Oreo Ice Cream

3 c. half & half
1 c. whipping cream
4 c. BYU Chocolate milk (from BYU Creamery)
    (or regular milk with a big squirt of Hershey's chocolate syrup)
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 t. vanilla

Mix together and pour into ice cream machine. Freeze as instructed.

When mixture is starting to thicken, add crumbled oreos, or even better, mint oreos!

*To crush oreos:
Place Oreos in bottom of bowl and crush using the underside a small custard bowl or glass measuring cup. This is also how I crush graham crackers to make a pie crust. I guess you could put the cookies or crackers in a large Ziplock and crush it that way but to me it's just as easy to do it this way. Easier to remove from bowl and less waste.

BBQ Shredded Chicken

Slow-cooker recipe:

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (or, as many as you'd like)
Cattlemen's BBQ Sauce (Kansas City Classic)

*Line crockpot with "Reynold's slow-cooker liners" for an easier clean-up.

Pour a little sauce in the bottom of the pot, add chicken breasts one at a time and cover them with a layer or sauce. I use a whole (18 oz.) bottle of sauce when I make this. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Or, on high for 4-6 hours. Begin cutting breasts into smaller pieces and shredding when they are fully cooked. Continue cooking for another hour to saturate the chicken with the sauce.

*I usually thaw frozen, skinless chicken breasts but you could just throw in the frozen breasts if you are feeling lazy. It just takes a little longer.

Serve with rolls, rice, corn...simple Summer western dinner. Super easy!

Soft Pretzels

When I was more ambitious and adventurous, this was one of my 4th of July traditions. I still crave these pretzels about this time but too lazy to do them. Fun activity to do with kids if you are "up" to it. ;) We made shapes like teddy bears with them with some of the dough and just made knots out of the rest of them. The key to this pretzel is in the salt. A good coarse salt like Kosher salt is great, although back in the day I used magarita salt since Kosher salt was nowhere to be found.

This recipe was from my 7th Grade Foods Class. :) It's a keeper.

1 pkg. dry yeast
1 1/2 c. lukewarm water
3/4 t. salt
1 1/2 t. sugar
4 c. flour
1 egg
coarse salt (Kosher salt)

Soften the yeast in lukewarm water in a large bowl. Add salt & sugar. Mix in flour well. Knead to make a soft dough. Do not let rise. Cut in small pieces. Roll in long, pencil thin ropes and form into pretzel shapes. It helps to moisten the dough (using a little water on my finger) in areas that you want to stick together.

Place pretzels on a cookie sheet that is covered with foil and dusted with flour. Brush pretzels with beaten egg and sprinkle with coarse salt. (or cinnamon and sugar) Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes or until light brown.

Serve with melted butter, or mustard. Carb heaven. :)