March 2014 – Makin' it Mo'Betta

My experience with Biz Stain Fighter #BizChallenge #sponsored

Kim

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of . All opinions are 100% mine.

I was invited to participate in the ‘Biz Challenge’ and with 3 kids, of course I accepted! I had the opportunity to try Biz Stain Fighting Liquid and immediately I had a doozy of a stain to tackle. But before I get to that….check out how they sent the product…

How fun is that? It made me happy just opening it! (They have updated their look, so if you have been using Biz for years, it’s the same product.) But back to the major stain I had to tackle….

RED.DYE. Yes, red dye on a brand new, never worn shirt! I was so upset because I thought red dye would never come out. The back story on the stain is this – I bought my middle child this cute denim shirt and a pair of RED jeans at the same time. They were in the same bag and as I was leaving the store, it was raining. I’m guessing the jeans got wet, rubbed off on the shirt, and then they sat in a bag for several days before I took them out to wrap them for her birthday. Since I wait until the last minute to do everything, I was wrapping her presents right before it was time to open them, so I didn’t have time to do anything with the shirt. SO, she opened her shirt with a stain on it….oopsies. I really have to stop procrastinating! Anyway, I wanted to see if I could get the stain out. So Biz showed up just in time!

Close up of the stain. Ughhhh! Thankfully, and I gave it a shot. l pretreated the stain with Biz by pouring some on the stain, rubbing it in, and letting it sit for 5 minutes or so. Then I added some Biz to the load of clothes along with my regular detergent. I have to admit I was skeptical it would ever come out.

BOOYAH! No more stain!! I was pleasantly surprised and very relieved.

The only evidence there ever was a stain are these 2 tiny little faded spots! Awesome. So, if you have some tough stains you want to tackle, find out and before heading out to grab some. You can have your own little Biz Challenge going on! You can also find Biz where you can share your stain stories and learn more.

What kinds of stains do you have to deal with? This one was out of the ordinary, it’s usually grass stains, chocolate, mud or blood. Yes, my kids are constantly scraping something and bleeding. I hope this is normal?!

So what about you, are you a Biz fan?

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Snack Cake

Kim

This is actually way healthier than it sounds. Sorry. It’s full of whole wheat and oats…but WAIT, it’s also full of peanut butter (and not just plain peanut butter, but chocolate peanut butter!) AND it has chocolate chips. Had you worried there for a second didn’t I? You know me, it’s always semi healthy around here.
I have the best of intentions. I go for healthy….but then chocolate and sugar and stuff usually gets in the way. *sigh*

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Snack Cake

1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 c. old fashioned oats
1 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. creamy *
1 T. vanilla extract
1/2 c. milk
1/3 c. mini chocolate chips

*Regular peanut butter, your choice of nut butter, or a peanut butter replacement (like SunButter) could also be used

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
In a medium size mixing bowl, combine peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix on high until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
Add flour, oats, salt and baking soda and mix on medium speed. The dough will look crumbly.
With the mixer on low speed, add milk and mix until a dough forms.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Make a ball with the dough and place ball in the middle of an 8×8 baking dish. Press dough evenly into dish. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until set and golden on top.
Let cool. Cut into squares or bars. Store in airtight container.

Recipe slightly adapted from

As pictured above, this can be dessert…warm from the oven with a little whipped cream and chocolate syrup (yummmm), but it also makes a decent lunch box treat.

My son couldn’t have these due to the peanut butter, but my girls and I enjoyed them. They aren’t super sweet like an oatmeal cookie, but a pretty good snack. It also got some whole grain oats into my girls since they did not inherit my love of oatmeal (which I so don’t understand!) They did however, inherit my love of chocolate. What can ya do…genetics is tricky business 😉

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Spinach Tomato Orzo Soup

Kim

Probably not what most people are posting for St. Patrick’s Day…but hey, you can’t get much greener than spinach!

Okay, so that doesn’t look so hot. But the end result….

That’s a little more appetizing I hope. I love soup, so it looks pretty darn good to me. Especially since it continues to be cold and rainy and just plain gross weather wise.

As with most things I make, this is pretty easy to throw together, and even better, it’s healthy! I’m not sure why, but I love orzo in soup.

Of course, with all this healthiness going on, I’m the only one in my house that would eat it. If you are not a big veggie eater, soup is a good way to get more in your diet. Spinach works great in soup because of its mild flavor, and you can puree your other veggies if you don’t like the chunks. I do that a lot, because honestly, the only chunks I want are chocolate ones 🙂

Spinach Tomato Orzo Soup

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb spinach
1 – 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 cup orzo pasta
4 quarts chicken or vegetable stock
salt and pepper, too taste
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Place a large stock/soup pot on medium high heat. Add olive oil.
Saute onions until tender. Reduce heat to medium and add garlic. Saute for about a minute
Add canned tomatoes, spices, spinach, and chicken or vegetable stock. Increase heat to medium high and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium and add orzo pasta, cooking for 12 – 15 minutes, or until orzo is tender. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Serve with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese if desired. I love cheese in my soup!

(Recipe adapted from )

You could easily add meat to this soup, like chicken or chicken/turkey sausage. You could also use kale instead of spinach if you are a kale fan, as well as incorporating more veggies. That’s the great thing about soup, it’s pretty versatile. Now, if only my children’s taste buds would become more versatile…the only soup they will eat is chicken noodle. And then, only 2 out of 3 will eat it! Oh well, enjoy your St. Patrick’s Day!

I leave you with a little Irish Blessing –

May joy and peace surround you,

contentment latch your door,

and happiness be with you now

and bless you evermore!

I may be linking up at any of the following – (Monday) , , , , , , (Tuesday) , , , , ,, , (Wednesday) , , , , , , , (Thursday) ,, , , (Friday) , , , , , ,, ,, , , , , (Saturday) ,

Pi(e) Day! I almost forgot!

Kim

I can’t believe it’s Pi(e) Day (3/14) and I forgot!! I mean really, what kind of food blogger am I that I forget such an important day? Well…one with 3 kids that started Spring sports this week – that’s what kind. It’s been cray. So, my previous post jumped ahead to St. Patrick’s Day, but that’s okay. We’re going to back track a little because there are a few pies that you really need to know about. Seriously. Need.

Like this one –

Oreo Chocolate Chess Pie. A chocolate lover’s dreammmm.

We like Chess Pie’s around here because I also have a

This Dark Chocolate Chess Pie is quite awesome too. Or another involving cookies, the Chocolate Chip Cookie Chess Pie.

This Fudgey Mocha Nut Pie is like a deeply chocolate-y brownie in a pie shell. It’s amazing.

Or if you want something that you don’t have to bake…

This No-Bake S’more Pudding Pie is so easy and you can easily adapt the recipe to whatever flavors you like. I also have this posted at Eat at Home. It has sweetened condensed milk, which automatically makes it fabulous. I also have a with sugar free option posted over there and it combines chocolate and peanut butter. Enough said I think.

If you are looking for some healthier options for Pi Day, I have you covered there too!

This Moo-less Chocolate Pie by Alton Brown will surprise you with it’s ingredient list, but it’s really good!

You also will be pleasantly surprised by this one –

Deep Dish Cookie Pie. Serve it warm with ice cream or whipped cream and no one will know your secret!

AND if you are just cursing me right now because you aren’t eating sweets for Lent or whatever reason…there is always

Pumpkin Pie Quinoa or Pumpkin Pie Steel Cut Oats!

Happy Pi(e) Day!

St. Patrick’s Day

Kim

I’ve never done much in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. I’m not Irish and didn’t even know the origin of the holiday until recently. However, the background is pretty interesting (you can read about it ) and now I’m in the mood to celebrate! (It doesn’t take much to encourage me to get in the kitchen and make something. Or I should say bake something, since that’s really all I ever want to do!) A few simple and fun things I’ve done in the past include –

“Ritzy White Trash” – gotta love Ritz crackers. They are like the cracker version of the Oreo, a junk food classic.

Green Beer (and bread) – I’m not afraid of a little green food coloring

And my favorite, ‘Magically Delicious’ Cereal Treats! I posted the recipe over at .

This year, I’m thinking of something a little more traditional, like Irish Soda Bread maybe? Or something with Guinness? What do you do for St. Patty’s Day?

It will depend on my mood. I may just dye some crap green and call it a day *insert whichever emoji that will say “haha, I’m just being funny/sarcastic/moodyB”*

Chocolate Mocha Pudding Cake

Kim

I know I posted cookies last week….but I have another dessert to share. ‘Cuz we luvvvvv dessert. And this isn’t just any dessert….this is pudding cake – a layer of chocolate cake that bakes up with a luscious pudding layer underneath full of rich chocolate and coffee flavors. Adding ice cream takes it over the top! I like to think of it as lava cake on a large scale….because bigger IS better in this case.

Don’t you want a bite of that? I know I do! Oh, and did I mention how easy it is?! I’ve posted this over at today, so please head over and check it out!

Chocolate Chip Granola Cookies

Kim

If you were to explore the recipes on my blog, you would know that we like cookies. A LOT. Having all these snow days this winter has not helped, because what’s better when you’re snowed in than to bake (and eat) cookies?! I was under the false impression that Spring was on it’s way, but considering school is cancelled today due to icy road conditions, well….ugh. Let’s make cookies!

It’s not often that I say “GO MAKE THESE COOKIES”, because even though I’m extremely bossy, I know that everybody has different taste buds. However, today I am saying it. Go make these cookies! They are awesome! In my humble opinion of course. But, I am a {self proclaimed} cookie expert.

I enjoy your basic chocolate chip cookie. But, I also really like a cookie with a lot going on. Lots of textures all crammed into a cookie. Some soft chewiness, a little crunch, a blast of chocolate flavor…these cookies have it all.

Chocolate Chip Granola Cookies

1 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup of white sugar
1/3 cup of brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 stick of butter, room temp
1 egg
1 cup of granola (I used Enjoy Life)
1/2 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup of shredded coconut (optional, could also use dried fruit or nuts)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
Add the sugars, vanilla, and butter in a mixing bowl, and beat on medium speed until creamy and smooth. Add the egg and mix until well combined.
Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture a little at a time until mixed.
Add the granola, chocolate chips, coconut (or desired add-ins) and mix until just combined.
Place rounded tablespoons of dough onto a baking sheet (I used a silicone mat with mine) about 1 inch apart.
Bake for approx. 11-13 minutes or until lightly golden around edges.
Remove from oven and let cool on baking tray for a few minutes before transferring to wire rack to finish cooling.

Recipe source:

Delicious! They are thick cookies that are soft and chewy, crunchy, chocolate-y, with hints of coconut. I will definitely be making these again!

I may be linking up at any of the following – (Monday) , , , , , , (Tuesday) , , , ,,, , (Wednesday) , , , , , , , (Thursday) ,, , , (Friday) , , , , , ,, ,, , ,, , (Saturday) ,