Mini Nutella Bites

This could be devastating...

Except now we have these, so it's going to be okay!

I call them Mini Nutella Bites, and they're really like mini cinnamon rolls except instead of being filled with cinnamony goodness, they're filled with Nutella - which happens to be the latest guilty pleasure around our house ;)

You need only TWO ingredients:

Pillsbury crescent rolls (Original flavor, 8 count OR you could use a Pillsbury seamless sheet cut into 4 rectangles)

Nutella (about 8 tablespoons)

Preheat oven to 375*F.

Unroll your crescent dough, keeping two triangles together for each piece (making 4 rectangles). Pinch the seam together to prevent the two triangles from splitting apart. Spread each rectangle with about 2 tablespoons Nutella.

Starting with a short side, roll each rectangle into a log shape. Using a very sharp knife (to prevent squishing), cut each roll into quarters. This works best if you work quickly and the dough is still cold. Don't worry if it gets a little squished though, you can rework each piece into a circular shape if you need to.

Lay the pieces about 3/4 inch apart in a lightly greased round pan. I used a 9" round baking pan and fit 10 around the outside edge, 5 more in a circle in the middle, and 1 more in the center.

Bake for 11-13 minutes.

Try to let them cool for a couple of minutes (I know...it's hard), they should pop right out of the pan and easily pull apart.

Delicious.

And much better than a traditional cinnamon roll, if you ask me ;)

Someone else was pretty pleased with them as well.

Quick little chocolate craving squasher in a little less than 15 minutes.

Alexis had these for a snack today. I usually don't indulge that sweet tooth of hers (you'd never guess by all the treats I post on here, but I really am a stickler about what we eat!) but she was a very good girl this morning and well, I made them, they were there, and she can smell Nutella baking a mile away.

Enjoy everyone!

Emily

3-Layer Fresh Berry Patriotic Cake

I made this cake for a Memorial Day get-together (though it would be great for the Fourth of July or any other patriotic themed party as well), and no, those layers aren't just dyed red and blue - the top layer is fresh strawberry cake, the middle is white cake, and the bottom layer is fresh blueberry cake. The cake uses real, fresh ingredients but it doesn't take hours slaving in the kitchen to make. You know quick & easy (and beautiful) are my M.O.

I used a little cheat, too. The cake is made from a box with some adaptations to the recipe done by yours truly.

What you'll need:

1 box white cake mix - use your favorite, I chose Pillsbury of course

3 (large) egg whites

1 cup water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

6-8 large strawberries

1 cup blueberries

a few drops of red food coloring

a few drops of blue food coloring

24 ounces vanilla frosting (homemade or store bought. I used Pillsbury Vanilla. 24 ounces is 1 1/2 regular tubs of store bought icing)

Blueberries & Strawberries for decorating

For this recipe, you will need 3 medium mixing bowls, 9" cake pans (preferably 2 but you can bake in batches), and a blender or food processor.

Grease your cake pans. Preheat oven to 325.

In one mixing bowl, mix cake mix, water, oil, and egg whites with whisk or hand mixer. Separate the batter equally into three bowls.

In food processor (or blender), blend strawberries completely. The mixture will be smooth and slightly frothy. 6-8 large strawberries should make about 1 1/4 to 1 1/12 cups pureed. Fold the strawberry puree in with one bowl of cake batter. Mix well, add red food coloring and continue mixing until you reach desired shade of red.

Again, in food processor, blend 1 cup blueberries completely. Fold blueberry puree in with another of the three bowls of cake batter. Mix well, add blue food coloring until you reach desired shade of blue.

The two fruit cakes need to bake slightly longer than the plain white cake. I had two 9" pans, so I greased both of them well, poured the fruit batters in each of them and baked them first.

Pour strawberry cake mix into one, well-greased cake pan. Pour blueberry cake mix into another well-greased cake pan. Bake at 325 for about 30 minutes (28-32 minutes) until a toothpick inserted in center comes out MOSTLY clean. Most cakes when done, will leave a toothpick clean. The extra-moistness of the fruit cakes will leave a little bit of colored cake on the toothpick even when done. Touch the top to check for sponginess if you are unsure.

Allow to cool for several minutes, then turn out of pan onto a cooling rack or plate to finish cooling.

If you are reusing a pan from the fruit cakes, wipe out the colored residue and regrease pan. Pour white cake mix into pan, bake for 23-26 minutes at 325. Remove from oven and allow to completely cool.

Start with the blueberry cake on bottom. Top that cake with a thin, even layer of icing, then add white cake. Top white cake with another thin, even layer of icing. Finally, top with red cake and ice cake completely - top and around edges.

If you want, make "stars & stripes" using thin sliced strawberries and whole blueberries

Slice & Enjoy!

This cake is one that also tastes great served cold, so you can pop it in the refrigerator if you need to prepare it ahead of time.

Happy Memorial Day! Remember what we are celebrating :)

Emily

Quick Pizza Rolls

I love my crescent rolls...if you've followed this blog for a while, you probably know that. It's been a while, so it was time to bust open a can - quite literally.

I've started this new work out thing because I had an epiphany about my post-baby body, and because I'm not really in great shape, I was exhausted. Exhausted as I may have been, my family still needed to eat dinner. What could I make that was quick and included all the major food groups?

Pizza rolls made with Pillsbury crescent rolls. We like pizza around here. Can you tell? I'm not a fan of big, greasy, extra fatty delivery though. Don't get me wrong, it's delicious, but not something I'd like to eat often health-wise. These were so easy, I made them, baked them, done. In less than 30 minutes, most of which were spent in the oven. And remember that sneaky zucchini sauce I made to get the kids the eat lots of veggies? That's what we dipped them in ;) Bonus: Extra veggies!

For four medium side rolls, you'll need:

1 regular can Pillsbury Cresent Rolls

About 1 cup shredded cheese

Other toppings to your taste: try veggies, sausage crumbles, bacon, etc.

If you choose to use pepperoni, I put 6 regular size turkey pepperonis on each of ours

Sauce for dipping. Good veggie-packed recipe here, or use your favorite.

Unroll your crescent rolls, and make them into rectangles by leaving two rolls stuck together and pinching the seam. Sprinkle about 1/4 cup cheese onto each rectangle, top with pepperoni or other toppings.

Roll up. Press the end seam to the rest of the roll, but you shouldn't have to worry about smushing the ends closed. Mine didn't bubble out, but a little melty cheese never hurt anyone if they do ;)

Bake at 325 for about 21-24 minutes, until golden on the outside.

Serve with dipping sauce.

You can't really see all the good stuff hidden inside, but you sure could taste it :)

Part of the fun was the dipping. I think that's why Alexis ate two whole rolls.

Enjoy!

Emily

Easy Oreo-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you follow 2LB on Facebook, you probably saw about a week and a half ago, late at night, you probably saw this status "It's 11:45pm people, and I just put my second batch of cookies in the oven. This is what I do when I should be sleeping. This and blogging ;)" Well here are those cookies I was baking...

*Just so you know, I've covered this before but I think it's necessary to go over it again. Ideas that I share on here like to pop into my head while I'm standing in the kitchen staring into the pantry, I'm in the shower, or driving my car. Often times, they start with a craving (I'm sure you've noticed). Sometimes they spawn from another something I've made. I don't get my ideas from other websites, Pinterest, etc. BUT IF I do, I will always state that. Regardless, my goal is to be original, not just share someone else's idea. I like to check to originality of things I've made, usually with a few Google searches and stuff. After I made these, I did a quick scan of Google and Pinterest, and obviously I'm not the only one who has had this wacky craving. 


I've just seen some good recipes for things very similar to this, but a lot of them require making your own dough and actually rolling the Oreo into it. I have no time nor patience for that, however. In this case, especially, I needed a dessert fix immediately. One night at my sister's house, we were all wanting something sweet and naturally, I was nominated to bake us something at 11:30pm. Scrounging through her pantry and cabinet, gathering potential supplies onto the counter, this is what I've come up with.
It's the simple version ;)


You'll Need:

Your favorite cookie-dough mix - I used Pillsbury - plus the ingredients required per the mix's recipe

1 Oreo for each cookie the mix will make. I made about 20.

That's It :)

Mix your cookie dough.

Spread your Oreos out on your cookie sheet, in the places you would place your cookie dough balls to bake.

Plop a spoonful of cookie dough right on top of the Oreo, about the same size as the Oreo.

Be careful moving the pan. Because there is no dough on the pan, the cookies will slide around.

Bake in the oven at the same temperature and the same time that your cookie mix requires.

(I added a minute or two to mine and they were still super gooey)

Wait as patiently as you can. I know it's hard. As you can see, I stood and watched them bake, as if I could hurry them along by doing so.

Enjoy! Ours were so gooey because we didn't wait for them to cool, we ate them with a fork.

Talk about chocolate-heaven. If only we had vanilla ice cream to go on top.

Yummy!

Emily

Stars & Stripes Lunch

I was going to wait to post this one, but I was too excited about it so, bonus - two posts in one day! Keeping you busy, that's all ;) Anyway, the military blankets my family fairly well, but even if it didn't, Memorial Day weekend is this coming weekend, and the Fourth of July is approaching fast as well, so why not help the kiddos get into the spirit with this fun little lunch:

I was pretty pleased with how this one came out since I really didn't have too much of a plan when I started other than "stars." Here's how to make it:

The stars at the top left are whole grain tortillas with turkey, cut with a small star cookie cutter. Then I used edible food markers to color one blue, and two with red stripes to look like the American flag.

Next, I turned two patriotic colored cupcake liners inside out, and filled one with matchstick carrots (baby carrots are still a little hard for Alexis) and one with ranch dressing for dipping.

And finally, yes, that is a silicone ice cube tray, but instead I filled it with blueberries.

(You can find all these supplies on Amazon through the links below).

Alexis said: "You made me ice cubes??" :) But then we had fun talking about 'red, white, and blue' and the Flag, and the upcoming holidays. Hope your little ones enjoy as much as Alexis did!

Happy Memorial Day!

Emily

Cupcake Mugs

My little prima ballerina - who, of course, stole the show when she broke away from her group number to do her own solo act in the middle of her class' program - had her first dance recital this past weekend. I was so proud of her, I just laughed from backstage as she did not do one move that was actually in their rehearsed program but rather did her own thing. We're supposed to encourage uniqueness, boldness, self-confidence, and more importantly...she's three years old, strong-willed, and will be no body's puppet. So anyway, I wanted to give her and her closest friends who dance with her a special treat for after their performance, and I already knew they had tons of flowers coming their way so what else do three and four-year-olds love? 

That's right. Cupcakes!

I also happened to have been perusing the aisles of one of my favorite stores (if you are female, you know what store I'm talking about) when I found these adorable mugs (think 'dollar bins') that I knew I had to have. No clue (yet) what to use them for, but I needed them...and thus, the idea for these was born!

Aren't they SO stinking cute!?

I ended up packaging them in clear confection/snack bags with a pink spoons and polka dot napkins. These would be great as party favors, in fact, I think our next birthday celebration will probably include these as favors. They were so simple and adorable. Not to mention, the girls devoured them.

So in this case, the project was more about presentation because...I used boxed cake mix! I know. But really, that just adds to the simplicity factor, which is always a bonus!

I made 24 chocolate cupcakes as per the recipe on the box. For the four of these cups, I only ended up using 6, plus 1/3 of an average size tub of chocolate icing, also store bought.

For four mugs:

Split each of six cupcake (sans cupcake liner) in half. Roughly, you'll have a cupcake top, and a cupcake bottom from each. In the bottom of each cup, drop one half a cupcake.

(I used decorator bags to pipe my icing so it was less messy).

Pipe a small amount of icing to cover your first cupcake layer in each cup. Top with another cupcake half, and layer of icing. Repeat one more time so you end up with cupcake-icing-cupcake-icing-cupcake-icing, or a three-layer cupcake parfait ;)

Decorate with sprinkles or extra icing. I used hot pink sugar sprinkles, and light pink candy pearls (below) for that extra girly touch.

Place cup, plastic spoon, and 1 rolled up party napkin into a medium confection/snack bag and tie.

Perfect!

And here's my princess enjoying her cupcake post-dance recital :)

Enjoy!

Emily

Breakfast is a Hoot!

It's been a while since I gave you one of these, I know! So I hope you like this one. Also good to mention, it's cookie-cutter free, the only tool you'll need is a knife. Alexis had it for breakfast but it would be a cute and healthy little snack as well.

To make the owl:

His eyes are two mini-muffins (I have a good recipe I will post later this week, or you can use store-bought if you want it to be extra-easy), banana slices, and blueberries.

The body is a bowl of vanilla yogurt.

The branch he is standing on is half a banana, sliced in half again lengthwise.

His wings, beak, and feet are made from sliced apples. Slice two sides off the apple to get a circular shape with the skin on. The wings are one circular side, cut in half. The beak and feet are cut from another side. I made a small slit in the bottom of the beak so it would rest on the edge of the yogurt bowl.

I love owls, they are Alexis' "thing" - she has a collection in her room - so she was very excited about this breakfast. Beyond oatmeal and yogurt!

Enjoy!

Emily

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all my blogging and reader Mommies! I'm writing this post from my phone, I can't get on my computer at the moment. I'm on an intentional blogging hiatus, and I'm having withdrawals :( We are visiting at my sister's out of town and usually I'd be posting while here but I haven't had a chance to get on the computer and we've had so mishaps and crazy schedules. My car had a lot of trouble on the way here so it's in the shop and that's been a run around. Thanks to all my loyal readers and if you bear with me there will be lots of fun stuff posted soon. I appreciate you all SO much - Happy Mother's Day/Sunday!!

Emily

Alexis the Storyteller

My keys have been MIA for a few weeks now. Luckily, my car keys are kept on a separate ring than my mess of keys to every other house in my family, so I've been able to drive. I've also had my husband around to unlock the house for me when need be (how chivalrous), but he's not here tonight so naturally, AFTER leaving the house this evening and locking the front door, I then questioned how I was to get back into the house. "Hello? Chopper? You in there? If you unlock the door, I'll let you eat the whole box of milk bones!" That wasn't going to work. Hmmm...


I thought I had left my keys over at my mom's house since after tearing my own house apart, they were still missing (probably with my cheese grater). I checked her house this evening, also to no avail, but thank goodness my brother dug out a spare that was kept in a crumpled up sandwich bag, just in case. I was able to return home without breaking a window or teaching the dog to turn handles through said window, but I got to thinking...could little hands have scooped those keys which are always kept in my giant, over-stuffed diaper bag and taken them for a little imaginative play? It's a great possibility since after foraging through the playroom in hopes of finding them I found a bottle of baby lotion, two combs, and a pair of my flip flops.


Me: Alexis, you know Mommy's big keys? With the big flip flop [key chain] on them?


Alexis: Uh huh!


Me: Do you know where they are???


Alexis: Ummm, yea! In my basket! I needed to keep them safe. They are safe, in my basket.


(Hallelujah! Don't even act upset she took them. This is like a criminal interrogation, I have to remain in friend territory to get the answers I want. No need to be upset now, we might just be finding the keys and if she thinks she's in trouble, she'll fib and say she hasn't seen them)


Me: Oh? Okay, great. So...when we get home I need you to be a BIG helper and go RESCUE those keys for me okay?


Alexis: Okay, I can rescue them! From my basket...


Me: Okay, as soon as we get home then.


Alexis: ...but, Mommy? You don't have keys, you can't unlock the door! I can't go rescue them if we can't get in because you can't unlock the door becauseyoulostyourbigkeyswiththeflipfloponthem!


(Whew!)


Me: Yea, Uncle Kevin gave me a key. We can get in, and you can rescue Mommy's keys.


Alexis: Weeeeell...I can't because...I was just telling a story. That was a story about the keys in the basket. They're probably in the basket DOWN STAIRS Mommy. The basket by the phone.


Me: No, they're not. I've looked there. You don't know where they are?


Alexis: Yea! In the playroom!


Me: Okay, go get them from the playroom when we get home then.


Alexis: I can't! I was just telling a story again. Just like a story about they keys in the basket! 1 story...2 stories...now it's bedtime!!!


Me: [...speechless...]


[...Still speechless...and keyless...]


Emily

Sneaky Pizza Boats (plus the baby-food version!)

This is green & beautiful healthfulness. Fresh zucchini. I LOVE veggies and thankfully, for the most part, my family - including the three year old - does too. But at times, it's still very difficult to make sure they get in enough of those vitamin and antioxidant-packed veggies thanks to their other loves - carbs and cheese. Who am I kidding? I love carbs and cheese too...

That's what I'm talking about :)

Alexis loves broccoli, and peas, and corn, and some times green beans but it is hard to get her to eat things like squash and zucchini.  Wouldn't you know, that sneaky zucchini hid itself nice and neatly in those pizza boats. In fact, it is so well hidden that even the child who likes to pick the SPICES out of her spaghetti and pizza sauce, did not notice the quantity of zucchini she was consuming.

So...if you have trouble getting your kids (or husband!) to eat all their veggies, why not try this recipe to sneak them in there into a good ol' comfort food.

You'll need (for four large pizza boats):

4 baguette-shaped bread loaves (I used whole wheat. Each loave was about 6 or 7 inches long by 3 or 4 inches wide)

1 small or 1/2 large zucchini

1 cup pizza sauce

Pepperoni (I used 32 regular pepperoni slices for 4 boats - 8 in each. You can use as much or little as you like.)

1 cup shredded Italian cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Run your zucchini through a cheese grater - easy - until completely shredded.

If I'm going to be completely honest, my cheese grater has gotten up and walked away mysteriously from my utensil drawer, so while my "MISSING GRATER" signs are posted all over the neighborhood, I actually used a vegetable peeler and made zucchini ribbons then chopped those into very small bits. The idea is to have small, thin pieces that get very soft when baked.

In a small bowl, mix your zucchini into your pizza sauce.

Hollow out your baguettes. To do this, I cut around the top of the bread at an angle, then used my hands to dig out a little more bread from the center. Lay baguettes on cookie or pizza sheet.

Starting with pepperoni, layer pepperoni then sauce mixture into your bread bowls. Putting the pepperoni on the bottom helps the sauce from soaking through the bottom of your bowl which will be very messy. In mine, I did two layers each - pepperoni, sauce, pepperoni, sauce.

Top with roughly 1/4 cup cheese each and bake for about 15 minutes, until hot all the way through and your cheese starts to brown.

Kid & Grown-up friendly.

5 minute prep, 20 minute total time.

PERFECT for busy nights with no time to cook without resorting to fast food and not-so-nutritious meals.

These were a hit at our house. Alexis ate every bite and I smiled knowing she was getting lots of good greens.

Sometimes, it's okay to lie to your kids ;)

BUT WAIT! What will the baby eat for dinner tonight??

V is just starting on table foods and when possible, I try to let her eat what we are eating. She's still new at this so we're somewhere in between purees and solids for her.

No I didn't put the pizzas in a blender.

I put some zucchini sauce in an oven-safe dish and let it cook along with the pizza boats. When it was done and the zucchini was soft, I used the tops of the bread I had cut off to make the boats and broke off baby-bite-size pieces. I threw the bread pieces right into the sauce and mixed it well. It made a semi-chunky, soft (veggie-filled) baby version of the pizza boats. She loved it :)

Enjoy!

Emily