Best Birthday Breakfast Ever!

Hi friends! I apologize to all 5 of you who read my blog for being absent so much :) 

I will try to do better at least for the rest of the summer!
Jade made me an amazing breakfast on the morning of my very first 29th birthday!
I found the recipe for cake batter pancakes on Pinterest, of course. The original website is here.

Ingredients are...

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup yellow cake mix

1 tablespoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-2 cups milk

assorted sprinkles

Mix it all together and you will want it to look like regular pancake batter. The blogger says to start with one cup of milk and add more as you need it. 

Now for the glaze that goes on top...

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tablespoon milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

assorted sprinkles

I actually needed more milk, you could also add water... just stir it until it's about the consistency of syrup.

These are absolute heaven!

And the perfect finishing touch is chocolate milk and a pink candle :)

Chicken Salad Attempt #2

I have mentioned before that I am on a quest for the perfect chicken salad. I'm super picky about chicken salad...

I found a recipe, probably on Pinterest, and tried it out. 

This is me excited to be "cooking" for once, yes making chicken salad is cooking to me....

The recipe is:

2 cups of shredded chicken, I used the kind in a can

1 cup of chopped celery (I'm not sure I used a whole cup, I got tired of chopping)

1 Tbsp of lemon juice

(being stalked by a dinosaur, as most things are in this house)

3/4 cup of Mayo but it was a tiny bit dry so I added a big spoonful more

and then 2 hard boiled eggs

Mix it and WALAA!

I believe this recipe is definitely a winner for me, the only thing I might add next time is some chopped pickles, or at least pickle juice.

Here it is in sandwich form... (I'm not the best picture taker)

And dinosaur form...

So that these cuties would eat it!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownie

YUMMY!

Just a warning if you are watching what you eat for a wedding, swimsuit season or whatever reason, this may be a bad idea. If you don't care, it's a wonderful idea!

I found it on Pinterest of course and the recipe came from this blog.

It is actually so sweet that I could only eat a little bit (every 5 minutes).

Ingredients for the brownie part:

4 oz unsweetened chocolate finely chopped

1 cup butter, melted

2 cups brown sugar

4 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1 cup flour

Ingredients for the cookie dough:

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 Tbsp milk

1 1/2 tsp milk

1 1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 chocolate chips 

I hope I don't get in trouble but I totally copied the directions from the recipe girl website...

Directions:

1. Prepare the brownies: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a 9x13-inch pan with nonstick spray. In a medium glass bowl, melt chocolate in the microwave in short bursts of 30 seconds; stir after each burst and remove from microwave when melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the butter and brown sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and whisk those in too. Mix in melted chocolate. Whisk in the flour and mix just until combined (don't over-mix). Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake 25 to 35 minutes. Watch closely and remove from oven when toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely.

2. Prepare the cookie dough: In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to combine butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Mix in milk and vanilla. Mix in flour just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

3. Spread cookie dough over the cooled brownies. Refrigerate until the dough is quite firm. It's okay to speed up the process and place it in the freezer too. The firmer the dough, the easier it will be to cut into neat squares. Use a sharp knife to cut the brownies. You may need to wipe the knife off with a paper towel in between cuts since the fudgy brownies and cookie dough will tend to stick to the knife a bit. These brownies are best to serve placed inside cupcake papers and served with a fork.

4. If you'd like to add chocolate drizzle on top, melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips with 1 teaspoon of shortening in the microwave; stir until smooth. Scoop the melted chocolate into a zip baggie and snip off the corner. Squeeze the bag to drizzle the chocolate on top of each brownie. Sprinkle additional chocolate chips on top, if desired.

*just an apology, this was so yummy that I forgot to take a picture :( follow the link to the place where I found the recipe up above and look at it there! xo

Quick Bean Soup

This stuff was brought to work by a coworkers husband... I of course stole the recipe immediately. This is SO easy and SO good!

What you will need is...

1 can of rotel

2 cans of ranch beans

3 cans of minestrone soup

1 can of corn

1 lb of ground meat (beef, venison, turkey, whatever)

This is so simple that you don't need pictures but I'm a nerd and took them anyway.

1. Brown your meat of choice

2. Dump all the cans in a big pot 

(that statement sounds amazingly intelligent doesn't it?)

3. Add your meat to the pot

4. Let it cook for 1-2 hours on low-ish (more intelligence)

and YUMM....

My whole family loves this, which is amazing and it freezes really well so if you don't need so much, just save it for leftovers!

Cream Cheese Pinwheel things...

OK this fantastic recipe is from the best mother-in-law in the world!

So simple, so quick, so delicious

you will need a package of 20 soft tortillas

The middle stuff is...

16 ounces of cream cheese at room temp.

3 green onions, chopped up

bacon bits

the secret ingredient is 1 tsp of Accent...

 I had never heard of this stuff until last night... it's kind of like salt but has amazing flavor.

>Mix it all together with an electric mixer

>spread it onto a tortilla

>roll the tortilla up pretty tight

>then cut the tortilla into bite size slices and put on a plate

I would do them the night before so that they can sit in the fridge over night but it's not necessary

SO Yummy!

The awesome thing about this recipe is you can add whatever you want, it doesn't have to be green onions and bacon, get creative. 

You also wouldn't have to roll them up in tortillas, It can be served as a dip with some crackers.

Christmas S'mores Cookies

I saw a recipe for this on Pinterest but didn't actually read it. I just used my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and added marshmallows and then baked it on top of a graham cracker.

Here's the recipe for my chocolate chip cookies...

1 c butter flavored shortening

2/3 c sugar

2/3 c brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

2 c flour

1 c chocolate chips

then I added 1 cup of marshmallows and put the dough on top of half a graham cracker. Baked at 350 for about 9-10 minutes depending on how soft or crunchy you like your cookies.

Now this is what your cookies will look like if you dance too much while baking and forget the baking soda :( So dance responsibly

This is what they're supposed to look like...

You may be wondering why I called these Christmas S'mores cookies... It is because I wore this apron while baking them!

2 Minute Mug Brownie

This. Is. Awesome.

I seriously found this about 30 minutes ago, have already made it, devoured it and couldn't wait to tell you about it.

This is perfect for an afternoon snack or dessert when you don't want to or have time to make a whole thing of brownies.

You mix and bake this in a big coffee mug, ramekin or I did it in a cereal bowl.

Ingredients are...

1/4 C flour

 1/4 C packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa

before adding the rest go ahead and give that a stir...

Now add 2 tbsp of canola or mild vegetable oil and 2 Tbsp of milk, coffee or water

Stir until it makes delicious brownie batter, go ahead and lick your spoon...

Stick in the microwave for 1 minute and you have a yummy gooey brownie.

I was a little worried at first because the top of it doesn't look like it was cooked but when you break into it the inside cooks just perfect.

To perfect this I would add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top!

Sour Cream Noodle Bake

So this is my first Pioneer Woman recipe to try... and of course I changed it, as I do all recipes I try. Except the important ones like desserts. 

I made this twice and wasn't totally happy with it each time. My issue was the recipe I was going by didn't tell how much of anything (or I just didn't read very well).

The ingredients are ... 

1 Lb of ground beef (I used turkey)

these are little cans of tomato sauce... you could also use one big can 

16 ounces of cottage cheese and sour cream

one bag of yolk free noodles

extra sharp cheddar shredded (shred it yourself, it's better)

First thing you do is brown your meat of choice and then add the tomato sauce and sprinkle in some salt and pepper.

 While the meat is browning have the noodles boiling. You are going to mix the cream cheese and cottage cheese in a separate bowl and then mix the noodles in with it and add a little pepper.

In a casserole dish you put in your noodle mixture and then top it with your meat/tomato mixture.

Then put shredded cheese on top and put it in the over on 350 for 20 minutes.

The first time I thought there was too many noodles, the ratio needed to be more even.

The second time I needed more meat, so maybe 1 bag of noodles and 2 lbs of meat is the trick...

Either way even though I wasn't happy with it, it's still yummy and gets devoured quickly.

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

This stuff is a breakfast dream! I found it on Pinterest, the original recipe is here.

Ingredients are...

1/2 C unsalted butter

2 tsp lemon zest

7/8 C & 1 T sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 c flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 c fresh blueberries

1/2 C buttermilk

- Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 C of sugar until fluffy

-Add the egg and vanilla and beat

You may want to stick your finger in and take a taste.

-In another bowl toss blueberries with 1/4 C flour then whisk together remaining flour, baking powder and salt

- Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time alternating with the buttermilk, fold in the blueberries

- Grease 9 inch baking pan

-Spread in batter

-Sprinkle with tablespoon of sugar

Bake for 35 minutes at 350

This was more blueberries than I like but if you love blueberries then it's perfect :)

Also I didn't have buttermilk so I mixed in some white vinegar with regular milk, works great!

Creamy Crock Pot Chicken and Broccoli Over Rice

Another good one from Picky Palate blog!

 I did one substitution and left one thing out but it was still delicious!

Jade bought me my crock pot for Christmas... not the best Christmas present for a wife who doesn't like to cook... but in August I finally used it and love it.

The best part about this recipe (and most crock pot recipes) is just dumping the ingredients in and forgetting about it.

The first set of ingredients are...

1/2 t Salt

1 can cream of chicken

1 can chicken broth

1 can cheddar cheese soup 

and the recipe called for 1/4 t garlic salt but all I had was the powder.

3 or 4 chicken breasts

pour all these in the crock pot and stir it

then put the chicken breasts in (I put it in completely frozen) and press all the way to the bottom

Put lid on and cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 3 hours

Once the time is up, use a fork to shred the chicken into smaller pieces.

You will now need these ingredients...

Go ahead and cook the rice, I cooked 3 cups, my family likes lots of rice.

You now add the broccoli and sour cream to the crock pot and stir it up real good.

Here's a random picture of what it will look like...

Serve over the rice and sprinkle shredded cheese on top.

It looks yummy like this...

The picky eaters #1 and 2 loved it,

 #3 just ate the rice...