M&M Cookie Bars

This was our first Halloween in our new house. Most of the places we lived in the past you didn't get any trick or treaters. Here, everyone seems to live in developments full of houses. The same holds true for us, our development has tons of kids and a lot of houses there were decked out with decorations and blow ups. We had no idea how many trick-or-treaters to expect so we stocked up on candy because we didn't want to be the newbies that ran out. Boy did we misjudge. We had about 75 kids and purchased close to 10 bags of candy! Needless to say we have a ton of candy left over.

I am trying REALLY hard not to eat all of the left overs. I figured the best way would be to use some of it up baking. I had read some other blogs that turned the candy into chocolate bark which looked delicious but too sweet for me. I decided on m&m bars. It helped but didn't make a huge dent in our left overs, but I was able to bring them to my book club so not only did I use up candy, but I got other people to help me eat it! And who doesn't love a little something snack on when discussing the book ;)

M&M Cookie Bars
Source: The Sweets Life

Ingredients:
2 cups brown sugar

2/3 cups un-salted butter

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

1 ½ cups M&Ms (22 fun size bags)

Directions:

1. Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan (easiest to line with foil and grease!) and set aside. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Heat butter and brown sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved.

3. Cool slightly before mixing in eggs and vanilla, stirring to combine. Stir in flour, baking powder, and baking soda.

4. Mix in 1 ¼ cups M&Ms. Reserve ¼ cup to press into the top of the bars. Pour batter into prepared pan and use a spatula to spread evenly (note--batter is thick and is somewhat difficult to spread--use your fingers if necessary!). Press reserved M&Ms into the top of the batter.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean and bars are golden. Allow to cool on a wire rack before cutting into bars. Enjoy!

Chicken Couscous

This weekend I was lucky enough to have my parents in town for a quick visit and to see our new house! It is always so nice to spend time with them, especially now that we live so much further away. This was a short but busy trip and I will take any time we get! One of the things our family loves is not only food but to cook food so it was really nice to be able to do this.

I must confess that I ripped this recipe out of the magazine while I was getting my hair done. I know I am that person, but it just looked so good I had to. It was a good thing I did because this dish was delicious. I misread the directions and added an entire can of chick peas but that was not bad since we enjoy them. Only few tweaks I would make are to cook the vegetables a little bit less so they have more of a crunch. And measure the amount of liquid left in the dutch oven before adding the couscous. This will help determine the amount of couscous to add. We followed the directions and there must have been too much liquid left because it didn't fluff up as much as it normally does, but still was tasty.

Chicken Couscous

Servings: 4

Source: Fitness Magazine

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 36 minutes

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

¼ cup sliced almonds

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, fat trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 bunch scallions, white & light green thinly sliced

1 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced

2 carrots, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon tumeric

1 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken stock

1 large tomato, chopped

½ cup canned chickpeas, drained

½ lemon, zest peeled into 1/2 inch thick strips, juice to taste

1/3 cup raisins

3/4 cup whole wheat couscous

¼ cup chopped parsley

Directions:

1. Warm the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the almonds; toast until golden, 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer them to a bowl.

2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, add to the dutch oven and cook until browned, about 10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer chicken to a plate. Add the scallions, zucchini and carrots; cook for 5 minutes. Mix in the cinnamon, cumin, coriander and turmeric; saute 1 minute.

3. Add the chicken stock, tomato, chick peas, lemon zest and raisins; bring to a simmer. Return the chicken to the pot, cover and simmer 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer chicken and vegetables to a serving bowl. Season with lemon juice. Cover to keep warm.

4. I suggest measuring the left over liquid first, it should be 1 cup. Add the couscous to the liquid in the pot, cover and turn off heat. Let rest for 5 minutes; take off the lid and fluff the couscous with a fork. Serve chicken and vegetables over the couscous, garnished with almonds and parsley.

Nutritional Information per serving:

473 calories; 29g protein; 62g carbohydrates; 15g fat (2g saturated); 11g Fiber

Beef Stew

Everyone has always raved about crock pots and how convenient they are. So after all of the hype we got one for our wedding and I was yet to find a recipe and excuse to whip it out. I thought it might stay in the box for a while since you don't get the cooler fall or winter weather like up north where you want to curl up with a soup, stew or chili that they are known for. However, I came across this beef stew recipe and something about it called out to me. Today was the day the crock pot was taken out of the box and its wrapping. 

Based on this dish it was definitely worth the wait. Our house smelled from all of the delicious seasonings and made us hungry for dinner! By preparing everything ahead of time it allowed me to just throw it all into the cooker, turn it on and go about our day and dinner was ready for us after our evening walk. I wasn't sure with the tomatoes since I am not a huge tomato lover, but there is more of a broth flavor than a tomato sauce so it was perfect. The only thing we missed was some good bread to dip in all the juice...guess I know what I am buying to go with the leftovers tomorrow night ;)

Beef and Tomato Stew

Source: Eat Yourself Skinny

Servings: 8 (1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients:

2 pounds cubed stew beef

1 (15 oz) can stewed tomatoes

1 (6 oz) can tomato paste

3 1/2 cans of water using tomato paste can 

1/4 cup ketchup

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 medium onion, chopped

3 large carrots, sliced

3 ribs celery, chopped

1 can peas, drained

2 russet potatoes, quartered

1 Tbsp. dried basil

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. Mrs. Dash original blend

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 bay leaf

Directions:

Chop your onion, carrots and celery and set aside. 

 

In a slow cooker, add stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, water, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce and mix together. 

 

Stir in cubed meat, chopped vegetables and peas.  Season with remaining ingredients and slow cook on low for 8 hours.

Cookie Swap

This is a short post but was reading other blogs and saw something about a holiday cookie swap. Now I have always wanted to have one with friends because who doesn't love getting together with friends, eating cookies and having new recipes. So I was really excited when I found a cookie swap for food bloggers. You sign up and will be sent information for 3 bloggers to send a dozen cookies. To me this is not only yummy cookies but mail that is not a bill or junk, what could be better?! Find all of the details below if you are as intrigued as I was!

The premise is this: sign up. Receive the addresses of three other food bloggers. Send each of them one dozen delicious homemade cookies. Receive three different boxes of scrumptious cookies from other bloggers. Eat them all yourself (or, you know, share. If you want. No judgement either way.) Post your cookie recipe on your blog. See everyone else’s cookie recipes. Get lots of great ideas for next years’ cookie swap.

Sounds awesome, doesn’t it? Want to join in the fun?

Sign up now!

Sign ups are open through Friday, November 18th. Matches will be emailed to you on Monday the 21st, and we ask that you please get your cookies in the mail no later than December 5th. Blog posts with your cookie recipes should be written and ready for publication on December 12th. Julie and I will be posting a full round-up of all the participating bloggers and their cookie recipes shortly thereafter. Please note these deadlines and make sure you are able to meet them before signing up