Camo Cupcakes

This is by far one of my favorite cupcakes that I've made so far, it just turned out so cute! Beware there will be another batch made for the premiere of the next season of Duck Dynasty! It takes a little time to put it all together but definitely worth it in the end! My mom actually found this recipe on Pinterest and forwarded it to me, it originally came from Crafty Mama's blog!

Here we go!

Ingredients for Cake
1 box white mix
1 box chocolate mix
Eggs
Oil
Green Food Coloring

Steps
1. Make up each batter from the mix and divide into four bowls: 1)White Batter, 2)White Batter with green food coloring and a dash of chocolate batter, 3)Equal parts chocolate and white batter, and 4) Chocolate batter.
2. Mix the batters until you get the colors you want (you may have more chocolate batter than the rest) This can be used for a few extra plain chocolate cupcakes!
3. Line a cupcake tin with paper liners.
4. I put each of the four batters into separate Ziploc bags (use pastry bags if you have them). If you use Ziploc bags cut one corner of each bag.  Drop a blob into each wrapper until the wrappers are 3/4 of the way full. 
5. Bake according to the directions on the box.
6. Once the cupcakes are done, cool completely.

Here are a few in process shots!

 

I paired it with a buttercream frosting, I found this to be the most difficult part to get three colors on the cupcakes!

Ingredients for Frosting
3 cups Powdered Sugar
1 cup Salted Butter (2 sticks)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Dash of Heavy Whipping Cream

Green Food Coloring
Cocoa Powder

Steps
1. Soften butter. Mix it with a handheld mixer for about 30 seconds. 
2. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time.  Once the powdered sugar is incorporated, turn your mixer on a high setting and whip the mixture for about 3 minutes. 
3. Scrape down the sides and bottom of your bowl, and add the vanilla. Whip it another minute. Add a small dash of cream, whip for another minute.
4. Divide the icing into 3 bowls. 1)Keep this batch ivory, 2)Add a little bit of green food coloring and a little bit of cocoa powder, and 3)Add cocoa powder until it is the desired color brown.

Remember when using a tip to frost your cupcakes you might want to increase the recipe to about 1.5x the original recipe!

Put each frosting in a pastry bag (or a Ziploc bag) and combine into one large pastry bag to use the star tip.  Making sure all three frosting bags were distributed through the star tip was the hardest part, but made for a fantastic camo cupcake!!

These can be made for a hunter in your family, a Duck dynasty premiere, OR you just want a fancy new cupcake!  Enjoy!

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

I think this recipe may quickly be making its way to my favorite cupcake flavor! The vanilla bean just adds a little something more than a traditional vanilla cupcake. I think I've included this recipe before but I thought it was a good time to highlight it again! The recipe can be found in my previous post, UPcakes! I color the frosting to be light blue (or more of a mint color, a theme in my life!) and edible pearls for a bit of flair!

Enjoy!

Healthy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Do you have a sweet tooth but are really trying to eat healthier? Let me introduce to you this recipe for peanut butter oatmeal cookies! :) These cookies have no oil, no flour, no added sugar and no eggs, have I convinced you yet that these cookies are the way to go?! I found this recipe through a friend who raved on how easier they were to make and how good they tasted, so I headed over to her Pinterest page to find the recipe!

The original recipe comes from The Skinny Fork.  Thank you for sharing your delicious cookie recipe with us!

These cookies TRULY are so easy to make and enjoyed by ALL! In fact, your friends might eat 3 before dinner! :)

Nutritional Facts per Cookie (entire recipe yields 18 cookies):
Calories: 88
Carbs: 13g
Fat: 4g
Protein: 3g
Sodium: 168
Sugar: 4g

Let's get to the good stuff! The recipe!

Ingredients:

2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup reduced fat peanut butter
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash of ground cloves
Dash of ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cup quick or old fashioned oats
1/4 cup nuts (dry unsalted peanuts)
1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup reduced fat unsweetened shredded coconut optional (I didn't use in this batch, but definitely next time around)

Steps:
1. Preheat Oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Mix together the bananas, peanut butter, applesauce, vanilla, and spices.  Add in the oats, nuts, chocolate chips, and coconut; stir until well combined.
3. Spoon a rounded 2 tbsp. of the cookie mixture onto the lined baking sheet, leaving an inch or two between each and flatten slightly.
4. Bake for 20-30 minutes and allow to cool slightly!

Enjoy for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert! Okay, maybe not for every meal but they do make you feel a little better than eating a typical sugar cookie for every meal!

Crab Rangoon

I found this recipe on a My Fitness Pal forum, and was so eager to try it out! Each piece is 41 calories! Sign me up. Now I had in my mind they would taste like Surin's Crab Angels and they weren't quite as creamy but definitely delicious.

The original recipe says it makes 24 but I was able to get about 32 out of the recipe!

Nutrition Info (per piece):
41 calories
1.1g fat
2.7g protein

Ingredients
24 wonton wrappers
Olive oil cooking spray
8 oz lump crab meat
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2.5 tsp curry powder (could probably use a little less of this)
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
1/2 cup reduced fat cream cheese

Steps
Preheat Oven to 375
1. Spray a mini muffin tin with olive oil spray.  Push a wonton wrapper into each muffin tin.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine crab, Worcestershire sauce, curry, ginger, and cayenne pepper.
3. Mix with a fork, breaking up large chunks of crab.
4. Add cream cheese, mashing with a fork until fully incorporated.
5. Using a teaspoon, spoon filling mixture into wontons.
6. Fold ends of wonton wrappers over mixture, wet finger to seal.
7. Bake for 10 minutes, until ends are slightly browned.
8.  Serve hot (garnished with scallions if you wish).

Enjoy!

Before sealing the edges over the mixture.

 

Ready to Serve!

Mexican Chicken Lasagna

I recently went to my first Pampered Chef party and for those of you who know me I know you are shocked that it was my first Pampered Chef party! I ordered the round baker which can serve as a crockpot for your microwave! Last week I tried my first recipe, Mexican Chicken "Lasagna", it was fantastic! I will be working towards adapting this recipe for the oven so it is more universal for my followers but if you have been searching for a dish to use in the microwave and make a fantastic meal contact Carrie with Pampered Chef for the round baker! The thing I love about the deep covered baker is makes prepping your meal very easy and the cook time is so quick! On to the recipe, if you have the regular deep covered baker please double the following. This recipe was provided from Pampered Chef.

Ingredients
1/8 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves
1 cup (4 oz) shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
1/2 can (14 oz) enchilada sauce
1.5 cups diced cooked chicken
1/2 package (4 oz) cream cheese
1/3 chopped onion
6 corn tortillas
Additional chopped fresh cilantro leaves (optional)

Steps
1. Cook the chicken on the stove top with a little bit of olive oil until cooked through, dice, and set aside ready for assembly.
2. Chop cilantro leaves. Place cream cheese in a bowl and microwave for 30-45 seconds, enough to soften it. Add cilantro and 1/2 cup of the Monterrey Jack cheese. Mix well.
3. Chop onion and set aside.
4. Spread 1/3 cup of Enchilada sauce on the bottom of the baker and the rest into a mixing bowl.
5. Assemble the lasagna, dip two tortillas into the enchilada sauce in the mixing bowl, line on the bottom of the baker, scoop half of the cream cheese mixture over the tortillas and spread evenly.  Top with 1/2 cup of chicken and 1/3 of the onion.  Repeat layers one time.  Dip the remaining tortillas in the sauce, arrange over the second layer.  Top with the remaining chicken and onion. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the lasagna and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
6. Microwave, covered, for 6-8 minutes. 

This yields 4 servings and has 390 Calories per serving!!

Enjoy this twist on Mexican night!