(Lovely Raspberry Lemon Muffins, Creamy Chicken Enchiladas, BBQ Ranch Chicken Jalapeno Pizza, Super Scrummy Sweetened Condensed Milk, Quick Iced Coffee, Apple Dapple Caramel Dip, Bret’s Key Lime Pie With A Twist, Oat Fudge Nut Bars)
Lovely Raspberry Lemon Muffins
1/2 cup low fat vanilla yogurt 1 TBSP fresh lemon juice
3 TBSP vegetable oil 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 egg whites (or 1 egg) 3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour 1 tsp grated lemon peel
2 tsp baking powder 1 cup frozen whole raspberries
1/4 tsp salt
Streusel Topping:
1/4 cup sugar
2 TBSP flour
1 TBSP butter or margarine
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray bottoms only of 12 muffin cups with cooking spray. In a small bowl, combine the yogurt, oil, lemon juice, egg, and vanilla. Blend well.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon peel, and salt. Mix well. Stir in the frozen raspberries.
Add yogurt mixture to the flour mixture. Carefully stir with a fork–just until dry ingredients are moistened. Spoon batter evenly into prepared muffin cups.
In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients with a fork until crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over batter in cups before baking. Bake at 400 degrees for 16-20 minutes or until muffins are golden brown. Immediately remove from muffin pan. Serve warm.
Creamy Chicken Enchiladas
1 chicken, cooked and cut up in cubes
3-4 cans cream of chicken, mushroom or celery soup (or combination)
4 oz can diced green chilies
1 small onion, grated
12 oz sour cream
12 oz shredded cheddar cheese
milk
tortilla shells, 10-inch
Combine cooked chicken, soups, chilies, onion, sour cream, and cheese. Stir well. Spoon about 1/4 cup of mixture onto each tortilla shell. Roll up the tortillas and place in a greased 9×13 pan. Reserve some of the chicken mixture for topping. To the reserved chicken mixture, add enough milk to thin to a gravy consistency. Pour over tortillas in pan. Cover with foil. Bake at 350 degrees until hot and bubbly–about 40-50 minutes.
Try making your own Homemade Flour Tortillas (recipe found on the Flour, Sugar, Eggs… page of the main Recipes section).
BBQ Ranch Chicken Jalapeno Pizza
pizza crust of choice
KC Masterpiece bbq sauce
ranch dressing
cooked chicken, cut in pieces
jalapenos
onion
mozzarella cheese
cheddar cheese
Ingredient amounts will depend on personal preference and size of the pizza.
Mix equal parts bbq sauce and ranch dressing to make the sauce. Spread bbq ranch sauce over your crust. Top with chicken (you can coat in plain bbq sauce if desired), jalapenos (I’ve used fresh and from the jar. I prefer to chop them into small pieces.), and onion (sliced or diced). Add shredded mozzarella cheese and a little shredded cheddar cheese on top. Bake according to your crust’s directions. Mine usually bakes at 400-425 degrees until cheese is melted.
Feel free to add your other favorite toppings as well–black olives, mushrooms, etc.
My favorite new recipe right now is Super Scrummy Sweetened Condensed Milk! It’s so easy to make and absolutely delicious. With only four ingredients and a blender, you’re quickly on your way to homemade decadent bliss! It’s scrummy!
Super Scrummy Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 1/2 cups dry powdered milk
3/4 cup boiling water
1 cup sugar
4 1/2 TBSP butter or margarine
Combine milk powder, sugar and butter in a blender. Gradually add the boiling water. The butter melts when the boiling water is added so there’s no need to premelt it.
Blend until dissolved.
Cool and keep in the refrigerator. The mixture thickens as it cools. Makes about 2 cups (or just a little more than my jar will hold!).
Note: 1 1/3 cups = 14 oz can
Ways to Use: (Quick Iced Coffee, Apple Dapple Caramel Dip, Bret’s Key Lime Pie With A Twist, Oat Fudge Nut Bars)
Quick Iced Coffee
Brewed Coffee
Ice
Super Scrummy Sweetened Condensed Milk
Milk
Place some ice into a mug or container that can withstand the extreme temperatures. I use my Keurig to brew the coffee. Mix in a generous helping of Super Scrummy Sweetened Condensed milk and add some regular milk as well. I like to pour it into an iced coffee bottle I saved from those awesome Starbucks promos. Personally, I think it tastes a little better after it sits a couple of minutes and the flavors have a chance to meld.
Notes: This is my super simple way of doing it. If you are brewing your coffee in a regular coffee pot and want to serve over a lot of ice, you may want to brew it extra strong as the ice will dilute it as it melts. (I wouldn’t put the ice directly in the coffee pot. I would pour the coffee in a Pyrex measuring cup, mix in the milks, and then pour over the ice. Basically, be mindful of the extreme temperatures involved so you don’t break your glass, mug, etc.) Add the condensed milk and regular milk to taste. I like mine extra sweet and use a lot of sweetened condensed milk. Have fun coming up with your own perfect blend!
Apple Dapple Caramel Dip
14 oz package of caramels
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 1/3 cups Super Scrummy Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 tsp vanilla
Unwrap the caramels and place in a microwave safe casserole dish or bowl. Kraft appears to have shrunk the size of their bags of caramels. I could only find 11 oz bags in stores, so that’s what I used. The overall color of the finished caramel dip seems a little lighter, but it still tastes delicious. Kraft also makes the unwrapped bits, but I personally prefer the actual caramels.
Microwave on high 1 minute to soften the caramels.
Add butter and microwave about 1 more minute or until butter melts. Watch carefully so the caramel does NOT bubble. I stopped the microwave about every 15 seconds and was content at about 45 seconds total.
Stir in Super Scrummy Sweetened Condensed Milk and vanilla. Return to microwave for 1 more minute. Again, you don’t want the caramel to bubble so watch closely. I recommend stopping and stirring occasionally.
Stir all ingredients until smooth.
Serve with apple slices and peanuts.
I like the tartness of a Granny Smith apple with the smooth sweet caramel. Honeycrisp apples are also a favorite. I didn’t have any peanuts on hand, but they are a delicious addition.
Bret’s Key Lime Pie With A Twist
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup Key lime juice
1 tsp grated lime rind
1 1/3 cups Super Scrummy Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 (6 oz) graham cracker crust
1 1/2 cups Cool Whip, thawed
These are the “secret” ingredients according to Bret. He gets the Key lime juice at Hy-Vee in a bottle that is exactly 1/2 cup. I looked for it at HEB and two Targets to no avail. Perhaps Whole Foods, Central Market or Trader Joe’s would have Key lime juice, but I was done driving around looking for it. Since Key lime is KEY to this recipe, I tried the next best thing.
I washed, sliced, seeded, and hand squeezed 18 tiny Key limes to get my 1/2 cup of Key lime juice. And would you believe BOTH Targets were out of the 6 oz graham cracker crusts?! I made my own graham cracker crust from scratch. This is why Bret laughs and calls them the “secret” ingredients.
I think we can finally get started! In your mixer, beat the eggs and egg whites on medium speed. Mix well.
Gradually add the Key lime juice, Super Scrummy Sweetened Condensed Milk, and lime zest.
Beat with the mixer until well blended.
Carefully spoon the liquid mixture over the crust. In an oven preheated to 350 degrees, bake the pie for 20 minutes or until almost set. The center will not be firm but will set up as the pie chills.
Cool the pie on a wire rack. Loosely cover, and chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours.
This is the pie that my brother made and is what your pie should look like after it has been baked and chilled. I underbaked my pie. My pie pan was still cool from the refrigerator when I put it in the oven, and my homemade crust was thicker. It needed longer than the 20 minutes. Of course if you have the “secret” ingredients, 20 minutes is probably perfect.
This is Bret’s fancy technique for adding the Cool Whip on top. He used the whole container, as did I. Next time, I will cut that amount back a bit (like the original recipe states).
Spread the Cool Whip evenly over the pie. Bret’s pie is on the left, and my pie is on the right. I think my pie was a little more tart because I used the fresh Key limes.
*Update: My Texas mom informed me that key lime juice is available in the mixer aisle at Spec’s. Thanks for the tip!
Oat Fudge Nut Bars
Base and Topping:
1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 cups quick oats
Chocolate Layer:
2 cups chocolate chips
1 1/3 cups Super Scrummy Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 TBSP butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped nuts
2 tsp vanilla
Cream butter and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well.
Add flour, baking soda, salt, and oatmeal to creamed mixture. Set aside.
Mix chocolate chips, Super Scrummy Sweetened Condensed Milk, 2 TBSP butter, and salt in a saucepan until melted. Stir until smooth.
Add nuts and vanilla.
Spread 2/3 of the oatmeal mixture in the bottom of a 10 x 15″ lightly greased pan. I used a spatula and my hands to pat it down and out to the edges.
Spread chocolate mixture over crust in pan.
Dot with the rest of the oatmeal mixture.
Swirl slightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
Enjoy with a big glass of milk!
*I prefer these chilled and think they get better after a day or two.
I haven’t ever had key lime pie, but it reminds me of a lemon refrigerator pie from years back. Lemon juice, condensed milk, cool whip….I think that’s all. I used Cheese-It crackers for a crust once….yum. And I’m not a cheese lover. The contrast of the cheese and the lemon was really different from a graham cracker crust. Oh, how about chocolate!!! Now I’m making myself hungry. Maybe tomorrow I can do something about that.
The oat bars sound great. It’s getting to be granola bar time. The leaves say it’s fall!
Enjoy the blog, Nichole! Have fun with your company. We used to watch Austin City Limits when it was on tv. Great music!
Now lemon juice I can find! I will have to give that a try. I’m intrigued with the Cheese-It cracker crust. Do you just use melted butter and the cracker crumbs? Austin City Limits is still running strong on public television every Saturday night here. One of my friends back home told me about it because her dad used to watch it every week when she was a kid. When she came to visit me once, we went to the studio where they film the show.
Finally found your question about the Cheez It crackers. Yes, just added melted butter to the crumbs. It might work to make it as a crumble topping and just make the “cheesecake” without a crust. You could make different “crusts” and everyone could have their own custom cheesecake. Don’t I remember a granola on your recipe page? That would work great with some fall seasonings crumbled on top, too. It must be fall, everything sounds good to cook! We had some spotty frost this morning. Maybe that will help develop some pretty fall color. Only a few trees are really pretty so far. Enjoy your warm temps!
Creative ideas. Thanks! I’m still particularly intrigued with the Cheez It crust. I’ll have to give that a try for sure. I think the Oat Fudge Nut Bar recipe made you think of granola. I have yet to post an actual granola recipe. Hmmm…might have to work on that. Waking up to spotty frost sounds pretty awesome. I miss fall. Hopefully the trees will soon be beautiful there. I always loved getting gorgeous giant mums from the Amish too.
I used to make those Oat Fudge Nut Bars – they are awesome! Thanks for bringing them back to my attention. I am enjoying your blogging so much!
You are most welcome, and I’m so glad you’re enjoying the blog. I really like these bars after they’ve sat in the refrigerator a day or two.