Baked Mac and Cheese

My goodness it has been a long time since the last time I posted a recipe!! WAAAY too long!  I am hiding my head in shame....but honestly my excuse is only because life has simply grabbed ahold of me and wouldn't let me deviate from taking care of my kiddios by making sure they were feed, cleaned and most importantly HAPPY! I have often looked at my computer longingly , wishing to sit down in front of it and type out a blog post but then I suddenly get pulled in another direction and then yet another day goes by without a blog post.  I know you guys get it.  I'm sure you totally get it as the very same thing happens to many of you mommas or not.  But most importantly know that I've missed all of you! - my dear and precious followers and fellow bloggers.  I've so missed you!

Anyway, upward and onward with my recipe today that I wish to share with all of you...Baked Mac and Cheese!!!!   Like Chocolate Chip cookies I am always looking for a new and super yum recipe for Mac n Cheese.  I make it often (from the box and from scratch) so it's fun to switch it up a bit and make a different recipe every once and awhile from the one I use most often.

This recipe is great.  Full of good cheese, a dab of sour cream and even a couple eggs and viola the magic of pasta and cheese come together to form a lovely dish of Mac and Cheese.  The credit of this recipe goes to the fabulous Tina of Mommy's Kitchen who found the recipe from the good ole adorable Deen Brothers (Paula must be SO proud of them!!!).

Baked Mac and Cheese

(recipe found on Mommy's Kitchen from the Deen Brothers cookbook, Recipes From the Road)

Ingredients:

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni (or small pasta of your choice)

4 cups shredded cheese - I used a mixture of Colby Jack and Cheddar (yummy combo!!)

1 cup milk - whole milk is suggested, I used 2% and it was great

1/2 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/2 tsp salt

dash of hot sauce - optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9x13 baking dish - set aside.

2. Cook pasta according to directions on package.  Drain pasta and return to pot that it was cooked in.

3. While pasta is still HOT add in the cheeses and stir well to combine.  Spread pasta and cheese mixture into prepared baking dish.

4. Whisk together milk, sour cream, eggs, butter pieces, salt and hot sauce (if you are using it) in a medium bowl.  Pour mixture over macaroni and cheese.

5. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and bubble good.  Let stand out of oven for 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!!!

Happy Baked Mac and Cheese!

Chewy M and M Cookies (with a surprise ingredient)

I caught your attention when I said "SURPRISE" didn't I? I sure hope I did!  Surprises are one of my most FAVORITE things in life to give and to receive. :-) Hopefully, many of you will be surprised with this ingredient in these cookies as I have never seen such an ingredient in cookies before.  The surprise ingredient is BREAD FLOUR.  What do you think?  Was that a surprise?  Well, whether it was or not you have got to try this recipe....especially if you like cookies that are chewy on the inside and crisp on the outside along with a perfect not overly sweet taste.  You will not be disappointed with this cookie recipe. 

As you can see in the above picture I choose to use Spring M and M's to gently stir into my cookie batter.  Of course good old fashioned chocolate chips can be easily substituted for the M and M's. 

Chewy M and M Cookies

(recipe comes from Delightfully Dowling....a blog full of drool worthy recipes)

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, melted

2 1/4 cup bread flour (Hello, surprise ingredient)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 sugar

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

2 Tbs milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups M and M's (or chocolate chips)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl sift together flour, salt and baking soda.  Set flour mixture aside.

2. Cream together melted butter, white and brown sugar on medium speed for a couple minutes.  Then add whole egg and egg yolk along with milk and vanilla extract.  Mix all together until well combined.

3. Chill dough for at least an hour.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpat liner.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Scoop cookie dough into nice balls with a medium size ice cream scoop onto cookie sheets and then place in oven (I like to bake my cookies one cookie shee at a time) and bake for 11-12 minutes.

4. Cool cookies and store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Mr. Chicky sure did!!! ;-)

Happy Chewy M and M Cookie Baking!

PB Marshmallow Brownies (with HONOR and compliments)

Don't you just love giving someone a compliment?  To see their face light up with happiness or a soft blush come over their cheeks is always so rewarding to me.  Unfortunately for many (including myself) it is often easier to give a compliment than to receive one.  I work hard on accepting compliments with grace and appreciation even though it may make me feel uncomfortable.  It's just one of those things that I continually have to work on in life....I've accepted it.

Well, not that long ago I received a very BIG compliment.  I was asked by a fellow food blogger, the sweet Maranda of Jolts and Jollies to be a guest on her blog.  OMGoodness was I so happy that she asked me to do so! I have never been asked to be a guest on someone elses blog before!!!  In my humble opinion it is a very HIGH compliment to be asked to write a post on someone else's blog - they are trusting that you will provide the same kind of care, appeal and creativity that they themselves work so hard to provide to their blog followers, family and friends.  Needless to say I was over come with honor when Maranda presented me with her proposition.  Thank you, thank you Dear Maranda for asking me to be a guest blogger on your precious, delicious and fabulous blog.   I enjoyed every minute of it!

Go check out what I wrote up and featured on my guest post on Jolts and Jollies....it sure is YUMMY.  And yes, it contains not only peanut butter but also chocolate and marshmallows coming all together in one lovely brownie. Scrumptious to the MAX!

And while you are over at Jolts and Jollies be sure to check  Maranda's delicious recipes.  You won't be disappointed!

I thought I would leave you today with one of my favorite recent views in life.  It just makes me so happy to look at I must say!

Can you guess who it is?  Yup....my little Coco-Nut :-)

A Springtime CAKE (make this cake while you are Spring cleaning)



Oh, Springtime I do so adore thee!  I love the fact that soon outside we will have fresh green grass, little baby leaves starting to show their faces on the trees along with bright colored tulips and sunny daffodils. Springtime is full of freshness and new growth that brings me such happiness.  It's funny how all of a sudden a new sense of "getting things done" also known as Spring Cleaning gets sparked for me when I feel the reality of all the new growth of life starting to bloom outside. 

As I was buzzing around cleaning and tidying up my house the other day I decided to try out a cake recipe that a good friend of mine (Hey, sweet Diane!) had passed along to me last year.  It is called Key Lime Cake.  A perfect cake that comes together in a jiffy and brings along with it a taste of fresh lime, sweetness and a tender crumb texture.  Yum! The perfect Springtime cake. :-)

Key Lime Cake
(recipe can be found on the allrecipes website)

Cake Ingredients:

1 (18.25 oz) package of LEMON cake mix

1 (3 oz) package of instant LEMON pudding mix

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup canola oil

4 eggs

5 Tbsp LIME juice

Glaze Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 Tbsp LIME juice

LIME zest for garnish (if you wish)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13 pan or a 10" bundt pan.

2. In a large bowl combine cake mix, pudding mix, water, oil, eggs and 5 Tbsp of LIME juice.  Mix well all together.  Pour batter into your prepared cake pan.

3. Bake for 45 minutes.  As cake is baking mix together powdered sugar and 3 Tbsp of LIME juice for your glaze.  Pour glaze over still warm cake. Garnish with freshly grated LIME zest.

This cake is lovely served with fresh berries.....ENJOY!

Happy Key Lime Cake Baking!

My NEW Hobby....and Milk and Cookies!!!

Yes, I have added another hobby to my life.....saving money!!!! That's right I'm now having loads of fun with coupons! Who knew saving money would be SO MUCH FUN!! Well, it is especially FUN when you have a fabulous friend like I do that is SUPER good at it.  That friend of mine, Kylah is an expert at it!  She has totally mastered the whole concept of couponing.   She is guiding me and showing me the "in's and out's" of it all.  My goodness there is a whole world of couponing that I had no idea existed.  I'm sure many of you  are already are involved in this hobby.  For those of you that are not and want to get a better idea of what it all means to SAVE $$$ go on over to Kylah's lovely coupon blog called, Crazy'Bout Couponz and check it out.  

Now onto one of my other hobbies....baking!!!

There is something so good about cookies and milk.  They go together so well!  I'm sure many of you like to dip your cookies right into your glass of milk right? Well, these cookies that I am about to share with you are just PERFECT for such a thing.  So go ahead and take a few minutes out of your day to make these cookies.  Then set aside some time to sit down with these yummy cookies and a nice glass of milk and dip away!

The best part about this great recipe is that it is whipped together super fast!  I made it an hour before I had to leave the house for a playdate.  I left the house with a plate full of fun cookies and came home with an empty plate as both the kiddos and the mommy's enjoyed them to the fullest!   :-)

Cookie Sticks

(recipe from Recipes by Amanda's Cookin)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of canola oil (yes, oil NOT butter is used in these cookie recipe)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Combine oil, white and brown sugar, egg and vanilla extract in a large bowl. 

3. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt.  Add this to the oil/sugar mixture.  Divide dough in half.

4. Grease a cookie sheet and place the two 1/2 doughs on the sheet - shape into long rectangles...about 15"x3" in size.  Sprinkle chocolate chips over cookie dough rectangles...

Gently press chips into cookie rectangles so you don't risk loosing them....

5.  Place in oven and bake for 7-8 minutes (9-10 minutes if you wish your cookies to be crispier).  Cool for 5 minutes.

6. With a pizza cutter cut baked cookie rectangles into 4 large pieces - this makes it easier to transfer onto cooling racks.

 

Cool completely and then cut previously cut sections into 1" strips...

Don't these little cookie sticks just scream for a glass of milk or even a HOT cup of tea to go along side them? :-)

Enjoy!!!

Happy Cookie Sticks Baking!  

Coffee Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Love muffins?  How about the flavor of coffee?  Or chocolate?  Even better how about coffee and chocolate together IN a muffin?  YUM right!? Here is a muffin recipe with all that coffee and chocolate yumminess in one place.

In the original recipe for these muffins two sources of coffee flavorings were used - instant coffee granules and coffee flavored liqueur.  Because I did not have the instant coffee I used freshly brewed Starbucks coffee along with Kaluha (YUM!) and coffee extract (which I decided to add to the recipe in an extra effort to give the muffins a nice coffee flavoring paired with the chocolate chunks).   The coffee flavor in the muffins was good (especially after the muffins sat for day and the flavor was able to really set in) but next time I think I will tweek the recipe further with more coffee flavoring so that the essence of coffee is more pronounced.

Over all this recipe was a hit and I wouldn't be sharing it with all of you Sweetie Pies if I didn't LOVE it myself.  You get my drift right?

Coffee Chocolate Chunk Muffins

(recipe was adapted from a food blog called, Diana's Desserts.  I have been delighted to find her blog!)

Ingredients:

6 Tbsp butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 3/4 cup flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 Tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 Tbsp boiling water

1 Tbsp Kahlua (or another kind of coffee liqueur)

1 tsp coffee flavoring (optional - I had this in my pantry and added it into the batter in attempt to give a full flavor of coffee..which basically worked but next time I think I will add about a 1/2 tsp more of this flavoring)

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks ("chips" would be just fine if you don't have "chunks" on hand



Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 6-cup jumbo muffin tin with jumbo cupcake liners.

2. In a large bowl beat together butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg, vanilla, dissolved coffee, coffee flavoring and coffee liqueur until well blended.

3. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beating until just combined.  Fold in chocolate chunks.

4. Scoop batter into lined muffin pan cups.  I used an ice cream scoop to do this which worked great!

5. Bake in preheated oven for 22-25 minutes or until centers spring back when lightly pressed.  Just look at these lovely muffins!  Man, do they make me happy!

Serve warm or at room temperature with a nice hot beverage of your choice.  Enjoy!

Happy Coffee Chocolate Chunk Muffins Baking!

A Goodbye Pie.....A Raspberry Cream Pie at that!

I hate, HATE, hate goodbyes.  There is nothing fun about them. AT ALL.  I prefer hellos over goodbyes....don't you?

A couple of weeks ago I had to say goodbye to not one, not two, not three but FOUR people that I adore - my parents, my sister and her sweetie pie. Before I said "goodbye" I invited all of them over for some dinner and dessert.  I figured I would be better off doing the deed of saying goodbye on a full tummy.  I made a chicken casserole for dinner and then to finish off the meal I served pie.  A fabulously EASY and super YUMMY pie.  Yes, I made PW's Raspberry Cream Pie. 

It was over the top D'LISH!  Simple ingredients along with a speedy assembly make this pie a lovely dessert. You can easily make this pie even faster than PW by using a pre-made crust or you can go right ahead and follow her recipe to the "T" and make your own cookie crust.

Want the recipe? Of course you do! :-)

Raspberry Cream Pie
(recipe from The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond at the Tasty Kitchen)

Ingredients:

25 whole Oreo cookies

4 Tbsp butter, melted

1 generous cup fresh raspberries

3 Tbsp sugar

2 containers (6oz. each) raspberry yogurt

1 package (3.4 oz.) instant vanilla pudding mix

1 cup heavy cream or whipping cream

extra raspberries for garnishing

Directions:

1. Make crust....(or purchase a pre-made Oreo crust)....preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Place cookies in a food processor and "crush" or place cookies in a Ziploc bag and smash with a rolling pin.  Stir in melted butter until well combined.  Pour crushed cookie mixture into a regular pie pan and press down all over the pan and up the sides.  Bake for 3-4 minutes - just long enough to set.  Cool crust completely after baking to set.

2. Make pie filling....pour fresh raspberries into a medium size bowl.  Smash them with a fork, then sprinkle with 3 Tbsp of sugar.  Stir smashed raspberries and sugar together and then let sit for 15 minutes.

3. In a bowl of a mixer combine raspberry yogurt with the instant vanilla pudding powder.   Beat on low for 1 minute.  Pour in heavy cream and whip on low for 30 seconds. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Turn mixer on medium-high speed and beat for 2 minutes, or until mixture is thick.

4. Turn off mixer, then fold in fresh raspberries until just combined.  Pour this lovely creamy raspberry mixture into COOLED pie pan and spread evenly. 

5. Place pie in freezer and freeze for 2 hours, or until very firm.  Cut into slices and garnish with fresh raspberries if you wish.  ENJOY!.....I know you will. :-)

Happy Raspberry Cream Pie Making!