Strawberry Cupcakes w/ Banana Almond Frosting

I found some pretty easy ways to spice up cupcakes from a boxed cake mix and store bought frosting.

I really, really, really didn't want to bake at all. Usually I'm totally down to make everything from scratch and put in the work.

Not this day. Tired, unmotivated, blah.

My daughter had been begging me to try about one her own cupcake recipe cards for days now.

So I made it work, the busy and tired mom way. The frosting turned out amazing!!!

P.S. Ever since I was a little girl and my mom use to make wedding cakes, I have LOVED almond flavored frosting. It's just so good and most people will think so too.

It just has that little something that just does it for me.

yuuummm, everyone who ate them asked "What is this on top?" I said...delicious!

Cupcakes:

1 box Betty Crocker Vanilla cake mix
1 cup frozen strawberries, chopped fine with a food processor
2 drops pink food coloring, for effect

Make the cake mix according to the box, the only change..add in the strawberries and food coloring at the end and give another stir.

Bake according to box instructions as well.

Not hard. See???

Let the cupcakes cool before frosting.

Frosting:

1/2 container, Pillsbury Vanilla frosting
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon Almond extract

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Blend with a mixer on low until well combined.

At first my frosting was a little runny. So I stuck it in the refrigator for an hour to harden up a little bit.

Then iced my cupcakes.


ENJOY!!!

Creamy Parmesan Dressing

This month is totally flying by!!!!

This last week has been a busy one for us. Last Friday the girls were in a wedding and then we spent the weekend at the rodeo. We had a great time but it's nice to be home and feel settled.

I hadn't tried to make homemade dressing that much, in fact I think I can remember myself only doing it once or twice before. BTW, my mother in law makes a killer Celery Seed Dressing, that she serves over her world famous cabbage salad. Yum... alright after that brief drool, I'm back.

I made my own dressing. Really cool, creamy, and fresh. Great over our mixed salad and espeically crisp large tomatoe chunks.

Original recipe: Better Homes & Gardens NEW Cook Book, Creamy Italian Dressing

Own take and pictures by: Something Different For Dinner

Start to finish: 15 minutes

Yields: about 1 cup

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sour scream

2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning, crushed

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

In a jar, add mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar, garlic, Italian seasoning and black pepper.

Stir it all together well.

Add in the Paremesan cheese, stir in.

Serve immediately or cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Before serving, if you need to, stir in milk until dressing reaches desired consistency.

Enjoy with your favorite salad!!!

See you tomorrow!!

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes with Pumpkin Pie Spice

Gosh, I can't believe it's April 16th already.

It's sunny outside today and actually warm, SHIT!!! I spoke too soon, a cloud covered up my lovely sunshine.

I've been MIA the last couple of days. I've been busy taking care of my laid up husband. A little background: He is currently training to take his first official MMA fight. The other night, while training he dislocated his patella. OUCH. Long story short, he went to the hospital and got it put back into place. Since then, he's been on the couch elevating and icing.  Needless to say I've been doing the majority of EVERYTHING for him.  "Honey I need some ice, Honey I need some water, Can you get me some pain pills?? Honey I'm hungry...."  It's hard to wait on someone hand and foot ya know? But I love him and he'd do it for me.....I hope.

On top of that I am going back to school!! Humboldt State University.Yaaahhh me!! I'm official,

I signed up for classes today. 9am sharp this morning I clicked submit and my fall courses are good to go. Hopefully I can knock out everything I need to do in one year and I can get my B.A. in the Spring of 2013.

Fingers crossed.

I have a meeting with my major advisor on Wednesday to great the master plan.

Keep me in your prayers.

OK now onto breakfast......nothing too fancy but so yummy and perfect for this crazy sweet tooth I got going on.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup Pamela's Baking Mix

1 large egg

1 cup water

1 1/2 TBSP oil

1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

2 ripe bananas sliced

1/4 cup chocolate chips

watching mom



Mix baking mix, egg, water, and oil together until there are no lumps.

Add in chocolate chips and stir.

Pour desired amount into pre-heated, lightly oil griddle/pan/skillet (on medium heat)

Flip once.

Top with sliced bananas and syrup.

Enjoy!!

Sunshine, Cookies, Bird Houses, & Girl Scout patches

It's almost Easter!!!  All the good family time, yummy food, fun spring crafts, and fingers crossed for sunshine. The kids are excited about dying eggs and of course the hunt.

I love spring time. (mostly because summer is right around the corner)

Today was productive for me. I got up and made coffee, for me, and breakfast for my first grader, took her to school, and came home to the hubby making me breakfast. Wow and YUM!! After breakfast, Lil' Miss M painted a bird feeder that her daddy helped her build.

I got these cool bird house/ feeder crafts from The Rocking Horse, a local toy store, owned by my good friend Mary.  She has great stuff.

lil miss M, hard at work

big miss M's birdhouse for already finished

I finished ironing on Mina's girl scouts patches, boiled three dozen eggs for dying (and egg salad sandwiches), made birds nest cookies, vacuumed the living room, mopped the kitchen, and am still doing laundry.

M's Girl Scout Daisy vest and her hard earned patches. Very sweet

All while the sun was out and warm. It was a good day but now.... I'm done.

I think I've done enough. Hmm... now what for dinner.

A mothers day is never done, who am I kidding.

Oh, and I get to go to work tonight.... well that will be a good break. 

.sigh.

Birds Nest Cookies

1 package Nestle Toll House Peanut Butter &  Milk Chocolate morsels
1 package Chow Mien Noodles
1 package Cadbury Mini Candy Eggs

Melt peanut butter and chocolate chip morsels in a microwave safe bowl, for 30 seconds.

Remove for microwave and stir. Put in for another 30 seconds, take out and stir. Do this until the chips are completely melted. It only took me a total of one minute.

Add in your chow mien noodles. Stir and coat completely.

Spoon onto, wax paper covered baking sheet.

Top with candy eggs, and refrigerate until firm.

Super easy, and the kids love them!! Enjoy!!



my good little helper

ready to go in the refrigerator

Mixed Berry Crepes w/ Fresh Whipped Cream

Happy Monday and April 2nd everyone!!!

(Holy crap it's April)

So, this moring I decided to make my first attempt at crepes. Love to eat them,  had never made them. So here it went.

I found some really great wheat-free and gluten-free baking and pancake mix at my local natural food store, by Pamela's Products. I had some frozen berries in the freezer and some heavy whipping cream that I needed to use.

So that would be my filling.

They were delicious and a damn good first try.

Enjoy!!

Heavy Whipping Cream by Meadow Gold and Pamela's Baking Mix

Whipped Cream

2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream

1/4 -1/2 cup sugar

Beat with electric mixer until cream begins to stand on it's own. Do not over beat.

Takes about 2-3 minutes for me on high speed.

Berries, filling

2 cups frozen mixed berries

sugar, to taste

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan and begin to cook on medium heat.

Cook for approx. 5 additional minutes, on low heat, once they have reached a slight boil.

Turn off heat and let sit until needed.

Crepes

1 cup Pamela's Mix

1 egg(large) I used a duck egg, it's just what I had.

1- 1/3 cup water

1 TBSP oil

Mix all ingredients together, your batter will be very thin.

Preheat crepe pan or large round pan on medium low heat.

Pre-grease skillet before baking every crepe. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into skillet and very quickly spin pan in circular motion to even out batter into a thin, even coat. Air holes will appear, do not try and fill them in. When edges start to brown, lift edges of crepe with spatula, then flip.

not the best picture, but you get it

Take the crepe out of the pan and place flat on a piece of wax paper. Use this as a liner between crepes when stacking. Keep crepes covered to prevent them from drying out.

Fill with whipped cream and berries, and roll. Sprinkle top with powdered sugar.

 

filled and ready to eat

Chicken & Rice Casserole

I finally, finally have internet thats worth a shit!!!! So I'm back to posting things!! This WiFi crap I had previously made it impossible to upload any food pictures!! I was too frustrated so.. that why I tapered off. But hopefully now, I find more time to post, since my upload time is light speed :).

It's been DUMPING rain here and the kids were sick for the last week. Both had ear infections and chest colds. It was a hard week stuck in the house. On top of this I've had a headache for about a week and a half now. Yes... I'm going to the doctor today. So I've been surfing the web for recipes, facebook-ing, ordered a touchless trash can from costco.com, made a wish list on http://sephora.com (feel free to buy me pretty make up things), and helping my little M play games on http://coolmathforkids.com.

It's been lazy rainy days here. Can't wait for sunshine and swimming weather!!

I found this recipe in a Family Fun magazine from Campbell's. Easy and fast, perfect headache food.

M'm! M'm! Good!

Ingredients:

1 can Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup Healthy Request (I prefer this to regular, as the sodium content is lower)
1 1/3 cup water
3/4 cup uncooked regular long grain white rice
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 cups frozen broccoli flowerets
1cup frozen corn
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast, thawed
1/2 cup shredded Colby cheese
1/3 cup French's fried onions, crushed

Instructions:

1. In a shallow baking dish, I combined my soup, water, rice, onion powder, black pepper, corn, and broccoli.
2. Top with your chicken breasts. I seasoned my chicken with a little bit of garlic salt...but this part is all up to you. Season as you wish. Cover with foil.
3. Bake at 375 degrees for about 50 minutes. Take out of oven, and top the chicken with the French's friend onions. Bake for an additional 5 minutes then remove from oven. Lastly top with cheese and let stand for 10 minutes before serving.


With a prep time of only 5 minutes and cooking time of 50 minutes, this meal is simply and delicious. Perfect for a busy weeknight. Enjoy!! Happy Cooking.

Easy Stove Top Chili

original recipe: Tennessee Home and Farm via http://farmflavor.com

recipe adapted and photos by: Something Different For Dinner

Easy Stove Top Chili

Ingredients

2 cups red bell pepper, diced

4 cups onion, diced

2 teaspoons garlic, minced

2 ½ pounds ground beef

2 (16-ounce) can tomato sauce

2 cans kidney beans

1 soup can water

4 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

1. In a skillet over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef and drain the grease.
2. In a large stockpot, sauté the bell pepper and onion in oil until slightly soft.
3. Add the minced garlic and browned beef.
4. Add tomato sauce, beans, water and seasonings.
5. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.

my chili, simmering slowly

Simmer, uncovered, for approximately 1 hour minimum. (The original recipe said to simmer for only 15 minutes. That wasn't enough for me.)