Apple Cake

It's not the best picture of them.  They tasted so good and were such a hit, I didn't even have time to think about taking a picture. 


It's from my Betty Crocker cookbook, but I did find the same one on Betty Crocker's web page.  You can print one off from there.


The recipe on their webpage is for carrot cake, but in my cookbook it also gave you the option of using apples, which I did.


They say you can omit the carrots and add 3 cups of chopped tart apples.  I cored my apples and grated them with my food processor.


I, also, left the chopped walnuts out.


Make sure you cut the cream cheese icing in half.  There was WAY TOO MUCH for my cake and I ended up scraping half of it off.

Easiest Chicken Burrito

A perfect busy night meal.  You don't need sides with this, because it is filling all on it's own....and delicious as leftovers.


I've been craving Mexican a lot lately so I decided to step out of my taco/quesadilla comfort zone and do something different.


I totally cheated on this one and bought some boxed products...I never buy boxed products...however, when I'm out of the house for 10 hours a day 5 days a week, I figure it's okay to do this from time to time.


Okay...are you ready?  It's super easy...it goes quick so pay attention.


In the morning throw some chicken breasts into your slow cooker with chicken broth and salsa.  You can add some taco seasoning if you want.  I added cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, chili powder, garlic powder and onion salt.  I left it alone for the day and shredded it when I got home.

Follow the box directions to make some Mexican rice...or make your own from scratch, if you're like that.

Then heat up some refried beans...

Clean some chopped up lettuce....and if you're classy like me, serve it in the salad spinner.  I keep it real around here.

Shred some cheese.  I would of rather done some monterey jack, but cheddar is what I had.  Also....if you're serving your lettuce in the spinner, serve your cheese in the container you grate it into....it helps with the effect of it all.

Make some pico de gallo....I love pico de gallo.  You can add jalapenos to yours but I didn't have any.

Put the hot chicken, rice and beans in a warmed up tortilla wrap.  I added way too much here...

Add your lettuce, cheese and pico de gallo...

and enjoy. 

You can totally serve it up with sour cream, if that's how you roll.


This was so good!  I loved it!


Let me know if you try it.



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Beat The Winter Blues - Comfort Food

Sesame Noodles

I made this for dinner last night.  It was SO good!!  Ben, who doesn't even like sesame, liked it.  I can't express in words how much I loved it.  It is my new favorite dish.  I'm pretty sure we'll be having it again and again.


It was quick, it was easy and delicious as leftovers today.  It is a perfect weekday meal and because it doesn't require heating up, it's a perfect lunch for those without microwaves at work.


I got the recipe from Tasty Kitchen.


The recipe says you can use whole wheat spaghetti instead of the Soba noodles, but I highly recommend sticking to the Soba noodles.  I don't like cold pasta salads, but I loved this one and I think it was the texture of the noodles.  You can get them in the Asian section of your grocery store....and they aren't expensive, either. 


It was surprisingly filling and didn't need to serve anything else with it.   I figure the recipe should feed 8+ people....depending on how much people eat.  I found it to be a relatively inexpensive meal because most of the ingredients are things I have on hand normally.


Please go make it.  Now.  You'll thank me!

Cookie Dough Truffles

I know Christmas is over, but I was being lazy and didn't get to posting these.  I think this is the last of my Christmas baking that I need to post.


These were a HUGE hit....everyone loved them.  I, once again, can thank Kari @ Beautiful Inspirations for this one.


You can print the recipe off from here.


The only changes I would suggest...

- After you roll the balls, freeze them.  This will make them much easier to dip into the chocolate.
- I added a little vegetable oil to the chocolate because so many other chocolate dipping recipes call for that.  I then used a fork to dip them into the melted chocolate.

Make sure you use mini chocolate chips in the truffle.  I did not and wish I did.  You don't want to have these cute delicious truffles and then WHAM...giant chocolate chip....doesn't work well.


I think I need to take a break from baking now for a little while.  I'm currently in a sugar coma and on my way to being diabetic.  I love Christmas!

Warm Quinoa, Spinach and Shiitake Salad

I really like this salad....Ben does not.  I think it does require a certain "taste".  It definitely won't be something everyone likes.


You can get the recipe from here.....good ol' Martha Stewart.


The only change I made was that I used cremini mushrooms instead of shiitake, because that is what I had.


Let me know if you try it and how you liked it.

White Velvet Cookies

Another good one from Kari @ Beautiful Inspirations. 


I know these probably look like your ordinary sugar cookie or shortbread or whatever other plain white cookies are out there.  However, I can assure these are not.  They are so good.  Just don't mess them up like I did.  Boy...did I ever mess them up.


You can print the recipe from here.


Okay so this is what I did wrong.  When I was gradually adding the flour, something seemed weird, so I reviewed the recipe and sure enough...I forgot to add the sugar.  I added it after the flour.  I think that affected the taste of the cookies because the sugar didn't probably blend in.  I also either rolled mine too thin or baked them too long, because they weren't as soft as they should have been.


Next time I think I would leave the icing white so they had more of that "winter" look to them.  I was going to pipe the icing on, but laziness got the better of me.  I'd for sure pipe the icing on for presentation purpose if I was serving these up to any company other than my family.


Either way....deliciously cream cheesey cookies.  Low fat too.


What?


Okay...maybe not.

Coconut Rum Balls

Another super easy recipe.  I'm all about easy baking.  I'm lazy like that.


After searching through what felt like 5,284 recipes, I decided on this one.  I found it at allrecipes.


I didn't have all the ingredients on hand and I also don't like walnuts in my baking so I did make some changes.


Instead of crushed vanilla wafers I used crushed graham crackers and instead of the walnuts I used coconut.


I, also, didn't roll them in anything.  It's that lazy part of me coming through.  I think I would next time or dip them in something.  They look weird or off not being covered up.  They feel a bit naked.