Christmas Creativity

Christmas makes me want to make fun things and be creative in my gifts.

This year, we made homemade salsa and banana bread

for our neighbors and made a fun label for it.

 For Brayden's preschool Christmas party, I made these cute reindeer

candy bars that I saw on Pinterest.  I wrapped the Hershey's bars 

in brown cardstock, made antlers with a dark brown cardstock 

and glued them on, then I glued on googly eyes and a reindeer nose.

Another thing I saw on Pinterest was a way to make

super easy "homemade marshmallows"...made from Cool Whip.

1. Spread the Cool Whip out on a cookie sheet or in a pie pan.

2. Freeze   3. Cut out with any shape cookie cutter

 Place in your hot chocolate!  It makes it super creamy and delicious!

Easy-Peasy Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce

The applesauce was out in our house, and my little guy was requesting some, and I remembered the good-ole days of baby food making, and whipped up some applesauce.  It's really easy and only takes a few minutes.

This makes one bowl of applesauce:

2 apples

1 tsp. Cinnamon

Ziploc Zip'n Steam bag

Magic Bullet or blender

Cut up apples into small chunks and place in Ziploc bag.  Sprinkle in cinnamon.  Microwave for 2 minutes.  

Place apples into Magic Bullet or blender and blend until smooth.  If you like chunky applesauce, you can just mash with a fork. 

This makes super yummy cinnamon applesauce.  I was amazed he was eating 2 apples in one bowl of applesauce...awesome!

YUM!

Celebrating Easter

Christ is risen!

He is risen, indeed!

This is something I grew up saying each Easter morning. Easter Sunday, as a Christian, is the best day, and I want to teach the importance of it to Brayden. This Easter, I tried out a very fun idea to visually show him how Jesus was put in the tomb and on the 3rd day, He was not there...He is risen!

The great idea was from Ashley at Under the Sycamore. We made Easter Bread. It's super easy to make, and it teaches an awesome truth. Take Rhodes rolls and let them thaw in the frig for 2 hours. You want them to thaw but not rise.
Then take each roll and with a rolling pin roll out on a floured surface into a disc. Then place a big marshmallow in the center of the disc and wrap the dough around the marshmallow.
Place on a pan and brush on melted butter. Sprinkle on cinnamon and sugar, then let rise for 45 minutes. Cook according to the directions on the package of the rolls.
When they come out of the oven, you break them open and they are empty! The marshmallow is gone!
They are super yummy right out of the oven, but more importantly, it was an awesome way to teach Brayden that Jesus was put in the tomb after He died for us. But it didn't end that way. Three days later, the tomb was empty. He was not there. He has risen!

Happy Easter!

May you know the Truth that makes Easter truly meaningful.

Jesus is not in the tomb; He is risen!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes

I think peanut butter and chocolate are a match made in heaven. Delish. I made some cupcakes that combined the two perfectly! The cake recipe includes peanut butter in the center of the cake - YUM!

If the peanut butter in the center wasn't enough...add a chocolate icing and chopped peanut butter cups on the top! My mouth is watering!

YUM!!!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcakes

Peanut Butter Filling:

3 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

2 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. milk

Batter:

2 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

2 eggs

1 cup water

1 cup milk

1/2 cup canola oil

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Frosting:

8 oz. dark chocolate, chopped

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 package mini peanut butter cups, chopped

In a small bowl, beat the filling ingredients: cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar, and milk until smooth; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and baking soda. In another bowl, whisk the eggs, water, milk, oil and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened (batter will be thin).

Fill paper-lined muffin cups half full with batter. Drop 1 Tablespoon of peanut butter filling into the center of each. Cover with remaining batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cupcake comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely before frosting.

For frosting, place chopped dark chocolate into medium bowl. Bring cream just to a boil and then pour over chocolate. Whisk until chocolate melts. Add peanut butter and whisk until smooth. Take each cupcake and dip the top into the frosting until covered. Allow frosting to set for a minute, and then gently press a generous amount of chopped peanut butter cups onto the top of the cupcake. Place in the refrigerator to set for 1 hour. Remove and serve. Enjoy! They are SO good!

My Fav Cooking Blog

I am the type of person that when cooking, I tend to stick to a few favorite recipes. However, our routine was getting a little blah, so I really wanted to try some good new recipes. One of my friends from college has this AMAZING cooking blog, and so I decided to give several of her recipes a try. They were a HIT! I've made them for our family and for friends, and everyone is a fan! I especially love the ones that are done in a crock pot...makes life so much easier! Here are some of our crock pot favs... Black Bean Chicken, White Chicken Chili, Pulled Pork Tacos (who would've thought that cocoa powder and pork went together! Yum!)

Black Bean Chicken

On the sweet side, these were so good: Nutella Hot Chocolate and Pumpkin & Butterscotch Mini Muffins

Check out Ang's blog. She is so talented - not only in the kitchen, but as a wife and mom of 2 wonderful kids. Now, I just wish she lived a little closer. :)