Chocolate Chip Cookies (healthy)

No, there is nothing wrong with your eyes, these cookies are orange. The special ingredient in these cookies makes them orange in color.

I got this recipe from a friend of mine in Cranbrook. I think she has made it her life mission to make every recipe as healthy as possible. But she does a great job because she still keeps the recipes tasting so good (through trial and error I am sure).

The orginal recipe calls for a cup of unsweetened apple sauce, but Heidi switched it to a cup of sweet potato. I think it was a great switch. I thought these cookies were really good.


Start with a large sweet potato and cute into small piece. Cook the sweet potato anyway you like. I steamed mine, but you can boil too.


Once the pieces are soft let them cool. The puree them. I put mine in the blender.


In a medium bowl combine

2 1/2 cups Flour
3 tsp Baking powder
1 1/4 tsp Salt






In another bowl combine:

1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Brown Sugar Splenda (if you want you can use 2 cups regular brown sugar)
1/2 cup butter, softened

Beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy.



Add:
2 tbsp Vanilla extract
2 large eggs




The add:
1 cup Pureed Sweet Potato

Beat until blended

Add the flour mixture

and add:

1 cup Chocolate chips

Drop by tablespoon 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-11 minutes.

Cool on pans for 2 minutes

Removed from pans and cool completely on wire racks

Candy Cane Popcorn

Come on Candy Cane popcorn.

It doesn't get better than this. 3 yummy ingredients come together and BAM! How can you go wrong? It really doesn't get easier than this or yummier.







24 cups of popped popcorn


Try to sift through it to make sure there are no kernals.




Melt 3 cups of white chocolate

Crush 18 Candy canes



Por the melted chocolate over the popcorn and mix till it is well coated.

Pour the crushed candy canes and mix again.

Spread over a greased cookie sheet and put int he fridge for 30 minutes. I took mine out after 15, mixed it up and put it back for another 15 minutes.

Try not to eat it all at once.

Advant Calendar

I actually didn't make this Advant Calendar, but my sister-in-law did. I just think that it is way too cute. I had to show it off.

I'm not a big fan of those chocolate ones, and Grace doesn't even like chocolate, so this is a great alternative.

She said that she found everything at the Dollar Store, including the baking pan.

She made up a grid on her computer and printed it off on to a sheet of Cardstock.

Painted the baking sheet, and covered the bottom with the cardstock paper and the letters and numbers and then modge podged it.



Made up cute numbers and attached a magnet to the back. Add one everyday.

The numbers that are not in use can just be stored on the other side of the pan.

Drill holes, and attach a ribbon and hang it up.

I think everyone will agree that this is so cute. Thank you Trina. My girls (well, Grace) and I love it.

Angel Triffle

I know that it has been a little long since my last post. My kitchen was out of commission. The counter tops were being re-done. I was without a kitchen for several weeks. But now they are in, I love them, and we are back in business. Did I mention how much I love my new counter tops (and my handy hubby for doing a great job installing them). Who knew that new counter tops would make me fall in love with my kitchen again.

I have had a few requests for the recipe for this trifle. So I decided that I should make it. It is really good, but actually low fat. I got it out of a 'Company's Coming - Low Fat Cooking' cookbook. So you don't even have to feel bad eating it.


You will need an Angel Food cake. You can either make it, or you can buy one. I'll be honest, I always buy one. Confession time- I have never made an Angel food cake.

In a sauce pan combine;

3 tbsp custard Powder

1/4 cups Sugar

13 1/2 oz can of Skim Evaporated Milk

1 cup Skim Milk

Heat, Whisking until boiling. Remove from heat. Let it stand for 15 minutes.

Stir in;

1tsp Almond Flavoring.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

In a medium bowl, combine;

1 box of Strawberry-flavoured gelatin

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup reserved mandarine orange liquid

Stir it until gelatin is dissolved. Refrigerate until syrupy.

Divide your angel food cake into 3 sections. Then break those sections into 1 inch pieces.

Place 1/3 of your cake pieces into a large glass bowl.

a trifle bowl works best, but it is not necessary.

Sprinkle with 1 cup Strawberries, sliced

Drizzle 1/2 of the custard over the cake pieces

Pour 1/2 of the syrupy gelatin over the custard.

Place another 1/3 layer of cake pieces.

Sprinkle with 1 10oz can of mandarin orange segments (this is where your reserved liquid comes from)

Drizzle remaining gelatin over top.

Place remaining cake pieces on top and remaining custard over the cake.

In a bowl beat

1 envelope dessert topping (such as Dream Whip)

1/2 cup skim milk

Pipe over top over custard.

Garnish with 1 cup of sliced Stawberries.

Chill several hours or overnight.

Serious layers of goodness!

Easy Earings

Let me show you how to make the easiest earings.

They are really simple. I usually get stuff from Michaels, in the bead section. There is so much variety there and they make it so simple for you. Alot of the items are already prepared for you. They have done the hard stuff and you get the easy job of just attaching an earing hook and Ta-da.

I always get compliments on my earings and people are surpised when I tell them that I made them. So I am not sure if I should be giving away my simple secrets. Although there are more complicated earing that I make that are alittle to hard to blog about.

This is what I chose, but honestly go to Michaels and look for different things. There is alot to chose from.

Your supplies.

Two hook earings

and whatever you want to put on the bottom

Take a pair of needle nose pliers. Most guys have a pair of these, so just ask around for some.

You need to pull apart the ring on the bottom of your hook. Use your fingers and the pliers.

You can see from the picture I had of the supplies that the base of my earing already had a tiny ring attached to it. Like I said, they have it all already for you.

So now you just slip that little ring around the seperated ring on your hook earing and the close it together. Again with your fingers and pliers.

And Ta-Da. Cute little earings. It takes about 1 minute to make (maybe 2 minutes for your first pair).

The possibilities are endless.

These were all made just by attaching what I wanted to a hook earing. Simple.

Pumpkin Pecan Cake

My baking thoughts have turned from summer baking to fall baking. And I thought that I would try something new with canned pumpkin besides the usual pumpkin pie. Not that I don't love pumpkin pie, but I just thought that I would find another use for the canned stuff.

This cake was really good. The cake itself is really moist, but with a bit of crunch with a pecan crumb layer. The cream cheese icing is always a favorite of most people and the caramel drizzled over top just adds so much more.


Crumb layer:
In a large bowl, combine;

2cups crushed Vanilla wafers (about 60 wafers)
1 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup butter, softened



Mix until crumbly.

Press into 3 greased and floured 9 in round baking pans.

Cake:

In another large bowl, beat;

1 package Spice cake mix

1 can (15oz) solid pack canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling, just pumpkin)

4 eggs

1/2 cup butter, softened

Beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Then beat on high for 2 minutes.

Spread over crust in each pan

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Test with a toothpick.

Place the first layer of cake on a cake plate, crumb side down.

Cream together

2 pkg (8 oz each) Cream cheese

1 cup butter

2 tsp vanilla

8 cups icing sugar

Spread icing over the layers. Placing each layer on top of iced previous on. Make sure to put the cake crumb side down.

Ice the entire cake.

Arrange pecan halves around cake.

Drizzle with 1/2 cup (or more) of caramel ice cream topping, letting it run over the edges

Oh, how good does that look.



Enjoy!!

Store in the refridgerator. It actually tastes better cold rather than at room tempurature.