a life well lived

Please excuse us, as we take a small break to celebrate a life well lived.

 

 

 

Friday Favorite

Alright, I apologize.  I'm a major slacker.  But I'm on vacation so I get a little bit of slack right?  Better late than never!  Merry Saturday!

I thought this was hilarious because I'll probably end up doing this at some point in my life.  

-Alissa

Hershey's Decadent Chocolate Cake

I apologize for posting late...  I'm on vacation!  But this is the cake I made for Jason for his birthday and we both really enjoyed it!  It was the first cake I had ever made from complete scratch so I was pretty impressed with myself.  I got it from this site.  The actual for reals recipe calls for dark cocoa powder but I just use normal.    

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar 
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour 
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S SPECIAL Cocoa 
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder 
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda 
1 teaspoon salt 
2 eggs 
1 cup milk 
1/2 cup vegetable oil 
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
1 cup boiling water 

Directions for cake:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round pans or one 13x9x2-inch baking pan. 

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of electric mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans. 

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes for round pans, 35 to 40 minutes for rectangular pan or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. (Cake may be left in rectangular pan, if desired.) Frost with ONE-BOWL BUTTERCREAM FROSTING. 8 to 10 servings.

ONE-BOWL BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

8 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened (make sure it is room temperature!!!!  It will be chunky if it's not!!)
3 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S SPECIAL Cocoa
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat room temperature soften butter in medium bowl until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and cocoa alternately with milk, beating to spreading consistency (additional milk or less may be needed). Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

-Alissa

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

This week I'm cheating a little bit.  I did not find this recipe on Pinterest but I'm pretty sure you can find it on there.  This is one of our absolute favorite dinners and I love how pretty easy it is to make, you can even make it ahead of time and keep it in the fridge until you are ready to roll the taquitos.  They even say you can pre-make them and freeze them.  I also totally failed on the picture thing but click on the link and you can see just how yummy these are.  I make them with flour tortillas, mostly because I really don't like corn tortillas and they are so yummy!

I found the recipe here
.
Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese
1/4 C green salsa
1T fresh lime juice
1/2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t granulated garlic, or garlic powder
3 T chopped cilantro
2 T sliced green onions
2 C shredded cooked chicken
1 C grated pepper jack cheese
small corn tortillas (and actually, flour ones are really good as well)
kosher salt
cooking spray

Heat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray. Heat cream cheese in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds so it’s soft and easy to stir. Add green salsa, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, onion powder and granulated garlic. Stir to combine and then add cilantro and green onions. Add chicken and cheese and combine well.

Work with a few tortillas at a time and heat in the microwave until they are soft enough to roll without cracking. It helps to place them between damp paper towels. Usually 20-30 seconds will do it. If you find yours are cracking when you roll them or are coming unrolled right away, just try heating them longer and try the paper towel thing.
Place 2-3 T of chicken mixture on the lower third of a tortilla, keeping it about 1/2 inch from the edges. Then roll it up as tight as you can.
Place seam side down on the baking sheet. Lay all of the taquitos on the baking sheet and make sure they are not touching each other. Spray the tops lightly with cooking spray or an oil mister and sprinkle some kosher salt on top.
Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and the ends start to get golden brown.

 

-MEGAN

Friday Favorites

Enjoy!
Love, Karli

Chewy Nutella Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

So, I love recipes that call for Nutella.  Nutella is so yummy.  And baking with it, just gives it such a different taste then the normal ingredients.  At least, I think so.

 

When I found this recipe I knew I wanted to try it right away.  And though my cookies don't look all pretty & puffy like hers, they were so yummy.  My hubby and I LOVED the Peanut Butter Chips.  The first batch was crispy, but each batch I cooked a little less and they just kept getting better.  And the flat look does not bother me at all.

 

Seriously, if you want something different try these!!!

 

 

Chewy Nutella Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• ½ C butter, softened
• ½ C brown sugar
• ⅓ C sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ C Nutella
• 1½ C all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp unsweetened baking cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ C peanut butter chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray or line with a baking mat.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugars. Add in egg and vanilla and beat until creamy. Beat in Nutella until combined, scraping down sides as needed.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and beat until just combined.
4. Stir in peanut butter chips.
5. Drop by tablespoon full onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until edges are set. Centers will look slightly under done.
6. Allow to cool on cookie sheets for 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack.
7. Store in an airtight container.

 

Notes:

-Be careful how long you bake them.  I did mine for 8 to long.  Even 7 seemed a little long, but my cookies were more thin and flat.  So, keep an eye on your first batch and adjust baking time to your liking. 

 



Found here.

-Brooke

Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki

I gotta admit, I was disappointed in this one. I worked at a restaurant that made chicken gyros and so I was so excited to try these! They were a different flavor than I was used to and so I think that was the reason I was disappointed. The chicken by itself tasted good, but dry... so it needed some sort of sauce, but I didn't like the Tzatziki... so it kinda ruined the whole thing :) The moral of the story is that I need to find a different recipe for Tzatziki sauce! 

I found the chicken recipe here
and the Tzatziki recipe here

Slow Cooker Chicken Gyros
Ingredients:
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 onion, diced
1/4 cup water
1 tablespon olive oil
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon lemon pepper


Directions:
Spray crock pot with non-stick cooking spray. Place chicken breasts inside slow cooker. Mix remaining ingredients together in a bowl and pour over chicken breasts. Cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours or LOW 6-8 hours. Shred chicken and serve with pocketless pita bread, sliced tomatoes, sliced onions, sliced cucumbers, lettuce, and Tzatziki sauce.


Tzatziki Sauce
Ingredients
32    ounces    plain yogurt 
2    cucumbers ( regular, peeled and seeded ) 
3    clove(s)    garlic ( crushed ) 
2    teaspoons    red wine vinegar 
1    teaspoon    lemon juice ( fresh ) 
1/2    teaspoon    dill weed ( dried ) 
   to taste    salt 
   to taste    black pepper 
   to taste    olive oil ( drizzle, extra virgin ) 
DirectionsStrain yogurt using a cheesecloth over a bowl fora couple of hours or overnight to get out as much moisture as possible (I know that this step sounds funny, but I promise that if you don't do it, your sauce will be runny and not as delicious).
Shred or grate the cucumbers and blot them with a paper towel or clean kitchen towel to get rid of as much moisture as possible.
Mix together the strained yogurt, shredded cucumbers, garlic, vinegar and lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Keep in the fridge until serving (let the flavors come together for about 30 minutes before serving).
If you want, drizzle a little olive oil over the top before serving

Love, Karli

Friday Favorites

-MEGAN

DIY Bookshelf

As we all know Pinterest isn't just for recipes so I thought this post will be about one of the DIY projects I pinned.  A DIY bookshelf for my kids room. 

I found this tutorial here.

You'll need crates.  I did 4 but you could do any amount you want
Sandpaper
Paint
A roller
A paint brush
Liquid Nail

I went to Home Depot and got paint samples for the colors I want and this was more than enough paint for them.  I did 4 different colors.  The first thing I did was sanded down and of the rough parts.  There weren't many but there were enough that I felt like I needed to sand some of it down.  Then I used a roller with each crate followed by using a paint brush to touch any of the corners or inside the slabs that the roller couldn't reach.

To put the bookshelf together I used liquid nail.  You could use screws or nails but I really like the simplicity of the liquid nail.

 

-MEGAN

Frozen Grasshopper Cookie Pie

I love pie!  And this one was pretty good.  Not my most favorite...  But that might have been because I just realized I forgot to put in the sweetened condensed milk...  Oops.  But it's not my fault!  The person who originally wrote the recipe forgot it too but fixed it in the comment section which I didn't want to read...  Long story short, I'll have to try that one again later!  And yes it's supposed to be green...  But I didn't want to buy food coloring so ours was just normal colored.  I got the recipe here!

Ingredients:

1 Oreo cookie crust
6 oz of Cool Whip
16 Grasshopper cookies, crushed
1 can sweetened, condensed milk
8 oz of light cream cheese (we used normal kind)

Directions:

With beaters cream the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk and color with 3 drops of green food coloring.  Fold in cool whip and crushed cookies.  Put into crust.  Garnish with more crushed cookies.  Freeze for at least five hours or over night.

-Alissa

Friday Favorite

This is so me. hehe

 

Found off Pinterest

 

Have a GREAT weekend!

 

-Brooke

Copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks

I love Olive Garden.  I always enjoy whatever dish I have.  And some of my pregnancies all I have wanted is plate, after plate of their salad! No joke.  But their bread sticks are so wonderful.  I always make sure we get our basket filled so we can take some home. 

 

When I found this recipe on Pinterest I knew I had to try it just for the fact that I love Olive Garden.

 

First, these do NOT taste like Olive Garden Bread sticks.  Sad, but true.

 

Second, these are VERY easy.  The taste isn't anything special, but they are super easy to make.  So, if you need bread sticks and didn't really plan ahead, no problem.  You can just whip these up,     

easy-peasy!

 

 

Copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks

1 1/2 c warm water (between 110 – 120 degrees)
1 package active dry yeast
4 1/4 c bread flour
2 T butter, melted
2 T sugar
1 T salt (or less, if you used salted butter)
~~~~
Butter topping:*
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
2 t garlic powder
2 t salt
~~~~
In a large bowl, dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water and allow to sit for 10 minutes, covered.  Mixture should be frothy.

In separate bowl, combine flour and salt.  Add to yeast mixture.  Add melted butter.  Mix with dough hook of stand mixer or wooden spoon until fully combined.  Knead dough for a few minutes just until dough is smooth. Do not over-knead!

Grease a cookie sheet. Pull off pieces of dough and roll out into strips.  Cover the dough and let sit in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Make your butter topping. 

Bake breadsticks for 12-15 minutes. 

About 6 or 7 minutes in, brush the breadsticks with half the butter mixture. Then continue to bake.

Immediately upon removal from the oven, brush the other half of the butter on the sticks.

Note:
*So, the first time it was just too much garlic powder and salt for us.  I do half of what the recipe calls for and sometimes I still think its too much.  So, you will just have to decide what your family likes best.

-These are great leftovers!  Just put them in a Ziploc bag and enjoy the rest the next day.  In fact, I think they kind of taste better the next day.

Recipe found here.

-Brooke

Homemade Alfredo Sauce

I got this out of my Best Bites cookbook, but I found their blog post about it online :) 

Here is the link!: Guiltless Alfredo

I really liked it, and Brett liked it even more! So thats great :) I didn't use low-fat milk or cream cheese.... so I can't attest to how it would taste in its 'guiltless' variety, so someone will have to try it and see! 

Guiltless Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients:

2 C low-fat milk
1/3 C (3 oz) low fat cream cheese
2-3 T flour
1 t salt
1 T butter
3 garlic cloves
1 C grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

Place milk, cream cheese, flour, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth.  In a non-stick sauce pan, melt butter on med-high heat and add garlic. Let the garlic saute for about 30 seconds, you don’t want to burn it.

Then add milk mixture to the pan. Stir constantly for about 3 or 4 minutes or until it just comes to a simmer. Keep stirring and let it cook for a few minutes more. It should be much thicker now.

When it’s nice and thickened remove the pan from the heat. Add the cheese, stir it up and then cover immediately. Let stand for at least 10 minutes before using. It will continue to thicken upon standing. Season with additional salt if needed.  Also, if you have leftovers in the fridge, the sauce will thicken almost into a solid. Just re-heat and add a little milk and it will be back to normal again.

Sorry this post is late! Finals killed me this year! 

Lots of Love, 

Karli

Chicken Ranch Roll-Ups

I thought these were pretty, darn easy.  And yummy.  My husband loved them.  My 5 year old loved them.  My 4 and 2 year old, kind of like them.(they are currently going through a phase of not really liking meat.)  But they were good.  And my 5 year old is always asking me to make them.

 

It makes a lot of mixture.

Make sure you pinch your rolls good so, no mixture comes out.

And then enjoy all the yumminess inside. :)

Chicken Ranch Roll-Ups

 



Chicken Ranch Roll-Ups Recipe:

(Makes 8 crescents)

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

1 (8 ounce) package fat free cream cheese, softened

2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

1 package ranch dressing mix
1 tube refrigerated crescent rolls*

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Boil or cook chicken breasts and shred.  In a large mixing bowl, combine softened cream cheese, cheddar cheese, shredded chicken and ranch dressing mix.  Unroll crescent rolls and place a large spoonful of cream cheese mixture on the wide part of each crescent, using about 1/8th of the mixture per crescent.  Roll up crescents and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Notes:
*Okay, this recipe is directly from the blog.  BUT when I made it, I got a lot more then 8.  I somehow ended up buying 2 tubes of the crescent rolls.  I used ALL of them and still had mixture left over.  The second time I made it, I bought 2 tubes of crescent rolls again.  I put more mixture in and used almost all of it.  Okay, maybe I had a little left, but not that much.  SO, I would say buy 2 tubes of refrigerated crescent rolls!!


Recipe found here.

-Brooke