Sugar, Spice & Everything "Nice"

The holiday's are here, can you believe it? I normally do a wider spread of cookies but I just don't have the energy for it right now. I went to my best friend's house to do a Christmas cookie baking extravaganza and I brought this new recipe with me. They were probably my favorite one's that I made! Pretty simple as well, with minimal ingredients. It makes quite a bit of cookies though, so prepare yourself for some oven time! Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups flour 1 1/2t baking soda 1/2t salt 1 cup butter 3/4 cup brown sugar 1 box Jell-O vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix 2 eggs 1t vanilla 2 cups green and red M&M's milk chocolate 1 cup white vanilla baking chip Bake me to life! Heat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy; scrape the side of the bowl. Beat in dry pudding mix. Beat in eggs,

Here we are getting into the fall months and all we want to do is spend our time bundled up in a blanket on the couch with a cup of tea and the Food Network channel on all day...oh wait, maybe that's just me. I ventured out yesterday from my warm, cozy home and went to my cousin's game night, where we played Farkle (such a fun dice game!) and Cards Against Humanity (always a good laugh with this game). It was an appetizer and snack food kind of night, and I knew my sister was coming who just so happens to be a Vegetarian! So I figured I'd cater towards her just in case there wasn't a lot of other options for food (we are a meat loving family). This is so quick to throw together, less than 15 minutes with prep time! And, IT'S DELICIOUS! Kids and adults alike will love this yummy side dish. Bring it as an appetizer or just make it as a side for dinner! Ingredients: 2T olive oil 2 cloves minced garlic 4 zucchini, diced (it's fall, so squash is winding

PSA : Hamburger Helper is a guilty pleasure of mine , but I figured I would make it myself rather than get it from a box since it's actually really quite simple. And I'm so glad I did! Easy ingredients, and only 3 steps! Just like it's coming from the box, but you're using fresh ingredients! And I'd have to say it tastes a bit better than the box and takes just as long to make.  The best part is, I made this on a Monday, after picking up Aidin from the bus, making our hour drive home and going to the grocery store! Less than 30 minutes of making dinner, we got a fresh loaf of bread from the bakery (good tip, send your cute kid over and ask if they have anything fresh out of the oven, works every time!) and some salad as a side. Perfect dinner and makes leftovers for lunch!  Ingredients: 1 pound lean ground beef 1 small onion, finely chopped 1t paprika 1t dried parsley 1t garlic powder a pinch of cayenne salt and pepper to taste 1 1/2 cups of milk 1 1/2

This is a good recipe to start off fall with! I made this last Sunday for an easy dinner to just throw in the Crockpot and just walk away for the day and it was mighty tasty! And I had almost everything I needed already at home! (But there's always that one you have to go to the store to, because it would just be TOO easy to have everything). Ingredients: 1# ground Italian Sausage, browned 1 yellow onion, chopped 2 large carrots, chopped 2 stalks celery, shopped 4 gloves garlic, minced 1T Italian seasoning 2t beef bouillon powder (this is usually in the soup aisle at the grocery store if not in the spice section) 1/2t salt 4 cups beef broth 1/4 cup cornstarch mixed and dissolved in 1/4 cup water 3 cups of half and half 1 - 12oz package three cheese tortellini (or whatever flavor you prefer) 1 package of fresh baby spinach (the smaller bag) Crock it like it's hot: Brown the sausage (and drain) and put it in the Crockpot. Place the onion, carrots, celery, ga

I'm a true lover of all things rice krispie. It'd be an understatement to say I have one at least once a day. I buy them in bulk at Costco, yes I know I have a problem. These are a nice twist to your rice krispie treat though. All the same ingredients, just made with popcorn instead. Think of an extremely large popcorn ball, with a little extra yum in them. Warning: This is a sticky mess when trying to make them, as is anything when you are using melted marshmallows. Make sure you have a large enough bowl to fit two bags of popcorn and mixing room. Ingredients: 2 bags microwave popcorn, popped (try to get all the kernels removed, personally I LOVE the unpopped kernels but I can understand someone not wanting to break their tooth). 2 cups M&M's 1 1/2 cups broken pretzel sticks (I just poured some into a ziplock bag and crushed them up).  16oz mini marshmallows (8 cups) 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) Time to get messy: 1.      Spray a large

Don't you love it when you can make something with ingredients you already have in your kitchen? It's wonderful.  We buy banana's on a weekly basis, and I think I do it so I can let them get ripe and bake with them rather than eat them individually. I make a mean banana bread (click  here  for the recipe) but I decided to switch it up a bit and try something new and I'm glad I did! Let's get our ingredients list going... Blondie Ingredients: 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted 1 cup dark brown sugar 1/4t salt 1 large egg 2t vanilla 2t cinnamon 1 cup flour 1 medium-large ripe banana Frosting Ingredients: 1/4 cup butter 6T dark brown sugar 2T milk dash of salt 1t vanilla 1 cup powdered sugar Stir it up, baby! Preheat oven to 350. Line 8x8 baking pan with foil (make sure to let some hang off the sides so you can pull the blondies out easily when they'er done) and spray with cooking spray.  Start with the Blondie Ingredients

Who doesn't like a 5-ingredient dinner/snack? Granted, there could be a little more prep time depending on what you have laying around but for a mom that's always on the go with Baseball Practice and who knows what else...this is perfect. I cooked my Quinoa in my rice cooker, it was super easy to just dump it in there and walk away. If you don't have a rice cooker, just follow the instructions on the back of the bag. You can find Quinoa in the rice section of the grocery store usually, if not there check by the Organics. Side note : Whether I cook my Quinoa in a pot or in my rice cooker, I always cook it in Chicken Broth, adds more flavor! You'll notice the difference between water and Chicken Broth, I promise! If you have some cooked chicken already, perfect. If not, I usually get a rotisserie chicken and just shred it. Luckily, Matthew's mom has been buying me whole chickens and cooking them in the crockpot for me (because she's awesome) and then sending

Talk about a 3 year hiatus...whew. Well I figured I would make an attempt to get back into the swing of things (my baseball reference for the night!) and post a little something for you all to check out. Unfortunately, this is something I made earlier this week and did not snag a picture, but lets be honest, Meatloaf is hard to make look "picture perfect" but I will try to update this recipe with a picture next time I make it. *UPDATE: Picture is now attached. Enjoy! I debated whether or not I wanted to share this recipe with everyone because it's just THAT good, but I thought what the heck, everyone's taste buds should truly experience this. First I'm going to start off with I am NOT a ground beef lover at all. I try to avoid it as much as possible. But Matthew enjoys it, so alas, there I was in the kitchen the first time I made this recipe, grossed out and didn't know how I was going to get through this ordeal but it turned out pretty damn tasty. And