Lemon Glazed Coffee Cake in a Mug

We're getting into the holidays and some of you may be looking for gift ideas. Or you may be looking for a tasty treat. Either way, i think you may enjoy this one. Last year I made this recipe for a gift for my sister-in-law Sarah for a Christmas gift. We were doing a homemade gift exchange in Husbands family, and for some reason this was the only thing I could come up with. But i think the whole thing was really cute in the end. She loves the Boston Red Sox and knee high socks so I got her Red Sox socks and a Red Sox mug paired up together with a few different mixes for cakes in a mug to go with it. She didn't get her gift until a bit after Christmas...we had just bought our new home and were in the middle of the whole moving process...but she did get it eventually, and she said she loved it.

I put together a few mixes for myself to try them out before i sent them to her, and my favorite was this Lemon Glazed Coffee Cake in a Mug. The link gives you all the instructions, but i made one change to it when i made it for myself so i'll give you all the instructions here. This mix instructions makes about 8 servings, so that's why its so great for gifts. Or if you just want to make up a whole batch and then have them on hand, there's nothing wrong with that.

Ingredients:

• 1 (18.5 ounce) package yellow cake mix
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
• 2-2/3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 cup powdered lemonade mix

Preparation:

Each coffee mug should hold 1-1/2 cups water.

Place dry cake mix and dry pudding mix into a large bowl and blend well with a whisk. This will be about 4 to 4 1/2 cups of dry mix and will make 8 coffee cup cake mixes. Divide mix into 8 small plastic bags (about 1/2 cup each). Place mix into a corner of each bag and tie it there with a twist tie.

Make glaze mix: in a medium bowl, combine confectioners sugar with powdered flavoring mix. Divide into 8 small plastic bags and close bag with a twist tie. Attach each glaze mix to the cake mix bags with a twist tie. Place one of each bag into each cup.

Attach the following instructions to each cup:

Generously spray inside of cup with cooking spray. Empty contents of cake mix packet in cup. In small bowl mix together 1 egg with itself. Add 1 Tbsp of egg mixture, 1 tablespoon of oil, and 1 tablespoon water to dry mix. Mix 15 seconds, carefully mixing in all dry mix. Microwave on full power for 2 minutes. While cake is cooking, place ingredients from Glaze mix into a very small container and add 1 1/2 teaspoon water. Mix well. When cake is done, pour glaze over cake in cup. Enjoy while warm.

The change I made was concerning the egg. The original recipe says to use 1 egg, but i think it tastes too eggy (yes i know, that's not a real word), and that was the best alternative for me. You could try it with the whole egg if you want and decide for yourself though.

Enjoy!

No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

I've been in the kitchen recently. I found this recipe for No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars a little while ago when Husband and i were on a diet. I wanted to cry when i saw it because i knew there was no loophole in our diet for me to be able to make this. Husband got upset at me for even looking at it let alone the fact that i showed it to him. But i'm in the process of trying to diagnose some health problems i have, doing blood work and doctor visits and all that not fun stuff, so we decided to have me on this specific diet right now with the medication involved wasn't the right choice. Since I wasn't going to be on the diet, Husband had no desire to diet either. We're still watching how we eat -- we're not eating out any more at all, and our weakness of ice cream is not allowed in the house. Earlier this year we cut out a lot of sugars and starches from our diets already (replacing starches like potatoes and pastas with vegetables), so we're sticking with that.....
Except for this splurge. I couldn't help it! I kept thinking about it and i just couldn't stop myself. I don't even remember the last time i was in the kitchen baking -- though there is no baking involved in this recipe. But we've been really good about everything, and i was about to die without chocolate -- a little TMI but it was my girl week so you may be able to understand -- so I made an exception. It was delicious. SO worth it. If you like chocolate and peanut butter and oatmeal, you'll love it too. I hope you will anyway.

Melt butter in a large sauce pan over low heat. Stir in brown sugar, vanilla, and oats. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Press half of mixture in to the bottom of a buttered 8 x 8 dish.

In a microwave safe bowl, microwave the chocolate and peanut butter, stirring every 30 seconds until melted and blended.

Pour the chocolate peanut butter mixture over the crust, reserving a couple of spoonfuls to drizzle over the top.

Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture over the chocolate and peanut butter, pressing gently to form a crust. Drizzle the remaining chocolate and peanut butter over the top of the bars.

Refrigerate for 3 hours before cutting and serving.

It really was as good as it looks.

{click to print}
No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars
adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups quick cooking oats
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)

1. Melt butter in a large sauce pan over low heat. Stir in brown sugar, vanilla, and oats. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Press half of mixture in to the bottom of a buttered 8 x 8 dish.

2. In a microwave safe bowl, microwave the chocolate and peanut butter, stirring every 30 seconds until melted and blended. Pour the chocolate peanut butter mixture over the crust, reserving a couple of spoonfuls to drizzle over the top.

3. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture over the chocolate and peanut butter, pressing gently to form a crust. Drizzle the remaining chocolate and peanut butter over the top of the bars.

4. Refrigerate for 3 hours before cutting and serving.

And last off, i want to let you all know that i'm planning a move for our blog. I think. I feel like being a little more anonymous when it comes to things i'm making and sharing -- like this delicious post -- and i get enough traffic from my projects that i feel like making a move would be the best thing for us. I have no intention of being a professional blogger -- i'm not cool enough for that -- i just want to separate the friends and family stuff from the public stuff. I'll probably keep this one for the family and friends and go private but I haven't got the new one all set up and moved over yet, so i'll let you know when i'm all done.

Low Carb Pizza Crust....w/ Cauliflower?

So, a while back i was watching TV in the afternoon at a time of day i don't ever watch tv. I couldn't find anything on -- which is probably why i don't watch tv in the afternoon -- and ended up watching Dr. Oz. Don't get me wrong, i have nothing against Dr. Oz, but there's just something about him that weirds me out so i don't watch him that often. But the episode was on weight loss secrets, and since that's a topic you can't go wrong learning more about, i decided to watch it. He had these 3 women sharing 3 of the things that helped them all lose a tone of weight, and one of the women said she cut out carbs (like we've never been told that one before!) and replaced

them with veggies. If you're like me, cutting carbs is H-A-R-D. I love white rice, pasta, sugars,

and any carb you can think of way too much. Yes, when we got married i switched us from

White to Wheat for our breads and pastas, and last year i mastered making a brown/white rice hybrid in my rice maker (the brown needs 2 cycles through the cooker so i do that on its own first then throw in the white with its water and mix it all up and turn it on again). But what about Pizza? I don't make my own bread dough like my step-mom Cindy. All the yummy pizza places use white dough. I've got nothing against thin crust pizza, but i never think to order it.

I make personal pizzas for myself with those wonderful sandwich thins.

I'll put some pesto on them, sprinkle on some fetta cheese, slice up a tomato to top it off and throw it all under the broiler. L-O-V-E it! I usually make it for myself on the nights when Husband has to stay overnight at work. It's one of those quick meals i didn't feel too guilty eating. But, this women on the show was saying one of the recipes she cut carbs with was with a Cauliflower Pizza Crust. What?? Who would have thought up such a thing? After hearing of it, i knew i had to try it. And guess what, its actually good. I kept telling Husband that i was going to make this pizza crust, and he would get this scared look in his eyes and i could see that he was hoping i would forget that i wanted to make it. But i didn't, and he ate it. I made 2 pizzas and got 2 slices of it before he ate the whole other pizza plus the other half of the one i had started eating. So, this is the recipe i found that turned out really good for us, and i figured i would share it with everyone on here.

Cauliflower Pizza Crust (<--linked)

1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower*
1 egg
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp fennel
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp parsley

pizza or alfredo sauce (Any jar of pizza or marinara sauce works great, or Alfredo if you want to do a "white" pizza)

toppings (make sure meats are cooked)
mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Farenheit.

Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray (i line all my pans with aluminum foil and then spray it so i can avoid scrubbing when i have to wash up).

In a medium bowl, combine cauliflower, egg and mozzarella. Press evenly on the pan. Sprinkle evenly with fennel, oregano and parsley.

Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes (15-20 minutes if you double the recipe).

Remove the pan from the oven. To the crust, add sauce, then toppings and cheese.

Place under a broiler at high heat just until cheese is melted **.

Notes:

*I use frozen cauliflower prepared according to package directions in the microwave without water. After cooked and slightly cooled, shred cauliflower with a cheese grater (i used my chopper, but if you have a food processor that would work too), and then measure for the recipe. (Don't pack down the cup with cauliflower. Just fill it with a spoon or the cup itself.)

** You can try re-baking the pizza at 450 once you add toppings if desired, but the crust is not quite as crusty. There is a minimal difference, so see what works best for you.

This is really good if you're going Gluten Free. It's delicious and you get vegetables and pizza for dinner. I mentioned this in home making (or what ever it is they call it now) and they've asked me to make it for them in March.
Enjoy!

English Toffee

So I've been reading A LOT since i got my Kindle for Christmas. I've always enjoyed reading, and when i find a good book, i will re-read it more times then i can count. I used to got books from the Library and borrow from friends, but since we moved here to CA i've been seriously lacking in new books because i found our local library seriously lacking in any books, and anything that they do have that's any good has a waiting list a year long....So i started buying books online to get in the mail. I found used and new books cheap on Half.com and Amazon (you can find books for a penny + S&H) and the books i already did have were read multiple times.
But since getting the Kindle, i've discovered all kinds of new authors because of the free reads and books under $3. An author i found was Joanne Fluke, she writes murder mystery books (that are clean!), and in all of her books she includes tons of delicious recipes.
Tonight, i decided to give one of the recipes a try. Since i love to share good stuff, i figured this was worth telling you about. Husband didn't think he would like it because he thinks crackers sound weird to be in candy, but he did like it. He wants to take it with him to work tonight. And sorry about the picture being so crap, my camera needed to be charged so i used my phone.

IBBY'S METAPHYSICAL ENGLISH TOFFEE

(from Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, rack in the middle position.

16-ounce box Club Crackers* (Mine were Keebler. You'll use only one packet)

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 cup brown sugar (tightly packed)
2 cups milk chocolate chips (12-ounce bag)
2 cups chopped pecans (salted or unsalted, it really doesn't matter)

Line a 10-inch by 15-inch cookie sheet with foil. If you have a jellyroll pan, that's perfect. If you don't, turn up the edges of the foil to form sides.

Spray the foil with Pam or other nonstick cooking spray. (You want to be able to peel it off later, after the candy hardens.)

Line the pan completely with Club Crackers, salt side up. Cover the whole bottom. (You can break the crackers in pieces to make them fit if you have to.) Set the cracker-lined jellyroll pan or cookie sheet aside while you cook the toffee mixture.

You don't need a candy thermometer to make this candy :]]

Combine the butter with the brown sugar in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil over medium high heat on the stovetop, stirring constantly. Boil it for exactly five minutes, stirring it constantly. If it sputters too much, you can reduce the heat and if it starts to lose the boil, you can increase the heat. Just don't stop stirring.

Pour the mixture over the crackers as evenly as you can.

*I started by pouring the mixture in lines from top to bottom over the length of the pan. Then I turn it and pour more lines over the width of the pan. Once the whole pan is crosshatched

with the hot toffee mixture, pour any that's left where it's needed. If it doesn't cover the crackers completely, don't worry - it'll spread out a bit in the oven.

Slide the pan into the oven and bake the toffee at 350 degrees F. for 10 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the milk chocolate chips over the top. Give the chips a minute or two to melt and then spread them out as evenly as you can with a heat-resistant spatula, a wooden paddle, or a frosting knife.
*when i pulled it out of the oven i didn't think it looked done because it was still bubbly and looked about the same consistency as it did when i put it in, but it really was fine. It hardens while the chocolate is melting on top of it.

Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the top of the chocolate and refrigerate the pan.

When the toffee has thoroughly chilled, peel it from the foil and break it into random-sized pieces.

Enjoy!!
i can't stop eating it even though i have to because my stomach is rebelling against me.

Chicken Pasta Salad

A few months ago Husband and i made a trip over to Idaho/Utah for a week. We spent a few days visiting my family in Preston ID, then we went south to visit friends and some of Husbands family in Utah. While we were visiting his aunt's house, they were having a birthday dinner for his cousin Marie. The dinner was great. Fresh homemade rolls out of the over, a fruit salad, and the most yummy Chicken Pasta Salad i have had in a very long time. It was one of Marie's favorites, which is why she had it for her dinner, and a few days before the 4th of July i was able to get the recipe. *i hope she doesn't mind i'm sharing this with everyone, its just so good i had to share... :]
I've made it twice since getting the recipe because Husband likes it so much. Which is weird, because it has mayonnaise in it and he knows it. He hates mayo.

Chicken Pasta Salad

12oz. bow-tie pasta
12 oz. spiral pasta
2 c. grapes
3 chicken breasts cooked and cubes (or you can use canned chicken...it makes it a lot easier)
3 green onions
1 pkg. crasins
1 small can cashews
1 c. mayo
1 bottle Kraft cole slaw dressing (it has to be Kraft)

Mix first 5 ingredients together. Just before serving add the crasins and cashews. Mix the mayo and dressing together then stir all together.


This is a large recipe. When i make this, i have to cute the recipe in half because this makes A LOT for 2 people, and even then, we have leftovers. The next day we just add a little more of the cole slaw dressing to get it back to consistency.

Enjoy!

My New Favorite

I have a new favorite candy at the moment. I still loves me my Reeses PB cups, but i now have something new to add to my list of favorites.

THIS:

I don't go out of my way to buy candy at the checkout counter, so its not like i love Almond Joy's any more then the next person. But i'm a sucker for commercials and if something looks interesting enough i give it a try. These were worth it. I LOVE them. If candy can be interesting, these were fascinating to eat. The insides, they have little tiny chunks of almonds and coconut and chocolate, all the things you'll find in the full size candy bars, but just the fact that it all fits into pieces....wow. YUM is the right word. And perfect.

I love Reese's PB Cups (i know i already mentioned this, just go with it for a sec), but oddly enough i don't care for Reese's Pieces. I think it's because of its lack of Chocolate. That's the key to the cup, so don't you think it should be there for the pieces too? ....ok, there's my little rant on those. sorry.

Back to my new favorite. I love this candy, though i've cut candy off my shopping lists for the next while (and replaced it with chocolate rice cakes).....but i can't deny that they may end up in our travel snacks when we take our road trip to go see my family in Idaho soon.

Planning Ahead

Is it terrible that i've been planning 2 weeks already what i'm going to do for Husband for Valentines Day and there is still a week before the big day? it's not like Valentines is anything significantly special to us as a couple other then the fact that it's Feb 14th, the Valentines Day holiday just like it is for everyone else. But for some reason i'm so excited its the only thing i can think of. At first i think it had a little to do with the fact that we had this impending "separation" in March when Husband would be deployed for a month with the Coast Guard. i haven't been looking forward to this idea at all, so i wanted to have special things to do with him this month before he left. His birthday is in March, so we were going to have to miss having that together again. We haven't spent any of his birthdays together ever. When we were engaged he was deployed at the end of Feb for 5 months, so we missed that birthday, and then again last year after we got married he was sent to school for 5 months at the end of Feb to North Carolina. Wow....no wonder i'm trying to make a bigger deal out of this month then i normally would. Its classic conditioning, the military is training me to be separated from husband every year at the end of February! Those guys are tricky.... ;)

But, it now looks like husband will actually NOT be getting deployed next month. What's this?? Its because they lost his military passport. He can't go to Central America without it. Apparently this losing of passports for these guys isn't unheard of though.....but how that happens is beyond me. So, while someone travels around on husbands "lost" military passport doing who knows what (hopefully not getting husband into trouble), i'll be enjoying my husband through the month of March, for his birthday, and even for a few more months then i usually get to this year. Yea! We just found out this on Monday. There's a small possibility that the missing passports will be found (it would have to show up by Monday though) and he could end up going in the end, but chances are they won't turn up in the next 2 days.

But, since i've started my Valentines Day planning already, there's no reason i shouldn't follow through. I still love my husband! This year we're watching what we spend and saving as much money as possible so we can go to the beach in a few short months, so i've been trying to come up with ideas to make it fun but still inexpensive. First off, I'm planning a pretty cake (yes, its because i've been looking for an excuse to use all my cake decorating stuff i got last year). Its the first thing i need to start on if i'm going to make everything for it. I'm thinking i'm going to make something similar to this:

I'll be making the flowers out of Gum Paste, i just need to get a small foam mate to make the petals on, and a flower cookie cutter. I'm pretty sure i know where i can find it at. I'm not going to do the chocolate frosting though. I'm making a red velvet cake because that's husbands favorite, so i'm going with a white cream cheese/marshmallow frosting, then i'll cover it with marshmallow fondant which i'll have to make (it tastes better then regular fondant).
So there's that. Next, i'll be making this for dinner:

Shrimp Scampi with Linguini

I found it on the Food Network site when i was looking for ideas and i think it'll be perfect with asparagus and spinach salad. i may even have husband cook in all up with me. Thats romantic right? I think it is. He's been helping out a lot more in the kitchen this week and i'm thinking its super great and sweet as heck.
Then for my gift for him i've decided to go with a combo: The Candy Gram! If you don't know what that is, in my case its going to be a message for my special someone with some of the words replaced by candy bar titles (with the candy in it). Its a gift/card/candy all in one! The other week i saw someone eating a Big Hunk! candy bar, and suddenly it was all i could think of. I wanted one soooo bad, but they didn't have them at our grocery store a few blocks away so i never got my fix of it :( But it got me thinking about the times i have had them and i remembered how perfect they are for candy grams. So thats where i got the idea for this gift for him this year. i know where i can get a Big Hunk! in the next town over i think so it'll be in the message for him for sure. He's my Big Hunk. Its a pretty inexpensive gift, and homemade by me. Isn't that what makes for a great special gift? Something made with love :]
i can honestly say i haven't asked for any gifts from husband for Valentines this year. All i'm hoping for is that he'll share some of his candy to be honest. Last year he got me flowers, a movie, and one of the best cards i've ever gotten in my entire life that was so sweet it still makes we tear up just thinking about it. He always manages to say the best things to me :] i love him. This year....i think he wants me to pick out my gift for him. its my own fault for helping so much with Christmas though. But i really mean it when i say i don't care if he gets me anything, so its up to him what he does.

I don't know what we'll do after dinner yet, but if i don't come up with something it'll be something like watching The Princess Bride or some other romantic movie he's willing to sit through. But i'm open to suggestions so if anyone has any good ideas please let me know!
Husband doesn't read what i write on this blog if i don't tell him i've written and my goal is to keep this all secret from him until next weekend, so if you know husband do me a favor and not tell him of my plans ;] I'll take pictures of how the whole thing really does turn out, so keep a lookout for that after the big day. Until then, i hope every one has a great Valentines Day this year!

One of my favorite things about this time of year is these:

Yes, the Reese's Peanut Butter Hearts.
They are my favorite candy in the whole world i think. I used to get bags and bags of these every year and stock up on them so i could still have some after Valentines day. I'm not going to do it this year though... i got one bag and that's going to last me. And when they're gone, they're gone....

Caramel Apple Crunch Pie

I made this pie for thanksgiving and it was a big hit. I couldn't even get a picture of it before we started eating it. I was in charge of the Apple Pie, and when i was in the store getting all the ingredients i found the Kraft Caramel Bits in the chocolate chips aisle. Caramel and Apples, you can't get any better then that! So i decided to try it out. AMAZING! Love it, i'll never go back to making regular apple crunch pie again.

CARAMEL APPLE CRUNCH PIE

Ingredients

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

5 cups Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

1 cup Kraft Caramel Bits (found in the chocolate chip aisle)

3 tablespoons butter

TOPPING

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

6 tablespoons butter

2/3 cup Kraft Caramel Bits

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, Mix together 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and cinnamon. Stir in sliced apples until coated with sugar mixture. Stir in 1 cup Kraft Caramel Bits. Pour filling into pie crust, and dot with 3 tablespoons butter. Sprinkle with streusel topping.

To make streusel topping: In a medium bowl, mix together 3/4 cup flour and 3/4 cup brown sugar. Cut in 6 tablespoons butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in remaining 2/3 cup Caramel Bits.

Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees F and continue baking for 35 to 40 minutes, or until filling is bubbling and streusel is golden brown. Allow to cool for at least 1 hour.
ENJOY!

Craft/Cooking Blog...?

Ok readers, i've been playing with the idea of starting a craft/cooking blog, but i don't know if it will well followed or if its even worthy of its own blog...

I love to cook and i love to make things, and i plan to be doing a lot more of that. And that's what i seem to be posting on this blog or wanting to do more of at least, so i'm thinking i'll move everything craft/cooking related over from this blog to the craft/cooking blog and keep this one about husband and i. There are holidays coming up now, so i'll be cooking more, and as soon as we get into our house later this month i'll be making some new things; a bed frame, a padded headboard, some paintings, decorating, sewing...to name a few. So i have things i will be posting along those lines. And then, the two of us will be doing a few things coming up soon.....i'm just figuring we keep this a family blog for updates on us. So...let me know what you think. Would it be easier that way?

Bread Freshness

Something i learned today that i thought i would share with you all...

Want to know how fresh your bread is when you go shopping?
Each day has a different color twist tie. It goes alphabetically by color. They are…

Monday: Blue

Tuesday: Green

Thursday: Red

Friday: White

Saturday; Yellow

Based on this, if you went shopping on Friday, you would want look for a twisty- tie color that is green or red as they are the freshest. If you grab one that is yellow, that bread would be a week old since it was produced on Saturday.

You may want to write this down on a sticky note and put in with your coupons or wallet or something. I just thought this was interesting so i had to share.