Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti

This is another recipe I got from a neighbor, even though there are plenty of recipes I could pin for it.  I was never a big fan of Spaghetti Squash when I was younger. My mom would even make it with brown sugar and I still wouldn't eat it. But a few months ago my neighbor made Spaghetti Squash and added marinara and italian sausage and skeptical as I was I loved it! And it's super easy to make.

What you need:

1 Spaghetti Squash
1 jar of pasta sauce
Italian sausage, meatballs or ground beef

Directions:

I cooked my spaghetti squash in the microwave since that's the way  my mom always cooked it, but the food network says you can also bake it in the oven or boil it in a pot.

I placed my squash in a corningware dish with about an inch of water in it and used a large knife to make three slits in the top to help it steam.  Then place saran wrap loosely over the top (so it can rise) but make sure it is secured on all sides.

The after picture (I forgot to take one before)

Cook on high 20-30 minutes, until it is soft and dents when you lightly push on it.

When it is cool enough to handle place the squash on a cutting board and slice in half lengthwise. Spoon out the seeds in the middle and the "gunk".  Be careful not to scoop out the actual squash.

After the seeds are out, spoon the "spaghetti" out of the squash and top with sauce and meet.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Earlier this week I posted about a new recipe I tried for Avocado Egg Salad, which was delicious. I also mentioned that I forgot two things at the store; mayo, which lead to my new recipe for egg salad, and baking soda. Both of which woud have come in handy this week.

I never make recipes from scratch, especially when I'm baking because I think it takes too long. But this past Wednesday a co-worker conveniently brought in a zucchini so I could make Zucchini bread for the office since I'm always baking treats. Zucchini bread is one thing I have never attempted to make. In fact I only had it during the summer growing up, when my next door neighbors made it with fresh zucchini from their garden.  The recipe below is my neighbor's recipe.

What you need:

2 eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 sour milk, I used regular milk with a tsp. of vinegar
4 tsp. cocoa
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup oil
2 cups grated zucchini
2 1/2 cups flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While it's heating cut a washed zucchini (with the skin still on) in half and use a cheese grater to grate the zucchini.  I had a rather large zucchini which made 4 cups when grated.

Mix all ingredients except the zucchini, after they are fully mixed add the zucchini.

Place batter in cupcakes papers or grease a 13 x 9 inch pan to make a cake. I made 24 cupcakes with my batter.  Place in oven for 20-30 minutes for cupcakes and 10- 15 minutes for cake.

Overall they turned out very well, but I couldn't taste the chocolate at all.

No-Mayo Avacado Egg Salad

Earlier this week I made a mistake. I went to the grocery store without my list. I wasn't planning on going but on my way home from church I passed the store, and it's just stupid to backtrack after I get my list from home. I did pretty well with remembering everything, except mayo and baking soda. Which is fine. I hate mayo and only use it sparingly and I can't tell you the number of times I've needed baking soda. Ok I can; and they can be counted on one hand.

So I got home from the store and after unpacking the bags I was looking for something for lunch when I saw them. Two hard boiled eggs waiting to be eaten in an egg salad sandwich. (This is by far one of my favorite things to eat. I've already made a post (here) about another no-mayo egg salad recipe with plain greek yogurt.)

I was so excited with the prospect of a good lunch when I realized I didn't have any mayo, or plain yogurt. (I also had to go later in the week to buy baking soda to make Zucchini Bread.)

So I starting looking through Pinterest for another version and decided to try one from Bizzy Bakes.  Since it was just me I cut her recipe amounts in half.

What You Need:
2 eggs
1/2 avocado peeled and diced
2 tablespoons prepared Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder



Directions: 

Mash all ingredients in a bowl. Add dill or other herbs if desired.

My only criticism is just more of a personal taste. I do not care for Dijon mustard, but at least I gave it a try.  Next time I may try adding sour cream instead.

Cake Batter Cookies

This past Sunday I was having one of those days... an amazing day when I had absolutley nothing I needed to do.  The non-profit I work for, Wish of a Lifetime, had it's annual gala the night before and I was so excited to have Sunday off after working the event.

Even though I wanted something sweet I didn't want to go to the store, so I was so excited to find this recipe for Cake Batter Cookies from Six Sisters' Stuff.  I always have at least one box of cake mix in the pantry so it was the perfect thing to test out for my blog.


What You Need:
1 box of any flavor cake mix
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup choclate chips (or peanut butter chips)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and mix the cake mix and baking powder. Then mix in the eggs and the vegetable oil.

The batter was very thick and hard to stir but not clumpy.  I put aluminum foil on my cookie sheets so I dont have to clean them afterwards, but if you don't grease them, and drop the batter on with a spoon.

The original recipe said to bake them for 10 minutes but mine needed almost 20 minutes. I think it was the high altitude of living in Colorado that made it take longer.  They also spread out a lot more than I thought they would.

The cookies tasted just like cake, were better when they were warm and they kind of reminded me of muffin tops.  I think it would be fun to experiement with Red Velvet and funfettie cake mix.

Quinoa Mac & Cheese

Since my sister is a vegetarian I have been trying to make more healthy vegetarian food for her. This Quinoa Mac & Cheese is a good recipe for her and something meat-eaters will like too. The orginal pin is from a really great blog Iowa Girl Eats.

I had never made quinoa before so I was surprised at the number of steps the recipe required but it was failry easy. I altered the recipe a little to make a little simpler for my irst time with the recipe. Visit the original recipe for a more flavorful version.

What you need:

2 tsp. Olive Oil
1/2 cup diced green pepper, red pepper or tomato
1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed and drained (I unknowingly bought a pre-washed kind which was very convenient)
1 clove garlic
3 cups water
2 large eggs
1 cup milk of choice
1 1/2 cups of grated cheddar cheese ( I will use more next time, it wasn't as cheesy as I thought it would be)


Directions:

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan on medium heat. Add vegetables (mine were green peppers). Cover and cook 5 minutes.  Stir in quinoa and garlic, continue cooking uncoverd for 3-4 minutes until the grains turn opaque.

Add 3 cups of water  and cover and reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 15-20 minutes or until most of the liquid has absorbed. Remove from heat and let it stand for 5 minutes.

Now preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then coat a casserole dish with cooking spray.  Whisk the eggs and milk in a large bowl and fod in the quinoa and cheese. Stir very well and let some of the cheese melt. It looks soupy but it will soak up.  Bake for 25- 35 minutes.

I made so much quinoa I needed to mix it up with the leftovers and I really liked it with salsa. I think adding some more veggies would also be really good.

Picture Frame Dry Erase Board

One of my best friends got married the last day of June so I spent a few of my weekly pinterest activities on wedding related projects. But now that they are married I can post what I did!

For the couples wedding present I made a craft that I found when I first joined Pinterest and I was just waiting for someone to get married so I could make it.  It's another one of those pins that doesn't link to the original source. If you know please pass it along to me.  The picture is below so you can see my inspiration.

I liked everything about this dry erase board so mine is very similar. Although now I have some great ideas for the next few :)

Sadly I don't own a glue gun (it's on my list of crafty things I need) so I bought flowers that had sticky stuff already on the back. Hopefully the newlyweds like it!

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