Happy Wednesday! :)

Here's another waffle from our Christmas waffle bar, Chocolate Chip Waffles from Mommy's Musings.

This was a definite YES, PLEASE! for me. They were the waffle I chose for Christmas morning; because I used mini chocolat chips, whipped cream, and strawberries to top my waffle, it wasn't overly sweet - but it was GOOD. Just enough chocolate to feel decadent, it was the perfect compliment to my low-carb breakfast casserole and fruit.

It's also been fun having waffles in the freezer; they've been a nice treat for Kenn, too, when he's in the mood for waffles.

Have a wonderful day, friend - be BLESSED!

Baked Vanilla Donuts with Chocolate Frosting

Happy weekend! :) I hope you're staying warm and DRY - things around here are getting interesting, with another round of snow and ice followed by RAIN all day Saturday. It's going to be a MESS. I haven't left the house since last Sunday, so we've been doing lots of baking and cooking. :)

These Vanilla Donuts with Chocolate Frosting are one of the things I've made, brought to you from Call Me PMC,

Now, because it's snow/ice, there is no running to the store to get one or two things, as you well know. :) So I didn't have any Greek yogurt; I used lemon juice in my milk, as the recipe says you can. And I didn't use any canned frosting - YUCK! - but some chocolate frosting I've been saving from a past cake recipe to use. :)

I don't think any of us were knocked out with the TEXTURE of these. They were a LOT like sponge cake, which is okay when that's what I'm EXPECTING in my donut. :) And Kenn said they were very filling. :D I'm keeping the recipe in my "Good Recipes to Have" file, but it probably won't be one I go back to. (I'm trying another baked donut recipe this weekend, I THINK, so I'm excited about it. :D )

OK, I'm leaving you alone now. :) Have a WONDERFUL weekend, and may you be richly blessed!

Double Fudge Brownies

Welcome to Wednesday! Having a great week? I hope so! Today's been really pretty and sunny; tomorrow's high is 30. :D Ahhh, weather in the South...

Anyway. Today's recipe review is for these Double Fudge Brownies from Crazy for Crust.

First of all, there's a link in the recipe for homemade brownie mix. It's the easiest mix EVER, and it was fun to have it on hand. (Actually, I'm keeping some on hand! :D )

Then there's the fact that I made a batch of these brownies one day when I wanted a taste of chocolate, and wanted to try a new recipe - and Kenn and Mom benefited from my desire, too. :) I did NOT frost them the first time I made them, and they stored easily, were easy to get out of the pan, and didn't last too long. :D

I made THIS batch to take to a friend who'd been in the hospital - actually, the brownies went for her husband and kids. :D She's not supposed to be eating a bunch of sugar, either!

I loved the unfrosted brownies. I really thought the frosting was way too dark chocolate, and took the brownies to a level where I didn't want to eat them. Some people thought they were wonderful, but some really thought they were too dark, too. If you LOVE dark chocolate, try them frosted. If you're looking for a great brownie, try them unfrosted. :D

OK, I'm outta here! Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!

Ooey Gooey Chocolate Insanity Cake - and our winner announced! :D

Happy Monday! Did you have a good weekend? Did you get what you wanted to accomplished? Did you try anything or anyplace new???

I'll announce our winner for Jen Hatmaker's INTERRUPTED in just a moment; let's do the review of this Ooey Gooey Chocolate Insanity Cake from The Slow Roasted Italian first. :D

I followed this recipe to the letter except for one thing: I did half milk chocolate chips, half semisweet. I didn't even half the recipe; I'd already started measuring and combining ingredients before I even thought of it!

Kenn LOVED this cake. It was too sweet for me, and when I make it for him next time, I will NOT put the chips in. It was chocolately enough without them, and they made a hard layer on the bottom of the cake that I thought spoiled the texture of the whole thing. Also, the timing is incorrect for the baking time; it says 20 minutes, but I think I was closer to 45 minutes.

It's an easy recipe, and like I said, Kenn loved it - that makes it a winner in my book. :D

Speaking of winners...

Congratulations, Katherine! You won!!!!

Will you message me your address again? I'll get this ordered for you as soon as I can. :)

OK, y'all, I'm outta here! Have a WONDERFUL day! Be blessed - and leave me a message. I'm feeling all alone out here. :D

Greek Yogurt Brownies

Happy Friday! :) Are you planning to have a good weekend? I hope so! And these MIGHT help it be pretty awesome. :D

These are Greek yogurt brownies from Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice.

These are INCREDIBLY rich, people. Don't look at this and think, "HOW small do you want me to cut these? No way!" THEY ARE SO VERY RICH!!!

I followed the recipe exactly. If I were to do it again, I wouldn't put the last 1/4 cup of semisweet chips on top; I'd probably add another 1/4 cup of white. It was really, really DARK. Oh, I didn't put in the walnuts; they would probably help cut the richness a bit, too, but didn't want to deal with possible nut allergies.

These are a yes, please recipe. No one could believe these were no fat! :)

OK, I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL weekend! Be blessed, dear friend!

Snicker Cake

Happy Wednesday! Did you enjoy your long weekend? Does it feel like this week's already dragging, even though it's a short week? :D

Then make this cake! :) (Please note: it uses a boxed cake mix, but I used this cake mix recipe, and made it the way the recipe said. I'm trying to take all the extra chemicals our when I can! :) ) It's a Snicker Cake from O Taste and See!

This is a great cake! Everyone loved it - I did it so long ago, I don't remember what the occasion was. LOL! But OH, was it yummy!

It's also very rich. :) Cut small pieces! Using a homemade cake mix may have added another step, but it's the only thing I did differently.

OK, I'm outta here! :D Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED, friend!

Brownie Bundt with Coconut Cream Cheese Filling

HAPPY FRIDAY! I hope you've had a good week - but I'm betting you're ready for the weekend. :D

Today's review is this recipe for brownie bundt cake with coconut cream cheese filling from Vanilla Sugar Blog.

I won't make you wait on this. This recipe would need to much tweaking for me to give it anything but a NO, THANK YOU. :( I was SO disappointed! I mean, it's three of my favorite things: brownies, coconut, AND cream cheese! I sprayed and sprayed the bundt pan, but the brownie STILL stuck horribly. The coconut and cream cheese mixture had very little taste, and added nothing but contrast and texture. I hate throwing food out, but I did toss most of this cake - after taking it to a pitch-in (or pot luck, depending on where you're from! :) )

SO. If you tweak it enough and really love it, let me know! Or if you decide to try it and love it, tell me - maybe I just did something wrong. :D

Have a WONDERFUL weekend! BE BLESSED!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is what I made for Kenn for Valentine's Day! :)

You know that English toffee I posted earlier this year? Well, Kenn really likes it. So I decided to use the new silicone mold I got for Christmas to make it extra-special for him; I put almonds on top of some, and just left the almond bark coating on top plain on the other half.

I used these little mini loaf liners to stack them in, four to a cup. Then, I stacked THOSE into a gusseted cello bag and used a piece of retired Stampin' Up! ribbon to tie it together. :)

I made him a card, too; you can go to Lori's Stamping Spot to see it!

I hope you've had a good day. I really don't like Valentine's Day - I never have - but we celebrate any chance we get. :D Kenn had to work tonight, so I worked on food for tomorrow's jewelry party! If you are in the area, it's at 2 at my house - and if you want to place an order, LMK before then so I don't close out my party. I'd love to get two more outside orders!!! :) Anyway. I have lots of things now to photo for you tomorrow; hopefully I'll be able to post a little more on-time. We're still having equipment problems. :/

Have a wonderful weekend!!!!! Be BLESSED!

Chocolate Cake Donuts

HAPPY FRIDAY! Have you had a good week? Have you got plans for your weekend? Or are you going to REST? :)

Today's recipe review is of these Chocolate Cake Donuts from Mandy's Recipe Box. :) The one I won the organic coconut sugar from, remember?

This recipe was a definite YES, PLEASE! I loved the fact it was healthier than most recipes, using the organic coconut sugar, being baked, and so little fat in the whole thing!

I received a donut pan for Christmas, which was such a great thing! (It was on my Amazon.com wish list. :D ) These were the first donuts I'd made in it.

I don't keep much frosting around in the house; I really don't like most premade frostings anymore. They taste all chemically to me. But for this one, I did have a can of coconut pecan frosting in the closet - and German chocolate cake is one of Kenn's favorites. So I put about half a tablespoon of frosting on half of them, and spread it thinly. The donuts were a tiny bit dry without anything, and that amount of frosting was perfect for us!

Kenn said they were "VERY TASTY!!!" :D I love it when he actually says something like that; he's not too descriptive when it comes to food. :D

I hope you'll get a chance to try these. I think you'll enjoy how easy they are, how quickly they come together, and how tasty they are without causing too much guilt. :D

Have a WONDERFUL weekend! Be BLESSED!

Review: Hershey's Spread with Almonds

 Good TUESDAY morning! :) I know I'm off my posting schedule, but I wanted to share this review, and I have a deadline to meet for reporting it. :)

I received this sample of Hershey's Spread with Almonds to review from Crowdtap. Opinions are my own. (As if you could stop me from sharing them! :D )

So, my assignment was to show five of my favorite snacks with the spread. One of them's a little more than a snack, but it is my favorite! :D

Overall, I like the spread. With some things, the almond flavor really complimented - like it was surprisingly good with the pretzel sticks. But most of the time, I felt like it was a little overwhelming. Probably because I'm used to Nutella - and almond flavoring isn't my favorite. :D

Here, I warmed about a tablespoon up in the microwave and drizzled it over salted popcorn. I really loved the combo of salty and sweet!

Of COURSE I loved it on strawberries. :D And the flavor also complimented the berries. But IMHO, you can't go wrong with chocolate and strawberries. :D

Here, I used mini Nilla wafers and banana slices to make snack sandwiches. :D Um, YUM!!!

Here are those stick pretzels and the spread. With my diabetes, you know I have to be careful with my carbs. I found that a little of this really satisfied my snack cravings!

And finally, here was a breakfast I did!!! :D It's stuffed French toast - I spread a thin layer of plain cream cheese on one side, and the Hershey's Spread on the other, made a sandwich, and did the egg wash and fried it up. WOW, was it rich - I needed the strawberries to cut through the richness, but it was SO GOOD - and FILLING!

OK, y'all, I'm outta here! BUSY day today! :D

Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!

Chocolate-Hazelnut Biscotti

Welcome to Friday! :) Are you back in the groove of things? I'm not quite sure I am... :D

So, I wanted to share this recipe for Chocolate-Hazelnut Biscotti from epicurious.com today! :)

My mom, especially, LOVES biscotti. I usually try to purchase some for her for Christmas, but I made these for our open house - and left some undipped in the white chocolate for her. I think it makes her feel less guilty about eating them. :D

Honestly? This is an easy recipe. I think I need to make my cookie logs a bit thinner, but the biscotti is about the size of a commercial one, and fits into a snack baggie. :) This one bakes up quite nicely, and the classic flavor of chocolate and hazelnuts is a winner.

I'd love to know if you try these! They're definitely a keeper in my book! :)

Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!

Samoa Bundt Cake

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!

2014. Goodness, this year - I know when I was little, Y2K seemed SO far into the future... :D Here's hoping and praying that 2014 finds us more at peace with each other, with our lives, and with our paths.

ANYWAY. :D

This CAKE. When I saw this cake, I knew I had to try it - it's Samoa Bundt Cake from *betsylife.

Now, then. You'll notice there are three min bundts on this plate. Let me explain something: as a family, we've cut SO far down on our intake of food, we have leftovers from a regular meal. I didn't want my sister and brother-in-law and niece to leave, and us have almost a whole bundt cake left!

So I make the whole cake recipe, but only did six mini bundts - since that's how many mini cakes were in my pan. And I threw away the rest of the batter. Yes, it was a little wasteful, but better than eating all that cake I certainly could kill myself with, and I only threw away the batters.

This is a YES, PLEASE! dessert. The cake batters were easy to put together; the cake, as a whole, is just lots of steps. This isn't a cake you can just throw together, unless you purchase premade dulce-de-leche. And I don't think I've seen it around here! I popped my milk into the crock pot and let it simmer away all day the day before I wanted to make the cake. I also toasted the coconut when I had some other baking to do, so the day I made the mini cakes I just baked them off and let them cool. Christmas Day, my baby sister made the frosting and assembled the cakes for me - I really felt awful, and was trying to ration my energy. :)

The other three cakes are in the freezer, waiting to be needed. A half cake is PLENTY for me for a serving! They're fun, incredibly rich, and do taste just like the Girl Scout cookie - although I'd like a little more caramel consistency in there. :D But I'm not willing to put more sugar into it, so it's great the way it is. :D

OK, I'm outta here. HAPPY NEW YEAR! Have a great week! Be BLESSED, dear friend!

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Acorns

Happy Friday! :) Where did the week go? Wow, the YEAR is almost gone!

Today's share is more of a how-to, to make these adorable little acorns, from Six in the Suburbs.

Yes. They are cute. :D They are a bit of a pain to assemble - the kiss kept wanting to stay in the melted chips. AND, if I were to do this again, I'd use melted MILK chocolate chips - I thought the semi-sweet was a bit bitter. However, my mom LOVED them - I ate one of them to say I tried it, and she ate the rest that I made. :D

I didn't make a huge amount, which was fun - a hanging packet of Kisses and a to-go cup of the Nutter Butters was all. In the blog post, they say, "If your child has a peanut allergy, substitute the NutterButter for a Ritz Bitz!" I could be wrong - I mean, I don't eat a lot of prepared snacks! - but I thought Ritz Bitz had peanut butter in the center...?? Oh, well, I don't have to worry about it. :D I don't have kids!

So, they're a YES, PLEASE, especially if you're having a get-together during the fall. These would be a great table favor for Thanksgiving!

OK, I'm outta here. :) Have a wonderful weekend! Try something new! :) BE BLESSED!

Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Happy Wednesday!!!

It's absolutely beautiful here in Middle Tennessee; I can't tell you how nice it's been the last couple of days. Ahhh, FALL. The trees are starting to show those tinges of color change, and there are leaf falls happening when the wind blows. :)

Today's post is a recipe review for Peanut Butter Cheesecake from Taste of Home.

This is good. It's VERY rich, decadent and creamy. But I just wasn't knocked out. If I'm going to burn these kinds of calories, I want it to be something that I will close my eyes and groan over. This didn't really do that for me. I think it might have been all the textures in it. I like my cheesecake mostly creamy, I think. This had chunks! :D

So, I'm going to say NO, THANKS - but it's all because of my personal taste. If you try it, let me know what you think!

Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!

Cannoli French Toast

Happy Labor Day! Are you enjoying your long weekend?? :)

I think this is going to be a week of breakfast posts. All three this week will feature breakfast or brunch foods. How does that sound? :D

Today's is Cannoli Stuffed French Toast from Two Peas & Their Pod.

Do you remember when I posted these Easy Cannoli Cups? Yeah, I figured you didn't. Go ahead and link to the post. I'll wait for you to refresh your memory. :D

OK. So I had extra filling, and I popped it into the freezer to see how it would do. The answer is, meh. :D It might be fine if I thawed the whole container and then whipped it, but I didn't want to do that - what you see above is the only serving I wanted to make - I mean, I was the only one around to eat it! :)

However, the filling worked for this - and I didn't want to make up a whole lot more filling. But if you don't have cannoli filling in your freezer, by all means, today's recipe is a great one! :)

This is a YES, PLEASE! - although I would definitely save it for a special occasion. I mean, chocolate and cannoli filling between two pieces of French bread French toast?!? Yum. And DECADENT. :) Although it tastes very sweet, it doesn't have a load of sugar in it. But I would definitely suggest the confectioner's sugar dusting on top, and not syrup. :D

I hope you'll try it - and try to do it with someone special. It's more fun, I guarantee. :D Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!

Doubletree Hotel Copycat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Good morning! How are you today? I'm sorry it's Thursday, not Wednesday - the day just kind of ran away from me. :) (I had PILES of laundry to do!!!)

So I wanted to make Kenn some chocolate chip cookies. He's been working a LOT, and I like to have little treats for him when he comes home. He fell in love with my chocolate chip cookies before he fell for me, so I know I can make him happy with them. :) And I wanted to try a new recipe. So I tried these Doubletree Hotel Copycat Chocolate Chip Cookies from Joyful Momma's Kitchen.

I've only stayed at a Doubletree once in the last few years; they don't tend to fit into our bargain-basement budget. :) I do remember the cookies, however - and these are definitely pretty darned close.

We gave them a YES, PLEASE! - I used my largest Pampered Chef cookie scoop, so the recipe made just over two dozen cookie balls. Because you chill them, I was able to only cook off a few - I don't need to be eating cookies, and I will if there are lots!!! - and froze the rest, to cook off as Kenn wants them.

Every bite has chocolate - if you look at the recipe, not only are there lots of regular chocolate chips, there are also mini chips. Yes, LOTS of chocolate. I might do this recipe with pecans next time, although they MIGHT make the cookie too rich.

OK, I'm outta here! It's flooding around us today; please pray for everyone's safety. Have a wonderful day! Be BLESSED!!!!

Moist Chocolate Cake

Happy Friday! :D I decided we'd celebrate me doing a whole week again with CHOCOLATE CAKE! :D

Yes, this is Moist Chocolate Cake from Foodess.com.

And yes, it IS moist. It's also super easy, easy to divide in half so you don't have a bunch of this cake hanging around (your HIPS, cuz you'll want to eat it all by yourself!!!!!).

I guess I gave it away that this is a YES, PLEASE! recipe. :D I LOVE easy AND yummy, and this fits the bill. I'm also going to give you an extra review on what the recipe calls "Easy Chocolate Buttercream", but I'm not sure calling it that is correct. I mean, it's JUST chocolate chips and butter. Period. no confectioner's sugar! But again, SUPER easy, and RICH and YUMMY. :D

Have I convinced you to make this yet?!?! It's worth turning on your oven for! Seriously! :D Let me know if you try either of these. Oh, the sprinkles are some Valentine's ones that I have hanging around that I thought complimented the chocolate color. :D

Have a wonderful day! BE BLESSED!

Easy Cannoli Cups

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!! Today's my last day here at the blog for a bit; I fly out with the sunrise on Monday. I may try to get a few posts up for you for next week, but I simply can't promise anything - I'm gonna be BUSY. :D

Today's recipe is for Easy Cannoli Cups from gimme some oven.

I made these to take for that funeral meal I mentioned in the garlic French bread post; I figured they would be easy to transport and put on a buffet table. And they were! :)

I'm gonna give these a YES, PLEASE! If you don't like really sweet desserts, these fit the bill. There's not a lot of confectioner's sugar in the filling, and those are wanton wrappers. To be honest, I *might* bump the confectioner's sugar a bit the next time - but the mini chips on top are a must-have. They're the perfect tiny touch of chocolate! And, although I thought about doubling the recipe, one package of wonton wrappers made LOTS of cups, so I didn't need to double the thing at all - I have a half-batch of filling in the freezer for another time. :D And you can use those cups for LOTS of different fillings, too.

OK, I'm outta here! Have a WONDERFUL weekend! BE BLESSED!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Mug Cake

Happy FRIDAY!!! Did you have a good week? Do you have big plans for this weekend? I'm going to spend some time with some of my favorite ladies this weekend; I wish each and every one of them could be here! :)

Anyway. Sorry for the really blurry picture - not of Pooh, but the real subject of the picture. :D He's watercolored, so he's supposed to look like that. :) No, this is a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Mug Cake, posted on Babble.

So. This was easy; I had all the ingredients on-hand. I even used Splenda's brown sugar blend! :) I didn't have mini chips, so I used regular.

It was another mixed thing. :) It was SO sweet, and SO rich, that I couldn't eat it all. Which is a good thing. :D But I would definitely use less brown sugar. And the texture's a lot different - coarser - than I thought it should be. However, it definitely filled the "sweet tooth" craving. And it was quick, not a lot of it sitting around to tempt me later, and easy.

So. I'm not sure if it's a YES, PLEASE! or not, but I'll probably keep the link around for emergencies. :D I can't imagine how sweet and too much this would have been if there's been ice cream on top! :)

OK, I'm outta here. Have a WONDERFUL day! Be BLESSED!

Oreo Cookie Pancakes

Good Wednesday Morning! How are you doing today? Have you had a good - oh, MONTH!?!? really?!?! - since I last posted? <sigh> I'm sorry. I DO have a few things from the last month to post, but they're on my laptop, and blogging on it is just - well, I hate it. :)

So! Here I am today, with this recipe for Oreo Cookie Pancakes from Minimalist Baker. And actually, they're VEGAN!

OK, so right off the top: reading the recipe, I KNEW these wouldn't taste like Oreos. I mean, they use coconut in the filling! :D But they still sounded interesting, so I Pinned them. I've been trying to figure out what I was going to blog about this week, so I decided, last night, to make them for my breakfast this morning.

I cut the recipe in half; my parents are doing no-wheat, and I wanted to make life simple for myself and just use unbleached AP flour. So, cutting it in half, I got EXACTLY the number of pancakes you see here. The filling made a little more.

I used Splenda in the pancake batter, and xylitol powdered sugar in the filling - I cut out as many carbs as I could. :) I did use unsweetened coconut flakes, and light coconut milk in both batter and filling.

They were good, especially for being vegan. :D They weren't overly sweet, but they were moist. I think I could have added a little more coconut milk to the filling to make it a bit easier to spread, and I did end up using more coconut milk in the batter to make it easier to work with.

I'm trying to decide about the filling. I processed the coconut flakes for probably 10 minutes, and never DID get a true "butter" from them. It was more of a lumpy paste. But it tasted OK. :D

I think I'll give this a YES, PLEASE!, especially if you're trying to go vegan. If you try them, let me know what you think! :)

Have a wonderful day! BE BLESSED!!!