Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

We're three for three!  For our last birthday this month, my daughter wanted to have an ice cream party at the Splash Park.  But with a little baby, I didn't think I could handle a bunch of kids all by myself.  So instead of an ice cream party, we just had a simple party with my little family, featuring ice cream cone cupcakes!

It was a great compromise!

I think this is one of my favorite "cakes" I've made for my kids!  They turned out to be SO DARLING!!!  And it really was pretty easy.

Here's what I did:

Bake some cupcakes and let them cool.
Place waffle cones onto a serving tray or whatever you're displaying them on.
Frost cupcakes with a swirling motion using four different colors (I did white frosting, pink frosting, green frosting and chocolate frosting).
For the white frosted cupcakes, I topped them with a Duncan Hines Amazing Glazes to get the glossy ice cream topping look.
Top with whatever extras you'd like, like the mini chocolate chips, sprinkles, or toffee bits that I used.
Arrange the cupcakes with the waffle cones.
Using a size 12 Wilton tip, I piped the swirls at the bottom of each cupcake to fill in the gaps between the cupcakes.
And you're done!  You can then stand from above and marvel at your adorable creation.

Cookie Brownie Bites

*Two posts in one day!  I am on a roll!!  Continue reading the next post to see the fun cake we had yesterday.*

I hosted a party last week for my friends, and of course, I have to have fun, yummy food to serve!

I found this idea on Pintrest a while ago and have made them twice since.  Now that says a lot coming from me, who doesn't like to make the same thing twice in a short period of time.

These yummy treats are SUPER simple to make and SO fun to eat!!

Here's what you'll need:

2 tubes refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
1 pkg. Oreos
1 pkg. brownie mix, made according to package instructions

I have mini cheesecake pans that I used for these, but you can also make them a little bigger by using a muffin tin.  Or you could make them smaller with a mini muffin pan and use the mini Oreos.  Those would be super cute!

Step 1:
Press cookie dough into the bottom of your greased pans.

Step 2:
Top with an Oreo (or you could try a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup).

Step 3:
Cover Oreo with prepared brownie batter.

Step 4:
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes depending on whether you use these sized pans or muffin pans.  Mini muffin pans would be for less time.  Basically just bake until the brownie batter looks baked.

Step 5:
Remove from the pan(s) and allow to cool on a cooling rack.

(Steps 1-3 shown here)

How easy is that?!  Enjoy!!!

Cookie Monster Cake

We've now celebrated our second birthday in two weeks!  I went with a Cookie Monster cake since I have my own little Cookie Monster.  He thought it was so fun!!

I loved how easy it was.

All I did was stack two 9-inch round cakes.  With my Wilton 1M star tip, I piped the blue frosting all over the top and sides of the cake.

I piped the eyes with cream cheese frosting and the pupils with black frosting.  And finally, I cut a slit at an angle to press the cookies into for his mouth.

EASY!!!  And my little guy loved it!

Just one more cake to go for next week.  Stay tuned!

A Super Cake

It's officially been summer vacation here for two weeks now and we've really been enjoying some down time!  So, I'm sorry for the lack of posts.  I'll try to be better, but I can't guarantee anything.  Summer time is family time.

Speaking of family time, June is a busy birthday month at our house!  Three of my five kids have birthdays in June (the other two are in March).  Yesterday was my oldest's birthday.  I made him this super fun Superman cake, but instead of the "S" I went with an "A" for his name.

Talk about SIMPLE!!!

All I did was make a double layered square cake, frosted it all over, and used M&M's to make the emblem.

SO. EASY.

And he thought it was such a cool cake.

Score one for Super Mom!!!

Caramel Brownie Torte...a.k.a. HEAVEN

We had such a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday!  Almost all of my hubby's family came over for a special Mother's Day dinner.  They are always so much fun to be with!

Since I'm doing everything as simple as possible these days, I wanted to try something new for one of the desserts.  Something easy.  It also had to be super chocolate-y to be approved by my oldest brother-in-law.

So I went with a Caramel Brownie Torte.

Hello my friend.  You were absolutely delicious.

Another brother-in-law asked what exactly this creation was called.  I told him it was called a Caramel Brownie Torte.  He replied, "You should just call it Heaven."

He's right, folks.  It's pretty much Heaven.

Here's what you'll need:

2 boxes of brownie mix

1 (13 oz.) jar of Nutella

1 (16 oz.) jar of Mrs. Richardson's Butterscotch Caramel sauce (ice cream topping)

Chopped pecans

Prepared brownie mixes as directed on the box.  Pour into 2  9-inch round cake pans (so that's one box of prepared brownie mix into one pan and the other box of prepared brownie mix into the other pan - oh yeah).  

Bake until brownies are completely baked.  (I over baked mine and had to cut off the well-done edges; no big deal.)  Allow to cool.

When ready to assemble, place one brownie round on to a cake stand or platter.  Spread all of the Nutella onto the top of the brownie.  Sprinkle with however many chopped pecans you'd like.  Top that with half the jar of caramel sauce.

Place the other brownie round on top and pour the remaining caramel sauce over the brownie and sprinkle with more chopped pecans.

And...you're done.

Heaven is ready and waiting.

Please try to refrain from licking the screen.

F.Y.I.

I just wanted to let you all know that I've added a "Freezer Meals" label to the right.  There are several recipes that I have here on my food blog that are freezer worthy and I've included instructions on how to freeze then serve them.

I'll be adding to is as I use more of my freezer meals and find good recipes.

I hope this is helpful!

Cranberry Chicken

As I've mentioned earlier, in preparation for our new baby's arrival, I made lots of freezer meals.  They've been so wonderful to just pull out of the freezer the night before, let it thaw in the fridge until I need it the next day.  Then I just warm the food up, get a few sides ready quickly, and PRESTO...dinner's ready.  

It's been a real lifesaver with the new baby, lots of homework, five days of baseball practices and games, scouts, dance and recitals, and so on.

These would be super useful even if I didn't have a new baby.  I have many, many days where I'm so busy, I can't spend a lot of time on dinner.

Today's recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks that is made up solely of freezer meal recipes.  It's called "Dinner is Ready" by Deanna Buxton.

At first I was a little worried that my kids would freak out about the cranberries in this dish, but they didn't even notice the few cranberries that hadn't cooked down.  Everyone actually loved this dish!

Try out this super simple freezer meal.  You'll love having something handy on day you're busier than a bee!

Here's what you'll need:

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

1 (16 oz.) can whole berry cranberry sauce

1 C. creamy French dressing

1 envelope onion soup mix, dry

Place chicken in a greased 9x13-inch baking dish and season with salt and pepper well.

In a bowl, combine the cranberry sauce, French dressing, and onion soup mix.

Pour over chicken.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.  Place in a gallon freezer bag.  Label and freeze.

To serve: Thaw.  Heat until hot throughout.  Serve with rice.

When I used this freezer meal, I thawed this and dumped everything in the gallon freezer bag into a crockpot.  Then I just turned it on High and let it heat through in that for a few hours.

You can assemble this recipe and freeze it before baking it.  In that case, thaw and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  Super simple!

Cheesy Potatoes

Cheesy potatoes are very popular around here.  They have several different names - Potato Casserole and Funeral Potatoes to name a few.  Call them whatever you want, just know that these are VERY good!

I made these for our Easter dinner.  My baby was so new at that point that I needed menu options that were quick and easy to put together.  These potatoes were perfect!  In fact, I assembled the ingredients and placed them in the pan the day before.  Then on Easter, all I had to do was bake them.

LOVED that!!

Try these out sometime.  Sometime soon!  Your family will thank you.  At least, mine did.

Here's what you'll need:

2 lb. bag frozen hashbrowns, shredded or cubed

1 Tbsp. dried, chopped onion OR 1/3 C. onion, chopped

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 C. sour cream

2-4 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted (opt.)

3 C. grated cheese, divided

In a large bowl, combine the hashbrowns, onion, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, melted butter, and 2 cups of cheese.

Place in a greased 9x13-inch baking pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Remove from the oven and top with remaining 1 cup of cheese.

Bake for another 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

Another way you can make this is to omit the last cup of cheese and before placing in the oven, top the potato mixture with 1 1/3 cups cornflakes that have been crushed and mixed with another 2 Tbsp. melted butter or margarine.  Then bake as directed.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

We just celebrated my hubby's birthday.  He LOVES chocolate (we're a match made in Heaven).  So when I was trying to decide what kind of birthday cake to make him, I knew it had to be some kind of chocolate cake.

I have made him a chocolate chocolate cake, a chocolate strawberry cake, a chocolate and toffee cake, a chocolate and cream cake.  So when I came across THIS RECIPE, I thought it would be the perfect addition to my repertoire of cakes for my Honey.

 Talk about AMAZING!!!  We all absolutely loved it!

I made only two minor changes.  1.)  I only used 8 oz. cream cheese instead of the 10 oz. it calls for in the frosting.  2.)  I didn't have any half and half, so I used whipping cream in the chocolate-peanut butter glaze.  Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly.

Well, I guess I shouldn't say exactly.  I let the glaze firm up then piped it on top and around the bottom of the cake.  Then I topped all of that with chopped mini Reese's peanut butter cups.

So, there you have it-my slightly adapted version.

You really should give it a try.

YAY FOR BIRTHDAYS!!!

Chocolate Banana Muffins

Well, I'm happy to announce that our newest addition has arrived!  We are SOOOOOOO in love with him!!!

As expected, I don't find much time for cooking or baking, so I'm so thankful that I took the time to make meals in advance and stock my freezer with them.

On one of my cooking days, I had invited some friends to join me.  My friend, Robyn, was so sweet to make a couple batches of chocolate chip cookie dough that we balled and froze.  She reminded me that it's important to have some goodies on hand as well.

Definitely words of wisdom!

I then shifted my mode of making dinners to making treats too.

Today's recipe is one of those that I made in advance, froze, and have been able to pull out to treat my family.

When I was searching the web for a good banana muffin recipe, I came across this one.  (Original recipe found HERE.)  I asked my hubby if he thought I should try banana muffins with chocolate.  He didn't really understand why I was actually asking him this because in his mind, anything is better with chocolate.

So, we gave these a try and everyone LOVED them!  I thought the chocolate/banana ratio was just perfect - not so banana-y that you couldn't taste the chocolate and not so chocolate-y that you didn't know that these were banana muffins.  They are a PERFECT after school snack!

Here's what you'll need:

1 1/2 C. flour

3/4 C. sugar

1/4 C. cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 1/3 C. mashed ripe bananas

1/3 C. oil

1 egg

1 or 2 C. chocolate chips (depending on how many you want)

                                        

(Just a little side note, I got this touchpad for Christmas, and this is my FAVORITE way to use it - finding great recipes!!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and baking powder.  

In a medium-sized bowl, cominbe mashed bananas, oil, and egg.  

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  Stir until the mixture is moist and there are no more streaks of the dry ingredients.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  

With a large scoop or spoon, fill the greased or lined muffin cups 3/4 of the way full with the batter.  Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted int he middle of a muffin comes out clean.

When I made these, it made 12 regular-sized muffins and 12 mini muffins.

YUM!!!

Breakfast Rolls

So, my friends and I have a little bit of a problem.  When we get together to walk and get some exercise, we like to talk about food.  Many times, food that's so not good for us.  Then we go home and start making these delicious things we've been talking about.  Hence, our walking sessions turn out to be mostly for our social entertainment rather than keeping our bodies trim.

I love it!

That's where today's recipe comes from.  It was an idea that one of my friends had and tried and enjoyed.

We did too.

There's not much of a recipe to this, so it's easy to change the recipe to however you'd like it.

Here's what you'll need:

A tube (or two) of crescent dough, the seamless sheet

Cooked and crumbled breakfast sausage, or bacon

Scrambled eggs

Shredded cheese, any kind you'd like

If you haven't seen the seamless sheet of crescent dough at the grocery store, this is what it looks like.  I LOVE this stuff!  It's so nice when you don't have to worry about the seams in their original crescent rolls.  But if you can't find the seamless sheet, the regular crescent roll dough works just fine too.

Cook your meat and set it aside. 

Roll out your dough.  If you're using the regular crescent roll dough (that has seams), just press the seams together.

Assemble your ingredients.

Place scrambled eggs on the dough.

Sprinkle the sausage, or bacon, over the eggs.

Top with shredded cheese.

Roll up carefully jellyroll style (like cinnamon rolls).

Cut as you would cinnamon rolls.

I originally placed them onto a cookie sheet to bake.

They turned out ugly, still tasty, but ugly.  Like this...

Then I tried putting them in greased ramekins and the results were much better.  If you don't have ramekins, use a greased muffin tin.  It'd be perfect!  Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 15 minutes, or until golden.

We enjoyed these topped with country gravy.

So simple and so yummy!