Brownies with Caramel and Chocolate Sauce (aka Over the Top Brownies)

I love brownies. I love chocolate. I love caramel. So why not put them all together? Luckily over at Mybakingaddiction.com, she loves the same things and came up with this delicious recipe!!! I love how the caramel and chocolate are just oozing down over the top! Looking at that picture makes me happy. It made my stomach happy too, (a couple of times... hee hee).

Over The Top Brownies
slightly adapted from mybakingaddiction.com
1 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk chocolate (chunks, disks, chips or mini chips)

Topping
1/4 cup melted semi-sweet chocolate
18 Kraft Caramels
2 tablespoons heavy cream
chopped/crushed nuts (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F
Prepare a 9×13 baking dish as follows: lightly spray the insides with cooking spray then with the dish horizontally in front of you lay in one sheet of aluminum foil across the length (left-to-right) leaving enough overhang on the sides so that you can use the excess foil as handles and on top of that lay in one sheet of aluminum foil across the width (top-to-bottom). Spray the foil with cooking spray. You want to be sure the insides of the pan are completely covered and you have foil “handles” which you’ll use to lift the slab of brownies from the pan after baking
In a large bowl, combine the melted butter, both sugars and the vanilla extract in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition until the liquid mixture is completely blended.
In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Gradually add this into the liquid mixture until it is fully incorporated. Add in the chocolate pieces (chunks, disks, chips or mini chips) and stir to combine. It will resemble fudge frosting at this point… and it will taste delicious!! Spread evenly into the prepared baking dish.
Bake about 40-45 minutes until a few moist crumbs cling to a toothpick inserted in the center. Don’t bake to the point of the toothpick coming out clean or the brownies will be dry. Remove the baking dish from the oven and cool on wire rack for 10 minutes… then… using the foil handles remove the brownie slab from the dish and cool completely on wire rack.
Put the caramels in a microwave-safe bowl and add the heavy cream. Microwave in 30-second increments, stirring well after each time until the caramels begin to melt and stir to incorporate the cream. Do not over-cook this!
After the brownies have cooled a bit but are not yet at room temperature, pour the melted caramel/cream mixture over the top and let it set up for a little while. Then drizzle on the melted chocolate and top with crushed nuts. (we didn't use nuts and my kids liked it a little better).We like to serve them warm and gooey with a big glass of milk!!!

Toasted Orzo with Peas and Parmesan

This is one of our new favorite side dishes! My family loved it so much, I had to make it twice in one week! SOOOOO good, and so fresh and summer tasting!!! I served this with lemon chicken!!! This would also be good as a lunch salad with some lemon chicken or shrimp mixed in!!

Toasted Orzo with Peas and Parmesan
adapted slightly from Keeping Up Cookbook (keepingupcookbook.com)
2 T. Butter
1/2 C. finely diced onion
3/4 t. salt
3/4 t. garlic salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/3 C. orzo
2 1/2 C. chicken broth
1 1/2 C. frozen peas, thawed
1 C. grated parmesan cheese
1 lemon, cut into thin wedges

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and salts. Cook until onion is softened. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant. Stir in the orzo and cook, stirring frequently, until most of the grains are golden, about 5 minutes. DONT SKIP THIS STEP! Toasting the orzo gives it an amazing nutty flavor that makes the whole dish! Carefully stir in the broth, and reduce the heat to medium low. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, until all the liquid has been absorbed and the orzo is tender, 15-20 minutes. (Keep heat low or liquid will boil off too quickly). If the orzo is cooked and liquid remains, increase heat until evaporated.
Off the heat stir in the peas and parmesan. Let stand until the peas are warmed thorugh, about 2 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve with lemon wedges. (I drizzled a little lemon juice over the entire dish first and then covered with lemon wedges.

Tortellini Spinach bake with Creamy Lemon Sauce

I heart pasta dishes! So filling, so easy, and so versatile! I found this recipe on Our Best Bites, which is one of my favorite food blogs to follow! It looked divine and so I vowed to make it! I changed mine up just a little and we all just loved it! I served it with the Homemade Rosemary Bread that I love to make! (you can find the recipe for the bread, by clicking on the label bread over in the tool bar on the side of this blog). 

Tortellini Spinach Bake with Creamy Lemon Sauce

recipe adapted slightly from Our Best Bites

12 oz bag frozen cheese tortellini

1/2 lb bacon

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 T flour

2 C. milk

1 tsp salt\
1/2 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp black pepper

2 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 medium lemon

2 c loosely packed spinach, roughly chopped

1 c. grated mozzarella cheese, divided

1 c. grated parmesan cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill a large stockpot with water and bring to a boil, add torellini and cook according to package directions. Cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from pan and reserve 2 T of the bacon drippings in the pan. Cook garlic in the bacon drippings over medium high heat until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add flour to pan and whisk for about 1 minute.  Slowly add milk and whisk until smooth. Add salt, pepper, garlic salt, red pepper flakes and bring sauce to a simmer.

While sauce is heating, zest and juice lemon. Add 2 tsp zest and 2 T lemon juice to sauce, and stir until thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Drain tortellini and place back in pot. Add spinach, 1/2 c mozzarella cheese, bacon, and 1/2 c parmesan cheese. Add sauce and gently stir to incorporate. place pasta in a 9/13 casserole dish and cover with the remaining parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. *I also added a 2 cups of shredded rotisserie chicken to make this a full meal*
Cover for foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Happy Memorial Day! (Hamburgers, potato salad)

So, I realized that I haven't ever posted a hamburger recipe and I had to remedy that! We love, love, love the summertime and grilling! Its the quickest, easiest way to do dinner in the summer and for some reason it never gets old! My husband could eat a good burger every night if I would let him! So I thought I would share our classic favorite hamburger recipe (if you can call it a recipe...) and also my favorite potato salad recipe. My grandma is the best potato salad maker in the world! We could always count on a bowl of yummy potato salad to grace the table at any BBQ!  I tried to recreate her recipe as best as I could, and I also added in a few tastes of my own! Notice in the picture that i took it while the food was on paper plates...I did that on purpose! It's summer, low maintenence, and paper plate kind of food! Just keeping it real!

The Classic Hamburger - Lamb Style

1 lb. ground beef

1 onion

2-3 T butter, melted

1 T Olive Oil

salt, pepper, garlic salt, and Montreal Steak seasoning to taste

Worcestershire sauce

a couple slices of bacon, cooked

1 tomato, sliced

shredded lettuce

Colby Jack cheese, sliced

Your favorite BBQ sauce

Hamburger buns

Cut onion in half. Use one half for the caramelized onions: cut it into thin slices and set aside. (See below for the recipe on how to make caramelized onions). Dice the other half of the onion. Mix the minced onion into the ground beef with a fork. (don't over mix!), season the ground beef with salt, pepper, garlic salt, Montreal seasoning, and a couple shakes of worcestershire sauce. Form into patties and grill until desired amount of doneness. We like to add a slice of cheese to the burger when it is about done so it melts right on top of the burger. Brush some melted butter on the inside of each hamburger bun and throw on the grill until a little golden brown color appears....They cook fast, so don't burn! Assemble your burger to your liking with whatever toppings you love! Here is mine: Bun, hamburger with melted cheese, caramelized onions, a couple slices of bacon, tomato, lettuce, BBQ sauce, bun. Now you can make your burger however you would like, that's one of the beaties of burgers, HOWEVER, I would strongly reccomend not leaving out the caramelized onions, they get SO sweet and wonderful and just make the burger. Just a suggestion.

How to make Caramelized Onions:

Melt butter and olive oil in a medium sized saute pan over medium heat. Add onions and season with salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Then sprinkle a little sugar over the top - like maybe a teaspoon or so. (this gives the onions a slightly sweet taste which is divine!) Saute slowly over medium heat. (you want to cook them slowly, so keep the heat at medium!). Cook, stirring frequently until onions are soft and golden brown. It takes a good 10-15 minutes to get the color you need. Then when the are about done, sprinkle a couple shakes of worcestershire sauce into the pan and stir around. I can eat them straight out of the pan just like this! (I'm weird, i know!)

My Favorite Homemade Potato Salad

About 3 lbs red potatoes

1/2 lb bacon, cooked, cooled and crumbled 

1 1/2 c. mayo

2 T. milk

2 T. apple cider vinegar

1 tsp yellow mustard

3-4 green onions sliced

3 celery stalks sliced

4 eggs, boiled, peeled and sliced

salt, pepper, and garlic salt to taste

1-2 dill pickles diced

Bring a large stock pot of water to boil and add potatoes. Cook until fork tender, about 15 minutes. Set aside to cool. Cut the rest of the veggies and prepare the dressing by adding mayo, mustard, milk and apple cider vinegar to a bowl and wisking together. Salt, pepper, and garlic salt to taste. Take cooled potatoes, and cut into 1 inch cubes, leaving skin on. Add to a bowl with celery, green onions, bacon, pickles, and sliced boiled eggs. Pour dressing over the top and stir gently to just combine. Place in the fridge for at least an hour before serving.

*you can also add bleu cheese crumbles OR grated colby jack cheese for extra flavor!*

Serve all this deliciouness with your hamburger, sliced watermelon, and corn on the cob for the perfect BBQ!

Whats your favorite BBQ food??? Yay for summer!

Oreos....

So....Just thought I would share some love....I aDoRe oreos, they are a regular staple snack here at the Lamb house! So when I saw these I HAD to try them. And you know what? They are divine! I have to hide them from myself so I don't consume them all by myself!!! Kids love them with a glass of milk!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Everyone needs a good chicken tortilla soup recipe. Most recipes are so similar that only a few ingredients change here and there this is one that I always come back to. We had it for dinner tonight and it was delicious and satisfying in this chilly weather!! The kids like it too because they can put in all the little toppings they want!

Chicken Tortilla Soup:

adapted slightly from Our best bites.

1 rotisserie chicken, meat removed, skins, and fat, and bones discarded.

season chicken with garlic salt, pepper, cumin, and chile powder to taste

1 large onion, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

4 cans chicken broth

1 (15 oz) can of diced tomatoes

1 jalepeno pepper, diced, and seeds removed. (wash your hands really well after doing this, before you accidentally scratch and itch on your eye and scream out because the hot oils are already burning your retina...)

1/4 c fresh lime juice

salt and pepper to taste

1. Head some olive oil in a large stockpot and cook the onions over medium heat until softened. add garlic and jalepeno pepper and cook for a couple more minutes. Add chicken broth and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add chicken and simmer for 15-20 minutes.While soup is simmering prepare your toppings:

We like:

Avacados, cubed

sour cream

grated cheese

olives

cilantro

crushed up Fritos, or Torrilla chips

Right before serving add the lime juice to the soup, layer up those toppings and have a fiesta in your mouth!!

CrAvE

This is my new favorite Burger place of all times. Say hello to my little friend: The Texan. Go there now and eat one. You won't be dissappointed......Its called Crave....
And crave it you will.....

p.s. It's in Castle Rock, by the movie theatre. Go now.