Written By Mama

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Remember my Green Food Challenge I’m part of for the month of March? Well my last and final recipe was a dud. I was super excited to post this one because who doesn’t love caramel apples? Anyways, so I found this awesome recipe on Pinterest for Inside Out Caramel Apples. They were awesome looking. I didn’t read the directions.

So here’s what I did…
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So remember the other day when I posted a recipe for my Cupcake-tinis? Well I still had a lot of batter leftover but didn’t want to waste it. So I decided to make toddler friendly St. Patrick’s Day cupcakes – let’s face it, Landon and a glass martini glass isn’t a very good combination. Anyways, so this recipe is very similar to the cupcake-tini recipe, with a few differences. So I’m just gonna start from the beginning.

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Right before Valentine’s Day, I heard on the radio of a tasty treat called a cupcake-tini. I had no idea what it was or how it was made, but I knew I wanted it. So, I did some Googling, and found some tasty recipe for alcoholic drinks – not what I was looking for, but definitely a bonus!
Anyways, after some more Googling I felt confident enough in my research that I could make these cupcake-tinis, without a recipe. Lucky for you, I wrote everything down as I went, so I can share it with YOU!
Now this recipe is for a St. Patrick’s Day Rainbow Cupcake-tini, however, you can make it with any cake mix – chocolate would be wonderful for a date night

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So my mom’s birthday was on Tuesday. I was in such a fog that day, that I totally forgot about what dessert to make her – it’s not a birthday without something sweet! Anyways, I finally came up with cupcakes. I didn’t want just any cupcakes though, I wanted something special. So I decided to fill them with homemade chocolate frosting.
I used a box of cake mix and store bought frosting to frost the tops, but you can always make cupcakes and frosting by scratch, if you’d rather!

What You Need:

• 1 box of cake mix (including the eggs, oil etc…)
• Corer – I used a pointed potato peeler but they actually make things to remove the center of your cupcakes. I just couldn’t find one at my local craft/baking store.


This is what I used

• 1 Small Ziploc Baggy or frosting bag
• Milk
• 1C of powdered sugar
• 1/2C of Unsweetened Baking Cocoa
• 1 tub of store bought frosting
• Candy Hearts (or any shape you want) *optional*

What You Do:

• Make the cupcakes according to the box.
• Cook according to the box then cool for 30 minutes.
• While the cupcakes are cooling, in a small bowl, add your powdered sugar and baking cocoa. Add about a tablespoon of milk to your bowl. Mix well. It will take a few seconds (about 30 seconds) of constant mixing before your cocoa will mix into the milk. You’ll know it when it’s getting there. If you need more milk, add about a half a tablespoon at a time, until it’s like soft (slightly melted) frosting.
• Once the cupcakes are cooled, take your corer and remove a small hole in the center of each cupcake. Make sure you don’t go all the way to the bottom of the cupcake, as the filling will make the cupcake liners soggy – and it’ll be super messy to eat.



• Put your homemade frosting into the zip bag or frosting bag. Pipe a little bit of frosting into each cupcake hole.


I just used a ziploc baggy

• Frost your cupcakes. I found if you put the frosting on the tip of your knife and put it on the center of the cupcake (where your hole is), then slowly spread outwards, it spreads easier.
• Once you’re done frosting your cupcakes, add the candy hearts, or other shapes.

OMG so I was on Pinterest today (holy wow, I bet you woulda never guessed lol) and I found the most amazing (and ridiculously easy) cookie recipe. It may only be super amazing because it’s got salty pretzels and chocolate in it (and well, what woman doesn’t want that mixture for about a week each month?!)

Anyways, I did change it up just a little bit because…well because I wanted to lol

What You Need:

Mixer (hand or stand)
Brownie pan
Aluminum foil
Baking spray
1C Flour
1/2 TSPN baking soda
1/2 TSPN salt (um, I kinda eyeballed it)
1/2C of butter, softened
5 TBSPNS granulated sugar
5 TBSPNS of light brown sugar
1 egg, room temp
1 TSPN vanilla extract
1 package of Guittard Milk Chocolate Chips (you can use semi-sweet if you want – this ingredient is slightly altered to accomodate my local grocery store’s inventory.)
1 handful of salted pretzels. (I used alphabet pretzels because that’s what Landon liked)
1 handful of Valentine’s Day M&M’s (okay, I may have used a little more than a handful lol)

What You Need To Do:

1. Preheat oven to 375*
2. Line the brownie pan with aluminum foil then grease the foil with baking spray.
3. In a small bowl, add the flour, baking soda and salt. Set bowl aside.
4. In your stand mixer (or bowl with hand mixer) cream both sugars and the softened butter.
5. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Mix well.
6. Add flour mixture. Mix for 2 minutes on medium speed.
7. Then remove bowl from stand and mix in the chocolate chips. Leave a few out to treat yourself for doing so well so far. Mix the chips by hand so they don’t break into pieces and melt into your cookie mix.
8. Spread the cookie dough evenly throughout the foiled, greased pan.

9. Sprinkle the pretzels and M&M’s on the top of the cookie mix. Slightly press toppings into the batter, that way they stay in place when done cooking.
10. Bake for 20-30 mins or until the edges are browned. Mine are slightly overcooked, that’s why it looks so dark.
11. Let cool for 2 minutes, then remove the foil (with the cookie in place) to help cool the cookie faster. Enjoy!

You can alter this for different holidays just by changing the M&M’s. I love recipes like that! Tweet me pictures if you make them!
If you like it, feel free to share it using the buttons below!

Recipe altered from Knead To Cook‘s recipe.

Not too long ago my friend Becky from Week 99er posted an amazing recipe for Gluten Free Homemade Bacon Topped Chocolate Cupcakes. It intrigued me.
If you are living a gluten free lifestyle, Week 99er has TONS of Gluten Free Recipes. I recommend you check her out – she has this recipe in a Gluten Free version also (:

While I’m rambling on, you should know I’ve never made homemade cupcakes before. This was a first for me. OMG it was so easy and it was so much better than boxed mix.

This recipe is 100% homemade – meaning I also made my own frosting. Again, thanks Becky!

This recipe makes 24 cupcakes.

Cupcakes:

- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tspn Vanilla Extract
- 1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup baking cocoa
- 1 tspn baking soda
- 1/4 tspn salt
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup milk
- Bacon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375*
2. Cream butter & sugar together until light & fluffy.
3. Add egg & vanilla.
4. In separate bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture.
5. Add milk and water to mixture – mix well.
6. Spray muffin tins with baking spray or line with cupcake liners – fill 2/3rds full; bake for 13-15 minutes.
7. Let cool for 10 minutes before frosting.

Frosting:

- 8 tbspn butter; softened
- 1/2 tspn vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 4 tbspn baking cocoa

Directions:

1. Mix together butter & vanilla.
2. Add sugar and cocoa; mix well.

Fry up your bacon while the cupcakes are cooling. When everything is cooled; frost cupcakes. Cut each slice of bacon into 3 pieces. Top each cupcake with 1 chunk of bacon. Enjoy!

Tips:

I cooked my bacon in the oven.
I don’t use cupcake liners.
Cooking times vary so start with the lowest cooking time & add 1 minute extra as needed.
You can make white frosting by omitting the baking cocoa.
I used my stand mixer & a whisk.

Feel free to pin, tweet & share on Facebook.
Let me know if you have any questions!

Friday Night Meal For the Whole Family

Pizza is always a weekend family favorite! Not only is it delicious it’s easy, just call in an order or pop a frozen one in the oven. Try this new twist on pizza, not only is it a healthier swap, it tastes like the real thing!
Friday Night Pizza Stuffed Chicken

All you need is:
•4 Chicken Breasts
•Turkey Pepperoni
•½ cup Pizza Sauce or spaghetti sauce
•¼ cup Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese
•¼ cup Cheddar Cheese
•1 tspGarlic
•1 tspItalian spices/blend

Preparation:
•Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
•Coat a baking dish or place foil down for easy clean up.
•Mix the stuffing in a large bowl-half of the pizza sauce, cheddar cheese, half of the mozzarella cheese, garlic Italian spices and mix.
•Beat chicken thin and salt and pepper each breast
•Spoon stuffing onto each breast and add 4-6 pepperonis
•Roll and place seam down into baking dish
•Pour the remaining pizza sauce on top, place 1-3 turkey pepperonis on each breast and sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese.
•Bake for 30-35 minutes until cooked.

Serve with your favorite salad and/veggie and you have a complete, yummy and healthy meal that the whole family will love! Have fun with it and change it up, add turkey sausage or all veggies to make your favorite pizza. Remember you can make this as healthy as you want, opt for reduced fat cheese, use less pepperoni and use a smaller chicken breast. Happy eating!

Author Bio
Nancy Parker was a professional nanny and she loves to write about wide range of subjects like health, Parenting, Child Care, and Babysitting, find a nanny tips etc. You can reach her @ nancy.parker015 @ gmail.com.

Growing up, my best childhood friend’s mom (so Shonda’s mom) use to make the BEST macaroni and cheese. I mean the absolute best mac & cheese I have ever had. Every holiday, most weekends and just because she would make this heaven sent side dish.

Since Cody and I have been married (a little over 4 years) I have been desperately trying to recreate her mac & cheese. Needless to say I have failed every time, horribly, until today!
The only thing I’ll skip next time is the breadcrumbs. I realized today, that I am not a fan of breadcrumbs. However, I will add it to the recipe because Cody liked it with them.

What You Need:
- 16oz bag of orecchiette or 16oz bag of elbow noodles
- 4 cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 3.5 cups of milk
- 1 stick of butter
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 1 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup of breadcrumbs (optional)
1 2 tablespoons of flour

What To Do:

1. Cook noodles according to directions on package. Drain. Leave in strainer.
2. In the same pot (without the noodles) melt the stick of butter. Add flour and make a roux.
3. Slowly add milk to the roux, stirring while adding.
4. Add the cheese and cook over medium heat stirring constantly until the cheese turns into a thick sauce.
At this point I thought to myself “I just need it a little thicker, if it wasn’t so thin then it would be thicker” Ding, ding! I must be a winner! lol
5. Preheat oven to 350*. Put the noodles in a large baking dish. Add the cheese sauce. Make sure you mix the noodles and cheese sauce together well in the baking dish. Sprinkle a little parm cheese on top.
6. In a small sauce pan melt the last 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the breadcrumbs and cook until the crumbs are slightly browned.
Optional Step 7. Spread the breadcrumb on top of the mac and cheese.
8. Bake for 30 minutes.

That’s it! What do you think?

*I have more pictures, so if you would like me to add them, let me know (:

Okay, so I stole this awesome breakfast from my stepmother, Jamie, the other day.
It’s a cinnamon roll waffle. Oh yeah.

What You’ll Need:
- refrigerated cinnamon rolls
- waffle maker
- food coloring (optional)
- butter (optional)

What You Have To Do:

1. preheat your waffle maker according to the directions that came with your waffle maker and open cinnamon rolls.

2. Place 2 rolls on each square. I only have 2 squares on mine so I used 4 cinnamon rolls.

3. close your waffle maker and cook according to the directions that came with you waffle maker. Mine has a red light and green light. The red light is on until it’s done cooking then the green light turns on. Pay attention! They burn really quick!
4. CAREFULLY remove your cooked cinnamon rolls. They will be VERY hot. This is when I spread a little butter on my waffles.

5. Take your frosting and put it into a bowl (remove from plastic first!). Heat for about 5-10 seconds.
6. Add food coloring to your frosting and mix well. Drizzle over warm waffles.

Cody liked his with syrup instead of the frosting, but I thought it tasted just fine with the frosting. I do think I drizzled a little too much on mine the first time though, it was a little sweet.

As always: share, copy, paste, make etc…but please give credit where credit is due.

Okay, so for this tasty recipe, I DON’T have pictures…I know what the heck was I thinking?!
First of all, it is very UNHEALTHY for you. If you are on any kind of diet I would stay away from this one lol.
However, it is really easy to make and goes with a ton of things!
You can pair it with fish (shrimp would be really good), pasta (which is my favorite) or use it as a dip for artichokes.

What You Need:
- 1/2 cup of butter
- 1/2 cup of lime juice*
- garlic powder (everyone has different limits with garlic, so use what you can tolerate!)
- pinch of pepper
- small handful of parsley (optional)

Directions:
1. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan on medium-high heat
2. Add in your lime juice, garlic powder, pepper and parsley.
3. Reduce heat to low and heat for about 1 minute.
4. Quickly add it to whatever you’re pairing it with. If you let it sit too long the butter will stiffen up again.
If you refrigerate the leftovers, just heat it back up in the microwave.

*You can substitute with lemon juice, but you might want to use less, and remember it might not taste the same.

Remember, you can share and/or make this recipe, but please give credit where credit is due. (: