Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

These pancakes were really good. I used my regular pancake batter recipe, and made a cream cheese glaze to go on top. Just mix the filling up in a squirt bottle.

Cinnamon Filling
1/2 c. Butter, melted
3/4 c. Brown sugar
1 T cinnamon

Sour Cream Enchilada Sauce

I made an enchilada sauce that was really good. I didn't actually make enchiladas with it, just layered cooked chicken, cheese, and torn up corn tortillas.

3 T. butter
3 T. flour
2 c. green enchilada sauce (mild)
1 cup sour cream

Mix the butter and flour together in a sauce pan. Slowly add the enchilada sauce and bring to a boil. Stir in the sour cream and heat, but don't boil.

Ariel Birthday Cake

Possibly the worst cake I've made yet. Storebought strawberry cake with storebought frosting (it was even already blue).  We used leftover pearls and sixlets from Sienna's first birthday cake, and graham cracker crumbs to make bubbles and a beach. The crumbs were easy to make in the single serve jar on my Ninja blender.

Sienna wanted an Ariel cake. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a mermaid Ariel doll, and the one I used was very difficult to clean off after. She came with a flounder and Dalton added assorted sea creature toys from around the house.

BYU Mint Brownies/Monsters Inc Birthday Cake

Dalton looked over my shoulder at Pinterest while I defined the type of cake mommy can't make and we picked out a simple frosted Mike Wazowski circle cake. He wanted a chocolate cake though, and I am tired of buttercream on chocolate cake (bleh) so I was trying to think of something else when John suggested mint. Oooh, mint brownies! I used the BYU mint brownie recipe, baking it in two circular cake pans. I greased and floured the pans first, baked the cakes about 20-22 minutes (instead of the 25 the recipe called for) and they popped right out when cool.

BYU Mint Brownies Recipe
1 c. butter
1/2 c. cocoa
2 T. honey
4 eggs
2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 T. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Melt the butter and mix with the cocoa. Allow to cool.  Mix chocolate mixture with honey, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt.  Stir in the nuts.  Grease and flour a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Mint Icing Recipe
5 T. butter, softened
dash of salt
1 T. light corn syrup.
2 1/3 c. powdered sugar
1/2 t. mint extract.
3 T. milk

Mix the butter, salt, corn syrup, powdered sugar and mint extract. Slowly add the milk until the icing is the right consistency.

The BYU mint brownies also have a layer of chocolate icing. I didn't do this for aesthetics, but if I did, I would sift 1/3 c. cocoa in with the powdered sugar, and leave out the mint extract.

First Grade Lunch

What Maggie mainly ate for lunch every day of first grade. 

 Homemade bean and cheese tortillas.

Cheese and ham slices rolled up. She made me peel the brown edge of the ham off.

Also still a hummus and pretzels fan.

Pizza Pretzels

I began making pizza for dinner last night and the kids ran in and asked if I was making pretzels. Well, why not? Pizza pretzels were born. We've had these at Wetzel's Pretzels, so it wasn't an original idea, but I'd never made them before.

Also, I recently discovered that my pizza dough and pretzel dough recipes are exactly the same. Embarrassingly, they are printed right above each other on the paper I've been reading them off for four years. Here's the recipe again:

1 T. yeast
1 c. warm water
1 T. sugar
2 T. oil
2 1/2-3 c. flour

For the pizza (and pizza pretzels), I add a couple teaspoons of minced garlic. I don't usually let my pizza dough rise, but I usually go through the double rising process with pretzels. However, since I had planned on making pizza, I didn't have time. So I skipped it and they were fine. The dough was actually amazing and I think it's because I added a squirt of the soy lecithin that's been lying around my kitchen unused for several years. It made the dough really stretchy, satiny, and it looked like the pretzel dough the bakeries use.  If you're interested in this, I found a helpful article on dough enhancers.

Once the dough was mixed, I made the usual pretzel shapes, skipping both rising steps.

Boil them in baking soda water for 10 seconds on each side. Sprinkle plenty of mozzarella cheese and add some pepperoni slices.

Bake the pizza pretzels at 425 for 10-12 minutes. 

Baked Cinnamon Sugar Donut Holes

I've wanted to make homemade donuts for a long time, but not badly enough to invest in a donut pan. I tried this recipe and baked the donuts in balls on a cookie sheet.  Boom - donut holes.

Adapted by a friend from Baker Bettie.

5 T. butter
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 c. sour cream
1 t. vanilla
2 t. baking powder
1 1/2 c. flour

Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
1/4 c melted butter
1/4 c. sugar mixed with 1/2 t. cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar, stir in remaining dry ingredients. Form balls and bake at 325 for 8-10 minutes (I THINK I had to bake them quite a bit longer).

Cool slightly, then dip in butter and then sugar mixture. Yum...

Green Smoothies

I mentioned in my journal blog that I'm doing a healthy living challenge with my friends. One of the items you earn points for is eating three servings of vegetables. It's harder than it should be so I've been trying out green smoothies.

First of all, I discovered I don't like almond milk. My smoothies got a lot tastier after I stopped using that. Here are two recipes the kids and I have really liked. 

Other tips:

Vanilla yogurt adds aome flavor and sweetness, not to mention protein. 

You need about a cup of liquid to get the smoothie to blend. 

Use some frozen ingredients to keep your smoothie nice and cold without adding ice. 

Tropical Green Smoothie

1/2 c  vanilla yogurt

1/2 c orange juice

1 c spinach
1/2 c. pineapple

1 kiwi
1 mango

Rainbow Smoothie

1/2 vanilla yogurt

1/2-1 c orange juice

1 c spinach

1/2 c frozen strawberries

1/2 c frozen blueberries

1/2 banana

I've also made the rainbow one without yogurt. Also good. 

Homemade Slime

Homemade Slime! I made this to use for Letter S Preschool. It was super easy and fun.

Mix equal amounts school glue and liquid laundry starch, and add a little food coloring. Mix it until the liquid is all dissolved. If it is too runny, add more starch. One small bottle of school glue (plus equal amount of starch) made a nice amount for one kid.

It's globby, gloopy, squishy, squeezy and really, really fun.

April Fool's Tacos

Here is Maggie's April Fool's Day lunch.

Then for April Fool's "dinner" we had "tacos".

Stand N Stuff Tortillas
Chocolate ice cream (refried beans)
whipped cream (sour cream)
colored shredded coconut (lettuce and cheese)
cherries (tomatoes)
green sprinkles (green onions)

Ta dum! Maggie threw a fit and refused to eat it, but did eventually settle for a bowl of plain ice cream.

We had actually tacos for actual dinner right after.

Black Forest Cupcakes + Stable Whipped Cream Frosting

Maggie wanted a Black Forest cake for her birthday, after seeing one at the grocery store. We settled on cupcakes and came up with this. Super easy since I used a boxed cake mix, but I did make a stable whipped cream frosting to use.

Black Forest Cupcakes
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 jar maraschino cherries, drained
1/2 recipe stable whipped cream frosting
chocolate shavings or sprinkles

Stable Whipped Cream Frosting

1 pkg cream cheese, softened

1 t. vanilla

1/2 t. almond extract

1/2 c. sugar

2 c. whipping cream

Beat the cream cheese, extracts and sugar until smooth. Slowly pour in the whipping cream, scraping the bowl a couple times, and beat until stiff.

The frosting was light, but held up, and would be a really good fruit dip as well.

1 1/2 batches for 48 cupcakes.

Red Pepper Risotto with Grilled Chicken

Red Pepper Risotto
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1/2 onion, diced
2 red bell peppers, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/2 cups arborio rice (risotto rice)
1 quart chicken broth (4 cups)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
4 chicken breasts, grilled (optional)

Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter with the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and peppers and cook until translucent.

In a separate pot, heat the chicken broth.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and the rice to the onion and peppers. Stir and cook just until the rice is coated in butter and begins to be translucent.

Add two ladles of hot broth. Stirring constantly, cook the risotto over medium heat, adding a ladle of broth just before the rice gets dry. If you run out of broth, add hot water until the rice is cooked and creamy.

 Remove from heat and stir in the parsley, lemon juice and cheese. Serve immediately with grilled chicken (4 servings) or as a side dish (6-8 servings).

Loaded Baked Potato Salad

Loaded Baked Potato Salad

This recipe is based off one from Mommysavers. I'm adding my version here because I've made it several times and I really like it. 

Cook potatoes. Toss with olive oil and apple cider vinegar. 

Stir in:

1/3 c. cheddar cheese

1/3 c. sour cream

2 green onions, sliced

3 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled