Blackberry Hershey Croissant

Yes...HERSHEY! Inside each croissant are three Hershey's kisses. So yummy when served warm! This recipe is found on the Hershey's baking website...but after the suggestion of adding blackberry sauce and whipped cream from a friend, here is it, tweaked a little bit.



Croissants
1 package (8 oz.) refrigerated quick crescent dinner rolls
24 HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates or HERSHEY'S HUGS Brand Candies
powdered sugar

Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from chocolates. Separate dough into 8 triangles. Place 2 chocolates, sideways, points facing out, at wide end of each triangle; place an additional chocolate on top of other two pieces, point down. Starting at wide end, roll to opposite point. Place rolls on ungreased cookie sheet. Curve slightly into crescent shape. Bake 9-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly; sift with powdered sugar. Serve warm with blackberry sauce and whipped cream. 8 crescents. (Note: Leftover crescents can be reheated in microwave for a few seconds.)

Blackberry Sauce
1 pound frozen blackberries
3 or 4 Tbsps sugar
1 1/2 Tbsps corn starch
1/3 teaspoon lemon extract

Place first three ingredients in saucepan. Turn heat to low and stir occasionally, smashing blackberries as they thaw. Once there is some liquid in the pan, turn heat to medium. Continue to stir and smash the berries. When mixture becomes bubbly, stir for another 2 minutes. Turn heat to low and simmer another minute. Mix in lemon extract and taste for sweetness. Add additional sugar to taste if necessary. Makes about a cup and a half of sauce, so I make about 24 croissants with this amount of blackberries. I'm sure you could use canned blackberry sauce too.

Dublin Coddle

Corey and Tyler needed to make this for Scouts today on St. Patrick's day and mmmmm did it turn out good. This is obviously our version, what with the bratwurst instead of Irish pork sausage, but it's still going to be a nice new addition to our menu around here!



1 1/4 pounds bratwurst
1/2 pound bacon
5 - 7 Cups water
3 chicken bouillon cubes
8 medium red potatoes
1 large onion
salt and pepper
1/2 Cabbage

Cut the bacon into 1 inch squares. Bring the water and bouillon cubes just to a boil in a stock pot that has a well fitting lid. Add the sausages (whole) and the chopped bacon and turn down to a simmer for about 13 minutes, covered.

Remove the bratwurst from the broth. Slice the bratwurst into bite sized pieces. Return to broth.

Cut potatoes into bite-sized pieces with the skin still on. Large chop the onion. Add to broth. Add more water if necessary to cover all the ingredients.

Generously season with salt and pepper. (I use something like this McCormick Peppercorn Medley.)

Cover and simmer on low for an hour to an hour and a half, or until potatoes are tender.

Meanwhile, shred (like this) about half of a cabbage and steam for 10 - 15 minutes over boiling water. Salt if desired and serve in stew.

Mexican Beef Stew

Ingredients
2 pounds beef for stew, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 Cups beef broth
3 Cups salsa
2 medium zucchini, quartered and sliced
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cans Mexican corn or 2 Cups frozen corn
Salt to taste
Sour Cream to taste

Directions
Heat oil til hot add beef and brown on all edges, then pour off drippings. With meat in pan, season with salt to taste and stir in broth and salsa. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Stir in zucchini, beans and corn. Continue cooking, covered, for 15 to 20 more minutes.

Garnish with Cilantro of desired. I like to stir in a tablespoon (or more) of Sour Cream for a little kick of flavor.

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

(I want to add cream cheese to this one day and see how that tastes...yum.)

Recipe
5 or 6 boneless chicken breasts
1 small can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
3/4 cup milk
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Topping
2 rolls Ritz crackers, finely crushed
1/2 - 3/4 cup melted butter
2 Tbsp poppy seeds

Flatten the chicken breasts to a fairly even thickness with a mallet. Lightly salt and pepper. Warm a wide saute pan (it needs to have a lid for later) on medium high heat. Add about a TBSP of butter or olive oil to the pan and turn down to medium heat. Add the chicken, single layer to the pan. Cook ONE MINUTE and then flip over. Cover with lid and turn the heat down to low for 10 minutes. Next, without lifting the lid, shut off the burner and let the chicken sit for another 10 minutes. You'll have the juiciest, softest chicken, ready for a quick chop for this casserole.

In a lightly greased 9x13 casserole pan, mix chicken, soup, sour cream, and cheese. Add milk, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly.

For the topping, add poppy seeds to crushed Ritz crackers. (I run the crackers through my food processor.) Pour melted butter on top and mix well. Sprinkle mixture by hand evenly over top of chicken mixture.

Bake at 350° for about 30 minutes or until bubbly.

(Note: if serving a crowd, double the recipe and divide into two baking dishes but be aware that it will take a little bit longer to bake.)