Raspberry Cream Cheese Brownies

Behold the beautiful and bountiful brownies, courtesy (apparently) of Ray Romano!

So a date mentioned a couple times he loved brownies, thought I'd surprise him and make this.

Much to my dismay, he neither liked raspberries nor cream cheese!

(something must be seriously wrong with him…)

So I shared with my friends and family and they LOVED them!

My best friend thought I bought them from the store!

They do come out looking exactly like the picture! :)

Follow the recipe exactly, and you too will enjoy what you see!

(Ok, so the only difference is that I did not use seedless preserves,

but you couldn't even tell once the brownies were baked.)

Difficulty Level: 1+ It's a little more involved, but if I can do it, anyone can!

Yum Factor: 5 :)

Mug Cake

Mmm, late night sweet tooth kicks in.

Maybe it's too late to go out and buy a delicious dessert, but you know you NEED CHOCOLATE.

I have tried many a mug cake, usually they are dry and gross, more of a cookie consistency.

But this recipe is the pick of the litter, best I've encountered.

Was forced to make a few modifications:

1. used water instead of milk

2. used baking soda instead of baking powder

3. used peanut better instead of nutella

4. used canola oil instead of vegetable oil

Guess what? It doubled in size, was moist and delicious!

In hindsight, I should have used coconut oil instead, will try that next time!

Difficulty Level: 0-1

Yum Factor: 3

Chicken Burritos

It's already too hot, and on the calendar it is not officially summer. Quick and easy is the way to go, especially when you can make something as delicious as what's at most restaurants.

I varied a bit from the original recipe here. Avocado is too much effort, seriously, and when Trader Joe's has a reduced guilt guacamole dip with greek yogurt (and cilantro), you use that instead (and an extra tablespoon of it!)! Shove chicken, cheese and guar dip in a pita pocket, grill it up and voila, yummaliciousness served.

Difficulty Level: 1

Yum Factor: 4 

Buffalo Chicken Quesadilla

Buffalo flavored things are ubiquitous. Wings, cauliflower, tots...

Did you know 'buffalo' sauce is just Frank's Red Hot and butter? Didn't know that!

With the imminent arrival of summer, I felt the need to try something new.

Also, my mom bought me pita pockets and thought I should use them!

In walks the recipe for Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas!

If you are an avid Trader Joe's shopper, you may know that they don't carry a 'buffalo' or 'wing' sauce. After conferring with multiple employees, we came upon the consensus that combing their

Carolina Gold BBQ sauce and Chili Pepper Sauce would provide a similar flavor profile.

The recipe makes 4 servings, but I only wanted 1, so I used:

3 oz. TJ's Just Grilled Chicken

2 T Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce

1 T Chili Pepper Sauce

1 T TJ's Ranch Dressing

1 oz. Fage Greek Yougurt w/1 T Ranch Dressing

(in place of sour cream)

Also omitted the canola oil from the original recipe.

So how was it? Very flavorful, little too hot for my liking, maybe next time use 1 tsp of Chili Sauce. Would add the cilantro next time or maybe celery?

Definitely making it again, and not because I have more pita pockets to go through. :)

Difficulty Level: 1 Quick and easy for when you are starving

Yum Factor: 4 After making the aforementioned adjustments, maybe it will be a 5!

How to: Hard-boil & Peel Eggs

Eggs. Versatile, healthy, awesome. Not easy to prepare. Have tried many way of hard-boiling eggs, none seem to come out right, and peeling them is even worse!

Made a delicious salad tonight, and wanted chopped egg in it. Plus with Easter just around the corner, this will definitely come in handy. Dreaded the arduous process....

Finally, I found the Holy Grail of Hard Boiled Egg recipes here!

If you follow it to a T, you will have perfectly boiled eggs. The part about removing the the shell? Genius! It was so easy!

Pumpkin Spice White Hot Chocolate

The best 5 words ever put together! Say it with me people: Pumpkin. Spice. White. Hot. Chocolate.

This recipe was listed as a Thanksgiving drink, and I could get behind that. I also could get behind adding some Rumchata or vanilla vodka to make it an adult beverage...maybe another time. :)

Forgive me blogisphere, for I am an unloyal blogger. Perhaps I should resolve to fix that in this still (relatively) new year?

So it's Michigan, it's March, and we just had a snowstorm. It went from 50 degrees to 0 in 12 hours. Your body wants something comforting, yet your brain knows Spring is just around the corner...

In walks this recipe for Pumpkin Spice White Hot Chocolate. It's been burning a whole on my Pinterest board for a few months now...I purchased white chocolate chips with the sole purpose of making this. Being a single gal, I had to use what I had on hand:

1. Used Light Vanilla Soy Milk instead of whole.

2. Cut the recipe in half, then in half again. (I'm only one person!)

3. Did not chop the chocolate. (used chips)

4. Used some sort of chocolate malted powder instead of cocoa powder.

5. Used Pumpkin Pie Spice in place of all the spices listed after cinnamon.

6. Didn't really measure the spices or vanilla....

And guess what?

It was DELICIOUS! MAKE THIS! It's like a hug in a cup! It's great for the fall to winter or winter to spring transition because it's not as heavy as a milk or dark chocolate hot chocolate would be. Personally I love pumpkin all year round, it's super good for you, so why not? :)

There was a recipe for a Vanilla Milk I made to the T except I did the seem substitution for milk, and it was horrible! Bleck! Never making that again.

Difficulty Level: 0 put stuff in pot, boil, enjoy.

Yum Factor: 5 sometimes the simplest things are the most delicious!

Peppermint Hot Cocoa

Yum. Easiest recipe ever, and oh so delicious. Not even necessary to post a link to the recipe.

Made this for book club, last-minute decision. Make hot cocoa of your choice. Scoop peppermint ice cream into a glass. Pour cocoa over ice cream.

What's awesome is the ice cream cools just boiled hot cocoa down enough to drink immediately, good for impatient people like myself. Also, the ice cream makes the drink frothy in a delectable way. My friend said it's the best thing she's ever drank.

Difficulty Level: 0
Yum Factor: 4