All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel
This mouthwatering Homemade Strawberry Sorbet is the perfect fresh strawberry treat to enjoy this summer. The touch of lemon gives it a pop of flavor to finish it off.
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Apparently, a lot of food blogs were sorta hacked yesterday and were redirecting their site visitors to porn sites. Fun times!
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Flutternutter Bars- The classic sandwich that has been created into a delicious dessert. You’ll love these bars, especially the marshmallow buttercream!
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Florida has been experiencing winter this week!
It’s basically been unbearable in the mornings! It’s been in the low 40’s!!!! OMG!!! It’s the end of the world!!!
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This Cake Doughnut Bread Pudding is the best way to bring new life to some old doughnuts. The sugary top has a nice crunch for the perfect bite.
We have bikes!!!!
Well, I had a bike before, that I got earlier this spring off our community Facebook “For Sale” group. A blue cruise with a cup holder, where I stash our garage door opening and my phone when Autumn and I go bike riding.
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“If you can lean, you can clean”
Back when I was a college freshman, working retail, I had a boss who would say that. If he caught anyone leaning against a wall or the column next to the register zoning out he would say that so that they got back to work. And if he caught you, he usually made you clean.
I feel that is my life now.
But I am catching myself and I then mentally freak the fuck out and then try to do 10 things to make up for that ‘clacking off’. I never feel like I can just sit and relax. Even if I am on FB, it’s generally to do something related to the blog account, some side hustle stuff, or the account for the dogs I am trying to figure out how I am going to build.
Or if I am on instagram, I am scrolling through and engaging with people that are niche related and I am
The trifecta of getting ‘ish done is when I am pumping, while sitting at the computer so I can write a blog post and search using a specific platform, earning me extra spending money. Extra points if I am listening to a pod cast and I remembered to plug my phone into the fast charger at the desk.
Life just never feels like it ever slows down.
And, in someways, we aren’t doing that much either. Autumn goes to gymnastics 1x a week and that’s it, but the general life maintenance makes things chaotic. From prepping clothes and bottles for the next day, laundry, walking dogs, cooking dinner and dishes, the week night quickly speeds by and before we know it, it’s time for bed and another day of madness until the weekend comes when we try to tackle bigger projects, hang with friends and family, and maybe even get in a nap.
It just feels that I need a month of no distractions and crap to get really caught up on life, with the things I need to do and just want to do.
But that’s why I am always looking for short cuts for things.
I certainly like to make monkey bread or pies or pizza by scratch, but there are times when it’s just easier to grab some biscuits or a pre-made crust or order take out.
And when you add some chocolate candy to the dough… dessert perfection!!!
I love that the Rolo candy, hidden inside the dough ball, gets all melty and gooey. The cinnamon glaze that envelopes each dough ball is perfect with that sweet caramel and chocolate filling too.
Serve this with some ice cream and you are in for a great dessert treat.
Some people might just think that monkey bread is for breakfast,but I think that you will convince them pretty quickly that it’s great for dessert as well when you serve up this sticky sweet caramel and chocolate treat!!
Makes 8 servings
Ingredients
Process
Homemade Monkey Bread is the breakfast that will have you pulling piece after piece away from this classic treat made popular in the 1950’s. Yum!!
Happy New Year!!!!
I have some exciting news, besides my pregnancy (more on that for another day!), I have picked out the theme for my weekly foodie posts… Monkey Bread Mondays!
I am going to be focusing this year’s challenge theme on sweet and savory monkey breads. As well as, cinnamon rolls and pull apart breads. All that deliciousness right here, every Monday.
Why these sweet treats?
After all, they are down right delicious. Basically, they make you want to lick your fingers clean of the ooey gooey cinnamon sugar filling. You’ll want to sneak an extra piece. The frosting on top is the stuff of daydreams. The inventive way to fill pull apart breads is endlessly fun. Without a doubt, they are all addicting.
Plus, here is just something so irresistible about taking fresh bread out of the oven. It’s all about that yeasty goodness smell. And when that fresh bread is loaded up with cinnamon, sugar, butter, chocolate, and nuts or cheese, herbs, and bacon things get even better, quickly.
So while I am making more than just monkey bread, I am calling it Monkey Bread Mondays. I just like alliteration!
It’s like my Taco Tuesday series, I didn’t just make tacos. I filled you up with tacos, enchiladas, sauces, rice, beans, soup, drinks, and desserts. So, get ready for everything. We’ll see how creative I get. and how fat. HA! At least I have the baby to blame now.
These great breakfast sweet treats are fun for the whole family, young and old. It’s great to all share a big ring of sugary goodness. I recommend these for holidays or weekends with family or friends from near and far away. It’s easy to prep the night before and pop in the oven the next morning to feed a hungry crew.
To kick things off, I made a classic Homemade Monkey Bread from scratch.
I have made plenty of Monkey Breads from the rolls you get from the can, but Homemade Monkey Bread is so, so good. The quick version is good, but the texture and flavors from the homemade ones is incredible. Things just need to get off on the right foot to kick off the year because a great foundation is the best way to learn.
The Homemade Monkey Bread takes just about 15 minutes to prep, then the dough gets to hang out for an hour (or overnight). Then it’s a quick roll out, cutting, coating in cinnamon and sugar, then dumping a bunch of butter all over all of that. Butter is the best.
My tips and tricks for a delicious Homemade Monkey Bread:
Get the milk at the right temperature, since this is what activates the yeast so you want to wake it up gently. Not too hot, not too cold.
Plenty of bench flour (flour on your work surface) because it makes rolling out the dough nice and easy.
Use a pizza cutter or a bench scrapper because it makes cutting the pieces out quick work.
Lastly, a nice large bundt pan or tube pan is key. However, an angel food cake pan will allow the melted butter you pour over the mix just seep out, so don’t use that!
Above all, serve the monkey bread warm from the oven. This will have everyone pulling piece after piece right out of it. Surely, it will disappear in no time.
I hoop you enjoy this Homemade Monkey Bread, and I hope you stay tuned Monkey Bread Monday this year. It’s time to have some fun, loaded up, over the top, delicious breads.
Homemade Monkey Bread is the breakfast that will have you pulling piece after piece away from this classic treat made popular in the 1950's. Yum!!
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Can someone get addicted to Jimmy John’s?
I’m asking for a friend…
Their #12 Beach Club is sooo soo sooo good. And their pickles are awesome too. Grab an unsweetened ice tea and I have my current favorite lunch.
It’s becoming board line problematic.
Anyone else with this Jimmy John’s problem? What is you #?
I can’t believe that my year of Taco Tuesday series is coming to a close. Just 2 more recipes to make! I am excited about my next venture as well as bummed as I only just scratched the surface on all the taco, burrito, enchiladas, cookies, drinks, desserts, etc I wanted to make. I had such a long list at the start of the year and had to narrow things down more and more to pick my favorites for the year to make. Just means I will need to continue to make all these goodies in the next year as well.
I did realize that I didn’t share soo many desserts so that is why this awesome Arroz Con Leche is gracing the blog today. Can’t resist a good rice pudding, esp one made with condensed milk. Bliss.
I was so excited about making this rice pudding since every recipe that I have ever tried from Marcela Valladolid has been a smashing success. I can’t wait for her next cookbook to come out this spring. In the mean time, I’ll made and remake my favorite of her recipes- her Chocolate Margarita… oh you’ve been warned!
The main thing that I changed up from the original recipe is that it called out for golden raisins, and I left them out. One… my rabbit has recently eaten the last of them so I was fresh out. Two… I like my rice pudding creamy so I don’t like the texture of raisins in it. If you like raisins in your rice pudding, and you actually have some, then add them in.
Be sure to save some room after your taco dinner for some of this rich, creamy and delcious Arroz Con Leche. Happy Taco Tuesday!
Makes 6 servings
Ingredients
Process
Slightly adapted from Marcela Valladolid, via Food Network
We got a big update on our house and its schedule today! So exciting!
I’ve been meaning to do a big house update but it keeps getting pushed aside in the busy holiday hustle and bustle. Plus, we had some drama related to some framing in our house and I didn’t think it was appropriate to write about it we figured it out.
That being said, the drywall is up in our house and the stucco will be getting applied this week. Ultimately all of this will work out that our house will be move in ready for the end of January/ start of February. I just can’t wait to move in!
We have already purchased our fridge, washer, dryer, our bed frame, and dining room set. Other things have been picked out like Autumn’s bed and some artwork for some walls but we have lots of shopping to do! I’m currently obsessed with curtains so I’m trying to figure them out in all the different rooms. So far, we only have the curtains for the bonus room and I am in love with them. Plus, I got them for a steal as they were sale and I have a designer discount too!
I’m looking forward to getting it all set up and feel like home. It is going to be so incredible!
In other news, I’m addicted to this cake.
It’s the perfect balance of chocolate and spice. The spice being the cinnamon, so it’s not spicy, but it adds an extra perfect something that is killer in this cake. The way that salt brings out flavors, the cinnamon really amps up the flavors of the chocolate.
Plus, it has an incredible frosting on top that seals the deal. Bliss.
The cake and frosting are both really easy to make so I hope you’ll whip it up asap so you can enjoy a big slice, just like me!
Makes
Ingredients
For the Cake
For the Frosting
Process
I hope you had a wonderful weekend!
My mom had Autumn this past weekend and it was awesome for everyone all around.
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So this cake is typically called a dump cake, but I just can’t deal with making a cake with such a horrible name.
For real, it’s horrible.
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So, it’s been one week since Autumn, Bunny, and I have moved to the Tampa area from Boston.
It’s been a whirlwind of a week but has gone pretty dang well!
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I originally was going to miss Valentine’s Day with the Hubs. Ya see, I was planning on moving on Saturday, the 13th, to give us time to get settled before I start work on the 16th, but the flights were INSANE that day. It would have cost us about $1,100 dollars for Autumn and I to fly 1-way to Tampa. ONE WAY! Stupid school vacation week!!!!! So I jiggered things around and picked flights for Monday, the 15th, for $630. So much better!
Plus, it would give me an extra weekend with Price and the dogs. I’d like to say that I’m excited about Valentine’s Day but we aren’t too into it. I can’t even exactly remember what we did last year off the top of my head. I’m good like that…
But I think we will do something fun this weekend since we won’t see each other for a few weeks until he moves and arrives. Ah crazy times.
I was browsing Trader Joe’s recently and spotted a Chocolate Pound Cake and I knew I just had to have it. I had no plans other than just eat it. But then I saw big, beautiful strawberries and I knew what I had to do!
Strawberry shortcake is one of my favorite desserts so I ran with it and whipped up this 5 Minute Dessert subbing out the shortcake biscuit for the pound cake. I quickly cooked the strawberries instead of letting them macerate for a long time. Then just topped it off with whipped cream and some salted caramel sauce.
Yes, you can totally make the pound cake, caramel sauce, and whipped cream yourself, but I say there are times when you should give yourself a break!
With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, it’s time to plan your menu and this dessert should be on it. Take the time to plan out and make your appetizer and entree but keep dessert simple. You’ll already have a sink full of dishes and plenty of better things to do than add more dishes to it.
I hope you have a wonderful upcoming Valentine’s Day!!
Makes 2 servings
Ingredients
Process
I really believe that we all need to give each other a break more often.
I had a rough week last week. Too busy. Too rough around the edges. Just too much.
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