Banana Cinnamon Oatmeal

I've said before that I love me some breakfast for dinner! I hate cooking after a long day at work so I tend to find really quick ways to eat dinner with a crying baby and crazy toddler running around. Oatmeal is currently one of my favorite dinners (and it also helps with breastmilk supply if you're breastfeeding). I saw this alternative to my normal oatmeal and had to give it a try!

Go to Debbie Does Dinner Healthy to check it out!

White Chocolate Berry Cheesecake Dip

This is amazing.

And it's addicting.

I made it for a mom's night out recently and it was gobbled up in no time by my friends!  The recipe is from here, but I doubled the white chocolate chips to 2/3 cup for some extra sweetness.  I brought Nilla wafers to use as dippers and they worked perfectly.  Even if you don't cook, this is super easy to make and will impress everyone!

Connor's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Birthday Party

My big guy just turned 3!


Because of the new baby and such a crazy summer, we did a low-key birthday this year.  Nothing too big and not as many decoration and DIY as normal, but still just as much love and fun!  Connor was into Mickey for the majority of the year, so I decided that was the best bet for his 3rd birthday theme.


The party started at 4:00 after nap time, so we did some easy snacks before picking up pizza for dinner.  The hit of the party were the homemade Mickey & Minnie sugar cookies that we made!  I love baking, but I haven't had the best luck with sugar cookies.  After a lot of research, I found the perfect recipe here, and they came out perfectly!

 

 Mickey watermelon with blueberries

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse serving bowls and Mickey ears for the kids

 

Can't beat balloons for $1 and the best entertainment for toddlers!


Miss Caylee in her party dress :)

Connor with his Mickey birthday cake

He insisted on getting a piece with Mickey's foot on it and then only ate the frosting. Silly guy!

Happy Birthday, Connor!

Healthy Carrot Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Balls

A slightly odd mix of ingredients, but they're pretty good!  It's nice to have a sweet little snack that's not completely bad for you!

Adapted from Squash Blossom Babies
Ingredients:
• 2 ripe bananas
• 3 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 cups oats
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup grated carrots
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

Mash the bananas in a large bowl.  Then add in the peanut butter and applesauce and mix.  

Pour in the remaining ingredients and combine. 

Using your hands, make 1 inch balls and place on a greased baking sheet or parchment paper.  

Bake for 10-14 minutes until firm.

Enjoy this little healthy & sweet treat!

Low Fat, Sweet Banana Bread

Bananas.  

 They're healthy, they taste good, and they're super cheap. But I hate how they go bad so quickly! If I have very ripe bananas that I haven't eaten yet, I hate to throw them away. That's why I make banana bread!

Adapted from here

Ingredients:
• non-stick cooking spray
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 T brown sugar
• 2 ripe bananas
• 1/4 c applesauce
• 1/3 c skim milk
• 1 t vegetable oil
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 3/4 c flour
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Spray a bread pan with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until fluffy. Add liquid ingredients in and mix well.

In another bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Combine with liquid ingredients.

Pour batter into bread pan and bake for about 60 minutes or until inside is completely baked.

Fabulous! I love it!

Strawberry Lemon Shortcake

This is the perfect summery dessert.  The lemon and strawberry flavors are so fresh and fun to eat on a warm day!  I made this for a family party and it was gone before we knew it!

Adapted from Taste of Home
Ingredients:
• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon peel
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1.5 cups sliced strawberries



Topping:
• 1 cup sliced strawberries
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 cups fat-free cool whip

1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

2. In another bowl, combine the egg, buttermilk, butter, lemon juice, lemon peel and vanilla.  Mix into dry ingredients.

3. Add strawberries to the mixture and pour into a 9 inch round pie pan covered with non-stick cooking spray.

4.  Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes until cooked throughout. Let cake cool completely before adding topping.

5. In a small bowl, mix together topping ingredients.  Cover bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.  Just before serving, spread cool whip evenly on the top of the cake and then add strawberries.

Strawberry Bars with Sugary Lemon Glaze

One word.

AWESOME.

I have to thank Bakeaholic Mama for her recipe.  I made a batch for work and a batch for my family and I honestly probably ate the majority of both pans!  I got so many compliments on these and they came out perfectly.  I followed her recipe exactly except that I added a lot more strawberries.  Why not?  Amazing recipe!

Healthy Chocolate Banana Cookies

I love dessert more than anyone, but I can't help but feel guilty when I eat too much of it. When I saw this recipe for healthier cookies, I had to give it a try. Sometimes you just need something sweet and these are a lot better than a package of chocolate chip cookies or a giant cupcake!

Adapted from Once a Month Mom

Ingredients:
• 2 bananas
• 2 cups oatmeal
• 1/4 c peanut butter
• 1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 c unsweetened applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 tablespoons sugar
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Mush bananas in a large bowl.
Mix in the rest of the ingredients.
Let mixture stand for 20 minutes to get more solid.
Roll small balls of cookie mixture and place on a cookie sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Enjoy a guilt-free cookie!

Cranberry Banana Pumpkin Bread

I love baking bread. It's so easy, you can pretty much put whatever you want in it, and it always turns out yummy! Here's one of the new breads that I really liked...

Adapted from here

Ingredients:
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 banana

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Beat the butter, brown sugar, pumpkin, cranberries, egg, vanilla, and banana in another bowl until smooth. Stir in dry mixture.

Pour batter into 9x5 bread pan.

Bake for about 1 hour or until cooked throughout.

Let cool and enjoy!

Sweet Strawberry Cake

I've seen this on a few blogs over the summer and it caught my eye every time. I ate the whole thing myself!

*I am NOT pregnant. I'm an idiot and had part of this typed up last summer when I was!*

Adapted from Jam Hands

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 lb strawberries, hulled and halved

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 10-inch pie plate with non-stick cooking spray.

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

Put softened butter and 1 cup sugar in another bowl and mix until pale and fluffy. Add in egg, milk, and vanilla. Gradually pour in flour mixture.

Transfer batter to pie plate. Arrange strawberries on top of batter, cut sides down and as close together as possible.

Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.

Bake the cake for 10 minutes. Then reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 1 hour.

You can smell the cake baking and you'll get so hungry! It was fabulous!

Lisa's Special Grilled Swiss Cheese with Apples

This is my special twist on the good old American favorite grilled cheese. I don't know where this idea came from, but it popped into my head one day at work. We had all the ingredients at home and ready to go!

Ingredients:
• slices of bread
• slices of swiss cheese
• butter
• slices of apple

Lightly butter both sides of bread.

Then create the sandwich with layers of cheese and sliced apples and top it with a second piece of bread.

On low heat, place the sandwich on a frying pan and grill until the bottom is golden brown.

Flip the sandwich to the other side to grill the top. When both sides are grilled and the cheese is melted, you're ready to eat!

YUM and super easy!

Angel Food Cake Roll

This is a great dessert for a few reasons:
1. It's pretty healthy. You can eat as much as you want and not feel guilty!
2. You can alter it in any way you want with different flavors.

With that said, you have no reason not to try it!

Adapted from here
Ingredients:
• 1 package angel food cake mix
• confectioners' sugar
• 2 - 8 oz. containers of low-fat yogurt (we used strawberry)
• 1 oz. package instant sugar-free vanilla pudding mix
• 5 drops red food coloring (to make the filling more strawberry pink)
• 8 oz. container non-fat Cool Whip

Line a jelly roll baking pan with waxed paper. (I forgot we had a jelly roll pan, so we used a cookie sheet and a 9x13 baking dish which both worked great.)

Prepare angel food cake according to package directions. Pour batter into prepared pan. (My batter made enough for 2 cakes)

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes.

Turn cake onto a kitchen towel dusted with confectioners' sugar. Gently peel off the waxed paper.

In a bowl, combine the yogurt, pudding mix, food coloring, and whipped topping.

Spread mixture evenly over cake to within 1/2 in. of edges. Roll up.

Cover and freeze. Remove from freezer 30 minutes before slicing.

After reading some of the comments on the original recipe, I found out all the different ways you can make filling with different flavors of pudding and yogurt. Even ice cream or jelly work!

Cranberry Pumpkin Biscotti

I had a strange craving recently...for biscotti! I'm not sure why, but it sounded really goods and I kept thinking about how yummy it would be dipped in coffee or milk. I made some for myself and also to bring to work and they were gobbled up very quickly!

Adapted from From Apples 2 Zucchini

Ingredients:
• 4 1/2 c. flour

• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 3 eggs

• 1 1/3 c. sugar

• 3/4 c. canned pumpkin puree

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/2 cup applesauce

• 1 c. fresh cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and salt.

In large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until the sugar dissolves and the eggs become pale yellow and foamy. Add the pumpkin and vanilla and mix. Slowly stir in the applesauce and cranberries.

Carefully mix in the flour mixture until the dough forms a ball.

Lightly cover your hands with flour and mold the dough into a 4 inch by 14 inch log.

Carefully pick up the dough and place on the baking sheet covered with parchment paper.

Bake for 50 minutes or until the top is golden brown and feels firm.

Let the biscotti cool to room temperature. Then uses a serrated knife to cut 1/2-inch slices.

Place slices back on the baking sheet cut side down and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes, or until they are crisp and golden brown. For a softer cookie, bake them a little less.

Let biscotti cool and serve with coffee or milk.

Dipping in milk! YUM!

Banana Caramel Challah Bread Pudding

This is one of those recipes that tastes amazing, but doesn't look as good in pictures. Bread pudding probably isn't the most photogenic food in the world because it looks like mush, but it's SO good! This one is also low fat so you have my permission to indulge! It's the perfect dessert for breaking the fast 0n Yom Kippur coming up later this week or any other occasion.

Ingredients:
• 2/3 cup skim milk
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 4 cups cubed challah bread
• cooking spray
• 1 cup mashed banana (about 2 bananas)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons fat free caramel topping
• powdered sugar

Mix the first 4 ingredients in a bowl.

Pour bread cubes into a 9x9 baking pan covered with baking spray.

Pour liquid mixture over bread cubes and top with mashed banana.

Sprinkle mixture with sugar.

Chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

Before serving, top with caramel sauce and powdered sugar.

Really, really yummy!

Sweet Apricot Kugel

My family has a few kugel recipes that have been passed down through the generations. I love them, but I wanted to try something new. This kugel was fruity, sweet, and really good! And you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy kugel...who can resist cinnamon noodles?

If you've never heard of kugel, check out this info from Wikipedia. It's basically a baked pudding or casserole that's usually made with egg noodles or potatoes. It's noodle kugel is almost always sweet, but still served with the meal rather than a dessert.

Adapted from here
Ingredients:
• 12 oz. package of egg noodles
• 1 cup apricot jelly
• 1 cup orange juice
• 7 egg whites
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 2/3 cup chopped dried apricot

Topping:
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and let cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan or spray with a non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix jelly, orange juice, egg whites, vanilla and almond extract. Beat with a wisk until blended.

Stir in chopped apricot. Add cooled noodles and mix well.

Spoon mixture evenly into baking pan.

Mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle evenly over the top of the kugel.

Cover tightly and bake 15 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake 20 minutes more until set.

Some people like kugel warm and some people like it cold. Serve your favorite way!

Sweet Lemon Blueberry Coconut Bread

I've was really into cooking with lemons and coconut, so recipes with these ingredients caught my eye. I took a few different recipes I've seen and combined them together to make this yummy bread.

I also just wanted to apologize that I've been a little MIA lately. I'm about 16 weeks and still pretty sick, tired, and suffering from migraines every day. I'm having a hard time getting through the work day. Looking at the computer screen often makes me dizzy so I haven't been spending as much free time on here. On the days I'm feeling better, I always try to get back to blogging. Today is a miracle and I have some energy, so I'm back!

And back to the yummy bread...

Ingredients:
• 2.5 cups flour
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 t baking powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups shredded coconut
• 1/4 c lemon juice
• 1 T lemon zest
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/2 c applesauce
• 3/4 c fresh blueberries

Getting hungry? Keep scrolling down for directions : )

1. Heat over to 350 degrees. Grease a 9" x 5" loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and coconut.

3. In a small bowl, mix lemon juice, lemon zest, milk, eggs and vanilla.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the large bowl with the dry ingredients and mix well.

5. Carefully add applesauce and blueberries and stir until smooth.

6. Pour mixture into the loaf pan and bake for 70 minutes or until the center is cooked. Let cool, slice, and enjoy!

Tropical Coconut Shrimp & Mango Rice

On a whim, we decided to make a fun tropical dinner on a Saturday night. It was really fun to make and the dinner was surprisingly good! It kind of reminded me of our honeymoon in Maui and the luau dinner we went to.

Baked Coconut Shrimp
Adapted from here

Ingredients:
• non-stick cooking spray
• 1 pounds defrosted shrimp
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper
• dash of salt
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 2 egg whites
• 3/4 cup coconut

Preheat oven to 425. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.

In a bowl, mix cornstarch, peppers & salt.

In a small microwave safe bowl, warm honey for 30-45 seconds. Add lime juice to honey and stir. Slowly add in egg whites and continue to stir.

Place shredded coconut in a thin layer on a pie plate or flat dish.

Take each shrimp, dip into cornstarch mixture, then in egg white mixture and finally roll in the coconut.

Place on the baking sheet. Bake 10-15 minutes or until coconut is lightly toasted.

Mango Rice
Adapted from here

Ingredients:
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• rice
• 1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 large ripe mango, peeled and cubed

In a large pot, heat oil.

Add rice and mix with the oil.

Pour in coconut milk, water, and salt and bring to a boil.

Stir in the mango and cilantro.

Cover, reduce heat to very low, and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.

Remove the rice from the heat and fluff with a fork. Add brown sugar to rice and mix well.

Cover the pot and let rice steam for about 5 minutes before serving.

Definitely a keeper dinner! Yum!