Puppies in Cardigans or Pigs in a Blanket...

I don't know if it's the croissants or what but something about these bad boys just seems more grown up then regular pigs in a blanket!

1 Pack of Nathan's hot dogs, or your favorite brand.

1-2 Packs of refrigerated dinner Croissants  (the big ones!)

Preheat oven as directed on the croissants label.

Unroll the croissants from its prepackaged roll form.  

Roll each dog up with one triangle. (If you get the little croissants you will need two per dog and roll each dog with a rectangle shaped croissant.)

Bake in the oven as directed on the croissant label or until golden brown and delicious! Enjoy!

For the printable recipe click here.

Chicken Pitas

Spinach

Raspberry Vinaigrette

Grilled chicken breast (seasoned with garlic, pepper and basted in raspberry vinaigrette)

Croutons

Cherry Tomatoes

Pita Pockets (warmed on the grill)

Shred chicken. Mix all the ingredients together and stuff it inside the pita. ENJOY!

Raspberry vinaigrette not your thing? Try it with a bag of Caesar salad mix and grilled chicken.

For the printable recipe click here.

Monkey Bread

A few months ago our friend and neighbor Gabby taught me how to make homemade Monkey Bread.  This is nothing like store bought! This is a 100 times better the store bought! It's pure amazing with a little caramel crunch added!

 4 cans of refrigerated  biscuit dough (about 40 biscuits)
 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
 1/2 cup butter
 1 cup white sugar
 1 cup brown sugar, packed
 1/2 cup pecans, raisins and/or coconut (optional)

Cut each biscuit into 4 pieces.

Pour white sugar and cinnamon into a plastic bag and mix.

Add biscuit pieces, shake to coat well.

Place pieces in a buttered tube or Bundt pan until all are used.

 
Sprinkle layers with nuts, raisins or coconut. (optional)

Bring brown sugar and butter to a boil in a saucepan.

Cool  for 10 minutes, then pour over top of biscuits.

Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool 15 minutes before
removing from pan. Turn upside down to serve.

For the printable recipe click here.

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

My daughter, Charlee hates milk so I have to make her chocolate milk everyday! I always feel a little bit guilty giving her the bottled stuff from the store because we try not to eat that many preservatives and the bottled syrup is loaded with corn syrup and other artificial ingredients! So this time when the bottle was done I looked up a recipe for my own! I was shocked at how simple it was to make and I don't know why people buy it from the store!

½ cup cocoa powder

1 cup water

2 cups sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon vanilla

In a large saucepan whisk cocoa and water on medium heat until the cocoa is dissolved. Add sugar and whisk until dissolved. Make sure the sugar is dissolved our it will make your syrup grainy. Boil for 3 minutes over medium heat. Make sure and watch it or it will boil over and you will be cleaning up a huge mess like I did! Add salt and vanilla. Let the syrup cool completely before pouring into a clean glass jar. Store in the fridge. ENJOY!

For the printable recipe click here.

Pizza Crust

My family loves pizza and buying a pizza can be expensive, so I make my own! Here is the recipe for my pizza crust, don't be intimidated it's super easy!

2 ½- 3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 package of yeast (2 ¼ teaspoons)

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup very warm water (120-130 degrees)

Makes 2 pizzas.

In a large bowl mix 1 cup of flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Add olive oil and water. Beat with a mixer on medium speed for 3 minutes. With a spoon, stir in enough flour until it forms a soft dough and leaves the side of the bowl . On a floured surface knead for 8 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth and springy. Loosely cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Grease pizza pan. Cut dough in half. Pat one half down to form your pizza. Add toppings of your choice. Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is golden. ENJOY!

For the printable recipe click here.

Apple Crisp

If it has the word apple in it and comes in the form of dessert my husband will love it! For Father's Day I compiled all the apple recipes I could find and had him pick which one he wanted. He choose this one and it was a hit with the family The original recipe used pears but I just swapped them for apples and added oatmeal and it was a hit with the family! Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

The family also got into it before I was able to get a picture!

Filling:

4-5 Granny Smith apples (peeled and diced)

2/3 cups Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Salt

Topping:

1-1/2 cup All-purpose Flour

1/3 cup Sugar

1/3 cup Firmly Packed Brown Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 stick Butter, Melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Stir together diced apples, 2/3 cup sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Pour apple mixture into a baking dish. Set aside

In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, oatmeal, and cinnamon. Drizzle with melted butter and stir with a fork until all combined. Sprinkle on top of apple mixture.

Bake for 30 minutes. Place pan on the top rack of the oven for an additional 10 minutes until topping is golden brown.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

For the printable recipe click here.

1/3 Oatmeal

Lemon Bars

I had a few lemons that I needed to use up so I decided to make lemon bars to take over to my neighbors for dinner. I had no idea that they were my neighbors favorite so I had a tough critic, lucky for me he loved them and wanted the recipe! The original recipe was a little funky and the ingredients didn't add up so I tweaked it to work for me and it turned out super easy and delicious!

Crust:

1 cup flour

½ cup powdered sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt (you won't have measuring spoon so just eye half of a ¼ teaspoon)

1 stick cold butter, cut into little pieces

Filling:

1 cup regular sugar

2 eggs

2 tablespoons flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

¼ vanilla extract

2 teaspoons lemon zest (about 2 lemons)

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 ½ lemons)

Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat 350 degrees

To make the crust: Grease an 8x8 pan with cooking spray. In a bowl whisk flour, powdered sugar, and salt together. Add butter and with your hand mix until crumbly. Press crust mixture into the bottom of the 8x8 pan (If the crust starts to stick to your hand put it into the freezer for 5 about minutes and then press it into place). Bake for 18 minutes until golden brown. Set crust aside.

To make the filling: In a bowl whisk together sugar, flour, and salt. Add eggs until combine. Add lemon zest and lemon juice until mixed well. Pour the lemon filling over the hot crust. Bake for 18 minutes or until the filling has set.  

Cool completely before dusting with powdered sugar. So GOOD!

For the printable recipe click here.

Strawberry Galette

My husband loves this dessert with vanilla ice-cream! It’s a very light dessert so it's perfect if you want something tasty but not to filling. It's great if your strawberries are looking a little sad and need to be used! You can also serve it with homemade whip cream if your into that sort of thing.

1 pie crust (pre-made or if your channeling your inner Martha Stewart you can make your own, I used pre-made)

15 strawberries, sliced

2 tablespoons sugar          

Raw Sugar for sprinkling (you can use regular sugar if you don't have it but it tastes slightly different and looks prettier with the raw)

1 teaspoon vanilla paste (optional, this is a little hard to find so if you don't have it don't worry about it)

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 egg

1 teaspoon water

Preheat 350 degrees.

Serving size: 4

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Put sliced strawberries into a bowl, sprinkle with sugar, cornstarch and the very optional vanilla paste.  Mix until all the berries are coated. 

 Lay out the pie dough on the parchment paper.

Starting from the middle and working out overlap the strawberries forming a circle about 1-inch from the edge of the pie crust.

Fold the edges of the dough over the strawberries to form a square (the middle will have the strawberries exposed).

Now fold the corners over.

Beat 1 egg with 1 teaspoon water (this is called an egg wash). Brush the dough with the egg wash. Sprinkle crust with raw sugar.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Enjoy!

Click here for the printable recipe.

Mommy's Pomegranate Margarita

Having a rough day? I suggest one of these!

1 shot Tequila

1 shot POM Wonderful pomegranate juice

1 shot Triple Sec

Sweet and Sour         

Lime (optional)

Sugar or Salt (optional)

Dip the rim of the glass in the lime and then into the sugar or salt (optional). Fill a glass with crushed ice. Put 1 shot of tequila, pomegranate juice, and triple sec in the glass. Fill the rest of the glass with sweet and sour. Do a happy dance and ENJOY!

P.S. If it's a little strong add a little more sweet and sour!

Click here for the printable recipe

Original Recipe

Banana Bread

This is one of my families favorites and having a toddler means having lots of bananas on hand. This is my own recipe so I hope you like it!

Banana Bread

2 Cups flour (When I feel a little healthy I substitute 1 cup of flour with whole wheat flour. )

1 ½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

5 over ripe bananas (mash 4, Chop 1)

1 cup sugar

1 ½ sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cups pecans or walnuts, optional (my family doesn't like nuts so we don't add them)

Preheat 350 degrees.                

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl mash 4 bananas. Add sugar and mix for 3 minutes with an electric mixer until creamy. Add melted butter, eggs, and vanilla; making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl.  Mix in dry ingredients until incorporated. Fold in the bananas and optional nuts. Divide the batter into 2 loaf pans. Give the pans a rap on the counter to release air bubbles. Bake for 50 minutes to  1 hour until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy.

Click here for the printable recipe.

Dump Cake - If only it had a prettier name!

This is my husband new favorite dessert and he won't stop talking about it. Lucky for me it's super simple to make! He got into it before I got a chance to take a picture of the finished product!

Dump Cake

1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple with juice, undrained

1 can (21 ounces) cherry pie filling

1 package yellow cake mix

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts; optional

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Grease a 13x9-inch pan.

Dump pineapple with juice into pan. Spread evenly.

Dump in pie filling.

Sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over cherry layer. Sprinkle pecans over cake mix (optional). Dot with butter.

Bake 50 minutes or until top is lightly browned. Serve warm or at room temperature. It's really good with ice cream!

Click here for the printable recipe.

Homemade Bread Sticks

Make sure you make the dough about 2 hours in advance because it takes forever to rise! But it's worth it and it's really easy to make!

Homemade Bread Sticks

• 1 1/2 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• 1 tbsp yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 cups of flour

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Makes 20 bread sticks.

              

Combine the water, sugar and yeast in a large bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes, it will become bubbly.

Add salt and stir. Add 1 1/2 cups of flour, mix well. Gradually add more flour until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and it barely sticks to your finger.

Spray a metal or glass bowl with cooking spray and place the ball of dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise for 45 minutes or until it's doubled in size.

   

Before

After



Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a floured surface. Place parchment paper on a baking pan and coat with cooking spray. Gently roll the dough into a rectangle then cut into 20 strips with a pizza cutter.

                                  

Twist the dough and then place each twisted bread stick onto the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough making sure to leave some room between each bread stick. Cover pan and allow dough to rise for another 30 minutes.

When the bread is done rising, bake for 9-10 minutes or until golden brown. Rub the tops of the bread sticks with butter and sprinkle with garlic salt or Parmesan cheese.



Charlee liked it!

 Click here for the printable recipe

Strawberry & Banana Muffins

We had some strawberries that needed to be used so I decided to make Ryan and Charlee a treat this morning. The original recipe can be seen at For The Love of Cooking.

Strawberry & Banana Muffins

Dry Ingredients:               

2 1/4 cup of flour (I used 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 ¼ wheat flour)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cup fresh strawberries, diced

Wet Ingredients:

3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 stick of butter, melted
2 large ripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla (I used pure vanilla paste because it's pure amazing!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Makes 12 muffins.            

Coat a muffin pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients. Mix in strawberries making sure they are coated with flour, this keeps them from sinking. In another large bowl, mash the bananas and then mix in the rest of the wet ingredients.  Combine the wet and dry mixture, stir until combined. Don't over mix or you'll have a tough muffin! Fill the muffin tray with the batter. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Smear on a little butter and enjoy!

Click here for the printable recipe