Campstove Nachos

Aaarrrgggg....We Have No Tortillas!!

My plan was to make Chicken Quesadillas...Here is how I turned a major food crisis into a major food win!!

 

 

One of my favorite quick things to do is to put chicken breasts, enchilada sauce and some taco mix into my crock pot and let it cook for a few hours (this also works if the chicken is still frozen!!!). It is then easy to shred.  We make quesadillas, nachos, tacos, taco salads etc.   I had the chicken cooked and ready to go, but with camping and camping near a city, I hadn't got my poop in a group and brought or bought tortillas...sooooo...NACHOS!!  

I always bring disposable aluminum pans, we use them to keep things warm and occasionally cook in them.  I took one, sprayed vegetable spray on the bottom and started layering chips, chicken and cheese just like normal.  I then covered it and let it "bake" in the camp stove.   Easy, yummy, crisis averted!!  We now have another meal to add to our camping menu!! 

Easy, yummy, crisis averted!!  We now have another meal to add to our camping menu!! 
 Renee'

In Door S'Mores!!

Indoor S'Mores Bars!! 

 

Today it is suppose to be 115 in Phoenix and we have wildfires raging in Arizona...not a good time for a campfire.  But S'mores sound so good!!  A couple of weeks ago, I came across a recipe for S'mores bars and just had to try them!!

S'mores Cookie Bars

From Baking Bites http://bakingbites.com/2007/08/smore-cookie-bars/ via http://crepesofwrath.net/

 

1/2 c. butter, room temperature

1/4 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla, I used my favorite Pure Vanilla Bean Paste

1 1/3 c. all purpose flour, I used Spelt Flour  (less gluten)

3/4 c. graham cracker crumbs

1 t. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

4 regular size Hershey bars

7 ounce jar marshmallow Fluff (not melted marshmallows because they harden when they cool)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and/or line an 8 inch square pan. I lined mine with parchment paper. It's amazing how easy even the sticky marshmallow comes off.

2. In large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt.  Add to butter mixture and mix at low speed until combined.

 4. Press half of graham cracker mixture into the bottom of your pan.

5. Line with chocolate bars, you will need to break some to make them fit.

6. Gently spread the marshmallow fluff onto the chocolate.

7. Then you can either pat out sections of the graham cracker mixture and lay it on the marshmallow, or crumble it across the top and press together.

 

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned.  The pan that was more "crumbled" had Fluff that puffed up and turned a little brown and crunchy....Yum!!  

Cool completely before cutting into bars (I put mine in the fridge on a rack after cooling on the counter for a while.  I live in Phoenix).  If you do refrigerate them, let them sit for a bit at room temperature before serving.  The marshmallow gets gooey :) That's if you can wait that long!! Makes 16 to 20 bars.

  P.S. I did buy some glassine paper cups to put mine in.  They make it much easier for people to grab one without getting goo all over them.

I'm sure this will become a favorite in our family!

Linked to:

Renee'

My Favorite Frostings

Frosting...amazing, creamy, sugary sweet, the icing on the cake (or cupcake)....

These are my favorite frosting recipes and a few things I do a little differently from the original recipes. First of all, I always use Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean Paste - 4 oz., and I always use half and half.  It's amazing how much richer the flavor is, you really must try it!

The recipes for the cupcakes in this post can be found at Cupcakes - Yum.

Both of the cupcakes above have cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz butter

8 oz cream cheese

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

4 cups powder sugar

 A splash of half and half

Beat room temperature cream cheese, butter and vanilla bean paste together with electric mixer until well blended and smooth.  I have a  KitchenAid KSM75WH Classic Plus Tilt-Head 4-1/2-Quart Stand Mixer, White and love it...I'm able to put the butter and cream cheese in and have it mixing while I work on something else. Gradually add powder sugar mix super well, if you're using a big mixer, be sure and put a dish towel over the mixer or you'll have sugar dust all over.  Add half and half until it's a good piping consistency.

Just add 1 teaspoon cinnamon to the powder sugar to make Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting...this is so GOOD on the Pumpkin Spice cupcakes.

 

The Pink Champagne cupcakes are frosted with Salted Buttercream and the Vanilla cupcakes are frosted with Billy's Bakery NYC Buttercream. Once again I used the Madagascar Vanilla Bean Paste and half and half.