Monkey Pull-Apart Bread...

 

Was anyone else surprised when daylight savings happened? Last Sunday, we woke up in a hurry thinking that we had over slept. The clock on the stove said it was five minutes past 8 and we have to leave for church around 8:40. I had no clue how we were going to get everyone ready and out the door on time. I mean come on ladies! Who can even get themselves ready in under 20 minutes? I try and try, but to no avail. It would just so happen that this Sunday Miss Priss woke up with a bad case of the sniffles, so I decided to take one for the team and stay home with the red headed girl....well really I was more than happy to stay home. I no longer had to challenge myself to get ready at a speedster's rate. As Libby and I settled down on the couch, Hubby quickly hopped in the shower. I decided to check my updates on my phone. Then I saw the time and things started clicking into place. I remembered it was November 2 and that it was time to turn the clocks back an hour. I let Hubby know, so he could take his time in the shower and I started thinking about what I would do with an extra hour in my day.

I know most Mamas would think an extra hour of sleep or maybe an extra chore around the house....or maybe an extra episode of Gilmore Girls (it's on Netflix now ya know?) I however decided to bake something. Anytime I am itching to do something creative, I always fall back on baking. It's just too fun! I had recently been at the grocery store and seen a recipe for monkey bread. I grabbed a few cans of refrigerator biscuits in the hopes of making this yummy treat. I knew today would be a perfect day to create it.

It only required a few simple steps and some ingredients from my pantry. I got this recipe from Pillsbury.com and modified it for what I had on hand. It is definitely a keeper!

Monkey Bread

1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
4 can of refrigerated biscuits (7.5 oz each)*
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup melted butter or margarine

*If you use the jumbo biscuits you will only need two cans

Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 12-cup fluted tube pan with shortening or cooking spray. In a large plastic storage bag, mix granulated sugar and cinnamon. Next, Separate the biscuits and cut each one into quarters. Place in your plastic bag. Shake biscuit pieces in bag to coat. Arrange in greased pan, adding raisins among the biscuit pieces. In a small bowl, mix your brown sugar and butter. Next, pour your butter mixture over the biscuit pieces. Bake 28 to 32 minutes or until golden brown and no longer doughy in center. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn upside down onto a serving plate. We cut ours like a piece of cake and then let the littles pull apart their slice to eat. Super scrumptious! 

What have you gals been baking lately?


XO Danielle

Frozen Banana Pops #ChiquitaCookingLab

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Chiquita Banana. 

All opinions are 100% mine.

Good Morning Lovelies!! I know I am a tad late with a Halloween post, but this was too fun not to share. This past week I made some frozen banana spooky pops. These things are so easy to make and could be changed to fit any holiday. Brown and orange chocolate for Thanksgiving, green and red chocolate for Christmas, yellow and pink for Easter, I am sure you can see that the possibilities are endless. These frozen pops are something little hands can help you make and are a great, healthy alternative to those other ice cream treats. They're fun to make too!

I just entered this one into the Chiquita Cooking Lab Recipe Contest. Have you all heard of that yet? It runs from September 29 – November 24. Chiquita is on a mission to empower you to get healthy and creative with recipes! This mission inspired their #ChiquitaCookingLab, a recipe contest featuring different ingredients combinations and of course, bananas. A new $4,000 winner is picked every week! Winners are also featured in a recipe video, hosted on the Chiquita recipe library displaying their personal recipe creation. Four-second place winners are also selected weekly to receive the Chiquita cooking gift pack. So cool right?

For this fun recipe, you only need a few things. One bunch of bananas, Wilton chocolate melts in fun holiday colors, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and lollipop sticks. Once you have all your ingredients, you are ready to make some fun banana pops!

To start out, peel your bananas and then slice them each in half. I also cut off the ends, so that my bananas would not be as curved. Once your bananas are cut, place them on your sticks and then freeze over night. I placed mine in a baking dish and froze them that way.

Once your bananas are frozen, it is time for the fun part. Chocolate time!! Woot Woot! Wilton chocolate melt quickly and easily in the microwave. I placed one bag of chocolate in a bowl and melted it in the microwave. Use 30 second intervals until your chocolate is melted.

Once your chocolate is melted, it is time to cover your bananas. Don't dip your bananas directly into the chocolate. The bananas will start to thaw and then cause your chocolate to seize. Use a spoon and cover your banana with chocolate that way. Place the bananas on your baking tray and freeze until hardened.

Next you get to add your silly faces. My kids loved this part! Melt your semi-sweet chocolate chip in a bowl and then transfer to a bottle, with a small tip. This makes decorating with faces so much easier. You can find these bottles for under $3 at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store. Add your favorite faces and put back in the freezer.

Now you can enjoy your pops. These things are super yummy and simple to make. Perfect for anytime of the year! Now if you are not one for covering bananas in chcooclate, I have another idea for you all. Are you ready for it?
Drum roll please....da....da....da....da
Pumpkin Pie Dip!

Oh my gosh this stuff is good people! It is another simple recipe that goes great with frozen bananas, apple slices, cookies, and graham crackers. Yum! You definitely need to try this one out!

Pumpkin Pie Dip

8 ounces cream cheese

8 oz canned pumpkin

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

In a medium bowl beat the cream cheese and pumpkin untill smooth. Beat in the brown sugar, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice. Cover and refrigerate until serving time.

*You can even top with some pecans for an added crunch!

I hope you all had an amazing Halloween! Make sure to go over to #ChiquitaCookingLab to Enter your recipe here!

XO Danielle

Frugal Fall Recipes

Hello to everyone and all of Danielle's lovelies,

Thank you, Danielle for having me as a guest on your blog. My name is Becca and my blog is knife girl icebox. This blog is my diary of my cooking, recipes, food adventures, and more. The people who are always on adventures with are my family. My husband Shelby and my two daughters, Annabell who is 7 and Amelia who will soon be 2.

When I came home from cooking full time to be a stay at home mom I didn't want to loose touch with my passion for cooking. So I became the girl between the knife and the icebox. Cooking healthy, affordable meals for my loved ones, just me, my knife, and my kitchen.

So now that you know a little about me, let's begin. I have put together a few recipes to share with you all, creating delicious fall meal plan for your next play date or couples night. All which can be accomplished for under 10 bucks. You read it correctly, 10 clamshells! All this recipes are great recipes on their own as well as pair together as you will see.

Carrot and Brown Sugar Soup
 20 carrots
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 onion
1/2 head of celery
1Tablespoon of garlic
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3 quarts of water
1 cup brown sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, brown The onions, celery, and garlic with oil. Next add brown sugar and mix into the rest of the ingredients. Add apple cider vinegar and deglaze the pan. Make sure to get all the brown is off the bottom of the pan. After that, Add 3 quarts of water. Bring to boil and place a lid on the pot. Continue boil for 30 minutes. Test carrots to make sure they are tender by pulling one out and cutting it in half. If it breaks easily continue on to the next step. If not continue to boil for another 10 minutes. After turning off the heat, use an emersion blender to blend up the soup until smooth.* Once the soups texture is smooth to your liking, season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve in pumpkin pretzel bowls. *if you don't have an emersion blender you and ladle into a stand mixer. It will give the same result.

Pretzel Pumpkins
1/2 cup of hot water
1 packet of active yeast
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
 6 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 teaspoon of salt
4 1/2 cups of flour
2 tablespoons of oil
 quarts of water
3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
Salt to sprinkle on top of pretzels

In a stand mixer with a dough hook, combine water, sugar,salt, and yeast. Let that mixture stand for ten minutes. Start mixer and add butter and oil. Next add the flour. Once the dough becomes one and no longer is sticking to the bowl, allow the dough to mix for another five minutes. During this time start a pot of water with baking soda and bring to a boil Prepare parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Divide the dough into six equal portions and make into balls. Save a small portion to make the stem on all six pumpkins.One dough ball at a time drop into the boiling water. Dunk the dough balls for about 20 seconds or unlit floating. Place on a sheet pan, using a pair of kitchen shears cut slits around the dough ball to make the cresses of the pumpkin and bake for 14-16 minutes at 400 degrees, or until deep brown in color.

Apple Cider 1 container of frozen apple juice 1 orange 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

In a medium sauce pan, pour apple juice on a low-medium heat. Add a slice orange and cinnamon. Allow the cider to warm on the stove for 1 to 3 hours. The longer you allow the cider to cook the stronger it will taste and your house will also smell like apple pie.

I used this meal plan for our house's weekly play date. It was fun to watch the kids get excited over the small pretzel pumpkins. Bringing up the sub total for the meal to the other parent I made it even more appealing for her. Whether you are making this for a group or a family dinner, it is sure to please for any size of budget.

The total for the soup was $4.01 The total for the pretzels and cider was $1.30and $1.90. For the grand total of $7.21!!! Many helpful resources were the items I buy in bulk every few months. For example, my flour,salt, brown sugar, carrots and yeast. The other items were simply added to the grocery list.

I truly hope you all enjoyed the recipes from this post. It was amazing to share recipes from my home to yours. Danielle at Blissful and Domestic, thank you for lending me your friends and fans for the day. This was such an amazing opportunity.

 

Thanks for hanging out with me,

- Becca

-----------------------------

 

Thank you so much Becca for sharing such yummy Fall recipes.

Don't forget to check out Becca on her blog.

XO Danielle

Homemade Dulce de Leche

 

 Dulce de Leche is an easy Latin treat, which is so yummy when you dip apples into it. You can use it as a topping for dessert, on your favorite cookies, or even as a cupcake filling (oh that sounds like a dangerous idea). Either way you have it, it is super easy to make and so dang delicious. Oh and it only requires one ingredient :)

Lets get to it....

What you need:

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1. Preheat oven to 425'. Pour sweetened condensed milk into a shallow baking dish (like a pie pan). Cover very tightly with foil, making sure all sides are covered and sealed.

2. Place baking dish in a larger pan, such as a roasting pan. Fill larger pan with hot water until water level reaches about halfway up the pie plate. Bake about 60 minutes and then check. Color should be rich caramel brown. Continue baking if necessary, checking every 15 minutes. It may take up to 90 minutes or more to reach the proper level of doneness (mine took just 70 minutes). When a medium caramel color has been reached, remove from oven and let cool. Whisk until smooth. Store in fridge.

This would make a sweet treat to give neighbors this holiday season. Put in a mason jar and print off a cute label and you would have a simple, homemade gift to share with family and friends.


Print recipe HERE

XO Danielle

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Wicked Witch Cup Cakes

 

On one of my Joann runs this month, I found some adorable cupcake accessories for Halloween.  I love those simple Wilton decorating kits at Joann's. It makes me seem so much more fancier in the kitchen. I used chocolate cake mix I had in food storage, made some buttercream frosting, and then added my witch goodies. It seriously took very little effort, but the overall effect was so awesome! The kids loved these and Miss Priss approved of these cupcakes. She said silly witch feet were not scary. Praise everything! I was actually apple to make a Halloween treat!

I hope you are all having fun with your kids this season. What have you all been up to lately?


XO Danielle

Don't forget to take advantage of Joann's 50% off coupon

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Homemade Caramel, Whip Cream, and Apples

 

I made this for dessert a few weeks back, when my motherinlaw came over for dinner. It was SO.STINKIN.GOOD. I can't wait for you all to try it. This is a perfect winter snack, when you snuggle up on the couch with your littles or your hubby. Either way you will enjoy some cozy sweetness.

Whip Cream

2 Cups whipping cream
1/4 cup granulated sugar

This can be done with a stand mixer or a hand held mixer.

I do mine in my kitchen aide. I place both ingredients in the bowl and start my mixer on level 1. Start off slow with your setting, so you don't get cream everywhere. Work up to the high setting. As it thickens, I up my speed level. Once you see thick peaks forming, your cream is finished. Your cream should be light and fluffy.

Caramel Sauce

1/2 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed soup
1 tsp vanilla

Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add your brown sugar and corn syrup. Mix well. Add sweetened condensed milk simmer 10 to 15 minutes, stirring frequently until sugar is dissolved completely. Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Both of these recipes are great with apples, ice cream, apple crisp, and waffles. The possibilities are endless. What are you going to serve your caramel sauce/whip cream with?

Print Recipe HERE

XO Danielle

Baked Cinnamon Apples

I am super excited for fall. The changing leaves, the yummy smells, the need for cuddling to escape the cold...I just love it all! Today I am going to share with you one of my favorite fall baking recipes. It is for some truly scrumptious Cinnamon Baked Apples. Want to know the best part? They can be made in the microwave! Oh and the littles can help as well:) It is absolutely perfect for a cold, fall day. Pair it with some hot cocoa, a cuddle with your favorite man or munchkins, and you have a truly blissful morning.

These are so easy peasy, which is exactly how I like my recipes. Core three apples and place in a microwave safe dish. I used individual ramekins. Pour 1 tablespoon of butter or margarine on each apple. Then add 2 tablespoons of brown sugar to each apple. Try to get all your sugar onto the top and in the core area. Next add a teaspoon of cinnamon to each apple. Place in your microwave for 6-8 minutes. You want your apples nice and soft. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then enjoy!

Print Recipe HERE

Have a fabulous Saturday Lovelies!

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