Easy peanut butter cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
1 egg
1 cup sugar (plus extra to sprinkle on top)
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

Mix ingredients together and form into balls. Crisscross with a fork and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

These cookies are simple to make with ingredients always on hand and your kids will love them. They are gluten-free too!

Pumpkiny goodness

Turtle Pumpkin Pie (from Kraft Foods Magazine)

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. caramel ice cream topping, divided
1 HONEY MAID Graham Pie Crust
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. PLANTERS Pecan Pieces, divided
1 cup cold milk
2 pkg. (3.4 oz. each) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed, divided

POUR 1/4 cup caramel topping into crust; sprinkle with 1/2 cup pecans.
BEAT milk, pudding mixes, pumpkin and spices with whisk until blended. Stir in 1-1/2 cups COOL WHIP. Spread into crust.
REFRIGERATE at least 1 hour. Top with remaining COOL WHIP, caramel topping and pecans just before serving.

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Pumpkin Cookies (more like perfect little pumpkin cakes than crunchy cookies)

1/2 cup Shortening
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Pumpkin
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 tsp. Soda
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Cinnamon
2 cups Flour

Cream together shortening and sugar. Add other cookie ingredients. Spoon out small amounts on cookie sheet (about the size of a walnut). Bake 8-10 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove from oven and remove from the pan because they continue to cook. Cool on wax paper, then frost.

Frosting
1/2 cup Margarine
8 oz. Cream Cheese
1 tsp. Vanilla

Cream three ingredients together and add a small bag of powder sugar.

Green Chile Mac & Cheese

Green Chile Mac & Cheese

1 lb hamburger meat or ground turkey

1 jar Cookwell Green Chile Stew (can also use canned chile puree)

1 block Easy Melt Queso Blanco, cubed (by the Velveeta)

1/2 pkg. large elbow macaroni pasta

Shredded cheese, your choice (I like Colby jack)

Brown hamburger meat. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Mix hamburger with cooked pasta, cubed Queso Blanco & Green Chile Stew. Spray casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. Pour mixture into casserole dish. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until cheese is brown and bubbly.

I served this dish with green beans & it was delicious! My picky 2 year old gobbled it up!

Chicken rings

Spinach Chicken Ring

1 can (10 oz.) chunk white chicken, drained and flaked ( I use rotissery chicken and eyeball the amount)
1/2 cup red bell pepper
chopped 1 pkg (10 oz.) frozen chop spinach, thawed & well drained
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp. lemon zest
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 pkg. refrigerated crescent rolls

Flake or shred chicken. Add chopped bell pepper, spinach, cheese and mayo, lemon zest, salt and nutmeg. Unroll crescent dough; separate into triangles. Arrange triangles in a circle with wide ends overlapping in the center and points toward the outside. Scoop chicken mixture evenly onto widest end of each triangle. Bring outside points of triangles up over filling and tuck under wide ends of dough at center. Filling WILL NOT be completely covered. Bake in a preheated 375F oven for 20-25 min. or until golden brown. Yield: 8 servings.
Approx. 400 cal. & 27 g of fat per serving.


I usually use a rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken breast instead of canned chicken. I never add in nutmeg or lemon zest and it's still yummy. I also usually simmer the spinach in some chicken broth so it's flavored well and my picky eaters will eat it. Both these chicken rings are Pampered Chef recipes. YUM!



Turkey Cranberry Wreath

2 pkg. (235g each) refrigerated crescent rolls
1/2 C. mayonnaise
2 T. honey Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. coarsely ground pepper
2 C. cooked turkey or chicken, chopped
1/2 C. celery, sliced
3 T. fresh parsley, snipped
1/2 C. dried cranberries
4 oz. Swiss cheese, shredded (1cup)
1/4 C. walnuts, chopped (optional)
1 egg, separated

Preheat oven to 375°F. Unroll crescent dough; separate into 16 triangles. With wide ends of triangles toward the center. arrange 8 triangles in a circle on Large Round Stone. Corners of wide ends will touch and points will extend 1 inch beyond of baking stone. Arrange remaining 8 triangles in center. matching ends. Seal seams using pizza roller. (Points will overlap in center; do not seal.)
Measure mayonnaise, mustard and black pepper into a bowl. Grate cheese into a bowl. Mix filling. Scoop filling over seams of dough, forming a circle.
Coarsely chop walnuts; sprinkle over filling. Beginning in center, lift one dough triangle across mixture. Continue alternating with outer triangle, slightly overlapping to form wreath. Tuck last end under first.
Separate egg over bowl. Beat egg white lightly; brush over dough. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Yields 10 servings.
Per serving: 363 calories; 17 g protein; 24g fat; 20g carbohydrates; 521 mg sodium

I usually use rotisserie chicken for this unless it's the day after Thanksgiving and I have leftover turkey. I never have celery and it's just fine without it. The savory chicken and Swiss combined with the cranberries is so yummy!