Homemade Samoas

Cookies:

* 1 cup butter, soft1/2 cup sugar
* 2 cups all purpose flour
* 1/4 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
* up to 2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt followed by the vanilla and milk. Add in a bit of extra flour if your dough is very sticky.

Roll the dough between pieces of wax paper and use a circle cookie cutter to make small rounds. Place on baking sheet and use a smaller item to cut a smaller center hole. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, until bottoms are lightly browned and cookies are lightly gold. Cool.

Topping:

* 3 cups shredded coconut
* 1 lb chewy caramels
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 3 tbsp milk
* 8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a baking sheet and toast 5-10 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet. Set aside.

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula. Spread topping on cooled cookies, using about 3 tsp per cookie. Reheat caramel for a few seconds in the microwave if it gets too firm to work with.

While topping sets up, melt chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each cookie into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate into a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle finished cookies with chocolate.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

These taste like the real thing! Be careful, you might eat all of them in one sitting.

O'Henry Bars

I brought these to a class party. Some wanted the recipe so here you go. Super easy, and makes a lot...great for parties!

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup karo syrup
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 5-6 cups rice krispies

Grease a 10 x 15" cookie sheet. Bring the sugar and karo syrup to a boil. Remove from the heat and add in peanut butter. Pour over rice krispies. Stir until well coated and then pour into pan.

Frosting:
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips

Melt together chocolate chips, and then frost the rice krispies with the mix. Let cool for 1 hour before serving. I usually put them in my fridge if I have the space.


Jessica Nelson

Creamy Black Bean Salsa Chicken

This is one of my husband's favorites. I like it too, especially because I can put it in the crock pot before school and come home and dinner is ready! It is so easy and so yummy! Enjoy!

• 2 to 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 can (15 oz) corn, drained
• 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Place chicken in greased 3 1/2 to 5-quart slow cooker. Pour broth, salsa, corn, and beans over chicken. Cover and cook on low heat 6 to 8 hours or high heat 3 to 4 hours. Remove chicken with slotted spoon and place on serving dish. Stir in sour cream and cheese into sauce in slow cooker, then pour over chicken. Serves 3 to 5.

We usually just put our sour cream and cheese on top of our chicken and let it melt a bit. But it's good mixing it in with the sauce in the crock pot too. We also usually eat this with some spanish rice and warm tortillas.


Jessica Nelson

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies

When I'm craving something sweet, but don't have time to make something fancy, I love snacking on these cookies to solve my problem. Seriously, I am addicted...

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg

Mix ingredients together. Roll into one-inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. Flatten with a fork. Bake at 350˚F for 10 minutes.

When they come out of the oven, sprinkle some sugar on top if you want to make it look nice. To make it healthier, use reduced-fat peanut butter and Splenda. For something fun, add crushed peanuts to the recipe or chocolate chips! Really anything goes- these are fun cookies to work with.


Ashley Stokes

Cafe Rio Chicken Tortilla Soup

Sorry, I couldn't find any pictures that even comes close to a resemblance, but it's green and yummy!

• 2 seeded soaked ancho chilies, roughly chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 4 corn tortillas, torn into about quarter-sized pieces
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 1 shredded cooked chicken or 6 frozen chicken cutlets

Puree chilies, onion, tomatoes, and garlic in a blender or food processor until smooth. In soup pot cover bottom of pot with olive oil. Heat over medium-high. Add puree to oil and fry for a minute or two. Then add the broth, tortilla pieces, cilantro, and chicken to the pot. Simmer until thick, about 1 1/2 hours - less if you use cooked chicken. Add salt to taste, about 1 tablespoon. Serve with lime wedges, chopped avacado, cilantro, tortilla strips, and mexican cheese (queso fresco). Squeeze 1/4 lime into each bowl of soup. I think Key limes are the best to use.


Andrea Raleigh

Fiesta Wheat and Bean Salad

• 3 cups cooked wheat berries*
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 orange or red pepper, diced
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 bunch cilantro, leaves chopped
• lime juice from 1 lime
• 1 jalapeno pepper, cored and diced
• 1 can (16 oz) corn, drained
• 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons cumin powder
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Toss well. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.

*Basic Cooked Wheat Berries

• 4 cups raw whole wheat
• 10 cups water
• 1 tablespoon salt

Oil a large (4 quart or larger) slow cooker or crock pot and fill with wheat, water, and salt. Cover and cook on low all night, 8 to 10 hours. Cooked wheat may be bagged and stored in the refrigerator for at least a week or in the freezer for months.

I usually just make a half batch of the wheat berries because I have a smaller crock pot. You can also eat the wheat berries like you would oatmeal. Just add milk and some brown sugar!


Darci Pierson

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

I made these bars for one of our class potlucks. I made it a little healthier with sugar-free jam and Adam's low-sugar peanut butter because it was what I had at the time. But who cares about calories when it comes to dessert. Enjoy!

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups strawberry jam
• 2/3 cup salted peanuts, roughly chopped

Preheat oven at 350° F. Grease a 9-by-13-inch pan. Mix butter and sugar in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add eggs and peanut butter. Beat until combined, about 2 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder. Combine with the ingredients in mixer on low speed then mix in vanilla. Transfer two-thirds of the mixture to pan and spread evenly. Next spread jam on top of peanut-butter mixture. Dollop remaining third of mixture on top of jam. Sprinkle with peanuts. Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden. Cool and eat!


Brittani Hunsaker

Carmel Popcorn

This is by far the easiest and bestest carmel corn ever from my Aunt.

• 6-8 quarts (2-3 bags) plain popcorn
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup white karo syrup
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

First, pop the popcorn. Combine the sugar, syrup, butter, and salt and bring to a boil (stirring constantly) and then remove from the stove top and add the baking soda. It will froth up a bit. Pour immediatley over the popped corn and eat it with a movie. (Note: I always double the sauce - it's just silly not to).


Brittani Hunsaker

Greek Salad with Herbed Pita

This recipe is what motivated the creation of the blog. Megan Ham gave it to me and it is soooo good! If you like Greek food then you should definitely try this!

• lemon juice from 1 lemon
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil (for the dressing)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (for the pitas)
• 4 rounds pita bread
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 heads Romaine lettuce
• 1 cucumber, wedged
• 2 tomatoes, wedged
• assorted brine olives (ie. kalamata)
• 1/2 pound feta cheese
• 8 green onions, thinly sliced

To make the dressing, whisk together the lemon juice, garlic, and pepper and gradually stir in the 1/4 cup olive oil until smooth. Preheat oven at 300° F. Brush both sides of the pitas with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Sprinkle with oregano. Warm in oven for 10 minutes. Mix the lettuce, cucumber, and tomatoes with the dressing. Top with the olives, cheese, and onions. Serves 4.

We changed a few things when we made this because it was just me and my husband so we mostly downsized the portions that we used in the recipe. We basically cut it in half and we still had leftovers! The picture is just off the internet so it isn't exactly what it looks like but it's pretty similar. We stuffed the pitas with the salad or you could eat it on top of the pita, whatever you prefer. Note: I noticed that buying the feta in a chunk instead of crumbled was a lot cheaper. Save a few bucks and just crumble it yourself! This is definitely a yummy recipe and would suggest it to anyone!

It's Finally Here!

Hey girls!
I've been noticing that some of us keep mentioning that we should start a recipe blog so we can all share our yummy recipes with each other so here it is! The email address and user name for this account is ucdh2011recipes@gmail.com and the password is studentsmile. Feel free to add your recipes, spiff up the blog, or add your own blog link so we can all keep in touch with each other when we eventually graduate. Happy cooking!