Super Easy Cobbler!

We had some friends over for a BBQ this evening and I whipped up this super tasty dessert in no time at all! Everyone loved it and it was gone within 5 minutes of bringing it out. Let me mind you that there were only 6 of us there at the time. The others missed out ;)

All you need is 3 SIMPLE ingredients. Sprite. Fruit. White Cake Mix.
First spray your 9 x 13 pan with Pam. Then pour your fresh and/or frozen fruit into the pan, just enough to cover the bottom. Add dry cake mix over the top.

 Slowly pour 12 oz of Sprite over the top. Do not stir.

Bake at 350 for 45-50 min. This is what it looks like when it is finished! Oh so yummy!

I think next time I'll either double the cake mix or put in less fruit. The batter/crust is my FAVORITE part! I think I'll also try peaches next! Eat warm by itself or add some yummy ice cream on top!

Here is the original recipe if you like to know the Weight Watchers points :) Enjoy!!

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Berry Cobbler

Source: srkautz

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Servings: 16

Serving Size: 1/16th

Calories: 140.4

Fat: 2.9 g

Fiber: 1.3 g

Protein: 1.4 g

Old Points: 3 pt

Points+: 4 pts+

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Ingredients

Two 12-oz bags frozen mixed berries/peaches

1 box white cake mix

Approximately 1 can of diet 7-up or other clear soda 

(might need more than 1 can of soda to avoid dry spots) 

Instructions

Place frozen fruit in a 9x13 baking dish. Add dry cake mix over the top. Pour soda slowly over cake mix. DO NOT stir the cake mix and the soda  - this will give you a 'crust'. If you stir the two, you will have a cake like topping. 

Bake 350 for 45-50 min or longer until berries are cooked.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

I came across THE yummiest chicken recipe! Seriously.. its so juicy, moist, tender and incredibly tasty. A must try! Here is all you need for this yummy meal.

Yep - just these 4-5 easy ingredients, that's all it takes to get moist, delicious Parmesan Crusted Chicken in well under 30 minutes.  Really!!

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

serves 4

Oven 425 degrees F

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Real Mayonnaise

1/4 cup Sour Cream (or JUST use 1/2 cup Mayo, Sour cream or Greek yogurt)

1/4 cup powdered or shredded Parmesan cheese

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts cutlets or tenderloins

4 teaspoons Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs (I made my own by toasting 2 slices of wheat bread in the oven and pulsing it in my blendtec with Italian dry seasoning)

Place mayo, sour cream and cheese in a small bowl and mix. Lay chicken on baking sheet (I lined my baking sheet with foil to make clean up easy) and spread mayo mixture evenly on top each piece of chicken. Next evenly spread the breadcrumbs. About 1 tbs per breast.

Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked thoroughly and juices run clear.  I actually had to drain some juice half way through because they were practically swimming in it! The tops will be browned and chicken will be incredibly juicy.

Serve with a veggies and enjoy!

Healthy Macaroni & Cheese

I've tried several versions of Macaroni and Cheese... it usually calls for, you guess it... A LOT of cheese! This recpie totally impressed me. What's the main ingredient? BEANS! What a healthy version of Mac and Cheese and an easy way to get your kids to eat protein.

Macaroni and Cheese

1 1/2 cups noodles (any kind!)
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup to One Can of navy beans, pinto beans, chickpeas, white beans, cannellini beans or great northern beans. (drained and pureed) Depending on how thick you'd like your sauce you can choose how many beans you'd like to puree. This time around I used the entire can. I ended up needing more milk to make it touch runnier. If you're unsure, start with 1/2 cup!
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (about an 8 ounce bag)
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the noodles and cook according to the package directions. Drain.
While noodles are boiling, combine milk and beans in a food processor  or blender (I used my awesome Blendtec!) until purred.
Coat large saucepan with cooking spray and set it over medium heat. Add bean mixture and stir until smooth. Add cheese and cook until melted and creamy. Stir in salt, garlic salt, paprika and pepper. Stir in noodles and serve warm.

Notice Emberly's super cute kitty plate from Target's $1 section :) She wanted ranch dressing right over the kitty's eye. My child loves ranch with ANYTHING.. but mostly just by itself ;)

ENJOY!

Crock Pot Cranberry Chicken

I got this extremely easy recipe from a friend and tweaked it just a touch. It is super yummy over rice with a side of veggies.

Crock Pot Cranberry Chicken

• 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 1 can Whole Berry Cranberry
• Dry Onion Soup
• 1/2 C. French Dressing (I used California French Dressing)

Put thawed chicken in crock pot and cover with Cranberry sauce and French Dressing. Sprinkle the Dry Onion Soup mix on top. Add in as much as you'd like! I'm not a huge onion fan, but you're welcome to put the entire soup package in. Stir well. Cook on high for 2 hours then shred chicken. Cook longer if needed. My crock pot cooks extremely fast! Tastes perfect over rice :) Enjoy!

Healthier No-Bake Cookies

These no-bake cookies are so yummy! I seriously can't stop eating them. It's a good thing they're a bit healthier than the normal no-bake cookies... and A LOT softer and chewier too! (plus their FULL of fiber)

Healthier No-Bake Cookies

1 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth! Sometimes adding more nuts is yummy!)
1/2 cup honey (I halved honey and agave nectar)
1/2 cup butter (I used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. Another option is Coconut oil)
2 cups dry oats
1 C shredded coconut
1/4 C chopped walnuts
1 1/2 cups Carob Chips
1 t vanilla extract

Melt peanut butter, honey and butter over medium-low heat. Once melted, remove from heat or keep on low heat and add oats, shredded coconut, carob chips and vanilla. Stir until entirely melted. It takes a while for the carob chips to completely melt, but if it looks too think don't be afraid to add in more peanut butter, honey or agave!

Pour into a 9x13 pan and cool in the fridge. When it's set, cut into bars and enjoy. Store in the fridge. 

Unlike normal no-bake cookies, these bad boys stay chewy and soft. The only way to harden them is to keep them in the fridge (but they STILL stay soft!). We had some friends over for a BBQ this past weekend and I got a lot of compliments on the cookies. The first comment just about everyone said was "I hate how flaky or crumbly normal no-bake cookies are. I love how these are soft and chewy!!" To make them more finger accessible I used a scoop and put them on a cookie sheet. If you do this, lay them on wax paper!!

Baked Popcorn Chicken

Toss out those unhealthy chicken nuggets and deep friend popcorn chicken! Try this super yummy, and much healthier version of popcorn chicken.

Baked Popcorn Chicken

• Cooking Spray
• 2 large egg whites or egg substitute
• 2 Tbsp Spicy Brown mustard or Dijon mustard
• 2 cups Panko Breadcrumbs or make your own!
• 1 1/2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg whites, mustard and salt. In a shallow bowl spread the breadcrumbs.

Add the chicken pieces to the egg mixture. Transfer chicken to breadcrumbs and coat thoroughly. Place breaded chicken pieces on the baking sheet. Arrange them closely, but not touching. When all of the chicken is on the baking sheet, spray them lightly with cooking spray.

Bake for 15 minutes, then use a spatula or tongs to flip the chicken pieces. Continue baking another 5-10 minutes until golden brown.

I made my own breadcrumbs by placing 4 slices of whole wheat bread in the oven as it preheated. When they started getting crispy I took them out and put them in my amazing Blendtec!

All in all, it was super yummy and I served it with green beans, homemade mac and cheese (I will have to post that one the next time I make it!), apples and oranges! Yum yum!

Stiletto Cupcakes!

The 2013 Youth Theme for the LDS Church is "Sand Ye In Holy Places"

Doctrine and Covenants 87:8 Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen.

To go along with this years theme, our joint Young Women Mutual activity was to make some super cute stiletto cupcakes! I've been in the YW Secretary for a little over a year now and totally love these girls! It was so much fun to see all of the girls stilettos come together... or not come together ;)

Here are the easy steps! Frost 2 cupcakes. Decorate top by dipping the cupcake into a bowl of sprinkles and/or colored sugar. Dip Milano cookie (or wafer) in melted white chocolate. Pipe edges with frosting (we just used a lunch bag and cut a hole in it). Press frosting edges into sprinkles or colored sugar. Cut Pirouette in half diagonally. Cut a slit into the cupcake and press in Milano. Glue Pirouette to the Milano with melted white chocolate and you're done! No, mine is not a perfect masterpiece, but it sure does look cute! If you want to see PERFECT cupcakes, check out this link!

Did you know you can make your own colored sugar? I had NO idea before this activity! Just put sugar in a bag, drop a few drips of food coloring, and smoosh around until the sugar absorbs all the color!

And here are the cute cupcakes the young women made!!

Krista is in YW with me, she is a Laurel adviser. I love having a close friend in there with me! These are our cupcakes :)

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup

Yesterday I made the yummiest dinner! Or at least I thought it was super yummy. Emberly wanted nothing to do with it and just ate apple sauce...  I'm sure she would have loved it if she gave it a try.
I saw this post going around on Pinterest, made a few tweaks and here you have it!

 

Creamy Tomato Tortellini

2 minced Garlic Cloves
2 Tbl Olive Oil
2 10 3/4 oz Cans of Condensed Tomato Soup
2 Tbl Tomato Paste or you could add in 1/4 cup diced Tomatoes 
2 cups Half-and-half
2 cups Chicken Stock
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 Tbl Italian Seasoning
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1 19 Oz package of frozen Cheese Filled Tortellini
Parmesan Cheese, for garnish

 

Saute garlic with the olive oil in a large stock pot over medium heat until golden brown.

Add tomato soup, tomato paste (or tomatoes), half and half, chicken stock and spices.
Bring to a simmer and stir well.
Once simmering, drop tortellini into the soup. Cook and stir for 2-5 minutes until the tortellini are fully cooked.
Ladle soup into bowls and top with Parmesan Cheese. YUM!

Cotton Candy Cupcakes / 2nd birthday

Yes, the last food post I made was seriously a year ago.. for Emberly's 1st birthday. I'm so horrible. I will try to my best to keep you updated with yummy recipes! I've been trying new things, but haven't been photographing them and sharing them. I wasn't intending to post this since I used my camera phone, but I figured I'd share anyway! 

So, as you may have seen in a previous post, Emberly is 2! I once again made cupcakes for her party with my family. This time I made something totally different (as far as cupcakes go). I made Cotton Candy Cupcakes!

Here's how I made them
1 box Funfetti cake mix (follow instructions on box)
2 pkts Duncan Hines Cotton Candy Recipe Creations Flavor Mix
1 can Duncan Hines Frosting Starter kit (sold next to the flavor mixes)
Sprinkles
1 cup white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix and ingredients on box. Add in ONE packet of the cotton candy mix with a rubber spatula until blended and combined. Stir in the white chocolate chips.
3. Scoop an even amount into 24 muffin tins. Bake 16 minutes or until edges are lightly golden and center is set. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
4. Stir the remaining flavor packet into the can of icing. I put the icing in a frosting bag to swirl it. Then topped liberally with sprinkles.

ONE NO NO.. learn from me! The cotton candy mix WILL turn your cupcakes blue. I decided I wanted them pink... so I added in food coloring. I should have known better that blue and red made purple.... which looks brown when baked. Should have stuck with the blue... it would have looks so much more fun! Regardless, Emberly loved them and they were TOTALLY yummy!

Woo hoo for being 2!

Owl Cupcakes / 1st birthday

Emberly's first birthday part was an owl theme. I had to get super creative for her cupcakes! For my baby shower I made tie-die cupcakes, which turned out super cute and yummy. This time around I went for owls to go with the theme! The owls were pink of course, with oreos as their BIG eyes and peanut butter m&m's for the eyeballs and beak! I also made these cupcakes tie-die on the inside as well :) I love how they turned out and Emberly did too!

 

 For her one year portraits we had to continue with the owl theme! Way Cute Creations made the darling onsie and Victoria's Piece A Cake created the super adorable owl cake!