Smothered Chicken

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 small onion, diced

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 teaspoon dark roux

1/2 teaspoon sugar

desired seasonings

Season chicken as desired and sprinkle with a little bit of sugar on each side. Coat non-stick skillet (could also use a cast iron pot or dutch oven) with vegetable oil. Cook chicken until really browned on each side. I let the pan run out of water several times and add just a little bit of water and turn the chicken.

Remove the chicken and add onions, let them cook down a few minutes. Add about a cup of water and the dark roux. Slowly simmer until roux has dissolved. Add chicken back and enough water to cover the chicken about halfway up. Let simmer until chicken gets tender, you may have to add a little more seasoning.

I served over white rice with green beans. So simple, but so yummy! This is the way my mom used to make it, so I don't have a "recipe".

HERSHEY'S Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie

This was not the best chocolate chip cookie we've ever had. I didn't have a lot of special ingredients on hand, so this was what I was able to make. I added the m&m's on my own. It was ok, but I think I will be looking for a new recipe next time I want to make something like this again.

That hasn't stopped DH from eating half of it though....

HERSHEY'S Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-2/3 cups HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Chocolate Chips, HERSHEY'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, HERSHEY'S Mini Chips Semi-Sweet Chocolate or HERSHEY'S Milk Chocolate Chips

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line 12-inch metal pizza pan with foil.

2. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in medium bowl until fluffy; add egg, beating well. Stir together flour and baking soda; stir into mixture with chocolate chips. (This is where I added one small bag of m&m's) Spread batter evenly in prepared pan, spreading to 1-inch from edge.

3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly brown and set. (20 minutes is WAY too long, I cooked it for 13 before taking it out) Cool completely; carefully lift cookie from pan and remove foil. Decorate as desired; cut into wedges to serve. 8 to 10 servings.

Bread Pudding with Amaretto Sauce

OMG, this stuff was so good. I had a loaf of regular white bread that was about to go bad in the pantry, and I knew I wanted to make bread pudding with it. I had to search for a while to find a recipe that used just plain white bread, but this one was a winner. Recipe from http://www.allrecipes.com/.

INGREDIENTS
6 slices day-old bread
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup raisins (optional) (I didn't use any)
4 eggs, beaten (I will probably just use 3 next time)
2 cups milk (I used one cup of milk and one cup of half-and-half)
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Break bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread. (I accidently added the butter with all of the other ingredients, but it still turned out well) If desired, sprinkle with raisins. (no raisins for me)
In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.
Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.

The only liquor we have is Amaretto and Crown Royal. I found this recipe for Amaretto sauce and it was divine. It has quite a bit of sugar in the sauce alone, but you really don't need much of the sauce. Even after it sat for a little while, I was able to whisk it for a minute and it came back together nicely.

Amaretto sauce

INGREDIENTS
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 egg well beaten
1/4 cup amaretto Liqueur

DIRECTIONS
Stir the sugar and butter on top of double boiler, set over simmering water, until butter melts, sugar dissolves and mixture is very hot. remove from over water and whisk in the egg. Continue whisking until cooled to room temperature. Mix in the Amaretto. Serve as a top for the Bread Pudding.

Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

I made these to bring to our annual New Years Day lunch with my in-laws. They were delicious and so easy to make. I found the recipe in Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats, and she got it from Kyla's blog.

1 cup of butter (2 sticks)

1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar

2 cups of flour

1/2 cup of Nestle mini chocolate chips

For dipping:

1/2 bag of milk chocolate chips (I used 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 tsp shortening)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Beat all ingredients together, except chocolate chips. Stir in chips.

Shape heaping tablespoons of dough into 3" think logs. Place on non-stick or lightly greased cookie sheets.

Bake until the bottoms are lightly browned. Remove from cookie sheet and place on waxed paper, carefully, to cool. Freeze overnight or longer. (This confused me a bit, so I just threw them in the freezer for about 20 minutes to help them "set".)

Melt a half bag of milk chocolate chips in a double boiler. If you do not have a double boiler, melt the chocolate in your microwave on high heat for 1 minute, at 30 seconds intervals, stirring well between each interval. If the chocolate is not completely melted, continue heating it in your microwave in 10 second intervals, stirring well between each interval, and being careful not to burn the chocolate. (I had to add a little bit of milk to my chocolate to make it smooth enough to dip in)

Dip each stick into the chocolate about 1/3 the way up. Immediately place on waxed paper.

Chill to solidify chocolate.

Yield: Approximately 24 cookies.