Pioneer Woman's Bowtie Chicken Alfredo

I love Ree - The Pioneer Woman.  I have been following her for years - way before she was on the Food Network.  If you aren't familiar with Ree, please find her show on television, go to her website The Pioneer Woman or buy one of her cookbooks.  You will love her.  She is so fun and so "relatable"! I don't think that is a word but you get it.  Anytime I am looking for a recipe, I always look to Ree for the best recipe out there.  I feel like Ree and I would be friends!

Recently, I made her Bowtie Chicken Alfredo.  I went the easy route and made it with some precooked chicken that was in my fridge.  Also, I had a goof while making this recipe.  I went to shake some pepper in and the large opening on my pepper was open so I  "poured" pepper in.  I was so sad.  I scooped out as much as I could but needless to say, we had "Peppered Bowtie Chicken Alfredo".  My husband loved it!  Our youngest daughter thought it was a little too peppery!  It was still yummy!

I am not going to repost the recipe!  Just please visit The Pioneer Woman for this easy, yummy Bowtie Chicken Alfredo.  

Peanut Butter Balls

I love peanut butter and I especially love peanut butter balls.  I have had several different varieties.  I think my favorite is this one with Rice Krispies.

In past years, I have made the balls, refrigerated or frozen them and dipped them the night before the event.  I decided this year, I wanted to make, refrigerate, dip and freeze and not wait until night before the event.  YAY - they turned out beautifully.  I will never wait and dip again.  The day before the party, I moved the bars from the freezer to the refrigerator.  I served them from the refrigerator. They were fabulous.  I dipped in a nice quality almond bark and they didn't discolor at all.

Peanut Butter Balls

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

1/2 cup butter

3 cups Rice Krispies

3-4 cups powdered sugar

1 pkg chocolate almond bark

White almond bark/peanut butter for drizzling

Soften peanut butter and butter in microwave.  Add cereal and powdered sugar, mixing well to form a thick mixture.  Using a small cookie scoop, scoop up mixture and roll into a ball.  Place balls on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.  When all balls are formed, refrigerate balls for at least one hour until firm.  Melt almond bark in microwave according to directions.  When balls are firm, take a ball and roll around in your hands to smooth edges.  Put toothpick in ball and dip into melted almond bark. Using a spoon in your other hand, help take the excess off the bottom of the ball.  I don't like the balls to sit in excess almond bark.  Drain as much off as you can.  Using the spoon, help to slide the ball off the toothpick, using the excess on the spoon to fill in the toothpick hole.  Balls will harden as you dip more balls.  You can decorate the top a variety of ways.  I think drizzling or sprinkling helps to hide any of your dipping flaws.  I chose to melt a couple of squares of white almond bark and about a tablespoon of creamy peanut butter together.  I spooned the mixture into a small ziploc bag.  I squeeze all of the mixture down to the corner of the bag.  I snipped a very small hole in the corner of the bag and squeezed the bag as I drizzled onto the peanut butter balls.  

After all of the balls were dipped and drizzled and hardened, I layer the balls with wax paper, topped with wax paper and froze them until the day before serving.  I moved them to the refrigerator the day before serving.  I served them directly from the refrigerator.  

FABULOUS!!

Meg's Graduation Dessert Party

Our youngest daughter just graduated from high school.  I still can't even believe it!  She is joining her sisters at Baylor University in the Fall.  We will have three girls at Baylor.  Yikes - but so exciting.  I love that they will all be together!  I may be several states away but they will have each other!

All of our graduation parties have been dessert parties - Oreo Balls, Peanut Butter Balls, Monster Bars, Lemon Bars, Almond Bars, English Toffee, White Chocolate Crunchy Clusters, Chocolate Covered Strawberries, Cheesecake, Ice Cream with homemade fudge sauce (will post soon), etc.  I love planning it and thanks to friends decorating, friends serving and family/friends helping out a ton - the party was a huge success.   I will post the recipe for Peanut Butter Balls soon..... and Oreo Balls.  I thought everyone knew how to make Oreo Balls but after a few conversations, I realized I need to post a recipe.  

We also had little bags for everyone to take treats to go.  All of the centerpieces were candy, too.        (cute black buckets with Twizzler sticks, Sour Straws, Caramel Apple Lollipops, Laffy Taffy rope, Sweet Tarts, etc.)  The CANDY BAR had cherry sours, Baylor green & gold M &Ms, French chocolate mints, Acai chocolate balls, dark chocolate sea salt caramels, ring pops, local Vic's popcorn balls, local Nebraska Baker's Chocolates, Texas Atkinsons Chick-o-sticks and Peanut Butter Logs, Sour Patch watermelon slices, and more.  It was so fun!!

A local young lady that is a sophomore in high school has a great business making cheesecakes and other desserts for parties.  She made our cheesecake and dipped over 300 strawberries for the party.  If you need a local person to make a dessert for you, Rileigh is your girl.  She is known for her cheesecakes.  She makes Original, Keylime, Turtle, Caramel Apple, Blue Ribbon, etc.  Send me an email if you want her contact information.

   Missing our oldest daughter, Annie. She is in Uganda on a mission trip.  And of course, missing my crazy fun Dad, Potter!

  The only picture we snapped of the dessert table was on Meg's snapchat.   We are missing the Oreo Balls on the top layer right and the cheesecake front and center.  The Candy Bar is in the back - most of it finsished - just haven't poured in the watermelon Sour Patch.  Busy Graduate Mom - didn't get enough pics!!  It rained a ton the day of the party and stopped just a couple of hours before the party started.  We were frantic at the end!

Overnight Caramel Pecan Rolls

First, I want to apologize for not posting new recipes more often.  Life just gets a little crazy and I just haven't tried any new recipes to share.  I have been making a few old "stand-by" recipes.  I did make an easy Thai Lahvosh last night.  We love it.  If you have precooked chicken, it takes like five minutes to put together and just a few minutes to broil.  I highly recommend it!

Over Easter, I wanted to make Caramel Pecan Rolls.  I have been searching for a recipe that I can make at night, and then we can bake it the next morning.  I found this recipe at All Recipes and... it was perfect!  I made two rectangle pans of 12 pecan rolls.  I had a few rolls leftover so I put them in a round pan and decided to top them with frosting... instead of doing the caramel/pecan topping.  The rolls were all fabulous.  I left the pecans off one end of the rolls because my girls always say they don't like nuts.  However, all of the ones with pecans were eaten first so I won't do that again.  I did freeze one pan of the rolls.  I plan to bake when family visits in May,   I will let you know how they turn out after being frozen.  AND... I doubled the caramel pecan mixture.  You can never have enough of the yummy "goo"!!

Caramel Pecan Rolls (adapted from All Recipes)

Ingredients: 

2 cups milk
2 (.25) pkgs active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
1 egg
7 cups all purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 Tbsp light corn syrup
1 cup pecan halves (I chopped mine)

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1 Tbsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Let cool until lukewarm. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine yeast mixture, milk, sugar, oil, baking powder, salt, egg and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
3. Heat brown sugar and 1/2 cup butter until melted. Remove from heat; stir in corn syrup. Divide mixture between two 9x13 inch baking pans. Sprinkle 1/2 cup pecans in each pan. (I doubled the sauce)
4. When dough has doubled in size, punch down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out into a large rectangle and spread with butter. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Starting with the long side, roll up the rectangle into a log, and slice into 1 inch wide rolls. Place the rolls slightly apart in pans. Wrap pans with aluminum foil and refrigerate at least 12 hours but no longer than 48. (I froze one pan at this point)
5. Remove rolls from refrigerator and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
6. Bake uncovered in preheated oven until golden 30 to 35 minutes. Immediately invert pan on heatproof serving plate. Wait for 1 or 2 minutes before removing pan, so that caramel drizzles over rolls.

Cinnamon Roll Icing Recipe (If you have a few extra and want to bake separately)

2 oz cream cheese, softened

7 Tbsp butter, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tbsp milk

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1/4 salt

Beat together the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer in a large bowl until creamy. Mix in the vanilla and milk, then gradually mix in the confectioners' sugar and salt until smooth and fluffy.

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