No Excuses and NOLA Bound!

Thought I'd share a few random photos of what I've been up to for the past couple months.

One of my best friends, Jenna, came to visit me for a weekend!

My kickball team!

My friend Brittney and I at Mandy's birthday dinner

I feel that I must offer some excuse for my slacking in posting lately. There really isn't one! ha I have a few recipes/posts to share that I haven't written up yet, but mostly I've been too busy working to cook/bake much lately. I love blogging- it is my creative outlet. Sometimes I feel like I need more hours in the day! Even so, I cannot complain at all about my life. I'm so blessed in many ways. This verse has really stuck out to me lately though, especially when I'm feeling overwhelmed by life. I need to stop to take a minute and read this and it makes me remember that everything will be OK.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

Jeremiah 29:11-14

Sometimes I think, maybe this means God wants me to be a baker and bake cakes, cookies, brownies, bars and bread all day! But then I realize I would have to get up to bake at like 4am every day- no thank you! I'll just bake for myself whenever I have a craving. :)

Anyways, its about time for a break! I'm heading to NOLA this afternoon for a few days for lil bro's college graduation. My Auntie Brenda is coming in from Idaho as well with her daughter, Breanne. You may remember Auntie Brenda has my best baker auntie from her special Christmas present.

She claims I should really be her daughter (my mom is her sister) since I love baking and sweet treats as much as she does. My mom doesn't really seem to mind as long as we do some baking when we visit her. She humbly suggested a cinnamon roll bake-off. haha She does love her cinnies. Any ideas? Hoping to have more recipes and photos to post when I get back!

Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes- AKA seriously the best cupcake EVER!

You may remember my obsession with Sprinkles. Love. Love. Love their cupcakes. Especially the strawberry one. Its light and fluffy. Strawberry-y, but not too much so. Sweet berry goodness. You can imagine my excitement when I came across "The Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcake Recipe" here and "The Sprinkles Strawberry Frosting Recipe" here. Yay! :) I knew it was meant to be when strawberries were on sale for $0.96 a pint at H-E-B the other week.. Score!

Let me tell you, this is a winner! It is very similar to the Sprinkles version, but even if it wasn't, its still light and fluffy and slightly sweet.

 The frosting is where most of the strawberry flavor comes from. You just feel happy and summery while you eat it. Everyone who I gave one of these to loved it too. I went ahead and purreed and froze the rest of my strawberries before they went bad. Now I just need a special occassion to make them for! Anyone having a party? P.S. See, I DO use all my cake stands. :)

P.S.S. I was also happy to use one of my newer kitchen gadgets- the strawbery huller! Handy dandy little stocking stuffer.

Oreo Cookes & Cream Cake

 

My mom got this amazing Oreo cookie pan from Williams Sonoma last year. I don't even remember when- I think sometime over the summer? How sad it that! I can't believe I waited this long to use it. I think what deterred me was that you can't ice the top of the cap since you would cover up the "cookie" part.

It was really yummy though with double the icing in the middle- just like a double stuff Oreo! :) Did I mention how I think this would make a fab ice cream cake too? I think I'll try that next time. This is definitely a crowd-pleaser and perfect for your favorite Oreo lover. Or yourself. I think I may be my favorite Oreo lover- is that allowed? Good. :)

The pans come with a recipe, but I really wanted to make a cookies and cream cake, so I used this one I found on My Recipe Finds Online. I followed it to a T and it was really good. The birhtday boy said this was his favorite cake EVER and said how moist and tasty it was. He also commented on how delicious the frosting was with the crunchy oreos. The oreos do soften up the next day, but I think its better that way myself. I never use cake mixes and I try not to use a lot of oil in my recipes, so I thought that although the cake was very moist, something tasted a little off. Next time I would use a mixture of oil and butter or maybe some unsweetened applesauce to try to cut the oily taste, but it was still very good.You could always use your favorite moist chocolate cake recipe, but you really do need to try this frosting. :)

Easter in the Big Easy - Finally Some Photos

It has taken me long enough, but really what did you expect? It always takes me a while to sit down and upload a bunch of photos! P.S. I just realized we forgot to take any family photos. :(

I took some graduation photos of Jeff in the backyard

Jacki and me

My cuddle bug!

The boys hanging out on the porch.

haha action shot!

:)

I'm not sure if I have enough photos of this guy...

Nope, definitely not.

His first graduation gift!

Mom and J

J and me

Mom and me

<3 <3 <3

Delicious Easter dinner- salad, lobster, filet and baked potato- YUM!

I made my homemade Chocolate Cream Pie again!

Perfection

Adorable and delicious Easter cookies from "The Cookie Lady" in New Orleans

French Toast Souffle for Easter brunch

Drool worthy

Real graduation photo :)

French Toast Souffle

Did you have Easter brunch? If not, I feel bad for you. I really feel bad when I think about all the delicious, moist, fluffy French Toast Souffle I had after Easter church. It was SO good that I haven't stopped thinking of another reason to make one. Unfortunately, I do not have 4+ people to cook for everyday in Austin, but that is also a blessing! ha Since I'm going back to NOLA for lil bro's college graduation in a couple weeks, maybe I'll make it again! No. Definitely making this again. Yay! :)

I adapted this recipe from one I found on AllRecipes.com. My mom always makes a delicious French Toast for special occasions, and her secret is the Pepperidge Farm cinnamon bread.

Can't figure out how to keep this rotated the right way!

We tweaked this recipe to include that bread and in the end it was much easier than making real French Toast. The only catch is that you have to make it the night before, but its super quick. My mom may have even admitted she preferred this one- I'm shocked! She totally trusted me all the way and never even questioned the "soggy" mess that was in the fridge all night... Never...

Does this dress look familiar?

Everyone gobbled this up and it was perfect with a little butter and warm maple syrup on top. We enjoyed ours with the perfect complements- crispy bacon and fresh fruit salad.

 My little Jackson was looking for unwanted bites. Unfortunately for him, there weren't many...

Miss Debbie's No Bake Cookies

These cookies remind me of home. My mom (Miss Debbie) always wanted to make these with me whenever a craving hit. They are perfect since you just cook them up on the stove in a few minutes and then you let them harden on wax paper. I always used to swipe my finger around the warm, gooey edges to make sure they were good. By good I mean not poisonous. :) They never look perfect, but they always taste great- the combo of PB, chocolate and salty oats is very yummy in my tummy.

When my mom came to visit a few months ago, she told me on the way back form the airport that she had a craving! haha surprise surprise! We had to call my roomie to make sure we had "Quick Oats." Check!

The regular kind of oats will not be cooked thoroughly in this recipe and result in very chewy cookies.

One note- make sure you pay close attention to the cooking time- too little and they will not setup, too much and they will be like rocks... They taste best the first day, but they will keep for a day or two- best to give away!

Miss Debbie's No Bake Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen small cookies

• 2 cups sugar
• 3 heaping TBSP cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup salted butter (If you use unsalted, add a pinch of salt)
• 1/2 cup peanut butter (I use creamy)
• 3 cups Quick Oats
• 1 tsp vanilla

First things first, spread some wax (or parchment) paper on your counter. In a large pot, melt sugar, cocoa, butter and milk over medium-high heat. Stir continuously until it comes to a boil.  Pay close attention! 

After it comes to a boil, reduced heat and boil for 1 minute while you keep stirring. Make sure your other ingredients are already measured out and ready to go...

Turn off heat and add peanut butter, oats and vanilla, stirring quickly until thoroughly mixed. 

Place onto wax paper by the spoonful and allow to cool and set slightly before eating.

Wash those sticky fingers and enjoy!