Rocky Road Cookies (Soft)

 You will note that we have a distinction up here now between Soft Rocky Road Cookies and Crispy Rocky Road Cookies! The family decided they wanted Rocky Road cookies again for Christmas, but this time they wanted a SOFT cookie, so here we go — soft cookie it is!

SOFT ROCKY ROAD COOKIES 

Ingredients

3 cups Ashley’s Gluten Free Flour Blend

1 1/2 C packed brown sugar

1 C cocoa powder (Hershey’s is marked GF)

2t baking soda

1/4 t salt (I just give it a few grinds from my salt grinder)

1 C butter (2 sticks), room temperature

4 eggs

2t vanilla extract

2/3 C chocolate chips (I used semi sweet mini chips)

2/3 C chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

2/3 C mini marshmallows

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix your dry ingredients (down to salt) all together in a bowl, and stir until blended. 

I didn’t have time to let the butter soften: this is what microwaves are for! Add vanilla extract and eggs to the butter, and whisk together.

Slowly add the dry ingredients, and stir together. A stand mixer might help you here, but I don’t have one! My arm was sore, whipping the lumps out. 

Add chocolate chips, nuts and marshmallows, and fold in. 

Use a cookie scoop or a spoon to DROP cookies onto a parchment-paper lined baking sheet. Press each cookie down slightly. (These are very much DROP cookies. Dough will be sticky!)

Alternatively, you can wait until you’ve dropped the cookies onto your parchment paper and press the marshmallows, chocolate chips, and nuts into the top.

Bake 7-10 minutes, adjusting as necessary for the size or your cookies. Let them rest on the cookie sheet five minutes, then move to a rack to finish cooling.

The Famous Christmas Fudge

 Life is too short to hoard recipes, I decided today: you want to give the famous Christmas fudge a try, here it is, and more power to you!

I actually thought the recipe was pretty much fool-proof, to tell you the truth, but a choir member of mine (who is usually behind the deep-fryer at any church function, turning out hot apple hand pies, so a pretty stellar baker!) has trouble getting it to come out. Who knows. 

Here goes: This is it! 

Sum total of <EVERYTHING> you will need for one pan of fudge.

One small (18oz) peanut butter, 

One thing of frosting - this one is cream cheese, but whatever works - 

A spatula, 

A bowl to mix them in, 

And I use a loaf pan to cool the fudge in, because it’s a good size.

Take the lids off the frosting and peanut butter. If you can get the foil totally off without tearing it, that’s ideal, because that means you can put it in the microwave just like it is. If the foils tears, scoop it into the bowl before putting in the microwave.

DO NOT PUT THE FROSTING OR PEANUT BUTTER CONTAINERS IN THE MICROWAVE WITH ANY FOIL STILL STUCK ON THEM.

It all peeled off these nicely, so next we put them in the microwave for 45 seconds each!

[Ignore the second peanut butter there; I was making two batches at once.]

Once you’ve microwaved both your peanut butter and your frosting, pour them into the bowl together and stir until they’re well mixed.

I usually coat my loaf pans with pan spray. Not sure if that’s necessary? But that’s what I do.

Pour the fudge into a load pan. Cover it with foil, and set it aside to cool overnight or for a day or so.

And then all you have to do is cut it, once it’s set up!

People love it, they really do. Hence the ‘Famous’ moniker. I’ve been giving it as gifts for years now. ❤️

Most of us really don’t need more ‘stuff’ at Christmas, but everybody appreciates Christmas candy!

Balsamic Bliss Bowls

One of the lunch bowls I meal-prep on weekends! 

For this one, I use brown rice that I make in the Instapot (recipe is here: Instapot Quinoa OR Brown Rice). For six lunches, I use a cup and a half of brown rice, which in the Instapot works out to just over a cup-and-three-quarters of water or broth.  You can always make the full two cups and have leftovers, of course!

I also used deli chicken this time, though sometimes I will use rotisserie chicken if I have it; fresh mozzarella; and the balsamic tomatoes.

The green beans were just cooling on the counter next to my rice bowls in this picture, but if you’re interested in my green bean recipes, they are here (Roasted Green Beans) and here (Instapot Green Beans)!

BALSAMIC BLISS BOWLS

Ingredients for 6 bowls

Brown rice, cooked (for six lunches, I cook a cup and a half of brown rice)

8oz fresh mozzarella 

Deli chicken or rotisserie chicken (I use 2oz per bowl)

Cherry tomatoes (as many as you’d like!)

A few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

Go ahead and cook your rice, however you want to do that. Divide between six bowls.

*If you’re counting calories, it’s the equivalent of 160 calories per bowl I’m aiming at: a half-cup’s worth of uncooked rice. That’s how calories are measured on my bag of rice!

Roughly cut up your fresh mozzarella into bite-sized pieces. I use 8oz because that’s how it’s usually sold, no other reason! Divide equally between your six bowls on top of your rice.

Dice your chicken, again dividing between the rice bowls.

Cut all the cherry tomatoes in half and place in a cast iron skillet. (I don’t have a problem with them sticking at all in mine?) Drizzle a couple tablespoons of a good balsamic vinegar over the tomatoes, and turn the heat to medium. Keep stirring every couple of minutes until the tomatoes release their juices and turn kind of ‘sauce-y.’ 

Divide the tomatoes up on top of your rice bowls.

Servings: 6

Calories per serving: 335

Seafood and Spinach Dip

Rich and Creamy Shrimp and Crab Spinach Dip with Garlic and Parmesan 

SEAFOOD AND SPINACH DIP

Ingredients

1/2 pound shrimp, peeled, deveined, and chopped

1/2 pound lump crab meat

12 oz frozen spinach, thawed

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

Pan spray, to cook the shrimp

Tortilla chips (or whatever, crackers or bread if you’re not GF) for serving

Directions:

Cook the Shrimp: Coat a cast iron skillet with pan spray; add shrimp and cook over medium heat until pink and fully cooked.

Prepare the Dip: In a large mixing bowl, combine the softened cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, minced garlic, Old Bay seasoning, salt, and pepper. Mix until smooth and well combined.

Add the Seafood and Spinach: Stir in the cooked shrimp, crab meat, spinach, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese until everything is well incorporated.

Bake: Preheat your oven to 375°F. Transfer the dip mixture into an oven-safe dish and spread it out evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the dip is bubbly and golden on top.

Serve: Remove from the oven and let the dip cool slightly. Serve warm with tortilla chips (or whatever, if you’re not GF) for dipping.

Kcal: 300 kcal per serving | Servings: 8, the original recipe said

Pumpkin Cups

 

I made these sugar free, because my dad’s diabetic and I’m fighting my weight again right now, and they turned out MARVELOUSLY. Feel free to use regular instant pudding (2 3.4oz packages of pudding mix and 3C milk) and Cool Whip instead of sugar free, though, it wouldn’t make any difference!

I had also considered the thought of tossing this in a pie crust and calling it a ‘no-bake pumpkin pie,’ so that might be something to think about trying, too —

PUMPKIN PUDDING CUPS

Ingredients

1 1.5oz sugar free instant vanilla pudding mix

1 15oz can plain pumpkin purée 

2 1/2 cups milk 

2t pumpkin pie spice, plus more for garnish

Sugar free Cool Whip

In a large bowl, whisk together pudding mix, pumpkin puree, milk, and the 2t pumpkin pie spice. (I had to start this out with a spatula and then get the whisk to smooth it out.)  Let sit 5-10 minutes to thicken slightly.

Spoon into pudding cups or small bowls. Let chill at least one hour. Mine chilled overnight.

Serve topped with Cool Whip and sprinkled with pumpkin pie spice, for garnish.

Servings: well, my recipe said six. I got maybe twice that? I guess it depends on how big your bowls or pudding cups are.

Appetizers: Roasted Shrimp

 SUPER-duper easy. And a make-ahead recipe, because they have to be chilled! Wonderful for a party or guests.

 

ROASTED SHRIMP

Raw shrimp, whatever size and quantity you want

Olive oil, about 2-3T per pound of shrimp

A bit of sea salt

Preheat oven to 350.

If your shrimp are not peeled and deveined, go ahead and do that. Toss in a bowl with the olive oil until all are lightly coated. 

Place in a single layer on a sheet pan or baking dish. Sprinkle LIGHTLY with sea salt. 

Bake for 5-7 minutes or until just pink.

Serve chilled.

 The main difference between the Olive Garden Fettuccine Alfredo and my own Ashley’s Favorite Sauces: Alfredo is the garlic: a ‘true’ Alfredo traditionally only has the three ingredients, cream, butter, and cheese. The Olive Garden adds a good bit of garlic to theirs, as anyone who has eaten there knows! It’s awfully good, so when I found this recipe I definitely wanted to give it a try.

If you make it plain, the way the Olive Garden serves it, you will only get 4-5 servings out of 14 or 16 oz of pasta, and it will have about 850-900 calories a serving if you top it with extra cheese.

My diet does not allow that, I don’t know about yours!

So I made the ‘additions’ of some sautéed shrimp and some steamed broccoli florets. Quite a few broccoli florets, as a matter of fact! Enough of these healthy kind of additions (sautéed or wilted spinach and grilled chicken would be good too!) will spread out the servings from a pound of pasta from 4-5 to 7-8, and that’ll cut that massive load of calories in half. 

You see how many extra servings I got out of this? It reheats much better than a ‘traditional’ Alfredo, too!!

A NOTE ON THE CHEESE: You will want to use a block of fresh Parmesan and grate it yourself, for this recipe! It needs to be that finely grated to melt into the sauce properly.

Copycat Olive Garden Fettuccine Alfredo

• Ingredients 
• 1 lb. 

  fettuccine (I used 14oz, because that’s how Tinkyada packages their fettuccine)

• 3 

  cloves garlic, grated or minced

• 1 tsp. 

  freshly ground black pepper, plus more for taste

• 8 Tbsp. (1stick) 

  butter, divided and cut into tablespoons 

• 1 c. 

  heavy cream or half and half

• 1/2 c. 

  Parmesan, grated plus more for serving

• Freshly chopped parsley, for ganish

Directions

1. Follow instructions to cook fettuccine, subtracting about 2 minutes from the cook time to start testing it, to ensure the pasta is al dente. You REALLY do not want mushy pasta for this one! Reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water.
2. 
   After you’ve drained your pasta, melt 1T of the butter in the hot pasta pot. I turned the heat back on about medium-low. Add garlic and black pepper and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until the garlic is fragrant. Don’t let anything burn!
3. 
   Whisk in heavy cream and the rest of the butter. Bring the cream mixture to a simmer and let it simmer about 2-3 minutes. The recipe said it was going to thicken slightly. Mine didn’t.
4. 
   Add the 1/2C Parmesan and cooked fettucine to the pasta pot and toss until the cheese is melted and the pasta is fully coated. (I added my shrimp and broccoli at this step.) Add 1/2C or so of the pasta water and simmer for an additional minute tossing until the sauce is glossy and cohesive. The starch in the pasta water should thicken the sauce. Add more pasta water if needed to get the sauce the right consistency.

Move pasta to a serving bowl and garnish with freshly grated Parmesan and parsley for serving.

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