Little Girl Reviews: Peanut Butter Bundt Cake and Liligo Aprons

Mommy bought me a really cute new apron. It's actually perfect for me because it's all covered in pretty cupcakes! I love it because it's cute and keeps my clothes clean. Mommy loves it because it is durable and washes well. Not to mention it'll fit me for a long time!

It was made by Liligo you should check them out they make really cute dresses too!

My mom wanted to make a bundt cake because she had never made one before. She started off with a fresh strawberry lemon yogurt cake. It was really good but I like chocolate cake better. She promised the next one could be my pick. So when my time came I chose a peanut butter cup cake! She found it over on Whipped-the blog. I couldn't wait to try it! Mommy wan't in a rush so I had to bug her just enough times to make her say yes. It was a LOT of times! So we got baking!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bundt Cake
1 box Duncan Hines Devil’s Food Cake mix
16 oz. sour cream
3 large eggs
20 mini peanut butter cups

For the glaze:
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
2 Tablespoons powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put the cake mix, sour cream and eggs in a bowl and beat with electric mixer or stand mixer on medium until fully combined, about 3-4 minutes. Grease and flour a bundt pan. Put half the batter in the pan. Cut peanut butter cups in quarters and sprinkle them over the batter. Top with remaining batter. Cook at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cake stand in pan for 10 minutes. Turn it out on a rack to cool.

For the glaze: Heat milk in a sauce pan. Whisk peanut butter in to hot milk. Whisk in powdered sugar. Put cake on rack over a sheet pan (to catch extra glaze) Drizzle the glaze over the cake and serve right after glazing.

It is my favorite cake ever! Mommy let me eat some when it was still gooey and warm with a glass of cold milk. I made a terrible mess though. My face was so covered in cake that she had to wash it for me. You should make it for your kids unless peanuts are bad for you, then don't make it. But it's really really good!

You want a slice, admit it!!
If you make it let mommy and me know what you think of it!

Happy baking!

Snow Day Whoopie Pies

There's nothing better than a simple recipe that kids can help with. When we had a snow day this week I decided to try making Whoopie Pies with Miss Roo. She has so much confidence in the kitchen and the mess is so worthwhile when I see the pride she has seeing people love what she has made!

Have you ever had a whoopee pie? I hadn't and to be honest I thought they sounded finicky and very frou-frou (that's a word right?)

 Aside from the actual measurements she was able to do a great deal of the work herself!

Want to make some? Here's how we did it:

Ingredients

• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, or preheat a convection oven to 315 degrees F.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar, butter, and eggs together until well combined. Add the oil and vanilla and beat again.

In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Add half of the dry mixture to the egg mixture and beat or stir to blend. Add 1 1/2 cups milk and beat again. Add the remaining dry mixture and beat until incorporated. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups milk and beat until blended.

With a large spoon, scoop out 32 circles of batter onto a baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool.

Spread filling onto 16 circles and place remaining circles on top, to make 16 Whoopie Pies.

Filling (Make while cookies are baking)

1 1/2 cups shortening

3 cups confectioners' sugar

1 1/3 cups marshmallow topping

Dash salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 to 1/2 cup milk

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all ingredients except the milk and beat well. Add just enough milk to achieve a creamy consistency. Spread filling across cooled cookie circles.

These were taste tested and approved by none other than Miss Roo.

Have you had them? What do you think? A perfect treat or over-rated?

Mint Chocolate Crinkle Cookie Recipe

 

Every year I take part in a cookie exchange. I have a love hate relationship with it to be honest. I love getting all my holiday goodies by spending only one day actually in the kitchen, but I dread actually finding a recipe that is affordable, not labor intensive and most importantly; delicious!

 

Every year it starts off the same way. I spend ages scouring the Internet for something I haven't yet made. It has to appeal to my family because they will be my guinea pigs. This year I found a cake mix recipe that sounded pretty good but nothing about it said "Christmas cookies" so I altered it to suit my needs.

 

It began as a simple chocolate crinkle cookie and ended ans a mint chocolate crinkle cookie. I really enjoyed them as did my family. In fact my son (Aussie-15) asked me if I would bake him a couple dozen to take to his friends the next night. It passed the teenage test but then they are human trash compactors. The real test was in how they would be received at the cookie exchange.  From the comments of people who I witnessed eating one, it seems they were a great choice.

 



The ingredients were very simple!



Perhaps I shouldn't admit this, but the recipe was so easy my four year

old (Roo) was able to do it on her own. Only asking for help once the

dough got too stiff for her little arms to stir!



Learn from my ignorance. I actually enlisted my daughter to help me smash them by hand.

What a mess! I can safely tell you that I have since learned that you can buy

crushed candy canes seasonally at bulk food stores.





This was a HUGE mistake. In theory it was a fun idea, but once we began

we realized it hurt, and it was messy!



The finished cookies, Festive and yummy!

Ingredients:

1 Box of Devils Food Cake
1/4 Cup Oil
2 Large Eggs
1/2 Cup Crushed Candy Canes
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F
Mix crushed candy can and powdered sugar together in a medium bowl
In a separate large mixing bowl mix eggs and oil together
add cake mix to egg/oil mixture and stir with a wooden spoon, forming a stiff dough.
Roll into 1.5" balls
Dredge balls in the candy cane/powdered sugar mixture.
Place balls about 2" apart on a cookie sheet

Bake Time: 12 minutes.
Yield: 36 Cookies

Do you participate in a cookie exchange?

What are your favorite holiday treats?



Strawberry Lemon Yogurt Cake

Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Cake

 

 



I originally came across this recipe via Pinterest here: Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Cake. Trust me when I tell you it's as good as it looks! This was my go to cake all summer long. I made it over and over again. Even had requests for it. My and my Roo became experts baking this sweet and tangy summery cake! Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 Tb. lemon juice, divided
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 8 oz. plain or vanilla, Greek yogurt
• 12 oz. fresh strawberries, diced
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan (10-15 cup pan.) Sift together the 2 ¼ cups of flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in the lemon zest and set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 1 Tb. lemon juice. Alternate beating in the flour mixture and the yogurt, mixing just until incorporated.
3. Toss the strawberries with the remaining ¼ cup of flour. Gently mix them into the batter.
4. Pour the batter into the Bundt pan. Place in the oven and reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool at least 20 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Once cooled whisk together the remaining 2 Tb. of lemon juice and the powdered sugar. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

Preparation time: 15 minute(s)
Cooking time: 1 hour(s)

Number of servings (yield): 12

 



I've got a Beef!

In my house hubby does most of the grilling while I look after everything that cooks INSIDE the house. I must admit, I really enjoy cooking and I thought I knew pretty much everything there was to know about what I cook. Like many families our favorite splurge is on steaks. A while back I began following @CanadianBeef on twitter, and I realized I knew very little about cooking steaks. I mean, beef is beef is beef right? That's what I used to think and I would cook it up, serve it to my family and sometimes they would rave about it and other times they would nod politely with a mouth full of unchewed meat when I asked the same question I ask every night; "so... how is it?" On occasion, when I took my own bite I'd realize that it was terrible and immediately I would blame the beef, of course a joke would always follow along. "Oh man, that must have been one rough cow, he's awfully tough, huh?"

Meal time went on like this for years, then, thanks to some of their eye opening tweets I realized I might have been the one making the mistake all along. You see they have all kinds of great information and most of their tweets will send you to their site, http://www.beefinfo.org/, which is stuffed full of great Canadian Beef related information. It turns out that you need to choose your cut of meat based on how you plan to cook it. I was taking a trip to my local grocery store that supplies Canadian Beef look at what fit my budget and then cooking it however I happened to feel like preparing it. Sometimes dependent on my ingredients at home and other times time was the big factor.

Did you know that If you try to barbecue a simmering steak you are more likely to wind up with a really tough steak? I id, but just didn't realize what I was doing wrong. If you are like me, unsure of what cuts to chose I'll help you out.

If you are going to be grilling, here's what you should choose: T-bone, Porterhouse, Strip loin, Tenderloin, Tri-tip, Rib-eye, Bottom Sirloin These cuts will all make your family fall in love with your barbecued steaks.

However if you are going to marinate them go with these choices, they hold up well and take on the flavor very well: Sirloin tip, Inside Round, Eye of the Round, Outside Round, Flank, Sirloin tip

With Autumn arriving soon, you might be looking for the perfect recipe for simmering. Nothing better than a nice steak bubbling away in an amazing rich sauce. If that is the type of steak you seek make sure to use stewing beef cubes, blade, top blade, bottom blade boneless, brisket country style, they will make your meal delicious!

My family has been loving steak even more now that it's perfect every time! 

There is a lot more information and surprising facts about Canadian Beef. You should really take a minute to poke through their site, Or sign up for their Make it Beef Club newsletter.  I bet you'll get lost in all the "juicy details". Pardon the pun!

Why not take a bit of time and join me at the #LoveCDNbeef twitter party on Thursday September 13th. We'll be talking all things beef! It's starts at 8:30! See you there!

Disclosure: While the opinions and experiences are solely my own, I have been compensated for sharing it.

Comfort Food

Dang, it's c-c-c-cold outside! And with the sudden drop in temperature I am feeling like jumping full swing into hearty comfort food. One of the things I love most about Autumn are the dinners I make!

This is what's for dinner in my house. Or course I took a small sample for lunch!






Hearty Vegetarian Chili

1 1/4 cups coarsely chopped onions
1 cup chopped sweet red pepper
1 cup chopped sweet green pepper3/4 cup chopped celery
3/4 cup chopped carrots
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tblspn chili powder
1 1/2 cup quartered mushrooms (I don't add them... ewww)
1 cup cubed zucchini
2 can tomatoes (28 oz), undrained
1 can (19 oz) 3 bean mix
1 can (19 oz) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (12 oz) kernel corn
1 can tomato paste
1 tblspn ground cumin
1 1/2 tspn dried oregano
1 1/2 tspn dried basil
1/2 tspn cayanne pepper (or to taste)


Spray a large saucepan with non-stick spray. Add onions, green and red peppers, celerey, carrots, garlic and chili powder. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until vegetables are softened (about 5-6 minutes)

Add mushrooms and zucchini. Cook and stir for 4 more minutes. Add tomatos, rinsed beans, rinsed chickpeas, corn, cumin, oregano, basil, tomatoe paste and cayane pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

You can also add cooked ground turkey,chicken or extra-lean ground beef (both drained of fat before adding) if you want a meat version. I personally add 1 pound of extra-lean ground beef.

If you try it, let me know what you think!