Mini Peanut Butter Brownies FAIL

Well, that was dumb.

This one I'll tell completely though picture captions!

So, it all started with this mess. Remember the amazing PB Cupcakes I posted about a little while back? Well, this goop was the first attempt at the frosting for said cupcakes. I added WAY to much peanut butter and then let it sit on the counter for a couple of hours until it started to ooze oil.

Now, I know that it's still perfectly fine, it's just not pretty which means I can't use it as a frosting for cupcakes. I then decided to use a box of brownie mix and this stuff to make these awesome little bite size treats that I was going to call "Brownie Peanut Butter Cups" I put a large star tip in the corner of a disposable pastry bag and then filled it with the gunk.

 

This is the brand I used, because it was on sale.

I decided that adding a Banana would make the brownies more moist and add a nice flavor.

 

Mashed Banana

I prepared the brownie mix according to the package direction, and added the mashed banana. That was my first mistake, I should have added the banana first then gradually added the other ingredients until it mixed up right.

I filled Tablespoon full batter into the mini wells *feels like I'm missing somethin* Looks good, oven is preheated to 350.

I squeeze the filling into the center of each little cake *still feels like I forgot something* they look awesome! I pop them into the oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes. I take them out and cool them. When they're finally cool enough to eat I try to pop one out.

And then remember what it was I had forgotten. I had forgotten to grease the pan. Me, Ilsa! The gal who's been baking since I was like 6 forgot to freckin grease the pan!

You can imagine how frustrated I was. We managed to pry them out one at a time, they weren't pretty but MAN did they taste every bit as good as I had hoped. Next time I WILL grease the pan!

I hoped you enjoyed this Fail Friday post!

May your tummy's always be full and you kitchen a disaster.

P.S. Any new failures this week?

P.S.S. Don't forget to subscribe or join!

Just because you gotta eat cheap dosen't mean you gotta eat crap.

Chicken Taco Bake with Home Made Tortilla Chips and Salsa(not home made)

Sorry for the bad quality pictures, I'm still learning about food photography and I was in a hurry to get these ones done.

 

Have you visited GroceryBudget101.com? You should! She has the section on 50 dollar menu helps where you can post your zip code and 3 grocery shops that you go to and she'll check the local adds and plan a shopping trip for you. I was picked for San Antonio! Here's the link to my list

This week I'm excited to announce that my grocery budget was 74.84 for over a weeks worth of meals (B,L and D). Of course a HUGE thank you to the gal over at GroceryBudget101.com for really showing me how to use my local store sales to put together a meal list. 

Up until I ran accross her blog's I had been making a menu and THEN making a list and seeing if the adds had what I needed, which 80% of the time they didn't. Once I was at the store the savings addict in me would kick in and I would see all the good prices on food and fill my cart with the sales in addition to what I already needed, that ran my grocery budget up to about $150-$200 per WEEK! And we would still need to buy extras on things like Milk and Eggs as we needed them. Well, that's just too freakin much to be paying on food.

Our goal from here on out is to prepares meals based on what the local stores have on sale, did I mention that GB101.com found a new store for me to shop at that has AMAZING sales? It's called La Fiesta and it's on the corner of Military and Marbach for those who are here in SA.

Here's on of the meals we're having this week.  Enjoy!

Chicken* Taco Bake

Recipe Source: Taste of Home Best Ever Casseroles

• 2 cups coarsely crushed corn chips
• 1 can refried beans
• 2 cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese, divided
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken (original recipe called for turkey but, I had just cooked a roast chicken so, I had leftover meat)
• 1 teaspoon taco seasoning
• 1 green onion, sliced
• 1 medium tomato

I didn't have taco seasoning so I used my go-to. 1 tbls Chili Powder and 1 tsp Cumin.

1. Place corn chips in a greased shallow 2 1/2qt backing dish. Place refried beans in a small saucepan; cook and stir over medium heat until heated through. Remove from heat; stir in 1 cup cheese and salsa. Spread over chips.
2. In a large bowl, combine the chicken with the taco seasoning; sprinkle over bean mixture. Top with remaining cheese. Sprinkle with onion. Bake, uncovered at 400 for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted. I topped mine with about 2 cups of lettuce and sour cream because I didn't have tomato's.

 

Home Made Corn Tortilla Chips

Recipe Source:  Sandra Lee

• 15 corn tortilla's 
• Canola oil spray
• Salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut each tortilla into 8 triangular portions. Arrange in a single layer on sheet pans. Spray with canola oil cooking spray to help them crisp up, sprinkle with salt and bake until crisp and lightly browned about 10 minutes. Allow to cool and serve with salsa.

The family review was pretty good, Abby didn't want it at first but once she tried it she was good.

It was pretty cheap to make like less the $2 a serving cheap (although I'm not 100% on that) I hope you enjoy it.

May your Tummy's always be full and your wallets be fuller.

P.S. What are your money saving secrets when it comes to grocery's? How much are you able to save?

Childhood Favorite, from my childhood

 Octopi on a Cloud

Did your mom every make you these when you we're a kid? No, OF COURSE NOT! That's because they were invented by my mama! And up until today have been a closely guarded Larsen Family secret. 

Well, boys and girls, hold tight because I'm about the blow the lid off of this mother!

I have such fond memory's of eating these and I hope that you're children will enjoy them as much as mine do.

Get out your hot dogs, what ever you favorite brand is.

Now, make 2 cuts to form four legs

Now, cut each leg in half so that you'll have 8 eggs.

Then toss them all into a pot of water and bring it to a boil.

While the Octopi are boiling make up some instant mashed potato's. I always like to add about 1/4 cup to the mashed taters because it gives it a nice little tang.

Boil the Octopi until the tentacles start to curl, once that happens their done. Take them out and place them on their clouds (mashed potatoes in case you were wondering). Be sure to give them eyes and a mouth, we served ours with corn on the side of course you can use any veggie you like.

When I fed them to Lissy at first she just sat there and giggled at it.

The girls thought it was great!

 ENJOY!
May your tummys always be full and you days filled with giggles.

Peanut Butter Krispy Treat FAIL

  Sometimes, things don't work out.

I'm trying out a new thing. I'm calling it "Fail Fridays" seeing as how baking and experimenting in the kitchen leads to tons of Failures I thought it might be fun for you all to read and laugh along as I share some of my mishaps.

The Other day I noticed that I had a bunch of Rice Krispy cereal, and as I'm sure you know is no good just eaten as a cereal. No, Rice Krispy's are only good for 1 thing, making treats. I had also noticed that I had what I thought was 1/2 a bag of sligtly melted marshmallows, and some sugar free chunky peanut butter that my husband refuses to eat (the kids and I wont eat the chunky kind) so I thought to my self "I bet these would make some awesome peanut butter rice krispy treats!" and set to work. First I emptied what was about 3/4 of a 16 oz jar of SF PB into my high heat pan (use to be a pressure cooker but, the lid doesn't fit so well anymore.) and cranked up the heat to high until it melted. Once the peanut butter was all gooey I added the marshmallows (which was closer to about 1/3 of the bag) to the goop and let that all melt together. Mean while, I poured out about 5 cups of rice krispy cereal and waited and debated within my self on weather I should lower the amount of cereal.    I decided to ignore my instinct and just leave it as it was because I was running short on time before the princesses stormed the kitchen. The goop in the pot was ready so, I poured it onto the cereal and mixed it all together. After mixing for a while I realized that it just wasn't going to come together like I had hoped. It looked like maybe, if I froze them it would help them hold so, I filled a muffin tin with 12 liners and stuffed them with the "treats" and then popped them into the fridge, you know, because that's pretty much the same thing as a freezer. I had quite a bit left over which I ended up smooshing onto some parchment paper on a jelly roll pan, I use plastic baggies as gloves and pressed as hard as I could in hopes that it would help it hold together. Now, once I got this pan all smashed up I did place it into my deep freeze. 

Fast forward a couple of hours and the princesses are ready for their treats, I pull out the krispy muffins and serve them expecting oo's and ahh's from my masters. Instead they feed them to the dog. I ask what was wrong with them, their answers? "They were to crumbly, they tasted good but we don't like messy crumbly treats" So, all my work, all my creativeness was for naught. Another failed recipe. Next time I think I'll make sure I have a whole bag of Marshmallows if I must use 5 cups of cereal, or shrink down to 3 cups if I don't have everything I need. I had to agree with my critics though, they did taste good and would have been a success if not for the crumblyness. I'm ok with it though, I honestly believe that though failure we often learn the best.

All the treats when to the trash can, I would have fed them to the pooch but the SF peanut butter had Malitotol syrup in it and that has been shown to give dog's cancer, which I don't think would make me popular with my kids because I'm not paying for chemo for my dog.

May your tummy always be full and you kitchen adventures full of failure.

P.S. What have been some of your greatest kitchen failures?

P.S.S. If you enjoy reading my posts please subscribe to stay up to date.

My cupcakes bring all the peeps to the yard.

Sweet Heaven

Awhile ago our beloved Subaru Outback broke down, we took it into wal-mart because we thought it was the battery and that was part of the problem but, it turned out that there was more to it. A belt had broken and in turn caused something else to bust as well, the guy who hooked up our battery said he could fix our beloved vehicle friend for a measly 30 bucks if we could find the parts. So, the hubby set out to search for the parts but, by the time he found them the mechanic dude had gone home and Hubby had forgotten to get his contact info. 

Hubby drove our poor baby home and parked it next to the curb, and there it sat for the better part of 2 months until a friend of ours offered up her Hubby's mechanical genius for us to use. We accepted.

I served their kiddies dinner as the two manly men went out to fix the Subaru and while chatting with my gal pal I told her that I would have to repay them some way, so I decided that Cupcakes would be the best currency in this situation (mostly because her Husband can't gain weight and I had been dying to bake up some cupcakes) she mentioned that his favorite flavor combination was Peanut Butter and Chocolate and that it would be nice of me to bake those for him because she doesn't like it and that way she wouldn't eat them. I agreed.

I named them Sweet Heaven because in my Heaven there will always be peanut butter and chocolate getting together making a sticky mess of awesomeness.

So, I set about creating my PB&C Cupcakes.

The Cake:

• 1 Box Dark Chocolate Cake mix
• 5 eggs
• 1 Cup whole milk
• 2/3  Cup melted butter
• 1 TBLS of Peanut Butter per Cupcake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, be sure the oven is well preheated before putting the muffin tin in, you want a nice blast of heat to hit them because that will help them rise. Prepare a conventional sized muffing tin with paper liners and spray with a non-stick spray or, using a pastry brush, lightly coat with melted butter or shorting. Add all the ingredients together, except for the peanut butter, and mix according to package directions.

Once the batter is ready pour about 1/3 cup of batter into each well and then add a table spoon of peanut butter to the center of each cupcake before baking

 Pop the tin into the preheated oven and bake for about 20 minutes (don't open the oven to check on them until at least 18 minutes have gone by or you could cause them to fall flat, I know this is hard to do and I almost always open the oven to early and I often have flat cupcakes.)

While the cakes are cooking mix up your frosting

Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting:

• 1 small jar of vanilla frosting (the kind for icing cupcakes)
• 1/2 cup of peanut butter
• 1/3 cup of dark chocolate fudge ice cream topping (room temp or colder) 
• 1 bag of bite sized Reese's peanut butter cups

Empty the frosting in to a medium sized mixing bow, add the peanut butter and fudge topping to the bowl and then using an electric beater (I borrowed one from a friend) beat the frosting until it's all combined and fluffy.

Once the cupcakes are done (when you lightly tap the top of the cake it should bounce right back into place and be firm) Take them out of the tin and a allow them to cool completely. If your forgot to make your frosting while the were baking you can make it now while the cakes are cooling.

 Once the cakes are fully cooled it's time to work the magic ;) Fill a disposable pastry bag with the frosting and snip the tip off of the bag, you don't need a pastry tip for this but if you want to use one I recommend Wilton's tip #1M it's nice and large which will make frosting the cupcakes easier. Pipe the frosting in a swirl motion starting from the outside of the top of the cupcake and working your way to the center and then up a little forming a peak of frosting. 

Once the cakes are frosted top them a the peak with 1/2 of a bite sized peanut butter cup.

These were still still a little lack luster so, I filled a couple of zip top sandwich bags with peanut butter and fudge topping and put them in a cup and microwaved them for like 10-15 seconds or just until the toppings are nice and melty. I sniped a very small opening in one of the corners and then pipped the toppings onto the cupcakes and then they were AMAZING!

Oh, baby...

That's nice.

JUST SIMPLY AWESOME!

 


















































May your tummy's always be full and your dreams be sweet.

P.S.
What are your favorite flavor combinations? 

Do I look like I have the time to cook breakfast every morning?

 I LOVE Eggs!

They're the perfect breakfast food, and I love breakfast so it's natural that I would love eggs.

I could eat a dozen a day EASY! Now, I'm not saying that eating that many eggs in one day is healthy but, I am saying that the wonderful egg is HIGHLY under rated. The egg has been given a bad rep for it's high amounts of cholesterol that is found in the decadent yoke, and since cholesterol has also been given a bad rep due to the Lipid Conspiracy  Hypothesis the has been on a roller coaster ride of health.

Well, I'm going to spare you (this time) from a lecture on the benefits of a paleo/low grain life style but, I do recommend you hop over and check out these sites http://www.fathead-movie.com/ and http://thegreatcholesterolcon.com/.

Now, onto breakfast! You will need the following

• 2 large summer squash
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used Munster, if you prefer a stronger flavor try Sharp Cheddar)
• 8-12 eggs.
• A grater
• A medium sized bowl (2 bowls if you're using fresh eggs)
• 12 cup muffin tin

Wash and grate your squash, I choose this yellow summer squash because I didn't feel like arguing with my kids when I asked them to eat and the yellow really hides well in the eggs.

I had some leftover eggs in a carton from when I tried the BeachBody menu so I used that. I recommend you use 8-12 whole eggs, if you're really opposed to using that many yokes then use 4-6 whole and 4-6 whites. Add your beaten eggs to the squash and give a good mix to make sure it's all combined.

The only cheese I had in my house this day was sliced Munster so, that's what I used.

If you're using the sliced cheese then slice it up into squares. Add the cheese to the bowl of eggs and squash, sprinkle some salt and pepper and then pour it in to the your muffin tin. Make sure that you've greased it well, go a head and use Pam or your favorite cooking spray because that will make it nice and quick. It's also smart to grease the top of the pan and not just the wells.

Pour the mixture into the muffin tin and then pop into a oven that has been pre-heated to 375 degrees. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Once the egg muffins are done, set them on a rack to cool for about 5 minutes. Serve them 2 at a time with some toasted wheat bread and bacon.

There you go! I hope you enjoy them, I know I did as well as my girls. I keep them in my freezer and pop a couple out and heat in the microwave for about 1 minute per muffin. on mornings that I just don't feel like cooking

May your Tummy's always be full and you be aware of when someone is feeding you lies.

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Oh, yes.

The other night I was in the mood for something fantastic. I thought about going out to eat but, then remembered that I'm often left feeling like I spent way to much for something that I could have done a better job of creating at home. I checked my fridge to see what I had available for me to play with and I found some summer squash that needed to be used but, I didn't feel like the same old boring sauteed squash so, I checked my pantry and found some panko bread crumbs and then this recipe just popped into my head. I decided to go all out and whip up a fantastic Chicken Dinner, it really did turn out well. Enjoy

Oven Fried Summer Squash (a Ilsa original!)

2-4 Sevings

• 1 Medium Zucchini
• 2 Small Yellow Squash
• 1/4 Cup Bread Crumbs (I used Panko, because that's what I had on hand)
• 1/4 Cup Fresh Grated Parmesan Cheese (must be fresh!)
• 1 Tsp Garlic and Herb Seasoning (I used The Pampered Chef's because it's the best one I've found)
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil.

Wash all the squash, then dice them into even pieces (about 1-2 inches in diameter). Place all of your dry ingredients in a gallon size zip top bag, zip the top and the toss the bag around to combine. Kid's LOVE to toss around the bag! Place oil in a medium sized bowl and add the squash, gently coat the squash with the oil. Add the squash to the zip top bag and toss it around until it's all covered and looks like this

Dump out the contents of the bag onto a rimmed cookie sheet and spread around until it's pretty much even. Place the sheet into a oven that has been pre-heated to 350 and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the bread crumbs on the squash have lightly browned and the veggies are tender.

This is how it'll look when it's done.

Ilsa's Signature Cornbread 

Serves 6-8

• 1 Box of your favorite Cornbread mix (or your favorite recipe of you have one)
• 1 Cup shredded Pepper Jack Cheese
• 1 Cup whole kernel Corn (if you have left over corn on the cob just cut the kernels off the ear and use those)

Prepare Cornbread according to package direction, add in the cheese and corn then mix until just combined, you'll want to see some lumps of batter because those will cook into tiny pockets of awesomeness.  Pour the batter into a greased 8 x 8 pan and bake @ 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Oh how Corney!!

 Fennel and Herb Roast Chicken.

Served 2-4

• 2 Chicken Leg Quarters.
• Salt and Pepepr
• Approx 2-4 table spoons of Fennel and Herb Rub (Pampered Chef of course!) per leg.
• 1/4 cup Olive Oil.

Now, you have have noticed that I don't have exact measurements for the seasoning, that's because you really need to tap into your inner chef to make sure that this chicken come's out flavorful. Wash and dry your leg quarters.  Pour out your oil in to a small bow to avoid getting your bottle all germy, using either your fingers or a pastry brush coat the chicken with the olive oil. Now, wash your hands if you didn't use a pastry brush and cover the chicken with the Rub, you want it to be pretty thick on there. Massage the meat with your hands like it's the back of your lover, or a well paying customer, really give it a good rub. Add a little S&P and then place it on a well seasoned stone baking sheet and roast it in your oven @ 325 for about 30-40 minutes or until the juices run clear when poked in the thickest part of the meat. Bring it out and let it rest for about 10 minutes.

Oh, sooooo yummy!

Plate up your dish and voila! You're done! The best part about this is that it's simple enough that you can really serve it any night of the week, and it's fancy enough to be a Sunday dinner or to be used for entertaining company.

We all loved it (including the girls!), and my hubby couldn't get enough of the squash. I really hope you try this one out and that you think it's as yummy as we did.

May your tummy's never be empty!

What was the last recipe you invented? How did it turn out?

Watermelon = Summer Time

Ah; sweet, sweet summer time.

As I mentioned earlier on this blog I've been trying the menu that is given to you as a Team Beachbody member. My initial review was pretty low, although I did find out that you can set your dinners to serve 4 people so, that makes grocery shopping a little easier. I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not but, the cost of my grocery's for what was suppose to last 1 week turned out to be $205! That's just way to much for one week's worth of food but, being as how I am super awesome, I have been able to spread it out to cover us for 2 weeks with very little extra trips to the store.

One of the yummy food items on my shopping list was my favorite fruit, the Watermelon! Just typing it's name out makes me salivate, I was sure to pick a good one (nice dark yellow and flat spot on one side and heavy for it's size) and I was excited to try out this new watermelon carving technique I saw on the all mighty Pinterest. Here it is, enjoy the photo's and hopefully you'll learn something cool  

Start out by getting all of your stuff near by, you'll need a trash can/bowl to toss your reins in, a good sharp knife, a cutting board, and storage containers. I did this on my patio table so that the juice could just drip down on to the concrete and I could rinse it off later but, if you can't do it this way you could try putting a big towel down or giving your kiddies a straw and tell them to suck up all the juice before the giant ants come. Prep your melon by slicing one of the ends off to create a flat surface to work from, this is important to prevent your melon from rolling around on you.

My little "helper" waiting patiently for her melon cubes.

Then, working from the top (or bottom, you know whatever!) with a really sharp knife stat to slice down the melon, your goal is to remove ALL of the white stuff while losing as little of the delicious melon meat as possible.

Once you're done with the peeling it's time for you to slice the melon into what I call "melon boards" they should be about 1 1/2 - 2 inches thick, our goal is to cube the melon for quick and easy snackage. Now that you have your boards it's time to make then cubes, turn the boards into lines that are about 1 inch wide and then cut across the lines making 1 inch cubes. As you finish cubing each board put the cubes into a container, this is important to prevent the cubes from taking over your work space and making you their bee-yatch

 Now that you're done, clean up and then store your melon and enjoy it for the next week.

Enjoy!

May your tummy's always be full and your house free from Ants.

P.S.

I'm working with a Nikon Colorpix S9100, any tips on how I can achieve better pictures?