No More Mallows!

 

See that little guy up here? 

He's pretty angry. 

He's low in calories, an amazing source of antioxidants, beta carotene, Vitamin A and C, manganese, loaded with fiber and complex carbohydrates and way too often is covered up by marshmallows, butter, heavy cream and sickening amounts of sugar.

I came up with a new idea of how to use naturally delicious sweet potatoes by making them the star of the show instead of a sugary side note!

Living in the land of Tex-mex it wasn't hard for me to decide on tacos.

Fajita seasoned sweet potato tacos to be exact. Topped with a refreshing cilantro slaw and a chipotle maple sour cream, it's changing up taco night for the better!

Southwest Sweet Potato Tacos with Maple Chipotle Cream and Cilantro Slaw

 2 pounds fresh sweet potatoes

4 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup fajita seasoning (I use Chi Chi's brand fajita seasoning packet)

1/3 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons Tabasco chipotle pepper hot sauce

2 teaspoons maple syrup

½ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon lime juice

1 ½ cups shredded green cabbage

3 green onions, thinly sliced

1/3 cup cilantro, chopped

8 soft taco size corn tortillas, warmed

 Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Wash, dry and peel sweet potatoes and cut into ½ inch cubes. Place cubed sweet potatoes into a large mixing bowl with 3 Tbsp olive oil and fajita seasoning. Toss until all cubes are evenly coated with seasoning mixture. Place seasoned sweet potato cubes on a large foil lined cookie sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 35 minutes, stirring once at the halfway point to ensure even browning.

While potatoes are baking, place the sour cream, chipotle hot sauce and maple syrup in a small mixing bowl. Whisk to thoroughly combine, cover and place in the fridge until ready to serve.  In a separate medium mixing bowl whisk together remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil, cumin, salt and lime juice. Add cabbage, green onion and cilantro to lime cumin dressing and toss to evenly coat the slaw.

Sweet potatoes are ready when evenly browned and tender in the middle. To assemble tacos divide the sweet potatoes evenly between the tortillas. Top each taco with slaw and maple chipotle cream and serve immediately.


Makes 4 servings (2 tacos per person)

Visit the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission to get even more great ideas on how to turn sweet potatoes into a delicious and healthy treat for your family!

Vanilla Malt O Meal Griddle Cakes

As a kid pancakes for breakfast were a special weekend thing

It's not like my mom had time to whip up a batch before school every morning.

Today, being a mom of 2 little ones myself, I don't have time for that either during the morning "let's get out of the door before I'm late again and your teacher thinks I'm incapable of being on time" rush.

I need something easy and quick, but I also know the importance of a healthy breakfast to start the kids (and me) off on a good foot.

That's why I love making a big batch of things like healthy pancakes or muffins and freezing them over the weekend so when the morning rush hits all I have to do is grab it and go.

I saw a recipe recently that I thought I could easily change up to be more healthy and my kids inhaled them. Literally. 

My son ate 5 in one sitting and asked for more as a snack later on!

They have a delicious nuttiness to them and instead of drowning them in syrup we spread a little Caramel Apple Butter on them.

You must try these, I promise you will be glad you did!

Vanilla Malt O Meal Griddle Cakes

recipe adapted from here

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup plain Malt O Meal 

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cup 2% milk

1/2 cup fat free vanilla greek yogurt

1/4 cup canola oil

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pre-heat a large griddle pan on medium high heat. (I use an electric griddle and set it to 350)

In a large bowl combine the flours, malt o meal, sugar, baking powder and soda and salt and whisk together. In a separate small bowl combine the yogurt, oil, egg and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Add the wet ingredients to the dry bowl and stir only until just combined being careful not to over mix. Lightly oil griddle once it is hot and spoon 1/3 cup scoops of batter on the griddle. Flip when you see bubbles forming on the top of the griddle cakes and when the bottom looks nicely browned. Serve immediately or allow to cool and store in a ziptop bag in the freezer to enjoy later.

Makes about 20

Magical Birthdays

Hi there! 

It's been a while hasn't it?!

The last time I was here I was sharing how sad I was about how sick my baby girl was on her birthday and I wasn't able to throw her a mermaid Ariel themed birthday party.

Well, luckily for us, we already had plans for something far better than what I could pull off at home and I think it may have been the best birthday a little girl could ever wish for

Yeah, that's Ariel making a little kid's dream come true in about 2.7 seconds

And there she is again, being treated like royalty in Cinderella's Castle for her birthday breakfast

 The breakfast was awesome by the way! I really didn't have too high of hopes for the food I was going to find in Disney World, but I'm happy to say I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. For breakfast at Cinderella's Castle we had sausage, bacon, marinated berries and a french toast souffle stuffed with marscapone cheese.....YUM!

The kids loved every second of it! 

Brianna's wasn't the only birthday we were celebrating while we were there

 Louis turned another year older while we were there and I pre-arranged for them to surprise him with this mountain of sugary goodness for his special day. This three layer double chocolate cake was topped with a whole chocolate bar, cupcake, a huge wedge of a brownie, m&m's and mickey shaped sprinkles. 

The people at Disney don't mess around!

Marshall had his fair share of fun too, even if it wasn't his birthday

 His special time of the trip was spent fighting evil and restoring peace to the galaxy

He's a real Jedi now and he's got the papers to prove it!

And no one can go to Disney and not eat one of these, right?!

Under the Sea.....to Under the Weather

Before we left for our 10 day trip back home I packed everything I needed to decorate a beautiful mermaid themed birthday cake.

(at least the design in my head was beautiful) 

Sprinkles, homemade fondant, cutters, icing gel colors, streamers, pink plates and forks, a cake board and MUCH MUCH MORE. 

While packing all of my baking gear I came across a cupcake liner and topper set I bought a while ago and I threw it in the box. I really didn't know why but in the back of my mind I said "just in case"

well guess what?
I ended up needing that back up box and I was so glad for my over planning!
During our trip both the kids and Louis ended up with terrible colds and one ear infection which led to antibiotics, cough medicine, humidifiers and many nights of being up at all hours trying to console one of them.
The day before we had scheduled all of our family to come over and share a piece of that beautiful cake I had in my mind we had to cancel the party. My little mermaid princess was just too sick to invite people over. I was so sad for her but I still wanted to do something fun, so out came the fairy themed cupcake box.
Pink cake, purple icing and fairy toppers

She got to eat her girly cake in her footed pj's, princess crown and Ariel nightgown, Vick's vapo-rub and all!

(please excuse the hideous face I am making, apparently I eat cake like an animal)

Today is her birthday

She is 3 and very proud of it!

We are so blessed to have her and I couldn't imagine life without her

 so sweet

and so sassy

 

Thanks to Al Gawlik Photography for the amazing pictures! If you live in Austin you must check her out!

How Time Flies

Well the holidays just swept me away and I can't believe it's already January!

Today I was busy packing Christmas decorations to put away (among all of the other chores that go along with a 10 day trip back home) and the kids were a little upset with me.

They didn't really know why I had to put away all the decorations, why I was taking ornaments off of the Christmas tree and why Santa was no longer "comin' to town"

I tried to put it the best way I knew how:  "now we get to start all over again"

Trying to further make this transition a little more exciting than disappointing I reminded them both that after Christmas we also get to celebrate B's birthday

My baby girl is going to be 3 tomorrow

and I thought I'd share with you a cake I make recently for another princess that turned 2

This little beauty had a Dr Seuss themed birthday party so a bright, colorful two tiered cake was requested

I made a chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream and covered it with fondant and fondant accents

I hope she enjoyed her special day!

Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies

Mint and Chocolate

I think that is one perfect combination

 These cookies are so easy (are you noticing a recurring theme here lately?)

and so delicious

especially if you get one right out of the oven when it's still gooey

It's impossible to just eat three

the base is a boxed brownie mix so the cookies are extra fudgy and soft

How could you not leave one of these out for Santa?

Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies

1 (19.9 ounce) box brownie mix

1 large egg

1 tbsp plus 2 tsp water 

1 tsp peppermint extract

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup crushed candy canes

Preheat oven to 375 ºF. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Combine brownie mix, egg, water, peppermint extract and oil in large bowl. Stir until well blended. Scoop a Tablespoon of dough for each cookie and place about 2 inches apart onto the cookie sheet. Top each cookie with crushed candy cane pieces.

Bake 6 to 8 minutes or until cookies are just set in the center. Cool for 3 minutes before removing to cooling rack. Allow the cookies to cool completely.

White Chocolate Pistachio Cranberry Bark

 

Here is another really easy and festive addition to your Christmas Cookie tins- and it's even Christmas-y colors too!

White Chocolate Pistachio Cranberry Bark

here's how I made mine:

Melt some white chocolate over a double boiler, spread it out with an offset spatula on a large wax paper lined cookie sheet and then sprinkle it with chopped pistachios and dried cranberries (I used pomegranate infused ones) press the nuts and cranberries down slightly to make sure they stick and then let it set

Once it is solid break it into hunks and snack away!

Chocolate Christmas Pretzels

 I am fully aware that these are not gourmet, fancy or difficult in any way, but I still adore them.

Sweet and Salty is my favorite flavor combo and these give me just that.

And they're pretty cute too!

I found these adorable holly and Christmas tree sprinkles in the dollar bins at Target and used them to decorate the quick and easy treat

What a cheerful addition to your Christmas cookie platter!

Eggnog Brigadeiros

Yesterday I spent most of the day in pajamas, drinking eggnog flavored coffee, listening to Christmas music and baking, cooking and candy making. 

In short; I was in heaven.

When planning what I was going to include in my Christmas goodie boxes I came across this recipe and had to give it a shot.

A Brazilian candy made of sweetened condensed milk, butter and spiced rum...seriously how could something with that ingredient list not be good?!

You start out with the egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, butter and freshly grated nutmeg in a heavy saucepan and cook it on medium low heat constantly stirring. And stirring. And still stirring.

I may have wimped out during the constant stirring and asked Louis to take a turn at the stove.

Twice

After they are ready you chill it, scoop it into small balls and roll it in a coating

I chose a mix of grated white chocolate and colorful sprinkles to roll mine in

They are sticky and sweet and include rum

Do you really need any more convincing to try them?! 

Next time I think I will try the chocolate version and add frangelico at the end to do a Nutella spin on them!

Eggnog Brigadeiro Recipe

What is your favorite Holiday treat to hand out?

It's never a bad time for a cupcake

Things have been crazy around here, as I'm sure it has been for everyone with Christmas right around the corner. Unfortunately I haven't had the time to blog as often as I'd like but I just wanted to share something sweet that I made recently

These sunny and bright cupcakes were made for a sweet family friend of ours to celebrate her birthday. Almond cake with Almond Cream Cheese Icing
a deliciously simple combo!

So Thankful

I hope you all had a delicious Thanksgiving! 

I love Thanksgiving for reminding us of all the good things around us, for getting together with family and of course for the food!

A smoked turkey with roasted garlic gravy, dressing, rice, bacon wrapped glazed green beans, baked macaroni and cheese, bourbon pumpkin pecan tart and apple cream cheese danish tart was on our table and I'm really sad to say that it's mostly gone already!

 One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is the leftover turkey that I turn into Gumbo. And there is no better meal to warm up with while decorating the tree and getting the house decorated for Christmas than Gumbo in my opinion!

 I am so excited to be getting ready for Christmas and Christmas with kids is so much more fun!