German Pancakes (Puffy Oven Pancakes)

Who doesn't love these things?! I don't know how many different ways there are to make this...but this is the recipe that I use and I seem to like it just fine. There are certain recipes of mine that I had growing up that I say "if it ain't broken don't fix it" This just happens to be one of those recipes.

Lime and Chili Rubbed Chicken

As the weather has started turning colder I have been trying to break out all the grilling recipes I can find so that we can survive the winter without the grill. I came across this recipe on the Betty Crocker website. This was sooooo incredibly easy to make and tasted really good.
This recipe does have a bit of a kick to it, so be warned. If you don't like it quite as spicy then just tone down some of the spices a bit.

Yummy Breadsticks

So I love me some breadsticks. I think most people know this about me. If there is any type of breadstick or roll offered with a meal... I will have at least a dozen or more.
Since I don't have a Kitchenaid (YET) or a Bosch (YET) I don't really enjoy making homemade dough for anything. But I figured since I was venturing out this Sunday and making homemade lasagna (which I might add was pretty good as well) that I would top off the experience with some breadsticks.
~ The Lasagna recipe came from Our Best Bites. Their recipes are so yummy and usually not to complicated to make!
I got this recipe from my sister, but later reazlied that my sister-in-law had actually emailed out this same recipe a year or so ago. So thanks to both of u!

Spicy Honey Chicken

This is a new recipe that I tried at my in-laws house and I must say... YUMMY!!! If you haven't already become a major "Our Best Bites" addict like myself, then you should because this recipe came from their cookbook. I know grilling season is almost over, so you better hurry and try this one before you forget about it!

Grilled London Broil

OH MY GOODNESS!!! So anybody who knows me knows that I LOVE me some London Broil. I came across this marinade recipe for one the other day and HAD to try it. Let me tell you....holy heavenly!! I would have eaten the entire roast if Sam would have let me. Enjoy!

Meatloaf

Here is another classic...Meatloaf. This is also a recipe I got from my mom and ate all the time growing up. Normally it would be accompanied by the fabulous Onion Pie
The thing that makes this meatloaf a little different then normal ones, is the sauce that goes on the top. Most people just put ketchup on top, but this sauce adds a little more zip. Enjoy!

Chocolate Cake

This is one of my mom's recipes. She claims it is the only chocolate cake recipe that she will ever make, although, I know she will usually just use store bought mixes now ;) BUT I must admit this is one of my favorite chocolate cake recipes and frosting recipes.

Shepherds Pie

I happened to have a massive amount of mashed potatoes left over from Thanksgiving that I had put in my freezer. (In case you didn't know, yes, mashed potatoes freeze beautifully!) I've been eyeing them up every single time I have opened the freezer and been trying to figure out when I would use them. Then it came to me. Shepherds pie duh!
This recipe has been in my family for as long as I can remember. I remember eating this all the time growing up and it is a staple in our home now. I have not changed much about the recipe from when I was a child because why ruin a good thing. This is such a homey dish. There is just something about a big ol' pile of this that makes me feel all warm and cozy inside. I'm usually not a huge fan of casserole style meals because they just don't look that good, but I really need to get out of that mindset because they always taste good and have everything in one dish so you don't feel the need to make a ton of sides.

Easy Eggs Florentine

After I had a great workout this morning I went to reach for my normal breakfast of cold cereal and thought to myself..hmmm theres got to be something a little better then this in my fridge. As I was rummaging through my fridge I came across some spinach and eggs and I remembered I had seen a Weight Watchers version of eggs florentine and I thought I would kind of try that. Kind of. The original recipe called for only egg whites and turning them into scrambled eggs with the spinach but I changed it up a tiny. Enjoy.

Orange Julius

I had forgotten how much I loved these until Sam whipped out the blender the other night and made some. Why go and buy them when they are plenty easy to make at home with ingredients that most people have?! Simple, refreshing, and just plain good.
I remember when I was a kid, every time I would go to the mall I would want to stop in the food court to get one of these. I also remember the day they took it out of the food court and filled in the area with another clothes store...it was a sad day for many.

Sloppy Joes

Yes yes I know that most people love to open up a fresh can of Manwhich, throw it in the microwave and call it dinner...but...I love homemade sloppy joes. They don't take that much more effort and taste soooo much better (well at least in my opinion).

Yummy Steak Marinade

I don't remember if this recipe came from one my mom gave me or if it came from online somewhere. (Does that happen to anybody else?) This one happened to be written on the back of an envelope so who knows?! I know some people get completely offended if they don't get "credit" for a recipe they have found, so in order to not make anybody mad..."thank you whoever I got it from :)"
In my opinion you can never have to many steak marinades. This is usually my go to marinade though. The vinegar helps to break down the steak making it more tender.

Baked Potato Soup

Since its snowing outside when it is supposed to be nice and sunny it got me wishing that I had a nice pot of my favorite homemade soup on the stove. This is pretty much the only soup that I make from scratch probably because its really easy. Hmm maybe I need to start branching out a little bit.

Overnight Caramel Sticky Buns

As I was trying to figure out what I was going to make for Conference Sunday I started looking through my new cookbook "Our Best Bites" and came across this recipe. As the title states its "overnight". After dinner was cleaned up on Saturday night I started mixing my ingredients together and Sam looked over and was soooo excited thinking I was making some kind of yummy dessert. When he asked what I was making I simply said "breakfast". He started laughing and said "don't you mean dessert?" and again I said "breakfast". After a little explaining he finally got it and wasn't very pleased until I pulled it out of the oven the next morning. We have decided that this recipe will have to become our family tradition for "big breakfasts".

April Fools Food

So Ive always wanted to do an April Fools Day gag that involved disguising all the foods and making them look like something else. I first saw some ideas and ripped them out of a magazine article and then I thought hmmm I should search around a find a few more and share them with all of you guys. (yes all 2 of you that read my blog faithfully lol). Anyway, enjoy and have fun. Maybe one of these years I will get around to actually making some of these. They are pretty darn cute if I say so!

Cheesy Garlic Bread Swirls

Oh my goodness! I had a lot of time on my hands yesterday so I was flipping through my new cook book from the blog "Our Best Bites" and came across these really yummy looking rolls. They turned out amazing! (That last link for the rolls has step by step pictures of what you are doing!)
They have a cheesy filling that melts in your mouth as soon as you bite into them! Or have fun unrolling them and have cheesy deliciousness in every bite!

Cream Puffs

I LOVE CREAM PUFFS!!!! I think I could eat an entire batch of these things by myself, easily. :)
They are so versatile to. You can fill them with chicken salad, tuna salad, egg salad, OR turn them into a dessert like I like to do and fill it with different flavors of pudding.

Onion Pie

Yes. It is a pie made of onions. AND you know what, I LOVE IT! I almost always end up eating this entire pie myself, which you know what, is FINE by me. If you love onions then you should give this a try. This is a recipe that I grew up with. My mom would make this every time we had meatloaf.

Broiled Tilapia Parmesan

We eat a lot of tilapia so this is a new recipe I found. It was sooooo yummy. Sam decided this was his new favorite way to eat tilapia. Which is kinda funny because thats what he said about the last tilapia recipe I found lol.

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

I think I could eat these mashed potatoes every day! Course, I am a huge garlic fan so I would just about eat the roasted garlic themselves if Sam wouldn't stop me every time. Mmmm okay just thinking about these is making me almost jump off my soft spot on the couch to make some, even though it is way past dinner time. Adding the roasted garlic to these potatoes gives it such a better flavor then simply boiling the garlic in with the potatoes while they are cooking.

Strawberry Soup

In my bountiful baskets this week I had gotten a bin of strawberries and I was really looking forward to making this soup. Unfortunately, I won't get to experience it as soon as I had thought, because when I went to pull them out of my fridge they were all moldy. Slightly disappointed. But I will share the recipe anyway. This recipe actually came for the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas. I served it at my wedding reception and it was a hit. Its such a refreshing dessert. Enjoy!

More St. Patricks Day Fun

Here are a couple more last minute St. Patricks Day snack ideas.

Yummy Stuffed Burger with Onion Rings

So i had a lot of mushrooms in my fridge that needed to be used and one of my friends suggested mushroom burgers. YUMMY!!! The first thing I thought of was one of the burgers they have at Red Robin. So here is my thrown together version of their mushroom burger.
(I guess I should have cut my burger open so you could see how yummy it looked with the mushrooms all stuffed in there, but you can use your imagination!!)

Super Easy Chicken and Rice

First of all I am well aware that my picture taking abilities are pretty much amazing and I take pictures of food in such an artistic way. LOL. This is a recipe that one of my friends shared with me while living in California. It is just a basic basic basic recipe for chicken and rice. This is my go to chicken and rice recipe, for the fact that its fast, easy, doesn't cost very much money, and tastes great.

Fun St. Patricks Day Ideas

Shamrock Pretzel Snacks

So I thought this was a really cute idea for some kind of St. Patricks day snack. Definitely something kids would think was fun and they could easily help make it as well.

Vegetable LoMein

I don't know why I don't make this more often. It really isn't difficult at all and its really yummy. I got this recipe from my mom, but I think she got it from my sister?! Anywho...I got it, and thats the point :)
A fantastic dish, that's what this is. It's jam packed with vegetables and guess what, you don't even miss the fact that there is no meat in it. I usually serve this up as a main dish. Its plenty filling and tastes absolutely fantastic!

Lobster Ravioli in Tomato Cream Sauce with Shrimp

This recipe was sooooo good. I made this for my sweetie for our special Valentines Day dinner and I'll tell you what...it tasted like something you would get from any seafood or Italian place...well to us anyway. It is a little more complicated then my normal fast and easy, but hey, sometimes I do enjoy doing a little more then quick fix meals :)

Crunchy Chicken with Sesame Rice and Green Beans

So here is just another take on fried chicken. The thing I liked the most about this recipe was the sauce. It tastes soooo good. It is such a basic sauce but it adds so much to the dish. And we all know how big of a sesame seed lover I am so of course this recipe gets the big ol' thumbs up from me!

Valentines Sugar Cookies

I kept going back and forth about whether to post this or not because some of you may not find this quite as cute and funny as I do. But I decided that I just had to. Here are some really cute (and I think hilarious) ways of decorating some heart shaped sugar cookies for valentines day. There are G rated ones, PG rated ones, and PG 13 rated ones. Now, mind you, I don't think I would decorate the PG or PG13 ones when children are around but I think you sweetie pie will find them pretty darn funny and perfect for Valentines day.

Oreo Balls

I had this recipe at my aunts house on Christmas Eve one year, and it has been a tradition of mine every year since then to make them every Christmas. I know its not Christmas time, but I did say I was going to add a whole bunch of sweet foods so here is another.

Creamy Frosted Brownies

So normally I don't frost my brownies, but when I really need MORE chocolate, I like to use this recipe.
The frosting recipe is fantastic and has one ingredient that I had never thought to add to a frosting. Corn syrup! I know what your thinking, oh yum...uhhh corn syrup. But really I don't know what it does to that frosting but it is fantastic. Not to mention that the brownies are moist and delish.

My favorite lemon bars

I know everybody has their favorite lemon bar recipe and everybody claims that theirs is the best...but...THIS is my favorite recipe and I will claim it as the best.
I make these at least once a month and never get tired of them. In fact, I crave them almost constantly and so does my family.
As of late I have been adding a nice giant raspberry on top of each piece for decoration but I also love the flavor with it.

Doubly Chocolate Cookies

Im having a bit of a sweet tooth today and thankfully don't have anything lying around. So Im hoping that by posting dessert recipes that it will cover up my need for chocolate :)

Chocolate Dipped Straweberries

So I was just on one of my favorite blogs, Be Different...Act Normal and came across this really fun idea. I am totally going to bring these for our Super Bowl Party this year. Who says you have to have eat fattening, greasy, unhealthy food. Not me. So this year I am putting aside the buffalo wings and pizza, and going to bring sushi and chocolate dipped strawberries. Yeah they probably won't taste that good together, but I don't really care. How can you pass up these cute little things?! Oh man, I am so excited to make these.

Banana Cookies

Yesterday after I put away all of the items from my Bountiful Basket, I realized that I had 18 bananas sitting in my kitchen. No they didn't all come in the basket, but the day before I had gone to Costco and bought some. Yeah smart move I know, but I hope Im not the only one who goes into a store at times and just starts aimlessly wandering around throwing things in the cart.
ANYWAY, so this morning I decided that I need to think of something I could do with some of these bananas. I didn't want to make more banana bread (cuz I just made some last week) and I didn't want to make a pie...but I was having a sweet tooth. So I started searching online and came across this recipe at simplerecipes.com.
To be honest I had never, ever, thought of making a banana cookie...a banana cookie...really?! So I thought I would give it a try. They turned out really good.
They look like a cookie, but have the consistency of a banana bread or muffin.

Banoffee Pie...or mess :)

I saw this recipe on the food network channel while I was in Las Vegas with my sister. Of course she was taking forever getting ready (love you sis) so I had a little time to watch some cooking show. I don't remember exactly which show it was from but I had to come home and make it. I have now made this pie twice and the more I have it, the more I like it! So I thought I would share the recipe and see what everybody else thinks of it. I already know I have one fan...one of my nephews, so hopefully there will be a few more who can enjoy it as much as him!

Slow Cooker Jambalaya

I don't know why I have always feared making jambalaya. For some reason it always seemed really time consuming and difficult. But I found this recipe on the betty crocker website and I had to try it. IT WAS SOOOOO GOOD, so I thought I would share it with everybody. I hope you like it as much as we did.
This particular recipe isn't a spicy one. Although you can totally adjust the spice in it by simply adding more of the red pepper sauce, or some of your favorite spicy flavorings.