Mint Cake

Oh how busy this week has been. Besides Justin putting himself out of commission I had planned a yard sale this weekend with my brother and getting it together has consumed most of my nights.

I am happy to say though that after a few nights of cleaning our garage hubby will finally be able to park his car in the garage again. This was a huge accomplishment in my book

But who want to read about yard sales and cleaning garages? Although I highly recommend looking thorough old boxes because I found a ton of stuff I thought I had lost, today is not a cleaning post.

You remember last week when I posted this delicious looking cake?

Well I found this delicious cake recipe here and decided that I would attempt to bake it. All I can say is my cake did not look this visually appealing.

I whipped up a box of white cake mix and separated it into four bowls and added 4 drops of green food coloring to one bowl and 2 drops into another.



Then I added 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract (I didn't have mint) into each of the bowls with the green food coloring and added 2 teaspoons of special dark cocoa to make chocolate.
(this is where I forgot to keep taking pictures)

It should look something like this when they are all blended.

I ended up making another batch since I wanted to make a two layer cake. I then spooned the different colored cake batter into 2 greased 8' cake pans and baked for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick came out clean.

I let them cool in the pan for about 20 minutes then transferred them to a cooling rack until completely cooled. I was running short on time so I covered the cakes in foil and put them in the fridge until I had time to frost them.

I felt like the mintyness of the cake would go great with chocolate frosting so I bought 2 tubs of chocolate frosting (yes I use store bought frosting sometimes) and went to work.



This is how it turned out. I'm not a cake decorating queen so yes it looks plain but it was oh so delicious. This would be a perfect after dinner dessert as it has that 'after dinner mint' taste we all love!

Easy Chili Dinner

     I love quick and easy meals for dinner and this is one of my favorites. Most days I forget to take stuff out for dinner before I leave for work so I am always on the hunt for meals that don't have a long prep or cook time.

     Chili was on last night's menu and it was delicious. Here is what you need:

                     1 bag of Bear Creek Darn Good Chili

                     1 6oz can of tomato paste

                     1lb of ground beef (or turkey)

     Optional:

                     1 can black beans

                     1 can kidney beans

                     Brown sugar

     First, get all your ingredients together.

     In a large saucepan, cook your meat thoroughly.

     Add 7 cups of water, as stated on package, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium or low then add chili mix, tomato paste and beans (if applicable).

I should have used less water since I added the beans

     Simmer uncovered for 20-25 minutes. Add brown sugar to taste (I like mine with a bit of sweetness). Serve with cheese and sour cream.

     Enjoy! 

Banana Nut Bread

     Since I was feeling all domesticated yesterday I decided it was baking time. Hmm but what to bake. I didn't want to make brownies, cookies or cake since we are trying to watch what we eat. So I rummaged around the kitchen, looking at what ingredients I had thinking of things I could bake.

     Then I opened my freezer and there it was, my inspiration for what to cook, bananas. We have bananas that often times get a little too ripe at our house so instead of wasting food I freeze them so that when I have enough, I can make banana nut bread.

     I had about 7 bananas in the freezer which was the perfect amount but how was I going to make banana nut bread diet friendly?  Skinnytaste.com that's how. They post amazing recipes with ingredient variations to make them low fat. This is one of my new favorite blogs and you can see the full Low Fat Banana Nut Bread recipe here.

     My banana nut bread turned out great and everyone loved it. I can't wait to try out more recipes from this amazing site!

Crock Pot Salsa Chicken

    New recipe... yes please. Since we are trying to stick with healthy foods this year I looked up some different recipes and the first one was a winner! And the best part was that is was super easy to make.

     I found this recipe via Pinterest and you can see the full recipe here. I didn't follow the recipe exactly but mine still turned out delicious. Here is what I used:

                    4 chicken breasts (boneless and skinless)
                    1 container of Fresh and Easy medium salsa
                    1 container of Fresh and Easy Pico de Gallo
                    Seasonal salt and garlic salt to taste

     I threw the frozen chicken with the salsa and pico in the crock pot, turned it on low for about 8 hours and ta dah, dinner is served. I omitted the taco seasoning because of all the sodium in the packets but I think it still came out fabulous without it.

     I was afraid my husband wasn't going to approve since he is not a big salsa/spicy food eater but he surprised me when he turned to me and said "This is great!" If the hubby approves, its going into the recipe box.

     We served it over lettuce with bit of sour cream and guacamole instead of using tortillas to save on carbs. I had quite a bit of left overs since it is only the two of us so I will cut back the recipe next time but I froze some of it and the rest I might just use for a soup or fajitas...