Chocolate peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies

What is better than chocolate and peanut butter? Nothing. Nothing is better than chocolate and peanut butter. Especially in a cookie. These soft brownie like cookies won't last long in your kitchen! I promise!

What you'll need:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown
1 large egg, room temperature preferred*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons milk
1 and 1/2 cup peanut butter/chocolate chips plus a few more to press on top

Using a handheld mixer cream the butter on medium speed for about 20 seconds. Add the sugars with the mixer running on medium speed. Cream it all together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

In a separate medium size bowl, toss the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together. Slowly add to the wet ingredients with the mixer running on low. The dough will be very thick. By hand, stir in the milk, then fold in the white chocolate chips. The dough will become thick and very sticky.

Chill the dough for at least 2 hours covered with saran wrap. Do not skip this step!

Preheat that oven to 350F degrees. 

 Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Set aside.

Take 2 Tablespoons of chilled dough and roll into a ball. Place on cookie sheet and press a few more peanut butter chips on the top.

Bake for 14 minutes. Cookies will appear undone and very soft.

These cookies are so soft and delicious, they will be a family favorite for sure! A big glass of cold milk and a few cookies and you're in for a fantastic, chocolatey, peanut buttery treat!

 

A twist on a classic favorite - roast beef bread bowls

Who doesn't love hot roast beef smothered in gravy atop a heaping pile of mashed potatoes and bread? Hot shots are by far one of my favorite dinners. However even I get bored of my favorite things, so I decided to mix it up a bit and instead of regular bread on the bottom of the yummy pile of goodness I decided to bake up a delicious bread bowl.

How to make the bread bowl :

What you'll need :

2 cups + 4 Tablespoons warm water

2 packages of active dry yeast (5 1/2 teaspoons)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

3 teaspoons salt

6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour - If your dough is too sticky you may add additional flour at 1 tsp at a time. If your dough if too dry add water 1tsp at a time. NO more or you could ruin your dough.

Using a large mixing bowl, add warm water and sprinkle in yeast.  Let dissolve for a few minutes until yeast becomes foamy.  Be sure to sprinkle the yeast and don't just dump into the water ..It will clump and become unusable.

Add melted butter, sugar and salt and mix until combined.  Gradually add flour.  Once combined, knead your dough for about 5 minutes, or until it becomes a puffy firm ball of dough.

Form into 6 equal sized balls.  

Place on a greased cookie sheet and let rise until doubled - about an hour

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. 

 Let cool until warm and cut off the top, remove some of the bread from the inside...this becomes your bowl for your potatoes and roast beef.

The gravy is VERY HARD to make (not really) I take a package of brown gravy mix, a package of Au Ju gravy mix and 2tbs of all purpose flour with the recommended water (2c) and mix in a medium sauce LAN on medium.
After the mix is well mixed with the water add the sliced roast beef, the gravy will flavor the roast beef as it thickens.

After the gravy is hot and thickened, put a scoop of mashed potatoes in the bread bowl (I used garlic mashed potatoes) and use a spoon and kind of push it down into the bowl. Next spoon over roast beef and gravy...and there you have it. A twist on a classic meal. It is sooo good!

Meal Plan for Sunday 4/28 - Saturday 5/4

I love meal planning! I started meal planning about a month ago and I'm not sure I would ever change back to figuring out whats for dinner each and every night. As a Mom don't we have more important things to do than figure out dinner? So per request of many friends here is my meal plan for next week.

Sunday 4/28 -
Crock Pot Beef Stew

Monday 4/29
Stuffed Pork Chops
Rice
Sweet Corn

Tuesday 4/30
Homemade Lasagna
Garlic Bread

Wednesday 5/1
Bake Garlic Parmesan Chicken Breast 
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans
Rolls

Thursday 5/2
Sirloin Steaks
Buttered Egg Noodles
Cooked Baby Carrots
Homemade cracked wheat bread

Friday 5/3

On Fridays we typically go out to eat

Saturday 5/4
Cheeseburgers
Fries 

The desserts I plan on making this week are chocolate chip banana muffins, and an Oreo chocolate pudding pie. I'll post recipes throughout next week.

Do you meal plan? How does it work for your family? Do you wish you meal planned if you don't?

Pork Chop & Rice Casserole

I'd like to thank my friend Mary for giving me this prize winning recipe. Anything that has very little leftovers is a winner in my book. Here is a fantastic recipe for Pork Chop & Rice Casserole.

This recipe is simple yet sooo good. Mix the ingredients in a casserole dish and let bake while you do your other duties around the house. Makes dinner easy and very very filling.

You'll need
3 Boneless Pork Chops (I use thick cut)
1 bag frozen mixed veggies (I used Birds Eye brand)
2c white minute rice
1 large can of Campbell's cream of chicken soup

That's all you need to make this delicious meal!
Mix the can of cream of chicken soup with equal parts of WARM water then add the rice and veggies. Combine ingredients until all the veggies and rice are covered. Then lay the pork chops over top the rice mixture. Spoon over some of the mixture over the pork, but they don't have to be completely covered.

Cover the dish with foil, and bake at 400f for an hour or until the pork is done throughout.
I hope you enjoy this fantastic and simple recipe! Let me know if you try it in the comments! Or if you have any other ways to make pork chop casserole!

Until Next Time...
Lady Bea

The Search for the Perfect Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe...

Over the winter months Dunkin Donuts came out with a banana chocolate chip muffin that one day I spontaneously purchased. It was LOVE at first bite. The fluffy moist banana taste with the chocolate sweetness was just delicious and I had found a new favorite treat. Over the next few weeks Jim would buy me 6 muffins when we were close to the DD and I would snack on them through the week. One day I went to get my weekly muffins they told me the worst news ever...my muffins were discontinued. So there starts my search, for the perfect banana chocolate chip muffin recipe.
I tried Krustez Brand chocolate cup muffins, which were fantastic but they just wasn't giving me that taste that my taste buds ever desire. Betty Crocker makes a chocolate chip muffin recipe with alternative directions to make banana chocolate chip muffins....not the same, in fact we didn't like them at all. So I decided I have to take this upon myself...to create the perfect banana chocolate chip muffin.

Today my bananas were just at that point where I could use them in the recipe. I tried my first recipe...which came out way to dense. I would NEVER make it again. So...3 attempts down, however many the universe decides to torture me with left.

Photoshoot - Katzen

          Today we shot with Katzen, a model we haven't worked with before. To be honest, sometimes I get really nervous working with someone new. I guess that's only normal for anyone. Anyways, she showed up and she was ready to shoot, opened up right away and for me that was awesome. The concept of our first shoot was Flapper Girl. Here is my best shot from the look...(Jim's shots are MUCH better)

         I think that the look that Kat gave was perfect for the style. In Lightroom I did lower saturation, increase blacks and contrast, lowered opacity and adjusted the lens (added the darkening around the edge). After opening in CS5 I healed a few blemishes, nothing major, and burned the eyes a bit to help them stand out. We did three looks total..and she killed every single one of them! She is an awesome model to work with and we would recommend her! =)

  ....here is my favorite of the shoot as a whole....(so far)

I just love love love love this shot!

Until Next Time...
Lady Bea

Photoshoot Tomorrow!

So another thing I wanted to share on my blog was my photography. We own a studio called Studio 1 Eleven and since our new little man, Zachary, moving and full time school work we only seem to shoot occasionally anymore and it really stinks since we both love it so much (Jim and I). Anyways, we are shooting with a new model tomorrow so I am excited about that. I will share my best image here and tell you why I like it, how I took it etc. I hope that you will comment or give some feedback on what you think as well. In the meantime, I thought I would share an image from our last shoot. Kirst, whom is a favorite model of ours, came and shot with us and we got some really really nice shots! My favorite was one where she was wearing her latex cat woman suit.

We shot using Paul Buff Strobes
My camera had the following settings:
1/125 shutter
F9 Aperture (My camera's sweet spot)
ISO 100
WB was on Flash

Here is the image I liked best!

 

And truthfully, Kirst requires little to no editing. All I did to the image was lower the exposure a little because my camera tends to overexpose, I increased the blacks and contrast and lowered the opacity. I removed a few, and I mean a very few, blemishes. Otherwise, Kirst just looks this fantastic right out of camera! We are shooting with Kirst again in May and I suspect that I will be uploading another fantastic image then. In fact, my very favorite picture in my portfolio is one I took of Kirst. <3

Tomorrow, I will update with the shoot we are doing in the morning! Hope you enjoyed this shot as much as I do!

Until Next Time...

Lady Bea

Easy Peasy Cheesy Taco Bowl!

So, I love tacos...but I am sooo picky about my tacos and so is my family. I tried that Hamburger helper taco box and it was too spicy for Raiden so I decided to make my own version of it. It's very simple, delish, and you can customize it any way you want! Easy Peasy right!?

Here is what you'll need
Frito Lay Corn Chips
1lb Hamburger
Velvetta cheese
Shredded Cheese, whatever kind of cheese your family likes on their tacos
1 pkg of taco seasoning mix

and whatever toppings your family likes on their tacos, for mine I just had the cheese

Cook your hamburger the same way you would making tacos, layer the chips, cheese and hamburger in a bowl...viola! Easy Peasy Cheesy Taco bowl!

Chicken Parmesan

Ahhh Dinner tonight was AHmazing! I just can never get enough of Italian based meals. This meal is simple, yet impressive enough to wow your family. "Wow..mom made this???"

You will need: Yields 3
3 Skinless Boneless Chicken Breasts
2c Unseasoned Panko Bread Crumbs
1c Freshly Grated Parmesan (fresh is best and highly recommended)
1 egg
1c All Purpose Flour
Olive oil
Thinly sliced Provolone Cheese
Shredded Mozzarella Cheese 
Spaghetti Sauce, I used a chunky Garlic Herb Sauce (Prego Brand)
Parsley
Basil
Salt/Pepper
Cilantro

While we are preppin' the chicken go ahead and preheat that oven to 450f

Panko:
2c Panko
1Tbs Parsley
1Tbs Basil
1Tbs Cilantro
Salt and Pepper
**You can also buy pre-seasoned Panko**


* Trim your chicken breasts of any fat and butterfly each one. In between two layers of wax paper take your frustration out on the chicken until it is 1/2 inch thick. This isn't hard if you've had a bad day. Your kids might think you're crazy..but you probably are, right?
*Salt and Pepper your chicken breast BEFORE coating in flour or anything else
*Coat the chicken breasts in flour, then dip in egg, then coat in the Panko Mixture
*Sit the chicken separately, not on top one another, on a plate and sit aside for about 10 minutes

In the meantime, heat up 1 inch of olive oil in a large skillet. By time your 10 minute holding time on the chicken is done, your oil will be hot enough for the chicken.

*Cook the chicken on each side for about 2 minutes or until a golden brown color. Don't worry about how well it is done at this point, it will finish cooking in the oven.
*Place chicken breasts in a casserole dish
*Layer on each breast 1/4c spaghetti sauce - I really don't recommend using more, about 1/4c Mozzarella cheese, and 1 slice of provolone cheese. If you are like me you'll be temped to use more cheese..don't...trust me.
*Sprinkle about 1/5c (a palmful) of grated Parmesan cheese over the contents of the dish.
*Add a pinch of parsley on top of each breast
*Lastly, sprinkle 2Tbl of olive oil over all the chicken breasts (2Tbl for the entire pan, not each)

*Bake at 450f for about 20 minutes or until done.

*Cook angel hair per directions of the box, when done add in a mixture of 4Tbl butter and 2tsp of garlic powder.

Until Next Time..
Lady Bea

A Letter to my Boys

Dear Christopher and Zachary,
         My dear boys, Christopher..you are beyond handsome, intelligent, so bright and determined...I love you so much, I am sorry. Zachary..my how mommy loves you so. Such a miracle, so beautiful and on the go, you're perfect in every way possible, I am sorry.
         I'm so sorry for the world mommy brought you into. All the bad you'll have to learn and see. I am sorry I can't protect you from the violence and hatred that you'll grow up hearing about, seeing on the television, reading about online...I'm so very sorry.
          I look into your deep dark brown eyes, and your bold bright blue eyes and I am saddened by the thought of that the innocence I see there being taken by anything. I never want you to be corrupted by the world, by the people in the world, by all the bad that happens. I know..these things seem inevitable but I pray each and every day that I raise you to know that although bad things happen there are always good people in the world..and you are one of them.
           I want you to stand up for yourselves, but I am sorry that you'll have to.  I want you to fight for what you believe in, but I am sorry that you'll ever have to give reason for your beliefs. I want you to protect your children, and yourselves but, I am sorry that you even have to think about how you will protect your family. I am so sorry.
          I want to vow to you, my beautiful perfect children, to fight for you. To fight for your rights, for your freedoms. I vow to do everything in my power to make sure you're taken care of medically, financially, emotionally and another other way you need mama to. I vow to love you unconditionally even when you do things I disapprove of. I love you, that will never ever change. I am so sorry for all you will see, hear, or experience. I am sorry that you will have to learn the hard way through life.
          With all the bad you will see, hear about or experience I promise there will be so many things making life worth while. College, children, experiences you'll have will make you so thankful you are alive. When you look into your children's eyes for the first time, I promise you will forget the bad, you'll forget all the hatred in the world and all you will feel is love. The same love I feel every time I look into your eyes. When you graduate high school and go on to College, you'll feel accomplished. When you buy your first car, or home..you'll feel rich. When you marry the woman of your dreams you will feel as if you've won the lottery.
          I guess what I am saying, my beautiful little men, is don't focus on the world as a whole. There will always be war, hatred, and crime. This is the devastating truth of our existence. Focus on what is important. Your family, your success, your world is what you want it to be. I am sorry for all the bad that will be around you, but I am not sorry to be able to witness you grow up and be the incredible people I know you will be.

I love you to the Moon and around the sun and back,

I am your Mommy and you are my son's.

Mommy <3
        


 

Statistcally Speaking...

         Did you know that the world has only been at peace 8% of the last 3,500 years? Pretty sad in my opinion. 8% of 3,500 is 280 years, that's less than 3 long lifetimes over 3,500 years!

         I came across this statistic online while researching for my midterm in Statistics class. Honestly,  I can't help by feel very saddened by this fact. Why can't we get along? It must be human nature to fight and bicker all the time. Someone always wants to be better than the other person. In this case, we are talking countries and territories but this holds true on even smaller scales...even children fight all the time. We have to constantly reteach their human nature of violence and show them that being jealous of one others toys or whatever they are fighting over that second is wrong. We have to constantly show them that being peaceful and talking about our feelings is the better way to handle disputes. We teach our children not to fight or hit...but why can't we as adults practice the same lessons?

       For the sake of our children and their children, and their grand babies and their grand babies children..I hope and pray that the next 3,500 years are much more peaceful...otherwise..we might just end human civilization on Planet Earth ourselves. 

       Heading to bed feeling very blessed for my children, and hoping I can raise them to love one another and help them make their footprint on this planet a peaceful one. I want to teach them right from wrong and have them pass on those lessons to their children.

    Question for you....How does this statistic make you feel?



Until Next Time ...

Lady Bea

Rustic Pizza Poppers

Hello! Today I decided to cook up something a bit different for lunch. Turns out, it's an absolute hit and I will be making it for years to come. Here is my recipe for Rustic French Bread Pizza Poppers!

You will need :
1 egg
Mozzarella/provolone cheese sticks
Can of Pillsbury Simply French Bread
Pepperoni
and Italian seasoning.

Recipe makes approximately 12 poppers

                     While you're making your poppers go ahead and preheat that oven to 350F =)


*Separate the dough into about 12-15 pieces. Don't worry if some are bigger than others- just make sure you get to the biggest ones first...trust me you'll want the big ones!

*Flatten the dough one by one - this is important because dough of this nature will just reform back into a ball, so best to just do it one by one to save you the new grey hairs.

*Add your pepperoni and cheese - You can use your favorite kinds of cheese and add different toppings as well. If you do, please come back and leave me a comment with how it turned out!

*Pinch the edges over the toppings. Be sure to make sure there are no openings or thin spots showing color from the pepperoni. Place the popper pinched side down on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

*Continue to do this until all your poppers are created....You're getting hungry aren't you?

 *When all your poppers are completed brush the top with lightly beaten egg and sprinkle with Italian seasoning.

* Bake your yummies for about 20 minutes...

~Let them cool, they will be very hot!~

Serve with warm pizza sauce for dippin' & enjoy!

           My family loved these! I know for sure that next time I make them I will have to double up on my recipe. Also I would add more cheese to my poppers. These are very customizable and the bread is just amazing. I made a few with only cheese and they were awesome too! Let me know what you think!

Until Next Time....

Lady Bea

My Apologies...

So, I know I haven't posted...seem to have chose a terrible time to start this journey! I had to travel to Ohio to take my son, Christopher, to his fathers. We had a fantastic spring break! So now I am back to the everyday grind and I am ready to go! Are you? I promise to be more active, and post a lot more!


Here are some recipes you can expect to see throughout the weekend:

Manicotti
Rustic Style pizza poppers

I will also discuss:

 A new service based learning project I will be working on over the next several weeks. Web Marketing components and data processing for websites. I found some really awesome websites for all the marketers and business owners out there. 


Hope everyone has had a fantastic last few days! What did you do over spring break?

Until next time...(which will be soon, I promise!!)

Lady Bea

Cinnamon Roll "Cupcakes"

Do your kids ever ask to help you bake in the kitchen and flour, egg, sugar and chocolate all over your kitchen instantly come to mind? Happens to me all the time. I would love nothing more than to let my kids help me in the kitchen whenever they want but the truth is I don't want to clean up their messes every time. Because their messes...are huge! So I am constantly on the look out for extremely simple yet fun things for the kids to cook up in the kitchen. The other day while I was making cinnamon rolls, a family favorite, I thought..how fun would it be to make these into cupcakes?...so I did.

 The only thing I needed was cupcake wrappers, a muffin tin and a can of your favorite cinnamon rolls. I used Pillsbury Flaky Cinnamon Rolls with Butter Creme Frosting. I used regular paper cupcake wrappers and found the the rolls stuck a little bit and the paper absorbed a little of the moisture of the rolls, I would recommend using foil lined wrappers to eliminate this dryness.

You can take the rolls and push them into the wrappers in the muffin tin but I recommend putting the rolls in the wrapper prior to putting them in the muffin tin. They don't get squished that way.

The can calls for 12-13 minutes at 375 degrees however I ended up having to cook the rolls an additional 2 minutes to get them all the way done in the middle.

After your rolls are done remove them from the pan for 5-8 minutes to let them cool. Then add the provided frosting/icing and enjoy! Your kids will love to help make this and there is really hardly any cleanup! Win-Win right, Mom??

Until next time...

Bea