Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies

Who doesn't like Cream Cheese?! My husband's cousin posted the recipe of these cookies on Facebook and I just HAD to make them. And want to know the best part? Eggs are not required!! So feel free to feed your kids all the dough you want with no worries!

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 5-6 oz cream cheese, softened
  
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups plus 3 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment

Cream together the butter, cream cheese and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the Vanilla.

Sift together dry ingredients and then add them to the butter mixture. Beat until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

*original recipe suggests chilling the dough overnight but I made them right away

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place onto greased cookie sheets.

Bake 12-14 minutes or until edges are looking light golden brown.

Cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheets before moving to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes approximately 60 cookies.

***With it being autumn now, I just thought of putting a little bit of cinnamon in it next time I make this batch. Sounds enticing!!

Enjoy!

[Cook Challenge: Fruits Of Your Labors] GARDEN SALSA

fruits of my labor . . . dish #2

Hate salsa?  Me neither!  I love it!! :)  And if you are a big fan, like myself, you'll love this garden salsa recipe from my cute sister-in-law, Bonnie.  It's perfect.  And a fantastic way to use your fresh produce from your garden to share with others.  (FYI: I used my own green peppers and tomatoes from my garden!)

ingredients
2 1/2 c. tomatoes, chopped
1/4 c. tomatillos, chopped
1/2 c. onion, chopped
1/4 c. green peppers, chopped
2-6 jalapenos, chopped (how spicy do you like it? you can de-seed if needed)
1 lrg clove of garlic, minced
2 T cilantro, chopped
2 T fresh parsley, chopped
1 T freshly squeezed lime juice (about 1 lime)

instructions
Combine everything in a large bowl.  I suggest doubling it.  You'll bring out the best flavor if you let everything marinate together in the fridge before serving.

Eclair Pie

Oh my gosh can you say Heaven! This was delicious a little rich, so you can only have so much, but taste so much like an eclair, which I love! This recipe also comes from real mom kitchen...thank you again Laura this one is a keeper. original recipe posted here.

• 2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant french vanilla pudding mix (I used regular vanilla)
• 1 (8 ounce) container Cool Whip, thawed
• 3 cups milk
• 1 (16 ounce) package graham crackers or 3 sleeves
• Frosting:
• 4 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 3 Tbsp. cocoa powder
• 2 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 3/4 tsp. vanilla
• 2 Tbsp milk or more if needed

1. In a bowl, blend together the pudding for 2 minutes until thick.
2. Fold the Cool Whip into the pudding mixture.
3. In a 9 x 13 pan, arrange graham cracker to cover the bottom of a the pan. I am kind of a perfectionist about this and trim down some of the graham crackers with a serrated knife to completely cover the bottom. Just cover the bottom the best you can.
4. Pour half of the pudding mixture over the crackers and spread out evenly.
5. Top pudding with another layer of graham crackers. Pour the remaining pudding mixture over the crackers and spread evenly.
6. Place one more layer of graham crackers over the pudding mixture.
7. Prepare the frosting. In a bowl, beat the butter until fluffy.
8. Beat in the cocoa, vanilla, and half the powdered sugar until well blended.
9. Blend in the remaining powdered sugar and milk. Blend until smooth. You want the frosting to be on the thinner side so add some more milk if needed. You want it closer to a glaze but still thick.
10. Spread the frosting over the last layer of graham crackers in the 9 x 13 pan.
11. Refrigerate the pie for at least 2 hours but overnight or even longer is best. You need to let the pudding mixture soften the graham crackers.

[Cook Challenge: Fruits of Your Labors] Chicken Sausage Vegatable Pasta Primavera

This recipe comes from one of my favorite food blogs (other than this one) it's called real mom kitchen. She (Laura) has amazing recipes most of which are pretty simple to throw together. We are not huge vegetable eaters in this house, and this recipe is full of them. But this is by far one of my husbands new favorites and the only thing he has requested. The picture above is before you put it in the oven, and I don't have an after because we were starving! But here is the link to the original recipe. Her blog is definitely worth checking out. So delicious! And it most definitely falls under the cook challenge, since almost all the vegetables were grown from a garden.

• 1 medium zucchini, sliced
• 8 oz. fresh mushrooms, quartered (I left these out since we are not big mushroom fans)
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved (I have also used a can of diced tomatoes; Italian style)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium red or yellow pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• pepper to taste
• 1 (12 oz.) package Johnsonville Three Cheese Italian Style Chicken Sausage, slice at an angle (I used polska kielbasa sausage)
• 12 oz. linguine, uncooked

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, onion, and bell pepper in a shallow baking pan.  Add the olive oil, salt, and pepper; toss to coat.
3. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender and lightly brown; stir occasionally.
4. In the meantime, cook linguine according to package directions and drain.
5. After vegetables are soft, sprinkle sausage on top of vegetables and bake 5 more minutes or until sausage is heated.
6. Toss cooked pasta with the vegetable/sausage mixture,  sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve. 

[Cook Challenge: Fruits of Your Labors] Skillet Chicken Parmigiana + Corn on the Cob

Fruits of my labor...dish #1.
I am still in awe that this husky, golden gem came out of my very own garden.  I totally geared up for failure with my single, humble row of corn; especially after I found you really need to plant corn in at least 3x3 grids.  But I am very proud to say, we have harvested our corn!

I paired our corn with this family favorite recipe: Skillet Chicken Parmigiana.  Mmmmm.  A splendid dinner indeed.

sweet salsa shredded chicken enchiladas.

this is two of my favorite recipes rolled into one. dinner was GOOD tonight.

sweet salsa shredded chicken.

ingredients:
4-5 chicken breasts
1 1/2- 2 cups medium salsa {i use kroger brand}
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup peach juice {i used the juice from some canned peaches, but you could also use a can of peach flavored juice or something similar.}

directions:
combine salsa, juice & brown sugar. pour over chicken in slow-cooker. cook a few hours until chicken is done. {this is vague because i used frozen chicken breasts and i cooked it about 4 hours on high. so it depends on your chicken and your slow-cooker!} remove chicken, shred, and return to slow-cooker. heat 20-30 minutes. serve in any mexican dish! i've used it in salads, quesadillas, and enchiladas.

chicken enchiladas.

ingredients:
2 chicken breasts or 2 cans of chicken {i used the equivalent of my salsa chicken}
1 can black olives
1 can green chilies
green onions
sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
shredded cheddar cheese
5-6 tortillas

directions:
cook and shred chicken. reserve broth. to chicken, add olives, chilies and green onion. moisten with sour cream. fill tortillas with chicken mixture. thin chicken soup with reserved broth. pour half of the sauce in bottom of a glass 9x13 pan. place filled tortillas in pan. pour remaining sauce over enchiladas. top with cheese. bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.