Saturday, December 24, 2011

Lasagna Cupcakes


So after numerous requests for the recipe....  I present to you....Lasagna Cupcakes.




First Grease your cupcake tins and put one won ton wrapper in each tin.


Add some ground beef, a teaspoon is generous.

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Add sauce.  I used Ragu.  My mom wanted to make this recipe so she is pictured helping me make them today for the wonderful staff at Uncommon Care.   


Add cheese.  We used Ricotta, Feta, Mozzarella, and Parmesan.



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Topping it with the mozzarella....  After you do this you will layer it one more time ending with the Mozzarella on top.



Ready for the oven.  350 degrees for 18-20 minutes!





When they are done put them on a cookie sheet if you plan to freeze them.  They freeze beautifully!  We took them when we stayed in a hotel recently and they warmed up great in the microwave.  Add salad and some bread and you have a meal!  


*Other Options

Taco Cupcakes- These I have personally tried.  Use Taco meat and cheese to layer.  Top with Sour Cream and Salsa.  Some Guacamole would be yummy too!  
Quiche-  Eggs, Meat (ham, sausage, bacon) & Cheese!  Sounds delicious too!
Dessert- Bake the won ton wrapper and then fill with pudding and whipped cream!

What ideas do you have?  Let me know so I can try them too!  I would love new followers and I will follow you!



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Friday, December 23, 2011

No need for fat pants!


After some yummy treats this week we need to have something that is healthy and will not make us grab those fat pants!   So today I am posting  Cookie Dough Dip.   I know what you are thinking.  That can't possibly be healthy.  But it is.  There is a secret ingredient that makes it healthy.   Chickpeas.
Here is the recipe:

Cookie Dough Dip
Recipe courtesy of chocolatecoveredkatie.com
  • 1 1/2 cups chickpeas (1 can, drained) (250g)
  • 1/8 tsp plus 1/16 tsp salt
  • tiny bit over 1/8 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup nut butter (You can get away with using only 3 T. If you use peanut butter, it’ll have a very-slight “pb cookie dough” taste, so if you don’t want this, you can sub oil.)
  • up to 1/4 cup nondairy milk (Start with 1 T, and add more as needed)
  • Sweetener (see note below, for amount)
  • 1/3 cup chocolate chips
  • 2 to 3 T oats (or flaxmeal) (You can omit, but also omit the milk if you do)
Add all ingredients (except for chocolate chips) to a blender or food processor, and blend until very smooth. Then mix in the chocolate chips.
I made two batches.  One with the peanut butter/biscotti butter and one with oil.  The one on the left is made with oil and not as firm.  Michael loved both of them which says a lot!  He is one picky eater!  Of course both kids liked them but Kyra is not a fan of peanut butter so the second batch was made for her.  

Hope you enjoy it!
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Thursday, December 22, 2011

Kyle's Creation



 Today I am a guest poster on my mom's blog. This post is about how I made chocolate chip pancakes. As you can see my main ingredients are dark chocolate chips and Bisquick pancake mix. My other ingredients were milk and eggs. I used dark chocolate chips because they are healthier and they were all I could find.  Mom likes the Natural Pancake syrup so I added it in the picture.  Any syrup would do or you could eat them without like Kyra and I did.





Here I mixed everything in the bowl. I started with the mix. Then I poured in the milk, Then I put in my two eggs, and finally I added my chocolate chips. Then I stirred them for about 4 minutes. Then I poured them onto the pan and cooked them and flipped them.





 Here is the finished product. I hope you enjoyed my post. Thanks mom!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The most AMAZING dessert ever and an extra for that potluck!!!!


Oh yes!  You will be the talk of the town (in a good way) with party invites as long as you bring this Amazing dessert!  It is a very easy dessert to make too!  Here is the recipe:

1. 1 bag of Oreo cookies
2. Peanut Butter
3. 1 box of brownie mix

Yep that is it.  3 ingredients!  Now here's how to make it!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pan with liners.

Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. For each cupcake cup spread 1 teaspoon of peanut butter over 2 Oreo cookies and stack them on top of each other. Place oreo stacks into the cupcake lined muffin cups. Spoon 2 tablespoons of brownie batter over each stacked oreos and let it run down the sides of the cookies. If you have left over brownie batter, bake separately in a separate baker or muffin tin. Bake cookies and brownies for 18 to 20 minutes, until brownies are cooked through. Let cool completely then serve.   See below for an additional idea on what to do with the left over brownie mix... it includes toffee!!

Makes 12 servings

Recipe from picky-palate.com




You can see I am kinda messy! (above)  I cut one in half for you to see.
  These were still warm so they mixed all together and were so good!  These will melt in your mouth!

Now... if you want you can make this with your left over brownie batter..

Toffee bottom:

8 oz (226g) butter (2 sticks), room temperature
1 cup (200g) packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks, room temperature
2 cups (250g) flour

This toffee bottom is more of a rich, caramelized cookie than a traditional bricklel toffee.  It makes a firm dough that needs to be pressed into the pan.

Chop butter into pieces and mix with sugar.

Add egg yolks and combine, one at a time.

Gradually fold in flour until just mixed.

Press dough into prepared pan.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until set and golden brown.

Let cool completely then pour in brownie top!                            



So Scrumptious!!  Enjoy!!



Don't forget to keep checking this week for some of our favorite recipes!  Guest blogger is tomorrow and Friday is a recipe you don't need your fat pants for!

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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Clean Eating?

So I am not going to tell you that clean eating is for you.  It is not for me but it is for my friend.  She has a medical condition that requires her to eat "clean."   She says she has never felt better and has lost 10 lbs just by switching her eating to "clean."   So that brings me to why I am writing this blog.  Well, my friend told me about this website called The Gracious Pantry.  On it were "Clean" Pumpkin Spice Pancakes.  Well I was craving some but didn't want all the unhealthy aspects of pancakes so I thought I would give these a try. 
I love them so much!!  They are yummy and delicious!  I eat them before I run for quick carbs that don't weigh you down.  Now I really like Pumpkin Pancakes but I don't want to eat them every day so I had to change the recipe just a bit.  I took out the Pumpkin Spice and added Cinnamon.  Oh yeah!  Add the cinnamon honey butter from Lowes foods and some All Natural Syrup and it is the best!  Even my kids ask for these pancakes.  Kyra ate the stack in the picture!  Try them.  You will be hooked and if you want to eat clean or would like some neat recipes than check out www.thegraciouspantry.com.    Below is the recipe for the pancakes above.

Clean Eating Pumpkin Spice Pancakes
Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour  (I got this at Whole Foods)
1-1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (any milk will work)  (I use skim)
1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice (no sugar added)
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Maple syrup for topping
Directions
Step 1 – Whisk together all ingredients (except maple syrup) in a medium mixing bowl.
Step 2 – Using an oil sprayer, spray a non-stick pan with a very light coat of olive oil. Pour on your pancakes and cook until done.
Step 3 – Serve a stack of hot pancakes topped with maple syrup and a side of scrambled egg whites.
Eat and Enjoy!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

I'm a Nut for Nutella!



 So I found a website I really like to use. It is called Stumble Upon. Well I “stumbled upon” this recipe and because I LOVE Nutella I had to try it! The recipe is Nutella Ice Cream. It is a simple recipe that requires two ingredients. I made a ½ recipe to see if we liked it. The full recipe is to blend 6 bananas and 1 cup of Nutella. You will freeze and then eat.




This picture shows what it looks like coming out of the freezer. I left it in the freezer overnight and it had a darker sheen on top. I did not cover it.






Now if you absolutely LOVE chocolate covered bananas you will probably like this recipe. I do not like bananas. So I didn't love it but it is a great alternative for the kids. I also made some with just bananas and peanut butter. That was pretty good too but still a banana flavor. I may have to experiment with this recipe some more!



I have found other recipes and will be posting some over this week hopefully!  Even a guest poster too!  So check back to see what's cooking during the holiday season!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Frozen!!

I have recently learned the proper way to do frozen foods.  Well proper by means of my friend Joleen.  I was always concerned about storage and she said "Use bags".  Well OK then.  I had used bags before but I was sure that there was something more to it.  I also am not a math whiz when it comes to doubling, tripling, or quadrupling a recipe.  Now of course I can do it but who wants to think about it?  Then there is the issue of not having the right ingredients for when you pull out your "meal" and you don't have say... Parmesan cheese or BBQ sauce.  *Sigh*   Yes these are issues we all know.  So she said just use this software called advantage cooking.  It has a trial offer.  So I did.  Well I love it!  I have been cooking up a storm and have a freezer that is filling up fast!   My one tip is to save a shelf to make sure your bags get flat so they can stand up and down in the freezer.    So for you all out there who have never done this.  Start surfing the web for recipes and get making some food.  Your freezer in no time will look like mine!  This way you can sit back relax enjoy the holidays and when January rolls around pull out some Turkey Rice Soup or some Barley Beef Soup and have a bowl with me!



This is my actual freezer.  When I was surfing around for recipes I found that there were lots of people who will tell you about freezer cooking but none show you their freezer.  It seemed like I saw the same picture over and over.  So here is mine.  As you can see I still have room for more.  I would love to have more recipes so feel free to comment and tell me yours!






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