A Change Of Pace

Sooooo. I haven't blogged in forever. Life caught up with me. I guess that's really the only excuse to offer. Though I do have a LOT of good things to share with you. I've decided to expand my blog into a little more than just sweets after realizing I just love food in general. So changes are on the horizon...

I have these fabulous friends. They make my life a lot better.

Also, these friends can cook. Well two of them. The other one just likes to eat with me. :)

I spent the weekend at their house. Lot's of snow, food, and fun times.

The first night we made Funfetti cookies. They are so yummy. We had them for breakfast too.

I just used the Funfetti cake mix and used their recipe on the box to turn it into cookies.

Then it snowed a lot. It doesn't look like a lot in this picture but - I was wearing flip flops. Why? I don't know... but we had like a LEGIT three inches!

Then we had these yummy salads. :)

Hot wings. Yes. Hot wings. I stood outside in my sweats and flip flops and made hot wings. While it was below freezing. Not to mention.. it was snowing.

Any clue what this is? Mexican cornbread. AKA - HEAVEN ON A PLATE.

Missy makes some divine Mexican cornbread and I WILL be sharing that recipe with you soon!

We ate a lot more yummy things. Chocolate chip cookies, chicken chili, cinnamon rolls with orange icing. I think I gained like ten pounds. Not to mention this INCREDIBLE (no seriously.. to DIE FOR) German chocolate upside down cake. But I'm keeping that under wraps for now.

It was a great weekend with lots of food and friends.

I promise, recipes to come!

The Sweetest Thing - Jesus

So, this weekend. Where do I start? It was incredible. Amazing. Perfect. Cold. Challenging. We headed off to Covington on Friday afternoon about 4:30. I knew from the moment I picked up a couple of the girls from the high school that it would be a great weekend! We stopped for dinner on the way there and had Zaxby's. YUM!

This is Mark Fritchman. He was our speaker. HE WAS AWESOME. He said a lot of things that made you go "Ouch." or "Wow." or just sit in silence.

All the lovely ladies I got to share a cabin with this weekend. Love them all.

I decided our "crazy" picture was more definitive of us all than our pretty smiles. :)

Four square, basketball, ping-pong, dodgeball all took place during rec time. Lots of naps too!

These two lovelies and I (Tyne left, Maria right) spent a majority of our time together on the weekend. Tyne and I led the 9th and 10th grade girls small group.

Say "awwww"! This was taken during rec time.. one of the five minutes we spent together all weekend! Isn't he great?

Some of the awesome girls from my small group. And apparently Trey!

Please notice our awesome Simple Fool hoodies.

Never heard simple fool? You can check them out at www.simplefoolmusic.com

You won't regret it.

Okay, that was the last picture. That's Hannah and she's the cutest thing ever.

Promise my next post will be about something sweet you can eat - meanwhile enjoy the sweetest thing... Jesus.

Better-Than-Anything

It's hump day! I'm so excited for the weekend. This weekend I will be packing up and heading to Covington for a three day Jesus filled vacation from life that we like to call "Winter Retreat". It's gonna be good stuff. I'll have a special non-baking post about it when I get back because it's just that awesome!

Last night, as many of you probably know, was the season premiere of the last season of LOST. Now - I haven't kept up with lost but Tyler L-O-V-E-S it. So we had a date night at his house to watch it with his family! Hooray. We had hot wings, salad, and chili... and better-than-anything cake.

Tyler is like the hot wing master. This boy can make a mean hot wing. For real.

He faithfully braved the freezing cold.. it was seriously so cold. And windy. All in the name of delicious hot wings!

Yummy salads!

Now here comes the best part. The cake. Ohhh, the cake.

Are you ready for this? Brace yourself for yummy-goodness.

You're gonna need:

1 box of milk chocolate cake mix

1 tub of cool whip

1 bag mini Heath bars or two regular size ones

I like to keep it simple.

Can'tcha tell?

Heath bars are one of my favorites. I had to sneak a few before I crushed them up. But you must.. crush them into little tiny bits.

Turns into...

Please notice the awesome mallet like thing. Mix your cake mix according to the box. Kristi let me use her super amazing Kitchen Aid stand mixer. It was glorious. I want one soooo bad.

Mixing, mixing... doesn't it look glorious? Now pour it into the pan - I used 9x13.

Bake @ 350 until you can poke a tooth pick through and it comes out clean!

Let cool COMPLETELY.

Thirty minutes later that turns into this:

It's really important to let it cool completely. We stuck ours outside for a few minutes. It was so cold out there that cooled it up real nice! Now you get to top it with your Cool-Whip "frosting".

After you slather it with a generous amount of Cool-Whip sprinkle with your crushed up Heath bar.

Mmm, looks sooo good. Trust me, it is!

Time to enjoy. It was really an almost perfect night!

Jello'd Tuesday

Happy Tuesday! Mine is a very happy one today indeed. Sipping on some pumpkin spice coffee (if you've never tried it, DO! You will love it. Especially good for these cold rainy days) and just finished up a jello trifle. I love jello. It's all giggly and squishy and comes in sooo many flavors (and it's really cheap at around 82 cents a box). I've never made a jello trifle before so I was so excited to try it. I chose blue berry and raspberry flavors... but any two will work great. Heck, you could even use THREE or four flavors. I forgot to take pictures during the process so I'll only be able to show you the final product. :( No fear I will make up for it with another yummy post tomorrow.

You'll need:

2 boxes of your favorite Jello

1 tub of cool whip

That's it. That's really all this takes!

Make your Jello according to the package and chill over night.

Put it in a shallow pan or dish. This way you can cut it into cubes!

Next, cut cubes in your dish. It helps to dip your knife in hot water before you try cutting.

Then fill a deeper dish with warm water and set your Jello-filled pan in it. This will loosen the cubes. I then dumped mine onto waxed paper.

Here's the fun part:

Layer. Layer. Layer! I started with a very thin layer of cool whip on the bottom to make sure everything held together. Finish with a final layer of cool whip on top and TA-DA!o

Yummy Jello Trifle!

Strawberries & Date Night

Friday nights are usually my favorites. That's because they're usually "date night". Date night usually consists of cooking dinner and watching a movie followed with something yummy for dessert because my boyfriend has a big sweet tooth! So last night we're in the grocery store, pining over the baking aisle trying to figure out what to make.. something that didn't include peanut butter (I know, you're tired of reading about peanut butter now...) and we decided on Strawberry Cake. Not just any strawberry cake, but the BEST IN THE WORLD.

This is Kristi. Everybody say "Hi Kristi!"

She's cute isn't she? Kristi is my boyfriend's mom. She's pretty awesome. She also knows a thing or two about really good strawberry cake. Credit where credit is due, this recipe is hers!

Let's start off with the ingredients.

You'll need:

1 package white cake mix

1 box of powdered sugar

1 small carton of frozen strawberries

1 package strawberry jello

1 stick of butter

Now, this recipe is a little more complex than anything I've posted so far but be prepared - the out come is SOOOO worth it.

Mix your cake mix according to the box.

Then, dump your package of jello in it and mix thoroughly.

I added about two table spoons of the juice from the strawberries (thawed) into my cake mix, but you don't have to.

It's so pink, I love it. Keep mixing till it's nice and smooth. It'll feel really thick but it's fine!

Pour into your pan (I used a 9x13, you can use rounds but I like this the best).

BAKE!

TADA! Perfect, still pink, cake!

Once it's completely cooled you need to make your frosting.

Melt a stick of butter and mix it with the whole box of powdered sugar & 4-5 tablespoons of the frozen strawberries WITH the juice!

Smooth, creamy, sweet perfection. Time to pour it over the cake. Yum!

SO. GOOD. Spread it out in a nice even layer over your cake. Now my advice is to let it set up for a little bit. But if you can't resist, I totally understand. ;) Also, notice the powdered sugar all over my shirt.. We were WAY too excited about eating this.

Mmmm. It's like heaven in your mouth.

Just ask Tyler, he had like FOUR pieces before he left! :)

PB S'more Cookies

As you can tell I really love peanut butter. These cookies came about because I was looking for something quick and easy, to make with what I had on hand. I was out of flour - which is almost like a serious tradgedy to me. Not wanting to go to the store I thought 'FLOURLESS PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES!'. They're so easy, so yummy, and require three ingredients. I decided I wanted something more than just a regular peanut butter cookie. I had some marshmallows and chocolate chips. Folding them in makes it a peanut butter s'more perfection. My boyfriend loved them, devouring all seven of them that I brought him in like thirty minutes.

Here's the recipe, you'll love these.

Seriously NO FAIL.

You'll need:

1 cup peanut butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

optional;

1/4 cup marshmallows cut into small piece

1/4 cup chocolate chips

Mix up your peanut butter, sugar, and egg.

You could stop here and bake them and they'd be fantastic.

Fold in your marshmallows and chocolate chips, realllllll good.

Roll into balls and bake at 350 for 7-9 minutes.

YUM!

Rainy Day & Peanut Butter Hearts

Who loves peanut butter? I DO! Who loves chocolate? ME, ME! Who really loves them together? EVERYONE. Valentine's day is just around the corner. I love seeing all the heart shaped candies, the cards, and the aisles of teddy bears. I just love love. I also just love cookies. It's rainy and cold outside today. I'm really enjoying it.. those seem to be my favorite days! So I decided I would make peanut butter cookies.. but not just ANY peanut butter cookies. Peanut butter cookies with Reese's hearts on top.. Drooling. They're pretty much the easiest thing ever (and the best...).

You'll need:

1 pacakge Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookie mix

1 egg

1 tablespoon of water

3 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 bag Reese's hearts

Preheat oven to 350. Open up that package of cookie mix and dump in a bowl. Mix in the egg, oil, and water.

Then roll into one inch balls and place on a cookie sheet. I lined my with aluminium foil and VERY lightly sprayed the foil with some baking spray. Just so I don't have to wash a dish, except the bowl and spoons.

Bake at 350 for 7-10 minutes. Mine went for 7 minutes and about twenty seconds. It'll depend on your oven.. just watch 'em & enjoy that beautiful aroma. Now, start unwrapping hearts.

I could stop here and just eat all of these. Must keep reminding myself "NO SUGAR." Yikes. Beep beep beep - time to take those cookies out!

Gently press one heart on top of each cookie. Let cool. Or enjoy them all warm and melty!