Grocery List & Recipes

Grocery Shopping.. one of my favorite but most unfavorite things to do.. UNLESS I have a LIST! And a list is no good without a PLAN! So, I've been doing good at MENU planning. I decided that I was bored with the same menu items that I always use, so I went searching for some new recipes. I got excited about all of it and decided to share!!
Start Searching! These are MY requirements for a recipe:
1) easy
2) no too much prep work
3) ingredients that are familiar, like what I would find in my shopping basket on a regular basis (1 or 2 different/un "normal" ingredients is fine. (Plays into not going WAY over budget!)
4) tastes amazing- liked by whole family! (maybe ONE brand new/different/going to try something new recipe for the week.)

Conference: Everything you'll need.

Here is a BIG list of things for GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!(From Sugardoodle.net) I picked a few that I really thought were great from this list and other places around the web!

CUTE idea for Conference Reverence Tent with a STORY that would be PERFECT to go in your GENERAL CONFERENCE FHE.. To download ALL ideas for this FHE kit click picture at bottom of post! :)

Dinner last night....it was really good.

Here is where I found the recipe and HERE is a tutorial so you don't mess up!

Sweet Pork Burritos(or salad) Cafe Rio Style...

These are possibly one of the best things I have ever made.  My family and I LOVE Cafe Rio, they have the yummiest Mexican food.  If you haven't had it before go HERE, find one by you and go eat to much and love every bite of it.  You haven't lived til you have eaten there I think :)

The other day I was doing my usual cooking blog stalking and came to this FABULOUS little cooking blog: http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/ They have a whole ton of yummy recipes Im excited to try. But when I saw a homemade copycat recipe for Cafe Rio's sweet pork...I almost died, and instantly started drooling. I was so excited to try it since this is what my husband orders EVERY TIME we eat there.  I knew I had to share it with you, and I am excited for you to try it too. :)

DARLING Cookie Bouqets

Our great friend Lora sent us this cute cute idea! And I fell in LOVE with these cookie boquets! Thanks Lora!!

I just got done making these DARLING cookie boquets and I thought I would share them with you! They are fun to make espessially with little kids, I have noticed that in the past when I let little kids decorate them, they come out WAY cuter!


Receipe for Sugar Cookies
1 1/2 cups Sugar
2/3 Cups Butter

2 Eggs

2 Tbls Milk
1 tea Vanilla
2 1/2 tea Baking Powder
1 tea Salt
3-4 cups flour (I usually use a little more so the cookies don't spread out so much).


Bake @ 400 degrees for only 6 minutes (if you bake them too long it will make them hard.)


Frosting
1 pound Powdered sugar
1/4 cup Light corn Syrup + 2 tbls
1/4 cup milk + 2 tbls

The frosting is pretty runny but with the corn syrup in it it makes it perfect to be able to place in a bag to make your boquet!

When I make the cookie dough, I roll it out pretty thick (because you are going to press it on top of a stick so you don't want to be able to see it.)

Then when I frost them I am pretty careful, because like I said the frosting is pretty runny...

Aren't those the cutest things you've seen in a while?

I also made sugar cookies yesterday. Mine aren't as creative, but I have to say that my recipes are delicious! So I wanted to share too :)

Soft Sugar Cookies

3 1/4 cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup sour cream

Into a bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, and salt. In a mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla with an electric mixer. Beat for 2 minutes. Add sour cream and half of the dry ingredients; beat 1 minute. Stir in remaining dry ingredients with a wooden spoon. Divide dough in half and roll each portion out on a lightly floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Cut with floured cookie cutter. Place cookies on greased cookie sheets; bake at 400 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes. Store sugar cookies in an airtight container.

Cream Cheese Frosting

2- 3 oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened (or 1- 8 oz. is what I do :)

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 tsp. vanilla

4 1/2 to 4 3/4 cups powdered sugar

Beat together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add 2 cups powdered sugar, beating well. Gradually beat in enough remaining powdered sugar to make frosting of spreading consistency.

(Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting- Prepare as above, except substitute 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder for 1/4 cup powdered sugar.)

Then, I like to separate my frosting and color it different colors before using :)I know, fun! Right?

I will also use that same frosting for my cupcakes that I make. I will post a picture here when they are done, just so you can see how cute they are :)

What is so great about sugar cookies is that your kids can help you with them. Rolling the dough out, using the cookie cutters, and eating them :) They will LOVE how the flour gets all over and the memories they are making with you! A family that COOKS together, stays together... right?

(Just had to share my love birds at the end...)

Strawberry Cupcakes

Here is where I got this recipe!
You need:

1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 pkg frozen sweet strawberries or 1 cup (10 oz) crushed fresh strawberries mixed with 3 Tbsp sugar
red food coloring as desired!


Mix together flour, baking soda, and sugar in a bowl. In another bowl, beat together eggs, flavoring and oil until well blended. Add strawberries and beat at slow speed of mixer until berries are partially broken. Beat in flour mixture slowly until smooth.

Pour batter into muffin tins, filling to half.

Bake at 350 deg F for 30 minutes, or until they test done.

I just couldn't resist smothering them with chocolate! Then powdered sugar for a pretty finish.

Then I added the Valentine's Day flag. I am so festive!

The most wickedly awesome frosting EVER!! (with Homeade Oreo goodness)

 Well... it's Superbowl Sunday.  The husband is watching the game, my baby is down for a nap, church duties done for the day, wings in the oven(I hope they turn out), and now... to eat these bad boys:

Helllooo yumminess!  Homemade oreos are pretty much one of my favorite things EVER. They are so good and so easy to make.....

You will probably notice that a lot of my posts might be devoted to food(especially lately I have found killer good recipes)... I love food.  I love cooking it, I love baking it, I love eating it... My hips, butt and gut don't love it so much though...

Annnyway, one night I was indulging myself with one of my hobbies that helps me relax.  Which is, looking at recipes and food websites and blogs.  While searching my regular web food stops, I came across the most glorious frosting trick EVER!!!  (Thank you Betty Crocker, I love you...)

Betty calls it "White Truffle Frosting." mmmmmmm......So here we go the best frosting ever!

White Truffle Frosting
Melt 1 Cup of White Chocolate Chips in the microwave until smooth.  Then let cool.  Then whip in 1 tub of vanilla frosting until fluffy...
You can also do this exact same thing with chocolate frosting! Just melt 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips and whip them into chocolate frosting! I guess that one would be called Chocolate Truffle Frosting :)

And that's it! It is seriously so amazingly yummy.  I tinted mine pink for Valentine's Day.  I thought my Oreo's turned out so cute. 

Again, like the cupcakes I posted about earlier, I HATE frosting cupcakes, cookies, pretty much anything... Im to much of a perfectionist and it bugs my that I cant get it perfect.  So I filled my pastry bag with the pink deliciousness and piped it on with the big star tip. Done. Pretty. Cute. YUMMY!

THIS is the recipe I used for my Oreos, and look how cute and festive she made them for Valentine's Day... if you happen to do this(she has directions on her blog, so check the link), PLEASE send pictures. :)

THIS is the recipe straight from Betty Crocker, she used them on chocolate cupcakes...yum :)

If you have an awesome recipe PLEASE EMAIL it to us and share :)  We love new recipes!

Chocolate covered HEART brownies!!!

I was inspired by my friend Kaylee to try covering something with chocolate. What better than brownies? These are so cute and perfect for Valentine's Day!

1 pkg brownie mix (and ingredients required on directions. I know, I'm a cheater!!!)
3/4 package of vanilla almond bark
red food coloring
decorative sprinkles
wax paper

Start by making brownies according to directions on box. Allow to cool COMPLETELY.


Use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes in the brownies.

To keep intact, use a spatula to remove cut-out. Put brownies on a sheet of wax paper.

Heat almond bark in a sauce pan on low, stirring to prevent scorching. Mix in food coloring to desired pinkness.
Plop a blob of the bark onto a brownie.
Use a small spoon to GENTLY spread over entire surface.
Sprinkle immediately after applying coat. Allow to sit until almond bark is hard.
Cut around the edges once dry. Then serve...enjoy! Makes about a dozen.

Valentine's Day Treats :)

Well, it's Day 1 of this cute little blog?! Don't ya love it? Are you as excited as we are... I knew it :) Anyway what better way to celebrate our "Grand Opening," than with TREATS!?! Heart cupcakes and rice krispie treats...mmmmmm. Ok, So here we go.
(side note: I am not a photographer in any way, shape or form unfortunately. So hopefully you will get the just of how cute these little treats turned out.)


Chocolate Dipped Krispie Valentine Pops:

I found these at howdoesshe.com, but she found them HERE!
Who doesn't love rice krispie treats right? And these are soo cute. I have done them for the 4th of July too but with popsicle sticks. So, first just make your rice krispie's you can find the recipe HERE if you don't already have one.

Does this make anyone else really ridiculously happy? mmm the gooey-ness....

Press the warm rice krispie treats into a buttered 13x9 pan. I like to rub butter all over my hands to prevent them from sticking. Then take whatever cookie cutter's you want to use and press them into the warm rice krispies(but not too warm, there is a middle warm that I found worked best. If they are to hot they will just fall apart.)

These are my cute V-Day cookie cutters. I mostly used the medium ones.... But you can do whatever you want. I think using the X's and O's would be cute.

Next, put a popsicle stick or sucker stick in the middle of your treats. I kinda like the popsicle sticks better because they are a little thicker and hold up the treats better. But sucker sticks work great too. That's what I used this time. Then you put them on a pan and then in the fridge or freezer for 5-10 min. During this time I melt my chocolate almond bark.

This is Almond Bark, you can find it in the baking section at Walmart or probably any grocery store.

Take your treats out of the fridge(the coolness of them will help set the chocolate faster), dip them half way in chocolate, sprinkle them immediately with the sprinkles of your choice and lay them on wax paper or foil... Then DONT TOUCH THEM! Let them set all the way up. If you dont they will fall apart and be ruined... it's tragic. I had this happen and then I had to eat it...darn it! :)
But this is them finished:
I just needed to wrap it in cellophane and put a ribbon on it. Cute right?! And delicious....

(I might be crazy, but I think next time I will add a little bit of peanut butter and a tish more rice krispies....I think that would be super yummy with the chocolate!)

HEART CUPCAKES:
So my cute husband got me these:

I know right!!! So so sooo cute. I love them... I LOVE silicon baking products. Im a little embarrassed how excited I was and am about them. I know you can find them at Walmart or Target for like 5 or 6 bucks. BUT!! A little heart cupcake shaping secret... if your kids have marbles or something like that, put the marble in your cupcake tin and shape the cupcake liner around it. BAM! done, instant heart shape.

Here is my final product of cuteness: :)

Ok, now onto my ultra secret cake making recipe. I honestly don't remember where I learned about this secret. But I have seen the Bakerella do it, so you know it's good. :) and i guess not all that secret...but I think it sounds cool saying it's a "secret" hahaha...so there...

Cake Recipe:
Mix together,
1 (18.25 oz.) pkg. yellow cake mix (you can do chocolate cake too)
1 (3.4 oz.) pkg. instant vanilla pudding (use chocolate pudding if you are doing a chocolate cake. but I have done chocolate pudding in a yellow cake too and it is sooo yummy)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup warm water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, fill your cupcake liners and bake for 22-25 min. Remove from pan. Cool completely, then frost how you would like.

Secret tip #1: Ok, now, you might notice I made mine purple, pink and yellow. So fun right? I do this a lot. Ive made Birthday cakes and cupcakes this way with whatever colors I want. All you do is divide your batter and mix in your food coloring. Then spoon in a little bit at a time. There is really no messing them up. They come out cool and pretty every single time.

Secret tip #2: I kind of hate frosting cupcakes with just a knife or spatula or whatever. One I think it takes forever, two Im a perfectionist and I can't ever get mine perfect the way I want. So enter my pastry bag with tips. I LOVE them. They make frosting cupcakes or decorating cookies, etc easy, fast and fun. Even though I have a pastry bag, I usually just fill a gallon size bag, cut a hole in a corner, and put one of my tips on it. It makes clean up SOO much easier. I can just throw it away :)

Secret tip #3: The little chocolate hearts I have on the cupcakes are from extra chocolate bark I had from the rice krispies. Put your left over chocolate in a sandwich bag, cut a LITTLE, tiny hole in one of the corners. On wax or parchment paper squeeze out the chocolate to make hearts...or flowers, or whatever. I usually just free hand it. But you could draw on your paper and trace it if you wanted. :)

Have a Happy Valentine's Day! I hope the sweethearts in your life will love them as much as mine did :)