Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies

Birthdays are a time for celebration.  Not just with family and friends, but with coworkers too.  Each month, we celebrate at least 2 birthdays, if not more!  To keep it fair, each person brings the birthday dessert for the birthday after their own.  My birthday girl loves red velvet cake.  Last year, I attempted my first cake of its kind.  This year, I decided to try something different: Red Velvet Cookies.  Oh my.  They were delicious!  Thank you Sally's Baking Addiction for such a fantastic recipe!

Ingredients:

3 cups + 2 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 tablespoons milk

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 teaspoons red food coloring - This is the approximate amount I ended up using.  They weren't really red, though, so twice as much may be necessary.

1 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus a few extra for topping

Directions:

Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl and set aside.

Beat butter in a stand mixer (or using a handheld mixer) until creamy.  Beat in brown and white sugar until combined.  Add eggs, milk and vanilla extract followed by the food coloring.  Once well combined, add dry ingredients.  Turn mixer on to slower speed and beat until soft dough is formed.  Add food coloring if you choose, then beat in chocolate chips.

Once dough is complete, cover your mixing bowl with foil and refrigerate for at least an hour. 

Next, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Scoop 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoon of dough and mold into a ball.  Place balls on to cookie sheet covered with parchment paper with approximately an inch between each cookie.  The cookies will not spread a whole lot.  Bake for 10-11 minutes and remove from oven.

With a spoon, gently flatten the cookie to form a semi-crinkled cookie.  Add a few chocolate chips to the top of each cookie.  Let cool for 3-4 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

These cookies were a total hit at the office!  And there were none left!  Hope you like them as much as I did!

Breakfast Casserole

Hey, hey, hey!  Long time, no blog.  Bummer.  I hope you all have been doing well.  It's been a cold and snowy week here in Kansas.  So cold that my little dog who loves running up and down the fence on a normal day dreads going outside.  Springtime, where are you?

Due to the cold, venturing out for a weekend breakfast just isn't happening.  So how about making a breakfast casserole?  That's just what we did!

Ingredients:
1 cup cheddar cheese (you'll need extra if you want to top the casserole with cheese)
1 bag frozen O'Brien hash browns
1 pound turkey sausage
dash of pepper
8 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 cup turkey bacon bits

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  While the oven is heating, brown the turkey sausage and drain.

Put hash browns in the bottom of a greased pan.  Layer with sausage and cheese.  In a separate bowl, mix eggs, milk and spices.  Pour egg mixture over meat and hash browns.  Top with bacon bits and cheese, if chosen.

Bake for 30 minutes.  Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Yum!

Layered Buttermilk Biscuits

Growing up, one of my favorite foods my grandma made was biscuits.  Homemade buttermilk biscuits.  Flaky and fluffy and oh so delicious.  As Troy and I were preparing for Christmas breakfast with his family, I knew biscuits, muffins and a breakfast casserole would be the best dishes to serve.  I was pleasantly surprised by how easy the biscuits were to make and how delicious they were.  Enjoy!

Layered Buttermilk Biscuits

Adapted from MarthaStewart.com and Food.com

Ingredients:

4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold

2 cups buttermilk, plus more for brushing

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl.  Cut the butter into chunks and cut into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Add buttermilk until just combined.  If the mixture appears to dry, add additional buttermilk.  The dough should be wet.

Turn the dough onto a floured board or clean counter top.  Gently pat (do not use a rolling pin) dough until its about an inch thick.  Fold the dough and press to an inch thick.  Repeat about 5 times.  

Use a round cutter or a floured glass to cut the dough into round biscuit shapes.  You can knead the scraps into biscuits as well.  Lay the biscuits close together on a cookie sheet.  Gently brush the tops of the biscuits with buttermilk.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown.  

Happy New Year! And Sweet Clementine Cranberry Muffins too!

Happy New Year to each of you!  I hope you all had a safe and happy celebration and enjoyed the first day of 2014!  We're in the homestretch to my sister-in-laws wedding and will be spending the next couple of days assisting in final preparations.  But - I still wanted to be sure to stop by and share a recent recipe with you!  Check is out!

Sweet Clementine Cranberry Muffins
Adapted from Blue Bonnets and Brownies

Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
3 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 2/3 cup flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 clementines, sectioned and chopped
1 5-oz package dried cranberries
1 cup buttermilk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease 2 standard muffin trays.

Melt butter and add to mixing bowl.  Add sugar, salt, eggs and vanilla and whisk briskly to combine.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and baking powder.  Use a dry whisk to mix.  Pour mixture on top of butter mixture but do not stir.

Peal and chop clementines and mix with dried cranberries.  Add on top of flour mixture.  Fold the mixture together and few times until mixture is crumbly.  Be careful not to overmix.

Create a small dip in the mixture and add the buttermilk.  Gently fold until the buttermilk is absorbed into the dry mixture.

Fill your muffin cups to the top with the mixture.  Bake for approximately 27-30 minutes or until muffins are golden brown.  Remove from the pan and allow to cool.

Makes 24 muffins.  Store in airtight container.

These muffins are quite delicious!  They were a hit with the family when served on Christmas morning!  One thing to note, they are a little heavier than a "normal" muffin, but still taste great!  Enjoy!

Chocolate-Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Hey all!  I hope you each had a wonderful Christmas holiday with friends and family.  We're recuperating quite well from the travel, food, and bustle of activity.  We were blessed to spend Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with my husband's family enjoying each other's company, opening gifts and eating delicious food.  I have a few recipes from our Christmas breakfast to share with you in the coming weeks, but wanted to share a delicious cookie recipe with you today: Chocolate-Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies.  This recipe is adapted from Ocean Spray's online recipes.

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cup brown sugar, Splenda
4 large eggs
3 cups old-fashioned oats
3 cups flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon milk
1 5-ounce package dried cranberries
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Using a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and mix well.  In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Slowly add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition.  Finally, add milk and mix well.  Stir in chocolate chips and dried cranberries.

Drop by  rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 8-11 minutes or until golden brown.  Then cool on wire rack.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

These cookies were a hit at work and at home!  My husband loved them and couldn't be more excited about leftovers from the office!

Coming soon!
Cranberry Clementine Muffins
Breakfast Casserole
Layer Biscuits

Chocolate Peppermint Meringues

Hi everyone!  Hope you're having a great weekend so far!  Just thought I'd stop by and share a quick recipe if you're in need of a last minute holiday treat.  I made these for my work Christmas party last week and they were delicious!  Without further ado: Chocolate Peppermint Meringues (adapted from Joyofbaking.com).

Ingredients:
6 egg whites
2 cups granulated sugar - I chose to use Splenda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/3 cup crushed candy canes
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Put egg whites into stand-up mixer and whisk until small bubbles form.  Add sugar and mix until stiff peaks form.  Add cocoa powder and vanilla and mix well.  Fold in crushed candy canes and mini chocolate chips.

Pour mixture into piping bag and pipe onto parchment paper lined cookie trays.  Place in preheated oven for 1 minutes and then turn oven off.  Leave in oven with door closed for 3 hours or until cookie is crisp.

Yum yum!

Peppermint Meringues

Hi everyone!  Hope you're all doing well!

I wanted to drop in and share the recipe for the Peppermint Meringues made for my sister-in-law's bridal shower.  They were delicious!  And so easy to make!  This recipe was adapted from Simplyrecipes.com and Whipperberry.com.  

Ingredients/Supplies:

6 egg whites

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Pinch of salt

Red food coloring gel

Parchment paper

Gallon size freezer bag

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

Put egg whites and pinch of salt into stand-up mixer.  Start mixing the egg whites on low and gradually increase until foamy and soft peaks form.  Slowly add sugar and increase mixing speed.  Mix until stiff peaks are formed and then add peppermint extract and food coloring.  Mix on low until food coloring is well blended.

Place parchment paper over the top of your cookie sheet.  Spoon mixture into the freezer bag and cut one corner.  Pipe about 1 to 1 1/2 inch mounds onto the cookie sheet.  

Put meringues into oven and close the door.  After 1 minute, turn the heat off.  Leave the doors to the oven closed for at least 3 hours or overnight.  The meringues will cook and dry out with the residual heat of the oven.  A completed meringue will be hard and crunchy.

Store in an airtight container.  Makes approximately 40-50 meringues.

Enjoy!

DIY Hot Chocolate Bar {Recipe Included}

Hey-oh!  Can you believe Christmas is a week away!?  Seriously, this year has flown by.  Our shopping is complete.  Most of the presents are wrapped.  So the next few days will be filled with wrapping the rest of the gifts, cleaning the house, last minute grocery shopping and baking, and most importantly, spending time with our families.  This weekend we're headed to Illuminations at our local Botanical Garden.  They have thousands of lights scattered throughout the many gardens so it's always a beautiful time to visit.  We're also off to see "A White Christmas" at one of our local music theaters with my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins (20 total!).  I'm really looking forward to this weekend and making memories with the people we love.

I was fortunate to have the day off today.  I spent a few hours baking Chocolate Cranberry Cookies and Chocolate Meringues (recipes coming soon!) for our work celebrations tomorrow.  I also had the opportunity to enjoy lunch with my husband.  We aren't able to meet up often over the lunch hour due to our schedules, so our lunch dates are always enjoyable.

This past weekend I hosted a bridal shower for my sister-in-law.  The Hot Chocolate Bar was a success and I'm excited to share the details with you!

Hot Chocolate Recipe:
3 cups Swiss Miss Powder Mix - I purchased a bulk can at our local grocery store
3 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
6 quarts Water
Crock pot
Meat thermometer

Directions:
Mix the three ingredients together.  Turn your crock pot on high to heat the hot chocolate.  We used our meat thermometer to keep the temperature of the the hot chocolate around 130 degrees.  Serve and enjoy!

For the toppings, we opted to offer Reddi-Whip, ground cinnamon, crushed candy canes, full size candy canes, mini chocolate chips, marshmallows and white chocolate chips.  We put each item in its own serving dish and let people pick and choose what and how much they wanted.  The bar was a hit!

Enjoying the hot chocolate bar back home!  Yum!

 Next time: Peppermint Meringues!

Yummy Mummies

Hey-oh!  So I mentioned in a previous post that I would share a super easy Yummy Mummy recipe.  I know it's late, but next year, right?!

Source: http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/crescent-mummy-dogs/d52a57d7-ab8a-4a1c-8dae-f9f90d03b912

Ingredients:
8-10 Hot Dogs
1 Can Dough Sheet
Mustard
Cooking Spray

Directions:
Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut dough into strips.  Wrap dough around hot dogs like bandages leaving a half inch open area at one end for a face.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Lightly spray with cookie spray.  Bake 13-17 minutes or until dough is golden brown.  Using the mustard and a fork, draw eyes onto your mummies.  Serve and enjoy!

Ingredients:
8-10 Hot Dogs
1 Can Dough Sheet
Mustard
Cooking Spray

Directions:
Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut dough into strips.  Wrap dough around hot dogs like bandages leaving a half inch open area at one end for a face.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Lightly spray with cookie spray.  Bake 13-17 minutes or until dough is golden brown.  Using the mustard and a fork, draw eyes onto your mummies.  Serve and enjoy!

Candy Corn Cookies

Two days before Halloween, my coworkers decided we should have a fun Halloween celebration full of candy, snacks, and other sweets.  Unfortunately, I was pressed for time between a salon appointment and working late that I felt like my last resort was going to be to purchase something un-festive.  Don't get me wrong; there's absolutely nothing wrong with store-bought items, but I enjoy baking and creating things at home.  In comes Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix and an adaptation of this recipe.

Ingredients:
2 pouches Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
2/3 cup margarine, melted
2 eggs
Red and Yellow food gel

Directions:
Following the directions on the package, prepare the sugar cookie dough.  Once complete, divide the dough into three sections.  Add yellow food gel to one section and mix well.  Add yellow and red food gel to the second section and mix well.

Next, line a loaf pan with waxed paper, making sure the paper extends over the edges of the pan.  Spread the non-dyed dough into the bottom of the pan.  Gently press the orange dough on top, followed by the yellow dough.  Place the loaf pan into the refrigerator for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until firm.

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Remove the dough from the pan and cut into quarter inch slices.  Next cut each slice into 5 wedges.  On an ungreased cookie sheet, place cookies approximately 1 inch apart.  Bake 7 to 9 minutes until edges are very light golden brown.  Cool and store in an air tight container.

Slow Cooker Ranch Pork Chops with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

Happy weekend, everyone!  I know I've been slacking with the blog recently.  I'm sorry!  Don't really have a good reason other than we haven't been cooking or crafting!  For the last couple of weeks, both T and I have been in the quick foods like egg, cereal, spaghetti or other super easy meals and haven't spent a lot of time trying new recipes.  But fear not!  We tried a delicious slow cooker meal this week that I'm excited to share with you today!  Without further ado: Slow Cooker Ranch Pork Chops with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes found via RealMomKitchen.com.

Ingredients: Pork Chops
5-6 pork chops, 1/2 inch thick
1 package dry ranch seasoning
10.5 oz can cream of chicken soup + 3/4 can of water

Ingredients: Parmesan Mashed Potatoes
For the potatoes, I did a terrible job of keeping track of the quantity for each ingredient.  But here are my best estimates:
10 red potatoes
2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon half and half
2 tablespoons skim milk
1 tablespoon dried chives
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Place thawed pork chops into slow cooker.  Pour ranch seasoning directly onto pork chops.  Mix cream of chicken soup and water together and pour over pork chops.  Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low heat for 5-6 hours.

Boil a large pot of water on your stove top.  Once boiling, add potatoes and boil until potatoes are tender.  Transfer potatoes to mixing bowl.  Mix on low until potatoes are mashed.  Add butter, parmesan, half and half, milk, chives, salt and pepper.  Add additional seasoning to taste.

Serve pork chops and gravy over mashed potatoes.

Lemonberry Cake

So I'm quickly becoming a fan of dishes with a small number of ingredients.  Not just for the convenience, but because they also taste great!  Six Sisters' Stuff had a Diet Lemon Raspberry Cake recipe with just four ingredients and I knew I had to try it!  I'm not a super fan of raspberry, so I opted to change up the fruit a bit.  Here are the results:

Ingredients:
1 box lemon cake mix
2 egg whites
1 1/4 cup Sprite Zero
1 cup each fresh blueberries and blueberries

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a mixing bowl, mix cake mix, egg whites, and Sprite.  Fold in fruit.  Pour into greased cake pan and bake for 30 minutes.  Top with light cool whip.  Fruit garnishment optional.

 

 

I was worried the lemon cake may be overpowering, but was delighted to find that its not at all!  The flavor is subtle and the fruit is a great added touch!  



Banana Breakfast Cake

Happy Sunday!  How's everyone's weekend so far?  We've been enjoying a pretty relaxing weekend so far!  One of my best friends came over Friday night for grilled burgers and veggies and game night.  We love board games of all kinds and enjoy having friends and family over to discover new games.  We opened up our new Deadwood game and spent the evening discovering the rules and developing strategies for a successful game.

Yesterday Troy and I went with my parents to lay flowers at my grandma's headstone and check out a quilt shop that recently hit our radar.  My mom and I love visiting quilt shops to check out the different fabrics, patterns and finished crafts on display.  And last night Troy and I stayed in for a movie night.

I'm glad we've kept the weekend pretty low-key and stress-free as we can.  I'm headed into work today for the afternoon and evening.  I have a love-hate relationship with weekend workdays.  They're great for getting a ton of things done since there are only one or two other people in the office, but terrible for being able to spend days off with family and friends.  Thankfully I'm off tomorrow in celebration of Memorial Day where we'll head to lay flowers at my aunt's grave and out for lunch with extended family.

Before I head to get ready for work, I thought I'd share a recipe I recently came across on the Chiquita Banana website: Banana Breakfast Cookie.  I read through the recipe a few times and tailored it towards our taste.  I had originally intended to make the cookies, but after seeing the batter, I opted to make a cake instead.  So without further ado, here is Banana Breakfast Cake.

 

 

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1 cup quick oats

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt



1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 whole bananas, mashed
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup craisins

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, butter, banana, egg, and vanilla until smooth.  Gradually mix in flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and carrots.  Once mixed, fold in chocolate chips and craisins.  Pour into 9x9 greased baking dish and bake for 30-35 or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

I'm not usually one for adding carrots to my cakes as the texture is sometimes objectionable.  I must say, I was not at all bothered by the texture of the carrots in this dish.  With that being said, I'm thinking I may try this again sans carrots and chocolate chips, and instead with craisins and some other dried fruit.  I'll keep you posted!

In closing, please take a moment to remember the reason for this holiday weekend.  Happy Memorial Day, everyone!

photo source

Taco Salad Casserole

Hi, everyone!  I recently ran across this awesome Beef and Bean Taco Casserole recipe and thought we should give something similar a try.  Troy and I both love Mexican food and taco salad is pretty tasty so we opted to end the weekend with something delish.  Hope you like it!

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 can refried beans
1 half onion, chopped
2 cups white rice
1 package taco seasoning
2 1/2 cups tortilla chips, broken into smaller pieces
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
shredded lettuce and additional shredded cheddar to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Brown ground beef and drain of grease.  Mix in refriend beans, onionm, rice and taco seasoning.  Reduce to medium heat until mixture is warm. 

Line the bottom of a casserole dish with the broken chips.  Top with the beef and bean mixture.  Sprinkle with bell peppers and 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese.  Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

Serve over additional tortilla chips (optional) and top with lettuce and additional cheese.

Slow Cooker Smothered Pork Chops

Good morning, everyone!  I hope you all had a great weekend!  With the exception of our lunch date Saturday and our grocery shopping trip, Troy and I spent the weekend at home relaxing and catching up on a variety of shows on our DVR.  It was nice to finally have some time together without a ton of things to do!

Saturday night we opted for a slow cooker meal of Smothered Pork Chops.  This was by far one of the easiest things to make.  But easy doesn't mean not tasty!

Ingredients:
5-6 Boneless Pork Chops, thawed
1 Can Cream of Mushroom
1 Cup Water
White Rice

Directions:
Lay pork chops into bottom of slow cooker.  Mix cream of mushroom with water and pour over pork chops.  Cook on high for 3-4 hours until meat is tender.  Prepare rice according to package directions and serve with pork chops. 

Scalloped Corn

Happy Saturday!  I hope everyone had a great week!  What's everyone got planned this weekend?  We're settling in for a relaxing weekend of catching up on items on our DVR.  And maybe trying a few new recipes to share with you later!

For now, enjoy a Scalloped Corn recipe I found through All Recipes.  Yum!

Ingredients:
1 15-oz can creamed corn
1 15-oz whole kernel corn, drained
1 8-oz container sour cream
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon splenda
1 package corn muffin mix

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together corn, sour cream, eggs, butter, and sugar.  Add muffin mix.  Pour into a grease cake pan.  Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

Enjoy!

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!

 

 

 

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!

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!