Cinnamon Roll Waffle Sticks

Thank you Pinterest for this delicious idea!! 

All you need is: 

A waffle stick maker (a normal waffle maker works too)

One can of your favorite cinnamon rolls with icing (don't buy large sized rolls)

Sprinkles if you want :) 

Cooking spray

What you do:

- warm up waffle maker

- open cinnamon rolls & separate the rolls. Put icing aside. 

- spray waffle stick maker with cooking spray

- place 2 rolls in the center of the maker, close lid & cook (about 3 mins) after trials and error we just cook 2 rolls at a time. (When I did more they either over cooked or under cooked and puffed out the side of the waffle maker. I cook the 2 in the middle of the maker so it cooks evenly once they spread.) 

- once they are all cooked place icing in microwave for 11 seconds and then drizzle over sticks and then top with sprinkles. (You could also dunk them in the icing.)

St. Patrick Day Pancakes

Quick & easy St. Patty Day breakfast for the kidos!!! Make pancakes, add a little green food coloring to the mixture, cook, and top with lots of whipped cream & Lucky Charms cereal. Serve with a cold glass of green milk of course :) 

"Candy Cane" snack

Just slice up 1 small banana & 2 strawberries, then rearrange them on a plate like a candy cane. Makes a fun Christmas treat for your kids! 

Baked Oatmeal Cups

makes 12 servings
adapted from sugarfreemom.com

Ingredients:
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cups applesauce, unsweetened
1 banana, mashed
1/4 cup honey
2 1/2 cups, Old Fashioned rolled oats 
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk 
Optional toppings: blueberries, raisins, strawberries, chocolate chips, or brown sugar.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix eggs, vanilla, applesauce, banana and honey together in a bowl. Add in oats, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and mix well with wet ingredients. Finally pour in milk and combine.

Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.
Divide mixture evenly into muffin tin cups. I used a 1/4 measuring cup, measure just a tad under 1/4 cup to make 12. Add the toppings. 

Bake 30 minutes until a toothpick in center comes out clean. Cool and enjoy or freeze them in gallon freezer bags.

Spooky Pancakes

Here is one more fun Halloween meal for your kids! Just prepare your pancake mix, place on preheated skillet in the shape of a ghost, use chocolate chips as the eyes & mouth. Cook according to your pancake mix's directions. My daughter LOVED these!!!

Jack-O-Lantern Quesadilla

Here is another easy Halloween meal for your kids!! 

You need 2 tortillas, some cheese & a knife

Cut the jack-o-lantern face out of one of the tortillas. In a large pan place the other tortilla, then top it with a thin layer of cheese, cook over medium heat until cheese is melted then top with the jack-o-lantern tortilla & enjoy!! 

Monster Goo Parfait

Super simple Halloween treat your kids will enjoy!!

Layer pudding (I did vanilla and used food coloring to turn it green) & crushed Oreos in a clear cup. Draw a silly monster face on it and watch the screams (yes my 2 year old screamed when she saw it haha) and giggles! I also put a fake spider on the cup. You could use sprinkles not Oreos or other colors of pudding too! 

Sugar Cookies

I made these "monster" sugar cookies for a Halloween party we had. They didn't turn out as cute as I thought they would but they were delicious!!

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups shortening 

1 1/3 cups butter

3 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 Tbs. + 1 tsp. almond extract 

7 cups flour

1 Tbs. + 1 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. salt

Directions:

1) preheat oven to 350

2) in a bowl cream together the butter, shortening & sugar. Stir in the eggs and almond extract. Stir in the flour, baking powder powder & salt until dough comes together. 

3) bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Remove after baking and let cool on a wire rack, then first & decorate! 

My Grandma's Apple Muffins

These are the BEST!!! (you can click on the image to see it larger)

Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

This recipe was included with my new Cuisinart Ice Cream maker and it's out of this world AMAZING!! The best part is you don't need an ice cream maker to make it! It's the perfect summer sweet treat! 

It makes five 1/2 cup servings 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries

3/4 cup whole milk

2/3 cup sugar 

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1) Put the strawberries into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the chopping blade. Pulse strawberries until rough/finely chopped (depending on preference). Reserve in bowl. 

2)In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed or whisk to combine the milk, sugar and salt until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Stir in reserved strawberries with all juices. 

3)Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer overnight. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving. Then enjoy!!!

Rainbow Cup Cakes

I got this idea from Pinterest but just did it my own way ... I hope you enjoy :) I'm pretty proud of these things so there are a LOT of pictures ... they are just so darn cute!! I made these for my daughter's birthday party. It seems like a long list of to-do's below, but it's extremely simple, just it does take some time. 

What you need:
2 boxes of french vanilla cake mix (any brand) 
Eggs (according to what the box says) 
Water (according to what the box says) 
Oil (according to what the box says) 
Neon gel food colors & Regular food coloring
Cute foil cupcake liners 
Sprinkles & Cup cake toppers of your choice 
Frosting {recipe below}
6 small bowls & 6 spoons

What you do:
1) Preheat oven to 325

2) Mix cake mix according to directions on box. Take your 6 small bowls and divide the cake mix evenly into the small bowls. Your going to color the mix in each bowl a different color. I used regular food coloring for the blue and yellow and the neon food coloring for all the other colors. So add the one colors to each bowl, and mix with a spoon. Leave a spoon in each bowl. 

3) Fill your cupcake pan with the cup cake liners. Then you drop one small spoonful of each color in the liners. I would drop 2 colors in and then shake the pan to level out the cake mix. **IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT LAYERS** they will still turn out cute!! The color order of a rainbow is (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple) Once you get all the colors in there you should have the liners exactly 3/4 full. Bake in the oven around 18 mins. That what the perfect time in my oven, you may need to cook less or longer depending on your oven. Once they are fully cooked, remove from the oven and let cool. It took me about 2 hours to bake almost 50 :) so once they were cooled I put plastic wrap over them and then frosted and decorated them the next morning. 

4) This is kinda my go-to recipe for frosting - you can just eye-ball it and add more or less of what you need. I ended up using 1 1/2 bags of powder sugar, so it was a large batch of frosting. 
Ingredients:
2/3 Cup unsalted butter, softened
2 2/3 Cups confectioner's sugar
2 to 3 Tablespoons milk
3/4 teaspoon almond extract

Directions:
Beat butter, powder sugar, milk & almond with a mixer until smooth. (If frosting is too thick add a little more milk.)

5) Once you have enough frosting, just decorate away and have fun!!! It took me another 2 hours to decorate them all. I got all my liners, sprinkles and toppers at JoAnn Fabrics, just a little FYI ... they always have good sales & 40% off coupons :)

**They take some time, but they are so worth the end result, they are so cute and kids love them!! I served them with Schwans Confetti Ice Cream Cups **

Junior Trail Mix

I've been looking for some new snack ideas for Emily and came across and idea for toddler friendly trail mix, so I made this. Emily is a picky eater so this is the perfect snack for her, I just make it to what I know she'll eat ... not really sure why I didn't think of this on my own, it's such a great idea! It's a fun snack because you can add anything your kids like to it. I got banana chips, yogurt covered raisins, mini m&ms, honey nut Cheerios, Captain Crunch cereal, and just threw it all together in a air tight container and now I have a fast snack for Emily.  I hope your kids like it as much as Emily does! 

Tater Tot Casserole

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 very small onion, finely chopped
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1/3 cup of milk
1/2 cup (or more) frozen peas (or mixed veggies)
1 cup shredded cheese
1 lb. frozen tater tots

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 8" square baking dish with pam.

2. Brown meat with onions in a skillet. (I also seasoned it with a little pepper and garlic salt.) Drain fat. Spoon into baking dish.

3. Mix soup and milk together in a small bowl. Pour over meat mixture. 

4. Top with peas, then cheese then tots. 

5. Bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes or until bubbly. 

I served it with a green salad and dinner rolls. 

Makes 4 -6 servings. 

Puffins {a pancake muffin} :D

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup pancake mix
• 2/3 cup water
• 2/3 cup syrup
• 1 whole banana, mashed

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix all ingredients together. Bake 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.

 Freezing Directions: Cool completely.  Flash freeze. Transfer to gallon freezer bag, label and freeze.  TO SERVE:  Remove desired number of muffins from freezer, let thaw on counter, or briefly on defrost setting in microwave

Servings: 24 mini muffins

 Note:  You could do mini chocolate chips or blueberries or cinnamon or apples or sprinkles in them if you don't like bananas

*Recipe & picture from: Once A Month Mom

No-Bake Fruity Cereal Treat Cupfakes

These no-bake treats are super quick, easy, and CUTE! Best of all, they are so, so tasty. They would make sweet little birthday “cakes” for a colorful party.

Recipe & Picture from: Willow Bird Baking

Yield: about 10-11 cupfakes

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
4 cups miniature marshmallows or 1 package (10 oz) large marshmallows
4 cups fruity cereal (I used 2 cups of Fruity Pebbles and 2 cups of Cap’N Crunch’s Oops! All Berries)
whipped cream for “frosting”
sprinkles

Directions:
Line a cupcake pan with plastic wrap (press it down into each well) and spray it with cooking spray. In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Stir in the marshmallows until they’re completely melted and then remove the pan from the heat. Add the cereal and stir (I use a spoon coated in cooking spray) until the cereal is completely coated. Spoon a big glob into each cupcake well. Use a sheet of wax paper to press the mixture down and mold it into each well. Let it cool completely.


Remove each “cupfake” and “frost” it with whipped cream. Top with sprinkles. Serve in cupcake papers if you wish! You can store unfrosted cupfakes for two days in an airtight container or in the freezer (separated by wax paper) for up to 6 weeks.

Peanut Butter Popcorn

Recipe From: Ruth

Ingredients & Directions:

½ cup corn syrup

½ cup sugar

Boil for 1 minute

Stir In:

½ cup peanut butter

1 tsp. vanilla

Pour over 1 bag of popped corn

Zucchini Muffins

My friend Melissa made these last night and her hubby was eating the batter and said it was delish!! She said that he also ate the first one that came out of the oven and he was moaning while he ate it!  :D She says they are "fabulous" .... thanks Melissa, I can't wait to try them!!!!

How To Cut A Watermelon Into Cubes

HERE IS ANOTHER GREAT TIP I FOUND ON PINTEREST!!!!!


Step #1:  Cut the melon in half (after you have rinsed it)




Step#2: Cut the end off one of the halves.



Step #3:  Place the melon face down on your cutting board.



Step #4:  This is the tricky part. Angle your knife and start cutting off the rind.

Rotate the melon and remove the rind all the way around.  Important tip:  You will be tempted to only remove the white part  and get as close as you can to the red, while saving the precious red part of the melon.  BUT – if you don’t remove enough, then you will taste the bitter/sour flavor of the rind.  In my experience, it is best to not only cut off all of the white rind, but cut slightly into the red part.  Trust me.  You will love your watermelon this way.


You have now finished the hardest part.  The rest is a breeze.



Step #5:  Slice horizontally into 3 sections.




Step #6: Cut into pieces – whatever size your prefer.



Now chill in your fridge and enjoy some ice cold juicy watermelon!

Cheesecake Salad

This is one of those recipes that the picture looks like crap but you just have to taste it to be in love with it. It's amazing!!!! It's a perfect summer dessert!


Ingredients:
12 oz. whipped topping
1 small package of cheesecake pudding (powder)
1 (6 oz) strawberry yogurt
1 (7oz.) tub of marshmallow creme (only use 1/2 of the tub)
1 lb fresh strawberries, sliced
1 banana, sliced (add just before serving or they brown)
miniature marshmallows (add just before serving)
Grapes (optional)
Blueberries (optional)
Raspberries (optional)

Directions:
In a large bowl stir together whipped topping, yogurt, pudding powder and marshmallow creme. Let this set up in the fridge for at least a half an hour before serving. Wash and slice strawberries (and other fruit if using). Add fruit and mini marshmallows to salad just before serving.

*Recipe adapted from Time For Supper

Chicken Pockets

Makes 8 roll ups

Ingredients:

1 can of crescent rolls

1 package of cream cheese

3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 of a small onion minced

2 chicken breast cubed & seasoned how you like

Bacon (optional)

sun dried tomatoes (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to the suggested temp on the can of crescent rolls.

Cook your chicken with the onion (you can add some butter to the skillet as you are cooking if you like).

In a medium bowl combine cream cheese, mozzarella, chicken and any additional ingredients you want to use. Mix well.

Open can of crescent rolls and un-roll the crescent rolls and separate the rolls. Place a spoonful of chicken mixture at the fattest end of the crescent roll and then roll up. Place on baking sheet. Repeat until all crescent rolls are used.

Bake 8-12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm with a salad and fresh fruit. Enjoy!

{NOTE: This makes enough mixture to use 2 cans of crescent rolls. If you don't want to use all the mixture you can always freeze the left over mixture and use it another time. Also you can use a veggie cream cheese or a chive and onion cream cheese.}