DIY Olive Garden Salad

Recently I discovered two things.  One, that Olive Garden marketed a "light" salad dressing (it's available in their restaurants)! Two, they now sell their bottled dressing in grocery stores.  Our local store carries it with the rest of the dressings on the top shelf.  This stuff is good and lets be honest, all of us go there for the salad and breadsticks.  Unfortunately for me, Adam just simply isn't a fan of Olive Garden (well anything not meat and potatoes really...).  I am, however, lucky that he loves salad!  This re-creation was as simple as buying the salad ingredients, a bottle of dressing and taking the time to throw it all together!

Olive Garden salad includes a romaine mix, black olives, cherry tomatoes, red onion, parmesan cheese, croutons and peppers.  Toss it all up in a big bowl and voila! The best thing about making it at home is you don't have to worry about unwanted ingredients.  Plus, everyone can add their own dressing!

"Deep Dish" Fruit Pizza

I can honestly say that fruit pizza is one dessert I had never tried.  I love the idea of a sweet cookie crust and refreshing fruit topping.  For us, fruit is a huge part of our daily diet.  Owen can eat his weight in grapes and Haley has a slight watermelon obsession.  At any given time, we have no less than 4-5 varieties of fruit, so this dessert just works well for us.  My Aunt Lynne also turned us onto this amazing frosting.  It's a fluffy white frosting that is simply mixed with boiled water and aerated! It's fat free and, well, that's just about every girls dream come true!  Adam isn't big on sweets and that's why this frosting is perfect for us, because it has just a touch of sweetness and still works well as a binder for a cake!

When I set out to make this pizza I realized I didn't have a round pizza pan.  While Adam and I went out shopping I reminded myself a million times to pick one up for this dessert.  But, I forgot (along with about 10 other things so I conclude that I can never shop without a list, ever)!  That's where the deep dish comes into play.  I filled a pie pan with sugar cookie dough and worked it up the sides as if I was going to make a pie.  My only suggestion at this point would be to keep the crust somewhat thin since the dough will rise, a lot!  Once my cookie crust finished cooking, I let it cool down completely.  I filled the middle with my (fat free) frosting and topped it with some organic strawberries, blueberries and a freshly peeled kiwi!  The great thing about this too, is it doesn't need to be refrigerated so it's great for cook outs or a potluck. 

Homemade Alfredo

Alfredo is, hands down, my very favorite pasta sauce.  Creamy and cheesy with a slight saltiness, I find it to be incredibly delicious.  I usually just buy a jar sauce and cook it up with some diced chicken and call it a meal.  I've realized now that there simply isn't any justice to this sauce when it comes out of a jar.  I was pretty nervous about making my own. The problem with a cheese sauce of any kind is the risk of the oil portion separating from the cream portion.  When I made this alfredo I was busy making all the other dishes, but stirring this well every couple of minutes helped it stay nice and thick.

We enjoyed this sauce over some whole wheat linguini noodles and topped with grilled chicken breast that I seasoned with Italian seasonings.  On the side, we added some salad and had fruit pizza for dessert! It was delicious and I will make this again and again.  Goodbye store bought sauce, your preservatives aren't welcome here anymore. 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 tbsp minced garlic

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup grated parmesan cheese 

2 tbsp light cream cheese 

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper 

In a saucepan, melt the butter.  Once it's bubbly, add in the garlic and sauté for a few minutes.  Pour in the heavy cream.  You want the cream to bubble but not boil, add in the cream cheese and stir until it's melted into the sauce.  Add in the parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.  Continue to stir until the sauce has thickened. Enjoy! 

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies

Anyone that follows our blog knows that we are big chocolate chip cookie eaters.  We love them! With butter, without butter, nuts, candies, coconut... You name it and I'm sure we've tried it.  I've seen on multiple occasions that people add pudding to their cookies.  Now, I've done cornstarch because it makes them so light and fluffy, but pudding? That was a new one.  Tonight I thought, what the heck, lets go for it.  I didn't have vanilla or even chocolate, so I used cheesecake. These are stellar! My kids gobbled them up!  The great thing about this recipe is the serving size! It makes 12 perfect cookies! You can make them for after dinner and not have to worry about storing too many leftovers.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten
2 heaping tbsp cheesecake pudding (just the powder)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup chocolate chips

With a mixer, beat together the butter and sugars.  Add in the egg, vanilla, pudding, baking soda and salt.  Once incorporated, beat in the flour.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  Drop 12 cookies onto a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy!

This little cupcake walked right over, sat down and proceeded to help herself!  

Pepperoni Cheese Sticks

We eat way too much pizza in our house.  I'd love to point fingers and say that it's because of my two boys, but in reality, I love it just as much! My absolute favorite pizza is the pepperoni crazy bread from Little Cesears!  Owen and I went there a few months ago to get one for dinner and wouldn't you know, they've taken it off their menu! I was devastated! Ever since that day I have craved it and knew I'd need to find a way to make my own.

Back in the day, I worked for Pizza Hut.  I was a young, crazy, high school gal who could eat what she wanted and not have to worry so much.  I would make breadsticks and top them with lots of ooey cheese and Italian sausage.  I promise I shared with my best friend and co-worker, Cassandra! We would go to town on those bad boys.  Because of this, I know the concept of building and topping a pizza! You've got to do the cheese just right so the toppings don't fall off. 

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose baking mix

5 tbsp parmesan cheese

1/2 cup water

1 tsp pizza seasonings (Italian will work too)

1 cup mozzarella cheese

toppings of choice

Mix together the baking mix, parmesan cheese, seasonings and water.  Press firmly into the bottom of a 13x9 inch pan (I had to flour my hands since the dough was sticky).  Top with about 3/4 cup of the cheese.  Build your toppings and sprinkle the rest of the cheese to help "hold down" the toppings.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. Dip in your favorite sauce! Enjoy!

Little B's Smash Cake

Today was this little guys first birthday! I was lucky enough to take his smash cake pictures! He loved the cake and we all had a lot of fun!

Double Chocolate Puffins

I think we can all agree that quick and easy breakfast meals are the way to go.  I have two little ones and find that most mornings are hectic, and I don't even have a job to run off to or a kid to get on the bus.  We love pancakes! Owen will ask to go to IHop every time we drive by so these muffins were surely loved. A puffin is simply a pancake baked like a muffin making them super travel friendly. I can't fathom with how easy they are either.  You mix all the ingredients up, top with some chocolate chips and pop them in the over for just 10 minutes! They are light and fluffy and full of chocolate flavor!  I can see many more of these puffins in the future!

Ingredients:

1 cup baking mix 

1/2 cup vanilla almond milk (you could use regular milk with vanilla extract)

1 egg

2 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

1/4 cup chocolate chips (or more if you like)

In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Pour in the almond milk and egg, and whisk together until smooth.  Bake in a prepared muffin pan at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Serve warm. These can also be cooled off and stored in a tupperwear container in the freezer. Heat them in the microwave for a few seconds before enjoying! 

This recipe makes enough for 6 full sized muffins and they come out to 4 points plus a piece so even I can enjoy one!  

The First Of June

Am I the only one in complete disbelief that it's already June!?  Seriously, half the year is nearly over! We kicked off this month with playtime, projects and a new grill!  And by grill, I mean a tiny thing that only holds a few hamburgers.  We've had this big deluxe gas grill for a few years now, but Adam has been craving a chargrilled hamburger.  Quite frankly, I really wanted one too!  So, while we were out picking up my new studio flooring, we found a tiny, cheap charcoal grill and took that bad boy home!  Of course, the first of June wouldn't have been successful without a meltdown (or two), but I'm happy to say we made it through a fun morning at the park without much fuss!

Adam also took the time to build me an awesome new faux studio floor! It was surprisingly easy. I was even able to snap a few pictures tonight while the glue finishes drying.  It cost us just over thirty bucks, and since it's not vinyl I don't have to worry about tearing it.  My main need for said flooring was a smash cake session for my cute little eleven month old who is nearing her first birthday!  I'm so excited for those pictures!

I hope everyone had a fun first of June and that today only begins to radiate the summer ahead!