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!