll steam on their own for 5 minutes.

Cut the ends off each pepper and slice down the length of one side to open them up. Remove the seeds from the inside. Flip and lightly scrap the charred skin off with the sharp edge of a knife.

Dice the green onions.

As soon as the rice is finished, stir in the green onions, red bell pepper, and cubanelle/poblano pepper (reserve the cherry pepper for the cheese sauce). Stir in 1 cup of the cheese and the serrano pepper.

Taste the rice mixture for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.

Repeat for each tortilla:
Spread about 3 Tbsp of refried beans on the tortilla. Top with 1/2 cup of the rice mixture. Sprinkle more cheese and 3 Tbsp of salsa on top. Roll up burrito style and place seam side down in a casserole dish. (Click here for a photo tutorial of how I fold mine.) Top with a few sprinkles of more shredded cheese.

Place the dish in your oven preheated to 350f (or in our case, a grill set up at 350f for indirect heat) and cook for 25 minutes.

Cut the queso cheese into 1/2″ cubes and put into a small sauce pan. Add the milk, cilantro, and diced cherry pepper and warm until melted over medium/low heat.

Serve the burritos with the sauce poured over the top or on the side.

Don’t let the minimal amount in the picture fool you. As soon as the pictures were taken and my burrito was cut up, I ladled a good bit of that queso sauce all over my burrito!

In case you’re interested, here’s the original version. It’s a lot easier and still good.

Vegetable Burritos
Yields: 6

Ingredients
1 Pam non stick spray
1 can (12 oz) Rotel (Diced tomatoes/chilis)
1 cup instant rice
1/2 cup water
1 Green pepper
2 Green onions
2 cups cheddar cheese
1 cup refried beans
10 8″ tortillas
1 cup salsa
Black olives to taste

Instructions
preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 9x 12 x 2 baking dish w/ spray. In medium saucepan, combine Rotel, rice & water. Heat to boil, reduce heat, cover, & simer 1 minute. Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes. Stir in pepper, onions and 1 cup cheese. Spread 3 table spoons beans over each tortilla. Layer rice mixture over beens and sprinkle on more cheese & salsa. Roll up and place seam down in prepared baking dish. Cover w/ foil. Bake 25 minutes.

CLASSIC GOOD EATS ~ OVEN BBQ CHICKEN

OVEN BBQ CHICKEN
Whole chicken pieces cut up, washed and dried
BBQ Marinade (recipe below)
BBQ Seasoning (recipe below)
BBQ Sauce (recipe below)

  • Rinse Chicken well and pat dry.
  • Loosely layer chicken pieces in a large bowl and pour BBQ marinade over and sprinkling BBQ seasoning over each layer.
  • Refrigerate overnight.
  • Remove chicken from refrigerator 30 minutes before you plan to put it in the oven. 
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Spray a jelly roll pan with PURE.
  • Place chicken pieces on pan.
  • Generously brush with BBQ sauce.
  • Bake 45 minutes or until cooked through and crisp.
  • Brush with more BBQ sauce.

BBQ MARINADE
2 cloves roasted garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes, crushed
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1 tablespoon sugar
2-3 tablespoons BBQ seasoning
1/3 cup Champagne vinegar
1 cup vegetable oil (I prefer Canola)

  • Whisk all the dry ingredients together until well blended.
  • Add oil, whisking until dry ingredients are well incorporated.

BBQ SEASONING
1 1/2 cups paprika
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder

  • Blend ingredients together well.
  • Store in an airtight container.

BBQ SAUCE
2 cups Heinz ketchup
1 cup apple juice
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
5 packed tablespoons light brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, smashed
2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper
2 teaspoons onion powder
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

  • In a large saucepan combine all the ingredients, stirring to blend.
  • Bring the mixture to a boil.
  • Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for an hour, stirring frequently.

GRILLED CHICKEN SUBS~Healthy Meals

Yummy Grilled Chicken Subs!
My family LOVED this low-fat meal last week! They’ve already asked for it again.
GRILLED CHICKEN SUBS
Skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into strips (3 or 4 oz. per person)
Pasta Sauce (We use Bertolli marinara. It has 2 grams of fat per half cup serving)
Hoagie Rolls
Mozzarella cheese (partially skim milk)
1T olive oil
Italian seasoning
  • Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large skillet.
  • Place chicken strips in skillet with oil.
  • Sprinkle with Italian Seasoning.
  • Turn as often as necessary (season both sides). Cook until center is no longer pink.
  • Heat the marinara sauce over medium heat in a sauce pan.
  • Place up to 1/4 cup of sauce on the hoagie roll.
  • Fill with 3-4 ounces of chicken.
  • Top with 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese and broil in the oven for about 3-5 minutes until cheese melts.
Each sandwich has 417 calories, 73 carbs, and 10 grams of fat.Serve with beans and white rice or boiled/roasted potatoes and fresh vegetables for a very low fat meal.

EASY CHICKEN PESTO

Surprisingly, this pesto chicken is one of my kids’ favorite meals! I think it has to do with the melted cheese and chicken. The pesto makes the dish, and the kids do not complain. And with three ingredients, it is affordable and quick to get to the table. I have also used sun dried tomato pesto and mozzarella cheese and it was super good.

PESTO CHICKEN
4 boneless , skinless chicken breasts
4 teaspoons pesto
4 slices provolone cheese
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
  • Place chicken breasts in a oven proof casserole dish. 
  • Spread 1 teaspoon of the pesto evenly over each piece of  chicken.  
  • Place the cheese slices on top of the pesto.
  • Cover and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the chicken is cooked and the cheese is melted.if you want the cheese browned a bit, uncover the chicken for the last 5 minutes or so until is is a light golden brown.
Come on over to THE FLOWERING DOGWOOD for more great recipes! Have a great week!

Save Room for Dessert…Nutella Swirl Blondies

I’ve made quite a few rich, gooey, and decadent desserts in the past year, but this bar, courtesy of Mark Bittman, may take honors in the rich, gooey, and decadent category.  It’s sweet and bursting with delicious butterscotch flavor just by itself, but in my quest to create a dessert for a little competition, I took it over the top with a few dollops of Nutella.  The pan size is only a 9×9, but don’t be fooled into thinking this dessert won’t satisfy a group, as you must cut this into small squares, and one square will satiate your desire for something sweet. 
Nutella Swirl Blondies
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Nutella
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Butter and line with parchment or foil a 9×9 or 8×8 pan; set aside.
  • Beat melted butter and brown sugar together until well mixed.
  • Add egg and vanilla, and continue to beat until mixed.
  • Stir in salt and flour.
  • Remove 1 cup of the batter and set aside; pour remaining batter into prepared pan.
  • Stir reserved batter and Nutella until well mixed; dollop onto batter and swirl with a butter knife.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
  • Allow to cool before lifting bars from pan; cut into small squares to serve.
Recipe adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything