Waffled Cinnamon Rolls

This morning I woke up feeling experimental!  So my mom was here to help distract my 8 month old and feed her so I cook actually cook something for breakfast.  This past week I've gotten two packs of cinnamon rolls because they were free with the purchase of some milk at HEB so I wanted to do something different with them and I haven't made waffles in a while so viola! Cinnamon Roll Waffles it is.

The ingredients, simply uncooked cinnamon rolls right out of the tin, some spray butter aka Pam, and a waffle iron.  Simply open the rolls can, pull one out and place it on the waffle iron, close the iron, and...

 Lookie there! A waffle.  I cooked mine on level 2-3 on my iron and each waffle was in the iron for around 3-5 minutes.  I was sure to spray the iron before putting the next roll in the iron so it wouldn't get stuck.

Above is a waffle with nothing added.

 But of course I had to put just a little bit of butter and drizzle a bit of the cinnamon roll glaze that came in the package to add a yummy sweetness to the waffly crunch!

Cookies and Creme Cupcakes

I was looking for a little something different to bake for our college football dessert and landed on a pin of some cookie and creme cupcakes.  As usual used the recipe as a basic guide but did a few things different. Here's the original pin from Stockpiling Moms

  

 My sweet boy was all about helping me bake.  He knows the end product is usually a yummy treat and sometimes there's some snacking that goes along with the cooking!  He was happily posed with the cupcake ingredients.

First, added 2 1/3 cups flour, 1tsp baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt to a bowl and mix it together.  My helper happily obliged to stir it up after he put the cupcake liners in their spots.

 While he mixed it up I turned the oven to 350 degrees.  I added the 8 tbsp unsalted butter(usually a stick is 8 tbsp) and 1 2/3 cup sugar in my mixer on medium til the blend was almost smooth and creamy.  

 I assigned my eager helper to the task of "smashing" oreos!  I put 8-10 oreos in a plastic baggy, zipped it shut, put it between folds of a cup towel, and gave my son a meat tenderizer and he happily smashed away.

Back to my task at hand, making the cupcake batter!  I slowly added three egg whites and around 2 tsp of vanilla extract while the mixer ran on low.  Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula making sure the mixture is throughly mixed before adding the dry ingredients.
Now add the dry flour mixture with the mixer on low and then scrap the sides and add the cup of milk continuously mixing till smooth.
Then add "smashed" oreo mix and blend.

Before adding the mix to the liners I put a half an oreo in each. Then I put the first dozen in the oven for around 22 minutes.

The icing!  I didn't have any heavy cream and I had around 4 oz of leftover cream cheese in my fridge so my icing was sort of put together by eyeing it and tasting.  I mixed 6 oz room temp butter and the room temp cream cheese together in the mixer till creamy and smooth.  Then I added 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp almond extract to the mix.  I slowly poured in the powdered sugar(it calls for 4 cups but I never measure) until the mixture is thickened.  I had to stop and scrape the edges several times to make sure the mixture is well mixed.  I added 1 1/2 tbsp Almond Joy creamer to the icing and mixed it on medium to nice and smooth.

After letting the cupcakes cool for 30-45 minutes.  I iced and added some cookie crumbles to the top.

What is your favorite kind of cupcake?

Treasure Hunt!

My son recently got a Jake and the Neverland Pirates bandanna and telescope for his 3rd birthday.  Seeing him running around and saying, "Look Mama, I'm like Jake" inspired me to make him his own little treasure hunt.  I'm not a very great artist so please be lenient on my art!

First, I made a map of my house.  Ok, it's rough, very rough but I was trying to pick out the most obvious and easy to pick out pieces of furniture i.e. landmarks to my son.

Then I made a clue sheet.  I picked objects around the house that I could put the clues by to give my kid a object to look for.

Then I cut them out and put the clue next to the object before it.  I also numbered the area of the clue on the map in the order that they lead to.

So to start out I gave him the pumpkin card and the treasure map.  To be honest, he was very excited to get his treasure map but he had no idea what to do with it so this took a lot of coach and quite a bit of leading on my part to help him understand to think about where in our house the object is that was on the card AND what the object on the card was(my bad drawing skills ego took a hit!)

After reminding him about the pumpkins I had just got that were sitting on the dining table he ran in there and started looking through the telescope to find the clue.  

Next clue was the train table.  The clue is hiding in the depot on the table.  Yes, I had to show him.

Then the next was in the jogging stroller.

And finally...

He found his "treasure" aka fruit snacks!  He had so much fun and he was so proud to find his "treasure".  It's the little things after all!

Have you ever gone on a scavenger hunt?

Cowtown goes to the dogs is on!

Just signed up for a 5k race with one of my fav running partners... my dog Lola.  As you can see in my profile picture she's all smiles after a run.  She doesn't complain about the weather or if she's tired.  I LOVE running with her and am so excited to do this race with her on October 6th.

I'm some what new to the DFW area and have only been the the famous stockyards once.  I'm super pumped to get a tour it in one of the best ways to tour...a run.

It's $20 for the 5k now since it's so late in the game but that's about normal for a 5k.  The 5k starts at 8:30am and packet pick up is at the Fort Worth Running Company off 7th Street.    Of course its best to  only bring your pup if they've been spayed/neutered for obvious reasons and they want to make sure all dogs have their shots up to date(no crazy rabies bites!).

Hmm stuffed tomatoes

After some perusing around Pinterest last week I rediscovered a tasty looking picture of some stuffed tomatoes that I had pinned.  I love finding recipes and manipulating them to fit my tastes and nutrition expectations.  

The pin: Stuffed tomatoes from UK recipe

After looking it over I decided to switch it up a bit to match my family and time I could devote to it.  

The ingredients:  

2-3 plump tomatoes

1 cup fresh spinach

1 red bell pepper

2/3 cup mushrooms

about 2 oz cream cheese

1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice(this Italian blend I usually keep in my fridge)

shredded chicken breast ( added this because I had some left over from another meal)

 

 1. I diced the bell pepper and mushrooms 
2.  Saute the bell pepper, spinach, and mushroom in 2 tbsp of olive oil on medium until the spinach has wilted
3.  Stir in the cream cheese and shredded cheese(I also added the shredded chicken here just to add some protein to the meal) in the pan on low until just melted
4.  Set aside the mixture to cool a bit and cut into the tomato to dig out the insides.  I left about 1/4 inch of "meat" around the outside to hold it stiffer
5.  Place stuffed tomatoes in a oven safe pan (I love Corningware, I just wish they had handles!) and put in the oven for 20-25 min at 350 degrees

Enjoy!  It's easy and super yummy!