easiest mac'n'cheese

My girls LOVE mac'n'cheese!  I used to buy the boxed kind and would just ignore that nagging question in the back of my mind...."why is it SO unnaturally orange?!"  Then I bought the book Cook This, Not That, and there was a recipe for homemade mac'n'cheese.  I decided to give it a whirl, and besides an occasional box of bright orange mac'n'cheese, I haven't looked back!  

This mac'n'cheese is so easy you guys!  Not only is it much healthier than it's boxed cousin, but it also makes a ton more!  This recipe makes three full meals for my four mac'n'cheese loving girls!  If your kids are GIANT eaters, it might only last two meals, but still!  

EASIEST MAC'N'CHEESE

1 lb whole wheat elbows or shells

3 Tbsp butter

3 tbsp flour

1 tsp salt

2 1/2 milk

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Boil pasta according to package directions.  Don't forget to salt the water that you boil the pasta in, it helps the noodles be tastier.  

While the pasta boils, melt butter in a medium saucepan.  Once the butter is melted, add the flour and cook for a couple of minutes.  Add salt.  Add milk and bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.  As the sauce boils, it will thicken.  Once it gets to the thickness you'd like, remove from heat and add the cheese and stir until completely melted.  

Drain pasta once it's cooked.  Put back in pasta pan and pour cheese sauce over the noodles.  Stir until every noodle is drenched in cheesy goodness.  Sprinkle a little extra cheese on top if you want, though this is optional! 

healthy baked oatmeal

There are two things that I love to bake with.  Cinnamon.  And chocolate.  This recipe has both, so it's delish!

I love this recipe because it has no flour, just oats!  You can tweak the amount of sugar also, I used to do it with 1/4 cup of brown sugar, and it's just barely sweetened that way.  This time I used 1/2 cup of brown sugar and I'll probably always do it that way now.  It's just yummier, but not TOO yummy, if you know what I mean!

HEALTHY BAKED OATMEAL

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 eggs
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 cups oats (I like Old Fashioned, they're more hearty, but quick oats would work too)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I like mini)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x9 baking dish (or similar size).  Whisk applesauce and eggs.  Add cinnamon, salt, baking powder and vanilla and whisk together.  Mix in sugar.  Add oatmeal, then milk.  Mix well.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Bake for 30-35 minutes.

chocolate-glazed pumpkin donuts

What is the perfect, chilly Fall morning breakfast you ask?

 

This was my first go at homemade donuts and they turned out just delicious!  I love making things that we normally store buy, and having it work out!  Not only are the ingredients all things that you already have in your pantry, but they're also BAKED which makes them *almost* healthy for you!  Haha! 

So with the coming of Fall, of course I've been pinning all sorts of pumpkin deliciousness!  And I just happened across this recipe for pumpkin donuts.....pumpkin donuts?!  Yes, pumpkin donuts!  Yum-o!!  

I made big ones like this:

 

And little adorable mini ones like this:

CHOCOLATE-GLAZED PUMPKIN DONUTS: 
 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon (you can just do one, but I'm a little cinnamon crazy)
1/2 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp ground clove
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

CHOCOLATE GLAZE:
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate ships
1/2 cup half & half or heavy cream
2 Tbsp salted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray donut pan with cooking spray.  Blend together applesauce, eggs, sugars, pumpkin and vanilla.  Add in the dry ingredients.  Mix until smooth.  Now for the next part, I totally recommend doing it this way.  The batter is very thick and would be hard to spoon into your pan, especially if you're doing mini donuts.  So what you do is spoon the batter into a ziploc bag.  Then cut off the corner of the bag with scissors.  Now just squeeze your batter into your pans.  I did it this way and it was a BREEZE!   Bake for 9-11 minutes.

While the donuts are baking make your glaze.  Get out a small saucepan, add all the glaze ingredients and melt together.  You should have a shiny delicious pan of chocolate glaze.  Try not to eat it all before the donuts come out of the oven.  

Let the donuts cool when you take them out of the oven, if you're patient.  If you're not, ahem, at least wait until you can pick them up without burning your fingers, and dip the tops into the warm chocolate glaze.  Immediately sprinkle with toppings of your choice.  Devour.

Original recipe found here.

pinterest loves--pumpkin bars to die for

I found this recipe on Pinterest a few days ago.  It was a life changing moment.  Did you know that Pumpkin Bars can be life changing?  I didn't either.  Until I made these.  

These pumpkin bars....are just heavenly!  They are moist.  And pumkin-y.  And cinnamon-y.  And just delicious.  I have a feeling you're gonna love them!   Oh and they're ridiculously easy, double score!! 

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting (print recipe)


Original recipe found here!  I tweaked it slightly to match our likes!)

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

4 teaspoons cinnamon (I'm a crazy cinnamon freak so I doubled the cinnamon from the original recipe, just use 2 teaspoons if you're not a cinnamon freak too!)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 eggs

1 and 2/3 cups sugar

1 cup oil

1 can (15oz) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 15x11 baking dish (if you don't have this size, a 13x9 would probably work, you'll just have to bake it longer).  

Mix the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin with an electric mixer or with your trusty KitchenAid.  Slowly add baking powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda and then flour.  Mix well!  

Pour into the 15x11 dish and bake for 25-30 minutes.  

While the deliciousness is baking, make your frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting 

1 8oz. package of cream cheese (I use Neufchatel to cut back on the calories a bit!  I've tried fat free before and it's pretty nasty in comparison so we don't do that anymore!)

1/3 cup softened butter

4 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 Tbsp milk

Mix together all ingredients with an electric mixer or KitchenAid.  Beat until smooth and fluffy!  Resist the urge to eat it by the spoonful. 

Cut a piece of cake while it's still warm and slather the cream cheese frosting on it!  Savor every mouthful and maybe go back for a second piece! 

 

party loves--lemonade party

My twin girls turned 2 in March! I love doing themed parties but at 2, they didn't really care what I did! So I picked a lemonade/lemon theme! One of my fav things to do is browse Pinterest for party ideas! There are just gazillions of ideas out there. Party planning heaven!

So once I FINALLY decided on the theme (which is by FAR the hardest part of party planning!), I went crazy pinning and pinning wonderful ideas!  

I started with the invitations!  And I saw this super cute lemonade stand on Pinterest!  I thought, "Hey! We have pallets laying around outside, I bet the hubs and FIL can BUILD one of those for me!"  So I asked.  And they produced this loveliness:

Isn't it just the best?  It was perfect for the pictures on the invites and perfect for some decor at the party!  My sweet friend Lezley is a fabulous photographer and took all the pictures for their invitations and at their party! 

Then I started pinning foods to have.  There are a TON of lemon sweets ideas!  And yellow foods.  It was so fun finding stuff!  Here's what we wound up having:

Lemon Cake Balls

--with lovely yellow striped ribbon

Lemon Burst Cookies

Recipe found here! 

 Lemon Tea Cookies

These were tasty!!  Recipe found here!  You like those little name cards I made?!  So easy!  And adds such a sweet touch!

Deviled Eggs!

This one was just for the colors!

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes!

The frosting on these was eaten by spoonfuls!  Divine!  Recipe found here! 

Just some decorations using the star of the party!

Party Favors!

The twins got to give away little party bags with lemonade cooler drinks and bracelets! 

Matching Flowers!

Matching water bottle labels and pink stripe straws!

Um, she is SO my daughter!

Lemonade stand, front and center!

Overall, lemonade was a super fun theme for a party!  The more ideas out there, the better! 

pinterest loves--blueberry buttermilk muffins

This recipe turned out to be pretty involved, but they sure are tasty!  The streusel topping is my favorite part....butter and sugar....how can you go wrong?! 

So here is my recipe, tweaked slightly to fit my likes!  Oh and of course I doubled the recipe--twice the muffins for practically half the work!  Sweet!
 

Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins (print recipe)
(this is the doubled recipe, half it if you want!)

Streusel Topping
6 T white sugar
6 T brown sugar
2/3 cup flour
1 stick hard butter, cut into pieces

Muffins
2 cups blueberries (I used frozen and also should've used 4 cups but only wanted 2)
2 1/4 cups  plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon water
5 cups  unbleached all-purpose flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoon table salt
4 large eggs
8 tablespoons (1 stick) salted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cup buttermilk
4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 425 degrees!

Take about a cup to a cup and a half of the blueberries and put them in a small pan.  Add the water and 1 tsp of water.  Bring to a simmer for a few minutes until the blueberries reduce into a sticky, syrupy goodness!  Set aside until you need them later on!

Mix together all the wet-ish ingredients!  Add the dry ingredients, doing flour last.  It's okay if there are some lumps!  Lumps are good, it means you didn't over mix!  Add the rest of your blueberries and if you used fresh, gently mix them in!  If you used frozen blueberries like me, just have at it!

Next fill your muffin cups with the batter!  About 2/3 full is good!  If you don't have a muffin scoop, you should get one!  They're great for muffins and cupcakes and even large cookies!!  Here is the one I have!

Next comes the sorta tricky part.  You're gonna need the blueberry syrupy stuff you made at the beginning!  Put about a teaspoon on top of each unbaked muffin.  Then take a knife or some pointy object and swirl it in with a figure eight motion!  Most of mine stayed on top, which was fine with me!  Still tasty!

Now you need to make your streusel topping.  Combine all ingredients and use your fingers to combine until you have little pea size chunks of butter and sugar!  Sprinkle it on the muffins!

Bake for about 15 minutes! 

Take them out, wait about 10 minutes, then lick the streusel topping off the top....wait no, get a big glass of milk and enjoy the whole scrumptious muffin together! 

Link to the original muffin recipe on A Cook's Quest!

 

chocolate chip cookie cheesecake squares

 Chocolate chip cookies.

Cheesecake.

TOGETHER?!

Yes puh-LEASE!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Squares!
3/4 c. butter, softened
3/4 c. sugar
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
1 t. salt
3/4 t. baking soda
1 1/2 c. mini chocolate chips
3/4 c. chopped pecans
FILLING:
2 8 oz packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla

Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy!  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Combine flour, salt and baking soda.  Gradually add to creamed mixture until combined.  Fold in chocolate chips and pecans.  Set aside 1/3 of dough for topping.  Press remaining dough into greased 9 x 13 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes!

Meanwhile, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Spoon over crust.  Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough over filling!  Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.  Store in refrigerator!  Makes 3 dozen scrumptious bars!