Tag Archive | recipes

Peanut Butter Cup Cookie “Hack”

Before Christmas there was a “recipe” hack floating around Facebook and Instagram to make these peanut butter cup cookies! So tonight Jacob and I gave them a go!!

These are so easy! You need a Betty Crocker peanut butter cookie mix, mini resse cups, Pam, veggie oil and water.

Simply follow directions on the cookie package, spray mini muffin tin, divide dough into 12 even balls in the muffin tins, press in peanut butter cup.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes and allow to cool in tin for 5-10 minutes before removing.

Pros-Super easy! My 5 year old could 100% prep these himself.
-Quick
-Fun for the kids! All three gave them 2 thumbs up!

Cons-If you’re a home baker you’re not going to love the pb cookie mix! I’ll 100% recreate this with my homemade cookie recipe!
-Hard to remove from pan. I sprayed the tin but definitely would suggested a hearty spray!

Another friend says she makes these with the pre made Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough! These would be a great rainy day activity with the kids!

Snow day Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

So it’s really cold and snowy here the last few days! Which is not typical for our location but it does happen maybe once or twice a year! We usually cancel any plans and appointments and just hunker down at home until it passes! Yesterday We made cinnamon rolls & bacon and enjoyed a family weekend brunch on a Wednesday! Snow days aren’t so bad!

Early this morning Jacob and I took to the kitchen to fulfill hubby’s request for chocolate chip cookies! Now anyone who knows me knows for the past 15 years I’ve stuck to (and been famous for) these Chocolate chip cookies. Now last summer Kevin bought me Joanna Gaines cookbook Magnolia Table and I’ve been obsessed with her chocolate chip cookies!

I pretty much follow her recipe exactly except I use a full tablespoon of real vanilla and sprinkle the tops with chunky sea salt when they come out of the oven! I also add chunks of good quality melting chocolate to each cookie prior to baking! Trust me you can’t go wrong with pools of melted chocolate! For the chocolate chips themselves I use a mix of regular size and mini chips! I find it gives the cookie these amazing caverns of chocolate!!

If you want to try these yourselves but don’t have the cook book you can find the recipe Here.

If you do try these please let me know what you think! Or any changes you’ve made! The recipe itself minus the chocolate chips makes an amazing cookie base for your creations! At Christmas time I used this recipe with white chocolate chips, cranberries, and a pinch of cinnamon! So delicious!

Coconut Chicken Strips

So tonight I decided to make myself some chicken strips for dinner. I realized it was a good chance to
try out my new recipe I’ve been thinking about for some time!!

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Coconut chicken strips!! This recipe makes enough to cover 2 large chicken breasts. If you want to make 4 breasts worth of strips just double the dry ingredients.
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Ingredients
2 large chicken breasts
1 can of coconut milk

Dry
1/2 cup crushed corn flakes
1/2 cup sweetened coconut
1/4 cup spelt flour (any type of flour will work
1 tablespoon ground flax
1/4 teaspoon garlic
Pinch of salt
Pinch of ground pepper
Pam or spray coconut oil

Method
Mix all dry ingredients in a flat dish.

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Slice chicken into strips or coat whole. Dip chicken pieces in coconut milk and toss in dry mixture until coated.

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Arrange on sprayed baking pan or on a wire rack on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 for about 35 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 170 degrees F , flipping once while cooking.

I served these healthy, slightly sweet, very moist chicken strips with spicy mango sauce! Ummm yum!

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Friday Before And After!

Hi Friends, both new and old! I am very excited to see a few of you commenting. Thank you! So my day started off rather productive, Kev and Muffin had no intention of getting out of bed when I did, so I busied myself in the kitchen. Did some dinner prep, baked some banana bread, and finally made an omelette and English muffins to entice the other two lazy bones out of bed!!!

I thought it might be fun to show you some before and after photos of my kitchen adventures today!! Here we go! Greek lemon potatoes prepped to soak for the day in lemon juice, olive oil, white wine, garlic, and spices.

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And after an hour in the oven this evening…

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I made a bowl of homemade tzatziki because Greek potatoes just aren’t the same without it in my opinion. I used chopped cucumber, low fat Greek yogurt, dill, garlic, lemon juice, a little olive oil, and a touch of salt and pepper.Image

The finished product had a serious garlic kick. Just how we like it.

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Kevin and I paired our Greek potatoes with some Barbqued pepper garlic pork tender loin and some sauteed zucchini with a sprinkle of parmasan.

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It turned out pretty delightful, but im not going to lie I am glad I am not the one who had to stand outside in the dark to barbque the pork. Thanks Kevin! Love you.

Up next on my “To Do” list after prepping dinner this morning was to make a couple loaves of banana bread. I love baking and my friends and family don’t seem to mind because I always like to gift my creations. That way I don’t eat it all myself. Always thinking 😉

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The final product, with a little Instagram filter action for your enjoyment!

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If any of you would like me to post my recipes for anything I make please just let me know. I am considering adding a recipes tab if there is any interest.

I didn’t spend all day in the kitchen, though I could have today. I visited my parents and then this afternoon we ventured out to find some new oven mitts and of course as always with shopping I ended up with more then mitts. I got a new wallet, shorts for the gym, kitchen towels, and a few other things. The wallet was a necessity as mine decided to give up on life mid way through Christmas shopping last month. I finally found one I liked okay fine loved. It has owls on it, clearly I couldn’t say no.

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When we got home from shopping Muffin was sure everything I purchased was simply hers and all made for a cozy bed.

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As if spoiling myself wasn’t bad enough, my best friend Katie showed up this afternoon bearing gifts for me.

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New Pj pants, a reusable owl bag and some Bath and body works bath gel. See told you I was spoiled! Katie is awesome, but she’s my friend you can’t have her! 😉 Okay find maybe I can share! You should know I managed to unload a good chunk of banana bread on her before she escaped my house.

Muffin would like me to show you all her before, during, and after her big yawn today.

So here we are before, just chilling with dad. No big thing!

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Then it happened and i’m still not sure how I caught it on camera, but my little tiny nine pound fur ball let out the worlds biggest yawn. For a second I thought we were all going to be sucked into some sort of puppy black hole!

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>;Promptly after the big yawn she went back to relaxing. You know the thing that takes up most of her doggy day!!

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I need to reiterate that her life is hard people! So very hard! She is going for a groomer visit very soon to tame that mess of fur she has going on. I promise you will be shocked when you see her after a day at the spa. She will look ridiculous and not in a good way. You’ve been warned.

It has been raining here most of the day and I haven’t felt so great. Sometime soon I will get into the reason why I don’t feel so great lately but for now I won’t. I didn’t go to the gym as I had planned and I guess I just have to accept that for what it is. We did However spend a good solid hour walking today and I thankfully we did so indoors. I am going to take Muffin around the block and catch up on some blog reading before we call it a night. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day exercise wise.

Enjoy your Friday night friends!

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Chilly Thursday

I’m currently cuddled up on the couch with Muffin and Kev! I am so incredibly cold. I’m pep-talking myself to go to the gym. I should have went earlier but being my first day off I slept in a little after a late night Menchies froyo run last night.

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Once I pulled my lazy self out of my warm and cozy bed I spent the day out and about with my man and my Muffin!

Today was casual, laid back and fun. I started by refilling all my bird feeders, I’ve become very attached to watching my little chickadees, bush tits, finches, etc. Pretty sure I’m also feeding half the squirrel population in our neighbour hood.

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I figure the squirrel hunch is a safe one based on the fact one chewed the hole in this feeder twice the original size so he could binge eat mixed nuts!!!

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I had to dump hot water in the birdbath as it was frozen solid this morning. Even though it was very cold it was a gorgeous day and we took advantage of it by taking a walk around the duck pond.

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No matter how many times we go to the duck pond, Muffin isn’t sure she trusts those ducks!

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Other then the park we spent some time going to my favorite local thrift stores in search of vintage Pyrex and other treasures. After shopping we decided to have a midday lunch date at the Olive Garden. You really can’t go wrong with soup, salad, and bread sticks. Oh an a free wine sample. Yum.

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While lunch was good it wasn’t as good as the home made almond chicken, fried rice, and chow mien I made for dinner.

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I made up the recipe for the almond chicken on my own and thankfully it turned out very well. I tossed the chicken in some crushed Trader Joes candied nuts once it was cooked for some sweetness. I really wish we had a TJ’s closer to home then Bellingham.

So folks that’s a quick run down of my day. Hope you all enjoyed your Thursday as much as I did. Seriously I’m gonna kill the rest of my coffee and get in a workout!!!

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