Picky Palate's Chocolate Cherry Chips Cookies

These are super cute cookies, with the red chips, but I don't think these are as delicious as the other Picky Palate recipe with cherry chips.  However, Owen gave these a perfect 10, and Noah gave them a 9, so they were well loved by my boys, even if Aaron and I only gave them a 7.  Here is where you can find the original recipe, and I followed the recipe exactly.  Each cookie, and I made 36 cookies, was 168 calories.  If you have some cherry chips, these are a good way to use them up.  

Our Best Bites' Chunky Monkey Pancakes

So this was a great breakfast treat.  Here is the recipe for these banana chocolate chip pancakes with peanut butter syrup, and they received a perfect 10 here in our house.  These are so good, and the only change I made was to use regular chocolate chips, about a hanful, and not toss them with the 2 t flour first.  I make chocolate chip pancakes all the time, and adding another step and more flour for calories doesn't help these pancakes any.  So, since the syrup is high in calories as are the pancakes, we made 18 pancakes with syrup and each one was 246 calories.  I found this recipe in Our Best Bites' second cookbook, but follow the link it is the same!  Yummy pancakes :).

Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found this chocolate chip cookie recipe on tastykitchen.com, and it was a hit with the boys :).

Aaron, like usual says he wishes these were just chocolate chip, but oh well :).  I followed the recipe exactly, I just didn't add as many sprinkles.  We took these to AWANA and everyone enjoyed them.  Each cookie was 155 calories, and Aaron gave these an 8, Owen and I gave them a 9, and Noah gave them a perfect 10.  These are fun, easy, and really delicious.

Cannoli French Toast

We had some yummy French toast the other night for breakfast for dinner, and it was a hit, although Aaron prefers our regular French toast.  I found the original recipe here, but I didn't follow it exactly.  I made the filling like it said, but I made my French toast the way I like it, not according to their recipe.  The calories for 1 stuffed French toast are 758!!!  Oh man, that is high, but it's a fun treat.  Aaron gave it a 7, Owen and I gave it an 8, and Noah gave it a 9.

Cannoli French Toast

1 c ricotta cheese (I used whole milk, skim would be less calories :))
1/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 t vanilla
1/3 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

8 slices bread
1 egg
2 T butter, melted and cooled
1 t vanilla
3/4 c cream (milk would be way less calories, I used the cream because I had some I needed to use)
dash of salt

Mix together the first four ingredients, then spread on 1 slice of bread and top with another slice of bread.  Repeat for the other pieces of bread.  Mix together the egg, butter, vanilla, cream and salt, then dip the bread in the mixture.  Cook until both sides of the bread are cooked well, then serve. 

You can add syrup and butter if you want, but I don't think it's necessary.

Hot Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

 (original recipe found at this site)
I made some of these delicious cookies for Owen's birthday treats for school last week, and they were a hit.  We love these cookies, and Aaron awarded them a 10, which is a big deal :)  Owen gave them 10 as well, and Noah and I give them a 9.  These are never fail, easy to make, and everyone likes them.

Hot Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

2 sticks salted butter- at room temperature        1 cup white granulated sugar

2/3 cups packed light brown sugar       2 whole large eggs

 

1 tsp pure vanilla                               3-¼ cups all-purpose flour

4 packages (1 oz. Packets, not sugar-free) hot chocolate mix**

1 tsp salt                                           1-¼ tsp baking soda

1 cup each white, milk, and semi-sweet chocolate chips**

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, hot chocolate mix, salt and baking soda. Add to wet ingredients in 3 to

4 parts, making sure all is incorporated. Fold in chips. Chill the dough for an hour or so. Use a ¼ cup as a

scoop to scoop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges

are golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan. **I added milk chocolate/peanut butter swirl chips instead of white

chocolate chips, and I used 5 oz hot chocolate mix rather than 4 and just substituted out some of the flour.

These are great, and fun since they taste kind of like hot chocolate :)

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

We had whole wheat chocolate chip cookies!  These cookies were surprisingly good.  I wasn't sure we would like them, because they used whole wheat flour and coconut oil, things I'm not used to having in cookies.  However, these were super tasty, and cripsy too.  I like soft, chewy cookies better, but these turned out to be great, and the boys and Aaron liked them especially.  They gave them a 9, and I gave them an 8.The calories were approximately 175/cookie, but at least they had some redeeming qualities, like whole wheat flour right? 
More baked goods coming up this next week :)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Sweet Rolls

We had Chocolate Chip Cookie Sweet Rolls, and they were sooo good.  Go Pioneer Woman!  I love her original cinnamon rolls, so it's no surprise that these are so amazing as well.  Even Aaron, a sweet roll nay sayer, gave these a 9.  Hooray!  We all gave them a 9, they are so delicious, and we'll have them again for sure.  For 1 roll, the calories are 365, I got 24 rolls just like the recipe said.  These are moist, and too good for our diet.  Her pictures are much better than mine, I can't seem to get good light in our kitchen, so check out her pictures, not mine.  Sigh...anyway, try these, you'll thank the Pioneer Woman :)

Tomorrow we're having a shrimp dish.

Chicken and Rice, Blueberry Yogurt Waffles, and Blackberry Ice Cream

We had a lot of yummy food today, because today my little guy had his first day of preschool! Hooray! This is his second year with Mrs. Caffrey, and he loves going to school and having fun there. He decided he wanted blackberry ice cream, blueberry waffles for breakfast, and chicken and rice for dinner. First we have the ice cream, from the Pioneer Woman. Here's the recipe, it's easy and creamy and has great texture.  We added chocolate chips like it said to in the cookbook, and this turned out really well.  Noah gave it a perfect 10, I gave it a 9, and Owen and Aaron gave it an 8.  The only change I made was to use lime instead of lemon, because that's what I had, and I strained the custard after cooking it.  I also refrigerated the custard before churning it because my ice cream mixer has to have the custard cold.  The calories for 1/12 of the total, which is about 1/2 cup, are 320.

The waffles were really good. They are Blueberry Yogurt Waffles from Two Peas and Their Pod. I like that they used whole wheat flour and the yogurt instead of oil. I used blueberry Greek yogurt instead of plain, and they were sweet and delicious. I gave them an 8, Noah gave them a perfect 10, and Owen gave them a 7 because he doesn't like blueberries very much. They are 165 calories/waffle when you make 16 waffles.

And last we had chicken and rice which I started making after marrying Aaron because it was his favorite food my Mother-in-law makes.  I have changed it through the years to make it more what I enjoy, but it's still pretty much the same thing Aaron grew up eating.
Chicken Casserole (or Chicken and Rice as we call it)
(This is how I make it)
1 lb chicken breasts
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
green onions
seasoned salt
thyme
cayenne pepper
Any other spices you feel like adding
1-2 T sour cream
Throw everything in the crockpot except for the sour cream.  Mix it all together and cook on low for at least 4 hours.  Add in sour cream 30 minutes before serving.  Serve over rice.  Adjust seasonings to taste.

The boys give this a perfect 10, Aaron gives this between an 8 and a 10 depending on how I make it, and I give it a 5.  I'm not a huge fan of it, but my boys really love it so we have it every so often.
The calories with rice are 315/serving.

Tomorrow we're having another chicken and rice dish, but it's not the same :)