Pizza Bread!

I might as well mix it up a little and post something that I make for boyfriend and myself for lunch a lot. We don't really go out on too many dates. We stay in 99.4% of the time, watch movies, and cook dinner or lunch. He's a huge pizza fan, so this is always a hit with him and usually at the top of his request list.

My little zebra spoon rest just looks so precious in the background.

You can fill this with anyyyy pizza topping you want.

TADA! Kid friendly, too.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Pillsbury pizza dough (or whatever brand you prefer)
• Mozzarella cheese
• Parmesan cheese
• Pepperoni slices (or whatever pizza toppings you desire)
• Pizza sauce
• Garlic salt
• Italian seasoning

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375F degrees, or whatever is on the pizza dough packaging.
2. Lightly cover the dough with garlic salt and italian seasoning.
3. Layer mozzarella, parmesan, pepperoni (or other pizza toppings), and pizza sauce until you have stuffed it to your heart's desire.
4. Roll, fold, braid, get as creative as you wish... just close the pizza dough.
5. Top with garlic salt, italian seasoning, and parmesan cheese.
6. Bake on a lined and greased cookie sheet for 12 minutes.

I like simple recipes. And by like, I mean love. Boys are too hard to please from time to time, but I know the key to his heart is through his belly.

- KJ

Probably My Most Favorite Cookie EVERRRRR.

I love red velvet. Nuff said. When I gave these to boyfriend for Valentine's Day, we ended up getting into an argument, I took this entire box of cookies (left him everything else) and ate all of these just so that he couldn't have them. (Hi, I'm 5 years old. No shame. Don't make me mad.) These are quite possibly the most delicious cookies I have ever made or eaten and I will probably make 87 other batches of these in the future and eat all of them. I thank my lucky stars for finding them on Pinterest. Just saying. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product of these, so you just get the mixture photographs. But nonetheless, they are delishhhhhhh.

I'm also a fan of cheating and using cake mixes.

I could probably eat them like this.

Oh herro dere, sweet heaven in my mouth.

I'm probably going to have to make myself some more of these this weekend. And boyfriend will still get none of them. Ever. (I'm also bitter and hold grudges. Good thing he knows that.)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 box of red velvet cake mix
• 1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese
• 1/2 cup of butter, room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1 cup of white chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese, butter, egg, and vanilla extract.
3. Add cake mix and beat until well combined. 
4. Stir in white chocolate chips.
5. Roll into evenly sized balls on place with equal spacing on a lined and greased cookie sheet. 
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes. (The center will still be gooey.)
7. Practice self control by not shoving every single one of these in your mouth all at once.

- KJ

Gooey Juicy Lemon Bars

I literally made so many lemon bars leading up to this batch, which was the last batch that I made. My boss man was pretty adamant about having them, but then decided against it. Thank goodness. I got tired of juicing lemons constantly. I doubled this recipe, so FEEL FREE TO CUT EVERYTHING (except the crust) in half. Boss man likes desserts to have a certain amount of height. (Picky man.)

These... I could eat a million of. I have a lemon obsession.

Juicing lemons is so much easier at work...

When I have a juicer and don't have to do it by hand.

I have also found the easiest way to press crusts is the back of a large spoon.

Baking... Baking... Baking...

I could eat it like that. It doesn't even have to solidify.

Would ya look at that?

Inside the fridge of a broke college kid.

Beer, DC, Dr. Pepper, Sangria, Chipotle, and random dips.

I'm so healthy.

I am a fan of lemon bars. Because I could probably eat an entire lemon tree and be perfectly okay with myself.

INGREDIENTS:

 For the crust:

• 1 cup softened butter
• 1/2 cup white/granulated sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour

For the filling:

** This can be cut in half. I had to make mine doubly thick for my boss.

• 8 eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cups white/granulated sugar
• 10 lemons, juiced

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
2. In a medium sized mixing bowl, mix together 1 cup of softened butter, 1/2 cup of sugar, and 2 cups of all-purpose flour. Press into the bottom of a greased (AND LINED) 13x9" pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, flour, sugar, and lemons and pour over baked crust. Bake for an additional 20 minutes.
4. The bars will thicken and firm as they cool. I also suggest leaving in the fridge overnight before cutting and eating.

- KJ

Cookie Bars... NOM.

Pretty much everything that I bake is for my boyfriend or work. Whatever. Boyfriend has a sweet tooth that constantly needs to be satisfied, and I constantly feel the need to bake. It's perfect. Pretty much for every holiday, I make him and his roommate a plethora of baked goods. (Wife me up, Mister. Seriously.) This is another recipe that I found that I like because you can tweak it for any holiday. I love themed baked goods, too. I'm slightly neurotic. Oh well.

If that doesn't look good, then I don't know what does.

I like simple ingredients, also...

To go along with simple recipes...

Because I like to make my life simple...

And I love white chocolate...

NOM NOM NOM...

I really wish I liked sweets more.

You'd think a girl who bakes even half as much as I do would have a sweet tooth.

Nope. Not at all. Unless it's peanut butter... Then we'll talk.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 box of white cake mix
• 1 egg
• 1 stick of softened butter
• 1 bag of M&M's (Again, Valentine's Day Cherry used here)
• 1 cup of white chocolate chips
• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
2. Mix cake mix, butter, and egg.
3. Pat into a foil lined 13x9" pan. (Seriously. Foil line EVERYTHING. It will make your life 874294857245 times easier.)
4. Pour entire bag of M&M's.
5. Then add 1 cup of white chocolate chips.
6. Drizzle sweetened condensed milk on top.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the edges turn slightly golden brown. (***This will look as though it's not done. It should look like this. The sweetened condensed milk will caramelize. I also like to pull these out right at 25 minutes, if not a minute or so sooner. I like anything cookie related to be super gooey in the middle, but to each their own.)

Let these cool before cutting if you can. Stick it in the fridge for an hour, whatever. When they are ready to cut, pull the foil lining out of the pan and cut on the counter. (This is why I say line EVERYTHING. It makes it so much easier than trying to cut it out of a pan.)

- KJ

Cute As A Button

Sorry for the lack of attention that I have been paying to the blog. New puppy and midterms coming up has consumed my life, but I am currently taking a mental health break before my next class and posting the recipes that I should have posted a loooong time ago.

This is an absolutely delicious and ridiculously easy snack that I literally make for every single holiday. You can adjust whatever you need to a million different ways and make it appropriate for any and every occasion. I love these little pretzel buttons, and they're adorable.

Ingredients:

• Mini pretzels
• Hershey's Hugs (You can use Kisses, but I prefer hugs and I also use Candy Cane Hugs during Christmas)
• M&M's (Since these were for Valentine's Day, I used Cherry M&M's, but I use candy corn and any holiday themed candy depending on the time of year)

This is the before process...

... and this is the after.

Looks simple enough, right?

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 275F degrees.
2. Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil and make rows of pretzels. You don't have to place them any certain space apart.
3. Unwrap Hugs (or Kisses, whatever) and place one on top of each pretzel.
4. Place in oven for 2-4 minutes.
5. Place one (or two, if you're feeling frisky) M&M on top of each melted chocolate. This is where you gotta work kinda quick.
6. Place in freezer for 20 minutes to allow chocolate to reset.

Delicious. Simple. Adorable. And can be used for any season or time of year.

- KJ

 

Beau's Baby Brother

So, as some of you may know, I did - completely on a whim - get another puppy last weekend... Which is why I haven't really been posting my Valentine's Day recipes. (Oops. Sorry.) But if I do say so, Milo has been the best decision I have ever made since getting Beau. I thought Beau would be the most jealous thing in the entire world, because he is without a doubt a spoiled Mama's boy. He doesn't allow my boyfriend to lay next to me without being in between if he has a say so in the matter, but he has adjusted to big brother life very very well. He's truly shocked me. Milo is a 13 week old pure bred English Setter that I literally got for a STEAL. It was an offer I couldn't refuse. I think it was meant to be for me and these two boys. Everything seriously fell into place PERFECTLY. I couldn't be a happier or more proud Mama. Meet Milo... or Stonewall Jackson as my boyfriend calls him, because "You can't have General Beauregard without Stonewall Jackson, baby."

I am a very, very happy and blessed puppy Mama.

"I can't imagine living in a house without a couple of dogs. If I ever got out of bed at night and didn't have to step over a Labrador or two or three, or move one off of the covers so I could turn over, my nights would be more restless and the demons that wait in the dark for me would be less."

"Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one, is a life diminished."

"A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart, and he will give you his."

"No matter how little money you have and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you rich."

My apologies

Sorry I've been slacking so much lately guys. It's been a crazy weekend. I should hopefully have some time to post some stuff this weekend, including what all I did on Valentine's Day and for Tim's birthday, so stay tuned!

As long as Beau and the new puppy allow me to do so, I should hopefully have something posted tonight!

- KJ, B, & M.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Literally. These little strawberry shortcakes are easy, and I made them this Sunday morning at work. For those who don't know, I prepare/make desserts for the restaurant I work for for our Sunday morning brunch buffet. I had a little idea and it turned out to be fantastic. These are the product.

Simple enough, right? These are the only ingredients you need:

• Strawberries
• Whipped cream
• Angel food cake chopped into cubes
• Simple syrup (which is made by mixing sugar and hot water in a 2:1 ratio)

Sounds easy enough. And it really is that easy. As you can see my little set up for work this morning, I made these like little parfaits.

1. Chop strawberries and add to a warm simple syrup mix. Let sit for roughly 30-45 minutes or until you can see the syrup change to a pinkish or red color.
2. In an container, lay angel food cake cubes, whipped cream, and strawberries in syrup.
3. Chill and serve.

Yup. That's it. That's all. The end.

- KJ

The Great Fudge Battle

So, I took a mental health break today because I had a terrible, horrible, awful, no good, very bad day yesterday. Naturally, I fix that by baking all day to get ahead for what I have to have done by next week. Today's story time involves yours truly, my black and furry baking assistant, and this recipe for Strawberries and Cream fudge.

Beau ALWAYS sits by my feet and waits for me to drop something while I cook or bake ANYTHING. It's something I've gotten used to. Today while I was trying to make this delicious fudge, he was doing the same. In my stupid broke college kid apartment, I don't have a huge sauce pan, so I had white chocolate chips and marshmallow cream in a large mixing bowl that I had had in the microwave to go ahead and soften it since I didn't have a pan large enough to allow for me to add those ingredients to it. This said mixing bowl was sitting to the left of me next to the sink. (My stove and sink are parallel to one another.) I'm whisking my butter, cream, and sugar mixture to a boil waiting for it to be done so that I can add it to the chocolate and marshmallow cream when it starts to bubble up and overflow. My first instinct is "OH SHIT. I NEED TO GO AHEAD AND POUR THIS IN MY MIXING BOWL." I naturally whip around and pour it in there all while my kitchen is slightly throwing up this butter/sugar/heavy cream boiling mixture everywhere. My second instinct is me yelling at Beau to not eat that. I run into the bathroom, grab a towel to throw on the floor so I can quickly finish and pour this fudge before it cools down any. I'm standing on said towel, yelling at Beau "DON'T LIKE THAT DAMMIT!", mixing fudge in my mixing bowl, and using my foot to ATTEMPT to ward off my 65 pound dog.

My life is a hot mess, and this is proof of it. Needless to say, fudge and Beau - 1, Me - 0.

Regardless, this fudge is adorable and delicious, and you can use any gelatin flavor whatsoever and make this for ANY occasion!

Strawberries and Cream Fudge

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of white sugar
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup of butter (1 1/2 sticks)
• dash of salt
• one bag (12oz) of white chocolate chips
• 7oz jar of marshmallow cream
• 1 tablespoon of strawberry gelatin mix

Making fudge like this is MUCH easier than you would probably imagine, and it still tastes FANTASTIC.

1. In a sauce pan, bring butter, heavy cream, sugar, and salt to a boil and stir constantly for about five minutes.
2. Bring off heat, add white chocolate and marshmallow cream and use a mixer to blend for about two minutes.
3. In a lined pan (I used 13x9), pour about half of the mixture in, making sure to completely cover the bottom of the pan.
4. Add the strawberry gelatin mix to the remaining mixture and blend with mixer for about a minute. Pour pink mixture over white mixture and use a knife to swirl the two colors together.
5. Put in fridge for AT LEAST six hours or overnight if possible.
6. Pull lining out of pan, cut into bite size pieces, and TADA. You're all done!

I did take a few pictures, but seeing as we had Battle Royale this morning, I didn't get TOO many.

The beginnings of my butter/heavy cream mixture, prior to adding the sugar and salt.

Marshmallow and white chocolate chip mixture prior to the above mixture being added.

Although not terribly swirly, this is what mine looked like before it went into the fridge.

I promise I'll get better at taking picture of what I'm doing. This fudge was an extreme battle-filled circumstance.

- KJ & Beau.

For My Most Important Mister

Okay, I lied. I'm posting my first recipe today because I got so excited, but it's not for people, so it doesn't count, right?

Anyone who knows me knows that I am absolutely sickeningly obsessed with my dog. So, naturally, my first recipe post is going to be dedicated to him. Not only is Beau my sweet puppy child, he's also my baking assistant. Given, he drools in the floor way more than he helps me bake, but he's still a perfect helper.

See, this is what I have to deal with any time I cook or bake anything.

It's IMPOSSIBLE to say no to that face, but I do it. It's a hard job.

Anyways, back to the dog biscuits. These are ridiculously simple and easy to make and only require TWO ingredients. Yes, two. So, if you love you pup as much as I do, you can make these homemade goodies for practically nothing, and they're way better for them because they have no processed anything. All you need is:

• 2 jars of baby food (any flavor is perfectly fine AS LONG AS it doesn't contain onion powder, which most baby foods do not, but some do)
• 2 cups of whole wheat flour

Simple enough right? And these are also ridiculously simple to make.

1. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
2. Mix the two jars of baby food and the two cups of flour together. Beau got banana and mixed berry baby food today; he's thrilled. They need to form a firm dough. If the moisture from the baby food isn't enough to fully mix the flour, use a little bit of water to help you. I also found that mixing with my hands rather than a spatula made this MUCH easier. (Of course I forgot to take a picture, oh well. First post, y'all will live.)
3. On a greased baking sheet (I used olive oil spray), form small 1-inch balls and place them about a half inch apart.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
5. Let cool and store in a loosely covered container or paper bag.

See? Easy enough. These are about the size of my treats prior to going into the oven:

And these are what they looked like afterwards:

Simple enough, and I have a sweet little boy who is already begging for one. Try this out for your pup if you've never done it. It's simple, easy, cheap, and the pup will love you (more than they already do) for it.

- KJ & Beauregard

Also...

What to be on the look out for this weekend:

- The Ultimate Double Chocolate Cookie
- Pretzel buttons
- Red Velvet Butter Cookies
- White Chocolate M&M Bars
- Strawberries and Cream Fudge
- and MAYBE Lemon Bars, which are my specialty and work in progress at work right now.

All of these recipes should be posted by this time next week! You all may also get to see the crafts I have going on for the boyfriend's birthday and Valentine's Day. Please send in any ideas, questions, or ANYTHING that you may have for me!

- KJ

Herro dere.

Well, I finally broke down and made the blog. I'll do my best to try to update this at least once a week, but with school and working full time (and work getting back into full swing with Valentine's Day coming up), I have a tendency to forget. I will be posting some stuff this weekend since it IS Valentine's Day and my boyfriend's birthday next week. Be on the look out for some delicious goodies! I do have a nice little lineup for the Mister.

If y'all ever have any questions or concerns, please feel free to let me know! OR if there's anything y'all would like to see, I would obviously like to know that also. I hope everyone has a splendid Wednesday!

-KJ