The Week That Was…

Because we’re nerds:

Can you say comfy?

The Princess got some paint-by-numbers for her birthday. She loved them!

Batman Cookies!

Watching the rain.

– the Jilb

Raspberry Cheesecake Bars

Happy Memorial Day to you all! We’ve got a day with the kids, maybe some grilling if it’s nice out (it seems to always rain in MN on Memorial Day), and Reinman has a few softball games to finish the day off.

What I’ve got for you today is another dessert recipe. I really, really love sweets. I was able to make these without sugar, which made me very happy. Ever since we’ve cut out sugar (or at least cut wayyyyy down) I’ve been feeling so much better during the day, less tired, less crabby, and I have a lot more energy.

So, about these bars. They are excellent. If you like raspberries, you will love these. If you like cheesecake, you will love these. I even added a little lemon zest on the top of the bars, which gives them a nice zing.

Make these guys for your next party (unless you want to eat them all yourself! no judging from me!) and you will be a hit. I brought them to a school party for the Princess and they were gone in a flash.

recipe adapted from My Kitchen Snippets

Ingredients:

for the graham cracker crust:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup honey

for the cheesecake layer:

• 2 packages (8 oz each) low-fat cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 & 1/2 T flour
• 3 T lemon juice
• 2 eggs

for the raspberry layer:

• 1/2 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)
• 1 T honey
• 2 T water
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper and lightly grease it.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together your flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda. In another bowl, mix together your melted butter and honey. Add honey butter to your flour mixture and mix until all ingredients are well-incorporated. Pat your graham cracker crumbs into the bottom of your baking dish and bake for 7-10 minutes or until middle is firm. Let cool. Turn oven down to 325 degrees.
3. In a large bowl, beat your cream cheese, honey, flour, and lemon juice until mixed together. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Pour over crust.
4. In a small saucepan, add your raspberries, honey, water, and lemon zest, cooking over low heat for 5-10 minutes until raspberries are broken down. Remove from heat and puree them in a blender or a food processor. Gently drop spoonfuls of the raspberry puree over the cheesecake layer. Cut through batter several times with a knife to get the swirl effect. I then sprinkled another teaspoon of lemon zest of the bars, but that’s optional.
5. Bake at 325 for 40 minutes or until the center is set. Let cool, and then refrigerate at least 4 hours (I did overnight) before cutting.
6. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

Bite-Sized Brown Butter and Cinnamon Chip Cookies

Yep, another yummy cookie recipe.When it comes to cookies, I really can’t help myself. I probably bake one to two different kinds of cookies a week. And I have tiny mouths that will eat them all.

I adapted this recipe from Baker Bettie, a lovely blog with lots of fun recipes. As usual, I changed a few things about the recipe mainly because I was out of ingredients. Cinnamon chips in place of dark chocolate, and walnuts in place of pecans. From this recipe, I learned how to make oatmeal flour: put oatmeal in a blender and blend until it turns into flour. Easy!

Brown Butter and Cinnamon Chip Cookies

recipe adapted from Baker Bettie

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 T vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 2/3 cup oatmeal flour (oats ground to a fine flour in a blender)
• 1 T flax seed meal
• 3/4 cup cinnamon chips (found in the baking aisle by the chocolate chips)
• 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans

Directions:

1. Heat butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat until butter melts and becomes an amber color, and gives off a nutty smell. Set aside to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat until well mixed.
4. Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and mix until incorporated
5. Mix in the flours and flax seed in small batches until a stiff dough forms.
6. Fold in cinnamon chips and walnuts.
7. Using a teaspoon as your scoop, put your dough an inch apart on your baking sheet. Press dough down a tiny bit, and then bake 5-6 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown.
8. Move to a wire rack and let completely cool.
9. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

Chicken and Roasted Broccoli with Goat Cheese

Chicken. Roasted Broccoli (if you haven’t had Roasted Broccoli before you need to. Soon.). Goat Cheese. Red and Green Peppers. Garlic. Olive Oil. That’s the stuff dinner is made of.

This is another recipe from Perry’s Plate. I am loving her blog, and really want to make everything she blogs about.

A few things I would change about this recipe. First, next time I am going to double it. If I didn’t have any self-control, which sometimes I don’t, I probably would have eaten the whole bowl myself.

Second, next time maybe a little less goat cheese. I think the called for 3-4 ounces was just a little bit too much for us. Although, I really did love the melty, tangy goat cheese, so I suppose we’ll see. I might even try feta cheese next time. Mmm…

If you love broccoli, chicken, peppers, garlic, goat cheese (or another type if goat isn’t your thing!), you need to try this. It was so delicious, and so light. Perfect for a summertime meal (except for having to turn the oven on to 500 degrees.)

recipe from Perry’s Plate

Ingredients:

For the roasted broccoli and peppers:

• 1 large head of broccoli, (almost 2 lbs), cut into 1-2 inch florets
• 1/2 green pepper, cut into thin strips
• 1/2 red pepper, cut into thin strips
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 3/4 tsp salt
• pepper to taste

For the rest:

• 4 T olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• couple pinches of crushed red pepper flakes
• pinch of dried oregano
• juice from half a lemon
• 2 cups chicken, cooked, and shredded
• 3-4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled (next time I’m going to try half that)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees, and place a baking sheet on the lowest rack.
2. Place broccoli and peppers in a large bowl and toss with olive oil, sugar, salt and pepper.
3. Remove baking sheet from oven, spread the broccoli and peppers on the sheet in an even layer. Bake 7-10 minutes or until the broccoli is cooked through and some are caramelized. Watch them carefully because you don’t want them to burn.
4. While the broccoli is roasting, in a medium-sized pan, put 2 T of olive oil, and your pepper flakes and garlic cloves. On medium-low heat, cook garlic and pepper flakes for 5-7 minutes or until garlic is golden brown. Add your chicken and cook another 3 minutes or until chicken is heated through. Remove from heat and add in lemon and oregano.
5. In a large bowl, mix your broccoli, peppers, and chicken with 2 T of olive oil, and the goat cheese. Serve immediately.
6. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

The Week That Was: Cookie Edition

This past week all I did was bake cookies. And frost cookies. And eat cookies. Seriously. And I loved it.

With the help of a couple of girls, we made around 150 cookies for my sister-in-law’s bridal shower. We did cookies cut out in the shapes of flowers, the letter “J”, the letter “M”, and the letter “K.” It was a lot of work, but so worth it, and so fun!

The recipe I used was from The Sweet Adventures of Sugar Belle. This is now my go-to cut out sugar cookie recipe. I’ll be using it again next week because we have a couple birthdays coming up and there has been a request for a certain caped crusader in cookie form. So, more pictures of that to come in a week or two. If you’re interesting in exactly what recipe I used here’s the link to the sugar cookie, and then here’s the link to the royal icing. They were a lot easier to make than I thought they would be.

– the Jilb

Mini Whole Wheat Pancake Muffins

Umm… so, these are amazing. Really, really tasty. We love pancakes in this house, but when you have to make pancakes for 6 people and those people will eat as many pancakes as they have fingers, making them doesn’t always sound that fun. So, I came across this recipe for pancake muffins, and knew right away that we had to try them out.

These Pancake Muffins were a giant hit. And it wasn’t just because I threw in some chocolate chips. Okay, maybe it was. Chocolate makes everything better.

I should mention these do taste like a pancake in muffin form. And I made them mini because anything small is so cute. Plus, I feel better eating three or four of something smaller, than eating even one normal-sized muffin.

recipe slightly adapted from Baked Bree

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 T sugar
• 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 2 T pure maple syrup
• 2 T butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4-1/2 cup chocolate chips (sometimes I do a 1/4, sometimes I do 1/2 depending on how chocolatey I want things)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a mini muffin pan and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together your flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and sugar.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together your buttermilk, egg, maple syrup, butter, and vanilla extract.
4. Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and mix until well-combined. Mix in your chocolate chips.
5. Put about a tablespoon of muffin batter into each mini muffin cup. I usually get around 18-24 muffins depending on how much I fill them.
6. Bake 15-17 minutes or until muffins are golden brown, and spring back when lightly touched.
7. Enjoy!!

– the Jilb

Crockpot BBQ Beer Chicken

This is our go-to Crockpot BBQ Chicken recipe. I’ve made it a number of times and it has never failed me.

It does have beer in it, which I think makes for fantastic tasting chicken, but if you don’t want to use beer, you could use chicken stock, ginger ale, or even water. (Although, I haven’t tried any of those, so I can’t vouch for them 100%).

All four of our kids will eat this BBQ Beer Chicken with no complaints. So, you know it’s got to be good!

I can’t tell you all enough how good, how easy, and how much you will all love this. So, go make it!

recipe from How Sweet It Is

Ingredients:

• 6 large chicken breasts (about 3 lbs)
• 1 T onion powder
• 1 T paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 8 oz of beer (we use Guiness)
• 32 oz of BBQ sauce (she recommends a thinner bbq sauce or add more liquid if you use something like Sweet Baby Ray’s. The day I made this I realized I was out of BBQ sauce, so I made this recipe and it was perfect.)

Directions:

1. Season your chicken with the onion powder, paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Add to crockpot, then add beer, and 24 oz of bbq sauce. Cook on low for 8 hours, then shred chicken, add the rest of your bbq sauce, toss chicken to coat, and then let it rest for 10-15 minutes to let everything absorb.
2. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

The Baby Who Can Never Have Enough

I love her.

– the Jilb

Raspberry Loaf Cake

Ever since I saw this recipe for Iced Raspberry Loaf Cake a few months ago, I really, really wanted to make it. I finally got to it last week, and am so glad I did!

I spent a ton of time trying to figure out how to make an icing that didn’t contain powdered sugar. Well, I tried a few different things and nothing turned out exactly how I planned so I left the icing off. And you know what? I don’t think this cake needs any icing. The raspberries, honey, and sugar make this cake sweet enough. Although if someone knows of a good icing or glaze recipe that doesn’t contain refined sugar I’d love to hear about it.

This cake (or maybe it could be called a bread?) was perfect for our mid-morning coffee break. I also think it would be great for dessert, a snack, or pretty much whenever you wanted it. It was really easy to make, sort of healthy because I cut most of the sugar out and added in more whole wheat flour, and most importantly it was a crowd-pleaser with the Baby eating three pieces.

recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

• 1/2 whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup bread flour (or all-purpose flour, or maybe even whole wheat pastry flour)
• 1/2 tsp instant yeast
• 1/2 tsp coarse salt
• 2 T ground flax seed
• 2/3 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
• 2 T butter, melted
• 3 large eggs, plus 3 large egg yolks, at room temp
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 & 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup raspberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a loaf pan with non-stick spray, line it with parchment paper, and lightly coat again.
2. In a small bowl, stir together flours, yeast, salt, and the flax seed. In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream and butter.
3. In a large bowl, beat eggs, yolks, sugar, honey, and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium speed until pale and thick, about 6 minutes. With a large rubber spatula, fold in flour mixture until all is well incorporated, then fold in raspberries, being careful not to overmix. Pour batter into pan.
4. Bake 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, rotating the pan halfway through.
5. Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack at least 20 minutes. Remove cake from pan and let cool completely on wire rack.
6. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

The Week That Was…

Brown Butter & Cinnamon Chip Cookies

The Joker picked out a new ball and they love it.

Hanging out on their really cute picnic table and reading Mommy’s magazine.

Feet on the table is the only way to eat.

Softball season started here and we love it!

Enjoying a little snack at the game.

– the Jilb

Club Panini

We love making paninis, especially during the summer when it’s too hot out to make much else. We typically do turkey, cheese, and a sweet chili sauce (which is awesome, by the way!) so I thought it would be fun to switch it up by making Club Paninis.

These turned out pretty much perfect. The only problem I had was shutting the panini maker since the sandwiches were so big!

Turkey, ham, bacon, provolone and cheddar cheese, tomato, and a mix of mayo, mustard, and parsley and you have yourself a pretty awesome sandwich!

Club Paninis

recipe adapted from Food.com

Ingredients:

• a loaf of unsliced Italian or French bread
• sliced deli turkey
• sliced deli ham
• bacon, cooked
• cheeses, whatever kind you want (this time I did provolone and cheddar)
• tomatoes, sliced thinly
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1 tsp mustard
• 1 T parsley, chopped
• olive oil for bread
• seasonings for bread, I used an Italian Herb seasoning

Directions:

1. Turn on your panini press.
2. Mix your mayo, mustard and parsley together in a small bowl.
3. Cut your bread into 1/2-inch slices. Brush olive oil on the outside of your bread slices and then sprinkle on seasonings.
4. When your panini press is ready put one slice of bread down. Then put a few slices of turkey on your bread, followed by one kind of cheese, then top with bacon, then ham, then another cheese, then more bacon, then a tomato slice. Spread some of your mayo mixture on the inside of the top slice of bread, and then put that on top of the tomato. Push your panini press down, and let it cook until it’s golden brown. Repeat with the rest of the ingredients.
5. Enjoy!!

– the Jilb

Monster Cookies My Way

Last week I saw these monster cookies on Whisky Drinkin’ Chimney Sweep, and thought, “Oh, my goodness. I need to make these right away!” So, I did. With a few modifications.

I halved the recipe (because who needs 48 monster cookies!!! Okay, maybe I do), cut out most of the sugar, added some honey, walnuts, coconut oil, flaxseed meal, instant coffee grounds, and dark chocolate. Boo-ya!

These cookies didn’t spread out as much as the originals did, but I didn’t really care. They’re really filling, and very, very yummy. And healthy! (As healthy as cookies can be, except for maybe these Carrot Cookies.)

These are my new favorites. They might be almost 300 calories a cookie, but they’re so filling that I am satisfied with only one. And let me tell you that’s really hard to do. When making cookies I usually eat about 3 tablespoons of the cookie dough, then go on to eat anywhere from 1-10 cookies throughout the day. And then it’s time to say goodbye to my diet.

Since I have no self-control when it comes to cookies, I try not to make any. But you can see how that goes, seeing as I usually have a new cookie recipe each week.

Monster Cookies

recipe adapted from Whisky Drinkin’ Chimney Sweep

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, at room temp
• 2 T coconut oil, melted at room temp
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 T vanilla extract
• 3 cups oats (not instant)
• 3/4 cup flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips (or whatever chocolate chips you want)
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate, chopped (I did 2 oz. of a chocolate baking bar)
• 1 T instant coffee granules

Directions:

1. Beat eggs, honey, brown sugar, butter, and coconut oil in a large bowl. Add peanut butter and beat until smooth. Then beat in vanilla extract.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk oats, flour, baking soda, salt, and flaxseed using a whisk. Stir flour mixture into peanut butter mixture using a wooden spoon. Then stir in walnuts, chocolate chips, dark chocolate, and coffee granules. Mix until everything is incorporated.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup put mounds of dough on the baking sheet. Cover and refrigerate at least two hours up to overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake 6 cookies at a time for 17-20 minutes or until bottoms are brown. Let cool on baking sheet for a few minutes and then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Enjoy!!

– the Jilb

Iced Coffee

This Iced Coffee recipe comes from The Pioneer Woman. When I first saw this recipe last year, I thought, “Genius!” I love getting iced coffees and iced lattes from coffee shops, but boy does it add up. Making your own is wonderful for your wallet, and it also tastes awesome! (I’ve come to find I prefer my own iced coffees to the coffee shops.)

This is really easy to make. All you do is put your coffee grounds in a water pitcher, add 9 cups of water, stir and let it sit overnight. That’s basically it.

I didn’t change the recipe at all, except to make the amounts smaller. If you need some add-in ideas for your coffee, PW has some on her blog. So yummy!

Pioneer Woman’s Iced Coffee

recipe from PW

Ingredients:

• 2 cups ground coffee
• 9 cups water
• milk, sugar, cream, whatever you want to add to your coffee

Directions:

1. Put your coffee in a water pitcher and add your water. Give it was a mix and then let it sit overnight on your counter. (I try not to let my coffee sit out more than 12-13 hours or it can get bitter.)
2. Line a mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set over a container or another pitcher. Pour coffee/water mixture through the strainer, allowing all the liquid to run through. Throw away the grounds.
3. Place coffee in fridge and allow to get cold.
4. To make iced coffee: Fill a glass with ice, and pour as much coffee and other add-ins as you want. I usually do half coffee, half milk. If I’m feeling adventurous, I might add a little chocolate syrup.
5. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

The Week That Was…

Raspberry Yogurt Muffins: A Family Favorite!

Enjoying the beautiful weather!

Someone’s pretty excited about his book!

Read of the week:

Double Chocolate Walnut Brownies

– the Jilb

Roasted Taco Potatoes

I’ve got a really easy and yummy side dish for you all: Roasted Taco Potatoes.

These are the perfect side dish to whatever you’re having for dinner: pork tenderloins, chicken, or like we had that night– burgers on the grill.

They’re really simple to make, and as I found out they’re still delicious even after they’ve sat out for awhile. I made them in the early afternoon and then let them sit on the counter for a couple of hours and they still tasted absolutely yummy when we had them for dinner. The only bad thing about these potatoes? I didn’t make enough. Next time I am going to double the recipe.

recipe inspired from The Family Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 5 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cubed (I used Idaho)
• 2 peppers, thinly sliced
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp. oregano
• 1/2 cup cheese (I used some shredded Mexican cheese we had on hand)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a baking dish and set aside.
2. Put your potatoes and peppers in a large bowl. Toss with olive oil.
3. In a small bowl, mix all your seasonings together. Add to potatoes and toss until well-coated.
4. Put seasoned potatoes in greased baking dish.
5. Bake for 30 minutes or until potatoes are done and a fork pierces them easily. Sprinkle cheese on top of potatoes and bake another 5 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.
6. Serve immediately, and enjoy!!

– the Jilb