Monkey Bread

Monkey bread is my Christmas morning tradition. I prepare it the night before, stick it in the fridge and as soon as I get up in the morning I stick it in the oven. Then after the kids get up and we explore what Santa brought we enjoy this before moving on to stockings and gifts!

My friend Cassie makes this on Christmas morning too. Only hers is different. And I've even seen another blog or two that have ways that are different than hers! Who could have imagined that there were so many ways to make such a simple dish!

I love it cause its easy, cheap and delicious!!

First take 4 cans of "pop" biscuits and open them all up

 Next, cut them all into fours, like this....

 Prepair and bowl of cinnamon and sugar

 Coat the biscuit pieces in the the mixture 

 Once they are all coated put them into a bundt pan. I spray mine with pam.

I leave mine in the refrigerator over night on Christmas eve, just so its one last thing I have to do in the morning. So in the morning I take it out and give it a "fluff" so that the pieces are loose again, after being in the cold refrigerator they stick together. 

Once its been fluffed, I melt 1 stick of butter and drizzle it over the top, make sure to even distribute the butter so that you get a consistent texture threw out.

Pop it in a 350 degree oven for about 20 min. 

Then turn over on a platter and it should pop right out!

And Because mine started being attacked before I could get a picture of it, I will show you Cassies, and assure you that Mine looked the same :)

I like to make a sweetened cream cheese spread to put over the top of it. If you put it on top just after you place it on your tray it will melt down all over it and you will need 10 napkins.

This also makes a great Sunday morning treat or if you have guests over!

Recipie:

Bread

4 cans pop biscuits

1/2 Cup melted butter

1/2 Cup sugar and cinnamon mixture

Frosting

1 8oz package low fat cream cheese

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1tbsp Vanilla

Grandma Jean's Soda Cracker Toffee

My Grandma Jean was my most favorite person in the world. She was such an amazing woman. She was not perfect, but she was damn close! She was the most patient, loving, caring, understanding, stubborn, honest person Ive ever known. I get my middle name from her, as does my daughter. We also got a STRONG dose of her stubbornness! When ever my husband is losing in an argument he often calls me Jean! 

Growing up she made this toffee a lot. Mostly around the holidays and let me tell you it never lasted long in the Henney household!

Its a pretty simple recipe, hard to mess up and OH so easy to enjoy. 

Gather your ingredients. (Ive learned the hard way to do this before! Nothing worse than getting half way threw making something to realize your missing something crucial!)

And pre-heat your oven to 375*

 In a large saucepan, ( I used a 5qt) completely melt your (3 sticks) butter on low heat,

 While your butter is melting nicely, line your cookie sheet/jelly roll pan with foil and lay out the 35-40 crackers depending on the size of your pan, just fill it!

 once your butter is ready you can add the 1 1/2 cups brown sugar.

 

 Stir the brown sugar and butter mixture until boiling, continue to boil for 4 min. (not sure the temp on this, next time I make this I think I'm going to check it out) but 4 min seems to be what works!

 

 after boiling for 4 min, remove from heat and add a tablespoon of vanilla, then pour mixture SLOWLY over all of your crackers

 Place your cookie sheet into your pre-heated oven and bake for 5 min

 Your sugar mixture will get bubbly and smell delicious

 Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips all over and let sit for a min or so

 Your chips will be nice and melty ( is that a word) well they will be, and you will be able to spread them all over. Should you desire any additional toppings (nuts, coconut etc.) Now would be the time to sprinkle them on top of your melted chocolate

I let it sit for about 20-30 min and then put the tray in the freezer for about an hour. Then you can easily break your toffee apart into perfect pieces!

I often make this a week or 2 before Christmas because it freezes quite well. It also holds up well when shipped to Hawaii, fudge however does not.

Ingredients:

3 sticks of butter

1.5 cups of light brown sugar packed

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips

1 sleeve saltine crackers 

Optional- nuts, coconut etc. for topping

Tortilla Soup Recipie

Southwestern Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipie

 I have been craving tortilla soup lately, which also happens to be my husbands favorite soup. He really should have been born south of the border because he would be a very happy man to have mexican food every day! I didnt have a recipie, and wasnt sure I had all the ingrediants for ones I was looking at online, So I just went to the kitchen and started gathering! 

What I used-

3 small yellow onions
4 large fresh tomatoes
5 or 6 cloves of garlic
1 can tomato paste
1 can corn
2 cans black beans
1/2 bag pre cooked schwans fajita chicken
Garlic salt
Garlic Powder
Taco Seasoning
hot sauce
oregano
olive oil
chicken broth bullion
and wondra (not pictured)

First things first, gather all your ingredients, and Turn on your crock pot.

Boil 6-8 cups water and make your chicken broth ( feel free to just use canned broth if you have it, I use this cause its WAY cheaper!) Pour that in your crock pot

Chop up your Onions and garlic, add to a pan of 2 tbls hot olive oil and saute for a few minutes, add to crock pot

Dice up your tomatos and add those as well

At this point you will want to add your tomato paste, as well as all of your spices. I used about a 1/4 cup of taco seasoning, but adjust that as well as all other spices to your liking. If you like your food spicy now would be a great time to add a little jalapeno!

 

Cover your crock pot and let cook for several hours.

After several hours of cooking, and about an hour or so before we were going to eat drained and rinsed the the 2 cans of beans, 1 can of corn and added 1/2 bag of Chicken. 

I used the pre-cooked chicken from Schwans, its already seasoned for fajitas, and went great with this soup. but feel free to use fresh chicken if you prefer. I am not a fan of pre-cooked meats, I have been trying out different convenience foods since Adam was born, simply because dinner time is usually his cranky time, And Im hooked. Its great flavor, great texture unlike some precooked chicken Ive tried. its also great to use on salads and in quesadillas and I love that I can just grab a handful and heat it up real quick!

I like my soups a little on the thicker side, so just before serving I added a few tablespoons of wondra to thicken it. You can also use flour to do this.

Here it is, ready to eat!

you can garnish with Avocado, sour cream, cheese and tortilla strips to your liking. I didnt put anything on top of mine and it was delicious! I did however make some of the "raw" tortillas from costco and dip them in it! 

This is a soup that will freeze well, with or with out the meat. Im planning on making a HUGE pot of this in the coming weeks and freezing in meal sized bags for lunches and easy dinners for the winter. You can also add an array of other veggies to it easily!


A small bowl of this along with a nice cheesy quesadilla-YUMMY!