How To Make Delicious Homemade Biscotti: It's So Easy!

Making homemade biscotti is one of the easiest and most rewarding things that you can

bake. It only takes a handful of ingredients and you'll be surprised how fast it is to make. 
It's also great for giving as gifts. Below is my favorite biscotti recipe, given to me by my
sister. This recipe calls for almonds, hazelnuts and extracts, but you can substitute your
own favorite flavors of extracts and add-in ingredients if nuts aren't your thing. Check it out!

Almond Hazelnut Biscotti Recipe

In a large mixing bowl beat:

4 large eggs
2 cups sugar

1 t. vanilla extract

1 t. anise extract

1 t. almond extract

Beat at high speed for ten minutes until the mixture forms a smooth 
ribbon when the beaters are lifted. 

Sift together:

4 cups of flour 

1 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

With mixture on low speed, beat in the flour mixture.

Stir in:

2/3 cup almonds, coarsely chopped

2/3 cup hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

Divide dough into two parts and shape each into a flattened oblong log.

This dough is ready to go into the oven.

Put logs on greased and floured baking sheets.

Bake in 325 degree F preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden.

Remove from oven. Loosen logs from tray and cool on tray for ten minutes.

Cut into 1/3" slices. Arrange slices on a baking sheet and bake at 275 degrees F

for 15 to 20 minutes.

Arrange the slices on a baking sheet and lightly bake a second time.

That's all there is to it! Homemade biscotti makes a great gift!

Here are some other ideas for variations:

Chopped pistachios and dried cranberries or other dried fruit

Chocolate chip

Chocolate chip and walnuts

Almonds and hazelnuts
 Drizzle baked biscotti with melted chocolate
Dip one side of baked biscotti into melted chocolate

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Awesome Grilled Pork Chops with Adobo Paste Rub

I don't post things like recipes very often but I just had to share this one with you! Especially since it's summer and lots of us are grilling. I don't know about you but I find that I tend to grill the same things over and over - mostly chicken. If you've never had grilled pork chops, you MUST try this!

This recipe is amazing! And it's so easy! 

Great with either bone-in or boneless pork chops, this rub can also be used on chicken, and you can adjust the heat by increasing the pepper flakes (or decreasing as the case may be). Even my eight year old (who is currently the pickiest eater in the world, by the way) couldn't resist giving these a try and gave them two thumbs up. Dude, trust me, try them, you will love them!

Ingredients

6 Thick-cut boneless pork chops

Adobo Paste (recipe below)


Adobo Paste

6 Thick-cut boneless pork chops

2 & 1/2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons Paprika

1 & 1/2 Tablespoons Oregano

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon garlic power OR 1 Tablespoon fresh minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon ground Cumin

1 & 1/2 teaspoons Red Pepper flakes

2 teaspoons Lemon juice

1 & 1/2 teaspoons Kosher Salt

1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper


Directions

Mix all ingredients together except for the pork chops to form a paste.
Rub the paste all over each pork chop.
Grill on medium-low heat for about 10 minutes per side.
Check internal temperature with a meat thermometer so that they reach 160 degrees F in the center.
This recipe makes enough paste for what is shown in the photo - 6 thick cut pork chops.

Enjoy!

Easy Chicken and Biscuits

This is another recipe that lots of friends have asked me to share, so here it is! 
This is one of those good old standbys that is fast and easy to prepare. It's also 
a real comfort food that disappears quickly - there are never any leftovers! 
For this recipe, you can either cook your own chicken or use a prepared 
rotisserie chicken instead.

Ingredients

The meat from 1 precooked rotisserie chicken, chopped or shredded 

(OR if you prefer, you can cook your own chicken. You will need about 2 & 1/2 cups, which is about 3 breasts)

1 can Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup

1 can Campbell's Cream of Potato soup

1 & 1/2 cups of milk (I use 1% milk)

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 & 1/2 cups frozen broccoli florets
1 & 1/2 cups frozen veggie mix (I use one that has corn, carrots, peas and green beans)

1/8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1 can refrigerator biscuits

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Grease or spray a baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. (Casserole or lasagna dishes work well for this recipe.)

In a large bowl (I use my Kitchen Aid mixer on the slowest speed for just a few seconds) combine the chicken soup, potato soup, milk, and shredded cheese, and mix until combined. Then add the broccoli, veggie mix, black pepper, and chicken. Mix again, until all ingredients are combined. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, until mixture is simmering.

While casserole is baking, prepare the biscuits. Because I use refrigerator biscuits for this recipe, they are often the large or grand size, so I cut each biscuit into quarters before I add them to the casserole. This way, they will bake quickly and evenly, and you won't be stuck with any that are uncooked in the centers, which can happen when you use large sized biscuits. I think the finished dish also looks nicer this way too!

When casserole is finished baking, remove from oven and lay the biscuits on top of the casserole. Return the casserole to the oven and bake, uncovered, for an additional 13 to15 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown. 

I use kitchen scissors to cut the "Grand" sized uncooked biscuits into quarters

This way, the biscuits will cook more evenly and thoroughly than if you put them on whole

Before going in the oven

Finished!

Delicious!

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Classic Salt Dough Ornaments Recipe

This easy salt dough recipe is perfect for making ornaments and gift tags! Not only is this recipe simple, it's also inexpensive, and you probably already have all of the ingredients right in your kitchen cabinet. Classic salt dough is the perfect afternoon project to make with your kids! I had my 8 and 10 year old daughters help with this recipe, and they were excited to craft some ornaments to give as gifts for friends and family. 

Classic Salt Dough 
2 cups of flour 
1 cup of salt 
1 cup of warm water 
Directions 
1. Mix salt, flour and water in a mixing bowl until a dough 
forms. 
2. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface, adding additional 
flour if needed, until a soft, smooth dough forms. 
3. If rolling out dough with a rolling pin, do so on lightly 
floured parchment paper. 
4. Bake finished creations on a parchment paper covered 
cookie sheet in a warm oven (I did mine at 200 degrees F for 
about three hours, flipping them over about half way through 
baking.) 
5. Once completely dry, finished salt dough creations can be 
painted with acrylic craft paints and sealed with a craft sealant.
 6. Wrap unused dough in plastic wrap to keep it fresh. Use
unused dough within a few days.


Stamped Salt Dough Ornaments 
1. Roll out dough on lightly floured parchment paper until dough is 1/4 thick. 
2. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes. 
3. Use a toothpick to make a hole in each ornament so that you have a way to hang them. 
4. Stamp dough with rubber stamps - either inked or uninked. 
5. Bake as directed above. 
If you prefer, you can stamp your dough before cutting out shapes with cookie 
cutters instead of cutting and then stamping. I tried it both ways and the results 
were just about the same with each method. 

 Knead until a soft dough forms

 I love how little hands are always so eager to help! 

 Wrap unused dough in plastic wrap to keep it fresh. This photo shows how much this recipe makes. 

I divided it into three balls, each is the size of a large handful.

 Roll out dough on lightly floured parchment paper until dough is 1/4 thick. 

 The dough should be completely smooth, without any crack or wrinkles. If you bake an ornament that had a crack in the dough before you baked it, the baking will shrink the dough a bit, and your finished ornament will have a actual crack, so be sure to really knead that dough until it is super-smooth. If it's too dry when you begin to knead it, add water a few drops at a time to soften the dough and make it more pliable. 

 Pick out some cookie cutters 

 Use cookie cutters to cut shapes.

 I didn't even know I had this cookie cutter until my kids dumped out the bag and found 

it...upside down basket? mushroom? Now it is! Awesome! 

 Use a toothpick to make a hole in each ornament so that you have a way to hang them! 

 To make a nice clean hole without marring the edge, I put the toothpick straight into the 

dough and then used a circular or stirring motion to widen the hole. I made the holes about 

3mm, and the reason I can give you that exact size off the top of my head is because I know my 

bead sizes! We jewelry artists and beaders know our millimeter bead sizes like the back of our hands! 

 These are ready to go into the oven. 

 OR... 

 We can  get fancy!

 I thought this Stampin' Up rubber stamp that I had would go well with the woodland 

 theme of our cookie cutter.

 I inked the stamp on a regular green ink pad, and as you can see, I made two mistakes. 

First, I probably pressed a little too hard with the stamp on the dough, and second, 

I should have been more careful when inking my stamp as to not get ink on the edges

 of the stamp. That is, if we were going for perfection. But we weren't, we were going 

for fun and I sort of like the handcrafted look of this one of a kind mushroom! 

 For this next one I tried a birds nest stamp and metallic silver ink. 

 I was more careful this time when inking and stamping. 

 Once all were stamped, I baked them in a 200 degree F oven for close to three hours,

 flipping them over about half way through baking. The parchment paper made them

 very easy to flip. 

 The final result: After a little trial and error our stamped ornaments were looking good! 

 Both the raw dough and the finished, baked ornaments had a natural, bread color 

that got darker with baking. They had a nice organic look and feel to them. 

 Later... 

We had a lot of fun making salt dough, but next, we wanted to try something a little bit 
different... so next we created a batch of Bright White Clay Dough! 

 Bright white clay dough (top) Salt dough (bottom) Can you tell the difference? 

What is Bright White Clay Dough? 

 Be sure to check back for my next blog post, Bright White Clay Dough, 

 where I'll be sharing how I make my homemade white dough and ornaments, and 

 find out how they compare with the salt dough! 

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Easy Freezable Breakfast Burritos

I don't usually post recipes on my blog, but I've had so many
friends and family members ask me for this particular recipe that I 
thought the best way to share it with everyone would be to write
 a blog post about it, so here it is! 

Who doesn't love a great breakfast burrito? Yum! 
What's awesome about this recipe is that you can prepare these 
ahead of time, wrap them up and pop them in your freezer for a
future quick and easy breakfast on the go.  They freeze wonderfully!

Easy freezable Breakfast Burritos   

Assemble your ingredients

Ingredients

1 lb. roll package of pork sausage (I use Jimmy Dean)
1/2  pkg shredded frozen hash brown potatoes (I use Ore Ida)
4 Tablespoons cooking oil to cook hash browns 
8 extra large eggs
2 Tablespoons butter to cook eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheese (I use Cracker Barrel sharp white cheddar)
1/8 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
15 medium sized soft flour tortillas, at room temperature 
optional add-in ingredients:
cooked diced green onions, red or green bell peppers, or diced onion

(Note before starting: If you are going to use any add-ins such as onions or peppers, you can either cook them with the sausage or with the eggs. For this recipe, I added in some finely diced green onions because I happened to have them in my fridge. I cooked them with the eggs, as you will see below)

I added in these green onions that I found in my fridge

Directions

1. Crumble sausage and cook according to package directions until browned.  

2. Season hash browns lightly with black pepper and cook in oil until slightly golden.

To save time, I cooked my sausage and hashed browns at the same time

Cooked sausage and hashed browns

3. Once completely cooked, put sausage into mixer and mix for about 30 seconds to break up larger pieces and get an even consistency. (Using the mixer is an optional step. I find it convenient and helpful, but you can also mix your ingredients by hand if you prefer.) 

4. Next, add the cooked hash browns to the sausage in the mixer and mix for just a few seconds until blended.

Sausage and hashed browns combined

5. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, milk and 1/8 teaspoon each of salt and pepper until well blended.

I used eight extra large eggs for this recipe

6. Melt butter in frying pan and cook the eggs scrambled style. 

I tossed some chopped green onions into my melted butter and sauteed them for a minute before adding my egg mixture.

Cooking up the scrambled eggs

7. Once cooked, add the eggs to the sausage and hash bown mixture and mix for just 10 to 15 seconds until blended. Do not over mix. You do not want mush, you only want to blend the ingredients.

Sausage, hashed browns, and eggs combined. Your filling is finished!

8. Place a flour tortilla on a plate and spoon on a generous scoop of filling. Sprinkle with cheese.

Put filling on tortilla

Sprinkle with cheese

Roll into a burrito: (there are many different ways to do this and it takes a little practice, but is easy once you get the hang of it! You can roll them any way you like but my technique below is fast, easy, and secure.)

I lift the tortilla and hold it like a taco to help gather the ingredients together before I start rolling them up.

Then I place it back onto the plate and fold one side of  the tortilla shell over the filling, covering the filling and firmly pulling the filling a little bit towards you, sort of like you're bunting a baby! 

Roll it snugly into a tube shape, holding it closed. 

Go to one end and tuck the long part in with your finger, then the other two ends that are sticking out. Don't fuss or think about it too much, just tuck!

Sorry these photos are a little blurry. I was tucking burritos with one hand and taking pictures with the other! Talk about multi-tasking!

Then go to the other end of the burrito and do the same. 

Wrap snugly in plastic wrap and freeze. 

To reheat frozen burritos:

Remove plastic wrap. Wrap burrito in a paper towel, place on a microwave safe plate and cook in microwave for one minute. That's it! Enjoy!

These are great for busy mornings. The recipe above makes about 15 nice sized burritos, but you can increase the ingredients to get more burritos from the recipe by either increasing the eggs, potatoes, sausage, or by just doubling the recipe. I also sometimes change this recipe up, depending on what ingredients I have on hand or what I am in the mood for. Sometimes I omit the potatoes, or add extra cheese, etc. You can customize these breakfast burritos however you like!