Chocolate Filled Pretzels

So easy and so fun!  This is a great one to let your kids or grandkids help with :)

Small Pretzels
Hershey’s Kisses (unwrapped) 
M & M's

Directions: Top each pretzel with a Hershey’s Kiss, and place in a preheated 200ºF oven for 10 minutes. Remove and immediately press an M & M into the top of each kiss. Let cool completely! Enjoy!

Sugar Free Brownie Bites

My boyfriend is diabetic but loves sweets, so I took a favorite - Chocolate Crinkles - and modified it a bit.  It doesn't flatten out like the original, so we renamed it "Brownie Bites".  It's just as good but without all the sugar!

½ cup oil
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted (you can buy this in melted packets)
2 cups sugar substitute
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 – 12oz package unsweetened chocolate chips
Pecan (think I used ½ cup, but you can use more)

Mix oil, melted chocolate and sugar substitute.  Add 1 egg at a time.  Add vanilla. (I used an electric mixer)

STIR in flour, baking powder and salt.  When well blended, stir in chocolate chips and pecans.

Chill several hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350.  Roll a teaspoon size of dough into a ball.  Place on greased baking sheet.  Bake 10 – 12 minutes.  Do not over bake.  Enjoy!

Ice Cream Bread

ICE CREAM BREAD Seriously? Only 2 ingredients!

Who out there has ever made ice cream bread? If you haven't, what are you waiting for? You use only two ingredients and two steps. All you have to do is mix self-rising flour with softened ice cream of choice and bake. Poof! You have bread!

You need ice cream that is not sugar free or low fat...just regular full fat ice cream. This one is made with just chocolate but just imagine how awesome a loaf of Ben and Jerry's Rocky Road or Cherry Garcia bread could be. I have made it with Chunky Monkey and it is delicious. I will include that recipe too so you can try it. Go with bold flavors of ice cream such as peanut butter or butter pecan. Don’t forget, you can also add extra ingredients into the mix to make it less plain and more flavorful. Experiment and have fun with it!


Ice Cream Bread

2 cups of your favorite ice cream, softened
1 and 1/2 cups of self rising flour

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8×4 inch loaf pan. Mix the ice cream and flour together in a bowl just until combined. Smooth it out so it looks even. Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for a while and then serve.

Chunky Monkey Ice Cream Bread (2 loaves or 1 large loaf)

2 pints Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey, softened or melted
3 cups self-rising flour
1 very ripe banana, chopped
1 chocolate bar, chopped
Handful of walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour bread pan, or line with parchment paper. Mix melted ice cream and flour until well combined. Add chocolate, banana and nuts. Pour into prepared bread pan. Bake for 45 minutes per loaf or 60-90 minutes for a larger double loaf. If the top starts to brown too much, cover it with aluminum foil and continue to bake. The bread
is done when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Infused waters!

Still drinking SODA, DIET SODA, VITAMIN WATER, PROPEL AND OTHER DRINKS WITH ARTIFICIAL COLORS, FLAVORS AND SWEETENERS?????
TRY THESE INSTEAD!!!

Infused waters. Here are their benefits to help with detoxification energy and hydration. Put as much fruit in water as you like and let the water sit for at least 30 minutes before drinking.

1. Green tea, mint, lime-fat burning, digestion, headaches, congestion and breath freshener.

2. Strawberry, kiwi-cardiovascular health, immune system protection, blood sugar regulation, digestion.

3. Cucumber, lime, lemon- water weight management, bloating, appetite control, hydration, digestion

4. Lemon, lime, orange- digestion vitamin C, immune defense, heartburn, (Drink this one at room temperature)

Ohh la la Queso!

1 block (32 Oz. Block) Velveeta Cheese
1 package (8 Oz. Package) Cream Cheese
1 can (10 Oz. Can) Rotel
1 can (10.75 Oz. Can) Cream Of Mushroom Soup
1 pound Ground Beef OR Sausage (or A Combination Of Both)

Brown ground beef or sausage (or both) in a pan over medium heat and set aside. Cut up the Velveeta and cream cheese into cubes and place into a crock pot. Pour in the Rotel and the cream of mushroom soup and stir ingredients together. Place the crock pot on low setting for an hour, letting the ingredients meld. After about 30 minutes, add the browned meat and continue to let cook, stirring as needed. 

**In a hurry?  Combine all but the meat in a microwave safe dish and microwave on 50% 2-minutes at a time stirring after each.  When completely melted and heated, stir in meat.  Enjoy!

No Bake Oreo Balls

This is one of those recipes that I saw that I just have to try!  I don't have time now, so I'm posting this on the blog so I'll know where to find it when I'm ready to whip up a batch of Oreo deliciousness!

 1 pkg. Oreo cookies
 1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese
 1/2 bag almond bark


Mix together Oreo cookies and cream cheese in a food processor. Roll dough into small bite size pieces or large balls. Place in refrigerator for at least an hour. Melt almond bark in microwave until smooth (takes a few times at 2-3 minutes), stirring in between each time. Dip Oreo balls in almond bark and let harden in the refrigerator until chilled.  Enjoy!

Tropical Dump Cake

With this being the first day of summer and way too hot already, I figured another "tropical" cake is just what we need!  This one is so easy that you'll still be able to spend a lot of time at the pool instead of in the kitchen.  Enjoy!

1 20 ounce can cubed or crushed pineapple
1 15 ounce can tropical fruit
1 package of orange cake mix
1 1/2 sticks of butter
1/2 cup instant oatmeal
1 cup coconut flakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Dump both of the fruits & their juices into a 9 x 12 Pyrex baking dish. Pour the dry cake mix on top of the fruit & spread out evenly. Mix oatmeal & coconut & sprinkle over cake mixture with fingers. Melt butter & pour on top evenly. It should cover the entire cake mix. Bake for one hour & serve with ice cream.

Rather have your Heaven in a Pie?

For those of you who prefer your deliciousness in a pie, this one's for you! (pie version of the Tropical Heaven Cake)

2 - 9" deep dish pastry pie shells
1/2 stick salted butter
1 (7oz) package flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (16 oz) container whipped topping
1 (14 oz) jar caramel ice cream topping

Bake the pie shells according to package directions and let cool completely.

While your pie shells are baking, brown your coconut and pecans in the butter (stovetop).  Allow to cool.

Beat the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk together until creamy.  Fold in the whipped topping.

Building your dream:  Put 1/4 of your cream cheese mixture on the bottom of each pie crust.  Spread evenly.

Top with 1/4 of the coconut/pecan mixture on each pie.

Drizzle 1/4 of the caramel topping on each pie.

Repeat, starting with another layer of 1/4 cream cheese mixture in each pie, continue as before using up all remaining ingredients.

Freeze overnight.  Thaw 10-15 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!

Layered Ice Cream Cake

I'm obviously on a role sharing desserts!  I thought this would help make our hot summer months more enjoyable :)

Ingredients    12 vanilla ice cream sandwiches
    1 16 oz. Cool Whip
    1 bag Heath Bits
    1 jar caramel ice cream topping
    1 jar fudge ice cream topping

Spray your 9x9 pan with non-stick cooking spray. Layer half of your ice cream sandwiches in the bottom of the pan. Cover with half of the Cool Whip. Drizzle with caramel and chocolate and sprinkle with half of the Heath Bits.

Repeat all layers!

Freeze for two hours.  Serve and enjoy!

Tropical Heaven Cake

Ingredients

    1 box yellow cake mix
    1 small package of instant pudding (pineapple or vanilla)
    1 (8-ounce) package of cream cheese, softened
    1 can (22-ounce) crushed pineapple
    1 large (16-ounce) container Cool Whip
    nuts, cherries or coconut, for topping

Instructions

    Prepare and bake the cake (according to cake mix box instructions) in two round cake pans.

    When cooled, remove from pans.  (One should be put on your serving dish.  The other, invert it onto         a plate with waxed paper.)

    Prepare pudding as directed on package, beating in the softened cream cheese until well blended.

    Spread the top of the bottom cake layer with the mixture.

    Drain pineapple and squeeze out excess juice. Distribute over pudding mixture.

    Carefully, invert the top layer onto the pineapple.

    Spread Cool Whip over cake.

    Decorate with nuts, cherries or toasted coconut.

    Cover and refrigerate overnight.

**if you're not great at making a double layer cake, you can make this in a 9 x 13!
**taking it to a potluck?  Use your Fresh Market Thermal from Thirty-One Gifts!

Marshmallow Crescent Delights

This is a great recipe to get the kids in the kitchen!  As a matter of fact, you might not get them out!

2 (8 oz) cans refrigerated crescent rolls
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
16 large marshmallows
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp milk
1/4 cup chopped pecans

1.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Unroll crescent rolls and separate into 16 triangles.  Combine granulated sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

2.  Dip a marshmallow into melted butter, and dredge in cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Place marshmallow on shortest side of a dough triangle; fold point of shortest side over marshmallow, and roll toward opposite point, covering marshmallow.  Pinch seams to seal.  Dip 1 side of roll in melted butter, and place buttered side down in an ungreased muffin cup.

3.  Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until puffed and golden.  Remove from pans immediately.  combine powdered sugar and milk; drizzle over top.  Sprinkle with pecans.  Enjoy!

Keep all your recipes organized with your own Fold n File from Thirty One Gifts!

Pineapple Angel Food Cake

Just two ingredients on this journey to heaven!

Take a box of Angel Food Cake mix (just the contents of the box, no need to follow the directions on the box), & combine it with a 20 ounce can of crushed pineapple in its own juice.
(No need to use a mixer, just stir it with a spoon) When you do this, something magical happens.
The mixture starts to froth & it turns into an amazingly airy, fluffy bowl of deliciousness right before your eyes.
Once it's all mixed up,grease and simply pour it into a 9 x 13 cake pan & bake 350 for 30 minute.  Enjoy!

10 Minute Homemade Ice Cream!

Here is what you will need to make homemade ice cream in a baggie:

2 Tablespoon sugar
1 cup half & half (or light cream)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup coarse salt or table salt(I used canning salt)
ice
gallon-sized Ziploc bag
pint-sized Ziploc bag

Mix the sugar, half & half and vanilla extract together. Pour into a pint-sized Ziploc baggie. Make sure it seals tightly.

Now take the gallon-sized Ziploc bag and fill it up halfway with ice and pour the salt over the ice. Now place the cream filled bag into the ice filled bag and seal.

Make sure it is sealed tightly and start shaking. Shake for about 5 minutes (or 8 minutes if you use heavy cream.)

Open the gallon-sized bag and check to see if the ice cream is hard, if not keep shaking. Once the ice cream is finished, quickly run the closed pint-sized baggie under cold water to quickly clean the salt off the baggie.

Open the baggie and pop in a spoon.  Enjoy

Cinnamon Roll Cake

This is on my breakfast menu for tomorrow.  How about yours?   Okay, okay...it's on the menu for lunch and dinner too!

   3 cups flour
   1/4 tsp. salt
   1 cup sugar
   4 tsp. baking powder
   1 1/2 cups milk
   2 eggs
   2 tsp. vanilla
   1/2 cup butter melted
    
    -TOPPING -
   1 cup butter softened (2 sticks)
   1 cup brown sugar
   2 Tbsp. flour
   1 Tbsp. cinnamon
    
    -GLAZE -
   2 cups powdered sugar
   5 Tbsp. milk
   1 tsp. vanilla

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 glass baking pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In an electric or stand mixer add the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Once combined well , slowly stir in the melted butter. Pour into the prepared 9×13 baking pan.
3. For topping, In a large bowl mix the 2 sticks of butter, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon together until well combined and creamy. Drop evenly over the batter by the tablespoonfuls and use a knife to marble/swirl through the cake.
4. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or when a toothpick inserted near the center comes out nearly clean.
5. FOR GLAZE: In a medium bowl, mix the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla together with a whisk. Drizzle evenly over the warm cake. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Did You Know???

While this is not a recipe, it is another of those things that I see that I would like to keep at my fingertips.  Lots of good ideas here!

1. Budweiser beer conditions the hair
2. Pam cooking spray will dry finger nail polish
3. Cool whip will condition your hair in 15 minutes
4. Mayonnaise will KILL LICE, it will also condition your hair
5. Elmer's Glue - paint on your face, allow it to dry, peel off and see the dead skin and blackheads if any.
6. Shiny Hair - use brewed Lipton Tea
7. Sunburn - empty a large jar of Nestea into your bath water
8. Minor burn - Colgate or Crest toothpaste
9. Burn your tongue? Put sugar on it!
10. Arthritis? WD-40 Spray and rub in, kill insect stings too
11 Bee stings - meat tenderizer
12. Chigger bite - Preparation H
13. Puffy eyes - Preparation H
14. Paper cut - crazy glue or chap stick (glue is used instead of sutures at most hospitals)
15. Stinky feet - Jello !
16. Athletes feet - cornstarch
17. Fungus on toenails or fingernails - Vicks vapor rub
18. Kool aid to clean dishwasher pipes. Just put in the detergent section and run a cycle, it will also clean a toilet. (Wow, and we drink this stuff)
19. Kool Aid can be used as a dye in paint also Kool Aid in Dannon plain yogurt as a finger paint, your kids will love it and it won't hurt them if they eat it!
20. Peanut butter - will get scratches out of CD's! Wipe off with a coffee filter paper
21. Sticking bicycle chain - Pam no-stick cooking spray
22. Pam will also remove paint, and grease from your hands! Keep a can in your garage for your hubby
23. Peanut butter will remove ink from the face of dolls
24. When the doll clothes are hard to put on, sprinkle with corn starch and watch them slide on
25. Heavy dandruff - pour on the vinegar !
26. Body paint - Crisco mixed with food coloring. Heat the Crisco in the microwave, pour in to an empty film container and mix with the food color of your choice!
27 Tie Dye T-shirt - mix a solution of Kool Aid in a container, tie a rubber band around a section of the T-shirt and soak
28. Preserving a newspaper clipping - large bottle of club soda and cup of milk of magnesia , soak for 20 min. and let dry, will last for many years!
29. A Slinky will hold toast and CD's!
30. To keep goggles and glasses from fogging, coat with Colgate toothpaste
31. Wine stains, pour on the Morton salt and watch it absorb into the salt.
32. To remove wax - Take a paper towel and iron it over the wax stain, it will absorb into the towel.
33. Remove labels off glassware etc. rub with Peanut butter!
34. Baked on food - fill container with water, get a Bounce paper softener and the static from the Bounce towel will cause the baked on food to adhere to it. Soak overnight. Also; you can use 2 Efferdent tablets , soak overnight!
35. Crayon on the wall - Colgate toothpaste and brush it!
36.. Dirty grout - Listerine
37. Stains on clothes - Colgate toothpaste
38. Grass stains - Karo Syrup
39. Grease Stains - Coca Cola , it will also remove grease stains from the driveway overnight. We know it will take corrosion from car batteries!
40. Fleas in your carpet? 20 Mule Team Borax- sprinkle and let stand for 24 hours. Maybe this will work if you get them back again.
41. To keep FRESH FLOWERS longer Add a little Clorox , or 2 Bayer aspirin , or just use 7-up instead of water.
42. When you go to buy bread in the grocery store, have you ever wondered which is the freshest, so you 'squeeze' for freshness or softness? Did you know that bread is delivered fresh to the stores five days a week? Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Each day has a different color twist tie.
They are:

Monday = Blue,
Tuesday = Green,
Thursday = Red
Friday = White
Saturday = Yellow.

So if today was Thursday, you would want red twist tie; not white which is Fridays (almost a week old)! The colors go alphabetically by color Blue- Green - Red - White - Yellow, Monday through Saturday. Very easy to remember. I thought this was interesting. I looked in the grocery store and the bread wrappers DO have different twist ties, and even the ones with the plastic clips have different colors. You learn something new everyday! Enjoy fresh bread when you buy bread with the right color on the day you are shopping.

Don't forget Gatorade for Migraine Headaches. PowerAde won't work. Pass this information on to friends so they can be informed.

Homemade Coffee Creamer

I have a habit of seeing a great recipe or idea, then when I want to try it I can't find the recipe.  This is one of those, so I thought if I added it to the blog I'd always know where to find it!  Hope you enjoy these :)

Homemade Coffee Creamer – Over 2 Dozen Flavor Varieties!

Ok, so for whatever flavor of creamer you want, you start off with the same basic ‘base’ recipe.

14oz sweetened condensed milk
1 3/4 cup milk or cream (whole, lowfat, skim, almond, soy, heavy cream, half & half etc – whatever your preference, however the more fat, the more creamines

Mix the ingredients together well. I like to add them to a mason jar and shake it like crazy. You could also opt to use an old (washed) creamer container.

French Vanilla Creamer

2 teaspoons vanilla extract OR vanilla coffee syrup

Vanilla Bean Coffee Creamer

2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

Chocolate

2-3 tablespoons chocolate syrup
(1 tsp vanilla extract, optional)

Chocolate Almond

1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon almond extract

Strudel

1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract

Vanilla Caramel

2 tablespoons caramel ice cream topping
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Chocolate Raspberry

2 teaspoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons raspberry syrup

Irish Cream

2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract

Coconut

2 teaspoons coconut extract

Samoa (like the Girl Scout Cookies)

2 teaspoons coconut extract (or sub coconut milk or cream of coconut, heated & strained, for the milk/cream)
2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
2 tablespoons caramel ice cream topping

Peppermint Patty

2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
1 teaspoon peppermint extract

Cinnamon Vanilla

2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Pumpkin Spice

3 tablespoons pureed pumpkin
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
4 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Honey Vanilla

1/4 cup honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Homemade Coffee Creamer - over 2 dozen flavor possibilities and one base recipe!

Almond Joy
1-2 teaspoons coconut extract (or sub coconut milk or cream of coconut if you heat it first, strained, in place of the coconut extract)
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons chocolate syrup

Sweet Cream
Use 1 3/4 cups of heavy cream instead of the milk in the base recipe
2 teaspoons vanilla extract OR the inside of a vanilla bean, scraped
1 teaspoon almond extract

Chocolate Orange
2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
1-2 teaspoons orange extract

Hazelnut
2 teaspoons hazelnut extract

Chocolate Hazelnut
2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
2 teaspoons hazelnut extract

Cinnamon Cake
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Salted Caramel
2-3 tablespoons caramel ice cream topping
1/2 teaspoon salt

Eggnog
replace milk in base recipe with equal amount of heavy cream
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons rum extract
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Toasted Almond
2 teaspoons almond extract

Directions & Tips:
In all these recipes, anything that has a dry or thick ingredient (like cinnamon, honey, etc..) should be heated up with a small amount of your milk/cream from the base recipe so it can dissolve properly. You don’t want grainy creamer! Then, add the rest of the milk/cream along with the sweetened condensed milk.

If you want really creamy creamer, use heavy cream instead of milk in your base recipe.

**stick a piece of tape on my mason jar lid with the expiration date from the milk you used. use this as a guideline as to when the creamer should be used by.***

Please feel free to play around with amounts of extracts and other ingredients used if you like stronger or less intense flavors!! And, let your imagination turn, and make up your own combinations. Use this as inspiration to create your very own perfect homemade flavored creamer!

Want more tips and tricks and healthy options? Go here. Denice's Skinny Friends - Healthy Weight Loss Tips

Pizza Casserole

With all the recipes being posted and shared on FB, I decided to share a few on here for those that don't use social networking.  Some of these recipes look too good NOT to share!  Hope you enjoy!

Pizza Casserole:

1 (16 ounce) package uncooked rotini pasta
1 lb ground Italian sausage
1 (24 ounce) jar pasta sauce
1 (16 ounce) container cottage cheese
1 (2 1/4 ounce) can sliced black olives, drained (optional)
1 (4 ounce) can mushrooms, drained
12 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
2 (3 ounce) packages sliced pepperoni

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9X13 casserole dish.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place pasta in the pot, cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until al dente, and drain.

In a skillet over medium heat, cook the sausage until evenly brown, drain grease. Mix in the cooked pasta and pasta sauce. Pour into prepared casserole dish.

In a bowl, mix the cottage cheese, olives, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese.

Spoon the cheese mixture over the sausage and pasta mixture. Top with pepperoni slices.

Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until bubbly and lightly browned.

Pickled Eggs

Whew!  I almost waited too long to post this!  Got to get busy making my own batch now :)  After all, what is Easter without pickled eggs?  Either that, or it's a fantastic way to use all the eggs the Easter Bunny leaves for you!

12 hard cooked eggs, peeled
2 cups vinegar
3/4 cups water
1 medium onion, sliced and separated in rings
2 tsp sugar (optional)
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt

Boil all ingredients (except eggs) for 5 minutes then pour over eggs you placed in a clean, wide mouth glass jar.  Seal jar and set in refrigerator.  The longer it sits, the better they are.  Of course, I have a hard time staying out of the jar until they are ready!  Enjoy!

**I like adding a whole jar of jalapenos, juice and all, to give these eggs a kick!