Recipe Review: Oatmeal Bars & Chicken Chili

I've recently tried some new recipes that I think are worth sharing. I found both recipes via Pinterest, of course. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Bars
from Gingerbread Bagels

I actually tried this recipe twice: first subbing applesauce for the bananas, then with bananas. I didn't use eggs either time since we don't have any on hand, and got sort of mixed results. The applesauce version came out fine in my opinion, probably because the applesauce kept the bars moist. The banana version was a little crumbly, though, and definitely needed the eggs to hold everything together. They still tasted fine, though. The first time I tried this recipe I actually at the whole pan myself in two days, so I guess you could say they're tasty. I highly recommend eating these bars warm.

Also, as an FYI, these bars are sort of cake-y as opposed to being more chewy or solid like a granola bar. So don't expect a homemade Kashi bar or something out of this recipe. And definitely don't skip the eggs in the banana version.

Grade: B 
While tasty, these bars could use a bit more flavor - maybe from some chocolate chips or pumpkin pie spice. If I make these again, I'm going to stick to the applesauce version for sure.

Slow Cooker Chicken Chili
from Skinny Taste

[check out Skinny Taste for pictures, because this recipe is anything but photogenic]

This recipe was so, so good. Drew and I have made chicken chili in the past using Ina Garten's recipe, but we agree that this recipe from Skinny Taste tasted more like chili and less like a vegetable soup with chicken. Plus this recipe was significantly less time-consuming.

Since this is a slow cooker recipe, the hands-on time was only about 10 minutes. I think the hardest part of this recipe was chopping up the onion. This recipe was delicious, incredibly filling (fiber!) and so easy. It makes a ton, so be prepared to eat this for a week or make this for guests.

Grade: A
Next time we're going to double the chili powder for more kick.

Have you tried any recipes lately that are worth sharing? Let me know! Or, find out what other recipes I've been pinning for your own inspiration.

Recipe Review: Soft Pretzels

A few weeks ago I made soft pretzels at home using a recipe from Budget Bytes. The pretzels were surprisingly easy to make and turned out really well. In fact, I made another batch this weekend, and we're already down to the last couple pretzels. 

I had never made pretzels before, and honestly thought it was going to be much tougher than it actually was. Especially since I went the route of Budget Bytes and used frozen bread dough instead of making my own. I highly recommend this recipe for it's ease and, come on, who doesn't love eating soft pretzels?

Budget Bytes lays out the recipe really well, both in writing and with pictures, so click on the link above for more detailed instructions.

Soft Pretzels

Step 1: Allow frozen dough to thaw, then cut into eight equal pieces.

Step 2: Stretch each dough piece into a long strand. The dough will not cooperate with you at first, but it'll come around eventually and stretch out for you.

Step 3: Twist each strand into a pretzel shape. Feel silly for having to consult a picture of a pretzel to make shape and wonder how those people at Auntie Anne's twist their dough so quickly.

Step 4: Let the pretzels rise for about 30 minutes.

Step 5: Boil each pretzel in a baking soda solution for one minute. This is how they get their pretzel-y taste. Who knew?! This is definitely not a step to skip, unless you just want pretzel-shaped bread rather than pretzel-flavored bread.

Step 6: Bake the pretzels and end up with a tasty, tasty result. You should also probably let the pretzels cool on a rack for awhile before you start eating them.

Step 7: Eat a pretzel. Then have another because they're so delicious.

Honestly, the hardest part of this recipe was probably stretching out the dough because that stuff likes to retract. Other than that, this recipe was one of the easiest I've ever made. Maybe sometime I'll try this with homemade dough, but the frozen dough works just fine and is much quicker.

I love baking, and I'm so glad this is a quick and simple recipe for a delicious snack. I'll need to dig up something a little more challenging for my next recipe review, though, I think. Stay tuned!

Anyone try any good recipes lately? Please share!

Recipe Review: S'mores Cookies

Over the weekend Drew and I made some delicious s'mores cookies using this recipe from Baked Perfection.

I love baking, but haven't made anything in so long because:

1. Living by myself = no one to share my baked goods with

2. I don't have much free time to spend baking

Luckily, though, I now have an excellent roommate/husband to share baked goods with AND I didn't have to work over the weekend, which meant plenty of free time for baking on Friday.

The only change we made to Baked Perfection's recipe was to cut out the chocolate chips and use crushed Hershey bars in their place. Otherwise, we followed the recipe pretty much exactly.

Step 1: Crush graham crackers for dough. Discover partway through crushing that the back of an ice cream scoop works better than your fist.

Step 2: Put graham cracker crumbs in mixer along with other baking necessities like eggs, sugar, butter, flour and other stuff.

Step 3: Mix everything together using the awesome mixer you got as a wedding gift.

Step 4: Make sure you clean all of the cookie dough off of the mixer thingy (technical term).

Step 5: Put dough balls onto cookie sheet.

Step 6: Watch cookies bake in the oven and get really excited to eat them. Also eat extra batter from bowl and neglect to share pictures of how much dough you actually ate.

 Step 7: Take cookies out of the oven and realize dough balls were not spaced out enough. Ignore the fact that your cookies will be hexagonal.

Step 8: Transfer cookies to cooling rack. Break some cookies in process, and decide those should be eaten immediately, since you obviously didn't eat enough dough earlier.

These cookies were so easy to make. I think the hardest part was getting the marshmallows in place, since that step involves removing the cookie sheets mid-baking to apply a few mini-marshmallows to each cookie. It was like a race against time.

The cookies came out much flatter than we expected (obviously), but have a nice chewy texture and really do taste like s'mores! Plus they are delicious.

The recipe says it makes about 4 dozen cookies, which is about on target with what we got (the above picture is only about half of our batch). Somehow we ended up with enough cookies to eat a few each day and give some away to Drew's parents and still have some sitting around this morning.

My review of Baked Perfection's S'mores Cookie Recipe: 4/5 spatulas (or something else baking-related)

Now everyone go make a batch of s'mores cookies and share some with me. We're running low on our supply!

Have you found any good cookie recipes lately? Please share!

Ten for Tuesday: How to Have a Perfect Weekend

This past weekend was so excellent for so many reasons. I feel like it was the first "real" weekend I've had in a long time, and it was much needed.

My job requires me to work weekends a lot without time off during the week to make up for it, and the weekend before this one was one of those times. That means that Friday was my 12th day of work in a row without a day off. It's rough, but it made this weekend seem even more special because instead of working I got to spend the entire weekend with Drew and had plenty of time to enjoy myself and relax.

This weekend was so good, in fact, that I think it may qualify as a perfect weekend. In case you're looking forward to the weekend already (I know I am) and need some suggestions for what to do, I offer you my steps for the perfect weekend.

Ten Steps to a Perfect Weekend

1. Have the weekend off of work. This is key, seeing as you'll need plenty of time to devote to everything on this list. If you're working you won't have much, if any, time to complete any of the following steps, which is a major bummer.

2. Spend lots of time with your significant other. Or your family or pet or best friend. Whoever you wish you could spend more time with, see that person this weekend and have fun together. Our activities of choice over the weekend included running errands, renting "Bridesmaids" and sleeping in late on Saturday. All excellent choices for quality time with the husband.

3. Run 5 miles. Spend the rest of the day feeling like a badass. Also feel sore and starving. But mostly feel like a badass.

4. Make delicious s'mores cookies. I have an "official" review of the recipe for these cookies planned for tomorrow, but for now you'll have to take my word that these cookies are awesome. So awesome that I ate about 15 of them within two days.

5. Enjoy dinner with friends. On Saturday night Drew and I went out to dinner in Owosso with our friends John and Carolyn. We ate at the always-delicious Wrought Iron Grill which was, naturally, delicious.

I enjoyed a beer whose name I've already forgotten and dominated my crab-stuffed fish entree (remember, running five miles makes you super hungry). We all had an awesome time catching up and are already planning our next "grill" night for the Red Cedar Grill in Williamston.

6. Attempt, and totally fail, the Pinterest Challenge. You may remember that I participated in Round 1 of the Pinterest Challenge a few months ago to make a belt for my wedding shower.

This belt is all squashed and weird looking now, but I totally wear it all the time anyways. Whatever.

Well, Sherry posted a new challenge to Young House Love last week, and I gladly accepted the challenge.

My attempt to create something along the lines of this cookie sheet magnet board, however, backfired horribly.

From Pinterest, via.

I'm going to attempt to salvage my monstrosity sometime this week, but for now I just have a plain & ugly cookie sheet sitting in our living room to remind me of my failure. Sigh...

7. Stay in your pajamas as much as possible. Seriously, is there any clothing more comfortable than pajamas? If I could wear leggings and a sweatshirt all day, every day I totally I would. Jeans are so overrated.

8. Make a tasty breakfast. After sleeping in til almost noon on Saturday, Drew and I had an excellent big breakfast together. I got up first and got to work on preparing bacon and scrambled eggs with cheese, peppers and onion. Delicious.

9. Clean your apartment. Okay, cleaning isn't really all that fun, but I love having a nice-looking apartment as a result. Especially when we know we're going to have company.

Our apartment is small-ish and has basically no storage space, so organizing our apartment requires some creativity.

But, luckily for us, our lease is up at the end of November, and yesterday we signed an application for a new apartment with two bedrooms and extra storage space in the building's basement. The trade off? A much smaller bathroom and no laundry in our unit, but it will totally be worth it for cheaper rent, more space AND the ability to paint the walls!

Our new apartment will be in Swartz Creek, about 20 minutes from where we live now and much closer to civilization (the mall, Target, other retail establishments that make me happy...). It's going to be awesome!

10. Relax. Take it easy (Mika, anyone? No? Okay.).

Seriously, getting to sleep in and take my time changing into real clothes and just be able to sit around is amazing. I love weekends like this where Drew and I can just lounge around together. Except for our honeymoon, I don't know when the last time we had a couple days to just sit around together happened.

Wedding planning pretty much consumed all of our free time the last few months, so it was nice to just be able to enjoy each other's company without having to worry about getting a crazy to-do list completed. We definitely accomplished a lot this weekend, but I never felt rushed or busy. It was glorious.

What are your steps to a perfect weekend? What are your plans for this weekend?