The Nifty Foodie

Amy

Golden Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream

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Golden Vanilla Cupcakes

I can’t believe that the weather is no longer in the 90s. I have been so used to leaving work, getting in my car and immediately rolling down the windows to escape the sauna. It’s so nice to wear long sleeve shirts, and burn spicy candles when the weather is actually cool. The highest the weather has been lately is the mid 80s. I’m so spoiled by this weather right now…I wish Louisiana was like this for more than a few weeks a year!! 🙂

In fact, it was the most perfect night for trick or treating a couple of nights ago. We like to give out candy outside, because just one doorbell will make Millie go batty. It’s just not worth giving her the anxiety, so we dress her up (ha…she’s fine with it as long as it’s not a full sweater or something) and sit outside with the candy. The families in our neighborhood just love Millie, and she loves the attention (unless someone wore a mask…we found out this year that she’s scared of those).

Untitled

If you follow me on Instagram (username: niftyfoodie), you probably saw this last night. 🙂 The little hat eventually came off, since she kept trying to eat the string, but she was pretty much the cutest pumpkin in the neighborhood (in my HIGHLY unbiased opinion).

For our coworkers, I usually bake something festive for the day. These cupcakes were what I chose to make: a simple vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream. I had to make a double batch, so I wanted to keep things simple. I ended up throwing some sprinkles in the batter to give it a festive feel, and they were definitely well-received. 🙂 This cake leans towards the denser side, but the flavor was definitely there. This chocolate buttercream is pretty addictive, too and it couldn’t be simple to make. It comes together in minutes, which could be trouble…I had trouble resisting after having a spoonful, but I promise I did!

Golden Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream
Source: cupcakes from King Arthur Flour, buttercream from Savory Sweet Life

Ingredients for the cupcakes:

  • 2 cups sugar
  • 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/4 cups milk, at room temperature
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 4 large eggs

Ingredients for the frosting:

  • 2 sticks  unsalted butter, softened
  • 3 1/2 cups confectioners  sugar, sifted
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 4 tbsp. heavy cream

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and prepare your cupcake tins by placing a lining in each well.
  2. In a large bowl, add the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt and then whisk everything together. To that, add the softened butter and beat on low speed in a mixer, until the mixture resembles sand.
  3. Mix the milk and vanilla in a small bowl and add that to the butter mixture. Mix everything together on low speed for 30 seconds, and then mix on medium speed for another 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl down.
  4. Put the mixer back on low speed and add one egg. Once the egg is added, beat on medium for 30 seconds. Repeat this with the second, third and fourth egg, scraping the bowl down after each addition.
  5. After the last egg is added, beat the mixture on medium for another 30 seconds.
  6. Scoop the batter into the cupcake liners (about 3/4 of the way full), and then bake the cupcakes for 22-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
  7. Once the cupcakes are done, place them on a cooling rack.
  8. While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare your buttercream by placing your 2 sticks of butter in the bowl of a mixer and beat the butter for about 2 minutes until fluffy and light.
  9. With the mixer on low, add in the confectioners sugar, as well as the cocoa powder and mix well. Add in the salt, extract and cream, and increase the speed to medium. Mix the frosting, scraping the bowl down a couple of times, until the frosting is light and fluffy.
  10. When the cupcakes are cool, frost with the buttercream (and add sprinkles, if you’d like). Enjoy!

 

 

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Salted Caramel Buttercream

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Pumpkin Whoopie Pies w/ Salted Caramel Buttercream

You may have noticed a little pattern here. Pumpkin, pumpkin and more pumpkin?

Yup.

See, the Fall in Louisiana is short-lived. Pretty soon it’s either going to be in the upper 80s again and before we know it, it’s gonna be stuck in the 30s. So, don’t judge me if I use pumpkin as much as possible in recipes. 🙂 I promise, I’ll get over pumpkin soon, but for now, I should be purchasing pumpkin in bulk. I’m not tired of it.

My husband asked me to bake something for his office, and who am I to turn down an opportunity to bake? Seriously, send me to a doctor if I refuse to bake. 😛 I’ve been wanting to make these whoopie pies for a while now, and of course, this was the perfect excuse to bake these little treats up. I didn’t want to use a cream cheese frosting, since I’m always paranoid about leaving cream cheese out for an extended period of time (I know…super paranoid), so I thought that this salted caramel frosting would serve just fine. 🙂

I love when my husband forwards me emails from his coworkers about what I bake for the office. It’s always good to hear when a recipe is good, and this one was GOOD. Pretty darn popular amongst the people in his office, and they are known to be very honest. I’ve never had a complaint, but one time, my husband was sent home with a recipe request haha!

I made these whoopie pies with a mini scoop so there would be more than enough for his office. Making this recipe with a mini scoop makes about 36 complete sandwiches.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Salted Caramel Buttercream
Source: whoopie pies via Culinary Concoctions by Peabody (originally from Baked), buttercream from My Baking Addiction

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 2 tbsp. cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp. ground fresh nutmeg
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 1 cup canola oil
  • 3 cups chilled pumpkin puree
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • Salted Caramel Buttercream (for filling)

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk your dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg) together, until everything is well-mixed.
  3. In another bowl, whisk the granulated and dark brown sugars together, and add the canola oil in. Mix the ingredients well. Add the pumpkin puree to the sugar/oil mixture and whisk until everything is well-blended. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until everything is incorporated. Whisk the flour mixture into the wet mixture a little at a time, until everything is thoroughly mixed together.
  4. To make mini whoopie pies, use a tbsp. sized scoop to drop tbsp. amounts of batter onto the baking sheets, leaving 1 inch between each cookie for spreading.
  5. Bake the whoopie pies for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies just start cracking on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (without crumbs). Remove the whoopie pies from the oven, and allow them to cool thoroughly on a rack before assembling.
  6. To assemble the cookies, drop a tbsp. of frosting on the bottom side of one whoopie pie, and then press together the flat sides of two whoopie pies. Enjoy!

 

Confessions of a Binge Eater

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This is a hard post to write, because it’s something that a lot of people can easily judge a person on.

I am/was a binge eater.

It really started around middle school. My afternoon has always been a snack fest, which I’m still currently trying to work on. I would eat mostly junk food and lots of it. I would do something like completely fill up a bowl with ice cream, mindlessly eat that, and sometimes go for seconds. I would eat 2-3 snack cakes or half of a bag of chips. Thinking back, I was ashamed of my snacking habits and I’d even hide the trash under trash from that morning so no one noticed. It was almost every day that I would do this. It was a problem.

When I got to high school, I’d stay after school for activities. I’d buy 2 candy bars from the vending machine and a soda, thinking nothing of it. And when I started working at a grocery store, things just got worse. I would always buy myself snacks after work, and just eat it all in the car before I got home. I wanted the snack, but I didn’t want anyone to see me eating it. I slowly gained weight in high school, but it wasn’t anything drastic that would alarm anyone. I went from a size 16 to a size 20 in high school.

When I got to college, I kept having random meals when I wasn’t hungry. I’d eat my 3 regular meals, but during late nights, it just felt right to go to Jack in the Box or Canes. I didn’t need the food, but hey, who was gonna stop me? My habits in the cafeteria alone were terrible. I’d have seconds or sometimes, even thirds. And don’t get me started on the free ice cream…I’d have at least two servings of that. One during the meal and one to go. I actually didn’t gain any weight in college, though. I’m pretty sure walking a few miles/day to classes and student organizations had a little something to do with that.

However, when I graduated and entered the real world, aka 8 hours/day behind a computer, it really caught up to me. I moved back in with my parents, and continued my same terrible habits. I gained about 20 lbs. after college fairly quickly, and realized that my work clothes were no longer fitting. I also became engaged to my husband around that time, so I knew I had to do something. I started on Weight Watchers, and lost the weight that I gained post-college. I was on cloud 9 at our wedding…240 lbs.

After the pressure of the wedding let off, I found myself back to my old ways. I’d tell myself weekly that I’d start going back to the gym and eating better, but I didn’t. I would eat a treat every day after work, and I ate fast food for lunch. Dinners weren’t much healthier, and I ate until I was completely stuffed. And in between, I just snacked all the time. I remember after work one day ordering a full meal from a fast food place just as a snack. I wasn’t hungry, but I had a terrible day at work…I just didn’t care. I also ate a full dinner that night. With habits like that it’s no surprise that I gained 58 lbs. Seriously. No surprise.

I had a series of wake-up calls that led me to taking control of my life.

  • I fit in a pair of size 26 pants and 3x tops.
  • It felt like a chore to walk sometimes.
  • ALL of my clothes in the closet were completely tight. It was bad.
  • I couldn’t fit in a booth anymore without squeezing my stomach in.
  • The scale was dangerously close to 300 lbs.

So, after the holidays last year, I saw the 298 and thought that this was it. 2012 is my year to change. I have to change, especially if I want to expand our family….even at 250 lbs., my doctor said I would probably have fertility problems, as well as a higher risk pregnancy. Now I know that weight doesn’t fix fertility problems, and I have no idea if I truly have fertility problems (we’ve never tried). However, I wanted to rule out weight as a problem for when we are ready for kids, so on January 1st (after drinking an entire bottle of wine out of a Solo cup on NYE…so classy), I made the decision to change.

It was VERY hard to not give into my urges. I can’t tell you how many times I went to the grocery store, and just wanted to buy a pint of ice cream or a bag of cookies. I started calorie counting, and truly treated my calories like a budget (for the most part….I do have a splurge meal from time to time). Every time I have an urge at home, I grab something to work on, whether it’s knitting, sewing or heck…just cleaning or writing a to-do list. It helps. I avoided baking for a while (which stunk, because baking is SUCH a fun hobby of mine), because I knew I could easily eat 4-5 servings of a dessert without even thinking. The first time I got back into baking, after everything cooled, I set one serving aside to enjoy, and put the rest on a plate with saran wrap and then even taped the bottom of the plate to make it more difficult to give in to my urges. I know…extreme, but my binge eating was extreme and I didn’t want to go back there. Months later, I stick to my one serving and sometimes even a half serving of the food I bake.

I’m still battling those urges today. It really only happens in extremes…either when life is stressful or if I find myself extremely bored, it takes a lot to tell myself “no” to those urges to just eat everything. I’m not perfect…sometimes I’ll give in and eat what I want (I always stop myself after that one meal), but I’m doing much better than I used to. My weight loss is at 50 lbs., and I know since I’ve been doing this for 10 months, those results could be much better. I’m human though, and I know that fighting the urges to binge are going to probably be a lifetime struggle.

The past two weeks have been a little difficult. The scale just stayed put, and it has been SO hard not to binge. It really truly was. Last night, I decided to go through my SD card and found a photo of myself from August of last year. I ended up turning on the camera phone and took a picture of myself right then and there. I was shocked.

50 lbs. (face)

You see, when I take my progress shots every ten lbs., I just see that same shape. I know things are getting smaller, because smaller clothes fit, but I didn’t see 50 lbs. of progress in my latest pictures.

50 lbs. lost collage

However, the face? Oh man…I can’t tell you how stoked I am to finally see results like that. The face shows those 50 lbs. My body (to me)….ehh not quite, but my face? I definitely see it now. Talk about re-motivated! Only 9.3 more lbs. to go until 20%. C’mon Amy, let’s do this!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

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Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

This past weekend, Hocus Pocus was on cable. Twice. So I watched it twice, of course. Thank goodness LSU’s game was a morning game or I would have been a little torn. Growing up in the 90s, Hocus Pocus just screams Halloween to me. I actually remember my parents not letting us watch the movie at first, because it was rated PG. Yes, I know how sheltered this makes me sound, but I understand. I probably would have had nightmares about my life being sucked out by a witch or something.

I love my parents, but as a kid, they were very strict about what my siblings and I could have. For example, when I got my first CD player, “Santa” included a copy of “Jagged Little Pill” with it, and the minute my mom heard “da*n” from the CD, I had to return it and ended up with Spice Girls. No offense to Spice Girls, but I really wanted Alanis Morissette’s CD. Also, when I had braces, most of the kids in class were rule breakers. They ate sticky candy and chewed gum, but I didn’t dare try that in front of my parents. One of the biggest candies I missed was caramel. Caramel is in so many things I love, like Snickers or a good ice cream sundae. So yeah, the braces phase of life REALLY stunk.

Now that I’m an adult, of course I don’t have anyone to tell me no PG movie or gum for you. I don’t necessarily junk up my life, but it’s cool to have that freedom, especially in the kitchen. A few weeks ago, I noticed these caramel bits in the grocery store and immediately thought of throwing them in cookies. Since it’s fall, of course I had to involve pumpkin, and I found this recipe. The original recipe involved butterscotch chips, but I added caramel bits and dried cranberries instead. Fantastic, right? Oh heck yes. 🙂 You can’t go wrong with these cookies…in fact, the pumpkin oatmeal base makes it too tempting to add all sorts of fun ingredients to them.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
Source: adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
  • pinch of ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
  • 3 cups old-fashioned oats
  • 1 cup dried cranberries
  • 3/4 cup caramel bits (or you could use chocolate chips)

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Prepare two cookie sheets by lining them with parchment paper or a silicone mat and set those aside.
  2. Whisk the dry ingredients in a small bowl. (flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and salt) Set the dry mixture to the side while you prepare your wet ingredients
  3. In the bowl of a mixer, mix the butter and sugars for a couple minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract, and mix until well-blended. Add in the pumpkin puree and mix until well-blended.
  4. Slowly add in the dry mixture, and mix until just combined. With a spatula or spoon, stir in the oats, dried cranberries and caramel bits (or chocolate chips).
  5. Using a tablespoon sized scoop, scoop the dough and drop each dollop onto your cookie sheets (giving about 2 inches in between). Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies appear to be set and are golden along the edges. When they are done, allow the cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes, and then transfer the cookies to a regular cooling rack until they are completely cool!

50 lbs.

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Last October was the first time I hit the 290s. I knew I had to do something, but I was so overwhelmed to be so close to 300 lbs. I was embarrassed that I let myself go that much, but I had no motivation to do anything about it. I remember thinking that there was no way I could start in October, since the holidays were just around the corner. Then, the new year showed up. I knew it was so typical to have a weight loss resolution, but my motivation was back. I was wearing size 26 jeans and had some 3x tops. I was headed towards the max size that most plus size stores go, and I just couldn’t live like that anymore. I weighed 298.5 lbs. on day 1.

It’s been a long 10 months, and while my weight loss isn’t as fast as others, I’m still proud of myself. I’ve lost 50 lbs. Sometimes, I look at the scale in disbelief, because I was so used to the 290s. I feel like someday the scale is going to tell me that it’s been lying all along, and this is all a dream. I know that won’t happen, but coming this far just doesn’t feel right. I’ve never lost this much weight, and I really didn’t think I was capable of this.

While I still have my cheat meals, I do have to say that this journey has been hard. It’s just a huge mind game. I feel like I’m getting better with my willpower, but that didn’t come easily. There were many days where I wanted to grab for a pint of ice cream or buy a certain snack that I missed, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop at one serving. There were times during C25K where I just wanted to quit, but I didn’t.

Here’s my progress pictures…before on the left…now on the right.

50 lbs. lost collage

  • My 2nd 5K is this weekend. I’m averaging a 15 minute mile, so I’m hoping I can do this 5K in 45 minutes. 🙂
  • I fit in size 20 jeans now, which is the jeans size I wore before our wedding. 3 pants sizes down!
  • All of my clothes from the skinny side of the closet fit. Most of my clothes from last year look frumpy.
  • I’m currently 8 lbs. away from the weight I was for our wedding. (WOWZA!)

I’m so stoked to be able to go get my first pair of boots. 🙂 These rewards really make reaching milestones that much more fun! It’s a huge enough reward to see myself getting smaller, but it’s just the icing on the cake to know that I get to treat myself to something fun that I wouldn’t normally spend my money on. 🙂

 

 

 

Pumpkin Nutella Bread

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Pumpkin Nutella Bread

Counting calories has definitely changed things around the house. It was definitely strange to come home to bake this recipe, only to find out that I had almost 3/4 of a container of Nutella in the pantry. In the past, I used to seriously sneak spoonfuls of this stuff before bed, which isn’t really a bad thing, but the guilt of admitting to MyFitnessPal that I went over in calories because of Nutella kept me from grabbing for a spoon.

My love for Nutella started in high school French class. We had some sort of group project, where each group brought some sort of snack that the French enjoy. One of the stand-outs was definitely Nutella, which I had never tried (or even heard of) before. I remember going to work that afternoon, (at a grocery store) and searching our database to see if we sold Nutella. Sure enough, the store did. Whew! From then on, I was hooked!

However, now that I’m counting calories, I feel like I’m neglecting some of my old favorite snacks. :- I try to plan ahead with my meals and snacks. Sometimes, my calorie count is so close, that there’s no room for an impromptu snack. There are times where I think…”Heck, why not? Not like I’m going to gain ALL of this weight back from this snack”, but most of the time, I have to remind myself that while a certain snack is delicious, I don’t want to end up where I was 50 lbs. ago. If you’ve ever dieted, I’m sure you can relate.

Back to the recipe…when I saw this pumpkin bread with a Nutella swirl, I thought it would definitely be a fun twist to the classic pumpkin bread that I always enjoy in the fall season. 🙂 I ended up making this in mini loaves, as the recipe stated, and brought them to coworkers. I did try a slice (or two), and the Nutella definitely gave this bread a little extra indulgence. It was a fantastic combination, actually, and the swirls on the loaves look so pretty. If you love classic pumpkin bread, you should definitely give this a try.

Pumpkin Nutella Bread
Source: mildly adapted from Two Peas & Their Pod

Ingredients:

  • 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tbsp. cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 8 tbsp. Nutella (2 tablespoons per mini loaf)

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and prepare 4 mini loaf pans by spraying with baking spray.
  2. In a medium bowl, add the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and whisk the dry ingredients well.
  3. In another larger bowl, add the sugar, applesauce, water, pumpkin, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix/whisk the wet ingredients well, until the mixture is smooth.
  4. Add in the dry ingredients, a little at a time, mixing until the ingredients are just combined.
  5. Divide the batter evenly into the mini loaf pans. Then, in each pan, drop 2 tbsp. of nutella, and swirl the nutella into the batter using a butter knife.
  6. To avoid leaks in the oven, place the loaf pans onto a baking sheet and then place the sheet with the pans in the oven. Bake the loaves for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  7. Cool the loaf pans on a wire racks for about 15 minutes, and then remove the loaves from the pans. Allow the loaves to cool completely before eating.

 

 

 

Wonky LSU Quilt

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It’s been a while since I sat behind a sewing machine. Even when I would, I’d work on some smaller projects to avoid this project. For some reason, I just wasn’t in the mood to really finish this quilt, even though I really wanted to gift this quilt.  All that was left was to bind this quilt, which isn’t usually a big deal–time wise (since I machine bind). In fact, I’d tell myself every week that a goal was to finish this quilt, but then each night, I’d have an excuse to not deal with it. I notice for a lot of people who quilt, they love the binding process, but for me, I’m always worried about it. I feel like that’s where I make the most mistakes, and after all of the work I put into making a quilt, the last thing I want to do is mess up. Yet, I always do.

I’m sure it’s something that I would only notice, but mistakes just bum me out. They aren’t even huge mistakes…the quilt itself looks great, but the binding (mainly the corners) have a few mistakes.

I ended up making this quilt for my little sister, and originally, it was meant to be a high school graduation gift, but now it’s a VERY belated high school gift (or I could be optimistic and say ridiculously early college graduation gift?).

LSU Quilt

I had trouble finding the perfect LSU purple and gold mix of fabrics, but I think it came out pretty well (besides the corners of the binding…ugh…one day I’ll learn).

Of course, I couldn’t just give my sister a quilt. I had an excuse to make a pretty package for her. I happen to have a few leftover gable boxes from the wedding planning days, and had some fun with washi tape. I thought it came out pretty darn cute, but I’m biased. 🙂

LSU Quilt Packaging

I hope my sister enjoys this quilt through her college life and beyond. 🙂

Taco “Cupcakes”

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Taco Cupcakes

As you may know, I’m a big fan of tex-mex cuisine. I haven’t really enjoyed much of it, though, because I can’t really trust myself in a restaurant where I can just get a margarita within 2 minutes or mindlessly eat chips and queso (I swear, my stomach is a bottomless pit when it comes to chips and queso). It’s kind of sad how much I miss it, because really, it’s just food right? At least I try to tell myself that when I’m reaching for a Ben & Jerry’s pint at the grocery store.

I first heard about these “cupcakes” when I met Emily of Emily Bites at IFBC last year in New Orleans. Emily’s blog features healthier recipes, which I can really appreciate, so when I heard about them, I swore I’d make them ASAP. Well, I sort of forgot about this recipe, like I always seem to do, until my coworker mentioned them recently. (Random thought of the day: For some reason, I find it SO weird when I find out people I know are reading food blogs. I know blogs are usually very popular, but where I live, a lot of people are really unfamiliar with the concept of a blog.) Anyway, when she brought up how much she LOVED these things, I had to make them ASAP. Unfortunately, wonton wrappers were out of stock for about 2 weeks, which really stunk. I contemplated cutting egg roll wrappers, but eventually, I found a pack in the store. SCORE!

The night I made these, my husband kept asking what I was cooking. When I said taco cupcakes, I’m sure the poor guy was pretty darn confused. 🙂 When they came out of the oven, I quickly threw a few on a plate and scarfed them down. These are delicious! The crunchy wonton wrappers make it seem like you’re enjoying a crunchy taco, minus getting neck aches from leaning over to eat a taco. 😛 My husband was pretty darn surprised about the taste too, so these will definitely be a part of our regular recipe rotation in our house. Besides being tasty, while these cupcakes don’t seem that large, they are pretty darn filling too! Just a small note, though…the main thing that I changed was that I used corn instead of black beans (since I am not a fan of beans, personally). I’m sure they’re wonderful with beans too, and I imagine with beans, they’re even more filling!

Taco “Cupcakes”
Source: mildly adapted from Emily Bites

Ingredients:

  • cooking spray
  • 1 1/2 tsp. canola oil
  • 1/2 lb. 90% lean ground beef
  • 1 tbsp. taco seasoning
  • 3/4 cup canned corn, drained
  • 16 wonton wrappers (found in the produce section)
  • 5 tbsp. + 1 tsp. of queso (plus more for drizzling)
  • 1 cup chunky salsa
  • 1 cup reduced fat shredded Mexican cheese

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Prep your muffin tin by misting 8 of the cups in a muffin tin.
  2. Heat the canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Then, add the ground beef as well as the taco seasoning, and cook the meat, breaking it up with a spoon or spatula, until the meat is browned. Add the corn to the meat and cook the mixture (stirring often) for a few more minutes, until the mixture is warm.
  3. Gently push a wonton wrapper into the bottom of 8 of the muffin tin cups, and spoon a tsp. of the queso into the bottom of the wonton wrapper, using the spoon to spread the queso evenly along the bottom. Add some of the meat mixture into each cup (evenly using 1/2 of the mixture for all 8 of the muffin cups), and then add some of the salsa into each cup (evenly using 1/2 of the salsa for all 8 of the muffin cups).
  4. Sprinkle some of the shredded cheese (evenly using 1/2 of the cheese for all 8 of the cups). Then, gently push another wonton wrapper on top of the cheese, and layer the “cupcakes” the same way you just did (queso, meat mixture, salsa, shredded cheese) using the rest of the layering ingredients.
  5. Bake the “cupcakes” for 18-20 minutes until the wontons are golden brown. The tips of the wonton wrappers will get seriously dark while in the oven if you want the rest of the wonton wrappers to get pretty crispy. Allow the “cupcakes” to cool for 5 minutes before taking them out of the muffin tin. Feel free to drizzle them with more warm queso after baking. Enjoy!

 

Pumpkin Spice Oreo Crispy Treats

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Pumpkin Spice Oreo Crispy Bars

I have a bone to pick with Hershey’s. Why are your pumpkin spice kisses ONLY out for the fall??! I understand pumpkin is a fall thing, but OH MY GOSH y’all…pumpkin spice kisses are one of my FAVORITE candies out there. Starting in September, I start stalking Target for these things. Sadly, for some reason, my Target was WAY behind on stocking their Halloween shelves, and that made this pumpkin spice kiss fanatic slightly crazy. So crazy, in fact, that when I finally saw these on shelves a couple of weeks ago, I bought FOUR bags. I’m sure the cashier thought I was stocking up for PMS or something, because my basket was full of the healthier stuff and then 4 bags of kisses. Ha! Priorities, y’all.

I figured since I bought four bags of these things, I probably shouldn’t eat all of them. I mean, I really could, but it’s so much more fun to make things with candy! When I saw it was “National Rice Krispies Treat Day” a while back, I got a huge craving for one of these things. Then, I thought…heck, why not just throw some of these in with the cereal? I thought some chopped Halloween Oreos would be fun too, because that would make these bars a lot more festive. 🙂

These treats are surprisingly really good. I had a few people tell me they were absolutely delicious, and they wanted to know what gave them the fall-ish flavors. Between the spices and the kisses, these little treats are just so darn good! I even found out someone in my office ate FIVE of them (for real)! I guess they were a winner, eh? 🙂

Pumpkin Spice Oreo Crispy Treats
Source: adapted from Kellogg’s

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 stick butter
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
  • pinch of ground cloves
  • 1 bag mini marshmallows
  • 6 cups Rice Krispies cereal
  • 30 pumpkin spice kisses, coarsely chopped
  • 15 Halloween Oreos, chopped in quarters

Directions:

  1. Spray a 9×13 inch baking pan with non-stick spray.
  2. In a large pot, melt the butter and the marshmallows on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Once the marshmallows are melted, remove the pot from heat, and add in the cereal, chopped kisses, and chopped oreos.
  3. Using more of a folding motion, mix everything together until the mixture is combined. Immediately spoon the mixture into the baking pan, spreading until the treats are fairly even in the pan. Allow the treats to cool and set in the pan for at least half an hour before serving.

A bunch of randoms

by 3 Comments

yarn

  • I really want to make these hats for a couple of holiday gifts. Problem is, I knit. I have no idea how to crochet. Any crochet-ers want to chime in and let me know if this is a feasible project for a beginner or am I absolutely NUTS? It won’t hurt my feelings if you tell me I’m crazy.

 

  • I went for a run last week (I haven’t run since, because the weather change made me pretty darn sick…ugh), and the weather was much less humid than usual, so I just jogged at the pace that felt right without staring at the RunKeeper app. Three minutes later, I looked at my pace and it said 12 minutes/mile. The minute I saw that, I got super excited. Then, my mind got to me and I felt tired and had to slow down…I shouldn’t have even looked at the app. 12 min/mile is a CRAZY pace for me. It makes me excited to see how my pace will improve with the weather feeling cooler and cooler.

 

  • Wholly Guacamole sent me a prize pack of their products last weekend (lucky me!), and now, my latest snack addiction are these. I need to find a healthier dipper option besides tortilla chips, though. 140 calories for 7 chips? UGH. It really makes me wonder how many calories I used to consume in a tex-mex restaurant when they’d bring out basket after basket of chips. 🙁

 

  • I’m so glad that Pumpkin Spice Fraps are back. The light version (grande size) is less than 200 calories, and I only get one when I go grocery shopping at Target. It makes that annoying errand (moreso because of rude shoppers) a little more pleasant.

wreath

  • We decorated our house for Halloween two weekends ago, and when I went to take out the fall wreath, I was super bummed to find out that most of the decor fell off of the wreath. 🙁 NOTHING bums me out more when I have to make a trip to Michaels (ha!). I think the wreath looks adorable now…I wanted to go for a more rustic/nature feel with this one.

 

  • I FINALLY finished a quilt…this quilt. I can’t wait to give it to the person I made it for. 🙂 I think between the wreath and the quilt, I got the craft bug back. Since it’s the fall, though, I couldn’t help but fork out the knitting needles. 🙂