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.)

The Perfect Spaghetti Sauce

What you need:

1 pound hamburger (optional)

1 (28oz) can crushed tomato in purée 

Garlic

Basil

Garlic salt & pepper to taste 

Directions:

1) Season & brown hamburger & drain fat. (I always add a little finely chopped onion to it when I brown it. I season it with pepper, onion powder, Italian seasoning, and seasoning salt. I like bold flavors, so I use a lot of seasoning, you don't have to. I think it would actually be better with out the meat but my husband loves it.)

2) In the same skillet hamburger is in add as much fresh minced garlic & basil.

* I love these!! (Find them in the frozen veggie section of Wallmart or Trader Joes) I added 2 garlic cubes & 1 basil cube. Mix with hamburger until the cubes are no longer frozen. 

3) Add entire can of tomatoes, plus half a can of water. (you can add more or less, depending on the thickness you like. You can also add a 1/2-1 tablespoon of sugar if you want). Heat until bubbly. Then serve over your favorite pasta. Top with parmesan cheese. 

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 :) 

Balsamic Roast

Ingredients:

3-5 pound chuck roast

1 3/4 cups beef broth

1/4 water

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 orange juice

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

3 garlic cloves - minced 

Mini potatoes (red or I used mini sweet idahos)

Directions: 

1) Place roast & potatoes in your crock pot and set it to low. (Will need to cook at least 8 hours)

2) In a small mixing bowl combine all remaining ingredients until sugar is dissolved. Then pour over meat & potatoes and let cook. 

*Notes:

- it is obviously cooking in A LOT of liquid, so it's perfect for french dip sandwiches too. Just skip the potatoes :) And after it's done cooking remove some of the juices (as much or as little as you want) for later dipping your sandwich in. Then shred the roast in the crock pot and let it soak up all the flavors of the juice it's in. Served on your favorite toasted hoggie with a small bowl of your reserved juices for dipping. Serve with fries. 

- the first time I made it I made some balsamic & butter & garlic fresh french beans on the side to serve with it. Just dump all ingredients into a skillet over medium heat, sauté until breans are cooked. (I just eye-balled the amounts of everything)

- this recipe has no balsamic flavor to it, it's more of a mild sweetness. 

Enchilada stuffed mushrooms

I found this delicious recipe on Pinterest! I added some ranch dressing to the mixture & way more taco seasoning, also next time I will top it with more enchilada sauce. REALLY EASY & YUMMY!!!

The Sore Throat Cure!!

Seems like everyone is sick ... including me right now unfortunately :( one thing I have is a killer sore throat. I just remembered one thing my Grandma would make for me when I was a child and sick & it always made my throat feel better ... ENJOY and feel better soon!!

warm orange juice with a couple sprinkles of cinnamon mixed in ... AMAZING stuff!!!

Cilantro BBQ Chicken French Bread Pizza

Ingredients:

1 loaf of french bread

BBQ sauce

4 chicken breast 

Chopped fresh cilantro 

2 cups Shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Trim fat off chicken &  cut chicken into small bite size pieces. Sauté in butter and season as you like. (I did fresh minced garlic, black pepper, seasoning salt & chili powder). Don't over cook the chicken, it will continue to cook in the oven. 

3. Cut french bread in half the long way. Coat bread with BBQ sauce. Since it's bread it will absorbe the sauce a little, once it does that add another layer of sauce. Then place chicken evenly on bread, then top with cilantro, then cheese. 

4. Place on large baking sheet and cook for 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted & bread is crispy. 

These taste is amazing!!! Next time I might add pineapple chunks or red onion to one side. (My husband doesn't like either) Enjoy!! 

Reindeer Donuts

I told my daughter that Santa's elfs left her a special breakfast this morning, she was soooo excited!! 

You Need:

As many chocolate donuts as you like

1 red M&M per donut

1 pretzel per donut

Directions:

Cut pretzel in half & place at the top of the donut as it's antlers. Then place the M&M in the hole of the donut for it's nose.

Enjoy :)

Reindeer Sandwich

You Need:

Heart cookie cutter 

2 slices of bread

2 pretzels 

2 brown M&Ms 

1 red M&M

Your choice of sandwich fillings (we love peanut butter & honey)

Directions:

-Make sandwich however you like. Then use the cookie cutter & cut out a big heart in the sandwich. 

-Place 1 pretzel at each hump in the heart for the ears of the reindeer, then place the brown M&Ms for eyes & the red one as the nose. 

Enjoy :) 

Cherry Cheesecake Dip

Super delicious & fast!!!

You need:

1 tub of Cool Whip

1 box of Jello no bake cherry cheesecake 

1 1/2 cups milk

Honey graham crackers

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, mix the milk & cheesecake filling mix together for 3 minutes until stiff. Fold the tub of cool whip in. Refrigerate at least an hour. 

To serve place a big amount of the cheesecake mix in the center of a serving plate, then top with the cherry pie filling. Place the graham crackers all around the dip and serve. 

Notes: 

- you can throw away the crust mix that comes in the box or save it in your pantry & use it for a pie crust another time.

- it makes A LOT of dip, so if you want to use it all, you will need to also buy a can of cherry pie filling (or you could buy a different pie filling like blueberry and have two dips) 

"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! 

Best Fluffy Pancakes!

Makes around 8 pancakes 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon white sugar 

1 1/4 cup milk

1 egg

3 tablespoons melted butter 

Directions: 

Mix all ingredients together in a small mixing bowl then cook on medium-high heat until golden brown on each side. We top ours with peanut butter, syrup & "snow" (powered sugar) 

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.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This was pretty spicy for my taste buds but my husband really liked it! Maybe next time I would use normal Rotel. 

Ingredients:

1 rotisserie chicken - shredded 
2 10oz cans of Ro-Tel (the lime & cilantro)
1 can kidney (or black) beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn corn
2 14.5oz cans chicken broth
2 cups of water
1 package of taco seasoning

tortilla chips strips 
sour cream
shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Combine everything but the last 3 ingredients in a large pot heat until bowling. 

To serve put a few tortilla chips strips in the bottom of a bowl, ladle soup over tortilla chips, top with shredded cheddar cheese, and a dollop of sour cream, serve with more chips if you like. Enjoy!

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)

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Muffins

INGREDIENTS

THE BANANA BREAD

• 3-4 overripe bananas, smashed up
• 1/3 cup melted unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour

THE SWIRL

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon

HOW TO MAKE IT

• Preheat oven to 350°F
• Line your muffin pan with 12 paper liners or spray a 9×5″ loaf pan with cooking spray
• Mix bananas, butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla together
• Sprinkle baking soda and salt around on top of the banana mixture; then gently stir in flour
• Be careful not to over-mix!
• In a small dish, mix together the 1/3 cup sugar and 1 tbsp cinnamon
• Fill the paper liners halfway with batter then evenly distribute 1/2 the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the batter (or add 1/2 of the batter to the loaf pan and then sprinkle half, or a little more than half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture all over the batter in the pan)
• Add the rest of the batter to the paper liners and then sprinkle the leftover cinnamon-sugar on top (or sprinkle the rest of the cinnamon-sugar all over the loaf)
• Bake for 20-25 minutes (50-60 minutes for a 9×5″ loaf)

- Pic & Recipe from: http://deliciouslydeclassified.com

Cheesy Enchilada Casserole

Ingredients:

1 pound lean ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
2 cups salsa
1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup reduced-fat Italian dressing
1 package taco seasoning
6 flour tortillas (8 inches) 
3/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream 
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 cup shredded lettuce 
2  medium tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro

Directions:
1) In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.

2) Stir in the salsa, beans, dressing, sour cream, and taco seasoning. 

3) Spoon a generous layer of meat mixture on bottom of 2 quart baking dish. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Place a flour tortillas on top of meat mixture. Layer with half of the meat mixture, and cheese. Repeat as many layers as you like.
The last & final layer should be a healthy dose of grated cheese.

4) Cover with foil and bake at 400° for 25 minutes, or until hot & bubbly. Let stand for 5 minutes before topping with lettuce, tomato and cilantro.

Yield: 8 servings.

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!!!

Pasta Salad

So I've never actually made a pasta salad until now because I bought the box pasta salad kit and it almost made me puke, it was sooooooo nasty!!! And so now knowing how simple it really is to make a pasta salad I feel a LITTLE silly for never doing it before. 

What you need:

1 package of tri-color pasta

1 bottle of Italian dressing (I made my own, not so good, so I did it again with Kraft)

A little Italian seasoning (just add as much or as little as you like or skip it all together)

Veggies of choice (I used mushrooms, tomatoes & zucchini - I forgot but I was going to add olives) 

How you do it:

1. Cook pasta according to directions on bag. But basically you boil it for 7-10 minutes and then drain and rise with cold water to cool it off. Then place in a large bowl.

2. While the pasta is cooking you can wash and chop all your veggies. The best part of pasta salad is there is no right way to do it, so really you can add pretty much anything you want and it's still going to be amazing!! 

3. Once you got your cooled off pasta in the large bowl, add your veggies, Italian seasoning and dressing. I would start off with a little of the seasoning and dressing .... you can always add more and you don't want to over do it. Toss it all together. I think it's better after it's chilled in the fridge for a while and all the flavors have settled together, but you can serve it right away too. 

**This is a HUGE batch if you use the entire package of pasta (maybe 8 or more people) so keep that in mind. It keeps good in the fridge for up to 4 days. **

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 **

Malibu Chicken

Ingredients:
KC Masterpiece Honey Teriyaki Marinade
Chicken Breast (as many as you need)
Ham lunch meat (2 thin slices per chicken)
Swiss cheese (1 slice per chicken)
Pineapple rings (1 per chicken) 

Directions:
1. Pre-heat BBQ to medium heat

2. Trim any fat off chicken breast. (You can pound them thiner but I didn't - it just makes them easier to cut & eat). Coat with Honey Teriyaki and place on BBQ. Grill for about 7 minutes per side. Spread more Honey Teriyaki on each side as you flip it. 

3. About 3-4 minutes before chicken is done, place pineapple on BBQ and grill until it has grill marks on both sides. Add a little Honey Teriyaki as you are cooking it. 

4. Once chicken is cooked all the way coat once more with Honey Teriyaki (it may seem like you're over doing it but a lot drips off and cooks off & it wasn't marinaded in it so you're fine to keep adding it).

5. Then top each piece of chicken with 2 slices of ham, then 1 slice of swiss and 1 pineapple ring. Close the BBQ lid and once the cheese is melted it's done - remove and eat! 

**Here is a picture of the Honey Teriyaki - it's amazing so don't get anything else :) **

Roasted Cabbage

Ingredients:
1 head green cabbage
Olive oil
Garlic salt, onion powder & pepper, to taste

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line a baking sheet with foil.

Remove the outer leaves of the cabbage and discard. Cut the cabbage straight down into several thick slices. (It will shrink once baked)

Lay the slices out on the baking sheet, and then drizzle generously with olive oil and seasonings.

Bake for about 20-30 minutes, until the cabbage is starting to brown.

Roasted broccoli

Ingredients:
1 Bag of frozen broccoli florets
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
Season to taste with: minced garlic, red pepper flakes, black pepper, garlic salt & onion powder

Directions:
1) Heat oven to 400

2) In a medium bowl add all ingredients and gently toss. Then transfer to a small cookie sheet. Make sure you spread them out on the cookie sheet - they cook better if they aren't over-lapping.

3) Bake for 15-20 minutes ... serve as a yummy side dish to grilled chicken or steak or top on a baked potato!!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Recipe From: My Mom Donna!! 

Soup Ingredients:

1 whole chicken (take all the inners out & rinse it) 

Water

Salt & Pepper to taste

Celery chopped - as much or as little as you like

Carrot chopped - as much or as little as you like

1/4 of a small onion - more if you want

Noodle Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 teaspoon salt

pinch of baking powder

3 eggs

1/4 to 1/2 cup water

Directions:

Place the chicken in a large pot and sprinkle with salt & pepper, add the chopped vegetables and then add water - make sure it's enough water to cover the whole chicken at least an inch or so. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Let it simmer for about an hour then check to see if it's all the way cooked. The meat should be white, with no pink in it. If it's not cooked, keep simmering it, if it is cooked remove the pan from the heat take out the chicken and shred the meat. Keep all the other stuff in the pot. You can add the chicken back to the pot once it's been shredded. 

For the noodles in a medium bowl add the dry ingredients, give it a quick stir and then add the eggs and then the water.  Mix with a spoon. The mixture will be really sticky & kinda yellow. Then remove it from the bowl and work some flour into it. Roll it out on your counter REALLY SUPER thin (they will puff up in the soup) Use a pizza cutter to cut into thin noodle strips. Add them one at a time to the pot of veggies and broth. Repeat until all the dough is gone. Simmer until noodles are cooked. It should happen fast - no more then 10 minutes. If you want to thicken the soup you could mix a little cornstarch and some water in a small bowl once it's smooth add to the soup and it will thicken it up. It doesn't take much so don't over do it. Taste it and add any more salt or pepper you think it needs. 

Makes enough food for at least 6 maybe even 10 people, it's A LOT of soup!!! It will not freeze well and doesn't keep too well in the fridge so it's best to eat it all at once. it's so delicious and true comfort food ... Enjoy!! 

Baked Spinach Artichoke Dip

Recipe From: Ruth

Ingredients:
1cup mayonnaise

1cup grated Parmesan cheese

1can (14 oz) artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped

1box (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed to drain

1/4cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Toasted baguette slices

Directions:

Heat oven to 350ºF. Mix mayonnaise and Parmesan cheese. Stir in artichokes & spinach. Spoon mixture into 1-quart casserole. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Cover and bake about 20 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve warm with baguette slices. 

HOMEMADE CROUTONS

Ingredients:

• 1/4 french bread baguette, sliced into bite size pieces 
• 3 to 4 Tablespoons melted butter
• 2 to 3 Tablespoons of seasonings of choice - I did garlic salt, pepper, oregano & onion powder 

Directions:

Heat oven to 425.  Place bread pieces into a medium bowl, drizzle with melted butter and then sprinkle on seasonings, toss with a spoon. Make sure each piece is evenly coated with butter and seasonings. Dump onto a small cookie sheet. Bake at 425 for 5 minutes and then broil until golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool, serve and enjoy!!!  

Note: you could turn the left over croutons into bread crumbs, just pop into your food processor and mix   until they are fine. 

*Picture from and recipe adapted from: Chezus

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! 

Pumpkin Muffins

I found this on Pinterest and it's such an easy and yummy fall treat. All you need is a box of your favorite cake mix (any brand - any flavor) and a can of pure pumpkin. Dump them together in a bowl, mix and back at 350 for 20-25 mins. You can sprinkle them with powder sugar once they are cooled. Enjoy!!