Hello everyone! What a crazy few weeks it's been here, my baby (not really a baby, but he's my baby) started school a few weeks ago and it has been a crazy adjustment for all of us. Kaley wanders around the house looking for him most of the day and seems pretty confused as to where he is hiding, but the smiles when he finally comes home are too sweet!
But today is the day! I am FINALLY sharing the recipe for the Zucchini Lemon Poppy seed Bread I made and shared back in June on Instagram with you guys! Sorry that it has taken so long, life just got in the way.
I found the recipe on good old Pinterest from Fabulously Frugal and it was easy enough to make, considering the work it is to grate zucchini. I made one large loaf instead of mini loaves and chose not to put the glaze on from the original recipe. Next time I do want to try the mini loaves for the simple fact that I think they are adorable and would be the cutest little gifts for people.
Zucchini Lemon Poppyseed Bread (adapted from Fabulously Frugal)
3 cups grated zucchini
3/4 cup butter, melted an cooled
2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp poppy seeds
3 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 tbsp lemon zest
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice (that's all I got from my lemons)
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and line bottom with parchment paper.
2. Grate zucchini, then wring out in paper towels or clean dish towel to remove excess moisture. Set aside.
3. Whisk dry ingredients together in small bowl (flour, baking powder and poppy seeds). In a large separate bowl mix the eggs and sugar. Add zucchini, butter, zest and juice. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the zucchini mixture until combined. Pour into prepared loaf pan.
4. Bake 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack before removing. Turn cake onto rack and let another 30 minutes before eating or let cool completely before storing.
And honestly guys, I really don't think it needed the glaze at all! This bread was a hit both with Luis and I and when I brought it to work. The bread was just sweet enough with the delicious hints of lemon and the yummy poppy seeds. I love poppy seeds, and this is probably my favourite flavour combination.
So if you find yourself with some zucchini and the energy to bake, you should try this bread. You will not be disappointed! And if you're in the mood for something chocolatey, check out my zucchini brownies. Another recipe that doesn't disappoint.
Kerby
Hi there everyone! Holy has this ever been a crazy couple of months, pretty much since we made the decision to move back in early March. And I also have gone back to work part time this month, which was unexpected and has added a whole new level of crazy. With all of these happenings, I've got quite the backlog of pictures that I am going through, so bear with me!
To get through some of the pictures I have ready to go, today I want to share the best blueberry muffin recipe. I found this on Pinterest a few months ago when we had an overload of blueberries and didn't want to waste them. Seriously guys, these were so good! Moist, rich and the perfect amount on sweetness.
The original recipe is here and they were pretty easy to make, you definitely don't need to be a seasoned baker to make delicious blueberry muffins. Though I will say that my streusel topping was more like a glaze than a crumbly topping (as the original recipe had), even following the directions. Not sure where the error was, but they came out fantastic!
We shared them with some family members and they were devoured within hours of delivery. Always a compliment! I like when baked goods get eaten fast and don't sit around for days, it makes the effort worth it sometimes. And it's always great to be able to share your baked goods so you don't have to toss them or eat them all yourself!!!
A few weeks later I made these again and tweaked the streusel to make sure it was like the original recipe, and I have to say we liked the glaze a little bit more. So sometimes baking fails can become happy accidents that work out better than you plan. This just shows that you should never be afraid to try a new recipe!
Now you can grab some blueberries and make some of these delicious muffins for yourself. You'll be happy when you do, pinky promise.
Kerby
Hello everyone and happy Sunday! Hopefully everyone got to sleep in and was able to spend some quality time with family, friends or just relaxing. Can you do any of that for me too? Our kids are slowly boycotting sleep and they have me outnumbered. People with more than two kids, I give you props. Go you.
Today I want to share a recipe that I found on Pinterest and I thought would be perfect to use up some cream cheese that's best before date was quickly approaching. I have never made cookies with cream cheese but was definitely intrigued and thought it was worth a try.
Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies (original recipe)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups chocolate chips
1. Cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugars and beat until fluffy and well combined. Then add vanilla and egg and beat until combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally, and between additions.
2. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, cornstarch and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until combined. I found the dough didn't come together very well, it was especially dry.
3. Add in chocolate chips and stir until distributed without over mixing. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips but would definitely recommenced milk chocolate or M&M's like the original recipe. I just used what I had on hand. Chill dough for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and scoop dough onto cookie sheet with an ice cream scoop. I had to flatten them a little because they baked weird when I let them drop. Bake 8-10 minutes, then let rest on the cookie sheet for an additional 2 minutes.
I have to say, they looked fantastic from the original recipe, but mine did not turn out as nice. They did not spread out or crisp up at all, staying pretty much how they were dropped. And they were "soft", but extremely dry and crumbly. Not what I'm looking for in a cookie, especially a chocolate chip cookie. When I think of soft I think chewy, which I know is different, but that's what I associate with soft. These were not chewy, at all.
I want to chock this up to baker error, because they really didn't turn out that great. There was not much sweetness to the cookie, which could have been because I used a semi sweet chocolate instead of a milk chocolate. There wasn't a lot of sugar in the recipe, so pretty sure a chocolate swap would have made a big difference in the taste. I have found that some recipes make the dough a little less sweet to accommodate the chocolate in the recipe. How many times can I say chocolate in one paragraph? Holy guys.
But I can't figure out why they ended up dry and crumbly. Baker error must have been my issue. Even my tried and true freezer solution didn't work guys. They were even worse straight from the freezer, so I ended up tossing them. If I'm going to eat a cookie, it's got to be a good cookie. No half way on that.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about with my "freezer solution", just toss the cooled cookies in the freezer for a few days and then try one straight from the freezer. Guys, seriously this will change your life. The right cookie recipe will go from good to super-amazing once it come out of your freezer. You can find the cookies I recommend for this here: Chocolate Cake Cookies; Mint Chocolate Pudding Cookies and Chocolate Coconut Balls.
Has anyone made cream cheese cookies before and had them turn out? I am still really interested in the idea of cream cheese in cookies, but now I'm a little shy of trying again. Please share if you have!
Kerby
Linking to:
eighteen25 - Show and Tell #16
Hello, hello. Guys, I really feel like I am finding my groove with getting stuff done! Not to jinx myself but I feel like everything is finally balancing out and I am getting a touch more free time do crafts and bake. Now that Kaley is on the move she is constantly finding things to get into and this keeps her pretty occupied. And Braxton may just be the easiest kid ever, so that means more free time for Mommy!!
Recently we grabbed some store bought pie crusts because I was feeling lazy and didn't want to make pie dough for turkey pies. Silly me should have just made the pie dough because when I opened the store bought crusts they were in pieces. Literally pieces of the pie crust were no longer attached and were floating freely in the box.
So I ended up making dough for the turkey pies and was not impressed while doing it. Not wanting to waste these store bought crusts, I headed over to Pinterest to find a way to use these and I stumbled onto things called hand pies. Why have I not heard of these before!?! Completely intrigued I found a recipe to try from Cooking on the Front Burners.
Apple Hand Pies (original recipe)
2 pkgs. store bought pie crust (2 crusts in box)
2 1/4 cups apples, peeled and chopped very small
1 1/4 tbsp flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 egg (for egg wash)
1. Set out dough to thaw to room temperature. This doesn't take too long, maybe 30 minutes (you can see some of the missing crust below and all of the cracks). At the same time preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Toss apples with flour in a medium bowl until coated. Stir in sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. I used quite a bit of cinnamon because that's how we like our apple pie. Set the apple filling aside.
3. Take dough out of the pie shell and flatten on a floured surface, like your counter. Use a cookie cutter to cut circles in the pie dough, mine was a 2-inch circle and way too small. I switched to a 3-inch heart halfway through but it was still too small. Re-roll the scraps to use as much of the dough as you can, making sure that you have an even number.
4. Place dough on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Next is placing the apple filling onto the dough. I was able to get roughly 2 teaspoons on my dough circles, where the original recipe managed 2-3 tablespoons. I was able to get 2 1/2 teaspoons in my hearts. Place another dough circle over top and pinch edges together. You may have to remove some of the filling to get the dough to pinch together. Once together use a fork to flute the edges and poke the top with the fork.
5. Beat egg with 1 tablespoon of water to make an egg wash and brush the tops of the pies. If you want you can top with coarse sugar, which I did with my hearts and recommend. Bake for 10 - 11 minutes, adjusting for the size of your hand pies.
Once they have cooled, roughly an hour, you can enjoy. Now I have this labelled as a baking fail because we found these to be crust heavy. I know this is because of the size of hand pies that I made, but there was barely any filling. If you like your pies like that, you are crazy. For us, they just didn't hit the mark.
These hand pies definitely need to be made with a biscuit cutter, at least 4 inches like the original recipe to get the crust to filling ratio a little more even. But that being said, the process worked beautifully, the size of the dough was 100% the problem. I also want to note that I had a ridiculous amount of filling leftover. I followed the original recipe and used 4 cups of apples, which I think would still be too much because I used four crusts where they used two.
We ended up using some vanilla ice cream leftover from Braxton's birthday and these went from a 5 out of 10 to at least an 8. So yummy with ice cream, the extra crust didn't seem so overwhelming. I will definitely be trying the recipe again with a larger cookie cutter and will let you guys know if they come out any better. Maybe even with a different filling, I saw that some people use jam. I am even more intrigued.
Have you guys ever had or made hand pies? Or like me had never heard of them before? They really are a great way to use broken store bought pie crusts, or even extra dough from pies.
Kerby
Linking to:
eighteen25 - Show and Tell #15
Gingersnap Crafts - Wow Me Wednesday #287
Two Chicks and a Mom - Funtastic Friday 2/23/17
Naptime Creations - Create, Link, Inspire 2/27/17
Welcome back and guess what, I actually baked something! Yay me, and I am so excited to have something that does not relate to my kids. I love them with all my heart, but I'm sure you guys would like to see something else. And it also makes me feel like things are getting back to before we had babies, since both kids are no longer babies.
Anyway, back to the task at hand - a yummy recipe. I was cruising my Cookie board on Pinterest for something easy to bake and I found a recipe for cookies using cake mix. And I just happened to have an extra box of chocolate cake mix unused after both birthday parties. It was meant to be.
Chocolate Cake Cookies (original recipe here)
1 box cake mix (any flavour)
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix all ingredients together. Place by tablespoonfuls on greased cookie sheet. This batter is ridiculously sticky, so do your best to make them the same size. I had to spray my fingers with cooking spray to get the batter off my fingers on the tray.
3. Bake 7-9 minutes until edges are brown. I found that leaving the cookies on the baking sheet for an extra minute or so helped because after the 9 minutes they were still very soft.
That's it and oh my goodness were these amazing, I was extremely surprised. Full disclosure - they didn't exactly smell bad, but the they didn't smell amazing either. Usually when you bake cookies the whole house will smell fantastic. So I was weary when I took my first bite, but then I had to stop myself from eating every last one.
And if you think these are cookies that will last longer in the freezer, think again. They were even better! I ate more from the freezer than from the fresh cookies at room temperature. At room temperature they were extremely soft and stayed moist, and just the right amount of sweetness. From the freezer they were like fudge and chewy and everything you want when you are eating a treat from the freezer.
Isn't this a great recipe for quick and easy cookies? If you have boxed cake mix on hand, like I usually do, it's nice to be able to whip a quick batch of cookies up in a jiffy. And you can use any type of cake mix, and even ice them like in the original post. Imagine carrot cake cookies with cream cheese icing.....let's be real, this is probably going to happen soon. I will share if they taste as good as they sound!
Has anyone ever made cookies from cake mix before? I would love to know how it turned out or the combinations that you used.
Kerby
Linking to:
Ginger Snap Crafts - Wow Me Wednesday #283
Two Chicks and a Mom - Funtastic Friday #111
eighteen25 - Show and Tell #14
Tatertots and Jello - BFF Link Party 2/17/17
Naptime Creations - Create, Link, Inspire 2/27/17
Hello everyone and welcome back! Good thing you're here because boy are you in for a treat! Today I am sharing a recipe for some really yummy healthly-ish brownies.
A few weeks ago I asked Luis to bring some fruits and vegetables home from the farm stand that he drives by on his way home from work. He said they had zucchini and I was in, because who doesn't love zucchini bread? Well I definitely wasn't expecting what he brought home. They were two for a dollar and this was one of the ones he decided to bring home.
Sorry for the iPhone picture, but I had to share this with a few people and it's the only picture I managed to take. And yes, that is a bunch of bananas for size comparison. I ended up with 8 and a half cups of grated and drained zucchini. Holy man was that a lot of work, and I don't plan on doing that again anytime soon. Seriously. Though probably the best fifty cents ever spent by my husband.
So off to Pinterest I went and I came across this zucchini brownie recipe and it seemed like a much better idea than bread. It only used 1 cup of grated zucchini, so I ended up freezing the rest in 1 cup portions for future recipes.
The original recipe calls for using a 9x9 baking pan, but I used an 8x8 pan because for the life of me I cannot find my 9x9 pan. So I adjusted my baking time and it was 40 minutes instead of the 25 minutes until a toothpick was clean when tested.
This was much more cake like for a brownie than I usually make, and I loved it. You couldn't even tell that there was zucchini in there, which is the best way to sneak vegetables to those who don't like to voluntarily eat them. Luis brought a few to work and the guys loved them and didn't believe that they were zucchini brownies, and one guy actually preferred these as well. Quite the compliment to this recipe.
I love brownies, and this was a nice way to make a healthier version for my family. I didn't even make the accompanying frosting recipe included with the original recipe, though I think that would have made these a one sitting treat. And like I said before, what a great way to sneak some vegetables to your kids or spouse that won't eat them any other way.
I have a feeling this recipe will start to be my go-to brownie recipe when zucchini is in season. I'm sure this could be made even healthier with a few substitutions, and maybe one day I'll try that. But for now I'm just going to enjoy the fact that there are "healthy" brownies in my house.
Do you guys have any zucchini recipes that are to die for? Please share them because I need to use this zucchini up!
Kerby
Linking to:
Ginger Snap Crafts - Wow Me Wednesday #286
Tatertots & Jello - Link Party Palooza 12/16/16
Two Chicks and a Mom - Funtastic Friday #112
eighteen25 - Show & Tell #13
Hello there again, glad to see that you came back. I've been pretty sketchy with posting regularly and I'm still trying guys. I don't know how people with more than two children do it, you guys are still my heroes. I have the motivation, but no time. Still hoping that's going to change soon.
I stumbled on this recipe again on Pinterest by accident and it has changed my life. I love easy, go-to recipes that I can bring to almost anything. And this has been a hit everywhere I've brought it. I could even make this for just us and eat the whole thing. The original recipe is here from Centre Cut Cook.
I have made this per the original instructions with an Oreo crust (and it was delicious) and I have also made it with a graham cracker crust. I am sharing the adapted recipe with the graham crust.
No Bake Cherry Cheesecake
Crust:
4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
4 tbsp butter
Cheesecake:
2 pkg. cream cheese
1 tub Cool Whip
3/4 cup icing sugar
Topping:
2 cans cherry pie filling
1. Spray 9x13 pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside. Melt butter and mix with crumbs and sugar in a large bowl. Press into pan and place in the fridge.
2. Beat cream cheese in a separate bowl until light and fluffy. Add in sugar and beat until combined. Stir in Cool Whip until combined but not over mixed. Spoon over crust in an even layer. Place in fridge for 20 minutes until the mixture has set up a little.
3. Once cream cheese mixture is set spoon on the cherry pie filling. Place in the fridge for at least two hours prior to eating.
That's it! Sorry for the lack of pictures, I made this to take to a family gathering and didn't have time to take better pictures. And really didn't want to cut into the dessert before getting there, that might be rude. Maye I will update with pictures in the future if I get a chance.
Now
I preferred the cheesecake with the Oreo chocolate crust, but the graham crust was still delicious. I love an easy to make recipe, and this one fit the bill. I can't wait to make it again, and maybe try a few more changes. If you guys have any no bake cheesecake recipes, feel free to share.
Kerby
Hello again and welcome back! I thought I would share something other than Kaley today, though I do love her to pieces. I'm hoping to have time for crafting again one day, but for now family gatherings have given me the opportunity for some "baking".
I have a killer trifle recipe to share with you guys. I had forgotten about trifles for a very long time and had never made one before. I had only eaten them at family gatherings, and boy was I missing out. These are probably the greatest dessert of all time! The are easy to make and clean up, delicious and sure to be a family favourite. And they are the easiest dessert to make your own, you just need to have a cake base, whipped cream and an add in like fruit or sweets. You can take any recipe and tweak it to your liking for a brand new twist.
I stumbled across this recipe from Or So She Says in my Pinterest feed and didn't look back.
Chocolate Toffee Trifle
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 bag skor pieces
1 container chocolate sauce
Homemade whipped cream (see below)
1. Bake cake per box instructions in two round pans. Set aside until completely cooled.
2. Make your whipped cream by placing 4 cups heavy/whipping cream, 2 cups icing sugar and 2 tsp. of vanilla in a standing mixer. Whip on high until thick and almost stiff peaks form. Set aside. (Note: I doubled the whipped cream in the original recipe because I found I did not have enough and could only do two layers)
3. Break your cake into bite sized pieces and put a layer in the bottom of your trifle dish. I followed the original instructions and fit the sliced cake whole into the dish and did not like the fit. I recommend using pieces and making this layer a little thicker to hold everything else.
4. Layer in some chocolate sauce followed by toffee bits and then whipped cream. Pay attention to the sides and try to add more there to really show the layers off.
5. When your happy with your layers start again with cake pieces and follow step four. Repeat until you end with whipped cream at the top of your trifle dish. I put a little extra at the top so I could smooth it out a bit better. Top with zigzags of chocolate sauce and sprinkle with toffee bits.
This recipe was so good, though when following the original recipe with adding the cake in as a full layer (and not in pieces) I found that it was very whipped cream heavy. I assume the whipped cream weighed everything down and made it so I had to add more than needed. That's why above I recommended ripping the cake into pieces, that way you will end up using more cake and less whipped cream to fill the trifle dish.
Here is a much closer look at the layers. It was especially hard to get the chocolate sauce and toffee bits to show, but I just did my best. It will all taste the same in the end, but it's nice when your desserts look pretty too.
And everyone always assumes that you spend a boat load of time and effort on these trifles. They are seriously easy desserst to make and have one of the biggest wow factors, it's awesome. Sometimes when you bake you feel underappreciated when you make a time consuming, difficult dessert and don't get a big response. But these bad boys definitely steal the show.
I will be making this recipe again, it was a big hit and Luis loved it. He did not object at all to me adding this to my dessert book. I think he may have even encouraged it.
So next family gathering or event that you need to bring a dessert to, keep a trifle in mind. They are show stealers and easy to make. I know I can't wait to make another one.
Kerby
Linking to:
Ginger Snap Crafts - Wow Me Wednesday #286
Tatertots & Jello - Link Party Palooza 12/16/16
Naptime Creations - Create Link Inspire 12/19/16
Two Chicks and a Mom - Funtastic Friday #114
