Corn Dog Muffins

I like this recipe as a last minute meal since most people have these ingredients in their kitchen . The orignial pin is from The Family Kitchen and they made these in a mini cupcake tin. So I figured I would try something new.

What You Need:

1 box Jiffy Corn Bread Mix

1 package of hot dogs 

Directions: 

Prepare cornbread mix
Fill muffin molds half full
Add hotdog slices (I think more are better)

I only have one thing that could be better. My corn dog muffins crumbled a lot while I was trying to eat them so baking them in a mini muffin tin is a great idea. 

Wedding Reception Candy Bar

Summer is wedding season!!! And I have 3 weddings in June. So in the spirit of my blog I have been using Pinterest for wedding planning and wedding present ideas. This past weekend I went to the first wedding in Black Hawk, Colorado.  I was lucky enough to be in charge of the candy table and after finding inspiration on Pinterest I went to work. The pictures below are what I came up with.

The whole table

 Each candy had a unique name: Trent's Tasty Taffy

 Lauren's Lemon Gummies

 Furrer's Rock Candy

 Love Bird's Rock Candy

M&M's for the Mr. and Mrs. 

Cinnamon Roll Crescents

This post is part two of my Mother's Day breakfast that my sister and I made for my mom, the Cinnamon Roll Crescents were originally found on Jennifer Cooks. We also made Scrambled Egg Muffins, featured on another of my blog posts. The ingredients below make 16 rolls.

What you need: 
2 cans refrigerated crescent rolls
1 stick butter, softened
½ cup white or brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Glaze:
½ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk

Directions: 
Heat oven to 350°F. In small bowl, combine butter, sugar and cinnamon; beat until smooth. Take dough out of roll and lay triangles on cookie sheet. The original recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of cinnamon mixture on each triangle but we used less. 

Roll up each, starting at the widest side, as you would normally do for crescent rolls. 

Place each cinnamon filled crescent roll onto a baking sheet. Bake at 350°F. for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. 

In small bowl, blend all glaze ingredients, adding enough milk for desired drizzling consistency. Drizzle over warm rolls.

The complete meal with Scrambled Egg Muffins

Scrambled Egg Muffins

For Mother's Day my sister and I decided to make our mom breakfast, since she is always making a big Sunday breakfast for us. We decided to try two different Pinterest recipes: Scrambled Egg Muffins and Cinnamon Roll Crescents. 

The original recipe for the scrambled eggs makes 12 muffins, but since our family is small we cut all the ingredients in half.  And since my sister and I were late planners we didn't have all the ingredients. We only used the eggs, cheese and seasonings and they still turned out delicious. 

What you need: 

1/2 pound pork sausage
12 eggs
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green peppers
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions: In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add the onion, green pepper, salt, garlic powder and pepper. Stir in sausage and cheese. Spoon into muffin cups coated with cooking spray until almost full, they didn't rise very much. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a fork inserted near the center comes out clean. Makes 1 dozen.

The Complete Meal with Cinnamon Roll Crescents

Cupcake Mold Pizzas

My post for this week is one of the first recipes I pinned. However, the picture I pinned, and all the other ones I found were not linked to an actual recipe.  This is what I did as a starting point for the recipe and it almost worked out perfectly.


What You Need:
Pillsbury Refrigerated Pizza Dough
Pizza Sauce
Shredded Cheese
Pepperoni
Cupcake Tin (I used a muffin tin so the pizzas were bigger)


Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees (as the package directed) and grease the cupcake pan.
I separated the dough into 4 equal parts; there wasn't enough to do more but maybe you could get 6 in cupcake pan. Push the dough into the molds; try to make the dough cover the sides.

Cover dough with pizza sauce, cheese and pepperoni.

Bake for 10-15 minutes.  Since mine were in larger molds they didn't cook through all the way, but other than that they were amazing!

Peeps and Edible Grass Cupcakes

For this post I was inspired by Pinterest, and the edible Easter grass I found at Target!  I recieved a box of cake  and frosting mix from my wonderful Grandmother, along with a lot of other baking essentials, and decided to make some Spring inspired cupcakes.

All I have is a picture of my finished project for this post but I think they turned out pretty cute!

Homemade Ice Cream Cake

So this post isn't actually from Pinterest but I liked making it so much I wanted to share it.  I didn't remember to take pictures while I was making it but it's really easy to make.


What You Need:

1 package regular Oreos
1 package Golden Oreos (or 1 1/2 cups peanuts)
1/2 Gallon softened ice cream, any flavor
1 large can evaporated milk
2 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup chocolate chips
2 sticks of butter


Directions:

Melt 1 stick of butter in a medium saucepan
Crush the package of regular Oreos in a medium mixing bowl and combine the melted butter with the Oreo mixture
Then press the Oreo mixture into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan and chill

In the same saucepan as before melt the other stick of butter
Once it's melted add the evaporated milk, chocolate chips and the powdered sugar
Stir constantly while it boils for 8 minutes
Let it cool

Then crush the Golden Oreos
If possible, slice the ice cream and place it on top of the Oreo layer
Then put the crushed Golden Oreos on top of the ice cream
On top of the Oreos pour the cooled chocolate on top.

I added a layer of Cool Whip to the top but you could add sprinkles or frosting too.

Creamy Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

I found this recipe soon after joining Pinterest. I even made it a few times before this post, but each time I was a little unhappy with it so I kept changing it until I found a version I wanted to share.

The original recipe is from Mel's Kitchen Cafe and was very good but a little too creamy for my taste. It also takes a while to make so I cut out a few steps.

What You Need:

3 cups cooked, shredded chicken

1 (7 ounce) can of diced green chiles

1/2 package of softened cream cheese (original uses a full pkg.)

1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained

1 (7 ounce) can of green enchilada sauce

6 oz Monterey Jack cheese

Medium Tortillas

Sour cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl combine softened cream cheese and green chiles. Then add the chicken and black beans.

Lightly grease a casserole dish and spread about 1/4 cup green enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan.

Fill each tortilla with bout 1/2 cup of the filling and a small amount of shredded cheese. Roll the tortilla up and place in the dish with the seam side down. Depending on the pan you use you can make anywhere from 8- 10 enchiladas. 

Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the enchiladas and top with shredded cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes until the edges are lightly brown.   

In case you're feeling fancy here's the ingredients and directions for making the enchilada sauce a little more exciting. 

What You Need:

•               2 tablespoons butter

•               1/2 cup chopped onion 

•               2 tablespoons flour

•               1/3 cup chicken or vegetable broth

•               ¼ cup milk

•               ¼ teaspoon salt

•               ¼ teaspoon pepper

•               1 can (7 ounce) green chile enchilada sauce

In a large nonstick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Then add the onion, stirring until the onion browns. Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir well. It gets very lumpy.  Slowly whisk in the chicken or vegetable broth and milk. This helps to make the flour and onion mixture less lumpy. 

Continue cooking over medium heat until the mixture has thickened. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the enchilada sauce.

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting

In honor of St. Patrick's Day this year I treated my office to delicious Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Bailey's Irish Cream frosting. They were a huge hit.

The original post is from Gina's Skinny Recipes and for once I did everything the way they recipe said.  Shocking I know but I have never used beer in a cupcake before and I was afraid of messing it up.


What You Need:

5.5 ounces softened cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
4 tsp Bailey's Irish Cream
3/4 cup + 1 tbsp sugar
1 cup flour
7 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1/2 cup stout
4 oz unsweetened apple sauce
1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/4 cup reduced fat sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tbsp canola oil
Cooking spray


Directions:

Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar and Bailey's in a medium bowl and mix until smooth with an electric mixer. Refrigerate until ready to frost cupcakes. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 12 liners in tin and lightly spray liners with oil so they don't stick to the liners. 


In a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. Surprisingly, I don't have a sifter so I just combined the ingredients and I don't think it harmed the recipe. 


In a medium bowl combine the wet ingredients and beat until smooth.

With a mixer, slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until smooth. Pour into cupcake liners and bake 30 minutes. 

• My only negative about this recipe are that the cupcakes didn't rise as much as they usually do so a few of mine didnt reach the top of the cupcake liner. So just fill yours up more than normal and you'll be set.

Crock-Pot Taco Chili

After an unusual spell of warm weather in Colorado we had a cold and rainy day that seemed the perfect day to have a crock pot of chili waiting at home.  Original recipe is from Skinny Taste and I stayed pretty true to it this time. The original recipe also has weight watchers points and nutritional info if your want it. 




What you need:


Crockpot (I used our bigger one)
1/2 chopped onion
2- 16 oz can black beans
1- 16 oz can kidney beans
1- 8 oz can tomato sauce
2- 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes w/chilies
1 packet taco seasoning
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 package ground beef



Directions: 

Combine all ingredients except ground beef in the crock-pot. Since my ground beef was frozen I placed the whole thing in it on top. But if you have ground beef from the fridge you can cook it ahead of time and add it at the end or add it an hour or two before serving.  Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 6-8 hours. 


The orginal recipe only used one can of black beans, but when I looked at the pot mid-day it looked like there were too many tomatoes for my taste so I added and extra can of black beans.  The orginal recipe also included frozen corn but I didn't have any so I skipped it.