Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

This is the recipe I was talking about that didn't turn out so great.

I've got my famous pumpkin chocolate chip cookies so I thought I would try it out in loaf form.

There was only one problem. Since we just moved, I couldn't find my loaf pans so I decided to use a bundt pan, add a little flare. My sister in law lives one block over and all of us were going over there for some fun and games. Husband said "Bring whatever you're baking over there."

So in my brain, that translated to "Bake it then bring it over." but everyone was already over at sister in law's house so I called and asked if I could leave it in the oven for an hour and come over because I didn't want to just sit there for an hour while everyone else was having fun.

The answer was no and I was promptly told that Husband meant to bring my pan and put it in SISTER IN LAW'S oven. DUH!!!!! So even though the "bread" was already in the oven and hot, I took it out, sat it on my lap and took it over to put it in her oven.

After I put it in her oven I totally forgot about it. After a while, sister in law said "Is your cake done?". Oops.

It was beyond disgusting. Burnt, yet gooey on the inside and lacking flavor like crazy. Ew.

http://www.feveravenue.com/whet-your-appetite-wednesdays-fall-is-in-the-air/

Snickerdoodle Cake with Brown Sugar Cinnamon Buttercream

This recipe is not the disaster I mentioned in my previous post. This is something entirely in its own category.

My sister in law explained this cake the best...

"It's like snickerdoodle on crack."

Yep. It sure is. 9 cups of powdered sugar. 6 sticks of butter. Can you say TOTALLY UNHEALTHY?! But as we all know, if something is unhealthy, it's good.

And this is good. Beyond good. It's so good I couldn't finish my piece. I have never in my 30 years not been able to finish something sweet. I met my match y'all. This is so incredibly good but holy crap it is sweet.

Snickerdoodle. On. Crack.

There was no pretty angle. Just saying.

Good gracious.

For real, eat at your own risk.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2011/08/26/snickerdoodle-cake-with-brown-sugar-cinnamon-buttercream/

I know...

I know. I KNOW!!! You're like "where are you?!"

Well, we one day decided to sell our house and we worked hard on getting it ready for a week or so, sold it in less than 24 hours and moved somewhere else so I've been kinda busy. One month is too long to not post my fun.

I've tried one recipe since the move and it was disastrous so I will post that as soon as I get a chance!! Please stay tuned and don't "dessert" me!

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes with Cream Cheese Drizzle

I tried another swirly cinnamon recipe and had much better results the second time around. Not only did they look prettier, they didn't make my tummy hurt so bad.

I think I like this batter recipe better as well. As you can see, I did much better with the swirlies...

With the better swirlies, came better results as far as the intended look of the pancakes. Instead of looking like crusty blobs, they came out quite nice...

And alas, I had a yummy yummy breakfast that I will be making again and again and again. Baby loved them as well. So you are welcome for giving you so many breakfast recipes that are delicious. I'll be here all week.

Enjoy!
http://slowrobot.com/i/38569

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Out of the 4 recipes I cooked on this day, this recipe ranked #2.

I don't think it gets much easier than cake mix and pumpkin. I poured my pumpkin into my mixer and went to grab the box of cake. It felt, how should I say, clumpy? Even through the box. I shook it a bit and it still felt weird. I knew I had had it a while so I looked at the expiration date.

November 2012. It's October 2013. Ew!!

So I dropped the cake mix right into the mixer and mixed away. I didn't know if I needed to grease the cookie sheet or not because I know that some cookies love to spread. These barely spread at all, and kept their shape pretty well. So spray away!!

On a scale of 1-10, I give these a 7. They have that yummy spice cake kick with a hint of pumpkin. They were also sort of fluffy and bouncy which was fun. These will be going in to my Tried it, KEEPER board on Pinterest!!

The link is sketchy so...

1 can pumpkin
1 box spice cake mix
350 for 10-13 minutes (I did 13)

Pumpkin Cookies with Vanilla Glaze

The day I made these, I also made three other things.

1. peanut butter cheerio treats
2. pumpkin and spice cake cookies
3. zucchini brownies

One of these was a total winner, one was beyond disgusting, one was "not bad", and this one? Well, let's see...

Before I got these ready, I asked Husband to get the brownies out of the oven because I was apparently busy for some reason. I plopped these cookies on the cookie sheet and put them in the oven. The timer went off 12 minutes later. I got them out of the oven and to my shock, they were still raw. I was sooooo seriously confused.

I looked at the oven. OFF. Husband had turned the oven off so I was trying to bake cookies with no heat. Did he not realize this set me back 12 minutes?! HELLO! I have a life!

Anyway, I burned batch 1 but really, the burned ones LOOKED better with the glaze on them and the second batch looked exactly like my pumpkin/spice cake cookies.

The icing was made with powdered sugar. I have made two or three cookie recipes before with powdered sugar in the icing and I hated it. This was no exception. The icing tasted like dirty dirt. Nasty. The cookie? Not bad. I could only eat the cookies without icing.

As far as making this cookie again (minus icing), I don't think I will. It wasn't fantastic. But of course, Husband loved it. Just like he loved the other recipes that used icing like this. You can take his word or mine.

Choose wisely...
http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/pumpkin-cookies/

Low Fat Zucchini Brownie

There is a reason this recipe is low fat.

It's low fat, low sugar, low calorie and low good. Low good as in NO good. As in, there is no amount of trying to lose weight that would make me eat this brownie over a normal one.

First of all, I should have known it was sketchy because of the mashed bananas. I have had zero luck with mashed banana recipes.

I thought the zucchini might save it because my zucchini bread is freaking delicious.

Nope. Not at all. In fact, the brownie wouldn't even cook!! I put it in the oven for the amount of time I was supposed to. The middle was completely raw. I put it in for 20 MORE MINUTES! I thought that a burnt brownie was better than a raw one.

20 minutes later...still raw, and still ew. Ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew. Ew.

Ew.
http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=474935

Peanut Butter Cheerio Treats

Peanut butter is seriously so good. Add cheerios, corn syrup and lots and lots of SUGAR and you have a yummy treat!!

If you've ever made minute boil cookies, these are made almost the same way. It's quite simple. Boil the sugar and syrup then remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter until melted, add cheerios, mix and voila!

Slap them on some wax paper and in about 30 minutes, these will be wiped out. SO SO SO GOOD!!

The kids would love this. I'm very thankful my child doesn't have a peanut allergy because he tore these up (and when he sat it down for two seconds, my dog tore it up).

Enjoy!
http://kathiecooks.blogspot.com/2010/01/cheerio-treats.html

Margarita Chicken Quesadillas

Calling all alcoholics!!!!

For real, calling all alcoholics!! There is an insane amount of tequila in this recipe. Like, half a bottle worth of tequila. Or at least that's what it tasted like.

The ingredient list is so appetizing. Orange juice and honey? Mmmmmm. Tequila? PAAAARTAY!!!

I don't drink alcohol often. And when I do, it has to be fruity with no hint of alcohol. As I was cooking this, the tequila was singeing the hairs in my nose and making my eyebrows stand up. I swear my eyes were watering. I had hope that the amount of other ingredients would mask the black death called "tequila".

I served up Husband first before trying it myself. He was all "MMMMMMMMM!!! THIS IS AWESOME!!!"

I took one bite. Gagged. Took one more bite. I was done. I was eating chicken flavored tequila. It was so dang nasty.

I've decided I will keep the recipe but I will 100% leave out the tequila next time. Tequila is for the birds. Is that the right phrase?

Ew, all around.
http://www.halfbakedharvest.com/margarita-chicken-quesadilla-with-margarita-guacamole/

Featured on Pinstrosity

I got an email yesterday saying that I was on Pinstrosity again but totally forgot that I had submitted my crockpot disaster! So go check out Pinstrosity and see the other chicken disasters people had. I had wanted to try #1 on the list and after reading her story and reading comments, I'm glad I won't have to waste my money.

Check it out here!

PEOPLE Magazine

Ok, this is totally not food related.

BUT...

Go to the link and "like" the picture of my wedding dress and I could be featured in PEOPLE magazine if I get enough likes!!

YAHOO!!

                                                           VOTE HERE!!

Sticky Pecan Cinnamon Buns

I'm back with another breakfast recipe that will blow your mind!

If you love cinnamon rolls then you will love this. This was soooooooooo incredibly delicious that I can't really figure out what to say. I didn't mess it up, so I don't have any kind of story there. Although, there were remnants of the exploding cheesecake that were still in my oven (still there) that smoked up the kitchen so bad that I had to open a window.

But that's neither here nor there. It's so bad in there that I could probably officially smoke a brisket.

I will be making this the next time my family has a get together. I recommend you do as well.

http://southernbite.com/2011/09/26/sticky-pecan-cinnamon-rolls/

Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Cake

Oh yeah.

Chocolate!

Pumpkin!

Cake!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! Bring it.

Fall is on the horizon and my tail is wagging. I love fall. I love the smells, the colors, the decorations, my Yankee Candle Boney Bunch collection, and most of all, the food. OMG the food.

This recipe doesn't start from a box. It's all from scratch which is what appealed to me because I really had no idea what to expect. As I was throwing everything together and getting big, fat whiffs, I was in heaven. There was children's laughter filling the air (then fighting, crying and pushing over toys), The Lion King was on, girl talk was in full force, and I was using my kitchenaid mixer. Things were perfect.

I put the mixture into the bundt pan and popped it in and waited the obligatory hour. When done, it slipped right out of the pan and was just glowing with deliciousness. I didn't have forever to wait for it to cool to put the powdered sugar on so I just put it on. I learned two things this day.

#1- It is really fun when you put the powdered sugar in a strainer and sprinkle it. It remind me of Flowers in the Attic :/

#2- If you put powdered sugar on a hot cake, it immediately turns nasty yellow. I suppose it would work in this instance because it's a fall cake and yellow is a fall color. So sure. I guess it's ok.

The verdict? Pretty darn good. There might have been a bit too much spice added but overall, the more I ate (and the more and more and more I ate), the better it tasted so...

MAKE THIS CAKE!!!

Mmmmmmm
http://chocolatechocolateandmore.com/2012/10/chocolate-pumpkin-spice-cake/

Cinnamon Bun Cheesecake

Sooooooooo, it's been a while. OOPS!!

School started and so it's back to only having time to cook and chill with the fam when I get home. Anything else is too much work. Yet I made time to update. So enjoy.

I decided to try another cheesecake recipe since my other experience was so tasty. I read the ingredient list but for some reason, SOME REASON, I didn't read the directions before I started. I for real have no idea why I continue to skip that step when I've learned it's important.

What did I learn WHILE making this? That I needed a springform pan. Did I have one? No. So I was forced to compromise and this is what happened...

Just a wee bit of an overflow.

Not a problem though! After cutting off (and eating) all the excess stuff hanging over. the cheesecake fell right out of the pan.

Now since I didn't have the correct pan and I had lots of batter, I guess I overdid the crust a little bit. That might be an understatement.

Look at the clump of cinnamon!! Yummy!!! So I mainly tasted bread but I can only imagine how amazing this would be with the correct proportions.

Unfortunately, I'm freaking tired and have no more energy to say anything else or elaborate at all about my experience with this recipe. Bye.
http://asweetbaker.com/cinnamon-bun-cheesecake/

(Give me a couple of weeks to get back into the swing of things!!)

Sour Cream Cinnamon Roll Pancakes With Maple Coffee Glaze

What a delicious sounding title!! I love...

Sour cream- check
Cinnamon- check
Pancakes- check
Maple syrup- check
Coffee- double check

Although the pictures show that this might be easy to make, I had an awful experience that I am going to show in a series of pictures. I am going to show what each step SHOULD have looked like, and what mine looked like. I will be telling my wonderful story along the way. I hope you halfway enjoy.

I mixed the ingredients for the pancake batter in my mixer. It was thick BUT...

"The pancake batter will be nice and thick, this is good."

If you say so! Here we go.

Her pancakes are all smooth and pretty on the griddle after the batter is dropped on. Mine were big clumps that didn't spread out because the batter was so thick, so I tried to flatten them and spread them out with my spatula but the batter just stuck to it. It was messy from the get go. Then it was time to pour the cinnamon mixture onto the pancakes. I got a little excited and I guess made the hole in the bag too big :)

Yikes!!

Totally not pretty. At all. I let them cook the amount they needed and then I flipped them and THAT was not pretty either. Let me show you...

I have no explanation as to how they got this way. They just exploded!! Husband told me to trim the excess off, so I did and that salvaged the look a little bit. Upon turning them over, I was expecting to see the semi descent cinnamon "clumps" (so much for swirls). Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. This is what I got...

Impressive

I was so sad that her pancakes looked a million times better than mine. I stood there and thought of ways that I could fix this for round 2.

1- Try a little bit smaller scoop of batter
2- Cut a much smaller hole in the cinnamon bag
3- Pray for a miracle

I will let you be the judge for round 2...

As you can see, I started giving up towards the end

Another fail

Sad day. My hopes for this recipe came crashing down into a huge ball of cinnamon fury. I told Husband that I might have to cook another breakfast Pinterest recipe. He said "Let's just try them." so I piled them on a plate, added the maple glaze and we dug in.

SOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!

I may have butchered the way it was supposed to look but holy lord they tasted delicious!! After about 10 minutes, I got a pretty bad tummy ache though. I'm sure it was because of all the sugar. But it was worth it. The batter recipe is to die for so I will be making these again. Better luck next time.

Check it out for yourself...

http://www.number-2-pencil.com/2012/06/25/sour-cream-cinnamon-roll-pancakes-with/

Pumpkin Cupcakes With Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Alas!! The day came where I finally decided that I would put all my cooking experience to the test and create my own recipe.

Of course I chose a dessert. Who wouldn't.

I have baked A LOT of cupcakes, cakes and cookies over the years. I thought I had an idea of what it would take to create a cupcake of my own. I pulled some ingredients I knew would be necessary.

Without going into great detail, I'll just mention what I used

3 c. flour
1 package vanilla pudding mix (I had it, why not try it?)
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. cinnamon (oh yeah)
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. ground cloves

This mixture looked sufficient and smelled delicious so I was satisfied. On to the wet ingredients...

1 c. butter
3/4 c. honey (I decided to use this instead of sugar, read it was a great alternative)
1 c. brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. pumpkin puree

I started with the wet ingredients in my handy dandy mixer (that I LOOOOOVE, thanks mom!). After mixing a while, the contents looked like puke. Much like the pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies I made. I slowly added the dry ingredients and the smell was just uuuuuuuh-mazing. The mixture looked to be the perfect consistency and I was getting extremely proud of myself. I poured the mixture into the cupcake pan and baked them at 350 for 25 minutes.

In the meantime, I made the frosting. I decided to go with cream cheese frosting.

4 oz. cream cheese
4 oz. butter
2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. cinnamon (oh yeah)

The frosting was the bomb before it even went on the cupcakes. I would have eaten it all with a spoon.

NOW FOR THE VERDICT (dun, dun, dun...)

Not bad!!! The cupcakes had KIND OF a weird density, I can't really place why. The taste was 95% delicious, there was just a tiny bitter taste afterwards. Again, don't know why. But the frosting, oh muh guw, sooooo good.

I plan on making these again but I am going to change a few things. I am going to add 1 more c. of flour, 1/2 tbsp. less of cinnamon (dang), only do 1/2 c. honey and add 1/4 c. sugar.

Hopefully that will get me the perfect cupcake but I have no clue if it really will. If you have any suggestions, please share them!

Chicken Taco Casserole

I made this soooooooo long ago so I don't know why it's taken me so long to get around to blogging about it.

I really don't remember if I screwed anything up with this one. Yet I do remember that it was very good and is a keeper in my recipe book.

So I do recommend this if you are in a mexican food kind of mood!

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/chicken-taco-casserole/

Cheesy Potato Gratin

Let me start with something that really chapped my hiney with this recipe...

I spent $10 on the fancy cheese!! $10 on cheese alone. I'm thinking "this better be the best freaking potato recipe in the history of potato recipe making." At the same time, I thought that since this is a Williams Sonoma recipe, then of COURSE it's going to be good.

Shall I start at the beginning?

So I was following directions (for a change) and was doing just fine. I got the butter in, the shallot, flour, chicken stock, cream and now it was time for the cheese.

Expensive cheese #1- Gruyere, imported from Italy (ooooooooooooh)

I started grating it with my awesome saladmaster grater and as I was going along, I grabbed a chunk to throw in my mouth, out of habit. You know in the movies when the wife is all cute in her apron, dancing, looking all suave while cooking dinner and putting this and that in her mouth? I was going for that effect (minus the apron, dancing and looking suave). Regardless, I popped some cheese in my mouth and immediately paused where I was.

What      


the      


crap    


 is      


that        


taste?!??!

I literally tasted the smell of dirty feet. I pulled the cheese out of my mouth, swished the taste around and again and confirmed that this cheese tasted like smelly feet. I took a big whiff and about gagged at the rancidity of the smell. This was supposed to be FANCY cheese?! Gag. But I continued, just without any more taste tests.

I continued following directions and then added the second fancy cheese, which wasn't as rancid as the first, but wasn't amazing. I had a nightmare experience with this cheese before so I bought pre-shredded.

Which really makes me question, if this cheese is not that great, WHY is it so expensive?

ANYWAY, the potatoes got cooked according to the directions. And you know the verdict? Not that fancy. Husband said "I don't see what the big deal is" and I agreed. They tasted like potatoes. Totally not worth $10 worth of cheese.

Especially not worth the shock of putting dirty feet in my mouth. Not at all.

Ew
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/cheesy-potato-gratin.html

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Husband had been demanding some kind of mexican casserole for a while so I caved and decided to make this one.

A quote from this chef: "Sometimes the dinners I make aren't really pretty but taste really good."

Also: "It's not the prettiest dinner you'll ever eat, but it sure it tasty."

Two ways of saying something that is so true. This dinner was very tasty but as soon as I dipped the spatula in to get a piece, everything just disintegrated into a pile of mush. So we had very good mush for dinner.

Normally, I don't like cooked avocados but they added a nice flavor kick. Would I recommend this one? YOU BET!!

http://www.iwashyoudry.com/2012/08/01/chicken-enchilada-casserole-recipe/

Taking Suggestions

Are there any Pinterest recipes you would like me to try out for you so you don't have to do the dirty work?

If you want me to do a test run, just comment with the link to the recipe!! This could be fun :)

Sweet & Spicy Grilled Chicken Wings

This was a yummy spin on one of our favorite dinners!!

Here is what I use for my chicken wings:
-salt
-pepper
-chili powder

For the sauce, I use:
-butter
-lime juice
-Frank's red hot original hot sauce

I spread them out on a big pizza sheet, sprinkle one side with the dry mixture, turn them over and do the other side. Then I bake them at 400 for about 20 minutes. After they are done baking, I put the liquids in a skillet and toss the wings until they're nice and crisp, usually about 10-15 minutes.

This recipe says to put the wings on a grill and baste but I did it my way and they turned out just fine and very flavorful. While cooking, the vinegar smell was quite intense but the taste was so delicious! Husband devoured them.

Super easy and super worth a shot.

Try 'em
http://shewearsmanyhats.com/2012/05/sweet-and-spicy-chicken-wings/

Mexican Tilapia

The day had come for me to do my grocery shopping. I slacked off all day and got to the store around 4:00 and it was so busy that I walked right back out. So nothing for dinner.

We had tilapia in the freezer. Husband said "NOT AGAIN!! WE HAD TILAPIA TWICE THIS WEEK!!" and I looked at him and said "Uhhhhhhhhh, do YOU want to cook dinner?"

Tilapia it was. He said he wanted to eat the mexican rice with it. Really honey? Mexican rice and tilapia?! So I got on Pinterest and typed in "mexican tilapia", laughing the whole time because that combination seemed to be non existent. A ton of recipes popped up. Oh.

I looked at the picture for this recipe and thought "I have that! I also have that! OOOh, and that too!! I can make this honey, I have everything we need!!" so we got really excited and I started pulling everything out.

I started with the tilapia, got it out.

The the salt, pepper, butter, lime juice, garlic, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and then red onion. Oh wait. I don't have a red onion. I have a white onion! That will work!

Then I went for the corn. Oops! Sorry honey, don't have corn!!

Then I went for the green onions. Crap honey, I don't have those either.

It was time for the cilantro. Chirp, chirp, chirp...

HEY!! I HAVE FOIL!!

Now, I was in a hurry so I didn't REALLY  read the directions. The big part I missed was to only have three chipotle peppers and more importantly, to have them seeded. I just threw what was in the can into the food processor and off I went.

I only realized the extend of my mistake when I took the first bite of the dinner I thought I had everything for. You know that scene in Jurassic Park when Lexi has the green jello on her spoon and she just stared straight ahead and started shaking? That was me. Intense.

Despite the epic fail, it was really good, even without all the ingredients so I'm sure that with ALL the ingredients it would be ten times better. I totally recommend this only I strongly recommend you seed the peppers.

Add it!
http://cookininheels.blogspot.com/2013/01/mexican-baked-tilapia.html

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

I'm back on the cooking wagon. I fell off there for a little bit but now I'm back with a barrage of recipes to share. I'll start with this tasty sounding treat.

AS USUAL, I was excited to get with this recipe because it involved cookies. We were craving something sweet so I knew it was time.

I started with #1 on the directions. With my kitchenaid mixer, stuff like this is just more fun. I put the butter in, whipped it a bit, added this ingredient, that ingredient and step #1 was finished.

By this point, the batter looked suspiciously like vomit. Ew. On to step #2...

I whisked the dry ingredients together and made a mess trying to get it into the mixing bowl without having to turn it off to prevent my hand from being yanked off. That was a fun clean up so probably only 3/4 of that mixture made it into the bowl. On to step #3...

WHAT?!?! CHILL FOR AN HOUR?!?! Dang. Not reading everything in advance seriously comes around to bite me in the butt way too much. So I waited...and waited...and waited...boring. Lost the thrill of baking these cookies.

1 hour later...

I started following directions for step #4 and step #5. Fairly simple but so important. Last sentence for step #5..."Use a glass with a nice, flat bottom to dip in sugar and flatten the balls." Excuse me lady, I've baked enough cookies to know that I don't need to flatten S---! Cookies always spread out. Derr.

Oh. Or not.

I had cake balls everybody!! Guess I should have followed directions. These balls were very cakey, less cookie and didn't have as much flavor as you would think. You know how I know that? I ate about 5 of them.

In the meantime, it's pushing 8:30 at night I realized I hadn't worked out yet. You see, I'm doing the Insanity workout program and it really, really sucks. But you know what doesn't suck? The results. So after letting these sit for a bit, I went and put my workout clothes on and rolled the balls for batch 2. I got my flat bottomed glass and mooshed the cookies down. I put them in the oven and started working out. When the time went off, I paused (was grateful for the break) and took the cookies out.

Even though I mashed them, they still came out super thick and cakey. You know how I know that? I ate about 5 of them.

On to batch 3!!! I rolled the balls and took that glass and smashed those stupid balls to within an inch of their life. These stupid cookies were getting the best of me. In the oven and back to the workout.

Too thin and crunchy. For real. You know how I know that? I ate about 5 of them. So much for working out.

http://www.recipegirl.com/2007/11/05/pumpkin-snickerdoodles/

And another...

Another classroom Pinterest post.

Pinterest Classroom Post

I haven't made any new recipes this past week but I will get on that with my grocery list for this week! Yippee!

I do have a Pinterest inspired post on my other blog. I made a new bulletin board for my classroom with an idea I got on Pinterest.

Check it out!

Creamy Chicken Piccata

I am so tired right now I almost have no energy to type words. We attempted to switch baby to a toddler bed and it hasn't gone so well. I got roughly 3 hours of sleep last night and about 4 the night before. This is making his chances of being an only child really really good.


So I don't even remember when I made this. It's on my "Tried it, keeper" board on Pinterest so apparently it was good. That's all I've got.

Mine looks like crap.

It's a pioneer woman recipe.
http://www.plainchicken.com/2010/08/creamy-grilled-chicken-piccata.html

Whew!

I'm back! Had to take a little hiatus to travel for the birth of my newest nephew :) I'm up to 6 nephews and 1 niece. Busy little family we have...

Cucumber Salad

I love cucumbers dipped in ranch!! They are so good, especially when you pile pepper on them before dipping.

This picture drew me in because it looked super juicy and flavorful and like you could just eat this salad by the handful.

I made the salad with exact ingredient amounts that it said. As I was mixing, it didn't seem to be that much.

Upon mixing everything together, I took my first taste. It tasted like cucumbers with a hint of something else. A very SMALL hint. It looked and tasted nothing like the picture.

Upon closer examination, I realized the picture had ranch in it and there was no ranch in the recipe. So I guess the ranch helped add to the juicy look. And I fell for it. Completely disappointed with this one. I didn't go back and add ranch. That might have made a difference.

Deceived. Once again.

Booooo!!
http://kelsies-kitchen.blogspot.com/2009/07/cucumber-salad.html

Rainbow Pinwheel Cookies

I attempted the impossible today! Yep, I attempted these pinwheel Dr. Suess cookies and they were impossible.

Literally.

Impossible.

Let me start with the best part. Baby was napping so Husband decided to help out (all he really did was lick the bowl but it was fun anyway).

The directions were very clear, very easy to understand and read.

Step 1- mix the ingredients according to the package. So I did.

Step 2- divide the batter into 5 different bowls and add the food coloring. So I did. Have you read that article about food coloring being cancerous?? I never want to eat anything in America again. Read the article here.

Step 3- roll each color dough into grape size balls.

Or not.

This is where I encounter problem #1. As you can see, rolling isn't happening. There were no directions about chilling the dough (which would have made sense) or slathering my hands in butter so it wouldn't stick. Nope. Just good old fashioned rolling. BUT....I rolled with it and added my other colors.

Step 4? 5?- Roll the ball between your hand and the counter until you have a cylinder about 12" long.

Nailed it!

I was then supposed to roll that cylinder of dough into a coil. Um, impossible. Quite literally impossible. BUT...I kept on.

I made the cookie, and I dipped the edge in the sprinkles, exactly like the recipe said to do. Verbatim.

Yep. Followed directions.

I sure did plop that thing on the cookie sheet. As distraught as I was that my pinwheels were very obviously not going to happen, I wasn't going to let the cookie dough go to waste. So Husband gave me the great idea of just joining all the colors together again and having multicolored cookies. At least they would be pretty. So I did.

Upon getting the cookie on the cookie sheet, I figured that since I already dipped cookie dough in the sprinkles that I should use them ALL. I looked Husband straight in the face, paused, and uttered my final cookie words.

"YOLO."

He said that was dumb.

Those stupid little things are all over my kitchen. Bad call on my part.

Unfortunately, the sprinkles didn't stay as condensed as I would have liked when they were done. And the cookies looked half horrible.

Soooooooooo would I recommend you make these? No. But in the comment section of this link, there are people that are all like "Oh! Mine turned out great!". Whatever.

Oh well!
http://www.soudersstudios.com/recipes/rainbow-pinwheel-cookies.php

Father's Day

I got creative this year and made coupons for Husband for Father's Day. He is unfortunately using the crap out of them. He used three yesterday alone.

Genius, huh?

Cinnamon Zucchini Bread

I am famous for two things:

1. My pumpkin cinnamon chocolate chip cookies

2. My cinnamon zucchini bread

I do not give out the recipe for my cookies because I can almost guarantee I am the only person in Texas with this recipe considering I got it from an old friend from California's mom. Every time I make these for an event, I get assaulted for the recipe so therefore, I am famous for the cookies.

But my zucchini bread, I am willing to share this recipe because it's just that good. I get asked for this recipe a LOT so I will share with everyone and now YOU will be the one that's popular. You'll be "the bread lady".

So enjoy and you're welcome :)

Ingredients:
3 cups shredded zucchini
1 2/3 c. sugar
2/3 c. vegetable oil (you can use canola if you want)
2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
3 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon (now if you're a cinnamon freak like me, use 3)
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Topping:
3 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tbsp. butter

Spray 2 8x4 pans. In bowl, mix zucchini, sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs. Add remaining bread ingredients. Divide batter evenly.

Mix topping and spread over loaves.

Cook for 50-60 minutes at 350.

Here is what I've learned over the years. Spray the pans GOOD so the bread doesn't break up when you turn it over to get it out. Also, for the topping, make sure you do NOT melt the butter to make the topping. It can be kind of hard to spread on the loaves but if you melt it, the top of the bread will come out soggy instead of crispy. And trust me, that cinnamon crunch on the top is to die for.

Chicken & Asparagus Stir Fry

I could very easily make a pro/con list for this recipe.

Pro:
- I was able to use leftover rice from the nasty Santa Fe Chicken recipe.

Cons:
- Everything else.

This was an absolute warfare attack on my taste buds. I guess I could equate it to bird poop landing in your mouth. This was SO SO SO nasty that I took about 3 bites and starved to death that night. I love Husband because he will eat anything I cook, just because I cooked it. But he struggled with this one. He deserves a fist bump and a beer.

My first problem is the so called marinade. 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of honey to marinate TWO chicken breasts? Please.

And the scallions? I get shallots, scallions and scallops confused. You probably do too. So instead of scallions, I accidentally used shallots. I'm sure it would have been extra nasty had I used scallops. But I REALLY don't think that was the problem!! Plus I would prefer that the entire world just use the words "chives" instead of green onions/scallions. Perhaps it's a Texas thing.

So I think the big, huge, GIGANTIC turn off was the sesame oil. I mean, holy crap. It was awful.

There, you have my review of this recipe. I hope you weren't super excited to try this one because I know that I totally just burst your bubble.

I DARE you to try this and tell me you liked it!!
http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/chicken-and-asparagus-stir-fry/

Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken

I have never had a weight watchers meal before. I am not on any kind of diet program but I figured as popular as weight watchers is, that this meal was probably pretty good. It has a bunch of the good ingredients that make up all sorts of yummy dishes.

As with most crockpot recipes, you just dump everything in and wait. It smelled delicious!!

Oh how the smells of the kitchen can be deceiving. Believe it or not, this dish had very little flavor in the end despite all the flavored ingredients and it was SO boring. So boring in fact that I didn't even finish it. Husband said it was "Eh, ok" and the leftovers (and there were a ton) just sat in the fridge all sorts of lonely until I threw them out because they were taking up space.

The good news is that I got to use the leftover rice for another recipe that ended up being repulsive.

I do not recommend this meal unless you're boring :)

On to the next one...
http://durfeefamilyrecipes.blogspot.com/2012/08/crock-pot-sante-fe-chicken.html

Salted Pretzel Caramel Brownies

There's NOOOO getting around it. I "fudged" this one up!! Get it? :)

This did not go as planned. At all. By any means. Huge mess. Huge disaster but I covered it up like a pro!

When it came time to pour the brownie batter in, you had two options. Parchment paper, or spray. I chose spray because I've never used parchment paper, plus I didn't have any. So I sprayed the crap out of that 8x8.

I'm wishing I had used parchment paper (are you taking notes?) because when it was time to get the brownies out of the pan, I assumed I could just turn them over and they would plop out onto the cooling rack, kind of like a cake does (are you laughing at me??). After all, I sprayed quite a bit beforehand. Did that happen? No. I turned them over and they just stayed in the pan. I gave it a little wiggle. Nothing.

Hm. I was taking most of these to my daycare so I wanted them to look pretty. I didn't want to put the caramel on top and THEN cut them out because the caramel would just be everywhere. Plus I wanted little bit size pieces. So I tried something else...and failed....quite miserably....

Yikes.

Ok, so only about half the brownies got butchered to the point of not being able to gift them. BUT my idea was still a possibility. I thought I would be smart and pour the caramel on top of them while on a rack and still easily cut them. It kinda worked...

Not bad!! Now as far as cutting them into small pieces, well, that just got ugly but I semi accomplished it. They weren't perfect little squares like I had hoped but life isn't perfect, and neither were these.

I wouldn't recommend trying to get small pieces with this recipe. Just doesn't work. As far as taste, it wasn't bad. The salt completely threw my mouth off. It was confused. Pretzels weren't as crunchy as I thought they would be. But give it a shot and see if you can do better!!

Eek.
http://quick-dish.tablespoon.com/2013/04/26/salted-pretzel-caramel-brownies/?nicam4=SocialMedia&nichn4=Pinterest&niseg4=Tablespoon&nicreatID4=Post

Chicken Alfredo Roll-Ups

First of all, does anyone else struggle with cooking lasagna noodles? Am I the only idiot that can't do it without ruining half of them?

With that said, the recipe called for 9 noodles but I put in 11 or 12 because I'm ridiculous and knew I would screw up, which I did. But I ended up having enough whole noodles to make this recipe.

This lady recommends making homemade alfredo sauce. If I had the time or energy, I probably would have but I decided to go with a favorite...Classico. Their alfredo sauce is the bomb. As far as cheese of my choosing, I went with mozarella.

Putting this together was a little bit time consuming, but there were no major mishaps (which is starting to be unfortunate because I'm getting so good at cooking that I have nothing fun to share!!!!), and the cooking time was reasonable.

I served this with cubed and grilled zucchini, seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

The final verdict? Husband- "This is the best dinner we've had in a while."

Yes, folks. 10 out of 10. This might trump the herb chicken, or maybe tie. This was so so so good. The lady who came up with this recipe deserves a high five!

Give this one a try!!

http://mmmcafe.blogspot.com/2012/01/chicken-alfredo-roll-ups.html

Asparagus Scrambled Eggs with Bacon & Cheese

I'm adding one of my own yummy meals to the blog for today. This recipe is an offshoot of a recipe I have in a "Cook This, Not That" cookbook. I like my version better so that's why I'm sharing it. The ingredient list is simple:

I didn't feel like fitting 8 eggs on the board.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of asparagus
Colby Jack cheese (handful)
8-10 slices of cooked bacon
8 eggs
1 tbsp. butter
salt & pepper to taste


What I love about this meal is that the asparagus adds a nice crunch to the soft eggs and cheese and then the bacon comes in there and just blows your taste buds up!!

1. Add butter to skillet over medium heat. Chop asparagus into 1" pieces and throw (not literally) into the skillet. Season with salt and pepper and cook until semi soft (7-10 minutes).

2. In the meantime, if you're lazy like me, microwave your bacon. Also, put your eggs into a bowl, stir until well mixed then grab a generous handful of cheese and chunk it in the bowl. Stir together. Add more salt and pepper if you're feeling funky.

3. When your bacon is done, cut it up into small pieces, about 1 or 2 inches. Once the asparagus starts to REALLY smell good, dump in your egg/cheese mixture and your bacon. This part cooks fast so be ready, ninja spatula skills on high alert.

If you want variation with this meal, you can substitute ham or salmon for the bacon and try different types of cheeses. The original recipe calls for Feta, and I'll admit that it's pretty good.

So I hope you try and enjoy my creation because Husband and I tore this up this morning!!