Oreo Milkshake

http://apumpkinandaprincess.com/2014/05/double-chocolate-oreo-milkshake.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+APumpkinAndAPrincess+(A+Pumpkin+And+A+Princess)
Maybe this week, should be called Oreo Week since I keep using Oreos. I'm not complaining about it, I loved them. I was really hungry for ice cream this week and was so tempted to stop at an ice cream shop and give in to the temptation. So I quenched my craving with the delicious DIY milkshake. Cue the song "Milkshake" and Melissa McCarthy's dancing from Identity Thief.
The recipe calls it double chocolate, but I'd rather have it as just an Oreo Milkshake and take out the chocolate chips that were added. I used a hand mixer and it did not want to chop up the chocolate into sip-able pieces, which caused them to get stuck in the straw, which is just a pain. I also added like an entire ice cream container because it was so liquidly. Using the hand mixer was honestly really difficult but I made it work. It says that your suppose to take some crumbled Oreos and milk and freeze them, just skip this step because it is unneeded. It just created a bigger mess for more than it's worth. Especially if it isn't about presentation, and just trying to quickly make this for an afterschool snack. So I placed the crumbled Oreos on the top, with an entire Oreo just to take a picture, to show you guys and make it look all fancy. Also, the ice cream I used in this was severely freezer burnt, but it did not effect the taste one bit.
I really enjoy this, especially since is tasted just like an Oreo Blizzard from Diary Queen which is my favorite thing to get. This was really easy and quick to make and definitely a pick me up after a day at school. Definitely a really cute idea for a family night or movie night, something where you have a little fun and splurge on your food ideas. Its really cute if you have the glasses that Steak-n-Shake have that are chilled and so perfect for milkshakes. I was in love with this drink and sad when it was gone.

Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Dessert

http://www.letsdishrecipes.com/2012/03/chocolate-peanut-butter-no-bake-dessert.html
Lover of chocolate? Lover of peanut butter? Lover of both, the irresistible combination of chocolate and peanut butter? Then listen up cause this is for you. This a truly unique dessert that can only be described as something out of this world. The simplicity of this is what truly amazes me, it is so easy, especially since there is no baking required. I've never made a layered dessert before and I really enjoyed how you make them, adding little by little. Mixing different concoctions together, creating a divine creation of creamy layers. Ummm, count me in.
For the crushed Oreos, I got all fancy and used a meat tenderizer, to created little pieces to place on the bottom for the first layer. I love Oreos and would've loved to add the whole container of Oreos just to the bottom only. This layer also reminded me of ice cream cake from Diary Queen because of bottom layer of cookie crumbled deliciousness. Next layer, cream cheese, peanut butter, and confectioners sugar. Of course, patience is a virtue and since I don't have any patience to let the cream cheese soften now it own, I had to placed it in the microwave for a few seconds. Then just mixed everything together. A little FYI, confectioners sugar is just powered sugar. Then after that you "fold" in half of the container of Cool Whip. This recipe used a lot of learned words and jargon that honestly got me very confused. So I just mixed everything together and them spread over the crumbled cookie goodness. Next, probably my favorite part about this, is to place peanut butter cups in the previous layer. I created a design, but you can do whatever your heat desires and place them how you want. Just promise me to have some fun with it.  Next layer, mix the chocolate pudding, powered sugar, and milk all together. Warning: the smell that will be coming from the bowl may want you to consume the entirety of it, but please reframe from doing so. Then just add this on the and create the top layer. Then to garnish the top, just crumbled some more Oreos. You can also add some more peanut butter cups, or whatever candy you want, just have some fun with it and make it look gorgeous. It looks really cool, it you use a glass bowl then you can see all the layers. Then just place in the fridge until you are ready to eat and you will enjoy it.
This is so yummy, and so simple I will be making it again. I would recommend cutting smaller pieces since it is so rich and creamy. Maybe a glass of milk would be nice to serve with it too.

BANANA Chocolate Chip Cookies

http://www.lifeloveandsugar.com/2015/02/11/banana-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Scenario time, again: so maybe you have a bunch of bananas going bad, or maybe you're just in the mood for a little bit of chocolate and a little bit of the yummy banana flavor which I can not get enough of. Personally, I'm all about bananas, I love them. Whether it's a banana smoothie, banana bread, or banana and peanut butter I love it all.  And this summer, I had a lot, I mean like a lot of bananas going bad, so I mashed them up and froze. Now that it's October I figured that I might as well use them (I still have a lot in my freezer, even after this). This past week and a half, I've also been really craving chocolate chip cookies. And rather than being basic and just going with chocolate chips, I decided to add some flavor. Ever I found this recipe, I've been wanting to make them, so just what... I made them. And no regrets, they are delicious and taste exactly like banana bread.
For starters, this are super easy. FYI, I will start doing more challenging foods, just once softball is done for fall. Yet, I somehow made it challenging by running out of flour and having to run to the store in the middle of mixing everything together. It was a pain, but I overcame it and they turned out great. Since this recipe uses brown sugar, I get to share just how much I love it. The smell is the best and I love packing brown sugar, it reminds of going to the beach and building a sand castle, and I also love the beach. PLEASE REMEMBER TO PACK YOUR BROWN SUGAR or your cookies will not turn out! One thing I questioned while making these cookies, was why eggs weren't one of the ingredients in the recipe and questioned how they were going to turn out. Luckily, they turned out and you will have a lot of cookies on your hand.
These cookies are so easy and so good. I brought them to school one day and everyone was in love. All my friends kept eating them and eating them, one teacher add four of them. They really are so simple, I just have to make things complicated and run out of flour. I also justified them that since they have Bananas in them they were someone what healthy.

Ronald McDonald House Cooking

This year my softball team wants to focus on volunteering and focusing on others. Last year during our season we had a charity night, where we raised money for the Ronald McDonald House in my town. We raised around two thousand dollars for the house to buy food and supplies needed for families that have to stay in the hospital with sickly kids. At the house people can volunteer to cook meals for them and serve to help brighten their day. Me and four other teammates made walking tacos for them and had a great time doing it.
Being a ball player we live and strive on ballpark food. One of those foods are walking tacos, a personal favorite we knew that they would like it. Rules of the house is that you are to bring in the food and cook it at the hospital. We ran into struggles because, for starters they don't have a stove in the kitchen and we had to cook meat. They had a skillet iron that we used and when we went to add the taco seasoning we could not get the excess water to evaporate. We "argued" over whether we should have the lid on or off, and I won that battle and the top stayed on. But still it wouldn't evaporate, eventually it did after we sat down and chilled on our phones. We also made brownies. We just used brownie mixes and combined two of them for a big brownie pie. Again we ran into troubles of it not baking. It was very runny and had to be cooked a few extra minutes. We kept an eye on them and even had a little bite of them. They were a little gooey and amazing.
We actually only saw a couple people come and grab food we still had a good time together, and cooking for something bigger than us. We know in our hearts that they enjoyed everything and it helped us give back to our community and we learned a couple things about cooking.

Garlic and Herb Chicken

http://thefrugalgirls.com/2015/01/crockpot-garlic-herb-whole-chicken-recipe.html
With my busy nights filled with practice, lessons, and homework. My one free night, well actually I had a lesson later, I used that to cook. And whenever I help out and cook my mom loves it, since she doesn't have to. Some of my favorites to cook are desserts and appetizers, but that night I wanted to make an entire dinner. I'm proud of myself, I can call that an accomplishment. During my drive back from Chicago the weekend prior, I found the Garlic and Herb Whole Chicken, I figure since I like chicken and garlic why not give this a chance. I found it to be really easy and a nice opportunity to use some of the chicken, freezing in the jam-packed freezer.
For starters I used two pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts rather than a whole chicken. This alters how you put marinate the spices into the chicken, but I thought it worked out. After you place the chicken in the crockpot (unfrozen) cut the lemon into fourths and squeeze onto the lemon. Just be careful of the seeds that might come out, just try your best to take them out, but they aren't going to change anything about your chicken. Also rather than using the specific spice they used, I found a spice called Montreal Chicken which had everything that the other spice had. I put the chicken on low when I left for school, and around four p.m. I turned it off and kept the chicken for warmth, so it wouldn't dry out. For reference, on high cook for four hours, on low cook for eight hours. Perfect for school and work days.
Since I was making an entire meal out of them, I had to come up with sides to this delightful entrée. Most meals at my house, we eat with side salads, so I made salads. We also eat a lot of meals with rice or pasta packets, so I made a chicken and broccoli rice packet which only take twenty minutes to make. I also made canned corn, which we haven't had in forever. And I love corn, I'm from the Midwest so stereotype confirmed. This all paired with the moist chicken was amazing. You could taste the lemon and garlic in the chicken which I really liked. It was a different taste that I really enjoyed.
I would really recommend this chicken to anyone. It's really easy to make and you can just take a breather and have it cook all day while you're at work and then there it is for you when you come home. I normally don't use lemon, but it was so cook I'm going to look for more lemon infused recipes.

Cinnamon Twists with Cream Cheese Frosting

http://www.itsalwaysautumn.com/2014/07/09/super-easy-cinnamon-twists-cream-cheese-frosting.html#_a5y_p=3464500
Slowly, but surely I'm starting to get back into the swing of things for school. So I decided to get up thirty minutes early just to make a breakfast, I'm a trooper. And it's starting to get colder and colder out and fall is finally in the air. Personally, cinnamon screams fall spice, and of course every other time of year too. I also really love cinnamon rolls, but run into the struggle of never having a can of them the house. And one Sunday afternoon I received a Pinterest message from my sister saying "make these plz" so I made them and ate a bunch. The cinnamon roll twists are so easy, so quick, and so good.
Considering that there are five people living in my house right now, so I made two packets of breadstick dough. For your information, cans of breadstick dough are very unique, I had to go to two stores just to find them, but luckily Hy-Vee had them. The picture that on the recipe, makes the twists look super easy, and flawless. Honestly, I was trying to hurry just to still get to school on time. Since I had two packages of dough, I used two of the breadsticks, folded them in half then in half again and then twisted them together. This helped them all fit onto one cookie sheet and to help them be more condensed. More likely than not, you will need to melt more butter but that is quick and easy to be done. Also after I was completely done rolling the dough I took the rest of my cinnamon and sugar and placed a little bit on the top of the twists. Something I really like about this recipe is that is only takes around 10 minutes in the oven which I love for school mornings. The frosting is super easy too, and rather than using it as a dipping sauce, I just drizzled it on top of the twist.
I ate two before school, they were warm and soft, and so delicious. There was one left over so I ate that as an afterschool pick-me-up. Even though it was room temperature it was still the best thing I have ever tasted. I loved these. As my sister and brother-in-law said, "Taste is 10/10 and presentation is 11/10." They even told me to quote that in my blog that's just how much they enjoyed them.

Garlic Butter Chessy Crescent Rolls

http://rasamalaysia.com/garlic-butter-cheesy-crescent-rolls/

So the Cubs are getting further and further into the playoffs and I'm spending my days doing watching them and mastering my softball skills in hopes of getting recruited. I've been loving these little appetizer snacks that who doesn’t loves. This crescent roll snacks made me want to sit down and eat all eight of them I made. But I saved some for my family so they could share in with the goodness. Butter and garlic are the two necessities in cooking any food. You can never add to much garlic to any recipe that you ever make. Just make sure you have a pack of gum nearby, but I think that it's totally worth.

For starters, this angels sent from above are the easiest, quickest, most delicious foods that I have ever made and will be on the redo list. You only need a few ingredients that I already had previously in my possession; crescent rolls, string cheese, garlic, parsley, and butter. For my crescent rolls, I used the HyVee brand, big and flaky. When I opened them, some were torn, but the dough was easily molded back together, so all was well and good. You then roll your string cheese in the dough; I rolled from the small end to the top and smoothed the edges to create a piece of art reminding me of a doughnut whole. Who doesn't love doughnut wholes, although these are nothing like them. Next, just melt the butter, and stir in your two spices. Don't forget, butter is good for, it fuels the heart, don't be afraid of adding an extra scoop to fully drown the dough in a heavenly sauce. Then just cook them for ten minutes. Super easy! Super quick! Super tasty!

These are so good; I will be remaking this in the near future. Everyone loved them. So while watching the big baseball and football games coming up, just add more butter and garlic. And get creative with them.

WARNING: BEST SERVED WARM!!

Peanut Butter (jelly time?)

Now if you’re like my AP Lang class and enjoy eating peanut butter out of the jar in huge amounts, this is for you. Most of my classmates bring a jar of peanut butter to share with their tablemates, I don't participate in this, but a lot of people take out their spoons and take a scoop and eat it while learning about diction. Hour 3 has the reputation of being the "Peanut Butter Hour" but shoutout to MIZZAY for allowing the consumption of it.

Peanut Butter is amazing in so many recipes and by itself that is if you aren't allergic, and if you are allergic, my condolences. I don't think there is something you can’t put peanut butter in that isn't tasty. Of course, there are peanut butter sandwiches, which are my breakfast sandwiches of choice. You can put them into smoothies, have them with bananas, or even eat them with pickles (one of my teammates eat them like this, I don't know if I can bring myself to try this). Peanut Butter cookies are really good too. The point is that the list of recipes where peanut butter is an ingredient is endless.

Most people consider peanut butter to be nutritious and healthy based on the fact that it is full of protein but according to authoritynutrition.com there are positives and negatives with peanut butter. A positive for starters, is that peanut butter isn't really a processed food. Peanut Butter also is a balanced energy source, because of the 20 grams of carbs, 25 grams of protein, and 50 grams of fat it has and the many nutrients vital to health. But with all the nutrients, peanut butter has potentially harmful substances in them, aflatoxins is a fungus that lives underground, where peanuts grow. However, aflatoxins are very rare to get. Something that you can't run from is the fatty acid that is present. When people sit down and start eating the whole jar it can cause harm because it's almost impossible to stop after a little bit of it and it's really hard to resist the sweet taste of the PB.

Good news is that you probably won't have any complications if you only eat a little bit at a time, but if you sit down with a spoon and a whole jar that’s when the problems occur. But we all have those days where we just need to sit down and eat an entire jar, it's okay, have those days just not every day. I love peanut butter and won't stop eating it now, so grab those shovels, and look on the bright side.

Breakfast of the Champs

For a weekend full of softball games four/five hours away. I depend on a good breakfast to get me going in the morning on the days I'm playing from 9 am to midnight. I love having a big breakfast of all my favorite things. Cue the song from The Sound of Music. I enjoy the start of my day of foods that you thought you could only get at a restaurant. I just have the best mom who gives me the fuel to power through my games. As they say "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day."

I did a little research and according to Johns Hopkins breakfast is important because of the energy and nutrients that are provided, higher concentration, and maintaining a healthy body weight. The importance of breakfast is outstanding, that’s why I love my big family breakfasts on the weekend before an outing of softball. My mom always makes me eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast. And finishing with a glass or two of orange juice. Now I just have to say the cliché, full and focused but the protein that is packed in these foods is outstanding. So eat them!

Now with a lot of my tournaments and weekends of ball being far enough away, where I have to spend at least one night in a hotel, I have to eat the free breakfast the hotel provides. Some hotels you luck out and get something tasty, other hotels you only have a few options. This weekend, I was lucky and the hotel had these really delicious eggs with cheese stuffed inside, sausage, and oatmeal as well as pastries and cereals. And course I always to straight to the waffle machine, just because I never get to have waffles or pancakes at home. But most hotels you don't have a lot of options that have a lot of protein in them. The pancakes only have 2.2 grams of protein compared to eggs that have 6 grams. Whenever I eat waffles, they normally fill me up so I don't want to eat an egg or a meat with it, but I always get hungry a few short hours after consumption. So do hotels really provide you with the right foods to keep you full and focused, I personally don't believe so.

I love breakfast, even though most mornings it's a grab and go type of meal but I know I'm still going to be full until lunch at noon. I know the population is mostly split on who eats breakfast and who doesn't. But truly eat breakfast and be the champion of the day.

Pepperoni Pizza Braid

http://www.tablespoon.com/recipes/pepperoni-pizza-braid/e12197ca-54de-46e1-8282-0d3e82addb5d/?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=delish&utm_campaign=pepperoni+pizza+braid&crlt.pid=camp.aWSuspOqVlRm
During my usual stroll through Pinterest, I came across something extraordinary. Something that combines one of everyone's favorite breakfast, lunch, and dinner. PIZZA! Who doesn't love pizza, and the simplicity of this recipe makes me glad I live five minutes away from a Hy-Vee. There so many ingredients that I already had and stuff I could easily acquire. Now, I had this as a Thursday night dinner pick me up before a weekend of softball, but it would be a perfect game day snack, or when you are on the go. The Pepperoni Pizza Braid is so easy and leaves you wanting more.
The first time I made a braided cuisine was the braided Danish that I made and wrote about a few weeks ago. One of the things I recommended and would've changed if I could do it over again was to roll out the dough. This thing I did just that. I thought I worked a hundred percent better and left a smooth canvas to work with. After smoothing it out for a total of ten minutes to make sure it was absolutely perfect, I'm a perfectionist what can I say, I cut it into equal parts on the length of the dough. Rather than using pizza sauce, I just used spaghetti sauce, which was conveniently sitting in my pantry. Personally, I found that there was no difference in regular pizza sauce and this. They both had similar taste which I thoroughly enjoyed. If you readily have a jar of any red sauce sitting in a cupboard just use that and the amount you have left use to make your favorite Italian dish. While preparing this, I didn't use exact measurements, which is what I recommend you do. Do what you want and what you like. I just sprinkled on the cheese until I thought that I had a sufficient amount to what I enjoy. Same with pepperoni, if you don't care for pepperoni use whatever you like. Cooking uses imagination, so do what you want and what you like and leave the rest out. After adding the topping all you have to do is braid the sides. It is super easy, just cross the two sections together and make your dinner companions question how you their pizza look so cool. Finally just bake.
I loved this dinner, it was super easy and left me amazed how good it was. Just remember that when you cook, add what you want and add a little extra of what you love. Have fun making this and GET CREATIVE!

Quick Lunch: Chicken Salad

Most mornings I have a total of five minutes to make my lunch, because who actually wants to eat cafeteria food, and make/eat my breakfast before running out the door to grab the last parking space. Rather than eating my normal turkey sandwich which gets a little boring and hard to eat after a while. So the other day, I was looking in my pantry and refrigerator and the perfect elements to turn my lunch hour into something a little more exciting.
For this recipe you will need:
-canned chicken breast
-green onions (chopped)
-mayonnaise
Whenever I make this, I just dump in the ingredients and just eye ball it rather than using exact measurements. If you're feeling a little extra daring you can add a little garlic to the mix, just make sure to add a scant amount at a time or you might need some gum. Also when making this the canned chicken needs to be drained and pulled apart, rather than just one big piece of chicken. Add the chicken to the bowl and sprinkle the green onions to your taste on top. Then add a scoop of mayonnaise to your liking and stir all together. Pick up a bit and have yourself a little taste tests and make sure it is superb.
To serve, you can either eat it in a tortilla or on bread, like a chicken sandwich which too is good. If you're making it like a sandwich, I find that it's better on the tortilla, personally. This time I used club crackers and made it like a dip to eat. I like being able to scoop it up, and find it better that way. This meal added a little color to my lunch this week and I found it quicker to make than a sandwich, I also really hate making sandwiches, but I definitely really enjoyed this and all my friends were asking me what I was really. This meal, strikes me as unique and sometime a little different than just a normal sandwich that everyone else also eats. This will definitely be my go-to meal for lunch this year.

Funfetti Gooey Bars

http://www.crazyforcrust.com/2013/07/funfetti-gooey-bars/
Scrolling through Pinterest is one of my favorite things to do on a daily basis. I always find really creative recipes that strike me as delicious and yummy treats. While surfing on there the other day, I found the Funfetti Gooey Cake Bars that just spoke to me as a goody I had to make. My family would be really excited when they saw that I had made yet another dessert to share with them.
The recipe claims that these bars are the best, gooey bars that are out there. I found that to be true, however these bars were my first ever to make, so I have no way to judge if they truly are THE BEST! They are very, very gooey. I find that they taste a lot like Cake Pops which have similar characteristics. So eat with caution as you dive in the pan, as they come out of the oven.
For the ingredients, there just a few and I had most of them somewhere around my house. The recipe calls for one yellow cake mix and sprinkles, rather than mixing those two elements together, I just used a confetti cake mix, that I had prior to making these sweets. In my house, we don't own a 9x9 pan, so I used the smallest pan I could find locate. I suggest using a more petite pan, because when pouring in the cake mix it won't cover the entire pan. Which is what I ran into, so I had to make a second batch of dough to be placed on top proceeding the layer of chocolate chips sprinkled in-between the two layers of cake.
When the timer finally sang its song and they were completely done baking, I attempted to take the bars out of the pan and put them in a separate container, but they crumbled apart. The reason for this is just because they are undeniably soft so grab a fork or spoon and shovel it into your mouth. Have a little faith that your taste buds will be dancing.