Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies

These cookies are basically your homeade oreo cookies only with a peanut butter filling. I love peanut butter and chocolate and I have to say, I like these better than the original.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies
1 box devil food cake mix
2 eggs
3/4 c. crisco
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Mix together and roll into balls. Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes. Match up the sizes and fill with peanut butter frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting
1/2 c. peanut butter
3 T. butter
2 c. powdered sugar
3 T. milk
Beat peanut butter and butter together. Then add powdered sugar and milk and mix until creamy. Spread in between cookies.

Copycat Winger's Sticky Finger Sauce

Our family really likes Wingers. About 10 years ago, my dad started really liking Wingers, so whenever they would come visit me at college, it seemed like we would go to Wingers to eat. Back then I always got chicken alfredo whenever we went out so I always got that there and it was good, but I didn't think it was anything too special. A couple of years ago, I decided to branch out and try their sticky fingers, and ever since then, it has been one of my favorite places. My favorite things are the sticky finger wrap and the sticky finger salad. About a year ago, my cousin put this recipe on her food blog and I knew I had to try it. It is so easy and so good. We usually use if for sticky finger salad but we have had sticky finger wraps before also.

CopyCat Winger's Sticky Finger Sauce
3/4 c. brown sugar
3 T. Franks hot sauce (has to be Franks)
2 T. water
Combine ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to boil for a minute. Serve with chicken.

Paul Bunyan Burgers

A couple of years ago, my wife got me a grill cook book for Fathers day or something. We went through it and picked a couple of recipes.  I think this was the first one we tried.  We have it once or twice a year.  They are pretty good, but take a while longer than regular burgers.

Paul Bunyan Burgers
6 bacon strips
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1/3 cup diced onions
1 egg
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 to 1.5 pounds hamburger
2-3 slices cheese

In a skillet, cook bacon til crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels.  When cooled, chop in pieces.  In drippings, saute onion and mushroom.  Drain grease and return bacon to skillet.
In another bowl, mix the egg, Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings.  Add the hamburger and mix well.  Divide into 4 or 6 parts, depending on the size of burger you want.  Place cheese, then bacon mixture on top of one patty, then top with another patty and seal the edges.  Grill over medium-high heat for 5-6 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reaches 160 degrees.  Serve on buns.

*From Taste of Home, Grill It.

Hot Wings

If you asked my wife what her favorite meal is, she would either say Hot Wings or Tiny Spicy Chicken.  She decided that we should have a hot wing party a couple of times this summer.  So, the other night she invited some of her siblings and parents over.  She asked them to each bring some wings.  We ended up making somewhere around 100 wings and a bunch of french fries.  I also made some chicken strips for the kids.  So with about 100 wings and 9 adults, we ended up with about 5 wings at the end of the night.  And a bit of a mess, but my wonderful wife got that cleaned up.  I learned that if you soak potatoes in water, as my recipe said, then try to fry them without drying them off pretty good, they will boil the oil over the pan and make you jump pretty quick. (and screech like a little girl) Oh well, its worth it.  The recipe is a guess.  I just throw stuff together, but hopefully it's close.

Hot Wings

2 cups of flour
1 Tbsp Tony Chachere's Original Creole Seasoning

Mix in a ziplock back.  Cut wings at joints and drop in the bag.  Shake well.  Pull the wings out of the bag and place in a glass pan.  Cover with cling wrap and place in the fridge for at least an hour.  This mix should be enough for around 50 wings.  Heat about 3 inches of vegetable oil in a pan or fryer.  Fry wings 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown, stirring now and then.  Drain on paper towels.  Enjoy.

Sauce

We buy Franks Hot Sauce and then add butter to make our favorite sauce.  Mix equal amounts of melted butter and hot sauce together.  You can make it hotter by adding less butter, or cooler by adding more.  My brother in law makes a sauce that is, I think, about equal parts brown sugar and hot sauce.  It is pretty good as well.

Ramen Chicken Salad with Cabbage

It seems we get asked to make salads a lot.  For the past year, we have been making the Broccoli and Tortellini salad that was posted a while back.  I still like it, but thought it was time for something new.  My mom has made a cabbage and ramen noodle salad in the past, so I googled that type of salad and this is what I came up with.  I told my wife about it and she said it sounded weird.  I didn't listen, and made it anyway. I thought it turned out good.  The leftovers the next day were still good, although the noodles were not as crunchy.  I will probably make it again.  On a side note, I love craisins in salads.  I put about a cup in this salad.  It would be good without, but I had to put them in.

Ramen Chicken Salad with Cabbage

Dressing
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
4 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 packet chicken flavor Ramen noodle seasoning

Mix it all together in a small jar and let sit while you make the salad.

Salad
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 head cabbage, chopped or shredded
4 carrots, shredded
2 packages chicken flavored ramen noodles
1/3 cup slivered almonds
2 Tbsp oil

Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a skillet over medium heat. Crush dry ramen noodles and saute them in the oil. When noodles begin to brown, add almonds and 1 seasoning packet.  Remove from heat when noodles are golden brown.  Mix the cabbage, carrots, and chicken in a large bowl.  Make sure the dressing is mixed well and pour over the cabbage mixture.  Stir well.  Add the noodles and almond mixture just before serving.  Enjoy.

Cream Puff Cake

One of my roommates from college introduced me to this wonderful dessert! One weekend she came home with it and it was so good. It is much easier than making individual cream puffs and just as good!

Cream Puff Cake

Shell:
1/2 c. butter
1 c. water
1 c. flour
4 eggs
Bring butter and water to a boil. Add flour and stir until forms a ball. Remove from heat. Beat in eggs, one at a time until mixture is smooth. Butter a 13x9 pan. Spread mixture evenly in pan. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Cool completely.

Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese
4 c. milk
3 small pkg. instant vanilla pudding
In a bowl, whisk the milk and pudding. Add in the cream cheese and beat until smooth. Spoon into shell. Top with 1 cup heavy whipping cream whipped*. Drizzle with chocolate syrup.

I found this recipe for stabilized whipped cream that is supposed to make your whipped cream last longer and not separate. It worked really well!
Stabilized Whipped Cream
1 tsp. unflavored gelatin
4 tsp. cold water
1 c. heavy whipping cream
1/4 c. powdered sugar
In a small pan, combine gelatin and cold water; let stand until thick. Place over low heat; stirring constantly, just until gelatin dissolves. Remove from heat; cool (do not allow to set). Whip the cream with the powdered sugar, until slightly thick. While slowly beating, add the gelatin to whipping cream. Whip at high speed until stiff.

Shrimp Asparagus Alfredo

So, you are probably wondering  where the asparagus is, right? Well, I got all ready to make this before I realized I didn't have any asparagus, so I decided to make it without. Just so you know, it is really good with the asparagus, and healthier too. I got this recipe from a friend. They invited us over for dinner and she made us this. She always makes the best things! It was from this meal, that Brock realized he likes shrimp and this is a dish he is always excited for. I usually make it with fettuccine noodles, but it was really good with these kind too. Also, the recipe calls for 2 cups of cream, but my friend says she always uses half cream and half milk. The first few times I made this I used half cream and half 1% milk and it was always really runny, but this time I used half cream and half whole milk and it was perfect.

 Shrimp Asparagus Alfredo

1/2 lb asparagus cut in 1-2" pieces and boiled to crisp tender

1/2-1 lb raw shrimp (sauteed in butter, garlic, salt and crushed red pepper)

Sauce:
1/4 c butter
2 c cream (can use 1 c. cream & 1 c. milk)
pinch nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
1 lb cooked fettuccine (or other pasta)

Combine butter, cream, nutmeg, salt and pepper in large skillet.  Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer 4 minutes.  Add shrimp, asparagus, and cheese and toss with cooked pasta.