Cinnamon roll pancakes

I love pancakes, and I love cinnamon rolls. So why not combine them? Duh. So that is what I did. I had found a recipe for one on Pinterest and was linked to this website. It was very detailed and had great instructions, though I made a few twinks to it when I made this scrumptious breakfast food. 

My family, especially my little brothers, loved these pancakes. They really loved it with the attached cream cheese  glaze/syrup that goes on top of these wonderful pancakes. 

When I made these the first time, I used a pancake mix I had on hand and mixed it up like I normally do. 

Ingredients:

Cinnamon Filling:

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, just melted (not boiling)
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Cream Cheese Filling:

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

2-ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pancakes:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil

Directions:

Prepare the cinnamon filling: In a medium bowl, stir together the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Scoop the filling into a quart-sized heavy zip baggie and set it aside (see *Tips below).

Prepare the glaze: In a small pan, heat the butter over low heat until melted. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cream cheese until it is almost smooth. Sift the powdered sugar into the pan, stir and add in vanilla extract. Set the pan aside while you make the pancakes.

Prepare the pancake batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk in the milk, egg and oil, just until the batter is moistened (a few small lumps are fine).

Cook the pancakes: Heat a large, nonstick skillet over medium-heat and spray with nonstick spray. Use an ice cream scoop (or 1/3 cup measuring cup) to add the batter to the pan. Use the bottom of the scoop or cup to spread the batter into a circle (about 4-inches in diameter). Reduce the heat to medium low. Snip the corner of your baggie of cinnamon filling and squeeze the filling into the open corner. When your pancake begins to form bubbles, add the filling. Starting at the center of the pancake, squeeze the filling on top of the pancake batter in a swirl (just as you see in a regular cinnamon roll). Cook the pancake 2 to 3 minutes, or until the bubbles begin popping on top of the pancake and it's golden brown on the bottom. Slide a thin, wide metal spatula underneath the pancake and gently but quickly flip it over. Cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes, until the other side is golden as well. When you flip the pancake onto a plate, you will see that the cinnamon filling has created a crater-swirl of cinnamon. Wipe out the pan with a paper towel, and repeat with the remaining pancake batter and cinnamon filling. Re-warm the glaze briefly, if needed. Serve pancakes topped with a drizzle of glaze.

Tips:

*Quick and easy tip: Use a boxed pancake mix as the base for this recipe.
*Tips for the cinnamon filling: Before swirling, open up the baggie again and give it a good stir to re-incorporate any butter that may have separated from the sugar. You want the mixture to thicken a bit- it's best when it's similar to the squeezing texture of a tube of toothpaste, which will happen if you leave it at room temperature for several minutes. Don't try to use the filling for the pancake swirl unless it has thickened as it will be too runny to make a solid swirl.

*Keep the heat low or your pancakes might cook up too quickly. Don't flip them until you see those bubbles starting to pop on top. Flip them with a wide spatula so you can grasp the whole thing without batter and filling dripping all over the place!

***I found this directly from this wonderful website called Recipe Girl. She has a wonderful site, check it out. 

Thanks and enjoy!

Peace, love, bake on.

                                           Andrea 

                                

Cream cheese frosting

Who all loves cream cheese? I love cream cheese. Though my dad doesn't like it in desserts such as cheese cake, he does like it in dinner foods, such as dips, like Chicken Buffalo Dip. And he does not like cream cheese frosting, he hates it. But I love it. One of the many differences between my dad and I. 

For Easter this year, I made many desserts including a carrot cake and with carrot cake, you must have cream cheese frosting. So I decided to share my cream cheese frosting with you. It is super easy and yummy! So here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces cream cheese(1/2 cup)
• 4 ounces butter, softened (1/2 cup)
• 2 cups powder sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Directions:

• Using mixer beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Mix in powder sugar until smooth. Add vanilla extract. Beat until smooth. Enjoy!

It's that easy. This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled. I do quite often. If you want it to be thicker add a half cup or more of the powder sugar to make it thicker. 

Thanks and enjoy!

                      Happy Easter! 

                            Andrea 

Blueberry Cobbler

Everyone loves blueberries, right? Well this dessert will sure be hit with anyone who does. It's so good and guess what? Really easy to make as well. (YES!) 

My dad for a while had been wanting me to make blueberry cobbler, and so I found and used my favorite cobbler recipe. 
The great thing about this recipe is that you don't have to use blueberries. You can use any fruit. It's very versatile. This recipe double nicely. Also, I should note that, I use this cobbler recipe as the base for all my cobbler. So, if I make peach cobbler is just sub in peaches for the blueberries. 
I could eat this whole thing by myself. There's not just eat one serving. It's so scrumptious. Words or pictures really can't describe it loveliness. It's even better served warm with a scoop of French vanilla ice cream. Consider yourself warned. 

Blueberry Cobbler

adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients: 

• 6 tbs. butter
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup self-rising flour (or 1 cup flour, 1 1/3 tsp. baking powder, & 1/3 tsp. salt)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 (21 oz.) can blueberry pie filling or other fruit(You don't have to use pie filling)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt butter and pour into a 2 or 2.5 quart casserole or baking pan. Mix sugar, flour, and milk together.
3. Pour mixture into pan over butter, but do NOT mix. Pour blueberry pie filling over mixture, but do NOT mix. 
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. 
5. Serve warm with ice cream, if you desire to do so. 

*When I made this I wanted to get it baked in 45 minutes, so I preheated the oven 375 degrees instead of 350 degrees. At 375 degrees I baked it for 45 minutes. I would still recommend to cook at 350 for 1 hour if you have the time. 

** My 2 and 2.5 quart casserole/ baking dishes were being used or dirty, so I used a 9x13 pan, which was 3 quarts instead of 2 or 2.5 quarts, but it baked nicely and looked good, too.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. Good luck, as always! 

Peace, Love, Bake on.

                                                          Andrea  

Hair Ideas for PROM.

So, I am going with this series posts themed around Prom which is coming up. And while I was looking for hair ideas for some of the girl's hair I will be doing for Prom, I thought that I should help you find and give tip for your hair for Prom. 

On this trek through the internet, I found so many wonderful sites that were full of advice and different unique hairstyles. Some of them were better then others. 

The first site I found was full of so many different articles about different styles and hairstyles for different lengths of hair. It is called Latest- Hairstyles. It had details for each style about how a person could do that hairstyle. And it pretty cool. You should definitely check it out. 

The next site was from About.com. It was very detailed. And it had all the hairstyle prom trends for 2013. With every type of hairstyle there were examples and details about what you would need to do the hairstyle and what type of hair is best for it. 

The other site that I loved was at Seventeen. This article had all the hair trends for Prom in 2013. It explained with each hairstyle how to do the style. Definitely take a look.

I will have a more detailed post to come for hair trends, styles, and tips to come up. Until check out these websites because they are pretty great. 

I also wanted to tell you to also check out Pinterest because they are some really good hair boards on Pinterest. 

Until next time, have fun and good luck!

                                      Andrea 

Copycat Ragu Tomato Sauce

Lately, I have been playing around with marinara sauces. A lot of marinara sauces are a crushed tomato base. These sauces are usually pretty thick but sometimes can be slightly watery or runny but the flavor is amazing. But if you are used the canned sauces from the  store such as Ragu or Prego. Ragu, for example, seems to me to be a tomato sauce or paste based. My family liked the texture and thickness of the Ragu sauces and I couldn't get that with my favorite marinara sauces for some reason. And so now I sometimes make this copycat Ragu sauce with some minor adjustments. 

So after a long internet search, I found this recipe for which I made some minor adjustments. 

The recipe I found was addressed "Copycat Ragu Tomato Sauce"

The Ingredients you will need:

• 29 oz. Tomato sauce 
• 14.5 canned Italian diced tomatoes or can of crushed tomatoes
• 4 oz. sliced mushrooms (optional)
• 5 tsp. granulated sugar
• 1 tbs. olive oil
• 1 tbs. grated Parmesan and Romano cheese each.
• 1 tsp. dried basil 
• 1/2 dried parsley
• 3 garlic cloves chopped finely. (or 1 1/2 tsp. of minced garlic)
• 1/8 tsp. black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 cup onion finely chopped (optional)

Directions:

In a sauce combine all the ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes (simmer on a very low flame otherwise you will scorch your pot. Simmer uncovered  or partially covered to help it reach the desired thickness. When stirring use a wooden spoon rather than an aluminum or metal spoon.). After it is finished cooking, serve as desired. 

* I added ground hamburger to the sauce. Or you can even add meatballs. Get creative. 

 Have fun and get creative. Good luck!

Andrea 

                                         

Cookie Dough Cupcakes

So everyone loves chocolate chip cookies and everyone loves cake, so why not combine to make something everyone will extremely love? You can with this amazing recipe. And why stop with just the cookie dough cupcake, when you can also have an amazing cookie dough frosting to pair with it. 

I was recently looking for some fun cupcake recipes for my sister's birthday and my birthday. And instantly thought of cookie dough cupcakes. I had made them once but I didn't really like the concept of the recipe, so I looked for a new one and I found one that I like. I found this recipe, courtesy of the Tidy Mom. From that recipe though I conjured up my own version of this recipe. 

Okay, so here is how you make them.

For the Cookie dough cake batter you will need:

• 3 sticks of butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups  brown sugar, packed
• 4 large eggs
• 2 2/3 cups  all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp.  baking powder
• 1 tsp.  baking soda 
• 1/4 tsp.  salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips ( semisweet or bittersweet)

For the cookie dough frosting you will need:

• 3 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 3 1/2 cup powdered or confectioners sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 3 tbs. heavy cream
• 2  tsp. vanilla extract

For the cookie dough filling, you will need:

• Refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough from store, rolled into balls.
• Or your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe rolled into balled ( after they are rolled into balls, put them in freezer for 2-3 hours so that it is firm)

Instructions for the cake: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine the sugar and butter, using a mixer cream them together until it's light and fluffy ( about 3 minutes). Add eggs, one at time, beating well after each addition and scraping the the sides after each one as well. 
3. Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a medium sized bowl.
4. Alternating add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl with the milk on low speed, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing each addition just until it is incorporated.
5. Blend in the vanilla extract.
6. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.
7. Divide batter into 24 cupcake liners. 
8. Drop one rolled cookie dough into each cupcake liner filled with the cake batter. Do not push the cookie dough down.
9. Bake in oven for 18-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes clean when inserted into cake portion of cupcake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans, after transfer to wire rack to cool.

Instructions for frosting:

1. Beat butter and brown sugar with a mixer on high speed until creamy and fluffy.
2. Mix in the powdered sugar until smooth. 
3. Beat in the flour and the salt.
4. Mix in the cream and vanilla extract until smooth and combined. 

I used a 1M tip to pipe frosting onto cupcakes. You can further decorate by sprinkling cupcakes with mini chocolate chips and with a small cookie. 

These were the cupcakes I made for my sister's birthday. She took them to school to share with her class. I sprinkled the cupcakes with blue icing sugar and a little decoration that was the theme for her cookie dough cupcakes. These cupcakes were a hit for everyone who ate them and I am sure they will be hit with you too!

As usual good luck and have a great day! And if it's your birthday, I hope it's a good one!

Peace, love, bake on.

 Andrea

Fun Fact about me: I share my birthday with my younger sister and we are 7 years apart. 

Prom dresses on a budget

I don't know about you, but I am on a budget. And Prom isn't any exception. I was looking for amazingly cute dresses for amazingly low prices and so I went on a search on Google.

 I wanted a dress that made a statement without the bank sending me an over statement.  I spent many hours looking at the department store looking at their dresses and well, I wasn't very impressed.  I found that there wasn't much variety. With not much variety, there's a  big chance that someone will end up wearing the same dress as someone else, which is so uncool. Plus, I want to be original, and you can't make much of a statement when someone else is wearing the same dress as you. 

On my search on Google, I found these two amazing websites. They pretty much made my week when I found them. That's how awesome they are. The great thing about these websites is that there is a variety. Which is awesome.  

The first website I found is called Milanoo. This website is filled with dresses of every color, style, shape, and for every occasion. The best thing is that most of the dresses are great to buy if you are a budget. The dresses seem to be reasonably priced. All in all pretty great site. 

The next website I found is my favorite. This website is called JJ's House. This is another website that sells all things fashion like Milanoo. This site also has a great variety. But my favorite part of JJ's House is that basically every dress is available in a variety of colors. (Most of the dresses I looked at were available in like 28 different colors) Another great thing about it is that everything is very user friendly, which is a huge bonus. Basically,  I don't think this website will let you down. 

Here are a few dresses that I found from these 2 websites but these aren't the only styles of dresses that are available from these websites. 

   


                         

Check out these websites, and tell me what you think of them. Another great place to look is a consignment store or half price store. My friend, for example, got her dress at this cute little consignment brand new with a minor tear that was easily sewn to be fixed for a dollar. This dress that she bought was normally sold for $165. Now no guarantee that we will all get that lucky finding an amazing dress for such an amazingly low price but I am sure we will find a good bargain for a beautiful dress if we just take our time to look. I hope you find everything you're looking for so that you may look amazing and have a magical prom. 

                                                                 Andrea