Fish Taco Bowls

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3-4 tilapia filets (or other fish filet of your choice)
• 1-2 cloves minced garlic
• (I used a pre-seasoned blackened Mahi Mahi and it was perfect with this recipe. So if you have another type of seasoning you like on fish, that will work too.)
• 1 cup fresh sweet corn kernels (sliced off the cob is the best)
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1 can black beans
• cooked brown rice (I used about 2 cups)
• fresh cilantro, avocado, sour cream (I used Jalapeno Ranch instead), or pico de gallo for topping

Instructions

1. Mix the spices together in a small bowl and sprinkle evenly over both sides of the fish filets. (I like to season my fish a LOT, but just sprinkle on however much looks good to you.) Add salt and pepper to taste.
2. In a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat, heat a drizzle of olive oil. Add the garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes. Add the fish filets to the pan. Grill the fish on each side for several minutes, checking the middle for doneness (fish should be completely white and flake apart easily). Remove fish filets and set aside.
1. Since I used a pre-seasoned fish, I skipped these steps and instead just grilled the fish until done.
3. Add corn, red peppers and the black beans to the pan and heat through.
4. Layer rice, corn/peppper mixture, and fish in a bowl – or mix everything together in the skillet. Top with any of the toppings listed above! (My favorite mix of toppings was the cilantro, jalapeno ranch, avacado, and pico de gallo.

Italian Cream Sodas

Ingredients

• Club Soda
• Half & Half
• Torani Syrups
• Ice

To make one Italian Cream Soda, you'll need:

• 1/2 cup Club Soda
• 3 TBSP Torani Syrup
• 1 TBSP Half & Half
• ice cubes
• whipped cream and a cherry for the top!

It's as easy as that!

Ham and Cheese Pretzel Bites

And our second recipe of the day was Ham and Cheese Bagel Bites. First off, these take a while to make as you have to wait for the dough to rise and let the rolls set for a while before you cook them. In the end, though, they are delicious.

Ingredients:
2 Tbs Brown Sugar
1 cup of warm milk (110-115 F)
2 and 1/2 cups flour
1 package (1/4 oz.) dry yeast
Olive Oil
2 cups ham (or bacon, pepperoni, etc.)
2 cups cheese (I used mozzarella and cheddar)

Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, combine the milk and sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Add the flour and dry yeast and stir until a soft dough forms. Add more flour if needed (up to 1/2 cup) Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead a few times, forming a smooth ball.

Brush the inside of a large clean bowl with olive oil. Transfer the dough to the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Allow it to rise in a warm, draft-free area for about 2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size and bubbles appear on the surface.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide it into 4 equal pieces. Lightly dust a rolling pin with flour and roll each piece of dough into roughly a 12x4-inch rectangle.

Chop the ham and shred the cheese.

With the long sides facing you, place equal amount of the chopped ham and shredded cheese onto the bottom third of each piece of dough:

Roll the dough as tightly as you can, starting with the long edge holding the ham and cheese.

Cut the rolls into equal sized pieces.

Transfer the pieces to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Let them rest, uncovered, at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Add 4 teaspoons of baking soda to the boiling water and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.

Boil the pretzels in batches, cooking for about 20 seconds each and turning once.

They should look slightly puffed when they are done. Use a slotted spoon to transfer them back to the baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven until they are puffed and golden, about 15 minutes.

Brush with 4 tablespoons of melted butter and sprinkle with 1-2 tablespoons of coarse kosher salt. 

Pretzel Crust Brownies

Okay, so my best friend came over yesterday and we decided to make these brownies. Since we planned on cooking all day, we figured it would be alright if we took a shortcut on these brownies and use a boxed brownie mix instead of a recipe from scratch.

Either way, the pretzel crust on these is amazing and everyone agreed! I was worried about making these because my mom can't make brownies to save her life. Hers always turn out rock-hard; they could be used as weapons. But mine turned out just like brownies should!




Ingredients:
for the crust:
4 Cups pretzels
¾ Cups unsalted butter (1.5 sticks)
½ Cups sugar

for the brownies:
*you can use a simple boxed mix or your own favorite brownie recipe

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Farenheit.

2. Line a 13x9 inch pan with a foil, letting some of it hang over the edges (this will allow you to lift the brownies out of the pan for easier cutting and presentation).  Be sure to spray the foil with cooking spray or butter and flour.
3. Process the pretzels in a food processor (or crush them in a sealed ziploc bag), until small but not to powder. 

4. Melt the butter.
5. Mix the crushed pretzels, sugar and melted butter in a mixing bowl until combined.  

6. Press the mixture into the baking pan.  Bake for 10 minutes or until the crust has set.

7. Cool the baked pretzel crust in the refrigerator. Maybe put down a layer or two of dish towels under the pan to avoid breaking any glass or melting plastic while in the refrigerator.

8. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees Farenheit.
9. Mix the brownie batter per the box directions or according to your favorite brownie recipe.
10. Carefully, spread the batter over the cooled pretzel crust with a spatula or icing knife.

11. Cook the brownie according to the directions labeled on the box.

12. remove the brownies from the pan by lifting the foil out and set aside to cool.

Macaroon Kiss Cookies

We all went back for seconds on these and they might be my mom and dad's new favorite. My dad liked them without the chocolate, but my mom really liked the chocolate. She said they were like a crispy Almond Joy, but much much better! You can definitely taste the butter and cream cheese in these!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups All purpose flour
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2/3 cups butter, softened
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 egg yolks
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon juice from a fresh orange
10 cups sweetened flaked coconut, divided in to 6 cup and 4 cup portions
1 bag Hershey Kisses (48 pieces)

Instructions:
Step 1: In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Step 2: In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, vanilla and orange juice and beat till smooth.
Step 3: In 1/2 cup increments, mix flour in to the butter mixture. Add the 6 cups flaked coconut and beat to combine. (Since the dough became almost too thick to mix or try to stir, I combined the coconut and dough with my hands.)
Step 4: Refrigerate dough for 1 hour. While dough is chilling, remove wrappers from the Kisses.
Step 5: Preheat oven to 350. One at a time, scoop dough into 1.5″ balls (about the size of a large walnut, roll between your palms, then roll in the bowl of remaining coconut (4 cups). Arrange on an ungreased baking sheet, at least an inch apart (cookies will spread slightly). A standard cookie sheet should accommodate a dozen cookies at a time. Bake 12-14 minutes, until the cookies puff and are very lightly browned.
Step 6: Remove from oven. Immediately press one Kiss into each cookie. Return pan to oven and bake for an additional minute.
Step 7: Remove pan from oven and cool on a rack for 10 minutes. With a thin spatula, gently move cookies on to a rack to finish cooling.

Day 1. Cookie Baking Day!

Yesterday was day 1, cookie baking day. So, every weekend, from here until the day I leave home for college, I will choose 2 or more recipes to make to try to finish all 150+ recipes I've pinned on Pinterest. I'll probably make more over breaks and long weekends and this is the perfect 3 day weekend to start!

I made two batches of cookies, Oreo cheesecake cookies and macaroon kiss cookies. The recipe for the macaroons makes near 100 cookies!