Pizza Dip

1 jar or can (14 oz) pizza sauce
3/4 cup chopped turkey or regular pepperoni
4 green onions, chopped
1 can (2 1/4 oz) sliced black olives, drained
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
 1 package (3 oz) cream cheese, softened

1. Combine pizza sauce, pepperoni, onions, olives, and oregano in a 2-quart Crock-pot. Cover; cook on low 2 hours or on high 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until mixture is hot.

2. Stir in mozzarella and cream cheese until melted and well blended. Serve with warm breadsticks.

(I stole this recipe from Amanda because I can never find it when I want it :p)

Recipe: Baby Cereal Cookies

Lately I've been putting a lot of effort into finding new recipes, both for me and boyfriend (who is a super picky eater), and for Chloe, who I'm trying to introduce to as many new things as possible. I wanted something new that Chloe could eat as a snack (besides raisins and blueberries!), that she might really like. Something like cookies. So I found a recipe online for cookies made with baby cereal.

Ingredients:

 2 cups - Rolled oats 

¼ cup - All-purpose flour 

1 cup - Any baby cereal

 2 tsp - Baking powder 

1 tsp - Baking soda 

½ cup - Butter 

½ cup - Packed brown sugar 

2 eggs, beaten

½ cup - Raisins (I added these myself)

Oven at 375. 

Directions:

- Mix the butter and brown sugar, then mix in the eggs.

- In another bowl, mix  together the rest of dry ingredients. Mix both bowls together. Add raisins last.

- Make cookies and put them on a greased cookie sheet.

I made mine about tablespoon-sized scoops, and flattened them a little. These babies grow to be pretty big. I made about two batches, and probably around 30 cookies. I baked them for about 7 minutes for each batch.

The results? 

She thought they were okay. She's not the biggest fan of oatmeal things, I've learned. She'll still barely eat cookies like this unless they're pure sugar. She ate enough to satisfy me, but I'm still sad that she doesn't love oatmeal. Oatmeal cookies are my favorite!

Boyfriend also tried them (before I told him they were made out of baby cereal) and he said they weren't bad.

The Best Gluten-Free Zucchini Bread Recipe

Let me start off by saying that I am not gluten-free. My boyfriend's daughter is (dairy-free, as well), and I don't find a lot of her food to look, smell or even taste that great. I wanted to make her some zucchini bread, because her diet is so limited and that's something they serve at daycare, so I could send a bunch there so she could eat what the other kids are eating.

So I don't usually eat this stuff, but I tried these and they were so good! My brother even loved them and kept bugging me to let him eat more. They're really sweet, so since they're for a young child I'll probably put less sugar the next time around. 

I was really impressed with the ingredients. It didn't call for anything too crazy - I already had rice flour on hand so I just needed a little more cornstarch and tapioca flour. I got those at the bulk food store. I don't remember the cost since I bought a few treats for myself, but it was definitely under $6. Then I bought one big zucchini, and the rest of the ingredients I had on hand.

* Note: The recipe calls for "1 tablespoon xanthan gum", which I knew nothing about so I googled it to find out that not only was it really expensive, a lot of people preferred the taste when they left it out. That's all I needed to hear, so I left it out.

I used this recipe: Gluten-free Zucchini bread. The recipe is for 24 servings, and it does not lie. It made a lot. I made 18 muffins and 3 small loaves of bread out of it.

INGREDIENTS: 

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups cornstarch

3/4 cup rice flour

3/4 cup tapioca flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups fresh zucchini, grated

1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Beat the eggs until foamy then add sugar, oil, and applesauce.
* I used the regular attachments for my electric mixer for the entire recipe, like these ones *

3. In a separate bowl, mix the dry in ingredients and then add them to the egg mixture and beat in electric mixer for about 3 minutes or until batter is mixed well and becomes very thick. Add vanilla then nuts and zucchini.

If baking as a loaf, grease two large loaf pans and fill each 1/2 full. Bake for approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes, testing to be sure the middle is cooked through. If your oven cooks the tops of these loaves too quickly, cover with aluminum foil to prevent burning (after about 25-35 minutes). If you want to use this as a breakfast bread, you can sprinkle the tops with Confectioner's sugar.

* I used really small loaf pans so mine cooked somewhere around 30-45 minutes. When greased with canola oil, the loaf just popped right out when turned over *

If baking as muffins, grease and 1/2 fill 24 muffin tins. Bake for approximately 30 minutes, testing to be sure the middle is cooked through.

And enjoy!

Tried and Loved Pinterest Recipes

I skipped Meal Plan Monday, so to make up for it, I'm sharing some of my favorite Pinterest recipes that I've personally tried and enjoyed.

Bread & Side Dishes

[ via ]

Crispy Smashed Potatoes

A little time consuming, but some of the best potatoes I've ever had. 

Pizza Biscuits

Pizza Cupcakes

Use lots and lots of cheese! 

Slow Cooker

Slow Cooker Beef and Barley Stew

I added in a bunch of potatoes, an extra 2 cups of broth to make up the difference. Left out vinegar, then later had to add at least 1 cup of water because it was getting too dry. It still ended up with almost no broth, but tasted great though!

Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken

I left it in a little longer than it said, so it ended up a little dry, but still yummy. Will definitely be using this cooking method for chicken again! 

Meals

[ via ]

Doritoes Casserole

Good, but not as good as leftovers so make sure you have someone to share it with!

Sloppy Joe Casserole
If you like Sloppy Joes but are getting a little sick of it, this is a great way to spice it up.

Bacon Cheeseburger Eggrolls
Added a bit of Worcestershire to give the beef more flavor, as well as onion powder and garlic powder. We had just these as a supper - a hit with both of us, but would be better with a side dish as well. It left me with a 'greasy belly' feeling.

Lasagna Cupcakes

These are pretty much amazing. You can throw in whatever you typically like in lasagna. Each time I make these, I have all the ingredients ready in the fridge and quickly throw together a few (three typically fill me enough) and make them fresh for a couple of days. They're so good that I don't care that I'm eating the same supper for three nights.

Oven Baked Meatball Sandwiches
Time consuming, because I made my own meatballs. Much quicker if you use store bought. 

Muffin-Pan Meatloaf
Use any meatloaf recipe you want, really, but it cooks much faster in muffin tins.

Pizza Casserole
The pepperoni makes it so yummy. And the more cheese, the better.

Taco Stuffed Shells
Boyfriend and I both liked them. I had them the next day for leftovers and they tasted great, but by the end of it I was so sick of ground beef and salsa.

Dessert & Misc

Cheese sauce

I've never found a cheese sauce recipe that worked, but this one turned out almost perfect - I mis-read and did double the hot sauce.

Chocolate Oatmeal Cake

Read some of the comments for some helpful tips. I always add extra cocoa. It's such a chocolate cake, without being too rich and over powering. A huge favorite of mine.


What are some of your favorites that you'd like to share?

Weekend Fun and a Great Recipe

The weekend was a pretty good one. I pretty much finished my Easter/summer shopping for the girls when Toys R Us had an amazing sale - both things I was considering getting were 50% off, so I bought both. I don't think the wagon is the exact same one, but closest I could find online. 

I can't wait until summer to play with the new toys. 

[ via ] 

[ via ]

I also went to visit my mother and her new puppy. My brother and his girlfriend even stopped by. It was like a family reunion. We looked at a discount furniture store and I ended up ordering and paying off more than half of a bedroom set: headboard, footboard, boxspring and mattress, night table, dresser and mirror. I am beyond excited to get it paid off and delivered. 

Chloe and I spent the day alone together Sunday. We played, we shopped, I cooked, I cleaned, she napped. Overall a pretty great day. 

Here are just a few of the (bad quality cell) pictures I took between Friday and Sunday night. 

Photo 1 - Hair styled with potatoes
Photo 2 - This Little Piggy

Monkey-see monkey-do shaving her legs (without  a razor, of course)

I love weekends. 

Ps: I'm skipping meal plan Monday again because I'm lazy and don't feel like planning, but if you want a great supper (and leftover!) idea, taco stuffed shells are super yummy. To save money, I used salsa instead of taco sauce, and didn't use sour cream because boyfriend hates it. It's a pretty customizable recipe. He hates cheese too, but I snuck some into the beef mixture when it was cool, and put a lot less of it on top of his side of the shells. Mine could've used more cheese. I ate the leftovers today at work and they're even better then yesterday. Maybe because I threw more shredded cheese on top when I put it in the storage dish. 

Meal Plan Monday

Crockpot Beef and Barley Stew - Recipe | Pinterest

This week is mostly a trial run in meal planning. We're horrible at it, because we're both picky eaters (We're both not veggie fans, and even worse, boyfriend hates cheese). It's especially a trial run because we've already done our groceries for the week, so we need to work with what we already have, or make a trip to the store. I don't do breakfast most days, so that will rarely be planned. Boyfriend takes sandwiches to work for lunch, so lunch will rarely be planned either.

Dinner: 

Monday: Boyfriend's choice, his day off
Tuesday: Shepherd's Pie * (Mom's recipe of ground beef, cream corn and potatoes)
Wednesday: Store-bought beef pies & potatoes
Thursday: Grilled cheeseburger wraps and homemade fries
Friday: Crockpot Chicken Tacos *
Saturday: Rotisserie Chicken & potatoes
Sunday: Crockpot Beef and Barley stew *

Lunch Ideas for the Week: 

- Leftover Shepherd's Pie
- Pasta salad *

* - Items needed

- Salsa (Optional: Lettuce & sour cream)
- Cream corn
- Cubed beef
- Beef broth
- Tomato paste
- Ranch dressing

Since we horrible with meal planning, we might not actually follow this plan. Especially since I'm a new crockpot owner, and haven't even used it yet. This gives us something to run with. Starting next Monday, I'll be doing two meal plans - ours, then a gluten and dairy-free menu for Madi. That should be more of a challenge. 

What are you eating this week?

4 Yummy No Bake Cookie Recipes { Link up yours! }

I've always loved baking, but I'll admit that I'm lazy. I've been known to try a complicated recipe every now and then, but usually I like to stick to the simple stuff. One thing I love making and eating, is cookies, but I absolutely hate the time and effort it takes to scoop them all out onto the cookie sheet, and I've never been good at getting them all the same size. 

But then there's no-bake cookies. 

Melt some stuff in a pot then stir it all together? Easy enough. Then just throw blobs of it onto wax paper. Sounds perfect to me. Here are some no-bake recipes I've found (some I've tried) on Pinterest. Link up your cookie pins below!

1. Chocolate Hazelnut No-Bake Cookies

[ Source: Online Recipe Directory | via: Pinterest ]

Hazelnut is one of my favorite flavors. My mouth waters just thinking of these.

2. No-Bake Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

[ Source: Chocolate Covered Katie | via: Pinterest ]

This recipe is a tiny bit more complicated (for me anyway - I've never used oat flour before) but there's coffee in it. COFFEE. Yes, please. 

3.  No-Bake Snickers Cookies

[ Source:  Pinch of Yum | via: Pinterest ]

I just made these a few nights ago - and yum is definitely the word! 

4. Coconut No Bake Cookies

[ Source: Aunt Peg's Recipe Box | via: Pinterest ]

Coconut is my favorite. I want to make these next. 

Do you have any cookie pins to share?

Pinterest Clean-Up is a bi-weekly linky party where you clean up your boards a bit, and share your most interesting pins. Every other week there will be a theme, and you post pins from that board, or something closely related. Visit the Clean-Up page for more information, and link up below!

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I completed 5 new recipes

In November, I challenged myself to try out 5 recipes in 5 weeks. 

[ Baked Potato Soup ]

My recipes were:

- Meatloaf

- Sloppy Joe casserole

- Meatball sandwiches

- Potato bacon casserole

- Grilled cheeseburger wraps

With two bonus recipes:

- Doritos taco bake

- Baked potato soup

The end date was Christmas day, and by that point I had only made the Doritos Taco bake. Which was good, but not fantastic. I might try it again if I had someone to help me eat it.

I also made regular old Sloppy Joes for the first time. I used a store-bought sauce mix, and wasn't a fan of it so I might try homemade the next time around. I'll let this count as a new recipe completed.

Since then, I got serious and bought ingredients I needed for a few other things, and ended up making meatloaf (with crispy smashed potatoes as a side, also a new recipe - view on Pinterest) and baked potato soup, with slightly altered recipes. I'll be sharing those altered recipes soon, if only for my own safekeeping.

They both turned out so good that I scarfed them down at supper time, then took leftovers to work for lunch, and cleaned my plate then as well.

My body is currently thanking me for taking a break from the deep fryer.

So I'll give myself a break (hey, Christmas was busy) and say I completed 5 new recipes.

Here's to hoping for just as much luck next time around! 

Homemade Hot Chocolate & Chocolate Coffee

[ via ]

I've been addicted to half coffee, half hot chocolates lately. I love me some coffee, but the added sweetness of the hot chocolate makes me want to drink it all day. That may be a bad thing. 

Bad enough, because the $2ish I'm spending a day to buy them started adding up, so I started experimenting at home. Both with homemade hot chocolate, and homemade chocolate coffee. 

Lucky you, I'm going to share. 

Homemade Hot Chocolate

1 1/4 cups of milk (approx)

1 tsp cocoa (add more if you like it thicker)

1 tsp white sugar (same amount as cocoa)

Heat up the milk in a pot on medium heat. Once it's starting to boil a little, add the cocoa and sugar and stir. Add more or less cocoa and sugar until you figure out what works for you. More options: Add a drop or two of peppermint extract, throw some whipped cream on top, pour in a little bit of flavored coffee cream or a flavor shot. 

Homemade Chocolate Coffee

Coffee

Milk

1 tsp Cocoa

2 tsp Sugar

Make the coffee as desired. You can use instant if you'd like. Make enough to fill your cup approx 3/4 full. Stir in the sugar and cocoa (adjust amounts to meet your tastes), then fill the cup the rest of the way with milk. You can also add peppermint extract, whipped cream, or any kind of flavoring you like. 

Do you have any favorite hot drink recipes to share?

5 Recipes in 5 Weeks - A Food Challenge

I'm starting a new challenge. A challenge to step out of my comfort zone and start experimenting more with food. Boyfriend and I tend to go for the same meals, over and over, and we need to think outside the box a little.

One of the big problems, and his biggest flaw, is that boyfriend doesn't like cheese. I know! Cheese. I love it. I love it alone. I love it cold. I love it melted. I love it on almost everything. Food usually isn't food without cheese. So I'm not giving up cheese, but I need to try to find alternatives to feed him too. Sometimes.

So join me if you'd like, and choose your own recipes.

Challenge: try five completely different recipes within 5 weeks.

Start: November 19
End: December 25

 Recipe 1: Meatloaf

[ Meatloaf in Muffin Pan via Pinterest ]



It says it takes 15 minutes to cook, which is genius. I might follow my own recipe that I know and love, but use the same cooking method. Meatloaf and potatoes is one meal I love, and it doesn't need cheese.

Recipe 2: Sloppy Joe Casserolle

[ Sloppy Joe Casserolle via Pinterest ]

I've never had Sloppy Joes in my adultlife, so I don't know how I'd feel about this, but I also love the variations people have posted on the website - use beef with taco seasoning, crescent rolls unrolled as the bread, bread on top and bottom, use cheese, sneak in veggies. It sounds like something I could really work with, and if I only put cheese in my part, boyfriend should like it.

Recipe 3: Oven-Baked Meatball Sandwiches

[ Oven-Baked Meatball Sandwiches via Pinterest ]

I like that this recipe has room for variation as well. Mine can have cheese on top, cheese within the meatballs. I can hide veggies in the meatballs. It's simple - just balls, sauce, cheese and buns. You can get freezer meatballs if you want it to be even easier, but I'm not a fan of those, myself.

Recipe 4: Potato Bacon Casserolle

[ Potato Bacon Casserolle via Pinterest ]

It takes an hour to cook, and sounds like it might be a lot of food so I would probably put it together the night before and start baking it as soon as I got up in the morning. It sounds like it would work well if you had company over for breakfast. 

Recipe 5: Grilled Cheeseburger Wraps

[ Grilled Cheeseburger Wraps via Pinterest ]

Skip the tomato and put in some extra cheese, and this sounds amazing.

Bonus Recipe: Doritos Taco Bake

[ Doritos Taco Bake via Pinterest ]

This sounds so bad that it would be delicious. It isn't even slightly healthy, but it's a mess of cheese, sour cream, beef, and Doritos. I think I would love it. I'm not sure if boyfriend would try it. 

Bonus Soup Recipe: 

[ Loaded Potato Soup via Pinterest ]

I had to put this as a bonus recipe because I keep seeing potato soup recipes and I really want to try one, but it's something I think I could easily mess up, and end up with no dinner. So it's just a bonus for now.

So... is anyone joining in with me to make their own recipe list to try? Please do, and send me your link. For recipe ideas, see my food boards on Pinterest.

Pinterest Clean-up: Link up your desserts!

It's time to clean-up another one of your Pinterest boards. 

Join with me and revisit your pins, one board at a time. The goal is to get rid of any bad pins, get everything more organized if possible, and find a few awesome pins to share with everyone on your blog (post the photos and links to the pins), then come back here and link up. And be nice and visit the person who linked up ahead of you, and more if you have the time. Visit the Pinterest Link-Up page for more information. 

This week we are linking up desserts and sweets.

* As I'm having internet problems, as usual, and photos aren't loading, I'm only sharing one pin today. This is my sweets board on Pinterest.

[ Smores Croissants Pin -|- Blog Post ]

Marshmallows, chocolate chips, and a tube of crescent rolls. Can it get any easier?

Please be kind and visit the person who linked up ahead of you, or more if you have the time. It's good karma. And it would also be lovely if you would post this button as well: 

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Coming Up:
Child-related pins - July 12th