Mini Corn Dog Muffins

The weather has been wonderful lately and we've been

enjoying some walks down our drive before dinner.

We had a couple of leftover hot dogs and I saw this recipe

on a few different sites last week.

Liv really loved making them and definitely loved eating them.

Mini Corn Dog Muffins

Makes 48 mini muffins

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup cornmeal

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

8 -10 hot dogs each cut into 1" pieces

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix melted butter and sugar in a bowl.
3. Add the eggs and buttermilk.
4. In a separate bowl mix baking soda, cornmeal, flour, and salt.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix.
6. Spray mini muffin tins with nonstick spray
7. Place 1 Tablespoon of muffin mixture in each muffin cup.
8. Place 1 hot dog bite in the middle of each cup.
9. Bake for 8-12 minutes. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator.

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie

I have seen this recipe being circulated on Pinterest for months.

It claims to be the best chocolate chip cookie recipe you will ever find.

I always kept saying I was going to try it but I never had the chocolate disks it called for.

Well last week as I was reading some of the blogs I follow

and Bakerella just happened to have made them.

I was reading through the comments section and someone said to use Ghirardelli

chocolates because they were similar in shape to the chocolate it called for.

So the verdict is....these were the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever made!!!

Jacques Torres' Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups minus to 2 tablespoons Cake flour

1 2/3 cup Bread flour

1 1/4 teaspoon Baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon Baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon Coarse salt

1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 butter) Unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups Light brown sugar

1 cups plus 2 tablespoons Granulated sugar

2 Large eggs

2 teaspoon Natural vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds Bittersweet chocolate at least 60 percent cacao content (I used a package of bittersweet Ghirardelli chocolate and the rest just semisweet chips)

Sea salt for garnish

- Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

- Using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until very light (about 5 minutes)

- Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each is added.

- Stir in the vanilla.

- Reduce speed to low and add the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.

- Add chocolate chips and incorporate.

- Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 24-36 hours.

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

- Use an ice cream scoop to form balls about the size of golf balls. Sprinkle the tops with sea salt. Bake 6 cookies at a time for 18 - 20 minutes.

- Cool cookies for at least 10 minutes before removing from sheet.

Recap

How long has it been since my last post?

3 weeks....4 weeks?

I have no idea.

Anyway, let me try to recap a little bit of what we have been up to!

Our class reunion was a hit!

Everyone had such a great time and even though it was a lot of

work I'm a little sad that it's over!

We've spent a couple of days at the park.

Liv prefers to dig in the dirt more than anything.

I had a marathon day of making cinnamon rolls!

8 hours of work, 12 lbs of powdered sugar, and 7 lbs of butter to be exact.

Liv not only helped but she was the best taste tester!

I have been hooked on reading lately.

I think I'm really driving my husband crazy because I would rather read

than do anything else :)

Mainly historical romance novels!

I will have to make a note to do a post on my favorite book series of all time!

Liv has became Merida from the movie Brave.

This girl cracks me up!

She loves to wear the dress and now that she has the wig and bow and arrow

she's the total package.

We've had a couple of picnics in the sweltering heat.

Now that the weather is getting nicer and not over 100 degrees, I think

we will spend many more afternoons doing this.

     We went to the zoo one Saturday.

Little did we know that everyone else in town would be there that day too.

Liv had a blast.
I think this has to be the best age to take her!

She was so excited to see all the animals and after each one would say "Lets see more!"

Kellen got his first tooth and mastered rolling over in the same day about a week ago.

He has also learned how to do a push up.....well not really but he

has started pushing himself up on to his hands and tiptoes.

I think he has been watching his dad ;)

Our Kitty died a couple of days ago at the hand of one of our dogs.

I took this picture about 5 minutes before he/she met his/her untimely death.

And finally we began potty training last Monday and it's going great!

I had tried once before with Liv and within 2 hours and 3 accidents I quit.

But this time is going so much better, I think we have almost got it mastered!

Tomorrow I will try to post the ULTIMATE Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe I found!

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Since we have so many zucchini from the garden right now, I thought I would

whip up a batch of zucchini bread.

This recipe is a family favorite in our house!

You can leave out the chocolate chips if you like.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4 cups white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups grated zucchini

1. Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
3. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and chocolate chips until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
4. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Shortbread with Sea Salt

I can't believe its been almost 2 weeks since I last posted!
I feel like I have been super busy, but don't have a whole lot to show for it.
Next weekend is my class reunion and after that I think things will slow down a bit.
Well...maybe not because I'm hoping to have a garage sale that following weekend.
But after that things will slow down....I hope ;)

Anyway, I thought I would just do a quick post today of one of my favorite cookies.
This has to be in my Top 5 of all time faves.
I love everything about it, the shortbread, chocolate, peanut butter, and sea salt. Yum!
I originally came across these on Pinterest from this blog.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies
makes about 21 small cookies
1 stick, (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temp
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour 
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
scant 1/2 tsp sea salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips

• Cream the butter and the peanut butter together in a stand mixer, with a hand mixer, or a wooden spoon.  Beat in the vanilla.
• Whisk the dry ingredients together and add to the butter mixture.  Mix until the dough comes together. 
• Stir in the chips, and turn the dough out onto a piece of waxed paper.  Gently pull the dough together and form it into a log.  If it is still crumbly, work it with your hands until it holds together smoothly. Roll it up in the paper, smoothing the shape as you go.  Twist the ends securely and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours.
• Slice the log into slices with a sharp knife. Not too thick, not too thin, about 1/3 inch.  If a slice crumbles a bit, just smoosh the dough back together.  These don't have to be perfect disks.
• Bake on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet at 325 for about 12-14 minutes.  The cookies will  not be browned, and they may look undone, but don't over bake.  One of the joys of shortbread cookies is that they fall apart and melt in your mouth. 
• Let the cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack.

Chocolate Peanut Butter S'mores Bars

OK I lied.
I really planned on having lots of pictures from the 4^th.
But it didn’t happen.
This year was probably the most low key holiday we’ve had in a while.
Some family members were out of town and with everything
being so dry it was pretty uneventful.
Joe said he was embarrassed to be walking out of the firework stand with just
fountains and little nick knacks J
I managed to get one picture where you can actually see who it is.
I got out there while it was still fairly light but in about 5 minutes it was pitch black.

Anyway, so instead of seeing some really cute pictures of my babies
I have something better, well maybe not better :), a new recipe.
This maybe one of my new favorite desserts!
I have actually made it twice since Wednesday.
It’s super easy to put together and you can customize the filling to whatever you like.
I prefer peanut butter and chocolate so I put some Reese’s peanut butter bars
that I found at Wal-Mart as the filling in mine.
But you could also do just Hershey’s bars, or probably any thin candy bar.
I think next time I may try to pour some Nutella on!

 Chocolate Peanut Butter S'mores Bars

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 Reeses Peanut Butter Bars (These were big bars, like the Hershey's bars)

1 container marshmallow fluff

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Set aside 1/2 cup for topping.

Press remaining mixture into a greased 9-in. square baking pan. Place candy bars over crust; spread with marshmallow creme. Crumble remaining graham cracker mixture over top.

Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Store in an airtight container or we like to put ours in the refrigerator.  Yield: 1-1/2 dozen.

4th of July

Happy 4th of July!

My husbands favorite holiday!

Except this year we won't be shooting off many fireworks,

because of how dry everything is.

We thought we would get a couple of little ones for Liv to play with

that we could set off in our driveway.

I'll update tomorrow with some pictures of all the fun!

This week so far has been fairly uneventful and hot!

Liv went to the movies Monday with her great grandparents to see Madagascar 3.

Of course she loved it.

My grandma said after it was over she had tears in her eyes and said "more?"

Today was weigh day.
I lied about working out! I still haven't broke a sweat yet.

This next week will be better though because I really don't want to half ass it.

I mean if I'm going to work this hard on eating good I might as well exercise.

It's so hard with two little kids to get the time to do it.

So yes mom you were right!

I swear I could right a book on all the things my mom has told me

and I've only half listened to her.

Well turns out she was right again!

She said that once you have kids you will have a harder time being able to exercise.

Well, I'll have to agree with her.

Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and just listen and actually "do" all the

things she had given me advice on. I know my life

would have been much easier!

So for all the daughters and sons out there, listen to your moms!

The saying is right, "mother knows best"

Love you mom!

So the total weight loss for the week was 4 lbs!

Total so far is 17 lbs!