Mashed Potatoes

This were perfect with our chicken fried steak for dinner. Warning...NOT healthy! But yummy :)

Mashed Potatoes

2 1/2 lb. red skinned potatoes, quartered
1/2 C whipping cream
1 stick butter
1 T salt

Bring the potatoes to boil in a large pot. Once boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes. Add the cream, butter, and salt to the potatoes. Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes. Enjoy!

Easy and delicious!

Chicken Fried Steak

I have been excited about cooking this for 2 weeks now! And what did I do...screw it up! After a few tears (yes, I cry over failed dinner attempts-don't judge!), some words, and a lot of frustration, I somehow managed to salvage this dinner! Next time I make it I will do it right! A lot of things went wrong with this, some my fault and some not! First, (reminder to self) DO NOT forget to tenderize the meat! The meat needs to be pounded thin or it won't cook through the way the recipe states and you will have to cook it in the oven the rest of the way through.

This was not a healthy dinner, especially when you serve it with the mashed potatoes I made tonight :)

I didn't get a picture of this dinner, but you should check out Ree's blog...she has phenomenal step by step photos of her recipes.

Chicken Fried Steak
Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks

3 lb. cube steak
2 eggs
1 1/2 C milk, plus 2 C for the gravy
3 C all-purpose flour, plus 1/3 C for gravy
2 tsp. seasoned salt
3/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 C vegetable oil

Put the eggs and 1 C milk in a pie dish. Mix together. On another plate, mix 3 C flour with the seasoned salt, paprika, cayenne pepper and black pepper. Lightly season a piece of meat with salt and pepper. Dip in the egg mixture, coating both sides. Coat in flour. Dip again in the egg mixture and then back in the flour. Place on a clean plate. Repeat with the remaining pieces of meat.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry 3 pieces of meat a time. Cook on one side until the edges start to look brown, about 2 1/2 minutes. Turn and cook 2-3 minutes on the other side. Place on a paper towel lined plate and keep warm. repeat with remaining meat.

Pour the grease into a heat proof bowl. Using the same greasy pan, don't clean it, add 1/4 C grease back to the pan. Heat over medium-low heat. Sprinkle 1/3 C flour evenly over grease and mix with a whisk. ****I didn't seem to have enough grease off of my meat and this step messed up for me. I added a little (1 T) of oil to the pan to supplement.**** When the mix looks golden brown, pour in 2 C milk, whisking continuously. Let the gravy come to a slow boil. Stirring occasionally, let thicken. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over steak.

Sweet and Sour Pork Kebabs

Finally a recipe from my new healthy cookbook that we love! Too bad it has to be grilled and that limits how often we will have it. :) This recipe was easy, delicious, and worth the few calories that were in it!

Here's the nutrition breakdown:

"Calories, fat, and cholesterol were reduced by..."
Reducing the amount of oil in the marinade
Using a leaner cut of pork, and less of it
Add bell peppers to compensate for less meat

Calories before...550
after...201

Fat (g) before...26
after...5

Sweet and Sour Pork Kebabs
Source: More Healthy Homestyle Cooking

Marinade and Pork
2 T red wine vinegar
1 T dark sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. salt
1 lb pork tenderloin, cut into 32 1'' chunks

Sauce
1/4 C ketchup
2 T red wine vinegar
2 T sugar
2 tsp. reduced sodium soy sauce
1/4 tsp. dark sesame oil

Kebabs
2 bell peppers (red or green), cut into 32 1'' pieces
1 can (20 oz) pineapple chunks

In a large bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, garlic, red pepper, and salt. Stir in the pork. Cover and chill for at least 6 hours.

In a small bowl, combine the sauce ingredients. Set aside.

Soak 8 10" bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes (to prevent burning). Thread a bell pepper, followed by a pineapple chunk and a pork chunk onto a skewer. Repeat 4 times on each skewer.

Grill over medium-hot coals. Turn the kebabs 3-4 times while cooking. Drizzle the marinade over the kebabs one minute before finished. Serve immediately.

Perfect One Bowl Brownies

So I've made these a few times and LOVE them! I hate the taste of homemade brownies in general...they just can't compete with the box! And I hear everyone's argument of how much quicker and easier it is to make them from the box. But THESE and so quick and easy and delicious! I can literally decide to make them and get them in the oven in all of 10 minutes. I usually always have the ingredients on hand too. So yummy!

I can't seem to get a picture taken whenever I make these....so I'm posting them without one! Sorry, just trust me :)



Perfect One Bowl Brownies
Source: The Sister's Cafe


1/2 C butter, melted
1/2 C vegetable oil
2 C sugar
1/2 C cocoa powder
4 eggs
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 C flour
Chocolate Chips (about 1 C)


Preheat oven to 350. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the butter, oil, sugar, and cocoa. Add eggs, salt, vanilla, and flour. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes.


Easy, right?

Chicken Tortilla Soup

So another healthy recipe. I've made Mexican food a lot this week. I think it's healthy because the spices give it the flavor. This soup was good, but I wasn't full afterwards. I desperately wanted to make brownies! So much for cooking healthy! I haven't made it to the kitchen to make them yet. I might make it through the night without them...MIGHT! This soup was a little bland. I wonder if this has to do with the fact that I used cumin seeds instead of ground cumin.

This recipe was in the section of the cookbook titled "Relax while it cooks." This couldn't have been further from the truth for me tonight! I'm not saying that it will be for you though! First, it took me forever to chop my veggies! My food chopper wasn't cooperating and I reverted back to my trusty old knife and cutting board! Then, I realized I didn't have any chicken broth! Ugh! I always make my grocery list off of my menu for the week and somehow I missed this one! Luckily, Charlie worked from home today and he ran to Harris Teeter for me! Then...I was misreading the recipe. I thought she said to use a crock pot, which I thought was strange...and my chicken wasn't cooking in the 4 minutes it was supposed to. So 2 1/2 hours later we ate! At least I got some cleaning done during that 2 1/2 hours. AND! As I type this recipe I realize that this was supposed to have cheese in it! How did I miss that as well! I think I need to go to bed...obviously my brain isn't working today!

Charlie and I both put the cheese on our soup for lunch leftovers and found it much better!

My healthy tip I learned this time...when cooking veggies cook them in a pan sprayed with nonstick spray instead of oil. It worked wonders and saved calories!

Here's the breakdown on the healthy aspects of this recipe:

  • Bake the tortillas instead of frying them

  • Using reduced fat cheese, and less of it

  • Eliminating the oil for cooking veggies
Calories before...402
after...275

Fat before...20
after...4

Per serving...serves 6


Chicken Tortilla Soup
Source: More Healthy Homestyle Cooking

6 corn tortillas (6" diameter)
3/4 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into thin strips
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
6 C fat-free chicken broth
10 oz frozen corn kernels
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
3 tomatoes, chopped (we only used 1)
6 T shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 375. Coat a baking sheet with nonstick spray. Cut the tortillas in half and then in short strips. Lay in a single layer on the baking sheet. Spray lightly with nonstick spray. Bake for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Coat a large pot with nonstick spray and warm over medium-low heat. Add the chicken, peppers, carrots, onion, and garlic. Cook for 4 minutes or the chicken isn't pink. Add the broth, corn and cumin. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to low and cook for 30 minutes.

Place a layer of tomatoes in a bowl. Scatter tortilla strips on top. Ladle the soup on top. Top with more tortilla strips and cheese.

Pineapple Upside Down (Cup)Cake

So in our movement to eat healthier I told Charlie I had to find a cookbook with healthy recipes that I would be excited about making. I've tried searching the web for recipes and I just end up frustrated. So I did some searching on Amazon and came up with this...
We went to Barnes and Noble and I looked through it to see if I thought it was worth it. I think I will LOVE this cookbook! It's great because the whole beginning of the book is about how to cook healthy with recipes you already have. Simple swatches in a recipe can make it healthy without losing the test. Now you may say that I didn't need a book to tell me that, but I do! She explains how you can't always substitute and keep the flavor. She gives tips on what substitutions work with what kinds of recipes. Like in this recipe, you don't want to replace all the flour with whole wheat for taste purposes. So you replace some. I really do love this book! Every recipe she has tells you what she did to make it healthier and breaks down the calorie points before the healthy switches and after.

For example, in this recipe she "reduced calories and fat by:"
  • Using light butter in place of regular
  • Replacing the oil with applesauce
  • Using low-fat buttermilk instead of whole milk
  • Using egg whites instead of whole eggs

Calories before...207
after...152

Fat g before...8
after...1

(per serving)

Too bad my favorite part of this thing is the top...the part with all the brown sugar and butter . :) These were not my favorite. Charlie liked them once he ate a couple, but it definitely wasn't love at first bite. I sent some to my brother's house...no word from them. And we gave some to friends who said they liked it, but I'm not sure if I believe them!

I think I'm just not used to "healthy eating." The tops were great, but the bottoms were too dry. Not moist like pineapple upside down cake should be! This was disappointing! I'm hoping the other recipes in this book are better!


Pineapple Upside Down (Cup)cakes
Source: More Healthy Homestyle Cooking

1/4 C packed brown sugar
2 T light butter, melted
6 maraschino cherries, halved
8 oz crushed pineapple, drained
1 C all-purpose flour
3/4 C whole-wheat flour
2/3 C sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
2/3 C 2% buttermilk
1/3 C unsweetened applesauce
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract

Heat oven to 400. Lightly coat a muffin tin with nonstick spray.

In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar and butter. Divide evenly in muffin tin. Place one half of a cherry, cut side up, in the center of each muffin cup. Divide the pineapple evenly among muffin cups. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and ginger. Make a well in the center of the mixture.

In another bowl, combine milk, applesauce, egg whites, and vanilla. Pour into the flour well and stir until moistened.

Mexican Pasta Skillet

I get lots of emails with recipes from various sources. I usually skim them, look for something I would make, and either delete or star them for later. This one popped up from Betty Crocker around the new year when Charlie was asking me when I was going to start cooking healthy. We've had this conversation so many times in our marriage and we've only been married 6 months! :) But this week, I've really tried to pick things that are healthy. The first thing that caught my eye on this recipe was "healthified." So technically, they've taken something that isn't usually healthy and made some substitutions to make it healthier! YAY! That's my kind of recipe! This made a lot and was more than enough for dinner, lunches tomorrow, and at least one more night's dinner. We both really liked it too!


Mexican Pasta Skillet
Source: Betty Crocker

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 jar (16 oz) salsa
15 oz. tomato sauce
1 1/2 C water
2 C uncooked elbow macaroni
1 C frozen corn (I used 1 1/2 C)
1/2 C shredded cheddar cheese, reduced-fat

Brown the ground beef. Add the salsa, tomato sauce, and water. Bring to a boil. Add the macaroni and corn. Cover and simmer about 15 minutes. Top with cheese and let the cheese melt 1-2 minutes.

***According to Betty, there are 6 servings at 370 calories each.

Bacon Wrapped Sausages

If you haven't discovered these yet, you are missing out!!! My picture is terrible and for that I'm sorry! It's really a shame considering my awesome photographer sister was at my house when we had these. She could have taken an amazing picture! This are delicious and SO easy to make! People have different methods of getting the brown sugar on. I like my method, although it is a little time consuming. You can also use toothpicks to secure them, but I don't think it's necessary.


Bacon Wrapped Sausages
1 package of Lil' Smokies
1 package of bacon
Brown Sugar (no idea how much)

Cut the bacon strips in half to make them shorter. Roll the sausage in the brown sugar and dredge the bacon in it too. Wrap the bacon around the sausage and place either on a baking sheet, in a baking dish, or on a double broiler. Whatever you use, it helps to line it with foil first for easy clean up! Bake for about an hour and 350.

Easy, right?

Hummingbird Cake

I love hummingbird cake! My first experience with it was at the Table Talk Cafe in Wilmington. If you live in Wilmington you HAVE to visit The Salt Shaker bookstore and connected to it, the Table Talk Cafe. They are both owned by 2 sisters that I used to go to church with. I love both of these places and miss them now that we're not in Wilmington! The cafe has delicious desserts!


So for my birthday, I decided to make myself a hummingbird cake. If you've never had hummingbird cake it's similar to a carrot cake, but without the carrots! I originally wanted hummingbird cake as my wedding cake, but then sampled the delicious cake we had and changed my mind. ANYWAYS! This cake is delicious, but very sweet. It was WAY too much for the two of us! Be sure to have someone to share it with!



Hummingbird Cake
Source: The Blue Willow Inn Bible of Southern Cooking


Cake (3 layers)
3 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 C sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 C vegetable oil
1/2 C buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 (8 oz) can crushed pinapple, not drained
1 C chopped pecans
2 C mashed ripe bananas (5 or 6 bananas)
1 C coconut


Heat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, and cinnamon. Add the eggs, oil, and buttermilk, stirring until the dry ingredients are moistened. Do NOT beat! Stir in the vanilla, pineapple, pecans, bananas, and coconut. Pour the batter into 3 greased and floured 9" round pans. Bake for 25-35 minutes. Cool in pans 15 minutes and then cool completely on wire racks.


Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 C butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
16 oz package of confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C chopped pecans


In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese. Gradually add the sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and stir in the pecans.

Snap Beans

Charlie and I made a trip to the Farmer's Market last weekend. We bought some yummy green beans, or I like to call them, snap beans! I remember as a kid my family growing them and having to snap the ends of off...Good times!


Snap Beans

Fresh green beans, snapped
1/2 c. water
1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 stick butter
Garlic salt or 1 clove garlic, minced

Place all in a pot, cover and cook on medium 10-15 minutes. YUM!

Falling in love Pie (Chocolate Mousse Pie)

This recipe is from the movie Waitress. My mom loves this movie and I LOVE chocolate mousse! So for our family Christmas, this was one of the desserts I made.

I used semi-sweet chocolate because that's what I had. I recommend sticking with the unsweetened as this pie was very sweet!

Falling In Love Pie...Chocolate Mousse Pie
Source: The Nesting Project

9-inch baked pastry shell
1 14-oz. can condensed milk
2/3 C. water
1 (4 serving) pkg. Cook and Serve chocolate pudding mix (not instant)
1 1-oz. square unsweetened chocolate (I used semi-sweet)
2 C. (1 pt.) whipping cream, stiffly whipped

In large saucepan, combine condensed milk, water and pudding mix; mix well. Add chocolate. Over medium heat, cook and stir rapidly until chocolate melts and mixture thickens. Remove from heat; beat until smooth. Cool. Chill thoroughly; stir. Fold in whipped cream. Pour into prepared pastry shell. Chill 4 hours until set.

Baked Ziti

So I wasn't going to blog about this one, but Charlie really liked it! And when I like a recipe he doesn't it makes it to the blog...shouldn't it be the other way around as well? Don't get me wrong, it was good and edible. I just wasn't sure about the taste. It was too spicy for me and I'm not a fan of feta cheese. I just realized I put 3 tsp of sugar instead of 3 T. That probably accounts for the spicyness! And maybe if switched the feta out for something else I'd like it a lot better. This recipe makes a ton! So if you're not feeding more than 2 people I would definitely half it. Charlie's says it's much better the second day! It's going to take us days to finish this one! Let me know what you think!

Baked Ziti
Adapted from Short Stop

1 pound ziti or penne
1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 T sugar
2 tsp salt
3 T Italian Seasoning
3 T dried thyme
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
3/4 C Parmesan cheese, shredded and divided
2 C mozzarella cheese, shredded and divided

Cook pasta until al dente. Drain. Return to pot and add sour cream, chopped bacon, feta, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, add crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, sugar, salt, thyme, and crushed red pepper flakes. Simmer for 10 minutes allowing flavors to combine and until heated through. Set aside.

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Spoon 1 C of tomato sauce into the bottom of the dish. Spoon 1/2 of pasta mixture over sauce. Top with 1/2 of remaining tomato sauce. Sprinkle with 1 C of mozzarella and 1/4 C Parmesan cheese. Top with remainder of pasta mixture, remainder of tomato sauce, and sprinkle top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Cover lightly with foil, and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Remove foil and broil for 3 minutes, or until top is golden.

Tangerine Pie

Okay, so this was a new one to me! Last night Charlie wanted me to make a pie. This is interesting because he's usually fussing at me because of the amount of sweets and baked goods we keep in the house! Unfortunately, I didn't have any filling for pies. So, Charlie suggested we use the tangerines we had in abundance. We googled it and I made pie! This pie sounds strange, but it's similar to a lemon meringue.

This was a great use of our tangerines. We had a ton! Charlie's mom gave us a ton of fruit from the Farmer's Market. I made apple pie with the apples, fresh squeezed juice with the oranges, and tangerine pie! Tangerine Pie
Adapted from Noble Tangerine

1 prepared pie crust
¼ C cornstarch
¼ tsp salt
1/3 C sugar
4 egg yolks
Juice of one lime
1 ½ C tangerine juice
1 cup whipped cream
3 oz butter (6 T)
Zest from one tangerine

Topping
1 C whipped cream

In a saucepan, stir together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add juice and mix well. Place over moderate heat and stir constantly until the mixture thickens and boils, 10-12 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the egg yolks all at once and whisk until blended. Bring back to a boil and cook, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Add the butter and tangerine zest. Cool to near room temperature, and fold in whipped cream. Pour into pie dish. Top with whipped cream.

Breakfast Bread

This recipe is a tradition from my childhood. My mom made this every Christmas morning. In fact, I think that was the only time she made it and it made us love it all the more because we knew we were only getting once a year! I made it for the first time this year for mine and Charlie's first Christmas. It was delicious and Charlie loved it! My mom usually made 2 loaves, so if you've got more than 3 people and this is the only thing you're serving, I would make more! I froze the leftover bread in individual servings and defrosted them the night before Charlie went to work. Then I popped it in the microwave to heat, wrapped it in tinfoil and sent it with Charlie to eat in the car. Homemade Hot Pocket! He loved it!



Breakfast Bread
Source: Mom


1 frozen loaf of bread dough
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 lb. ground sausage, cooked
1 C cheddar cheese, shredded


Defrost and rise the bread dough according to the package directions. You'll want to do this the night before. With your fingers, push out the dough so that it covers a baking sheet. Top with the sausage leaving an edge around the bread. Sprinkle the cheese over the top. The next part I got Charlie to help me with...Pull up the sides and ends of the dough to make a loaf. While you're holding together the loaf, pour the eggs inside. Seal together. Bake for about 30 minutes at 350. Yum!

Marshmallow Pops

These are so easy to make and so darn cute! My sister made them for my niece's birthday party in October. They were adorable (the pink ones below)! The possibilities are endless with these things! I gave mine as gifts. I thought they would be great to stir coffee or hot chocolate with. Of course, you could just eat them as they are!
To make your own personalized ones...dip them in colored baking pieces (like you buy at the craft store) and then roll them in whatever sprinkles you want! Mine are dipped in melted milk chocolate, which had a hard time setting and then rolled in peppermint crumbs.
Marshmallow Pops

Large Marshmallows
Melted Chocolate
Sprinkles, Candies, whatever!
Cookie Sticks
Place each marshmallow on a cookie stick. Dip in the melted chocolate and then roll in the sprinkles or candy. Lay them on parchment paper to set the chocolate. Delicious and cute!

Apple Pie and Pie Crust

I learned to make this pie when I was a nanny in college. I got some great recipes from that family! This is a great and easy pie crust recipe. And the apple part is so simple...not many ingredients at all! You could change the fruit and keep everything else the same too!


Pie Crust
Source: Theresa Kramer

2 C sifted all purpose flour
4 T cold water (ice cold)
1 tsp. salt
3/4 C butter

Cut flour and salt in bowl. Sift. Cut in 2/3 C butter until fine. Cut in remaining butter. Sprinkle water 1 T at a time over mixture. Mix thoroughly with fork into a dough consistency. Makes 2 crusts (one top and one bottom).

Apple Pie

Peel and slice about 6 apples. Place in pie crust. Add 1 C sugar. Sprinkle cinnamon over top. Top with remaining crust and seal edges. Brush crust with egg wash (1 egg and 1 T water mixed together) and sprinkle with sugar. Pierce the top of the pie a few times to let the steam out. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes or 350 for 45 minutes.

Toll House Pie

Okay, where are my Meredith girls? I fell in love with this pie my freshman year at Meredith. They had some good desserts there! This was one when they made it there was never enough! As soon as they brought out one pie, it was gone in seconds! So yummy!


Toll House Pie
Source: Yankee Magazine

2 eggs
1/2 C all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 C white sugar
1/2 C brown sugar, firmly packed
1 C (2 sticks) butter, melted and cooled
1 C semisweet chocolate chips (I used milk)
1 cup chopped walnuts (I used about 2/3 C)
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell

Preheat the oven to 325.

Beat the eggs until foamy. Add the flour and sugars and beat until blended. Blend in the butter. Stir in the chips and nuts. Pour into the pie shell.

Bake for 1 hour. Serve warm or cooled completely.

Sugared Pecans

I made so much of this stuff this month! They were so yummy and I want more! I gave these as gifts to the girls I work with and sent a ton to work with Charlie. This was an easy recipe and so worth it! My only advice would be to use a ziploc bag when mixing the stuff and dump the hot pecans on parchment to cool. Then quickly rinse your baking sheet while the sugar is still hot. You will be able to get the sugar off your pan if you wait, but you will need to let it soak. Enjoy!


Sugared Pecans
Source: All Recipes


1 lb pecans
1 C sugar
1 egg white
2 tsp. water
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. salt


Mix the water and egg white until frothy. Pour the egg white mixture into a gallon size bag. Toss the pecans in the egg white mixture in the bag. Mix together the sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Pour into the gallon size bag over the pecans. Toss the pecans in the sugar mixture. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 250 for 1 hour. Stir every 15-20 minutes.

Peppermint Bark

A student gave me a bag of Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark. I brought it home and told Charlie not to open it because I wanted to save it for last minute present if needed. So what do I do? Open it. It was delicious and gone very quickly! So I had to make my own peppermint bark this year! This was so easy and delicious! The original recipe called for using 8 candy canes. I ground mine so fine in my food processor (the way I like it) that I only used about half of it! This was so yummy and a great alternate to the packaged stuff! I almost wish I had made a double batch! I used milk chocolate in mine because I'm not a big fan of dark. You could use either.

Peppermint Bark
Adapted from Novice Chef

17 oz. milk or dark chocolate baking chips
17 oz. white chocolate baking chips
1 tsp peppermint extract
4 Candy Canes, crushed

Line a 13x9 in pan with tinfoil and spray very lightly with nonstick spray.

In a double boiler, melt the milk or dark chocolate over low heat. When chocolate is smooth, remove from heat and add peppermint extract and stir. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish. Spread evenly and chill in refrigerator until soft set, about 30 minutes.

In clean double boiler, melt white chocolate over low heat. Add about half to 2/3 of the crushed peppermint to the chocolate and stir together. Remove baking dish from fridge. Pour over milk or dark chocolate mixture and spread evenly.

Carefully sprinkle the rest of the peppermint on top of the white chocolate to cover most all surface. Place baking dish back into fridge or freezer and refrigerate until fully set (3 – 24 hours). Remover baking pan from fridge. Lift candy in foil from pan and transfer to a cutting board. Peel off foil and break/cut candy into 2 inch pieces.