(breaks into song)

“it’s the most wonderful time of the year!” And no I’m not talking about just Christmas itself…i’m talking about Starbucks Christmas!

Yes it’s that time of year already and once again Starbucks is displaying the wonderful red cups and Christmas schwag.

The Red Cup

I love this time of year, the peppermint mocha’s, the gingerbread latte’s and if you are an eggnog lover there are even drinks made out of eggnog. I am also a huge fan of the peppermint hot chocolate.

They also have the little goodies that come along with Christmas time. My personal favourite is the Cranberry bliss bar, but they also have gingerbread loaf.

While browsing around the net for some great Starbucks pictures, I came across this recipe for Cranberry Bliss Bars! If any of you enjoy baking, and decide to bake these up, let me know how they turn out!

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Make cake by beating butter and brown sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs, vanilla, ginger, and salt and beat well. Gradually mix in flour until smooth. Mix 3/4 cup diced dried cranberries and white chocolate into the batter by hand. Pour batter into a well-greased 9×13-inch baking pan. Use a spatula to spread the batter evenly across the pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until cake is light brown on the edges. Allow cake to cool.

3. Make frosting by combining softened cream cheese, 3 cups powdered sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. When the cake has cooled, use a spatula to spread frosting over the top of the cake.

4. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of diced cranberries over the frosting on the cake.

5. Whisk together 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, and shortening. Drizzle icing over the cranberries in a sweeping motion or use a pastry bag with a fine tip to drizzle frosting across the top of the cake.

6. Allow cake to sit for several hours, then slice the cake lengthwise (the long way) through the middle. Slice the cake across the width three times making a total of eight rectangular slices. Slice each of those rectangles diagonally creating 16 triangular slices. (http://www.topsecretrecipes.com)

Makes 16 bars.

What you’ll need:

1 pkg of tortellini (I use the cheese stuffed kind) and it’s family sized

1 small pkg of sundried tomato sauce

2 cans of diced tomatoes (unflavoured) I use Hunts family size can’s

2 cloves of garlic (minced)

salt to taste

Cheddar cheese to top the dish off

What do I do next?

Boil your tortellini so that it’s ready to eat (generally 8-10 minutes)

In a separate pan take your sundried tomato sauce and your diced tomatoes and mix them together on medium heat–leave on medium for about 10 minutes.

Add in your garlic and salt and let simmer for another 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix your pasta with the sauce and place in a casserole dish. *note* you may need two dishes for the amount of pasta the family size makes, but if you want to save the second dish of pasta you can place it uncooked (with sauce and pasta mixed) in freezer until you need this dish and then just add cheese and bake.

Place in oven covered with cheddar cheese for about 20 minutes, if you like your cheese crispy broil it for under a minute.

optional: grill up some chicken and top off this dish with some chicken!

Let cool for 2 minutes and enjoy!

As always if you have a recipe you would like to share please email me at erincarrasco@gmail.com with a picture of the finished product!

Happy Cooking!

Chicken Kebabs

What you’ll need:

One Zucchini
Four Chicken breasts
One red pepper, yellow pepper, orange pepper
One red onion
1 bottle of Kraft Roasted Red pepper and parmesan dressing

What do I do next?

Wash and Cut all the veggies and chicken up into bite size pieces

Marinate for four hours in the Kraft dressing (or increase flavour by leaving it overnight in the fridge of course!)

Put chicken and veggies on kebabs alternating meat and veggies–metal skewers are best, otherwise you will want to soak the wooden ones in water for at least 20 minutes

Grill on BBQ for 30 minutes on med-high heat (or until cooked thoroughly)

Serve and Enjoy!

As always,if you have a healthy recipe you’d like to share please email them to me along with a picture to erincarrasco@gmail.com.

This weeks submission is again from Jerilyn Deschamps! Many thanks once again for this fantastic recipe! Yum, now I want cookies!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

What you’ll need:

2/3 cup (125g) sugar
½ cup of butter
1 large egg
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup plus 2 tsp flour
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

What do I do next?

Preheat oven to 375

Cream butter with sugar to light and fluffy, add egg and vanilla and mix well.  Add baking soda, salt and flour and add chocolate chips. 

Place the cookie dough into the fridge for 30 minutes.  Drop by rounded large teaspoon onto a un greased cookie sheet.  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until lightly brown. 

Put on cooling rack. Serve and Enjoy!

Jerilyn also notes that to make Chocolate Cookies “instead of chocolate chips, melt 4 squares of Baker’s Semi Sweet chocolate and add it to the batter and mix well”

Stay tuned for next weeks, Sundried Tomato Pesto Tortellini! Until then, happy cooking!

Mocha Brownies

What you’ll need:

4 squares Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate
1 ¼ cups butter, divided
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
¾ cup Maxwell House Café Suisse Mocha instant coffee mix, divided
1 cup pecans chopped

Frosting
3 tbsp hot milk
4 cups icing sugar

What do I do next?

Line 13×9 inch baking pan with greased foil.  Microwave chocolate and ¾ cup butter in large microwave bowl on medium for 2 minutes or until melted.  Stir until chocolate is completely melted.  Stir in sugar until well blended.  Mix in eggs and vanilla, stir in flour, ½ cup coffee mix and pecans and spread into prepared pan.

Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out with fudgie crumbs.  Do not over bake.  Cool completely in pan and then cut into squares.

Frosting**

Dissolve remaining coffee mix in hot milk; beat in remaining butter until creamy.  Gradually add icing sugar, beat on low speed until well blended.  Let stand until frosting is spreading consistency, and then ice brownies.

Tips

If using a glass pan reduce to 325.  Sift icing sugar before measuring.

**NOTE: Jerilyn has asked me to let you all know that the frosting is very sweet and she usually does not make it with the brownies.

Do you have a recipe to share with us? Please email erincarrasco@gmail.com including pictures and instructions on how to make your favourite dishes! Please also indicate how you would like your name to appear on the posting! Happy baking!