School Lunch Peanut Butter Bars

(This was one of the first recipes I ever posted, but I didn't post any pictures, so I decided to do a re-do!)

So, I know that most people haven't been completely obsessed with food their entire lives like I have been...but do you remember eating peanut butter bars in elementary school? I totally do. They served them as dessert with school lunches. I remember thinking that one bar was just not enough, and searching for ways to get more.

Well, then when I grew up, I worked with this nice woman who was a former lunch lady. She took the cafeteria's peanut butter bar recipe, and scaled it down, and came up with this gem. They are the best peanut butter bars I have ever tasted. Ever.

This recipe makes an entire cookie sheet full, and I can only make them if I have a place to take them and share. I could pretty easily down the whole pan by myself without really trying. They're kinda dangerous...at least in my chocolate/peanut butter loving world.

School Lunch Peanut Butter Bars

1 1/2 C Flour

1¼ tsp. Salt

½ tsp. Baking Soda

¾ C Butter

¾ C Sugar

¾ C Brown Sugar

1 ½ tsp. Vanilla

1 1/2 C Creamy Peanut Butter (split)

2 Eggs

1 ½ C Quick Oats

Frosting:

½ C Butter (1 stick)

3 ½ C Powdered Sugar

2 T Cocoa

¼ C Milk (I use whatever I have in the fridge)

1 tsp. Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugars, 3/4 C peanut butter, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add dry ingredients, just until incorporated. Then, stir in the oats. Spread onto a greased 11 x 15 Jelly Roll Pan (cookie sheet). Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes.

The frosting is a two step process. First, whip the remaning ¾ C Creamy Peanut Butter until it becomes lighter colored and fluffy. Carefully spread the whipped peanut butter over the pan cookie.

Then, add butter to a small sauce pan and melt the butter. Add the milk and cocoa. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Heat just until boiling. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Then, gradually add the powdered sugar. Stir until thickened. Pour over the peanut butter and gently spread over the cookie. Cool completely, and slice into bar cookies.

Turkey and Pesto Panini

I promised to post the recipe for this sandwich way back when I posted about freezing pesto but then I realized that I didn't have any good pictures taken. Sorry to make you wait!

This is one of my favorite sandwiches! I usually have everything I need to make it, and it's so easy and very good. I found this on myrecipes.com a few years ago, and I think that we have them for dinner once every couple of weeks. You can make these without a panini grill. Just toss them on to a large skillet and make them just like a regular grilled cheese sandwich. If the tomato on there grosses you out, just skip the tomatoes!

Turkey and Pesto Panini

2 tablespoons mayonnaise (I use low fat mayo)

4 teaspoons basil pesto

8 (1-ounce) thin slices sourdough bread (It really is best with sourdough!)

8 ounces sliced cooked turkey breast

2 ounces thinly sliced provolone cheese

8 (1/8-inch-thick) slices tomato

Cooking spray

Combine mayonnaise and pesto in a small bowl. Spread 1 tablespoon mayonnaise mixture on each of 4 bread slices; top each slice with 2 ounces turkey, 1/2 ounce cheese, and 2 tomato slices. Top with remaining bread slices. At this point, you can spread the outside of the bread with butter, or just coat the outside of the bread with cooking spray if you want to cut down on the calories a bit. I have found that if the bread has nothing on the outside of it, the sandwiches are a bit dry and hard to eat.

Preheat panini grill or a large nonstick skillet to medium heat. Add sandwiches to pan. Cook until golden brown. Serve hot! Makes 4 sandwiches.

Banana Bread - TWO ways!

I love banana bread! I love it plain with a glass of milk or with some chocolate chips thrown in. One day I decided to switch it up a bit and came up with these two variations. You can use your favorite banana bread recipe. I like the Classic Banana Bread recipe from Cooking Light. I am including the recipe below with a couple of notes. I usually substitute a cup of whole wheat pastry flour to boost the nutrition. But, I like this recipe because it calls for yogurt. Yogurt helps cut down on the fat without really changing the texture of the bread.

Once your batter is made, then comes the fun part! You can mix cinnamon chips into the batter! I found mini cinnamon chips at a local restaurant supply store called Gygi's. You can order them online at Prepared Pantry too. Or, you could use the Hershey's brand cinnamon chips that you can find at the grocery store, and just chop them up a bit. Cinnamon chips are such a great addition to banana bread or pumpkin pancakes, or oatmeal cookies....or by the handful. Okay, I'm a bit addicted to these little babies.

The other thing I like to add to my banana bread batter is Nutella. Mmmmm...Nutella. Again, just use your favorite banana bread recipe. Mix up your batter and pour half of it into your prepared pan. Then, drop a few big spoonfuls of nutella in and spread it out as much as you can. Add the remaining batter to the top and bake as directed. The Nutella leaves this yummy, moist surprise in the middle of each slice of bread.

Be careful, both of these variations are addicting. You will probably find yourself eating banana bread for breakfast, lunch and snacks! (maybe dinner too!)

Classic Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour (I usually substitute 1 C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, and 1 cup all-purpose)

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)

1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt (I use vanilla yogurt)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. (If using a 9inch bread pan, bake for about 50 minutes.)

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pops

I'm kind-of a cheesecake freak. I like almost anything to do with cheesecake. You may recall that I am not a fan of pie, so every year at Thanksgiving time, I make a pumpkin cheesecake. Well, this year I will be in Connecticut for Thanksgiving, so I decided to bake my cheesecake early and make it into these cute little treats! This is my Aunt Vicki's pumpkin cheesecake recipe, and it is SO big and dense and creamy and good. But, the dense part is what makes it work well in these cute little pumpkin cheesecake pops!

First you start out by baking the cheesecake, without a crust. The crust is not needed for these sweet babies. You just want that creamy, yummy center.

Aunt Vicki's Pumpkin Cheesecake (sans crust)

2 lbs (4 packages) Cream Cheese at room temperature (NO lite cream cheese!)

1 ½ C sugar

5 Eggs

¼ C flour

2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 15 oz can Libby’s Canned Pumpkin (I always use Libby's because it is consistently the same

color and flavor, while other brands are not)

Set out cream cheese and eggs a few hours before you are going to make the cheesecake. You want everything at room temperature to avoid lumps! Wrap the bottom (the outside of the pan) of a 9 inch spring form pan with foil. Because this cheesecake doesn't have a crust, some filling may leak out the bottom of your pan. Preheat oven to 350. Whip cream cheese until fluffy, then add sugar and eggs, one at a time. Beat well, and then gradually add flour and pumpkin pie spice. Mix in pumpkin and pour into pan (no need to grease). Bake for 1 hour and 30-45 minutes, or until center is firm. You want to avoid browning the cheesecake too much because the creamy center part makes the best pops, so try not to over bake it. It's fine if it's still a little wiggily in the middle, but definitely not really wiggily or liquidy. Cool cheesecake and chill in the refrigerator over night.

Before starting the cheesecake balls, first make sure that you have enough room and clearance for a cookie sheet or other pan with sucker sticks sticking out of the top in your freezer. Next, take your small or medium sized cookie scoop and scoop out balls of cheesecake. Roll them into pretty balls and place them on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Then, stick a cute dowel or sucker stick into each one. (You can do these more like truffles and omit the sucker stick,

but the stick makes these super easy to dip!) Freeze for 3-4 hours or overnight.

Once the cheesecake centers are frozen, you can dip them in white or milk chocolate. Refer to my Chocolate 101 tips for melting and dipping info! Because the pops are frozen, the chocolate will set really quick, so I would suggest making sure that your chocolate is pretty melty. If it starts to thicken up, it will coat the pops too thick, and then the chocolate may crack. So, every now and then, pop your chocolate back into the microwave for a few seconds to keep it nice and smooth. Also, if you're going to use cute sprinkles, you need to work quickly before the coating is set up. I rolled the white chocolate pops in these cute little sprinkles, but I wouldn't suggest doing this. It made that part of the pop really crunchy, so if you want to decorate them with sprinkles, just sprinkle them on.

These pops are so fun and SO delicious. I love that you can make the cheesecake a few days ahead of time and get the pops to a frozen stage, and then just dip 'em when you have a minute. It really is a very easy process, and not too time consuming if you spread it over a couple of days. I made 24 pops using my small cookie scoop, then I used some of the rest of the cheesecake to make pumpkin cheesecake milkshakes (and I wonder why I gained 5 lbs in the past 2 weeks! ) So, you could probably get more like 30 out of this recipe. Kids and adults can't resist these! Make them for a fun Thanksgiving day treat!

Mmmm...the cheesecaky middle....mmmm.

Did you know?

Did you know that if you cook your buttermilk
syrup until it's a deep amber color...then you refrigerate the leftovers, and it thinkens up...(if you never have leftovers, make a double batch...please!)

It's pretty much caramel?

Caramel that's perfect for dipping apples in or eating with a spoon? Or...probably drizzling on ice cream?

Well, I may or may not have tried one or three of those ideas in the past 5 minutes.

Zucchini ideas and Zucchini Bread

I love this time of year! I'll be posting some fun fall recipes soon...but recently we have been harvesting lots from our garden! Since I'm not a pro at canning (yet!) I have been doing simple things like making freezer jam (raspberry peach...yum!) and shredding some zucchini to freeze and use during the winter. If you like baking with zucchini and you have some big ones from your garden, this is a must!

I made some low fat zucchini cookies while we were shredding.

We had this pasta for dinner this week. I used peppers and zucchini out of my garden. Mmmmmm....

Also, Zucchini Bread! When I have those big zucchini's sitting on my counter, all I want to do is make zucchini bread. Zucchini Bread is so moist and yummy. I experimented with my recipe and made a healthier version so that I can eat it more often, or eat more in one sitting...or (insert here whatever YOU tell yourself to make yourself feel better about stuffing your face).

When I say "healthier", please don't think "yuckier". I really try not to sacrifice taste to make something healthier. I thought this bread turned out really good and I got some good reviews from others as well! I have included the original recipe, and in the parenthesis, I included the changes I made to make it a bit healthier. I may or may not have added a bunch of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips to my "healthier" recipe. shhhhhh!

Zucchini Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour (substitute half whole wheat pastry flour)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil (substitute half vanilla yogurt, so 1/2 C oil, 1/2 C yogurt)

1 C brown sugar

1 1/4 C white sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup chopped walnuts or chocolate chips (optional)

Cinnamon and sugar (optional)

Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch or two 9x5 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl. In a large bowl, beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together for 1-2 minutes, or until well combined. Add sifted ingredients gradually to the creamed mixture, and mix just until combined. Stir in zucchini and nuts or chocolate chips. (Tip: Combine nuts and/or chocolate chips in a small bowl with 1-2 tsp of flour before mixing into the batter. Sometimes this helps the nuts and chocolate chips not sink to the bottom of the pan.) Pour batter into prepared pans and sprinkle the top with some cinnamon and sugar. Bake for about 60 minutes (or about 50 minutes for two 9x5 pans), or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Breakfast Panini Sandwiches

I am such a blog slacker. I have been so busy with three kids! I got out of the habit of blogging, and now it's just hard to find time! But, we had this for dinner last night, and it was a hit, so I thought I'd share. We love breakfast for dinner!


I got a panini grill for my birthday, and we've used it at least once a week since then. If you're on the fence about whether or not you want to own a panini maker, stop thinking about it and get one now! They are so handy and you can make lots of things with them. I've made desert, sandwiches, breakfast, and wraps. Yum!

I started these yummy breakfast panini's by making some English Muffin Bread from a blog called "What Megan's Making". This stuff is the easiest bread ever...and totally delish. I'm sure that you could use regular store bought english muffins, but believe me...it's going to be much better with this bread. Did I say it was easy? Even if you're afraid of yeast, try this. I don't know that you could mess it up. It doesn't even have to be kneaded! Plus, it makes the best.toast.ever.

Breakfast Panini Sandwiches

8 slices of English Muffin Bread, or English Muffins

6 Eggs, scrambled (but not dry, they'll cook a little in the grill) and seasoned to taste

Cheese, grated

Ham, Bacon, Sausage

Butter

Take two slices of bread and butter the outsides. Make sure that your butter is soft because this bread is soft (but it gets a tiny bit crispy when grilled or toasted...ooohhhhh!). Add a layer of ham or bacon or sausage (or all 3!), scrambled eggs, and cheese on top. Grill in a panini grill or in a hot frying pan until the bread is a bit brown and toasty. Serve with fruit and juice or other yummy breakfasty items. Makes 4 sandwiches.

What's your favorite thing to make for breakfast?

Mixed Roasted Vegetables and Pasta

My cute sister-in-law Kristen sent me this recipe. It's so yummy and quite healthy for you, which is good cuz my little family can pretty much finish the entire dish in one sitting....and it fills a cookie sheet, so...uh...good thing it's loaded with veggies! I made a couple of slight changes, but it was pretty fantastic to begin with! If you have planted zucchini and peppers in your garden, bookmark this recipe and get excited to make it soon!

Mixed Roasted Vegetables and Pasta

1 medium green or yellow bell pepper, cut into one inch pieces
1 medium red bell pepper cut into one inch pieces
1 medium onion, cut into 8 wedges and separated
2 medium zucchini, cut into one inch pieces
8 oz whole mushrooms, optional (if they're big, I cut them in half)
1/3 cup plus 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tsp Italian seasoning
2 cloves Garlic, minced or pressed (or 2 tsp. bottled chopped garlic)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 C (6 oz) pasta - penne, cavatappi or gemelli work well
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and cut into 2 inch pieces (the picture shows cherry tomatos, which can be a bit overwhelming unless you really love them)
1 bag (8oz) shredded Italian Style 4 cheese blend (2 cups)

Heat oven to 450 degrees. In a 15x10x1 inch pan (standard cookie sheet with sides) or 3 quart casserole, place bell peppers, onion, zucchini and mushrooms. Sprinkle with 1/3 C chopped basil. In a small bowl, mix together oil, vinegar, Italian seasoning, garlic, and salt and pepper. Drizzle evenly over vegetables. Bake uncovered 25 to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook and drain pasta according to package directions. Reduce oven temperature to 350 and add tomatoes and pasta to vegetable mixture; toss to coat. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake uncovered 15 minutes longer or until veggies are tender and cheese is melted. Just before serving, sprinkle with reserved chopped basil. Serve immediately. This is excellent with a green salad and some garlic bread!

(This time I added some grilled chicken that I seasoned with olive oil, garlic, and S&P just before the 2nd baking, but really, it's so good either way!)

Italian Stuff

For some strange reason, I had a lot of time to cook while I was in college. Some of my favorite recipes come from the time that I used to cook for my room mates and my...uh... boyfriends. (shhhhh...don't mention this to my husband) This recipe came from that time in my life. I always just called it "Italian Stuff", and I've never officially named it. Anyone have a good idea for a real name?

Baked pasta has a tendency to be dry, so don't be afraid if it looks a bit saucy. In my opinion, it needs more than one jar of sauce, so you can use a jar and a half of sauce, or add some tomato sauce and Italian seasoning to a jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce.

1 lb Mostaccoli, Rigatoni or Penne noodles
1 lb Italian Sausage, bulk or removed from casings (I always use pork sausage)
36 oz Spaghetti Sauce (or a 24 oz jar plus 2 8 oz cans of tomato sauce and 1 1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning)
2 cloves Garlic
1 Medium Onion, chopped
1 Zucchini, thinly sliced
1 small Yellow Squash, thinly sliced
8 oz Mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
2 medium Tomatoes, thinly sliced
3 Cups Mozzarella Cheese, grated
1-2 tsp. Olive Oil
Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Saute onion and sausage together in a large frying pan until brown. Drain sausage if needed. Add spaghetti (and tomato sauce plus Italian seasoning if using) to the sausage mixture. Simmer on low for 5 minutes to let flavors come together. Boil noodles according to package directions. I usually cook the noodles for the minimum time on the package because they're going to be baked, and you don't want soggy noodles! Combine cooked noodles, sauce, and 1 1/2 cups grated cheese. Spoon mixture into an 11x15 pan or deep casserole dish and bake, covered, for 20 minutes, or until it's a little brown around the edges.

Add 1-2 tsp of olive oil to a frying pan and add 2 cloves of minced or pressed garlic. Saute for 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Add squash and mushrooms and cook, just until softened.

Remove pasta from oven and cover with remaining cheese, sauteed veggies, and sliced tomatoes. Sprinkle tomatoes with a couple of tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. Return the pan back to the oven for 5-10 minutes or until tomatoes are softened. Serve hot with garlic bread and a green salad!

Oh, by the way...this makes probably about 10 servings. It's pretty large, so feel free to freeze half of it, but I would freeze it without the veggies on top because I can imagine that they would get pretty soggy. Enjoy!


(the yellow squash didn't look great, so this time, I used 2 zucchinis)

Cap'n Crunch French Toast

You may have noticed that I have an obsession with breakfast foods. What can I say? I just love breakfast. Well, over the holidays I was watching a lot of Food Network, and on the show "Diners, Drive-in's and Dives", they showed this little diner/shack that made french toast covered in Cap'n Crunch. My first thought was..."that's going to be too sweet". But, my next thought was "I'm totally making that for my husband's birthday breakfast!!". (see how happy he is? The way to a man's heart is through his stomach, right? he he!)

Well, I can honestly say that I liked it even more than the Frosted Flake French Toast. But, let me tell you the secret...lots of butter. Sometimes I try to cut out a few calories by just spraying the pan when I make french toast, but this needs to be cooked in butter. The butter kinda softens and caramelizes the cereal, so don't skimp on the butter!

Cap'n Crunch French Toast

2 beaten eggs
½ C milk
¼ tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
5-6 slices French bread
2-3 C crushed Cap’n Crunch cereal
Butter
Maple Syrup

Whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Pour into a shallow bowl or pie plate. Heat your frying pan or griddle to medium low heat, and melt a tablespoon or two of butter. Dip bread into the egg mixture, and coat the bread according to your preference. I like my french toast really...uh...frenchy? Anyway, I like it kinda soaked in the egg mixture, so I let it sit for a few seconds. THEN, toss it into a bowl of crushed Cap n' Crunch. Kinda press the cereal into the bread. Cook the toast according to your desired doneness. Just be careful not to burn the cereal on the outside of the toast. A little brown is good, black is, uh, burned! Top with maple syrup, and enjoy!

Pudding Pops

I receive the Kraft "Food and Family" magazine in the mail every so often. It has a lot of easy family friendly recipes. Well, this time we decided to try the recipe for pudding pops, and it turned out to be lots of fun, and quite yummy! The possibilities are endless!

This is the recipe as written in the magazine:

Cookies and Creme Pudding Pops

1 pkg (3.9 oz) Jell-O Chocolate Instant Pudding
2 C Cold Milk (I used 1%)
6 Oreo Cookies (I used 8...love the Oreo's!)
1/2 C Thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping (used more, like about 1 cup)

Beat pudding mix and milk in a large bowl with whisk for 2 minutes. Place cookies in a resealable bag and seal. Crush cookies using a rolling pin. Add cookies and cool whip to pudding; stir just until blended. Spoon into 9 (I got 12) small paper or plastic cups. Insert wooden pop stick or plastic spoon into each for handle. Freeze 5 hours or until firm.

As most of you know, I have two 3-year-olds, and we had a blast making these together! So, it was fun AND we had a tasty treat to eat during this hot weather. Yesterday we finished off the last of the chocolate pops, and I opened the pantry to see what else we could make. I found banana pudding, and some leftover Nutter Butters....hmmmmmm...

So, we ended up throwing together an other batch with these ingredients:

And again, the kids had so much fun helping! Really...get out the play hammers, it's so much more fun!

And today, we ate another yummy treat!

Banana Nutter Butter Pudding Pops

1 pkg (3.9 oz) Jell-O Banana Cream Instant Pudding
2 C Cold Milk (I used 2% this time, and it was SO creamy!)
7 Nutter Butter Cookies
1 C Whipped Topping, thawed

Beat pudding mix and milk in a large bowl with whisk for 2 minutes. Place cookies in a resealable bag and seal. Crush cookies using play HAMMERS!! Add cookies and whipped topping to pudding; stir just until blended. Spoon into 15 small paper or plastic cups. Insert wooden pop stick or plastic spoon into each for handle. Freeze 5 hours or until firm. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Crunch Snack Balls

I've had this recipe in my "to try" file for a while,
and finally got around to trying them. I follow a few food blogs, including mykitchencafe.blogspot.com, and that is where I found this recipe. The recipe on her blog is huge, and makes over a hundred of these little goodies. I didn't want to waste a ton of peanut butter just in case we didn't love them, so I ended up doing 1/3rd of the huge recipe. If you want the larger measurements, click here.

Anyway, we ended up loving these...even my two 3-year-olds! Yeah! Also, they are pretty healthy, and I liked how they stayed crunchy even after a couple of days of being in the fridge. I rolled them in crushed mini-wheats, which are kind-of pokey. So, next time I think that I'll roll them in something else, like graham cracker crumbs or nilla wafer crumbs. These are great for a summer time treat since they don't have to be baked. Try them!

2/3 Cup Honey
2 Cup Peanut Butter
1 Cup Rice Krispies (I used generic...cheaper)
1/2 Cup Grape Nuts (Do NOT use generic grape nuts, they're really gross for some reason)
1/4 Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
2/3 Cup Shredded Coconut
1 Cup Crushed Cereal (I used Honey Nut Cheerios, it's just what I had)
1/2 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips or Butterscotch Chips (I used both, but I would stick with the mini chips in the future because the other chips were too big and you didn't get one in every ball. You could also use raisins or something a little more healthy...but why? :) )
1 1/2-2 C crushed mini-wheat cereal (plain or frosted shredded wheat) or other crumbs of your choice (maybe graham crackers)
3-4 Tablespoons Dry Powdered Milk

Combine all ingredients except for the powdered milk and the crushed mini-wheat cereal. Stir well until all ingredients are combined. Add powdered milk a tablespoon at a time until you get a soft dough-like consistency. I ended up using 3 1/2 Tablespoons. At this point, chill the dough, covered, in the refrigerator for about a half hour. This is not necessary, but it makes them less sticky and easier to roll. (My small Pampered Chef cookie scoop worked perfectly for these, but if you don't have one, just use a spoon.) Scoop out small pieces of dough and roll into a ball. Then, roll the balls into the crushed shredded wheat or other crumbs of your choice. Refrigerate and enjoy!

Baked Beef Taquitos

This is a recipe that I got from my good friend Amy, and we love it. I made these the other night, and I think that my husband ate like 7 in a row. They are easy, and good, and not fried like other taquitos! I don't know about your kids, but my kids like to dip whatever they can, so these go over pretty well at our house!

1 tsp oil, plus a little more for brushing (optional)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb lean ground beef
½ c salsa, plus more for dipping
2 tsp chili powder
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
10-12 flour tortillas
shredded cheddar or Monterey jack cheese
Sour cream

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Heat the oil in a large skillet. Put onion in skillet and cook for about 3 minutes or until onion is transparent, stirring often. Add garlic and cook for about another minute. Be careful not to let the garlic burn. Add beef and cook until done. Stir in salsa, chili powder, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes.

If your tortillas need a little softening up, place tortillas on a plate and cover with a damp paper towel. Microwave for about 45 seconds. If they're already soft, just use tortillas as they are. Spread about ¼ c beef mixture down the middle of the tortilla, until it is about an inch from the edges. Sprinkle cheese over beef. Roll up tortillas and place them on a foil-lined baking sheet, seam side down. Brush taquitos lightly with oil, (or if you're lazy like me, spray them with some cooking spray) then bake them until filling is heated and they are lightly browned, 8-12 minutes. (I measured out the beef mixture with a 1/4 C measuring cup, and I ended up with about 12 taquitos.) Serve with salsa and sour cream.

Frosted Flake French Toast with Buttermilk Syrup

I woke up this beautiful snowy Valentines Day to the sounds of my wonderful husband making breakfast for me! Back in December, we took a trip to Vegas and we ate breakfast at a little cafe inside the hotel where we were staying. My husband ordered this French Toast that was rolled in Frosted Flakes. My first thought was...gross. But, it was SO good. So, on V-day he re-created this gem, and I was SO excited! (I should let him cook more often, he really is brilliant!) The combination of the frosted flakes and the buttermilk syrup was really sweet. So, an addition of some slightly tart strawberries was perfect. You must try this...now!

4-5 slices of French Bread, or any other bread you like

2 Cups Frosted Flakes cereal, crushed

2 Eggs

1/4 C Milk

1/4 C Buttermilk

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Vanilla

Sprinkle of Cinnamon

A Dash or Pinch (just a tiny bit) Nutmeg

Whisk together the milk, buttermilk and eggs until smooth. Add the salt, vanilla, and spices until everything is incorporated. Heat a frying pan to medium low heat. Add a small pat of butter (maybe a teaspoon or so per slice of bread). Once butter is melted, dip bread, one side at a time into egg mixture, and then into frosted flakes. Make sure both sides are covered in cereal. Put bread into the heated pan and cook for about 3-4 minutes on each side, or to desired doneness. (Some people like their french toast a little soggy in the middle, some like it really set up, so cook it how you like it!) Top with sliced strawberries or other fruit and drizzle with buttermilk syrup (recipe to follow). (I say "drizzle" because it's really sweet, and you might be sorry if you dump it on!) Makes about two adult sized servings.

Buttermilk Syrup

(compliments of my husband's co-worker Ashly...thanks Ashly!)

1 cube butter

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon Karo Syrup (lite corn syrup)

Add this all together and stir. Use a bigger pot than needed because when you add the baking soda it boils up high. Heat everything on low heat, stirring constantly until ingredients dissolve and sauce thickens. When sauce has thickened, add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir and remove from heat.

(note from me: I didn't make the syrup, but I imagine if you cook it for a few minutes longer, it will be a bit more caramely...yum!)

Sour Cream Waffles

I love waffles. Blueberry, strawberry topped, green for St. Patty's day. You name it...I love it. I used to try not to make waffles very often because they usually have quite a bit of oil in them, and let's face it...they're not that healthy.

So, when I found this recipe, (I can't remember where, and I'm sure that I've changed it enough to call it my own recipe) I was excited. They don't have any oil, and they taste great. We have these for dinner quite often. They are so filling and yummy! I love breakfast for dinner! Keep in mind, these are not light and fluffy waffles. They are more dense and kinda chewey...but a good chewey, don't worry.

I use Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, which has the same health benefits as other whole wheat flour, but it's light and fluffy. You can purchase this gem at some supermarkets, and probably any health food type store. I get mine and Sunflower market (I heart Sunflower) and it looks just like regular all purpose flour. You can buy it in bulk, or in a 5 lb bag. If you don't have any WW pastry flour, just use all AP Flour. Do spray your waffle iron generously with non-stick cooking spray because they tend to stick more than other waffles. Last time I made these, I put the batter into my waffle iron, then threw in a few half frozen bluberries, and it was SO good!

1 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten

In a bowl, mix together milk, sour cream, yogurt, and vanilla. Sift flour into a separate, large bowl; stir in baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add sour cream mixture and eggs to flour mixture; blend until smooth. Cook on a greased waffle iron until golden brown; lift off with a fork.

Pizza Rolls

I don't know about you, but I love pizza in pretty much any shape or form. I first had these pizza rolls at my husband's grandmother's (Nana) house. His mom started making them for the family to have during Conference time, and they're so yummy. I haven't ever actually had a written recipe, so I just got creative with it this time. I thought that they turned out great...and so did my husband :) I usually make these as a main dish, but they could also be made as a side dish, a fun appetizer, or in the place of a breadstick/roll. This time, I made ham and pineapple rolls, as well as pesto and cheese. I haven't ever had pizza rolls with pesto before, and was unsure about which toppings would go well with the pesto, so I just used it with cheese. It was REALLY good, and would probably be excellent served in the place of a breadstick. I think that it would also be excellent with pepperoni or salami (I LOVE salami...if you haven't ever had it on pizza, seriously, try it. It's so much better than pepperoni!).

I'm going to post the recipe that I used for the dough, but feel free to use whatever recipe you usually use for pizza. I think that this would be good with the "Amazing Whole Wheat Pizza Dough" that I posted previously. This recipe probably feeds 3-4 adults, so you might want to consider doubling it if you have more people.

Pizza Dough

1 ¼ C Warm Water
1 tsp. Sugar
1 pkg. Yeast
¼ C Vegetable Oil
1 tsp Salt
3 ½ C Flour

Mix water, sugar and yeast in a small bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes. Add yeast mixture to 1 ½ cups flour, oil and salt. Gradually mix in the rest of the flour. Knead until thoroughly mixed. Let dough raise once until doubled in size. Punch down and roll out. Top with your favorite sauce, pizza toppings, and cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until desired doneness (about 20-30 minutes). Makes one large pizza, or two smaller thin-crusted pizzas.

Pizza Rolls

1 recipe of pizza dough (see above)
6 oz cream cheese, softened (lite will work fine, just make sure it's soft!)
1 ½ C shredded cheese (I used 1/2 Mozzarella and 1/2 cheddar for more flavor)
pizza sauce or marinara
pesto sauce (optional)
pizza toppings

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the pizza dough according to recipe directions. Let the dough raise once and then punch down. Roll the pizza dough into a rectangular shape, (just like cinnamon rolls) about an 11x15 inch rectangle. Spread the softened cream cheese over the dough. If you are planning to use pesto, then spread a small amount of pesto thinly over the cream cheese, and top with the shredded cheese. If you're not using pesto, just sprinkle the shredded cheese over the cream cheese. Add all desired toppings (I used lunch meat style ham, just because I thought that it would be less bulky to roll up, and it worked great.) Then, roll up the dough so that you have a nice long roll. Place the roll (or just a part of the roll, depending on what will fit) onto a cutting board and cut into 1-1/2 inch wide slices. Place pieces on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until tops are golden brown and cheese is bubbly. Serve with pizza sauce for dipping!

Halloween Party Mix

I had to get this posted really quick so that you could grab the ingredients and make it this week before Halloween! I ended up taking lots of pictures of this, so hang in there!

I got this recipe from a friend and have been making it every year since, for probably about 7 years now. Warning...it's very addicting, and cute. What more do you need? It makes a great bit bowl full, so plan on giving some to friends or neighbors. Here we go....

First: Stir together in a large bowl:
11 oz Pretzels
½ C Peanuts
8-10 ½ oz package of mini Nutter Butter Cookies (“Nutter Butter Bites”)

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees.

(This is my new red candy making pan that I got for my birthday...isn't it cute? I've officially used it now! Thanks Mom)

Heat in a heavy bottomed sauce pan until boiling:
1 C Sugar
½ C Butter
½ C Corn Syrup
2 Tbsp Vanilla
1 tsp. Baking Soda

Boil for 5 minutes, stirring continuously. This mixture will turn darker, to kind-of an orange-golden color. Remove from burner and add (this is optional, but I do it because I am in love with Peanut Butter) a heaping tablespoon of creamy peanut butter. Stir until peanut butter is dissolved. Pour mixture over pretzel/peanut mix.

At this point, it should be all shiny and glossy, like this.

Spray an 11x15 cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Pour coated pretzel mixture onto the pan and spread it out as evenly as you can. Bake at 250 for 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes until done.

When mixture is done, it should look more like this...not so shiny. But, wait...it will still turn out cute. Don't worry. Let this mixture cool completely. Be patient, I know you want to taste it, but you must let it cool so that it doesn't melt your cute candies.

When cooled, put your pretzel mixture in a large bowl and add: 10 oz Halloween Peanut M&M’s and 18 ½ oz Candy Corn or other Halloween mix. (I used a Brach's mixture that has the little cute pumpkins) Now you can taste it. Get a bite with a pretzel, an m&m, and a candy corn...now shove it in...perfect! Note to self: Try to keep all of the little fingers out of the bowl long enough to take a picture.

Better than WHAT Cake?

We usually call this "Skor Bar Cake" at our house, just to avoid the word "S-E-X". Anyway, this is a really yummy cake, and if you've never had it, you're seriously missing out. If you've never made it, you should. It's SO easy. I've had this made with a german chocolate cake mix before, but I just don't think it's as good as Devil's Food....mmm...I certainly know why the name of this cake contains the word "devil"...

1 Devils Food Cake Mix, plus ingredients to make it according to package directions.
1/2 Jar Caramel Ice Cream Topping (I'm partial to Mrs. Richardson's brand)
1/2 Jar Hot Fudge or Fudge Ice Cream Topping (again, Mrs. Richardson's)
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
8 oz Cool Whip
5 Skor Bars (Health Bars work too)

Mix and bake the cake mix according to package directions in a 9x13 pan. While cake is baking, mix together the toppings and milk until well blended. Once cake has baked and cooled, poke holes in it all over with a skewer or chop stick. (a knife works too) Pour all of the yummy topping mix over the cake and let it sit in the fridge for for 6-8 hours or overnight if you have time. It will soak up most of the toppings. Put the candy bars in the freezer for a while or overnight. This will make it a little easier to break the candy bars up without melting the chocolate on the candy bar.



Just before serving, put the candy bars in a zip lock bag and let out all of your frustrations! "Frost" the cake with the cool whip, and sprinkle with the candy bar pieces. Serve with your favorite ice cream! You can make this more fancy by using real whipped cream and adding a handful of chopped roasted almonds. YUM!

Baked Spaghetti

This is an easy week night meal that is popular with kids and adults (at least at my house, it is!). It sounds weird to add the cream of mushroom soup on the top, but it adds a lot of flavor and is creamy and good. You can also add some chopped olives if you like!

½ medium onion minced
1 Lb. Hamburger
2 C. Mozzarella Cheese
Jar of Spaghetti Sauce (24 oz or larger if you like it saucy!)
Mushrooms (optional)
12 oz Spaghetti
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
¼ C Water
Parmesan Cheese
Olives, chopped (optional)

Brown hamburger with onion and drain. Add Spaghetti sauce and mushrooms. Simmer over low heat until heated through. Boil Spaghetti according to package directions only until slightly undercooked. Layer spaghetti, sauce and cheese in a greased 9x13 pan. Mix soup and water, and pour over layers. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and olives. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Cinnamon and Raisin English Muffins

My kids love English Muffins. I try to buy the healthy ones that are whole grain. Their favorite ones are the whole grain with cinnamon and raisins, which cost almost $3 for six, and never go on sale. So, I came across a recipe for English Muffins. After a few times making it, I think that I finally got it down. Who knew that you could make home made English Muffins? They don't have all of the nooks and crannies that regular English Muffins have, but they sure are good! Don't be intimidated, they're pretty easy to make. I tried making them with all whole wheat flour, and they were a little too dense, so I would suggest adding *** half white flour as the recipe below calls for. Enjoy!

1 cup milk
3 Tbs. Honey
1 1/2 Tbs. active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
¼ cup shortening
3 C All Purpose Flour
3 C Whole Wheat Flour (I used White Whole Wheat Flour)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ C raisins

Warm the milk and shortening in a small saucepan until the milk bubbles (don't let it boil!) and the shortening is melted. Then, remove mixture from heat. Mix in Honey, stirring until dissolved. Let cool until lukewarm. (this is important because you don't want to kill your yeast) Once the mixture has cooled to lukewarm, add your warm water, and the yeast. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine the milk mixture and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add salt, cinnamon, and the rest of the flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Knead for 7-10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until double, about 1 hour.

Punch the dough down. Roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with biscuit cutter, drinking glass, or empty tuna can. Sprinkle waxed paper with cornmeal and set the rounds on it to rise. Dust tops of muffins with cornmeal also. Cover and let rise 30-45 minutes. Spray griddle with non-stick cooking spray. Cook muffins for about 25 minutes at 300 degrees on an electric griddle, flipping every 5 minutes. (You can also cook in a large frying pan on the stove top. Cook for 20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes on medium low.) Allow to cool and place in plastic bags for storage. To use, split and toast. Makes about 18-20 muffins.

***Revision: After I started grinding my own wheat, I have made these with all whole wheat flour, or 5 C whole wheat flour, and 1 cup AP flour, and they turn out fabulous! There is something about grinding the wheat that makes it not quite as dense!