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This is a fun little treat that I posted many moons ago on my blog.  It was sorely in need of getting a new picture and a new post. Sometimes things in small little packages taste way better.  Anytime I want my kids to eat something, I make it in my mini muffin pan and they think it is so cool.  Maybe that's because they get to have 3 of them instead of just 1, but hey, I'm not complaining. These beauties were so easy and so tasty.  Lemon is great this time of year and they would be perfect for a summer party or any kind of baby or bridal shower.  The glaze covers the entire cupcake so the inside stays incredibly moist and they are wonderful to grab several and pop them in your mouth.   Lemon Blossoms ( click here for printable version ) Mini Cupcakes: 1 box yellow cake mix 1 3.4 oz box instant lemon pudding 4 eggs 3/4 cup oil Glaze: 4 cups powdered sugar 1/3 cup lemon juice 3 tbsp water 1 tbsp oil 1.  Preheat oven to 350°F.   Spray mini-muffin pa...

Now that the weather is warming up we are spending lots of time outdoors.  One of our favorite things to do is ride our bikes to canyon and then picnic. Because of that, I am always on the lookout for easy picnic food that is delicious but super easy to transport and eat on a blanket.  And lets face it, something different than a ham and cheese sandwich. I let these beauties cook all day long in the crockpot (which goes out in the garage to cook during the summer so my house doesn't heat up), added some delicious Caesar dressing and they were perfect.  So easy to transport and easy to fix for our picnic. Crockpot Chicken Caesar Sandwiches ( click here for printable version ) 2 pds boneless, skinless chicken breasts , 1/2 to 1 cup of your favorite Caesar dressing (I used Brianna’s Asiago Caesar) 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese 2 tsp of dried parsley 1/2 tsp ground pepper 2 cups shredded romaine lettuce 12 slider buns or 4-6 regular sized hamburger buns 1.  Place chic...

 My youngest sister graduated from High School last week so me and my girls headed up to my parents for her graduation party.  We got to help bake 500 cookies and bars for her "One Smart Cookie" party. So in the next few weeks you will be seeing lots of new cookies and bars that we tried and absolutely loved.  This one was one of my favorites.  Seriously, how could you go wrong with nutter butters, cream cheese, and butterfingers. I have taken to keeping a stash of butterfingers in my house because you just never know when you will want to make something with them.  Everything seems to taste better with them and since they are a candy bar I "heart", why not always keep some in your house. Of course you better keep more than you need for a recipe in case "one" of your children happen to get into your stash.  Not that ever happens at our house.   Butterfinger Cheesecake Bars with a Nutter Butter Crust ( click here for printable version ) Crust: 16 whole ...

This week is full of things that have changed my life. Is that silly?   Maybe but a lot of my life (like what I talk about) is defined by food I have made or want to make.  I love talking to my mom and sisters about food magazines, new recipes, fun food blogs, or what we have made recently.  It makes my day and is just my thing!   Especially if I am having a bad or stressful day.  Creating just makes me feel better.  I have always loved this quote: "Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty" ( from here ).  That's how it makes me feel to make something tasty and delicious! This creation was AHHHMAZING!  Seriously I have made these beauties 3 times in the past month (about 125 of them) and every time they were the complete hit of the party.  If you love lemon this is your thing--not kidding.  These are a must make a...

 I think my life has changed! Seriously. I have tried many breadstick recipes in my life and most of them have been okay. Good but not great.  When we had family over several weekends ago I wanted to do something a little different than french bread to go with our spaghetti.  I have had this beauty pinned for a while so I thought I would give it a try.  OH....MY...WORD  they were heaven.  I made two jelly roll pans full and they were gone within 10 minutes.  Everyone absolutely loved them and they were amazing.  I have since made them several times and you just might be tempted to cut out some of the butter, but don't do it (I tried just so you know and it definitely makes a difference!). Best Breadsticks EVER! ( click here for printable version ) 3 1/2 cups flour 2 tbsp sugar 1 tsp salt 1 tbsp yeast 1 1/2 cups water 1/2 cup butter Parmesan cheese garlic salt parsley flakes (optional) 1.  Combine water, yeast, and sugar in bowl of a stand mix...

 When I saw this recipe I knew I needed to make it quickly.  You see I have a special place in my heart for monster cookies and magic bars, but mostly monster cookies. Growing up we would always have my dad's family reunion at our house (you know everybody wanted to come back to the family farm).  It would get super chaotic, in a good way, especially since I have 80 first cousins. I remember vividly going grocery shopping with my mom and buying the groceries for all the meals we were going to have.  It was mind boggling to me to buy that much food (I remember it being 5 carts of food!  Is that right mom?). Anyway, my mom was always in charge of the monster cookies.  It was something everyone counted on and she was famous for those beauties.  We would make them several weeks ahead of time and freeze them but can you imagine the amount of cookies we had to make for over 100 of us? The monster cookie batch is huge anyway and we would at least 4 times it. ...

A big thanks to The Farm Girl for letting me post a recipe on this wonderful site. This past Sunday we celebrated my mother's birthday. When my wee girl heard that we were baking a cake she quickly grabbed the kitchen bar stool and drug it over to the mixer. We were both quickly dissapointed when I learned that the cocoa jar was completely empty. With chocolate cake slashed off the menu I turned to the pantry to see what kind of ingredients we could use to create another kind of cake. When you live far away from civilization you either become a better more creative cook, or go hungry. With the cost of gas, if you ran to town for cocoa your cake would cost more than the best bakery sells. Ultimately, we created this pumpkin sheet cake flavored with cardamom (one of my favorite spices) and coconut. For the icing we used a basic cream cheese base but added a can of crushed pineapple. Everyone raved about the cake, including my son who hates coconut. So it was either good, or...

 There are some recipes that no matter what version I see them, I totally want to try them.   Do any of you have a recipe like that? One of mine is Chicken Parmesan.  It always sounds so tasty and I didn't realize you could make it different ways.  I loved the Skillet Chicken Parmesan but I also loved this version because it was so easy and delicious. My rating goes up like 2 stars just because it is quick and easy.  Between 3 sets of homework, music lessons, and someone always needing me for something, dinner is hardly ever a slow, take how much time you want occasion.  It is usually in, out, throw it in the oven dinner.   This bake was perfect for that and it always helps if it tastes good, right!!??  We served it over noodles and ate almost the entire pan.  Delicious! Chicken Parmesan Bake ( click here for printable version ) 2 tbsp olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced finely 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (mine were large so I used 4)...

 I don't know what it is with a sandwich cookie, but every time I eat one I am in heaven. My kids are the same way.  Sandwich cookies are like ten times better than a regular cookie--maybe it's because there is two cookies and a filling, which is way better than just one cookie. Plus if I turn an oatmeal cookie into a sandwich cookie then my kids will actually eat them.  they are not huge fans of oatmeal cookies by themselves, but add a little more sugar and they are totally hooked. Maybe that's not a good thing but they were sure happy when they came home from school and found these beauties.  We loved them and had to share so we didn't eat 3 apiece--which really is 6 cookies....okay not going there, let's just say we at least shared some of these bundles of goodness and they were delightful. Oatmeal Whoopie Pies (click here for printable version) Cookies: 3/4 cup butter, room temperature 1 1/2 cups packed dark brown sugar 1 large egg 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 1/4 cu...

Mother's Day. This is a day of relaxing bubble baths, pedicures, breakfast in bed, and pampering.  Okay lets face it, if I get one of those I am a happy woman. The hubs is a very thoughtful man and stays busy keeping the 4 kiddos from needing me so I can read a good book with a diet coke by my side. Which satisfies me completely. I don't know how it is in your house but I "try" to let the hubs make me breakfast/dinner.  It is hard for me to stay out of the kitchen and even harder to not give him "well-meaning tips" (which is why he makes sure I have the said book and pop so it's much more likely for me to stay out of his hair!). So far he has made me many delicious breakfasts, dinners, and desserts.  Here are a few of my favorites.  Hopefully you or the mother in your life has a great day!  These are probably two of my favorite breakfast ever.  I love pancakes / waffles in the morning with a little fruit and my day has started out fabulous.  These chi...

 Is it warming up in your neck of the woods yet? We are slowly getting warmer and with the warmness I am getting antsy to cook summer food.  You know the kind that doesn't heat up your house. Grilled cheese is one of the favorites at our house.  Mostly because you can dress it up and be fancy or you can keep it super simple.  My sister introduced my to this delicious combination.  It is one messy, gooey, amazing sandwich.  We loved the addition of guacamole and then artisan bread and it was fantastic.  Definitely a winner and perfect for summer evenings! Guacamole Bacon Grilled Cheese Sandwich (click here for printable version) Sandwich: 6 slices bacon 6 slices sour dough bread 3 tbsp butter, room temperature 1 1/2 cups jack and cheddar cheese, shredded 2 tbsp guacamole, room temperature Guacamole: 2 large avocados, mashed 1 lime, juice 1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced 1 roma tomato, seeded and finely diced 1/4 cup red onion, finely diced 1 tablespoon c...

I don't know why but sometimes recipes surprise me. Seriously! I think "oh this should be good" but I really am mostly making it because I have these whoppers that have been sitting in my cupboard for several months waiting for something miraculous and I really need to get rid of them and this is a perfect excuse....and the run on sentence continues. I really didn't think these bars would be THAT good.  Chocolate chip bars, yummy but not my favorite (you know as in chocolate chip cookies are not my favorite kind of cookie either). Boy was I surprised.  These bad boys were A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.  We couldn't stay out of them to save our lives (okay maybe we could if it was life or death but I really didn't want to find out because there definitely would of been some hesitation)! These are on our "make at least once a month" list.  Completely and totally worth making after the kids are in bed so you can eat most of the pan--okay face it, the whole pan!  And do...

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone (tomorrow anyway)!! Thanks to sister-in-law getting married on the 5th of May and having a Cinco de Mayo reception, I always remember this holiday. We are lovers of mexican food at our house and any excuse to have a party is a win, win situation.  Now if someone could just teach me how to make real tamales I would be in heaven!  Ah...my mouth is watering just thinking about them. This was quick, easy and delicious.  Serve it with some spanish rice and it is a perfect meal.  Plus something about shells and the kids think it's pretty awesome, maybe because it's like a present inside. Hope you have a great weekend celebrating--we have lots of family coming to town for Kathryn's special day so we are going to parrrtay! Mexican Stuffed Shells ( click here for printable version ) 1 1/2 cups salsa 1 lb. ground beef 2 tbsp taco seasoning 2 tbsp water 4 oz. cream cheese 14-16 jumbo pasta shells 1 cup taco sauce (This is a smooth, tomato based sau...

 I seem to go in phases.  Lately I have been using my crockpot like you couldn't believe.  Everything just seems yummier in the crockpot.  I swear I haven't pulled that thing out for months and months and now I have been using it at least twice a week. My older brother (by the way Happy Birthday Ben!!) and his family got to come for a visit a while ago and they ate dinner with us.  I always like to have something easy to make for lots of people but yet is filling and delicious.  This was a winner.   Everyone loved it and it was a piece of cake to make.  It cooked all day long and all I did was make some spanish rice right beforehand.  Thanks Ben and Maria for visiting and giving us an excuse to make some yummy food. Creamy Chicken Tacos (Crockpot) ( click here for printable version ) 5 frozen chicken breasts 1 1/2 cups salsa 2 cans cream of chicken soup 2 1/2 tbsp taco seasoning 1 tbsp maple syrup 1 tsp lime juice 1 tbsp butter 1/2 cup sour...