I forgot to tell you about this fun and SUPER easy dessert. Put cupcake papers into a muffin pan. Place an oreo inside. Top oreo with peanut butter. Repeat layers. Mix up a brownie mix. Place in a ziplock and snip the corner. Pour batter down the sides, and on top of the peanut butter. Cook 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees. I did do mini ones using mini oreo. You can only do 1 layer this way.

Crap it's amazing how busy the end of the year gets - don't allow myself much time to just sit at the computer and putz. I do cook nearly every night so that hasn't changed let me see if I've made anything earth-shattering to tell you about:

Hmmmmmmmm.......beef and noodles (leftover roast, misc seasonings and good noodles), Papa Murphy's on my birthday, Bucatini (my first post), panko crusted chicken, pancakes, burgers, steak & roasted potatoes.....nope does not look like anything earth-shattering. I must say the Orchard Place treat was super easy and surprising: Take a muffin pan place papers in holes, place an Oreo in each. Top each Oreo with peanut butter; repeat. Mix a boxed brownie batter and place in a Ziplock. Snip the end and pour in on top and down the sides of each Oreo tower. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

Coming up this week:

Spicy Mexican Quiche
Cheeseburger Soup
Cheesy Pork quesadilla
Eggs, Toast, Hash Browns, Fruit
One night I'll be serving a meal at Freedom for Youth Ministries
One night I'll be out for dinner with a few other couples

Orchard Place this week is having Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

Tuesday night we had appointments at 5 so I threw a roast in before work and then added potatoes after I got off work so when we got home - dinner ready!!

Wednesday night I reprived my Bread & Wine Factory Chef title and made Ham and Potatoes, Green Beans and apples.

Tomorrow night is crock pot chicken - gotta head upstairs to figure out what seasonings to use.

Till then......

Been a few days - Friday night we hit the road for Decorah to a cross country meet - we had soft shell tacos (not your normal traveling food but worked well) and munchies.

Saturday night we were full from our late lunch at T-Bocks in Decorah - great burger and skinny fries.

Sunday, tonight, we had Chels, John and Audrey over and had salad, applesauce and CHICKEN CASSEROLE.

about 2 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken (any seasoning you'd like to use)

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup milk

5 cups cooked noodles

Mix all ingredients - heat in microwave. Sprinkle crushed plain potato chips on top.

Last night we had the Overnight Breakfast Pie and tonight we had a Smoked Mozzarella Chicken Pizza.

OVERNIGHT BREAKFAST PIE

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1 Tbl Olive Oil
1/3 cup bacon bits
5 eggs plus 2 egg white
2 1/2 cups frozen hash brown potatoes
1 cup shredded swiss cheese
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/3 cup milk
1 Tbl dry minced onion
1/2 tsp salt
14 tsp ground black pepper

Lightly grease 9 inch pie pan. In medium bowl beat eggs and egg whites. Stir in bacon bits, hash browns, swiss cheese, cottage cheese, milk, minced onion, salt and pepper. Pour mixture into pie pan. Cover and chill for 2 - 24 hours.

Stir together panko and olive oil and sprinkle onto pie. Bake, uncovered, in a preheated 325 degree oven for about 50 minutes.

SMOKED MOZZARELLA CHICKEN PIZZA

I took a Boboli crust and drizzled with olive oil and then sprinkled dried thyme and oregano leaves onto crust. I baked at 400 for 5 minutes. I then topped with a thin layer of alfredo sauce and chopped up leftover Firecracker chicken from the other night and smoked mozzarella cheese. I baked for another10-15 minutes.

Back out to the grill tonight - cant' waste this wonderful weather. I made the Grilled Firecracker Chicken tonight.

2 Tbl Chili Powder
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves
1 1/4 tsp cayenne
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp pepper
6 chicken breasts

Mix all the seasonings. Place chicken in glass dish and sprinkle both sides with the seasoning mix. Refrigerate from 1 hour to 24 hours. Heat grill and cook until cooked through. You can serve with sour cream mixed with paprika - if desired.

We did not find this to be as spicy as the title leads you to believe. I only refrigerated it for about 1 1/2 hours so maybe longer sitting may let the spices get into the meat more.

Monday Night Orchard Place treat was:

White Chocolate Brownies - you can find the recipe at:

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/chocolate/white-chocolate-brownies/

Now I adjusted it a bit. I omitted the nuts and instead of using white chocolate as the "frosting" I made a frosting of powdered sugar, butter, a splash of milk and sugar free strawberry preserves.