Bacon Egg and Cheese Sandwich

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My father in law does not cook.  I think he is like a lot of men, he mans the grill and that is it.  Although, growing up they did have one special breakfast that my father in law was in charge of.  It was a Bacon Egg Sandwich.  He still makes them sometimes on the weekend when we visit.  My 7 year old has become a huge fan of this sandwich as well.

As much as I love bacon, it just isn’t something I have in the house all the time.  If I did, I would probably be 50 pounds heavier.  Plus, the stuff isn’t cheap.  Good bacon is pricey, and considering I could eat half the package in one sitting, it just isn’t economical to purchase often.  Despite my 7 year olds pleas, I stand strong!

When Kernel’s Popcorn Seasoning offered to send me a few of their new flavors, I was excited to give them a try.  We are HUGE popcorn lovers in this family.  Well, guess what one of their new flavors is?  Bacon Cheddar!!  So not only can you have Bacon Cheddar flavored popcorn, but the seasoning works great to cook with too.  You can spice up eggs, pasta, veggies, potatoes….possibilities are endless.

One of the mornings my son asked for a bacon egg sandwich, I decided to give this seasoning a try.  He LOVED it!  I did throw in a few bacon bits for crunch, but that was it.  He gets the bacon flavor, but I don’t have to deal with frying the bacon, and all the fat and calories that come with it.  I think I have made him 4 or 5 of these sandwiches for him already.  He usually eats his on regular toast, but a Kaiser roll is just fancier :)

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Apple Pie Smoothie

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Have you seen the show The Revolution?  It is a new day time talk show that is all about empowering people to make big changes in their life.  Mainly they talk about getting healthy and fit, but it is about mental health, physical health, feeling good about yourself, etc.  I work from home, and I can’t sit in silence.  So, about once a week I see have this on in the background.

A couple weeks ago, they were sharing some smoothie recipes.  This one really caught my eye, and I knew I had to try it.  It was just 4 ingredients, and I had everything in my house already.  It is amazing.  It is sweet and cinnamon-y, just like apple pie, but without the crust!  Plus it is super good for you!  It has tons of protein and fiber, so you stay full until lunch time.

I do recommend you use a blender for this, it isn’t all that great chunky.  My food processor didn’t do a great job of getting it smooth.  In the end,  I had to break out the immersion blender.

Nutritional Info: Calories 249, Fat 0.1 grams, Protein 18 grams, Fiber 8 grams

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Diet Coke Butterscotch Brownies

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On Monday, I shared a Coca-Cola Barbeque Chicken recipe.  To go along with my Coca-Cola dinner, I made Diet Coke Butterscotch Brownies. The base of this recipe is all over the internet lately.  I decided to take it up a notch and mix in some butterscotch chocolate candy that I had lying around.

To be honest, I have given up Diet Coke.  I am not a coffee drinker, so Diet Coke was my caffeine, and my start to the day. In February I decided I needed to cut it out of my diet.  It was embarrassingly hard to quit, but I did it!  Now I enjoy the occasional one maybe once every few weeks, but that is it.  I had to buy a small bottle to make these brownies, so I wouldn’t drink a whole case or a whole 2 liter bottle :)

These brownies are more of a cake like consistency.  They are extremely moist.  So much so, that they are difficult to cut.  I recommend refrigerating them to get them more solid, before slicing.  Without the added candy they are only 115 calories a serving, so they are much lower in calories than a traditional brownie. We had been to Ikea and bought a bag of their chocolate coated butterscotch candies, and they needed to go before I ate them all.  They did add great flavor to these.  You could use butterscotch chips if you wanted, or just leave them out.

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Homemade Pasta and Mother’s Day

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I spent the day yesterday at the zoo with a bunch of first graders.  It was a little crazy at times, but all in all, it was fun.  Luckily, I didn’t have to drive the 60 minutes there and back on the bus, or I might think differently :)

As I said yesterday, I wanted to share my Mother’s Day with you.  I said all along, I didn’t need presents.  What I wanted was to not have to cook and clean all day.  Well my husband went above and beyond with my wish.  On Saturday, he got in the kitchen and started working on some bread.  He decided to go all out and try a Peter Reinhart recipe that involved a starter.


On Mother’s Day, I got to sleep in!!!  My 7 year old is an earlier riser, so sleeping in hasn’t really happened since he was born.  Then they served me breakfast which was homemade waffles topped with homemade strawberry sauce.


After breakfast I got to open my son’s present, which was a ring they had made at school.  He was so proud, and did a great job making it.  My husband gave me Avocado Oil, which I am super excited to try out!  Then we went mini golfing, played arcade games, and rode go-karts.  My 7 year old planned this outing, and it was lots of fun.  For lunch my husband grilled us turkey brats!


After a relaxing afternoon at home the whole family made homemade pasta together.  It was much easier than I thought it would be, and it was fun to have everyone in the kitchen helping.  The dinner was amazing, and the pasta went perfectly with the homemade bread my husband made.


We went for a walk in the gorgeous weather after dinner.  And after my son was asleep, we splurged and had a bowl of ice cream :)   It was an amazing day, and I am so thankful to have these guys in my life.

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Coca-Cola BBQ Chicken

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I hope everyone had a great Mother’s Day yesterday.  Did you do anything special?  I had an amazing day with my son and my husband.  I have a special post tomorrow to share all the highlights of the day.

As Mom’s, I think we all know how important dinners as a family can be.  I remember sitting down to dinner as a family nearly every night as a kid.  Continue reading

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Week in Review 5/12/12

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I hope all of you Mom’s out there have a wonderful Mother’s Day tomorrow!  It is supposed to be a cold and rainy weekend here, so I am not sure what we are up to.  All I want for Mother’s Day is time with my guys, and maybe not to have to cook and clean all day :)   I will keep it short today, enjoy your weekend!

Here is what I was up to this week:
Chocolate Waffles – A Secret Recipe Club recipe, would make for a great Mother’s Day breakfast!
Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Dip – This is secretly healthy, and delicious.  Fun dip for kids and adults.
Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes – A fun new way to enjoy a Philly Cheesesteak.  Quick and easy for a weeknight dinner.
Chili Lime Spiced Almonds – Chili and Lime spiced Almonds.  Great to keep around for a healthy snack.
Tea Time with Donsuemor – Tea Party with Madeleines.  Taking time out to enjoy the simple things in life.

Here are a few things I have bookmarked of yours this week:
Watermelon Margaritas from The Comfort of Cooking – I love margaritas, what a fun summer version!
Indian Spiced Roast Chicken from Simply Delicious – We love anything with Indian spices, this looks incredible!
Peanut Butter Cup S’mores Bars from The Sweet Life – S’mores season is almost upon us.  These bars are over the top amazing!
Cake Batter Monkey Muffins from Chef in Training – Who can say no to cake batter anything?  Monkey Bread is certainly a hit, can’t wait to try this new version!
Mexican Green Spaghetti from You Made That?  – Love the flavors that make this spaghetti green.  I think my husband would even love this!

Happy Mother’s Day, hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

 

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Tea Time with Donsuemor

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We are having a tea party here today!  Last summer Donsuemor asked if I would be part of their “Dessert A Day” campaign.  I created these Pumpkin Cake Balls using their Madeleines.  Well this time, Donsuemor wants to recognize Tea Time!


I had to laugh  when I received the email from Nicole.  For the last few years my dad has to have tea time multiple times a day.  It is on such a schedule that when they are visiting, even my 7 year old knows that Grandpa has to take a break at 3:00 for tea time.   There are even special tea time snacks at my parents house.  I think I am going to have to send them a box of Madeleines!  My dad was actually born in England (where tea time is a huge part of the day), but he moved away from there when he was 2.  We had tea growing up at my house, but it was few and far between.


I decided that one day after school my son and I would have a tea party.  I set out a plate with the Madeleines, and made each of us a cup of tea.  For kids (as I learned from my English relatives), you start with 1/2 milk, 1/2 tea, and a little bit of sugar.  Then as they get older you decrease the amount of milk, and eliminate the sugar.


This was a fun little party for my son and I.  He liked to dip his Madeleine in his tea.  It is a cookie after all, so why not?  I hope you will take a little time out of your day and enjoy the simple parts of life. And it never heard to have yummy Madeleines to go along with it :)


Donsuemor
is a great company that has great products.  Visit their site, to get your very own box of Madeleines (they have a great variety of flavors), shipped right to your door.  You can follow them on Twitter and Facebook as well, so you don’t miss out!

**I was sent boxes of tea, and box of Madeleines from Donsuemor.  I was not compensated in any other way.  The opinions in the post are entirely my own. 

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Chili Lime Spiced Almonds

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My husband always surprises me with what he brings home from the store.  I do probably 99% of the shopping in our house, but every once in awhile I have him stop for something, or he decides to stop on his own.  Back in January, he went out to run some mysterious errands.  He came home with a bag full of nuts.  And by bag full, I mean Target sized bag full.  Apparently somewhere had a sale on Pistachios, so he went to stock up.  He LOVES pistachios.  He also loves a good deal.  So why not pick up mass quantities, they are sale?! Along with pistachios he picked up one lone bag of Chili Lime Almonds.  He and my 7 year old went to town on those almonds.  I was very surprised how much my son liked them.

About a week later Black Peppercorn posted a recipe for Chili Lime Peanuts.  I immediately pinned the recipe and knew I was going to make it with Almonds.  Well, I finally got around to it.  These were so easy!!  Like 5 minutes of work, easy.  I am not a huge nut lover, but I know they are really good for you.  So these are great to have around for a quick afternoon snack.

You can adjust the heat level with these by adding more cayenne.  The amount called for just gives it a tiny background heat.  Not too much for my 7 year old who does not like hot things.  So if you are sharing with just adults, I would double it.

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Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joe

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Philly Cheesesteak’s are one of my favorite sandwiches.  I don’t eat them the right way (my dislike of cheese, and all), but I still love them!  I really want to go to Philly and get a real one, but I am scared they will shun me from their city.  I don’t mind a little cheese on there, but it has to be provolone.  Onion and mushrooms are a must!  From what I have seen on TV, this is not the way they are done in Philly.

So, I will stick with my local place that caters to my strangeness, and doesn’t judge.  Well maybe they judge, but not to my face.  And now, I can make this sloppy joe version at home!  This isn’t quite the same, as it uses ground meat (obviously), but the underlying flavors are there.  My 7 year old ate it, but picked around the onions.  My husband had it for dinner, and then proceeded to eat all of the leftovers.  He doctored his up a bit with spicy banana peppers and Sriracha.  He kind of likes it hot, in case you couldn’t tell.

These would work great to have in the crock pot.  Cook on the stove, and then keep warm in the crock pot for dinner, or for when people arrive.  I always seem to serve Sloppy Joes for lunch when mass quantities of people are around, it will be nice to at least switch up the flavors on them.

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Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Dip

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Have you seen all of those cookie dough dip recipes out there?  Pinterest is full of chocolate chip cookie dough, peanut butter cookie dough, and brownie batter dips.  Some of them are healthy, some of them are anything but!  I am all for a swap to try to make something healthy.  Especially when I can trick my family! (Insert evil laugh here)

The secret ingredient to make this healthy and creamy is tofu.  After my success with Chocolate Mousse, I figured why not?  I am not going to be eating tofu by itself anytime soon.  But, if you want to mix it with sweet ingredients and disguise it, then I am over my fear.  You should be too!!  Try this!

I was drawn to the peanut butter cookie dough dip for obvious reasons.   In case you are new here, I have a thing for peanut butter!  I made it one afternoon while my son was at school.  He came home hungry, and I offered him this for a snack.  He loved it!!  He ate it with graham crackers and thought it was amazing.  A couple days later he even asked for it again (he often forgets about what food we had a few days ago, and has moved on to what is in front of him)!  My husband (the non-chocolate lover), thought there were too many chocolate chips.  He was also taken back by the peanut butter flavor, I guess I forgot to tell him that ahead of time :)

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