Zucchini "Apple" Crisp

Did you know that you can use zucchini the same way you can bake with apples?! You can do zucchini pie, zucchini crisps and cobblers, zucchini bread (the non-traditional way with cinnamon and chunked zucchini, not shredded), and the list goes on!

I recently made a zucchini crisp. It did taste a lot like apples, and I recommend serving it warm, but it was an older, bigger zucchini so if you use those, I recommend peeling it first. It made for an odd texture in the crisp. I think with a smaller zucchini, the peeling isn't necessary.

This is the recipe I used. I left out the nutmeg and I cut down a little on the sugar (because there is a LOT of sugar in this but it tastes SO good!)

It is fairly simple prep and pops in the oven for about 45 minutes. Definitely eat it warm. The leftovers are great too but heat them up before you eat it (30 seconds in the microwave will do the trick!).

I also found that you can make a very similar recipe in the microwave for individual portions but I just eyeball that, using a small zucchini as my start. I could eat this every day!

Spinach Brownies

Don't let the title of this post scare you! These taste just like brownies and you can't even tell the spinach is in there!

My husband helped me make these and he was very weary of "putting green things in my brownies" but he tasted them and said he honestly couldn't even taste them, even when he was trying to!

This recipe is really simple too but I haven't quite figured out yet how you could modify it if you were doing brownies from scratch, instead of a box. Give my brain a minute. Maybe that'll be my next recipe!

Dump your brownie mix (the entire package) in a large bowl. In a high quality blender (I like using my Ninja), blend the ingredients from the back of the box (so mine was a Ghirardelli mix and wanted 1/3 water, 1/3 oil, and an egg) with 1-2 handfuls of spinach. I didn't even take the stems off.

Add the blended ingredients to your bowl of brownie mix. Stir to combine and follow the cooking instructions on the back of your brownie box. Voila! It's that simple.

Now you can pretend you have healthy brownies!

Avocado Brownies with a Mix

Okay I'm obviously all about brownies and avocados lately! But I just LOVE that you get the health benefits of an avocado, without having to actually taste one :)

This recipe is super simple because it uses a boxed brownie mix. I've heard that it works for all sizes of mixes (Betty Crocker usually has less ounces in each box than say, Ghirardelli). It kind of works that way but I did make mine with Ghirardelli and I should've added a little extra water.

What you need:
box of brownie mix, your choice of brand and type
1/3 water (or slightly more, if you use a bigger box. I would recommend adding a tablespoon at a time until you get what you want)
1 large avocado, ripe and well mashed

Put the brownie mix in a bowl and DON'T add the ingredients the box tells you to. You just want the dry mix. Then add your mashed avocado and desired water until you get a good consistency. Pour in your brownie pan and bake according to the boxes instructions. Voila! Done! Does it get any better than that??

These turned out great and I would DEFINITELY make again. I used the triple chocolate Ghirardelli mix so there was plenty of chocolate to hide the avocado taste (but as you probably noticed with these recipes, you don't need a lot to hide it. And if you actually like avocado, I don't  think it would be bad).

My kids gobbled these up too!

Avocado Brownies

I always love combining avocados with chocolate desserts. I've done pudding and chocolate chip cookies before so brownies just seemed like the next step! They turn out a little lighter in color than traditional brownies but there is no green to be detected! I will mention that my 3 year old made these with me and she saw me add the avocado ("eww! I don't like those. It's green!") but she still ate two entire pieces (and wanted more!). I am myself am not a fan of avocado either but with chocolate, it's fantastic. It adds fiber and healthy fats to the dessert, as if you needed another reason to eat dessert!

This is the recipe I made. I only made a few minor adjustments.

Ingredients:
3 avocados (I debated adding a third one, and next time I might only do 2 but I can't give an exact reason why)
most of a bag of milk chocolate chips
3/4 cup sugar (people had commented saying they brought it down to even a half cup or less and it was still good)
4 eggs
splash of vanilla
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

I followed her instructions (it took my "special" oven about 40 minutes to cook them) but I misunderstood the stand mixer and somehow ended up doing this in my food processor. It actually ended up okay but if you have a stand mixer (which I actually do! Although I dare you to ask me where it is right now...) I would definitely use that instead! My processor got quite full and has so many ridges, it's hard for the flour to get fully incorporated so I did have to do it a little by hand.

But these were a hit! I love them, the kids love them! Only 187 calories per brownie (assuming your 8x8 pan is 16 pieces)! Awesome!

High Protein Breakfast Muffins

This morning I was looking for something to have for breakfast. I typically have a protein smoothie but we just got a Keurig (for free!!) so I was trying a coffee concoction and I thought that would be too much liquid to do a smoothie for breakfast too. I always need high protein in the morning though or I get sick so what can I do but Pinterest about it!

I found this recipe but I only had 2 bananas on hand so I cut it in half.

So I did 2 bananas, 1/2 cup oats, 1 whole egg, 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1 scoop chocolate protein powder, 2 T baking powder, and 1/4 cup peanut butter. I mixed it all by hand since I still haven't been able to find my mixer (it's packed) but that actually went better than I expected. This made 6 muffins perfectly (I don't think the original poster ever mentioned how many muffins it makes). This was really good! I'm glad I added the chocolate powder too. I could even see this being good with other powders. I think you could change it up quite a bit and still get a good result!

If you're sharing it with kids, like I was, I recommend a plant based protein powder. It's gentler on their tummies :)

I will definitely make these again and it actually went really quick! (I'm always nervous to make something that requires bake time because I need to eat pretty soon after waking up but this wasn't so bad!)

Cream Cheese Wontons

Every time I get Chinese food, I get wontons. They can be crab rangoon, cream cheese, or even those dessert-y cinnamon ones some places have. But no matter what, I have to have them. They're addicting. Even my kids love them!

Since moving (different story for a different day), we have been very consciously trying to eat out less. It's actually not all that difficult because the only place to eat within a 25 minute radius is pizza from a gas station (now, I am not dissing that pizza. It is actually AWESOME. And we do go there about once a month to treat ourselves). So I have to recreate some of our favorites at home. Most things are a little difficult when you only have one burner (think hot plate--it can't boil a pot of water if the pot is big) and no oven (but yes, a toaster oven. A very old, very small toaster oven!)

I bought wonton wrappers the other day to use up the crab that the kids stopped eating. By the time the wrappers made it home, the kids ate up the crab. How does that happen??

So I got a little more basic and did cream cheese wontons.

1/2 pack of wonton wrappers (I believe it was a 48 wrapper pack)
a couple dashes of garlic
a couple dashes onion powder (if I had them on hand, I would've used green onions or chives)
2 packs of (softened) cream cheese

Mix the garlic, onion powder, and cream cheese until well combined. Add a dollop of mixture into center of wonton wrapper. Dip your fingertip in a little bowl of water and wet the edges of the wonton wrapper. Fold as you wish (I made little envelopes, some people do triangles, and some people can master the true wonton shape).

Put in toaster oven at 350 until browning (ten minutes? I kind of lost track of time doing these). Let cool (because they will be CRAZY hot!) and enjoy!

Huge hit with myself, kids ate them, husband tolerated them (but in his defense, he doesn't really like wontons anyway). I personally think they were better than the take-out ones (but isn't homemade stuff usually better anyway?)

Carrot Cheese Crackers

Oh my goodness has it been a long time since I blogged! My computer was having some crazy issues and then I just got more and more behind. I am missing so many recipes I have made in the past few months and sadly, I will not be able to blog about them. When I don't blog a recipe shortly after making it, I forget all my specifications and notes to myself. How sad!

Well, today I made some crackers. They're supposed to be comparable to Cheez-Its and I think they are close enough. My husband said they taste like "under-cooked noodles, but that's a good thing! I liked them!" so...who knows.

I found the recipe here but I didn't exactly follow it.

For the carrots, a long time ago I had tried to make a carrot puree for my toddlers to enjoy in a pouch that was much too watery and chunky to be considered a puree. I froze it all in ice cube trays anyway and have been using it up slowly in sauces, burgers, casseroles, etc. I thawed about 15 ice cubes worth for the carrot part of these crackers.

So I put my carrot stuff in a bowl, added 2 eggs, and a big handful of cheese (and then my toddler added a handful of cheese--just for good measure!) and stirred it all up. I didn't use a mixer or food processor at all. I added the flour (I used white, not whole wheat) 1/4 cup at a time. The last 1/4 cup I should've added the whole thing but for some reason I thought my dough was thick enough. It was so sticky though so I had a really hard time getting cracker shapes out of a lot of it. So I made about 40 crackers and then a big pile of mush.

I would definitely make these again. Both of my toddlers loved them (even after knowing there were carrots in there!). Next time, I'll try not to forget to sprinkle on salt before they go in the oven but it actually wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it was going to be. Now I have a better use for my weird carrot ice cubes!

Avocado Chocolate Chip Cookies

My grocery store frequently has deals on produce like "buy 2, get 3 free". If you see a sign like that, you gotta buy it! That's better than 50% off! One of the items this past time was avocados. I do not like avocados but I want to like avocados. Actually, nobody in my family likes them. They're just an odd texture, odd flavor, odd appearance. I bought them anyway. We'd have to eat them if I buy them, right?

So we decide to cut one up to see if my toddler or 8 month old like them. My 2 year old said no without even trying it. Then she tried it but still didn't like it (but points for trying it!). My 8 month old made a face. Now, he makes faces at lots of things but then will gesture that he wants more. Not this time. We tried to give him more and he definitely said no. We left it on his tray (it was a slice) and he didn't touch it. My husband choked down a slice and said no more so that left me. I ate the rest of it mixed with our dinner. It was tolerable.

Then I pinterested about it (because really, where else do I look for recipes?) and I found something amazing. Avocado Chocolate Chip Cookies. They say that you can't taste the avocado in them at all! I decided to make them. Then, life got in the way so I actually convinced my husband to make them for me. He did things a little differently than the recipe so I'll write it out.

• 2 avocados
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg (the only non-vegan ingredient in these and easily replaceable!)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (he used as much whole wheat flour we had but it was almost gone so he substituted the rest for regular flour)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 2 T coconut oil
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheet with silicone mat (or parchment paper). Scoop out your avocados and place into the bowl of your stand mixer. Add coconut oil and sugar and mix for about 5 minutes, or until avocados have broken down (chunks are okay.) Add the egg and vanilla. Mix until well combined. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir until just combined. Mix in the chocolate chips. Spoon out dough into cookie-sized balls and put onto baking sheet. Bake for 10-11 minutes and remove from oven. Allow to cool slightly on baking sheet and then move to cooling rack.

And it turned out true! You get the health benefits of the avocado WITHOUT tasting them at all!! I was amazed. My toddler loved these cookies, as well as my husband and I. We stored them in the fridge because avocados go bad so quickly. This made them taste even better. There is nothing better than cold chocolate chip cookies. I would say eat them up in a few days before they can go bad but you probably don't have to try very hard because they're so delicious! I rate this a 10/10. 

I will add that they do turn out green. This can be a little off-putting if you are trying to hide the veggies in there but I liked the original poster's suggestion of making them at Christmas time and everyone assumes it's food dye! 

Homemade Spinach Crackers

To continue the veggie effort, I decided to make homemade spinach crackers. I actually doubled the spinach they said to and used salt (not bouillon). I tried to make these in the blender, rather than the food processor but it got too thick and I ended up mixing a lot of it by hand. They definitely were easy to make though. The hardest part was rolling out the dough.

I think they taste sort of like saltines. I can't taste the spinach at all (although they do come out green). They're very dry and I wonder how they would be dipped in something.I rate these about a 3 out of 5. Little Girl doesn't mind them but she doesn't exactly gobble them up either. I'm not sure I'd make them again just because my target audience didn't thoroughly enjoy them. Although, I may try to experiment with different things in them such as cheese, bits of other veggies, or different seasonings.

There is a chance I made them thicker than they were supposed to be but I don't think this was a problem (and I didn't even have to adjust cooking time). The recipe says it makes about half a box of crackers. I was somehow expecting this to be more than a sandwich baggie full but I suppose that's about right.

Mushroom Spinach White Sauce Lasagna Roll Ups

Whenever possible, I prefer to do lasagna roll ups instead of layered lasagna. Then I don't feel guilty serving it with bread (since it's less noodles per serving, less carbs)! I also think they are easier to eat and cut with a fork. For some reason, I really struggle with layered lasagna. I end up eating the layers one by one because I am unable to cut them. It's ridiculous.

Anyway, I found this recipe for the roll ups. I have made something similar before (check my posts from July of 2014 I believe---sorry no link back) but these were with a white sauce and I think that made them so much better.

I will say I left out the broccoli. That sounded like an odd combination to me and I get nervous when dinner has too many vegetables in it (too healthy=doesn't end up tasting good in my experience). Plus, all I had was frozen and I wasn't sure that was what they meant for the recipe. I didn't use fresh spices or fresh garlic (I used the spice version) but it worked out.

I followed the instructions and was surprised you cook the noodles after you cook everything else but it really does take that long (at least at my house) to boil the water. However, like with most recipes, she has you preheat the oven way too early. I would preheat it while your noodles are cooking.

Ours didn't turn brown on top, probably because of the foil and the directions never said to take the foil off but we ate it the way it was. This was so good! My husband and I both rated it a 9/10. I don't think I'd make any changes if I make it again but I will say that with prep time, this took us 2 hours to make. Definitely not going to get added to the weekly rotation!

I served it with bruschetta because I had a little leftover tomato and parmesan cheese to use up. I used the recipe that I used last April (again, check my archives). This also turned out great.

I would definitely eat both of these meals again and for once I agree with the servings per recipe. The lasagna makes 6 servings (2 roll ups a person).

Another Banana Bread Recipe

Banana bread is something that doesn't stick around for long in this house. Even Baby likes to eat it! I already have a tried and true recipe from my mom that I like to make and I already have a butterless recipe to speed things up. Now, I have a butterless recipe that uses coconut milk! We don't care for coconut but we are still trying to use it up from Ruby's Pantry.

The recipe is pretty basic and comes together quickly. I did leave out the shredded coconut for our tastes. I also left out the almond extract, simply because we don't keep that on hand. I used the all purpose flour and added more baking soda (like she suggested) to make up for it. Also, I used regular coconut milk and my bananas weren't overly ripe. This is actually my first time using regular bananas, instead of black ones but I think it turned out the same.

The recipe says it makes one loaf but don't be fooled! It makes one HUGE loaf. It was about a half inch from the top of my pan when I poured it in. That should've tipped me off to use two pans but I was already doubling the recipe (although making it twice, not doubling everything at once). I ended up with two loaves (with my doubled recipe) but I easily could've had four or maybe even six! It took an hour and twenty minutes to bake. I had to move my oven rack all the way to the bottom after an hour because the top was getting browner quicker than the inside was cooking. If I had split the recipe, this wouldn't've happened because the middle wouldn't need so much time to cook.

After the slight baking issues, this bread was really really good! We couldn't taste the coconut at all (a good thing! If you want to taste the coconut, people suggest using coconut oil as well). It was super moist and had a nice crust on it. We are never going to buy coconut milk on our own accord but we are already planning on making a third (and fourth) loaf to use up more of what we have!

Pear Applesauce Muffins

Over the weekend, I discovered that I had 2 pears I needed to use up. I love to eat them when they are really really soft (my husband thinks this is disgusting because they are basically rotten by the time they are soft enough for me) but even these ones were a bit past that. I would feel bad wasting them and decided they would be okay to bake with (you can bake with black bananas so I think you can bake with squishy pears).

I found this recipe for muffins and doubled it so I could use both pears. I left the pear skin on and it wasn't a problem. I also used cinnamon instead of Chinese five spice powder because I had no idea what that was so I definitely didn't have it in my pantry. The only other minor change was not using brown sugar on top. We tried to sprinkle it on a couple but the sugar was too clumpy and wasn't working out so only like, 3 got any.

These tasted really good! My husband doesn't normally like chunks in things (like apples in apple bread) so he was unsure until he had one. Even he liked them! I do have a couple complaints, however. First, they stuck to the liners. Well, only one batch stuck to the liners and we can't figure out why they weren't the same. It was the same batter and the same liners but whatever. Some people say this could be because of the liner you are using. Others say it happens with low fat recipes. I'm not sure these qualify as low fat because they do still have half a stick of butter in them but maybe. Next time, I'll just grease my muffin tin instead.

Second, they dry out really fast. By the second day of sitting on the counter, they were pretty hard (but still edible). Now, they are in the cookie jar and doing slightly better but we still find if you warm them up for about 10 seconds in the microwave, they're much better. In other words, don't make a double batch if you aren't prepared to eat 24 muffins in a day or two!

But other than that, these are really good, quick, and easy! I will definitely make them again. Maybe I'll freeze some of them next time before they get too hard.

Butter-Free Banana Bread

Our daughter used to LOVE bananas. We even had to call them B's because if we said the full word, she would freak out and want one instantly. She still likes them but lately hasn't been eating them quite so voraciously so we had some of them get too spotty. What better way to use them up than to make banana bread! The thing about baking is you have to plan ahead so your butter (and sometimes eggs) can be room temperature. This drives me crazy because I always forget. But this time, it didn't matter because I found a recipe for banana bread that doesn't use butter!

The recipe turned out so good! I followed it almost exactly (I just didn't measure the cinnamon and probably used a lot less than called for). I did add an extra banana because mine were a little on the small side. Plus, I had 4 bananas and there's not a whole lot you can make with one over-ripe banana. The top crust on this was extra sweet (although I'm not sure why) and the whole thing was just amazing. I love it topped with butter but David eats it plain. I could also see this being good with honey (with butter too of course! I love butter!).

I do believe this will be my go-to banana bread recipe from now on. I feel a little guilty saying that though because my mom also makes an amazing banana bread recipe that even makes two loaves at once! This, sadly, only makes one loaf. But I'm already hoping to get the store to buy more bananas to make this again very very soon. I can't recommend this bread enough! And, especially because you don't have to thaw butter, it goes together very fast.

Cheesy Quinoa Bites and Buckeye Balls with Rice Krispies

A long time ago, I pinned these cheesy quinoa bites but I never got around to making them. I made something similar, veggie egg bites (sorry I don't have the link back but you should be able to search for it in my history of posts) and those were amazing so I expected good things from these.

They were great! I do have the complaint that there is a 1:3 ratio for dry quinoa vs cooked and the recipe calls for 2 cups cooked quinoa. That doesn't really make for easy measuring for the dry, so I just did a half cup of dry. However, I didn't change any of the amounts of the other ingredients. I think they turned out just fine. I did leave out the green onion and I substituted the cilantro for parsley. I also did cheddar cheese instead of Parmesan, just because it was what I had on hand. We baked them for 15 minutes but weren't sure when they were supposed to be done. We figured since they held their shape after taking them out of the pan, they were done. Next time, I might add more vegetables to the mix. It was a LOT of quinoa per bite.

I will also mention that we only got 6 and a half bites out of this. Granted, our muffin tray is a little big but it's not jumbo or anything. Even if we used a mini muffin tray, there is no way I would've got 20+ bites out of this. Maybe I made that much less quinoa? I don't know. I can't figure it out but it was plenty of food for David and me.

For dessert, I made peanut butter balls with rice krispies. These are extremely similar to buckeye balls. In fact, I think they're the same thing, just with the addition of the cereal. I like them better with the cereal too. I like the crunch it gives it with a different texture. We weren't able to fully coat ours with chocolate but I like them even without the chocolate! We will definitely be making these again! We only did a half hour in the fridge for the balls without chocolate and then an hour in the freezer with the chocolate. Best of all, you don't have to soften butter ahead of time or even bake them!

Blueberry Lemon Cookies

I know this is another blueberry recipe but I still had more to use up (they were on sale really cheap so I basically bought them in bulk!). I got the recipe here but it's divided between two pages. This was really obnoxious to me when I was trying to bake them so I will repost it all below. Note: This is the original recipe. My changes will follow.

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
zest of 1 lemon
3 Tbsp lemon juice
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups blueberries
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. In an electric bowl mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition, add lemon zest and juice, and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
4. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients into the batter.
5. Carefully fold in the blueberries after all the ingredients have been mixed together.
6. Allow dough to cool in the refrigerator for at least an hour and up to overnight.
7. Preheat oven to 350.
8. Use a small scoop (about 1 tbsp size) and place rounded balls of dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or foil (or non-stick cookie sheets).
9. Bake for 11-14 minutes, until the bottoms are slightly golden brown (the edges should not brown).

Instead of the lemon zest and juice, I just used a little lemon extract. I also used all purpose flour, rather than cake flour. I never understood buying all those different types of flours. I don't know how much of a difference it really makes. I only buy all purpose and whole wheat and those are different, for obvious reasons.

I noticed the recipe didn't say when to add the vanilla so I added it when it says to add the lemon, since my lemon was also an extract. We cooled our dough for about 24 hours because we kind of forgot about it. When we baked, we realized how stupid it is to say "cook until the bottoms are brown" when you can't see the bottoms! We kind of guessed. One of our batches was a little darker than the other but they both turned out fine. I don't know if they would've been over done had the edges been brown too but I try to follow recipes carefully.

I will mention that this recipe made about 2 dozen cookies (and we ended up sharing about half of them as a thank you to David's parents for watching our baby for her very first sleepover!). They had a scone-like consistency, but they were really good. I'm actually not a huge fan of lemon so I found that a bit overpowering but the people who tried them and like lemon said they were fantastic. I would probably make these again, keeping my changes, but I'm not sure it's worth it to refrigerate the dough before baking. 

Blueberry Breakfast Cake

I purchased some blueberries this past week but they have an odd texture to them, like they aren't quite ripe or something. I can't figure it out but I didn't want them to go to waste so I thought I'd use them to bake. I found this recipe on Pinterest and I think it turned out great! I can't even taste the weirdness with the blueberries and I'd be interested in trying it with other berries as well.

I did make a few changes, as usual. Instead of lemon zest, I used lemon extract. I also didn't coat the blueberries in flour. I never understood that step. I have skipped it in other recipes and I have done it for other recipes and I can't figure out what it's supposed to change. Nothing seems different to me so without doing it, it's less work and less wasted flour.

I also don't think my butter was quite up to room temp by the time I used it because it didn't mix smoothly but it turned out okay. We baked it for 35 minutes and tested it with a toothpick. The toothpick came out clean so we waited the 15 minutes before cutting it. Turns out, it wasn't done afterall. It was a little soupy in the middle. Since it just has the one egg and we don't worry about Salmonella as much as we probably should, we've been eating it anyway. It still tastes great but I would recommend cooking yours all the way through.

Also, I don't usually add the sugar topping to recipes like this because I don't like the "crunch" of the sugar crystals but it works really well with this cake. This is perfect to serve for breakfast. I actually had it this morning with a side of yogurt and it was excellent!

I would definitely make this again and I'd be curious to try it with strawberries. With a bit of lemon, it might be like strawberry lemonade!

Cheesecake Brownies

Everybody loves brownies. We have tried a couple of homemade recipes but we always think that the boxed ones taste better. Some day I hope to find a good homemade recipe. In the meantime, I have found the BEST brownies I have ever tasted. I might even go so far as to say it's the best thing I have ever tasted, dessert or not. These are definitely a 10/10 but make sure you keep the milk close by because you're going to need it!

Here's the link to the recipe. I cannot recommend these enough! They are actually quite simple to make and can be made with homemade or boxed brownie mix. The cream cheese doesn't have to be softened first (although it wouldn't hurt), making it a recipe you can whip up right away. Nothing frustrates me more than when I go to make a dessert recipe and I need a few ingredients at room temp.

We had to bake ours for 55 minutes and I don't think a couple more minutes would've hurt but we were anxious to eat them! We even put them outside (in winter) so they would cool faster (yes, I am impatient when it comes to desserts..).

I will also mention that I don't know if the two pieces of foil are necessary. One for sure but maybe only use two if it doesn't cover your pan?

If you only make one thing off my blog, let it be this one! You won't regret it.

Whipping Cream Pound Cake

Hey everyone! I apologize for getting a little behind in blogging again. This time, my mom was in town and I never blog when she's around so I get to spend more time with her. I'm back though and I'll try to stay back. Our baby is 9 months old (today!) though so we'll see how that goes...

About a week ago, I made a whipping cream pound cake. I'm told Elvis really liked it but I only know about his obsession with peanut butter and bananas. I had some extra cream to use up so I thought this would be a good idea. Definitely not healthy but oh so delicious!

The recipe is quite simple with common ingredients. It does take 7 eggs though so good thing I had a stockpile of those (they were on sale for 99 cents!)! I will mention that I didn't sift the flour. They say to do it twice but I didn't even do it once. I usually skip steps like those. I'm sure it doesn't turn out exactly the same but to me, it's a waste of time. You can decide for yourself.

My husband rated this cake a 10 so you know it has to be good. We ate it plain, no glaze or anything. Next time, I'd be curious to try a different flavored extract but David didn't seem interested. He liked it just the way it was.

It did stick to the pan a little bit so make sure you spray it well. It also took closer to the 70 minutes to bake. So, this recipe takes a while to make but most of it is the baking time.

I also recommend covering it once it's cut so it doesn't dry out. Ours dried out very quickly (but was still edible and yummy, just not quite the same).

BLT Ravioli, Buckeye Brownies, and Homemade Granola Bars

We have been busy trying to cook from scratch more. Sometimes it works out. Sometimes we give in and use prepackaged things. And sometimes we combine the two, like with BLT ravioli. I don't think we will ever make our pasta from scratch (although we did make gnocchi once) but it's just not worth the time to me.

BLT Ravioli is a great recipe. It does require alfredo sauce. They use jarred but I didn't want to do that. So I made this sauce. It recommends doubling it for a whole box of noodles. We did so, but I'm not sure it was necessary. The sauce was really easy to make and the only ingredient we didn't have on hand was the cream. It does cook up really really fast and if you make it too early, you have to constantly whisk it so it doesn't form a film on the top.

The BLT Ravioli is a bit more time consuming. I do believe it was worth it and I will make this recipe again but it took a lot of time management, which has never been my strong suit while cooking. Our bacon took 15 minutes to cook and the rest of the prep took about 5 minutes. We did use frozen spinach rather than fresh though because it was what we had. Also, we left out the cheese because our alfredo sauce had cheese in it and the ravioli was cheese. That seemed like plenty and we didn't regret it. This recipe was a new twist on an old favorite. It was great!

Then over the weekend, we made buckeye brownies. Brownies don't need any sprucing up and are plenty of calories on their own but these looked too good to resist. We love buckeye balls so when I saw these, I knew we had to have them. I will admit we gave some away so we didn't eat the entire pan ourselves. The chocolate topping takes a lot longer than expected to harden but we ate them before it completely hardened anyway.

Lastly, we made our own granola bars. They always seem like such a waste of money to buy and you can't control what goes into them then. These ones can even be made vegan, if you pick the right ingredients (like the chocolate chips). We replaced the corn syrup with honey. We also only needed 1 1/4 cup of cereal instead of 2 cups. I love how quick these came together. You do have to wait to cut them but that isn't a big deal. You can even freeze them!

Homemade, From Scratch Egg Rolls

In town, we have two new Chinese buffets. David and I love Chinese food but apparently, so does the rest of our town. They are always packed, to the point that there are no spots remaining in the parking lot! While we are waiting for the fad to die down, we decided to make our own Chinese at home. A few weeks ago, we made a yakisoba (I believe I blogged about it...) and last night, we made egg rolls.

I had planned on buying the pre-made egg roll wrappers but our local grocery store doesn't carry them. I considered seeing if Walmart had them but after I looked up the recipe, it didn't seem worth it. They are super simple to make with very few, cheap ingredients that you have on hand.

This recipe is what I decided to make. I did follow a comment's suggestion of adding a little sugar to make them crispier. I'm not really sure if that worked or not but they tasted great. I only got 6 wrappers out of it because the link wants you to make wonton sized wrappers. We made ours a little bigger but they definitely weren't square. The final result didn't look like egg rolls but they tasted like them!

For the insides, we shredded half a head of cabbage and three carrots (or you can buy a prepackaged bag, like what you would buy for coleslaw) and threw in some shredded pork we had frozen before Baby was born. We added a few squirts of soy sauce and some ginger. That was all they needed. These were plenty flavorful and not necessarily authentic, but they were what we were looking for (because the Chinese buffets around here probably aren't all that authentic either).

So we combined all the filling ingredients in a large bowl. Then we put some in the middle of our dough, rolled them up whatever way made the most sense and put them on a greased baking sheet. They went in the oven for 17 minutes (15-20) at 425.

We will definitely make these again but they do take a bit of time to make the wrappers by hand. My suggestion is to chop up all the vegetables while you are waiting the 30 minutes for your dough to be ready.