Nutella Rocky Road Krispy Treats

It's that time of year again that we are hosting weekly block parties in our backyard. Well, I have to figure out easy treats for each week so that I can cram them in while I'm still working regular hours. Sometimes that works better than others...

My neighbor has been diagnosed with Celiac disease and so I have been trying to be more aware of that when planning what I'm going to take. There's nothing fun about going to a pot luck and not being able to eat anything either because it has the dreaded food element in it or you're worried about it being cross contaminated. At least this way she knows she can eat what I bring.

I've been playing with Rice Krispy Treats and this is a good version. One I will definitely do again.

Nutella Rocky Road Treats

¼ cup  butter

1 (10½-oz) bag miniature marshmallows

2/3 cup Nutella

2 tsp vanilla extract

6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

1 jar Marshmallow Fluff

1 cup miniature marshmallows

½ cup chopped toasted pecans

½ cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Line a 13x9-inch baking pan with nonstick foil, extending foil 2 inches beyond the edges (this is the best trick EVER!!)

2. In a 6-quart pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add marshmallows and stir with a rubber spatula until almost melted.

3. Stir in Nutella and vanilla and continue to stir until mixture is blended and smooth.

4. Remove from heat. Stir in cereal until it's evenly coated with the marshmallow mixture.

5. Press mixture into pan in an even layer and cool completely.

6. Spread Fluff over cooled cereal in pan. Evenly scatter mini marshmallows, pecans, and chocolate chips on top, gently pressing down to adhere.

7. Remove from pan and peel off foil. Cut into squares. Store in an airtight container

Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole

This casserole was created in response to a request for chicken enchiladas for dinner and my lack of desire to stand and roll them in traditional enchilada form. It's messy to coat the tortillas with sauce before you fill them so they don't break and this is was easier...shocking :) If you were to want to stand and roll the enchiladas this filling will still work, just use a little of the soup mixture in the chicken, dip your tortillas in soup before filling and then top with the remaining sauce and cheese. Either way is good!

Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole
10-12 servings

2 c. chicken broth
2 small cans diced green chiles, drained
1 cup chopped onion or 1/4 c. dried minced onion
1 c. sour cream
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 cans cream of chicken soup (fat free)
1 clove garlic, minced
PAM cooking spray
20 (ish) corn tortillas cut in half
4 cups cooked chicken breast
2 cups shredded cheese (I use Mexican blend)

Preheat oven to 350

Combine the first 9 ingredients in a large saucepan, stir together using a whisk. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Spray baking dish with PAM. Spread 1 cup of the soup mixture in the bottom of the dish. Arrange tortilla halves over the soup, top with chicken and shredded cheese. Repeat layers 3 times ending with the cheese. Spread remaining soup mixture over cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

PMS Cupcakes

This post should really be written by Bri, she is the pastry chef of the day but she's otherwise occupied at the moment. (Shocking right?) She's been doing all the grocery shopping since my crash (I'm still working out how to get her to keep doing that indefinitely) and picked up all the parts for Better Than Sex Cake. This morning as she was assembling it however she kept saying "This is such a chick treat" and "This is like PMS medication" so we renamed them PMS Cupcakes. That felt a little better for my 17 year old and they are in smaller doses than the actual cake so maybe they are just the right size for PMS and that's about it....

She used a German Chocolate cake mix, I think it would have been good with Devil's Food too. We couldn't find a poking device that was the right size so next time I'm planning on making bigger holes but overall it was super good. Definitely a do again.

PMS Cupcakes
24 cupcakes

1 box chocolate cake mix
4 eggs
1 cube butter melted
1 cup milk
1/2 c. flour
1 can sweetened condensed milk
8 oz caramel topping
2 cups whipping cream
1 cup (ish) powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
crunched Health bar for garnish
caramel topping for garnish

Prepare cake batter with cake mix, eggs, butter, milk, and flour. Mix until fluffy; about 3 min on med high speed. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full (1/4 c.) and bake for 18-20 min at 350 degrees.

While cupcakes are baking mix caramel and sweetened condensed milk in a mixing bowl. Remove cupcakes from pan and place on cooling rack over a baking sheet. With a skewer poke holes in the warm cupcakes and using a spoon drizzle caramel mix over the cupcakes. Be patient and use most of the caramel. On a cake you would just pour it and walk away but you do have to babysit the cupcakes and give them a couple of layers.

Whip whipping cream, add vanilla and powdered sugar. Pipe onto cupcakes. Garnish with candy bars and caramel drizzle.

Refrigerate cupcakes until ready to serve.

Strawberry Margarita Cupcakes

Ah cupcakes, how do I love thee?? With lots of frosting and served on the regular! I had knee surgery a few weeks ago so food at my house has been consisting of things I can throw in the crock pot that I put in the freezer pre-surgery, pizza, or burgers. There hasn't been a huge amount of yummy treats coming from my kitchen. You'd think that would reflect in a positive way on the scale but so far my chubbiness has increased exponentially with my limited mobility despite the lack of treats. Boooo!!

I was feeling pretty good and had a Sunday afternoon to kill while we waited for ribs to smoke (another post altogether) so these cupcakes made their debut. I think that the lime could have been a little bit stronger...possibly use regular margaria mix instead of strawberry or just increase the lime juice but overall I really liked them. I loved that there was a little salt on the frosting to help cut the sweet and give it that bit of margarita authenticness. Well,  authentic as a virgin margarita can be :)

Strawberry Margarita Cupcakes 
2 dozen cupcakes

Cake:
1 box white cake mix
1/2 c. flour
4 large eggs
1 cup oil
1/2 c. strawberry margarita mix
1/2 c. pureed sweetened strawberries (I used frozen)
1/4 c. lime juice
1 small box strawberry jell-o


Frosting:
2 pounds powdered sugar
2 cubes butter (1 cup)
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 c. pureed strawberries
3 Tbs strawberry margarita mix
1 Tbs lime juice

Garnish:
Margarita salt

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tins with wrappers and set aside
2. In mixer bowl combine cake mix, flour, eggs, oil, pureed strawberries, margarita mix, lime juice and jello. Mix on med for 3 minutes until batter is well combined and starting to get thick. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full. I usually use a 1/4 c. measuring cup. Bake for 18-19 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely on cooling racks
3. Prepare frosting: In mixer bowl beat butter until fluffy. Add strawberry puree on low and beat until smooth. With the mixer on low speed slowly add sugar. Alternate with the margarita mix/lime juice until well combined. Beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy. Pipe onto cupcakes. Garnish with a sprinkle of salt.