Whole Wheat Citrus Moon Cookies with Citrus Glaze

Last night we were invited to dinner at my in-laws. (turkey dinner was delicious by the way, thanks Maureen!) I decided the appropriate thing to do would be to bring some sort of dessert or treat. I love baking and this way I get to try new recipes (without having to eat the whole thing) , have something to blog about, and hopefully, eventually find some great "go to" recipes that I know would be a hit at any gathering.

Pistachio Pudding Pop Hearts

I was looking for a simple sweet snack today and just as I was about to give up, thinking we had nothing in the house, I noticed one lonely box of pistachio pudding hiding behind some spices in my baking cabinet! SCORE!
The thing that really made this an awesome find was that it would be ready in mere minutes. I could taste it already...

Play Dough Balloons

Logan loves to touch EVERYTHING! Based on this observation, I decided to start looking for sensory toys or games that I could make at home. I came across these easy to make play dough balloons while doing some Internet scouring over at Pintrest, again! I followed that blog's link to the original creator of these wonderful Wacky Sacks. When I saw how easy they were to make, I decided to give it a shot.

Heart Frame

I got the brilliant idea to use paint sample cards to do art projects from searching for kids activities on the Internet. I found multiple ideas that I loved, but when Steve came home from the goodwill store with a $2 picture frame that said 'LOVE' in the top corner, I immediately knew what I was doing! With Valentine's day less than a month away, a picture frame covered in hearts seemed like the perfect craft project.

Spaghetti Carbonara

I decided to make this for the first time about 3 years ago. We were living in Chicago on a pretty tight budget and I couldn't get my husband to eat pasta! The only "pasta" he would even think about eating at that point was a package of ramen noodles. To me, someone who had never heard of ramen noodles until I lived on my own for the first time and who ate pasta at least twice a week growing up, this was absurd! I came across this recipe in a cookbook that I randomly picked up at Costco, it's titled Cook Yourself Thin. I guess these woman have a show on Lifetime as well, but I still haven't caught an episode. All I know is that this recipe is what was able to get my husband to start eating pasta! So for that, kudos to the Cook Yourself Thin team! Without further ado, here is the recipe that started it all:

Peanut Butter Brownie Bites

Steve loves brownies and I was thinking about making some for him this week while he is recovering from his appendectomy. I stumbled across something on the Internet that informed me that today is national peanut butter day. What better way to spruce up a batch of plain, old chocolate brownies then to throw in some peanut butter? So, in honor of national peanut butter day (and a healing husband's love for chocolate/peanut butter things), I give you...

                                                          Peanut Butter Brownie Bites!

Samoas Babies

In honor of girl scout cookies going on sale today, I thought I would try out a recipe that I've been dying to try for some time. They are called Samoas Babies and this super easy recipe comes from, yet again, the Chocolate Covered Katie blog. I think I'm a little obsessed with the healthy twist she puts on desserts!

Egg In a Cup

It's an egg! It's a cup! It's both! It's egg in a cup! Every time I make this for breakfast I automatically start thinking about the episode of Family Guy with ball in a cup: 

"Hey, kids of America, it's hand-painted, wooden Ball in a Cup! Who needs constant electronic video stimulation when there's Ball in a Cup, Mexico's favorite toy for over 340 years! Toss the ball, catch it in the cup, dump it out of the cup, toss it, and catch it in the cup again. The ball is on a string and attached to the cup, so there's no worry if you don't catch the ball in the cup, and clean-up is as easy as catching a ball in a cup! So why spend another day not catching a ball in a cup when you could be catching a ball in a cup?" 

Sara's Mexican Chicken Skillet!

I can cook, but I'm definitely not a chef, nor do I really know how to go about making something if I don't have a recipe to follow. Unless of course it's throwing chicken into the crockpot with a bottle of b-b-q sauce or making a box of macaroni (macky cheese) with some frozen nuggets of some sort for the kids. Now Steve on the other hand, can cook! He can stand in front of the open refrigerator and pantry for a few moments, pick out 5 or 6 random ingredients, and whip up some fancy meal that ALWAYS tastes good! It must be instinct, and I must be lacking some of that.

Tonight however, I am proud of myself! For the first time ever I pulled out some random ingredients and just ran with it. I planned a meal out in my head with what I pulled from the pantry and refrigerator, second guessed myself a few times, swapped a few ingredients, and ultimately made something edible! I'm calling it...

Cookie Dough Dip

Since I first saw this recipe, over a month ago, I have not been able to get it off of my mind. Every time my sweet tooth starts acting up, I think to myself: "Man, I forgot to buy chickpeas again!" I'm sure you are wondering how chickpeas will do anything for my sweet tooth. Well that's where this recipe comes in, Cookie Dough Dip . This is one of the most popular recipes on her entire website, so I figured I better try it first.

Chocolate Banana Frozen Delight

When bananas go brown I throw them in the freezer to save for banana bread. I have been looking for something a little healthier to do with them and I have found it!

If you have a sweet tooth, like me, I would highly recommend giving this a shot. I found this concoction on Pinterest... surprise, surprise. The link that was offered didn't work for me so I'm not sure where this originally came from.  I do however know how insanely simple yet tasty this is.

Biggest Loser Pancakes

First and foremost...Pinterest is addicting!! That being said, I stumbled upon this Biggest Loser pancake recipe during one of my hours of information overload. I was a little nervous to put all of these ingredients into a blender at the same time for fear of what they might come out tasting like. I hate wasting food and 6 egg whites out of my newly bought dozen along with half of the container of cottage cheese AND almost all of what was left of my rolled oats seemed like a lot if this recipe were to fail. But hey, you only live once right? 

Goodbye eggs...

....HELLLLLO Pancakes!!