Liebster Blog Award

I am so happy to say that I received the Liebster Award from Sara from DIY Goddess In Training. I am so honored! Please check out her blog and while your at it check out the five blogs I awarded the Liebster Award to they are all amazing bloggers.

This award spotlights up and coming bloggers who generally have less than 200 followers.

Thank you so much Sara from DIY Goddess In Training for passing on this award to me! Please take the time to check out her blog. 

Upon receipt of the Liebster Award, there are a few very simple rules:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

2. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

3. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

4. Hope that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers

Now it's my turn to pass this award on and spotlight 5 great up and coming blogs! Please do feel free to check them out!

1.Addicted To Free And Cheap 

2. Beyond The Basic Fig Leaf

3. Fighting To Be Frugal

4. Adore Style.

5. Cravings Of A Lunatic

Thanks Sara! Remember to go check her out at DIY Goddess In Training

Laura's chocolate chip cookie dough brownie cake

I have been seeing pictures around the internet of something I knew that we just had to try right away: chocolate chip cookie dough brownies.
My son Logan always wants to eat raw cookie dough. Every time he see's me whipping something up, the question always is: "Does that have raw eggs in it?" I am a freak when it comes to raw things. I refuse to eat sushi unless its California veggie rolls, I only eat steak that's well cooked, and I DON'T eat raw cookie dough!  So unfortunately for Logan, I would always say yes it does, and not let him have even the tiniest taste. Poor Logan.
So, when I saw this recipe, I was so relieved to see that the cookie dough is egg free! HOORAY! We can finally have our cake and eat it too. Literally!
So I finally set to make some for ourselves.  I had to adjust the recipe to fit our ingredients, and the pans that we have on hand, so I decided to add my own touches, scale down her recipe, and make it into a cake instead of a brownie bar. Here is what I came up with:

Laura's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownie Cake

 

Ingredients:

Brownie layer
2/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Cookie Dough Layer:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup semisweet chips
1/4 teaspoon canola oil

Directions:

1. Brownie Layer: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch pie plate. In a medium glass bowl, melt chocolate in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly. In a large mixing bowl, mix butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract. Mix in melted chocolate. Blend in flour and mix just until combined (don't over-mix). Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake 25 to 35 minutes. Remove from oven when toothpick or knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely.
2. Cookie dough layer: In a medium bowl, use an electric mixer to combine butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Mix in milk and vanilla. Mix in flour, by hand just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Spread cookie dough over the cooled brownies. Then melt remaining chocolate chips with the oil in a small bowl, stirring every 30 seconds, until smooth. Spoon into a plastic baggie and snip of the tip,  then squeeze onto the brownie in whatever pattern you wish. Refrigerate until the dough is pretty firm. I always just use the freezer, just to speed things up. When dough is firm, cut into 8 wedges using a sharp knife. Wipe the knife off with a paper towel in between cuts since the fudgy layers of brownie and cookie dough will stick to the knife.

And there you have it! Perfect for all raw cookie dough and brownie lovers alike!

-Laura

Featured: How to make monster cutlery holders on DIY Goddess in Training

 Today I was featured on a great blog called DYI Goddess in training, from a great gal named Sara. I love the name of her blog because that's what I strive to be too! One new recipe or craft project at a time. Which is what I did for the guest post. Crafts! I live for making things. Sara asked me to do a fall themed craft. I was in the middle of making some monster decorated cutlery holders for Logan's party, so I decided to do that. So, please stop by her blog HERE and learn how to make this cute guy for your upcoming Halloween/monster party.

                                        
                                            -Laura

Too pretty to eat: dress cake

I was wandering through Pinterest today, when I found this lovely cake:

          

Source: thedisneyprincess.tumblr.com via Audrey on Pinterest

I LOVE this cake. It's like a grown up version of a Barbie cake. It combines my two favorite things: fashion, and cake, I mean food. Who am I kidding? Cake is my favorite food. I would love this for my birthday!

Laura's peanut butter balls

My husband, Josh has been craving some peanut butter balls lately. His Mom and his sister make them sometimes. They are a delicious no bake "cookie". They are kind of more like a crunchy truffle if you will. Definitely not cookie like, but I have no idea what else to call it. They are crunchy peanut butter centers dipped in chocolate. Perfect for the peanut butter lover like me. Josh sent me a recipe, and I came up with my own variation.

Here's my recipe:

1.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or tin foil. 
2. Measure out 2 cups unfrosted corn flakes, and crush into smaller pieces. I used a pastry cutter for this, which worked great.
   
3. Combine crumbled corn flakes with 2/3 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 stick of softened unsalted butter, and 2/3 cups of either smooth or chunky peanut butter (I used natural peanut butter and it worked fine) using either a wooden spoon or your hands. I had to kneed it at the last bit with my hands.
   
4. Shape peanut butter mix into approximately 1-inch balls and place them on prepared cookie sheet.
5. Melt about a cup and half chocolate chips in the microwave until completely melted, Stiring every 30 seconds. 
6. Using a spoon, gently roll one  cookie at a time in the melted chocolate, until coated.
   
7. Place it back on parchment-lined sheet. Repeat with the remaining cookies, adding more chopped peanuts as needed (about 1 cup in total for this recipe)
8. Put them in the freezer for about an hour or so. I think they taste better that way.  Store in airtight container. 

Spinach and Red Lenil Soup

I love making soup. Soup has to be one of the easiest meals to prepare.  Delicious and filling, and oh  so easy to make. One of my standby recipes is this spinach and lentil soup that I found on allrecipes.com Mine is a variation made with red lentils. It cooks much faster than other varieties, so dinner will be in your belly  much quicker. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 6 cups water
• 1 (16 ounce) jar salsa
• 1 1/4 cups dried red lentils, rinsed
• 1/2 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

Directions 

In a large saucepan, saute carrots and onion in oil until tender. Add the water, salsa, lentils. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for about 20-25 minutes or until lentils are tender. Stir in spinach; simmer 5-10 minutes until spinach is no longer frozen and soup is hot.