Got a Sweet Tooth?

Simple Peanut Butter Cookies with a twist

Ok, so ever have a craving for cookies but just don't have the time to mess with measuring the flour? Or maybe you're out of flour all together. Well here's a recipe for peanut butter cookies that won't leave you deprived because you didn't have the ingredients. It's chalked full of peanut buttery goodness and also has a great texture :-) . When I say simple... I mean simple.

Ingredients - Makes 8 HUGE cookies

1 Cup of full fat, full sugar peanut butter
1 Cup of Splenda for baking (or sugar if you're not worried about it)
1 Egg (Some recipes, like the one at Teamsugar, call for two but I found that this made the cookies chewy and flat.)
2 Cups of Mini Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips (that's the kick!)

Preparation

Pre- heat oven to 350 degrees

Mix the first three ingredients together, you don't need anything more than a spoon for the mixing.

Then once those are fully mixed add the chocolate chips and mix again.

Place about a tablespoon of dough on the un-greased baking sheet about two inches from each other.

After you have the balls of dough on the cookie sheet take a fork dipped in Splenda or Sugar and push the dough down with the fork first vertically then horizontally.

Bake for 8-10 mins

**Important Note**
Do not take the cookies directly off the cookie sheet, they will crumble and break, let them sit on a cool counter for atleast five mins. Now enjoy... Our kids sure did!

It's Fiesta Time!

The Most Awesome Taco Salad... Evar!!!!

Here it is, THE most AWESOME Taco Salad

Okay folks, this is a recipe my mom and I created a while back and over the years I've added to and taken away to make a flavor all my own. Everyone I serve this to is simply amazed at the texture, color and flavors in this Southwestern Style Taco Salad. This isn't your average chain restaurant taco salad, you know the greasy shell, the heavy meat that soaks the leafs in grease and the lack of any flavor. No, this salad is crisp, flavorful and delicious!

So here it is, Enjoy!

Ingredients- Serves 6

1 lb lean ground turkey
1 head of green leaf lettuce washed and dried
1 can sliced olives or whole but you'll have to do the slicing yourself
1 can of dark kidney beans
2 Roma tomatoes
1/4 cup reduced fat shredded cheese ( I like the blends or you can shred it yourself.)
Baked Tostito scoops
Onion Powder
Cumin
Chili Powder
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder

Preparation

Chop lettuce into bite size pieces
Remove seeds from tomatoes and chop into bite size pieces
Open and drain olives (slice if needed)
Open and drain kidney beans, then rinse under cold water

Brown the turkey in a skillet and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. The best way to do this is to add little bits at a time and taste it after adding each ingredient. It should smell just like taco meat that you make with those seasoning packets.

Let the meat cool on the counter while you make the dressing...

Dressing Preparation

Ingredients

1/2 cup of Fat Free Hidden Valley Dressing
1 tablespoon Southwest Chipotle Blend Mrs. Dash

Preparation

This is difficult folks so hang on to your hats..... Mix the ranch with the seasoning blend!
If you're feeling really festive you may want to add my secret ingredient ;-)

Then you combine the salad ingredients with the dressing ingredients and you toss vigorously... ha, that's a fun word. After you toss the salad vigorously, this is what it should look like:

Now get yourself a plate, heap a bunch on it and add some Baked Tostitos Scoops to the plate. If you're not keen on the chips try balling a piece of foil up and laying a corn tortilla over it and then pop it in an oven at about 400 degrees for ten minutes for personal taco salad cups :-). For real authenticity check out Aimee's recipes for corn tortillas over at her blog www.aimeesadventures.com. I hope you enjoy this recipe; its a family favorite that I can fix anytime.

Until then,
Savor the Flavor of Tongue Teasers

Top Five Kitchen Blunders from the Tongue Teasers

Jeni and I have been cooking together for quite some time now. Over the years we've had some pretty big blunders in the kitchen. We thought we'd take some space and share a few of our best ever kitchen blunders; from injuries to worst dishes ever we've whooped it up in our kitchen!

Number 5- Burning the crumb cake, not once, not twice but three times before bible study! (We don't make crumb cake anymore because apparently this is something neither of us is capable of cooking to its full potential. If you're the crumb cake queen or king leave us a comment explaining how to avoid this kitchen blunder!)

Number 4- Blender Blunder (Smoothies for nine gets a lil' tiresome so we thought we'd power through it in assembly line fashion. Fruit, Juice, Ice, Whipped Cream.... LID!!!!!) Lets just say we were still finding smoothie splatters for months after the incident.

Number 3- Slipin' and flipin'... Jen and I made indian tacos one night for dinner and as I took my tongs to flip the bread, the bread slipped back into the grease splattering all over my hand, arm and wrist. The scars are still there to prove it.

Number 2- Garlic Fruit (Another problem with cooking for the masses has always been the space to do it in. So one day since I was using the other cutting board Jeni chopped the pineapple on the wooden block that we keep out on the counter. The block that we chop all six cups of onion for our white bean chicken chili and the eight cloves of garlic we use in my secret red sauce, which all of you will be getting as soon as I let go :) The result of this chopping resulted in some of the most disgusted, sour faces I have EVER seen on our kid's face!

Number 1- Road Kill Roast! (Once upon a time I decided to get fancy shmancy and roast a nice pork roast in the oven for my husband to come home to. I rubbed the roast with Dijon mustard, hand ground fresh coriander seeds and chunked celery and onion to stew in the roasting pan with the meat. I cooked the roast on a low heat to make it oh so tender. Around three o' clock I started smelling a smell that smelled like something had died in the house. I searched everywhere and then realized... it was the beloved gourmet roast that had been slow cooking all day... That was the very first time and very last time I EVER used coriander seed again. ) Now, I love cilantro and cumin which are all from the same plant, yet coriander seed is DOWN RIGHT WRONG!

What are some your worst kitchen blunders or boo boo's? Leave us a comment we'd love to hear them!

Until Then,
Savor the Flavor of Tongue Teasers!

Asparagus!!!!

Who says Asparagus is just for Easter? Our family (well, most of us anyway) loves asparagus. Even 4 out of 5 kiddos here agree! Did you know that one serving of asparagus (5 stalks or 93 grams) is only 25 calories? Not to mention the folic acid, vitamin C, fiber (we have to sneak that fiber in wherever we can!), calcium and iron (plus much more). So, before I ramble on anymore here's our favorite way to prepare asparagus.

Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan and Fresh Cracked Pepper (serves at least 6)

Ingredients

2 Bundles of Asparagus
2 Tbsp Parmesan Cheese (fresh grated if you can, but the canned stuff works too)
butter spray
salt
pepper

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400*F

Wash the asparagus and snap the ends (my fav shortcut is to snap one end the cut the rest the same length because they'll all usually snap at about the same spot).

Spread the asparagus out on a baking sheet (use two if necessary) and spray with butter spray.

Sprinkle on salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste.

Sprinkle on the Parmesan cheese then place it all in the oven.

Let roast for about 15 minutes.

Remove when the asparagus is just soft. Serve with our Chicken Cordon Bleu and Buttermilk Whipped Potatoes or YOUR favorite dish!

Until Then,
Savor the Flavor of Tongue Teasers!