Peach Iced Tea

• Peach Syrup:
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 cup Water
• 2-3 sliced fresh Peaches
• Tea:
• 3 Tea Bags
• 6 cups Water
• 
  

1. Bring syrup ingredients to boil. Then reduce heat to medium.
2. Crush peach slices as you stir to dissolve sugar.
3. Turn off heat cover and let sit for 30 minutes.
4. Boil water and brew tea letting steep 5 minutes.
5. Remove tea bags and refrigerate.
6. Strain syrup through a fine strainer to remove fruit pieces.
7. Add syrup to tea and serve over ice.

Honey Mustard Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

2 chicken breasts {about 1 lb.}
1/2 cup diced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup dijon mustard
3/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons salted butter
1 sprig fresh rosemary
salt & pepper, to taste

2 teaspoons dried chives {for garnish; optional}

DIRECTIONS:

Place all ingredients into plastic freezer bag. Seal and freeze.

To make, defrost bag, place contents into crockpot and cook covered 3-4 hours on high or until chicken is fully cooked. Discard rosemary sprig. Remove chicken, shred and place back into sauce. Stir in a few chives for color if desired. Keep warm until ready to serve.

Serve over rice

Oreo Cake Filling

1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 C sugar
2 C cool whip, thawed
12 Oreo's, coarsely crushed

Beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with mixer until blended. Gently stir in Cool Whip and crushed cookies. Use to fill chocolate cakes.

Summer Avocado Salad

For the salad:

2 heads of Romaine lettuce (3 if only using Romaine hearts)

1 bunch of cilantro

1 bunch of green onions

2-3 Hass avocados

For the dressing:

2-3 large limes

1 clove of garlic

1/3 cup of extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons of honey

1 teaspoon of kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. After washing all the greens, chop the lettuce into bite-size pieces and place in a large serving bowl. Finely chop the cilantro and thinly slice the green onions, then add to the bowl and lightly toss everything together.
2. If you have a lime juicer, then juice the limes. If not, then roll the limes against a hard surface, firmly pressing down, to break up the insides, then cut them in half.
3. Halve the avocados, remove the seeds, then cut cross-sections in the avocados inside the skin.
4. Drizzle a little lime juice on the avocados to prevent browning, then scoop out the avocado pieces and add them to the bowl.
5. In a mixing bowl, add the olive oil, honey, salt, and pepper.
6. Finely mince the clove of garlic and add it to the mixing bowl.
7. Add/squeeze the lime juice from 2 limes, then whisk everything together. Adjust for taste, as necessary (see notes). 
8. Drizzle half of the dressing across the salad, toss, then continue to add more until desired level of dressing is reached.
9. Serve immediately or refrigerate and serve within an hour. 

Notes

The balance of flavors for this salad depends on a lot on the ingredients you are using. For instance, the recipe calls for 2-3 limes, but the limes I purchased were somewhat small and dry, so it actually took me about 4-5 limes to get the amount of juice that I needed for this. The olive flavor in the dressing was not really noticeable in the end result, but if you are really adverse to the stronger flavor of EVOO then you could use the lighter-tasting olive oil. This recipe also adjusts easily for varying quantities of greens, so just keep tasting/adjusting to your preference; in the end, I increased the quantity of everything a little bit because of the size of the group (still should have made more) and had dressing left over. It's pretty forgiving, just don't overdress the salad and it'll be fine.

Crock Pot Chicken Divan

Layer all in crock pot in the order listed. Cook on high for about 4 hrs. (Can add breadcrumbs to the top if you wish before serving)

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 stick (1/2 C) butter
1 can cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup
1 C mayo
1/4 C lemon juice
2 stalks celery (optional)
1 small onion, diced (I have used some dried minced onion and onion powder when I was out of onions)
8 oz cheddar cheese
2 C frozen broccoli
1 dash salt & pepper
breadcrumbs (optional, add to top when it's done cooking)

Serve the dish over steamed rice.

Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH CUPCAKES

INGREDIENTS:

COOKIE DOUGH FILLING:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips

CUPCAKES:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

COOKIE DOUGH FROSTING:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

GARNISH:
additional mini chocolate chips
12 mini Chips Ahoy cookies

DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare the cookie dough filling (see *Tips below): In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to stir together the butter, sugars, milk and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients and the chocolate chips. Refrigerate for 15 to 30 minutes, or until the cookie dough is firm. Scoop out dough in 2 tablespoon scoops and place it on a cookie sheet. Freeze until firm, at least 30 minutes.

2. Prepare the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with 12 liners. Place the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda and salt in a blender. Blend to combine. Add the water, oil, egg and vanilla. Blend to combine, scraping down the sides as needed a couple of times until all is well mixed. Divide the batter between the 12 cupcake liners. Drop a ball of frozen chocolate chip cookie dough into the center of each cupcake. If you would like the cookie dough to bake up slightly, keep the top visible as pictured in the post. If you'd like to keep the cookie dough somewhat raw, push it to the bottom of the cupcake wrapper, making sure that the batter comes up and over the dough.

3. Bake the cupcakes for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cupcake portion of the cupcake (not tested through the center where the dough is), comes out fairly clean. Cool the cupcakes completely before adding the frosting.

4. Prepare the frosting: In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the butter and sugars until smooth and creamy. Mix in the flour, milk and vanilla and continue to mix until all is well combined.

5. Assemble: Frost cupcakes with a knife or scoop the frosting into a piping bag and pipe it on decoratively. Sprinkle mini chips on top and garnish with a small chocolate chip cookie.

TIPS:

*You don't necessarily have to melt the butter and refrigerate the dough before scooping. The melted butter just helps the sugar dissolve a bit more so you don't have that grainy texture in the cookie dough. It is necessary to freeze it though.

Source: RecipeGirl.com (cupcakes from this recipe, frosting adapted barely from T