Slow Cooker Chocolate Chip-Brownie Cake

I saw this recipe on Pinterest and I had to make it! Since we're having FHE tonight and are busy until then, I thought this would be a great idea, since it's cooked in the slow cooker. Luckily for me, I have two separate crockpots. I have dinner going in one, and I'm going to make this in the other one. :) This looks dangerously delicious! So bad and NOT healthy, but I've been so busy and I need a pick-me-up! every once in a while isn't bad... right!? Well, I'm using the recipe exactly as written. I'm not as comfortable adjusting baked goods in the slow cooker as I am other recipes.

Doesn't that look decadent? It does to me :)

Ingredients:
1 box fudge brownie mix
1/2 cup melted butter
4 eggs
1 chocolate chip cookie mix pouch
Vanilla ice cream or whipped topping if desired
*Hot fudge topping if desired

Directions:

Spray 4 1/2 qt. slow cooker with baking spray with flour. In a large bowl mix brownie mix, 1/4 cup melted butter and 2 eggs. In another bowl, mix chocolate chip cookie mix with 1/4 cup melted butter, and 2 eggs.

Drop by large spoonfuls alternating brownie and chocolate chip cookie batters into slow cooker.

Cover, Cook on high heat setting for 2-3 hours or until cake is set in the center. To serve, spoon cake from slow cooker, and top with ice cream and fudge sauce.

I can't wait to try this! :)

Bourbon Sesame Chicken Crock Pot

Picture taken from Pinterest

Tonights dinner I found on tablefortwoblog.com but it called for honey and red pepper flakes. I didn't have either.  I also didn't want to cut an onion. I also changed the oil to sesame oil instead of regular veg oil. This should give it a nice nutty flavor. I have adjusted the recipe with my changes. I also doubled the recipe to feed my crew of growing boys. So these measurements can be cut in half to feed less people, or have smaller portions. With less chicken, you will also need to cut the cooking time in half. This dish smells delicious. Tonight I will take a picture and add it, since it's cooking right now. I also changed the name of this dish since I don't have any honey in it.  I'll write the verdict at the end of the recipe after dinner tonight. I hope you like this. I am looking forward to dinner tonight :)

Bourbon Sesame Chicken

Serves: 5-8 depending on appetite

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

salt and pepper

1 1/2 cup corn syrup

1 cup white sugar

1 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup ketchup

4 Tbsp sesame oil

2 Tbsp minced garlic

1/2 cup dry minced onion or 1 cup minced fresh onion

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper powder

Cornstarch

toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

Place chicken breasts in slow cooker, sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides. In a medium bowl, combine rest of the ingredients except the cornstarch and toasted sesame seeds. Stir to combine well. Pour over the chicken in the crockpot.

Cook on low for high for 4-6 hours.

When done remove chicken from slow cooker, slice/cut up. while chicken is out of slow cooker, add cornstarch mixed with cold water to crockpot to thicken sauce a bit. Add cut up chicken back into the slow cooker stir around to coat chicken with sauce. Serve hot/warm over rice, or eat in a lettuce/cabbage wrap. 

Sprinkle sesame seeds on top of dished up chicken.

Pancake Muffins

This morning, I decided to make some Pancake Muffins. There is no picture because they were eaten by the boys before I could get a picture. I will make more since they are such a hit with my kids. I hope to be able to update this post with a picture when I make more of these.

Since school started at my house, for my kids. I've been wanting them to have a healthy breakfast before they leave for school. I have seen on Pinterest different posts about Pancake Muffins. I decided to try my hand with it. They are baked in the oven and are SUPER easy to make. My one regret is that I don't have more muffin tins. I can only make 12 at a time. With three boys, sometimes that just isn't enough muffins. My children LOVED these. I hope you like them too. Let me know what you think.

Ingredients:

2 cups Krusteez Pancake Mix
2 scoops protein drink powder (I used vanilla)
4-5 Tbsp agave nector
2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
3 dashes pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp vanilla
and enough water to make slightly thinner than normal pancake batter
Chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven 350F.

Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl, except the chocolate chips. Place in Non-Stick sprayed muffin tins. Sprinkle with chocolate chips (these will sink to the bottom). Bake for 15 min. Remove from muffin tins and enjoy!

My kids ate these all UP. My middle child was begging for more. These are a nice alternative to typical pancakes with syrup. No syrupy mess and the kids can eat it on the run. They also bake while your helping to get the kids ready for school. I don't have to stand over the griddle making pancakes. I just mix it up, pour in muffin tins and move on to the next thing. You can add fruit or really anything to this. I hope you find these as easy as I do. I'm going to try to make up a bunch and freeze them. So they can just grab, heat in microwave and go to school.

This recipe made 12 plus enough batter left for at least 2 more.

BESTEST CrockPot Mac N Cheese

This morning I asked my kids what they wanted for dinner tonight. Last nights dinner was very tasty but the kids didn't want it for dinner and so then dinner became a fight. I am trying to limit the amount of contention in my home. Fighting with my kids to eat the delicious dinner I made them, because they didn't want to eat it, is not something I want to do every night. I figured that I needed to make something that they actually wanted to eat tonight to save myself some sanity and peace in my home, at least one night this week. I can hope right :). Well, They asked for homemade mac n cheese. I totally could have used the "blue" box, I have several. However, my kids said they wanted HOMEMADE, mac n cheese. I said I could make baked mac n cheese, and they didn't want any part of that either. So homemade cheesy goodness was to be made on the stove and be ready for them for dinner. I decided I didn't want to turn on my stove to make a white sauce into a cheese sauce and then make the noodles and wait for them to just eat it. Too many dirty dishes, and headache for me. The only cooking on the stove for this is to pre-cook the pasta a little, but I think it would be just fine to skip that step in the future. I will test and let you know a different day.

This is recipe is a culmination of looking online and through my recipe apps for a crockpot mac n cheese. I didn't find any that are made this way, but OMGoodness... this is so delicious!  I am so glad that I adjusted this with what I had at home and what I thought would be good.

Ingredients:
12 oz. velveeta, cubed
1 1/2 cup shredded cheese blend
1 cup parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cup half n half
1 can evaporated milk
2 tbsp dijon mustard
1 lb medium shell pasta
1/4 c butter, cubed
1/2 med/large onion diced
1/4 tsp garlic salt
5-8 dashes tabasco
salt and pepper to taste (may need to just add pepper)

Directions:

Pre-boil pasta 5-6 minutes in salted, rapid boiling water to al dente. Drain and set aside (do not rinse). Spray slow cooker with "Pam" or other non stick spray. Add drained pasta. In a medium bowl mix together the rest of the ingredients, pour over the pasta and stir to incorporate throughout the pasta. Set cooker on low and stirring periodically for 2 hours, so the cheese melts thoroughly and does not get crusty on the sides and bottom. After cheese is melted throughout the dish is done. Pasta is cooked perfectly. Eat right away, or set on warm and eat later.

This dish is one of my favorites I've made so far! It's that GOOD! This makes a bunch, but as much as my family LOVES Mac N Cheese, I doubt there will be any left over for lunch tomorrow. I was thinking of serving some chicken tenders with this, but the Mac N Cheese maybe all we eat tonight.

Please let me know what you think of this I am curious to see how you like this recipe. Thanks for stopping by :)

Crockpot Freezer Meal - Teriyaki Pork and Cream Cheese Peas

Tonights dinner was one of my Freezer Crockpot meals that I made a week or so ago, to help me with evening dinners since we are doing Football in the evenings and it's new for our family. These easy dinners have really helped me with juggling these busy evenings.

This recipe was originally for pork chops, but I only had pork roasts, instead of cutting them up into chops, I figured cooking the whole roast would be tasty. It really was! My husband raved that I needed to keep this recipe and make it again. Soon! So, because it tasted so yummy I'm posting it on my blog and sharing with you. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

ingredients:
2-3 pound pork roast or 6-8 pork chops
salt and pepper to taste (I recommend sprinkling them before you freeze them)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
4 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce or amino acid
2/3 cup chicken or veggie broth

Add the garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce and broth in a large gallon size ziploc freezer bag. Mix well, then add the pre-seasoned pork roast or chops. make sure you coat all of the roast or chops in the marinade. Place in the freezer. Pull out the morning you want this for dinner, run warm water over the outside of the freezer bag to loosen up the items in the bag. Place in a crockpot on low 6-8 hours. I removed mine about 10-20 minutes before the end of the cooking time, and let set for about 5 min. This will allow the pork to stay moist.

I served this with cream cheese peas and instant mashed potatoes.

The cream cheese peas is super easy and I made that in the microwave. it's half a cream cheese package, salt and pepper to taste, and 1 pound sweet peas. Microwave 5 min on high, stir, microwave on high another 5 min. Serve warm.

Applesauce Banana Oatmeal Cookies

These last couple of weeks I've been trying to see how little I can go to the grocery store by using my food storage to make meals for my family. So far I've only had to buy milk, eggs, and bread. I do have powdered milk, powdered eggs and flour. However, those items are quite expensive to replace in powder form. I want to make sure I keep those for a true emergency. Therefore, I am willing to purchase only those items from the store. I have been using frozen and canned vegetables instead of fresh, just for this experiment since I currently don't have a garden. I have several banana's that were getting quite browned in places and I needed to use a few of them up. Instead of the typical banana bread I wanted to make something that was a "treat" for my kids. They won't eat banana bread. I found a recipe on yummly.com for banana oatmeal cookies. I had most of the items and I decided it sounded delicious to make. However, I got a phone call part of the way through making the cookies... never a good idea. However, I made a mistake in making the cookies, and they still turned out delicious. Here is my altered recipe from the one I found on Yummly.com. I am posting the doubled recipe since I doubled the original recipe. this recipe makes 4 doz cookies.

Total time 20 min
Bake 10 min
Prep 10 min

Applesauce Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter shortening
1/2 cup applesauce (homemade)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup coconut sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup white unbleached flour
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
4 ripe (browning) bananas
4 cups oatmeal (old fashioned)
4 Tbsp flax seed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cream sugar, shortening and applesauce until fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time incorporating each egg before adding the next. Add dry ingredients alternating between flours and other dry ingredients. Add oatmeal, bananas, and flax seed. Drop by teaspoonful on greased baking sheets. Bake 10 min each.

These cookies are delicious! My kids LOVE them! I was worried that the baking powder would change the flavor and consistency of the cookies but it didn't bother them at all. They are fluffy almost cake like cookies. Nice and soft! I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Banana Oatmeal Wheat Muffins

I was craving banana muffins today and I had several bananas that were perfect for banana muffins. So I looked on Pinterest here and found a recipe for Banana Oatmeal muffins. I had all the ingredients except for chocolate chips. I know a travesty but none the less, no chocolate chips. :( I thought I could make it a little healthier if I wanted so I made a few changes to the original recipe. Here is what I did. I have the muffins in the oven right now. I tripled the recipe and made 18 muffins and 2 loafs of banana oatmeal wheat bread.

Banana Oatmeal Wheat Muffins

• 9 mashed bananas (the more ripe the better!)
• 1 cup vanilla Almond milk (you could use skim but you may want to add a little sweetener)
• 6 eggs
• 3 tbsp Baking powder
• 8 cups (240g) Old Fashion or Rolled Oats
• 1 cup wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 9 tbsp (42g) mini chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Mix all ingredients except the chocolate chips together, and let sit while you prepare the muffin pans.

Spray a muffin pan and/or liners with with non-stick spray.

Stir the chocolate chips into the oatmeal batter.

Divide batter into 15 muffin cups. They should be just about filled.

Bake 20-30 minutes, you’ll see the edges just starting to brown and they will be firm to the touch.

The muffins may stick when hot but are removed easily when cooled for a bit.

*For bread bake for 60 minutes.

They look and smell delicious. I hope you give them a try :)