Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

We were going to make Spider cookies for my son's Halloween party today, but he doesn't eat chocolate (his choice!) and didn't want to bring them.  So instead we made his favorite, Peanut Butter No-Bake cookies!!  I always made the normal chocolate ones, but he won't eat chocolate, so I took the regular recipe I had and made it into a peanut butter version!  They are yummy!!

Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies
(makes approx. 3 dozen, depending on the size you make them)

1 stick of butter
2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of milk
3/4 -1 cup peanut butter
3 cups quick oats (make sure they are gluten free, I honestly don't see how they would have gluten, but some people say to make sure they are gluten free!)

In a saucepan, combine the butter, sugar and milk.  Stirring constantly, bring to a boil and boil for about 2 minutes (make sure you boil it!! I forgot to do that for the first batch last night, and although they are still yummy, they won't set.  They are pretty smushy!)

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the peanut butter until it's completely melted.  Add the oats and stir it until it's completely combined.

Spoon the cookies onto waxed paper and let them set out for at least 10 minutes before you dig in and start eating them, lol.

We make these a lot.  They never last long in this house!!!

Menu Plan Monday - 10/24/11

Last week went perfectly!!!  Everything on the menu was made and eaten with great enthusiasm except for Saturday.  Saturday the kids went to their grandparent's to spend the night, and DH went out hunting.  Soooo, I had ice cream for dinner, hehehe.

The theme for the Gluten Free Menu Swap is Spooky Delights.  I really don't have anything spooky to meet the theme, but I am planning to experiment this week.  I am going to try to convert a recipe I got in my email the other day for Spider Cookies.  Peanut Butter Cookies with a Mini Reese's peanut butter cup, Reese's Pieces eyes and licorice legs.  I hope I can find gluten free licorice, if not I will have to think of something else.  If they are successful, I will send them in for my 6 year old's Halloween party at school, since it's his turn for snack day. :)  Once I get it figured out, I will post the recipe for it.

This week is pretty simple, not too involved.

Monday - Pork Chops, Mashed potatoes & Gravy, Broccoli and tossed salad

Tuesday - Tacos, corn

Wednesday - We were supposed to be going to the city so I didn't plan on anything.  Now we will be home, so I need to think of something.  Time to raid the cupboards!

Thursday - Baked Potato Soup,  BLTs

Friday - Pizza (I used Bob's Red Mill crust mix), Tossed Salad

Saturday - Hot Dogs, French Fries, Potato Salad (longing for summer BBQs!)

Sunday - Chicken Stroganoff, Tossed Salad

Another case of the "I can't remember where to find it" on the Baked Potato Soup.  I thought I got it out of the Taste of Home book I have, but it's not in there, I double checked.  I will post the recipe, and if anyone recognizes it, let me know! :)

***Edited - I found the recipe.  It is Stephanie O'Dea's, (from A Year of Slow Cooking), recipe.  I linked it to her recipe. :)***

My month long menu is finished, so sometime this week I will be preparing next months menus.  And I WILL remember to note sources!! :)

Menu Plan Monday - 10/17/11

Clicking on either of the pictures above will take you to other wonderful Menu plans you can read about.  They are both great places for helping to revamp your weekly menus!!

Last week was pretty spot on, and saved me a lot of head aches in the kitchen!  Hoping for the same this week!

So, without further ado and blathering, here is the plan for this week:

Monday - Eating with friends

Tuesday - Tacos & All the fixings

Wednesday - Cheesy Chicken Casserole, Tossed Salad

Thursday - Cheesy Sausage Penne, Tossed Salad, Garlic Bread

Friday - Cheeseburgers, French Fries

Saturday - Chicken Stroganoff

Sunday - Homemade GF Tomato Soup, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Tossed Salad

A little note about the recipes:

The Cheesy Chicken Casserole is a recipe I got from GlutenFreely.com (a Betty Crocker run webiste). I have made it before and it was really good.  I can not remember where I got the Cheesy Sausage Penne recipe to be completely honest. **Edit - I found the recipe! It's from Taste of Home!  I will be using Sam Mills Corn Penne** This was one of those "I forgot to note where it came from and I have learned my lesson".  Since this menu was planned up for a month at a time, I didn't write the sources down.  Starting on the 30th, when I start the next month's menu plan, I will make a point to notate where the recipe came from!  The tomato soup recipe is from the same Taste of Home slow cooker recipe book I got the pork stew recipe from last week (which was yumm!).

Buffalo Chicken Rolls

*Inspired by a recipe from Saving Dinner's menu mailer from a few years ago.*

The original recipe is a bit different from my adaptation.  The original recipe is not searchable online through the Saving Dinner website, though I did find on some recipe sites the exact word for word recipe that was in the menu mailer.  So, I am not sure which came first, by my inspiration is from Saving Dinner.

2 packages Perdu Thinly sliced chicken breasts (usually 4-5 thin slices per package)

1 Tbsp Melted Butter

1/2 Cup Hot Sauce

10 or so slices of Provolone cheese (depending on how many breast slices you end up with)

Combine the melted butter and hot sauce in a small bowl.  Dump the sauce into a gallon size food storage bag.  Add all the sliced breasts.  Refrigerate for half an hour.

Remove the chicken from the bag one at a time.  In a baking dish, place the chicken flat, and top with one to two slices of provolone (depending on the size of the breast).  Roll from the narrow end to the wide end and secure with a tooth pick.  Place the seam side down.  Repeat with the remaining breasts and cheese.  

Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake at 400F for 35 minutes.  The cheese will most likely ooze out, but that was fine with us!  After the 35 minutes, remove the foil and cook for about 5 minutes more.

We served this with celery sticks and a big tossed salad with bleu cheese dressing for dipping.  It was really good.  I will admit to being nervous because the sauce smelled so hot, but once cooked and mixed with the provolone and bleu cheese, it was delicious!

Now I am dreaming up an idea using this as an inspiration to make some sort of one dish casserole.  Yum!

Last Week in Review (10/3/11)

So, last week.... Last week did not go as planned at all.  And I can tell you, it easily discombobulated me!  I never got out to get groceries, something kept getting in the way (DH's hunting mostly, lol).  So, instead of the planned menu, I did a purge of the freezer and pantry.

Monday and Tuesday went as planned.  We love Chicken Stroganoff here.    I highly recommend you try it, it's delicious.  Wednesday was a simple Tomato Soup and Grilled cheese night. The kids and DH had the soup, I had to pass because of the gluten content.  So, I made something I have not had in a long time, a grilled ham and cheese sandwich!  I was pleased with my dinner, even if I did have to miss out on the tomato soup!  Thursday I made one of DH's favorite comfort foods, Hamburger Gravy over mashed potatoes.  I will have to post that recipe as well, it is very good.  Even my little guy who is very picky loves Hamburger Gravy (though for some reason he keeps calling it chicken!).  Friday was a weird night.  I actually didn't make anything for dinner!  We went grocery shopping instead, lol.  My daughter got off the bus at my Grandmother's house, so she ate dinner there.  I made my son a sandwich and he also polished off the rest of a bag of cheese curd.  DH and I just had some snacks when we returned from shopping.  Saturday we had Cheddar Brauts and Mushroom Rice.  It was just DH and I as the kids spent the night with my mom and dad.  It was an awesome dinner, DH and I both had second helpings of the Mushroom Rice, which is great considering DH doesn't like mushrooms or rice!  Sunday we did have Shepherd's Pie.  I have to make my son his own special dish because I used corn in the Shepherd's Pie and he refuses to eat corn!  (I never thought I would ever meet a kid who didn't like corn!)

So, I am planned out for this week, I have all my groceries for the next couple of weeks.  I am hoping to not get discombobulated this week! :)

Menu Plan Monday - 10/10/11

Last week was a bust.  I think we ate maybe one thing on the list.  I never got a chance to go grocery shopping, so it was an empty the freezer and pantry week, lol.

I am happy to report I already did my grocery shopping, and here is the plan!

Monday - Day trip to Burlington, dinner out

Tuesday - Tacos & Corn

Wednesday - Buffalo Chicken Rolls, Celery Sticks, Tossed Salad & Bleu Cheese Dressing

Thursday - Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, Corn, Tossed Salad

Friday - Pizza, Tossed Salad

Saturday - Spaghetti & Meat Sauce, Garlic Bread, Tossed Salad

Sunday - Hearty Pork Stew over Pasta

Most of the meals are simple, no recipe needed type of meals.  The Buffalo Chicken Rolls recipe I am adapting from a recipe from a Saving Dinner Menu Mailer.  The Hearty Pork Stew I found in a Taste of Home slow cooker cookbook.  I will post my adaptations after I prepare them.  I will be changing a few things on both recipes.

Chicken Stroganoff

My own little concoction.  It was a huge hit the first time I made it, and it's only gotten better.  It makes a frequent appearance at our house.  We usually have it about twice a month.

The Ingredients:
2-3 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp butter
1 boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into small strips or chunks, however you prefer (I use Perdue thinly sliced chicken breasts, it's one breast sliced into 4-5 slices, making preparing very easy)
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 lb mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup water
1 16 oz container of sour cream
Salt and Pepper to taste

Melt the butter into the olive oil in a large skillet.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper and saute in the skillet.  Cook the chicken all the way through.  I like the chicken to start getting a little caramelized on a side or two, it just adds to the flavor :).

When the chicken is done, remove it from the pan (just put it in a bowl or on a plate) and set it aside.  Add the onions and mushrooms to the same skillet and saute until they are cooked down quite a bit.  When they are good and cooked, add the chicken back in.  Then add the water and the sour cream and stir it together well.  Let the stroganoff get to a slight simmer, but do not boil it! ( Boiling will cause the sour cream to separate.  It will still taste OK, but it will look like curdled milk!)

We serve our stroganoff over long grain white rice (I prefer brown, but no one else in the house likes brown rice).  You can always serve this over your favorite pasta or even mashed potatoes.  It's that good! :)

Last Week In Review (9/26/11)

Last week went pretty much as expected.  We did have a couple of switch arounds, and one night we didn't eat at home.

The Pot Roast was a huge hit, everyone loved it and they couldn't get enough of it.  That always makes me happy to have everyone loving a meal. 

Tuesday we had to go into the city because of DH's appointment that was switched from Friday to Tuesday (talk about last minute scrambling because they called us on Monday night!)  But, after making arrangements for the kids, the day went off without a hitch.  DH and did some shopping after his appointment and we had dinner at the Texas Roadhouse (Yum!). 

Wednesday went great as well.  The cheeseburgers were lovingly prepared and cooked by DH (he is the burger expert, I can never cook them right, haha!).  The garlic noodles were awesome!!!  The kids loved it, which is another plus.  We had no leftovers!  In fact, they told me next time I need to make more of it, lol.

Thursday was supposed to be tacos, but we took Tuesday's dinner and made the Cheesy Penne and Ham.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures, (I am just learning now!) and it was so pretty with the bright green of the peas.  It was delicious!  My 6 year old son wasn't too sure of it, but he did pick out all the ham and ate that.

Friday night was just me and my little man while DH spent the weekend at hunting camp and my daughter got off the bus at her friends house.  So little man and I had Vegetable soup and ham sandwiches.  Always a perfect dinner.

Saturday the kids and I ate at my mom's house.  Mom made Roast Beef, Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, Creamy Broccoli Bake, and Cabbage Salad.  Yumm!!  The Creamy Broccoli Bake was not gluten free, but we are working on a gluten free conversion.

Sunday was simple and easy.  We can never go wrong with hot dogs and french fries.  Only my little man hates hot dogs!  Boggles my mind that a 6 year old doesn't like hot dogs, lol.  So, we also had cottage cheese (he will eat tons of that if I let him) and some boxed macaroni and cheese (which I could not eat).

All in all, the week went great.  No fighting about dinner, no wondering at the last minute what I am going to make, no 8pm dinners, lol.

Hoping for the same this week!!   Chicken Stroganoff is on the stove. :)

Menu Plan Monday 10/3/11

This week I am going to try something new to us, but the rest of the week I have made before, so I know I will have happy campers!

Monday - Chicken Stroganoff, Rice, Tossed Salad

Tuesday - Cheeseburgers, French Fries

Wednesday - Pepper-Crusted Pork Roast, Sesame Asparagus, Mashed Potatoes (probably instant)

Thursday - Oven Baked Chicken, Mushroom Rice, Broccoli

Friday - Pizza, Tossed Salad

Saturday - Goulash, Tossed Salad, Garlic Bread

Sunday - Shepard's Pie, Tossed Salad

Pepper-Crusted Pork Roast and the Sesame Asparagus are both new to us and I am excited to try them.  I found the Asparagus recipe in the Betty Crocker cookbook, and the Pork Roast recipe I got from Taste Of Home (I did have to search for it because I forgot where I got it).  I should have wrote down the source when I wrote the recipe in my meal plan notebook.  Now I will remember for the future.  Oh, and the Mushroom Rice recipe is coming from Food On The Table.  The rest of the recipes are mine unless otherwise noted.

If there is something up there that peaks your interest and you would like to see the recipe for, let me know.  Somethings I probably won't add a recipe on here because it might be a more generic recipe.