Chai Latte Cupcakes

A few weeks ago, I saw a picture of some cupcakes that were decorated like they came from Starbucks on Pinterest and an idea was born!:

compliments of this blog :)

My dear friend, Meg, and I have a thing for Starbucks chai lattes. She's a teacher too (she's my mentor!) so we adore those early mornings when an icy chai can help us get through :)

She's also VERY pregnant right now, so I wanted to make these for her baby shower. Unfortunately, I noticed them too late and a cake was already ordered. So... I made them for my kiddos!

I've mentioned before that everytime my students spell out the word compliment (they get each letter by getting praised in the hallway or doing a great job at specials), I bake for them. I've got several kiddos who don't LOVE chocolate... so I've tried to be considerate of them and not make everything chocolate... although I want to. I badly want to.

I found the recipe on the Betty Crocker website and was a little skeptical.  I am SO glad I made them though... my kids thought they were AMAZING. They earn one sticker a day for good behavior; I had several kiddos offer up 20 stickers for one more. That means they were crazy good; my kids are greedy sticker-getters.

And yes, Meg did get one :) And she loved it.

Ingredients:

• 1 box french vanilla cake mix and all the ingredients listed on the back of the box (eggs, water, oil)
• 3 tablespoons chai latte mix (I have a big canister from Trader Joe's)
• Extra nutmeg, cinnamon, and cardamom if you like it spicy!

Frosting:

• 1 can buttercream icing
• cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom to mix in.

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Line your cupcake pan with liners or spray with cooking spray.
• Make the cake mix as directed, mixing in the chai mix with the batter.
• Pour into liners (2/3 full!) and then put into oven for time on back of box.
• Let cool and then mix frosting up. Ice them however you want :)
• I did frost some with a pastry bag and tip, but I frosted several with just a knife. A lot of my kids wanted the less-iced ones, surprisingly.

Lemon Pepper Chicken Tenders

That's a mouthful!

I love chicken tenders. However, I rarely eat them. I have a thing... I can't eat meat that has anything funny about it. Red spots? Not eating it. Chewy part? Not eating it. Bones? Not eating it. Anything I think that seems weird? Not eating it.

However, I was craving chicken tenders. What's a girl to do who has weird rules with chicken? Make them, of course. I didn't want to just make plain chicken tenders... I wanted lemon pepper ones! YUM.

I know how to make basic breaded chicken... but I googled lemon pepper chicken tenders and came on this beauty. I'm not the only one to think of this!

I used her recipe loosely, and I'll outline the changes in the recipe.

Let me just warn you... these.were.amazing. AMAZING, people.

I only had chicken breasts in the freezer so I defrosted and cut them into strips (try and keep them about the same size so they cook evenly.) 

The cut strips then need to be dredged in the above: 

1. egg (I added some lemon juice, about a tablespoon)
2. flour
3. panko (I added a tablespoon of lemon pepper seasoning)

I recommend (STRONGLY) only using one hand in the dredging process. Or else you're going to look like Edward Scissorhands and no one will be home to turn on the faucet. And then you'll think about salmonella growing on your kitchen sink because you touched it with eggy-hands. That might just be me. But I don't think so.

After you coat each one, put it on a greased cookie rack on top of a baking sheet. I got this secret from above blog; apparently, it makes them crispier :) I did do a little research and found that some cookie racks can emit fumes in the oven... check yours before you try... or just put them on a baking sheet (sprayed with cooking spray)

Don't these look so yummy?

Then you just bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes. Flip 'em and finish for 8-10 minutes. Keep your eye on them. Your kitchen will smell like paradise!

We had ours with roasted asparagus and I used this recipe. It was DELICIOUS.

All together now... YUM!

On a completely related side note, I just discovered via another blog that some stores sell lemon pepper panko! GENIUS. Unfortunately, 'some stores' is not my grocery store :(

Ingredients:

• 2 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 cups panko bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon (or more if you really love it) lemon pepper seasoning
• cooking spray

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 425.
• Cut the chicken into strips.
• Set up your coating stations: one bowl full of flour, one bowl full of egg and lemon juice, and one bowl full of panko/lemon pepper mixture.
• Dredge chicken strips through flour, then egg mixture, and then panko mixture.
• Place on greased cookie rack over baking sheet as you finish.
• Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes, flipping once halfway through.

spinach & feta stromboli

I've posted about stromboli before and you can find that post here. However, I've been thinking about switching it up lately... AJ and I recently tried Domino's spinach and feta cheesy bread and it was amazing... so yummy. That served as my inspiration :)

I used store-bought pizza dough again, but this time I added about half a cup of tomato sauce as the bottom layer.

And then I added 3 or 4 cups of Spinach:

And then some feta and mozzarella:

YUMMMMM!

Then, I wrapped it up. I actually had a few issues doing this... the spinach was so fluffy that it was hard to get the dough all together without it tearing. The places that did tear, I just grabbed dough from the end and tried to patch it up. I also had to put some toothpicks in to secure it and keep it closed. YIKES :)

Seriously though... the appearance doesn't matter that much. Taste will make people love you :)

If you look closely at the top left, you can see a naught spinach peeking out. Bad spinach!

I sprinkled olive oil and oregano/basil on top and baked at 375 for 20-25 minutes (crust is golden brown and fluffy).

Verdict: so delicious. Can't wait to make again. 

Ingredients:

• one can of pizza dough (I used Pillsbury)
• four cups of fresh spinach (you could also probably use frozen chopped, which is a lot cheaper! I'm going to try that next time.)
• 1/2 cup feta cheese
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (eyeball it.)
• one small can tomato sauce (I think they're like eight oz?)
• garlic oil & oregano for garnish (this is optional)

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 375.
• Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray or line with foil.
• Pop (my fave. part) the pizza dough and spread it out. Be careful not to have any holes.
• Spread the tomato sauce in the middle of the dough. 
• Top with spinach and then the cheese mixture.
• Do your best to close it ;)
• Sprinkle with oil and spices if desired and bake for 20-25 minutes in a 375 degree oven.
• Enjoy.

Brussels Sprouts

My husband has three vegetables that he REALLY loves: Brussels sprouts, asparagus, and spinach... so we eat a lot of them. I love a lot of vegetables... not really picky.

I have fallen in love with roasted Brussels sprouts... and they're very easy to prepare! This is the recipe I have used so far... with some tweaks.

First,  preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash the sprouts and then cut off the rough stem ends and tear off any yellow leaves. Put the cleaned-up sprouts in a ziploc bag. Pour in some olive oil and then salt and pepper them. Close the bag (VERY important) and then shake. shake. shake. Sometimes I also add some parmesan cheese. Yum!

Put them on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast for 35-40 minutes. Here's the catch: you have to shake them every five (or so) minutes so they get evenly browned. It's worth it :)

Enjoy! :)

best brownies ever... continued :)

I'm at that stage in my life where it seems ALL of my friends either are pregnant, have just had a baby, or they really want to have a baby. While I do love babies, I'm enjoying being able to give the child back to their mama at the end of a few minutes ;)

Anyways, a few weeks ago, a friend of mine had a beautiful baby boy, David, and I brought her & her husband dinner and these brownies. Both her and her husband agreed they were the best brownies ever... so yummy. So I had to make them again for her... and I decided to actually document it.

The best part is that you mix everything together in ONE pot and then pour it into a baking pan and GO. Love it.

Step one: melt the butter!

Step two: Stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat in cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder.

Step three: Pour into pan. I chopped up some left over Christmas candy and threw that in. Just for kicks :) I used Snickers, Baby Ruth... and some Butterfingers.

And the icing is a snap to put together. Melt the butter a little bit in the microwave and then mix everything else in. YUMMO.

Ingredients:

Brownies

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1//2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder

Frosting:

• 3 tbsp. butter (a little melty)
• 3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8x8 pan.
2. In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat in cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder. Pour into greased pan. 
3. Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when stuck in the center.
4. While the brownies are baking, combine all frosting ingredients and pour over brownies after they've cooled about 10 minutes (still warm!)

the perfect snack.

In my head, going to Grandma's house means lots of good things: family, Dutch Blitz, bowling, being cozy, and lots of food. My grandma makes these pretzels for us when we go to her house, and my mom has started to make them... and now I've started to make them.

They are my favorite. Although, they're not the healthiest. I probably only have them two or three times a year... but I can definitely see it becoming more often. They are SO yummy... and SO simple.

Don't go all Paula Deen on me. I don't eat like this everyday. I wish I did... but I don't.

You just melt butter and stir in onion soup mix.

Mix the pretzels in!

Bake and done! :)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups of butter (that's 2 1/2 sticks, people.)
• 1 envelope onion soup mix
• 16 ounces of chunky pretzels (I use sourdough pieces)

Instructions:

• In a big pot, melt the butter.
• Stir in the soup mix.
• When that's blended, I put 1/3 of the pretzels in at a time, stirring until they're coated, and then taking them out and putting them into a 13x9 Pyrex pan 
• If you have any butter mixture left, pour it over the pretzels
• Bake at 250 degrees for an hour and a half, stirring every 15 minutes. Eat a piece every time you 'stir' :)

one of my better ideas

Another thing we do when we go to Grandma's is go to farm markets... Since I was little (long before AJ came along), she would take us to local orchards or farms to buy produce and other goods. I love that. I can't wait to do that with my kiddos.

My grandma lives in south-central PA right on the border of Maryland. I swear they have the BEST peaches and apples there. AMAZING. 

There are also lots of little farm markets around her house... she lives in an amazing little chunk of America... anyway, sorry... off my platform. I find all these amazing things at these markets: every-flavor gummy you can imagine (PARADISE.), apple cider donuts, snack mixes, homemade honeys and jams, and random stuff like ice cream sandwich cookies?

cover that in Nutella, and I'll take it!

This is one of the best ideas ever: