Foodie Friday: Love is in the air!

Valentine's Day is not a huge "event" at our house. We always celebrate the holiday because after all, it's all about surrounding yourself with the ones you LOVE! But it usually consists of a little Sinatra and a homemade dinner. Since the kids have gotten older, we like to include them in our "love day," too!

Today I'm sharing one kid-friendly and one adult-friendly recipe. Although I serve the champagne cupcakes to my kids, too. The alcohol cooks out :) But if you're not cool like that,  I understand :)

Cheers to a wonderful day with the ones you love!

**Remember you can Pin these recipes to Pinterest--just hover over the picture and click the icon on the top left.

Adult-Friendly Recipe: You guys know I "don't bake." Pretty much every dessert that goes into my oven is semi-homemade (AKA: cake mix!) These cupcakes are semi-homemade, yet a little special because they have champagne in them!! If you want to make your own frosting, knock yourself out--i just use the canned kind. Ain't nobody got time for that! :)

Champagne Cupcakes
1 box white cake mix
3 egg whites
1 1/4 cup pink champagne
1/3 cup oil
6-8 drops of red food coloring (adjust depending on how pink you want it)
1 container pink frosting
Sprinkles

1. Mix together cake mix, egg whites, champagne, oil and food coloring according to package directions.

2. Spoon mix into cupcake holders and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes--do not over bake as the cupcakes will start to brown and lose their pretty pink color.

3. Decorate when completely cool.

DONE!

Kid Friendly Recipe: This year we are hosting my sisters in laws (SISTERS in LAW?? Laws?? Sisters? Whatever!) for Valentine's Day, so it will be them and all the kiddos. I'm pretty certain the night will end with the kids drinking hot chocolate and eating this snack mix.  This recipe would also be perfect to bag up and share as a Valentine's Day treat at school.

Valentine's Day Snack Mix
1 bag salted popcorn, popped (try to find the kind with the least butter)
1-2 cups of Chex cereal
1-2 cups of mini pretzels
1 cup of nuts (optional)
1 cup Valentine's Day colored M&Ms
Valentine's Day sprinkles (optional)
1/2 12 oz. bag of pink candy melts (I found these at Michael's in every color of the rainbow!)

1. In a large bowl, combine popped popcorn, Chex, pretzels, and nuts (optional).

2. Place half the bag of the candy melts in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave according to package instructions until completely melted.

3. Spoon melted candy melts over the snack mixture. Stir until the mixture is well coated. Fold in M&Ms and sprinkles.

4. Spread mixture onto a cookie sheet (or two) and allow to cool completely. When cooled, break into pieces and store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

This is what the Candy Melts look like:

This is the popcorn I used. It was perfect--not too much butter.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day!!!!

XO ~ Casey

Friday Funday: Food Favorites!!

I didn't think Friday could come fast enough this week, people!!! So let's celebrate with some of my favorite foods and recipes!!!

#1: Soy Nut Butter...O.M.G!!!

In March of 2007 while vacationing in Florida, Brookey took a TINY bite of PB&J. This picture was taken from a Venica, FL Emergency Room...notice the swelled face and eyes---looked SO much worse in person!! Since then, we've stayed away from peanut butter. I've been so bummed because it's SOOO yummy and a great source of protein.

Until this week when I found this: Soy Nut Butter. It tastes as close to the real thing as I think you can get...all the same fiber and protein benefits, too! Amazing! The link is from Amazon, but I got ours at Target. Major score!!!

 #2: As the weather cools down (as hopefully it does, SOMEDAY!), I always crave a big bowl of pasta. My simple Spaghetti and Meatballs fits the bill!!

#3: I absolutely LOVE this stir fry recipe! It's great with broccoli, too!! Beef with Snow Peas:

#4: These Turkey Chimichangas have been a staple in my house for TEN YEARS! So easy and so good!!!

#5: You can't get through the fall without making this Pumpkin Gooey Goodness Cake! It's everything you want from a fall dessert and more!! :)

That's it for today!! HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY FRIDAY and HAPPY EATING!! :)

XO ~ Casey

Friday Fun Day: Pumpkin Gooey Goodness Cake!!

Since everyone seems to be declaring it "FALL" now (whatever, I just turned the air conditioning on) I thought I might as well bust out with a pumpkin recipe!! I named it the Pumpkin Gooey Goodness Cake...although it has other names if you Google it :) Sarah and I baked it last Wednesday and it was a huge hit all around. If you check out the ingredients, how could it not be??!!

Make this. Now!!!

Pumpkin Gooey Goodness Cake
1 box yellow cake mix
1 14oz can of pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (optional, but if you have it, use it!!!)
14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk (i actually only used about 2/3 of the can)
1 8oz tub of Cool Whip (i used extra creamy)
1/2 bag of Heath bits OR 20 miniature Heath bars pounded/chopped into bits
Carmel sundae sauce (optional, too but GOOD!!!)


1. With a spoon, mix together cake mix, pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice until a batter forms.
2. Spread batter into a greased 9x9 (or similar) baking dish. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
3. Let cake cool completely. With the bottom of a wooden spoon, poke holes all over the top of the cake.
4. Now the good part.....pour the sweetened condensed milk all over the top of the cake, filling in the holes.
5. Refrigerate cake for at least an hour so the condensed milk has time to soak in :)
6. Spread Cool Whip over the cake, Sprinkle on Heath bits and drizzle with caramel sauce.
7. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight.

FYI, these are the Heath bars I used..i couldn't find the "bits" so I just put 20 bars in a plastic Ziploc bag and pounded with a meat mallet :)

I love this recipe because it's easy for kids to help, too!! Enjoy every last morsel!!!!

XO ~ Casey

Recipe Wednesday: Lemon Cookie Ice Cream

 I'm obsessed with lemon. Lemon candles, lemon lotion, lemon salad dressing, lemonade!! So when I saw these babies at the store....

 Come. To. Mama. I may or may not have shouted that in the store. The kids thought I was nuts. They might be the best food on earth..and I'm not even a sweets person. At any rate, the kids actually came up with the idea of smashing these cookies into vanilla ice cream and voila! This recipe was born!! It's soooooo good. If you've never made your own ice cream, make it. TODAY!!!

Lemon Cookie Ice Cream

2 cups of heavy cream or half and half
2 cups of whole milk
1 cup sugar
1-2 teaspoons lemon extract
Juice of one lemon
Pinch of salt
10 Lemon Oreos, crushed
5-6 drops of yellow food coloring (optional!)

1. Whisk all ingredients expect Oreos in a large bowl until the sugar dissolves.

2. Pour into ice cream maker and allow it to churn for about 15 minutes.

3. Add in crushed Oreos and churn for an additional 15 minutes or until the ice cream consistency is like soft-serve.

4. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze an additional 2-3 hours or until desired firmness (I prefer my ice cream like soft serve!)

5. Sprinkle additional Oreos on top!


I have some pretty good helpers!!

 

Enjoy!! XO

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Here's the recipe for the chocolate chip bundt cake! It's actually a spin-off on a chocolate-vanilla swirl bundt cake I got from my friend's mom years and years ago. I make this cake all the time! The other day, I was set to make it but I picked up the wrong flavor of cake mix. I had some chocolate chips in the pantry, so substituted here and there and the chocolate chip bundt cake was born! It was delicious...as you can see, the kids approve, even when it's unbaked! :)

Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

- 1 box of chocolate cake mix
- 1 small box of instant chocolate pudding
- 1 small container of sour cream (I always used reduced-fat, because this is a low-fat recipe...HA!)
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/4 cups of water
- 1 cup of chocolate chips (the "mini" ones work really well)
- Powdered sugar for the top (optional)

1. Grease or spray your bundt pan well. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl or mixer, blend first 5 ingredients well.
3. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Pour into greased bundt pan and bake about 45 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. If you see the top getting too done, just cover it with a piece of foil for the remainder of the baking process.
5. When cool, turn cake out onto a plate, dust with powdered sugar or serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream!!!