Marshmallow Swirl Brownies

To help make ends meet, I recently became a Pampered Chef consultant. I've really been enjoying the job - it's so fun to do parties, meet new people and play with cool Pampered Chef products. I'm always on the hunt for easy and delicious recipes to demo at my parties, and this one from Pillsbury fit the bill! I came across the recipe on a box of Pillsbury brownie mix and figured that no one could resist the combination of chocolate and marshmallow. I mean really, is there anything better than marshmallow fluff? Give these a whirl - they are fantastic and super easy!

Marshmallow Swirl Brownies

Cooking Spray
1 pkg fudge brownie mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
2 large eggs
1 (7 oz) jar marshmallow creme
1/3 cup chocolate frosting

Heat oven to 350. Prepare brownies as indicated on package with oil, water and eggs. Cool completely.

Spread a thin layer of marshmallow creme over brownies. Place frosting in microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 10-20 seconds. Stir until smooth. Drizzle frosting over marshmallow creme. Swirl with knife.

Refrigerate 15 minutes. To cut cleanly, spray a knife with non-stick cooking spray as needed. Store loosely covered in the refrigerator.

Pasta Bake with Sausage, Spinach and Beans

I'll admit it - I was naive. Before I had my babies, I totally used to judge women who said that they didn't have time to do things once they had their babies. Women who said that they couldn't find the time to work out? "Please!" I'd think. "You can totally get up early and exercise, or do it at night after the kids go to bed." Um, yeah, right. I now know that when you spend half the night up soothing and feeding babies the last thing you want to do is get up at 5:30 am and work out. There is also no way that you have the energy for a workout at 8:00 pm once the babies are finally in bed. I also used to laugh at women who said they had no time to cook once they had their babies. "Ha!" I thought. "You can't find half an hour a day to throw dinner together?!?" Um, no, on many days, you can't. For the past few months Joe and I have been living on takeout, standby crockpot recipes, frozen salmon filets with tater tots and meals kindly provided by family members. Luckily, as the babies get a little older we have more of a routine established and I have managed to find time to cook some decent dinners recently.

The first thing that I was eager to try came from the Cook Yourself Thin cookbook. This spring while I was on bedrest, Cook Yourself Thin aired every day at 5:00 and 5:30 on Lifetime. Since I wasn't allowed to leave the couch, I watched it religiously. I always thought that the recipes looked great and I vowed that I would get the cookbook once I had the babies. The book was under the Christmas tree for me this year, and this recipe for Pasta Bake with Sausage, Spinach and Beans was the first I tried. I made a few changes - I used spinach instead of the broccoli the recipe called for because Joe dislikes spinach less than he dislikes broccoli, and I used a sun-dried tomato and mozzarella chicken sausage in place of the turkey sausage.

This pasta was really, really good! I love the addition of the beans, and it was deliciously creamy with a nice crunchy crust on top. I'm anxious to try more recipes from the cookbook as soon as I get another chance!

(Blogger hates me right now and won't let me copy the recipe to this post, so please use the direct link until I can get it pasted!

The reasons for my lack of cooking - Charlie and Lily, 7 months old!

Incredible Bundt Cake

Sometime over the course of the last year or so I acquired a cookbook called 101 Things to Do With a Cake Mix. I pulled it out yesterday as I had just been to the grocery store and cake mixes were on sale (gotta love 10 for $10 items!). I decided to whip something up for the NICU nurses. I make brownies and cookies a lot, so I decided to go with a cake. I originally chose a chocolatey cake, but then I remembered something.

Last week I was telling Lily's primary nurse Julia about my plan to bring in cupcakes for the babies 2 month birthday and Julia informed me that "Lily" was not a fan of chocolate cake and preferred vanilla. As not to disappoint "Lily," I ditched the chocolate cake and went with this one instead. The problem with making a cake to give away is that you can't taste it beforehand. However, if the aroma it made while baking is any indication, this cake is awesome! I got many compliments on it from the nurses today, so I think it's a winner! While typing this recipe I realized that I forgot to divide the chips and nuts and instead put them all in one layer. I'm not sure if it made much of a difference, but next time I'll try to pay attention to the directions!

Incredible Bundt Cake

1 yellow cake mix
1 small box vanilla pudding
1 cup sour cream
3 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 cup chopped pecans, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using and electric mixer, blend the cake mix, pudding, sour cream, eggs, oil and applesauce 5-6 minutes. Grease and flour a bundt or tube pan. Pour 1/3 of the batter into pan and sprinkle one half of chocolate chips and nuts over it. Pour in remaining batter and top with remaining chips and nuts. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool about 5 minutes, then turn out onto a serving plate; cool completely.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Charlie and Lily have been in the NICU for a little over 2 months now. In this time we've really gotten to know many of their nurses well, and they are wonderful, wonderful women. To show our gratitude to them in some small way, I try to bake them treats at least once a week. Sometimes it's just brownies from a box, but when I have time I try to do something from scratch. These cookies were one of the first treats I made for them after I got out of the hospital and they were delicious! Rich and fudgy and chewy - a huge hit! I left out the nuts in case anyone was allergic and I added a cup of semisweet chocolate chips in addition to the white chips.

(The recipe is linked above, but I will add it to the post later. For some reason Blogger is refusing to let me copy and paste...)

I'm back!

So by now everyone knows why I haven't been baking or cooking much since my last post! Joe and I have been spending a lot of time in the NICU with Charlie and Lily - we love being parents! I don't have much free time at home these days, but I'm trying to cook and bake a little when I can. So stay tuned for some new posts!

On Hiatus

Well, I'm sorry to announce that "...and a cookie for dessert" will be taking a rather lengthy hiatus. I've been put on bedrest, most likely until the babies arrive, and then I think I'm going to have my hands full for awhile after that. I hope to be able to return at some point though, as I really do love this blog!! But thank you to everyone who's been reading all this time and hopefully, I'll be back!!

In the meantime, if you're curious to see what's going on with me in baby land, check out my baby blog - http://threecheersforbabies.blogspot.com/

Cake Batter Ice Cream

Now that the weather is finally getting warmer I decided it was time to break out my ice cream maker. I knew that Lauren had been using her ice cream maker all through the winter so she had an arsenal of great recipes for me to choose from. I bookmarked several, but decided to give this cake batter ice cream a whirl first since Joe is a big fan of cake batter ice cream. Like Lauren I used Funfetti cake mix, but heeding her warning about the sprinkles dissolving I added more sprinkles to my ice cream at the very end, just to make it more colorful. This ice cream is SO delicious! And the ice cream came out perfect - creamy and rich and the perfect consistency. In fact, I think it's the best ice cream I've ever made! I highly recommend this!

Cake Batter Ice Cream

1 cup whole milk, well chilled
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream, well chilled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup Funfetti cake mix

In a medium bowl, whisk the milk and granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved.

Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla.

Stir in cake mix, making sure there are no lumps.

Pour mixture into the freezer bowl of your ice cream maker and let mix until it has thickened (about 25-30 minutes).

Remove ice cream from freezer bowl and place into a separate container.

Place freezer bowl and the ice cream into the freezer to further harden.