Mint Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tomorrow is my friend Abby's birthday and I wanted to bake a treat for her.  She likes cookies and mint things, so when I Stumbled on this recipe, I knew I had to make them- except with mint Oreo cookies.

You will seriously need a giant glass of milk for these puppies.  Normally I can easily eat around 6 cookies in one sitting, but with these, I was okay with just one!  Like a lot of people said on other blogs- these were surprisingly not too sweet, almost perfect.  The mint creme of the Oreos was soft and melty, the cookie was delicate and almost just melted in my mouth.  I hope Abby likes these! If not, I'd bring them back home and eat them myself! (haha)

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks (1 cup) softened butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 oz bag chocolate chips ( I used semi-sweet)
1 pkg. Oreo cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream butter and sugars together with a mixer until well combined.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda.  Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined.  I took a little handful and flattened it out until it would fit an Oreo inside.  Seal edges together by pressing, pinching, and cupping in hand until Oreo cookie is enclosed with dough.  Place onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and bake cookies 9-13 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Makes about 2 dozen VERY LARGE cookies.
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UPDATE:
these cookies are the best thing EVER.  I ate one with my morning coffee (dunking it of course), and oh my gosh. HEAVEN. 

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas

I have always loved enchiladas...  homemade (well, partially home-made) makes them all the much better!  They are a relatively inexpensive dish- especially when you buy the ingredients on sale- and pretty easy to make.  They can be prepared ahead of time and then just baked off when you are ready.  I made a double batch because I had company over for dinner and I wanted to freeze some for later.  They are really handy to have around if you're hungry and don't feel like cooking.

I took a bunch of photos throughout the process, and included them below.  Below the pictures, I will add the actual recipe if you prefer to jut look at words instead of pictures =].  Personally, I don't enjoy chomping into huge chunks of onion or garlic, so I like to use a garlic press and finely dice the onions.

Step 1: in the oil, cook down your onions and garlic until the onions are tender and translucent

 here are the ingredients you need for the sauce (except I just realized that I forgot to put cumin in the picture. and I also added in a can of crushed tomatoes because I made a double batch)

 Once your onions and garlic are ready, add in the rest of the sauce ingredients and let it simmer on low for an hour, stirring occasionally. It should look something like this:

 When you are ready to assemble your enchiladas, you dip the tortillas into the sauce (on both sides)...

 then you add chicken and cheese (you can add more or less filling than I did.. I just like them this way)

 roll them up, and place them in your ungreased pan. Spread extra sauce and cheese on top, then bake them until the cheese is melty, about 15 minutes.

Red Enchiladas

Ingredients:

• 1 c. finely chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 c. vegetable oil
• 1 c. Chicken Broth
• 8 tomatoes, chopped (I used one large can of diced tomatoes)
• 1 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. dried oregano leaves
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
• 12 corn or flour tortillas
• 3 c. shredded cheese (about 12 oz)
• 1 rotisserie chicken from the store, de-boned and shredded

Directions:

   Cook and stir onion and garlic in oil in 12-inch skillet over medium hear until onion is tender. Stir in the chicken broth, tomatoes, chili powder, salt, cumin, oregano, and pepper. Heat to boiling; reduce heat.  Simmer uncovered 1 hour.

    Dip each tortilla into the sauce to coat both sides. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the cheese onto each tortilla; roll tortilla around filling.  Place seam sides down in ungreased rectangular baking dish 13x9x2 inches.  Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas; sprinkle with the remaining cheese.  Cook uncovered in 350* F oven until cheese is melted, about 15 minutes.

Cost for a double recipe:
1 onion- $1.04
1 head garlic- had on hand
Veggie oil- had on hand
Chicken broth- $1.59
2 cans tomatoes - $2.00 on sale
chili powder, salt, cumin, oregano, pepper- had on hand
flour tortillas - $3 - 3 packs of 10 tortillas (on sale)
cheese- $2.84 (on sale)
rotisserie chicken- $4.99
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     total= $15.46 / 30 enchiladas = $0.515 per enchilada!!!

Lemon Blueberry Scones with a Citrus Glaze

About 2 weeks I was walking through Meijer and I saw a container of dried blueberries.  Automatically I thought of scones and bought them. The thought of baking home-made scones has been on my mind since then.  So, I thought about what would go well in blueberry scones and I thought about lemons.  So, I searched the internet and found a recipe that sounded fairly legit for scones (except it doesn't have butter!!) and I altered it a little to make it my own.  Now, if you know me, you know that I really love citrus flavor in cooking and baking, so I added a little extra.  Here's the recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 c all purpose flour
• 1/3 c sugar (I used Splenda)
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 c dried blueberries
• 1 lemon, zested
• about a handfull of fresh blueberries
• 1 (6oz) container of Yoplait light- Lemon Meringue Pie
• approx 1 1/4 heavy cream

Directions:

• preheat your oven to 350 degrees F 
• combine the first eight ingredients in a bowl mixing bowl
• add the heavy cream, a little at a time, until the dough is the right consistency (like that of a biscuit- kind of dry but kind of sticky)
• on a clean, floured surface, dump your dough and flatten it into either a rectangle or a circle until it is about 1" high
• (I shaped it into a rectangle because I wanted to make smaller scones)
• cut them into whatever shape and size you see fit and then place them on an ungreased cookie sheet, leaving enough room so if they spread they won't touch- around an inch, at least.
• bake them until done, about 15 minutes.  they turn a little golden brown and when you turn them upside down, the bottom should be firm

For the Glaze:

  I pretty much eyeballed how much glaze I would need, I think it ended up being about 1.5 cups of powdered sugar, the zest of one orange, a little bit of lemon juice and little juice from the orange I zested.  My glaze was still more stiff than i wanted, so I added some of my extra heavy whipping cream to get the consistency I was looking for.  Wait for your scones to cool and drizzle the glaze to your heart's content. (or until you run out!)

et viola!