Penne with Vodka Sauce get spiced up!

You will not believe how easy it is to make this fabulous pasta sauce. It’s almost too easy. You’ll think there is more to it, but I’m sharing all my secrets on this one, but lets let everyone think it’s WAY more difficult than it is, ok?

Spicy Vodka Sauce {printable recipe}

Happy Valentine’s Day

I love LOVE it’s the most amazing thing to feel it and to give it!

 I had a gingerbread house that I didn’t get around to decorating in December, can you guess why….you guessed it, too busy. I may or may not have another one too…who says gingerbread is only for Christmas.

This Gingerbread House is from Ikea, and yes I would buy it again, packaged so well, nothing was broken and just as I opened it. All I can smell is the yumminess of gingerbread, just like their gingerbread cookies with the scalloped edge.

I love being at home especially on Valentine’s Day. No better place to be than with my family!

I just love hearts, but I bet you already knew that.

I love these small red heart sprinkles, they are so fun to decorate with and no better day to share the LOVE than on Valentine’s Day!

So I’m sending you all wishes for a wonderful Valentine’s Day. No matter what your plans, or your unplanned day.

If you had plenty of time and planned out Christmas better than me (which I’m sure many of you did) and you don’t have a gingerbread house lying around, you could make a batch of gingerbread boys and put cute little hearts on them for everyone you love!

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 cup molasses

1 egg

1 tablespoon vinegar

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

 In a mixing bowl, beat shortening with, add sugar, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat until combined. Beat in the molasses, egg, and vinegar until combined. Mix in flour. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill for 3 hours or until easy to handle.

 On a lightly floured surface, roll dough.

Bake in a 375 degree for 5 to 6 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned.

*do not recall recipe source I’ve used this recipe for years.

Happy Valentin’s Day!

I love cinnamon and when I saw these cinnamon heart candies in the store, I knew just what I was going to make. Vanilla Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting,with the cinnamon hearts on top. These cinnamon hearts are one of my moms favorites, and she loved these cupcakes.

I just love all the heart shaped items they have out this time of year.

I made King Arthurs Tender White Cake into Cupcakes

Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting
1 cup shortening
4 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons cream
2 teaspoons cinnamon extract
White Americolor food coloring (about6 drops)
Beat shortening, sugar with cream and extract and coloring until creamy.

you will also need:
808 piping tip
clear sugar sprinkles
toothpicks for cinnamon hearts

Place frosting in piping bag with 808 tip, apply sprinkles right after piping, so they stick. Next put each cinnamon heart on a toothpick to stick into the top if each cupcake.

Valentine’s Day is almost here, what are you planning to do. Do you go out? Do you get all dolled up? Me, not so much. I like to go out when it’s not so crowded, and as far as dolled up…well this year this may be the only dolling up I do. I dolled up a cake!

From the outside it’s a simple cake, but wait until you see what’s inside.

*hint-it’s a colorful surprise.

See, it’s pretty colorful.

This is an easy cake to make, so don’t let the hectic part of Valentine’s Day keep you from getting all dolled up, do it with CAKE!

Begin with two white cake mixes (I used Betty Crocker) and the ingredients listed on the box, prepare cake mix according to the package.

Dived the 8 cups of batter into three bowls and tinted them with Americolor food coloring, one super red, one with soft pink and the other with white, yes I like it extra white.

I place the colored batter in each cake pan. Alternating the colors and even drew a heart on top. It really is a surprise to see how they bake and what the design will be.

While they are baking, get your frosting ready. You can use this buttercream recipe make two batches so you have enough (you can use purchased frosting in white, you’ll probably need two containers).

I baked the two cakes for 55 minutes at 325 degrees, these are dark coated 7 inch pans so the cakes bake up nice and high, and the bottom of the pans are removable which makes it easy to release the cake, they are similar to spring-form pans with out the spring.

Pretty, pretty!

I trimmed off the tops of the two cakes to make them level, then added frosting to one and inverted the second cake on top so that the top of the cake was really flat.(It also helps that the cut part of the cake isn’t on top as there are more crumbs)

I gave the cake one coat of frosting and put it in the fridge to set up firm, then I added more frosting and just wanted it smooth. I didn’t fuss with it much, just used a large offset spatula and swirled the frosting around.

I reserved a small amount of white frosting and colored it red for the hearts and trim on the bottom. I used a number 4 tip for the hearts.

I used a small star tip to make a boarder on the base of the cake.

I love how simple the cake looks on the outside, since there is so much going on inside. Just like the cake I made for Halloween with a surprise inside too.

I see a heart,

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Isn’t bubble gum every kids favorite. I know it was for me. Getting a penny and being able to put it into the gumball machine was a huge thrill as a kid, and wondering what color was going to come out made it even more exciting. Bubble Gum Ice Cream was popular and was really fun. You could eat the ice cream and save all the gum for when the ice cream was finished. Oh those were the days!

I’m sure they still have Bubble Gum Ice Cream, I just haven’t noticed lately that is until a few weeks go Sommer from A Spicy Perspective made the prettiest Bubble Gum Ice Cream

and all I could think about for days was how great it looked and that I wanted to try Bubble Gum Cupcakes. Oh how I want an ice cream maker that is a hint, yes I’d like an Ice Cream Maker. I would like Ice Cream, all the time, morning, noon and night, and the flavor possibilities are endless.

I used King Arthur’s Tender White Cake recipe for the cupcakes

Bubble Gum Frosting {printable recipe}

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup shortening

4 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons cream

4 drops Loranns Bubble Gum Flavor (if you can’t find it locally, here it is on Amazon for $1.59)

3 drops White Americolor food coloring

8 drops Light Pink Americolor Food Coloring

Beat butter and shortening, add in sugar and milk. Beat until incorporated. Stir in food coloring.

I piped the cupcakes with an 804 tip, then pressed the gum into the frosting.

I purchased the pretty, red, pink and white gumballs from Target, they had them in the Valentine section.

Easy Brownie Football Whoopie Pies

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL??? Yes it’s that time of year when everyone is FOOTBALL CRAZY. Even if you’re not a football fan, by know you most likely know who will be playing in the Superbowl. You do know that it’s this weekend, right? Whether you will be glued to the T.V, or glued to a seat near all the food that seems to always accompany the big game. These would make a great addition.

These are easy and quick!

Brownie Football Whoopie Pies {printable instructions}

Items needed:

1box brownie mix (I used Dunkin Heinz)

+ingredients to make brownies (minus the water) (I used 2 eggs, 1/4 cup oil)

*updated ( using Betty Crocker Original Supreme brownie mix,I followed the direction and added the water, they baked nicely at 350 degrees for 15 minutes)

frosting:

I made butter cream frosting and used a few drops of Americolor White food coloring so it would be extra white ( you could also use purchased frosting)

two 18 ” piping bags

#12 tip and #4 tip (or similar sizes) for white lines

Parchment paper

football cookie cutter, or make a template to trace out of cardboard

marker

Preheat oven to 350

Prepare brownie batter according to package minus the water.

Place batter in piping bag, cut end off piping bag. (in photo you can see I didn’t make the opening too large) On the back of a piece of parchment paper trace a football cookie cutter leaving space in between each so the brownies don’t run into each other. Turn the paper over and place it on the baking sheet. Begin piping the brownie mix. I began piping the mix on the outlined edge and circled around until the shape was all filled in.

Bake until the top crackles between 15-20 minutes. Check them often as you don’t want them over baked and dry.

Allow them to cool completely before frosting.

Place frosting in to piping bag fitted with coupler. Pipe all the wide stripes on with the #12 tip, then change to tip #4 and pipe on the laces.

Frost 1/2 the footballs and leave the other 1/2 un-frosted as they will be the bottoms of the whoopie pies.

Turn the “bottom” pieces upside down and place frosting on them. Then place the piped footballs on top creating a sandwich.

Enjoy the Brownie Football Whoopie Pies,and the game too.

They are BIG, they are CHEWY and they are stuffed with Oreo Cookies.

Yes, they are Oatmeal Cookies  with Oreo Cookies all stuffed inside.

The filling in the Oreo Cookies gave these an extra chewiness that made it hard to stop eating these. Sometimes good things come in BIG packages, like these extra large cookies. No messing around, small packages are great, but sometimes it’s go BIG or go Home.

Oreo Oatmeal Cookies {Printable Recipe}

1/2 cup softened butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
3 cups old fashioned oats
2 sleeves Oreo Cookies (about 10 oz.) I used double stuffed Oreos. Chop each Oreo into quarters.
Beat butter and sugars on medium speed, add eggs vanilla, beat well. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, mix.Mix in oats and Oreo pieces.

Drop by 3 Tablespoon size onto a prepared cookie sheet (I use parchment paper)

Bake at 350 for 20-22 minutes or until bottom is golden.

Makes 2 dozen cookie

adapted from Quaker Vanishing Cookie Recipe

I LOVE Oatmeal Cookies here are some  more Oatmeal inspired recipes if you LOVE oatmeal too.

I’m sure you’ve had your fair share of peanut butter cookies from Nutter Butters to the Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies from the Girl Scouts and all the homemade and store bought peanut butter cookies  in between. For anyone allergic to peanut butter, I am so sorry!

These peanut butter cookies are different.

Peanut butter cookies are often firm and on the crunchy dryer side,

but these are chewy which I really like (and so did everyone else)

Yes all 6 dozen cookies were gone in no time.

The possibilities are endless of how this one cookie recipe. I Chocolate dipped some and added peanuts. I pressed others with a fork for crispier cookies. I filled some peanut butter cookies with a delicious peanut butter filling for a homemade Nutter Butter, others got a chocolate drizzle, and some even got colored sprinkles, which are perfect for Valentines Day for someone you are NUTS for

Peanut Butter Cookies {printable recipe}

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 cups flour

Beat butter, peanut butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs one an a time, then vanilla. Mix baking powder with flour, then add flour a cup at a time.

Roll dough out on lightly floured surface and cut into desired shape with cookie cutter dipped into flour.

Made 6 dozen cookies.

I made some cookies thicker than others and I really liked the chewiness of the thicker cookies, so next time I will be making them all thick!

Bake at 350 for 12-18 minutes Until they are just getting golden on the bottom, to ensure you will not have a dry cookie.

The cookies with the fork marks are crispier, so if you prefer a crispy cookie. Press a for on the tops of the cookies creating a criss cross design.

Peanut butter filling for filling cookies like Nutter Butter Cookies

1/2 cup peanut butter

3 tablespoons butter

2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons milk

Beat peanut butter and butter together then add powdered sugar and milk and mix until creamy.

These were dipped in Chocolate Ganache and then pressed into chopped peanuts.

These received a chocolate ganache drizzle which were so delicious, just like a fudge sauce on a sundae.

these were pressed with a fork,

and these I poured sugar sprinkles on when they were hot out of the oven so they would stick in the grooves.

I’ve been on a real peanut butter kick, did you see my other peanut butter treats?

Mini Peanut Butter and Jelly Cups

Easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies

These are for the kid in everyone! Mini Peanut Butter and Jelly Cups. This is a quick easy treat that will have you thinking about memories of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from the cafeteria tables as a kid to a midnight snack of a toasted PB+ J sandwich. One memory comes to mind for me, I recall my brother making some really yummy cocktail and naming it a PB+J, hmmm….I will have to ask him about that one again. It’s been about 20 years since I had one. In the meantime I’ll just have to have another one of these.

Mini Peanut Butter and Jelly Cups {printable recipe}

1 package Peanut Butter Cookie Mix (Betty Crocker*plus items required from package)

1 tablespoon water*

3 Tablespoons oil*

1 egg*

1 cup flour

Mix peanut butter cookie mix with water, oil, egg and flour.

Roll about two teaspoons of dough into balls and place them into paper lined mini cupcake pans.

Create a well in the center of each. You will find step by step instructions here.

Strawberry filling

4 oz cream cheese

2 cups powdered sugar

4 tablespoons strawberry jam

Beat room cream cheese with powdered sugar and jam.

Place a teaspoon of filling into the peanut butter cups and bake 350 8-10 minutes

I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER and here are some more posts with peanut butter if you LOVE it too.

Peanut Butter Pie

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Scones

Twice Baked Peanut Butter and Jelly Potatoes

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes

and even Peanut Butter dog biscuits for your furry friends.

Chocolate and peanut butter are so great together, aren’t they?

These kind of remind me of those oatmeal creme pies from Little Debby, but in Chocolate Peanut Butter flavor. Hmmmm…maybe Little Debbie will get wind of these and start making them too. Come on…..Chocolate and Peanut Butter, they just go so well together! Maybe this isn’t technically a whoopie pie, but it does say that whoopie pies may be considered cookies, pies, or cakes and so I think this counts, but call them creme pies if you must.

I love how fast and easy cake mixes can be made into lots of great treats, so these are Whoopie Pies the Easy Way!

Some days I love easy…..some days are hectic and the thought of measuring may just put you over the top, these are perfect for those days. You’ve had those days, right? Well a few days ago that is what my day was all about.It didn’t seem to go as planned, I cut my index finger with a razor blade, ouch and you never realize how difficult some things are to do with a band aid on, until of course you are forced to do them. I also dropped my phone, and this time it wasn’t like all the other times when everything was alright. This time I shattered the screen well, lets just say it wasn’t my best day. Well maybe it’s just me. Rush, rush, rush the day is flying by and you realize you needed to make some really great cookie to bring…who knows where….well you know, it’s on your calendar along with 500 other tasks for that same day. These are just the thing for “those” days, or any day you’d like to take it easy. That is what I’m going to start doing, take it easy. Who’s with me? Lets make 2012 the “Take it Easy Year”. (how hard are you laughing? me take it easy….for a whole year, don’t think it will happen, but it’s worth trying)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies {printable recipe}

1 box chocolate cake mix

(and ingredients on package minus the water)

my box specified:

1/2 cup oil

3 eggs

Mix all three ingredients together and place on cookie sheet by two tablespoons sizes balls. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes, depending on how crispy you’d like them. I baked my for 12 minutes, a little crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, perfect for whoopie pies.

I was in such a hurry, I didn’t even space them out enough, but luckily you can cut them apart when they are warm and it won’t matter, well at least it didn’t matter to me there were still 499 things left to do!

Peanut butter filling

1/2 cup peanut butter

3 tablespoons butter

2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons milk

Beat peanut butter and butter together then add powdered sugar and milk and mix until creamy.

Fill a piping bag and swirl the filling onto the cooled cookies.

I made 12 whoopie pies, I may have eaten a few so might count may be off. It was for quality control reasons would  consume them when warm of course

If you like to “take it easy” here are three other easy and yummy chocolaty treats.

Easy Caramel Filled Chocolate Cookies

easy cake mix cookies

easy chocolate peanut butter treat

So when you day gets hectic, TAKE IT EASY and make some of these!

These cookies were iced the EASY way, no piping bag. I wouldn’t have believed it myself if you would have told me so.Nope, just dipped them into the glaze icing and viola!

I’m so happy that I figured out a new way to ice cookies, especially since I had 6 dozen cookies baked and ready to be iced with an annoying pain that was preventing me from icing them. It did take me a couple of tries to get the icing correct along with the method of how to dip them and have the extra icing run off the cookies with out making a complete MESS.

Glaze Icing Recipe {printable}

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon corn syrup

2 tablespoons water (more may be needed)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract ( or flavor of your choice)

a few drops of food coloring (I use Americolor gel colors)

Mix the powdered sugar along with corn syrup and water and extract until it’s smooth and creamy.

The glaze worked best when it’s was not runny. I ran my spatula through the icing and drew a line, it too about 5 seconds for it to fill back in where I drew the line. Adjust the water so it’s fluid, but not runny.

Extract and food coloring are both in liquid/gel form, so adjust accordingly if you add more, you may need more powdered sugar.

I placed the icing in an oval dish and strapped a lollipop stick with a rubber band going under the dish attaching to each side of the stick.

I love how pretty cookies that have been piped on look, but I’m dealing with some shoulder pain right now so, this is how I have be icing cookies. I was surprised how quickly it went, I finished dozens of cookies in a matter of minutes.

I did not scrape the icing off of the cookie. I dipped the top edge of the cookies into the icing and then ran the majority of the excess of the icing off by holding the cookie about 1/4 inch away from the lollipop stick, as I moved the cookie from where I dipped it to the other side of the dish. Then I turned the cookies over onto a drying rack. After icing these, I realized if the cookies were just a little bit thicker, my fingers wouldn’t get in the icing. The cookies I did with the red icing were just a bit thicker and it worked, no icing on my fingers!

The lollipop stick helps remove the majority of the excess icing without having to wait for the excess to drip off without messing up the icing you want to remain on the cookie. It also allows for an even layer of icing to remain on the cookie, and when turning the cookies upright, no drips went over the edges of the cookies (iced in red, as that was the correct consistency of icing) the pink was too runny and ran over the edges-that is why I’m showing you both. Hopefully the photos will help you to achieve the consistency needed for smooth finished cookies.

The pink icing was the first batch I had tried to dip into icing and it was a little bit runny, so some areas ran over the edge of these Chocolate Cut-out Cookie which by the way are Super-Delicious, no wonder they are called the End All for Chocolate Cookies. I used special dark chocolate cocoa, that is why they are extra dark. The recipe if from Lilaloa.  The second time I tried dipping the cookies was the red icing in the beginning of this post, I made the glaze icing a bit thicker and it worked out great. So a little trial and error or the icing allowed me to see the difference.

* Cookies that are a little thicker (like the ones on top iced in red) were less messy as there was more cookie to grab onto and my fingers didn’t need to touch the icing.

**Glaze icing dries hard, if you let them icing air dry for 12 hours before stacking cookies or packaging them.

*** no piping the edge required

****Will work with Royal Icing as well

*How do I get red icing RED, I use Americolor Food Coloring.

Enjoy this new method of icing cookies on the cookie recipes I linked below, so fast and easy iced cookies.

Lemon Poppy Cookies

Bakery Cookies

heart cookies using Italian Cookie Recipe

It’s the middle of winter and I keep hearing about all the snow everyone is getting. So to bring you all some warm thoughts I made these tropical Scones. The warm breeze is blowing a Coconut-Lime aroma all over the place, or maybe that is just the tropical experience I had as I opened the oven door. If you’re looking to warm up your day, these are the answer.

I used sweetened shaved coconut, it’s coated in powdered sugar and has a great texture.

Coconut Lime Scone Recipe {printable}

the combination of these two colors made the prettiest green color.

the lightly browned scones gave the coconut that delicious toasted coconut taste.

other great coconut recipes,

Caramel Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Mini Kiwi Upside Down Cakes

Coconut Frosted Brownies

Coconut S’more Cupcake

Nothing like a nice Mocha to get you going!

This may not be your ordinary Mocha, it won’t spill, it’s not too hot but it’s just as delicious, maybe better that would have to do with the Coffee Frosting.

…..Coffee ice cream was a favorite of mine as a kid and I have to say one lick of this Coffee Frosting and oh the memories came flooding back. You see we typically had ice cream in the freezer at my house when I was growing up. Everyone wanted to babysit at our house. Yes they actually told us so. They liked that we had ice cream. (and my brother and I were also easy to babysit, so I’m told) So if you want your babysitters to keep coming back apparently the trick is to stock the freezer with ice cream. I would recommend two containers. One coffee, or coffee ripple or what ever they called it with the fudge swirl, and well the second container is up to you. Me, I like mint chip, peanut butter, chocolate…yea, I pretty much like them all.

That is my tip for the day.

How to keep a good babysitter…ice cream is the answer, and by the way it’s the answer to making your kids happy to, I use it all the time. Kids were mean, lets go inside and get some ice cream! Had to get a shot at the doctor, that calls for a milkshake. You see I don’t always reward things with ice cream, there are moments cookies and cupcakes are required

Then again if there is no room in your freezer, make these! I’m sure the babysitter, you kids, neighbors and friends will all come over to enjoy them.

These Mocha Cupcakes with Coffee Frosting really start with these two wonderful ingredients. I kept this real simple so no excuses.  You can whip up a batch really quick and if there are any extras, just call me over I’ll help you finish them.

Mocha Cupcakes with Coffee Frosting {printable recipe}

Coffee Cupcakes

2 1/3 cups First Street Chocolate Cake Mix

1/2 cup brewed Ambiance Classic Coffee (double strength then cooled)

2 eggs

1/4 cup oil

2 T cream

To brew double strength coffee Place two times the amount of coffee recommended. In this case I used 4 tablespoons Ambiance coffee with 12 oz water to be sure I made enough. Then I let the coffee cool, before adding it to the rest of the ingredients.

Place cake mix, eggs, oil, cooled coffee and cream into bowl and mix on medium for 30 seconds or until all ingredients are combined. Place 3 tablespoons batter into each cupcake liner. I used a  dark coated cupcake pan and baked these cupcakes at 325 degrees for 24 minutes.

 I used white liners with brown polka dots, oh how I love all the cute cupcakes liners you can find everywhere.

I love how these cupcakes have a brownie like top when baked.

Coffee Frosting

1/2 cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons coffee

2 tablespoons cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat butter with powdered sugar add in coffee and cream and vanilla.

This made plenty of frosting for 12 cupcakes so I piled it high and am not divulging if I just ate the rest of the frosting or not.

Dust cupcakes with powdered cocoa to garnish

 Here is my quick video on how to frost these cupcakes

If you switch to Ambiance coffee from Smart & Final,  go to www.smartandfinal.com/Ambiance2012 enter the code on the receipt from your purchase of Ambiance and be entered to win some amazing prizes: First Prize (one grand prize per week, 3 total over the campaign): DeLonghi BCO264B Cafe Nero Combo Coffee/Espresso Maker, a $200 value!, or one of six $50 SmartCash cards (Two winners per week, 6 winners total)

VISIT: www.smartandfinal.com/Ambiance2012 and vote for your favorite Ambiance Coffee recipe, everyone who votes will be entered for a chance to win $50 worth of Ambiance products! (6 winners – Two winners per week over the campaign)

This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for #collectivebias #CBias All opinions are my, those are priceless. #MyBaristaMoment. Google + Story.

 No one says you can only eat eggs as breakfast, and good thing because I really wanted a big breakfast-dinner and oh these baked Huevos Rancheros sure hit the spot. I baked the eggs in tortillas in a cupcake pan and will be doing it more often. These will be great for my kids to reheat in the morning for a quick breakfast. Great for when they are on the go.

Oh how I love these beautiful Brown Land O Lakes Eggs. I purchased the Cage Free Variety and look how carefully they are packed with a clear insert to hug all the eggs!

Baked Huevos Rancheros printable

Eggs

Corn tortillas

Heat tortillas in microwave for 10 seconds to soften them so they are pliable to be able to fit into cupcake pan.

Spray the cupcake pan so that it is lightly oiled.

Place one 4 inch tortilla into each well of the cupcake pan.

Crack one egg and place it into each well of the cupcake pan.

 Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes until desired firmness.

*Carefully remove from hot pan and serve with chopped scallions.

*I like that it’s easy to bake a dozen eggs at a time, or just a few if that is all that is needed.

To fit the tortillas into the pan they may rip a bit, but the tortillas laid nicely when filled with egg and I didn’t end up with any messes. The tortillas fit snug into the pan.

If you are unable to find 4 inch tortillas, you can cut larger tortillas to that size so they fit in the pan nicely.

Serve with Mexican Rice and Beans along with avocado and diced tomato or chili sauce.

Land O Lakes® has many varieties of eggs. All-Natural White Eggs, All-Natural Brown Eggs, Cage Free All-Natural Eggs, Organic All-Natural Eggs, Omega 3 All-Natural Eggs.

You can find Land O Lakes on Facebook and Twitter.

Here are the two other recipes I created for Land O Lakes Eggs:

Scrambled Egg Pizza

Pizza Omelets

I love this Mexican Rice Recipe. When serving it with these eggs I omitted the chicken and beans.

Mexican Rice

I was compensated for this recipe, although all opinions are my own. Those are priceless.

 This was made by pure chance. The chance that I was hungry and I had left over Stuffed Jalapeno Bread with Bacon spread.

I recently made five loaves of Stuffed Jalapeno Bread and mixed up just a bit to much of the spread. I couldn’t decide if I needed 5 or 6 loaves of bread, so I made 5 and had some of the spread mixture left over. The spread is a mixture of roasted jalapenos, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, scallions and cilantro.

On top of the pasta I put the spread, since the pasta was hot the cheese began to melt. I heated it in the microwave for 20 seconds and viola, I created a new favorite.

One bite and I wondered why I hadn’t thought of it before, it’s mac and cheese meets Jalapenos and bacon. I know you don’t see bacon in the bowl above…neither do I. I took this photo and then took one bite and realized I forgot the bacon. How could I have forgotten the bacon, I’m still not sure. I did add it on and stick my dish under the broiler to heat up the crumbled bacon, so trust me on this, don’t forget the bacon.

As we know bacon goes well on everything!!! I just heard a commercial on the radio today and I agree. I love the bag of cooked crumbled bacon I get a Costco. It’s not like that bacon in a jar, that has a weird smell, it’s real bacon, cooked and crumbled, anyway if you haven’t tried it, go ahead. I love it and add it to so many dishes. Bacon is good on so many items like,

Buttermilk Cupcakes with Maple Frosting

on a Pancake Cake

even Baked Potato Soup

Stuffed Jalapeno with Bacon

Fat Free Stuffed Jalapenos

which I’m sure will work over pasta nicely as well for a lighter version.

Spaghetti with Eggs and Bacon

So if you’re like me and make things in big batches and have some Stuffed Jalapeno Spread left over, here is a great use for it. Otherwise, start roasting those jalapenos so you can enjoy this delicious version of mac and cheese. Since Jalapenos, Cilantro, Scallions and pretty much why I love Mexican food so much, I thought it fitting to call this Mexican Mac and Cheese. Yes I am aware I didn’t use macaroni noodles, I will next time

Printable Recipe for Stuffed Jalapeno Spread it’s similar to my Cornbread Tamale Bites mixture.

I recall when I was young the only time I’d see Dark Chocolate was in a bag of Hershey’s Miniatures. I would dig through the candy dish my mom would set out and eat them all. I would have shared if anyone asked, but I think I may have shoved them all in my mouth within seconds so there really was no time for sharing.

Nowadays there are so many dark chocolates available, I wouldn’t have to dig through a whole bag just to get a few. I sure am glad about that. Because I really LOVE dark chocolate. I recently found Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Cocoa. I knew I was going to make chocolate chocolate chip cookies with it and I’m so glad I did, these cookies are DELICIOUS!!!

The funny part about these cookies is that I didn’t use semisweet chocolate chips in them,which I normally would have. I used these really large milk chocolate chips that I found my local store. I wished they had the large chips in dark chocolate, but I figured I’d give them a try in these cookies and I’m glad I did, they were great!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe printable

I dropped 2 tablespoons of dough onto the cookie sheets and bake the cookies at 375° for 12 minutes. I was surprised they didn’t spread out as much as I thought they would.

They were really delicious, rich and thick and almost brownie like. I didn’t want them to spread out to much, but I was hoping for smoother shape.

 I decided to take out the Wilton cookie pop pan I had and try with these.

I didn’t want to add sticks to these cookies so, I covered the pan with Reynolds Release Foil. I pressed the foil in each area to be sure the cookies would have a uniform shape.

I pressed 3 tablespoons of dough into each area.

Once they were baked they had a nice smooth texture I was looking for on the top of the cookies. I will definetly be making these again and again, they were so good. There is only one left and I may just have hid it. I’ll share if anyone asks but I’m pretty sure that everyone thinks they are all gone

I may need a bigger glass of milk!

 No better time for soup than a cool winter night. Pasta Figioli has always been a favorite around here. I like that it’s quick and easy to make and on the table in under thirty minutes. The key for me to have this soup cook quickly is to be sure all the items are chopped up small enough to cook quickly, but not too small that they disappear when cooked. I’ve added Chicken to this Italian Classic soup.

Pasta Figioli Soup Recipe  printable

2 carrots

2 celery stalks

1/2 medium onion

32 oz chicken broth

2 cups water

1 1/2 cups small pasta

1 cup Tomato Sauce

1 15 oz. can Cannellini beans

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 tablespoon oregano

1/4 cup grated Romano Cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Dice carrot, celery, onion.

Place the vegetables into a 4 qt. stockpot and heat them on medium heat with a tablespoon oil.

This is a Mirepoix. It’s the base for a lot of soups and stews.

Begin cutting two First Street Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts  into 1/2 inch pieces. Add the chicken to the vegetables, along with oregano stir and cook 5 minutes.

Add chicken broth and water and bring to a boil.

Place 1 1/2 cups small pasta (First Street Salad Macaroni type of Ditilini pasta) into broth.

Bring to a boil on high heat, when it comes back to a boil add 1 cup Tomato Sauce, ( I used Ragu Pasta Sauce) Cannellini beans, salt and pepper.  Cook for 5 minutes on medium heat and serve with Grated Romano or Parmesan Cheese.

The pasta will swell up and absorb some broth if it’s not served immediately. It’s thicker the second day if you have enough for leftovers that is

First Street Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts $1.89 lb

First Street Pasta 2 lbs $1.99 or Ragu Pasta Sauce 4 for $5

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Being left behind can be the best thing ever! There always seems to be an apple lying around my kitchen, just like the last banana. This is for the lucky apple that didn’t make it along the way to someones exciting day. You may first think being left behind is bad, this is one time that it’s not. It’s not the kind of day that you’re left behind and no one cares. It’s completely the opposite. You know those kind of days don’t you? Reminds me of the movie where the girl tells her mom of a party that she didn’t “get to be invited to” and the mom says oh who’s having the party and the daughter tells her mom the name of the girl and it so happens to be the popular name of it’s time. Well you get the idea. (if you know the name of the movie and like guessing go ahead I’ll let you know if you guess the scene from the movie I’m thinking of) anyway this is one of those recipes that I could make just about every day.  Well that is as long as I have an apple lying around. If you’ve been left behind today, yesterday or any day than this is for YOU! and me too. I’m not telling how many of these I had to taste to be sure they had just the right amount of caramel drizzled on top.

Caramel Apple Scone Recipe {printable recipe}

2 cups flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold butter

1 medium Fuji Apple peeled and grated (1/2 cup)

1 egg

3 Tablespoons cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

3 Tablespoons caramel sauce

1/4 cup caramel sauce for drizzle

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Cut in cold butter, until crumbly. In small bowl mix apple, cream, caramel sauce, cinnamon, vanilla, and lightly beaten egg. Add the small bowl of wet ingredients to large bowl of dry ingredients and stir until incorporated, pour out onto floured surface and knead until smooth. Roll dough a half inch thick and cut with circle cutter. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until lightly golden.

Makes 18 scones. Let cool for a few minutes. Then drizzle with caramel sauce.

I place a piece of parchment paper under the scones to drizzle the caramel sauce, so the caramel sauce it’s all neatly in one area. I’m not saying I don’t lick the heck out of that parchment paper when no one is looking and I won’t tell on you if you do the same.

See, good things can happen when you are left behind all by yourself!

2011 in review the sweet and savory way

It was fun to look back over every post I wrote in 2011. There were 171 posts and I selected one sweet and one savory item to share with you for each month of the past year.

January

Simple Frozen Banana Treat

Black Bean Soup

 February

Salted Caramel Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

BBQ Chicken Pasta

March

Bakery Cookies

Delicious Pancakes

April

Cut out Chocolate Chip Cookies

Asian Pear and Gorgonzola Pizza

 May

Buttermilk Pancake Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream frosting and bacon

Pasta with Avocado Lime Sauce with Chicken

June

Blueberry Basil Lemonade

Pasta with Chicken in a Lemon Wine Sauce

July

Red, White and Blue Tart

Antipasto Appetizer

August

S’more Cobbler

Pull apart Pepperoni Pizza Bread

September

Fried Oreos

Pizza Cupcakes

October

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

Cornbread Tamale Bites with Jalapeno, Cheese and Bacon

November

Cherry Pie Cupcakes

Scrambled Egg Pizza

December

Gingerbread French Toast with Gingerbread Butter

Stuffed Jalapeno Bread with Bacon

The most popular post of 2011 was

Oatmeal Cupcakes with Cinnamon Sugar Frosting

 
Thank you all so much for making 2011 so wonderful.

I love reading the comments people write to me, I enjoy returning emails of questions you all have and hope to be even more creative in 2012. I hope you’ll continue to follow me along my tasty journey!

The question that I get asked the most and still never quite seem to answer well is, “What is your blog about”?  I typically say sweet and savory recipes. I would love to know what you think? Maybe I will take your advise on how to describe my website.  Have a great description of what you see here at Created by Diane? Share you thoughts I’d love to see what you come up with.

Wishing you a Happy 2012! 

2011 has been filled with all sorts of goodness

I hope 2012 is filled with S’more!

S’more treats

S’more laughter

S’more happiness

S’more great memories

As you can see I can’t get S’mores out of my head

I made these Peanut Butter S’more Bites to celebrate!

S’more Peanut Butter Bites

1 package Peanut Butter Cookie Mix (Betty Crocker*plus items required from package)

1 tablespoon water*

3 Tablespoons oil*

1 egg*

1 cup flour

1 cup cream

1 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

72 mini marshmallows

2/3 cup graham cracker crumbs

Makes 36 Peanut Butter S’more Bites

Begin by making the ganache filling:bring one cup of cream to a boil then pour it over one cup of chocolate chips. Let the chocolate chips melt for a minute then stir until creamy. Let cool.

Mix peanut butter cookie mix with water, oil, egg and flour.

Roll about two teaspoons of dough into 36 balls and place them into paper lined mini cupcake pans.

Create a well in the center of each. You will find step by step instructions here.

Place a teaspoon or so of the cooled chocolate ganache into each well and top with a few mini chocolate chips, two mini marshmallows and graham cracker crumbs.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.