Homemade Creamed Corn

Hi, everyone! Hope all is well! We've had a busy week picking up tuxes, having our dog groomed, cleaning the house, packing, visiting the salon, etc. This will be my last post for a couple of weeks as we're just days from the wedding and our honeymoon! I'm super excited!

 

As promised, here's the recipe for Homemade Creamed Corn.

 

Ingredients:

2 packages frozen corn

1 package cream cheese, low fat

1 stick unsalted butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

 

Directions:

Turn slow cooker onto high and pour in corn.  In a microwave safe bowl, soften the cream cheese and butter.  Add this mixture to the corn and mix.  Season with salt and pepper.  Once cream cheese and butter are melted, you're ready to serve delicious homemade creamed corn!  Yum!

 

 



Sauteed Bananas

Hello, hello!  So glad the weekend is finally here!  Troy and I spent the evening cleaning the house since tonight was our last free night before we head to San Francisco.  So excited!

After cleaning, I was craving something sweet.  Solution?  Sauteed Bananas.  Yum!

Ingredients:
Bananas, sliced
Cinnamon-Sugar Mixture
Reddi-Whip
Chocolate Chips
Olive Oil

Directions:
Lightly spritz olive oil into heated sautee pan.  Place sliced bananas in pan and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Sautee for 2-3 minutes.  Transfer to bowl and top with chocolate chips and Reddi-Whip.  Simple, yet delicious!

Coming soon: Slow Cooker Cream-Style Corn

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Chocolate Chip Doughnut Muffins

This weekend, I ran across an amazing doughnut recipe at Janie's Kitchen and knew I had to make them!  Here's the recipe with a few minor changes.

Ingredients:
3 cup flour
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup milk
1 cup buttermilk - click here for buttermilk substitute
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup splenda
2 eggs
food coloring, optional
1 cup chocolate chips

For the glaze:
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup splenda
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In one bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and baking soda.  In a separate bowl, mix milk and buttermilk.  If using food coloring, add to milk mixture.

In an electric mixer with paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.  Add eggs and beat.  On low speed, mix in small parts of flour mixture and milk mixture until all combined.  Add chocolate chips.

Grease a muffin tin.  Fill each cup to the brim with dough.  Bake 18-20 minutes.

While baking, melt 1/2 stick butter for glaze.  Add splenda and cinnamon.  Once muffins are done baking, brush cinnamon-sugar mixture on top of each generously.  Serve warm.

A couple of things:
I added the food coloring to mimic the original recipe.  Janie's Kitchen made beautiful pink Valentine's Doughnut Muffins.  Unfortunately, the 5 drops of red I put in were not near enough to alter the color of the muffins. 

Secondly, I baked our muffins for 18 minutes.  The larger muffins were still slightly doughy on the inside.  In most cases, I would say bake for an additional 2-3 minutes, but Troy likes the slighty doughy texture so the cook time was perfect for us.

I'm looking forward to trying this recipes in the future with other ingredients such as bananas, blueberries, cherries, etc.  They were super tasty!

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Banana "Ice Cream"

As I'm sure you've figured out, I love sweets!  But eating ice cream every.single.night is definitely not a healthy option.  How about this: frozen banana?  Ooooh yum!

Ingredients:
Bananas - that's it!

Directions:
Slice bananas into 1/2 inch to inch slices.  Freeze overnight.  Once frozen, put banana into a food processor to puree.  Serve in your favorite ice cream bowl.  For an extra special treat, top with Reddi-whip.  The texture reminds me a little of Dippin' Dots.  Love it!

Buttermilk Substitute

I don't know about you, but I NEVER have Buttermilk on hand.  But guess what?  There's no need to buy it.  Here's a great substitute!

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon lemon juice
milk, just under a cup

Directions:
Measure 1 tablespoon lemon juice into a liquid measuring cup.  Pour milk in to cup to make 1 full cup liquid.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Easy, easy!

Tortilla Roll-ups

This has been a long week.  Besides being busy with work, we've been tackling last minute wedding preparations and finishing up errands as we come to a weekend I'll be out of town.  We also had the opportunity to make tortilla roll-ups for a going away party at my office.  There are two different tortilla roll-up recipes below.

Cream Cheese, Ham and Pickle Roll-ups
Ingredients:
plain cream cheese, softened
sliced ham - I buy the store brand ham thats one serving per packet for around 60 cents
tortillas
dill pickles, whole

Directions:
Spread cream cheese onto flat tortilla.  Lay two pieces of ham across the middle of the tortilla.  Lay two pickles towards one edge of tortilla and roll.  Once rolled up, slice! 

I don't normally have enough of these ingredients on hand.  So I hit the store before I start.  I go for 1 packet of cream cheese, 2 of the sliced hamd (I believe there are 10 slices per packet), 1 package of torillas and 1 large jar of pickles.  I make as many roll-ups as I can until I run out of something - usually pickles.

Cream cheese, Spinach, Ham and Bacon Roll-ups
Ingredients:
plain cream cheese, softened
bacon pieces
fresh spinach
sliced ham, 4-5 slices
Italian seasoning

Directions:
Using a food chopper (love my Ninja chop!), chop spinach, bacon pieces, and ham together into a puree.  Add Italian seasoning and a block of cream cheese and mix well.  Spread onto a flat tortilla.  Roll the tortilla and slice.

 

Cream Cheese, Ham and Pickle on the left

 Cream Cheese, Spinach, Ham and Bacon Bits on the right

Cilantro-Lime Rice

One o my favorite places for a quick and tasty meal is Chipotle.  I. Love. It.  Not only is it delicious, I can order by phone, the app on my phone, or online which makes it that much more convenient!  One of my favorite parts of my chicken burrito bowls is the cilantro-lime rice.  I could eat it all by itself!  I decided a while back that I could totally make my own for a simple side to a Mexican dish, chicken, or anything else your heart desires.

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked Basmati Rice
Salt
1 tablespoon Lime Juice
1/2 cup Cilantro, chopped

Directions:
Prepare the rice per the package instructions.  Once cooked, add lime juice and cilantro to the rice and fluff.  Add salt to taste.

That's it!  Super easy!  Enjoy!

Italian Chicken and Vegetables

Recently, as I've been browsing Pinterest, I've come across several pins of a one pan dinner of chicken, green beans and potatoes (I'm linking to the one from Hearty-home.com).  One pan for dinner?  I'm in!

Ingredients:
Chicken Breasts, thawed
Green Beans
Cubed Potatoes
1 Stick Butter
Italian Seasoning

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put green beans along one side of baking dish and potatoes on opposite side.  Put chicken breasts down the middle.  Evenly lay butter across chicken and veggies.  Sprinkly Italian seasoning on top.  Bake for 1 hour. 

So easy!  And delicious!

Baked Burritos

Hey, everyone!  Hope you're all having a great week! 

My friend Kristen and I frequently exchange recipe ideas to keep our dinner menus more exciting.  Today, she shared her oven taco recipe with me.  I decided to take the basic ingredients and make baked burritos instead.  Troy tells me it was a winner!

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 can refried beans
8 ounce tomato sauce
1 package taco seasoning
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
8-10 tortillas

Directions:
Brown ground beef.  Drain off any fat, then add refried beans, tomato sauce and taco seasoning.  Spoon mixture onto tortilla and sprinkle with cheese.  Roll burrito and place in lightly greased baking pan.  Repeat with remaining burrito mixture and tortillas.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until heated through.

Stay tuned for a great Cilantro-Lime Rice recipe for your side!

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hi, everyone!  Hope you had a great weekend!  We've kept things pretty low-key this weekend. We visited my grandparents, did some grocery shopping saw Jurassic Park in Imax 3D and made cookies with our brand new Kitchenaid Mixer.  That's right - our Kitchenaid Mixer.  I seriously have some of the best co-workers.  Ever.  They surprised with me a wonderful bridal shower last week and this wonderful gift.  I.  Love.  It. 

So as a way to thank them for their wondefulness and genoristy, I decided to make delicious Double Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I searched the Hershey's Kitchens website and found Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Chip Cookies.  No changes this time round, just ditched the nuts.
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks margarine, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 package chocolate chips (11.5 oz)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.  Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in a large bowl on medium speed of mixer until creamy.  Add eggs and beat well.  Gradually add flour mixture, beating well.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop by teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets (I used a melon baller to scoop the cookies). 

Bake 8-10 minutes or until set.  Cool slightly, then transfer to a wire cooling rack.  Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

 

(Love the Wilton stackable cookie sheets!)

 

Easy Fruit Salad

Lately, I've been craving some summer time.  I love the sunshine, warm summer nights, and fresh fruit.  We're not quite into fresh fruit season, but I made a simple fruit salad to suffice until the time comes.

Ingredients:
1 bag frozen blueberries
1 bag frozen strawberries
1 bag frozen mango
1 can pineapple chunks, drained

Directions:
Mix frozen fruits in a bowl and let thaw overnight in refrigerator.  Add pineapple chunks and serve.  So delicious! 

So I'm not sure why this photo is turned.  I've uploaded it a few times with the same results. Boo. :(

Burlap Ribbon Wreath

Looking for a simply door or wall decoration?  Try something like this:

Supplies:
Straw wreath form, with plastic left on
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Burlap ribbon
Wooden letter
Flower embellishments (found in the scrapbook area)
Ribbon

Directions:
First, glue the end of the burlap ribbon to the back of your wreath form.  Once dry, wrap the burlap ribbon around the wreath form until the wreath is covered.  I needed exactly one roll of the burlap ribbon.  Hot glue the end of the burlap ribbon to the back of the wreath form. 

Lay out your letter and embellishments until you find your favorite layout.  Once you've found the layout of your choice, hot glue the embellishments in place. 

On the back of the wreath, stick your scissors through the burlap making a small hole.  Thread small piece of ribbon and form hanging loop.  Hot glue loop to burlap for extra support.

Once completed, hang in your desired location.  I'm pleased with the results of this wreath.  I've not worked with burlap ribbon before and was slighly nervous as to how it would work with hot glue or how the black would look wrapping the wreath.  But I must say, it looks good!