Peanut Butter Cup S’mores Bars | The Sweet Life WARNING: This post is going to be 97% rant and 3% delicious baked goods. It’s my blog and I can rant when I want to. It’s kind of a rite of passage into adulthood that at some point in your grown-up years, you have a really terrible landlord. But I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again…my landlord is pretty much the WORST. Exhibit A: The other day my roommates and I got locked inside our apartment (HELLO fire hazard) because our doorknob fell off. Our landlord, right? Wrong. Luckily we have a back door and were able to escape, praise Jesus. Exhibit B: I recently received an IRATE phone call from Landlady Extraordinaire because we’ve apparently been shortchanging her on rent each month. Try to guess how much we’ve been shortchanging her by. A penny! I get it. So obviously we stuck an envelope of pennies underneath her door with this month’s rent. Exhibit C: She threatened to call the police last month because she heard the guys who live across the hall swearing. Ingredients Directions
Crockpot Apple Butter | Changing My Destiny Note: The CrockPot Fruit Butter eBook is NOW AVAILABLE! Click here for more details. …now on to the good stuff… I adapted this easy recipe from Cake Student because I had everything on hand and it worked out beautifully. Crock Pot Apple Butter Makes a little more than 1 pint 1 dozen apples, peeled, cored, cubed 1/2 Cup Water 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon All Spice Step 1: Peel, Core, and Chop a dozen apples. Step 2: Toss the apples in the sugar and spices. Step 3: Put everything in the Crockpot, then [say it with me] Set It, and Forget It! anyone else remember that infomercial? I cooked it on Low overnight and woke up to this… After a few more hours on low, I bumped it to high and propped the lid. it cooked down and thickened quite a bit. Step 4: I suppose it’s optional, but I decided to blend the butter down smooth. So after 15 hours and a dozen apples picked right from the tree, I had 1 pint of delicious apple butter. Next up…Pumpkin Butter! Like this: Like Loading...
Pepperoni Cheese Stick Roll Ups These Pepperoni Cheese Stick Roll Ups are great for kids and crowd pleasers. I know it feels a bit schizophrenic around here bouncing back and forth from healthy to naughty dishes. But there’s just so much food and so little time. Don’t I sound like Ben from the Bachelor if he were living in a mansion with girls made out of food? Okay…maybe that was a stretch. I don’t know how you couldn’t feel a “connection” with these Pepperoni String Cheese Rollups. But they aren’t just for kids…I’m thinking Super Bowl grub for sure. And yes, I’m completely ignoring the fact that TGWAE now has over 20,000 facebook fans. And now I have to do another giveaway…because you all are so nice. Not today. Look at that cheesy goodness! Pepperoni Cheese Stick Roll Ups Ingredients 1 (8 ounce) package refrigerated crescent roll dough 4 cheese sticks, halved 1 (3.5 ounce) package sliced pepperoni optional - marinara or ranch sauce for dipping Garlic Butter Glaze: Instructions Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sweet French Toast Happy Saturday!! The sun is shining, me and my hunnie have no plans so I decided to make him some french toast on this lazy day. I have my own way of making it and though NO unfortunately it’s not healthy, I made small portions so that the calorie count wouldn’t be too terrible. I also paired it with some fresh fruit to make it sweet and keep it well balanced. Anyone can make french toast, there’s absolutely no science to it, but I wanted to post it on here because I thought it looked so cute! Throw a bit of confectioner’s sugar over top and you are good to go! Ingredients 2 or 3 eggs (depending on how much you're making) 2 Tbsp. skim milk 1 tsp. cinnamon (or more, I usually just eye ball it) 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 4 slices of bread, your choice Instructions Whisk the eggs and milk together then add the cinnamon and vanilla extract. Nutritional Information Serving Size: 1 slice • Calories: 135 • Fat: 5 g • Carbs: 15 g • Fiber: 0 g • Protein: 5 g • WW Points+: 3 pts
Cinnamon Spiced Candied Walnuts Candied nuts are one of the easiest snack foods to make and eat. I like them all year round, but they are especially great around the holidays because they’re an easy snack to put out when family and friends come out to visit, and they’re a fantastic homemade gift to take when you go for visit them. This year, I’m big on walnuts and while I’ve used pecans, almonds and cashews in the past, walnuts are my nut of choice at the moment. I tossed untoasted walnuts in a lightly beaten egg white, then added in vanilla sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice and salt to create a sweet and spicy coating for the nuts. Vanilla sugar is easy to make with a leftover vanilla bean (although I used Rodelle Vanilla Sugar in this batch) and is a great ingredient to keep on hand for recipes like this one, that benefit from a hint of vanilla flavor. The finished nuts are delicious and very addictive! Preheat oven to 300F. Makes about 3 cups.
Fresh Food Friday: 100 Healthy Snack Ideas Join our page on Facebook for our latest recipes and projects! Happy Friday! I did pretty well this week . . . I have only caved on one day to a sugary treat (I will be posting the treats later- they were so good! Snacks right around 3 pm each afternoon are my downfall. I am trying to train myself to reach for healthier snacks, but I just forget. So, I have complied this list that I am printing out and putting on my fridge. Here is my list: 1. If you would like to print this list out, you can either click on the "Print Friendly" button on the bottom of this post, or for a printer friendly version that will fit all 100 snack ideas on one page. *Please note that these are just ideas . . . my opinion of a healthy snack! I know that some are not the healthiest options out there, but there are definitely a lot worse things that you could eat! If you are trying to be Healthier...Try using Spark Natural Essential Oils! Here is our simple list of 25 Easy Ways that you can use Essential Oils!
Guilt-Free Chicken Taquitos In the mood to indulge in a cheesy Mexican dish but don’t want the unnecessary calories?? These are perfect! Whether as a late night snack, yummy finger foods to bring to a party or just a simple dinner delight, these taquitos have it all except the calories! I got the idea for this recipe from my Hungry Girl cookbook and decided to make my own modifications. With two equaling a single serving at just 197 calories and 2.5 grams of fat, you are saving about 80 calories and 10 grams of fat from a typical serving of taquitos. That’s only 2 points per taquito! Guilt-Free Chicken Taquitos Recipe adapted from Hungry Girl Ingredients 8 small (6-inch) yellow corn tortillas One 9.75-oz. Instructions Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Nutritional Information Serving Size: 2 taquitos • Calories: 197 • Fat: 2.5 g • Carbs: 22.5 g • Fiber: 3 g • Protein: 20.5 g • WW Points+: 5 pts
Kelly's Korner: Crockpotalooza Okay - I totally decided we would do a crockpot link up and had NO idea there was some CRAZY facebook group that the whole world belonged to called Crockpotgirls. So go there and get recipes but we will do a link up here too. Can you really ever have enough great recipes? I made this the other night and it was great: 2-4 Chicken breasts Taco Seasoning 1 cup salsa 1 can cream of mushroom soup 8 oz sour cream Put chicken in crockpot and top with taco seasoning. This linky list is now closed.
Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries These aren't anything complicated. With five ingredients, they take only a few minutes to put together. In fact, these were probably the least time-intensive food at my Cheesecake Extravaganza. You don't have to throw a cheesecake party to serve these....I imagine they'd be welcomed just about anytime! Next time, I'll make more... this was the first food to go at the Cheesecake Extravaganza, and with good reason! Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberriesfrom Nutmeg NannyIngredients: -1 lb large strawberries -8 oz. cream cheese, softened (can use 1/3 less fat) -3-4 tbsp powdered sugar (4 tbsp for a sweeter filling) -1 tsp vanilla extract -graham cracker crumbs Directions: 1.
Baked Potato Soup - Slow Cooker Style I've been looking for a baked potato soup recipe that didn't involve heavy cream for a while, and boy was I delighted when I found one... for the slow cooker!!! This came out really super yummy and reminds me a lot of Houlihan's Baked Potato Soup, which is an all-time favorite for Hubs and me. Below is my version of Baked Potato Soup for the Slow Cooker! Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup Ingredients:5 pounds russet potatoes, washed but NOT peeled. Do you love slow cooker soup recipes? Hasselback Garlic Cheesy Bread Hasselback Garlic Cheesy Bread First thing: this Calphalon Giveaway ends on Friday! Enter enter enter! Second thing: this bread is the bomb. Last week, I got some evil Kerrygold Samples in the mail. Aw, shucks. What is a girl to do? To prevent myself from inhaling it all in a 24 hour period, I put some in the freezer, but then immediately thought of this bread I’ve been wanting to make. They hang out in my booty. {TMI? This bread is the very reason why I run. And believe it or not, this is super simple to make! So, that’s all the info you need to know, m’kay? First thing you’re going to want to do is grab all your ingredients. Into a mixer bowl, add in your water, yeast and honey. Once your yeast has gotten foamy, stir in the salt and the flour in 1/4 cup increments. Once the dough starts pulling away from the sides and the bowl is looking pretty clean, then it’s time to set the timer and walk away. 5 minutes later your dough should be tacky and smooth. And melt it down. Hello, lover. See?
Cauliflower Pizza Bites When I am trying to eat better (ie: more veggies less chocolate) then I find it really helpful to have healthy snacks available for when I get the munchies. When I want something to snack on, I want it NOW. Let me start off by saying, these tasted very good. And...they were fairly simple to make. And....they are a great, healthy alternative for a snack. And... they freeze well so can be on hand for those cravings. Now...that being said....I probably won't be making them again anytime soon. Why? Well...let me show you a photo... This is my mini muffin tin in the aftermath of these pizza bites. I had to scrub out 24 tiny little circles and 12 tiny little squares. I mean...S-C-R-U-B... Not cool. The cauliflower mixture really cooked right onto the pans. Oddly enough, the pizza bites popped right out the pan (after I ran a butter knife around the edge of each one) and held their shape great. I don't know that paper liners would work.... Hmmm....any ideas? Cauliflower Pizza Bites
what i made for monday-mini apple pies. If you've been around a while you know that I like to make some sort of dessert or treat for my husband to take to work with him on Mondays. Food is my love language. I am not a diet friendly friend. It's just a small way that I feel I can help him with his work day...he and all his coworkers have a super long meeting on Mondays and...well, it's Monday...how can dessert not help that? It gives me a good excuse to try new recipes and now all of his coworkers expect and look forward to what I will make and send in. I've been meaning to document what I have tried here...but it's taken weeks for me to start...so we'll just start here. :) This week I made mini apple pies for him to take...and I made a large batch so that I could keep some too! Start by cutting up eight cups of apples into small 1/2in bits. You will also need: 4 tablespoons of chilled butter cut into 24 equal portions. Make sure you stir everything around getting the apples nice and coated. and put a dab on each pie.