Cookie Dough to Munch

Who doesn't love cookie dough? How can you resist the oooey gooey sweetness? Sometimes I crave it, like last night. But I would feel ridiculous making cookie dough just to eat, and of course there is the raw egg issue.

That is, it was an issue until I found this recipe on Fun Foods on a Budget and immediately got out my mixing bowls. And I'm still munching on it as I type this up! SO GOOD!

Eggless Cookie Dough
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup milk
1 cup flour
Pinch salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, mix together the brown sugar and butter until smooth. Stir in vanilla and milk. Mix in the flour, salt, and chocolate chips until well blended. Chill in the refrigerator.

{I added a little white sugar because it wasn't sweet enough and used dark chocolate chips-my favorite!}

Peanut Butter Protien Shake

By request! Here is my new favorite treat!

Pretty picture curtsey of Pinterest

Click Here  to see the recipe for Peanut Butter Protein shake.

Personally, I don't follow precise measurements. Do whatever is comfortable or yummy to you! I LOVE LOVE LOVE peanut butter so i put more in than the recipe.

What I do: Get out your blender and drop in half a banana, some vanilla protein powder (i got the vanilla flavor so that it would still taste good in other drinks.) a few spoonfuls of peanut butter, a few scoops of vanilla yogurt, 4-5 ice cubes, and sometimes a few scoops of hot coco powder :) blend until smooth and enjoy!

The amount of protein in the peanut butter and powder make this rink more of a meal than a side drink. I like to drink it for lunch before going to the gym or working out, or i drink it after the gym to replenish some of what i've lost.

 I've been learning more and more about weight loss and the biggest change i've had to make is how much i eat. Eat just enough to get through your day. You don't want to be hungry and you don't need to eat a burger, fries, milk shake and more fries. (even though its sooooo good!)

I've also learned that it's ok to splurge and over eat EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE and you can still be healthy and lose weight. Weight loss is more than just a goal, it needs to be a life style and you want to have a happy life!

Like this weekend is our anniversary. I know that i'm going to eat some things that are not in my weight loss plan (hot dogs, s'mores etc.) because we are camping. It's going to be fun! But i have to be careful with the amounts i eat and how much i'm burning so i don't waste what i've accomplished!

Fun but balanced. Yummy but balanced. Happy but guiltless.

Pesto Pizza on Peta Bread

Jeff and I had a bunch of friends over on Tuesday so i needed something easy and delicious to serve. By following my latest craving for Pesto I found this recipe from The Lovely Cupboard and modified it a bit to make it quicker and more me :)

I bought Peta bread (sigh, Hunger Games- soooo good. Okay back to food) spread a good amount of pesto as sauce and then spread Parmesan cheese, olives, chicken, tomato and a crumbly-savory-cheese (i cannot remember the name of) all over. Since I didn't have raw dough to cook, I put them in the oven at 350 for 5-10 to toast the bread and melt the cheese.

Served alongside salad and followed up with fudge popsicles, it was the perfect summer time dinner.

Enjoy!

Raspberry Smoothie

(not actually a picture of my smoothie, but my picture didn't show the pretty pink color.)

My latest food (drink) craze is smoothies! Mostly I have been doing blueberry/banana/peanut butter smoothies but today I tried to make my own version of a raspberry smoothie and it came out great!

Ingredients:
About a cup of raspberry yogurt
3/4 cup frozen(or not) raspberrys
1/3 cup light vanilla soy
4-5 ice cubes
half a bananna
a few sprinkles of sugar (to taste)

Throw it all in a blender until smooth, pour into a glass and enjoy!

a picture of my smoothie. Can't really appreciate it's lovely pink color in this pic though.

It's healthy, it's refreshing, and it is my way of hurrying summer! Can't wait for some more sunshine!

 Rachel Approved Smoothie Recipe!

Crock Pot Creativity

Chuck steak
lemon juice from 1 lemon
4 red potatoes
a handful celery stalks chopped up
handful of baby carrots
a bit pf garlic
half of an onion
1/2 cup of water
salt and pepper
rosemary

Put it all in the crockpot on high for 5ish hours.

devour.

yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

PS: don.t throw in the lemon peels after squeezing the juice out of them. Although it makes for a pretty picture, i left them in there and the potatoes were too sour.

Elephant Ears

Uhhhh, nope not that kind......

Yes- this kind! The huge, yummy fantasticalness of fried bread butter sugar and cinnamon!

My sister and i had a craving for them today so we looked for a simple recipe and we used this one. They turned out great! not exactly like the ones at the fair but they satisfied our sugary craving.

It takes about an hour and is super fun!

Advice:
-Roll out dough to about a 1/4 of an inch- or thinner, the thinner they are the crispier.
-you really do need 1/2 to 1 inch of oil in your pan! (make the float so they fry nice)
-Medium heat

ENJOY!

Almost Easier than Mac n' Cheese

Found a easy crock-pot recipe on Pintrest that uses things you might already have in your pantry.

Hawaiian BBQ Chicken

1 can of pinapple- crushed or chuncks
1 bottle of BBQ sauce-hawaiian flavor is recomended but i used original and it worked great
4-6 pieces of chicken

Dump them all in the crock-pot for 6 hour on low! Easy-peasy.
I didnt have 6 hours so I did 3hrs on High and 1 hour on low or so- just make sure the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
Add brown rice and a side salad- enjoy!

Easy Dinner

Salad, Noodles, Chicken, Tomatos, Salad Dressing- Boom, dinner.

Charcoal No Longer!

Back in high school (so over 3 years ago) I tried to make a grilled cheese sandwich.... the cheese was melted...but somehow it looked something like this...

 Since then, I have been the brunt of countless cooking, kitchen and holiday jokes.

BUT NO LONGER!!!

 Behold, the perfect grilled cheese and ham sandwich!!!!!

And it tasted good too! :)

Happy cooking!

Pretty Old Cards

I love getting cards from people; mail is so fun! But after a while the bulletin board fills up and not all the cards can stay.

Here's an idea of what to do with those pretty patterns!

Fold along crease a few times to weaken and then tear the card in two. You can save the words in a scrapbook if you wish.

Write on the back of the "pretty side." I use mine to make recipe cards, but it is also fun to make post cards.

Soon you'll be getting a plethora of happy holiday wishes, so save up those colorful cards and send them out next year or use them to record Grandma's secrete family recipe!

No Oven? No Problem!

Jeff and I are LOVING our new apartment! One of the things I was originally worried about was our kitchen not having an oven. But things are working out great so far! Our toaster oven is awesome :)

I used to be scared of cooking too. I was always the one getting kicked out of the kitchen; mom and Rachel enjoyed it more anyway and were better at it. And then... there was the grilled cheese. I attempted to make myself an innocent grilled cheese sandwich. Well, lets just say, some how all the cheese ended up melted in the pan and where my whole wheat use to be was a pile of charcoal... I haven't tried one since.

Well, i still havent tried the grilled cheese, but I am starting to cook and experiment :) For example, last night i made some fantastic baked chicken marinaded in Yumm! sauce. Seems easy enough, and it is. The toaster oven is easier to use than i thought, not a whole lot of difference from an oven, except that it wont fit any of the nice pans and cookie sheets we got for our wedding. :(

Oh, and Yumm! Sauce is just about the most amazing and versatile thing ever! I L.O.V.E. it!!! So if you are ever wondering what you want to gift me (if you dont want to get me craft store or American Eagle gift cards) I'd love a bottle of Yumm!!!!

Today I'm making cookies while Jeff is off at work. He got a job at Les Schwab! God is so good! He meets all of our needs in such wonderful ways. For now I'm a student and a stay at home wife :) who needs to go look for a job...ugh.

I'm really excited to see friends and family tomorrow! Jeff turns 21 and we are having an ultimate Frisbee party followed by smores around the fire pit. Party=sweets, hence cookies and Jeff and I will be making his favorite cake tonight- German Chocolate :) Married life is great!!

Cooking Together

So, lets be honest- I dont cook. I never really learned because my mom and sister are so good at it. Yeah, i can make pancakes, cookies, fry an egg and cook chicken- so I can survive. The problem is having the guts to try new things...even with a recipe. :)

That's one of the perks to being married, Jeff likes to cook, and now we like to cook together. So far all of our efforts have tasted great!!!

 

Shrimp Alfrado

Salmon and rice

Chicken and stir fry

In other news:

We are currently living with my parents while we finish up our summer jobs. I'm excited to move into our tiny little apartment, two or so weeks from now, just before school starts. I'm excited to decorate and make ourselves a comfy little home!