Special Birthday Pancakes

Today is my birthday or as I call it, Kellipalooza!  No, it's not ever a huge celebration, but it makes me feel important to give my day a cool name!  I started a new tradition today, making Birthday Pancakes for the fam!  My youngest daughter helped me make them and thought it was a good idea to put the whole container of sprinkles in the batter!  I was able to rescue some to put in the glaze!  My oldest daughter has decided that yes, we do need to have these for everyone's birthday, maybe next time with a candle!
They are pretty simple to make, colorful, way less sticky than regular pancakes and syrup, and pretty tasty!  I found the recipe on www.pinterest.com (have I mentioned how much I love this site and how addicted I am to pinning?)

Cake Batter Pancakes:

1 1/4 c All Purpose Flour
1 c Betty Crocker Supermoist yellow cake mix
1 tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 cups of milk
assorted sprinkles

For the Glaze:
1 c powdered sugar
1 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
assorted sprinkles
2 tbsp butter softened

Combine the flour, cake mix, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a bowl and mix.
Add 1 cup of milk, eggs, and vanilla extract.  Stir until smooth.  Add additional milk until batter has the consistency of pancake batter.  You can add more cake mix if you want more of a birthday cake flavor.
I cooked my pancakes on the griddle.  I put 1/4 c of batter on the griddle and waited for them to bubble, flipped them and let them cook on the other side.

To make the glaze:
Mix the powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, and milk until a glaze forms.  You might need to add a little more milk (I did) to get your glaze to the right consistency, so that you can drizzle it.

Drizzle the glaze on the pancakes and enjoy! :)

Nutella Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting

They aren't very pretty, but they were delicious and that is all that matters! 

Everyone knows about my obsession with Nutella....I love, love, love that hazelnut spread!!  So how happy was I when I found this treat on www.pinterest.com?  Very, very, very happy! 

All you need is:

1 can Grands biscuits
1 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar
Nutella
4 oz Cream Cheese
1 Tsp Vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Roll each biscuit into flat circle and sprinkle with powdered sugar on both sides.  Spread a couple of tablespoons of Nutella on the biscuits.  Roll them up and cut them into three equal pieces.  Place the three pieces with the cut side up in a muffin tin.

Bake for 15 minutes.  Let cool 5 minutes in the muffin tin, then remove and let finish cooling.

For the icing:

Beat the cream cheese, vanilla, and powdered sugar together until smooth.  Spread the icing over each Nutella Roll and enjoy! :)



 

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

I was on a serious mission to make cupcakes...the hubs and I have been doing Insanity for the past week and between that and my thyroid medicine I have been one hungry chick!  For the past couple of days all I have wanted was a cupcake...today was the day!  I decided to make Red Velvet cupcakes filled with cream cheese and topped with cream cheese icing because those are the hubs favorites.  Sadly, I had no buttermilk so those wonderful treats were out...maybe next week.  Anyway, I was in cupcake baking mode so I decided to make a Vanilla Cupcake with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting and fill it with a chocolate filling.  I made the cupcakes, they turned out so pretty!  I was ready to make the frosting, but didn't have a vanilla bean...so I had to improvise (I need to do better with my grocery list!), I just added vanilla extract to the icing...it tasted yummy!  I was about to make the chocolate filling when I realized that I had run out of vanilla extract, so no filling for the golden vanilla cupcakes...but I was determined to make the frosting a little more interesting than just vanilla cream cheese, so I melted some of the chocolate that I was going to use for the chocolate filling and added it to the cream cheese vanilla icing.  I asked my girlies to taste it for me before I iced the cupcakes and I got the following responses: "Oh my gosh that is soooo good!"  "That is yummy, can I have more?" and "Want more, want more!"  I decided I had to taste it just to make sure it was tasty and on my yum was it good!  After my cupcakes had cooled, I put the icing in a decorator bag with a tip and proceeded to frost...that turned out to be a major challenge...I know I need to work on my frosting skills, but I went through 4 decorator bags trying to frost 12 cupcakes!  Finally I got them all frosted and they aren't as beautiful as I'd like them to be, they don't look too bad!  I hope they are tasty!  I guess we will find out after a dinner of Ravioli and Sun Dried Tomato Sauce!

Spinach, Feta, and Mozzarella Quesadillas

Tonight I was excited to make something new for dinner instead of forcing my family to eat leftovers for the third day in a row!  I found this recipe on www.pinterest.com and it sounded like something my hubby and I would enjoy so I decided to make these spinach, feta, and mozzarella quesadillas.  My two youngest daughters liked them too, so win! They are incredibly simple and super yummy and to me, that is an awesome combination!  Here is the recipe:

Tortillas
Frozen Spinach
Fresh Dill
Fresh Mint
Fresh Parsley
Feta Crumbles
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Steam the spinach, drain it, and get all the water out.  Chop the fresh dill, mint, and parsley.  Mix the spinach, dill, mint, parsley, and feta crumbles together in a bowl.  Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on one side of the tortilla and spoon the spinach mixture on the other side of the tortilla then put them together.  I used my griddle to cook the tortillas on each side until the cheese was melted and the tortillas were golden brown.

My hubby added some leftover Mexican Chicken to his and said it tasted pretty good, so there is another option...add chicken to it!  

Enjoy!!

Nutella! Glorious Nutella!!

My family loves Nutella!  My hubby and oldest daughter eat it with peanut butter on bread, my little ones and I think it's awesome straight out of the jar on a spoon, it's fantastic on toast, and I have been known to sit down with a mug full of this amazing hazelnut spread topped with whipped cream!  Some people might think that is a little much and it's kinda rich...but I find it a great treat every now and then!  
The other day my Hubby sent me a link to a recipe for Nutella Stuffed French Toast.  It looked simple and delicious, so I made it for breakfast!
 The French Toast batter was made with 6 eggs and a cup of half and half.  I spread Nutella on two slices of bread and then put them together, dipped it in the batter, and put them on the griddle, flipping them when they were golden brown!  I plated the toast, sprinkled powder sugar on top, added some syrup, and fresh sliced strawberries! It was a hit!  Everyone loved it!
Monday, I decided to make some cookies...I found the perfect, most delicious, simplest cookie ever!  The best part..they were made with Nutella!  Thank you www.pinterest.com!  Here is the recipe:
1 cup of Nutella (mmmmm)
1 cup of flour
1 egg
Put it all in a bowl, mix it all up, and roll them out into 1 inch balls.  Put them on a cookie sheet and gently smash them with the bottom of a glass!  Bake them in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.  Let them cool and then enjoy!  My family scarfed these cookies down in no time!

Chocolate Salted Pecan Cookies

I was eating one of my new favorite candy bars, the Green and Black Sea Salt and Peanut one, which I find so incredibly yummy and I had a thought...what if I made a chocolate cookie and added sea salt and peanuts...how yummy would that be??  Well, I had no peanuts, so I decided to use the pecans I had in the cabinet instead.  I don't normally come up with recipes on my own, because I am really not that creative, so I worried about this idea, but figured I could test it on my hubby, get a honest opinion and move on from there.  I whipped them up and gave him one and waited for his response..."they taste fine" which is a good review from him, but he kept going back and eating more, so I knew they were a hit!  I tasted one and they are pretty tasty!  I am a sucker for some chocolate and sea salt!  I don't know if there is a recipe like this out there, but this is my own creation...

Chocolate Salted Pecan Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2 sticks of butter softened
2 cups of sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon sea salt
Additional sea salt for sprinkling

Mix the butter and sugar until creamy.  Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.  In a separate bowl combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add this mixture to the butter and sugar mixture, mix until combined.  Drop by rounded teaspoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet, sprinkle with sea salt to taste, and bake for 8-9 minutes.  Let cool slightly before moving to a wire rack.  Enjoy!

Latest Experiments from the La Cucina

I am so happy to have my sweet hubby back from his deployment...I enjoy experimenting with new recipes so much more when he is here! My kids will try new things if he is around too!
I have been having a lot of fun making some new yummy things to add to my collection of recipes. I am not the best cook and so it's a lot of experimentation and prayers that it will at least end up edible! One of my new favorite obsessions is The Pioneer Woman on Food Network. Her food is pretty simple, but it always looks SO yummy! I was watching last weekend and she made a Cheese and Corn Chowder...and let me just say that I will eat anything that has cheese in it's name! I decided to add it to our weekly menu. It was easy to make and tasted amazing! I was pretty proud of it. I bought one of her cookbooks at the bookstore and am anxiously awaiting the release of her next one!
I enjoy spending a little time on Pinterest and found a couple of yummy recipes on there...three to be exact at the time of this post! The first one I made was a Nutella and Sea Salt Fudge...now, I love cheese and think that it should be it's own food group, but Nutella comes in a close second...and adding sea salt..oh my gosh...amazing!! I have never made fudge before, my hubby makes a cheese fudge at Christmas, but I usually just watch..so I was pretty proud that this turned out to be so incredibly delicious! My kids loved it and my daughter made my day by telling me I make the best fudge in the world!
There isn't a picture of the Chocolate Chip and Bacon Cookies (sounds weird, tastes amazing). I found those on Pinterest too and thought they sounded odd, but were kinda intriguing so I should give them a try! And, they were easy to make! My oldest child was super happy because she is a bacon fanatic...so a cookie, with chocolate, and bacon...Heaven to her!!
Lastly, this morning for breakfast I made Cinnamon Roll Waffles, found the recipe on Pinterest. They were pretty easy to make complete with a cinnamon topping and cream cheese topping...no syrup required! My daughter liked them, but was ticked because we weren't having bacon so she only ate two bites, but said they tasted really good...I guess I could've made some bacon...oh well, it'll give her something to look forward to another day!

I see all these recipes and wish that I could come up with them on my own...maybe someday I'll have something original to share!