Pumpkin Patch Photo Shoot

Usually on Wednesday I post a recipe, well the pumpkin fudge I tried to make didn't come together so I show the photos from this weekend instead ... lol. A friend of mine does our family photos every year, this year she has been doing a bunch of mini shoots and I've been trying to get the boys photo's done each time. The kids are getting older and I want to capture all the moments I can. We schedule a time to meet at the pumpkin patch and it was like the devil was against me that day! I got stuck in traffic almost 45 min late for the apt (this was only going 2 traffic lights) and the Heaven's opened up and poured on us. But thankfully my photographer stuck around for me and we got some great shots. Here are a few of my favorite! Yes my boys are goofy .. lol. For you located in Washington and looking for an amazing mini shoot (Usually $35) please check out Johansen Photography she also does full shoots for weddings, senior pictures etc.

Have a great day!!

Dora the Explorer Cupcakes

Last week I gave you a preview of a cupcake I was working on and today I show you how mine turned out. I really loved how these turned out! I signed up for a little 4 year old's homeless girls birthday. I LOVE this charity Birthday Dreams and if you're every looking to send gifts or money they are an amazing charity. They bring birthday's to homeless kids! It's all run on donations of time and money. My contribution is cakes!

Here are the Dora the Explorer Cupcakes I made. I saw several designs on Google of Dora's face but I wanted to do something a little different. I found this Star (for the Star's she uses) and the Number shape found this idea on One Sweet Treat.

What you need:

Cupcakes frosted

Modeling Chocoalte (I used Pink, Blue and Yellow)

Star Cookie Cutter

# Cookie Cutter (She was turning 4 so I used 4)

Candy Eye's

Candy Hearts Sm (For Mouths or can use red pen to draw on)

Candy Writer Pen Black (also could use brown and red if wanted)

Make your modeling chocolate (see recipe below if you haven't made before). I roll out with some powder sugar like you would with flour. Roll out, I like mine on the thick side, and use your star cutter to cut out the stars (I made 8 stars of each color). For the stars I added some Candy Eyes (using water to secure them to the modeling chocolate). I then added a small heart for the mouth, you can draw on with red food marker if you want. I then took my black candy writer (food marker) and drew on they eyebrows. 

For the Numbers I cut out in the modeling chocolate. I took my black candy writer to make dashes on the opening of the 4. you can get creative and go around the outline of the # if you want. Do what you have time for and what you feel looks best.

Enjoy!

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Crescent Rolls

This past weekend Cole's buddy spent the night so when asked to make breakfast I opened up the fridge found crescent rolls, cream cheese and jam. And into the google search I went and bam I found Strawberry Cream Cheese Crescent Rolls on Just a Pinch well close enough to what I had! I had Raspberry jam so it works!

I was a good girl with my diet and didn't eat one but my bestie was over since she was riding with my husband to work an event so I had her try them and got rave reviews.

Ingredients

1 pkg pillsbury crescent rolls

8 tsp strawberry jam

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 c sugar

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 egg white

1 tsp water

1 Tbsp sugar (to sprinkle on top, if desired)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil.

2. Mix together cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla extract until creamy and there are no lumps.

3. Unroll crescent rolls. On fattest part of triangle; spoon on 2 tsp of cream cheese mixture and 1 tsp of strawberry jam. Roll and make sure fattest part of crescent roll is on the bottom of pan so that filling doesn't ooze out.

4. Whisk together egg white and water. Brush over each crescent roll.

5. Bake for 9-10 minutes until crescent rolls are golden brown. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. (I used powder sugar)

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Featured on Great Idea Thursdays 118

A big thank you to Jo Bee & Krista at Great Idea Thursday's for featuring my cookies I made a while back. The Best Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies were a huge hit with Cole and his friends' family!

Have a GREAT weekend!

Next Cupcake design ...

I signed up for my favorite Charity Birthday Dreams (bringing birthday's to homeless kids) for a little 4 year old living in an emergency shelter who loves Dora! I went on a google search and found a ton of Dora heads which are cool but then I saw one with the stars and numbers which I thought would be so cool! 

Found this really cool idea on One Sweet Treat!

My plan is to do 3 colors (blue, yellow and pink) and the #4! Wish me luck I'll share my creation soon!

Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Wonton Cupcakes

Most of you know, that I love using wonton wrappers when I can. They make for a light meal and easy snack size and portion controlled meals.  I love Emily Bites she has the best weight watcher recipes and this Chicken Broccoli Alfredo Wonton Cupcakes are no exception to that! Enjoy these for your next meal!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 ½ teaspoons olive oil
• 1 cup broccoli florets, chopped small
• 2 cups cooked shredded or diced chicken breast
• I cup light Alfredo sauce
• ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 24 wonton wrappers
• 1 ½ cup shredded 2% Mozzarella cheese
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375. Lightly mist 12 cups in a standard muffin/cupcake tin with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Pour the oil into a skillet and bring over medium heat. Add the broccoli and cook for 5 minutes or until broccoli is tender, stirring occasionally.
3. Transfer the broccoli to a mixing bowl and combine with the chicken, Alfredo sauce, Italian seasoning and pepper. Stir until well combined.

1. Push a wonton wrapper into the bottom of each of the sprayed cups in the muffin tin. Using about half of the chicken mixture, spoon evenly into the wonton wrappers. Sprinkle about half the Mozzarella cheese evenly over the top of each cup. Press another wonton wrapper on top and repeat the layering steps with the remaining chicken mixture and Mozzarella cheese. When complete, sprinkle ¼ teaspoon of Parmesan cheese over the top of each wonton cup.

5. Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown.

WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS PLUS:4 per “cupcake” (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)

NUTRITION INFORMATION:
130 calories, 9 g carbs, 5 g fat, 13 g protein, 0 g fiber (from myfitnesspal.com)

An Emily Bites Original

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Pumpkin Harvest Bones (Dog Treat)

Next dog treat to make was a Pumpkin Harvest Bone I found this recipe on Food.com. We had enough to even share when we took our pup for a doggy play date! Since I'm pumpkin obsessed the dog is getting lot's of pumpkin treats also!

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons dry milk
• 2 1/2 cups flour ( wheat is probably better!)
• water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Blend eggs and pumpkin together; add salt, dry milk, and flour.
3. Add water as needed to make the dough somewhat workable.
4. The dough should be dry and stiff, don't be concerned with crumbs being left in the bowl.
5. You will need to mix this with your hands because it is too stiff for an electric mixer.
6. Roll to 1/2-inch thick.
7. Cut into shapes.
8. Place 1" apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
9. Bake for 20 minutes on one side, then turn over and bake another 20 minutes.

Gift bag for our doggy play date!

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Snickerdoodles

It's Pumpkin season again!  Most of you know me, know that I love this time of year and finding new recipes to use pumpkin in. Cole's best friends' parents had a football party for the Seahawks on Sunday. I wanted to bring something fun to the party I found Pumpkin Cheesecake Snickerdoodles by The Recipe Critic. NOW they are yummy and a party hit ... BUT plan on some time to make these!

Ingredients

• 3¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. freshly-ground ground nutmeg
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• ¾ cup pumpkin puree
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• Filling Ingredients:
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Cinnamon-sugar coating:
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp. ground ginger
• Dash of allspice

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. Set aside.
2. In a kitchenaid mixer with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugars on medium high speed until fluffy about 2-3 minutes.
3. Blend in pumpkin puree, beat in egg and then add vanilla. Slowly add dry ingredients on low speed just until combined. Cover and chill dough for an hour.
4. To make the cream cheese filling, blend cream cheese, sugar and vanilla together. Chill for an hour.

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line your baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, combine the sugar and spices for the coating and set aside.
2. To make the cookies, take a tablespoon of the cookie batter. Flatten it like a pancake and place a teaspoon of the cream cheese in center. Form another tablespoon of the cookie batter into a flat pancake shape and place on top of the cream cheese. Pinch the edges together sealing in the cream cheese and roll into a ball. Roll in the cinnamon sugar coating and place on the prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart.
3. Repeat until the dough is gone and flatten the cookie dough balls with a heavy bottomed glass or measuring cup.

1. Bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes or until the tops start to crack.

ALEXIS NOTES:  I did the flatten add cream and then add another cookie on top. They were HUGE so I did the flatten put cream and pinch the dough around. 

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Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Cyber Bulling ... Who Knew I could be a target

I wasn't going to post this but something told me it's a great awareness that we need to talk about. 

Last week I received a weird msg on my profile picture on FB telling me to stop. I recognized the name as a person who asked to friend me earlier. I'm not a teen or need to collect friends so unless I personally know you and talk to you I won't except a friend request. I replied back to the stop msg with stop what and who are you. What came back was stop posting pictures of myself. I told him to have a good day and go bother someone else. Before I could block him he put one last comment telling me I was gross.

I keep seeing post of teens and younger taking their lives from cyber bullying and bullying in school. It just breaks my heart that someone would feel the need to put another down and then that person thinks they have no hope and take their own life. I was bullied as a kid being a fluffy girl and thankfully I had a strong support system that lifted me up. I just read a while back about a kid taking her own life, she was just a teen in the high school my friends' daughter went. 

I posted this on FB and the out reach of my friends and family just overwhelmed me to the point of tears. His words didn't do a thing to me as an adult who is working her way to a healthier me but it reminded me of those nights as a youth when I would sit in my room thinking I was ugly and unlovable. 

I just wanted to throw this out there so we can remember what our words can do to others. Taking a second to lift those up around you and watch for the signs of it happening to our youth.

Stepping off the soap box now .. lol :).

French Toast Rollups

A while back on a blog hop I saw this yummy recipe for French Toast Rollups on Daily Leasure.  So I gave it a try for the kids and they loved them!!! NOW her's are so much more pretty and camera ready then mine turned out, but the ate it all and loved them so it was a win in my book!

Ingredients

• 16 slices Soft Bread
• 2 Eggs
• 4 tbsp Milk
• ⅓ cup Sugar
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• Filling of your Choice (I used Cream Cheese and Strawberry Jam)

Instructions

1. Place piece of bread on a cutting board and trim your crusts.
2. With a rolling pin roll your bread flat.
3. At one end of your bread place your filling (just a small strip) and roll up.
4. In a shallow dish combine sugar and cinnamon. Mix well.
5. In another shallow dish combine eggs and milk. Wisk well.
6. Heat a pan over low-medium heat, melt butter to coat pan.
7. Coat your bread roll in your egg mixture.
8. Place in pan with your seam down.
9. Cook until golden brown turning to brown all sides.
10. Remove the rolls one at a time from pan and roll to coat in cinnamon sugar mixture.

ENJOY!!!

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.