Oreo Rice Krispie Treats

We like to have "snuggle nights" with our boys.  They get to stay up late and watch something fun or play games as a family.  It is a HUGE deal in our house and they will do almost anything to not miss out on these special nights!  Of course there are treats involved! It is usually some sort of milk shake, but when there is no ice cream in the freezer, you have to think quick!  I knew I had the stuff for Rice Krispie Treats but was in the mood for something a little more.  So, I added Oreos! Such a fun twist to an already quick and easy treat! They were a big hit with the "snuggle night" boys!

Oreo Rice Krispie Treats

4 T butter
5 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
5 cups Rice Krispie cereal
20 oreos, crushed
1 t vanilla

Grease a 9x13 pan and set aside. In a large bowl, combine Rice Krispies and crushed Oreos (I just smashed them in a large baggie). Set aside. Melt the butter and marshmallows in a large pan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Once the marshmallows are melted and the mixture is smooth, add vanilla and stir to combine.  Add the Rice Krispies and crushed Oreos to the melted marshmallow mixture.  Stir until evenly combined.  Press into prepared pan and let them cool and set.

Orange Dream Machine (Our Version)

Our boys wake up almost every Saturday and ask to go to Jamba Juice. Their preferred flavor choice?  Orange Dream Machine. Everytime!! SO I finally decided I could probably make it cheaper and maybe even healthier.  Here is what I came up with and it has passed the taste test by every boy, including my husband!

Orange Dream Machine (Our Version)
(about 6 cups)

2 cups Orange Juice
1/2 cup Greek Yogurt (I used Honey flavored, if using plain you will need to add more sweetener)
1 scoop (2 oz) vanilla protein powder
1/2 t vanilla extract
2 T agave, or more to desired sweetness
3 cups of ice, or until desired consistency
2 Calamondin oranges (optional, I happen to have a tree.  They are really small about the size of a large grape) You could add 1/2 of a mandarin or a couple slices of a regular orange.

Place all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Adjust ice for consistency and agave for sweetness.

Kale Chips

I have seen these all over the internet lately and since we LOVE kale in our house (we even grow it in our garden), I just had to give them a try.  They have been given the stamp of approval, even by my 4 year old! They are quick and easy and super tasty!

Kale Chips


1 bunch of kale, washed and dried
1-2 T olive oil
kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350. Once the kale has been washed and dried, remove the big stems and tear the kale into large pieces (the size you want your chips to be).  Toss the kale with the olive oil until it is coated.  Place the kale in a single layer on a cookie a sheet and sprinkle with kosher salt, be careful not over salt it, a little goes a long way!  Bake the kale at 350 for 15-20 minutes until the kale is crunchy.  Serve warm or cold, be careful the kale is super delicate.

Olive Garden Bread Sticks

My kids LOVE Olive Garden for their bread sticks and Alfredo sauce.  So, when I came across this recipe on this blog, I thought why not give it a shot.  To be honest, I wasn't really that hopeful, but I was pleasantly surprised!  And I love surprises, so it was a win/win for us! They even had that yummy butter crust on the bottom just like Olive Garden's do! I did alter the recipe a bit, I have made enough bread to know a thing or two about the flavor I like, so here is what I did...

Olive Garden Bread Sticks

(24 bread sticks)

1 1/2 cups warm water

2 1/4 t yeast

4 cups flour (I used bread flour, but all-purpose would work fine)

2 T butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 T sugar

1/2 T salt

topping:

4 T butter, melted

1 t garlic powder

1/2 t salt

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water.  Allow it to sit for about 10 minutes until it gets frothy.  Add the flour, salt and melted butter to the yeast mixture. Mix in a stand mixer or by hand until fully combined.  The dough should be moist but not sticky and should hold in a ball.  Knead the dough for a few minutes until  it is smooth.  Divide dough into 24 pieces and roll with your hands into bread sticks (like making a snake). Place them on a greased cookie sheet.  Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour.

Preheat the over to 400 and once it is hot put the bread sticks in.  While they are in, melt 4 T butter and mix it with 1 t garlic powder and 1/2 t salt. After the 5 minutes are up, brush the bread sticks with the melted garlic butter.  Pop them back in the over for an additional 5 minutes or until they are golden brown.  Remove them from the oven and brush them once more with the garlic butter.  Serve them warm.

Mint Oreo Milk Shake

I have a VERY hard time resisting mint Oreos!  Regular Oreos I can walk by all day long, but there is just something about mint that tempts me!  For this reason they are NEVER in my house, but seeing as how it was St. Patrick's Day AND my husband has some Irish heritage, I thought, why not?!  And boy am I regretting it, I guess I have to put in 24,000 more hours at the gym to make up for this weekend's mint Oreos!  But oh, they were soooo good!  Here is what I put into these mint Oreo milk shakes...

Mint Oreo Milk Shake

(about 6 servings)

Vanilla ice cream

mint Oreos

milk

malt powder

whipped cream (for garnish)

green sprinkles (for garnish)

Ok, I fill my blender with vanilla ice cream (do NOT pack it down).  Add a tablespoon or 2 of malt powder, and 9-10 mint Oreos.  Add milk until it fills the cracks and crevices about 3/4 of the way to the top of the blender. (I like my shakes thick, so I add more after I start to blend).  Blend until smooth, adjusting the milk or ice cream as needed until the shake is the consistency you like (I stir, carefully, as it blends with a spoon to get things moving).  Pour into glasses and top with whipped cream and sprinkles.

Rice Krispie Treats

Ok, so this is just one of those recipes that when I want to make them, I can NEVER find the recipe!  So, here it is my friends!  Although, I do change the recipe a little, I like mine gooey!

Rice Krispie Treats


4 T butter
5 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
6 cups rice krispie cereal
1 t vanilla

Grease a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Melt the butter and marshmallows in a large pan over medium-low heat.  Once the mixture is smooth, add the vanilla and stir to combine.  Add the rice krispie cereal and stir until evenly coated.  Dump into prepared pan and press down evenly using your hands sprayed with cooking spray.  Let them cool for about 20-30 minutes.

Gourmet Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

These are always impressive and always delicious (and SUPER easy! Shhhhh, don't tell!)  I made these for the boys in my life on this stay-at-home-with-3-sick-kids Valentine's Day!  They are so easy my 3 year old helped me do them!  So, no excuses!  These puppies can be $1 a piece at candy stores! (I have totally posted this before, but these are GOURMET, hence the nuts and coconut!)

Gourmet Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Fresh strawberries, washed and dried (leave the stems on for dipping)

Good chocolate (I always use Ghirardelli) milk chocolate, white chocolate, or semi-sweet 

nuts, chopped fine (I used pecans)

coconut

mini chocolate chips

toffee bits

oil

Line a cookie sheet or two with wax paper, set aside. Mix chocolate chips with about 1 t oil per cup of chips in a sauce pan.  Heat over LOW heat stirring constantly until the chocolate is melted and smooth.  Remove from heat.  Repeat process with as many different kinds of chocolate as you want to use. (I used milk and white for these).  I always melt my chocolate stove top, I have more control this way and I have found it helps the chocolate to not seize (especially the white chocolate).  Dip the washed and dried strawberries in the chocolate one at a time and then roll in what ever toppings you want, or a mixture of them.  Place dipped strawberries on wax paper. Let them sit for a couple of minutes and then drizzle with alternating kids of chocolate if desired.  I just use a spoon with a side to side motion.  Try it first over a separate piece of wax paper to get the feel for it.  Let the strawberries set up completely.  I find this is best in a cool place or the fridge. Store extras in the fridge for a few days.

Bird's Nest

My mom used to make these for us as children.  We LOVED them.  It just made breakfast magical to me. I made them for my kids a couple of weeks ago and they can't seem to get enough of them.  It really isn't a recipe so much as an idea, but here it is just the same!

Bird's Nest

bread

eggs

butter

salt

pepper

Heat a skillet and melt butter in the bottom.  Cut a hole in a piece of bread (I used a mason jar lid).  Place the bread in the pan.  Crack an egg in the middle and let it cook for a minute or two until the outside turns white.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and then flip, carefully, so you don't break the yolk.  Cook on this side for a minute or two until the egg is cooked as much as you like it.  

I have also seen these made inside a slice of bell pepper, YUM!  Gonna have to try it!

Sweet and Salty Halloween Treats

I saw these little beauties on Pinterest and just knew that I had to make them for a fun Halloween party I am co-hosting!  They are so super fast and easy and are just so Halloweeny!  Now, go grab the 3 ingredients and whip up a batch of these for your super spooky Halloween friends!

Sweet and Salty Halloween Treats

pretzels (I used the waffle squares but twists would work just fine)

Hershey's Hugs (kisses would also work)

candy corns

Preheat oven to 350.  Cover a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper and place as many pretzels as you want on the sheet.  Unwrap and place a Hug on the top of each pretzel. Put the cookie sheet in the oven for about 3 minutes, just until the Hugs are shiny.  Pull the tray out of the oven and top each one with a cant corn, pressing down slightly.  Now let these cool and the Hug set up.  I put mine in my cold garage (the fridge would work too) to speed things up.  See, now how easy was that?!!

Conversation Hearts

Happy Valentine's Day!

I found this recipe over at a kid's craft site called the Crafty Cow. This was such a fun, albeit messy, project I did with my family! I really LOVE how they turned out and my kids thought it was so cool to color on them! I think this will be a new Valentine's Day tradition for us!

Conversation Hearts

(this makes a TON!)

1 package (1/4 oz, or 2 t) unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup water

2 t light corn syrup

2 lbs. powdered sugar, plus more for dusting (I probably used about another pound when all was said and done)

Assorted flavoring extracts of your choice

Assorted food coloring of your choice

small heart shaped cutters (I found mine at Jo-Anns in the cake decorating section)

Food coloring markers (I got mine at Wal-mart in their cake decorating department, they are called Food Writers by Wilton)

1. Place corn syrup, gelatin, and water in a small saucepan and heat over low.  Stir until the gelatin is well-distributed and dissolved.

2. Pour the gelatin mixture into the bowl of a mixer fitted with paddle attachments. Add one cup of powdered sugar and mix on low until incorporated.  Continue adding powdered sugar one cup at a time until all 2 pounds is used.  Stop and scrape down the sides as needed.  The dough will change from watery liquid to a stiff dough.

3. Once you have mixed in all the sugar, turn the dough (it will be sticky) onto a powdered sugar coated work surface.  Add more powdered sugar to the top and knead the dough, adding more sugar as needed, until it is no longer sticky and very smooth.

4. Now, decide how many colors/flavors you want and divide the dough into that many pieces.  Add a few drops of color and flavor and knead until it is totally mixed in.  (You may want to use gloves for this as the color can stain your hands.) Roll out each ball to desired thickness and cut out hearts of varying sizes. I covered the balls I wasn't using so that they didn't start to dry before I could roll them out.  Place the heart cut outs on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper and let them dry for 24 hours.  I know that this is a long time but they need to dry that long before you write on them or the ink will run.  Once they are totally dry, write on them with edible markers.

Pizza bites

I found this recipe over at Our Best Bites. I did mine a little differently, but they are the same idea. My kids thought these were pretty cool! What kid (or adult, for that matter) doesn't love finger food!

Pizza Bites

Pizza dough*

Ranch dressing (already made up)

mozzarella cheese, cubed into 1/2 inch cubes

olive oil

Italian seasoning

garlic powder

Parmesan cheese

*You can use whatever pizza dough is your favorite. I used this one. I doubled the recipe and it made about 24 bites.

Roll out the pizza dough into an rectangle about 18 inches by 6 inches. Using a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 24 squares. In the center of each square put 1 to2 teaspoons of ranch and the same amount of cheese (about 4 cubes). Gather up the edges and seal the dough so none of the innards leak out. Place these seam side down in a greased pie plate or similar dish. Brush the tops with olive oil and then sprinkle with Italian seasoning, garlic powder and Parmesan cheese. Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes or until the tops are golden and the dough is cooked. Serve with marinara sauce or ranch dressing for dipping.

You can really fill these bites with anything you would put on a pizza...pepperoni, pineapple, bell peppers, etc.

We even filled a few with a big marshmallow and a few chocolate chips. When they were cooked I drizzled them with some icing, YUM!

Playdough

This is the best recipe for homemade playdough! This is just one of the many ways we combat the cold Michigan winters. My boys think making this is so cool and they love to pick out the colors they want. I love how soft and squishy this is. I put a little peppermint extract in it so it smells yummy too!

Playdough

2 cups flour

3 T cream of tarter

1/2 cup salt

2 cups water

2 T oil

1 T mint extract (optional)

food coloring

Mix all the ingredients together in a large pan. Stir constantly over medium-low heat until the moisture forms a ball. This usually takes about 5 minutes. Knead while it is still hot (this is where I add the different colors). Let it cool completely before storing a an airtight container or Ziploc bag. This DOES NOT need to be refrigerated!

Peanut Butter Banana Blender Drink

This has been a breakfast that has been in my life since I can remember. I loved it (and still do) and now my kids love it. It brings back memories, it's healthy, and can pack some protein. So what are you waiting for, make this for breakfast!

Peanut Butter Banana Blender Drink

(about 2 servings)

1 ripe banana

1 spoonful of peanut butter

1 cup of milk

1/4 t vanilla

protein powder (optional, but so good)

ice

Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. These measurements are just a guess, I alter the amounts to taste. So, if you LOVE peanut butter, add more. If you like it thick add more ice. You get the point!