Fudge Crinkle Cookies

Go make these. Like now! Seriously, these are dangerous! They are way too easy to make which makes them way to easy to make!!! I mean come one! To make cookies from scratch, if they take too much effort, you don't make them as much. These cookies? So easy you can whip them up within 2 minutes. Here's the recipe directly from Six Sister's Stuff.

Fudge Crinkle Cookies
Ingredients:
1 (15.25 oz) box Devil's Food cake mix 
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup powdered sugar (for rolling the cookies in)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together the dry cake mix (do not follow directions on the box- you just want to use the dry ingredients that are in the box), oil and eggs in a large bowl until dough forms. Dust hands with confectioners' sugar and shape dough into 1- 1.5" balls. Roll balls in confectioners' sugar and place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until center is JUST SET. Remove from pans after a minute or so and cool on wire racks.

Chicken Alfredo Roll-Ups

This was soooo yummy! A little on the heavier side but hey, when you have alfredo sauce, it's going to be thick. It wasn't too hard to make (always a plus) and you could always make some of the stuff ahead of time. I'm going to change it the next time I'm making it (oh yes, this is going onto the list!). Instead of the alfredo sauce she has on her site, I love the "Our Best Bites" recipe which is low-fat but doesn't taste bad AT ALL! FYI, the alfredo recipe below is not the Best Bites recipe. The pictures look sorta bland but it isn't. Just go ahead and make it! You won't regret it! 

Chicken Alfredo Roll-ups
Printable Version

9 lasagna noodles
2 ½ cups alfredo sauce (optional homemade recipe below)
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
oregano
garlic salt
3 cups shredded Mozzarella, or cheese of your choice

Spray an 8x8 pan with non-stick spray and pour ½ cup alfredo sauce, or just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Boil 8-10 cups water in a large pan, cook lasagne noodles until al dente. (I usually cook 1 or 2 extra just because lasagna noodles always seem to break on me when I am stirring them.)
Now this is the important part! Drain and rinse the noodles with cold water to prevent them from sticking to each other. Then, lay out each noodle individually and blot dry with a paper towel.

Spread about 2 Tbs. alfredo sauce over each noodle. (if there is too much sauce you will have a big mess on your hands!) Sprinkle oregano and garlic salt on top of sauce. Take 1/9 of the shredded chicken and spread it out evenly over each noodle. Add approx. 3 Tbs. cheese. To roll up, start at one end and roll the noodle over the toppings. You will need to lift the noodle a little to prevent squishing out the inside ingredients while rolling.

Place the roll-ups in the pan, one by one, seam-side down so they don't come undone. Once they are all in the pan, pour the remaining alfredo sauce over the top. Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the cheese is completely melted on top.

Serves 3, 3 roll-ups each
Recipe highly adapted from Artsyfartsymama.blogspot.com

The Best Garlic Alfredo Sauce
Printable Version

½ cup butter
2 ounces cream cheese
2 cups heavy cream (or substitute half and half)
2 teaspoon garlic powder
½  tsp. fresh minced garlic
salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp dried oregano
⅔ cup parmesan cheese

In a medium to large saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Add fresh minced garlic and cook for 1 minute, or until fragrant. Add the cream cheese and whisk to smooth and melted. Whisk in the heavy cream.
Season with the garlic powder, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and whisk frequently until sauce thickens, around 15 minutes. Stir in the cheese and when melted, remove from heat and serve.

Makes 2 ½ cups
Recipe from Momma!

Source: mmmcafe.blogspot.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Peasant Bread

This has become my favorite bread! I love to dip it into my broccoli cheddar soup I make. I always eat WAY too much of it. I could eat it every day!

Okay, I'm just looking at this picture and getting hungry for it again! It is so crispy on the outside and so chewy on the inside. Here's the pinterest link.

Source: alexandracooks.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

So, here's all you're going to need for the recipe.

4 cups flour
2 tsp salt
2 cups warm water
1 Tbs sugar
2 tsp yeast
2 Tbs softened butter for greasing
I mix the water, sugar and yeast in my mixer and let it stand for 10 minutes or so. I then add the salt and flour and I'm done! Well, almost done. She says that her bread is really wet still but mine never ends up that wet. I don't know if it's the altitude but hey, the bread turns out great!
Butter 2 pyrex bowls, divide the dough into 2, and place it in the bowls. Let it rise till it's double in size at least. Mine never rise as much as her picture either. But again, still good!
Bake at 425F for 10 minutes then turn the oven down to 375F and bake for 22-25 minutes longer. Take the loaves out and pop the bread out of the bowls. ENJOY!

Simply Sinful Cinnamon Muffins

I made these muffins because I wanted something for breakfast for dinner but I probably wouldn't usually eat these muffins for breakfast. They were really yummy and probably too sweet for breakfast.

Source: kingarthurflour.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

There's their version of it. Here's mine.

Mine totally look like theirs!!! Well, one little oops that made them not as pretty. I stuffed them too full. The cinnamon part of the muffin bubbled out a little and actually burned on the muffin pan. That was fun to clean up! Next time (and I believe I'd make these again) I'll make sure to put the cinnamon filling closer to the bottom.

Here's the recipe:

Simply Sinful Cinnamon Muffins

Topping
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup diced pecans (I didn't have any so I didn't put any in)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
3 tablespoons soft butter

Filling
1/2 cup Baker's Cinnamon Filling mix*
3 to 4 tablespoons water

*Or substitute 3 tablespoons butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon for the Baker's Cinnamon Filling mix and water.

Batter
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
3/4 cup milk
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons Signature Secrets(r) Culinary Thickener or cornstarch
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup cinnamon chips or butterscotch chips (I didn't have any)

Preheat your oven to 400°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake papers, or grease it lightly.

Prepare the topping by mixing the ingredients together until crumbly. Set aside. 

Prepare the filling by mixing the Baker's Cinnamon Filling with enough water to make filling with a soft, pudding-like consistency. Set it aside. 

To make the batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, milk, and eggs. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, including the chips. Add the dry mixture to the liquid, stirring just until combined.

Divide half the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Dollop 2 teaspoons cinnamon filling onto each muffin, then top with the remaining batter. Sprinkle with topping, pressing it in lightly.

Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they're golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and wait 5 minutes before transferring them from the pan to a rack to cool. Yield: 12 muffins.

Preparing for the Baby - Freezer Meals

In anticipation of baby #4, I spent a good portion a couple weeks ago of planning, buying, and preparing food. I made a total of 20 dinners (some were doubled). All were new recipes (except for a couple lasagnas) so hopefully they're good! If not, I didn't double too many of them. Here's my stash!

And here are all the links to all the recipes I made (except my lasagna).

Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken and Chicken Curry

Baked Chicken Penne

Honey Rosemary Chicken, Lime Salsa Chicken, and Santa Fe Chicken

Parmesan Chicken Bake

Roasted Red Pepper Enchiladas

Chicken Fajitas

Cheesy Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

Italian Turkey Soup

Black Bean Taco Soup

Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwich

Crockpot Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chore Chart

There are a lot of great ideas for chore charts out there. I loved seeing a list of things kids could do by age. I never know if I'm expecting too much of my kids or not expecting enough. I think that kids don't do a lot of work around the house or they are too easily rewarded. I saw this list on Pinterest and thought it was a good way to evaluate how my kids were doing.

Source: scribd.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Here was another list that helped too.

Source: thehappyhousewife.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

What helped was that I could never think of things for them to do! There were the normal ones like getting dressed, brushing teeth, making your bed, and cleaning up your toys but I couldn't think of other things. Then, here was a list of tons of things that my kids could do ... because these lists said they could do it! :) One thing I discovered in all this, kids can do more than you think they can do! I let Landon and Cody sort the laundry and then asked them to fold their clothes. Landon was able to fold all of his clothes! I was shocked. I don't know why but I just didn't think that he could do it! Another thing we did was buy a little vacuum for the boys. It doesn't suck very well but it was only $20, it's light, and they LOVE to vacuum! I made up my own chore charts for the boys. I decided they needed some reward system but I didn't want it to be money, toys, or treats (food). I decided that for every 10 smiley faces (we use smiley faces instead of x's or check marks), they could watch a tv show. That way, if they didn't get their chores done, who cares! They don't watch tv that day! If anything, it's harder on me than on them. If they do more chores, they get extra smiley faces. It's a win win for me I think!
For Cody's chore chart, I did pictures since he doesn't read yet. For Landon, he has words since he can read most of them. If you can figure out what the pictures are for Cody's, then I'll be impressed!

Olive Garden Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

Whenever I go to Olive Garden, instead of getting the salad (I'm not a huge fan anyways) I'll get the soup. And the soup I get is their Chicken and Gnocchi Soup. It is AMAZING! Love it! If you haven't tried it, do it next time! When I saw this recipe online I was so excited to try it but I was trying to not get too excited since, you know, stuff doesn't always taste as good all the time. I know it's the summer time but we were having some monsoon rains that week and I thought it'd be perfect to make a soup.

Source: copykat.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Doesn't that just look a little yummy? And that's the only picture you get because for some reason, I guess I was too busy making it and dreaming of how good it was going to taste to take any! I've made this twice already and made a double batch the last time so I could freeze it for another day. Now we'll see how it freezes!

Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Author: CopyKat Recipes

Recipe Type: Soup

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 20 min

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoons extra virgin oil
• 
  
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 
  
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 
  
• 1 quart half and half
• 
  
• 1/2 cup celery, finely diced
• 1 cup onion, finely diced
• 
  
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 
  
• 2 14 ounce cans of chicken broth if you enjoy thick soup, use one can
• 
  
• 1 cup carrots, finely shredded
• 1 cup chicken breasts, cooked and diced (you can use a rotisserie chicken)

• 
  1 package gnocchi, cooked  (you can find these in gourmet/pasta section of the grocery store - you may want to cut the gnocchi in half if it is large, or purchase the mini size if available)
• 
  
• 1 cup of fresh spinach coarsely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 
  
• 1/2 teaspoon parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)

Instructions

Saute the onion, celery, and garlic in the butter and olive oil over medium heat until the onion becomes translucent. Add the flour and make a roux. Let the butter and flour mixture cook for about a minute before adding 1 quart of half and half.

Cook gnocchi according to package directions.

Into the roux, add in the carrots and chicken. Once the mixture becomes thick, add the chicken broth. Once the mixture thickens again, add the cooked gnocchi, spinach, and seasoning; simmer until soup is heated through.  Before serving season to taste by adding additional salt.