Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie Muffins

I have seen the Oreo Stuffed Cookies on Pinterest, but heard about this muffin on Facebook and thought I would give it a try.  They were delicious!

 

First we found our favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe that is found in the My Family Meal Planner #2 and made a batch of dough.  (The dough I think is even better than the cookies!)  This can easily be done with store bought Chocolate Chip Cookie dough. 

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup butter, softened

½ tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup Crisco shortening

3 ½ cups flour

1-2 cups chocolate chips

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Mix everything together except the flour and chocolate chips.  When mixed thoroughly, blend in flour and then fold in the desired amount of chocolate chips.  Bake for 10 minutes if you are just making chocolate chip cookies, not Oreo stuffed.

 

After the dough was made, we lined our muffin tin with liners and sprayed the liners with cooking spray.  I then used my handy Pampered Chef scoops.

 

I used the small one and put a scoop of cookie dough in the liner.

 

I added an Oreo on top of that and pushed is down a little.

 



 

Then I topped the Oreo with another scoop of cookie dough using my medium sized Pampered Chef scoop.

 

 

I decided to push the cookie dough down with my hand so that the Oreo would for sure be covered with the Chocolate Chip Cookie.

 

 

I then baked them at 375 for 10-15 minutes, making sure the chocolate chip cookie was golden.

 

 

The inside of the Oreo was warm and gooey.  They were awesome!  We even dunked them in milk!  (Yes, I still have Halloween Oreos.  I got them the day after Halloween for 50% off and store them in my freezer.  I had to stock up at that price!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1st Place Valentine's Box!

My daughter's 4th grade class had a contest for the best Valentine's Box and my daughter won 1st Place!  We decided that we would make hers look like a Redbox DVD Rental machine.  I realize I am posting this after Valentine's Day, but she did not want me to share her idea with anyone before the contest.

 

 

Sorry, I don't have a tutorial for you, but here is an up close picture of the box.

(Her name is Andi, so that is why we called it Andi Box.)

 

 

 

 

Spinach Smoothie

My family and I decided to do a fitness/health challenge this year that we started back in January.  We are following the Six Sisters Stuff Weight Loss/Get Healthy Challenge.  You can find it HERE.  You receive points for eating fruits and vegetables, exercising, no sweets, not eating after 9 pm and so on.  It has been great for our family and extremely hard!  I realized just how much junk food I was eating throughout the day.  I decided to try and knock out a fruit and vegetable right away in the morning and try a spinach smoothie.  Much to my surprise, it was GREAT!  What is even more amazing is that ALL of my KIDS will drink it too!  It tastes like a strawberry banana smoothie.  You can't even taste the spinach. 

 

Spinach Smoothie

1 banana

4-5 frozen strawberries

1 cup vanilla yogurt or 1 (6 oz) container (you can use plain, strawberry or greek yogurt too)

1 cup milk

1 handful of fresh baby spinach

2 cups ice chips

 

 

 

Put your banana, strawberries, yogurt and milk in the blender and mix until smooth and creamy.

 

Next add a handful of spinach. Stir it up if necessary so that all the leaves get chopped really well.  Mix with your blender until the mixture is smooth.

 

Add in your two cups of ice chips.  (You can use ice cubes, I just find it chops better if they are already ice chips.)  Mix it with your blender until it is smooth.

 

 

Here is the finished product.

 

 

Like I said, my KIDS LOVE IT!  We have had them every day for the past 4 weeks.  We have also added in blueberries some days and don't tell my kids, but now I am adding in milled flax seed for more fiber.  If you have a really great blender, you may be able to just throw it all in at once and mix it one time.  I just want to make sure it is smooth so I do it in steps.  Also, if you are afraid your kids won't drink it because it is green, add lots of blueberries or introduce it around St. Patricks Day!

 

 

 

 



 

 



Cupcakes or Pie???

 

Cupcakes or Pie???

 

 

M&Ms are such a versatile candy....they can even represent fruit!

We sorted a large bag of M&Ms into colors.

 

 

Next we tinted 1 cup of basic buttercream frosting with 1 tsp. of cocoa to take on a light brown color, and frosted the cupcakes. 

Then we chose our "fruit", aka M&M color and covered the frosted cupcake. 

 

 

Next we filled a ziploc bag with the cocoa tinted frosting, and snipped the corner to create a pasty bag.  Then we created a grid or lattice across the "fruit"........

These three 8 year olds made some amazing, and delicious, fruit pie cupcakes! 

 What will they think of next!

 

 

Indoor S'mores Making Kit

I am so excited to share with you what we will be giving our cousins for Valentine's Day this year!  We have made them each an Indoor S'mores Making Kit!  I came up with my idea after I saw this pin on Pinterest.  This would be a great gift to give to your own kids too.

 

 

I found all my items at Walmart and the kit costs around $7 to make.  I included a box of graham crackers, heart shaped marshmallows, Hershey kisses, skewers to put the marshmallows on and our "campfire", a jelled chafing fuel. 

 

 

This is what my can looks like.  I had to go on a hunt for them at Walmart.  Every department sent me to another department, but they were finally found in the party aisle by all the balloons and party favors.  They came 2 to a package and were $3.88 for the package.  Best part is is that you can reuse it.  When you are done making your s'mores just close the lid, let it cool and then it is ready for next time.  We had to test this out before we mailed our kits to make sure it worked and my kids loved it! 

 

I have a feeling we will be making these A LOT this winter!  Even my littlest enjoyed them!

 

 

I also have the printable that I put inside the box for you here.

 

 

Warning:  Use ONLY with Adult Supervision!

Do NOT leave flame unattended and place your "campfire" on a non flammable object!

(I am not responsible for any injuries!)

 

Need some meal planning help??  My Family Meal Planner is here to save you from the dreaded question: "What's for Dinner?"  4 meals planned per week for an entire year, all the recipes are included and the weekly grocery lists!  You also receive a grocery list notepad with your lists already printed for you.  Just cross off what you already have and head to the store.  It is so simple!  All meals are quick and easy with ingredients you have heard of and you will know where to find them in the store.  There is also one crock pot meal each week.  Many options are available, family, light, crock pot only, for 2, meat optional, kids, lunchbox, and on the grill.  Click on the books above or head to the website: www.myfamilymealplanner.com.

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

5 Ingredient German Chocolate Cake Brownies

I came up with this recipe a couple of weeks ago and I am resisting the urge to make it again. I practically ate the whole pan the last time! This recipe is so gooey and delicious!

 

5 ingredient German Chocolate Cake Brownies

 

1 box German Chocolate Cake (do NOT make as directed)

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 (15 oz) can Pillsbury Creamy Supreme® Coconut Pecan Frosting

1 cup chocolate chips

 

Mix the cake mix (powder only), eggs and vegetable oil.  Spread 3/4 of the batter on the bottom of a 9x13 inch greased pan.  I found it easiest to spread it out with my hand.  Spread frosting on top of the cake batter.  Drop remaining cake batter on top of frosting and sprinkle with chocolate chips.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes.

 

 

Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream.

 

 

Christmas Tree Pancakes

Every year on Christmas morning after we open our presents, I make my kids special pancakes.  Here is my post on the pancakes I made in 2010 for them.  I thought I would share with you today what I made for them last year.  I made them Christmas Tree Pancakes.  They were so surprised. 

 

Here is how I did it.  I made up a batch of pancake mix just as I normally would and took about a 1/2 cup of the mixture and added some yellow food coloring.  I added that to a mustard bottle I had picked up at the dollar store a few days before.  Then I added green food coloring to the rest of the pancake mix and poured that into the ketchup bottle.  I cut the tops off of the ketchup and mustard bottles to make the hole a little larger so that it was easier for the batter to come out.  I then made my trees.

 

 

After the trees were done, I used my yellow pancake batter and made stars for the trees.

 

Then I assembled my trees on their plates and "decorated" them with Reddi Whip, strawberry ice cream topping and sprinkles.  I used the chocolate Reddi Whip for the base of the tree.

 

 

 

What should I make this year??  Any suggestions?