A New Year Around the Corner-Top 5 Recipes from 2011

Wow, it is Thursday already, and the new year is right around the corner!  Where did 2011 go?  When I look back at 2011 there are several big moments that stick out to me.  But you will have to wait and read about those BIG moments tomorrow, because today I am sharing my top 5 all time favorite recipes (cooking moments) from 2011!  After all Happily Ever Healthy did start out as a cooking blog!

Enjoy!

I have to say I kinda enjoyed looking through some of the older cooking posts.  I am happy with where my blog has gone, lets just say the blog has improved a bit with time!  But as promised here are my top 5 recipes (in nor particular order) from 2011!

Lets start with breakfast.  A meal I use to detest but now wouldn't dream of missing!
1. Oatmeal Pancakes!
Delicious any time of the day, and even better when you add banana!

If you like a pumpkin version check out Pumpkin Oatmeal Pancakes
2. Pumpkin Coffee Cake
A little experiment that turned out fabulous!

Perfect for any festive brunch, or when you want something sweet!

3. BBQ Chicken Burrito Bowls (Remade)

One of Marks All time Favorites... along with
Stir Fry!

4. What is a year without a little chocolate!
My Mom's Chocolate Sheet Cake!

5. And last but not least... my Tzaziki CousCous Salad!
The remake, with so much more flavor.  This was the first recipe to be featured on a website!

Well there you have it... my top 5 recipes from 2011!
Have you ever gone back and looked at where your blog started?

A Festive Red Velvet

Are you ever stumped on what to make for dessert?  Especially dessert for say an important dinner or a holiday?  If you answered yes to both questions then you are like me!  Christmas eve my mom looked at me and goes "So what are we going to have for dessert tonight... anything?" I just looked back at her with a blank (probably half asleep) expression.  I hadn't given any thought as to what we would have for dessert, to be honest I thought we would eat cookies!  Christmas Eve dinner in the Wolfe household is kind of a no brainer.  We always have that wonderful Chicken Wild Rice soup I shared with your here.  But dessert, there is no set dessert for Christmas eve.  So the question of what are we having for dessert sent me straight to the cupboard of cookbooks!  I am not sure how many cookbooks I looked through.  I looked through everything from William Sonoma, to the Mayo Clinic and even The Barefoot Contessa, but nothing stuck out to me.  To me I like things simple on Christmas Eve, however simple doesn't mean lack of flavor!

Just as I was feeling a bit desperate to find a recipe I remembered my latest issue of Cooking Light!

  The December issue was stocked full of delicious desserts, desserts that looked both simple, elegant and adorable (think cupcakes and mini bundt cakes)!  Flipping through the magazine again made my mouth water (cooking light has amazing pictures)! I finally decided on a very festive looking Red Velvet Cupcake (yes red velvet is my favorite, but hey red is festive for Christmas)! 

You can find the recipe I used here (there is also a chocolate and vanilla cupcake recipe from the issue).  I followed it to a T.  I was very happy with the way these little gems turned out.  They are probably the best red velvet cupcakes I have made.  And the cream cheese frosting isn't to shabby!  I swirled in a bit of red food coloring like the recipe called for, and I ended up with a swirly almost candy cane like effect!

  I will warn you these cupcakes can seem a bit involved, but I thought the end result was worth it.  I ended up having extra cream cheese frosting so I am looking for an excuse to use it!  Suggestions are welcome!      Now go put those aprons on and get to baking! 

What do you all make for a holiday dessert?

5 From the Weekend

Here we are the start of a new week once again, and Christmas is only 14 days away!  Now that my friends is hard to believe!  December is flying by that is for sure.  I feel like this weekend went by in a flash.  One minute I was relaxing on the couch watching a movie and in the blink of an eye it was Sunday night, and I was prepping for another work day.  I wish the work week could fly by like weekends do!

Anyways here are 5 highlights from my lightening fast weekend!

1- I know I am a little behind on the times, but this past Friday I finally saw The Help!

I loved the movie.  While the movie didn't follow the book exactly I thought the producers did a wonderful job of captivating the message behind the book.  There were times I felt tears welling up behind my eyes, and other times I laughed so hard my stomach hurt (seeing Hilly's face after eating the pie)! 

2- Another thing I am also late to the game on this one folks... Skinny Jeans!  I finally broke down and bought my first pair of skinny jeans on Saturday.  I was just so sick of having baggy knees when I would tuck normal straight leg jeans into boots!

I bought a pair of the Dark Wash Always Skinny jeans from Gap!

3- Partying for this lovely ladies birthday!

4- Fresh baked Zucchini Muffins enjoyed warm out of the oven, these muffins reminded me so much of my childhood!  Love them!

Recipe found here!

5- And lastly a big bowl of soup to take off the winter chill!

Recipe found Here (next time I am adding quinoa)!

How was your weekend?  

Friday Calls for Cookies!

On Wednesday I got an unexpected day off from work.  Along with getting some much needed relaxing/reading in I decided that I wanted to do some baking.  I made cookies and a new pumpkin muffin.  I cannot say that I was that impressed with the pumpkin muffins, they just were not that pumpkiny (is that a word)!  Anyone have a good pumpkin recipe?

But the Snickerdoodle cookies I made I took the cake.  They were crispy on the edges and soft in the middle.  Not to mention snickerdoodles leave your kitchen smelling heavenly, nothing beets the smell of fresh baked cookies and cinnamon!  Snickerdoodle cookies rank right up there with chocolate chip cookies, and of course  peanut butter cookies.  

This particular snickerdoodle recipe comes from Cooking Light, I do love Cooking Lights online archive of recipes!

Lets get baking.

What you will need:

1 3/4 Cups Flour 

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda 

1/2 Teaspoon Cream of Tarter 

1 Cup Sugar 

1/4 Cup Butter Softened

1 Tablespoon Corn Syrup 

1 Teaspoon Canilla 

1 Large Egg 

3 Tablespoons Sugar 

2 Teaspoons Ground Cinnamon 

Cooking Spray

Here is what you do :

Combine the flour, baking soda and cream of tarter.  Stir to combine.

In a mixing bowl combine butter and sugar until well blended.  

Then add your corn syrup, egg and vanilla.  Mix well. 

Slowly add your four mixture and mix until well combined.

Now sit your cookie dough in the fridge for 10 min.

While the cookie dough is in the fridge combine 3 Tablespoons Sugar and your 2 Teaspoons Cinnamon.

After 10 minutes in the fridge pull your cookie dough out.  Roll cookie dough into 42-1 inch balls.

Roll the cookie dough balls into the sugar and cinnamon mixture. 

Once your cookie dough balls have been rolled in the cinnamon sugar, place them on a cookie sheet.

Now flatten the cookie dough balls with a water glass.

Bake the cookies for 5 minutes, and allow the cookies to cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet!

Next step, grab a big glass of milk and enjoy a nice warm, fresh snickerdoodle cookie!

Enjoy, and Happy Friday

A bit of inspiration!

Remember to live Happily Ever Healthy!

Chocolate Wonderland

Good Morning lovely bloggers!  I hope you had a wonderful and relaxing weekend.  Is everyone having a good start to the week?  My day has started a bit slow, and it is rainy here in Minnesota.  It makes me just want to stay curled up by the fireplace with a book.  But I know that cannot happen today, I have a long to do list and I have to go to work!  I have been sitting by my phone waiting to hear how Marks first day of work went!  I hope it is going well.

Anyways I have the perfect recipe that is sure to brighten any rainy day.  Because lets be honest who doesn't love lots and lots of chocolate?  I have grown up eating this chocolate cake, it has been a family favorite for as long as I can remember.  I remember being a little girl helping my mom make this cake.  This was the very first chocolate cake I learned how to make!

  The best part was getting to eat a cup full of the chocolaty batter before the eggs went in (and yes I did this the other day when I made it, and so did my mom)!  It is just that good.  This cake is nothing fancy, just a simple chocolate sheet cake, but sometime simple is better.

(You can see we have used this recipe a lot)

Pumpkin Bread Anyone

Happy Monday Everyone!  Did you all have a fabulous weekend?  Did you do anything fun?

I have a wonderful recipe to share with you today.  On Saturday I finally decided enough was enough, I had to make pumpkin bread (I had only been craving it for the past week), and boy am I glad I made it.  I was extremely happy with how the bread turned out, moist, a little sweet, melty chocolate and PUMPKIN!

Read on to get this wonderful recipe!

Hill Vs. The Pancakes, and Updates from Margaritaville

Have you ever watched the show Man Vs. Food?  Well I felt like Man Vs. Food yesterday when my plate of pancakes came out at breakfast!  I dubbed my fake show Hill Vs. The Pancakes!  These mammoth size pancakes were curtsey of The Butter Cafe!  I was so excited to go to The Butter Cafe for brunch, I have been wanting to go there for some time now!  Butter Cafe supports sustainable cooking, which means they use only the best ingredients (ingredients that don't hurt animals, the environment and are healthy for consumers) aka lots of Organic!!

 I was struggling on what to get, everything sounded so good post run, and I was starving!  I went between Banana Pancakes, French Toast Kebabs, Oatmeal, and Cinnamon Sugar Pancakes!  I wish I could have ordered one of each (then you would have been rolling me out of the cafe)!  So what did I finally settle on?  Drum roll please...  Cinnamon Sugar Pancakes!  Best decision ever, these pancakes were sweet but not that overpowering sweet.  Topped with bananas and of course peanut butter, the pancakes hit the spot!  I took the rest of my pancakes with me to snack on latter because let me tell you those suckers were huge!  Take a look.

Mammouth Cinnamon Sugar Pancakes!!

And after Mark, his mom and I Went to town!

Clearly food won that round in Hill Vs. The Pancakes!  

We left the Butter Cafe ready to tackle the hour and a half drive to Indy for the Concert!!

Upon arriving in Indy we decided we would check into our hotel before hitting up the venue... lets just say its a good thing we did!  There were a few issues with the hotel lets just leave it at that (makes for a great story)!

She's Home!

My sister finally made it home tonight!  And we had a wonderful dinner in the works to celebrate her birthday and gather with friends.  My sister and I are five years apart, but if you saw us you would totally think she is older!  

Sisters!

On the menu:

My Undone Caprese Salad (this turned out way better then last time!)  I omitted the Balsamic Vinegar this time!

Bruchetta:

1 Tomato, Fresh Basil, 1 Small Onion, 2 Teaspoons Olive Oil, 1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar

Garlic Mashed Potatoes (Recipe to Come)

Mashed Cauliflower

Asparagus

Steak, and Fish

And for Dessert the Famous Strawberry Dumplings complete with homemade ice cream. I am going to leave you with a photo montage of the evening.  As it is very late and I am meeting Katie for an early AM run!  Think 6:15!

 The Pie Crust for Strawberry Dumplings

 Yum Strawberries

 You can tell we make Strawberry Dumplings A LOT!

Fresh From the Oven

The beginning of Bruchetta

Way better then the last undone Caprese Salad

Crispy Olive Oil Bread for Bruchetta! Easy to do cut a baguette brush each side with garlic and olive oil.  Bake in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes or until crispy and golden!

My little sister growing up!  She got a cook book and is actually cooking!

Goodnight Everyone, and remember to live Happily Ever Healthy!

Be Resourceful

Be Resourceful

"Almost everything comes from almost nothing."

- Henri-Frederic Amiel

Remember that! You can't just start at the top, you have to work your way from the bottom up!  Something I frequently forget.  I sometimes get impatient (or all the time) and want everything to happen at once, but alas that is not how life is!

I am sorry that i was not back last night to post!  We ended up staying out with Melinda till well after 9!  We had a wonderful day though out in the country.  We baked yummy scones (I have pictures and a Link to the recipe) and I learned to do this.

Yes that is me sitting still for more then 5 minutes!  I know me not moving is a miracle!  The thing i loved about being out in the country yesterday was the peacefulness of it all.  I told both my mom and Melinda that I felt so relaxed!  Being out in the country reminded me of being at my grandparents in Southern Illinois.  Where you wake up at the crack of dawn to sun streaming in, and the days are long and relaxing.  Yesterday was definitely a much needed stress relief.

I do not know why but I just love the way windmills look!  I had to snap two more pictures of them yesterday!  One against the bright blue sky of the day, while the other was on the drive home with the sun setting!

Yesterdays Scone Menu consisted of these flavors:

Cranberry Orange (Oh So Good)

Double Strawberry Basil (interesting combination)

And

Oatmeal Raison!

We used this recipe for the amazing Cranberry Orange scones!  These scones were by far my favorite.  The cranberries combined with the flavors of fresh orange were bright and vibrant, and complimented each other nicely.  The cranberries added a bit of a tart flavor while the orange offered up a subtle sweetness.  We glazed the cranberry orange scones with a orange glaze, and then served them up with a orange marmalade butter!  I was in heaven, just sitting relaxing with a cup of tea and a fresh hot scone!  Not a care in the world!  Here are a few pictures from our creative afternoon of scone making lessons!

 Cranberry Orange Scones Ready To Bake!

 Getting Glazed!

 Delicious!

 Double Strawberry Basil Scones

 One Large Pile of Scones

 Toasted Oats for our Oatmeal and Raison Scones

Cut and Ready to Bake!

As soon as I get my hands on the other two recipes I will be sure to share them with you!

Well I am off to get a long to do list done!  However I have been up since 5 and already got my workout for the day done!  Thats one thing to check off the list!  I went to a boot camp type class with Katie and my mom this morning at 5:45 followed by my 5 mile 10k training run!  I am going to be sore tomorrow. But we have lots of prep work and cleaning to be done because my little sister comes home today!  

We are celebrating her 20th Birthday that was on Tuesday!  I cannot wait to see her!  We are preparing a special dinner for her, lots of grilling and fresh veggies.  I am sure I will be in charge of the Veggies!  Till tonight!  And remember as always to live Happily Ever Healthy!

PS 24 Days till I see Mark!  Wish him luck on his interview today!