Red, White, and Blueberry Trifle

This Fourth of the July the dessert we made was this Red, White, and Blueberry Trifle. This dessert is super easy and looks very festive. The best parts about this recipe is that it requires no baking and can be prepared a day in advance. Check out this super easy recipe below!

Red, White, and Blueberry Trifle:

Ingredients:

1 Angel Food Cake

2 tubs of Whipped Topping

1 box Vanilla Instant Pudding plus milk

1 container of Strawberries

1 container of Blueberries

Directions:

1. Break or cut Angel Food Cake into pieces.

2. Place on bottom layer.

3. Mix pudding as directed on box, place in fridge to set.

4. Then fold in 1 tub of Whipped Topping.

5. Spoon over cake layer.

6. Then slice and add strawberries and blueberries on top of pudding.

7. Add a layer of Whipped Topping, about ½ the container. 

8. Then repeat layers.

9. Top with blueberries and strawberries.

10. Chill, eat, and enjoy!

Lots of Love, Natalie

For the Love of Strawberries Cake Recipe

This cake is bursting with Strawberries and flavor! I love Strawberries and for Easter lunch this year I made this from scratch Strawberry cake with Strawberry Frosting. This cake is so packed with Strawberries that I thought the perfect name has to be "For the love of Strawberries Cake". Anybody who loves fresh strawberries needs to make this cake. This cake turned out so good that it is now a staple for me to make at least once every Spring. I hope you have a wonderful Monday and I will be back here all week!

For the love of Strawberries Cake:

Ingredients:

Approx. 8 oz strawberries, either fresh or frozen

1/4 cup milk, at room temperature

4 eggs, at room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/4 cup cake flour

1 3/4 cup sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

12 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temp

1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese

½ cup butter, room temp

3½ cup confectioners' sugar

¾ cup fresh strawberries, mashed or chopped fine

 

Directions:

1. Place strawberries in a food processor or blender and process until completely smooth.  Measure ¾ cups of strawberry puree and return to the blender

2. Add egg, vanilla, and milk to the blender and mix on medium speed until smooth and creamy and set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix to combine. Continue beating at slow speed and add butter.

4.  Mix until combined and resembling moist crumbs.

5. Add strawberry mixture and beat at medium speed for about 1 minute.

6. Stop mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl, mix for 30 seconds more.

7. Divide the batter evenly among the pans or cupcake tins.

8. Bake for about 25 minutes for layer cakes or 18 minutes for cupcakes.

9. Let cakes rest in pan for about 10 minutes and turn out onto wire racks.

10. Let cakes cool completely before frosting.
11. Mix 1 1/2 stick butter and cream cheese together until smooth.

12. Mix in the rest of the butter and the confectioner's sugar.

13. Lastly mix in the strawberries until it is smooth and tasty.

14. Frost your cake and top it with any extra strawberries you have left over.

 

See you tomorrow with a tasty recipe to help celebrate Cinco De Mayo!

 

 

Lots of Love,  Natalie

Sprinkle Iced Sugar Cookies

Baking makes me so happy! These cookies look so cute and adorable! I think these cookies would be perfect for any birthday party because they look like a small burst of confetti. Along with looking great they are extremely easy and super tasty. This recipe is wonderful for those people that say they cannot cook. Anyway, I hope you are having a wonderful Tuesday. Look below for this amazing, tasty, and super easy recipe. 

Sprinkle Iced Sugar Cookies:

Ingredients:

1 package of Pillsbury Ready to Bake Sugar Cookies

1 container of Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Vanilla Frosting

1 container of Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Chocolate Fudge Frosting

Sprinkles

** you can use any flavor frosting you would like **

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Bake the cookies according to the recipe of the back of the cookies.

3. Remove cookies from the oven and let cool on metal racks lined with wax paper underneath.

4. Once the cookies are cool place some icing in a mug in the microwave and melt for 20 seconds.

5. Once the icing is melted use a spoon to pour it over the cookies, coating then as much as you would like. 

6. While the icing is still wet pour the sprinkles on the cookies. 

7. Let the cookies and icing set/cool.

8. Enjoy!

Lots of Love,  Natalie

Honey Apple Peanut Butter Tart

As I mentioned Monday I have been on a baking high since Christmas thanks to my new Kitchen aid Stand Mixer. This weekend I decided to try another recipe I pinned a while back on Pinterest. This Honey Apple Peanut Butter Tart is very easy and tasty as well. Plus it looks a little fancy with the puff pastry that takes the tart. Give it a try this weekend!

Honey Apple Peanut Butter Tart:

Ingredients:

3 apples (whichever ones you like best), slicked thin

1 sheet Puff Pastry, thawed

heaping 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

2 tablespoons honey, warmed plus 4 tablespoons for drizzling

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

 

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Slice puff pastry dough into 3 equal size rectangles and place onto a silpat lined baking sheet.  

3. Warm peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl until liquid like. 

4. Drizzle in 2 Tablespoons of honey, stir then spread evenly over 3 pastry rectangles leaving 1/2 inch border around edges. 

5.  Layer apple slices neatly over top of peanut butter, drizzle with warm honey, sprinkle with sugar then bake for 30-35 minutes or until pastry is lightly browned and puffed around the edges. 

6.  Let cool completely then drizzle with additional warm honey if desired and powdered sugar. 

7. Serve as whole tarts or cut each tart into fourths.

8. Enjoy!

 

*makes 3 full tarts or 12 slices

(original recipe found here )

 

 

 

Lots of Love,  Natalie

Garlic Sauce Chicken

Happy Monday and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! I hope you are enjoying your day off from work and hopefully making the best of it. I am at work doing inventory and staff meetings today but at least I did not have to get dressed up today. Anyway, Jay and I found this recipe awhile back on Pinterest and decided we should make it for one of our last date nights before he left to go back to Starkville for the second semester of his Masters. This Garlic Sauce Chicken was to die for! The garlic wine sauce taste just like something from a restaurant. We loved this recipe especially because you get to incorporate the white wine you will be drinking with your meal in the sauce for the dish. We would highly recommend this one for a dinner party with friends! See you tomorrow!

 

Garlic Sauce Chicken:

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 chicken thighs

salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

1 whole bulb of garlic, peeled, cloves separated

1 cup white wine (use a wine you like)

3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 sprig fresh rosemary

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet.

2. Add chicken and season with salt and pepper.

3. Cook over medium heat, brown the chicken on both sides; about 4 minutes per side.

4. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.

5. Add garlic cloves to the skillet and cook, stirring frequently, until golden; about 3 minutes.

6. Do not burn the garlic.

7. Carefully add wine to the skillet.

8. Stir in parsley and add rosemary.

9. Transfer chicken back to the skillet.

10. Cover and continue to cook over medium-low heat for 20 minutes, turning the chicken over half way through cooking.

11. Add 1/4 cup more wine if it looks too dry when you go to turn over the chicken.

12. Remove from heat.

13. Transfer chicken to serving dishes and spoon the garlic sauce over the chicken.

14. Enjoy!

 

 

 

Lots of Love,  Natalie

Poppy Seed Chicken

This is southern easy dish is very tasty! Poppy Seed Chicken only takes about 12 minutes of prep time and only 30 minutes to cook so it is a wondeful weeknight meal. I came across this recipe on Pinterest but my boss was talking about it the other day and how much she loved it. I am glad I tested it out because I have already given the recipe to my Grandmother and mom so they can make it also. Now lets get down to the recipe!

 

Poppy Seed Chicken:

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

1 can cream of chicken soup

8 oz. sour cream

1 sleeve of Ritz crackers, crushed

1 stick of butter

1 1/2 teaspoons Poppy seeds

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the chicken, soup, and sour cream and place in baking dish.

Then, melt the butter in a pan on the stove.

Once the butter is melted, add the crushed Ritz crackers and poppy seeds and mix.

Place this mixture over the chicken mixture.

Lastly, bake for 30 minutes or until the top is bubbling.

Enjoy!

 

 

Lots of Love,  Natalie

Potato, Bacon, & Cheese Soup

This soup is the perfect cold weather soup. It is filled with chunks of potatoes, tiny stripes of bacon, and topped with melted gooey cheese! Basically it is comfort and warmth in a bowl. Make sure you check out the recipe below. I promise it is worth the little bit of prep that goes into this recipe! Happy 2015 by the way! I am back and sorry I was gone for the holidays but I was trying to be able to spend as much time as I could with friends and family this year. I am happy to be back though because it has been too long.

Potato, Bacon, & Cheese Soup:

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lbs. potatoes, peeled and diced into bite size pieces

1/2 package of uncooked bacon finely diced

1 medium onion diced

2 cloves minced garlic

8 cups milk

4 cups water

4 chicken bullion cubes

1 teaspoon black pepper and salt

3/4 cup salted butter

3/4 cup flour

1/4 bunch freshly chopped parsley

1 cup heavy cream

**For garnish: shredded cheese, bacon bits, and chopped green onions**

Directions:

In a sauté pan cook bacon until crisp.

Drain bacon grease and set bacon aside.

Saute onion and garlic in 2 tablespoons butter for about 5 minutes.

In a large stockpot add the sautéed garlic, onion, milk, water, bullion cubes, salt, and pepper.

Cook over medium-high heat until mixture is very hot, about 8 minutes stirring often.

Do not let t he mixture boil.

In a small saucepan melt remaining butter.

Add flour and mix well.

Cook over medium-low heat until mixture bubbles, stirring 2-3 minutes to make a roux.

While constantly stirring soup, add roux slowly until soup is thick and creamy, about 4 minutes.

Stir in parsley, potatoes, bacon, and heavy cream.

Garnish with cheese, bacon(if you have saved some for garnish), and green onions.

Serve hot!

*Serves 8

Lots of Love,  Natalie

Creamy Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Everyone loved and raved about how good this Homemade Creamy Spinach and Artichoke Dip was Saturday at the tailgate. I had never made Spinach and Artichoke Dip before this past weekend. I highly suggest if you need to make a dip for a tailgate or any type of party this is the perfect one. It is fairly quick and does not take any skill to successfully make it! Enjoy!

Creamy Spinach and Artichoke Dip:
Ingredients:
1 10oz package of frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained)
1 14oz can of artichoke hearts (drained and chopped)
1 8oz package of cream cheese (softened)
2 tbsp. sour cream
2 tbsp. mayonnaise
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
1/2 tsp. garlic salt (or to taste)
a dash of cayenne pepper (or to taste)


Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a medium bowl, warm cream cheese in microwave for about a minute or as long as it takes to soften.
Add spinach, artichokes, sour cream, cream cheese, mayo, and parmesan cheese.
Mix well and add garlic salt and cayenne pepper to taste.
Place in an oven safe dish and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until top is toasty.
(Optional: I baked mine on broil for about 5-10minutes to give it a toasted top)
Serve with bread or chips.
Enjoy!


**I doubled my recipe to make it fill a casserole dish**

 

Lots of Love, Natalie

 

 

Healthy Banana Bread

Who doesn't love Banana Bread. I was having a craving for some Sunday morning and thought it would go wonderful with a cup of coffee. Since I have made some before I thought this time I would try to make a healthier version of it. Well even though I had my doubts on if it would still taste great I was quickly proven wrong when to aroma started to fill my kitchen. Once it came out it was moist and full of flavor! If you have a craving for some now give the recipe below a shot! Happy Thursday!

 

Healthy Banana Bread:

 

Ingredients:

1 cup almond flour

6 eggs

10 ounces of banana

5 ounces of pitted dates

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. vinegar

1 tsp. baking soda

6 tbsp. coconut flour

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place all ingredients except the coconut flour in a high speed blender and blend on high for a minute.

Add the coconut flour (break up any clumps before hand with a fork) and blend for 30 seconds.

Place batter in a narrow bread pan lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a knife runs clean.

Enjoy!

 

 

Lots of Love,  Natalie