Chicken Pad Thai

I love Pad Thai at the local Thai place...we generally fight over who is going to order it. We like to share and try new things when we go. I even managed to get my sister to try it once and she couldn't believe how good it was! Thankfully I found this recipe so I can indulge it it much more at home! This recipe came together quick and easy, I want to say it took 30 mins to make!(Of course it helped that I had the chicken already cooked.)

Chicken Pad Thai-shared from Loving My Domestic Life
4 oz rice noodles, cooked according to the pkg
1-2 cups chopped chicken
1-2 tsp sesame oil(I tend to not like the flavor, so I went with 1 tsp)
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup sugar(I used organic cane sugar)
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup peanut butter
3 cups shredded cabbage(omitted b/c I didn't have any)
4 green onions, thinly sliced(omitted)
chopped salted peanuts

Heat oil in large skillet. Add in onion and cook for about 5 mins until tender. Add in garlic. Stir in beaten egg until just about cooked. Add in vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and peanut butter. Allow to cook until melted and blended together. Add in chicken, cabbage, green onions, and cooked noodles. Cook until heated through. Garnish with chopped nuts.

**This was REALLY REALLY good! The leftovers didn't last long at all! The only complaint we had was that the noodles were still a bit crunchy. I will definitely be making this again but with different noodles. I used rice threads but they didn't seem to have the same texture as the noodles used at the restaurant! Still highly recommended!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

I have quite the stockpile of peanut butter from a great amazon sale I took advantage of a couple weeks ago. Then I saw this recipe and figured it was perfect to use some of it up for! Plus this recipe only uses 5 ingredients can't get any easier than that!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies-adapted from What's Cooking at My House?
1 cup creamy Peanut Butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
jelly of your choice(I used strawberry Polaner All Fruit)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine all ingredients except jelly. Mix together until dough forms. Scoop dough out and place on baking sheet(I used my small pampered chef cookie scoop). Make a small indentation into dough with your thumb. Fill each hole with about 1 tsp jelly. Bake for 8-11 minutes. Allow to cool for 2 mins before removing from the baking sheet.

**These were delicious and came together very quick! They taste just like a sandwich would minus the bread! Perfect for anyone that is gluten free as well!

Tasty Tuesday-3/29

Coconut Chicken Salad-Gina's Skinny Recipes
Coconut Roasted Sweet Potatoes-Modern Gal
Crockpot Yogurt-Freeze your way Fit
Cheeseburger and Sweet Potato Fries Pizza-Vanilla Sugar
Jumbo Burger Cups-Brenda's Canadian Kitchen
Fresh Strawberry Layer Cake-Hoosier Homemade
White Chocolate Pineapple Muffins-$5 Dinners
Low Fat Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies-Gina's Skinny Recipes
Strawberry Chicken Salad-Siggy Spice
Baked FIsh with Sour Cream Parmesan Sauce-Jenn's Food Journey
Pear Muffins-The Happy Housewife
Vanilla Cranberry Muffins-FInding Joy in my Kitchen
Pasta with Italian Chicken Sausage, Escarole, and Peppers-Gina's Skinny Recipes

this is linked to Finding Joy in my Kitchen Friday Favorites

Menu Plan Monday

Nothing special going on this week...but here is our menu!

Breakfast/Baking:
-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Muffins
-Egg, Potato, and cheese Burritos(need more breakfast foods in the freezer for on the go!)

Dinner:
-BBQ Meatloaf Cups, mashed potatoes and mashed turnip(request of the 4 yr old after trying it at storytime last week!)
-Pizza Stuffed Potatoes with salad
-Maple Turkey Sloppy Joes on Sandwich Thins and veggies
-Clam Chowder and Cheddar Bay Biscuits
-Creamy Tomato Sausage and Tortellini Soup

Fruit Filled Oatmeal Coconut Muffins

I love anything coconut and we needed some new muffins for the week so these won!

Fruit Filled Oatmeal Coconut Muffins-adapted from Recipe Shoebox
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup flour(1/2 ww, 1/2 ap)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 baking soda
1/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
Jelly of your choice, I used raspberry and strawberry Polaner all fruit

Mix together oats and buttermilk, allow to soak for at least 30 mins.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Add brown sugar, egg, oil, coconut, and applesauce to oatmeal mixture and stir well. Add in dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Grease 12 muffin tins(I actually ended up with 14 muffins). Place batter about 1/4-1/2 way up muffin tin. Drop about 1 tsp of jelly on top of batter and cover with more batter. Bake for 15-18 mins.

**These are delicious and moist! I love the contrast of the sweet fruit and the texture of the coconut! Yum!

Caribbean Chicken Salad

I got a great deal on some mangoes last week and found I had some extras. I altered this salad a bit due to missing the slaw part of the recipe, but feel free to follow the link to see the WHOLE recipe!

Caribbean Chicken Salad-adapted from Acting Balanced
1/2 cup chopped mango
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp plain yogurt
1-2 tbsp mayo(depending on taste)
2 tbsp apricot preserves(I used polaner all fruit)
1 cup cooked chicken, chopped

Mix together lime juice, yogurt, mayo, and apricot preserves. Add in chicken, mango, and raisins. Mix until throughly combined. Serve in lettuce cups or over chopped romaine.

**I really liked the flavors of this and perhaps next time I'll have some mango chutney to add to it, but I do think a little curry powder would be a nice touch to the salad!

S'More Pancakes

While browsing some of the blogs I read and the recipes they want to try, I stumbled upon this recipe! I thought it would be a perfect Sunday morning breakfast and I had all the ingredients on hand!

S'More Pancakes-shared from Sweet Luvin' In the Kitchen
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups milk*
2 eggs
2 tbsp oil
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Marshmallow Syrup
1 cup marshmallow fluff
1/4 cup HOT water

Whisk together dry ingredients. Add in the wet ingredients and stir to combine.

*The original recipe says to use 2 cups of milk, to me that sounded like a lot so I started with 1 cup and ended up using a total of 1.5 cups of milk. This still seemed a little runny to me, but it worked well. 2 cups I think would make it very very runny.

Place batter onto hot, greased griddle. Sprinkle on a few chocolate chips. When bubbles start to form on the top, flip and continue to cook until browned.

To make syrup, combine fluff and hot water until soup. Drizzle over pancakes.

**These were fluffy and tasty! I loved the crunch of the graham cracker crumbs! The boys loved them! I did alter when to put the chocolate chips in as they all seemed to sink to the bottom of the batter. The marshmallow syrup really helped tie all the flavors together! K enjoyed them as well, but he informed me that he probably wouldn't like them as much for breakfast...he's not a chocolate in the morning person. He had his for lunch!

Homemade "Funfetti"/Yellow Cake

We celebrated an early birthday for Q the other day along with some friends of ours who's son turns 3 next week. I was planning to make chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting, but my 4 year old told me know, it had to  be vanilla cake with blue frosting...I thought it sounded pretty boring so I talked him into this!

"Funfetti" Cake-shared from Chef Talk
2 1/4 cup flour(unsifted)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup milk
canola oil
1 stick butter, softened
1 tbsp vanilla
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 2 8-9 inch cake pans lined with parchment paper and greased.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
In a 2 cup measuring cup, measure the milk to 1 1/4 cups, add in enough oil to bring it to 1 1/3 cups. Add milk mixture, butter, and vanilla to flour and beat on medium speed for 2 mins, scraping down the sides if needed. Add in the eggs and  beat for another 2 mins. Stir in about 1/4 cup of colored jimmies/sprinkles.

Place into greased pans. Bake for 20-25 mins until toothpick comes out clean.

**This is the best homemade vanilla cake I've ever had! It is moist and a bit dense, but is very flavorful and buttery! YUM!

Deep Dish Pizza

I've never made deep dish pizza before, but my friend Tara posted her recipe and I wanted to try it out.

Deep Dish Pizza-shared from Tara G.
1 cup warm water
2 1/4 tsp yeast
2 1/2-3 cups flour
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt

Place water in bowl and add in yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes. Add in salt and oil. Stir in flour until dough forms.(This will form a dough after adding 2 cups, I'd add at least 2.5 cups if not all of the 3 cups). Let rise for about an hour.

Divide dough in half and place in 2 greased 8-9 inch cake pans. Roll dough out and up the sides. Let rise for another hour.

Topping:
1 14 oz can italian diced tomatoes
8 oz mozzerella cheese, shredded

any other toppings of your choice(I did cheese, onions, peppers, and spinach)

Place tomatoes on dough, followed by a layer of cheese and other toppings. Top with a little bit more cheese. Bake at 450 for 15-20 mins.

**I doubled the dough and made 2 9x13 inch pizzas.The dough will rise quite a bit once in the pan but try not to poke it back down, just leave it be. I used one can of reg. diced tomatoes on one pizza and italian on the other, the italian one tasted JUST LIKE UNO'S! We had friends over and we could not believe how good this pizza was!! We all loved and devoured it! I wish we had more leftovers, this will be on our table again very soon! YUM!!

Tasty Tuesday-3/22

Buttermilk Herb Quick Bread-Brenda's Canadian Kitchen
Tangy Chicken Fajitas-Debbie Does Dinner Healthy
Sour Cream Noodle Bake-Pioneer Woman
Chicken Sausage oven Roasted Pasta Primevera-Real Mom Kitchen
Potato Egg and Cheese Breakfast Taquitos-Sing for your supper
Homemade Chocolate Chips-Heavenly Homemakers
Baked Curry Sweet Potato Fries-Joy the Baker
Maple BBQ Sloppy Turkey Joes-Rachael Ray

Menu Plan Monday

Breakfast/Baking:
-Waffles of Insane Greatness with chocolate whipped cream and strawberries
-Peanut Butter Streusal Muffins
-Oatmeal Bars
-Chocolate Cake with Cookies and cream filling and butter cream frosting

Dinner:
-BBQ Enchiladas(never got to them this week)
-Sweet Potato, Cheddar, and Chive Soup with Herb bread
-Cereal Crusted with Curry Cream
-Ham and Cheese Canneloni

we also have quite a few leftovers to finish up!

Sloppy Joe Biscuit Pizza

I love my homemade sloppy joe recipe and when I stumbled upon this I thought this would be a nice change!

Sloppy Joe Biscuit Pizza-adapted from Cooking During Stolen Moments
1 recipe for sloppy joe(minus the water)
3 cups flour(2 ww, 1 ap)
1 stick butter, cold, cut into pieces
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2-1 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles crumbs. Slowly add in milk until a dough forms. (I had to add extra milk due to using whole wheat flour, so only add enough to get the dough) Kneed for one minute. Place in greased cookie sheet or 9x13 inch pan. Spread out and up the side a little bit.

Bake for 8-10 mins.

Remove from oven and top with sloppy joe mix and cheese. Bake for another 12-18 mins until crust is golden brown.

**This was really tasty and different! The biscuit dough was flaky and soft and it added a nice texture to the pizza!

Oozy-Arabic recipe

My friend Huriya shared this recipe with me. I had never tried any arabic foods, so I wanted to give it a try. The ingredients are pretty simple and frugal, unfortunately there are no measurements so feel free to add as much or little spices as you wish!

Oozy-shared from Huriya
1 lb ground beef, browned and drained
2 cups rice
4 cups water
salt
pepper
allspice
nutmeg
ground coriander
1 pkg peas and carrots

Brown meat with allspice, salt, and pepper. Drain. Add in water, rice, and season with salt, pepper, coriander, allspice, and nutmeg. Stir. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for about 45 mins until water is absorbed and rice is cooked. Add in peas and carrots and cook for another 5 mins until veggies are cooked through.

It was recommend to eat this along with plain yogurt.

**This was very quick, easy, and simple to make. I'm not always a fan of allspice or nutmeg so I went pretty light on the spices, but I really liked the flavor it had. It was different than what we usually eat. I was really enjoying it, K on the other hand did not. But that's ok its more for me!

Double Blueberry Muffins

Here we have yet another blueberry muffin! I don't think you can ever have to many can you? I noticed I needed to use up some blueberries I had and what better way to use them than in a muffin?

Double Blueberry Muffin-adapted from Apples to Zucchini
2 egg whites, beaten
6 oz container blueberry yogurt(greek or regular)
2 cups blueberries
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line muffin pans(I got 1 dozen full size muffins and 2 dozen mini muffins!)

Mix together dry ingredients.(Minus 1/4 cup flour, stir that into the blueberries) Add in applesauce, yogurt, eggs, and vanilla. Lightly stir and add in remaining flour with blueberries. Stir until well combined. (I found this dough to be thicker than a regular muffin recipe, but it still works out fine) Place in muffin tins. Bake mini muffins for 10-12 mins or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Bake regular muffins for 15-18 mins until toothpick comes out clean.

**These were full of blueberry flavor and very moist! They were just a little sweet which made them perfect for me!

Cookie Dough Truffles and Triple Chocolate Cookie Brownies

I was going to visit a friend over the weekend and she is always commenting on the food I make so I decided to bring her a couple treats for her!

Cooke Dough Truffles-shared from What Megan's Making
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar(I didn't pack it)
2 1/4 cups ap flour
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips(mini preferred)
1 bag chocolate melts or chocolate chips

Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy(about 2 mins). Add in milk, flour, and vanilla, beat until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Chill dough for about an hour.

Melt chocolate chips or candy melts in microwave for 30 second intervals until melted ans smooth.

Roll dough into balls and dip into chocolate. Allow chocolate to harden.

**The dough really did taste like regular cookie dough! The dough itself had a strong sweetened condensed milk taste, but once the outside chocolate later was added they were truly indulgent!

Triple Chocolate Cookie Brownies-shared from Apples to Zucchini

For the brownie layer:

3/4 cup oil

3/4 cup ap flour

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

Mix together eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Add in dry ingredients and mix throughly. Place in 9x13 inch pan.

For cookie layer:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 egg

1 stick butter

1/2 cup cocoa

1 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup white chocolate chips(or reg. chocolate chips)

Cream together butter and sugars. Add in egg and vanilla and mix to combine. Beat in flour and cocoa until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips. *This is a very stiff dough so if you aren't using a stand mixer it will take some elbow grease! Break dough into pieces(about 1 tbsp size) and place on top of brownie batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 mins, maybe longer!

**The orinal recipe states to bake it for 35-45 mins. I baked for 30 mins and I think they were even over cooked a little bit. The brownies were still a bit gooey, but I think if they were a bit more gooey they would even better. This will depend on how you like your brownies...they were STILL marvelous and everyone I shared them with thought they were wonderful and very decadent! I did use white chocolate chips to help break up some of the reg. chocolate flavor a bit, it worked out great!

Cheesy Ranch White Chicken Chili

This recipe peaked my interest...although I am still looking for a homemade ranch seasoning, but until them I used a packet. I also adapted this to the crock pot but you can do it on the stove as well. So this came together easy and smelled delicious!

Cheesy Ranch White Chicken Chili-adapted from Siggy Spice
2 cup water
2 chicken breast
1 pkg dry ranch seasoning
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 cans(or 4 cups) white kidney beans(or cannelini beans),rinsed, drained
1-2 cans diced green chilis
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 cup shredded monteray jack cheese(I used colby jack)
1 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup whipping cream(omitted to keep it thicker)

Toss everything in the slow cooker, except cheese, whipping cream, and sour cream. Stir the best you can Place on low for 7-8 hrs or high for 5 hrs.(Or until chicken is cooked through, mine was frozen when I started) Remove chicken and shred. Add back to soup. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and let cheese melt for about 15 mins. Enjoy!

**We really liked this soup! It was boarding on a little salty but it was still very good! We loved the addition of ranch and made it very flavorful. Next time we will add some frozen corn to the mix! This would also work great as a vegetarian meal by leaving out the chicken and perhaps adding more beans!

Tasty Tuesday-3/15

Chocolate Cinnamon King Cake-Recipe Shoebox
Peanut Butter Banana Streusal Muffins-Recipe Shoebox
Thai Chicken Pasta-Recipe Shoebox
Chicken Tikka Masala-Recipe Shoebox
Homemade LaraBars-Health Habits
Creamy Lemon Pasta with Chicken and Spinach-Jenn's Food Journey
Thai Beef with Chillies and Coconut Rice-Apples to zucchini
Peanut Butter and Jelly Snack Cake-How Sweet It is
Maple Oatmeal Scones-Tammy's Kitchen
Toffee Crunch Dip-For the Love of Cooking
German Chocolate Cake-From APples to ZUcchini
Blueberry Zucchini Crumble Bread-Lick the Bowl Good
Smore Pancakes-Sweet Luvin' in the Kitchen
Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Peanut Butter Syrup-Recipe Shoebox
Homemade White Chocolate Peanut Butter-How Sweet It Is
Bean Curry-Sweet Luvin in the Kitchen
Death By Chocolate Cookies-Andrea the Kitchen Witch
Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies-Jenn's Food Journey
Penne with Vodka Sauce-Crazy Jamie's Blog

Menu Plan Monday

We seem to have quite the range of foods this week ranging from Thai, Arabic, Moroccan, American/Mexican, and Indian. I can't wait!

Baking:
-Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies
-Coconut Oatmeal Strawberry Stuffed Muffins

Dinner:
-Oozy(Arabic)
-Tikka Masala with Tumeric Basmati Rice and NAAN bread
-BBQ Chicken Enchiladas
-Chicken Pad Thai
-Moroccan Chicken and Lentils
-Black Bean Tacos

That's quite the international week!

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

My boys LOVE chocolate milk and I had been buying Nesquik for a while because it was the only one on the market without hfcs in it. But its just expensive and they go through it FAST! I tried a chocolate syrup once before, but it was much thicker like Hot Fudge. I came across this recipe and wanted to give it a try as K has been wanting chocolate milk! The boys haven't realized its been gone...they are happy with cinnamon sugar milk, I much prefer chocolate!

The original recipe calls for Sucanat...but I couldn't find that at my store. I thought what I bought was similar but its actually not. Sucanat is actually a raw form of brown sugar, I ended up with just a raw form of sugar(Demerara). So after figuring that I could sub one for the other, I did add in a little molasses as I didn't want to offset the taste.

Homemade Chocolate Syrup-shared from Heavenly Homemakers
1 cup sucanat OR Demerara sugar(+ about 1 tsp molasses)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
dash of sea salt(I did use kosher)
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all the ingredients into a small sauce pan. Turn on heat and whisk until it starts to boil. Boil for one minute and shut off heat. Let cool for a few minutes then whisk in vanilla. Allow to cool and place in glass container for storage.

**I wasn't sure how this was going to work at first, it looked thick and from whisking it frothy. BUT by the time it boiled it smoothed and thinned out like purchased chocolate syrup. It is not as thick as the store bought, but it was really tasty and made some delicious chocolate milk, I just had to sample some!

Turkey Salisbury Steak and Cheesy Spinach Orzo

I really do love my Salisbury steak recipe, but I thought this sounded like a tasty twist on a classic meal. I can't say that it is "healthier" because I used the 93% lean ground turkey, but if you use all white meat it would be that much healthier.

Turkey Salisbury Steak-shared from Apples to Zucchini
1 lb(or 20 oz) ground turkey or chicken
1 tbsp ground flax seeds
3 tbsp water
1 onion, diced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 red bell pepper, minced(omitted)
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 tbsp dried basil
salt and pepper to taste

Gravy:(this is a half recipe, still made more than I needed)
2 cups chicken broth
2 tbsp cornstarch
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If using ground chicken breast, make sure to grease the pan or line it with parchment paper.

Mix together the water and flax seed and set aside to get thick...I missed this step and I'm not sure what its actually supposed to do, so you don't have to.

Mix all the ingredients together until fully mixed in. Form into thin patties and place in a 9x13 pan or a jelly roll type pan.(I got about 6-7 patties out of the 20 oz of meat). Bake for 20-30 mins until golden brown and firm.

While the patties are cooking, place ingredient for gravy in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and allow it to thicken. Pour over patties.

**I really liked these, almost better than the beef version! The gravy on its own wasn't anything to write home about, but with the patties it worked very well! They were very flavorful and pretty quick to make!

Cheesy Spinach Orzo-How Sweet It Is

This was originally a 3 cheese orzo, but I only used 2! It was pretty simple to make and really tasty!

1 cup orzo

1-2 tsp olive oil

1 bag baby spinach

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup parmesan cheese

1/3 cup cheddar cheese(I used extra sharp)

Boil water and cook orzo according to the package directions.

Place oil oil in large frying pan and heat up. Add in onion and saute until onion is soft about 5 minutes. Add in garlic and spinach, cook until spinach wilts.(I did place a lid on this to help speed it up.) Drain pasta and add to spinach and onion. Stir in cheese until its melted.

**This was really good and its just about the only way K will eat spinach...it can't be plain spinach, at least cooked! He will do a spinach salad, and that has to be baby spinach! The boys looked at me like I had 6 heads but perhaps maybe someday they will try it! You couldn't even taste the spinach because the cheese was very flavorful!

Featured on:

Things we've tried....

and were just ok or needed some tweaking!

Steak and Cheese Eggrolls

This idea came from one of the new Rachael Ray magazines . I read that it was a wonderful appetizer at one of the restaurants she was featuring. I tried my hand at them. It's not really a recipe more a techique. But it needs some tweaking because most if not all the cheese landed on the outside of the egg roll. The second time I tried them, I folded them different and put the cheese in a different spot it helped but only a little. The article said that it lays a piece of cheese between 2 layers of egg rolls and theirs is probably fried where mind is baked!

Egg roll wrappers
cooked peppers and onions
sliced american cheese
Sliced/cubed roast beef(I had the deli cut me a thick slab and I sliced that)
water

Preheat oven to 350. Lay egg roll wrappers on cookie sheet. Place cheese, peppers/onions, and meat on wrapper. Dot edges with water and fold into triangles. Continue until desired amount is reached or all ingredients are used up. Bake for about 20 mins until edges are crisp and golden brown.

Cake Batter Pancakes-How Sweet It Is

This recipe we tried...but we weren't impressed. They didn't have a strong cake batter flavor...so next time I think we might just trying making it with the WHOLE mix, but instead of making a cake, make pancakes. This could have depended on the brand of cake mix I used, but I'm not sure about that either. The BOYS loved them, they just didnt' have the flavor I was looking for, but the "syrup" was REALLY good!

Hawaiian Sweet Rolls-From Apples to Zucchini

I love the Hawaiian rolls that you can get at the store, so when I saw these I wanted to try them. I LOVED the texture of these rolls...BUT I wasn't to fond of the vanilla flavor. Mine was really strong and afterwards I realized that my vanilla was REALLY strong so I should have only used half of what the recipe called for. So I hope to try them again...but with half the vanilla or none!

Chocolate Bread-shared from Artisian Bread in 5 Minutes a Day
We frequent a bakery in York, ME when on vacation. I LOVE their chocolate bread, so I was excited to find this. BUT it didn't come out well...the recipe did, but I used some very dark chocolate so its quite bitter. I want to try it again, but with different chocolate so hopefully then I'll like it. I plan to use the bread I did make, to try some chocolate bread pudding in hopes that maybe I can save the bread!(I didn't end up saving it...I just tossed it, hope to try it again!)

Dijon Roasted Potatoes and Broccoli-shared from Cooking During Stolen Moments

I used regular broccoli instead of broccolini...the broccoli I really liked(besides over salting it, OOPS!) but the potatoes to me were just ok...they didn't seem to have much flavor. Even K who doesn't like broccoli liked it especially because it wasn't plain!




Chipotle Lime Chicken Scampi-Eat At Home
This one sounded great...but it seemed to have missed some flavor notes. I made it too spicy for one(I was having issues with finding just the sauce in my frozen chipotle mess and ended up with peppers twice, fished them out both times) but there seemed to be something missing...it tasted watery and just not flavorful, but spicy! Maybe its because I had high hopes for it, not sure.

Sausage and Lentil Soup

This is supposed to be a Carraba's recipe...but I was unaware that they had a soup like this. It's probably because we don't normally get soup when we eat out! I haven't' been to a Carraba's lately either...and I LOVE their food, so I really don't know how this compares!

Sausage and Lentil Soup-shared from Mama Bird's Nest
6 cups chicken broth
1 onion, diced
2-3 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 lb italian sausage, browned/drained(I used 1/2 sweet, 1/2 hot)
2 cups dry lentils
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt, pepper, red pepper,basil, oregano, thyme, to taste

Place all ingredients into your slow cooker. Cook on low 5-6 hours. Enjoy!

**This was pretty tasty and very hearty! K I don't think was much of a fan he compared it to some soup I made last week that I now can't remember what it was! Even Q loved the lentils, A wouldn't touch it!

Oatmeal Fruit Bars

I had some fruit that was in dire need of being used...after seeing this recipe I thought it would be perfect!

I used about 1 qt strawberries and maybe 1 cup of frozen blueberries for the sauce. The original maker used raspberries(and she even put in some dark chocolate chips) so any fruit will do!

Oatmeal Fruit Bars-adapted from Finding Joy in my Kitchen
1 cup wheat flour
1 cup oatmeal
2/3 cup brown sugar(but i do think i used less)
1/4 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp butter,softened or melted
1/4 cup applesauce

Filling:(fruit of your choice)
1 qt strawberries, hulled, chopped
1-2 cups bluberries
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch

Place filling in saucepan and turn on heat. Mix together and stir often until fruit softens and starts to get bubbly. I did mash my fruit towards the end, to get a nice thick sauce.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together oatmeal, flour, and baking soda. Take 1/3 of the mixture and put in another bowl add in the butter, until crumbly. With the other 2/3's of the mix add in the applesauce. Press the mixture into an 11x7 inch pan. Top with fruit, and add the last of the mixture(the one with the butter) sprinkled over the top. Bake for 20-25 mins until top is golden brown.

**These were very good and i loved the fruit layer! Its a bit similar to a nurtigrain bar but with more texture! The only problem I have with them was they were so thin, it could have been my pan, but I used a smaller pan than an 9x13, more like a bar pan. So next time I'll double the oatmeal mixture or use and 8x8 pan!

Tasty Tuesday-3/8

Sweet Potato Bagles-From Apples 2 Zucchini
Macaroon Granola-How Sweet It Is
Chocolate Coconut Haystack Mountains-Everything Reconsidered
Hamburger Rice Skillet-Crazy Jamie's Blog
Soft Wrap Bread-What's Gaby Cooking?
Peanut Butter Sheet Cake-The Newlyweds
Sloppy Joe Biscuit Pizza-Cooking During Stolen Moments
Maple Apple Chicken in the Slow Cooker-Eat At Home
Whole Wheat Goldfish Crackers-Smitten Kitchen
Loaded Baked Potato/Cauliflower-Crazy Jamie's Blog
Coconut Crisps-Mennonite Girls Can Cook
Loaded Cran Nut Dark Chocolate Cookies-Sweet&Savory
French Toast Cupcakes with Maple Frosting and Bacon Sprinkles-Let's Dish

Menu Plan Monday

Baking:
-either Pumpkin Donut muffins or Chocolate Glazed Donut Muffins
-guess that is all I had planned...but there may be other new recipes!

Wednesday starts Lent so that means there will be at least one meatless meal, although I usually do have one anyone. I was having such a hard time planning my menu for this week only to realize that its just me and the boys all week for dinner...I'll still have to make things so K has food for lunch but its a little less exciting when you cook for a 4 and almost 2 yr old and they may or may not eat it!

Dinners:
-Chipotle Lime Chicken Scampi, salad perhaps?
-Cheeseburger Mac and Cheese, cucumbers
-Deep Dish Pizza(Meatless Friday)
-Sloppy Joe Biscuit Pizza

We may also be heading out to meet K one night for dinner, our boys don't like not seeing daddy all week!

M&M Pretzel Cookies

A begged me to make some cookies...and he wasn't satisfied in just making the oatmeal peanut butter ones I already had in the freezer. I thought this recipe sounded different and it helped use up some pretzels and m&m's I had!

M&M Pretzel Cookies-adapted from Two Peas In Their Pod
1 1/2 sticks of butter, softened
Scant 1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1/2-1 cup mini m&ms
1 1/2 cup chopped pretzels

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together butter and sugars. Add in vanilla and one egg at a time and beat until combined. Add in flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix until combined. Stir in pretzels and m&m's. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 mins until golden brown.

**I really liked the crunch and saltiness that the pretzels added to the cookies. They were nice and chewy on the inside and delicious! A perfect sweet and salty snack!

Smoky Maple Chipotle Chicken Tacos

We recently had the Maple Chipotle Chicken Crispers from Chili's (which by the way are EXCELLENT) and after seeing the taco recipe on another blog I thought that maybe I could replicate the recipe, but just be a little healthier.

Smoky Maple Chipotle Chicken Tacos-adapted from Eat At Home
2 cups chicken, chopped(or 2 raw chicken breast)
2 green peppers, sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 can diced tomatoes
1/3 maple syrup
1/4 tsp liquid smoke
1  chipotle pepper, chopped fine

 Place all ingredients in slow cooker, place on low and cook for 5-6 hours. Serve in soft tortillas with cheese and lettuce.

**I did leave out some of the pepper seeds when making this. We don't like super spicy foods! This was perfectly spicy and a little sweet! The only thing I didn't like was that they were very watery...so next time I will drain the tomatoes.

Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites

We had plans to meet up with friends today, but of course the weather discouraged us from doing it. So instead we made some pretzel bites.

We also had a science experiment, in the recipe it states to add the baking soda into the boiling water and guess what happens? EXPLOSION of water EVERY.WHERE. So when you add the baking soda please please please add in slowly.

*I apologize for the blurry picture...I have finally figure out what is wrong with the camera!

Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites-adapted from Two Peas in Their Pod
1 1/2 cups warm water
6 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp light brown sugar
2 1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 1/4 tsp yeast
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups ap flour(up to another half cup)

Other ingredients:
3/4 cup baking soda
1 egg, beaten+1 tbsp water
kosher salt
cinnamon and sugar(optional)

Place ingredients in bread machine according to manufacturer's directions. Set to dough and let the cycle run through. Check the dough to make sure its not to wet or sticky, if it is add in more flour.

Once dough is done, remove from pan.

Preheat oven to 425 and place a large pot of water on stove and bring to a boil.

Divide dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll into long ropes. Cut into pieces.

Once water is boiling, SLOWLY add in 3/4 cup baking soda.

Place about 15 pieces of dough into boiling water and boil for 30 secs. Remove with a slotted spoon onto a cookie sheet. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with salt or cinnamon and sugar and place in the oven. Bake for 10-15 mins until golden brown.

**A requested cinnamon and sugar ones, so I'll be melting some butter and rolling them in cinnamon and sugar. I didn't see on the original recipe where they said to do that after the egg wash. That would have been easier! Good thing I thought of it after!

These were soft on the inside and chewy on the outside. My first batch I think I cooked a little too long, but they still tasted wonderful! The boys had fun rolling the dough out.

South African World Cup Curry

My friend Kim, posted this recipe on her blog. She stated it was the BEST curry she has ever had, so I had to give it a try!

I won't lie, it was a bit time consuming and seemed like there were a lot of steps involved along with a lot of pots! Not quite busy mom approved...well at least with a 4 and almost 2 year old! (Kim won't like this part, but next time I will put it all into my slow cooker!)

I did use a little less meat than what it called for, but that's all I had on hand, it still made a ton of curry!

South African World Cup Curry-shared from Mac's Kitchen Adventure
3 lbs meat(I acutally used 1 lb flank steak, 2 cups chopped cooked chicken)
3 tbsp curry powder
1 onion, chopped
3 cans diced tomatoes
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup chicken broth
1 granny smith apple, chopped
3 tbsp lime juice
2 inch piece, ginger, peeled
3 tbsp chutney
2 tbsp apricot preserves
2 jalapeños, chopped(with or without seeds, depends on your spice tolerance)
3 cloves of garlic
2 bay leaves
1 cup seedless golden raisins

*These are the directions adapted to the slow cooker, if you want to do it the way Kim and I did it, just follow the link above!

Cover meat with curry powder. Let sit, while you heat up your pan. Brown meat and place in your slow cooker. Add in tomatoes, coconut, broth, onions, and apples.

In a food processor or blender, combine lime juice, chutney, preserves, jalapeños, ginger, and garlic. Mix until pureed well. Add into slow cooker. Add in bay leaves and raisins and stir well. Turn slow cooker on low for 4-5 hours until meat is tender.

Serve over brown rice.

**The first night I was told that it was too spicy...but I thought it was fine. It was a little, but not that bad.  The second day the spiciness wasn't as prominent. This is a very flavorful dish and delicious! Thanks for sharing Kim!

Oatmeal Bars

I'm always looking for new breakfast or snack ideas. I'd love to find something that might be similar to a chewy granola bar...and I think this did it! The great thing about this recipe is that its very flexible. You can add or different kinds of add ins you would like!

Just excuse the picture quality...little fingers found my camera and played with the settings!

Oatmeal Bars-shared from At Home with Haley
3 cups old fashioned oats
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp orange juice or water(I used water)
1 tsp vanilla(which I think I forgot!)
1/3 cup oil
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup maple syrup or honey
Mix-ins of your choice:raisins, craisins, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, nuts, m&m's etc(about 1/3 of a cup)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together dry ingredients. Add in wet ingredients and mix well. Stir in mix-ins. Place in greased 9x13 inch pan or cookie sheet with lip and spread out. (The recipe didn't specify, so I used my small pampered chef pan) Bake for 12-15 mins until browned and firm.

**The ONLY complaint I had for these were that they were a bit thin...so next time I'll double the recipe and use a 9x13 inch pan. They were delicious! Crunchy on the outside, a bit chewy in the middle. They tasted like an oatmeal cookie to be, but in bar from and healthier for you! Next time I may try subbing applesauce. The original recipe said you can also use apple juice concentrate instead of the oil...something I've never tried, but may soon!

Tasty Tuesday-3/1

Maple Bacon Brown Sugar Scones-How Sweet It Is
Olympic Cookies-Finding Joy In My Kitchen
CHocolate Chunk Cookies-Chasing Tomatoes
Mostaccoli Casserole-Sweet and Savory
Macaroon Crusted Tilapia-How Sweet It Is
Garden Minestrone-Finding Joy In My Kitchen
Tuscan Chicken and White Beans with Spinach-For the Love of Cooking
Warm Asian Potato Salad-Crazy Jamie's Blog
Raspberry Oat Bars-Finding Joy In My Kitchen
Thai Peanut Chicken Stir Fry-Jenn's Food Journey
Morraccan Butter Cookies-Let's Dish
Pasta with Sun Dried Tomato Pesto-My Recipes
Meatball Curry Soup-Recipe Shoebox
Swiss Chicken-MOmmy's Kitchen
Apple Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes-What Megan's Making
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins-Hallee the Homemaker
Banana Breakfast Cookies-The Alchemist
Kristen's Cookie Dough Brownies-LIfe in Review
Beer Battered Cheese Bread-Life in Review
Caribbean Chicken Salad-Acting Balanced
Skillet Chili Mac with corn and green Chilies-SIggy SPice
Hot CHocolate Brownies-Meet Me in the Kitchen
Ham and Gruyere Egg Cups-What's cooking at my kitchen
Healthier Chocolate Milk-Heavenly Homemakers