Monster Cookie Dough

This is by far one of my favorite treats ever! I take this almost ever time I am asked to bring a treat. This is perfect for a Super Bowl Party and Valentines Day or anytime really. 

Best.Treat.Ever! 

 Recipe
-1  8oz package of cream cheese softened
-1/2 cup butter softened
-1 cup creamy peanut butter
-1-2 cups powered sugar depending on how thick you want it
-3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
-1/4 cup all purpose flour
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-2 1/2 cups rolled oats ( I usually do three, because i love the texture)
-1 cup M&Ms (if a is holiday coming up I used the holiday M&M's)
-1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips ( I like to use the mini ones for this)
- some times I will add toasted coconut

Directions
1.) With a hand mixer beat butter, cream cheese and peanut butter until smooth.
2.) Add powered sugar, brown sugar, flour and vanilla.  
3.) Use a wooden spoon to mix in oats, chocolate chips and and M&Ms.
4.) For me it is a must serve it in something cute.
5.) Serve with apples or pretzels

I originally found this recipe at this website the girl who ate everything and have adapted it to what I prefer.  Both recipes are pretty close and mine was inspired by hers so it's only fair I give her credit.

*Be sure to mention to parents and expecting moms that it does not have egg in it. 

Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls!

Red Velvet is something you either love or don't really care for.

I am a lover of Red Velvet anything. I saw a few pins floating around pinterest 

for red velvet cinnamon rolls. I knew I had to try them... 

These are perfect for Christmas or Valentines day. 

My first problem was that I have never made cinnamon rolls by myself.

I have only ever made them with my mom. My second problem it has been years since 

I have made them with my mom. 

So I searched and searched the world wide web for recipes. I found two that I 

liked and mixed and matched a little.

The recipe that I manly used can be found at No. 2 pencil and the other at the skinny fork.

Here is the recipe 

Red Velvet Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls

These took about three hours from start to finish

Makes 24 rolls 

1 box red velvet cake mix 

2 envelopes active dry yeast

2 and 1/2 cups warm water 

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups of all purpose flour

The Filling 

1 stick softened butter

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 cup of white sugar

cinnamon 

1 Tablespoon coco powder

The Frosting

2 sticks softened butter

3 cups powered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

a pinch of salt

2 packages of softened cream cheese 

I think these are worth drooling over! 

These clearly are not healthy.... but very Delicious 

Combine two packages of active dry yeast with warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir until dissolved. Add cake mix, flour, vanilla and salt. Mix, I used a hand mixer but I am sure a dough hook would be much much better. Move to larger bowl, cover (I used a towel), and let rise for about an hour. Punch dough down after an hour (my favorite part of the whole thing), and let rise again for another hour.

Use plenty of flour on a clean surface and turn dough out.  Shape into a ball, then roll into a rectangle shape. Spread softened butter over dough. Combine brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon and coco powder and spread onto the buttery dough!  Start from farthest edge and roll dough tightly into a long skinny log shape. Slice into 24 rolls.

Place rolls in pans that have been greased with butter, or sprayed with non stick cooking spray. I used one 9X13 and another round spring cake pan. Let rise a final time in pan for about 30 minutes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

While the rolls are baking, prepare cream cheese frosting. I once again used a hand mixer and bowl, combine room temperature butter with powdered sugar. Beat until well combined, then add vanilla and pinch of salt. Mix again, then while mixer is going, drop cubes of softened cream cheese in the bowl two or three at a time until frosting is well mixed. Do a taste test or five of the frosting.... 

Oh and I realized once I started baking them... I forgot the the cinnamon. 

Enjoy! 

Christmas Swirl Sugar Cookies

I know it is past Christmas and it is the new year... I should wait until next December to blog about these yummy cookies....But I figure you could use these for Easter, Halloween or any Holiday.... I love sugar cookies especially with lots of frosting... frosting really should be it's own food group.... I was searching for some cookies to give out as gifts to the nursery class I teach.  I came across this Blog and knew I had try these cookies. 

At some point I may actually take step by step pictures of the things I make (don't worry the lady I got the idea from has a step by step process). I almost always forget to take pictures (doh). I did snap this picture though.

I used a sugar cookie recipe from a recipe book called  "Christmas Cookies By Gooseberry Patch.". I love finding new Christmas cookies in the book each year...

Buttermilk Sugar Cookies
2 c. sugar
2 c, shorting
4 eggs
1 T. vanilla extract
2 c. buttermilk
6 c. flour
1 T. plus 1 t baking powder
2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt

Mix sugar, shorting and eggs; add vanilla and buttermilk and set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt stir into the sugar mixture. Add more flour as needed to make a firm dough. Chill for 2 to 3 hours or overnight.

After making the dough I separated the dough into three sections and added green to one section, red dye to another and left one plain..I wish I had gotten a picture of us mixing the color with the dough. Because of the recipe I was using the dough was super sticky and mixing it with my hands was a no go. I then used the hand mixer which worked... but the dough clumped all the way to the top of the mixing utensils. I really need to invest in a bosch (hint... hint..Bryce). When it was all said and done the dough looked beautiful.

I refrigerated the dough for a few hours and then layered it and rolled it together and refrigerated it again.
I started to cut them with a knife and then my friend stopped me and said use floss...it worked so much better. With the left over dough  (the odds and ends). I rolled it out and used a bell shaped cookie cutter to cut the dough. (I made these ones for the kids to decorate).

I had tons of cookies and bagged them in groups of three and tied it with ribbon. They looked so cute. I made enough for the kids to take a bag home and each of the other teachers. We sometimes have five kids and other times fifteen. So I made twenty cute little bags. And Guess what? Only five kids and one teacher showed up..The Kids that were there enjoyed frosting and decorating the cookies. One of the three year old's frosted and ate three cookies..(whoops). I sent all the extras home with the other teacher.

Special thanks to my friend Stephanie for letting me use her kitchen while our husbands played video games. One day I will have all the fun kitchen stuff she has.

In case you were wondering the dough and the cookies were tasty! 

Menu Planning

Tonight in Relief Society a lady shared how she stores recipes, menu plans and garden cooking. I am defiantly going to use her idea for storing recipes. After leaving I thought to myself that I should share how I menu plan. It's different from her's, but works for my family. 

-I like to go grocery shopping, so I go once a week and plan a menu for a week. 

-I have the chart saved below on my computer and print one off weekly. 

-Aside from grocery shopping, I allow myself 15 minutes to do the planning. I do this as quickly as I can to get it out of the way for the week. When I first started I would spend an hour or so working on it. 

-When I make dinner I make enough to send with Bryce for lunch the next day and sometimes Ava and I have left overs too.

-The first thing I do is write on the square for the meal and snack if we are going to be gone. 

-I keep these charts and for those times I just don't want to make a menu I use one from months ago. I have a binder they are kept in.

-I also hate eating the same foods all the time, so if during the week I find something online or in a magazine that looks good, I add it to the menu. Their are so many different types of food that it makes it easy to have variety. 

-Next I find one sometimes two new recipes to try for dinner that week.

-I then look in my fridge and freezer and see what needs to be used in the week. 

-I then pick foods for the rest of the week. Depending on how busy I am that week depends on what I make. (I get recipes form pinterest, all recipes, cook books and blogs).

-If i end up not using a recipe one week I bump it to next weeks menu planner.

-The meals are not set in stone for the day it is written on, I mix them up during the week.

-I am not a fan of processed foods, so I cook with lot of produce. During the summer I go to farmer markets, local farms or my mother in law.

-Once my menu is planned, I look to see what I need to get at the store and put it on the bottom of the chart.   

- I only buy whats on my list with few exceptions. Doing that and having a menu for the weeks saves us time and money. 

This seems like a lot, but it's not and it's super easy to do as long as your recipes are organized. 

If you would like a copy of this chart let me know and I will email it to you.  

*I saw a chart similar to this in a friends blog. I could not find it tonight. It is where I got my idea to do this and changed the format to fit my needs. 

For the Week of:                                                 :

	Breakfast	Snack	Lunch	Snack	Dinner	Notes
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday

Groceries Needed:

Andes Mint Brownies Special

Need A Tasty Treat?
Here is a great one.
1 or 2 boxes of Andes Mints broken and crushes
1 box brownie mix, use the directions on the back to make the batter
1 package of cream cheese soften/ mixed with a cup or tow of sugar.
Put half the batter down in a 9x13 cake pan
put the cream cheese down. I think it is easy to put in a zip lock bag. tear a small hole and squeeze it out.
put the rest of the batter on top
put the Andes mints on top
put in oven bake as directed by the brownie box and check them. more time may be needed.

Easy Banana Bread

Easy Banana Bread. Yum

-1 yellow cake mix
-3 eggs
-3 oz cream cheese
-Nuts.. (I prefer pecans)
-Bake at 350 for 35 minutes

Avocado Feta Salsa

• 2 plum tomatoes, chopped
• 1 ripe avocado - peeled, pitted and chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon snipped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice 
• 4 ounces crumbled feta cheese
• a dash of salt and pepper

Taco Soup

This is one of my favorite recipes
What you need
-One crock pot
-1lb hamburger browned. (I usually one use half or a fourth of it)
-1 Chopped onion
-1 chopped green pepper
-I can corn (drained)
-1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
-1can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
-1 taco seasoning packet
-1 ranch packet
-1/2 of salsa
put it all in the crock pot, stir it and let it sit for 2 to eight hours.
Serve with a drop of sour cream, cheddar cheese and tortilla chips.

Fourth of July weekend.

I love the fourth of July! It is my second favorite holiday only to be surpassed by Halloween of course. Saturday we went to the ward breakfast and bike parade then we went to the splash park on base.. Ava did not enjoy it at all, so we went to get Slurpee's and wash the car. We came home to let Ava nap then went swimming at the pool at our complex. Ava wasn't to thrilled by it at first, but then was splashing and having fun by the end.  

 Sunday after Church we headed to Idaho to spend the night with Grandma and Grandpa Nash. Ava loves going there and seeing all the animals and playing outside. She is now determined that everything that moves (animals) is a kikikitty with the exception of there goat. that is goa

 Grandpa and Ava riding around the yard on the four wheeler while bryce and i finished eating. 

 There was a hammock up, which of course I took and advantage of to read on while it was quite

 Yummmmm... sunblock  

 Of course we had to light of illegal fire works! Ava was extremely tired and therefore wasn't that found of them. it made grandma happy. She also refused to let mom hold but snuggled with dad and grandma

 she discovered mustered isn't good by it's self. 

On the fourth we went to the parade in Dayton. Grandma also took Ava for a few hours and Bryce and i rode around in the sand rail for a little bit then went to his aunts house to visit his cousins. 

The night of the 4th we had to Stephs and Vances for the tradition of BBQing and fireworks. Ava loved the fireworks and clapped and cheered. She let the Nash side of her shine. 

Introducing Ava into the Hood!

After the ceremony we had a few hours to kill and decided to get Cafe Rio for lunch and head to Liberty Park. This is one of my favorite places to go. We feed the ducks, played in the water and went on the carousal. She wasn't sure about the carousal at first but then decided it was okay.  

 She was steering Bryce, by pulling on his ears.

I loved taking Ava there and can't wait until she is older to do a boat ride in the pond and ride the Ferris Wheel. I went to this park almost every day in the summers growing up. It brought back so many great memories for me.

Introducing the Carapezza's!

Ashley and I have been friends since the 9th grade!  I was so honored to be able to attend her wedding ceremony and celebrate this special day with Dmitri and her.  These two love bird met at a scout camp while ash was in high school. They went on a few dates during our senior year and started dating at the end of it.  After a few years of dating they decided to take a break. Well as fate had Ashley decided to go on  mission and gave her "farewell talk" and one week before she was leaving..... Dmitri asked to take her on a date a proposed with a ring pop at the first spot he kissed her. Ashley told him she had to think and pray about it. She went to the temple her car broke down and of course Dmitri came to her rescue and she told him outside of the temple that she was staying.. I am so glad, they are a very cute couple and I am so glad I have been able to watch them grow as a couple over the last seven years.   

 Ashley's Dad one of the nicest people I have ever met. I also get teary during father daughter dates.

 Bryce dancing with Ava

 Bryce and I dancing

 Some of my favorites

 My cute family

 She was a trooper the whole day

Oh Christmas Tree

 Christmas time.

We spent the 23, 24 and Christmas morning With Bryce's family the later part of Christmas day with mine. We are so blessed to have an amazing family and had lots of fun.  

 This is Ava eating chocolate Ice cream for the first time

I made the flower in her hair to match the outfit. 

 These are Bryce's cousins at Natalie's wedding

The happy couple Eric and Nat

 I love the veil pictures... I should send these to the newly weds. 

Ava's Christmas dress. 

I just love her guts!  

 Ava wearing Grandpa Nashs hat

 Ava and Taya

 He's a proud grandpa

 Opening presents on Christmas Eve

 A sea horse from Grandpa

Move it or lose it. 

Need Proof that Bryce is a nerd?... He built a trebuchet for his brother for Christmas. 

After all the morning festivities Ava need a good nap by dad. 

All the little ones in the family

Coloring contest

The 19 yr old girl facebook pic of me and my cute niece. 

My lil sis wanted one 

This is a Huge dog pile... I am on the bottom somewhere... Oh look I am holding up the peace sign. 

doing what they both do best. 

Bryce got me DDR for christmas this us playing we all sucked... well except Bree. 

HE finally gave me a hug.. After many attempts.