Chewy M&M Cookie Bars

We were all feeling yucky last weekend, and something homemade and sweet always seems to do the trick of perking us up fast!

I found this awesome recipe at Fantastic Family Favorites

• 2 1/8 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 sticks butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 12oz bag M&M's

 Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9X13-inch baking pan with foil, letting the excess hang over the edges of the pan to help you get them out. Spray the foil-lined pan with nonstick cooking spray.
 Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl. Whisk the melted butter and sugars in a large bowl until combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix well. Fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Stir in 1 cup of M&M's and put batter into the pan. Sprinkle some M&M's on top.
 Bake until the top of the bars are a light golden brown, 28 minutes. Cut into squares and serve.

I hope you enjoy these as much as my family did!

Slow Cooker Chicken Tater Tot Cassarole

I started this blog with the intention of posting mostly healthy recipes, but it is winter time and I seem to be cooking comfort food more often.

This is in my families top 5 favorite recipes! I have seen many different versions of tater tot cassarole on pinterest, I took those and added my own stuff to it.

Here is what you need:

With the addition of a Ranch dressing packet. I always forget something!

• 1 Bag frozen tater tots
• 1/2 Cup Milk
•  4 Boneless skinless chicken breast tenderloins
• 1/2 Pack real Bacon pieces
• 1 Cup Cheddar cheese
• 1 Packet Ranch dressing mix

Put a layer of Tater Tots in the bottom of you slow cooker.

Pour 1/3 pack ranch over them.

Put 1/3 cheese and 1/3 bacon on top.

Thaw chicken, cut into cubes and place on top of that.

salt and pepper, pour another 1/3 of ranch packet on top of chicken.

Then another 1/3 of cheese and bacon.

Another layer of tater tots, the last 1/3 of ranch packet.

Then the last 1/3 of cheese and bacon.

Pour 1/2 Cup milk over everything.

Cook on low for 5-6 hours.

You are left with super cheesy goodness!

Banana Bread

I came across an awesome and easy banana bread recipe over at My sweet Savannah. 

Here is what you need:

• 3 Banana's
• 2 Eggs
• 3/4 Cup sugar
• 2 Cups flour
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• 1 Teaspoon baking soda

Mash bananas in bowl

Add eggs and mix

Mix in sugar

Add flour, baking soda and salt

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes

This was a huge hit with my 5 year old, we are definitely making it again!

Slow Cooker Chicken Parmesan

This is a my 5 year olds favorite meal, and I have to admit one of my favorites also. Really easy, not a whole lot of ingredients, and a slow cooker meal, which is always a winner!

Here is what you need:

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breast tenderloins
• 3/4 cup Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs 
• 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
• Non-stick spray
• 1 egg, beaten 
• Shredded mozzarella cheese
• Spaghetti sauce
• Salt and Pepper
• Garlic powder

 Spray your slow cooker with non-stick spray
Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dip chicken into the beaten egg, then dip into the Italian bread crumbs mixed with the Parmesan cheese.

Put the chicken into the slow cooker
Put 1 cup of mozzarella cheese on top
Pour spaghetti sauce on top of chicken and cheese
Pour a little garlic powder on top of spaghetti sauce

30 minutes before you eat put 1/2 cup of mozzarella on top and let it melt
Cook for 6 hours on low

Put on top of spaghetti noodles

Soooo yum!

Pinkalicious party!

It's January again, which means it is time to start planning my 5 year olds birthday party! I know it seems a little silly since her birthday isn't until mid May, but I like to have plenty of planning and time to make stuff for the party. Not to mention I will have another party to plan at the end of July now, so I need to get started!

I wanted to share what we did for Hailie's birthday last year. She really wanted a Pinkalicious party. I almost said no, just because I knew if I was going to do it I would have to do it right, which was going to be very time consuming. Not to mention I was working full time, in school, and 6 1/2 months pregnant. Did I mention I was busy?

If you have never heard of Pinkalicious, you either have all boys or you have been hiding under a rock. Just kidding! But really, you need to read this book, it is so adorable!

The little girl eats too many pink cupcakes and she turns pink, then she has to eat a bunch of green things to go back to normal. See there is even a good lesson in there.

Here is an overview of the kitchen.

I have to thank my awesome sister in law for the creative streamer work.

Here is the cake table.

For the giant cupcake I used a giant cupcake pan. For the cupcake holder I melted pink chocolate, and used a brush to evenly brush it into the bottom part of the cupcake pan. Put it in the fridge and let it set, voila!

I am not going to lie, it was not near that easy though! Make sure you spray the pan with Pam really good before you start, I had a horrible time getting the chocolate out in one piece.

I downloaded these awesome water bottle covers from Seven Thirty Three for free!

 

Pink covered marshmallows and pink lemonade!

Pink wafers, strawberry popcorn, and pink chocolate covered strawberries.

Then we just did normal fare for the rest of the food, Cheese dip, meat, cheese, veggies and fruit trays.

The birthday girl and her cousin.

Bouncing in the bounce house.

Overall the Pinkalicious party was a huge success.

What is the theme for your kids birthday party this year?

Share your Pinkalicious party!

Elf on the Shelf

So this is a little late, but I wanted to share what our elf "Chubby" was up to this year.

I did not do the naming, if you can't tell, that was all my 5 year old, but she loves it and that is what really matters.

Here is the first day Chubby came to be with us, he wrote a letter to Hailie.

Mischievous elf turned our milk green

We figure he got on Snowman's nerves!

Stealing cookies!

He got caught in the blinds on his way back in!

Drinking syrup

Just hanging around!

Toilet papered our tree

Reading to the figurines!

Now Chubby got on the other toys nerves too, they tied him up!

Chubby being sweet

 

So that was about the extent of my creativeness this year. I see all of these ideas on Pinterest that I really want to do, but man they are a lot of work! It doesn't help that I could not stand to have a mess in my house all day, so I stick to the cleaner things. What did your elf do this year?

 

 

 

My Favorite Garlic Bread

I am such a sucker for anything that is fast and easy.

Before I had my 5 month old I was a busy mom, working 40-60 hour weeks, all while trying to exercise everyday, keep house, spend time with my 5 year old and put dinner on the table. So you can see why fast and easy was a necessity!

 

Even now that I have more time on my hands, why waste it on cooking dinner when I have a family favorite that can be whipped up in less that 15 minutes?

 

So here it is, the best garlic bread EVER.

 

Here is what you need:

Plus parsley flakes, they didn't make it into the picture.

• Loaf of French bread
• 1/3 Cup Butter
• 1 Tbsp Garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp Onion powder
• 1 Tbsp minced Garlic
• 1 Tsp Parsley flakes

 



Mix all of this together in a bowl, really stir it, you want it to get nice and fluffy!

 

Cut your French bread into strips

 

Spread mixture on bread, place on a greased pan.

 

Cook on 400 for 7-9 Minutes

 

Enjoy all of the yummy goodness!