Giant M&M Cookie Heart – Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day! Sorry I am so late, I had a super long day at school and then was good and went to the gym. I actually didn’t have any time to bake anything for Valentine’s Day this year… I know, right?! It is the perfect holiday to bake tons of cute delicious chocolately things However, my mom made this giant heart cookie for my dad and brother today for Valentine’s Day. So cute! I just want to take a huge bite…or put tons of ice cream all over it and make a huge pazooki! This is also a great recipe for anniversaries. No matter if you are single or in a relationship, I hope you all took some time to buy yourself some flowers & chocolate and treat yourself today Xoxo

Giant M&M Cookie Heart – Happy Valentine’s Day!

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total

40 mins

Type: Dessert

Serves: 4

Ingredients

2¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1½ tsp vanilla extract
2 packages M&Ms
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
Cream butter and sugars with an electric mixer or standalone mixer with paddle attachment.
Add eggs and vanilla.
Add flour mixture a little at a time on low speed until just blended.
Stir in M&Ms and chocolate chips by hand.
Spread dough into a greased heart cake pan.
Bake for 20 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Get your own heart-shaped cake pan!

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Roasted Garlic Rosemary Potatoes

Feb 15 by Kristianne

This past Sunday I made these delicious roasted garlic rosemary potatoes for lunch, along with creamed spinach and lemon pepper Swai. My fiancé’s grandparents have a tradition where every Sunday they either make a special lunch or go out to a restaurant for a gourmet lunch. When I learned of this, I thought it was a great tradition and have been trying to start setting time aside for a special lunch every Sunday. I have Sundays off, so its a perfect day to spend some therapeutic time in the kitchen making and getting to enjoy the results! This is one of my favorite side dish recipes because it goes with many dishes (fish, chicken, steak, etc.) and its extremely flavorful! I usually eat Ketchup with my potatoes, and I never do with this recipe because they are so good without it.

4.0 from 1 reviews

Roasted Garlic Rosemary Potatoes

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

1 hour

Total

1 hour 10 mins

Type: Side

Serves: 4

Ingredients

7 small white potatoes (or 3-4 medium russets), peeled and chopped
¼ cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
6 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 tbsp rosemary
1 tbsp parsley

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a large bowl, mix olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary with a fork.
Add chopped potatoes and stir well. Let stand 5 minutes.
Transfer potatoes to a pan or baking sheet.
Bake for 30 minutes, then turn over with a large spatula, and continue baking for 30 additional minutes. After 1 hour the tops of the potatoes should be browning.
Toss with parsley and serve.

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Homemade Chewy Granola Bars (No High Fructose Corn Syrup)

Feb 13 by Kristianne

This was my first attempt at making my own homemade chocolate chip granola bars. Many store-bought granola bars are made with high fructose corn syrup and a lot of sugar, so I wanted to create a healthier version that still tasted delicious. I have wanted to try it for so long, but I was scared it wouldn’t come out the way I wanted. I’ve looked at a bunch of different recipes, and read through tons of comments on what worked, what didn’t. I finally scribbled down what I thought would make “the perfect granola bar” and when I was ready to start, I realized I didn’t have wheat germ (one of the main ingredients). So then I had to research what I could sub for it since I didn’t want to make a trip to the store just for wheat germ. Plus, I have no clue where to even find it! Feel free to try the recipe with it, but I substituted it for ground flax seeds (which I happened to have in my pantry) and this recipe turned out AMAZING. They cooled to be nice and chewy, and taste just like the kind you buy at the store (except a little healthier ). Want proof? Out of the whole batch there is 1/2 a bar left…I gave one to my fiancé and he couldn’t stop eating them. Taste-test approved! I should have made more to last the week :/ I made these with sliced almonds and chocolate chips. This recipe is a great base for your own creativity-add fruit (raisins, dried cranberries, blueberries, banana), nuts, M&Ms, etc. I would love to hear your ideas!

Homemade Chewy Granola Bars (No High Fructose Corn Syrup)

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total

35 mins

Type: Snack

Serves: 8

Ingredients

1 cup rolled oats
4 tbsp packed brown sugar
¼ cup ground flax seeds (or wheat germ)
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ cup all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
3 tbsp honey
1 egg, beaten
⅛ cup vegetable oil
⅛ cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
¼ cup sliced almonds

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, mix oats, sugar, ground flax seeds, flour, cinnamon, salt, almonds, and chocolate chips together.
Add egg, honey, oil and apple sauce on top and stir with a spoon for a few minutes until all ingredients are blended together.
Transfer to a greased 8×8 pan and flatten down to desired thickness using wax paper.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until just firm and edges are golden brown. Do not overbake or they will be too hard!
Cool 5 minutes, then cut with a knife and leave in pan to cool.
Once completely cooled, remove and store in an airtight container.

Makes 8 bars

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 1 Calories: 210 Fat: 6g Sugar: 16g Fiber: 2.5g

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Chocolate Surprise Peanut Butter Cookies

Feb 10 by Kristianne

Who doesn’t love peanut butter and chocolate? These classic soft, chewy peanut butter cookies are made with a little twist: chocolate in the middle! You will enjoy every bite. I made these on a break studying for my physiology midterm…last week, this week, and next week is “midterms week” (I know, 3 weeks?! its crazy). In addition, I started a new job so things have been a little crazy lately. How do you balance work/school with cooking? Have a great weekend all <3 Notes: Using Hershey kisses or chocolate bar pieces might work better than adding individual chocolate chips to get one chocolate center-sometimes the chocolate chips might spread when rolling into a ball, making them more like “chocolate chip peanut butter cookies”. If you like your cookies really sweet, don’t be afraid to add a bit more sugar because I used all natural unsalted peanut butter in this recipe and I always like to cut out as much sugar as possible, so they might not be sweet enough for some

5.0 from 5 reviews

Chocolate Surprise Peanut Butter Cookies

Prep time

1 hour 15 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total

1 hour 25 mins

Serves: 12

Ingredients

¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup packed brown sugar
⅓ cup peanut butter
1 tbsp shortening
3 tbsp butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
pinch salt
¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.
Cream butter, shortening and sugar together in a standalone mixer or with an electric mixer.
Add peanut butter and eggs and mix on medium speed until well blended.
Add flour mixture a little at a time, using spatula to scrape sides while you mix in on low speed.
When blended, remove dough with floured hands and form into a log. Wrap with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Cut ½ inch cookies from log and place on a baking sheet.
Place ~6 chocolate chips in the middle of each cookie, and wrap with hands into a ball. Work quickly to keep dough as chilled as possible.
Bake for 10 minutes, then cool on a wire cooling rack before serving.

Makes 12 cookies

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Baked Black Bean Veggie Burgers

Feb 6 by Kristianne

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Earlier my mom told me my family was grilling burgers and hot dogs for the game today, and it made me sooo hungry! I went to Trader Joe’s and bought some stuff to make these delicious, healthy black bean veggie burgers. They are super flavorful and keep wonderfully in the freezer for days. Why veggie burgers? Without even knowing it I have sorta become a vegetarian! OK, so not completely…I still eat fish, and occasionally chicken or turkey sandwiches…but for the most part my diet consists of mainly fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc. I love dairy too much to be a strict vegetarian, but I noticed I barely ever eat meat anymore. I think it was the drive past the cow slaughterhouse on Interstate 5…disgusting and so sad. Ever since I saw that my taste for beef has crashed immensely. This site has some pretty good reasons for becoming a vegetarian: http://www.britishmeat.com/49.htm. Although I don’t think I can ever give meat up 100%, I feel good about cutting a lot of it out of my diet. Honestly, I don’t even miss the taste of beef when I eat these veggie burgers, they are completely satisfying! Tip: The less water, the better-try to pat out excess water from beans and veggies for best results.

Baked Black Bean Veggie Burgers

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total

40 mins

Type: Main

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 16 oz can black beans, drained
½ red bell pepper
½ onion
3 cloves garlic
2 eggs
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
1¼ cups plain bread crumbs
Olive oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a medium-sized bowl, mash black beans with a pastry blender or fork.
Finely chop bell pepper, onion, and garlic in a food processor, then stir into mashed black beans.
In a separate bowl, beat together egg, chili powder, red pepper flakes, and cumin with a fork.
Add egg mixture to the mashed beans and stir well with a fork.
Mix in bread crumbs well (should hold together).
Divide mixture into four patties using hands greased with olive oil.
Place patties on a baking sheet or broiler pan, and bake 15 minutes on each side for a total of 30 minutes.
Serve on a toasted wheat bun with tomatoes, onions, and lettuce.