Avocado with Cottage Cheese

So I've been doing the whole "eating healthy" thing this year. I got the "my fitness pal" app and have been tracking my calories. I have worked out twice in one month but mostly staying under my calories that I'm given. As of yesterday, I've lost 5.4 lbs just from eating better. If I worked out more, I'm sure it would be much more than that. My husband and mother in law have been doing both and Husband has lost 17 lbs (so he's a muscle stick right now!) and my mother in law has lost 12.

With this app has come my desire to try newer, healthier foods. I saw this one on Pinterest and thought I would give it a shot. I hadn't had cottage cheese in probably 20 years but I was told to take a bite. So I took a bite, and it wasn't bad.

Alas, I tried the cottage cheese and avocado combo with a bit of salt and pepper. Here is what it looked like on Pinterest...

And here is what mine looked like...

It was VERY good! But be warned, it was extremely flavorful, a bit too flavorful so I couldn't finish it. I would recommend half an avocado with cottage cheese at a time. It's hard to explain unless you've tried it.

So I suggest you try it, just not all at once.

Brown Sugar Barbecue Chicken

I get to claim this recipe as my own! For once, I didn't copy something I found on Pinterest.

I came up with this recipe all by my little self and I'm really proud because it's delicious. I had two others concur that frankly, this was the bomb.

I will elaborate more at a later date, but I am eating better. We all are. I was home with a sick little boy and knew I had plenty of time to think about a semi healthy dinner. I saw there were huge chicken parts in the freezer so I got the bag out to grab a few.

First, before I even started, on the front of the bag there were big letters that said "YOUNG CHICKEN". How sad!!! I'M EATING BABIES!! Anyway...

I've learned through my Pinterest trials that there are some good marinades out there. Since I had about 7 hours until dinner, I wanted to find something good so the chicken would be nice and juiced up.

The previous night, we had cooked some sausage links and Husband had bought some KC original barbecue sauce that was on sale. It was actually really good. There was plenty left so I thought I would just use it up.

But it didn't stop there. I thought "Hmmmmmm, how about some brown sugar?!" *good choice*

Let me break it down for you:

1- I added the remaining 3/4 bottle of barbecue sauce into a gallon bag.
2- I added 3/4 c. brown sugar. I closed the bag and shook my booty until it was well mixed.
3- I put the thawed chicken (3 leg looking parts) in, got all the air out of the bag and let it sit.
4- I turned the bag over every hour so each side got the same amount of goodness to soak in.
5- I marinated for about 5 hours.

I got a pan that had holes in it (like a pizza pan), sprayed it and set the oven at 350. I've learned that if you just use a cookie sheet, the chicken sits in that juice and the bottom doesn't get crispy. I put the cookie sheet on the shelf below the chicken to catch all the juice.

I let it cook for about an hour. I just decided the top looked nice and it turned out to be the right amount of time. Ready for the final product? Feast your eyes on THIS...

Oh yeah. It was gooooooooood!! I suggest you give it a try, it will be worth it :)

Cheesy Zucchini

Do you ever have a recipe that is really good but kind of takes a long time and you wish you could just have a time traveling version of it? As in, it can travel 30 minutes into the future and be done?

I think about it every time I cook. Since I've been binge watching Fringe, I think about stupid sci-fi stuff all the time now. What does the me in the other universe look like? Is she as awesome as me? Does she screw up her recipes as much as me? You only know what I'm talking about if you like Fringe. I swear I'm not weird.

This is a time traveling recipe. Take broccoli cheddar casserole. Does it take forever? I've never made it so I don't know :) If it does, then this stuff is your go to. It tastes exactly like the real casserole. And it only took about 10 minutes. The best part is that my Saladmaster slicer chopped up the zucchini in 20 seconds. It also chopped part of my finger and blood got everywhere but it's ok, I totally rinsed it off.

I overdosed on the cheese because I didn't want what was left to go to waste. Bad call on my part.

Still good! I recommend it as an easy side dish.
http://www.howdoesshe.com/zucchini-coming-out-your-ears/

Chicken Tortilla Stack

The picture for this recipe looks SOOOOOOOOO good!!

Aside from that, the ingredients are so simple and the putting together seemed simple as well. I was worried that with no real flavoring to the chicken, it would be just another bland dish. I don't think I've ever mixed these three cheeses either. Sharp, pepper jack and mozzarella.

Lucky for y'all, I only screwed up one cheese and it still tasted delicious!! I used monterrey jack. White cheese is white cheese, right?

Everyone loved this and it was sooo easy to make and totally yummy to my tummy. I recommend this for one of those nights where you don't have a lot or time or energy. 8 out of 10.

You know you like that ghetto slice of avocado on top.

http://damndelicious.net/2013/05/05/chicken-tortilla-stack-and-a-giveaway/

Creamy Crockpot Hot Chocolate

I decided to spice up the hot chocolate selection one night and try this recipe that I had pinned a LONG time ago. It was cold and we were all in the mood for a little chocolate bubbly. I happened to have all the ingredients so I gave it a shot.

The part that sounded the yummiest was the whip cream!!

So on I went...ingredient 1...ingredient 2...ingredient 3...and so on...

Let's see the final product.

Looks like hot chocolate huh? Well well well, hot chocolate can be sneaky because this melted poo tasted just like that...

POO!! As in, EW. It was extremely bitter and INSANELY ew. Such a waste of incredible ingredients. So save your chocolate for something you know is good because this isn't it.

http://www.mrshappyhomemaker.com/2010/12/creamy-crockpot-hot-cocoa-best-ever/

Yikes!

It's been a month. My bad! Life has really taken over. The weeks leading up to Christmas break are hectic when you're a teacher AND a mom. So I am finally getting some down time. I have some new recipes to show you so I promise I will have something new this weekend!

Toodles :)

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!!)