3 ingredient pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

These are yummy and easy cookies to make. They are ingredients we usually have on hand in our pantry and can make in a hurry. 

In fact they are sooooo easy to make our 12 year old made them. Of course we are still working on the portion side, but baby steps.  lol 

Things you need:

- Spice box cake mix

- 15oz can of pumpkin pure

- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

*milk

Easy instructions-

Preheat over to 350 - Mix cake mix and pumpkin pure together in a bowl. (The folding technique comes in handy here) - Once mixed & you can no longer see the powder mix add in the chips and stir - Put into mini muffin pans and bake for 15 minutes - Cool in pan for 5 minutes than transfer to cooling rack. 

NOTES- If you want more of a moist cookie, add in 1 - 2 tablespoons milk. 

We've done both ways and I really can't tell a difference but maybe try a tray with milk and one with out.  See if you can tell. 

White bean dip

Here's an easy and yummy after school or work snack. It took me ten minutes total and that's including picture taking time.

Ingredients:
- 1 cup Cannellini White beans - drained
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 Rosemary sprig
- 1 large lemon - zested
- 1 heaping T Red pepper flakes
- Salt & pepper

In a food processor add in one can of beans (1/2 cup), olive oil, garlic clove, break up the Rosemary sprig into two pieces and set them on each side of the blades, lemon zest and a couple of shakes of the salt and pepper - Blend till smooth - Add in 2nd can of beans, red pepper flakes and blend again.

Serve on a plate and garish with more red pepper flakes. I sprinkled a little kosher salt on mine.


Now this is a great recipe to take and make it your own. You can add in more olive oil if needed, but I wouldn't do more than 2 tablespoons. Any more than that it will look oily.

If you like more of a citrus taste add in a teaspoon of lemon juice.

Serve with veggies, pita chips or on a toasted baguette.

The pita chips I bought are delicious, but remember you can easily make your own and spice them anyway you would like.


NOTES- Try to find the Cannellini beans, it will be worth the search. Sometimes they can be hard to find and you'll wonder if you can use the other white bean..... the Great Northern, I would say no.

Cannellini beans - have a slight nutty taste and are very creamy with a light outer flesh that blends well.

Great Northern beans - have a hint of nutty taste, thick skin like kidney beans and are very grainy.

Fancy Brunch

A group of 6 of us takes turns each month hosting "Fancy Dinner". This means, we dress a little nicer, serve a full course dinner and table settings.

We all have fun doing it and it's always exciting to see what the others will do.

This time I decided to host Fancy Brunch over memorial day.  

The menu was as follows:

Start-
Assorted cheeses
Mini croissants
Fruit salad

Middle-
Hash brown parmesan cups
Chili waffles, with cheesy scrambled eggs, bacon, avocado and topped with salsa verde

Finish-
Toffee cupcakes
Key lime cupcakes

Refreshments-
Bloody Mary's
Mimosas
Lemon water
Coffee


NOTE-

I had some people ask about the chili waffles and I have to admit I made it up on the fly, so I didn't take pictures. Basically I followed the Bisquick pancake instructions for waffles and added in 4 tablespoons of Sriracha. (more or less to your taste, but my friends like it spicy) Gives it a nice salmon color.

I cooked them till the light went off on my waffle maker and let them stay in there 2 minutes more. I wanted them with a crunch outside. I then layer the bacon on them, added the 3 cheese scrambled eggs, sliced avocado and topped off with 2 tablespoons salsa verde.

If you have any questions on anything else, send me a comment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tea infused vodka

I have a hard time sleeping and although it sucks, some of my great and most random ideas come from these late nights in bed.

I wanted to try tea infused vodka. There are so many unique ideas and I was thinking these would make great cocktails. I found at my local store a tea sampler and decided to use the mix berry bags first.

I used a large mason jar and filled it full of vodka. I'm a big fan of flavor so I used 2 tea bags. I folded it over the lip of the glass and screwed on the lid. I let the bags sit in there for an hour and was happy with the results.

Here are a couple of drinks I made so far:

I used a can of ginger ale and a shot of this tea mixture over ice.

A glass of OJ and a shot of this with some fresh berries in the glass.

Ice tea, with a shot of this and some blackberry simple syrup.

All of them were DELISH!!

Raspberry and Lavender simple syrup

Here's a couple more ideas for simple syrups. Keep in mind simple syrups can be used for a lot of things, not just cocktails.  Other things I use them for is in my ice tea instead of sugar, lemonades and ginger ales. You have endless possibilities!

Things you'll need:

- 1 cup water

- 1 cup sugar

- 1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)

 

In a small saucepan, stir in the water, sugar and berries. Turn stove top on to medium-heat & bring to a boil. Once to a boil, reduce heat to low-medium until sugar is completely dissolved (about 5 minutes). During this time you want to gently crush the berries against the side of the pan.

 

Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for 20 minutes.

 

Strain the raspberries thru a fine mesh strainer or use a cheesecloth into a clean container. Refrigerate and store for a week.

For the lavender simple syrup:
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 T lavender flowers (dried or fresh) or Lavender oil works as well- 1/2 t.


The instructions are the same as a above. When the simple syrup cooled after a couple hours, I added a few fresh sprigs into the jar for decoration.


NOTE- the Blackberry and Peach recipes are on the blog as well.

 

 

Blackberry Simple Syrup

Things you'll need:

- 1 cup water

- 1 cup sugar

- 1 cup blackberries

 

In a small saucepan, stir in the water, sugar and blackberries. Turn stove top on to medium-heat & bring to a boil. Once to a boil, reduce heat to low-medium until sugar is completely dissolved (about 5 minutes). During this time you want to gently crush the blackberries against the side of the pan.

 

Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for 20 minutes.

 

Strain the berries thru a fine mesh strainer or use a cheesecloth into a clean container. Refrigerate and store for a week.

 

 

I strained it into a measuring cup, so it was easier to pour into the jars.

 

Peach simple syrup

I love mimosa's and it was my turn to host Fancy dinner this month, but instead of dinner I decided to do Fancy brunch and I was going to have a mimosa bar!

 

I made 4 different kinds of simple syrup and they were all a success with no leftovers. We went thru 8 bottles of champagne and the syrups paired well with Blush, Dry, Peach and a Sweet Red Champagne.

 

 

Things you'll need:

- 1 cup water

- 1 cup sugar

- 4 peaches (sliced)

 

 

In a small saucepan, stir in the water, sugar and sliced peaches. Turn stove top on to medium-heat & bring to a boil. Once to a boil, reduce heat to low-medium until sugar is completely dissolved (about 5 minutes). During this time you want to gently crush the peaches against the side of the pan.

 

Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for 20 minutes.

 

Strain the peaches thru a fine mesh strainer or use a cheesecloth into a clean container. Refrigerate and store for a week.

 

DIY food displays

I just wanted some cute displays for my blog, after looking around online and not finding what I likes or wanted, I decided to make my own.

I went to our local thrift shops and picked up some different plates, glasses and a couple of candle sticks.  The total was $6 bucks!!  I already had the glue and spray paint.

I washed the items, let them dry and had to sand down a few chips.

Next I decided what plate I wanted to go with what glass. From there I did a few coats on each item and than let them dry for 24 hours.

Here's a hint - On the clear glass plates I just spray the bottom and NOT the top. This way you can put food directly on them. Although with the others you can use a Martha Stewart sealer or Mod Podge and than you would be ok with the food.  Although I like using the little dollies on them.

Make them your own and have fun!! I added glitter into the inside of one and than after a few hours did a couple coats of clear gloss, to keep the glitter in place. On the out side I did different sizes of round stickers. I spray painted the glass and after 24 hours, I peeled the stickers off. TADA!!