Prosciutto wrapped chicken breasts

 

That is right! Prosciutto! Yum! You hammer those chick filets about 1/2 inch thick and insert the goodies, dried cherries, bread crumbs, etc. then roll it up and wrap it with the Prosciutto. Bake in oven and it comes out  delicious! 

Oatmeal Cherry Toffee Chocolate Cookies

 

I know, I know , one would think Oatmeal Raisin cookies would have been enough. But I have a large bag of Dried Cherries a friend gave me, and my hubby thinks I need more chocolate on these hips and bought me a bag of mixed Hershey Nuggets. I used the nuggets with the toffee chips in them for this recipe, he ate all the ones with almonds, and they never put enough of the plain milk chocolate that I like in those bags. 

Back to the recipe, I blended the Hershey Nuggets with Toffee Chios up into chunks the best I could, they may have been over blended but there were some chunks and added them to my cookie dough.  :) 

They turned out so good! I mean I like these cookies better than Oatmeal Raisin, by far! Oh so good! 

https://www.food.com/recipe/toffee-oatmeal-dried-cherry-cookies-308071

Pork Chops with Cherry Apple Stuffing

 

Hello Valentines! 

Yes, you can be my valentine today since you are taking the time to read this. I thank you for your time. 

Tonight’s Valentines dinner prepared by me for my valentine of 27 years is Pork Chops with Cherry Apple Stuffing, Green Beans with Bacon & Sautéed Onions, topped off with a piece of delicious sweet corn bread. 

What a refreshing meal this was, the apples and cherries in the stuffing gave this a sweet flavor, and the pork chop was so juicy and one of the best chops I think I have ever had. I found this recipe at Allrecipes.com after a friend gave me a bag of yellow apples and dried cherries. I had to find recipes to use them with so they didn’t go to waste, and this one was a great choice! 

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/233840/pork-loin-chops-with-cherry-apple-stuffing/

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

 

Oh my goodness! This cake is so delicious! I honestly wish I hadn’t put any icing on it at all. It tastes like Banana Muffins. I should have made it into muffins for sure!  Next time! 

I wanted to make something different besides the same old banana bread I am always making with my ripe bananas, and I came across this recipe from Allrecipes.com and after reading the reviews it sounded like something I should try, and I am so glad I did. I ended up sprinkling some pecans on the rest of the cake after slicing myself off a piece to show all of you. 

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/7360/banana-cake-ii/

And the frosting can be found here:

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/8379/basic-cream-cheese-frosting/

Barbecue Ribs with Valentine Cornbread

 

Howdy friends and followers! My winter barbecue came together nicely tonight. The ribs cooked for 2 hours and 15 minutes, I made heart shaped corn bread the day before for Valentine’s Day, deviled eggs, macaroni salad, French fries and baked beans! 

And if that isn’t enough..

Make room..

I made a dessert too! 

Mama’s Deviled Eggs

 

One of our family traditions is this recipe for Deviled Eggs passed down to me from my mother. We make these at every holiday. My hubby will be pleased to know that he will be having these this weekend! I have now passed the recipe onto my daughter and to be honest, she does something that makes hers taste even better than mine, and we use the same recipe! 

One of my favorite dishes to use when I make Deviled Eggs, is this picnic container from Tupperware. I don’t buy as much Tupperware products as I use to, but I sure love my Tupperware!  This one has a lid, and it makes it great to pack in the refrigerator. I can sit other things on top without hurting the eggs. That is a plus! 

Homemade Macaroni Salad

This weekend we are expecting some wintery weather, a blizzard in fact. So to make my hubby smile after his hard first week after over 30 years of working for himself, now working as an employee for someone else. I thought it would be fun to have a winter barbecue if they ever let him come home today. 

Yesterday, I picked up some ribs to pop in the oven, grabbed a can of baked beans, today I whipped up some macaroni salad, and his favorite deviled eggs and I am gonna make some French fries in the fryer. Hopefully after popping open his beer and pouring it into a mug I have getting frosty in the freezer he will appreciate the meal. 

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/221132/magnificent-macaroni-salad/

 

Banana Pudding

One of my childhood favorite desserts was Homemade Banana Pudding. I still love it, but I have yet to make a true homemade banana pudding. This recipe is using vanilla wafers at the bottom of the glass, topped with freshly sliced bananas, and I used the stove top Jello brand Banana Pudding box for my pudding. It was divine, and just as good from what I can remember as the homemade version my mother use to make. I am sure it is not, but I don’t remember hers so until I try making it from scratch this version will have to suffice. 

Valentine Pumpkin Pie

 

Isn’t it so pretty! 

I had this great heart shaped bread tube from my pampered chef consultant days. I knew it would come in handy for something else one of these days. Eighteen years later it made a great heart shaped cutter. The day before yesterday I baked two pies, I kind of had to since I had a 24 oz can of pumpkin. The downside of having two pies, there are only two of us now, we are empty nesters. The plus side, we each get our own pie, am I right?! No seriously, I decided to salvage two pieces to make my valentine of 26 years this adorable heart shaped piece of pie. 

Who doesn’t appreciate the little things that make you all warm and fuzzy inside and smile from ear to ear. I know I do! 

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

 

Hello bakers, fryers, my dear friends and followers! It has been a few months since I posted. I have cooked many meals, believe me. Homemade meat balls and spaghetti, Swedish nut cake, steaks, and even made two pumpkin  pies just yesterday! I know I haven’t even posted about them yet. Maybe I will back post after telling you about how delicious my house smells again today! It is frigidly cold outside, and this is my first week to stay home in months! I am delighted and trying to squeeze in a little of almost every hobby I have into as many days as possible. The best time to bake is in the winter months, most every one knows that. If you want to get a warm oven going to help warm the home and give it a nice home baked goods smell, bake a batch of cookies! It works! Many realtors do this trick to make a home they are trying to sell smell like home. And nothing does it like something cooking in the oven. 

A dear friend of mine stopped by the cabinet shop we are closing and we loaded her truck down with as much scrap wood and cabinets as she could fit in her vehicle, in exchange she gave me a few boxes of food that she cannot eat due to her diet. One of the many items I am trying to use were raisins. I don’t eat raisins a whole lot by them selves, if they are covered in chocolate, heck yeah they will be eaten right up with not one to spare!

 I had just enough of the small boxes of Sun Maid Raisins to equal the 1 cup worth I needed for my Oatmeal Raisin cookie recipe I found at AllRecipes.com one of my go to sites for recipes. My favorite is Chef John’s recipes, but there are a lot of great cooks out there so I am saving all their recipes. This recipe had 5 stars and about 2,000  voted so I gave it shot. I mean how hard can it be? It was not hard at all. I did sift my dry ingredients, and substituted the brown sugar I lacked with white sugar. Didn’t make a difference as far as I can tell, they turned out great!