My Favorite Jeans

I have a thing for Target jeans. They are the only ones that really fit me. I always try to branch out and get jeans somewhere else, but I always end up taking them back and heading to target. I am in LOVE with these gray skinny jeans. They are so soft and have just enough stretch in them. Between my black pair and these they get worn almost every day. If you do not have a pair, go out and get one…or two!!

 

The Sun is out

Happy Sunny Friday! It has been so cold and rainy it is great to see the sun shining this morning. I figure while the sun is out making this day a beautiful one, I would dress like the sun….bright!

When Cissy and I found this yellow flannel shirt at target, we loved it right away. The color just pops and makes you feel good. I love it with Jeans, a vest, under a sweater or just by itself. It is so soft. I got a medium in this because, well that’s all I could find and I made it work. I would prefer a small but I’m not too picky when I find a good deal….I will make it work!

Happy 2019

Happy 2019! I am hoping this new year brings you many blessings and a heart full of joy and peace!

Cissy and I decided to head out to Target to pick up some last minute items for New Years Eve and decided to make a quick stop off in their clearance area….Well, that quick stop ended up being a huge bonus for us. We came home with 4 shirts! The great thing about Cissy getting older is that we can share some of our tops. So it’s a double bargain for us!

I found this adorable graphic t-shirt. It is perfect for a comfy day. I put it on with a pair of leggings and I was set for a day in by the fire, and just maybe I had a glass of wine or too.

 

 

Banana Cake with my little baker

Summer is in full swing which means more time with our kids. Our little baker would choose to bake rather than do anything else. She LOVES to be in the kitchen. She goes to her Nana’s once a week for cooking camp and helps whenever she can at home.

I asked her this week who she would like to invite over and play on my day off of work and she said, “I’d rather spend the day with you than anyone else”. Talk about heart melting!!! So, I wanted to make sure we did something special just the two of us and I know one of her favorite things to do is bake. She has been asking to make Banana bread but I suggested one better….Banana Cake (and she is so glad I did).

This light moist banana cake is perfect for a hot summer day. It is kept in the refrigerator, so it is a great cool snack after spending the day out by the pool. And the frosting…oh my, it is a lemony cream cheese frosting, a perfect combination.

BANANA CAKE

 INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/3cup mashed bananas
• 2 1/2tablespoons lemon juice divided
• 1 1/2cups milk
• 3cups flour
• 1/2tablespoon baking soda
• 1/4teaspoon salt
• 2/3cup butter softened
• 1cup white sugar
• 1/2cup brown sugar
• 3large eggs
• 1teaspoons vanilla

FROSTING

• 8oz cream cheese
• 1/3cup butter softened
• 3-3 1/2cups powdered sugar
• 1teaspoon lemon juice

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.
2. Place 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice in a measuring cup. Top to 1 1/2 cups with milk. Set aside.
3. Mix together mashed banana with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, set aside.
4. Beat together butter, brown and white sugar until combined. Add in eggs one at a time and vanilla. Mix on high until light and fluffy (almost the texture of frosting).
5. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Alternate adding flour mixture and milk to egg mixture stirring just until combined. (Do not overmix). Fold in bananas. Pour into prepared pan.
6. Put into the oven and reduce heat to 300 degrees. Bake 60 – 70 minutes (see note below) or just until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (do not over bake).
7. Remove from oven and place in the freezer for 45 minutes to make the cake extra moist. Cool completely before frosting.

FROSTING

1. Cream together butter & cream cheese until fluffy. Add in lemon zest and juice.
2. Add powdered sugar a little at a time until you reach desired consistency.

**TIPS TO ENSURE A SOFT MOIST RESULT**

Ensure your ingredients are at room temperature (eggs and butter)

When mixing the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla, beat the mixture until very fluffy, this should take about 5 minutes.

When adding the flour mixture, you want to mix until just combined. Over-mixing will cause a dense chewy result. The cooking time on this cake can very.  Check your cake at 55 minutes, if it isn’t ready, continue cooking until a toothpick comes out clean (Ours was done at exactly 55 minutes). The result will be a moist and delicious banana cake.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

XOXO,
Molly

 

A Graduation party

We celebrated our graduate this weekend. We bought all her favorite foods she requested from her favorite store Trader Joe’s. One thing she asked that I make was  chocolate fondue. I used my galvanized metal three-tiered tray stand I got at Hobby Lobby to display all the goodies that get dipped into fondue. On top of the three-tiered tray I used rosemary from our back yard as well as little yellow daisies and red roses. I chose those flowers to match the school colors of USC where she will be attending this fall.

The graduation party was also a pool party so I thought it would be best to do appetizers and some of her favorite snacks….Have you tried the Pickled Popcorn from Trader Joe’s?Oh my gosh it is so good and Maci LOVES it.

I also did an array of cheeses, meats, vegetables, hummus, crackers, olives, and you can’t forget the bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes. Have you all tried their bundt cakes? Oh my goodness, they are a little bit of heaven and you can eat their little bundtinis in about 2 bites. We got the chocolate chocolate chips, red velvet, vanilla raspberry, and lemon ones. I’m telling you right now, if you have not tried one of these you are absolutely missing out in life 🙂 .

We thought it would be fun to display her childhood in pictures. We had them everywhere for people to admire.

I am beyond blessed for my little ones and husband for helping me put together such a beautiful graduation party. The kids helped with all the decorations and my husband was by my side making sure I had what I needed to put on a beautiful gathering.

Not only did we have a high school senior graduating this past week, but we had 3 other graduation ceremonies to attend for our kids. It was such a busy week full of family and milestones.

Chocolate Fondue

1 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
2 TBSP. Butter
1 (14oz) Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 TBSP. Water
1 TSP. Vanilla Extract

Directions: In a heavy sauce pan, over medium heat (or in an electric fondue pot) melt chocolate chips and butter with the sweetened condensed milk and water. Cook and stir constantly, until thickened, about 5 minutes, cool and add vanilla.

Serve with: Anything you like to eat with chocolate. We used, strawberries, pineapple, bananas, graham crackers, marshmallows, pretzels, pound cake, and angle food cake.

Love,
Molly

Mini Chocolate Bundt Cakes

What better way to end a very special evening than devouring a mini chocolate bundt cake. These little babies are rich and moist and just soothes the soul. I dare you to eat just one! I made a cross out of our little bundt cakes to represent Riley getting confirmed.

Mini Chocolate Bundt Cake

Ingredients

• Chocolate Bundt Cake:
• 1 box of chocolate cake mix (can also use devils food or German chocolate)
• 1 small box (3.9 oz.) of instant chocolate pudding
• 1 cup sour cream
• 4 large eggs
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup oil
• 1½ cups mini chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Mix the first six ingredients together. Then, add chocolate chips and stir until completely incorporated.
2. Pour batter into a greased bundt pan (or 10 mini bundt pans). Cooking spray works the best.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes (15-18 for mini bundt cakes).
4. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 20 minutes (or 10 minutes for minis).
5. Remove from the pan(s) and move to a cooling rack.
6. Once the cake(s) is/are completely cooled, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. You can frost them now or wait until just before you serve them.

Perfect Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 4½ to 5 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoons vanilla
• 5 Tablespoons heavy cream or milk, I prefer heavy cream
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Food coloring of your choice

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl combine butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, cream/milk and salt and beat for 5 to 7 minutes until light and fluffy. If your adding food coloring, do so now.
2. Add more powdered sugar as needed for thicker frosting. Add cream/milk, a little at a time, to thin frosting.

SWEET SRIRACHA CHICKEN BREASTS

A little bit of hot mixed with a little bit of sweet is a perfect combination of love! We had a special night celebrating Riley getting confirmed and this recipe was perfect. I was able to prepare these chicken breasts earlier in the day and then stick them in the over at dinner time. They came out moist and oh my….oh so good!

Sriracha Chicken Breasts

Ingredients

• 2 lbs skinless, bone-in chicken breasts OR boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 4 pieces)
• Salt and pepper

Sauce

• 1/4 cup Sriracha
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tbsp. butter, melted
• 2 tsp. soy sauce
• 1/4 tsp. red chili flakes
• 2 garlic cloves, minced

 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425F. Place chicken in pan and season with salt and pepper.
2. Combine all the sauce ingredients. Pour about half the mixture onto the chicken breasts. Place into oven and bake for 15 minutes.
3. Remove from oven, pour remaining sauce on top, and place back into oven. Lower temperature to 375F and bake for another 10 minutes or until chicken reaches 160F internally (you may need another 5-10 minutes on top of that for bone-in breasts!)

 

My sweet Riley requested a home cooked meal instead of going out to dinner to celebrate his special night. This recipe did not disappoint, everyone loved it. Little do they know it was super quick and easy to make!

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Molly

Brownie Cookies

 

These cookies are the best of both worlds. They are a chewy chocolate cookie made with a brownie mix. A brownie and a cookie in one….HEAVEN!

With so many people in our house and different tastes I decided to make 4 different types of cookies with this one recipe. I can promise you this, these tasty treats will not last long.

Brownie Cookies

1 (19.8 oz) Box Brownie Mix

1/4 Cup all purpose flour

1/4 Cup vegetable oil

3 Tbs. Water

2 Eggs

1 Cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips , White chocolate chips, Peanut Butter Chips, or Heath bar bits

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350
2. Combine brownie mix, flour, oil, water, eggs, and any type of add in you wish and mix together.
3. Drop spoonfuls of dough 2 in. apart on a greased cookie sheet
4. Bake in a preheated oven for 9 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

I added 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/2 c. white chocolate chips to these cookies.

These were the family favorite…. I added 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/2 c. heath bar bits.

 

 

 

I scream for….

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! Ok…not me, but I will scream for some coffee or hot tea 😊.  From a young child I loved drinking hot tea and coffee. I can remember sleeping over at my grandparents’ house and getting up in the morning to have a cup of coffee with them. While growing up in my parents’ house we didn’t have a coffee maker we just had a tea kettle so that is what they drank instead of coffee. We always make our hot tea with milk and sugar. I had no idea that wasn’t the norm until I moved to Texas and people would gasp as they watched me prepare my hot tea.

We have two different hot beverage stations in our house. Most all of us drink some sort of hot beverage whether it be in the morning to wake us up, after school/work to keep us going or in the evening just to keep us warm.  I got this cute galvanized metal tray @ Kirklands http://www.kirklands.com/ . It makes for a cute tea and coffee station. I have our tea bags, ground coffee, and different sugars on it.

I got this beautiful wooden basket as a gift from a sweet friend of mine. She said she got it from the Magnolia Store in Waco. https://shop.magnolia.com/collections/home-new . I have everything you would need for a yummy hot chocolate right there so you can make it any way you would like.

 

GOOEY PEANUT BUTTER S’MORE BROWNIES

On this cloudy Tuesday, I think a little pick me up is in order. These Gooey Peanut Butter S’more Brownies will do the trick, don’t you think?!

GOOEY PEANUT BUTTER S’MORE BROWNIES

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 box  brownie mix for a 9 x 13″ pan
• 1 jar (7-1/2 oz.) marshmallow creme
• 1 cup prepared creamy chocolate frosting
• 1 cup  creamy peanut butter

INSTRUCTIONS:

Prepare, bake and cool brownie mix according to package directions for 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
Evenly drop marshmallow creme onto cooled brownies with spoon.

Microwave frosting in small microwave-safe bowl at HIGH 30 seconds or until melted and smooth. Repeat with peanut butter.

Pour melted frosting, then melted peanut butter over marshmallow creme and swirl with butter knife to marble. Let cool completely. To serve, cut into squares.

I hope these yummy brownies put a little sunshine in your day.
Enjoy,
Molly