sweet treat

The last thing this family needs is more treats.

Thanks to my stockpile I have:
*cookies
*candy
*cake mixes
*brownie mixes
*frozen cookie doughs
Honestly, do I need to go on? Didn't think so. But some days I just want to tie on an apron and BAKE something!

The other day I was just in one of those moods and so this is what I came up with.

I found this recipe on Pinterest and changed it up just a little. I love making treats with cake mixes. They just make it a no-brainer. Easy, fast and delish!

Peanut Butter Cup cookie Bars
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 small box of vanilla pudding
2 eggs
1/4 cup of water
3/4 cup veg oil
chopped pb cups (I had some leftover reeses cups so I just chopped these up) to taste

Preheat oven to 350*.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until well blended.
Add in chopped candy.
Fold in gently.
Spread into a greased 9x13 pan
*Recipes made with cake mixes are very thick, and are supposed to be that way*
Feel free to throw a few more pb cups on top if you'd like
Bake for 25-30 minutes



Enjoy with a glass of ice cold milk...Yum!

**Of course this is a good way to use up candy, but you can also use pb/milk chocolate chips. Or a different kind of candy...or a different kind of cake mix**

cookies

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Whenever I have a hard cookie, it almost immediatley gets dunked in to milk. Soften it up a little, you know?

One day a friend of mine brought over a plate of nice soft, chewy, banana and chocolate chip cookies. Yummo. I could have eaten the whole plate.

I decided I wanted to remake them for myself. I found this awesome recipe and...loved them.

(** I am not sure where I found it. I didn't come up with this recipe, but am not sure who to give credit too!**)

If you are a fan of banana chocolate chip (and who isn't?!) then you are going to love these. If you try them, I would love to know what you think!

Someone snuck a bite...

**Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies**

2.5 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup white sugar
2/3 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup mashed bananas(about 3)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I prefer milk chocolate, that's just how I roll)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400* Grease cookie sheets. Combine dry ingredients into a bowl and set aside.
2. Cream the butter with the sugar until  light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Mix in the mashed bananas. Add the flour mixture and stir until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Drop spoonfuls on to the cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Mint chocolate brownies

I love mint. Mint oreos, mint shakes (or Shamrock shakes as some places call them) mint candy, mint gum...

We were organizing the pantry when I found some mint chips. Yum.

I have a nice stockpile of brownie mixes (doesn't every couponer?) and decided to mix the chips in with the brownie mix.

Then I decided to take it one step further...Have you seen the Duncan Hines frosting creations?

Well I had one of those with a chocolate mint mix in.



Please can I have a brownie Mom?!

So...I added that to the top of the brownies.

They.were.to.die.for! Oh yummy.

A yummy minty brownie with a glass of ice cold milk? Perfection.

Just because you have a mix, doesn't mean you can't add anything to it to jazz it up a bit!

This "recipe" consisted of:

1 box of brownie mix and ingredients to bake them (eggs, oil  water)

1 bag of mint chips

1 container of frosting

1 mint mix in

An easy, simple, yummy dessert!

In the kitchen

We absolutely love Rhodes rolls/breads in our house.

Delish!!

The taste is wonderful and I love the no fail guarantee. Seriously, yummy.

My kids have decided that I need to make this bread at least 3 or 4 times a week. lol

Not a great shot, but the butter melted fast!

I enjoy my bread hot out of the oven with butter and honey. Yum!

I of course, also love that they put coupons inside the package too. Makes it easier to buy more!

*************************************************************************
On a not unrelated note, our family has a rule about cereal. You are not allowed to open a new box until all Rubbermaid/ Tupperware containers are empty.

My cereal lovin' boy came up to me, batting his long eye lashes at me and said, "Mom can we make Cocoa Rice Krispy treats?"

Easy enough treat right? So we made them and as we were munching away he said, "My master plan worked."

Next thing I know he is out in the garage getting a new box of his favorite cereal. Stinker. At least he was following the rules right? It is also one more thing he knows how to make.

What is a Mom to do?!

crock pot lovin'

I got a crockpot when I got married almost 14 years ago. Actually, I recieved three. Some people get toasters, we got crockpots.

I returned two of them. The other one sat on my shelf collecting dust. Until my sister introduced me to this book...

Image taken from Amazon

It literally changed my life. The first time I made dinner in it, I felt like I was cheating. Seriously. I couldn't believe that I put ingredients in at 9am and then everything was done by dinner time. No work, no muss, no fuss.

Still going strong after 14 years!!

Now I use it all the time. I really wanted to get another one, because I have recipes that work well together like ham & baked potatoes. I finally broke down and got one...isn't it cute?

In one crockpot, I placed 2 pork tenderloin (these were $5 each at Vons one week and I bought 4). Cut up some onion, garlic, threw in some seasonings and topped it with bbq sauce. So yum and so easy.

Tenderloin with bbq sauce and white onions looks a lot like...

The other crockpot was busy "baking a cake". Mmm, it was a yummy moist chocolate cake with white chocolate chips. We ate it with some cool whip on top.

chocolate cake with white choc. chips (:

When I was taking pictures, I realized that they both looked like the exact same thing while cooking! They weren't though and they both turned out well. Here is the recipe I followed for the cake...

Crockpot Chocolate Cake
1 box chocolate cake mix
8 oz sour cream
1 pkg instant choc. pudding
1 cup chocolate chips
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
1 cup water

In a bowl, combine all ingredients. Grease ( I wouldn't  recommend using a liner with this) lightly and pour in. Cook 3-4 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low.

yummm...

Living in So. California definatley has its' perks! Perfect weather, beautiful area, close to the beach, friendly people and tons of yummy produce!!

Because of our awesome weather, we have yummy produce all year round. But right now is my favorite time of the year because of the STRAWBERRIES!!

Mmm, they are huge and cheap! When they are not in season, we can usually find them for around $2-$2.50 per pint. Right now they are .99!

I bought two 3 lb. containers and spent a while cutting them all up. We like them straight up, or in a bowl with sugar,using them to make freezer jam,  or my favorite....strawberry shortcake.

Normally I crush them and add sugar, to make it more of a sauce. But these were so yummy I just heaped them on. Delish...and might I add, not too bad health wise.

Strawberries- zero fat and few calories
sponge dessert cups- zero fat and 85 calories for one
cool whip/whipped cream- you could use fat free, light or regular

tie dye or tye dye?

Hmmm, as I have been sharing these pictures, I can't decide how to spell it. In my mind, neither look right!

My kids' absolute favorite way to do math, is BAKE! Makes complete sense, right?

Ethan found a recipe that he was dying to try.

 It was kind of a comedy of errors. First, thanks to couponing, I have 101 cake mixes. But not one of them was white! I wasn't sure if the jello would dye a yellow cake mix so we got a couple of white mixes.

Then, I thought I had a container of jello's...until Harmony let me know that she gave those away to the food drive. Pffft!

So I made sure to pick up some more jello.

We were in working at the table one day, when I hear Ethan yell, "no Mason, bad boy!"

He got all the boxes of jello out, used his teeth to rip open the pkg and dumped them on the floor.

So it took us awhile to actually make the cupcakes but it was such a fun project.

They were really simple.

Make cake mixes (white ones!) following the directions on the package. Divide the batter evenly into three bowls. Pick out the 3 jello flavors/colors that you want.

**Each cake mix only requires a half of the box of jello. So we doubled the recipe so that we could use the whole thing. **

Mix a different color into each bowl. Line your cupcake pans. Then spoon the different colors of batter in a pattern. Be careful not to put too much of one color in, so that they will look tye (tie) dyed.

It was fun to watch my kids do this. One was quick and messy. One was a little more careful. One was very methodical and made the "perfect" bottom layer.

yum!!

While couponers normally have a big stockpile of cake, cookie and brownie mixes...I wanted to do something a little different!

I saw these somewhere, however I have NO IDEA where it was. If you do know, let me know and I will update this post with that info and give credit where credit is due (:

This was a fairly cheap treat!

Strawberries were on sale for .99 a container so I got 2 of those.

 I used a 40% off coupon at Michaels  for the white chocolate (they were 2.99 a bag before coupon) and sprinkles (they were 3.29) My daughter was at Michaels with me, so she did a seperate transaction and used one more coupon (:

These were really easy and if I can do it well...
*melt chocolate, stir until smooth
*dip strawberries into chocolate
*while still wet, dip into blue sprinkles
*lay on wax paper to set

The end. Cute, fun and oh so patriotic! Did you make any fun treats to celebrate the 4th?

cheap eats

(the lonnnng line to get in!!)

Eating out is expensive. 

Yes we can use coupons. We can eat off the dollar menu , and only get water.

But not only is it expensive, to much of it is not healthy for you.

Whenever our family eats out, we think times 5.

5 kids can eat!!

So we stick to the dollar menu. We use coupons. But choices have to be made. And one of those is...

NO DESSERT :(

I know poor kiddos. They really do suffer.

So when 31 cent scoop night at Baskin & Robbins comes around my kids are in HEAVEN!! Not only do they get a dessert, but they get 3 scoops!

Less than $5 for all 4 of the older kids and myself  to get a bowl. Mason had to share but I don't think he minded!

It was a fun and cheap night!

I encourage you to look around your area and see what local discounts are offered! There are a lot out there, so take advantage!!