Crabby Patty Cookies!

Maybe you've seen hamburger cookies around???

I've seen them around so many places that I don't even remember where I first saw them.

The first time I made them I wanted to make sure they really looked like hamburgers.

So, I asked my niece {whose 5} if she could tell what they are.

and she said {in a voice as if to day "duh! of course I do"}

"Crabby Patties!"

They were such a big hit the first time that my sister called me up a few weeks later asking for the recipe because her hubby was requesting them. {he he he!}

Funny right!?

And so, from day one until forever, they will be known as crabby patty cookies!

{That's right - Crabby Patties - like from Sponge Bob!}

 The first time I made them I spent hours making tons of tiny {i mean seriously tiny} sugar cookies to be my "buns", but I have since come up with an infinitely better idea!

Here is what you will need to make them;

• Vanilla Wafer cookies {these replace the sugar cookies that I originally made}

• Some kind of chocolate covered cookies - Chocolate covered Oreos would work but I prefer Grasshoppers because they are cheaper and you get more for your $$

• Icing - You will need red, yellow, and green - or you can just use white + food coloring.  The icing is going to be your ketchup, mustard, and lettuce - and its gonna be awesome! :)

So... a crabby patty is made in a few easy steps.  

I mean seriously easy!

1. Start with two vanilla wafers and one grasshopper.

2. Put a little icing on the bottom wafer {rounded side out} and "glue" your grasshopper cookie to the bottom wafer.

3. Start topping your"patty" with your different colored icing.

 There really is no rhyme or reason to it, just make sure to put lots of icing near the edge of the cookie so that it oozes out once you put the top cookie on.

See how you only see a little of each color, but just enough!

We made a whole bunch!

I had lots of help from my little sister, even my teenage brothers helped!  And they had fun! :)

Now just a little note - I wasn't exactly sure at first how they would be with the vanilla wafers as the bun since they are crunchy.

But the wafers soften up a bit because of the icing and they were perfect... SO much better than making sugar cookies!

But *beware!* these cookies are sweet!  They are delish, but best when eaten one at a time! ;)

No Flour Peanut Butter Cookies + Printable Recipe Card

Ummmm. . . I love me some peanut butter cookies!

They are so yummy and they remind me of being a kid. :)

I've got a super good recipe for peanut butter cookies requiring no flour!
Lots of us are trying to reduce the amount of flour we eat these days, or gluten, or maybe you just want one less ingredient in your recipe.
Whatever the case may be, these are the cookies for you my friends!

Don't those look good?!  They taste good too!

Here is everything you'll need to make them.

 Mix ingredients together in order shown. (recipe below)

 Scoop onto cookie sheet and give them their famous peanut butter cookie sugary criss-cross

 Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes - until they are just slightly brown - and there you have your cookies!

And if you like them you can print out my little recipe card.  Maybe even put it in your new recipe book.  **wink, wink!**

Lets make Calzones! + a recipe

We all love home made pizza!  Every now and then Hubby and I love a Friday night pizza party!
But pizza is a pretty common thing.
We like to change it up sometimes and instead of pizza, we make calzones!

Yummmmm.

How much would your kids each love to make their own individual calzone!?

You can use whatever pizza crust you'd like, but here is my recipe which is super good - better than any pizza place I've ever been to thats for sure!

1 ½ C. warm water
2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 C. flour
1 ½ tsp. salt
1/3 C. Parmesan cheese
1 T. Italian seasoning
2 ½ tst. active dry yeast

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.  If too dry add a little water at a time.  Mix well and let rise for about an hour.

Now kneed again and you’re ready to make your calzones! (or pizza, but in this case, calzones)

Ok, so one batch will make four big calzones, or six regular sized.
So separate out your dough and roll it out pretty thin, about a quarter of an inch.
(Make sure your surface is good and floured.) 
 Now add your toppings.

 Yummy cheese, olives, pretty much whatever you like.
You can even add anchoves if your like my hubby.  *ewww!*

But the great thing about calzones is that everyone gets their own, so I don't even have to deal with the fishy-ness.  :)
Important note - Make sure you don't put sauce into your calzone.
Sauce in your calzone = big mess.

Now you fold over the top of your dough and kinda roll/pinch the edges together to make sure they are nice and closed.

Now put them on a baking sheet and bake at 450° for 15-20 minutes-ish.
**Baking time will depend on the size of your calzones and the thickness of your dough.**
You'll want to keep a close eye on them and take them out when they start to get slightly brown.



Once they are done, serve with some marinara or spaghetti sauce for dipping and enjoy!

 Y-U-M!  Let me tell you, it was goooood!

So go ahead and give it a try. . . or just save it for a rainy day.

Ummm. . . Tomato Basil Bread Recipe

Everyone loves soft, warm homemade bread, no doubt about that!

Rather than your regular every day bread, how about trying some Tomato Basil bread!  Umm!

It looks so pretty not to mention how delish it is!

Just start with your fav basic white bread recipe.

If you don't have one you can use mine!

3oz warm water

1/2 tsp. active dry yeast

3oz warm milk

1Tbsp. melted butter

2Tbsp. sugar

1tsp. salt

2C white bread flour

Now here is the special ingredient. . . 1/4 C of sundried  tomato pesto!
{or more if you want it really tomatoey }

If you cant find any sundried tomato pesto {I got it at Walmart} then here is plan b - just throw some regular pesto and some sundried tomatoes in the blender. . . or plan c - sundried tomatoes, basil, olive oil and maybe a little salt into a blender.

Add your sundried tomato pesto into your bread and kneed well.  Let it rise til about double its size then kneed again and form into a cute little bread ball, or stick it into a loaf pan.

Let it rise again til about double its size.

 Once its sufficiently risen, bake at 350 til the crust is lightly brown.

 Ummm. . . smells good right?!

Now slice that baby up and your fam will be so impressed by your fancy, gourmet bread!

Its so pretty and tinted slightly red, with a little piece of tomato scattered here and there.

Very yummy, a total pleaser for the crowd as well your taste buds!

{PS - this recipe makes a one pound loaf}

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes for V-Day!

I made some V-day treats last weekend that were way easy, cute and gooood!

Strawberry cupcakes topped with chocolate covered strawberries.

What is it about chocolate covered strawberries and Valentines day?

No complaints from me. . .

I love these little bites or juicy, chocolaty goodness

 So for these yummy treats I started by dipping my strawberries, and making some cupcakes.

I went with strawberry cupcakes cuz, helloooo, they are pink, and strawberry. . . perfect!

I frosted some with chocolate, some with strawberry and some with both chocolate and strawberry frosting.

{They taste pretty dang good no matter what I frosted them with!}

 Once they were good and frosted I topped each one with a chocolate covered strawberry and drizzled some melted chocolate on the top.

I say, you can never have too much chocolate right?!

They were really good and lets face it, we all love a festive treat!

Such a cute way to dress up a simple cupcake and make it your own!

O-So-Yummy Steak Bistro Salad Recipe

Hey there everybody! 

I know I've been kinda mia lately, sorry about that. . . sometimes life gets in the way and crafting/blogging just has to take a back seat.

Today I want to share with you one of my favorite recipes for the most delicious salad you will ever eat!

Its really similar to the Steak Bistro salad that Panera Bread used to have.

Well, they don't serve it any more so we had to start making it ourselves and O. M. Goodness is it ever tasty!

Not to mention that we're all trying to eat a little healthier since making our new years resolutions!

Here is what you'll need to make your own steak bistro salad:

A plate full of mixed field greens

Gorgonzola cheese - a healthy sprinkling

balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing

a handful of nuts - I love this with pecans but walnuts would be good to

grilled steak - about 2-3 oz would be perfect for one person

Season and grill up your steak, then slice it nice and thin. Then pile all the goodies on your plate full of greens and drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette.

The greens and the cheese are a little bitter with a good bite to them, but the nuts, steak and vinaigrette sweeten it up just a bit.  Ummm!

I promise you will not be disappointed!

Go ahead and try it. . . you know you want to! ;)

Botched Caramel to Scrumptious Caramel Cups!

One more yummy treat before Christmas.

There really is no bad time to post something for your taste buds am I right!?

For one of my to-pass-out-Christmas-treats I wanted to make caramel.  

I made some a year or so ago.  It was good but turned out too soft.  Then I tried a few months later and it was break your teeth caramel.  This time I tried using a candy thermometer. . . apparently a faulty thermometer.

My caramel tastes super good, but is once again spoon caramel.

The last thing I need sitting around my house is a whole bucket of caramel, so I just had to figure out a way to still give it as a treat!

Presenting my chocolate caramel cups!

Here's a super quick rundown of what I did.

I started with mini muffin papers in my mini muffin tin.I filled each one about half full of melted chocolate.

Next I took my spoon caramel and took about a teaspoon and rolled it into a ball and pressed it lightly into a chocolate filled cup.

 A little drizzle of chocolate on top to make sure all the caramel is covered, then let them cool.

 As you can see I made some white chocolate and some milk chocolate.

And let me tell you, they are de-licious!

The caramel is the perfect consistency, and it the whole thing just melts in my mouth!

 So, I still ended up eating way too much yumminess, but at least I can still give most of it away.

So, go ahead and drool, and I'll eat one for you.  {Your welcome!}

A perfect solution to a whole batch of botched caramel. . . Phew!

Oh, and a very

Merry Christmas

and 

Happy New Year

to you all!

I'm so thankful for all of you and hope your holidays are wonderful!

Melting Snowman Cookies

Here is a super cute and fun Christmas/Winter treat.

Super yummy, almost too cute to eat, melting snowman cookies!

These cookies would make great Christmas treats, but they would also be fun to make any time through out the winter season.

Here is how I made them.

I started with sugar cookies. . . just plain ol' round sugar cookies.  While they were baking I started making my snowman's noses.

I used regular melting chocolate.  I just used white and added a drop of yellow and red food coloring to turn it orange.

I used a piping bag and onto wax paper I piped tiny little orange peaks.

Now put them in the fridge.

 I made a ton of them and then chose the best looking ones to use.

Next start on your heads.

If you can find some round white candy, I seriously suggest you use them!

White whoppers would be perfect, but I couldn't find any so I used regular whoppers dipped in white chocolate.

While the chocolate was still wet I put on the hardened noses.

 Once the cookies are cool its time to frost!

Any white frosting would work for this, but I used thinned royal icing because I love the way it looks.

 Pipe the icing on the cookies in an uneven squiggly way so that it resembles a puddle of melting snowman.

It can even run off the cookie.  I think it adds to the look of it.

before the icing hardens don't forget to put on your heads.

Once the icing dries its time to add the little extras.

I used chocolate for the arms and buttons.  Just melt it and pipe it on.  Easy Peasy.

For the face I used black gel that I got from the icing section at the grocery store, but melted chocolate would work too.

Get as creative as you want with this part.

Some of my snowman are a little surprised to be melting, like the cute little guy above.

Some of them are happy, cuz they know its just a part of life.

 And some of them are just content to be, like this little guy here.  

{I think he might be my favorite}

 I think my family will enjoy these little guys!

Super cute right!? 

And a little spin on your traditional sugar Christmas cookies.

Happy Christmas baking!

12 Crafts of Christmas - Part 9 - Chocolate Candy Cane Yumm!

Is anyone familiar with those unbelievably delicious Ghiradelli limited time only chocolate peppermint candies that they sell only during Christmas time?

I. Love. Them.

Seriously, one bag just doesn't do it for me.

This year I tried making my own, and let me tell you, I won't be buying them any more. . . I'll be making them!

Super yummy and who whoulda known they are so easy to make!

Ingredients:

 Milk chocolate bark

White chocolate bark

1 package of candy canes

parchment paper

jelly roll pan

First start with your chocolate.

Melt the whole package of milk chocolate and pour it into a parchment lined jelly roll pan.

Stick it in the fridge to harden.

While its hardening put your candy canes into the food processor and grind them up!

Grind it til its about the same consistency as sand, some bigger chunks and some fine dust.

 Once the chocolate in the fridge has hardened melt your white chocolate.

Once it is all melted stir in your crushed candy canes.

Now pour it over the milk chocolate in the pan and spread it all out evenly.

Do this pretty quickly or the chocolate underneath will start to melt and the two will mix together.  {you can see a spot or two on mine where this started happening}

Now put the whole thing in the fridge and let it harden.

The last step is to break it all up into pieces.  I tried cutting it into a bunch of neat squares, but it just didn't happen.  No biggy.

Now make sure you put it in two containers, one to share with your family, and one to hide in your sock drawer.  {just kidding - or am I?}