Oreo Cupcakes

This is my go to chocolate cupcake.  The recipe is so easy to adapt to additional fillings, frostings, and garnishes.  I have added peanut butter mousse, raspberry compote, banana chip toppings, and even some bavarian cream.  I tend to keep a box of triple chocolate cake mix, and pudding, just so I can make this recipe in a pinch!  Many a birthdays have been saved with these as the star of the show!! 

1 box of triple chocolate cake mix
1 cup vegetable oil
1 large box chocolate instant pudding
1 cup sour cream
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
8 crushed oreos (filling and all) - reserve 1 tbsp for topping

Frosting
8 oz cream cheese - room temperature
4  cups powdered sugar
8 oz extra creamy cool whip

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix together the cake mix, oil, unprepared pudding, sour cream, eggs, and milk.  Add in chocolate chips and crushed oreos.  Bake in cupcake liners for about 15-18 minutes. 

While the cupcakes bake, make the frosting.  Beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy.  Add in the powdered sugar and cool whip mix until all combined.  Refrigerate until cupcakes are fully cooled.  Pipe on the frosting and garnish with remaining Oreos.

Coffee Cake Banana Bread

This recipe for me combines the best of both of my favorite carbo-loaded worlds.   Banana bread meet coffee cake.  I definitely have a favorite regular banana bread recipe and it is still my go to when I need something a little "healthier" or not quite as messy for a go to snack.  This recipe has a crumbly topping and a moist and banana-ey bottom.  I use a mini loaf pan and they make the perfect after school snack; or sliced and taken to a potluck.  If you have a tried and true banana bread recipe too, I promise you that it's not cheating to try this one too!!  You won't regret it!!

Bread
3-4 meduim bananas
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp sour cream

Topping
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp butter, cold and cubed

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease 4 mini loaf pans.  In a small bowl, mash bananas together with brown sugar, vanilla, and ground cinnamon.  In a different and larger bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add in eggs and beat until mixed.

To the wet ingredients, sift in flour, baking soda, and salt.  Stir until just combined.  Add in sour cream and stir. Pour in mashed bananas, and mix until combined.  Distribute evenly into the 4 greased mini loaf pans.

To make the crumb topping, combine all ingredients and cut together with a pastry cutter.  Cut until the topping looks like course pea sized crumbs.  Sprinkle the topping evenly over the top of the 4 mini loafs.  Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Allow bread to cool for 10 minutes.  Remove from mini loaf pan and let cool on a wire rack.  Enjoy!

Mexican Street Corn Dip

This dip is legit...like too legit to ever stop making it!  I can't tell you the times that I have been asked for the recipe.  I don't necessarily think that it's the prettiest dish, but it is worth it for sure!!  I use it in tacos, as a dip, or even over the top of grilled chicken breast!  It is as delicious as it is versatile!!

4 cups corn (fresh, frozen...and canned works in a pinch)
1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/3 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 1/2 diced avocados
1 minced garlic clove
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
3 tbsp mayonnaise
1 1/2 tbsp lime juice
salt to taste

Heat oil in a large skillet and toss in corn.  If cooking fresh corn, it will need to be cooked for longer.  Frozen and canned just needs a quick browning and it is done. Let corn cool while you chop up all your other ingredients.

When corn has cooled, add the corn to a salad bowl along with avocado, red onion, feta, cilantro, mayo, jalapeno, lime juice, garlic, and chili powder.  Gently toss together until everything is mixed.  Garnish with a few cilantro leaves and a lime wedge.  Serve with chips, as a topping for tacos, or even piled on some grilled chicken...ENJOY!!

Dinner Rolls

I have tried making so so many different roll recipes.  They all turn out great, but never better than good ol' Rhodes Rolls.  Grandma Finlayson makes great rolls, Great Grandma GiGi makes amazing feather rolls...but again...none of them taste better than Rhodes rolls.  But shhhh...don't tell them that.  I think part of it is because my mom made Rhodes Rolls while I was growing up so there's a bit of nostalgia there.  Well...I'm happy to say that I have found the recipe...the recipe that puts Rhodes to shame.  They make the best dinner rolls, the best cinnamon rolls, and everything in between.  I have stuffed them with chicken, folded them to look like bunnies, and evolved them into sweet sticky buns.  Any way I make them I am ALWAYS asked for the recipe...the one true mark of a great recipe, am I right?!  Any ways...this is a Finlayson staple and it's going down in the history books folks!

1/3 cup warm water , 110 - 115 degrees

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

1/3 cup + 1/4 tsp granulated sugar

1 1/3 cups whole milk , warmed to 110 - 115 degrees

3/4 cup salted butter , at room temperature, divided

1 large egg , at room temperature

1 1/2 tsp salt

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour*

Measure out warm water into a liquid measuring cup then stir in yeast and 1/4 tsp sugar, whisk until yeast has dissolved then let rest 5 - 10 minutes until mixture is foamy. Pour yeast mixture (scrapping out excess) into the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, add in 1/3 cup sugar, warm milk, 5 Tbsp butter, egg and salt. Blend mixture until combine. Add in 2 cups flour and mix until well combine. 

Switch attachment to a dough hook, with mixer on low speed, slowly add remaining 2 1/2 cups flour and mix until dough is smooth and elastic, about 4 - 5 minutes (dough should be slightly sticky when touched). Transfer dough to a greased, large mixing bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Allow dough to rise in a warm place, free from draft, until double in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

Punch dough down and divide dough into two equal portions. Shape each portion into a ball. Roll each dough ball out on a lightly floured surface into a large circle about 13 inches across (try to keep dough as much of an even thickness as possible).

Spread each circle of dough evenly with 2 Tbsp butter. Cut each circle into 4 equal quarters, then each quarter into 3 wedges (just imagine cutting pizza slices or pie slices). Roll each wedge up, beginning on wide (outside) edge. 

Transfer rolls to a buttered 10 x 15 inch cookie sheet (the tip of the rolled wedge should be tucked on the bottom. Note that you can fit 3 rows of 8 rolls). Cover rolls loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until double in size, about 1 hour.

During the last 10 minutes of rising preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove plastic wrap and bake rolls in preheated oven for 15 - 19 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and brush with remaining 3 Tbsp butter (you may not need all of it). Serve warm or allow to cool and store in an airtight container.

Raspberry Fluff Jell-O Salad

We had this for Easter dinner and it was a HUGE hit!  I'm not a big fan of Jell-O salads when they are on the holiday tables and I can't decide whether it's an issue of texture or flavor.  This salad is pretty plane jane...but explodes with a tart, yet still sweet, flavor.  The kids loved it, the adults savored it, and by the end of the meal...every last bit was gone.  This will definitely be a recipe repeat at our house!!

1 (4.6 ounce) package Cook and Serve vanilla pudding (instant pudding will not work)

1 (6 ounce) package raspberry jell-o

2 cups water

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 (16 ounce) container Cool-Whip (lite or fat-free is fine)

2 cups raspberries (sometimes I add blackberries and blueberries too! Any fresh/frozen berries will do)

Mix together pudding, Jell-O, water, and lemon juice in saucepan over medium heat until it boils. Once it comes to a full rolling boil, remove from heat and pour into large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until mixture has thickened (about an 1-2 hours).

With an electric mixer, beat Jell-O until creamy. Gently fold in Cool Whip and raspberries until completely mixed together. Stick back into the fridge and chill for about an hour before serving.

BBQ Chicken Salad with BBQ Ranch Drizzle

I often think of salad as a side dish and not an actual meal.  I think there's ways to dress up a fun salad and make it more substantial, but most of the time I just find myself feeling unsatisfied.  Which is ironic because if I eat the protein and the salad separately, then my body is fine.  But put the meat on top and boom...no longer enough.  Well finally I have made a salad that is enough to stand alone as a full meal.  In fact, I actually felt full about half way through the salad...don't worry though, I still powered through and finished every last bite!  So, enjoy this salad...eat it as a full meal...or even as a side.  Either way, it is delicious, satisfying, and oh so nutritious!

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 boneless, skinless thin-sliced chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup BBQ sauce
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 6 cups chopped romaine lettuce
• 1 Roma tomato, diced
• 3/4 cup canned corn kernels, drained
• 3/4 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 1 Avocado diced or sliced small
• 1/4 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup Mayo
• 1/4 cup Milk
• 1 tbsp Ranch Mix Seasoning
• 1 tsp Chili powder
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 1/2 tsp Garlic powder
• 1/4 cup tortilla strip

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper, to taste. Add to skillet and cook, flipping once, until cooked through, about 3-4 minutes per side. Baste with BBQ sauce and then let cool before dicing into bite-size pieces.

To assemble the salad, place romaine lettuce in a large bowl; top with chicken, tomato, corn, beans, onion, avocado, and cheeses. Drizzle BBQ ranch dressing on top of the salad and gently toss to combine (you don't need too much because of the BBQ sauce all over the chicken).

Serve immediately, topped with tortilla strips.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Glaze

My kids love maple bars...like love them.  If they didn't like my hips so much I would love them too.  When we lived with my parents last year we were very spoiled and my kids got maple bars every Friday when my dad bought them for his seminary class.  Well now we don't have seminary donuts and my kids have been playing their sad, sad song for too long.  So when the opportunity to make cinnamon rolls presented itself, I figured I would have to incorporate maple somehow.  These pumpkin cinnamon rolls with maple glaze are seriously finger licking good!  Like toss the maple bars aside good.  Relatively easy to make too!  So give them a try...you won't be sorry!

Dough
2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
¼ cup warm water
about 3 cups of flour, divided
⅔ cup pumpkin puree
½ cup milk
¼ cup butter, melted
¼ cup sugar
1¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon vanilla

Filling
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
4 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small sections

Glaze
1½cup powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon maple extract
1 tablespoon maple syrup

To prepare the dough: Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl and let stand five minutes. Add ⅔ cup flour, pumpkin, milk, butter, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and vanilla to bowl and mix well. Transfer to a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and knead on low 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Add flour 1 tablespoon at a time until dough forms a ball and is mostly no longer sticky. (May still be a bit tacky)

Coat a large bowl with cooking spray. Place dough in bowl and cover. Place bowl in a warm place and allow dough to rise 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

To prepare the filling: combine sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice in a bowl. Cut in butter with two forks or a pastry cutter until mixture resembles course crumbs.
Punch dough down. Allow to rest 10 minutes. Roll dough into a rectangle, about 12x12 inches. Sprinkle with filling. Roll tightly, pinch ends to seal, and slice into 9 sections. Place sections flat side down in a well greased 8x8 inch square pan. Cover and allow to rise about 30 more minutes or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 375. Bake rolls about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool slightly.
Prepare the icing by mixing together powdered sugar, milk, maple extract, and maple syrup. Drizzle over rolls and serve warm.