Nutella Stuffed French Toast

    

Seriously, how delicious does THAT look?!? 

Assuming, of course, that you like french toast. And Nutella. And strawberries. lol 

This is now officially one of my daughter's favorites. How do I know this, you ask? Well, because after taking the first bite, she sighed and said to me "Mom, you are like an angel that makes the finest foods in all of Heaven." And no, I am not joking, I freaking swear to you she actually said that! 

I was half cracking up and half like awwwwww! 

The things that come out of her mouth sometimes. UGH! So cute!

     Anyways, there is no need for a crazy lengthy story or description about this, all you need is the recipe. It is THAT good. And simple. But not healthy. Hey, two out of three ain't bad.

You Need:

• a loaf of day old Vienna Bread
• 3 eggs and 1 yolk
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• splash of vanilla
• pinch of cinnamon
• pinch of brown sugar
• pinch of salt
• Nutella
• Strawberries (optional, to top with)

1. Crack your eggs and the yolk into a wide shallow bowl and whisk together well with the heavy cream, vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar, and salt.
2. Place a small amount of butter (or non stick spray) in a skillet over medium heat. Slice your bread into 1 1/2 to 2 inch thick slices. Now take each slice of bread and make a horizontal slice into the side of the bread, like you were going to butterfly it. But do NOT butterfly it. You just want to make a little pouch for that delicious Nutella to reside in.
3. Fill each pouch with however much Nutella you want, giving it a GENTLE pat down to spread it a bit. Coat both sides of each slice of bread in the egg mixture and place in skillet, being careful not to overcrowd.
4. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, flip and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes until golden.
5. Top with sliced strawberry. (And powdered sugar, butter and syrup, or whipped cream if you so desire. Whatever you'd like!)
6. Serve it up and wait for the Mmmmmmm's. :)

Chocolate Strawberry Bliss (Diabetic Friendly)

     This may not look like much, but I was really craving something sweet that wouldn't spike my sugar levels and this, my friends, hit... the... spot.

Chocolate Strawberry Bliss

You Will Need:

• 1 (1.4 oz.) box of Jell-o Chocolate Fat Free Sugar Free Instant Pudding
• 2 cups of (cold) fat free milk
• 1/2 cup sugar free cool whip (thawed)
• 1 to 1 and a 1/2 cup sliced strawberries

1. In a medium size bowl, whisk together the pudding mix and milk for 2-3 minutes until very well combined. Let sit for 5 minutes or so to thicken.
2. Stir in the cool whip and refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. Divide half of the pudding mix amongst 6 glasses. Top each with strawberries and remaining pudding. (You can make more layers, but Nutritional Info accounts for 6 servings of about 1/2 cup each.) ENJOY! :)

Nutritional Info: Makes 6 servings of about 1/2 cup each. Each serving has: Calories:70   Fat:1g   Carbs:13g   Dietary Fiber:1g   Protein:3g

On The Hunt For Pizza (Much more friendly for diabetics)

     One of my favorite things to stuff my face with eat is pizza. All kinds of pizza, thin crust, thick crust, garlic bread crust, deep dish, cheese, sausage, pepperoni, veggie, pineapple... Seriously, I don't discriminate, I love it all. What food spikes my sugar levels more than ANY other food I have eaten? Yep, pizza. Of course it is. Ugh.

     Upon searching for a way to still enjoy my pizza I have seen and tried quite a few tricks. I think my least favorite was the good old zucchini crust trick. No matter how much I drained the zucchini, the crust still came out too mushy. Then, I remembered seeing a lot of people on weight loss programs eating pizza made on tortilla shells, and thought, "what the hell, I'll give it a try." Well, color me surprised, I loved it AND it did NOT spike my levels!!! With a huge tortilla (carb count of 30g) some cooking spray, a tiny bit of garlic powder, sauce and cheese, I had my fix. And it got nice and crispy and just... ohhhh soooo yummy. I still may not be able to max out on it like I would like to, but it satisfies my craving for pizza in a healthy way. And for now, that's good enough for me. (Of course, my kiddies loved it, too. SCORE!)

     I'm just going to give the recipe for what I used to make one single serve pizza. If you're making more, just use however much more of the ingredients that you need. This one is certainly not rocket science. :)

Tortilla Pizza:

All for me... Come to mama!

This is what I used:

• Tortilla (I used the big Nuevo Leon burritos size)
• 1/2 to 1 Tbsp of Contadina Pizza sauce
• 1/4 cup of store brand Shredded Mexican Blend Cheese
• garlic powder
• cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Place tortilla on baking sheet and give the tortilla a light spray on both sides.
3. Lightly sprinkle the top side of tortilla with a bit of garlic powder.
4. Spread about a Tbsp of sauce on tortilla, leaving some away the edge, like a regular pizza.
5. Top with cheese and bake for 10-15 minutes, til cheese is nice and bubbly and tortilla is golden and crispy.
6. Remove from oven, cut and eat. 

Nutritional Info: This is the info for the specific ingredients that *I* used. Yours may be different, so check labels!!  1 pizza: Calories: 290   Fat: 13.5   Carbs: 33g   Dietary Fiber: 1g   Protein: 11g

Pepperoni Pizza Pouches

     These can be modified in sooooo many ways. They can be filled with scrambled eggs, cheese and sausage (or bacon or ham) for breakfasts, or bbq shredded chicken and cheese for dinners... The possibilities are almost endless. For right now though, I made them into Pepperoni Pizza Pouches.

Pepperoni Pizza Pouches

You Will Need:

• 1 tube of Pillsbury Grands Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits
• Shredded Cheese, I used 4 cheese Mexican Blend
• Pepperoni Slices
• Grated Parmesan Cheese
• Garlic Powder
• Italian Seasoning

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Slice each biscuit in half horizontally to make each biscuit into 2.
3. Slightly flatten and stretch each biscuit out a bit, much like you would if making a regular pizza, being careful not to rip the dough or stretch it too thin. (pic below)
4. In the middle of each biscuit, place some shredded cheese, then a slice of pepperoni on top and top with a bit more cheese. (pic below)
5. Gather edges together towards the center and press down slightly. (pic below)
6. Flip over on baking sheet so seam side is down. Repeat for all of them. 
7. Lightly sprinkle tops with garlic powder, then Parmesan Cheese and Italian Seasoning. Spray tops lightly with cooking spray. (pic below)
8. Bake in oven for 7 to 10 minutes, or til tops are light golden brown.
9. Serve with marinara, or pizza sauce or ranch. :)

 STEP 3:

slice in half and flatten

 STEP 4:

place cheese and pepperoni in middle

 STEP 5:

Gather edges and press slightly to seal

 STEP 7:

Season em up and bake em

Golden Graham S'mores Squares...

     Need I say more? These are almost exactly like eating a good old S'mores. Delicious, simple and they go quick. My hubby brought them to work and I was told they were a hit. :) I don't think I need a huge intro on this, I mean, they're ooey, they're gooey, they're chocolatey... Just make em. You'll see!

Golden Grahams S'mores Squares

kiddie, mommy and daddy portions. LOL

You will need:

• 1 (12 oz) box of Golden Graham cereal
• 1 (10.5 oz) bag of mini marshmallows, PLUS 2 additional cups reserved
• 1 (12 oz) bag of semi sweet chocolate chips (FROZEN til needed)
• 5 Tbsp butter

1. Generously spray a baking dish (about a 13x9 works well) with cooking spray.
2. In a pot over medium low heat, melt the butter. Once melted, add in the 10.5 oz bag of marshmallows and stir til melted.
3. Remove from heat. Stir in the cereal, remaining marshmallows and the FROZEN chocolate chips. Stir til nicely mixed up.
4. Press into prepared baking dish and let cool.
5. Cut into squares, serve and get ready for oohs and ahhs. (In my opinion, these are even better the next day!)

What's Been Going On Over Here...

     Some of you may notice that not all of my recent recipes are from scratch. It's probably going to be that way for a little while. Remember, I have said in the past, I am NOT a food snob or baking snob. I do NOT think that baking from scratch is the only way. I think that baking or cooking for your family in general shows love, no matter how you do it. Whatever suits you and your family, is in fact, the right way. I DO prefer to bake and cook from as close to totally scratch as I can, but that is just that... My preference. And I have had to shake that up a bit right now.

     As of right now I am 8 months along and this pregnancy has been beating the hell out of me. I just haven't had the get-up-and-go to, well, get up and go. I mean, I guess in a lot of ways, this time around isn't reeeally as bad as my last two pregnancies, especially when you consider the fact that I have NOT been put on bed rest this time! YAAAAAY! (Although most days I almost wish I was. lol) My blood pressure has been perfect, which is surprising since that was the issue with the other two. Maybe it just seems harder this time around because I am older as well as... ummm... well, fatter.

     However, I was very surprised to learn that this time around I have Gestational Diabetes. NOT fricking cool, man. In case you haven't yet figured out, I love to bake. And I love to enjoy what I'm baking. By eating it. lol This has been VERY hard to come to terms with. And knowing that because of this diagnosis, I am now at a higher risk to have Type 2 Diabetes later on down the road is a real issue for me. I really have to overhaul how I eat. And cook. And bake. And LIVE. Just a side-note here, I REALLY do not like having to do something. If I choose to, that's one thing. But to know that I do not have a choice just makes me want to rebel and fight, which of course is just not an option in this situation.

     So, for right now, I am focusing more so on quick and easy VS every little thing from scratch. I am also working on some recipes that are Type 2 Diabetes friendly, but of course they are going to have to meet my standards. They can't taste like crap, they have to be delicious. They have to be easy to semi-easy and NOT take a million years to make. So look for that coming up on the horizon. :)

Cheesy Chicken Tamale Bake

     I had been working on tweaking a couple different recipes to try and come up with something that everyone in my family would like and let me just say that this turned out so so SO delicious... A bit of sweetness with a bit of spice, chicken, and lots of cheese... Like, holy yum, batman, you gotta try it!

Cheesy Chicken Tamale Bake:

What You Need:

• 4 oz Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
• 4 oz Cheddar Cheese, shredded
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 egg
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/8 tsp ground red pepper
• 1 can creamed corn
• 2 (8.5 oz) boxes of Jiffy corn bread mix
• 1 (4 oz) can of diced green chilies
• 1 (10 oz) can of red enchilada sauce
• 3 Chicken Breasts, cooked and roughly shredded into nice size pieces

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish.
2. In small bowl, combine cheeses and set aside.
3. In a medium size bowl, stir together 1/4 cup of the cheese mixture, milk, egg, cumin, red pepper, corn, corn muffin mix and green chilies. Mix well and pour into prepared baking dish.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a little more than just "set." Remove from oven.
5. With a fork, poke holes all over the cornbread and pour enchilada sauce on top. 
6. Top with the cooked, shredded chicken and remaining cheese.
7. Bake for 15 to 20 more minutes. (Ovens differ, yours may only need 15 minutes, may need 25 minutes. Just watch that you don't burn it.) Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes or so before serving. (Do not be fooled tho if the cornbread doesn't quite look done no matter how long you cook it for. I thought that and then realized that there was creamed corn in it. LOL)

Easter Cupcakes

     I never claim to be a "pro" at decorating cupcakes or cakes... Hell, I don't even claim to be good at it. But I have fun doing it and my kiddies think they look good and really, that's all that matters to me. LOL Here are some Easter cupcakes that I whipped up this past weekend. Nothing special, really, but we sure enjoyed them.

You Will Need:

• 1 box Funfetti Cake Mix
• 12 oz Raspberry Ginger Ale, warm
• 1 tsp of Raspberry extract
• Red food coloring (optional)
• 24 "Spring" Oreo Cookies

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pans with cupcake wrappers.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, ginger ale, raspberry extract and a drop or two of red food coloring (if desired.) Beat for a minute or two.
3. Into each cupcake wrapper, drop an Oreo cookie.
4. Scoop batter into each cupcake wrapper on top of each Oreo..
5. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until they pass the handy dandy toothpick test. Watch them closely toward the end.
6. Let cupcakes cool in muffin pans for 5 minutes or so, then remove to wire racks to finish cooling.

Basic "Buttercream" Frosting:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup shortening (I use the Crisco Butter flavor one)
• 6 cups powdered sugar
• 2-4 Tbsp milk (depends on the consistency)
• 1 and a 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• green food coloring (as little or as much as you need to reach the shade of green that you like for the grass)

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the shortening.
2. About a cup to a cup and a half at a time, add in the powdered sugar while beating.
3. Add the milk a Tbsp at a time until you reach the consistency that you like.
4. Add the vanilla extract and green food coloring and give it a good mix with the beaters for another 2 minutes or so.
5. Pipe some "grass" onto each cupcake. I garnished with a bunny Peep and some
   whopper robins eggs candies.

     And THIS, my friends, is where my mind goes when I am stalling on having to clean up the TERRIBLE mess I have made from baking. This was my daughters favorite one. LOL I give you, Bad Bunny Cupcakes.

Somebunny's been a baaaaad bunny. ;)

:

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Squares

"Ohhhhh MAN that's GOOD!" and "OMG Mmmmmmm." was the general consensus in my house. I took one bite to try it and had to give it to Mike pretty much right away. Otherwise I was going to max the hell out on them. Which would not be good for this nuisance that has wormed his way into my life this past month. Maybe you know him? Gestational Diabetes? If you see him on the street, do me a favor and kick his royal ass, please? Thanks, I owe ya one. Anyways, the warm cinnamon smell that fills the air as soon as you add the cereal to the melted marshmallows is just Heavenly. Even better when you taste it. Which I desperately want to again. sigh. Wait... I know! YOU can make them and enjoy them for me! You could do that for me, right? I KNEW you wouldn't let me down! Here's the recipe, get crackin'!

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Squares

What You Need:

• 4 cups of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal
• 2 cups of Rice Krispie cereal
• 1 (10.5 oz) bag of mini marshmallows PLUS 2 cups more mini marshmallows reserved
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 oz white chocolate, melted

1. Spray a baking dish with non stick spray.
2. In a large pot over low heat, melt butter. Once melted, add the 10.5 oz bag of marshmallows and stir until totally melted. Remove from heat.
3. Stir in both cereals and the reserved 2 cups of mini marshmallows. Mix VERY well til evenly coated.
4. Spread in baking dish and pat down evenly. 
5. Drizzle with melted white chocolate and let sit a while until the chocolate sets. (This can take a while, so if you're impatient like I am, you may want to pop em in the fridge for a little while to speed up the pan to hand to mouth time.)
6. Cut into squares and serve.

Breakfast Braid

     This is one of our favorite quick breakfasts to enjoy on the weekends. With a little ahead of time prep, it could easily be quick enough to whip up for the kiddies before school, too. Just cook up the filling the day before and store it in the fridge. Doing so will just about cut the time this takes to make in half. The Breakfast Braid is easily customizable, too. Change up the fillings to include your families favorites. (or exclude what they don't like)

 What You Need:

• 1 (13.8oz) can of refrigerator pizza crust dough (or you can use your own, of course)
• 1/4 cup of chopped onion
• a roll of breakfast sausage
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 large egg white, lightly beaten
• garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Cook up your onion and sausage in a pan on the stove. Cook til done, obviously. Stir in eggs and cook til they are fully cooked. Remove from heat.
3. Unroll your pizza dough on a large baking sheet that has been lightly sprayed with non stick cooking spray. Pat the dough gently into about a 10x15 rectangle. Sprinkle lightly with garlic powder.
4. Sprinkle the middle of the dough only, with the Monterey Jack cheese, lengthwise. On top of that, layer your sausage and egg mixture. (or whatever filling you are using) Top with the Cheddar cheese.
5. Along both long sides of dough, make approximately 2 inch long diagonal cuts about 1 inch apart. Gently pull the strips over the filling, alternating diagonally. (almost like braiding, hence the name, yeah?) Fold and press both short ends under to seal.
6. Brush lightly with the egg white and bake for 15 minutes. (I like to sprinkle the top with a little extra cheese, too, but that's just me.
7. Let cool for a few minutes and slice up and serve.