Memorial Day Roundup

First I want to start off by saying thank you to each and every person, past and present, that has served this country and especially those that have sacrificed their lives to protect our freedom. I’ve mentioned before that my dad served in the Air Force for 20 years and I will be forever grateful for that choice that my parents made. I had the privilege to live in some amazing places and meet and become friends with people from all over the world. Through those experiences, I learned to be accepting of all people, to be adaptable, to know that life is much bigger than just me so the world shouldn’t revolve around just me and to always respect men and women in uniform.

I know there is so much I am missing but at the end of the day all I’m trying to say is that my dad’s service and sacrifice sculpted me into a better person than I could ever have been without it. So I hope on Memorial Day (and every day), you can all remember everyone that serves or has served and be thankful for all they do for us. It’s a huge undertaking and deserves the utmost respect.

Here is a list of some great sides, main dishes and desserts that would be perfect for your Memorial Day celebration. Enjoy!

Spring Sangria

Cucumber Tomato Salad

Smoked Corn on the Cobb

Juicy Lucy’s (Cheese Stuffed Burgers)

Coca-Cola BBQ Chicken Skewers

Cheesecake Filled Strawberries

Patriotic Funfetti Whoopie Pies

Red, White and Blue Tie-Dyed Cupcakes

Chocolate Chip Cookie Granola Squares

We are heading to Fargo on Friday to visit our old stomping grounds and I’m really excited! It’s been 5 months since we moved and although I’m finally starting to feel at home here, I still really miss our first home. And I’m totally ready to eat some delicious food including pizza, burgers and doughnuts….I should make sure to pack some maternity pants so I have some extra room.

But first on the list is driving by our old house. Our first home together, the home we brought Noah home to after he was born, the home where I instilled a love of cooking in Noah. And one of Noah’s favorite things to make and eat is granola bars. I can’t believe that I haven’t shared any with you all here.

We were taking a trip to Kansas to visit Joel’s family so I wanted to bring a treat that was dairy free for my mother-in-law and something that Noah would enjoy too. These granola squares fit the bill perfectly. They tasted cookie-like but included healthier ingredients that make it a little easier to indulge your sweet tooth.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Granola Squares
recipe slightly adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction

3/4 cup Trader Joes Cookie Butter or Biscoff Spread (or nut butter of  your choice)
2 Tbs.p coconut oil
1/3 cup honey or maple syrup
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. chia seeds
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
sprinkles, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8×8 pan with nonstick spray or line with foil for easy cleanup.

2. Melt the biscoff and coconut oil in the microwave. Stir in the honey/maple syrup, egg and vanilla until combined. Stir in the remaining ingredients.

3. Dump the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth it out. The original recipe states to bake for 21-24 minutes but mine took more like 30 minutes. Bake until no longer gooey and edges turn golden brown.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream

So, I don’t want to jinx things but it seems like maybe, just maybe, spring weather is finally arriving around here (despite the fact that it snowed a bit earlier this week). It’s been in the sixties the past few days and forecasted for the 70s next week. Can’t complain about that! Hopefully, it just stays this way and the heat doesn’t come and slap us across the face right away.

But in case it does, I have this ice cream in my arsenal to help cool us off. And now you all do too!

Joel’s favorite ice cream is cookie dough and I have made it for him several times (please forgive me for the pictures, it was in my early days). But when I saw this, I knew it was all over. Why just make plain old vanilla ice cream and add cookie dough when you could make cookie dough flavored ice cream with cookie dough chunks mixed in. And so much cookie dough that it is literally bursting full and difficult to mix in. Now that’s what Joel’s dreams are made of…brown sugar, browned butter, chocolate chip-y goodness.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream
recipe from Annie’s Eats

For the cookie dough:
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

For the ice cream:
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
4 large egg yolks
Pinch of coarse salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup mini chocolate chips

1. For the cookie dough: stir together the butter, salt and brown sugar in a small bowl. Once combined, mix in the flour, vanilla and chocolate chips. Spread the dough out onto a piece of saran wrap and tightly cover. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

2. For the ice cream, melt the butter over medium high heat. Stir constantly and continue cooking until the butter begins to brown and smell nutty. Whisk in the heavy cream and bring to a simmer. While waiting for the cream to simmer, whisk together the egg yolks and brown sugar until thickened and pale. Slowly stream in a bit of the warm cream into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Once combined, stir in the rest of the cream then pour it back into the pan. Stir in the salt then cook until thickened and the mixture reaches 170-175 degrees F. Remove the mixture from the heat and pour through a fine mesh sieve into a large, clean mixing bowl. Stir in the vanilla and milk. Cover, place in the refrigerator and chill for at least a few hours.

3. Once chilled, freeze your ice cream according to your manufacturers instructions. Meanwhile, cut the cookie dough into small, bite-size chunks. During the last five minutes of freezing, slowly add in the cookie dough and chocolate chips so that they can mix in thoroughly. If your ice cream maker doesn’t allow this, wait until the freezing is done then quickly mix in the dough and chocolate chips. Freeze until firm or enjoy immediately.

Almond Joy or Mounds Eggs

If you are looking for a fun Easter treat to make with the kiddos, this is it! Noah and I are huge coconut and almond lovers so this was an ideal sweet for us.

Noah loved dumping all the ingredients into the KitchenAid and turning it on. Needless to say, we may have had a powdered sugar shower. Once the dough chilled, I formed the eggs and the dude put the almonds on top. This is my disclaimer to any of you that received these (in case there were two on top of each other or they were pushed down to the bottom). After awhile, he got a little bored and decided he would just eat the almonds while I finished them up. And like a typical boy, he put too much in his mouth and decided he would spit them out into the bowl of almonds…lovely I know. After that little incident, the eggs became Mounds. Oh, the joys of cooking with kids.

These turned out absolutely perfect! They taste a lot like almond joys and are the perfect small bite when you have a sweet tooth. The recipe states that it makes 28-30 eggs but I decided to make them a little smaller and came out with about 40. I still placed two almonds on each egg (you know, before the spitting incident) so keep that in mind when considering how many almonds you will need. I sprinkled the Mounds version with sprinkles so that we could tell the difference and well, because sprinkles make everything happy.

Coconut Cream Almond Joy {or Mounds} Easter Eggs
recipe from food.com

1/4 lb. butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 lbs. confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
15 ounces flaked coconut
20 -23 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (almost 1 lg. bag)
Unsalted almonds, 2 for each egg

1. Mix the butter and cream cheese together (I use my KitchenAid) Add the confectionary sugar about 1 cup at a time, salt and vanilla then mix well. Add the coconut and mix until well blended (it will be very thick).
2. Place the mixture in the freezer to chill for at least 20 minutes.
3. Take out of the freezer and form into egg shapes with your hands. (It is helpful to put some confectionary sugar on your hands so the eggs don’t stick to them when rolling out the dough).
4. Place each egg on a cookie sheet, covered with aluminum foil. When you are done, add 2 nuts on the top of each egg, pressing in slightly, so they don’t fall out.
5. Place in the freezer again for at least 25 minutes.
6. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler.
7. Dip the bottom of the egg into the chocolate, then place it on a small flat dish. Take a large spoon and spoon some melted chocolate on top, spreading around with a butter knife. Make sure you don’t get it on too thick, or you won’t have enough for the whole batch. To put the egg on the cookie sheet, use a sharp knife, and run it under the egg to transfer to the cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil.
8. When done making eggs, put in the freezer for a few minutes to harden. Store in the refrigerator, covered with aluminum foil.

Peanut Butter Cup Banana Bread + 1,000 Followers!

Yep, you read that right. You didn’t think banana bread could get any better did ya? But adding peanut butter and peanut butter cups totally does. I got this recipe from my wonderful friend Molly who made this for us while we were going through a hard time last year. Not only was it a sweet gesture but it also opened me up to a whole new world of banana bread.

As you all know, I am kind of obsessed with anything involving the combination of chocolate and peanut butter. So, throw in the banana’s and it’s pretty much a guarantee that I will love it.

This is a quick bread to throw together and I love that the recipe yields just one loaf of bread. So many make two loaves which we never eat in time and it just adds a lot of baking time since I only have one loaf pan. Sure, I could go get another pan but I just can’t really justify it.

It has the perfect amount of bananas, peanut butter and chocolate to make it a delicious after dinner dessert or an indulgent breakfast.

On a random side note, I hit over 1,000 followers this weekend! I am so thankful to each and every one of you that have enjoyed my site enough to sign up to receive emails and read my posts every week! When I started this blog I thought it would just be my way of storing recipes and sharing them with family and friends. I never imagined strangers would want to see what I was cooking every week! You guys are the best and you give me so much inspiration! Thank you so very much!

Peanut Butter Cup Banana Bread

3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz bag of Reese’s Mini cups

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Grease your loaf pan with butter or shortening. (I used butter)

3. In a medium bowl whisk together your flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside.

4. In a large bowl stir together your bananas, peanut butter, oil, egg and sugars.

5. Pour your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Batter will be lumpy.

6. Fold in your Reese’s Mini cups and spread batter into prepared pan.

7. Bake for approx 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then loosen the edges of the pan with a knife and remove from loaf pan, transferring bread to a cooling rack.

Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies {Christmas Tray 2012}

Joel’s favorite cookie is the humble chocolate chip. I totally get it but as a food blogger it sometimes pains me to make them for him. They are just so plain and I am always trying to find ways to jazz them up because I just can’t leave well enough alone. I give in sometimes and simply make our old standby but for the Christmas tray, I just couldn’t do the standard ole’ thing. But because they are a favorite in our house, we had to have some kind of chocolate chip studded cookie. I searched through my millions of saved recipes and found these. The perfect compromise.

I love pistachios and since they are green, they are totally Christmas-y. Got it? Now if only I could find a way to make broccoli all Christmas-y, then we would be in business…but it wouldn’t be as much fun or nearly as delicious. Who needs veggies anyway?

The recipe uses a pistachio pudding mix to impart the delicious flavor and in addition, it adds an undeniable moist, chewy texture to the cookies. I can absolutely get behind chocolate chip cookies of this variety. And I know at Christmastime, I get all worked up trying be all fancy pants so it’s nice to have a simple and tasty recipe that can be whipped together in minutes to fill in the holes on that lovely tray!

Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies
recipe from The Baking Pan

3¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 small package (3.4 ounces) pistachio flavored instant pudding mix
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (I used butter flavored shortening)
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ cup toasted walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped (optional)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare 2 large baking sheets: lightly grease with shortening or line with parchment paper, or line with a non-stick baking mat.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and pudding mix; whisk together to mix. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, combine sugar and butter; cream together until mixture appears light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula so the mixture blends evenly. Add eggs; beat until thoroughly mixed. Stir in milk and vanilla. Add sifted flour mixture; stir until mixed. Add walnuts and chocolate chips; stir to mix.

4. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or just until cookies are set and edges are very lightly browned. Remove cookies from baking sheets with a metal spatula and place on a wire cooling rack to cool.

Nutter Butter Candy Corn Bars

I’ve been so obsessed with sharing football food that I totally overlooked Halloween eats. We have been super busy around here and my mind has been elsewhere. I even missed out on starting a 12 weeks of Christmas treats series. Super disappointing since it was so fun last year. But no worries, I will be bringing you lots of treats for the upcoming holidays.

Now, onto Halloween which is approaching way too quickly! Noah is going to be a golfer this year and he is very excited to say the least. I know it seems like an odd choice but he is totally obsessed with all sports (surprise, surprise) and he particularly loves golf. He has a little golf set that we play with every day, all day. This boy, who never stops moving, will just sit on Joel’s lap and watch golf while yelling “hit it in the hole guy!” And if they miss, even on their first shot, he yells “missss.” He has high expectations. So, needless to say, this Halloween is going to be very fun in our house! Plus, he will get it this year and actually get to enjoy some of the candy.

These rich, simple, 4 ingredient bars would be great for any Halloween party! They just scream fall with all that yummy candy corn peeking out from every nook and cranny. I think they would be good with a little chocolate drizzled on top (but you guys know I have a thing for peanut butter and chocolate). They would be great addition to a Halloween dessert bar along with Candy Corn Cookies and Peppermint Patties.

Nutter Butter Candy Corn Bars
recipe from the Cookin’ Cowgirl

1 lb. package Nutter Butters
1 cup candy corn
4 Tbsp. butter
6 cups marshmallows

Place one row of the Nutter Butters in the food processor and pulse a few times. Blend until cookies are turned into crumbs. Break up remaining row of cookies into large chunks. In a large bowl, melt butter and marshmallows together in microwave, stirring occasionally. Once melted, add Nutter Butter crumbs and chunks and stir together. (This will be thick and a little tough to stir; don’t worry, you’re doing it right.) Pour about 3/4 cup candy corn into mixture and stir to combine. Pour mixture into 8×8 baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Top cookie bars with remaining 1/4 C candy corn. Let cool completely before cutting.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites

These have football season written all over them! Not only are they a perfectly portable, bite-size snack but they have all the necessary elements for game day: sweet, salty, smooth and crunchy. Yum!

I’ve said time and time again that the combination of peanut butter and chocolate is pretty much a match made in heaven for me. I also love chocolate covered pretzels so I knew when I saw these that they would be an instant favorite….and they totally were! They take a bit of time to make with the rolling freezing time and dipping but they are absolutely worth it for your next gathering! I dipped half in white chocolate and half in semi-sweet and both versions were great.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites
recipe from Two Tiny Kitchens

1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 Tbsp. softened butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
Pretzels
1 bag  semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 package white almond bark (optional)

1. Combine peanut butter and softened butter in a large bowl with a fork or whisk, or in a stand mixer.  Add the sugars and mix to combine.  At this point if the filling will roll easily into balls without sticking to your hands you’re ready to go.  If not, add a little more of each sugar until you reach a consistency that is easy to roll.

2. Use a teaspoon measure to scoop the filling.  Roll each portion into a small ball, then sandwich them between two whole pretzels.  When all the balls are rolled and successfully sandwiched, stick the whole tray in the freezer for about half an hour.

3. Pour the chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl and heat at 30-second intervals, stirring occasionally until completely melted.  Chop the white almond bark and place in a seperate bowl then melt in 30-second intervals. Remove half of the pretzel sandwiches from the freezer and quickly dip half-way into the melted chocolate. Return to the tray and repeat with remaining sandwiches, dipping them into the white almond bark.  When all are dipped, return the tray to the freezer to set up completely.  Store the sandwiches in the refrigerator until serving time.

Chocolate Pudding

Whenever Joel was sick growing up, his mom always made him butterscotch pudding. So when Noah had Croup, followed only days later by Hand, Mouth and Food Disease I knew pudding would be a perfect little treat that wouldn’t hurt his sour throat. He had basically been living on yogurt, smoothies and popsicles so he was very glad to indulge in a chocolate-y dessert he had never eaten before. And I think I created a monster because he totally loved it…not that I’m surprised, he’s a total and complete chocoholic.

Chocolate Pudding
recipe from Smitten Kitchen
Serves 6

1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups whole milk
6 ounces 62% semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Combine the cornstarch, sugar and salt in the top of a double boiler. Slowly whisk in the milk, scraping the bottom and sides with a heatproof spatula to incorporate the dry ingredients. Place over gently simmering water and stir occasionally, scraping the bottom and sides. Use a whisk as necessary should lumps begin to form. After 15 to 20 minutes, when the mixture begins to thicken and coats the back of the spoon, add the chocolate (it took mine more like 30 minutes – I don’t think the water was simmering enough). Continue stirring for about 2 to 4 minutes, or until the pudding is smooth and thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.

2. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a serving bowl or into a large measuring cup with a spout and pour into individual serving dishes.

3. If you like pudding skin, pull plastic wrap over the top of the serving dish(es) before refrigerating. If you dislike pudding skin, place plastic wrap on top of the pudding and smooth it gently against the surface before refrigerating. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days.

Apple Streusel Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze

See these apples? We picked them….for free. And we took them home…for free! Seriously people, nothing is free anymore. I found out about this cute little orchard owned by the city last year but we never got around to checking it out. So when I heard that the apples were ready this year I put it as top priority in my phone’s to-do list. I take my lists VERY seriously.

So we headed to the orchard and had a great time picking the apples.

Good thing that boy of mine is so tall!

Many of the apples we brought home were dedicated to Noah’s favorite snack, lala, known to normal people as applesauce. We are still not sure where he came up with that one. To use up the rest of the apples, I went through all my recipes I have saved to find some yummy apple options.

This was the first recipe I found and after giving Joel tons of options, it was his hands down favorite. I will be sharing another of his must have picks later. It was even Noah’s top choice (after lala of course). Whenever we give him two options he always picks the second one, no matter what it is. I’ll admit we sometimes use that to our advantage.  Anyway, I asked him if he wanted apple cake or apple pie. His response: “apple cake.” I reversed the order and: “apple cake.” I asked several more times with a conclusive result of: “apple cake mama.”

You can’t really blame them can you? Apple cake with streusel and a glaze…I’m totally with them! I don’t care for fruit in dessert all that much but I can absolutely get behind this.

Apple Streusel Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze
recipe from Lauren’s Latest

For the cake:
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup peeled, diced apple (1/4 inch pieces)
1/3 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1/4 cup low fat buttermilk
1/4 cup low fat sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the streusel:
3/4 cup oats
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup walnuts

For the glaze:
3 oz. softened cream cheese
1 1/2 tablespoons softened margarine or butter
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons milk, or enough to make it a glazing consistency

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray 9-inch spring form pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk all dry ingredients together. Make a well in the center and pour all wet ingredients in. Slowly start mixing the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined. Toss in apple pieces and stir. Pour batter into prepared pan. In a small bowl, stir all ingredients for streusel together until butter pieces are small chunks found throughout mixture. Sprinkle over top of cake and bake 45-55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Remove from oven and cool.

3. Before serving, whip cream cheese and margarine together until smooth. Stir in powdered sugar, vanilla and milk until smooth and runny. Add the milk slowly until desired drizzling consistency is reached. Un-hinge spring form pan and place cake on serving platter. Drizzle with glaze and serve.