Imperfect & Fabulous

Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 17:36:00 +0000

I'm back...sort of. I know I haven't posted in forever, and to be honest this blog has felt more like my personal recipe book. In that vein, I needed a place to not lose this recipe, so here I am. This is the fourth year in a row that Jake has asked for a chocolate cake with a peanut butter swirl and peanut butter frosting. The first year I just sort of threw it together without measuring or writing anything down. As anyone who learned to cook this way knows, it is very hard to replicate. The next year I tried measuring and writing it down, but I wasn't as happy with it so I tossed my very sophisticated post-it note list of ingredients in the trash. Last year it came out great...but I didn't take a single picture. This year I was determined to make a permanent place on the internet for this gorgeous cake. I only got a couple of pictures, but they will have to suffice.

It starts out with a basic chocolate cake. I like to use the Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake recipe. It always turns out delicious and moist (sorry, for all of you that hate that word) with a tender crumb. Then you dollop in some peanut buttery goodness, give it a good swirl and you have a perfect cake for the chocolate & peanut butter lovers in your life.

Start out by mixing together your dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. For the cake pictured, I used dark cocoa because frankly, I prefer it. Feel free to use regular cocoa powder if you like that better. Add in the eggs, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla and mix on medium speed with your mixer for 2 minutes. At this point your batter will look smooth and beautiful and you will think you should put it in the pans, but you are mistaken. Stir in the boiling water until fully combined. It will be VERY liquidy and you will think you have ruined your cake, but you have not.

While your mixer is doing all the work for your cake batter, melt the peanut butter and butter in a large microwave safe measuring cup in 30 second bursts until melted and smooth. Then add the powdered sugar, a little vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Mix it together until smooth.

Spray two nine-inch pans with baking spray and pour the cake batter evenly between the two. Then pour the peanut butter mixture all over the top. Take a knife and swirl the peanut butter mixture into the batter. If you want to lick that knife when you are finished, I won't tell. This stuff is delicious!

Put the cake pans into a 350 oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out with only moist crumbs. I usually rotate my pans halfway through because one side of my oven is hotter than the other. When you cake is finished, let it cool in the pans for about 10 minutes before you take it out of the pans to cool the rest of the way. It is so pretty, it's hard to cover it with frosting.

Once the cake is completely cooled you can frost it, but I personally like to freeze my cake layers wrapped in plastic wrap and a ziplock. I find that it is easier to frost cakes when the layers are frozen. We can't get enough peanut butter in this house so I make a peanut butter buttercream to frost this and then decorate with chocolate sprinkles and mini Reese's. If you want to do the same, I've included my frosting recipe below. I will say that this frosting is really delicious, but is difficult to get smooth so it will not be your most beautiful cake. That being said, once you take a bite, you will not care.

I always store this cake in the fridge. This cake is incredibly rich and the perfect mix of sweet from the chocolate and salty from the peanut butter. I hope you like it as much as we do!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Cake

Adapted from Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder (regular or dark)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Peanut Butter Swirl

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
4 tlbs. butter
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with baking spray.
Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of the mixer.
Add in eggs, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed on your mixer for two minutes.
Stir in boiling water.
Pour evenly between the two pans.
To make the peanut butter swirl, melt the peanut butter and butter in a large liquid measuring cup (covered) in the microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring and recovering in between.
Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of salt to the peanut butter mixture and stir until smooth.
Pour the peanut butter mixture over the top of the cake batter and use a knife to swirl it into the batter.
Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out with only moist crumbs attached.
Cool in the pans for about 10 minutes. Then turn out onto cooling racks to cool completely before frosting.
If using the peanut butter frosting below, be sure to refrigerate the cake after frosting it.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup butter flavored crisco stick
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used JIF)
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tbls. meringue powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbls. milk
1 to 1 1/2 tsp. salt (to taste)

Cream butter, Crisco, and peanut butter until combined and smooth.
Add powdered sugar and meringue powder and mix until combined (you will probably need to stop and scrape once or twice). *I like to wrap the top of my mixer with plastic wrap so the powdered sugar stays contained.
Add the vanilla, milk, and salt. (start with 1 tsp., if it is too sweet tasting you can add the other 1/2 tsp. salt). Beat on medium until frosting looks light and fluffy.

Free Printable Lightsaber Valentines

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Sun, 17 Jan 2016 22:53:00 +0000

Hello strangers! I know I haven't blogged in just about forever. This whole working full time with two kids thing is HARD! To those of you who have been doing this for a long time or have more than two kids, I am in awe of you.

We miraculously had a low-key weekend for once so I decided to make Jake's valentines while I had the chance. Jake is entering into that age where he doesn't want anything too lovey so hearts were definitely out. He is obsessed with Star Wars right now so I knew it needed to be Star Wars themed. If you follow my blog then you know that I love sweets just as much as the next person, but since kids get so much candy, I try to do a candy free valentine. After searching around on google I saw this great idea over at Brassy Apple. For some reason I couldn't get her printable to open on my computer so I decided to create my own.

Since I was starting from scratch I found this great free Star Wars font and decided to use that for my wording. A little bit of playing around with sizing and I had this printable ready to go.

I made three on a sheet and they are just the right size. I printed them up on plain white cardstock, but if you wanted them to be more colorful, colored cardstock would look great too. Then I used my paper cutter to cut them apart and to make a little slit at the top of the lightsaber hilt.

I also made another little slit near the right side of the paper to keep the glow bracelet in there more securely. If you don't have a paper cutter, you could easily do this with an exacto knife or even scissors. I had Jake sign them all at this point, because it is easier to write on paper that doesn't have glow bracelets on them.

Then grab a couple of packs of glow bracelets. I got mine at Michael's but sometimes Target has theirs in the dollar spot too. Slide a glow bracelet into the slits and you are ready to go. You can also just make a slit at the lightsaber hilt and use a piece of tape to secure it on the back.

That's it. Some cardstock, tape, and glow bracelets and you've got adorable, cheap, candy-free Star Wars themed valentines with nary a heart in sight. Download the printable here.

Kristine Andrews Photography

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Sun, 11 Oct 2015 15:49:00 +0000

I received a free photo shoot and digital images but all opinions are my own.

I've been meaning to write this post for a while now, but obviously I haven't been super active on my blog lately. I thought I was busy before, but now that I'm back to work full time I realize that I didn't know what busy was. Finding the time to do, well anything, is proving to be quite a challenge. We are slowly getting our feet under us, but it is definitely a work in progress. Anyway, back to this post.

I don't know about you, but I love taking pictures of my kids. Of course I think they are the cutest children in the world and they change so fast that I want to capture their sweet little faces as often as I can. As great as the photos I get are, there is no substitution for professional photos. A professional photographer is exactly that, a professional, and the photos show it.

I was lucky enough to meet Kristine Andrews about a year ago and she has helped us get some amazing photos of our boys. Kristine did Luke's first birthday photos. He did not like frosting!

She did an adorable Valentine's Day mini session with both boys. Love!!

Then over the summer we finally got around to doing family photos.

Kristine has an incredible knack for capturing all of the aspects of my boys' personalities, and there are many.

I mean, look at those faces! Honestly it was hard for me to pick which shots to include because I just love them all! My favorite shot from the whole day is this one where you can just see how much we love each other.

Professional photos can get really pricey which is why a lot of people don't do them, but Kristine is super affordable. I also love that she includes digital images in her packages because in this day and age, let's be honest, that's what I want. Of course I want to frame prints and hang them up, but I also want to be able to put them in a digital frame, share them on Facebook, and use my amazing professional photos in the grandchildren calendars I make as holiday gifts for our parents every year. Owning the digital images allows me to do all that and more.

Another cool thing that Kristine does is when you get your digital images, she gives you more than one edit of each of them. She gives you a black and white, as well as several slightly different color versions where the colors/light have been adjusted. I actually don't know what the real terms are for that, I'm not a professional photographer. I just know that I like having the options.

If you are thinking about having some photos taken, I highly recommend Kristine Andrews Photography. We have so many amazing photos of our beautiful boys, and our little family, thanks to her.

I received a free photo shoot and digital images but all opinions are my own.

Gluten-Free Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 11:00:00 +0000

After a year away from teaching, I'm getting back into the classroom full time. Because I gave up my spot at my school when I took the year off, I'm starting at a new school. My team has been unbelievably welcoming and helpful so I wanted to make them something sweet for the first day of school. The only fly in the ointment is that one of my teammates is vegan and another one can't eat gluten. Every year for Passover my stepmom makes the most amazing flourless peanut butter cookies so I knew that gluten-free wouldn't be a problem. That just left the vegan part of it. Her recipe has an egg and I've had success in the past using flax as an egg substitute when I've been short on eggs so I decided to give it a try in this recipe.

These cookies only have four ingredients, five if you count water, and come together really quickly. The first thing you want to do is to make your "egg" by combining the ground flax with water. Stir it together and then set it aside for at least 5 minutes.

Mix together a cup of peanut butter, a cup of sugar, a teaspoon of baking soda, and your flax "egg." The dough will look a little crumbly but it comes together when you roll it.

I used a cookie scoop to portion out my dough and then rolled it into balls.

Just like with regular peanut butter cookies I made a cross-hatch pattern on top with the tines of a fork. My stepmom rolls the dough up and then chills it and does them like slice and bake cookies so you can go that route if you prefer.

Bake them for about 10 minutes and then cool completely before eating. Because there are so few ingredients, the peanut butter flavor really shines. Mmmmmm!

Gluten-Free Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tbls. ground flax
3 tbls. water

Combine flax and water and set aside for at least 5 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375.
Combine peanut butter, sugar, baking soda, and flax & water mixture.
Roll cookies into balls and place on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Make a cross hatch pattern on top with the tines of a fork.
Bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

Strawberry Breakfast Bruschetta

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 11:00:00 +0000

My wonderful Mommy & Me group has a monthly ladies only brunch. We love spending time together with our little ones, but it's also hard to hold an uninterrupted conversation with a bunch of babies and toddlers running around. That's why once a month we leave the kids at home with our hubbies and catch up over mimosas and delicious brunch treats. In the summer months it's nice to make something that doesn't involve heating up the house. That's where this breakfast bruschetta comes in.

Just like it's savory cousin, you start out with some toasted bread. I sliced up a baguette and spread each piece with a thin layer of butter or coconut oil. Sprinkle a little cinnamon sugar on top and pop them in the toaster oven until they are as toasty as you like them. Now you have adorable little cinnamon toasts, but we aren't finished yet.

Take your cinnamon toasts and schmear them with some ricotta. I threw mine in my immersion blender to smooth it out a bit but you can totally skip that step.

Dice up some fresh strawberries. I did this the night before and the natural sugars in the strawberries really came through. If you don't plan ahead or your strawberries aren't as sweet, sprinkle them with a bit of sugar. My original plan was to put some fresh mint in with the strawberries, but the mint at the store was pretty sad looking. It was delicious without it, but if you have a mint plant or your store has some decent looking mint, toss some in. Spoon some of your diced strawberries onto each crostini.

Before serving, transfer your bruschetta onto your serving platter and drizzle with honey. These Strawberry Breakfast Bruschetta were a great addition to our weekend brunch, but they are easy enough for a weekday. The crunch of the crostini, the creamy ricotta, and the sweetness from the strawberries and honey combine to make a delicious and relatively healthy morning treat.

derma e® Skin Care - Product Review

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Thu, 09 Jul 2015 04:42:00 +0000

I was provided with a complimentary product for review. All opinions are my own.

I've always been concerned with skin care, but once I entered my thirties it became even more important to me. One step that I've been meaning to add into my skincare routine is a serum. They are all the rage and seem to be the key step to keeping your skin looking great. When derma e^® reached out to me about trying one of their serums I jumped at the chance.

Family owned and operated for 30 years, derma e^® is focused on developing vitamin-rich, high-performance, antioxidant skincare solutions. The award-winning line features over 80 doctor-developed and clinically-tested products that are free of parabens, phthalates, mineral oil and petrolatum. derma e^® products are cruelty-free and 100 percent vegan. Manufacturing and operations take place in California and are backed by 100% wind energy.

derma e^® has a wide variety of products for every skin type. I got to pick from all of these amazing sounding serums:

Firming DMAE Serum - This silky, firming facial serum helps support healthy texture and tone for visibly firmer skin.
Soothing Redness Reducing Serum - This gentle, fragrance-free moisturizing serum for sensitive skin helps reduce redness, calm irritation, diminish blotchiness and discomfort.
Evenly Radiant^® Brightening Serum - An intensive skin-brightening treatment that targets uneven pigmentation and age damage for a visibly brighter complexion.
Hydrating Serum with Hyaluronic Acid - A concentrated treatment that plumps skin full of moisture and nutrients so it appears softer and smoother with fewer visible lines and wrinkles.
Deep Wrinkle Peptide Serum - This nourishing, double-action treatment formula addresses the look of deep lines and wrinkles to promote smoother, younger-looking skin.

I kind of wanted to try them all, but ultimately I decided on the Firming DMAE Serum.

I've only recently started using it so I can't really speak to results. I will say that when I put it on, my skin feels tighter, in a good way, if that makes sense. It has a light, natural fragrance that absorbs quickly and it feels light on my skin. It has been an easy step to add into my skincare routine and it has made a derma e^® fan out of me.

If you are interested in trying out the derma e^® line for yourself (and I recommend that you do) they have a quick quiz on their website that gives you personalized product recommendations. Take the quiz HERE and see what derma e^®products are right for you.

I was provided with a complimentary product for review. All opinions are my own.

DIY Glitter Cupcake Toppers

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 11:00:00 +0000

If you saw my last post on Creating Free Digital Invitations then you know that I recently threw a pink and gold "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" shower for one of my dearest friends. To add some glitter to her shower, I decided to make these adorable gold glitter cupcake toppers. They were super easy to make and turned out so cute. I used my Silhouette Cameo, but if you don't have one you could use a star-shaped craft punch or even trace and cut out stars (it will just be a little more time consuming).

I went to Joann's and picked up a 12 x 24 sheet of gold glitter sticker paper. I made a star in the Silhouette software and then replicated it to fill the page. Then I just loaded the sticker paper in and let my Cameo get to work.

I repeated this process with some white cardstock for the backing. The only other thing you will need is a box of toothpicks. Once you have your white cardstock stars cut out, one at a time peel off one of you new glitter star stickers. Lay a toothpick on the sticker side so that it about 2/3 of it is sticking out.

Lay a cardstock star on top and press them together.

That's it! Just repeat for as many cupcakes as you need. I love the way these turned out!

They were so adorable on top of our pink frosted cupcakes! Sorry for the photo, I forgot my regular camera.

Creating Free Digital or Printable Invitations

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Wed, 13 May 2015 11:00:00 +0000

One of my dearest friends is pregnant with her first little one, and it's a girl! Living in a house full of boys, I get extra excited at any opportunity to get crafty with my favorite color, PINK! Her mother-in-law and I are throwing a fun co-ed shower for the happy couple and we decided on a pink and gold Twinkle Twinkle Little Star theme. I immediately took to Pinterest and have been pinning like crazy. When it came time for the invites, the parents-to-be decided they wanted an email invitation. I went to Evite and Paperless Post and while they had some great design choices, they didn't have exactly what I was looking for. I don't know about you, but once I get an idea in my head, I get stuck on it and nothing else will do. So, to PicMonkey I went. If you have never used PicMonkey, get on it. I absolutely love this site. It's a great tool for bloggers looking to spice up their blog pics, but it is also perfect for designing your own invitations. Did I mention that it's FREE! They do have a Royale membership that has a few extra features, fonts, and overlays, but I've always managed to get by with the free version.

To make this invite I went to PicMonkey and clicked on the Design option.

That will bring you to a page that looks like this:

On the left you will see the basic edits available to you. First you want to pick the color of your card, if you are going with a white card, skip this step. I wanted pink so under Canvas Color I played around until I got exactly the shade of pink that I wanted. Once you are happy with the color, click apply.

Next you want to add in your decorations, I decided to keep it simple with just a few gold stars in the top right corner. From the little menu on the left, click on the butterfly. This will give you a bunch of little shapes you can use as decorations.

I clicked on the Stars because, um, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Stay with me people. Of course you can use whatever you want. Keep in mind that anything with the little crown icon is a Royale feature so you will have to pony up to use those. I picked a nice basic star and then played around with the color until I got a shade of gold that I was happy with. Then I copied the heart and resized it to get a few different sizes and rotated some of them to create visual interest.

Finally I clicked on the Tt from the menu on the left and inserted text boxes for all of the text I wanted to enter. I used the same shade of gold as the stars. One cool thing to keep in mind with text is that in addition to their fonts (non-Royale options are somewhat limited), you can use any fonts that you have on your own computer, yay! Once you have it how you want it, click save, name it, and save it to your computer. I was super excited with how this turned out!

In case you are thinking to yourself, "Wow Lauren, this looks great except for those random black boxes," I just added those on top for this post to protect their privacy. Once you have the invitation saved to your computer you have a couple of options. You can have them printed (or print them yourself if you have a good printer) and mail them out. The parents-to-be wanted their invitations emailed out so I had to find an online invitation service that would let me upload my own design. After a little bit of searching, I found a site called Celebrations that will allow you to upload your own design. It's a free service, unless you want it ad free in which case you have to pay to upgrade. This means that with a little bit of creativity and some time at your computer, you can design, send out, and manage RSVPs for your own custom invitations for FREE!

Overnight Sausage & Vegetable Strata

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Mon, 04 May 2015 04:43:00 +0000

I know it's been quite a while since I last posted, but I'm back! Things have been crazy busy around here and something had to give. Hopefully you haven't forgotten about me in the meantime. I recently hosted a potluck brunch for a bunch of my girlfriends and made this delicious Overnight Sausage & Vegetable Strata. It was such a hit, that I had to share it with you all.

I love entertaining, but it can be hard to cook when my boys are awake. That's why I love recipes that can be made, or at least prepped, in advance. This strata is perfect for brunch for a crowd, but it would also make a delicious Mother's Day breakfast. You completely assemble the strata the night before and then in the morning, just pop it in the oven.

My favorite omelette is one with cheddar, spinach, mushrooms, and tomatoes with some sausage on the side. I had planned to incorporate all of those flavors into this strata, but then I realized that I had forgotten to get the spinach at the store so I just used the others. Evidently I was super distracted while I was at the store because I also bought the wrong sausage. I wanted to get mild Italian sausage and I did, but I accidentally bought chicken Italian sausage. This worked out perfectly so take my happy accident as an example and get whatever kind of sausage you like, spicy, mild, pork, chicken, as long as it's sausage it will be delicious!

Start out by browning your sausage. Once it is browned, drain it if necessary and then set it aside. Then cut up a loaf of bread into cubes, you can rip it too if you want it to be more rustic. You want about seven or eight cups of cubed bread. I used a french loaf this time but I've also made it with sourdough, both turned out beautifully. It's better if your bread is a little bit stale, but if you forget to buy the bread a day or two in advance, don't worry about it. Put half of the bread cubes into a 9 x 13 baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.

Next you are going to layer on half of your toppings. For me that was shredded cheddar, chopped tomatoes, and chopped cremini mushrooms. As I said, I had planned on adding some fresh spinach so feel free to add some of that too, or whatever veggies you like with your eggs. Then repeat your layers.

In a bowl crack a bunch of eggs. I happened to have extra-large eggs so I used 9, but if you have large eggs, use 10. Pour in 3 cups of milk, I used skim, just use whatever you have. Add in some dry mustard, salt, and pepper, and then whisk it all together. Pour the egg mixture all over the bread. If any cubes of bread are sticking up and dry, push them down a little so that they soak up some of the liquid.

Then cover it all and stick it in the fridge. The next morning, take your strata out of the fridge while your oven is preheating. Bake your strata at 325 for about an hour. I'm sorry to say that my guests arrived and I forgot to take a picture of the strata when it came out of the oven, perfectly golden and smelling divine. Luckily, this piece was leftover so I was able to snap a couple of pictures for you all.

Overnight Sausage & Vegetable Strata

1 lb. mild chicken Italian sausage
7-8 cups cubed bread
3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped and deseeded
1 cup chopped mushrooms
9 extra-large or 10 large eggs
3 cups skim or low-fat milk
2 tsp. dried mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper

Brown the sausage in a skillet, breaking it up as it cooks. Drain any fat and set aside.
Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray. Put half of the bread in the baking dish and sprinkle with half of the cheese, sausage, mushrooms, and tomatoes. Repeat the layers with the remaining bread, cheese, sausage, mushrooms, and tomatoes.
In a medium bowl whisk together eggs, milk, dried mustard, salt, and pepper. Pour evenly over the ingredients in the baking dish. Press down any bread that is sticking up and dry. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
The next morning, bake at 325 for 55-60 minutes or until golden brown.

I'm linking up with Cook It Craft It Share It, Crafty & Delicious, and Showcase Your Talent Thursday.

Spring Chick Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Jake's class is having a spring picnic today and his teacher asked if I would be able to make cupcakes for them. When you are feeding a class full of five and six year old kids I've always found it to be a good idea to give them all the same thing. That way no one can complain that they didn't get the one they wanted. Since I would be making only one flavor of cupcake I decided to stick to vanilla because pretty much everyone at least likes vanilla, even if it isn't their favorite. Vanilla cupcakes also make my life easy because I always make them from a box mix. Trader Joe's vanilla cake mix is richly vanilla flavored, unbelievably moist, and just plain delicious.

With the easy part of the cupcake decided I had to figure out how to decorate them. Since it is a spring picnic I knew I wanted something springy. Then I was at Target and they had the 15 packs of Peep's chicks on sale. As soon as I saw those cute little marshmallows I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Chicks sitting on the grass. Very springy! On top of that, it was a technique I've used before on this amazing (if I do say so myself) Cars cake I made for Jake's 3rd birthday.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I volunteer to do something, and then I decide to try something fancy and new, and end up getting myself super stressed out. Josh may have pointed this out to me a time or two. These cupcakes are not like that. The grass frosting looks impressive but it is actually super easy. All you need is the right frosting tip, one with a bunch of little holes. Mine is by Wilton and is number 233, but I'm sure other brands make them too. Wilton even has a little video tutorial on how to use it to make grass.

I started out by baking up two boxes of vanilla cupcakes (I needed 32). Once they were cooled I made a batch of vanilla buttercream and then used Wilton's gel color Leaf Green to make it a soft green, I was going for a springlike color. Before I got out my grass tip, I just used a frosting spreader to spread a thin layer of green frosting over the base to give the Peeps something to stick to.

Next I used my grass tip to pipe little blobs of grass around the edge of the cupcake. Then pipe another layer of grass inside of that edge until you are left with an oval in the middle with no grass.

Plop a Peep chick down in the center of your cupcake and you have an adorable springtime treat.

Crockpot Hoisin Chicken

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 11:00:00 +0000

I love my crockpot, but I have to be honest, I have a hard time finding good chicken recipes for it. So often the chicken ends up really dry. Whenever that happens I am so disappointed, but I'm not willing to give up on chicken in the crockpot. When I saw Cookin Canuck's recipe for Hoisin Chicken in the crockpot I immediately gave it a try. It was super juicy and the flavor was good, but I made a few tweaks to suit my family's tastes and to minimize dishes (my favorite thing).

For those of you who aren't familiar with Hoisin sauce, it is a thick, dark, sweet sauce used in Chinese cooking. My first introduction to Hoisin sauce was as a little girl with the minced chicken lettuce wraps at Panda Inn, yum yum! It is the star of this Crockpot Hoisin Chicken, but the soy sauce, ginger, and chili garlic sauce keep it from being too sweet.

It has been super hot here so the crockpot allows us to have a delicious homemade dinner without me standing over a hot stove or heating up our house with the oven. This Crockpot Hoisin Chicken is also incredibly easy to make.

Start out by spraying your crockpot with cooking spray and then putting some boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the bottom. To be honest, I'm not sure if you need the cooking spray, but I always use it when I'm cooking with my crockpot to make for an easy clean up.

In a large liquid measuring cup combine your sauce ingredients. You will need soy sauce, hoisin sauce, chicken stock, a little bit of honey, some minced ginger (I used a frozen cube from Trader Joe's), and some chili garlic sauce. We don't like things very salty so I used low-sodium soy sauce and chicken stock. Mix all of your sauce ingredients together and then pour it over the chicken.

Put the lid on and cook on low until the chicken is cooked through. The amount of time will depend on your crockpot and how big your chicken breasts are. It took mine about 2 1/2 hours. Once the chicken is cooked through, take it out of the crockpot to shred it.

Combine some corn starch and water and then stir it into the sauce in your crockpot. Add the shredded chicken back in, give it a good stir, and continue to cook for about 30 more minutes so that the chicken can absorb some more of that delicious flavor. If you are nervous about dry chicken because your crockpot has let you down in the past, do not worry. Look how juicy that chicken is!

I served mine with our favorite brown rice and quinoa blend and some steamed broccoli. This chicken is so flavorful and delicious. The next day I made a little salad with the leftovers, some lettuce, a little rice vinegar, some extra Hoisin, and a few peanuts. No matter what you pair with this Hoisin chicken, it is absolutely delicious!

Crockpot Hoisin Chicken
Adapted From Cookin Canuck

1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/3 cup low sodium chicken broth
2 tbls. honey
1 tsp. minced ginger
1/2 tsp. chili garlic sauce
2 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tbls. cornstarch
2 tbls. water

Spray your crock pot with cooking spray and place chicken in the bottom.
In a 2 cup liquid measuring cup combine soy sauce, hoisin, sauce, chicken broth, honey, ginger, and chili garlic sauce. Pour over the chicken.
Cook on low 2 1/2 - 3 hours or until cooked through.
Remove the chicken and shred it.
Combine the cornstarch and water and stir it into the sauce. Put the chicken back in the crockpot and continue to cook about 30 more minutes so it has a chance to absorb the sauce.

Espresso Brownies

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 11:00:00 +0000

I've never been a coffee drinker. There are lots of mornings where I wake up and wish that I liked coffee because I could really use the caffeine boost, but it's just not something I've ever gotten into. That being said, I looooove coffee flavored desserts. Coffee ice cream, yes please! Mocha anything, sign me up. Espresso Brownies, I can't get enough. The only problem with these brownies is having enough willpower not to eat them for breakfast after another early wake up call from my human alarm clock.

These Espresso Brownies are easy enough to make for no reason at all, but the espresso makes them special enough to serve to guests. We recently went to a barbecue and I volunteered to bring a dessert. I knew that I wanted to bring some sort of brownie, but I had a hard time deciding which one. I love caramel so I was debating between these Peanut Butter Caramel Swirl Brownies and these Salted Caramel Brownies, but then I remembered these Espresso Brownies. I used to make these brownies all the time, but I haven't made them in years. Since everyone at the barbecue had a baby or a toddler I figured that a little caffeine boost would be a welcome treat so Espresso Brownies it was.

To make these Espresso Brownies you will need two packages of brownie mix. I used my favorite Ghiradelli Triple Chocolate brownie mix that I buy in a six pack at Costco, but feel free to use your favorite mix. In a large bowl, whisk together equal parts water and vegetable oil along with four eggs and 1/4 cup of espresso powder. I know that sounds like a lot, but remember that you are using two packages of brownie mix.

Stir in the brownie mix until everything is well combined. Now you know that I love chocolate, A LOT, so I like to add a little bit more. Stir a heaping cup of semisweet chocolate chips into the batter and then pour it into a baking pan sprayed with baking spray. You have two options when it comes to your baking pans. Some people like their brownies to be a little bit crispy, I am not one of those people. I'm a soft and gooey brownie girl all the way! If I'm just making these for my family, I like to use two square baking dishes because then I get all super soft and gooey brownies. Also, I can freeze one pan for another day. When I'm making these brownies for a crowd, I bake them in a 9 x 13 inch pan. This will leave you with slightly crisper edges and softer, gooier brownies in the center. That way everyone gets their brownies just the way that they like them. No matter what type of brownie lover you are, you will love these Espresso Brownies. They are super chocolatey and the espresso powder gives them that little special something to make them out of this world!

Espresso Brownies

2/3 cup water
2/3 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/4 cup instant espresso powder
2 packages brownie mix
1 heaping cup chocolate chips

Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan with baking spray and preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl whisk together water, vegetable oil, eggs, and espresso powder.
Stir in brownie mix until well combined
Stir in chocolate chips and pour into baking pan.
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached.
Let cool completely before cutting.

I'm linking up with Tasty Tuesday, Tasty Tuesdays, Whimsy Wednesday, Cook It Craft It Share It, Crafty & Delicious, Create It Thursday, Creativity Unleashed, Pin Junkie, Thrifty Thursday, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Link Party Palooza, Best of the Weekend, Weekend Potluck, Best Recipes, and Pinworthy Projects.

Spiced Zucchini Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 12:00:00 +0000

As a mom, I want my kids to eat a healthy, balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Jake has always been a great vegetable eater so I never thought I would be searching for ways to sneak in veggies, but then we had Luke. After we starting feeding Luke solids he started having some serious GI issues that were impacting his growth. We finally figured out what was causing them; his body couldn't absorb fructose. He has now started to outgrow it, but we still have to limit the amount of fruits we give to Luke so I feel even more pressure (from myself) to get extra vegetables into him.

Getting him to eat food in general is a challenge, unless it is a bread product, so I find myself having to get creative to feed him a balanced diet. Because of how much he loves bread in all of its iterations, I've been thinking about mixing vegetables in with muffins. I like almost all vegetables, but zucchini is one of the few foods that I don't really like. I will eat it, but it isn't something I generally choose. That is probably why I've never had, let alone made, zucchini bread. Luke inspired me to give it a try.

I decided to make zucchini muffins instead of zucchini bread so that I would have individual servings. Since this was my first foray into baking with zucchini I wasn't sure where to start so I did a lot of searching. So many of the recipes that I found had applesauce or banana in them and I wanted these muffins to be fruit free. I finally found a recipe that was fruit free and decided to give it a try.

The recipe sounded great as is, but I couldn't resist making a few tweaks. I've pretty much abandoned all purpose flour for white whole wheat flour. I find it works just as well (at least it does for me) and makes me feel like I'm being a little bit healthier. As I mentioned, I'm not zucchini's biggest fan so I decided to add in some pumpkin pie spice because it is DE-LI-CIOUS! I also added in Greek yogurt to keep the muffins nice and moist.

Start out by preheating your oven to 400 and whisking together your dry ingredients: white whole wheat flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center.

In another bowl mix together some shredded zucchini, Greek yogurt (I used fat free), vegetable oil, honey, an egg, and a splash of milk (I used whole but I think whatever you have on hand is fine).

Once your wet ingredients are thoroughly combined, pour them into the well in the center of your dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.

Use an ice cream scoop to scoop the batter into muffin tins sprayed with baking spray. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown, and then remove to a cooling rack.

I made these for Luke, but couldn't stop eating them myself. The warm flavors from the pumpkin pie spice make these feel like comfort food.

Spiced Zucchini Muffins
Adapted from Kathie's

1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/3 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup fat free Greek yogurt
1 tbls. milk
2 tbls. vegetable oil
2 tbls. honey
1 egg

Preheat oven to 400 and spray muffin tin with baking spray.
In a medium bowl whisk together dry ingredients, flour through salt, and make a well in the center.
In another bowl or large measuring cup, combine remaining ingredients.
Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until just combined.
Use an ice cream scoop to portion batter into muffin tins and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

I'm linking up with Create It Thursday, Cook It Craft It Share It, Crafty & Delicious, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Cookin & Craftin, Creativity Unleashed, Pin Junkie, Thrifty Thursday, Friday Favorites, Best of the Weekend, Weekend Potluck, Best Recipes, Link Party Palooza, and Pinworthy Projects.

Chicken & Rice Casserole

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 12:00:00 +0000

I love meals that can be made ahead. If they freeze well too, bestill my heart. While I always love a good casserole, when the temperatures drop I love them even more. A couple of years back I discovered this Cheesy Chicken & Wild Rice Casserole on Picky Palate. I couldn't find the wild rice she recommended so I made a substitution and then a few more tweaks. It quickly became one of my favorites. This recipe is a little more time consuming to prepare, but it can all be made ahead and then just popped in the oven before dinner. It is also super easy to double so you can get two wonderful meals without having to do the work twice. I like to make a double batch of this Chicken & Rice Casserole on the weekend for a delicious Sunday dinner, and then freeze one to bring a little weekend goodness to a busy weeknight.

The cheese sauce in this Chicken & Rice Casserole is homemade, but I take a little shortcut with this super yummy Quinoa & Brown Rice mix.

I buy mine at Costco in a 6-pack but you can get it at Target and Wal-Mart too. Start out by microwaving your rice according to the instructions on the package and then set it aside.

Chop up some onion, carrot, and celery and saute them in a large pot with a little olive oil. Once the vegetables are softened, add in a good amount of minced garlic and saute for about a minute more.

Stir in the pre-cooked rice, a few cups of chopped up rotisserie chicken, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. This recipe is deliciously garlicky, but not overly so.

While your veggies are sauteing, make your cheese sauce. Melt half a stick of butter in a medium saucepan. Whisk in an equal amount of flour along with a little salt and pepper. Pour in two cups of chicken stock and continue to whisk until the sauce starts to thicken. Stir in some shredded cheddar and Monterrey jack cheeses until they are melted.

Pour the cheese sauce over the rice mixture and stir until everything is well coated. Pour it all into a 9 x 13 baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.

Top with some more shredded cheese because cheese is delicious.

Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Look at that bubbly goodness. This Chicken & Rice Casserole is comfort food at its finest. The layered garlic flavors from the garlic, garlic powder, and rice blend give an incredible depth of flavor. Combine that with the creamy, cheesy goodness of the sauce and the slight bite from the veggies and you have casserole perfection. Dinner is served!

Chicken & Rice Casserole
Adapted from Picky Palate

For the casserole:

2-4 tbls. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite sized pieces
3 (8.5 oz) packages Seeds of Change Quinoa & Brown Rice with Garlic
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

For the sauce:

4 tbls. butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
2 cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese, divided

Microwave your rice according to the package instructions.
In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium high heat and saute onion, carrots, and celery, stirring occasionally, until softened (about 15 minutes). Add in the garlic and saute for another minute.
While the vegetables are cooking, make your cheese sauce: Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Whisk in flour, salt, and pepper and continue to cook over medium-high heat for about a minute. Add in chicken stock, continuing to whisk until sauce starts to thicken. Stir in 1 1/3 cups of cheddar and 1 cup of Monterrey Jack cheeses until melted.
Add the chicken, rice/quinoa blend, salt, pepper, and garlic powder to the pot with the vegetables. Stir to combine.
Pour in cheese sauce and stir until everything is coated. Then pour into a 9 x 13 baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.
Top with the remaining 2/3 cup cheddar and 1 cup Monterrey Jack cheeses and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes.

*You can also divide this into two square baking dishes and freeze one for another time.

I'm linking up with Lou Lou Girls, Mad Skills, Create Link Inspire, Two Cup Tuesday, Tips & Tricks, Whimsy Wednesdays, Wednesday Whatsits, Moonlight & Mason Jars, Cook It Craft It Share It, Crafty & Delicious, Create It Thursday, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Creativity Unleashed, Pin Junkie, Cookin & Craftin, Thrifty Thursday, Friday Favorites, Best of the Weekend, Weekend Potluck, Best Recipes, Link Party Palooza, and Pinworthy Projects.

Slow Cooker Italian Beef

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 12:00:00 +0000

My new year's resolution this year was to get back on track with my meal planning and to start trying more new recipes. A while back another mom emailed me this recipe for Crock Pot Italian Beef Sandwiches. She said it was one of her family's favorite meals and it only has a few ingredients so I decided to try it out. After checking at four different stores, I decided to give up on the Chicago style Giardiniera it calls for and just go Italian style. Oh my goodness, I am so glad I couldn't find the Chicago style! I don't know how it would have tasted with it, but with the Italian style it was A-MA-ZING!!!!

Alright, now that I have you excited, I'll tell you how to make it. You will need a chuck roast, an envelope of Italian salad dressing mix (I used Good Seasons Zesty Italian), a jar of Italian style Giardiniera, a can of beef broth, and a jar of pepperoncini or banana peppers. We aren't big on spice in this house so we used mild, you stick with how your family likes it.

Trim the fat off of your chuck roast and cut it into big chunks (about 3-4 inches). Spray your slow cooker with cooking spray and put the beef inside. Sprinkle the packet of salad dressing mix all over the top.

Add in half of the jar of pepperoncini peppers along with a couple of tablespoons of the juice from the jar. Drain the liquid out of the jar of Giardiniera and dump it in. The first time I made this I only used half of the jar and the bites with the veggies were so unbelievably flavorful that I decided to use the full jar the second time. It was an excellent decision! Pour in the can of broth and then give it all a little stir to get the liquid under the meat and the veggies and peppers evenly distributed.

Put on the lid and turn your slow cooker on LOW. Cook until the meat shreds easily, about 8 1/2 - 9 hours.

Put the shredded meat back in and give it a good stir. Recover your slow cooker and let cook for another hour or so to give the meat a chance to soak up some of that flavorful juice.

Now, who likes to cook once and eat twice? I do! In fact, I love it. I'm not talking about eating the exact same meal two times either, although we do that a lot. Leftovers are a busy mama's friend. The first night we had this Slow Cooker Italian Beef as recommended, on sandwich rolls with sliced provolone melting into all of the little nooks and crannies. Then a couple of days later we had the leftover meat warmed up with some oven roasted potatoes and salad on the side. It was delicious this way too.

The photo really does not do this meal justice. Slow Cooker Italian Beef has quickly become a family favorite for us and I'm sure it will for your family too!

Slow Cooker Italian Beef
Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats

3 lb. chuck roast, trimmed of fat and cut into 3-4 inch chunks
1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix
8 oz. pepperoncini or banana pepper slices plus 1-2 tbls. juice from jar
16 oz. jar of Italian Mix Giardiniera, drained
14.5 oz. can of beef broth

Spray slow cooker with cooking spray and put chuck roast chunks into slow cooker. Sprinkle meat with salad dressing mix.
Add in peppers, pepper juice, Giardiniera, and beef broth.
Stir to let broth under meat and evenly distribute vegetables and peppers.
Cook on low 8 1/2 to 9 hours. Remove meat from slow cooker and shred it.
Return meat to slow cooker, stir, and continue to cook for another hour.
Serve on sandwich rolls with sliced provolone or with roasted potatoes and salad.

Slow Cooker Verde Chicken Chili

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 12:00:00 +0000

I love chili and I love verde chicken so this Slow Cooker Verde Chicken Chili was a match made in heaven for me. Even though I love chili, I don't make it very often because Jake won't eat soup (of any kind). On top of that, Jake and Josh won't eat beans, total weirdos. Luckily, Luke eats beans like they are going out of style. Anyway, this chili was the perfect compromise because it is super versatile which made it something that all four of us happily ate. I used a slotted spoon to take out some of the chicken to make tacos for Josh and Jake, Luke gobbled up the beans, and I ate it as intended. No matter how you decide to eat this Slow Cooker Verde Chicken Chili your taste buds will thank you!

In addition to being super delicious, this chili is very easy to make. Other than chopping an onion and mincing a few cloves of garlic, you mostly just dump everything in and let the slow cooker do the work. You could even buy some pre-chopped onion and those little cubes of frozen minced garlic (I love you Trader Joe's).

Once the chicken is cooked through you take it out and shred it. Look how juicy that chicken is!

I wanted this to be thick like chili, not a soup, so I mixed a little bit of corn starch and water and stirred that in before I added the chicken back in.

Serve this up as is or with your favorite toppings. For me that was shredded Monterrey jack cheese and guacamole.

Like most chili recipes, this Slow Cooker Verde Chicken Chili is even better the next day. I'm pretty sure it will freeze well, but it didn't last long enough for me to find out. Next time, I think I will make a double batch.

Slow Cooker Verde Chicken Chili
Adapted from Budget Bytes

1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 - 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups salsa verde
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp. corn starch
1 tbsp. water
Monterrey Jack cheese, Greek yogurt, or guacamole for topping

Put all ingredients except corn starch and water in slow cooker and cook on high for about 3 hours.
Remove chicken and shred it.
Combine corn starch and water and stir into slow cooker.
Return chicken to slow cooker and stir to combine.
Continue to cook for 30 minutes.
Serve with shredded jack cheese, Greek yogurt, or guacamole.

I'm linking up with Inspiration Monday, Mix It Up Monday, Busy Monday, Munching Monday, Create Link Inspire, Lou Lou Girls, Mad Skills, Tips & Tricks, Two Cup Tuesday, Tasty Tuesdays, Tasty Tuesday, Whimsy Wednesday, Wednesday Whatsits, Moonlight & Mason Jars, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Cook It Craft It Share It, Cookin & Craftin, Thrifty Thursday, Creativity Unleashed, Pin Junkie, Create It Thursday, Best of the Weekend, Weekend Potluck, Best Recipes, Pinworthy Projects, Saturday Night Fever, and Link Party Palooza.

One Bowl Chocolate Bundt Cake with Easy Chocolate Glaze

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 12:00:00 +0000

Sometimes you just need chocolate, lots of chocolate. Valentine's Day is the perfect excuse to indulge your inner chocoholic. While I love desserts that look and taste indulgent, I don't love things that are super complicated and make lots of dishes. That is why I love this One Bowl Chocolate Bundt Cake with Easy Chocolate Glaze. It has a rich and intense chocolate flavor, looks beautiful, and best of all, is incredibly easy to make.

To make the cake, put all of the ingredients except chocolate chips (the recipe is below) in a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer and beat until well combined and smooth.

Look at that thick, chocolaty batter. Now because you can never have enough chocolate, stir in some chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into a bundt pan sprayed with baking spray and bake for 35-45 minutes at 350 until a tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs.

Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then invert it onto a cooling rack.

While the cake continues to cool, make your glaze. This step is super tricky so try not to get overwhelmed. ;) Put some chocolate chips, a quarter stick of butter, and a little bit of corn syrup into a liquid measuring cup (this will make it easy to pour the glaze onto the cake). Microwave in 30-second increments, stirring well after each, until the glaze is smooth.

Put your cake onto the serving plate (it's okay if it isn't totally cool). Pour glaze over the top of the cake and let set before serving.

Look at that chocolatey goodness.

One Bowl Chocolate Bundt Cake with Easy Chocolate Glaze
Adapted From Hershey's One Bowl Chocolate Cake

For the Cake:

2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup water
3 eggs
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the Glaze:

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tbls. corn syrup
2 tbls. butter

Preheat oven to 350 and spray a bundt pan with baking spray.
Beat together all cake ingredients, except chocolate chips, until smooth.
Stir in chocolate chips. Pour batter into bundt pan.
Bake for 35-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then invert onto serving plate.
While cake continues to cool, make glaze.
Put chocolate chips, corn syrup and butter in a 2 cup liquid measuring cup and microwave in 30 second increments, stirring well after each until smooth.
Pour glaze over top of cake and let set before serving.

I'm linking up with Inspiration Monday, Mix It Up Monday, Busy Monday, Munching Monday, Create Link Inspire, Lou Lou Girls, Two Cup Tuesday, Tips & Tricks, Tasty Tuesday, Tasty Tuesdays, Whimsy Wednesdays, Moonlight & Mason Jars, Wednesday Whatsits, Cook It Craft It Share It, Create It Thursday, Crafty & Delicious, Thrifty Thursday, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Pin Junkie, Creativity Unleashed, Cookin & Craftin, Weekend Social, Best of the Weekend, Weekend Potluck, Best Recipes, Pinworthy Projects, Saturday Night Fever, and Link Party Palooza.

3 Ingredient Chocolate Raspberry Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 12:00:00 +0000

As I'm sure you know by now, I love making holidays super special for my kids from morning until night. Valentine's Day is almost here so I've been planning how to do that. Last year I made these heart cut-out One Eyed Sandwiches to start the day and they were such a hit, I'm planning to make them again.

We don't have a babysitter this year so we will be celebrating as a family. In thinking about our dessert, I wanted to make a Valentine's treat that Jake could make with me. These Chocolate Raspberry Cookies are incredibly easy but look super impressive and taste divine. You only need THREE ingredients to make them: a box of Famous Chocolate Wafers, some raspberry jam (I used seedless but regular is fine too), and chocolate chips.

I like to use a cooling rack with wax paper underneath to assemble these cookies, but you can use a cookie sheet or even just the wax paper. For each finished cookie you will need two wafers. Start out by laying your chocolate wafers in pairs. Put some chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second increments, stirring after each, until melted and smooth. While your chocolate is melting spread raspberry jam on half of the wafers.

Once your chocolate is ready, use another knife (I found a little butter knife is perfect for this) to spread the melted chocolate on the remaining wafers.

Then sandwich together a raspberry wafer with a chocolate wafer and let set.

That is it. Three ingredients and less than ten minutes to a plate full of delicious Chocolate Raspberry Cookies. These cookies are perfect for Valentine's Day, but they are easy and impressive enough to make them year round. Enjoy!

3 Ingredient Chocolate Raspberry Cookies

1 package Famous Chocolate Wafers
about 1/2 cup chocolate chips
raspberry jam

Lay out wafers in pairs.
Spread half of the wafers with jam.
Melt chocolate chips in microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring well after each until melted and smooth. Spread melted chocolate on remaining wafers.
Sandwich jam and chocolate wafers together and let set.

I'm linking up with Two Cup Tuesday, Lou Lou Girls, Mad Skills, Tasty Tuesdays, Tasty Tuesday, Whimsy Wednesday, Moonlight & Mason Jars, Crafty & Delicious, Create Link Inspire, Create It Thursday, Cook It Craft It Share It, Thrifty Thursday, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Creativity Unleashed, Pin Junkie, The Weekend Social, Link Party Palooza, Best of the Weekend, Weekend Potluck, Best Recipes, Saturday Night Fever, Pinworthy Projects, Munching Mondays, Inspiration Monday, Mix It Up Monday, and Busy Monday.

Glow Bracelet Valentines & FREE Printable

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Tue, 27 Jan 2015 12:00:00 +0000

I love Valentine's Day! Any holiday centered around love, chocolate, and lots of pink is A-OK in my book. That being said, I don't necessarily want my little ones having a ton of treats so I'm always looking for cute Valentine ideas that don't have candy. Jake recently had a glow in the dark birthday party and we gave glow bracelets as favors. I was looking at the favor tag I had made and realized that with a tiny tweak it would make the perfect Valentine.

I found this great font that looks like a neon sign and made up a cute little Valentine tag.

Glow Bracelet Valentine Tag Printable

Then I used my silhouette to cut out a neon scalloped edge circle to use as a backing. If you don't have a silhouette, you could use a large craft punch, scissors, or just skip the backing all together.

Glue the printed Valentine tag onto the neon backing. Your child can sign their Valentines on the back.

Use a hole punch to make a hole and then thread a black ribbon through it and tie the Valentine onto the glow bracelets.

If you want to make it even more economical, instead of giving each child a tube of glow bracelets, you can just punch a hole on the bottom of the tag too and thread one glow bracelet through the Valentine tag.

Either way you have an adorable, affordable, non-candy Valentine, perfect for your little one to give to their friends.

I'm linking up with Two Cup Tuesday, Frugal Crafty Bloghop, Tasty Tuesday, Whimsy Wednesday, Moonlight & Mason Jars, Crafty & Delicious, Create Link Inspire, Create It Thursday, Cook It Craft It Share It, Thrifty Thursday, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Creativity Unleashed, Pin Junkie, The Weekend Social, Link Party Palooza, Best of the Weekend, Weekend Potluck, Best Recipes, Saturday Night Fever, Pinworthy Projects,
Munching Mondays, Inspiration Monday, Mix It Up Monday, Craftastic Monday, and Busy Monday.

Cheesy Garlic Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 12:00:00 +0000

The Superbowl will be here in less than two weeks so it's time to start thinking about my favorite part of football games, the food. We had some friends over this past weekend to watch the Packers game. It was a rough afternoon in our house, but luckily we had delicious snacks to cushion the blow. This Cheesy Garlic Bread was phenomenal! I got the idea from Lauren's Latest and just made a few tweaks based on what I had on hand (and to make it easier on myself). The ingredient list is blissfully short: refrigerated French Bread loaf, butter, garlic, basil, oregano, and cheese, lots of cheese.

This Cheesy Garlic Bread is incredibly easy. Pop open a tube of Pillsbury Crusty French Loaf dough, and put it on a parchment lined baking sheet. Use a sharp knife to cut slits about 3/4 of the way down, about an inch apart all along the loaf. Bake it at 350 until it is mostly done and starting to brown (I baked mine for 17 minutes).

While your bread is baking grate 1/3 of a lb. of cheese (I used Trader Joe's cheddar gruyere blend but a white cheddar or a Dubliner would be great too). To make the garlic butter, melt 1/3 of a stick of butter in a small dish in the microwave. Add one clove of minced garlic along with some dried basil and oregano.

Pull the bread out of the oven and re-slice along all of the slits you made before you baked it. You want the slits nice and deep because that is where you will be putting the garlic butter and cheese.

Take that scrumptious garlic butter and brush it inside all of the slits and all over the top of the loaf.

Then take the grated cheese and tuck it into all of the slits pushing it down as much as you can. Sprinkle the remainder along the top, no cheese left behind.

Put it back in the oven until the cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.

Less than 30 minutes to Cheesy Garlic Bread nirvana! This Cheesy Garlic Bread is the perfect party appetizer for any occasion, but it just screams football food to me. Add this to your Superbowl menu. Your guests will be impressed, your taste buds will thank you, and you can spend your time watching the game instead of working in the kitchen.

Cheesy Garlic Bread

1 tube Pillsbury Crusty French Loaf dough
3 tbls. butter
1 clove garlic
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/3 lb. Cheddar Gruyere blend (White Cheddar or Dubliner are good substitutes), grated

Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Open tube of dough and make slits 3/4 of the way down, about 1-inch apart, all along the loaf. Bake until almost done and starting to brown, about 17 minutes.
While bread bakes make garlic butter: Melt butter. Mince garlic and add to butter along with oregano and basil.
Re-cut all of the slits in the bread. Brush garlic butter into the slits and all along the top of the loaf. Press grated cheese into all of the slits and sprinkle the remainder on top.
Return to oven and bake 5 more minutes, until bread is cooked through and cheese is melted.

I'm linking up with Tasty Tuesday, Two Cup Tuesday, Whimsy Wednesdays, Wednesday Whatsits, Moonlight & Mason Jars, Create It Thursday, Cook It Craft It Share It, Crafty and Delicious, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Thrifty Thursday, Creativity Unleashed, Pin Junkie, and Weekend Social, Pinworthy Projects, Best Recipes, Best of the Weekend, Link Party Palooza, Saturday Night Fever, Weekend Potluck, Inspiration Monday, Mix It Up Monday, Craftastic Monday, Busy Monday, and Munching Mondays.

Mint Chip & Waffle Cone Ice Cream

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 12:00:00 +0000

I know that for some people chocolate and mint treats are for December, but for me chocolate and mint are a year-round flavor combination. When Trader Joe's brings out their holiday treats my heart beats a little faster. (If you haven't figured it out by now, I have a MAJOR sweet tooth.) One of my favorite holiday goodies at TJ's are the Mini Peppermint Waffle Cookies. They are basically little circles of waffle cone with dark chocolate and crushed candy cane pieces on top. If I'm not careful I could probably wolf down half of a package at once. I have definitely never done that though.

As I was eating a few of them, I realized that they would make the perfect ice cream mix-in. After I mentioned this to Josh a time or two, he took the hint and whipped up a batch for me. He started with a mint ice cream base and then added in mini chocolate chips and almost an entire package of Mini Peppermint Waffle Cookies. Now if you aren't like me, and haven't hoarded a few boxes of these waffle cookies, I'm sure you can just break up some waffle cones and some peppermint bark and use that instead. You could even crush up those leftover candy canes and add more chocolate chips.

This ice cream was even more delicious than I thought it would be. It is the perfect combination of creamy and crunchy, minty and sweet. Yum!!!

Mint Chip & Waffle Cone Ice Cream

1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
pinch of salt
2 cups heavy cream
2 tbls. peppermint extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
7 oz. package Mini Peppermint Waffle Cookies, frozen

Put frozen waffle cookies in a large ziplock bag and roll over with a rolling pin to break them up.
In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, sugar, and salt until sugar is dissolved. Stir in heavy cream and peppermint extract. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
Churn according to the instructions on your ice cream maker, adding in mini chocolate chips and waffle cookies in the last 5 minutes.

I'm linking up with Tasty Tuesday, Tasty Tuesdays, Moonlight & Mason Jars, Cook It Craft It Share It, Crafty & Delicious Party, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Thrifty Thursday, Pin Junkie, Weekend Social, Link Party Palooza, Best of the Weekend, Pinworthy Projects, Munching Mondays, and Best Recipes.

What I Wore - Winter Neutrals

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Tue, 06 Jan 2015 12:00:00 +0000

I hope you all enjoyed the last few weeks with your families. I certainly did. It is such a crazy time of year for us with the holidays and birthdays, but it is so fun. On New Year's Day we were invited to a fun open house style brunch party. We were also experiencing some winter weather (at least for our neck of the woods) so warm clothes were definitely in order.

I picked up this cream sweater during one of Old Navy's amazing sales before the holidays. It is super soft and cozy and doesn't have any wool so I can wear it without itching like crazy. This sweater was perfect paired with some black leggings and my cozy chestnut Uggs which, truth be told, have seen better days, but I just can't justify a new pair right now.

The "icing" on my outfit was this delicate little necklace. I saw it during Nordstrom's anniversary sale and nonchalantly pointed it out to Josh and then went upstairs for a little while with my laptop left open. Thankfully, he picked up on my not so subtle hint and got it for me. The bar is engraved with J & L which I love because it stands for Josh & Lauren AND Jake & Luke. Everyone asks if we did that on purpose with their names but honestly, those were just the boy names we liked. It did work out nicely though. One day I'd like to get a Maya Brenner asymmetrical initial necklace with J and L but this one is perfect for now.

Necklace - Similar (mine is cursive)

Sweater - Old Navy (on sale)

Leggings - American Apparel

I'm linking up with Style Elixer and I do deClaire.

Happy Holidays

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 18:17:00 +0000

Hello lovelies,

I hope you all are enjoying a wonderful holiday season and have a happy new year. I will be taking a short break to enjoy this time with my family. I'll return in the new year a year older and ready to get back to being Imperfect & Fabulous!

Lauren

Soft and Puffy Chocolate Chip Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 12:00:00 +0000

If you have tried any of my cookies, you know that soft and puffy is how I think cookies should be. I have long been on a quest to find a chocolate chip cookie that would have the perfect classic flavor, be chock full of delicious chocolate, and go from mixer to oven without days of chilling. After making these Super Soft and Puffy Snickerdoodles inspiration struck. I took a basic chocolate chip recipe, adjusted the amount of sugar, bumped up the flour, and added in some cream of tartar and milk just like in the Snickerdoodles. The results were fantastic!

Start out by creaming together the butter and the sugars. Once the butter and sugar mixture is light and fluffy, crack in a couple of eggs, a splash of milk, and a little vanilla and beat it all together until well combined.

Add in some flour (I used white whole wheat but all purpose will work too), baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt and mix until well combined. Mix in a bunch of chocolate chips and you are ready to start scooping.

I made two sizes of cookies with this cookie dough, standard sized cookies for the teachers at Jake's school and "Lauren" sized. To make standard sized cookies, use a medium cookie scoop and bake at 375 for 8-9 minutes.

For "Lauren" sized cookies, you are going to use an ice cream scoop, yep, an ice cream scoop. Bake the "Lauren" sized cookies for 11-14 minutes.

Now that is a cookie! Look at all of those chocolate chips. These cookies are so soft, so chocolatey, so perfectly delicious. Y-U-M!!!!

Soft & Puffy Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 - 4 tbls. milk
1 tbls. vanilla
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.
Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy.
Add in eggs, 2 tbls. milk, and vanilla and beat well.
Add in flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt and mix well.
If the dough seems too dry add an additional 1-2 tbls. milk
Stir in chocolate chips.
Use an ice cream scoop to scoop cookies a few inches apart onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake 12-14 minutes or until light golden.
**If you want to make regular sized cookies use a cookie scoop instead of an ice cream scoop and bake for 8-9 minutes.

I'm linking up with Thrifty Thursday, Sweet Bellaroos, Pin Junkie, Creativity Unleashed, Weekend Social, Link Party Palooza, Best of the Weekend, Weekend Potluck, Bakerette, and Pinworhty Projects.

Snowman Birthday Banner

noreply@blogger.com (Lauren Smisko) — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 12:00:00 +0000

Luke's best buddy Calvin recently celebrated his first birthday with a "Winter ONE-derland" theme. Isn't that such a cute idea! Since I love crafting and will take pretty much any excuse to use my Silhouette Cameo I helped Calvin's mom make this adorable Snowman Birthday Banner.

To make this banner you will need white cardstock, blue cardstock, scrapbook glue, and ribbon. I used the Tombow mono scrapbook glue but any brand will do.

I used my Silhouette software to make the snowman outline and cut them out on the blue paper. Then I used the same outline but added a face and used that with the addition of the letters to make the snowman part.

Once everything was cut out we glued the white snowmen onto the blue bases and we were ready to put the banner together. I find grosgrain ribbon to be the best choice when making a banner. It is sturdy enough to hold the weight of the cardstock and since it is textured they don't slide around. I used grosgrain ribbon on the Superman banner I made last year for Jake's birthday and it was the easy choice here. We wanted the ribbon to look like the arms of the snowmen so we chose brown like branches.

String the snowmen onto your ribbon and you are ready to hang up your birthday banner. This banner doesn't take much effort to make, but has a big impact. It was the perfect backdrop for Calvin's first experience with birthday cake!

If you have a silhouette and want to make your own Snowman Banner, here are the cut files.

I'm linking up with Whimsy Wednesday, Moonlight & Mason Jars, Cook It Craft It Share It, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Thrifty Thursday, Sweet Bellaroos, Pin Junkie, Creativity Unleashed, Weekend Social, Link Party Palooza, Best of the Weekend, Weekend Potluck, Bakerette, and Pinworhty Projects.