The minute the weather here in Utah starts to get warmer, the hubs and I get excited to fire up the grill. I came across this recipe in a Pillsbury Healthy Cooking magazine and what I love about it is that not only is it low fat and way yummy, but all the ingredients are things that I already had on hand. The chicken came out moist and the BBQ sauce was sweet with a hint of smokiness. YUM!
Saucy BBQ Chicken Makes 4 servings
Ingredients:
1/3 cup ketchup 2 tbsp. water 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce 1 1/2 tsp. brown sugar 1 to 2 tsp. chili powder (we used 1 1/2 tsp.) 1/2 tsp. paprika 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1. Heat grill. In 12x8-inch glass baking dish, combine all ingredients except chicken; blend well. Place chicken in sauce mixture; turn to coat. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes to marinate.
2. When ready to grill, place chicken on gas grill over medium heat or on charcoal grill 4 to 6 inches from medium coals. Cook 15 to 20 minutes or until chicken is fork-tender and juices run clear, turning occasionally and brushing frequently with sauce. Discard any remaining sauce.
Yesterday I was looking through my board of "Recipes to Try" on pinterest. Of the hundreds I have pinned and have yet to try, most are desserts. What can I say? My sweet tooth tends to take over most of the time.
One of the recipes I pinned was for Betty Crocker's Toasted Marshmallow S'mores bars and, since I really had a hankering for something sweet, I thought I would give it a whirl. But looking through the ingredient list, I got an idea. Those who know me well know that I am completely obsessed with Biscoff cookies—the ones you get on Delta flights and (for any of you who have been to France) taste very similar to Bastogne cookies. In fact, when I found out from another blogger that Biscoff had a SPREAD very similar in consistency to peanut butter, I had to run out and buy a tub right away. Since then, I've been trying to come up with ways to incorporate the cookies or the spread into other recipes. So much that my husband made fun of me and asked if I was going to try to make Biscoff gravy. Hmm, I wonder how I could make that work... :)
But all joking aside, I found a way to incorporate Biscoff into the S'mores bar recipe and it was a great success. I dunno if you can really, truly call my concoction "S'mores" bars, since they don't contain one of the main 3 s'mores ingredients—graham crackers. Those I decided to replace with Biscoff crumbs. The result was amazing! If you like S'mores and Biscoff, this recipe will not disappoint. I'd recommend enjoying these with a glass of milk.
S'mores Cookie Bars with Biscoff Cookie Crust
Ingredients: 1 pouch (17.5 oz) Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix 1 cup Biscoff cookie crumbs (I pulsed mine in my food processor) 1 cup butter, melted 3 cups (18 oz) milk chocolate chips 4 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. In large bowl, stir together cookie mix and Biscoff crumbs. Stir in melted butter until soft dough forms. Press into ungreased 13x9-inch pan.
2. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until set. Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over crust. Let stand 3 to 5 minutes or until chocolate begins to melt. Spread chocolate evenly over crust.
3. Set oven control to broil. Sprinkle marshmallows over chocolate. Broil with top 4 to 5 inches from heat for 20 to 30 seconds or until marshmallows are toasted. (Watch closely as marshmallows will brown VERY quickly ). Cool 10 minutes. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows.* Serve warm and store remaining in an airtight container.
*I would recommend putting the pan in the fridge for a bit after cutting them, as the marshmallow tends to be very gooey and it will help it harden enough to separate the bars.
Where have I been?? I have to admit that my mommy brain has had me going in all different directions and sometimes it's hard to remember my name! This motherhood stuff is not for the weak, impatient, or faint of heart. You can read thousands of books and talk to millions of people to get more parenthood advice than you can ever imagine. But the experience for every first-time parent is, no doubt, completely different and unique from any other. I was talking to a coworker the other day whose wife is pregnant and I told him that people can tell you how it will change your life and how it's hard, but you really don't know until you experience it for yourself. Sometimes I feel like I'm going completely insane. But it's an adventure, no doubt. And SO worth it. I look at my little girl and everything is right in the world. I love to see her learning new things. She is brilliant and beautiful and wonderful.
It is CRAZY how fast time is flying. Halloween has come and gone and I have started hearing Christmas music in stores. Siena got to experience her first Halloween, and even though she didn't really understand what was going on, she was great the whole time we went trick-or-treating and she LOVED chewing on the wrappers of her candy after. As I mentioned before, her banana costume was too small for her, but we ended up buying a chicken costume at Old Navy and it was SO FREAKING CUTE! What I loved about this Halloween was that the weather was decent enough for us to be outside. Too many times in Utah, Halloweens are cold and children are forced to wear big, puffy jackets over their costumes. What's the fun in that? It's like they all decided to be Eskimos for Halloween, hiding what cute and creative costumes they might have underneath.
These pictures were taken with our new digital SLR camera that we plan on using A LOT. We are going to take a photography class and learn all the tricks of photo editing in Photoshop. SO EXCITED!
On another note, I am really excited about many of the shows I have been DVRing. Person of Interest is DEFINITELY interesting and has become one of my favs. New Girl is so hilarious and John and I both get a kick out of it and Zooey Deschanel's quirky character. Revenge is shaping up to be pretty exciting, and Modern Family and Vampire Diaries are, as always, awesome.
To say I have started browsing on Pinterest would be an understatement. I am ADDICTED! Yes, I believe I will need a support group. :) Anyone else care to join?
One of my favorite things about Pinterest is that those of us who haven't had the creativity, skills, or patience to do crafty projects can get some awesome ideas of fun, easy, crafty things they can do that don't require a lot of time or money. My co-worker found a cute idea on Pinterest of how to make plain, clear glass vases and containers cute and festive with some acrylic paint and vinyl. So we went to DI and got some cheap glass containers and bowls and during our lunch break, we made these cute Halloween bowls/candle holders!
So John got tickets to OMD (one of my all-time favorite 80s bands) for my birthday and we got to go this past weekend. They played at the House of Blues in Vegas and all I can say is OMG! What an awesome band. They sounded GREAT live and one thing that I like about most of the 80s bands that still tour today—they are over themselves and don't think they're all that. They just want to play good music and entertain. And entertain they did! They started with a song I had never heard, but the rest (except for one) were songs I love from their greatest hits, including the ever-popular "If You Leave," "Dreaming," and "So In Love." Each time they played a song, I thought, "Oh, this is my favorite." Bottom line? I can't decide because they're all good! That's the sign of a truly great band! Now, if we could just get Simple Minds out here...
Our accommodations were awesome as well. I had never stayed at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay and it was wonderful! We got a deluxe king room on the 60th floor (close to the top!) and had a nice view of the strip. The bed was super comfy and the bathroom was really nice. It had a separate marble shower and a HUGE soaker jetted tub and separate his and hers sinks.
As for food, we didn't go the buffet route this trip. We decided last time we went to Vegas it is better to skip the pricey buffets and go for quality of food rather than quantity. Plus, it helps keep the waistline down! ;) So we went to Il Fornaio at the New York New York hotel, which served WAY yummy Italian food. We also went to Hard Rock (Johnny's favorite) for lunch and then to the House of Blues restaurant the night of the concert.
Is was such a fun trip, but it was so short. Now I'm ready for another one! My only regret is that neither of us remembered to bring our camera or phones to the concert. We were so close to the stage that we could have gotten some great shots.
Hello, and welcome to Cupcakes, Kisses, and Little Misses! I'm Erin, marketing writer by profession, wife to the sweetest man in the universe, and mom to two amazing little misses! Here at CKLM I share my favorite tried-and-true recipes, as well as tidbits and thoughts about this fun and crazy adventure we call life. Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your visit!
