Sweetie's Kitchen Adventures

When I saw this recipe I just had to make them! I love nutella!! The recipe is so simple,only requiring four ingredents. Since nutella is a hazelnut spread it only makes since that the recipe would call for chopped hazelnuts, but my Wal-Mart doesn't sell them so I used slivered almonds. The recipe also says it makes 12 mini brownies, but I went a little light filling the cups and ended up with 15, which was a good thing since we had company for dinner. I found the recipe here . Ingredients: 1/2 cup nutella 1 egg 5 Tbsp flour 1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts (or almonds) Directions: Preheat oven to 350. Line 12 mini muffin tins. Mix first three ingredients and fill each cup 3/4 full. Top with chopped nuts and bake for 11 - 12 minutes. Set on a rack to cool completely.  Serve immediately or cover and store at room temperature for up to 3 days... Yeah, they would never last that long!

Oh, chocolate mint, how I love thee!! No really, I do!! This is another Mark Bittman recipe to submit to IHCC. At the bottom of his recipes he always includes several "add in" suggestions and so to his basic brownie recipe I chose to add peppermint extract and mini chocolate chips. Brownies are so simple to make and the addition of peppermint and chocolate chips made these irresistible, so irresistible in fact that they just disappeared!!  I wish I would have made more, because I just keep thinking about how good they were… Hmmm, maybe tonight I'll make another batch and add a little almond extract and almonds. Ingredients: 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus a little softened butter for the pan 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped 1 cup sugar 2 eggs 1/2 cup all-purpose flour Pinch salt 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon pepperment Directions: 1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan with butter or line i

With Brown Sugar Glaze So I mentioned previously that I came across this web site called Cake Slice Bakers from one of my favorite blogs to visit Lick the Bowl Good. After seeing several of the cakes… I went out and bought the cookbook they are currently cooking from, Southern Cakes.  It is well written with a little history from each of the recipes. This is the recipe posted for the month of September and since it got such rave reviews, I really wanted to try it! Ingredients: Fresh Apple Cake 3 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups sugar 1 tsp baking sodaa 1 tsp salt 3 eggs 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil 2 tsp vanilla 3 cups finely chopped apples 1 cup chopped walnuts Brown Sugar Glaze 1 cup lightly packed brown sugar 1/3 cup butter 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 Tbsp heavy whipping cream Directions: Heat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 cake pan (I floured mine too). In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt, and wisk everything together. In a large bowl, beat the e

My husband is totally a Velveeta guy. He will choose processed american melty cheese over anything else. And I do mean anything… in addition to macaroni and cheese, he wants it on nachos, melted in scrambled eggs, and even Philly Cheese Steak! (Personally, Velveeta mac & cheese is my favorite too, but it's not the only cheese out there right!?!?) So… I knew he wasn’t going to be thrilled about this recipe, but I really wanted to give baked Macaroni and Cheese another shot. When I've tried to make it in the past it has been dry and not very flavorful and well…. dry. And the results were…      not bad! I dont think it will replace our beloved velveeta but it is a nice change. This is a Mark Bittman recipe and I am submitting this to IHCC Pot Luck. Ingredients: 21/2 cups milk 2 bay leaves 1 pound elbow, shell, ziti, or other cut pasta 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 11/2 cups grated cheddar 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese Fre

After School Snack I made the perfect after school snack for my boys first day back. To make them a little healthier I used turkey pepperoni, low fat mozzarella and skim milk. I found this recipe on one of my favorite blogs. She is a neighbor living in Texas which is kinda funny since Texas is HUGE! So she probably doesn’t live anywhere close to here but that's ok :o) I also discovered The Cake Slice Bakers from her site (More on that later though). So, back to the Pizza Puffs. My kids loved these!! They are simple to throw together and freeze wonderfully. Ingredients: 3/4 c flour 3/4 tsp baking powder 1Tbsp Italian seasoning pinch of salt 3/4 c milk 1 egg, lightly beaten 1 c mozzarella cheese 1/4 c parmesan cheese 1 c mini pepperoni Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray mini muffin pan with non stick cooking spray. Whisk together flour, baking powder, seasoning and salt. Add remaining ingredients, mix well and let stand for 10 minutes. Fill pan and bake 2

Have I ever mentioned how overwhelmingly, hecticly busy my life is? With three kids, a full time job (with an hour commute each way), household chores, horses and homework, baths, boo boo's, sharing, it's not fair, I had it first, what's for diner, I dont want to eat that, can I have a cookie... I could go on and on. My stress level it close to 10 most of the time, and the one thing I really want to do, I mean REALLY, REALLY enjoy doing is making goodies. But I rarely find time to do that. There is something about making something from scratch. Reading recipes, trying new things, buying groceries, mixing ingredients, cooking, baking and the best part... the oohs and aahs. The imense pleasure of knowing that someone is enjoying what I made!! So... to create a little "me time" I'm going to stock my freezer with lots of home cooked meals. Instead of worring about whats for dinner, I can throw something in the oven and then... MAKE A SWEET, TRY A NEW RECIPE, o