Things like this only happen to us!

Well, we had quite an interesting night here at home.  It started off normal with getting home and relaxing.  I decided to make a quick, simple dinner of homemade pizza.  Looks delicious, huh?  It was!

Shortly before 9 PM, I put some water in the kettle to make hot chocolate since it's so cold here.  I was planning on settling in with some hot chocolate while watching "The Office".  The beginning of the show started when the kettle started whistling and Peter jumped up to move the kettle and I'd get my hot chocolate on a commercial.  We heard a rustling sound when he sat back down on the couch and didn't know what it was so Peter went back to the kitchen to investigate.  

Apparently the bag of BBQ chips we had bought on our grocery trip last night fell out of the open cupboard (I left the door open to get the hot chocolate from).

Where did it land?

On the hot burner of course!

The bag melted the chips were burning.  We couldn't help but laugh.  I grabbed oven mits and removed the burner.  We put it in the sink and cleaned up the chips, but there was plastic melted on the burner.  I was afraid the burner would be unusable, but as it cooled, most of the plastic came off.  I'm hoping we'll still be able to use it, haha!

The bag burned and so we decided to throw the whole bag out because we weren't sure if there were plastic pieces in the bag or anything.  Better safe than sorry!  :)

It was fun to tease Peter as we were cleaning up.  I kept bursting out with laughs because it was so funny.  He laughed too :)  

In the end I didn't make hot chocolate or watch "The Office".  I'll try again tomorrow haha.

Peanut Butter Cookies with Hershey Kiss Chunks

I found this great recipe online through the recipe swap at Grocery Cart Challenge.  It was originally posted here.

Ingredients:• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 25 Hershey Kisses, quartered into chunks (I used more like 30 kisses for a little extra chocolate :) )

1.  Cut Hershey Kisses into chunks.

2.  Mix together butter or margarine, peanut butter, white sugar and brown sugar until creamy.

3.  Add eggs and mix until combined.

4.  In a separate bowl-whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.

5.  Stir into peanut butter mixture.

6.  Fold in Hershey Kiss chunks.

7.  Drop by teaspoon onto greased cookie sheet.

8.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned.

I got 6 dozen cookies out of this batch and they were DELICIOUS!  When Andrew was here, the 3 of us enjoyed devouring a dozen or two.  I also gave some to Jerry to take home when he came over for dinner.  And then I even had some left to bring to work so I wasn't left eating the rest!

I love finding great, easy and YUMMY cookie recipes. It's a great alternative to just placing the Hershey Kiss in the center. I had a couple bags of Hershey Kisses left from Christmas cookie baking since they were on sale and then I picked up 3 more bags this week at Giant Eagle because they were $1/bag! I'll definitely be making these cookies again soon!

Chicken Marsala

This is another great recipe that I've recently been using.  I love Chicken Marsala and was really in the mood to make it a few nights ago...so I did!

Ingredients:1/4 cup all-purpose flour for coating
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into chunks
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 cups sliced mushrooms (I love to use Portobello for this recipe-yum!)
1/2 cup Marsala wine
1/4 cup cooking sherry


Directions:

1.  Cut chicken into bite sized chunks.  (You can also leave chicken whole and serve as a piece of chicken.  I often make "army style" because it's easier to pack the leftovers away for lunches and storage in the fridge/freezer.)

2.  In a shallow bowl-mix together the flour, salt, pepper and oregano. 

3.  Coat chicken pieces in flour mixture.

4.  In a large skillet, melt butter in oil over medium heat. 

5.  Place chicken in the pan, and cook until golden brown.  

6.  Turn over chicken pieces, and add mushrooms. 

7.  Pour in wine and sherry. 

8.  Cover skillet; simmer for 10-15 minutes.

I like to serve mine with pasta (bow tie, mini shells, etc) and to add a little grated Parmesan cheese to the top.  Sooo good!!