Black Devil Cupcakes

3 c. flour

1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 c. cocoa

2 c. sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 c. water

2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 c. oil

Filling

8 oz. cream cheese

1 egg

1/4 c. sugar

1/2 c. chocolate chips

In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar and salt. Add water, vanilla and oil. Mix well. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners. Spoon 2 Tbsp. batter into each cup. Combine the cream cheese, egg, sugar and chocolate chips. Spoon 1 Tbsp. filling in center of each cup. Bake at 350 F. for 20 minutes.

These cupcakes are so yummy and if you wanted to you could even pour the batter into a cake pan and drop the filling into it to make a cake instead of cupcakes.

Connecticut Dinner

Stew meat or round steak

1 large onion, chopped

3/4 tsp. garlic powder

3 beef bouillon cubes

3 c. water

flour to coat meat

1/2 c. sour cream

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 c. milk

2 Tbsp. margarine

4 medium potatoes

1 Tbsp. oil

Coat meat with flour-brown in oil. Add chopped onion, garlic powder, beef bouillon and water. Simmer together for 40 minutes. Pour into 9 x 13 inch glass pan. Mix together soup, milk, margarine and sour cream. Peel and slice potatoes. Cover meat mixture with potatoes. Pour soup mixture over potatoes. Cover with foil. Bake for 1 1/2 hours at 325 degrees.

Granola

I remember having this granola growing up and it was so good. My mom would always tell us to just get a little bit because once we added milk it would grow and we would never finish our bowl. I remember a lot of times I didn't listen and it took me forever to eat my bowl of granola. So word of the wise when eating this don't put too much in your bowl if you have it with milk it expands.

10 c. regular oats

1 c. oconut

2 c. roasted sunflower seeds

1 c. sesame seeds

2 c. nuts

1 c. powdered milk

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

1 1/2 c. water

1 1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. honey

1/2 c. molasses

1 1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

3 tsp. vanilla

Combine first 6 ingredients in large bowl. In saucepan, combine sugar, water, oil, honey, molasses, salt, cinnamon and vanilla. Heat until sugar is dissolved. Pour sugar mixture over dry ingredients. Stir until well coated. Spread in pans. Bake 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Bake 15 minutes longer if cruchier texture desired. Cool. Add raisins or other dried fruit if desired. Store in covered container. Enjoy. It's very good with cheerios as well as strawberries.

Poor Man Steak

This is a recipe that I got from a cookbook that I've maybe opened a total of five times in five years of marriage. We got it when we got married along with a bunch of other ones so I didn't always look for recipes in it. The cookbook is called the 4 ingredient cookbook. Every recipe in the book takes only four ingredients. Something good in this economy because you don't need a ton of ingredients to make a dish.

I tried this dish a while ago and we absolutely loved it. But the big thing to remember is that the hamburger needs to be very lean or it doesn't taste very good. I made it again tonight and Blake wanted to have mashed potatoes with it and it was a perfect fit. I hope everyone enjoys this dish as much as my family does.

3 lbs. lean hamburger

1 c. cracker crumbs

1 c. water

1 pkg. dry onion soup mix

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix the hamburger, cracker crumbs, water and soup mix together. Shape into patties and brown in sauce pan. After patties have been browned, put into a baking dish and cover with cream of mushroom soup. Cover; cook for 1 hour.

Taffy Apple Tartlets

These are some yummy apple treats that I had planned on making for a pampered chef show but things didn't work out and I wasn't able to make them. However, I still wanted to try them because they looked so good. They were really easy to make and they seriously taste like apple pie. This is a recipe I got from pampered chef.

1/4 cup dry-roasted peanuts

2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled

3/4 cup butterscotch caramel sauce, divided

2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1 pkg. refrigerated pie crusts (2 crusts), softened according to package directions

12 caramels, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Unwrap caramels.

Coursely chop the peanuts; set aside for later use. Cut peeled apples lengthwise into quarters. Lay each quarer cut side down; angle knife, cut out and discar core (or just use an apple corer). Corsely chop apples. Combine apples, 1/2 cup of the caramel sauce and flour in a microwave-safe bowl; mix well. Microwave apple mixture on high 5-6 minutes or until bubbling and thickened; stir and set aside.

Unroll one pie crust onto lightly flour cutting board. Spacing closely together cut 12 disks from the crust. There should be nine on the outside and three in the center. Press disks into wells of a mini muffin pan with either a mini-tart shaper or your fingers, and ruffle the edges as you do. Repeat with remaing crust.

Cut caramels in half; place one piece into each tart shell. Spoon apple mixture evenly into tart shells; sprinkle with peanuts. Bake 14-16 minutes or until edges of tartlets are golden brown. Remove tartlets from pan onto a cooling rack. Drizzle with remaining 1/4 cup caramle sauce. These are really good served warm.

Family-Friendly Chicken Enchiladas

I love enchiladas and these were very easy to make and they turned out great. This was my first time making these and we will definitely be having them again.

3 cups cooked and shredded chicken

2 cans cream of chicken soup, condensed

1 cup sour cream

1 can diced green chiles, drained

1/4 cup dried minced onion

2 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese, divided

10 medium flour tortillas

1/3 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine chicken, 1 can soup, sour cream, chiles, onion, and 1 1/2 cups of cheese. Fill tortillas with 1/3 to 1/2 cup chicken mixture. Roll filled tortillas and place seam sice down in greased 9x13 inch pan. Combine remaining soup withh milk and spread over tortilla rolls. Sprinkle remaining cheese over top. Cover and bake 25 minutes. Uncover and bake 5-10 minutes more, or until heated through. Makes 6-8 servings.

I got this recipe out of the cookbook, "101 things to do with a casserole"

Cinnamon pull-apart bread

These are super easy to make and really good. They were gone in about three days at my house. I got this recipe from the website kraftfoods.com they have some really good recipes.

2 cans refrigeratedbuttermilk biscuits

3/4 c. granulated sugar

1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 stick (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted

4 oz. (1/2 of 8 oz. pkg.) cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. powdered sugar

1 - 2 Tbsp. milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut each biscuit into quarters. Mix granulated sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add dough quarters, in batches; toss to coat. Place 1/2 the biscuit pieces in greased fluted tube pan; drizzle with 1/2 the butter. Repeat. Sprinkle with any remaining cinnamon/sugar. Bake 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean and top is golden brown. Cool in pan for 5 minutes; invert onto serving plate. Remove pan.

Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar in small bowl with mixer until well blended. Add 1 Tbsp. milk; beat until well blended. Blend in enough of the remaining milk until glaze is of desired consistency. Drizzle over warm bread.