Beverly's Meltaway cookies

I stole this from Tyler's friend's blog. These cookies seriously melt in your mouth hence the name and they are so cute and fun. I enjoyed making them for Easter with pastel colored frosting. Don't let the nasty tasting dough fool you.

1/2 lb butter
3/4 cup corn starch
1/3 cup powered sugar
1 cup flour

Beat butter, add corn starch, flour, and sugar. Beat until creamy. Drop by teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet (don't make them too big). I shaped them into perfect little balls and made a divet on the top for frosting. Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes. Frost when cool. I used a spoon to drop frosting onto the top.

Frosting
3 oz cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
food coloring

Cream cheese, add vanilla and sugar. Divide and color.
Yields 40 cookies

Crockpot Creamy Shredded Chicken

Crockpot Creamy Shredded Chicken

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
1 package dry Italian seasonings mix *
1 stick butter
1 can cream of chicken soup
8oz of cream cheese (i only used 4oz)

Directions:
In a crockpot place your chicken breasts. Sprinkle on them the Italian seasoning mix. Take the stick of butter and cut it up and place it on your chicken. Cook on Low 4-6hrs. 1/2 hr before serving shred chicken while still in crock-pot. Add in cream cheese and cream of chicken soup. Stir together. Replace lid and cook until heated through. Serve over rice.

* I'm sure if you added more cream cheese it would have made it more creamy then ours was. we decided it would be great on croissant sandwiches.

*the seasoning is sold in the salad dressing aisle. (with the powered ranch dip)

Baked Zitilicious

This is fast & easy!!! and SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD.

This Makes enough for about 2 casserole dishes (8-10 pple) (bake one and freeze or refridgerate another).

1 - 16 oz package dry ziti pasta (or penne)
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 white onion chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic (optional)
2 28 oz jars spaghetti sauce ( I used HUNTS 1 can marinara sauce and 1 can sauce with italian sausage flavor) * you probably wont use all of the sauce*
*for the cheese, you can choose how much you want to add and what kind-the more the better :)**
6 oz provolone cheese
6 oz sliced mozzarella cheese
1 bag of Shredded italian cheese mixture.

1 1/2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup grated parmesean cheese
Basil seasoning

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1 1/2 boxes pasta & cook until "al dente" dont let it get mushy.
2. In skillet Brown the beef, Add onions, garlic & saute until tender. Drain off fat. Add about 1/2 of the Spaghetti sauce to beef (save rest for later). Simmer 15 minutes.
3. preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Mix sour cream and pasta noodles in a large bowl.
5. In a lightly greased 2 quart baking dish, place a level of pasta on bottom of pan. Top with Meat mixture. Top with a single layer of Provolone, mozzarella, & other cheeses you want to add.
6. Pour a small layer of more spaghetti sauce on top of cheese. Sprinkle parmesean cheese on top of that & sprinkle basil lightly around the top of the entire pan.
7. REPEAT IN ANOTHER PAN IF YOU HAVE EXTRA.
8. Bake covered for 20 minutes & remove foil and bake another 10-20 minutes until bubbly & heated through.

Best Ever Chocolate Cake

This is one of the best Chocolate Cake recipes that I have ever had. It's super moist and not too sweet. The frosting comes out similar to a ganache. I've brought it to work several times and everyone loves it. I've made it as a layer cake, cupcakes and mini-cupcakes and it's always good!

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (8 squares) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, divided

1 pkg. (2-layer size) chocolate cake mix

1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding

4 eggs

1 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup water

1 tub (8 oz.) frozen COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease two 9-inch round baking pans. Chop 2 of the chocolate squares; set aside. Beat cake mix, dry pudding mix, eggs, sour cream, oil and water in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed just until moistened. Beat on medium speed 2 min. Stir in chopped chocolate. Spoon into prepared pans.

Bake 30 to 35 min. or until wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 min. Loosen cakes from sides of pans. Invert onto racks; gently remove pans. Cool cakes completely.

Place frozen whipped topping and remaining 6 chocolate squares in microwaveable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 1-1/2 min. or until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth, stirring after 1 min. Let stand 15 min. to thicken. Place one cake layer on serving plate; top with one-fourth of the chocolate mixture and second cake layer. Spread top and side with remaining chocolate mixture. Garnish with almonds. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

*I used semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of the baking squares.

Parmesan Chicken

I got this from a friend and it is delicious!

Ingredients

• 4 to 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 extra-large eggs
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 1/4 cups seasoned dry bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
• Unsalted butter
• Good olive oil
• Salad greens for 6, washed and spun dry
• 1 recipe Lemon Vinaigrette, recipe follows

Directions

Pound the chicken breasts until they are 1/4-inch thick. You can use either a meat mallet or a rolling pin.

Combine the flour, salt, and pepper on a dinner plate. On a second plate, beat the eggs with 1 tablespoon of water. On a third plate, combine the bread crumbs and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan. Coat the chicken breasts on both sides with the flour mixture, then dip both sides into the egg mixture and dredge both sides in the bread-crumb mixture, pressing lightly.

Heat 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute pan and cook 2 or 3 chicken breasts on medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until cooked through. Add more butter and oil and cook the rest of the chicken breasts. Toss the salad greens with lemon vinaigrette. Place a mound of salad on each hot chicken breast. Serve with extra grated Parmesan.

Lemon Vinaigrette:

• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
• 1/2 cup good olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Yield: 6 servings

Frozen Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon water
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts, if desired

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Stir in the vanilla, water, flour, chocolate chips,
and walnuts, if desired, and mix until well blended. (Mixture will look granulated until rolled together.) Roll dough into bite-sized balls or use a small ice cream scoop. Place on a baking sheet and freeze until firm, about 2 hours. Store balls in resealable plastic bags in the freezer.

**I had to freeze them on a plate, since a cookie sheet doesn't fit in my freezer. I covered the plate with suran wrap and then placed a sheet of suran wrap over the cookies as they froze.

Recipe was originally found on: Allrecipes.com

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

(This recipe is actually from my friend Amy. It's DELICIOUS!!!)