Category Archives: Bo

No Bake Cookies

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No dessert takes me back to the good ole days like no-bake cookies.  They don’t photograph well, but they taste delicious!

I always think about no-bake cookies at the beginning of the school year.  I was a teacher at my hometown high school for 5 years and had the honor of teaching with my best friend, Mandy, for 3 1/2 of those years.  We had so much fun and our crazy lunches, signs in windows, and yearbook sleepovers together are some of my fondest memories.

School started this week for Mandy and it made me think about the cafeteria’s delicious no-bake cookies.  Often, Mandy and I would head to the lunch room praying that it was no-bake cookie day.  Our favorite lunch?  Noodles and no-bakes.  It doesn’t get much better!

These would be a great after-school snack or dessert for all of the littles who are going back to school over the next few weeks!  Bo starts Kindergarten on Monday and Clara and Anna start their second year of Pre-K on the 26th.  I have a feeling more of these cookies are in our near future…

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No Bake Cookies
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Serves: 12
 
Ingredients
  • 2 cups sugar
  • ½ cup cocoa
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 stick butter
  • ½ cup peanut butter
  • 3 cups quick cooking oatmeal
Instructions
  1. Mix sugar, cocoa, milk, and butter in a saucepan. Boil for one minute. Remove from stove and add remaining ingredients. Drop by teaspoonfuls on to waxed paper. Let stand until firm.

 

Butterscotch Easter Nests

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Well, our Easter didn’t turn out exactly as we’d planned.  Both Clara and Anna are sick — it’s a strange illness — 100-102 fevers in the morning and evening — seemingly fine most of the day.  Not really eating.  Coughing.  Hacking.  Blah.  They were supposed to be Baptized this weekend and now we are working to reschedule it.  Best laid plans…

But that didn’t stop us from having fun in the kitchen to celebrate Easter.  One of our projects were these Butterscotch Easter Nests.  I made my mom’s haystacks and added jelly beans and Peeps.  All three kids thought they were neat to eat.  However, Bo was mad I put peanuts in the nests — and Anna and Clara wouldn’t eat the nests at all.  However, they did eat the Peeps and jelly beans.

The nests are very quick and easy to make — perfect for a cooking activity with preschoolers.

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Butterscotch Easter Nests
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Serves: 12
 
Ingredients
  • 1 - 12 oz. bag butterscotch chips
  • 1 - 16 oz. bag chow mien noodles
  • 1 cup peanuts
  • milk (if needed)
Instructions
  1. In a large microwave safe bowl, melt the butterscotch chips. I typically melt for about 30 seconds and then stir to judge consistency. Depending on the type of chip you have, you may need to thin them a bit with milk. Add milk, a tablespoon at a time, until chocolate is a pourable consistency. Add in the chow mien noodles and peanuts and stir well until everything is coated with the butterscotch mixture. Scoop onto waxed paper and form into nest shapes. Add jelly beans. Nests will need to set for several hours to harden.

 

Banana Pudding

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I’ve made this recipe four times in the last 5 days.  Yes, seriously.  Take it as evidence that this banana pudding is amazingly good — and that it’s super quick and easy to prepare — and that I’ve been making dinner and desserts for too many people this week!  I need a nap!  🙂

On Saturday, we celebrated my Mother-in-Laws’ birthday and she requested banana pudding and French Silk Pie.  I made a double-batch of both for her birthday celebration with the family.  On Sunday, I made it again as we hosted dinner for a friend and her family.  On Wednesday, I made it again, as we hosted Mike’s boss for dinner. Apparently, I’m on a banana pudding kick.

My mom first made this recipe for me when I was in high school and it became one of her staple dessert recipes since I enjoyed it so much.  I didn’t make it myself for the first time until a few years ago when my mom gave me a binder for Christmas of some of her most loved recipes.  Now, I know the recipe by heart, which makes it even easier!

This pudding receives 5 wooden spoons from my family.  We all love it.  Mike, Bo, and Clara refuse to eat bananas on theirs (so it’s really vanilla pudding…. details…) but both Anna and I like the bananas on ours.

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Banana Pudding
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Serves: 8-10
 
Ingredients
  • 1 pint heavy whipping cream
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1½ cups water
  • 1 small box Jell-O instant vanilla pudding
  • 1 box vanilla wafers
  • 2-3 bananas
Instructions
  1. In a mixing bowl, whip the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. In another bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk, water, and instant pudding mix -- mixing well to avoid lumps (I usually end up blending this with the hand mixer). Fold the whipped cream into the pudding mixture until combined and uniform in color. Layer the dessert by placing a layer of vanilla wafers, a layer of bananas, and topping with the pudding mixture. Repeat until all of the pudding is layered. Allow to chill for 2-3 hours before serving.

 

Snow Day Ice Cream

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If you’re in one of the many states currently experiencing a winter storm, let me introduce you to a beautiful little secret – snow ice cream.  My kiddos aren’t huge fans of hot chocolate – I think in part because it’s hot.  Bo will drink it but it truly isn’t something that the kids are excited about.  (And yes, I find this very strange — personally, I love hot chocolate.  Maybe when they are a bit older!)

The trio was dismissed from school early today and Mike’s work closed early as well due to our winter storm.  I had everyone home for the afternoon and we made the most of it by playing out in the snow.  We “helped” Mike shovel the driveway (he mostly used the snow blower) and then built a snowman and a snow fort in the yard.

After we stripped off our wet snow pants and boots, I threw together this snow ice cream – literally in minutes.  This recipe is extremely easy and provides instant gratification.  The trio all sat on the barstools at the counter and slurped this up in no time.  It’s delicious!  If you like vanilla ice cream, I promise this will be a recipe you will enjoy!

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Snow Day Ice Cream
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Serves: 6
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 3 Tbsp good quality vanilla extract
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • snow
Instructions
  1. In a medium bowl, combine the white sugar with the vanilla. Add the milk and heavy cream and stir until well combined. Using an ice cream scoop or measuring scoop, scoop packed snow into individual bowls (I filled a large bowl with snow and brought it inside). Pour cream mixture over the top of each scoop until it looks coated and absorbed. Serve immediately.

Vegan Banana Bread with Coconut Oil and Flax

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The picture doesn’t begin to do this banana bread justice.  It’s delicious!  Moist, yummy, and highly munchable.  My kids love it.  So much so that Clara and Anna got in trouble on Friday afternoon for ripping chunks of the warm loaf off and eating them in the kitchen while I was folding laundry.  Needless to say, even though the picture isn’t great, our loaf of banana bread didn’t look this nice for long…

I originally developed this recipe when I was out of eggs and wanted to make banana bread by replacing the eggs with flax.  I loved how it turned out so much that I’ve made it this way numerous times.  I think it yields a more flavorful loaf — with loads of extra fiber!

We ate this bread for dessert on Friday and breakfast on Saturday.   Gotta love recipes that double as a dessert and a breakfast! This banana bread receives 4 Wooden Spoons from our family.  Mike won’t touch anything that has banana involved.

5.0 from 1 reviews
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Vegan Banana Bread with Coconut Oil and Flax
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Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 2 Tbsp flax seed mixed with 6 Tbsp water
  • 2 medium sized very ripe bananas, mashed
  • ½ cup sugar (I am sure you could replace with agave or honey, but I haven't tried it)
  • ½ cup applesauce
  • 3 Tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 tbsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1.5 C flour (white/wheat/or a mixture)
  • ½ tsp salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350. In a measuring cup, combine flax and water and stir. In a medium bowl, mash the bananas with the sugar, applesauce, and vanilla. Add the flax mixture and then add the baking soda, salt, and flour. Mix until just combined. Bake for 55 minutes. Moist and delicious! This recipe makes 1 loaf.

 

Beer Nuts

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On Saturday morning, Mike left early for work and Bo was awake nearly seconds later.  Since the girls were still asleep, Bo and I curled up on the couch together and indulged in a bit of Food Network.  He loves to watch the cooking shows with me and is an avid Pioneer Woman fan. 🙂

The show that we watched was about snack foods and they were talking about bar nuts from a bar in New York City.  Those nuts were the inspiration for these delicious beer nuts that I plan to make again for the Superbowl and for Mike’s upcoming Poker Night.  They are the perfect mixture of spice and the salty nuts make beer go down so much easier.

Until this year, I’ve never been a beer drinker, but I’ve started to come around and drink a Miller 64 occasionally, mostly to avoid the calories in hard alcohol.  However, it’s only good with something salty – chips, crackers, or nuts preferably.

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Beer Nuts
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Serves: 6-8
 
Ingredients
  • 1 can salted mixed nuts
  • 1 Tbsp butter, melted
  • ½ tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350. Spread nuts in an even layer on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the butter and in medium sized bowl, combine the butter, cayenne, brown sugar, and rosemary. Immediately when removing nuts from the oven, scoop into the bowl with the butter ingredients and stir well to toss and distribute the butter mixture evenly. Serve immediately with a cold beverage of your choice.

 

Banana Cinnamon Donuts

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I’ve been pining for donut pans for awhile.  I blame Pinterest.  Of course.  For Christmas, my MIL and Mike both bought me donut pans — one normal size and one mini and I’m enjoying trying my hand at baking donuts.

My trio loves anything with the word donut in it — so even if a few of the ingredients are questionable to them (such as bananas — Anna is the only one who will actually eat a banana) they will still eat it baked into a donut form.

Over the weekend, I had some bananas that were extra ripe, so I threw together these yummy banana cinnamon donuts.  I won’t say they are healthy — they aren’t.  But they still have to be better than the fried and processed ones.  They received Four Wooden Spoons from my family.  Mike wouldn’t even try them.  It’s the banana thing…  Honestly, the banana flavor isn’t super strong and if he didn’t know he wouldn’t even know it was in there.

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Banana Cinnamon Donuts
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Serves: 8
 
Ingredients
  • 3 small ripe bananas
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup vanilla Greek yogurt
  • ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 heaping tsp cinnamon
  • 2½ cups flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 cup cinnamon chips (optional)
  • ¼ cup melted butter (topping)
  • ½ cup sugar and 2 Tbsp. cinnamon mixed (topping)
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 325F. In a stand mixer, add the banana, sugar, and Greek yogurt. Add melted butter, eggs, and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder, and baking soda and mix until flour is incorporated. Fold in the cinnamon chips if desired. Spray donut pans with PAM baking. Scoop the batter into a Ziplock bag and snip the corner of one side of the bag to pipe into donut pans. Pipe batter ¾ full. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove on to cooling racks. While donuts are still warm dip into melted butter and roll in cinnamon/sugar mixture. Enjoy!

 

Sticky Buns

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For years, these sticky buns have been our Christmas morning breakfast. My mom started making them on Christmas morning when I was in high school and it became a tradition.  The best part about these rolls is there is relatively little prep work so they are quick and easy to throw to together before bed on Christmas Eve after an exhausting evening playing Santa.

On Christmas morning, just heat up the oven and bake for 30 minutes.  By the time we finished our stockings and Santa gifts, the rolls were ready to enjoy for an effortless Christmas breakfast that still tastes special.  I bet they’d be a great New Year’s Day breakfast too…

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Sticky Buns
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Serves: 8
 
Ingredients
  • 22 Rhodes dinner rolls, frozen
  • 6 Tbsp. butter
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 small package Cook-n-Serve Butterscotch pudding mix
  • ½ cup chopped or halved pecans (optional)
Instructions
  1. Spray a bundt pan with PAM. If using pecans, distribute the nuts around the bottom of the pan and top with the frozen rolls. Sprinkle the pudding mix over the top. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the brown sugar and cinnamon and cook until well combined. Pour the butter mixture over the top of the rolls. Leave rolls to rise overnight (or for at least 7 hours).
  2. In the morning, preheat the oven to 350. Bake for 30 minutes. Flip bundt onto a serving dish and serve.

We only did half of the pan with nuts, as the trio isn’t a big fan of them.  Anna and Clara each had two rolls but Bo didn’t have any this year.  I think he was too excited about his new gifts!We had a lovely holiday!  I hope your family did too!

Aunt Sally’s M&M Cookies

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For me, it just isn’t Christmas without lots of baking and goodies.  Growing up, my mom and Aunt Sally would both bake like crazy during the Holiday season and on Christmas Eve there would always be a table filled with all types of treats.  I’ve always loved baking and I love sampling everything even more.  One of my goals it to carry on the tradition of making holiday goodies with my trio — we’ve got lots of recipes on our list this year!

Aunt Sally passed away when I was in high school, but her memory lives on.  This year, I knew that I needed to make a batch of her M & M cookies — they were always one of my favorite Christmas treats — so I asked my mom about the recipe and she swore it was on the M&M package.  Of course, the package I had didn’t have a recipe — so I Googled it and tried a batch, but they just weren’t right.  Finally, I wised up and messaged my cousin Kelly and low and behold, she had the recipe.   They are perfect.  They taste just like they did when I was little. I couldn’t be happier.

We made these yesterday afternoon and we all had a cookie (or four) after dinner.  Delish!

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Aunt Sally's M & M Cookies
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Serves: 12
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup shortening
  • 1 cup brown sugar firmly packed
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2¼ cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1½ cups M&M's
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a stand mixer, cream shortnening, sugars, eggs, and vanilla thoroughly. Add dry ingredients gradually to creamed mixture, mixing well. Fold in ½ cup M&Ms, reserve remaining M&Ms for decorating. Drop by teaspoon (or melon baller) onto baking sheet. Decorate tops of cookies with remaining M&Ms - I do about 3 per cookie on top. Bake 10 to 12 mins or until golden brown. Makes 6 dozen 2½ in cookies.

Oven Roasted Brussel Sprouts

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This side dish is so easy to make I’m not even sure it warrants a recipe.  I don’t remember ever having brussel sprouts when I was little — it doesn’t seem like something my Grandpa would eat — but I discovered them last year and roasting them is actually very delicious.

I made these as a side dish for tortellini on Monday evening.  By the time Mike walked in, the trio was already sitting at the table, and loudly lamenting that they dislike brussel sprouts.  Mike, who barely touches a vegetable himself, told them they were good and tried one.  And actually ate it.  This, my friends, is legendary.  Sure, he doesn’t love them — but he ate one and commented, “They aren’t bitter like I remember them being as a kid.”  Baby steps.

Anna ate one.  Clara ate half a breadstick as her entire meal — and then ended up in the front room having a snack after her siblings were in bed because her belly hurt from not eating — and Bo — well, we won’t even talk about Bo.  Let’s just say he didn’t eat it.

Personally, I think these are delicious.  They are quick and easy to throw together for a side dish for anything from chicken to pasta.  And as the lone vegetable eater in the house, I’ll make them for myself since they require very little prep work.  If you like vegetables (unlike the rest of my family) then you’ll like these.  Promise.

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Oven Roasted Brussel Sprouts
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Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
  • 10-12 brussel sprouts, cut into fourths
  • olive oil
  • black pepper
  • salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with foil. Place cut brussel sprouts on the sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Season with pepper and salt to taste. Roast for 15-18 minutes.
  2. *** Also great sprinkled with a bit of Parmesan cheese ***