V-day Edition

"Reeses" Hearts i made from the recipe HERE . They are better the store bought in my opinion.

The Strawberries are cream cheese stuffed then drizzles with chocolate. I used the recipe from HERE only I added some cool whip to the cream cheese mixture.

Mexican Stuffed Tacos

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 package low-sodium taco seasoning
4 oz. cream cheese
14-16 jumbo pasta shells
1.5 cup salsa
1 cup taco sauce
1 cup cheddar cheese
1 cup monterey jack cheese
1/2 Cup shredded or diced carrots (Shh! this is our little secret. Its a sneaky way to get veggies in your meals especially for kids)
Sour cream

Preheat oven to 350°. In a frying pan cook ground beef; add taco seasoning and prepare according to package directions. Add cream cheese, cover and simmer until cheese is melted. Blend well. Set aside and cool completely. While ground beef is cooking, cook the pasta shells according to directions; drain. Pour salsa on bottom of 9×13 baking dish. Stuff each shell with the meat mixture. Place shells in 9×13 pan open side up. Cover shells with taco sauce. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, add shredded cheese and bake for 10-15 more minutes, with the foil removed. Serve with sour cream and/or more salsa.

"Healthy fruit snacks"

These are a recipe I found on pinterest and tweeked it to make it a bit healthier. I dont feel so bad letting my 2 year old eat these!

1 cup mixed berries
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup spinach leaves
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
2 envelopes knox gelatin

In a saucepan combine the berries and water and cook until the berries are soft, about 5 minutes. Place in blender with spinach and blend until smooth. Place back in the saucepan and add the applesauce. Cook and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. In a seperate bowl combine the juice and knox gelatin. Let sit 1 minute. Add to berries mixture. Pour into a 8x8 glass pan. Refridgerate 3 hours or until set. Cut into squares.
Store in fridge.

Spinach has a high nutritional value and is extremely rich in antioxidants, especially when fresh, steamed, or quickly boiled. It is a rich source of vitamin A (and especially high in lutein), vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, magnesium, manganese, folate, betaine, iron, vitamin B₂, calcium, potassium, vitamin B₆, folic acid, copper, protein, phosphorus, zinc, niacin, selenium and omega-3 fatty acids. Recently, opioid peptides called rubiscolins have also been found in spinach.

Pomegranate juice provides about 16% of an adult's daily vitamin C requirement per 100 ml serving, and is a good source of vitamin B₅ (pantothenic acid), potassium and polyphenols, such as tannins and flavonoids.

Pomegranates are listed as high-fiber in some charts of nutritional value. That fiber, however, is entirely contained in the edible seeds which also supply unsaturated oils. People who choose to discard the seeds forfeit nutritional benefits conveyed by the seed fiber, oils and micronutrients. Juice of the pomegranate may be effective in reducing heart disease risk factors.

Cream cheese pancakes

These are ah.maze.ing. We ate a batch and a half of them. So good and moist. Beware when you cook them they stay pretty gooey, they dont get "crispy" when they are done.

1-1/4 Cup Flour
3 teas. Baking powder
1 T. Sugar
dash salt
1 Egg, beaten
2 T. Vegetable oil
1 Cup milk
6oz cream cheese, cubed
1 cup mixed berries (or just blueberries)

In a bowl combine the wet ingredients and cream cheese. Beat with a mixer til the cream cheese is a cottage cheese like consistancy. Add dry ingredients and stir. Add berries.
Cook like normal. These do take a bit longer to cook, i think we left them on about 7-10 minutes.

Pizza Bites & Strawberry Cake

First recipe- Strawberry Cake. It was good, but not amazing. My husband liked it but I personally thought the strawberries in the frosting was too much. Next time I will make the cake like the recipe but make the frosting just cream cheese frosting, not add the pureed strawberries. Here is where I got the original recipe from.

1 box white cake mix

3 TB. plain flour

1 (3 oz) box strawberry jello

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup oil

1 cup frozen strawberries, thawed and chopped up

4 eggs

Combine cake mix, flour, Jello and water. Add oil and eggs, one at a time, beating well between. Add strawberries. Beat 2 minutes. Pour batter into well greased and floured 9×13 pan. Bake at 350* for about 45 minutes.

Icing: Strawberry Cream Cheese frosting

(adapted from Paula Deen online recipe)

1 stick butter, softened

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

1 (10 oz) pkg. frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed & pureed

7 cups powdered sugar

(Like I said, next time I will make the cream cheese frosting but omit the strawberries. It was just too much. The strawberries made the frosting really runny and I had to add like a whole bag of powdered sugar to make it thick enough and then it was way too sweet. Also, the frosting makes a TON so if you decide to make it with the strawberries I would half the recipe.)

Next recipe- Pizza Bites
I got this recipe HERE originally . I made it just like the recipe. They were awesome! Defiantly a keeper.

• 2 cans refrigerated pizza dough
• 8 oz block mozzarella cheese
• 4 oz thin sliced pepperoni
• 2 tsp Italian seasoning
  
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• pizza or marinara sauce

Cut block of mozzarella into 48 cubes. roll one dough out into a large rectangle and cut into 24 pieces. Repeat with 2nd pizza dough. In each dough piece place a couple pieces of pepperoni and a cube of cheese. Seal dough around meat and cheese and place in pie pan.Repeat, placing approximately 16 dough balls in each pie plate.Once assembled, combine oil and spices and brush over the dough. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.When ready to bake: bake at 400°F for 16-20 min. Serve with warm pizza or marinara sauce.

Roasted Cauliflower

OH YUM. This was really good. I found several recipes on pinterest for this but didnt have all the ingredients for any recipe, so I made my own.

1 head cauliflower, cut into small pieces
2 T olive oil
2 T parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder
sprinkle salt
sprinkle pepper

Wash cauliflower and toss in a bowl with olive oil. Spread on a cookie sheet and sprinkle spices and cheese. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Reese's Banana Bread

I found this recipe HERE and made it just like the recipe except I dont have a bread pan so I made them into muffins. This recipe made 10 regular size muffins. SOOO good!!!

• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 8 oz bag of Reese’s Mini cups

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Grease your loaf pan (I used an 8 x 4 pan) with butter or shortening.
3. In a medium bowl whisk together your flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside.
4. In a large bowl stir together your bananas, peanut butter, oil, egg and sugars.
5. Pour your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Batter will be lumpy.
6. Fold in your Reese’s Mini cups and spread batter into prepared pan.
7. Bake for approx 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
8. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then loosen the edges of the pan with a knife and remove from loaf pan, transferring bread to a cooling rack.