The best muffins I've ever made!

Seriously.

So, on Friday nights we usually catch up on our DVR (hey, I'm pregnant, how fun can I be?)...so while watching Boardwalk Empire, I like to think happy thoughts during the gruesome parts.  What did I think about last night while a man had his neck slashed in the barber chair?  Breakfast of course!  I made blueberry muffins last weekend with blueberries from my parents blueberry bush/garden thing, and was all out, so I decided I would try the cranberry orange muffins I came across this week at For the Love of Cooking.  Amazing site, and amazing muffins!

Again, seriously, the best.  They look "perfect", the insides are nice and soft while the top of the muffin is so nice and toasty golden with a bit of crunch.  I may never make another kind of muffin again!

Seriously.  Another thing I loved about making these muffins?  How quick and easy they were, and how you could work on multiple steps at a time!  Also, cleanup was a breeze!

You will need:

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• one package, or around 1 cup, dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg

Heat orange juice and cranberries over medium heat, roughly 5-7 minutes - according to For the Love of Cooking, it will plump up the dried cranberries, which I believe it did!  While this is doing its thing, preheat oven to 400, and combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl, mixing it together.

Once the OJ/cran mixture has heated up, put that into a separate large bowl, adding the veg oil and egg, mixing that together as well.  Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, mix together, spoon into muffin tin, and bake for 15-20 minutes (mine took 18), or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Phew!  Easy, right!?  You will see if you compare my ingredients to the blog I got the recipe from, I omitted the orange rind and raw sugar.  To me, all the other ingredients were sweet enough that I didn't feel I needed these.

What a great way to start a Saturday!  The husband has gone for a run...I could eat them all and he would never know...

Remember how I said last night would be my last night cooking a real meal...yeah right, shrimp tacos!

Happy Thursday!  Still here, still pregnant, and still crazy!  Today I decided I had to clean out all of our cabinets, rearrange them, etc...after cleaning a bathroom, doing laundry, etc.  I should be resting, right??  I sure pay for it later when back is in so much pain it feels numb!!

Enough of that...I still had to make dinner!  I swore after last night that was it, no more meals which required me to be on my feet for a long time.  Shrimp tacos and spanish rice were on our weekly menu, and when I thought about the last time I had made them, it didn't seem like it would be too bad.  Well, I wasn't 39 weeks pregnant, then!  They're so yummy, though, they're worth it! 

This is an adapted recipe from foodnetwork.com called Chipotle Shrimp Tacos with Salsa Verde.  The shrimp cooks so quickly that I always make the salsa first.  Plus, you can always dip some nachos, or your finger, in the salsa while the shrimp cook;)  You will need:

• 1 small onion, cut into pieces, don't really need to be that small
• 1 jalapeno, cut into about 4 pieces
• a few small pieces of tomato
• 1 avocado, peeled and seeded, cut into chunks
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cilantro leaves, as big or small as you'd like

Put the onion and jalapeno in your food processor  and finely chop.  Add the tomatoes, avocado, and salt and chop again until combined and in pieces that are to your liking - I chopped it up pretty well, but some like their avocado pieces bigger.  Put into a bowl, add cilantro, and stir to mix together.

Yum!  The husband is lucky there is any of this salsa left as I make the shrimp!  Warning, it's very spicy!!

The shrimp part is so easy - take as many large shrimp as you'd like, place in a large bowl, and mix with 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp chili powder, and 1 tsp salt.  When the shrimp are coated, cook them in a fry pan on medium low heat until cooked through.  Look at these!

Sooo good, I could eat these with a fork and be happy!  You can either enjoy just the shrimp and salsa on a whole wheat wrap, taco shell, etc, or add all the fixings!  On mine, I added cheddar cheese and lime juice; the husband added sour cream, lettuce, taco sauce, and cheese.  I could eat these everyday, and I may, if it would help get this baby out...

Oh, and remember how I was craving Hershey's cookies and cream candy bars?  Well they do still make them, and thanks to the bff, I now have 1 in my possession!  I did have 3, but I already ate 2 of them...OH!  and don't forget to vote for your favorite holiday cookie!

This pregnant lady might've just cooked her last "regular" meal...

Yes, I know cooking with a crawler, when that day happens, will probably be much much more difficult, but cooking tonight was really, really hard!  Baby has decided to drop more it seems, which yes is very good, but walking/moving around the kitchen for an hour, cutting, dicing, testing, well today it was a lot!  Okay, rant over, just enjoy our dinner photo below:)  No real "recipes" for any of the items, just a pork loin rubbed with salt, pepper, and Montreal Steak seasoning, and fingerling kinda steak fry things with olive oil, salt, pepper, and chili powder:)

Oh, and I'm also craving the picture below our meal picture...something I probably haven't had since 1998; do they even sell them anymore?? 

So I didn't make cake...

But I didn't eat frosting, either:)  Look what I had already done to this poor frosting container the last few days!

So this morning, after my bagel and fruit, which pre-pregnancy I wouldn't even have been able to finish, and still hungry, I decided it was time to bake before I went back to the poor frosting.  I didn't want to make the boxed cake I had because, really, do I need to make a whole cake just for me (the husband would probably only eat a piece at most), and really, did I have enough frosting left to frost the cake?? Probably not.

So I looked at what I had, and then really started wanting those snowball cookies with the nuts and powdered sugar...didn't have all of the ingredients for those and didn't feel like going to the store; have I mentioned how scared I am now that my water may break at the grocery store??  Anyways...

I found another recipe for Icebox Snowball cookies on cooks.com, had all the ingredients, and went at it.  I have had a few, and I like them more and more as they are chilled even longer, but they are certainly not my favorite.  They need something...crushed pretzels instead of coconut maybe?  Definitely something salty.  Take a look and let me know what you think.  Oh, and btw, all these snowballs did was made me crave cheese.

What you need:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 milk
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 4 tbsp cocoa
• 1 cup coconut, or any other topping you'd prefer - I would go with something with some saltiness to it...but I get that they're probably able to be called "snowballs" because of the white coconut...

Heat butter, sugar, and milk in a saucepan to a boil. Add oats and cocoa, let cool.  Roll into balls (it's really sticky, so it's more like glop it together into a ball), roll into coconut, and place on wax-paper covered cookie sheet.  Chill in fridge.

Again, they aren't bad or inedible by any means, and the one I just had was way better than the one I had after just an hour of chilling.  If/when I ever made these again, though, I would definitely use a topping with salt!  Or that could just be my prego brain;)

Chinese takeout time...I'm now craving shrimp tempura!  Have a great night!

Is it bad that all I want to eat is cake???

Yes, that's right, cake.  Vanilla, chocolate, lemon, pistachio, black forest, peanut butter, anything!  I've always had a sweet tooth, and during this pregnancy has been no exception, but during the last week or so, it is totally out of control!

This piece would maybe last about 5 seconds in front of me.  Anyways...

I've resorted to even taking a few bites of frosting, with a spoon at least, out of a container of frosting in the fridge...I'm a lost cause at this point.

I have a boxed vanilla cake in the cabinet that I can make...should I??  I'm afraid if I don't, at this point, I'll just keep eating the frosting! 

This is so out of control!  Does anyone else crave cake??  Does anyone have any cake they can deliver to me?? ;)  If you could make a cake right now, which kind would you make; does anyone have any great cake recipes I can/will try??

I'm off to make pepperoni and mushroom pizza for dinner...not cake, as I must remind myself to eat real food for the baby inside me...and if my husband came down to a dinner of cake, he wouldn't be very happy.

A new holiday staple - Oreo Truffles!

Happy Sunday night, everyone!  Hope everyone has enjoyed a holiday movie or two today:)

As I mentioned in my previous posts, we had a housewarming party to go to last night, and I wanted to bring something really yummy!  Well, I received my holiday season Kraft Magazine and right on the inside cover was a recipe for Oreo Truffles - the picture made them look so picture perfect and yummy I had to try them!  Oh, and I could use my mixer, another bonus;)

Hooked yet??  So easy, and actually pretty fun to make, besides my swollen feet/ankles/legs and aching back!  I knew for this chocolate yummyness it would be well worth the pain, though:)  These would be very fun to make with kids!

You will need:

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened for 15 seconds in your microwave
• 1 pkg of Oreo cookies, crushed (yes, that is my crushing method up above;))
• 2 pkgs, 8 squares of chocolate each, of Baker's semi sweet chocolate, melted

Combine cream cheese and 3 cups of the crushed Oreos in your mixer and blend until well combined.  Cover a large baking sheet with wax-paper.   Roll the cream cheese/Oreo blend into balls of any size - I made mine 2-bite size and was able to make 25 - dip into the melted chocolate, and place onto the wax paper.  Cover with your favorite topping - chopped nuts, coconut, the rest of the crushed Oreos, sprinkles, crushed candy canes, anything will work!  Refrigerate until firm, about one hour, then enjoy!!

The two I saved for the husband and I, which didn't make it very long! 

I loved loved loved these, as did the party-goers!  My husband kept an eye on them, and my choco/coconut/walnut cookies, while I sat with my feet up in a comfy chair all night, and happily told me when they were all gone:)  Another successful dessert recipe to add to my binder!  Hope you'll try them and let me know of any other textures you use on the inside - peanut butter maybe?? Yum! - or outside!